:: pix

I finally cobbled together a page of photos of my holiday on Halki. I had been working on a more complex setup with words as well as pictures, but it was a dog's breakfast so I ended up doing just a simple array of thumbnails with captions.

I was going to do a separate page of words this afternoon, but when I got back from walking the dog nothing electrical in the house worked. Phone, fridge, tv, video, computer, stereo, kettle, lights -- all dead. The power company says it'll be fixed by 6pm, which is no use to me: no video of the first episode of the new series of Six Feet Under, wah! Or the second episode of the new political thriller State of Play. Oh well.

When we went out for another walk (couldn't even mow the lawn, my mower's electric!), there was a large lady rummaging around in the substation cupboard thingie up the road, so hopefully the cut will be fixed before our freezers all defrost.

:: back home!

I got back from Greece at nearly 1am on Thursday, went up to Inverness on the train that day, then came back here on Saturday. I had Sunday off, and was back at work today (ok yesterday, as it's after midnight).

I've started making a web page with some of my photos from Halki, it should be ready to go in the next couple of days.

I had a wonderful time -- lots of sun, sea and good food. Bertie also had a great holiday -- he nearly caught a hare!

I'll email everyone when I post the pictures.

:: I'm so tired

I'm so tired. I'm so tired. I'm so tired.

Finished work this morning (Friday) at 5:45am, after a 6pm start. Drove home, stopping off en route to fill up on diesel and coolant (a red light came on on the dashboard, I had to look it up in the owner's manual!). Went straight to bed (in the spare room, due to the roofer having decided that Friday morning was an ideal time to replace my spouting). Slept fitfully -- I never sleep well when I'm overtired. Woke at 11:30am. Found message from gas man and phoned him; he wanted to come round right away. Argh. No sign of the roofers -- just a ladder leaning against the wall.

Had breakfast. Snarled at gas man and gas man's helper. Left them to get on with boiler inspection while I had a shower. Phoned roofer and got lowdown on what their plans were (work will be finished tomorrow), phoned Jenny re Bertie, who was sleeping over. She said she'd be right back. Snarled goodbye to gas men. Jenny and Bertie arrived in rainstorm. Made tea and chatted. Roofer had meanwhile arrived but was sitting in his van. Later he ventured out and set to work painting the new spouting. Jenny headed off and I took Bertie for a quick walk before heading off to work, an hour early due to minor crisis there.

Tonight was horrendous, beyond horrendous. I had to do my usual job, plus full-on tech support for a team of three subs who are really struggling with the new software, plus pull in the full results for the Scottish elections and fix the broken coding. I was on the go from the minute I got in until about five minutes before I started this. I managed to grab a sandwich at about 10pm, but didn't have a break before then.

Compared to that, the 12-hour election stint was a doddle. I had a sharp cookie helping me, and the coding on the results wasn't broken, so there was no problem running them in. The company laid on snacks and coffee, and a chef came in and whipped up bacon and egg sandwiches at 5:30am. There's always a great atmosphere on election night, a real buzz. But tonight was just a long grind.

Anyway, the good news is that the software changeover has been delayed for a week, so I won't have to work tomorrow. I'm still going out to dinner with my colleagues tomorrow night though, and I'm still going to train the staff at the Westminster office before I go to Greece. I'm so happy not to be working tomorrow! I have so many little things to do I really need the extra time.

Speaking of time, it's time to go home!

:: new shoes!

Buying shoes is a doddle compared to buying clothes. I went to Schuh, and got a pair of sneakers (Skecher Scooters, in caramel & cream suede) and a pair of stylee jandals (brown suede Schuhs, Birkenstock knock-offs with a formed footbed). It took about five minutes. Then I went to BhS and got a cheap straw hat. Having got the jandals I'm now thinking, hmmm, they'd look good with cropped trousers... oh dear.



Update on the dents on my legs (front of each thigh, about fingertip level, worst on the left leg): the doctor was completely baffled. She has no idea what's caused them and is going to consult her colleagues. I'll go back and see her after my holiday. I phoned the embolisation research sister & she talked to the radiologist and reported back that it probably wasn't anything to do with that, but is making an appointment for me in any case, "so she can reassure you". They don't hurt, so I'm not too worried, just curious.

