Somehow I think not.

My 'currently online' user counter is showing the grand total of 10 right now, yes, I said 10, a personal best and no one is more surprised than yours truly.

Yes, It could be that I am fascinating, marvelous, articulate, humorous in the extreme, beautiful, irresistible and write an impossible to resist blog but somehow I think not!

Given that it has shown this total for the last 3 hours and given that it seems unlikely in the extreme, that 10 of you have logged on and forgotten to log off for that period of time, I somehow think it far more likely to be yet another gremlin doing it's damnedest to disrupt something somewhere. I kinda feel like the person on the bus, you know the one, he or she who always seems to attract the drunk, flasher or 'unfortunate' individual into sitting right next to them. I think right now I must be the virtual equivalent! Lol.

Still, it looks good for now!

I wonder, will the day ever come where I log in and I find everything is working as it should be....... all at once?

Diana, Princess of Wales.

Diana

Today it is 7 years since the tragic and untimely death of Diana, Princess of Wales. The furore surrounding the event has lessened in that time but memories of an outstanding lady remain.

I have previously blogged on this subject and my experiences at length and for that reason will not do so again now, if you are new to my blog and would like to read it go here.

There will no doubt be a few who still make the annual visit to the gates of Kensington Palace to lay flowers and tributes. If I was still living in London I don't think I would be one of them any longer but I will take a few moments to remember the loss of a vital and special lady.

Hell.....

....Bank holidays are boring!


'Ditto'

Hurrahhh, Hurrahh, Hurrahh!!!!

At last, with the help of DKG and PG I am somewhere close to solving the 'disappearing trash icon' mystery!!

By a process of elimination and much head scratching it transpires that 'Nortons 2004' is to blame. The reasoning behind this is beyond me but having attempted to resurrect said icon many times while having turned off Nortons I had abandoned that line of enquiry.

As a last resort and after some information and help from DKG we last night completely uninstalled Nortons and hey presto....magically I had icons! It is of course not quite that simple because I need, like everyone else, to have a firewall.

To cut a long and boring story short we discovered that whilst the 2004 version still won't show the icons even when disabled the 2002 version will.

2002 was duly installed and now at least, albeit with the aggravation of disabling it and taking the risk that something will infiltrate my system in the mean time, I can delete comments!

The mere fact that we have discovered what was causing it in the first place is cause for celebration in my little world and there is an unexpected bonus......the pc appears to be running significantly faster with 2002 installed than it ever did with 2004!!

I have yet to isolate exactly what in Nortons is causing the problem so that I can rectify it properly but hell....after weeks and weeks of investigations, fiddling and frustration it is a breakthrough!

Oh how I wish I truly understood the peculiarities of things virtual :o)

So it's off to work for me now..... the Bank holiday hordes await, home mid evening and then four days off!

Longhorn longhaul

It is reported that Microsoft will not now have their new operating system, 'Longhorn', ready for release until late 2006!

I doubt too many of us will be greatly surprised by that nor by the fact that even at that late date this long awaited o/s will be minus some quite significant features.

I won't pretend to understand the business that our beloved (not) Bill Gates is in or to understand the technicalities involved in producing such a piece of software. Given my struggles with the day to day operations of a home pc I assume it is a somewhat massive task but I have to admit to a degree of disbelief.

Does Microsoft not have the revenue to employ the very best minds in the execution of this massive task? Surely Mr Gates can afford to have on his team only those at the very pinnacle of their field and to remunerate them suitably? Yes there are shareholders to amuse and placate but come on...5 or 6 years and then to roll out an incomplete piece of gear seems a little questionable.

Forgive me then for having the fleeting thought that just maybe this has as much to do with squeezing the last drop of blood from XP as it has to do with any technical problems and difficulties encountered along the way!

Beads.....you can keep 'em.

Well, my day off has been spent in the main feeling sorry for myself. I was feeling a bit 'off colour' last night when I went to bed and by this morning whatever heinous bug it was inhabiting my body last week had returned with a vengeance!

PG was playing in a golf tournament all day so I set about fiddling with HTML this morning but my heart wasn't really in it and I abandoned most of what I wanted to do at about the half way stage.

This afternoon I took to my bed again, curled up in the duvet did more feeling sorry for myself and slept like the dead. The healing power of sleep seemed to evaded me though, I woke feeling worse than ever so ran myself a deep, hot, pampering bath and settled down with Ditto for a long soak. Ditto I might add, was not actually soaking with me, rather perched precariously on the edge watching, as is her habit when one or other of us is in the bath. I have to say it is slightly off putting, not that I display unusual levels of modesty where cats are concerned, rather that I have some reservations regarding the whereabouts of her razor like claws should she ever slip in!

So the bath was going well until I opened the new body wash I had saved especially for times of pampering. All thoughts of gentle soft bubbles where eliminated in one swift moment as I applied said potion to my body. I had not noticed when purchasing this luxury item that it contained what is marketed as 'exfoliating beads'. I hate exfoliating beads, they bear more in common with a coarse grade sand paper than anything bead like. Had I wanted something resembling those childhood grazes we all suffered at one time or another I would have turned to Black and Decker or Bosch.

