~ was almost perfect.
Alex the ninja in a huge santa sack, all of us out in the dark playing with Paul's Ferrari, JL crawling inside her santa sack to find out what else was in there (why is it so bloody difficult to find presents for 2 year old girls?) new shooooooooooooze! endless food, NO stress, nicely merry but not drunk, and ~ what else can I say?
Sunday 27 December 2009
Tuesday 22 December 2009
That last working day
I was already demob happy in the morning, minimal packing with an overnight bag instead of a suitcase, and in good time for breakfast and work. How was I to know?
Arriving at the new desk in the penthouse garret, I fetched out and plugged in snoopy 2 and fired it up to start work. Unconsciously touching my ear, I discovered I'd lost one of my earrings. Yes, one of those earrings. I was and am quite surprised at how upset I was, and am about that. I called the hotel to tell them I'd lost it, but they didn't call back and I guess some chambermaid or laundryperson has slung the single sparkly thing away, which they wouldn't have done if it had had a price tag on it. Not convinced I'd have got it back even so. Has anyone, EVER got anything back from an hotel when they've left something in the room? To date, I've had denials on a Jabra headset, cheap calendar and cheapish but irreplaceable print I still regret, a zippo that meant a great deal to me, and now the earring. *sigh*
The day recovered quite well when I met Jane C for a drink after work, she has some mad idea that my supporting her promotion nomination did the trick, and lavished compliments on me about how much she learned from me when she was in my team last year. All embarrassingly flattering. More than that, she had a lovely Christmas card for me and mine, and a rather nice bottle of rouge which she sternly informed me I had to enjoy properly in good company. She's back working in Brum after Christmas so she & Ray are unlikely to make the Rammy but there is always hope.
Lots of amusement that evening. We chose not to stand in the space by the open door leading to the toilets, finding it infested with appalling stench. Instead we infiltrated the empty tables and chairs clearly reserved for diners and were able to sit in comfort and didn't even have to use Plan B (order a bowl of chips)to assert our rights as ladies of a certain air.
Eventually, we had to take it in turns to descend into the bog of stench (I'm sure there's a labyrinth reference in there but can't quite remember it). On my way down the stairs, I passed a young man who wished me Merry Christmas, so I returned the salutation and went about my business. The smell was actually less bad in the loo than at the top of the stairs.
When I came out and started back up the stairs, he was still there, and called to me as I got half-way up the first flight of steps
Him: Can I ask you a question
Me: Go on then, ask.
Him: would you give me a Christmas kiss under the mistletoe?
Me: there isn't any mistletoe
Him: it's imaginary
Me: OK, you can have an imaginary kiss
Still, terribly flattering, especially since I discovered he wasn't lurking down there asking every woman who passed; he hadn't asked Jane at any rate.
The second drink meant that I didn't get back into the building till about 7.30; cheerfully checking with the security guys that they hadn't locked the garret, I discovered they had. Leaving my laptop open on the desk surrounded by paper and my overnight bag under the coat stand obviously wasn't enough of a signal. They couldn't find the key for almost an hour "because the lock had recently been replaced". I blame the second drink for my being able to remain in good temper.
Having failed dismally to finish the stuff I had planned to polish off before the hols, mostly due to people sending review comments a week late; I got a late-working payoff when I received and forwarded an last gasp email from Mrs Business signing off the test approach I'd been selling her for the last two weeks. RESULT! Conscience immediately cleared, I eviscerated snoopy2 of the battery and DVD drive to save weight and left the building like a kid from the last day of school ~ and took a horribly expensive taxi to Marylebone on the basis I deserved it only to find I'd just missed a train and had to hang around for another half hour.
Giving a couple of quid to a mad old lady who hangs around there sometimes, it was interesting to notice that two other people suddenly started digging in pockets and bags to give her something. Why did they need an example? It meant the time passed quite quickly with a deep conversation between strangers about how the homeless cope, and how easy it is to fall between the cracks in society and end up on the street.
Arriving at the new desk in the penthouse garret, I fetched out and plugged in snoopy 2 and fired it up to start work. Unconsciously touching my ear, I discovered I'd lost one of my earrings. Yes, one of those earrings. I was and am quite surprised at how upset I was, and am about that. I called the hotel to tell them I'd lost it, but they didn't call back and I guess some chambermaid or laundryperson has slung the single sparkly thing away, which they wouldn't have done if it had had a price tag on it. Not convinced I'd have got it back even so. Has anyone, EVER got anything back from an hotel when they've left something in the room? To date, I've had denials on a Jabra headset, cheap calendar and cheapish but irreplaceable print I still regret, a zippo that meant a great deal to me, and now the earring. *sigh*
The day recovered quite well when I met Jane C for a drink after work, she has some mad idea that my supporting her promotion nomination did the trick, and lavished compliments on me about how much she learned from me when she was in my team last year. All embarrassingly flattering. More than that, she had a lovely Christmas card for me and mine, and a rather nice bottle of rouge which she sternly informed me I had to enjoy properly in good company. She's back working in Brum after Christmas so she & Ray are unlikely to make the Rammy but there is always hope.
Lots of amusement that evening. We chose not to stand in the space by the open door leading to the toilets, finding it infested with appalling stench. Instead we infiltrated the empty tables and chairs clearly reserved for diners and were able to sit in comfort and didn't even have to use Plan B (order a bowl of chips)to assert our rights as ladies of a certain air.
Eventually, we had to take it in turns to descend into the bog of stench (I'm sure there's a labyrinth reference in there but can't quite remember it). On my way down the stairs, I passed a young man who wished me Merry Christmas, so I returned the salutation and went about my business. The smell was actually less bad in the loo than at the top of the stairs.
When I came out and started back up the stairs, he was still there, and called to me as I got half-way up the first flight of steps
Him: Can I ask you a question
Me: Go on then, ask.
Him: would you give me a Christmas kiss under the mistletoe?
Me: there isn't any mistletoe
Him: it's imaginary
Me: OK, you can have an imaginary kiss
Still, terribly flattering, especially since I discovered he wasn't lurking down there asking every woman who passed; he hadn't asked Jane at any rate.
The second drink meant that I didn't get back into the building till about 7.30; cheerfully checking with the security guys that they hadn't locked the garret, I discovered they had. Leaving my laptop open on the desk surrounded by paper and my overnight bag under the coat stand obviously wasn't enough of a signal. They couldn't find the key for almost an hour "because the lock had recently been replaced". I blame the second drink for my being able to remain in good temper.
Having failed dismally to finish the stuff I had planned to polish off before the hols, mostly due to people sending review comments a week late; I got a late-working payoff when I received and forwarded an last gasp email from Mrs Business signing off the test approach I'd been selling her for the last two weeks. RESULT! Conscience immediately cleared, I eviscerated snoopy2 of the battery and DVD drive to save weight and left the building like a kid from the last day of school ~ and took a horribly expensive taxi to Marylebone on the basis I deserved it only to find I'd just missed a train and had to hang around for another half hour.
Giving a couple of quid to a mad old lady who hangs around there sometimes, it was interesting to notice that two other people suddenly started digging in pockets and bags to give her something. Why did they need an example? It meant the time passed quite quickly with a deep conversation between strangers about how the homeless cope, and how easy it is to fall between the cracks in society and end up on the street.
weather
The presenter on the telly is saying we have 'lost' the threat of snow for today, as if that's a bad thing.
I'm wondering if I'll manage to get the car door open when I get back to the station tonight, and how long it might take to get the windows defrosted enough to dare to drive home. All of three miles. I passed on going to see Nine last night; it was freezing and unpleasantly slushy and slippery underfoot so I watched Victoria Wood on telly instead
Yesterday was my first day using the new desk in the penthouse garret with the great and the good, I'm sure there are career points in this somewhere but mostly it only added more distraction to a day that dissipated in meetings instead productivity. Watching the politics at first hand. mmmmm
My son would be proud of me for being nice to a Big Issue seller; the chap appears to be 'new' to the job, angry and upset that people simply ignore him when he's trying to do something for himself instead of sitting on a blanket and just begging. I can see his point. I'm not sure why my son has a soapbox about these guys (and they're almost ALL male) but I do know he's right.
rambling - time for breakfast in the hotel and back to the garret to suffer another day on planet project
I'm wondering if I'll manage to get the car door open when I get back to the station tonight, and how long it might take to get the windows defrosted enough to dare to drive home. All of three miles. I passed on going to see Nine last night; it was freezing and unpleasantly slushy and slippery underfoot so I watched Victoria Wood on telly instead
Yesterday was my first day using the new desk in the penthouse garret with the great and the good, I'm sure there are career points in this somewhere but mostly it only added more distraction to a day that dissipated in meetings instead productivity. Watching the politics at first hand. mmmmm
My son would be proud of me for being nice to a Big Issue seller; the chap appears to be 'new' to the job, angry and upset that people simply ignore him when he's trying to do something for himself instead of sitting on a blanket and just begging. I can see his point. I'm not sure why my son has a soapbox about these guys (and they're almost ALL male) but I do know he's right.
rambling - time for breakfast in the hotel and back to the garret to suffer another day on planet project
Sunday 20 December 2009
Solaced by Solstice
Space and Light
Space:
Finally got someone on freecycle to come and take the 2-seater sofa away, and a couple of the CD tower things. David and Anke stopped in this morning on their way back to Bristol and I handed on some of the sci-fi intercepts so David now has reading material over Christmas and I have oodles more space.
Unfortunately, the shorts expect me to fill it with a Christmas tree *gloom* I usually get away it but they're coming to mine for Christmas Dinner this year (sudden embargos allowing) Looking forward to it; ignoring all temptation to unhappiness
Light:
I finally figured out which bulbs I needed to get so the uplighters all work again *cough* except for the dinky bits to hold the glass in the small lights, cos they fell inside it bah! Blu-tac to the rescue - I have these visions and aspirations for an organised life and they never quite seem to work the way they should
Roll on Wednesday and hols till the end of the year.
PS planning to go see the preview for Nine at Leicester Square tomorrow night. Looking forward to that too!
Finally got someone on freecycle to come and take the 2-seater sofa away, and a couple of the CD tower things. David and Anke stopped in this morning on their way back to Bristol and I handed on some of the sci-fi intercepts so David now has reading material over Christmas and I have oodles more space.
Unfortunately, the shorts expect me to fill it with a Christmas tree *gloom* I usually get away it but they're coming to mine for Christmas Dinner this year (sudden embargos allowing) Looking forward to it; ignoring all temptation to unhappiness
Light:
I finally figured out which bulbs I needed to get so the uplighters all work again *cough* except for the dinky bits to hold the glass in the small lights, cos they fell inside it bah! Blu-tac to the rescue - I have these visions and aspirations for an organised life and they never quite seem to work the way they should
Roll on Wednesday and hols till the end of the year.
PS planning to go see the preview for Nine at Leicester Square tomorrow night. Looking forward to that too!
Thursday 17 December 2009
Surrealists
Last night I went to the Capgemini Christmas jolly at the Dali Universe at County Hall; I still adore Dali. I got minging, stumbling, undoubtedly slurring drunk. Started with a champagne and cassis which had a raspberry surprise waiting at the bottom of the glass, followed, over the course of the evening, by three glasses of white wine.
My old boss, the gorgeous Stephen, was there, still looking like Clint Eastwood, trying to introduce me to my current boss, who was trying to introduce me to him - among 400 or so mostly male colleagues, most of whom I didn’t know or recognise, milling about around sculptures I wanted to just stand and stare at. In the status stakes, I did have the pleasure of watching some serious points rack up when Stephen mentioned that I’d been the test manager on Starhub, probably the biggest international project we’ve ever done. I have a great future behind me.
I did recognise Richard, Rachel’s friend, memorable because I always did forget his name and managed to do so this time too. And Dave Y from the project, looking strange in a DJ but just as down-to-earth and friendly as he always is. I was quite surprised when he said he’s never heard of Dali, had only recently discovered Gaudi, and for some obscure reason thought they were connected. They're both Catalans but a vegetarian architect and a dissolute artist aren't quite in the same game.
There was food, but it was mostly weird stuff to be trying to eat from a bowl: Lincoln sausages and mash; a couple of other options which were equally unappealing so I went large on two bits of chocolate brownies and one beautifully presented miniscule mince pie, about the size of a fat marshmallow.
There were a couple of artists doing caricatures and mine looks like a cruel caricature of the bloody queen; more sigh. I still have it, found it in my coat pocket this morning. I remember that the crowd had thinned a lot when I decided to leave but have a big blank space during which I collected my coat and hat and the next blink was seeing a cheerful but concerned faced chap with a benny hat asking if I was sure I was OK as I fell on the floor getting into a taxi I don’t remember hailing. I also don’t remember getting back to the hotel, or paying the driver, or getting to my room. From the change in my pocket, the fare was £14, and I did still have the money I’d taken out with me.
That’s the one far too many. It was damned dangerous for me to be alone on the street in London in that state, and I’m lucky to have no more than embarrassment to remind me. The cheerful faced chap turns out to be Robbie, a senior programme manager : as I discovered when he wandered into my office today and said, “didn’t I help you into a taxi last night”. I felt very humiliated and blushed a lot.
At least I didn't wake remembering a vivid dream about snogging the face off a colleague to realise it *cough* hadn't been a dream (as happened on a work jolly to the Isle of Wight several years ago)
Moral? Eat first.
My old boss, the gorgeous Stephen, was there, still looking like Clint Eastwood, trying to introduce me to my current boss, who was trying to introduce me to him - among 400 or so mostly male colleagues, most of whom I didn’t know or recognise, milling about around sculptures I wanted to just stand and stare at. In the status stakes, I did have the pleasure of watching some serious points rack up when Stephen mentioned that I’d been the test manager on Starhub, probably the biggest international project we’ve ever done. I have a great future behind me.
I did recognise Richard, Rachel’s friend, memorable because I always did forget his name and managed to do so this time too. And Dave Y from the project, looking strange in a DJ but just as down-to-earth and friendly as he always is. I was quite surprised when he said he’s never heard of Dali, had only recently discovered Gaudi, and for some obscure reason thought they were connected. They're both Catalans but a vegetarian architect and a dissolute artist aren't quite in the same game.
There was food, but it was mostly weird stuff to be trying to eat from a bowl: Lincoln sausages and mash; a couple of other options which were equally unappealing so I went large on two bits of chocolate brownies and one beautifully presented miniscule mince pie, about the size of a fat marshmallow.
There were a couple of artists doing caricatures and mine looks like a cruel caricature of the bloody queen; more sigh. I still have it, found it in my coat pocket this morning. I remember that the crowd had thinned a lot when I decided to leave but have a big blank space during which I collected my coat and hat and the next blink was seeing a cheerful but concerned faced chap with a benny hat asking if I was sure I was OK as I fell on the floor getting into a taxi I don’t remember hailing. I also don’t remember getting back to the hotel, or paying the driver, or getting to my room. From the change in my pocket, the fare was £14, and I did still have the money I’d taken out with me.
That’s the one far too many. It was damned dangerous for me to be alone on the street in London in that state, and I’m lucky to have no more than embarrassment to remind me. The cheerful faced chap turns out to be Robbie, a senior programme manager : as I discovered when he wandered into my office today and said, “didn’t I help you into a taxi last night”. I felt very humiliated and blushed a lot.
At least I didn't wake remembering a vivid dream about snogging the face off a colleague to realise it *cough* hadn't been a dream (as happened on a work jolly to the Isle of Wight several years ago)
Moral? Eat first.
Monday 14 December 2009
when you are 5
when you are five, and you have to go to school on your birthday, going to London for the first time to look at the lions and the polar bear is less enticing than going home to play with the toys you got to look at but not play with when you got up.
So you throw a tearful strop and are old enough not to be distracted by anything until you get your own way, winning big on the birthday bluff that adults won't tell you off 'today'
Men!
So you throw a tearful strop and are old enough not to be distracted by anything until you get your own way, winning big on the birthday bluff that adults won't tell you off 'today'
Men!
working from home
today that involved forgetting to set the phone alarm properly and waking pleasantly at 9:30 Snoopy2 may or may not work; so far I can't get the wireless thingie to switch on, even if I did get the helpdesk to unlock the razz security number generator.
The weekend turned into a major tour of the country: London to home to Leicester on Friday; Leicester to Milton Keynes to home (to visit the other Jean, who was delighted to see me after mmmmmmffff years, me bad) to Chelmsford on Saturday; Chelmsford to Harlow to home on Sunday. Being possessed of a total lack of any sense of direction, I got lost getting to Chelmsford (which isn't fair since I've been there several times) found the TA centre before I found the hotel, knew the hotel is less than a mile away and got directions by phone from someone at the TA centre.
All good, but they directed me to the 'other' Premier Inn. Cost me an extra £3 for the room and doubled taxi fares but I'd had enough driving by then.
Still, fancy dress, cheap booze, jumping disco (mostly the records, unfortunately), good friends, and I was actually DANCING! Hurrah for knees in recovery.
The weekend turned into a major tour of the country: London to home to Leicester on Friday; Leicester to Milton Keynes to home (to visit the other Jean, who was delighted to see me after mmmmmmffff years, me bad) to Chelmsford on Saturday; Chelmsford to Harlow to home on Sunday. Being possessed of a total lack of any sense of direction, I got lost getting to Chelmsford (which isn't fair since I've been there several times) found the TA centre before I found the hotel, knew the hotel is less than a mile away and got directions by phone from someone at the TA centre.
All good, but they directed me to the 'other' Premier Inn. Cost me an extra £3 for the room and doubled taxi fares but I'd had enough driving by then.
Still, fancy dress, cheap booze, jumping disco (mostly the records, unfortunately), good friends, and I was actually DANCING! Hurrah for knees in recovery.
Friday 11 December 2009
Feastive
The season is almost on us, Christmas parties, all those opportunities to eat, drink, spend too much and be swept along with the festive flow.
Two parties this week, Ladies on Wednesday which was great fun; I managed to get and wrap the presents, find and write the cards, except for Donna - sorreee! as I didn't know she was going to be there. P sent me a phonepic of my name in lights which served as a bit of a landmark to let me know I was close.
Looking at a streetmap outside the station got me an admirer; weird! No, I wasn't lost. No, I didn't need any help. No, he didn't know where Eldon Street was. No, I didn't want him to walk with me till I found it. No, I didn't fancy having a drink with him first, or taking his number in case I didn't find my friends. If he followed me, I didn't notice.