Bertie hates his muzzle. It is cruel and unusual, and apparently he's never worn anything like it in his life. I make him wear it on our nightly excursion and he spends most of the walk trying to get it off. He looks like Hannibal Lecter:



Last night was particularly frustrating for him because when we set out on our walk there was a hedgehog strolling along the footpath right outside the gate.

Faye came round the other day and took Bertie out for a walk. She brought me some flowers, trilliums. The gardener where she works has offered me some plants, and I'd never heard of these. They're amazing!


This was my favourite, it's such a stunning colour; the other one is pretty too, white with plain pale green leaves.

Here are another couple of recent pictures:


I took this at Braid Hills a while back. I have no idea what it is. A man also walking his dog said he lives nearby and saw from his window someone putting it up. It's too big to be a splint, he thought. "Maybe it's art," I said. I can't reproduce the noise he made, but I think it's what the Victorians would write as "Pshaw!"


Some lovely colours on an ancient building on a jetty at Port Edgar.

:: more catching up

I really am on a mad treadmill, organising this, that and the next thing. Today's ticks on the to-do list were: order a muzzle for Bertie, make a hair appointment and talk to returning officers about the constituency list results for the Scottish parliamentary elections.

Bertie's getting a muzzle because he's going to stay on the farm and the farm is home to approximately 12 cats, and some of them are geriatric.

Tomorrow's my day off and I've got appointments with the doctor and the dentist, what fun. These very odd "dents" have appeared on my legs and I'm getting them checked out; and I have intermittent toothache.

Next week is going to be wildly busy: I have Monday off, then I'm working right through to Saturday. I usually always have Saturdays off, but we'll be helping with the changeover to the new computer software. The election is on Thursday and I'll be working hard doing the results that day and Friday. Sunday Andrew comes down, Sunday night he drives me to the airport. I stay with David and Donna and hang out with them on Monday, which is a bank holiday. Then on Tuesday morning I go to Westminster to train our political staff (yes! on my holiday!); then over to Victoria to train the London reporter, then back to Westminster for the final reporter.

Wednesday morning I fly to Greece. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to a break!

The return journey is all worked out too: I arrive back at Gatwick on the 7th and get an easyJet flight straight away to Edinburgh. The next day I go to Inverness on the return half of Andrew's train ticket. Then on Friday or Saturday I drive back down in my car -- which Andrew will have driven up in. The whole arrangement is so finely tuned it's frightening.

I bought a pair of shorts on Saturday, least said about that the better. I hate buying clothes, it's traumatic. I tried on several skirts but ... I'm not really into skirts, and the ones that fit just look awful. Also, they all seem to be that fashionably pre-grubbied denim or heavy twill -- I'd want something a bit more floaty & floral to avoid looking like a diesel dyke. I can get by on what I've got in my wardrobe, but I do need a hat and some sandals. I shouldn't really wear sandals, because I can't wear my special insoles with them. But I'm hoping it'll be so wonderfully hot in Greece that I'll need sandals. And shorts.

:: catching up

Where does the time go? Today, it went in hanging around waiting for the gas engineer who never came. I waited from noon until 6pm -- his window of opportunity -- and he didn't show. I called Scottish Gas several times and got various stories about where he was: mostly he was "en route to your premises", but sometimes he had been called out on an emergency and was "doing his best". "He might be trying to call you right now ma'am!" said one operative snippily.

My final, very angry call, got the horrid truth: the engineer had been listed as "en route to your premises" since 2pm. In other words, it was all a big lie. By this time I was not only angry, I was also two and a half hours late for work. And Bertie was beside himself with frustration -- "Let's go for a walk! Hey, isn't it time we went for a walk?" So after a fruitless conversation with the Scottish Gas operative ("As you've had a broken appointment, we can make a two-hour window for the next available appointment, on 24 April.") I wheeked Bertie round the park at top speed & roared off to work.

My head still hurts.

It was a pretty full-on weekend too; I built shelves into the alcove in the livingroom but didn't get to paint the room due to difficulties getting the right colour. Went out for dinner on Friday night with Fiona and a friend. That was funny: I was meant to meet them in a bar, which was very crowded. I scanned the mob, didn't see anyone familiar and went on to the restaurant. I was early there, so sat at the bar with a drink. When Fiona arrived, it turned out the woman I'd been sitting next to for ten minutes was her friend! She's fun and interesting, so it's a shame we didn't figure out our connection while we waited. The food was good too, simple and tasty.