Do I care if my body is weighed down with a layer of loose skin cells, do I care if I feel invigorated or revived?..........no I most certainly do not! What I care about is having a luxurious bath without having to spend inordinate amounts of time extracating a multitude of 'bits' from various unmentionable parts of my body and trying to relax lying on a bed of sand. So my apologies to all the manufacturers of generally overpriced 'luxury bathing products' but miscellaneous bits in my bath are more reminiscent of childhood scrubbings 'post beach' visits, administered by my mother, than a luxury hour or two of pampering.....and you can keep 'em!

A big thank you......

.....to DK Goodman for allowing me to utilise his HTML wizardry.

I really must learn to do that stuff myself!

And DKG....should you ever find yourself at a 'loose end' feel free to turn your wizardry to solving the ever present delete comments icon issue!

I fear I am pushing my luck now! :o)

Mice are nice.

Hot mouse!

Well you asked for it so you got it.....I must be mad. As if trailing around work all day dressed like a mouse isn't enough humiliation now I bow to the pressure and post it on the world wide web!

Yes I said 'mouse'. After yesterdays frantic scrabbling though bags and bags of costumes it turned out not to be a monkey at all!!....... I was a mouse! It was still as daft and as unbearably hot but I prefer to be a mouse than a monkey! Mice are nice.

I have no idea at this stage how much we raised for our charity but the general level of amusement we sought seemed to be achieved and along the way we did, I have to admit, have a lot of fun.

Oh and I probably lost half a stone sweating....nice thought eh? Not!

As 'luck' would have it, today was probably the hottest day for weeks here, if not all summer. The sun shone all day the customers donned their tee shirts and shorts and I was dressed from head to toe in fur for 8 hours!

Oh ..........and I got tomorrow off, Wooooooooo... I got that 'Friday feeling'.

Just call me King Kong

King Kong holding Fay Wray 1933

In my last few days absence from work it seems it has been decided by the management that this being a holiday weekend we will do something 'fun'. I make no apologies for being sceptical..... this sudden effort at making the workplace more pleasant I am sure, is mostly motivated by the need to improve moral since the 'sacking incident' rather than a genuine effort to make our working lives more pleasurable. For that reason I had to search my conscience somewhat before deciding to be a part of this endeavor. I decided that as the proceeds from the arranged event will support local charity it was worth doing and so agreed to join in.....before I knew what was involved! Lol.

So what is this event I have offered to support tomorrow? A day of fancy dress is what it is! Hells bells! A day of larking about like fools in store dressed as various film and cartoon characters...........yeah ok it might be fun I admit but what am I to be?? There is sleeping beauty, Maid Marian, Alice in Wonderland, Tweedle Dee and Teedle Dum, a Pirate, Miss Muffett, the list goes on and on. And me?...........I got the gorilla! To be specific I'm not sure if it's a gorilla or merely a monkey but whatever, I seem to have landed a day in a delightful ensemble consisting 3 stone weight of fur fabric, a tail that drags for an embarrassing length on the ground due to my lack of height and some very hot head gear....oh, and as health and safety legislation dictates, this gorilla will be sporting steel capped safety boots!

Damn! Why wasn't I Maid Marian in her beautiful flowing dress..........I'll tell you why, because fancy dress costumiers don't provide for those of a mere 5 foot in height and if I'm gonna look daft I might as well do it properly! :o)

Not satisfied with that, and once the idea of my being a gorilla had settled in, It was put to me that once I finish work, my company rattling a bucket around the local pubs for the evening would be appreciated..........in full regalia of course!

So, if you see a five foot gorilla/monkey, shod with safety boots, in the pub tomorrow night, it's not an over indulgence of alcohol playing tricks with your mind..... it's me!!

Which one are you

In reply to Demob Happy Teachers question of yesterday.......


You are Tigger! T - I - DOUBLE G - R! You are happy
and bouncy and insane and busy and running and
falling and hungry and talking and leading and
showing and... Gods, you're annoying, but
everyone seems to like you - at least, for a
while.


Which Winnie the Pooh character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla


....and I just don't know how I managed without this information all these years! :o)

I have wheels!

Well I have my car back at last.

The garage left it until the 11th hour so I could stress myself out about how I was going to get to work tomorrow but in the end they got it done and it all worked out. I have a distinct feeling my visa card would beg to differ on the 'it all worked out well' statement though! Just don't go there, I can't bear to think!

So I'm at work for the next five days, well if I'm lucky I may get Saturday off but that remains to be seen, so there won't be many merry hours spent here for a few days. Will I cope I wonder? :o)

This next few days are gonna be mad work-wise, Bank holidays for us, are like Christmas is in most areas of retail but in many ways I prefer it like that, there is though somewhere a happy medium!

Some good news. PG's father underwent open heart surgery yesterday to replace a valve. I didn't mention it before out of a kind if superstitious fear of something going wrong, as it is he came though it well and is well on the road to recovery. *Sigh of relief*

So that's it, if you happen to notice me meandering your way in the next few days but saying little it's because I'm shot. I'll be back uttering my normal trivia in a day or two. I'm still confounded by how some of you manage to work full time and blog!

Happy Bank Holiday weekend chaps and chapesses.

Cars?...pah!

Well it seems things are going to become a little fraught with the car situation today.

The dealership has now had my ailing vehicle since Monday morning and at the outset envisaged that the job would be done by the end of the day. As ever with these things it was not to be. Ah well thought I, I have no pressing engagements, Tuesday will be fine.