Gatecrashed an invite to the dark side of the company last night at The Funny Side and almost all of it WAS funny. I'm trying hard to remember some of the jokes to claim as my own. Taking snoopy back to the hotel before getting to the place meant I missed the food, which was a shame as it did look appetising, and did another buy my own drink before finding out what the magic word was for the bar tab - oh, well.
WALKED back to the hotel again; this is getting to be a habit; there's a positive spiral going on with the leg, the better it gets, the more I can walk easily and do stairs, which makes it get better. I don't mean the spiral walnut jobs, I don't have a wooden leg yet.
Holiday today; time to read the paper over breakfast, and off shortly to get on the next hamsterwheel. WHY did I promise to go to Leicester today? the logistics of getting from there to P's or to Colchester tomorrow for a TA fancy dress party in tine and on time tomorrow is ermmmmm feeling like a bit of a challenge right now.
Verking from home on Monday so I csn take my favourite blonde out for his birthday after school, and then getting back to the hotel so I can go to the 9am start (what!) all day meeting on Tuesday. It's next week already, and another company do, the mothership black tie one at The DaliUniverse. I went there years ago with a friend and her neice, they were finished their tea and buns by the time I emerged, wishing I'd been on my own to have stayed longer. Wondering a little at the quote that, to be a Dali fan, you have to be a masochist
Two parties this week, Ladies on Wednesday which was great fun; I managed to get and wrap the presents, find and write the cards, except for Donna - sorreee! as I didn't know she was going to be there. P sent me a phonepic of my name in lights which served as a bit of a landmark to let me know I was close.
Looking at a streetmap outside the station got me an admirer; weird! No, I wasn't lost. No, I didn't need any help. No, he didn't know where Eldon Street was. No, I didn't want him to walk with me till I found it. No, I didn't fancy having a drink with him first, or taking his number in case I didn't find my friends. If he followed me, I didn't notice.
Gatecrashed an invite to the dark side of the company last night at The Funny Side and almost all of it WAS funny. I'm trying hard to remember some of the jokes to claim as my own. Taking snoopy back to the hotel before getting to the place meant I missed the food, which was a shame as it did look appetising, and did another buy my own drink before finding out what the magic word was for the bar tab - oh, well.
WALKED back to the hotel again; this is getting to be a habit; there's a positive spiral going on with the leg, the better it gets, the more I can walk easily and do stairs, which makes it get better. I don't mean the spiral walnut jobs, I don't have a wooden leg yet.
Holiday today; time to read the paper over breakfast, and off shortly to get on the next hamsterwheel. WHY did I promise to go to Leicester today? the logistics of getting from there to P's or to Colchester tomorrow for a TA fancy dress party in tine and on time tomorrow is ermmmmm feeling like a bit of a challenge right now.
Verking from home on Monday so I csn take my favourite blonde out for his birthday after school, and then getting back to the hotel so I can go to the 9am start (what!) all day meeting on Tuesday. It's next week already, and another company do, the mothership black tie one at The DaliUniverse. I went there years ago with a friend and her neice, they were finished their tea and buns by the time I emerged, wishing I'd been on my own to have stayed longer. Wondering a little at the quote that, to be a Dali fan, you have to be a masochist
Friday 4 December 2009
shoebox
The man finally came out of the cave and turned into Prince Charming, proferring a single scintillating red stiletto on a diamond-studded silver box, which turned out to have a silver bulldog and a queen nestled inside it.
Decode THAT, Armani!
answers on a post(card) please
Decode THAT, Armani!
answers on a post(card) please
Thursday 3 December 2009
Wednesday 2 December 2009
Starring in a life near you
Lovely late birthday treat meal at L'Etoile last night, fabulous food, some Pouilly Fumé I didn't ask the price of, and endless chat. Amazingly enough I WALKED back to the hotel, more amazing in terms of not getting lost than being able to walk that far (ermmm, maybe a mile?) though that's good too. Thoroughly enjoyable evening after a rotten work-poxed day
Good news that my mother's hospital visit was 'only' a scare, not actually pleurisy, 'just' a chest infection. It took a flurry of intersibling phonecalls to track her down at home but at least we've proved teh comms links still work.
Bad news? I'm not entertaining bad news today la-la-la- happy happy, joy joy
this song for me this morning
Good news that my mother's hospital visit was 'only' a scare, not actually pleurisy, 'just' a chest infection. It took a flurry of intersibling phonecalls to track her down at home but at least we've proved teh comms links still work.
Bad news? I'm not entertaining bad news today la-la-la- happy happy, joy joy
this song for me this morning
Sunday 29 November 2009
odd words
I just generated my #TweetCloud out of a year of my tweets. Top three words: time, happy, friends - http://w33.us/x7e
Friday 27 November 2009
Eid
Poor Sid; there we were, ready to set off for his birthday lunch and discovered that there wasn't a gettable taxi to be had. Some had answering machines set to say "Because today is a religious holiday, we are closed until tomorrow", most didn't answer, and the best offer was a 3 hour wait. Hmmmppphhh.
I made Sid get on an omnibus. That's what they called them when he used them regularly, I'm sure. We *could* have walked into town, it's only about a mile, but the knee still whinges and I get bad-tempered when it does that. The little leggie is much improved but I decided to take the stick 'just in case', which turned out to be a little embarrassing when the three aged pensioners at the bus stop, two with their own sticks, held back and insisted I got on the bus first.
So, La Tasca, using up a 50% off voucher. It was class, we managed to spend four times as much on wine as we did on food, and thoroughly enjoyed both. 1996 Faustino, it was mmmmmmmmm. Recommend that teenage wine to anyone.
We did manage to get a taxi back, in a nicely fuzzy haze, and I blame the fine spanish Brandy for causing me to sleep through most of the first DVD when we got back. Watched "I was a teenage vampire" afterwards - class B movie, I loved it.
Last working day of my holiday and I've done mostly jack, de nada. Flirted with the dentist and gave him a lot of money to do unpleasant things to my mouth; spent a whole four days with mother doing mostly nothing. I had sworn I'd take her to see Les Miserables but she declared she'd rather see Les Enfants aka the shorts at home. I decided the best way for her to get to the airport was to park in an hotel (not that) near Luton airport and get a taxi. I wouldn't mind the £1 charge for dropping someone off; but it's simply not possible to drop anyone off next to the terminal and she was exhausted by the walk from the pickup/dropoff bit (I had fondly imagined a taxi might be able to get us closer)
At least the 'got to get your boarding card first' assistance counter let us use one of their wheelchairs to go an queue for almost half an hour to get her checked in. Extremely unamusing.
Barrelled off into the night to surprise Vikki only to find she'd given Dom the night off and had to work in the bar all evening. You'd think having your own pub would prevent that kind of thing. It's a bit alarming to find that my 'nearly-nephew' Robert will be 17 next month, has grown almost a foot taller despite taking up smoking and has managed to convince his parents to let his girlfriend move in! We missed the last couple of HP movies as he grew up faster than Harry Potter did, but he told me he still has the HP watch I gave him and considers it a treasured possession. Say AWWWW
Four day weeks till Christmas from now, then off till next year, using up the holiday I should have had much much earlier in the year. Early resolution, I will NOT have almost three weeks holiday still to take when it gets to next November, I'll - I'll - I'll..... not be able to take a whole week until April at earliest, later if the project overruns
Short people have been round several times; Paul is off to Amsterdam this weekend for his mate Simon's stag do. I've bought my sister's Christmas present, I have two more days before I have to go back to work, and just remembered I forgot to order a corporate heaven.
I made Sid get on an omnibus. That's what they called them when he used them regularly, I'm sure. We *could* have walked into town, it's only about a mile, but the knee still whinges and I get bad-tempered when it does that. The little leggie is much improved but I decided to take the stick 'just in case', which turned out to be a little embarrassing when the three aged pensioners at the bus stop, two with their own sticks, held back and insisted I got on the bus first.
So, La Tasca, using up a 50% off voucher. It was class, we managed to spend four times as much on wine as we did on food, and thoroughly enjoyed both. 1996 Faustino, it was mmmmmmmmm. Recommend that teenage wine to anyone.
We did manage to get a taxi back, in a nicely fuzzy haze, and I blame the fine spanish Brandy for causing me to sleep through most of the first DVD when we got back. Watched "I was a teenage vampire" afterwards - class B movie, I loved it.
Last working day of my holiday and I've done mostly jack, de nada. Flirted with the dentist and gave him a lot of money to do unpleasant things to my mouth; spent a whole four days with mother doing mostly nothing. I had sworn I'd take her to see Les Miserables but she declared she'd rather see Les Enfants aka the shorts at home. I decided the best way for her to get to the airport was to park in an hotel (not that) near Luton airport and get a taxi. I wouldn't mind the £1 charge for dropping someone off; but it's simply not possible to drop anyone off next to the terminal and she was exhausted by the walk from the pickup/dropoff bit (I had fondly imagined a taxi might be able to get us closer)
At least the 'got to get your boarding card first' assistance counter let us use one of their wheelchairs to go an queue for almost half an hour to get her checked in. Extremely unamusing.
Barrelled off into the night to surprise Vikki only to find she'd given Dom the night off and had to work in the bar all evening. You'd think having your own pub would prevent that kind of thing. It's a bit alarming to find that my 'nearly-nephew' Robert will be 17 next month, has grown almost a foot taller despite taking up smoking and has managed to convince his parents to let his girlfriend move in! We missed the last couple of HP movies as he grew up faster than Harry Potter did, but he told me he still has the HP watch I gave him and considers it a treasured possession. Say AWWWW
Four day weeks till Christmas from now, then off till next year, using up the holiday I should have had much much earlier in the year. Early resolution, I will NOT have almost three weeks holiday still to take when it gets to next November, I'll - I'll - I'll..... not be able to take a whole week until April at earliest, later if the project overruns
Short people have been round several times; Paul is off to Amsterdam this weekend for his mate Simon's stag do. I've bought my sister's Christmas present, I have two more days before I have to go back to work, and just remembered I forgot to order a corporate heaven.
innovative scots
Here's tae us
Fa's like us
Nae mony
an they're (nearly) a deid!
Road transport innovations
A gas mask: James Gregory (1638-1675)
A steam car (steam engine): William Murdoch (1754-1839) [10]
Macadamized roads (Not Tarmac): John Loudon MacAdam (1756-1836)[3] [1]
The pedal bicycle: Kirkpatrick Macmillan (1813-1878)[2]
The pneumatic tyre: Robert William Thomson and John Boyd Dunlop (1822-1873) [2]
The overhead valve engine: David Dunbar Buick (1854-1929)
The motor lorry: John Yule in 1870
The steam tricycle: Andrew Lawson in 1895
Civil engineering innovations
Bridges
Bridge design: Sir William Arrol (1838-1913), Thomas Telford (1757-1834) & John Rennie (1761-1821)
Suspension bridge improvements: Sir Samuel Brown (1776-1852)
Tubular steel: Sir William Fairbairn (1789-1874)
Canals and docks
Falkirk Wheel: ??? (Opened 2002)
Canal design: Thomas Telford (1757-1834)
Dock design: John Rennie (1761-1821)
The patent slip for docking vessels: Thomas Morton (1781-1832)
Crane design: James Bremner (1784-1856)
Lighthouses
Lighthouse design: Robert Stevenson (1772-1850)
The Drummond Light: Thomas Drummond (1797-1840)
Power innovations
Condensing steam engine improvements: James Watt (1736-1819)[1]
Coal-gas lighting: William Murdock (1754-1839)
The Stirling heat engine: Rev. Robert Stirling (1790-1878)
Electro-magnetic innovations: James Clerk Maxwell (1831-79)
Carbon brushes for dynamos: George Forbes (1849-1936)
The Clark cycle gas engine: Sir Dugald Clark (1854-1932)
Wireless transformer improvements: Sir James Swinburne (1858-1958)
Cloud chamber recording of atoms: Charles T. R. Wilson (1869-1959)
Wave-powered electricity generator:By South African Engineer Stephen Salter in 1977
Shipbuilding innovations
The steamship paddle wheel: Patrick Miller (1731-1815)
Improvements in The steam boat: William Symington (1763-1831)
Europe's first passenger steamboat: Henry Bell (1767-1830)
The first iron-hulled steamship: Sir William Fairbairn (1789-1874)
The first practical screw propeller: Robert Wilson (1803-1882)
Marine engine innovations: James Howden (1832-1913)
Heavy industry innovations
The carronade cannon: Robert Melville (1723-1809)
Making cast steel from wrought iron: David Mushet (1772-1847)
Wrought iron sash bars for glass houses: John C. Loudon (1783-1865)
The hot blast oven: James Beaumont Neilson (1792-1865)
The steam hammer: James Nasmyth (1808-1890)
Wire rope: Robert Stirling Newall (1812-1889)
Steam engine improvements: William Mcnaught (1831-1881)
The Fairlie, a narrow gauge, double-bogey railway engine: Robert Francis Fairlie (1831-1885)
Cordite - Sir James Dewar, Sir Frederick Abel
Agricultural innovations
Threshing machine improvements: James Meikle (c.1690-c.1780) & Andrew Meikle (1719-1811)
Hollow pipe drainage: Sir Hugh Dalrymple, Lord Drummore (1700-1753)
The Scotch Plough: James Anderson of Hermiston (1739-1808)
Deanstonisation soil-drainage system: James Smith (1789-1850)
The mechanical reaping machine: Rev. Patrick Bell (1799-1869)
The Fresno Scraper: James Porteous (1848-1922)
The Tuley tree shelter: Graham Tuley in 1979
Communication innovations
Print stereotyping: William Ged (1690-1749)
The balloon post: John Anderson (1726-1796)
Roller printing: Thomas Bell (patented 1783)
The adhesive postage stamp and the postmark: James Chalmers (1782-1853)
The mail-van service
Universal Standard Time: Sir Sandford Fleming (1827-1915)
Light signalling between ships: Admiral Philip H. Colomb (1831-1899)
The telephonedisputed) Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922)[4]
The teleprinter: Frederick G. Creed (1871-1957)
The television: (disputed widely) see Paul Nipkov.John Logie Baird (1888-1946)[5]
Radar: Robert Watson-Watt (1892-1973)[8]
Fax Machine - Alexander Bain
The underlying principles of Radio - James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879)
Publishing firsts:
The first book translated from English into a foreign language
The first edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1768-81)
The first English textbook on surgery (1597)
The first modern pharmacopaedia, the Materia Medica Catalogue (1776)
The first textbook on Newtonian science
The first colour newspaper advertisement
The first postcards and picture postcards in the UK
Scientific innovations
Logarithms: John Napier (1550-1617)
The theory of electromagnetism: James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879)
Popularising the decimal point: John Napier (1550-1617)
The Gregorian telescope: James Gregory (1638-1675)
The concept of latent heat: Joseph Black (1728-1799)
The pyroscope, atmometer and aethrioscope scientific instruments: Sir John Leslie (1766-1832)
Identifying the nucleus in living cells: Robert Brown (1773-1858)
Hypnosis: James Braid (1795-1860)
Colloid chemistry: Thomas Graham (1805-1869)
The kelvin SI unit of temperature: William Thompson, Lord Kelvin (1824-1907)
Devising the diagramatic system of representing chemical bonds: Alexander Crum Brown (1838-1922)
Criminal fingerprinting: Henry Faulds (1843-1930)
The noble gases: Sir William Ramsay (1852-1916)
The Cloud chamber: Charles Thomson Rees Wilson (1869-1959)
Pioneering work on nutrition and poverty: John Boyd Orr (1880-1971)
The ultrasound scanner: Ian Donald (1910-1987)
Ferrocene synthetic substances: Peter Ludwig Pauson in 1955
The MRI body scanner: John Mallard in 1980
The first cloned mammal (Dolly the Sheep): Was conducted in The Roslin Institute research centre in 1996 although by two Englishmen, Ian Wilmut and Keith Campbell.
Seismometer innovations thereof - James David Forbes
Sports innovations
Main article: Sport in Scotland
Scots have been instrumental in the invention and early development of several sports:
several modern athletics events, i.e. shot put and the hammer throw, possibly derive from Highland Games events
Curling
Cycling, invention of the pedal-cycle
Golf (see Golf in Scotland)
Shinty The history of Shinty pre-dates Scotland the Nation. It is thought to have originated in Ireland.
Medical innovations
Pioneering the use of surgical anaesthesia with Chloroform: Sir James Young Simpson (1811-1870)
The hypodermic syringe: Alexander Wood (1817-1884)
Pioneering the use of antiseptics: Joseph Lister (1827-1912)
Identifying the mosquito as the carrier of malaria: Sir Ronald Ross (1857-1932)
Identifying the cause of brucellosis: Sir David Bruce (1855-1931)
Discovering the vaccine for typhoid fever: Sir William B. Leishman (1865-1926)
Discovering insulin: John J R Macleod (1876-1935) with others
Penicillin: Sir Alexander Fleming (1881-1955)
Discovering an effective tuberculosis treatment: Sir John Crofton in the 1950s
Primary creator of the artificial kidney (Professor Kenneth Lowe - Later Queen's physician in Scotland)
Developing the first beta-blocker drugs: Sir James W. Black in 1964
Glasgow Coma Scale: Graham Teasdale and Bryan J. Jennett (1974)
Household innovations
The Dewar Flask: Sir James Dewar (1847-1932)
The piano footpedal: John Broadwood (1732-1812)
The waterproof macintosh: Charles Macintosh (1766-1843)
The kaleidoscope: Sir David Brewster (1781-1868)
The modern lawnmower: Alexander Shanks (1801-1845)
The Lucifer friction match: Sir Isaac Holden (1807-1897){
The self filling pen: Robert Thomson (1822-1873)
Cotton-reel thread: J & J Clark of Paisley
Lime Cordial: Lachlan Rose in 1867
Bovril beef extract: John Lawson Johnston in 1874
The life ring, or personal flotation device: Captain Ward in 1854
Electric clock - Alexander Bain
Weapons innovations
The Ferguson rifle: Patrick Ferguson in 1770 or 1776
The Lee bolt system as used in the Lee-Metford and Lee-Enfield series rifles: James Paris Lee
The Ghillie suit
The MacKellar Heat Seeking Bullet: Kieran MacKellar in 2006 [3]
Economics innovations
Adam Smith; Smith was born in 1723, hailing from Kirkcaldy, a Scottish town north of Edinburgh; the 18th century Scot considered to be the father of modern economics; Smith's ``An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, which argued that minimal government interference in commerce would promote human welfare and alleviate poverty, was published in 1776. He is the first Scotsman to appear on the central bank's currency in England, replacing Elgar's image in the next few years on as many as 1 billion notes.
