Faye left this morning, heading for her new job caring for a very elderly chap, a former Oxford don. He's in his nineties and lives on the outskirts of the city. When Faye arrived here she only knew the general area he lived in, so we looked at a map of Oxford and decided one particular street looked nice -- near the open country, away from the ring road -- and lo and behold, that is indeed where she'll be living.
While she was here we did a bit of out-and-abouting. Went to see Pieces of April, which we both enjoyed, and had one whole day shopping for new clothes for me along Princes Street. Faye was determined not to buy anything herself, but couldn't resist a gorgeous pair of black brocade jeans on sale. I got boring work clothes mostly, but also some nice floppy linen trousers for summer.
I'm starting to plan my holidays: three weeks in September/October (with Pinky in France), then at least another three weeks in February/March (in New Zealand) next year. Awful bunch-up of hols, but cannot be avoided. In 2006 I swear I am going to take a fortnight in high summer season! Actually I probably won't -- I prefer to have holidays in spring and autumn when it's relatively quiet. I'd like to go to New York for a week in spring, or to somewhere in New England in the autumn.
Spring has definitely sprung here -- the weather's gone haywire and the lawn's started growing. Weeds, too. All my neighbours have been out busying themselves pruning and tidying and double-digging. Not me -- it's a jungle out there. A tiny pink cyclamen is blooming away madly and the big straggly purple-flowered thing in the rockery is budding. Loads of Spanish bluebells are coming up, despite my best efforts. The massacred rose hedge is showing signs of life -- I hope it will bush out, because I don't fancy having to grub it up and replace it. I don't know if I said, but Mrs Blacker grew it specifically to keep the paperboy from cutting across her front lawn. Hah!
19 March 2004
11 March 2004
:: thrillsville
Excitements in my street this week:
Dave and Diane painted a bright pink stripe around the bottom of their house. It's semi-detached and the neighbour's stripe is dull rust to tone in with the harling (roughcast). Diane was downcast; she thinks it's too bright. Dave likes it though: "I think it's quite gay!" "Very gay," was my opinion. But in a seaside kind of way. "Huh, I suppose we should stick pictures of boats to it," huffed Diane.
Meanwhile, the couple next door to Bridie have constructed two raised beds in their front garden. "And can you guess what they've gone and planted in them? Only potatoes!!" Potatoes in their front garden! What next.
In other news, I got my Ikea bookcases built without too much bother and they look fantastic. I ripped into a big scrubbing and decluttering exercise, and the place is looking spiffy.
Work: The top-secret project is that we have gone compact on Saturdays. We had all guessed by the time we were told. Teeny tiny little paper, much more work but fun. I've been appointed chief nag, which is why it's fun.
Faye's arriving on Saturday on a break between jobs. The last one didn't work out -- no phone signal, hardly any time off, persnicketty clients. Happily the agency is very understanding, so she'll be posted elsewhere without any bother. She's motoring up -- the train was going to cost some astronomical amount and the bus takes 12 hours. She's here until Tuesday.
Dave and Diane painted a bright pink stripe around the bottom of their house. It's semi-detached and the neighbour's stripe is dull rust to tone in with the harling (roughcast). Diane was downcast; she thinks it's too bright. Dave likes it though: "I think it's quite gay!" "Very gay," was my opinion. But in a seaside kind of way. "Huh, I suppose we should stick pictures of boats to it," huffed Diane.
Meanwhile, the couple next door to Bridie have constructed two raised beds in their front garden. "And can you guess what they've gone and planted in them? Only potatoes!!" Potatoes in their front garden! What next.
In other news, I got my Ikea bookcases built without too much bother and they look fantastic. I ripped into a big scrubbing and decluttering exercise, and the place is looking spiffy.
Work: The top-secret project is that we have gone compact on Saturdays. We had all guessed by the time we were told. Teeny tiny little paper, much more work but fun. I've been appointed chief nag, which is why it's fun.
Faye's arriving on Saturday on a break between jobs. The last one didn't work out -- no phone signal, hardly any time off, persnicketty clients. Happily the agency is very understanding, so she'll be posted elsewhere without any bother. She's motoring up -- the train was going to cost some astronomical amount and the bus takes 12 hours. She's here until Tuesday.
3 March 2004
:: pics
This isn't a great picture, but I took dozens trying to get the colour to show true and this is the closest I got.
Just to remind you, here's the old green.
:: greens
That was some week. I didn't do the bedroom in the end. I could have if I'd put my mind to it, but by Wednesday I was cream-crackered and couldn't even think about starting another room. I papered the dining room first -- not quiiiite as simple as I'd imagined, given there was no pattern-matching involved. Once that was pretty much done I cleared out the livingroom, threw plastic sheets over the sofa and chairs and started tearing off wallpaper.
It was at this point that Bertie barked at me. Yep, he was trying to tell me something, just like Lassie. "Are you mad? This is pointless. Where's my damned rug? I hate you!" He flounced off upstairs, where his bed was surrounded by dining chairs and sofa cushions. He flounced back down and did some more barking. By now I was lying on the plastic-covered sofa watching TV and eating olives and oat cakes. I'm surprised he didn't call the SSPCA.
After getting all the paper up (including incredibly fiddly bits around the windows and the gas fire), I took half a day off -- went out for drinks and a movie (Something's Gotta Give, 6 out of 10) with Fiona.