Tuesday came and went, no prizes for guessing that the problem is more serious than first anticipated and that consequently the bill is growing to very unpleasant proportions with each passing hour. It would appear there is now a hold up in acquiring a part, goddamn, this is only a 3 year old car, should major parts not be readily available to a main dealer??

The upshot of all this, aside from imminent financial trauma, is that there is no promise of a return of my car in working order even by the close of business today. Normally not a great problem but as sods law dictates, this week I am working from Thursday through to Monday ( what? you? working a whole 5 days? I hear you say). There is no courtesy car available, there is no public transport, a taxi would cost me more than my remuneration for each day and PG needs his old bus himself.

Bloody hell.....why is life never straigh forward even in this apparently stress free backwater?

Life's pretty good at 112!

Click to enlarge pictures


You wanted something?


Ok...so how many teeth will you have at 112?

I don't think I have ever formally introduced Poppy, so loyal readers, this is Poppy. Poppy meet my loyal readers.

Formalities over I will furnish you with a little Poppy history.

Poppy was a rescue cat. On a dark October night in 1988 I visited the Cats Protection League in Manchester on the hunt for a kitten. I already had 'gemmak' and wanted a friend for her. They never did become friends but after much vying for superiority they did at least learn to tolerate each other!

Poppy was huddled in a rabbit hutch, both her ears held flat to her head, making meowing actions but emitting no sound. The proprietor of the establishment told me she was too ill to be of interest, she had no idea what was wrong with her but she thought it likely she would be put to sleep the following day.

Hmmmmm....I thought not!! I made a good case for taking her home with me and 15 minutes later left with 'nameless kitten' huddled in my jacket. The CPL are not normally given to allowing this sort of kidnap but I was known to this branch and I figure they felt if I was prepared to make the effort, then it was worth a try.

'Mother' and kitten hot-footed it to the vets, where it was decided that what ailed her was unknown, she was given antibiotics and I took her home. For two days she rallied and did kitten things, she played and she aggravated the life out of an un-amused gemmak..... but suddenly on her 3rd night she became desperately ill. I won't bore you with the day to day detail, suffice to say she stopped eating, became incontinent, dehydrated and extremely underweight. The vet ran all the tests known to him could and could draw no conclusion.


Just a beginner

Late one very cold and frosty night she appeared to have given up the struggle and myself and a friend took her to the surgery, heavy hearted, to be put to sleep on the advice of the now much involved vet. Upon arrival she came too and began to take some slight interest in what was going on. The vet put it down to the cold night air, gave her some drugs and said it was worth trying again, given she had shown further fight.

Home we went with instructions yet again, to feed her a saline solution through a syringe every half hour and to keep her body temperature up. My husband of the time, a fireman, worked shifts and so my friend stayed for a few nights and we took it in turns to stay awake and administer the saline. It was a cold house and at night all we could do to keep her temperature up was put her in bed with one or other of us. I of course could not sleep for fear of rolling over and squashing her.

Tests had returned to the vets from a veterinary hospital indicating a massive and unusual infection and different drugs where prescribed. The vet was wonderful, I was far from well off but he deemed that given the efforts we had made he would charge me only for the cost price of the drugs for what was to become a long course of medication. It did however still cost me in excess of £500.

Very gradually her strength returned. My husband had read somewhere that cats hate being dirty and while I was at work bathed her gently and dried her............I came home to a new cat! Still poorly but clean, tidy and trotting about carefully, obviously over the moon at feeling sweet smelling and presentable.

And that was that, she made steady progress and over a few weeks returned to a healthy full of life cat, she even mastered the art of meowing at last. The infection left her with one side effect, slight brain damage which manifests itself in slightly non-cat behavior. She is clumsy for a cat, her balance isn't quite what it could be and she gets 'lost' in the house now and then. Her idiosyncrasies only serve to make her more special.

I didn't ever think she would make it to 3 months old let alone her current 16 years. She has been through two husbands, 6 homes and travelled everywhere with me since her difficult start. She always had an understandable predisposition to nervousness and took time to settle in somewhere new. The first time I had to make the 400 mile drive to visit PG she was my sole companion. On arrival, in the wee small hours, she gave the place a quick once over,showed absolutely no signs of her usual nervousness, marched into the bedroom, jumped on the bed, settled down to sleep and decided this was the place she was going to 'retire'............her retirement is well deserved!


Oi! .....Talk to me while you drive.


Sunbathing is good for arthritis.

Are you a geek?

Find out at 'Innergeek'.

Take the test here

I scored 17.15976% which seemingly categorises me as an ordinary geek!

I'm not sure if that's good or bad!

Paranoia is setting in!

Fer pity's sake..........this whole damnable thing is falling into a shambolic state of disrepair despite my having spent hours working on it and having some, if limited, insight into how it works!

I seem to have no problems sorting other peoples difficulties but my own??? Pah! No chance.

My ongoing 'delete comments' issue was consigned to the 'deal with it another time' pile in an effort to maintain my sanity, Shoutbox managed to get their act together and all was looking unusually hunky dory...............for half a day as it turned out!

Today the Shoutbox has done the off again, blogger are sending me email notifications of comments left days and days ago or alternatively up to 12 notifications of one comment. The dash board functions are all operating at the speed of an ageing snail on a heavy dose of vallium, Blogroll has ceased all effort at showing 'updates, and 'Hello' is showing a distinct lack of enthusiasm in uploading even the smallest jpeg!