Miscellaneous innovations
The digestive biscuit, invented by McVitie's in Edinburgh in 1892 by Alexander Grant.
Boys' Brigade
Bank of England
Bank of Scotland
Bank of France
Colour photography: the first known permanent colour photograph was taken by James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879)
The Comb - Aberdeen
The Keyring - Aberdeen
Robinson Crusoe - influenced by the real-life Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish castaway
We also gave the world Chic Murray and Billy Connolly and we humbly apologise for Gordon Brown.
Hong Kong was also a Scots idea.
Fa's like us
Nae mony
an they're (nearly) a deid!
Road transport innovations
A gas mask: James Gregory (1638-1675)
A steam car (steam engine): William Murdoch (1754-1839) [10]
Macadamized roads (Not Tarmac): John Loudon MacAdam (1756-1836)[3] [1]
The pedal bicycle: Kirkpatrick Macmillan (1813-1878)[2]
The pneumatic tyre: Robert William Thomson and John Boyd Dunlop (1822-1873) [2]
The overhead valve engine: David Dunbar Buick (1854-1929)
The motor lorry: John Yule in 1870
The steam tricycle: Andrew Lawson in 1895
Civil engineering innovations
Bridges
Bridge design: Sir William Arrol (1838-1913), Thomas Telford (1757-1834) & John Rennie (1761-1821)
Suspension bridge improvements: Sir Samuel Brown (1776-1852)
Tubular steel: Sir William Fairbairn (1789-1874)
Canals and docks
Falkirk Wheel: ??? (Opened 2002)
Canal design: Thomas Telford (1757-1834)
Dock design: John Rennie (1761-1821)
The patent slip for docking vessels: Thomas Morton (1781-1832)
Crane design: James Bremner (1784-1856)
Lighthouses
Lighthouse design: Robert Stevenson (1772-1850)
The Drummond Light: Thomas Drummond (1797-1840)
Power innovations
Condensing steam engine improvements: James Watt (1736-1819)[1]
Coal-gas lighting: William Murdock (1754-1839)
The Stirling heat engine: Rev. Robert Stirling (1790-1878)
Electro-magnetic innovations: James Clerk Maxwell (1831-79)
Carbon brushes for dynamos: George Forbes (1849-1936)
The Clark cycle gas engine: Sir Dugald Clark (1854-1932)
Wireless transformer improvements: Sir James Swinburne (1858-1958)
Cloud chamber recording of atoms: Charles T. R. Wilson (1869-1959)
Wave-powered electricity generator:By South African Engineer Stephen Salter in 1977
Shipbuilding innovations
The steamship paddle wheel: Patrick Miller (1731-1815)
Improvements in The steam boat: William Symington (1763-1831)
Europe's first passenger steamboat: Henry Bell (1767-1830)
The first iron-hulled steamship: Sir William Fairbairn (1789-1874)
The first practical screw propeller: Robert Wilson (1803-1882)
Marine engine innovations: James Howden (1832-1913)
Heavy industry innovations
The carronade cannon: Robert Melville (1723-1809)
Making cast steel from wrought iron: David Mushet (1772-1847)
Wrought iron sash bars for glass houses: John C. Loudon (1783-1865)
The hot blast oven: James Beaumont Neilson (1792-1865)
The steam hammer: James Nasmyth (1808-1890)
Wire rope: Robert Stirling Newall (1812-1889)
Steam engine improvements: William Mcnaught (1831-1881)
The Fairlie, a narrow gauge, double-bogey railway engine: Robert Francis Fairlie (1831-1885)
Cordite - Sir James Dewar, Sir Frederick Abel
Agricultural innovations
Threshing machine improvements: James Meikle (c.1690-c.1780) & Andrew Meikle (1719-1811)
Hollow pipe drainage: Sir Hugh Dalrymple, Lord Drummore (1700-1753)
The Scotch Plough: James Anderson of Hermiston (1739-1808)
Deanstonisation soil-drainage system: James Smith (1789-1850)
The mechanical reaping machine: Rev. Patrick Bell (1799-1869)
The Fresno Scraper: James Porteous (1848-1922)
The Tuley tree shelter: Graham Tuley in 1979
Communication innovations
Print stereotyping: William Ged (1690-1749)
The balloon post: John Anderson (1726-1796)
Roller printing: Thomas Bell (patented 1783)
The adhesive postage stamp and the postmark: James Chalmers (1782-1853)
The mail-van service
Universal Standard Time: Sir Sandford Fleming (1827-1915)
Light signalling between ships: Admiral Philip H. Colomb (1831-1899)
The telephonedisputed) Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922)[4]
The teleprinter: Frederick G. Creed (1871-1957)
The television: (disputed widely) see Paul Nipkov.John Logie Baird (1888-1946)[5]
Radar: Robert Watson-Watt (1892-1973)[8]
Fax Machine - Alexander Bain
The underlying principles of Radio - James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879)
Publishing firsts:
The first book translated from English into a foreign language
The first edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1768-81)
The first English textbook on surgery (1597)
The first modern pharmacopaedia, the Materia Medica Catalogue (1776)
The first textbook on Newtonian science
The first colour newspaper advertisement
The first postcards and picture postcards in the UK
Scientific innovations
Logarithms: John Napier (1550-1617)
The theory of electromagnetism: James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879)
Popularising the decimal point: John Napier (1550-1617)
The Gregorian telescope: James Gregory (1638-1675)
The concept of latent heat: Joseph Black (1728-1799)
The pyroscope, atmometer and aethrioscope scientific instruments: Sir John Leslie (1766-1832)
Identifying the nucleus in living cells: Robert Brown (1773-1858)
Hypnosis: James Braid (1795-1860)
Colloid chemistry: Thomas Graham (1805-1869)
The kelvin SI unit of temperature: William Thompson, Lord Kelvin (1824-1907)
Devising the diagramatic system of representing chemical bonds: Alexander Crum Brown (1838-1922)
Criminal fingerprinting: Henry Faulds (1843-1930)
The noble gases: Sir William Ramsay (1852-1916)
The Cloud chamber: Charles Thomson Rees Wilson (1869-1959)
Pioneering work on nutrition and poverty: John Boyd Orr (1880-1971)
The ultrasound scanner: Ian Donald (1910-1987)
Ferrocene synthetic substances: Peter Ludwig Pauson in 1955
The MRI body scanner: John Mallard in 1980
The first cloned mammal (Dolly the Sheep): Was conducted in The Roslin Institute research centre in 1996 although by two Englishmen, Ian Wilmut and Keith Campbell.
Seismometer innovations thereof - James David Forbes
Sports innovations
Main article: Sport in Scotland
Scots have been instrumental in the invention and early development of several sports:
several modern athletics events, i.e. shot put and the hammer throw, possibly derive from Highland Games events
Curling
Cycling, invention of the pedal-cycle
Golf (see Golf in Scotland)
Shinty The history of Shinty pre-dates Scotland the Nation. It is thought to have originated in Ireland.
Medical innovations
Pioneering the use of surgical anaesthesia with Chloroform: Sir James Young Simpson (1811-1870)
The hypodermic syringe: Alexander Wood (1817-1884)
Pioneering the use of antiseptics: Joseph Lister (1827-1912)
Identifying the mosquito as the carrier of malaria: Sir Ronald Ross (1857-1932)
Identifying the cause of brucellosis: Sir David Bruce (1855-1931)
Discovering the vaccine for typhoid fever: Sir William B. Leishman (1865-1926)
Discovering insulin: John J R Macleod (1876-1935) with others
Penicillin: Sir Alexander Fleming (1881-1955)
Discovering an effective tuberculosis treatment: Sir John Crofton in the 1950s
Primary creator of the artificial kidney (Professor Kenneth Lowe - Later Queen's physician in Scotland)
Developing the first beta-blocker drugs: Sir James W. Black in 1964
Glasgow Coma Scale: Graham Teasdale and Bryan J. Jennett (1974)
Household innovations
The Dewar Flask: Sir James Dewar (1847-1932)
The piano footpedal: John Broadwood (1732-1812)
The waterproof macintosh: Charles Macintosh (1766-1843)
The kaleidoscope: Sir David Brewster (1781-1868)
The modern lawnmower: Alexander Shanks (1801-1845)
The Lucifer friction match: Sir Isaac Holden (1807-1897){
The self filling pen: Robert Thomson (1822-1873)
Cotton-reel thread: J & J Clark of Paisley
Lime Cordial: Lachlan Rose in 1867
Bovril beef extract: John Lawson Johnston in 1874
The life ring, or personal flotation device: Captain Ward in 1854
Electric clock - Alexander Bain
Weapons innovations
The Ferguson rifle: Patrick Ferguson in 1770 or 1776
The Lee bolt system as used in the Lee-Metford and Lee-Enfield series rifles: James Paris Lee
The Ghillie suit
The MacKellar Heat Seeking Bullet: Kieran MacKellar in 2006 [3]
Economics innovations
Adam Smith; Smith was born in 1723, hailing from Kirkcaldy, a Scottish town north of Edinburgh; the 18th century Scot considered to be the father of modern economics; Smith's ``An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, which argued that minimal government interference in commerce would promote human welfare and alleviate poverty, was published in 1776. He is the first Scotsman to appear on the central bank's currency in England, replacing Elgar's image in the next few years on as many as 1 billion notes.
Miscellaneous innovations
The digestive biscuit, invented by McVitie's in Edinburgh in 1892 by Alexander Grant.
Boys' Brigade
Bank of England
Bank of Scotland
Bank of France
Colour photography: the first known permanent colour photograph was taken by James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879)
The Comb - Aberdeen
The Keyring - Aberdeen
Robinson Crusoe - influenced by the real-life Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish castaway
We also gave the world Chic Murray and Billy Connolly and we humbly apologise for Gordon Brown.
Hong Kong was also a Scots idea.
Saturday 7 November 2009
Jedi
Vinod Gupta is the man with the laser - I made a sudden decision, after over a decade of thinking about it, researching it, talking to my opticians about it, and finally sorted out a consultation thing, and decided to get my left eye star-warred the next day. *blink*
~ found this lying around in the draft box : never did get round to finishing it, unless it's somewhere in the depths of my proper diary headbook which has a readership of one.
~ found this lying around in the draft box : never did get round to finishing it, unless it's somewhere in the depths of my proper diary headbook which has a readership of one.
Monday 12 October 2009
waystation
It’s been my birthday today. I mostly didn't tell anyone. I tell myself I have simply not got excited about it this year, and that’s truthful. I had my fairytale birthday treat going to see the ENO production of Turandot at the Coliseum with Mark
I spent most of today in a "Nothing pleases me" mood; mind full of intention movements to get busy, to achieve something tangible and all I did was slept late, read a book, and ate too much, knowing it was comfort eating but not why I felt in need of comforting.
Finally got my act together enough to give myself a bit of home pampering and managed to fetch the kitchen splashback thingie from FedEx before they closed then headed for the Nursery to see Paul, Dee and the shorts: they’d got me a new DVD player as I’ve been moaning that none of mine work any more (or I can’t get them to work). Replied to Paula’s (exhausted after climbing Scafell at the weekend) text ; called Sid, who had forgotten about La Tasca this evening. Feel a bit giggling about that; if it had seriously mattered to me, I would have reminded him; Paul couldn't go as he's done something evil to his back, and although Dee offered to go to dinner with me, I had just said I would go to Sid’s for a drink and so went off, feeling happy and loved, having kissed the children goodbye: only about three times each.
Alex got ‘beaten up’ at school today; still has a bite-mark on his arm, and an incipient bruise round his eye. Nowadays they fill in pre-printed forms, ‘violence reports’, and somehow manage to confuse the details in less than twenty words. If the marks on Alex’ arm at 6:30pm were the result of the other boy ‘trying’ to bite him before 3pm, I expect he’d have lost the arm if he’d ‘really’ been bitten.
Sid has surpassed himself again on the different fox birthday card: a Mick Cawston print of a disreputable fox smoking a pipe; and had bagginsed the small mountain of books and DVDs I didn’t fancy carrying back with me last time, hospitably provided a bottle of 1997 something-very-nice which we drank comfortably, chatting and listening to the 1920’s/30’s originals of stuff the Bonzo Dog DooDah Band played several decades later.
I declare my birthday enjoyed.
I spent most of today in a "Nothing pleases me" mood; mind full of intention movements to get busy, to achieve something tangible and all I did was slept late, read a book, and ate too much, knowing it was comfort eating but not why I felt in need of comforting.
Finally got my act together enough to give myself a bit of home pampering and managed to fetch the kitchen splashback thingie from FedEx before they closed then headed for the Nursery to see Paul, Dee and the shorts: they’d got me a new DVD player as I’ve been moaning that none of mine work any more (or I can’t get them to work). Replied to Paula’s (exhausted after climbing Scafell at the weekend) text ; called Sid, who had forgotten about La Tasca this evening. Feel a bit giggling about that; if it had seriously mattered to me, I would have reminded him; Paul couldn't go as he's done something evil to his back, and although Dee offered to go to dinner with me, I had just said I would go to Sid’s for a drink and so went off, feeling happy and loved, having kissed the children goodbye: only about three times each.
Alex got ‘beaten up’ at school today; still has a bite-mark on his arm, and an incipient bruise round his eye. Nowadays they fill in pre-printed forms, ‘violence reports’, and somehow manage to confuse the details in less than twenty words. If the marks on Alex’ arm at 6:30pm were the result of the other boy ‘trying’ to bite him before 3pm, I expect he’d have lost the arm if he’d ‘really’ been bitten.
Sid has surpassed himself again on the different fox birthday card: a Mick Cawston print of a disreputable fox smoking a pipe; and had bagginsed the small mountain of books and DVDs I didn’t fancy carrying back with me last time, hospitably provided a bottle of 1997 something-very-nice which we drank comfortably, chatting and listening to the 1920’s/30’s originals of stuff the Bonzo Dog DooDah Band played several decades later.
I declare my birthday enjoyed.
Saturday 10 October 2009
Turandot
Fabulous, spectacular, LOVED IT!
It’s Mark’s favourite opera, and I happened to see it was on at the Coliseum so got tickets and sent him an email on his birthday, with this link and a lot of white space instead of dots or something to where I’d pasted the details of the performance date and seat numbers at the bottom of the email, where he didn’t find it.
Opening his presents in the pub, no-one knew it was his birthday so I sneaked the card, Marilyn Monroe, to one of his poker buddies who got various friends to sign. Chelsea lost to Wigan that day and MarkG wrote ‘sealed with a Wigan kiss’ on the back of the envelope. Rotten swine.
He liked his presents but declared I’d done a Deron Brown on him telling him the opera scarf was cheap nylon. Hmmmpppphhhh. It’s not.
Dinner was unfortunately so-so, if anyone wants to go to Preto for a lovely laid-back dinner, go in the early evening before they get busy and the service suffers.
Good call though unintentional on the opera date, between his birthday and mine. Sudden and momentary panic when I realized that giving him both tickets meant he might take someone else. He was gallant enough to say he doesn’t know anyone else who’d know what to wear.
Bad call on getting from work to the theatre, I needed to get changed into the wonderfully easy to wear but fabulous looking black dress MrsG gave me a long while back, with the super sequined black bolero top. I’d decided on the louboutin-like black patent platforms with the red suede heel, the Fiorella dinky red bag with the dangling red and black hearts, and, though I’ve still never got round to replacing the laces with black ones, full length red leather opera gloves. All that elegance was languishing in corporate heaven on the day. In the opposite direction from work to the opera house; the hotel being closer than the pub or Mark’s place but in entirely the opposite direction.
It seemed like a good idea to be waking up where my work clothes were; turfing him out when I left for work the next morning and had to check out would have been rather unkind so I decided it would be a good plan to leave work about 4:30, collect the glam outfit and remind everyone in his local that we love getting dressed up. They think we’re both nuts.
It was going quite well till the traffic caused a schedule reset about 6pm when the 24 bus had been sitting growling on the spot for at least 15 minutes on Victoria Street. Back to plan B, my private dressing room, aka the pub loo, scene of many transformations. Adam the barman coped admirably with my swanning in, ordering a couple of doubles then swanning upstairs to get changed saying I’d pay for them when I came down. By the time I’d done the transformation, and persuaded Adam to porter my bag downstairs, Mark had arrived, all hot horniness in top hat and the non-nylon opera scarf (he WAS wearing other clothes) and got stitched paying for the drinks.
Everything went wonderfully well after that; finished our drinks, found a taxi, managed to get there with about five minutes to spare (positively EARLY for me but Mark was twitching a bit) Compliments, compliments and more compliments from random strangers making a point of coming over and/or saying loudly that they were pleased someone had made the effort.
CLASS seats! I thought they’d probably be behind a pillar or something since they were right at the end of a row but it turned out that the only people in front of us were in the orchestra pit.
I can’t do it justice but searched some reviews to find out what real aficiandos thought
Good
good
ermmm & not so good
Sod ‘em – it worked for us. Totally bizarre treatment but it all worked, the spooky little girl was never explained, I managed to guess the writer’s part in it but missed the fact he got gorily massacred at the point where Puccini had died rather than work out how the opera should end. I doubt Puccini had pigs in mind but I thought they were wonderful, and casting Liu as a shabby heroin type was pretty cool. Kirsten Black managed to mangle english but in a full-on operatic fashion.
Even the taxi back to the pub was in the best tradition, Mark imperiously indicating that I couldn’t walk easily on cobbles to get to the taxi rank when the poor taxi driver was missing clues like the stick I’d recently refused to use. Anyway, it’s all wrong having to walk to a black cab when your imagination is working along the lines of a sleek black limousine purring to a stop exactly when and where you want it.
Time for bed. Holiday last week involved being miserable as sin getting over my flu, perked up a lot with the LLM chorus singing Happy Birthday to me and loading me with lovely gifts when I’d forgotten all about it, then chilling nicely for a few days. Wasn’t over-impressed with having to go back to work today, but the evil annual appraisal calibration convocation is over for another year and I decided to come home tonight and have to get up early tomorrow instead of having to get up early this morning – and Mark won the first poker game of the new league. Hurrah!
‘night
Will maybe write up the Brighton expedition in a while
It’s Mark’s favourite opera, and I happened to see it was on at the Coliseum so got tickets and sent him an email on his birthday, with this link and a lot of white space instead of dots or something to where I’d pasted the details of the performance date and seat numbers at the bottom of the email, where he didn’t find it.
