:: catching my breath

Whew! it's been all go since I said, "More later! Andrew just showed up..." on Friday night.

Cooking oil: well, I just think that if you can run cars (and presumably trains and much else) on cooking oil, the government should be carpeting the land in oil-producing crops, not fighting wars over dwindling, non-replaceable stocks of highly-polluting fossil fuels. That's all.

So on Saturday, all fired up, I headed off to do a spot of protesting. Andrew and Bertie walked me to the station; neither of them came along -- Andrew was too ill (flu) and Bertie too cowardly. The man in the Dalmeny ticket office sucked his teeth; "Are you sure you want to go to Glasgow? It's chaos..." And so it was. There was a huge, stationary queue at Waverley station, and I was in it for about an hour. However, eventually, I got to Glasgow. I'd managed to leave my map behind and feared I'd never find the SECC rally-point. Walked out of the station and thought, hmmm, I wonder if those thousands people waving placards and shouting slogans know the way? I joined at George Square, just down from the station, and the march stretched as far as the eye could see in both directions. I found myself behind the Scottish Socialist Party banner, with a very lively bunch of people.

I'd had a couple of calls on the train from my old boss, who was on his way to the rally with his wife, so I called him when we arrived at the SECC and got vague directions on where to look for him. He's very tall, so he was easy to spot! They left soon after that, and I declined their invitation to join them in going to Loch Lomond, or even just going for a drink, because I wanted to listen to some of the speeches and generally soak up the atmosphere. I heard the Socialist MSP Tommy Sheridan speak, quite the fiery orator ("Brothers and Sisters!") and someone else who didn't speak up well enough for me to hear. I roamed around looking for people I knew (didn't see anyone, though they were there) and admiring the endless variety of protest (Squirrels for Peace: Nuts to Bombs).

Finally I was weary enough for home and made the long trek back to the station. "Would passengers travelling to Edinburgh please begin queuing on Platform 6," said the tannoy. There was only a tiny queue! Hurrah! But it was a trick -- "start queuing" meant queue at Platform 6 to hear someone say "go out into the car park and join the real queue". It snaked all the way round a really large area! However, it moved quickly, so in the end it was only half an hour or so before I was sitting in a train seat, opening my flask of coffee.

Andrew phoned; he was on his way back to my place from town (no jeering, he really was sick) and said he'd take Bertie for a walk and meet me at Dalmeny or thereabouts. And we timed it perfectly.

After a meal (pork and noodle stir-fry, cooked by me), we decided to go to see Gangs of New York. We left it a bit late and ended up sitting down in the last seats -- front row, far corner -- just as the film started. Despite the neck-cricking view and the violent content, I enjoyed it. It's a part of American history I knew nothing about, and it's very well-made. I'm a fan of Daniel Day-Lewis, and he acted everyone else off the screen. I hope he gets the Oscar, he deserves it.

Sunday, after walking Bertie, we went to IKEA. Andrew's in nest-building mode and wanted to get some ideas for interior decor. We didn't buy anything -- I couldn't bear the thought of standing in another queue, and Andrew was getting the train home -- but had a good time looking at everything. Andrew hadn't been before and was a bit overwhelmed by the totality of the IKEA experience. Yes, you can furnish an entire home at IKEA. We had intended to have lunch at the cafeteria, but it was too crowded, so we just grabbed a hotdog and fled.

On the way home we stopped at Holyrood Park to walk Bertie. (Yes he had been left in the car, but it was freezing cold, so that's all right. And he enjoyed his IKEA hotdog.) During the walk we saw some crows (or are they ravens? I can't tell) curling on the frozen pond. At least that's what it looked like they were doing. After watching them for a while, we realised they were trying to crack open chunks of ice, thinking they were snails. They even fought over them, poor things. They were flying up and dropping the chunks on to the frozen surface, pecking at them to see if they were "open", then dropping them again.

Back home I cooked Andrew a quick omlette and drove him to the station for his train. Then I had a quick breather before going off to meet Fiona for another film, Two Weeks Notice. Her choice, not mine, and I can't say I enjoyed it. It was ok, there were a couple of ok jokes, but it was ... dumb. And I hate Huge Grunt. However, it was nice seeing Fiona again and catching up over a drink.

Monday morning I was up at sparrow fart, walking Bertie in the permafrost before going into town on the bus to see my craniosacral therapist, Joanna, and then on to the hospital for the follow-up MRI scan. Both involved lying down, which was welcome. I was also supposed to take my car in to the garage to have its oil leak diagnosed but put that off due to lack of time. After the scan I went to a bookshop and bought some poetry (a Fleur Adcock collection and Milton's Paradise Lost) and Computing Projects for Visual Basic. I also got some music, a cheapo early music compilation and a collection of Persian classical music.

When I got home I walked Bertie and had something to eat and then pretty much conked out. I gave Bertie some leftovers, which apparently had an electrifying effect on his innards. He had to go out into the garden urgently at 3am and again at 7:30am. Sigh.

This morning I finally took the car to the garage. The mechanic had said he was too busy to fix it but would see what was wrong and book it in. He took a look, measured the oil (almost empty) and said it was so bad he would fix it today. I was imagining the worst, but it was only the oil filter, which was so old it was corroded through. I was "this close" (tiny amount) to a catastrophic engine failure, apparently. But hurrah, it was only £20 for a new filter and two litres of oil.

And now I'm back at work. I was on my own tonight, so it was mega-busy all the way through. I have a last go at learning the new system on Thursday, then we start training on Monday. After that it will be insanely busy for six weeks or so, training and trouble-shooting the new system on top of this job. But there's my lovely holiday to look forward to...