I'm going to adopt a new approach..........ignore it all and just blog, the odds and sods can do as they please!

Hmmmmmm......

Spammed

Point of entry.

As someone who has spent a large proportion of her life online over the last five years I have sometimes mused over the fact that I have never received so much as one piece of spam!!

I have the obligatory stupid number of email addresses, I am connected to the internet 24/7, I am not remotely careful where I surf, I shop online, I am on various mailing lists,etc. etc. etc. and still never have I been on the receiving end of those un-delightfully phrased emails we know and love as spam. Not once, not on one single occasion have I been offered a penis enlargement or a ready supply of viagra! PG has a similar record, zip, zilch a big fat zero.

My father on the other hand, like the majority it seems, spends the first part of his morning sifting wearily through his mailbox trying to find anything even remotely pertaining to a real email. Conversely he is very careful where he goes and what he does online, as is the way perhaps of silver surfers.

Very peculiar.

I have joked often on the subject that I feel left out. Why does no one see fit to regale my inbox with these offers of various delights? What is it I did to be so completely disregarded by the spammers? who knows.... but my self satisfied amusement at the misfortune of others inboxes being weighed down with the offending communications has come to an abrupt and shuddering end this morning. My very first spam arrived sometime overnight in the expected shape of an offer of a 'non surgical penis enlargement' and 'impressive erection rigidity'.......no surprise there then. The words pride and fall come swiftly to mind!

Ho hum.... one would think that these spammers might at least get their target audience sorted!

Policemen and funerals

Earlier this evening, before I gave up the unequal fight with the bugs that seem to have invaded my body and parked myself with abject self pity infront of the TV, I was on one of my regular 'new blog' searches.

Every now and then I take a little detour from my usual blog reading routine and attempt to uncover new gems that so far have evaded me. On this forray into the unknown I discovered two very different but very interesting and quite unusual blogs.

The first, 'A policeman's Blog' is just that, the thoughts and sometimes acerbic opinions of a serving officer in a large town somewhere in the UK. It makes very good, if slightly concerning reading.

The second is 'Real E Fun' and is the musings of a non religious funeral celebrant, Zinnia Cyclamen. I am always fascinated to to see an unusual profession from an insiders view, as opposed to the only access we usually have via the media.

There is a link on Real E fun to a service I have always wondered about. As a lifelong biker (or now ex-biker) the thought of ones own demise caused by some unfortunate accident can't help but enter into the mind from time to time. It is not a morbid thought, more an acceptance that it happens and hopefully being aware makes one ride with a little more care. As ever bikers do, I attended a few 'biker funerals' and on occasion I felt that the 'normal' funeral service was somehow not quite fitting. I recall saying to my brother that should the worst happen I wanted him to make sure my 'last ride' was in/on something appropriate!

Well it seems that the service I wondered about in the past exists. 'Motorcycle funerals' offer just that, biker funerals complete with Motorcycle hearse! I'm not sure that in the event my parents and some members of my family would have approved but I sure would have.

Having said that, let's hope myself nor anyone else needs the service in the foreseeable future!

Special Sunday

Meadowhall, Sheffield.

Brrrrrrr....last nights beautiful sunset came at a price. This morning we have a beautiful, clear, sun filled sky but a temperature of only 5 degrees C! I was tired last night and didn't check the weather forecast,consequently we didn't put the heating on and as a result its 'a bit chilly' in these parts right now. I have also woken with the beginnings of some noxious 'cold' bug.

Who cares......I have an unexpected Sunday off!

There will always be something special about a Sunday. This one is particularly special for me merely because today I'm not at work but all my life I have felt Sunday's are different to other days of the week.

In my childhood Sunday tended to be the day we got together with other family members or enjoyed days out. My father, by virtue of the fact he worked in television, always worked odd shifts and so I should be used to Sunday just being another day.... but somehow it isn't.

Despite the fact that we now all live in a 24/7 culture, motivated by economics, or in my opinion greed,I have had a long held belief that Sunday should remain the one day of the week where families and friends can relax together or individuals can do as they please. It is patently not the case in today's western society which I find sad.

I am of course biased, I have to work Sundays and it maybe unrealistic in today's world to expect not to, after all, the dedicated people who work in hospitals, for the emergency services or in a field such as that PG does, have no choice. The members of the public who require the services of these people do so on a 24/7 basis.

There is an significant difference here to me. The caring services are dealing with the lives of others, they make a real and important difference, the retail, entertainment and services industries are in it soley for the economic gain. That of course does not detract from the fact that those employed in the emergency services etc. still lose their Sunday but it at least is being lost for a very worthwhile reason.

I am of course no economist and I do understand that if one's competitor trades on a Sunday then so must the competition or risk losing the ever important 'market share'. When I chose to go into retail, Sunday trading was illegal. Sadly the majority of the large UK retail chains flouted the laws to such an extent that ultimately legislation was passed to enable Sunday trading to be legal. Theoretically that was to be an improvement because into the legislation was built specifics regarding the hours one could open. Sundays still seemed special at that point. A store the size of the one I am employed in can only open for 6 hours, which at least meant we got a lie in and to escape home early.