Opening his presents in the pub, no-one knew it was his birthday so I sneaked the card, Marilyn Monroe, to one of his poker buddies who got various friends to sign. Chelsea lost to Wigan that day and MarkG wrote ‘sealed with a Wigan kiss’ on the back of the envelope. Rotten swine.
He liked his presents but declared I’d done a Deron Brown on him telling him the opera scarf was cheap nylon. Hmmmpppphhhh. It’s not.
Dinner was unfortunately so-so, if anyone wants to go to Preto for a lovely laid-back dinner, go in the early evening before they get busy and the service suffers.
Good call though unintentional on the opera date, between his birthday and mine. Sudden and momentary panic when I realized that giving him both tickets meant he might take someone else. He was gallant enough to say he doesn’t know anyone else who’d know what to wear.
Bad call on getting from work to the theatre, I needed to get changed into the wonderfully easy to wear but fabulous looking black dress MrsG gave me a long while back, with the super sequined black bolero top. I’d decided on the louboutin-like black patent platforms with the red suede heel, the Fiorella dinky red bag with the dangling red and black hearts, and, though I’ve still never got round to replacing the laces with black ones, full length red leather opera gloves. All that elegance was languishing in corporate heaven on the day. In the opposite direction from work to the opera house; the hotel being closer than the pub or Mark’s place but in entirely the opposite direction.
It seemed like a good idea to be waking up where my work clothes were; turfing him out when I left for work the next morning and had to check out would have been rather unkind so I decided it would be a good plan to leave work about 4:30, collect the glam outfit and remind everyone in his local that we love getting dressed up. They think we’re both nuts.
It was going quite well till the traffic caused a schedule reset about 6pm when the 24 bus had been sitting growling on the spot for at least 15 minutes on Victoria Street. Back to plan B, my private dressing room, aka the pub loo, scene of many transformations. Adam the barman coped admirably with my swanning in, ordering a couple of doubles then swanning upstairs to get changed saying I’d pay for them when I came down. By the time I’d done the transformation, and persuaded Adam to porter my bag downstairs, Mark had arrived, all hot horniness in top hat and the non-nylon opera scarf (he WAS wearing other clothes) and got stitched paying for the drinks.
Everything went wonderfully well after that; finished our drinks, found a taxi, managed to get there with about five minutes to spare (positively EARLY for me but Mark was twitching a bit) Compliments, compliments and more compliments from random strangers making a point of coming over and/or saying loudly that they were pleased someone had made the effort.
CLASS seats! I thought they’d probably be behind a pillar or something since they were right at the end of a row but it turned out that the only people in front of us were in the orchestra pit.
I can’t do it justice but searched some reviews to find out what real aficiandos thought
Good
good
ermmm & not so good
Sod ‘em – it worked for us. Totally bizarre treatment but it all worked, the spooky little girl was never explained, I managed to guess the writer’s part in it but missed the fact he got gorily massacred at the point where Puccini had died rather than work out how the opera should end. I doubt Puccini had pigs in mind but I thought they were wonderful, and casting Liu as a shabby heroin type was pretty cool. Kirsten Black managed to mangle english but in a full-on operatic fashion.
Even the taxi back to the pub was in the best tradition, Mark imperiously indicating that I couldn’t walk easily on cobbles to get to the taxi rank when the poor taxi driver was missing clues like the stick I’d recently refused to use. Anyway, it’s all wrong having to walk to a black cab when your imagination is working along the lines of a sleek black limousine purring to a stop exactly when and where you want it.
Time for bed. Holiday last week involved being miserable as sin getting over my flu, perked up a lot with the LLM chorus singing Happy Birthday to me and loading me with lovely gifts when I’d forgotten all about it, then chilling nicely for a few days. Wasn’t over-impressed with having to go back to work today, but the evil annual appraisal calibration convocation is over for another year and I decided to come home tonight and have to get up early tomorrow instead of having to get up early this morning – and Mark won the first poker game of the new league. Hurrah!
‘night
Will maybe write up the Brighton expedition in a while
Tuesday 6 October 2009
faint hearted
Offered £190K for this house yesterday and the agent says they declined so I guess the other lot offered more. No sense of relief, just faint regret, and there is still the possibility the other lot will have to back out. I can get another £10K easily but would be tied to a £2K mortgage for the next ten years ~ ach decisions, who'd have thought I'd ever be so rich? And how very un-British of me to discuss lucre.
How do people make these decisions? No phone a friend (well, I did ask P to choose yes or no, very scientific), no ask the audience (well, I did ask Sid), a bit of inside information that someone else had offered and a reluctance to commit, but the decision-maker coin-toss came up heads for offer the extra ~ and I haven't. Thinking out loud here, it's not as if I was actively looking for a new house, more that it's across the road, still near my son and his family, and has an integral garage, and I blame my son for winding me up that I should buy it. He says he was only joking
How do people make these decisions? No phone a friend (well, I did ask P to choose yes or no, very scientific), no ask the audience (well, I did ask Sid), a bit of inside information that someone else had offered and a reluctance to commit, but the decision-maker coin-toss came up heads for offer the extra ~ and I haven't. Thinking out loud here, it's not as if I was actively looking for a new house, more that it's across the road, still near my son and his family, and has an integral garage, and I blame my son for winding me up that I should buy it. He says he was only joking
plans
ahhhhhhhhh - having called sick today and spent the time morphing in and out of feeling pretty OK and really weird etc, I have done and discovered scary and exciting things!
I have plans. PLANS!
Plans for dancing, plans for getting into super-serious (but sensible, really, it IS sensible) debt, plans for going to the cinema to see
this - Judi AND Sophia
and this - does ANYONE go to see just the film, or am I just one of millions who would go to watch Johnny even if he was asleep?
and it's time I was asleep ...
ah - for them as read and fancy the trip to the sticks; La Tasca next Monday
I have plans. PLANS!
Plans for dancing, plans for getting into super-serious (but sensible, really, it IS sensible) debt, plans for going to the cinema to see
this - Judi AND Sophia
and this - does ANYONE go to see just the film, or am I just one of millions who would go to watch Johnny even if he was asleep?
and it's time I was asleep ...
ah - for them as read and fancy the trip to the sticks; La Tasca next Monday
Sunday 4 October 2009
How did it get to be October?
Every year I indulge in wishful thinking that this year I will get to my birthday without seeing drifts of dead autumn leaves. Every year I get a sense of sweet nostalgia that the world has turned again and summer is really over.
Wednesday 30 September 2009
Happiness is ......
being able to walk
- today, I managed to not only do the walking without stick thing, I also managed to do it dragging the donkeyload of snoopy2 and suitcase full of unreasonably heavy course work to revise AND tonight I dared and dealt with some baby stairs without yelping, grimacing (much) or limping horribly afterwards
stuff your Oscars and Nobel prizes, I'm a winner in my own scrabble for a good life
good friends, good times, good music, good memories : not necessarily in that order but in any combination as often as you like
Weekend was top ; man liked his birthday presents, we liked each other's company even if the restaurant return visit wasn't nearly as good as the time before. We both liked drifting gently and pleasantly to very late o'clock, but I didn't much like waking at work o'clock some 3 or four hours later. Revision was done, poker was won, pub rendezvous was perfectly timed, film was watched sleep was had and Monday morning wasn't too painful on the getting to work front
Can't wait for Friday and the exam to be over; who would have thought I'd stress so much about a qualification I don't actually need?
Hotel is scrumptiously lush; a strange mixture of the £20m refurbishment and shabby aristocratic chic - like bits of old wood used as limiters on the sash windows and filthy paintwork on the windowsills.
They still have the ageing but comfortable chairs in the Tempus Bar, but I bought myself a bottle of plonko rosso at the spar down the road for less than the glass of rather very nice wine they sell in there
tired like a fish ; only another week till my holiday, next week full of birthday treats associated with my Libra connections, and a great desire to just chill
- today, I managed to not only do the walking without stick thing, I also managed to do it dragging the donkeyload of snoopy2 and suitcase full of unreasonably heavy course work to revise AND tonight I dared and dealt with some baby stairs without yelping, grimacing (much) or limping horribly afterwards
stuff your Oscars and Nobel prizes, I'm a winner in my own scrabble for a good life
good friends, good times, good music, good memories : not necessarily in that order but in any combination as often as you like
Weekend was top ; man liked his birthday presents, we liked each other's company even if the restaurant return visit wasn't nearly as good as the time before. We both liked drifting gently and pleasantly to very late o'clock, but I didn't much like waking at work o'clock some 3 or four hours later. Revision was done, poker was won, pub rendezvous was perfectly timed, film was watched sleep was had and Monday morning wasn't too painful on the getting to work front
Can't wait for Friday and the exam to be over; who would have thought I'd stress so much about a qualification I don't actually need?
Hotel is scrumptiously lush; a strange mixture of the £20m refurbishment and shabby aristocratic chic - like bits of old wood used as limiters on the sash windows and filthy paintwork on the windowsills.
They still have the ageing but comfortable chairs in the Tempus Bar, but I bought myself a bottle of plonko rosso at the spar down the road for less than the glass of rather very nice wine they sell in there
tired like a fish ; only another week till my holiday, next week full of birthday treats associated with my Libra connections, and a great desire to just chill
Saturday 26 September 2009
recovery
Totally delighted to have re-established contact with my good friend Anne, and thought I should do a quick update before I go off for another weekend of drinking and decadence. It's Mark's birthday, and we're going out to dinner tonight, that fab Brazilian place, but my son warned me F1 is on so I don't feel guilty about leaving him to watch it in peace.
Corporate heaven arrangements failed miserably this week and I ended up stood on a street corner in Houndsditch waiting for them to find me an hotel room - ANY hotel room! That with the stick, and suitcase, and bag full of training course folder. GRRRR. At least the Premier Inn at Tower Bridge is on a bus route that stops right outside the hotel, and outside the office where the course was. Almost £140 a night room-only is sickeningly extortionate but at least I get to claim it back on expenses.
Dinner with P on Wednesday, just up the road in the boring warehouse All Bar One, thinking I was safe from alcoholic haze since whe wasn't drinking or doing carbs. We could have strolled down to Haz for a quieter atmosphere but P ordered a bottle of wine and we somehow managed to put another one away in the course of a long catch-up and gossip.
Feeling half-virtuous today, woke up at work o'clock and have managed to do some house stuff, some freecycle stuff, collect a parcel from the sorting office and see my favourite man, the short people and their mother: who has saved me a fortune by cutting my hair. Amazing.
Bit of a travelling circus for the next few days, (AH! just worked out why my screen had gone a strange shade of blueness, the connector was wobbly) - anyway; London tonight, hoping to stay over tomorrow night too so I don't have to get up at ludicrous o'clok to get back to Aldwych for 9am Monday; drive to bloody Telford on Tuesday, might have a meeting at Aston on the way back and then stupid morning o'clock for Aldwych at 9am on Wednesday. BAH! At least I get a couple of nights in
a different corporate heaven when I must, must do the revision for the exam on Friday. Wish me luck.
Must do the emails and get packed and on the train to town: options, options, options - love them
Corporate heaven arrangements failed miserably this week and I ended up stood on a street corner in Houndsditch waiting for them to find me an hotel room - ANY hotel room! That with the stick, and suitcase, and bag full of training course folder. GRRRR. At least the Premier Inn at Tower Bridge is on a bus route that stops right outside the hotel, and outside the office where the course was. Almost £140 a night room-only is sickeningly extortionate but at least I get to claim it back on expenses.
Dinner with P on Wednesday, just up the road in the boring warehouse All Bar One, thinking I was safe from alcoholic haze since whe wasn't drinking or doing carbs. We could have strolled down to Haz for a quieter atmosphere but P ordered a bottle of wine and we somehow managed to put another one away in the course of a long catch-up and gossip.
Feeling half-virtuous today, woke up at work o'clock and have managed to do some house stuff, some freecycle stuff, collect a parcel from the sorting office and see my favourite man, the short people and their mother: who has saved me a fortune by cutting my hair. Amazing.
Bit of a travelling circus for the next few days, (AH! just worked out why my screen had gone a strange shade of blueness, the connector was wobbly) - anyway; London tonight, hoping to stay over tomorrow night too so I don't have to get up at ludicrous o'clok to get back to Aldwych for 9am Monday; drive to bloody Telford on Tuesday, might have a meeting at Aston on the way back and then stupid morning o'clock for Aldwych at 9am on Wednesday. BAH! At least I get a couple of nights in
a different corporate heaven when I must, must do the revision for the exam on Friday. Wish me luck.
Must do the emails and get packed and on the train to town: options, options, options - love them
Saturday 19 September 2009
overabundance of life
Apologies to the various for the long blank on here; life has been and still is a bit very busy and set fair to continue to be so for the next several months.
Current project is based in London, near Aldwych, and there IS a team there so I have a fixed base for a while and can find a desk easily even if I don't get one with my name on it. So far, a whole week! I've managed to work proper hours, and also been leaving the laptop in the office so there is no temptation to work in the evening.
Another advantage is the massive savings on cigs since the combination of office working, dodgy knee and no-smoking hotel room means my smoking is cut by about 90% - making up for it this weekend though.
Major domestic goddess stuff yesterday; several machine loads of washing (does anyone else have a 'red' wash?); couple of handwashing expeditions (I don't understand how I can have so much underwear and still never be able to find any of it when I get try to pack; bit of weeding in the garden, much watering of plants (I'm sure the world is turning inside out; there are plants growing way out of season; but I'm chuffed to bits that the evening primrose is back, even if it's now at least 2 feet away from where I expected it to grow.
So where have I been?
last week's corporate heaven
drinks on Tuesday
dinner on Wednesday
drinks and dinner and memorable afters on Thursday
Working, taking forever to get home on Friday and collapso vino with a good book
Irish Ceilidh on Saturday in a beautiful hall - my colours - even if I was wearing green at the time. There was an amazingly good irish dancer, Sister Bridget did her own bit of nifty footwork; dancing nuns, whatever next? It was somehow so much like a family wedding I was looking round for my aunties. Next time I might consider eating something before getting stuck into the wine, or not sandwich it in between scotch & cokes. Post-pub DVD had lots of alien beasties and no discernible storyline: did my head in since I couldn't tell if it was their horror-show faces moving or my brain twitching. So I retreated to bed.
next week's corporate heaven while I'm on a training course for a supposedly saleable ISTQB certification
Remembered to check my email having asked for a couple of uplighters on freecycle yesterday, and discovered I was 50 miles away when I should have been going to fetch them; good friends are a true blessing - cheers Sid!
Sunday dinner in the pub and another dose of R&R to set me up for the week coming. Bet I wake up late tomorrow!
Current project is based in London, near Aldwych, and there IS a team there so I have a fixed base for a while and can find a desk easily even if I don't get one with my name on it. So far, a whole week! I've managed to work proper hours, and also been leaving the laptop in the office so there is no temptation to work in the evening.
Another advantage is the massive savings on cigs since the combination of office working, dodgy knee and no-smoking hotel room means my smoking is cut by about 90% - making up for it this weekend though.
Major domestic goddess stuff yesterday; several machine loads of washing (does anyone else have a 'red' wash?); couple of handwashing expeditions (I don't understand how I can have so much underwear and still never be able to find any of it when I get try to pack; bit of weeding in the garden, much watering of plants (I'm sure the world is turning inside out; there are plants growing way out of season; but I'm chuffed to bits that the evening primrose is back, even if it's now at least 2 feet away from where I expected it to grow.
So where have I been?
last week's corporate heaven
drinks on Tuesday
dinner on Wednesday
drinks and dinner and memorable afters on Thursday
Working, taking forever to get home on Friday and collapso vino with a good book
Irish Ceilidh on Saturday in a beautiful hall - my colours - even if I was wearing green at the time. There was an amazingly good irish dancer, Sister Bridget did her own bit of nifty footwork; dancing nuns, whatever next? It was somehow so much like a family wedding I was looking round for my aunties. Next time I might consider eating something before getting stuck into the wine, or not sandwich it in between scotch & cokes. Post-pub DVD had lots of alien beasties and no discernible storyline: did my head in since I couldn't tell if it was their horror-show faces moving or my brain twitching. So I retreated to bed.
next week's corporate heaven while I'm on a training course for a supposedly saleable ISTQB certification
Remembered to check my email having asked for a couple of uplighters on freecycle yesterday, and discovered I was 50 miles away when I should have been going to fetch them; good friends are a true blessing - cheers Sid!
Sunday dinner in the pub and another dose of R&R to set me up for the week coming. Bet I wake up late tomorrow!
Sunday 2 August 2009
Beef
Another fabulous roast, buy the best you can, it tastes amazing.
Never allow an already paralytic friend unsupervised access to your wine rack. With unerring luck they will select THE best bottle, from the bottom of the rack where you tucked it away to get to in the fullness of time, and drink the entire bottle accompanied by constant repetition of a conversation loop on how it's the best wine they've ever tasted and they're really sorry they opened it since they can't really enjoy it properly, but it's BLOODY good wine - ad nauseam.
Not that he's thrown up - yet. If he does, I will pretend not to know about it. Fortunately, his fiance is here too, closer loco parentis than I, so it's her job, *relief*. I suspect he will get a severe ear-bashing tomorrow morning when he wakes up, just as his hangover kicks in
I might consider being cross but it did only only cost £3.99 in a wineclub deal where I always choose the wines with the biggest discount. Next time I'll buy more than one of that one.
Lovely unexpected flying visit from some friends on their way back to Bristol during the early evening: there was enough food and beds to go round if required but they were determined to go back tonight for a Steam Rally tomorrow. Chacun a son gout.
Tried to watch "Franklyn" again but my DVD player still stutters and stalls despite a long delay to run some cleaning thing in it so I guess a new player is on the shopping list
Sid's last night: "Cold Prey" is brilliant. Future nostalgia for instant traditions; years ago I went up north with him, his brother and his then 6 or 7 year old nephew to Flookburgh. It POURED. All day. I was wearing a pair of John's wellies, one of Sid's waterproof jackets (style wasn't on the menu); and I taught Calumn that jumping in puddles is fun. Back then it was only me and Calumn; last week it was all three of them.
Never allow an already paralytic friend unsupervised access to your wine rack. With unerring luck they will select THE best bottle, from the bottom of the rack where you tucked it away to get to in the fullness of time, and drink the entire bottle accompanied by constant repetition of a conversation loop on how it's the best wine they've ever tasted and they're really sorry they opened it since they can't really enjoy it properly, but it's BLOODY good wine - ad nauseam.