Next was the moment of truth: had I got the colour right?
Last year I painted the livingroom walls what I thought was a nice soft green. It turned out to be a nasty yellowy lime. When the sun poured in (which it does) it became fluorescent. Plus I still had the awful wallpaper underneath.
This doesn't do justice to the yellowness of the colour.
The new colour, whew, is much more to my liking. It's got a bluish caste; at first I thought it might be too blue. But it's perfect. In bright sunlight it fades out to a pale, fresh green. At night it darkens down somehow & is almost cosy. I'll post some pics tomorrow.
To Bertie's relief I've replaced all the livingroom furniture. My books are all still upstairs -- I haven't got the new shelves yet.
It was at this point that Bertie barked at me. Yep, he was trying to tell me something, just like Lassie. "Are you mad? This is pointless. Where's my damned rug? I hate you!" He flounced off upstairs, where his bed was surrounded by dining chairs and sofa cushions. He flounced back down and did some more barking. By now I was lying on the plastic-covered sofa watching TV and eating olives and oat cakes. I'm surprised he didn't call the SSPCA.
After getting all the paper up (including incredibly fiddly bits around the windows and the gas fire), I took half a day off -- went out for drinks and a movie (Something's Gotta Give, 6 out of 10) with Fiona.
Next was the moment of truth: had I got the colour right?
Last year I painted the livingroom walls what I thought was a nice soft green. It turned out to be a nasty yellowy lime. When the sun poured in (which it does) it became fluorescent. Plus I still had the awful wallpaper underneath.
This doesn't do justice to the yellowness of the colour.
The new colour, whew, is much more to my liking. It's got a bluish caste; at first I thought it might be too blue. But it's perfect. In bright sunlight it fades out to a pale, fresh green. At night it darkens down somehow & is almost cosy. I'll post some pics tomorrow.
To Bertie's relief I've replaced all the livingroom furniture. My books are all still upstairs -- I haven't got the new shelves yet.
20 February 2004
:: Ready or not
The walls are all stripped down, the piles of (stinky) wallpaper have been binned, and I'm ready for action. I've got lining paper, paste, size, brushes, bucket and seam roller -- I'm going to do this properly. I've got the Wallpapering section of my jumbo DIY manual memorised, I'm all set.
So imagine how irritated I was yesterday when my boss said, "You know that week off you've got ... how committed are you to that?"
Argh!
Very committed, was the answer -- especially since the compromise alternative of the week after next off was ruled out. And the week after that was also a non-starter. So I'm still having next week off, but I may lose my days off the following week, which are the Sunday and Monday. I chose that week in particular because I knew I'd have those days off tacked on the end, but my boss has booked his weekend off at the Flodigarry Country House Hotel (my fault, I gave him vouchers), so he won't be around.
The cause of all this disruption is some top-secret project that will keep us all busy over the next few weeks. I'll be busy manning the fort, I'm not involved in the project.
Back to the decorating: frustratingly, B&Q have run out of the colour I've chosen for my bedroom (Blue Sky), so I'll have to trail back into town at some point. Or maybe I'll just paint it Magnolia.
So imagine how irritated I was yesterday when my boss said, "You know that week off you've got ... how committed are you to that?"
Argh!
Very committed, was the answer -- especially since the compromise alternative of the week after next off was ruled out. And the week after that was also a non-starter. So I'm still having next week off, but I may lose my days off the following week, which are the Sunday and Monday. I chose that week in particular because I knew I'd have those days off tacked on the end, but my boss has booked his weekend off at the Flodigarry Country House Hotel (my fault, I gave him vouchers), so he won't be around.
The cause of all this disruption is some top-secret project that will keep us all busy over the next few weeks. I'll be busy manning the fort, I'm not involved in the project.
Back to the decorating: frustratingly, B&Q have run out of the colour I've chosen for my bedroom (Blue Sky), so I'll have to trail back into town at some point. Or maybe I'll just paint it Magnolia.
17 February 2004
:: interior decor
Why? I had this lovely (almost) flawless wallpaper:
And I had to go and scrape it all off.
First the paper had to be torn off, then either I steam/scrape/scrub the glued bit left behind -- it's like a ghost of the paper. If I decide to go with lining paper, then I don't have to scrape the glued bit off.
It took hours, long hours, it soaked up my entire long weekend, and it's not even finished yet. It took hours just to get all my books out:
It had better be worth it. I'm taking next week off to redecorate the dining room and my bedroom, and possibly the livingroom too, depending on how I get on. I thought I'd get a good headstart this weekend. Hah! By the end of next week I'll be knackered -- I'm already aching all over.
However. It did have to be done. I painted the livingroom over the wallpaper, which I really don't like, and guess what? I still don't like it. In fact it's worse, because it's the wrong colour.
Did I tell you about the toilet in the dining room? Frances next door told me a little while back that once Mrs B couldn't manage the stairs any longer, her son-in-law installed a toilet for her downstairs. She was sleeping in what is now the diningroom, so that's where the toilet went. After she went into the home, he took it out again. So while stripping off the wallpaper I discovered where all the pipes went. How fascinating! What a lovely mental image.
In other news: a message from Faye. She says she can't get a signal on her mobile at her new home, and internet access at the library is fully booked, hence the silence. However, it's a lovely house and a busy job. Can I suggest that everyone send her a card/letter the olde worlde way?