No......a way around that was soon found, the law only dictates how long the store may be open, not how many hours an individual can work, aside of course from the normal boundaries. Consequently most retailers now require Sunday staff to work a normal full day, the only difference being that 3 hours of that day is without the public present. There is a provision in the legislation for one to choose to 'opt out' of working Sunday, on religious or other grounds. One is legally not allowed to be penalised for taking that choice but having tried it believe me, if you take that option it is not well met and does damn all to enhance progression up the career ladder!

I am not a religious person, in fact I would describe myself as agnostic, I am just saddened that the all powerful 'God money' has eroded what was and in my humble opinion should still be, a special day.

Dream on eh?.

Swimwear for men!

Swimwear!

My apologies for this...... I just couldn't resist! A friend emailed this to me yesterday with the caption 'The latest swimwear for men,' seen recently on Californian beaches.

Lol.....someone in California please tell me it isn't true!!!

A Scottish sunset

Sunset 21.08.04

Ok........so it's not the Aurora Borealis but it beats the evening rain and fog of the last few weeks!

A sigh of relief

Today turned out to be good and bad in equal measure.

I struggled my ailing vehicle to work very slowly at the crack of dawn this morning, to be greeted with the news that one of my colleagues had been involved in a serious road traffic accident earlier in the week. Thankfully both he and his young son, who had been with him, survived. My colleague has significant injuries but will recover and his son miraculously escaped with nothing more than bruising.

That was most definitely the bad part of the day. Life sometimes seems very unfair, this guy already has more than his fair share of lifes problems and now this to add to them! He doesn't read this but I wish him a speedy recovery none the less. It's the kind of news that makes me count my blessings and stop grumbling about things that are really of no importance.

The good part of the day was that I am needed to work next Sunday, a day I had booked as annual leave. I agreed to change.....this consequently means I am now off tomorrow and given the poor state of my car prompts me to heave a sigh of relief.

Doubtless next Sunday it won't seem such a good idea but for now it seems just fine! Somehow an unexpected day off, even when I hardly work in the first place, is so much more of a treat!

Another Friday

Well that's it, another week over and back to work for me, I wonder what delights there are instore this weekend. As we rush headlong toward another Bank holiday it will doubtless not be an easy ride. Impending holidays never cease to tempt the masses to part with their hard earned cash or to more likely increase the nations personal debt!

To be honest I'm quite looking forward to a change of scenery and escape from this infernally frustrating machine. Two days solid I have beaten my head against a virtual brick wall and got absolutely nowhere in my quest to locate the missing icon. Blogger appear to have abandoned the sinking ship and so I have given up......well for now at least! Who needs to delete comments anyway??. It seems, should you post a comment you wish for some reason you hadn't, it is still possible for you to delete it yourself, just don't ask me to!

My first hurdle tomorrow will be to get my ailing car to propel me to work, something I'm not convinced it will achieve in it's current state of ill health. I start at 7am so it's early to bed and early to rise for me....theoretically at least. There is of course the possibility that I will still be sat here at 2am as is my habit, in which case don't expect too much in the way of intelligent input here until Sunday! :o)

Oh....and if you're looking for the shoutbox it's in temporary storage, that's bust too and is what was stopping this page loading last night. It will be back once it's host gets it sorted!

Have a good weekend ya'll

Eu-bloody-reka!!!

I've got my comments back!.......... still no trash icon but at least I'm getting somewhere. Well, back to square one anyway! lol

An old bag

I've had enough frustration for one day so onto something lighter.

Kaptain Kobolds hilarious post concerning the contents of his work bag got me considering the contents of my own handbag. Scary stuff!!

We women are notorious for the array of necessities we lug around with us on a daily basis and I'm no different. In fact, even at home my handbag is the centre of my life's organisation and contains everything I think I could possibly require both on a day to day basis and also in the event I should ever have to rush off at a moments notice! Many years I have been prepared thus but so far that moments has not materialised. None the less the bag remains in readiness and from it I seem to run my life.

And so I thought, we women bloggers, should for the amusement of others, divulge the contents of these infamous items and what we decree as indispensable items. You guys are not excluded. Should you be the proud possessor of a 'work bag' or some other receptacle you could not do without feel free to join in.

One rule: you have to be honest!

So here goes....the contents of gemmak's handbag laid bare:

Description: Surprisingly small black leather Tula bag, rectangular, short shoulder strap. No L.V. for me, I don't much care for then and if I did I couldn't possibly afford one!

Contents: Purple leather purse, driving licence, old pay slips,various receipts,a space pen (you never know when you're going to need to write underwater),car keys (two off), house keys,sundry 'feminine' items, hair wax,lip gloss,tweezers, nail file,another pen,ventolin inhaler, packet of cigarettes (should I have listed those together???) two lighters, (there is nothing worse than not having a light), emergency food (a chocolate biscuit and a tiny box of raisins), lip balm, a swiss army knife (used mostly to cut the top off packets of peanut M&M's)magnifying mirror, wrigley's extra thin ice, PDA (containing my life along with various photos, videos of my nieces and cats, MP3's and at least 10 ebooks should I ever be stranded). How I intend to recharge it on a desert island or in times of disaster I haven't yet worked out. A mobile phone and a USB memory stick.

Did I say 'a small bag'.....do I really carry all that around with me 24/7???

Your turn.

All change....NOT!

Envisage if you will dear friends, a small child livid in tantrum, arms and legs flailing wildly in all directions, jumping up and down and decidedly red in the face......there you have it, personification of my current state of mind and of how I would happily behave if only it were acceptable in a woman of a certain age!