Not that he's thrown up - yet. If he does, I will pretend not to know about it. Fortunately, his fiance is here too, closer loco parentis than I, so it's her job, *relief*. I suspect he will get a severe ear-bashing tomorrow morning when he wakes up, just as his hangover kicks in
I might consider being cross but it did only only cost £3.99 in a wineclub deal where I always choose the wines with the biggest discount. Next time I'll buy more than one of that one.
Lovely unexpected flying visit from some friends on their way back to Bristol during the early evening: there was enough food and beds to go round if required but they were determined to go back tonight for a Steam Rally tomorrow. Chacun a son gout.
Tried to watch "Franklyn" again but my DVD player still stutters and stalls despite a long delay to run some cleaning thing in it so I guess a new player is on the shopping list
Sid's last night: "Cold Prey" is brilliant. Future nostalgia for instant traditions; years ago I went up north with him, his brother and his then 6 or 7 year old nephew to Flookburgh. It POURED. All day. I was wearing a pair of John's wellies, one of Sid's waterproof jackets (style wasn't on the menu); and I taught Calumn that jumping in puddles is fun. Back then it was only me and Calumn; last week it was all three of them.
Wednesday 29 July 2009
Can I speak to M... X.....?
This one is for the rainy Tuesday afternoon, I've been taking notes but gave up at page 6 http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=741653&page=1
and this one, which I'm sure someone sent me ages ago http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5z4Vs26-TI
edited sept4,2010 to replace the blocked link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkdoogjic4I
Working in Woking a lot; "challenging" project but I'm hooked. I'm irresistibly attracted to lost causes
and this one, which I'm sure someone sent me ages ago http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5z4Vs26-TI
edited sept4,2010 to replace the blocked link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkdoogjic4I
Working in Woking a lot; "challenging" project but I'm hooked. I'm irresistibly attracted to lost causes
Saturday 25 July 2009
the flu epidemic
As promised to various readers...
A warning about a new flu epidemic sweeping the nation...
I went to a dinner party last night, where I, and other guests, enjoyed copious amounts of alcohol. I woke up this morning not feeling well, with what could be described as flu-like symptoms: headache, nausea,chills, sore eyes, etc.
From the results of some initial testing, I have unfortunately tested positive for what experts are now calling Wine Flu. This debilitating condition is very serious - and it appears this is not an isolated case. Reports are flooding in from all around the neighbourhood of others diagnosed with Wine Flu.
For those exhibiting these tell-tale signs, experts are recommending a cup of tea and a bit of a lie down. However, should your condition worsen, you should immediately hire a DVD and take some Nurofen (Nurofen seems to be the only drug available that has been proven to help combat this unusual type of flu).
Others are reporting a McDonald's Happy Meal or a big, greasy fry-up also helps in some cases.
Wine Flu is not contagious and does not appear to be life threatening.
If the above tips don't do the trick, then further application of the original liquid in similar quantities to the original dose has been shown to work.
Sunday 19 July 2009
doppelgangers
I got a memo from a friend of mine to say "the bloke in the pimms advert looks like mark !!" (NOT P!) and here 'tis *smothered laughter* He's better looking, and taller, than that but I can see what she means
Tried to embed the vidclip but it defeated me
That should stop him worrying about looking like Fred Astaire, but if I can have a dress like this I might even learn to dance properly - again
Yes, Yes, I know I haven't blogged for ages, I'll backfill in a while
Tried to embed the vidclip but it defeated me
That should stop him worrying about looking like Fred Astaire, but if I can have a dress like this I might even learn to dance properly - again
Yes, Yes, I know I haven't blogged for ages, I'll backfill in a while
Saturday 27 June 2009
sands
they are running out for me in Singapore *sadness*
Just back from a birthday bash at Nellie & Chris' lush house on the East Coast; Lions lost in the last few minutes, champagne and cake was delicious, their short people are almost as luscious as my own gorgeous blond; long catchup with Paul H, job offer (tempting!)
Next year already on the planner; maybe even later this year, I *love* Singapore.
Ritz Carlton champagne brunch tomorrow after,if I get up early enough, another frying session at the pool and a few more leisurely sessions in cool water and hot sun. Probably even more shopping after that and an eventual trek back to Blighty.
Haven't taken many photographs, this feels more like coming home than going on holiday but I've felt so GOOD all week.
Just back from a birthday bash at Nellie & Chris' lush house on the East Coast; Lions lost in the last few minutes, champagne and cake was delicious, their short people are almost as luscious as my own gorgeous blond; long catchup with Paul H, job offer (tempting!)
Next year already on the planner; maybe even later this year, I *love* Singapore.
Ritz Carlton champagne brunch tomorrow after,if I get up early enough, another frying session at the pool and a few more leisurely sessions in cool water and hot sun. Probably even more shopping after that and an eventual trek back to Blighty.
Haven't taken many photographs, this feels more like coming home than going on holiday but I've felt so GOOD all week.
Saturday 20 June 2009
I'm home!
everything went well on the transport and general works business, caught the taxi, the train , the bus, the plane all in good time - and now I'm "home" - despite being shafted by a coastal taxi tour from the airport instead of a direct route (white, at airport, only has address *shrug*)
Feel like I last saw Chit & Mark 7 days ago, not years, been out for a meal, doing the drinking thing, relaxed, cool, happy
blissed; again
lucky me
Feel like I last saw Chit & Mark 7 days ago, not years, been out for a meal, doing the drinking thing, relaxed, cool, happy
blissed; again
lucky me
Thursday 11 June 2009
Sylvia?
Who is she?
Top weekend, variously: 3 events on Saturday, including Last Days of Decadence, staying at the Andaz on freebie hotel points from last year's corporate heaven, all afternoon at the LAM on Sunday, checking out some zingy diamonds from Richard Larsen, a bit of a libation with Mark afterwards, and home early because I was zosted, but happy
Going to bed NOW since the course I'm on extended to 6:30 instead of 5 tonight, and 8:30 instead of 9 tomorrow - in Woking *snarl* I don't do morning at the best of times and morning + M25 today was a royal pain after the tube strike, bus diversions and not getting home till 1am this morning from the favourite girls night Ladies Munch
Roll on a new weekend
Tuesday 9 June 2009
twitterfox - random stuff - read from the end
http://bit.ly/P35uW Ahhhh, Tom!
10 minutes ago from TwitterFox
happy - Ray Charles moments
21 minutes ago from TwitterFox
going off to fetch my now-MOT'd and serviced car: but they can't fix the bloody great dent in the wing :(
about 4 hours ago from web
*whew* they're still open, still working, and it WILL be ready tonight
about 4 hours ago from TwitterFox
hang on a minute! the bloody garage still has my car and I need it first thing tomorrow morning
about 4 hours ago from web
~ and a new hat!
3:20 PM Jun 7th from TwitterFox
Fabulous weekend: lush hotel, catching up with lovely people, decadence, dancing, sorted at subversion, and collecting diamonds *happy sigh*
3:17 PM Jun 7th from TwitterFox
busy weekend ahead, lets see if Chronos feels like conspiring with me
1:13 AM Jun 6th from TwitterFox
booked my flights! wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
5:13 PM Jun 1st from web
WOO-HOOO! bossman has just OK'd a work from home the day I get back from the Far East - now to confirm the flights.... EXCITED!!!!
7:35 AM Jun 1st from web
@P me! she's already made it to the public eye, who wins is irrelevant
6:44 AM Jun 1st from web in reply to MaitresseP
is feelilng waspish
5:30 AM May 31st from web
@tweetzyd~ you're crazy - I like that
1:48 PM May 30th from TwitterFox in reply to tweetzyd~
http://bit.ly/T22Q9 try not to laugh to much, it cheered me up no end
1:43 PM May 30th from TwitterFox
feeling ill trying to understand all the tax piranha bites
7:33 AM May 30th from TwitterFox
moving furniture about - and deciding I don't like it in the new places..... didn't find anything interesting under the sofa either
12:32 PM May 29th from TwitterFox
Gully Foyle's my name, terra is my nation, deep space is my dwelling place and death my destination. LOVE that book
1:46 PM May 27th from TwitterFox
in the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king: http://bit.ly/3EzT2b
12:58 PM May 26th from TwitterFox
sun!- lazing and toasting beckons
6:25 AM May 25th from TwitterFox
@P I'll be late ;)
10 minutes ago from TwitterFox
happy - Ray Charles moments
21 minutes ago from TwitterFox
going off to fetch my now-MOT'd and serviced car: but they can't fix the bloody great dent in the wing :(
about 4 hours ago from web
*whew* they're still open, still working, and it WILL be ready tonight
about 4 hours ago from TwitterFox
hang on a minute! the bloody garage still has my car and I need it first thing tomorrow morning
about 4 hours ago from web
~ and a new hat!
3:20 PM Jun 7th from TwitterFox
Fabulous weekend: lush hotel, catching up with lovely people, decadence, dancing, sorted at subversion, and collecting diamonds *happy sigh*
3:17 PM Jun 7th from TwitterFox
busy weekend ahead, lets see if Chronos feels like conspiring with me
1:13 AM Jun 6th from TwitterFox
booked my flights! wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
5:13 PM Jun 1st from web
WOO-HOOO! bossman has just OK'd a work from home the day I get back from the Far East - now to confirm the flights.... EXCITED!!!!
7:35 AM Jun 1st from web
@P me! she's already made it to the public eye, who wins is irrelevant
6:44 AM Jun 1st from web in reply to MaitresseP
is feelilng waspish
5:30 AM May 31st from web
@tweetzyd~ you're crazy - I like that
1:48 PM May 30th from TwitterFox in reply to tweetzyd~
http://bit.ly/T22Q9 try not to laugh to much, it cheered me up no end
1:43 PM May 30th from TwitterFox
feeling ill trying to understand all the tax piranha bites
7:33 AM May 30th from TwitterFox
moving furniture about - and deciding I don't like it in the new places..... didn't find anything interesting under the sofa either
12:32 PM May 29th from TwitterFox
Gully Foyle's my name, terra is my nation, deep space is my dwelling place and death my destination. LOVE that book
1:46 PM May 27th from TwitterFox
in the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king: http://bit.ly/3EzT2b
12:58 PM May 26th from TwitterFox
sun!- lazing and toasting beckons
6:25 AM May 25th from TwitterFox
@P I'll be late ;)
Tuesday 2 June 2009
9 days wonder
crowing! just booked my flights to Singapore to spend some time with Mark & Chitra for nine whole lovely days; in a place I like with people I love spending time with
bossman said I can have holiday the week before we start testing
bossman said he'll wear my being jetlagged and 'working from home' the day I get back (I've forgotten which side of the journey gives you the worst bit)
I even know where my passport is!
Paying it forward by having to be in London tomorrow(today) AND Wednesday, then Woking on Thursday *gloom* but bossman said it was OK to book an hotel for tomorrow night. This means I'll get caught for a working dinner but at least I don't have to spend four hours travelling every day
Number 5, Ritz Carlton, Hyatt Martini Bar, Clarke Quay, Next Page, Stamford, Carnegies, Moulin Rouge, Nur Jehan : see, 9 places without even thinking about it, and SHOPPING! with girlfriends! ahhh! and Chijmes; and, and, and
drooling
bossman said I can have holiday the week before we start testing
bossman said he'll wear my being jetlagged and 'working from home' the day I get back (I've forgotten which side of the journey gives you the worst bit)
I even know where my passport is!
Paying it forward by having to be in London tomorrow(today) AND Wednesday, then Woking on Thursday *gloom* but bossman said it was OK to book an hotel for tomorrow night. This means I'll get caught for a working dinner but at least I don't have to spend four hours travelling every day
Number 5, Ritz Carlton, Hyatt Martini Bar, Clarke Quay, Next Page, Stamford, Carnegies, Moulin Rouge, Nur Jehan : see, 9 places without even thinking about it, and SHOPPING! with girlfriends! ahhh! and Chijmes; and, and, and
drooling
Wednesday 27 May 2009
crossing fingers
If Boris cashed my cheque for £60 congestion charge, does that mean he won't be after the other £120 on the final bill when it finally reached me?
Paul had an interview today which seems to have gone well, he should know tomorrow if he has got through to the second interview. He still doesn't like the work but this one is based in town, pays more than the other one, doesn't involve daily tours of the UK till all hours, having twice as big a team, promises training courses, bonus payments from the start, and generally sounds a lot less sharky than the other lot.
Talking of the other lot, sending him a final payslip for twice as much as the enclosed final cheque, with a handwritten note about deductions looks remarkably like proof of running two sets of books to me.
Car-buying approaches, and so does getting an MOT on the red devil. Service and de-dunting it might get added to the menu.
London tomorrow, no excuses for any evening extravagances: shame. I'd forgotten there was a free evening test seminar in London this evening, otherwise I'd have been in da office today but it was too late by the time I remembered.
Blaming the weather for feeling tired and out of sorts, but I've managed to finish reading another book tonight and think a long leisurely soak in the bath might be a damn fine idea.
Remembered my niece's birthday on Sunday but forgot to call her. "Happy Birthday, Samara!", little brother's birthday this Sunday - *ties knot in brow
Paul had an interview today which seems to have gone well, he should know tomorrow if he has got through to the second interview. He still doesn't like the work but this one is based in town, pays more than the other one, doesn't involve daily tours of the UK till all hours, having twice as big a team, promises training courses, bonus payments from the start, and generally sounds a lot less sharky than the other lot.
Talking of the other lot, sending him a final payslip for twice as much as the enclosed final cheque, with a handwritten note about deductions looks remarkably like proof of running two sets of books to me.
Car-buying approaches, and so does getting an MOT on the red devil. Service and de-dunting it might get added to the menu.
London tomorrow, no excuses for any evening extravagances: shame. I'd forgotten there was a free evening test seminar in London this evening, otherwise I'd have been in da office today but it was too late by the time I remembered.
Blaming the weather for feeling tired and out of sorts, but I've managed to finish reading another book tonight and think a long leisurely soak in the bath might be a damn fine idea.
Remembered my niece's birthday on Sunday but forgot to call her. "Happy Birthday, Samara!", little brother's birthday this Sunday - *ties knot in brow
Escapism
Just finished watching “One Day Removals”, the film Kath brought down in January for us all to watch, reminded me to watch when she came back in April, and tonight I finally watched it. These things take time! Sights and sounds of home with a very ludicrous but unsettling film: described as "Laurel and Hardy meets Tarantino" with decent Aberdeen-accented Doric throughout. Also "One Day Removals uses the F word more than 320 times, the most ever in a Scottish-made film ~ beats the current Scottish record holder, Sweet Sixteen by Ken Loach, which uses the F word and variations 313 times". You have been warned!
Might have been easier to watch if the DVD didn’t keep sticking and if I'd been able to find the remote control for it.
Still, it was a major success since I had to crawl about on the floor and womanhandle the TV stand thing about while I worked out which bit had to connect to which other bit to get a DVD to play at all. Back in the distant past my beloved son and favourite nephew managed to set the video/DVD player that I almost understood to convert to dyslexic Swahili, and so this was a new venture to fire up one of the other THREE players. Not entirely sure how they managed to breed so successfully but I mostly can’t get any of them to work and end up reading a book or going online instead.
Escapism. Can't beat it.
ah! and the BBQ on Sunday was very relaxed and relaxing, declared the truth and reality that I would be late in good time; got some sunbathing and bookreading in; managed to find the blue fox earrings to go with the pastel baby-blue look and thoroughly enjoyed driving down there in brilliant sunshine with the top down (Car, not me) Trampoline is fun, I really ought to do stupid but fun things more often instead of just doing the plain stupid ones. I managed to knock over P's stunningly generous libation of about quarter of pint of whisky all over Lin's frock as an opening gambit, having to suffer Rod's repeated exclamations about 'who drank a whole bottle of scotch' that night, and the next morning despite Paula pointing out each time that it was only half-full at best in the first place. Long lazy afternoon and evening in good company without getting too mashed; followed by a decision point to have another drink and stay over as arranged or drive home. Sarah smiling sweetly and handing me a tequila shot decided that one so I polished off most of a bottle of wine after that while we woke the neighbours with megadecibel talk and laughter in the garden. I did suggest they buy a clock instead of having the neighbours bawl out what time it was, sadly not in time for us to wind them up (clock? geddit?).
Proper work all day from 9am, no personal PC till after about 7pm and I still felt guilty about skiving. I must be ill. Short people for a brief while, major grannie-points for the Ben 10 baseball cap which did fit the 4yr-old (9-13 years old it said on the label - eh?), and the Peppa pig jammies sized 18-24mths which are HUGE for the 23mths pink princess but she loves them.
People. Friends. Life.
Might have been easier to watch if the DVD didn’t keep sticking and if I'd been able to find the remote control for it.
Still, it was a major success since I had to crawl about on the floor and womanhandle the TV stand thing about while I worked out which bit had to connect to which other bit to get a DVD to play at all. Back in the distant past my beloved son and favourite nephew managed to set the video/DVD player that I almost understood to convert to dyslexic Swahili, and so this was a new venture to fire up one of the other THREE players. Not entirely sure how they managed to breed so successfully but I mostly can’t get any of them to work and end up reading a book or going online instead.
Escapism. Can't beat it.
ah! and the BBQ on Sunday was very relaxed and relaxing, declared the truth and reality that I would be late in good time; got some sunbathing and bookreading in; managed to find the blue fox earrings to go with the pastel baby-blue look and thoroughly enjoyed driving down there in brilliant sunshine with the top down (Car, not me) Trampoline is fun, I really ought to do stupid but fun things more often instead of just doing the plain stupid ones. I managed to knock over P's stunningly generous libation of about quarter of pint of whisky all over Lin's frock as an opening gambit, having to suffer Rod's repeated exclamations about 'who drank a whole bottle of scotch' that night, and the next morning despite Paula pointing out each time that it was only half-full at best in the first place. Long lazy afternoon and evening in good company without getting too mashed; followed by a decision point to have another drink and stay over as arranged or drive home. Sarah smiling sweetly and handing me a tequila shot decided that one so I polished off most of a bottle of wine after that while we woke the neighbours with megadecibel talk and laughter in the garden. I did suggest they buy a clock instead of having the neighbours bawl out what time it was, sadly not in time for us to wind them up (clock? geddit?).
Proper work all day from 9am, no personal PC till after about 7pm and I still felt guilty about skiving. I must be ill. Short people for a brief while, major grannie-points for the Ben 10 baseball cap which did fit the 4yr-old (9-13 years old it said on the label - eh?), and the Peppa pig jammies sized 18-24mths which are HUGE for the 23mths pink princess but she loves them.