Spooky moment while stripping wallpaper: I was listening to Poetry Please on Radio 4, something I don't usually do because a) I'm usually working and b) I hate the way Roger McGough says "poo-etry". So anyway it's a poetry (pooetry) request programme, and as I scraped away, I thought, I should write in and ask them to play Sorley McLean reading my favourite poem (pooem), his great work Hallaig. And I swear, the very next reading was ... yes, Sorley McLean reading Hallaig. I nearly fell off the ladder.
You can listen to the programme via the internet, follow this link.
In between scraping and scraping and scraping, I went on some good walks, cooked some nice meals and watched a bit of TV. Just now I've had a lovely long bath. Now I'm off to the 24-hour supermarket for some dog food. Bertie hates interior decoration -- it's completely pointless and makes a hideous mess. I have to compensate with lots of treats and nice walks.
And I had to go and scrape it all off.
First the paper had to be torn off, then either I steam/scrape/scrub the glued bit left behind -- it's like a ghost of the paper. If I decide to go with lining paper, then I don't have to scrape the glued bit off.
It took hours, long hours, it soaked up my entire long weekend, and it's not even finished yet. It took hours just to get all my books out:
It had better be worth it. I'm taking next week off to redecorate the dining room and my bedroom, and possibly the livingroom too, depending on how I get on. I thought I'd get a good headstart this weekend. Hah! By the end of next week I'll be knackered -- I'm already aching all over.
However. It did have to be done. I painted the livingroom over the wallpaper, which I really don't like, and guess what? I still don't like it. In fact it's worse, because it's the wrong colour.
Did I tell you about the toilet in the dining room? Frances next door told me a little while back that once Mrs B couldn't manage the stairs any longer, her son-in-law installed a toilet for her downstairs. She was sleeping in what is now the diningroom, so that's where the toilet went. After she went into the home, he took it out again. So while stripping off the wallpaper I discovered where all the pipes went. How fascinating! What a lovely mental image.
In other news: a message from Faye. She says she can't get a signal on her mobile at her new home, and internet access at the library is fully booked, hence the silence. However, it's a lovely house and a busy job. Can I suggest that everyone send her a card/letter the olde worlde way?
Spooky moment while stripping wallpaper: I was listening to Poetry Please on Radio 4, something I don't usually do because a) I'm usually working and b) I hate the way Roger McGough says "poo-etry". So anyway it's a poetry (pooetry) request programme, and as I scraped away, I thought, I should write in and ask them to play Sorley McLean reading my favourite poem (pooem), his great work Hallaig. And I swear, the very next reading was ... yes, Sorley McLean reading Hallaig. I nearly fell off the ladder.
You can listen to the programme via the internet, follow this link.
In between scraping and scraping and scraping, I went on some good walks, cooked some nice meals and watched a bit of TV. Just now I've had a lovely long bath. Now I'm off to the 24-hour supermarket for some dog food. Bertie hates interior decoration -- it's completely pointless and makes a hideous mess. I have to compensate with lots of treats and nice walks.
12 February 2004
:: blither
Where does the time go?
Faye got away all right, had a fairly cold and miserable trip south though, by the sound of things. She's now settled in to her new home/job and I hope to hear all about it soon.
The Saturday before she left was nice and sunny so we went for a walk in the Pentlands. By the time we got there it had clouded over, but we soldiered on. The plan was to have a good walk and then have lunch in the Flotterstone Inn. But it seems everyone in Edinburgh had the same idea -- the hills were hotching with people and dogs.
It was bitterly cold, so we didn't walk that far, just up to the top of the reservoir. The inn was packed out, with a queue for tables, so we headed back to the car. In the rain. "It's nearly snow," I said. By the time we got into the car it was snow. We drove to Carlops in a blizzard. Had a nice pub meal there though, in the Allan Ramsay hotel. I had thought of going to a film or something in the evening, but Faye was busy packing and, well, it was too cold and snowy outside to bother.
So yes, she's gone south and I've been busying myself with sleeping, reading, doing embroidery and playing with my new Palm. Oh, and walking the dog and walking.
Inspired by the great crib-painting expedition, I'm taking a week off later in the month and finally doing up the dining room and my bedroom. It'll take at least a week, what with scraping the vile wallpaper off. I'm going to start preparations this weekend.
Faye got away all right, had a fairly cold and miserable trip south though, by the sound of things. She's now settled in to her new home/job and I hope to hear all about it soon.
The Saturday before she left was nice and sunny so we went for a walk in the Pentlands. By the time we got there it had clouded over, but we soldiered on. The plan was to have a good walk and then have lunch in the Flotterstone Inn. But it seems everyone in Edinburgh had the same idea -- the hills were hotching with people and dogs.
It was bitterly cold, so we didn't walk that far, just up to the top of the reservoir. The inn was packed out, with a queue for tables, so we headed back to the car. In the rain. "It's nearly snow," I said. By the time we got into the car it was snow. We drove to Carlops in a blizzard. Had a nice pub meal there though, in the Allan Ramsay hotel. I had thought of going to a film or something in the evening, but Faye was busy packing and, well, it was too cold and snowy outside to bother.
So yes, she's gone south and I've been busying myself with sleeping, reading, doing embroidery and playing with my new Palm. Oh, and walking the dog and walking.