No prizes for guessing what has caused this temporary regression into childhood......this damned infernal blog! What a bloody waste of time. I mused over the template options and liked none of them, presumably I didn't when I started this or I would have not chosen this one. Anyway, having decided to go for pretty and pink I pressed the button in anticipation, waited an inordinate length of time for my Heath Robinson dialup to present me with the result and what happened.......... I went pink alright but still with not a sign of the exasperating and neh' to be found delete icon I am missing!!!

So I tried six others...again nothing!

Bums and bugger and fuck!! My apologies for the use of such expletives, thus far I have resisted the use in this public forum but right now there are no other words in my vocabulary that suitably sum up my current level of frustration.....see it please, if you will, as my therapy and forgive me.

So as you see, I am back as I was, black and iconless.

Please....someone, anyone, HELP! There must be a techie out there somewhere who is giggling at my technical stupidity and knows what I am doing so wrong, just let me know and I will be indebted to you forever.

All change and another plea for help!

Rescue.

Before I bang on about my current woes I just couldn't resist sharing this picture from the Boscastle flood rescue. Of all the the images we have seen this one has to be one of the nicest and as one who worries what would happen to her cats if a disaster struck, it is a reassuring sight.

Ok......my woes, as ever are computer related. The long running, missing comments delete icon saga is still the bane of my virtual life. I have as instructed by the techies at Blogger cleared my cache, temp. files,history, cookies. I have checked every single letter and symbol on my template, have reduced the security settings to almost nil and set this infernal machine to happily accept so much in the way of cookies that it would glady take onboard Huntley and Palmers entire stock!

I have restored back to a time when I knew the delete function was working, I have logged in on four other computers, I have disabled my firewall and virus protection and checked for a picture place holder......there is none! Still this problem is not solved and Blogger seem to have washed their hands of it. They say they can see the offending item at thier end and so it must be an issue with my pc.

Add to that I also don't have a quick edit icon and I am now, even more annoyingly, getting reports that some of you can't access my comments at all to leave a message, I am completely confounded, confused, aggravated, annoyed, frustrated, perplexed and very slowly going demented!

In a last ditch attempt at restoring this blog to working order I am today going to change to a completley different template. If nothing else it will make life easier on the eyes of myself and Alan who both struggle in our dotage with the 'white on black' thing. I don't in all honesty know how a new template will help but at this stage anything is worth a try. Does the phrase clutching at straws come to mind here?

Failing that I may be forced to entertain Haloscan again..... or God forbid, take on the terrifying task that is Movabletype!

Suffice to say my friends, expect some disruption in this little corner of the virtual world today and if I fall of completely for a time don't be overly surprised. Your patience and any suggestions are much appreciated.

Oh, and it's still raining.................

Yet another day in paradise

Birds on a wire


Paradise lost

Having scrambled out of bed after yet another night of less than 4 hours sleep, yes I was on here again, I have decided at last to give up the unequal struggle and finally admit to myself that there is just not going to be a summer this year!

Absolutely torrential rain greeted me for what must be the umpteenth time this year, as I forced my eyelids apart at 6 am and as yet there is no let up. The swallows, normally merrily on the wing at this early hour, where all huddled in sad, wet little lines along the phone wires, their only exercise being to keep shaking themselves in an attempt to remain less sodden! Ditto has parked herself on the doorstep thus far, ever hopeful of a let up. She ventured bravely down to the car with PG as he left for work, as ever her morning routine dictates, and then beat a very hasty retreat back to the doormat, for some weather monitoring from a safe distance!

I seem to keep posting dismal pictures of a less than appealing view but believe me what looks like fog is not......it's the heavy rainfall. I am certainly no meteorologist but to me it seems that we are now beginning to get our comeuppence and global warming is showing it's future intent.

We live perhaps 20 meters from the river Whiteadder which is looking decidedly over full this morning. Last winter it broke it's banks impressively overnight and turned most of what you see in this picture into a flood plane. From where we are situated it was quite a phenomenon to see what is normally a small river, become a raging torrent but for the guy that owns the stable and the horses on that land it was far less interesting im sure. We thankfully are on reasonably high ground but not so high we can afford to be overly complacent!

And so......I will be forced once having attended to the day to day responsibilities of a domestic goddess (Hmmmm) to spend my day on here. I have a few little 'toys' I am looking forward to investigating and a template of slightly muddled HTML to attend to..........as they say, every cloud has a silver lining and the inclement conditions mean I can play to my hearts content without even a twinge of guilt!

Excuse me....did I hear someone in the back there mutter 'get a life'??!

:o)

Friday13th revisited

Not!

Having had to cancel my hair appointment last Friday, courtesy of my car behaving in a decidedly strange fashion en route, this morning I had the replacement appointment to attend. I dislike going to the hairdressers with a vengeance at the best of times, inane conversation, poor coffee and the delights of a 'back wash' do not endear this necessary procedure to me but my current coiffeuse resembling a birds nest dictated that it couldn't be avoided, so off I went on my journey.

The instant I put my foot on the accelerator I just knew it........the same bloody car problem was distinctly apparent, only one cylinder showing any motivation to fire whatsoever and that not very impressively! Arghhhhhhh.