I've ordered a pair of varifocal glasses -- old age, sigh. They're wildly expensive -- the "frames" are titanium -- but what the hell. I say "frames" because they're hardly that, they're just thin little shreds of wire to loop over my ears and another shred to hold the lenses apart over my nose. But being titanium, they're very strong, hypoallergenic shreds. And light! Very light.

I've organised the car insurance for Andrew's Cunning Plan -- only £17 to add him right through until July! A bargain.

Thanks for the wedding photos, Mum, some lovely shots there. I have to say I don't agree with you at all about the fringe, I think your hair looks great. You're altogether stylish -- great bone structure, nice suit!

:: gawker

I read about Gawker in the Guardian recently and meant to go and have a gawk but didn't ... and now I have and here it is. Probably more interesting if you live in Manhattan and work in publishing; good collection of links but.

:: ms efficiency

In fits and starts, anyway. I made a strict list of phone numbers today and got through them all. Dental appointment: check. Optician appointment: check (bifocals this time ... I'm soooo old). Garage appointment: check. Vet appointment: check. Sister appointment: check. That last was to make sure Faye's coming round tomorrow to watch The Wedding Video -- Liz and Ken sent us a copy. Faye's going to sneak in early and take Bertie for a walk, then I'll whip up lunch once I get up and we'll sit down for a "Missing the Family" session.

I also phoned the car insurance people to check out Andrew's Cunning Plan for May, when I go to Greece. His idea is to come down the day before I leave, drive me to the airport, and then (eventually, once he's tired of the fleshpots of Auld Reekie) drive Bertie back to the farm. Then when I come back, I'll get the train or bus up there and drive Bertie home again. Cool plan, I like it. I haven't got a quote on the extra insurance, but it shouldn't be a huge amount.

Spring is blasting along at such a rate that I mowed the lawn today, the bit out the front. I haven't done the back yet -- it looks so awful I can't bear too. I should take a photo from the upstairs and put it here for you to see: it's a real dog-owner's lawn, a collection of bald patches interspersed with yellow patches. I read somewhere if you give the dog tomato juice to drink its pee doesn't yellow the grass and I tried it and it did seem to work, but unfortunately Bertie went right off tomato juice. I tried sprinkling it on his food and he went on hunger strike. Next thing to try is some weird chemical from the pet shop.

I'm still astounded by the war coverage: more "friendly fire" mayhem; still no sign of Weapons of Mass Destruction (although they did find thousands of boxes of white powder in a military complex; "initial tests indicate it is not a chemical weapon" -- soap powder then?); Saddam's ferocious elite Republican Guard turn out to be a bunch of cowardy custards; Saddam himself is nowhere to be seen.

My favourite story so far is the description of the paras entering Basra. Their commander got them all pumped up about the dangers of close urban combat: "You will need to use everything you learned in Northern Ireland and Pristina." They'd lost a couple of guys in a gunfight early in the day so were feeling scared anyway. Off they go, crouching and aiming their guns at anything suspicious. Next thing they're mobbed ... by kids! "Welcome, how are you?" And a lady going past in her car toots her horn and waves! No-one shoots at them at all. They go right into Saddam's palace and peer at his gold-plated loo-roll holder and marble shower. They find a huge warehouse stuffed full of machine guns and ammo and grenades. "This is more firepower than is held by a British batallion," said Major Duncan McSporran (no, I'm not making up his name). "It's sobering to think what a well-trained army with a bit of backbone could have done to us with all this." Oooooo! Duncan! That was mean!

I'm on late tonight, 3:30am finish. It was wildly busy earlier on, I didn't manage a break at all, but it should be reasonably quiet later.

:: don't do drugs, n'kay? drugs are bad...

Click here for pictures of drugs so you know what to look out for. Just say NO!

(This one's real purty though ...)

:: write your own entry!!

I haven't been up to much lately, so if you're missing me, you could recreate a day in my life with this: The Apathetic Online Journal Entry Generator.

Enjoy!

:: you go, girls!