Inspired by the great crib-painting expedition, I'm taking a week off later in the month and finally doing up the dining room and my bedroom. It'll take at least a week, what with scraping the vile wallpaper off. I'm going to start preparations this weekend.
6 February 2004
:: getting there
Faye's gradually working her way through the morass of paperwork and phone calls. Her backpack has arrived safely via air freight; she just had to call the official, who faxed her a customs form, then talk to the official for half an hour, fill in the customs form and fax it back, then talk to the official again to organise a delivery date. I think she's just about co-ordinated the activities of Lothian and Borders Police and several departments/branches of Lloyd's Bank regarding her stolen cards and chequebook. And I'm pretty sure she's mailed off her application form for a visa renewal. She's organised her start date at her new job and discussed details of her duties with the other carer.
She's also getting over her jetlag, and is very cheerful and positive despite all the hassles she's had to wade through.
We had a nice day yesterday -- I got my hair done (always a treat) and she took her car in to have its wheels aligned, then we met up and she treated me to lunch. After that we had a trawl through the charity shops of Morningside before I headed off to work.
There was a tremendous rainstorm in Edinburgh yesterday, complete with thunder and lightning. The building I work in has a glass roof, so the noise of rain hammering down was tremendous. Reminded me of listening to rain on the crib roof. Ah, the summers of yesteryear!
Anyway, Faye has an extra day, so she leaves for the south on Sunday. She's planning to stay overnight at Whitby, and then spend Monday night at Banbury. It's close to Oxford but not as expensive.
In other news I'm enjoying my new Palm in an extremely nerdy way. The whanau should be grateful though: I'm putting in everyone's birthdays, with a seven-day advance reminder. It's a chore entering all the data, but it will be worth it. I've already found it much, much more useful than paper diaries etc, but in such nerdy ways I'm not even going to tell you.
Faye wants one now: she's downsized from a fat Filofax to a skinny diary, a skinny address book and a skinny shopping list, but a PDA would be even skinnier. Trouble is, the old computer I gave her doesn't have USB. So now she's thinking of a lap-top plus PDA. I think with her mobile lifestyle (and a fresh desire to lighten her luggage load) that set-up would be perfect. Some places she doesn't have room to set up the computer, and it's a clunky old thing anyway.
At one point, Faye was looking for something in her suitcase. She sat back and looked round at all her stuff and sighed. "I think I might have a disorder," she said.
But the thing is, all our family has the same disorder. I know I do. When I came to this country I had a backpack and a small suitcase, and I sent over a tea-chest by sea freight. ("What've you got in this, rocks?" puffed the delivery man as he hauled the chest up the stairs. In fact I did have rocks in it, including a beautiful white river rock that John gave me.) Now I have a three-bedroom house with ample storage, two sheds and loft space and I have an amazing amount of stuff squirrelled away. So much in fact that I lose track of things. Like my Christmas stuff: somewhere I've got a box filled with ornaments, fairy lights, wrapping paper and Bertie's antlers. Can't find it anywhere.
Trevor certainly has the disorder. I asked him once if I could get him a model kit for a birthday or whatever. He took me through to his study and flung open the cupboard doors. There were shelves and shelves of unopened model kits. Mum .... well, we've all seen inside your wardrobe! Full marks for tidy storage. Pinky's flat is so tiny (and so tidy) that you wouldn't think she could have the disorder, but she's confessed to having a big cupboard downstairs. So there you go. It's genetic.
She's also getting over her jetlag, and is very cheerful and positive despite all the hassles she's had to wade through.
We had a nice day yesterday -- I got my hair done (always a treat) and she took her car in to have its wheels aligned, then we met up and she treated me to lunch. After that we had a trawl through the charity shops of Morningside before I headed off to work.
There was a tremendous rainstorm in Edinburgh yesterday, complete with thunder and lightning. The building I work in has a glass roof, so the noise of rain hammering down was tremendous. Reminded me of listening to rain on the crib roof. Ah, the summers of yesteryear!
Anyway, Faye has an extra day, so she leaves for the south on Sunday. She's planning to stay overnight at Whitby, and then spend Monday night at Banbury. It's close to Oxford but not as expensive.
In other news I'm enjoying my new Palm in an extremely nerdy way. The whanau should be grateful though: I'm putting in everyone's birthdays, with a seven-day advance reminder. It's a chore entering all the data, but it will be worth it. I've already found it much, much more useful than paper diaries etc, but in such nerdy ways I'm not even going to tell you.
Faye wants one now: she's downsized from a fat Filofax to a skinny diary, a skinny address book and a skinny shopping list, but a PDA would be even skinnier. Trouble is, the old computer I gave her doesn't have USB. So now she's thinking of a lap-top plus PDA. I think with her mobile lifestyle (and a fresh desire to lighten her luggage load) that set-up would be perfect. Some places she doesn't have room to set up the computer, and it's a clunky old thing anyway.
At one point, Faye was looking for something in her suitcase. She sat back and looked round at all her stuff and sighed. "I think I might have a disorder," she said.
But the thing is, all our family has the same disorder. I know I do. When I came to this country I had a backpack and a small suitcase, and I sent over a tea-chest by sea freight. ("What've you got in this, rocks?" puffed the delivery man as he hauled the chest up the stairs. In fact I did have rocks in it, including a beautiful white river rock that John gave me.) Now I have a three-bedroom house with ample storage, two sheds and loft space and I have an amazing amount of stuff squirrelled away. So much in fact that I lose track of things. Like my Christmas stuff: somewhere I've got a box filled with ornaments, fairy lights, wrapping paper and Bertie's antlers. Can't find it anywhere.