I'm sorry but patience just isn't my forte and had I wanted a car that required weekly mechanical attention I would have bought a beautiful classic, saved myself the cost of road tax and at least enjoyed envious glances from passers by. This car, a standard uninteresting model was purchased for reliability. For me cars such as this are supposed to start first time, propel me to my destination with reasonable efficiency and not bugger about only two months or so out of warranty!

I decided on this occasion I was not going to miss yet another appointment. It didn't catch fire last time despite the delightful burning aroma it gave off, so presumably it wasn't going to this time and thus I coaxed this ailing heap of junk the remainder of the journey, whilst I called the dealer again (yes hands free) and had more protracted conversation with the same very nice man who tried to fix it a few days ago.

So the upshot is they can't take it until next Monday (deep happiness), requiring me to drive to work at the weekend at a snails pace, (I'm assured it can do no more damage!) they don't have a courtesy car available for me and this time we are talking serious sums of money!

This car may well find itself abandoned in part exchange where the dealer can suffer the cost himself....can I afford it? No but like I said patience isn't my forte!

I'm not a happy blogger.... but I did at least return my barnet to some degree of order and the aggravation involved in making it to the appointment at all, distracted me from the inane conversation and expected dire cup of coffee.

Boscastle

Boscastle Harbour

I woke this morning to news headlines that had the unusual effect of making me sit up and take notice. Rarely does anything cause me to turn the television on at this early hour of the day but the news that Boscastle in North Cornwall has suffered devastating flash floods is one of those occasions.

Boscastle is a place very dear to me. At about age eight my parents took us on the annual family fortnights holiday to a place a mile or two away from Boscaslte called Trebarwith Strand, a tiny village on the rugged North Cornish coast. It was here I was introduced to the massive tides the area is famous for and my lifelong fascination and love of the ocean began. The holiday remains sharp in my mind to this day. We stayed in a cottage cut into the cliff overlooking the sea, I did all the childhood things, played on the beach, walked the cliffs and learnt to surf but my greatest memory was high tide. At high tide the beach would disappear under massive waves crashing against the cliff face and I would sit with my siblings, in a spot designated safe by my ever watchful parents and watch the waves for hour upon hour...... I had only ever seen flat, safe beaches and seas before and I was absolutely entranced by the power and beauty of this new experience.

This place became 'my heaven' despite being almost 400 miles from home and when all my contemporaries progressed to international travel and holidays abroad I would spend every possibly break and holiday back on 'my rocks' sea watching. I spent so much time in the area that I became involved with the local village life and made some very good friends with whom I remain in contact. To this day, despite living where I do surrounded by beautiful scenery every day, Boscastle and Trebarwith remain my personal heaven.

So to hear the news this morning that Boscastle has suffered devastating flash floods, resulting in one of the biggest rescue operations of it's kind in the UK was one of those news items that made me turn on the tv and sent my heart rushing into my mouth. The thought of such devastation in such a historic and beautiful place is horrendous. Boscastle sits at sea level at the mouth in a picturesque small harbour cut into a steep valley. It is surrounded on three sides by immense cliffs and so when 2 inches of rain fell in an hour (equivalent of a months normal rainfall for the area)as it did yesterday afternoon, it is not hard to see how this catastrophe could happen. Thus far there are no reported fatalities but there remain 15 people unaccounted for and given the level of visitors to the area at this time of year the tracing of those individuals I imagine will be hampered.

We hear of terrible incidents of destruction day after day in this media driven world but when it happens a place you love and know so well it suddenly forces a stark awareness of the true cost to those involved of such disasters. I can't imagine the upset for those who's lives will have been turned upside down or quite comprehend the destruction, in a few minutes, of beautiful buildings that have stood for hundreds and hundreds of years.

The Cornish people are a stoic breed, more used than most to the severe conditions nature throws at them and will recover.... but today it is a sad day.

A weekend offline!

Hells bells and little fishes!.... 48 hours without blogging and 24 without ever touching a computer, quite a feat for me and I managed it without even becoming subject to any unpleasant withdrawals!

The cause of my absence was of course the necessity to do at least two days work this week and was compounded by our having to attend a party on Saturday night.I say here 'having to attend' because to be honest I wasn't remotely looking forward to it. My job, albeit I don't work often, is very tiring and the thought of going to a party and making erudite conversation etc. did not fill me with joy. In the event having escaped work an hour early and made the effort to get myself into some semblance of appearing a party animal I had a damn good time.

By the time we arrived at 8pm (this party started at 3pm) the majority of our fellow party goers had consumed enough alcohol to prevent anyone from retaining the ability to make high brow conversation and instead a night of hilarious stupidity and dancing ensued. In these parts a good party, infact any nigh-time entertainment, is so rare I had sorta forgotten what fun it is just to allow the party animal out for a few hours. I of course suffered the usual 1st hour of everyone and his dog trying to persuade me to 'have a real drink', people just don't ever seem to understand the 'tee total' thing, but having made it patently obvious that I am naturally quite gregarious and that I just don't need a drink to have a good time, they gave up the fight thankfully.

We had promised ourselves that with work on Sunday in mind we would leave by 1am, needless to say we failed dismally to achieve this goal and having 'steered' PG into the flat at stupid o'clock I fell into bed for perhaps two hours sleep.

As a consequence my Sunday at work was somewhat 'trying', I arrived with only moments to spare, forgot to 'put my face on' and limped pathetically through to closing time! Having made it home and eaten, I parked myself infront of the tv to watch the gymnastics (wondering how on earth I used to do that) and promptly fell asleep.