People. Friends. Life.
Sunday 17 May 2009
happy sigh
Not long back from London town having been taken to see Lynn Holland again last night. I had wavered a bit about wearing this year's Rammy frock but decided opportunities to dress OTT ought not to be missed, and I'm really glad I did wear it. Mark had decided he wasn't putting up with my being late any more, and was already at the pub when I got to his place so I ended up getting changed in the loo and leaving the luggage in the car.
When I checked the back of the dress in the mirror, I remembered why I'd only worn shoes with it before; it plunges so low at the back it was just as well I'd chosen screaming red lacy knickers and that they looked like part of the outfit. The concession to *cough* modesty was to be wearing the sexy little sequin bolero jacket but it isn't long enough to cover the corset-laced plunge to the derriére. The pub was full of football fans as usual but we don't get a reaction from them any more, they've got used to our sartorial games, including M le Debonair bon plus wearing white tie, top hat and cane to watch football and play poker back in February.
Bit of a chat and a drink, given a warning not to chat up any of the young priests this time; then we walked very sedately round to the Westminster Cathedral Hall. Sedate was mostly on account of the Charles Jourdan (what a name dropper!) 5 inch platform heels which don't mix well with uneven pavements but are necessary to avoid having the frock sweep the street as I go. We collected a few compliments and had a bit of a laugh on the way when some seriously impressed girls asked us where we were going. Mark, with aplomb, said "McDonald's". Walking back after the cabaret earned me a skinned knee but I was by then anaesthetised enough not to bother with feeling foolish.
We were expected, and expected to be massively overdressed, so were given a ringside table and Kevin (the promoter) got us to stand up while he declared he expected everyone else to come up to 'these' dress standards for the next one. Lynn always goes for audience involvement and picked on Mark as one of her targets while singing "I want a Man", askiing "are you experienced" of random chaps. Mark said he was 'getting there' and I nearly choked on my wine when she ponted the microphone at me and asked if it was true. However, he was upstaged by Father Michael (84!) pleading the fifth. We dallied too long about the volunteer chorus bit so Father Michael was in there as the third man, and I'm sure Mark cheated on the coin toss so I was the third woman. We are waiting with interest to see if the filming (oops! I'd forgotten they were filming!) makes it to her website. I might not have made any rude gestures if I'd remembered.
Before I forget, Paul had brought the shorts round just as I started getting ready and Alex had this to say when I told him I was going out:
Where are you going?
To a concert.
Is it far away?
Yes, it's in London.
Will you be back tonight?
No, but I'll be back tomorrow.
Where will you sleep? (this one in an alarmed and accusing tone)
At my friend Mark's, you remember Mark?
(doubtfully) ye-es
A few minutes later, Alex declared, very seriously I scribble scribble scribble (four year olds talk like that sometimes)
What?
I think scribble scribble shut.
After a few minutes we worked out he was telling me he thought the concert was going to be shut. His sister flirts massively, and he has already learned to dissemble charmingly, they'll be terrifying when they grow up.
Managed to catch up with Sid on Friday, the great book exchange expanded to my having to pop round on my way to Woking (TWO hours each way on the M25) to pick up baggins1, and leave baggins2. I found out later that this was all in aid of his scheming to present me with a scintillating red sequinned bottle cover, raspberry vodka encased. He knows me well. Also a retro Libra mug which describes me rather well under 'if born with stars ill placed'. To quote,
Returning in the evening to pig out on an Indian takeaway, I picked the dark and gritty film to watch first, Children of Men; a cross between Threads and any future apocalypse film. Amusing to see Michael Caine as an aged hippie, hooked on strawberry flavoured ganja, and Pam Ferris with an eyebrow ring and messy dreads. Then I insisted we watched La Cité des Enfants Perdu in the original French though I admit to reading the subtitles too. Great film, very weird, but I like odd films. At least Mon Mome winning the National let me recognise the french word for kids when they used it.
Past midnight again, I keep finding draft blogs I forgot to finish or, like this one, start and stop it so often the timestamp is all wrong. Me and time; mmmmmm. Loving looking at the thing I bought this afternoon on my way to a scrumptious pub lunch, maybe I should get Mark something else for his birthday and keep it for myself. Also saw a something to get Sid, but both birthdays are months away.
When I checked the back of the dress in the mirror, I remembered why I'd only worn shoes with it before; it plunges so low at the back it was just as well I'd chosen screaming red lacy knickers and that they looked like part of the outfit. The concession to *cough* modesty was to be wearing the sexy little sequin bolero jacket but it isn't long enough to cover the corset-laced plunge to the derriére. The pub was full of football fans as usual but we don't get a reaction from them any more, they've got used to our sartorial games, including M le Debonair bon plus wearing white tie, top hat and cane to watch football and play poker back in February.
Bit of a chat and a drink, given a warning not to chat up any of the young priests this time; then we walked very sedately round to the Westminster Cathedral Hall. Sedate was mostly on account of the Charles Jourdan (what a name dropper!) 5 inch platform heels which don't mix well with uneven pavements but are necessary to avoid having the frock sweep the street as I go. We collected a few compliments and had a bit of a laugh on the way when some seriously impressed girls asked us where we were going. Mark, with aplomb, said "McDonald's". Walking back after the cabaret earned me a skinned knee but I was by then anaesthetised enough not to bother with feeling foolish.
We were expected, and expected to be massively overdressed, so were given a ringside table and Kevin (the promoter) got us to stand up while he declared he expected everyone else to come up to 'these' dress standards for the next one. Lynn always goes for audience involvement and picked on Mark as one of her targets while singing "I want a Man", askiing "are you experienced" of random chaps. Mark said he was 'getting there' and I nearly choked on my wine when she ponted the microphone at me and asked if it was true. However, he was upstaged by Father Michael (84!) pleading the fifth. We dallied too long about the volunteer chorus bit so Father Michael was in there as the third man, and I'm sure Mark cheated on the coin toss so I was the third woman. We are waiting with interest to see if the filming (oops! I'd forgotten they were filming!) makes it to her website. I might not have made any rude gestures if I'd remembered.
Before I forget, Paul had brought the shorts round just as I started getting ready and Alex had this to say when I told him I was going out:
Where are you going?
To a concert.
Is it far away?
Yes, it's in London.
Will you be back tonight?
No, but I'll be back tomorrow.
Where will you sleep? (this one in an alarmed and accusing tone)
At my friend Mark's, you remember Mark?
(doubtfully) ye-es
A few minutes later, Alex declared, very seriously I scribble scribble scribble (four year olds talk like that sometimes)
What?
I think scribble scribble shut.
After a few minutes we worked out he was telling me he thought the concert was going to be shut. His sister flirts massively, and he has already learned to dissemble charmingly, they'll be terrifying when they grow up.
Managed to catch up with Sid on Friday, the great book exchange expanded to my having to pop round on my way to Woking (TWO hours each way on the M25) to pick up baggins1, and leave baggins2. I found out later that this was all in aid of his scheming to present me with a scintillating red sequinned bottle cover, raspberry vodka encased. He knows me well. Also a retro Libra mug which describes me rather well under 'if born with stars ill placed'. To quote,
"they shall oft be drunken & oft desire Lechery, and use fleshly lust oftentimes and all the vain pleasures of the world".Actually, 'stars well placed' says much the same, though I'm not too sure about "a very gay lover". However Librans are the best lovers ;)
Returning in the evening to pig out on an Indian takeaway, I picked the dark and gritty film to watch first, Children of Men; a cross between Threads and any future apocalypse film. Amusing to see Michael Caine as an aged hippie, hooked on strawberry flavoured ganja, and Pam Ferris with an eyebrow ring and messy dreads. Then I insisted we watched La Cité des Enfants Perdu in the original French though I admit to reading the subtitles too. Great film, very weird, but I like odd films. At least Mon Mome winning the National let me recognise the french word for kids when they used it.
Past midnight again, I keep finding draft blogs I forgot to finish or, like this one, start and stop it so often the timestamp is all wrong. Me and time; mmmmmm. Loving looking at the thing I bought this afternoon on my way to a scrumptious pub lunch, maybe I should get Mark something else for his birthday and keep it for myself. Also saw a something to get Sid, but both birthdays are months away.
Friday 15 May 2009
playing tag
It's all P's fault for sending me an invite to her BBQ on facebook! I went looking for some of the Givaudan crew and managed to find my archetypal Frenchman, Olivier, whose first words to me when I got back from hols to discover I was his new boss were a surly (imagine ze french accEnt) "I don' work for no woo-man'. He just sent me a message on FB "I remember you were the voodoo card player. And you gave me english SF books!"
Ahhh, nostalgia. From that unpromising start, by the time he left he would greet me each morning with "Salut, chef", and choose to reply in english (so I would understand) anything controversial our UK system designer said in French (so I wouldn't understand). Highly amusing since J didn't realise that my french listening skills were much better than the speaking skills. We also pulled the longest shift on the project one time, working till about 1am, by which time the hotel kitchens were closed, and both back in the office at 8:30 as usual the same morning.
Having found the link for La Reserve, where we mostly stayed, habitués enough to be leaving luggage there over the weekends if we didn't stay over, buying bicycles and tennis racquets, I went looking for the other places we stayed in Coppet, and Morges,. Corporate heaven indeed but the working day was 8-6 to make up for getting up at 4am on Mondays to be able to get the 8:30 flight from Heathrow.
Ahhh, nostalgia. From that unpromising start, by the time he left he would greet me each morning with "Salut, chef", and choose to reply in english (so I would understand) anything controversial our UK system designer said in French (so I wouldn't understand). Highly amusing since J didn't realise that my french listening skills were much better than the speaking skills. We also pulled the longest shift on the project one time, working till about 1am, by which time the hotel kitchens were closed, and both back in the office at 8:30 as usual the same morning.
Having found the link for La Reserve, where we mostly stayed, habitués enough to be leaving luggage there over the weekends if we didn't stay over, buying bicycles and tennis racquets, I went looking for the other places we stayed in Coppet, and Morges,. Corporate heaven indeed but the working day was 8-6 to make up for getting up at 4am on Mondays to be able to get the 8:30 flight from Heathrow.
Monday 11 May 2009
rested
Loving these cottages and amazed and delighted by the ease of rejoining this branch of my extended family. We worked together in Vernier in 97/98 and although I've missed most of the proper reunions, working abroad or stuck in the attic in my head, I kept up with Géraldine, James, Rupert, Sarah, Deb and Alistair with meals out in London and strange meetings at Waterloo Wetherspoons which was the most central point to wherever we were working at the time. Geraldine, still on maternity leave, and I are the only people here who still work for CG, and Nick was giving me a serious talking to about going contract : tempting; no hostages.
We already booked May Bank holiday for next year, this place is *that* good.
It's been great waking up to sunrise through the bedroom window, and sitting on 'the terrace' next to an immaculate lawn with landscaped shrubbery and flowerbeds. The place only opened last year the people who run it are really lovely. Their website doesn't do the place justice, and doesn't mention the default tea/coffee/sugar/milk that is provided, or the flowers and homebaked Victoria sponges and fairycakes waiting for you. That did mean that we're all caked out since it was Sylvia's birthday on Friday and Géraldine brought a carefully iced birthday cake big enough for fifteen people, and John/Sylvia have about a week's worth of haphazard holiday shopping for their next three days here as everyone has offloaded food they don't want to take home again.
I've been in Tyning, the cottage with the spiral staircase (photographs duly taken for my brother's information and comment) and it feels like the lap of luxury, all mod cons, Sky fancy screens in every bedroom as well as sitting room, DAB radio and seriously comfortable bed and settees.
Bath is lovely, I hooked up with Gabby and Richard yesterday afternoon after a long drive to enjoy the weather and scenery, and we had a leisurely and gossipy cream tea before a too-short visit to the fashion museum. I found a fox figurine to add to the collection, spent not too much in Laura Ashley, and nothing in East, but was fascinated by the saleslady of a certain age wearing sparkle gel not only on her face but in her hair: weird!
All packed now, about to get back in the red devil and wend homeward to the real world; work tomrrow but I'll think about that tomorrow, not today.
Ah, bliss, my gorgeous blonde just called me to demand to know if I'm coming home now "in a minute" - time to boogie
We already booked May Bank holiday for next year, this place is *that* good.
It's been great waking up to sunrise through the bedroom window, and sitting on 'the terrace' next to an immaculate lawn with landscaped shrubbery and flowerbeds. The place only opened last year the people who run it are really lovely. Their website doesn't do the place justice, and doesn't mention the default tea/coffee/sugar/milk that is provided, or the flowers and homebaked Victoria sponges and fairycakes waiting for you. That did mean that we're all caked out since it was Sylvia's birthday on Friday and Géraldine brought a carefully iced birthday cake big enough for fifteen people, and John/Sylvia have about a week's worth of haphazard holiday shopping for their next three days here as everyone has offloaded food they don't want to take home again.
I've been in Tyning, the cottage with the spiral staircase (photographs duly taken for my brother's information and comment) and it feels like the lap of luxury, all mod cons, Sky fancy screens in every bedroom as well as sitting room, DAB radio and seriously comfortable bed and settees.
Bath is lovely, I hooked up with Gabby and Richard yesterday afternoon after a long drive to enjoy the weather and scenery, and we had a leisurely and gossipy cream tea before a too-short visit to the fashion museum. I found a fox figurine to add to the collection, spent not too much in Laura Ashley, and nothing in East, but was fascinated by the saleslady of a certain age wearing sparkle gel not only on her face but in her hair: weird!
All packed now, about to get back in the red devil and wend homeward to the real world; work tomrrow but I'll think about that tomorrow, not today.
Ah, bliss, my gorgeous blonde just called me to demand to know if I'm coming home now "in a minute" - time to boogie
Friday 8 May 2009
History
for those of you that knew him, I was told today that Dave Rose is dead. Bizarrely, Paul's Dad told Dee, told him, told me. Not sure how I feel to be honest. Not upset at any rate.
Bit scary though, he was younger than I am.
Bit scary though, he was younger than I am.
Monday 4 May 2009
*mirth*
Having gone to bed ridiculously early last night, I've been awake since 5am and just checked the weather forecast for my lunchtime freecycle mod meeting (cloudy). Occurred to me to check what it's like in Cyprus where Mark has sloped off for the week, telling me it would be 30 degrees and that he's likely to come back lobstered and lumpy. HAH! The BBC forecast says it's already raining and going to be cats and dogs-ing till the day he comes back. *wide-eyed innocence*
Missed the LAM yesterday due to breakfast not being over till after lunchtime, but have had a lovely lazy couple of days with me and Sarah watching Tony work damned hard on the garden interspersed with delayed full breakfasts and the hugest joint of gorgeous beef for dinner on Saturday. I'm sure I will, eventually, wrestle the new electric oven in to submission, but having had bacon crisped to disintegration as a first course by trying to do it in the oven, I went back to the old-fashioned multiple frying pans yesterday and probably upped our cholestrol levels by a significant amount. Lovely it was.
I splurged on buying some proper gardening tools, which did seem remarkably cheap considering, and which managed not to break or bend digging over the garden. It's all level now, the mammoth mutant dandelions have been evicted, the elder forest lopped and chopped back to unreasonably large stumps which have already started sprouting new bits, and it's possible to walk along the path at the side of the house for the first time in years. Well done, that man!
Work is as up-to-date as it's going to get (I'm ignoring the fact that I have only three days this week to draft and finalise the next hyuge document) and I'm really looking forward to a weekend here with the Givaudan crew next weekend
*HOT* news, if belated. Mark insulted the MD at the end of an interview last week, and they called him the next day to offer him the job. Not sure if there is a connection, but at least they've established a rapport. Unspeakably delighted for him.
The best news, of course, is that I have today off. P is winging or has wung her way back from Philly now and I'm hoping I didn't do anything silly like leaving her gas on; coming home to a gassed Gizmo might put a bit of a dent in our friendship... I nearly had to leave him locked out when he decided to play hard to get but I think he was just making a point.
This last week has been thoroughly social, popped in to see Lora as I was working in Southend on Tuesday, dinner with P on Wednesday, Sarah and Tony from Friday and meeting Barbara L and a couple of others for lunch today. Part of the work business is resource planning and I've pencilled myself in for 4 day weeks from July with a couple of complete weeks for hols; it will drive my managers insane but if I book them now, for after this project, no-one will argue and they'll be much less than impressed with my taking most Mondays off *more mirth!*
All change from tomorrow no doubt, but today I'm happy, not least because I've finally got 'Georgia On My mind' OFF my mind having gone to sleep, and woken up with it in mu head for the previous two days.
Missed the LAM yesterday due to breakfast not being over till after lunchtime, but have had a lovely lazy couple of days with me and Sarah watching Tony work damned hard on the garden interspersed with delayed full breakfasts and the hugest joint of gorgeous beef for dinner on Saturday. I'm sure I will, eventually, wrestle the new electric oven in to submission, but having had bacon crisped to disintegration as a first course by trying to do it in the oven, I went back to the old-fashioned multiple frying pans yesterday and probably upped our cholestrol levels by a significant amount. Lovely it was.
I splurged on buying some proper gardening tools, which did seem remarkably cheap considering, and which managed not to break or bend digging over the garden. It's all level now, the mammoth mutant dandelions have been evicted, the elder forest lopped and chopped back to unreasonably large stumps which have already started sprouting new bits, and it's possible to walk along the path at the side of the house for the first time in years. Well done, that man!
Work is as up-to-date as it's going to get (I'm ignoring the fact that I have only three days this week to draft and finalise the next hyuge document) and I'm really looking forward to a weekend here with the Givaudan crew next weekend
*HOT* news, if belated. Mark insulted the MD at the end of an interview last week, and they called him the next day to offer him the job. Not sure if there is a connection, but at least they've established a rapport. Unspeakably delighted for him.
The best news, of course, is that I have today off. P is winging or has wung her way back from Philly now and I'm hoping I didn't do anything silly like leaving her gas on; coming home to a gassed Gizmo might put a bit of a dent in our friendship... I nearly had to leave him locked out when he decided to play hard to get but I think he was just making a point.
This last week has been thoroughly social, popped in to see Lora as I was working in Southend on Tuesday, dinner with P on Wednesday, Sarah and Tony from Friday and meeting Barbara L and a couple of others for lunch today. Part of the work business is resource planning and I've pencilled myself in for 4 day weeks from July with a couple of complete weeks for hols; it will drive my managers insane but if I book them now, for after this project, no-one will argue and they'll be much less than impressed with my taking most Mondays off *more mirth!*
All change from tomorrow no doubt, but today I'm happy, not least because I've finally got 'Georgia On My mind' OFF my mind having gone to sleep, and woken up with it in mu head for the previous two days.