Trevor certainly has the disorder. I asked him once if I could get him a model kit for a birthday or whatever. He took me through to his study and flung open the cupboard doors. There were shelves and shelves of unopened model kits. Mum .... well, we've all seen inside your wardrobe! Full marks for tidy storage. Pinky's flat is so tiny (and so tidy) that you wouldn't think she could have the disorder, but she's confessed to having a big cupboard downstairs. So there you go. It's genetic.
3 February 2004
:: the eagle has landed
Yep, Faye arrived this morning, safe and sound and bang on time, and looking tanned. We had a cup of tea and a good catch-up chat before she hit the wall: no sleep to speak of for over 24 hours, plus jet-lag. I've put her in my room: I figure she has greater need of the comfy bed than me!
She starts her new job on Monday, which is a shame -- not that she's starting a job, but that it's so soon. Bertie is thrilled to bits to see her again, and it's mutual.
I had a great few days off. I drove through sleet and high winds to get my Palm -- and got a little karmic payback for not using public transport. The shop has a parking building right next to it, so I though, aha, I won't have to go outside. But I had to collect the Palm at its customer pick-up depot, which is across the road! Damn. But it was worth it -- it's the coolest thing out, so little and neat.
Sunday morning I met up with a work colleague and his wife and their dog for a walk -- Bertie and Oz are great pals. Then Andrew turned up with Faye's car and we had another walk before I drove him into town to catch his train back home. Then I went on to Fiona's for dinner -- that was fun, there was a good crowd there.
Yesterday was mainly practical stuff -- cleaning, laundry, supermarket shopping, entering data into the Palm. I also had a good walk on Blackford Hill, Bertie's favourite venue. Many, many dogs, mainly labradors.
My knees are much better just now. One of my neighbours was having a clean-out and found a couple of (unopened) tubs of high-strength glucosamine sulphate tablets, so he passed them on to me. They seem to be working: the inflamation has gone down and my knees feel much stronger and more stable. Still get jolts of pain, but nothing like the same constant aching. I've still been using my stick though, it helps on downhill stretches.
She starts her new job on Monday, which is a shame -- not that she's starting a job, but that it's so soon. Bertie is thrilled to bits to see her again, and it's mutual.
I had a great few days off. I drove through sleet and high winds to get my Palm -- and got a little karmic payback for not using public transport. The shop has a parking building right next to it, so I though, aha, I won't have to go outside. But I had to collect the Palm at its customer pick-up depot, which is across the road! Damn. But it was worth it -- it's the coolest thing out, so little and neat.
Sunday morning I met up with a work colleague and his wife and their dog for a walk -- Bertie and Oz are great pals. Then Andrew turned up with Faye's car and we had another walk before I drove him into town to catch his train back home. Then I went on to Fiona's for dinner -- that was fun, there was a good crowd there.
Yesterday was mainly practical stuff -- cleaning, laundry, supermarket shopping, entering data into the Palm. I also had a good walk on Blackford Hill, Bertie's favourite venue. Many, many dogs, mainly labradors.
My knees are much better just now. One of my neighbours was having a clean-out and found a couple of (unopened) tubs of high-strength glucosamine sulphate tablets, so he passed them on to me. They seem to be working: the inflamation has gone down and my knees feel much stronger and more stable. Still get jolts of pain, but nothing like the same constant aching. I've still been using my stick though, it helps on downhill stretches.
31 January 2004
:: stormy weather
It's completely foul today -- sleet, high winds, urgh. Got drenched on the morning walk but once I've dried out I'm off out again -- to spend my vouchers, whee! I've also got to visit the supermarket -- the shelves are bare -- but I might leave that till later on. Last time I supermarketed on a Saturday it was so crowded I nearly had an agrophobia attack. It helped that everyone else seemed to be as shocked as I was at how crowded it was, leading to a kind of Blitz spirt where we all co-operated rather than stressing out at aisle-blockers. I much prefer supermarket shopping at 2am; the only disadvantage is not being allowed to buy booze.
It's been a hectic week at work, due to Hutton and its aftermath, so I'm looking forward to having a weekend off. Shopping today, lunch with Andrew and supper with Fiona tomorrow, housework on Monday. Faye arrives on Tuesday, back from her NZ sojourn. I hope the weather's improved by then!
It's been a hectic week at work, due to Hutton and its aftermath, so I'm looking forward to having a weekend off. Shopping today, lunch with Andrew and supper with Fiona tomorrow, housework on Monday. Faye arrives on Tuesday, back from her NZ sojourn. I hope the weather's improved by then!
29 January 2004
:: cold in winter shock
Yes, after a nice little mild spell it's gone all Arctic again. Or what passes for Arctic here in Blighty. The papers say things like "snow causes chaos in Highlands", when in fact they closed one or two roads (which are closed by snow so often they have snow gates and special poles so the snow ploughs know where to go) and Mrs McPherson's sister Agnes slipped and sprained her ankle on her way down to the shop for a pint of milk and a loaf. Arctic is permafrost, people. Arctic is 50 below zero plus windchill, it's frostbite and hypothermia.