Peace-activist nun cites Bush in sabotage defence
By Keith Coffman
DENVER, April 3 (Reuters) – A Catholic nun told a US court on Thursday she was obeying President George W. Bush’s call to dismantle weapons of mass destruction when she and two other sisters trespassed at an unmanned missile silo in northern Colorado.
Sister Carolyn Gilbert and two other Dominican sisters, Jackie Hudson and Ardeth Platte, are charged with sabotage and malicious destruction of property relating to an Oct. 6 break-in at the Minuteman III silo near Greeley, Colorado.
Gilbert and Platte are peace activists in Baltimore, Maryland and Hudson does similar work in Bremerton, Washington.
Since the trial opened on Monday, peace activists have packed the federal courtroom in downtown Denver to support the nuns.
The three have said they cut cables and made the sign of the cross on the lid of the silo with their own blood before they were arrested by military police.
Platte told the court in an opening statement on Tuesday they wanted to protect the children of Iraq with a “symbolic disarmament.”
“Our president has asked that weapons of mass destruction be destroyed,” Gilbert told the court on Thursday.
“I had a duty, a responsibility and privilege to try and stop a crime, not only under God’s law, but under US and international law,” she said.
Bush, backed by Britain, launched a war against Iraq on March 19 for what he said was President Saddam Hussein’s refusal to dismantle weapons of mass destruction.
The nuns have been in jail since October after refusing to be released on bond.
US District Judge Robert Blackburn has said the women could not make use of the Nuremberg defence, which allows a citizen to break the law in order to prevent a crime against humanity.
If convicted, the women face up to 30 years in jail and fines of up to 250,000.
REUTERS

:: nautilus

Managed to stay indoors long enough today to put the finishing touches to Pinky's new website, or rather wedsite, haw haw.

It's like summer, it's so balmy. I keep remembering the year it snowed in April, however.

I got a quote from the roofer for renewing the spouting -- £430, yikes. That's for new cast-iron spouting and straps, however, plus for the fascia to be rubbed down and repainted. I'll call him to talk it over, but I assume I can't have plastic spouting on account of it being a terrace -- the spouting runs right across my place and Jim & Rosemary's, so it has to match up I guess. If the quote includes VAT (17.5%) I'll say yes, I think.

:: crayzee dog

Bertie had a very confusing walk today: I went into town to visit Kate and Calum in the afternoon, thinking I had plenty of time because I wasn't starting work until 6pm. But I forgot to factor in the rush hour! I don't do rush hour ... I'm always driving against the flow. So argh, here I was stuck in amongst everyone crawling home after work. Finally got back with five minutes to spare to walk Bertie before heading back INTO town. So I barrelled into the house yelling for him and he staggered downstairs bleary-eyed from his bed. I wouldn't even let him have a bite to eat, just leashed him and dragged him straight out the door.

I let him off the lead as we rushed up the path into the big field up the road. But lo and behold, who should be in the field knocking his football about but Daniel, the boy next door. Bertie obviously thought, "Aha! So this is what the big rush was all about!" and raced over to see him off. Daniel is used to Bertie -- he's been barked at before -- but this was extreme. Bertie ran round and round and round, building up a head of steam, then charged at Daniel full speed, before screeching to a halt and barking hysterically. He's too scared to get close, but he's a big muscly dog and he is LOUD. Added to that was all the mad running and leaping, and the fact that I couldn't catch him or shut him up or otherwise control him ... oh boy.

Finally Daniel shrugged and headed off down the track that leads to his back yard. Bertie calmed down enough for me to catch him and I dragged him home. This was the confusing part for him -- damn! I did what you wanted, why are you so cross?

Calum is doing well, by the way. He has more than one heart defect ... the narrowed aorta is the easiest to fix, but he's also got dodgy valves that will need complex surgery later on. But he's soooo cute! He's feeding well and putting on weight and looks fine.

Another nice sunny day today, but the haar has closed in tonight.

:: great posters

Link courtesy of Anthea: some wonderful anti-war posters.

In other news: yesterday I gave the shed doors a second coat and did the back door blue as well. While I was on a painting roll I did the big step outside the french doors -- tile red, not blue. It's all very tidy out there now. I also phoned a roofer about the spouting and he came this morning to have a look. He's going to replace the whole stretch of spouting and repaint the fascia underneath. As he pointed out, it's the only time the fascia gets a good paint so it's worth doing. It feels good to be getting all this work done -- I want the place to be shipshape.