Friday 1 May 2009
rattled
Having ignored texts from the psychopathic puritan ex, imagining he was chasing 'his stuff' again; he caught me with an unknown number in work time just now.
Stomach still roiling; first question is "am I renting out my house" - no; next question, "who's living there" - me. Panic flood about what does he want, what does he think he knows, what does he plan to do, what can I do about it.
He wants to move into my house or rent it from me because he's just had his flat re-possessed. FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Proud of me for the instant, "Sorry" without any other explanation but still rattled. Fairly disgusted with the probably genuine but nevertheless guilt-throwing "I haven't seen anyone since you left me, I go to work, I come home, that's it".
Ouch. Let's hope he does get a place somewhere, anywhere, and fades into history again pretty sharpish.
Stomach still roiling; first question is "am I renting out my house" - no; next question, "who's living there" - me. Panic flood about what does he want, what does he think he knows, what does he plan to do, what can I do about it.
He wants to move into my house or rent it from me because he's just had his flat re-possessed. FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Proud of me for the instant, "Sorry" without any other explanation but still rattled. Fairly disgusted with the probably genuine but nevertheless guilt-throwing "I haven't seen anyone since you left me, I go to work, I come home, that's it".
Ouch. Let's hope he does get a place somewhere, anywhere, and fades into history again pretty sharpish.
Sunday 26 April 2009
doris
I was just about to chance an offer of £100 for this Doris Lindner fox that I would really, really love to have and discovered some rat pipped me to the post.
I could have had one for less than that recently but was over-cautious in my bid: anyone care to explain how the desire for something manages geometric progression by the number of times you see it but don't buy it?
New green Lea Stein to my collection though, and not nearly tired of collecting Lea Stein or different ones yet. In love with she-who-has-not-yet-divulged-her-name, soon as I find the charger, all my foxes will gambol on the bloglink
I could have had one for less than that recently but was over-cautious in my bid: anyone care to explain how the desire for something manages geometric progression by the number of times you see it but don't buy it?
New green Lea Stein to my collection though, and not nearly tired of collecting Lea Stein or different ones yet. In love with she-who-has-not-yet-divulged-her-name, soon as I find the charger, all my foxes will gambol on the bloglink
Saturday 25 April 2009
karate kid me
Lots been happening, this last week feels like it was several years long, and almost all of it pretty damfino
The finale of the 3 day course in London saw me karate chop a lump of wood in two, yes, ME! Total, total high from that. Worse than having that as the last moments of a motivational performance course is that I really do believe I could do it again. For anyone worried about it, I don't have a broken hand. They also tried to teach me to juggle but that one still needs work. Lots of exercise picking up far-flung beanbags though. One of the other bits was choose a shape which is meant to identify what kind of personality you have, which reminded me of the BUPA shape quiz / which I've promised to send them all. I quite fancied being a red circle but the mini-questionnaire declared that I'm a purple squiggle. If you try it, remember to turn the volume down on the too-loud and eventually irritating music loop and to tell me whatcha got.
Evenings were good too, dinner at Maroush with Lin on Wednesday after a couple of rather luscious cocktails at the Cumberland , clambering up on seriously high bar stools before discovering they have little lever to adjust the height; dinner at the Bird Street Busaba Eathai with one of the guys from the course and a friend of his on Thursday and an unexpected but lusciously lovely dinner Chez Downey last night. That man can surely cook, and I still don't see any reason to disabuse him of the notion that I can't.
It did feel like the first time in weeks rather than days that I could actually relax! I hadn't checked when I booked my corporate heaven at the Cumberland that the Marble Arch down escalator is down for refurb and my knee whinged a lot at walking down about 70 steps each morning. Hmmmppphhhh! Mornings. Having got up at 6:30 so I would get the right train to be there for 9 on Wednesday, I checked the outlook calendar and discovered to my relief that it didn't start till ten. (I was still late). Total cool on my part, wasn't till the next coffee break I realised they'd sent a later email changing the time to 9 *shrug* Dealing with two snoopy laptops has it's silver lining?
We spent last night singing, dancing and doing aerobics, bits of me still ache, rather pleasantly. But I still got up at 8am - when it was raining *sadface* and therefore went back to bed at 8:30 which gave the sun time to get it's act together. If I find the charger for my camera I'll post a pic of the fabulous fox Mark gave me, Paul says it's the first one he's liked but couldn't resist winding me up by looking at the bottom of it and telling me it had a sticker saying £4.99. Rat! Still, nothing from that shop costs so little and it wouldn't have mattered anyway. Timing was perfect as I'd found Mark a leatherbound copy of the Yellowplush Papers and I think we surprised each other nicely exchanging gifts.
Now I'm past tired and need to find some sleep, Alex has adopted the birthday teddybear my mother gave me for my ~29th~ *cough* birthday and he really believes it will protect him and give him nice dreams. The shorts were here last night too so I missed out on time with them by having a marvellous time elsewhere but they are still beautiful, I still adore them and Paul had some quality time with them on his own. He was most peeved I didn't notice he'd cut the grass, but finding the other bike parked where the ancient one used to be distracted me. Bloody thing failed it's MOT which seems unreasonable since it's only done about 450 miles since the last one. AHHHH, and the girl who wants the gas cooker came to see it today and her Dad is picking it up on Tuesday. AND! I finally sold something on ebay, not for what I paid, but it would only have floated around on the tides of my life till I eventually gave it away: like the £100+ fancy captains chair that I never got on with, so it's still a major result. Let's hope this is the germ of an obsession to sell mountains of accumulated 'stuff' and clear me some breathing space.
g'night
The finale of the 3 day course in London saw me karate chop a lump of wood in two, yes, ME! Total, total high from that. Worse than having that as the last moments of a motivational performance course is that I really do believe I could do it again. For anyone worried about it, I don't have a broken hand. They also tried to teach me to juggle but that one still needs work. Lots of exercise picking up far-flung beanbags though. One of the other bits was choose a shape which is meant to identify what kind of personality you have, which reminded me of the BUPA shape quiz / which I've promised to send them all. I quite fancied being a red circle but the mini-questionnaire declared that I'm a purple squiggle. If you try it, remember to turn the volume down on the too-loud and eventually irritating music loop and to tell me whatcha got.
Evenings were good too, dinner at Maroush with Lin on Wednesday after a couple of rather luscious cocktails at the Cumberland , clambering up on seriously high bar stools before discovering they have little lever to adjust the height; dinner at the Bird Street Busaba Eathai with one of the guys from the course and a friend of his on Thursday and an unexpected but lusciously lovely dinner Chez Downey last night. That man can surely cook, and I still don't see any reason to disabuse him of the notion that I can't.
It did feel like the first time in weeks rather than days that I could actually relax! I hadn't checked when I booked my corporate heaven at the Cumberland that the Marble Arch down escalator is down for refurb and my knee whinged a lot at walking down about 70 steps each morning. Hmmmppphhhh! Mornings. Having got up at 6:30 so I would get the right train to be there for 9 on Wednesday, I checked the outlook calendar and discovered to my relief that it didn't start till ten. (I was still late). Total cool on my part, wasn't till the next coffee break I realised they'd sent a later email changing the time to 9 *shrug* Dealing with two snoopy laptops has it's silver lining?
We spent last night singing, dancing and doing aerobics, bits of me still ache, rather pleasantly. But I still got up at 8am - when it was raining *sadface* and therefore went back to bed at 8:30 which gave the sun time to get it's act together. If I find the charger for my camera I'll post a pic of the fabulous fox Mark gave me, Paul says it's the first one he's liked but couldn't resist winding me up by looking at the bottom of it and telling me it had a sticker saying £4.99. Rat! Still, nothing from that shop costs so little and it wouldn't have mattered anyway. Timing was perfect as I'd found Mark a leatherbound copy of the Yellowplush Papers and I think we surprised each other nicely exchanging gifts.
Now I'm past tired and need to find some sleep, Alex has adopted the birthday teddybear my mother gave me for my ~29th~ *cough* birthday and he really believes it will protect him and give him nice dreams. The shorts were here last night too so I missed out on time with them by having a marvellous time elsewhere but they are still beautiful, I still adore them and Paul had some quality time with them on his own. He was most peeved I didn't notice he'd cut the grass, but finding the other bike parked where the ancient one used to be distracted me. Bloody thing failed it's MOT which seems unreasonable since it's only done about 450 miles since the last one. AHHHH, and the girl who wants the gas cooker came to see it today and her Dad is picking it up on Tuesday. AND! I finally sold something on ebay, not for what I paid, but it would only have floated around on the tides of my life till I eventually gave it away: like the £100+ fancy captains chair that I never got on with, so it's still a major result. Let's hope this is the germ of an obsession to sell mountains of accumulated 'stuff' and clear me some breathing space.
g'night
Sunday 19 April 2009
Big Red
Only an hour to drive back from London but another hour to unwind, wrapped in big red. Reading "Cathedral of the Sea", been to look at the short people asleep upstairs, wordless ~ the song was wordless; the singing will never be done.
Thursday 26 March 2009
burn up
About twice a year, my neighbour cuts down the trees the kids climb and use to catcall from at his 80 year old mother with comments on the cut and colour of her bloomers on the washing line, causing a very upright and respectable old lady enormous upset.
Tonight's the night for one of the biannual bonfires in the carpark, and my dead kitchen has been requisitioned to feed the flames. Heading over there in a minute with the bottle of vino for an impromptu community fire, without the sing-song.
Actually, I think Richard just likes fires.
Tonight's the night for one of the biannual bonfires in the carpark, and my dead kitchen has been requisitioned to feed the flames. Heading over there in a minute with the bottle of vino for an impromptu community fire, without the sing-song.
Actually, I think Richard just likes fires.
melt down
Snoopy2 just gave up the ghost with a WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM file missing. Apparently this is getting to be a common problem, and always, always means a complete data backup/restore and rebuild at a place of network safety.
End of ability to work and a 2 day SLA to get it fixed: AFTER I get it to London. there went my plans to get on with some work and go to London tonight to use the free ticket to P******* (name of club censored to protect my mother's innocence)
see ya!
End of ability to work and a 2 day SLA to get it fixed: AFTER I get it to London. there went my plans to get on with some work and go to London tonight to use the free ticket to P******* (name of club censored to protect my mother's innocence)
see ya!
Wednesday 25 March 2009
43
I scored 43 on this: and I'm not telling any of you what it means unless you tell me first what you scored so nyer!
1. When do you feel your best...
A) in the morning
B) during the afternoon and early evening
C) late at night
2. You usually walk...
A) fairly fast, with long steps
B) fairly fast, with little steps
C) less fast head up, looking the world in the face
D) less fast, head down
E) very slowly
3. When talking to people you...
A) stand with your arms folded
B) have your hands clasped
C) have one or both your hands on your hips
D) touch or push the person to whom you are talking
E) play with your ear, touch your chin, or smooth your hair
4. When relaxing, you sit with...
A) your knees bent with your legs neatly side by side
B) your legs crossed
C) your legs stretched out or straight
D) one leg curled under you
5. When something really amuses you, you react with...
A) big appreciated laugh
B) a laugh, but not a loud one
C) a quiet chuckle
D) a sheepish smile
6. When you go to a party or social gathering you...
A) make a loud entrance so everyone notices you
B) make a quiet entrance, looking around for someone you know
C) make the quietest entrance, trying to stay unnoticed
7. You're working very hard, concentrating hard, and you're interrupted...
A) welcome the break
B) feel extremely irritated
C) vary between these two extremes
8. Which of the following colors do you like most...
A) Red or orange
B) black
C) yellow or light blue
D) green
E) dark blue or purple
F) white
G) brown or gray
9. When you are in bed at night, in those last few moments before going to sleep you are...
A) stretched out on your back
B) stretched out face down on your stomach
C) on your side, slightly curled
D) with your head on one arm
E) with your head under the covers
10. You often dream that you are...
A) falling
B) fighting or struggling
C) searching for something or somebody
D) flying or floating
E) you usually have dreamless sleep
F) your dreams are always pleasant
POINTS:
1. (a) 2 (b) 4 (c) 6
2. (a) 6 (b) 4 (c) 7 (d) 2 (e) 1
3. (a) 4 (b) 2 (c) 5 (d) 7 (e) 6
4. (a) 4 (b) 6 (c) 2 (d) 1
5. (a) 6 (b) 4 (c) 3 (d) 5 (e) 2
6. (a) 6 (b) 4 (c) 2
7. (a) 6 (b) 2 (c) 4
8. (a) 6 (b) 7 (c) 5 (d) 4 (e) 3 (f) 2 (g) 1
9. (a) 7 (b) 6 (c) 4 (d) 2 (e) 1
10 (a) 4 (b) 2 (c) 3 (d) 5 (e) 6 (f) 1
1. When do you feel your best...
A) in the morning
B) during the afternoon and early evening
C) late at night
2. You usually walk...
A) fairly fast, with long steps
B) fairly fast, with little steps
C) less fast head up, looking the world in the face
D) less fast, head down
E) very slowly
3. When talking to people you...
A) stand with your arms folded
B) have your hands clasped
C) have one or both your hands on your hips
D) touch or push the person to whom you are talking
E) play with your ear, touch your chin, or smooth your hair
4. When relaxing, you sit with...
A) your knees bent with your legs neatly side by side
B) your legs crossed
C) your legs stretched out or straight
D) one leg curled under you
5. When something really amuses you, you react with...
A) big appreciated laugh
B) a laugh, but not a loud one
C) a quiet chuckle
D) a sheepish smile
6. When you go to a party or social gathering you...
A) make a loud entrance so everyone notices you
B) make a quiet entrance, looking around for someone you know
C) make the quietest entrance, trying to stay unnoticed
7. You're working very hard, concentrating hard, and you're interrupted...
A) welcome the break
B) feel extremely irritated
C) vary between these two extremes
8. Which of the following colors do you like most...
A) Red or orange
B) black
C) yellow or light blue
D) green
E) dark blue or purple
F) white
G) brown or gray
9. When you are in bed at night, in those last few moments before going to sleep you are...
A) stretched out on your back
B) stretched out face down on your stomach
C) on your side, slightly curled
D) with your head on one arm
E) with your head under the covers
10. You often dream that you are...
A) falling
B) fighting or struggling
C) searching for something or somebody
D) flying or floating
E) you usually have dreamless sleep
F) your dreams are always pleasant
POINTS:
1. (a) 2 (b) 4 (c) 6
2. (a) 6 (b) 4 (c) 7 (d) 2 (e) 1
3. (a) 4 (b) 2 (c) 5 (d) 7 (e) 6
4. (a) 4 (b) 6 (c) 2 (d) 1
5. (a) 6 (b) 4 (c) 3 (d) 5 (e) 2
6. (a) 6 (b) 4 (c) 2
7. (a) 6 (b) 2 (c) 4
8. (a) 6 (b) 7 (c) 5 (d) 4 (e) 3 (f) 2 (g) 1
9. (a) 7 (b) 6 (c) 4 (d) 2 (e) 1
10 (a) 4 (b) 2 (c) 3 (d) 5 (e) 6 (f) 1
Monday 23 March 2009
on a roll
I'm feeling like a useful and capable person now, all-powerful and properly evil. Not that it's a huge deal, but cancelling direct debits for things I neither want nor need feels good; especially when I get all masterful (or is that mistressful) on the phone and in emails.
cue rant
WHY do we put up with all these 0845 numbers? I'd recommend saynoto0870 if, like me, you pay for a months worth of 'free' landline calls since you still have to pay for those numbers. Check on wiki: "When calling 0844, 0845, 0870 and 0871 numbers, part of the cost of the call is paid to the recipient; this is known as “revenue sharing”". I'd call it charging 2 or 3 times for the same thing (once for the call, once for the service that you are already paying the company for, and again for the 0845), four times in the case of government departments who are funded by our taxes, and the fact that half the police forces in the country make a profit of about £50k a year on them is criminal.
That goes for the lottery lot, who won't unlock your account by email so I sent one telling them I'd cancelled their direct debit, and the plumbing lot who want 1/3 of what I pay for 'unlimited' house and contents insurance and have so many restrictions on what they'll pay out for and limits on everything. That's cancelled too.
end rant
Didn't have the energy to deal with the Woolwich who want utility bills in the name I used to use before they'll change the address back from my mother's OLD address to my own one. Also procrastinating still about finding the key for garage2 so I can throw most of the contents away and give up garage1 which has become a resting place for everyone else's stuff. I suppose I should be grateful the bike IS in there!
Good news in the mail last week when the water bill came through; I used to pay nearly £400 a year water rates and eventually - very eve-ent-chew-ally - got a water meter fitted. They started by charging me £10 a month, reduced it to £5, put it up to £7,, and the last estimate was a whole 3 units higher than the real reading but they already owe ME £45.76. Result!
Good news also on the phone today when the Helphire lot called and I lied a teensy bit saying the cheque for the written-off Mazda arrived today and not Saturday. I was getting rather concerned about how much I might end up paying them since they have my credit card details but it seems I get to keep the car (rephrase - Paul gets to use the car) for 7 days after the cheque comes through. Over to him now to sort himself out a car before next Tuesday morning.
Good news too on last week/end: I camped out in Mark's kitchen most of the week where it was superbly sunny and there was a decent wireless connection so I could work. The desk booking system for the office failed spectacularly when my boss decided to wander in and purloin the desk I'd booked. Anyway, all allegations of skiving are out of court since I did do the working thing most of every day and was in the office till 9:30pm on Friday.
The teensy scars on my hand from the greedy squirrel in St James' Park are almost gone now, little beggar didn't think one hazelnut at a time was enough but Mark maintains it's because I'm Scottish and wouldn't let go. Glorious sunshine almost all week, easy enjoyable company, and dinner cooked for me every night - heaven.
Girlie points from the man coming out to the sticks to watch Six Nations (Ireland wouldn't have won otherwise). I had my voodoo pins at the ready and the Harlequins rugby ball from last year, when the London Irish won, was quaking on top of the cabinet. There was even time to watch the next match before Paul gave us a lift to D&Bs for a more than pleasant dinner on Saturday night. For a wonder I was ready on time, but then (my) normality reasserted itself and I mixed up the name of the road with the name of the village so we got there 'only just' on time.