I still get a big thrill from snow, though. My first winter here there was a cracking snowfall one day, so I jumped in my car and drove out to the countryside to get some photos. Driving down through the Borders, visibility started to fall as the wind piled driving snow up in drifts against the fences. How exciting! Then, in the next village, a policeman flagged me down. "Where are you heading?" he asked. Heading? Errrr.... "Jedburgh," I said, having seen that on a sign somewhere. He looked concerned. "You'll not get to Jedburgh this way, the road's closed," he said. "I'm not sure how you'll get there, let's see..." "That's ok, I can stay with friends," I babbled. I turned the car round and went straight home, chastened. I didn't even have a coat on, never mind a thermos flask of coffee, a shovel, sacks for traction, blankets, a torch .... Tsk tsk.
Today I confined myself to a nice walk with the dog - who very much enjoyed the snow.
On Monday we went to Dollar Glen -- it was a good walk, but hell on my knees, despite my walking stick (sorry, Adventure Pole). It was fiercely cold up on the tops, although the sun was shining.
Here's Bertie striking a striking pose (he held it for four shots, while I messed about with exposures and flash!).
And another one, dog walkers on Blackford Hill:
I still get a big thrill from snow, though. My first winter here there was a cracking snowfall one day, so I jumped in my car and drove out to the countryside to get some photos. Driving down through the Borders, visibility started to fall as the wind piled driving snow up in drifts against the fences. How exciting! Then, in the next village, a policeman flagged me down. "Where are you heading?" he asked. Heading? Errrr.... "Jedburgh," I said, having seen that on a sign somewhere. He looked concerned. "You'll not get to Jedburgh this way, the road's closed," he said. "I'm not sure how you'll get there, let's see..." "That's ok, I can stay with friends," I babbled. I turned the car round and went straight home, chastened. I didn't even have a coat on, never mind a thermos flask of coffee, a shovel, sacks for traction, blankets, a torch .... Tsk tsk.
Today I confined myself to a nice walk with the dog - who very much enjoyed the snow.
On Monday we went to Dollar Glen -- it was a good walk, but hell on my knees, despite my walking stick (sorry, Adventure Pole). It was fiercely cold up on the tops, although the sun was shining.
Here's Bertie striking a striking pose (he held it for four shots, while I messed about with exposures and flash!).
And another one, dog walkers on Blackford Hill:
22 January 2004
:: whoops
Another hiatus while I get busy with other things. I've actually spent a ridiculous amount of time finessing the comments (see below). Ridiculous considering how few comments are left, that is. But it was interesting tinkering with them.
I wrote to blogger about the intermittent problem getting this blog to show, and they said they're working on it. In the meantime, if you get a message about the page not being available, click on the refresh button on the browser and it should show all right.
I had a whole weekend off and managed to squander most of it faffing around with mp3s and reading books (I'm reading Forty Signs of Rain by Kim Stanley Robinson; Last Act In Palmyra, a Falco mystery, by Lindsey Davis; and The Tattooed Girl by Joyce Carol Oates). I did get in a few good walks, though, and Andrew swung by for lunch and to collect the furniture from Anthea's old flat: a double bed and a chest of drawers. He brought the main farm car, a big Astra, and it swallowed everything up no trouble. He's just e-mailed to say that his aunt had an awful accident the other day: one of her excitable dogs pulled her over while she was walking in the woods and she broke her ankle badly in two places. She managed to crawl home and from there phoned Andrew, who rushed over and rode shotgun in the ambulance, guiding the driver through the country roads. They've been minding the three dogs since then, though they're going into kennels shortly.
I also went to see a fantastic film, which I've been meaning to see for ages: Touching the Void. It's the true story of Simon Yates and Joe Simpson, who climbed a mountain in Peru. Simpson fell and broke his leg in a fairly gruesome way, so Yates one tried to get him down by lowering him on a rope, section by section. At one point, though, he went over the edge of a cliff, so he couldn't take the slack off the rope so his Yates could come down to lower him down the next bit. So Yates had to cut the rope, letting him fall into a crevasse. When he saw the crevasse he assumed Simpson was dead. But he wasn't (obviously, since he wrote a book about it all) -- he'd landed on a ledge. He managed to crawl off the mountain and across a glacier and rocky moraine to the campsite. It's not all grim: there's quite a bit of humour. The photography is stunning too, and the narration has the kind of matter-of-fact, undramatic feel that is so true of mountain-mad men. A colleague who's a climber came in to work with a gash on his face once, and it turned out he'd fallen 300ft while roped up. "I would have been fine, but my ice-axe bounced off into my face." We were all going, "three hundred feet!!!!", but to him it was nothing.
We've been pretty busy at work, one way or another. Tonight's drama was a computer glitch that had the whole IT department running around feverishly. Once it was sorted we caught up pretty quickly though, and still hit the deadline.
Did I mention my long service award? I'm getting £200 of vouchers and an extra day's holiday for hitting the ten-year mark as a permanent employee (on 3 January). No sign of the vouchers yet, though the boss's secretary offered to let me look at them. The boss is apparently writing me a letter. Jolly good. Must be a long one ....
I wrote to blogger about the intermittent problem getting this blog to show, and they said they're working on it. In the meantime, if you get a message about the page not being available, click on the refresh button on the browser and it should show all right.