I didn't do a lot else on my day off. The garden out the front needs a good seeing to, and it actually needs watering too. The weather has been astonishingly pleasant for the time of year. Last year it rained from February through to, don't know, October or something, and I've known it to snow in April. Today was almost summery, I was out in my shirt-sleeves. Back to the garden: I haven't tried out the flame-throwing weedkiller Faye gave me for Christmas -- maybe next week. Saturday I'm determined to go on an anti-war protest; Friday I start work early; and tomorrow I'm hoping to visit Kate.

:: the doors

The originals


Originals go on holiday -- byeee!


New blue doors

:: yikes

This just in:

ATLANTA (AP) – The mysterious and deadly flu-like illness from Asia that has stymied health officials around the world appears to be caused by a new variety of a common cold virus, US health officials said.

Nature strikes back, I guess. Imagine, an epidemic of the common cold sweeping the planet.

Another lovely spring day, just right for painting the shed doors. They're finished, hurrah! Brian the builder phoned to see how I liked them & I gave them high praise. And now they're blue! And finished! I'm all fired up now, and will dedicate many more days off to DIY projects. First off though, is to get the spouting fixed. It'll start raining sooner or later and I'm tired of the back yard filling up with water.

I'm on the late shift tonight, here until 2:30am or so to get the latest war news in the paper. They're printing the final edition and we "slip" pages in on the run. Our front page picture is of a US tank with "Apocolypse" [sic] stenciled on its gunbarrel. I hope not...

:: cute!

Andrew and I went to see baby Calum in the hospital yesterday and he's gorgeous! Kate emailed today to say they were discharged this morning and he's doing fine. He didn't have to have surgery after all, though I gather it's not completely ruled out in future -- his aorta is a bit narrow apparently. Kate is very glad to be out of the hospital -- the neonatal unit is in the new one, and it's a strangely barren place.

After visiting Calum we headed north, to Tentsmuir and had a long walk up the beach, a little picnic and then back through the forest. Bertie was in heaven, it's one of his top places. Andrew has never been to St Andrews, so we stopped there and had a look round, then had a wonderful curry dinner at Balaka, a Bangladeshi restaurant. I had an Afghani lamb dish and it was subtle and rich, delicious to the last morsel.

A bit of madness through the meal was that we kept trying to text Andrew's cousin Grace, who we were to meet for drinks later on. Eventually she called, but the reception was bad and we kept getting cut off. So I switched the phone off, and we made contact later on. They were in Callander! Grace was tired after a long energetic day and begged off drinks, and we were pretty tired too so that was ok by us. We headed home and I managed to get slightly lost by dint of following two cars in front of us -- they ended up driving down a farm track! But we got home at about 9pm and collapsed on the sofa with a beer and the TV remote. Sooooo sophisticated!

Today I dropped Andrew off at his aunt and uncle's in Edinburgh and took Bertie for a walk in the Braid Hills, another top place. Lots of interesting new dogs, dog-friendly people, lovely weather and a stream to drink out of. Among the interesting dogs were two unusual sight hounds, a pharaoh hound and one I've never heard of before, a sloughi, a North African hunting dog. They were both lovely, and their owner and I had a great chat. Bertie wanted to play, but the sloughi was confined to a harness due to having once broken his neck (!) and the pharaoh was too delicate.

Next stop was the pet supermarket, where a voice said, "look, it's Bertie!" It was the owners of Shadow, Bertie's greyhound girlfriend. He's a legend in his own lunch-hour is Bertie, a well-kent face.

And now I'm at work, where we're very much on a war footing. I'm working my usual hours tonight, but for most of the rest of the week I'll be on a late start and late finish. Then on Friday I have a nice early start -- 2pm -- so I can start work on the Scottish election results. (The election's not until 1 May, but I have to make sure we have the right coding for when the results come in on the big night.)

I haven't been on any anti-war protests since war broke out, but if there's something on this week I'll go if possible. Pretty horrible news so far, so many "friendly fire" deaths, including a journalist. And then there's the US administration's outraged reaction to film on PoWs being paraded in Baghdad; what about the pictures of Iraqis being marched off after surrendering? Not to mention all the photos from Camp X-Ray...

:: what a week

So I went to London with zero sleep, trained our writers there (who were grateful), wandered the streets of Soho and Chinatown marvelling at how crowded, dirty and rushed London is, ate a big bowl of noodle soup with char siu, then went back to Edinburgh. I was quite spaced out a lot of the time and tended to fall asleep any time I sat down. Once home I pretty much just crashed, after a hot bath (fell asleep in that too).