Mothers Day brought more sun and also my filius and shorts bearing roses and a lovely card; Mark set off to be filial around lunchtime and then the late night and early morning caught up, leaving me in one of those tired, dreamy but not sleepy moods. The next door foreigns had an extended garden party involving a fire underneath a big cauldron suspended on a tripod. None of them had pointy hats but I couldn't understand a word they shouted so perhaps they really were casting spells. It was all quiet by midnight and there don't seem to be any eviscerated animals around; maybe it was just stew.
And as for 'my' local!!!!!!!! I've been there once, about two years ago, with Mark, not having been there for about two years before and with some trepidation since I knew it had gone downhill. It was awful then, half dismantled, half-painted and the landlady sporting a black eye. Luckily he thought it was amusing, including being asked at the bar if he was James Hewitt. This time however ...........
In the interests of confusing the hell out of me and attempting once more to catch me 'on the back foot', he parked outside my house and walked to the pub before calling me. He did say he was getting some funny looks but we agreed to meet up there. By the time I finished my coffee and found my shoes, he was on the phone again, walking back to my house, preferring to watch it there after seeing one 'mate' lay another one out on the floor which they saw as 'just a joke'. Wail! It used to be an ace place to go, anytime. At least I remembered how to switch it the TV and the stereo hookup was appreciated
There, all caught up now, apart from posting the rest of the kitchen pics (sorry, Mother)
cue rant
WHY do we put up with all these 0845 numbers? I'd recommend saynoto0870 if, like me, you pay for a months worth of 'free' landline calls since you still have to pay for those numbers. Check on wiki: "When calling 0844, 0845, 0870 and 0871 numbers, part of the cost of the call is paid to the recipient; this is known as “revenue sharing”". I'd call it charging 2 or 3 times for the same thing (once for the call, once for the service that you are already paying the company for, and again for the 0845), four times in the case of government departments who are funded by our taxes, and the fact that half the police forces in the country make a profit of about £50k a year on them is criminal.
That goes for the lottery lot, who won't unlock your account by email so I sent one telling them I'd cancelled their direct debit, and the plumbing lot who want 1/3 of what I pay for 'unlimited' house and contents insurance and have so many restrictions on what they'll pay out for and limits on everything. That's cancelled too.
end rant
Didn't have the energy to deal with the Woolwich who want utility bills in the name I used to use before they'll change the address back from my mother's OLD address to my own one. Also procrastinating still about finding the key for garage2 so I can throw most of the contents away and give up garage1 which has become a resting place for everyone else's stuff. I suppose I should be grateful the bike IS in there!
Good news in the mail last week when the water bill came through; I used to pay nearly £400 a year water rates and eventually - very eve-ent-chew-ally - got a water meter fitted. They started by charging me £10 a month, reduced it to £5, put it up to £7,, and the last estimate was a whole 3 units higher than the real reading but they already owe ME £45.76. Result!
Good news also on the phone today when the Helphire lot called and I lied a teensy bit saying the cheque for the written-off Mazda arrived today and not Saturday. I was getting rather concerned about how much I might end up paying them since they have my credit card details but it seems I get to keep the car (rephrase - Paul gets to use the car) for 7 days after the cheque comes through. Over to him now to sort himself out a car before next Tuesday morning.
Good news too on last week/end: I camped out in Mark's kitchen most of the week where it was superbly sunny and there was a decent wireless connection so I could work. The desk booking system for the office failed spectacularly when my boss decided to wander in and purloin the desk I'd booked. Anyway, all allegations of skiving are out of court since I did do the working thing most of every day and was in the office till 9:30pm on Friday.
The teensy scars on my hand from the greedy squirrel in St James' Park are almost gone now, little beggar didn't think one hazelnut at a time was enough but Mark maintains it's because I'm Scottish and wouldn't let go. Glorious sunshine almost all week, easy enjoyable company, and dinner cooked for me every night - heaven.
Girlie points from the man coming out to the sticks to watch Six Nations (Ireland wouldn't have won otherwise). I had my voodoo pins at the ready and the Harlequins rugby ball from last year, when the London Irish won, was quaking on top of the cabinet. There was even time to watch the next match before Paul gave us a lift to D&Bs for a more than pleasant dinner on Saturday night. For a wonder I was ready on time, but then (my) normality reasserted itself and I mixed up the name of the road with the name of the village so we got there 'only just' on time.
Mothers Day brought more sun and also my filius and shorts bearing roses and a lovely card; Mark set off to be filial around lunchtime and then the late night and early morning caught up, leaving me in one of those tired, dreamy but not sleepy moods. The next door foreigns had an extended garden party involving a fire underneath a big cauldron suspended on a tripod. None of them had pointy hats but I couldn't understand a word they shouted so perhaps they really were casting spells. It was all quiet by midnight and there don't seem to be any eviscerated animals around; maybe it was just stew.
And as for 'my' local!!!!!!!! I've been there once, about two years ago, with Mark, not having been there for about two years before and with some trepidation since I knew it had gone downhill. It was awful then, half dismantled, half-painted and the landlady sporting a black eye. Luckily he thought it was amusing, including being asked at the bar if he was James Hewitt. This time however ...........
In the interests of confusing the hell out of me and attempting once more to catch me 'on the back foot', he parked outside my house and walked to the pub before calling me. He did say he was getting some funny looks but we agreed to meet up there. By the time I finished my coffee and found my shoes, he was on the phone again, walking back to my house, preferring to watch it there after seeing one 'mate' lay another one out on the floor which they saw as 'just a joke'. Wail! It used to be an ace place to go, anytime. At least I remembered how to switch it the TV and the stereo hookup was appreciated
There, all caught up now, apart from posting the rest of the kitchen pics (sorry, Mother)
Sunday 15 March 2009
boris has caught up with me
A very long time ago, I left London before 8:30 one weekday morning before Westminster's delightful traffic wardens could take lots of photographs of my car and give me a ticket before calling the clampers. I forgot to pay the congestion charge.
A few days later, I signed onto tfl and attempted to pay it. Couldn't. Stupid system won't let you pay it online after the second day unless you have the penalty notice number. Since I hadn't been home, I didn't have the number and couldn't pay it.
OK, get home, no penalty notice. Odd. Maybe I got away with it, however unlikely that might seem. It wasn't top of my priority list, ever. By the time I'd remembered that I was supposed to have sent off the registration doc for the red devil (which wasn't till I had to tax it) I'd forgotten all about it.
Once in a while, I'd twitch a bit thinking it must have been sent to T's old address, and each time decided I would let the canines continue to snore. Well, yesterday, T called me, very worried that she was going to ruin my day. She'd had all the mail from the old place forwarded and found a congestion charge penalty notice addressed to her, and the cost of having a drink or several that night is now an extra £180. Grit! Oh well, my own fault and I suppose I can try to convince them their system sucks and let me pay the lesser amount. Wish me luck.
The good news is there were no letters about roadside snapshots so the devil lives on to eat more open road; better than that, it's getting warmer and I can zoom about with the top down
The bad news is that some vermin were throwing stones at her window, and when she went out to see what was what found the rear screen of her car broken. Wish HER luck! Once those darling 'kids' start they sometimes decide it's a good plan to continue. A police officer asked me once, while "investigating" a winter break in at the caravan I used to have in Wales, "have you been a victim before", as if it was MY fault: I doubt much has changed.
Oh, and I've forgotten my login for tfl, but maybe I didn't have one till I got the oyster autofeed set up last week, I resent having to give my email, telephone, address etc details to every bureaucracy that has a website.
A few days later, I signed onto tfl and attempted to pay it. Couldn't. Stupid system won't let you pay it online after the second day unless you have the penalty notice number. Since I hadn't been home, I didn't have the number and couldn't pay it.
OK, get home, no penalty notice. Odd. Maybe I got away with it, however unlikely that might seem. It wasn't top of my priority list, ever. By the time I'd remembered that I was supposed to have sent off the registration doc for the red devil (which wasn't till I had to tax it) I'd forgotten all about it.
Once in a while, I'd twitch a bit thinking it must have been sent to T's old address, and each time decided I would let the canines continue to snore. Well, yesterday, T called me, very worried that she was going to ruin my day. She'd had all the mail from the old place forwarded and found a congestion charge penalty notice addressed to her, and the cost of having a drink or several that night is now an extra £180. Grit! Oh well, my own fault and I suppose I can try to convince them their system sucks and let me pay the lesser amount. Wish me luck.
The good news is there were no letters about roadside snapshots so the devil lives on to eat more open road; better than that, it's getting warmer and I can zoom about with the top down
The bad news is that some vermin were throwing stones at her window, and when she went out to see what was what found the rear screen of her car broken. Wish HER luck! Once those darling 'kids' start they sometimes decide it's a good plan to continue. A police officer asked me once, while "investigating" a winter break in at the caravan I used to have in Wales, "have you been a victim before", as if it was MY fault: I doubt much has changed.
Oh, and I've forgotten my login for tfl, but maybe I didn't have one till I got the oyster autofeed set up last week, I resent having to give my email, telephone, address etc details to every bureaucracy that has a website.
Friday 13 March 2009
Mouse Juggling
I'm sat at the dining table with three sets of technology blinking in and out of Internet connection. The home one is currently direct wired from the wireless router as it couldn't find a signal.
*update!* Microserf has an update available for D-Link DWA-140 RangeBooster N USB Adapter which is, I think, what I'm using. Maybe, just maybe it'll fix the problem.
Snoopy1, the work laptop, is happy as Larry with a working, constant, secure VPN wireless connection
Snoopy2, the project laptop, is making me sign in to the secure VPN thing every ten seconds to ten minutes because it keeps losing the connection. I should point out it was doing that when both the others were off.
Juggling mice isn't one of my strong points.
Still, on the wire of 5:30 on a Friday, I have sent off the complicated request form to book the conference place on Tuesday that I need to get an OK from my BUM! OK, Business Unit Manager (got that Feb 17th on Snoopy1 email) AND my project manager (got that Feb 27th on Snoopy2 email). Yes, yes, I know, I should have done it before but; last conference I went on I booked and paid myself and claimed on expenses. After several weeks, I bothered to put the claim in, and it got authorised BUT the Injah back office cancelled it because I hadn't used the over-complicated purchasing system. I had to personally chase the damn thing up to VP level to get it paid, all £129 of it sssssssssssssssssake
To get the form and copy the emails involved a LOT of mousejuggling till Snoopy2 would send the email to Snoopy1 so I could forward it to bureaucracy 101. I'll let you know if I do actually get to go on this conference next week; I think it's 50/50
So, what else has been going on? I know I wrote a blogthing on word or email or something, somewhere since Monday and I'll slot it in when I find it - probably maybe
Today ....
G&B left at lunchtime, with hurried goodbyes since I had a conference call; Paul is at his grandmother's funeral *sad* for him; and the insurance company have written off the car as an uneconomical repair (no surprise there). They tell me they will be sending me a cheque for £450 (surprise there if it comes to anything noticeable after they take the excess cover off). O2 or carphone warehouse or whoever they are called me to find out why I'd not followed up on the phone I ordered (for Paul) - last month! Now the phone is due to be delivered tomorrow or MOnday and they're giving me a £20 voucher and 12 months free music downloading thing as consolation.
The kitchen is now sporting new doors, a floor and a windowsill and there is a long list of ermmmm, almost associated things which have happened on the home maintenance front/ The back gate is fixed and has a new industrial strength automatic closer on it, the front door lock is fixed, the numbers screwed on properly and the frame sealed properly. The doorbell is back in commission. The cloakroom and bathroom doors now have kitsch vacant/engaged locks on them. There's a new door to the living room which matches the new kitchen doors. and there's now a rinky dinky binkie to go with the dinky binkie in the cupboard. We really need to stop this endless creation of new interesting bits in the kitchen. (yes, yes, I'll upload the pix soon) Much sanding and varnishing has been done, by Barbara! mostly while I was tarting about in London and Southend working and at the LLM which certainly wasn't work.
Bloody men had taken over our room, much to our disgust, especially since we could see them put away their laptops after a while and settle down to hog the room for all two of them sit and watch bloody football while we ladies were forced to try on the clothes from Vicky's "mobile shop" on the mezzanine floor. We didn't catch anyone gawping but then a city wine bar on a Wednesday evening which has football on big screens obviously uses the entire attention span of those chaps still in the building.
The screaming red full skirt was obviously mine (that's half my Rammy outfit for 2010) and the black fancy riding skirt and partywear beaded top were just icing on that particular cake. Cheers Vicky!!! The cake for Ps birthday went down well, baked and iced by the fair Rebecca and Caro turning up with a tin full of luscious fudge more than made up for the fact the place has lost or upset another chef and there was next to zilch on the menu. A fiver for a bowl of chips, I ask you!
What else : ahhhh Tuesday night I'd decided they could spring for a hotel in southend if I had to be in London late Tuesday afternoon and then Southend for 10am Wednesday. I got into the Camelia Hotel (sic) which deserves a prize for twee in almost every respect. A definite good point was the extremely nice white wine with dinner. I forgot to make a note of it but it was a Pinot Grigio of some kind. Food was also obviously cooked rather than microwaved and I ate it in their almost empty dining room full of tables with pristine white tablecloths and perfect place settings. Post prandial long stroll along the beach in the dark (once the lurid scarlet neon hotel sign was out of eyeshot) continued the rebalancing of wa and a seriously bubbly hot bath listening to good music on some unknown radio station rounded it off nicely. There were masses of oyster shells on the shore and I childishly had to collect some, I think it's in the rules if you're on a beach. Sense prevailed in the morning and I left most of them in the bin.
Work? The meeting? pfuuiii! I'd planned to stay there and use a hotdesk, but they didn't have enough ip addresses so I went back to the London office where there are 3 avaialable. All of which were being used, one of which was attached to bigboss's laptop while he'd swanned off to a long meeting. Just as well the LLM was that evening or I'd have ended up working till silly o'clock once I got on the network.
enough of all this, it's the weekend now
*update!* Microserf has an update available for D-Link DWA-140 RangeBooster N USB Adapter which is, I think, what I'm using. Maybe, just maybe it'll fix the problem.
Snoopy1, the work laptop, is happy as Larry with a working, constant, secure VPN wireless connection
Snoopy2, the project laptop, is making me sign in to the secure VPN thing every ten seconds to ten minutes because it keeps losing the connection. I should point out it was doing that when both the others were off.
Juggling mice isn't one of my strong points.
Still, on the wire of 5:30 on a Friday, I have sent off the complicated request form to book the conference place on Tuesday that I need to get an OK from my BUM! OK, Business Unit Manager (got that Feb 17th on Snoopy1 email) AND my project manager (got that Feb 27th on Snoopy2 email). Yes, yes, I know, I should have done it before but; last conference I went on I booked and paid myself and claimed on expenses. After several weeks, I bothered to put the claim in, and it got authorised BUT the Injah back office cancelled it because I hadn't used the over-complicated purchasing system. I had to personally chase the damn thing up to VP level to get it paid, all £129 of it sssssssssssssssssake
To get the form and copy the emails involved a LOT of mousejuggling till Snoopy2 would send the email to Snoopy1 so I could forward it to bureaucracy 101. I'll let you know if I do actually get to go on this conference next week; I think it's 50/50
So, what else has been going on? I know I wrote a blogthing on word or email or something, somewhere since Monday and I'll slot it in when I find it - probably maybe
Today ....
G&B left at lunchtime, with hurried goodbyes since I had a conference call; Paul is at his grandmother's funeral *sad* for him; and the insurance company have written off the car as an uneconomical repair (no surprise there). They tell me they will be sending me a cheque for £450 (surprise there if it comes to anything noticeable after they take the excess cover off). O2 or carphone warehouse or whoever they are called me to find out why I'd not followed up on the phone I ordered (for Paul) - last month! Now the phone is due to be delivered tomorrow or MOnday and they're giving me a £20 voucher and 12 months free music downloading thing as consolation.
The kitchen is now sporting new doors, a floor and a windowsill and there is a long list of ermmmm, almost associated things which have happened on the home maintenance front/ The back gate is fixed and has a new industrial strength automatic closer on it, the front door lock is fixed, the numbers screwed on properly and the frame sealed properly. The doorbell is back in commission. The cloakroom and bathroom doors now have kitsch vacant/engaged locks on them. There's a new door to the living room which matches the new kitchen doors. and there's now a rinky dinky binkie to go with the dinky binkie in the cupboard. We really need to stop this endless creation of new interesting bits in the kitchen. (yes, yes, I'll upload the pix soon) Much sanding and varnishing has been done, by Barbara! mostly while I was tarting about in London and Southend working and at the LLM which certainly wasn't work.
Bloody men had taken over our room, much to our disgust, especially since we could see them put away their laptops after a while and settle down to hog the room for all two of them sit and watch bloody football while we ladies were forced to try on the clothes from Vicky's "mobile shop" on the mezzanine floor. We didn't catch anyone gawping but then a city wine bar on a Wednesday evening which has football on big screens obviously uses the entire attention span of those chaps still in the building.
The screaming red full skirt was obviously mine (that's half my Rammy outfit for 2010) and the black fancy riding skirt and partywear beaded top were just icing on that particular cake. Cheers Vicky!!! The cake for Ps birthday went down well, baked and iced by the fair Rebecca and Caro turning up with a tin full of luscious fudge more than made up for the fact the place has lost or upset another chef and there was next to zilch on the menu. A fiver for a bowl of chips, I ask you!
What else : ahhhh Tuesday night I'd decided they could spring for a hotel in southend if I had to be in London late Tuesday afternoon and then Southend for 10am Wednesday. I got into the Camelia Hotel (sic) which deserves a prize for twee in almost every respect. A definite good point was the extremely nice white wine with dinner. I forgot to make a note of it but it was a Pinot Grigio of some kind. Food was also obviously cooked rather than microwaved and I ate it in their almost empty dining room full of tables with pristine white tablecloths and perfect place settings. Post prandial long stroll along the beach in the dark (once the lurid scarlet neon hotel sign was out of eyeshot) continued the rebalancing of wa and a seriously bubbly hot bath listening to good music on some unknown radio station rounded it off nicely. There were masses of oyster shells on the shore and I childishly had to collect some, I think it's in the rules if you're on a beach. Sense prevailed in the morning and I left most of them in the bin.
Work? The meeting? pfuuiii! I'd planned to stay there and use a hotdesk, but they didn't have enough ip addresses so I went back to the London office where there are 3 avaialable. All of which were being used, one of which was attached to bigboss's laptop while he'd swanned off to a long meeting. Just as well the LLM was that evening or I'd have ended up working till silly o'clock once I got on the network.
enough of all this, it's the weekend now
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