I had a whole weekend off and managed to squander most of it faffing around with mp3s and reading books (I'm reading Forty Signs of Rain by Kim Stanley Robinson; Last Act In Palmyra, a Falco mystery, by Lindsey Davis; and The Tattooed Girl by Joyce Carol Oates). I did get in a few good walks, though, and Andrew swung by for lunch and to collect the furniture from Anthea's old flat: a double bed and a chest of drawers. He brought the main farm car, a big Astra, and it swallowed everything up no trouble. He's just e-mailed to say that his aunt had an awful accident the other day: one of her excitable dogs pulled her over while she was walking in the woods and she broke her ankle badly in two places. She managed to crawl home and from there phoned Andrew, who rushed over and rode shotgun in the ambulance, guiding the driver through the country roads. They've been minding the three dogs since then, though they're going into kennels shortly.
I also went to see a fantastic film, which I've been meaning to see for ages: Touching the Void. It's the true story of Simon Yates and Joe Simpson, who climbed a mountain in Peru. Simpson fell and broke his leg in a fairly gruesome way, so Yates one tried to get him down by lowering him on a rope, section by section. At one point, though, he went over the edge of a cliff, so he couldn't take the slack off the rope so his Yates could come down to lower him down the next bit. So Yates had to cut the rope, letting him fall into a crevasse. When he saw the crevasse he assumed Simpson was dead. But he wasn't (obviously, since he wrote a book about it all) -- he'd landed on a ledge. He managed to crawl off the mountain and across a glacier and rocky moraine to the campsite. It's not all grim: there's quite a bit of humour. The photography is stunning too, and the narration has the kind of matter-of-fact, undramatic feel that is so true of mountain-mad men. A colleague who's a climber came in to work with a gash on his face once, and it turned out he'd fallen 300ft while roped up. "I would have been fine, but my ice-axe bounced off into my face." We were all going, "three hundred feet!!!!", but to him it was nothing.
We've been pretty busy at work, one way or another. Tonight's drama was a computer glitch that had the whole IT department running around feverishly. Once it was sorted we caught up pretty quickly though, and still hit the deadline.
Did I mention my long service award? I'm getting £200 of vouchers and an extra day's holiday for hitting the ten-year mark as a permanent employee (on 3 January). No sign of the vouchers yet, though the boss's secretary offered to let me look at them. The boss is apparently writing me a letter. Jolly good. Must be a long one ....
18 January 2004
:: comments are back!
Hurrah! Quick ... say something.
Another site stepped in to help -- read about it here. All this is free, by the way -- though I will probably send them a donation.
Another site stepped in to help -- read about it here. All this is free, by the way -- though I will probably send them a donation.
16 January 2004
:: talking back
I just noticed the commenty thing wasn't working and did some poking around. I found this angry diatribe (Contains fruity language, by the way.)
Erm... so ... send me an email if you have something to say, I guess.
Erm... so ... send me an email if you have something to say, I guess.
:: bertie's new best friend
At last, some Christmas pix:
Wee Jenn is mad about dogs and was thrilled that Bertie liked her.
The two Jennies and Bertie.
Awwww!
Wee Jenn is mad about dogs and was thrilled that Bertie liked her.
The two Jennies and Bertie.
Awwww!
14 January 2004
:: time out
I hadn't realised I'd left it so long between entries. I've now almost completey recovered, phew. I've been surrounded by sick people for weeks, so it was only a matter of time before I caught something. I'm just relieved it was so minor. My knees are feeling a bit better too (now I've got the new hard plastic orthotics) so good news all round. Might get out into the hills at the weekend, I could do with a long walk, especially uphill.
I've been thinking a lot lately about people and their dogs -- I meet so many of them, and their relationships with each other (people to dogs, dogs to dogs, people to people) are fascinating. They vary as much as dog breeds, so much so it's impossible to stereotype them (though of course people do have reasons for choosing certain breeds). And when you get talking to other owners ... wow. Weird and wonderful. Dog owners can be intense about their pets. Uh, sorry, "companion animals".
My favourites are the relaxed types who let the dogs get on with their own socialising. I was lucky enough to meet a man just like this when I first got Bertie, and he taught me not to be anxious about Bertie's boisterous behaviour. Then there are the prim folk who think bum-sniffing is rude even when dogs do it and who think Bertie might eat their precious yorkie. Bertie can usually win them over with his big brown eyes and gentle manners, though.
The scary dog-owners are those who get scary dogs because they're scary. Pit-bull terriers, that kind of thing. After a few terrifying encounters, Bertie has learned it's not a good idea to go prancing up to these dogs pretending he's hard enough. He isn't. Sure, he can run faster than them, but they're smarter. There he was, running and running and running and yet this staffie still managed to catch him! How? He was running in a circle, and the staffie just cut him off at a leisurely jog. Pooooor Bertie, he's dumb as a sack of hammers.
I've been thinking a lot lately about people and their dogs -- I meet so many of them, and their relationships with each other (people to dogs, dogs to dogs, people to people) are fascinating. They vary as much as dog breeds, so much so it's impossible to stereotype them (though of course people do have reasons for choosing certain breeds). And when you get talking to other owners ... wow. Weird and wonderful. Dog owners can be intense about their pets. Uh, sorry, "companion animals".