Next day I had my appointment with the radiologist, the sidekick Dr Ingram. Turns out the fibroids haven't shrunk much at all. She wasn't surprised, given that I hadn't suffered much pain. No pain, no gain! Or no shrinkage in this case. So I may be looking at having another go at embolisation or giving up entirely and having a hysterectomy. Depends how the symptoms develop. Sigh.

Then I had coffee with Faye, who's now settled in at Pennicuik. Her new employer is the worst person she's ever met in her life, apparently -- very autocratic and rude. But the hours and pay are good and it's a lovely spot.

That evening Bertie arrived back from his Dunfermline mini-break and appeared to not be overjoyed. To say the least. I think he'd like to be Colin and Jenny's dog, though Colin swears he wasn't spoiled. Huh. After walking him I was shattered so it was a bath and early to bed for me.

Yesterday was mainly spent cleaning, changing sheets and grocery shopping. Yes, a visitor! Andrew arrived last night just as I was starting work, and he's staying until Sunday. Today we had a chat-fest catching up on every little thing while I painted the new shed doors with primer. I wanted to get that done before it rains & today was lovely and sunny.

In between all this busyness, war has broken out. Tonight I was meant to come in at 6pm and work through until 3.30am. So I'd done the painting and Andrew had headed off to town and I'd had lunch and was just gearing down for a couple of hours of rest and relaxation when the phone went. It was my boss, telling me to come in at the usual time, 4pm, as they weren't going to do late editions. Oh, ok. I quickly changed and walked the dog and rushed in. Then they changed their minds and now I'm here until 2.30am. Sigh. Luckily Andrew was able to walk Bertie tonight.

It was horrible watching the missiles raining down on Baghdad on TV tonight, the whole thing is awful. But there's also something sinister going on elsewhere in Iraq. Turkey is sending troops in to sort out the Kurds. The Kurds have an autonomous area in Iraq and have suffered massively under Saddam's regime. They're the ones he gassed that time; they've also been tortured and shot. There were reports of them being pleased about the US assault, because it will get rid of Saddam. But I think they've maybe been sold down the river -- I'm afraid the Turks will be just as murderous. The reports say the US is against the Turks going in, but I'm not sure I believe them; the US I mean. I think there was probably a wink and a nudge.

:: spring!!

:: I must be mad

It seems logical now, but I suspect that 12 hours from now I'll be regretting it. The big fly in the ointment was the phone message waiting when I got home last night. It was the builder, saying he couldn't make it on Thursday, would it be ok if he came this morning instead? Well I didn't get the message until 1:30am, so it just had to be ok. He said 8:15am but didn't actually arrive until 8:45, so hurrah, an extra half hour's sleep.

But no more than that, because my bedroom's at the back and the guy is drilling and sawing and so on. I phoned work to check the time for my flight tomorrow morning, so I could order a taxi. The flight's at 6:10am; the taxi firm says check-in's an hour before flight time in these terror-stricken times, so I ordered the taxi for 5am.

So then GW Bush decides to make his statement at 1am UK time, presumably ordering the attack on Iraq to begin. That's normally our fifth edition deadline, so they made arrangements to "slip" pages (change them during the print run) after that until 3:30am. So either my colleague or I has to stay until 3:30am. I figure if I leave work at 1am I'll get barely any sleep anyway, so I may as well be here. Then I'll go home and have a shower, ready for the flight to London.

See? That's logical, isn't it?

Bertie's off in Dunfermline already, enjoying a mini-break with Colin and Jenny. He'll stay tonight and tomorrow night, and I'll get him back on Wednesday evening, after my appointment with the radiologist and a coffee date with Faye. That's great, because it means I can have a really good sleep tomorrow night, without having to get up and walk the dog.

The shed doors are looking pretty good. The joiner is a lovely bloke, very smiley. He was very taken with Bertie because he grew up with a racing greyhound as a pet, a "blue" one (gray actually, but it's called blue). He didn't completely finish before he left because the builder left him with bathroom handles for the doors -- which of course only lock from the inside. "All right if you're living in there," he said. And of course there would be the added advantage of the "engaged" sign. He's coming back tomorrow to fit the right handles, and then I'll just have to varnish or paint them and they're finished! He's sealed all round the jamb with silicon gunk so they're good and weather-tight.