My favourites are the relaxed types who let the dogs get on with their own socialising. I was lucky enough to meet a man just like this when I first got Bertie, and he taught me not to be anxious about Bertie's boisterous behaviour. Then there are the prim folk who think bum-sniffing is rude even when dogs do it and who think Bertie might eat their precious yorkie. Bertie can usually win them over with his big brown eyes and gentle manners, though.
The scary dog-owners are those who get scary dogs because they're scary. Pit-bull terriers, that kind of thing. After a few terrifying encounters, Bertie has learned it's not a good idea to go prancing up to these dogs pretending he's hard enough. He isn't. Sure, he can run faster than them, but they're smarter. There he was, running and running and running and yet this staffie still managed to catch him! How? He was running in a circle, and the staffie just cut him off at a leisurely jog. Pooooor Bertie, he's dumb as a sack of hammers.
:: on the mend
Did I mention I've been sick? I've been sick. Just a cold, nothing serious, and now I'm getting better. I took huge doses of vitamin C, then read on the label that I shouldn't exceed the stated dose. Oops. So I got on the net and after trawling through hundreds of "spam" sites, finally found a list of the symptoms of vitamin C overdose: diarrhea, abdominal cramps, high stomach acid, increased urination, insomnia, irritability, joint pains, osteoporosis, headaches, hypoglycemia, weakness, reduced oestrogen, PMS, may increase infections by causing copper deficiency. Hmmm. Don't think so ... There was also a Dutch piece about the bossy old EU saying it was "probably" bad for your body to take too much vitamin C.
But I think the best therapy has been getting plenty of sleep -- thanks to my wonderful new bed. It really is fantastic.
The weather yesterday was conducive to staying indoors but of course being a dog-owner I was out there slogging around in the wind and rain. Later it hailed heavily and it snowed overnight too. Ugh. Today was sunny though, so Bertie got a longer walk.
Oh, I forgot to say that 3 January was my 10th anniversary at work! Of working full-time that is -- I was a casual for three years before that. By a marvellous coincidence, the company has brought in a scheme to reward long service -- starting 1 January! I get an extra day's holiday and ?200 worth of vouchers to spend at the high street store of my choice. Whee! I'm going to get a Palm Tungsten PDA. Ten years. Blimey, that flew by.
But I think the best therapy has been getting plenty of sleep -- thanks to my wonderful new bed. It really is fantastic.
The weather yesterday was conducive to staying indoors but of course being a dog-owner I was out there slogging around in the wind and rain. Later it hailed heavily and it snowed overnight too. Ugh. Today was sunny though, so Bertie got a longer walk.
Oh, I forgot to say that 3 January was my 10th anniversary at work! Of working full-time that is -- I was a casual for three years before that. By a marvellous coincidence, the company has brought in a scheme to reward long service -- starting 1 January! I get an extra day's holiday and ?200 worth of vouchers to spend at the high street store of my choice. Whee! I'm going to get a Palm Tungsten PDA. Ten years. Blimey, that flew by.
6 January 2004
:: back up! back up!
Whoops, I didn't have such good backups as I'd thought -- a couple of the CDs I used can't be read. No disastrous losses: just a few dozen early digital-camera photos and some of the music CDs I coverted into MP3s. I also discovered I hadn't backed up a lot of older files, and had to hook up my antique SparQ drive for those.
However, now I'm all reinstalled and back on line and updated, phew.
I had a great weekend off -- lots of walking, a bit of shopping, a movie (Cold Mountain) and much, much time spent hunched over this computer. Back to work today.
However, now I'm all reinstalled and back on line and updated, phew.
I had a great weekend off -- lots of walking, a bit of shopping, a movie (Cold Mountain) and much, much time spent hunched over this computer. Back to work today.
2 January 2004
:: weekend off
Yes, so, back online ... I was in a bit of a rush by the time I finished setting the modem up and there is still some fine-tuning to do, but basically I got it going, that's the main thing. Phew. Now the big ghastly grind is downloading all the updates for Norton Anti-virus and Windows XP -- I had it set up for a "live update" so don't have backed-up files. Tsk.
I have three days off now, hurrah. Lunch with Andrew tomorrow (I think -- we've been communicating by text, which I'm rubbish at. Plus my phone battery keeps running down). I found my old answering machine the other week when I was looking for my Christmas decorations and thought I'd give it to him. But now I can't find either the answering machine or the decorations! Plenty of other junk though ... anyone need a scsi card?
Nice moment today walking Bertie: we met a girl he's previously barked at and he cosied up to her immediately. "He likes me, he likes me!" she said. Aaaahhhh, sweet!
I have three days off now, hurrah. Lunch with Andrew tomorrow (I think -- we've been communicating by text, which I'm rubbish at. Plus my phone battery keeps running down). I found my old answering machine the other week when I was looking for my Christmas decorations and thought I'd give it to him. But now I can't find either the answering machine or the decorations! Plenty of other junk though ... anyone need a scsi card?
Nice moment today walking Bertie: we met a girl he's previously barked at and he cosied up to her immediately. "He likes me, he likes me!" she said. Aaaahhhh, sweet!
:: back online
Phew. Took some doing, but I finally got my shonky modem to work. I found a nice boxed warning on page 15 of the user's manual: you're supposed to physically remove the modem before reinstalling XP. Gee, thanks Zoom! I didn't have to reinstall XP again, thank goodness. That would have made me crazy.
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