The advancing years must be catching up with me. How was it that I used to live like this 24/7 and never feel the worse for wear? I was a gymnast for something like 10 years but this morning I still feel vaguely like I have spent hours on asymmetric bars just from dancing for a few hours! Oh to be young again!

What kind are you?

I 'borrowed' this from Jenny at Demob Happy Teacher....sorry Jenny I hope you don't mind, I needed something fast for a 6 am post! It's suppose to shed light on what type of blogger you are....give it a go.

I took the Blogging Personality Quiz at About Web logs and I am...

The Writer
Words captivate me. And, I like to capture words. Blogging enables me to write often. It also provides a place for me to share what I write with a reading public. I can be funny, inspiring, intelligent, cynical, or morbid. It doesn't matter what I write about in my blog. It only matters that I write.

Hmmmmm..... alternatively that could read:

I am verbose and boring and post far to much drivel. Blogging provides me with a forum where I can rant on regardless of if anyone is listening or remotely interested, I am thoroughly conceited and write about many subjects I know nothing of!

Take your pick :o)

Friday 13th part three.

Given that I made mention of the date this morning more for fun than anything else and that I'm not normally the superstitious type today is getting kinda scary!

PG and his charge returned home safely despite their earlier mishaps and mid afternoon I set off for town to play hunt the birthday present and to get my hair cut. Not 10 miles from home my car started to behave very strangely. One of the few down aspects of life in the middle of nowhere and working part time is that one has to make sacrifices such as no new car every second year. That said my car is only just 3 and I wasn't expecting too much in the way of misbehaviour from it just yet. So, said car began showing definite signs of firing on less cylinders than it ought to be and then suddenly presented me with a none too attractive red light blinking furiously on the dash. Lights on the dash don't generally concern me overly but this one was the shape of an engine block and didn't exist in the manual, which I had rapidly referred to.

I carried on albeit slowly, not prepared, if possible, to be stranded miles from civilization and slowly made my way to a service station. At this point I could smell burning and well aware I was surrounded by gallons and gallons of fuel decided it wise to no longer ignore the situation.

I called the local (25 miles is local here) Citroen dealer and described my plight. Worryingly I was rapidly asked if the vehicle was still under warranty, no of course it isn't when are they ever when one needs them to be. I politely told him my warranty had expired 5 weeks ago. That's a pity says he, a pity for who I wondered.

The upshot of this protracted conversation was that they required the car like now but their tow truck was out God damn it, so it was suggested I drive very slowly to them and should I smell burning again I was advised to decamp.....Like I needed that advice!

Eventually, harassed and hot I arrived, hair appointment and shopping cancelled. Two mechanics and a lot of equipment pawed over the offending vehicle whilst muttering between themselves about coil blocks and sums of money way up in the hundreds. I was not happy. As a skeptic where superstition is concerned I was beginning to feel decidedly uncomfortable.

They departed and another mechanic armed with some nifty computer arrived....this guy was nice (sshhh no mention to PG please), hooked up his gadget(no tittering please), pressed some buttons and hey presto........car fixed! Perhaps this 13th wasn't going to be quite as dire as I was beginning to fear.

Once back inside I stood clutching an already over used plastic card, feeling relieved that this wasn't going to be such a big job after all, whilst I waited for my bill to be prepared. Aforementioned nice man, winked ( I love a man that winks) and beckoned me outside, handed me my keys and said.....'on the house hen'.

Result!!

A very strange Friday the 13th!

Friday 13th part two

Ouch!

It's running true to form this superstition.

For those of you who don't, know PG works with severely mentally and physically disabled adults. Today he was charged with taking a client on a long awaited and much anticipated day out to a local air museum.

He phoned me a few minutes ago to say they are on their way back already! Hardly had they arrived at the place before his client had a seizure. PG, in the midst of attending to that, with the obligatory 'rubberneckers' gathering, was promptly stung by a bee.... resulting in something very painful and bearing uncanny similarlty to a golf ball attached to his back!

Not a good day thus far methinks.

Friday 13th

Tropical Lagoon © V.K.Tylor

Having woken yet again to torrential rain, wind and fog and trying to remember what summer should be like I decided a quick reminder was in order, something for us to gaze at momentarily as we recall there is somewhere a sun blazing in a blue sky! Doubtless I will have contravened some copyright in providing you with this visual delight but having tried to decipher the legalities and this not being a commercial venture I think I'm safe, hopefully the owner will see it as flattery and social responsibility for the mental wellbeing of us washed out Brits!

Did it rain on St.Swithins day? I don't remember but I think there must be no real question. Our little bit of Scotland is now saturated.I don't know what the statistics tell us but for me this must be the wettest dingiest summer in my lifetime, not so much as one unbroken day of sunshine thus far!

So what of my wet Friday 13th.....nothing stunning, I have to go on another hunt for PG's birthday present, time is running out and I have an appointment at the hairdressers, perhaps not my best move on today's date. Should anything 'untoward' occur in the area of styling I make a vow to publish and cause some hilarity!

The weekend draws nigh, which of course means work for me but I won't moan and grumble this week(much) that's life. We have a party to attend tomorrow evening and it's the birthday on Sunday so there will be plenty of distractions from the mundanities.

Best I get some sleep tonight, having had only 7 hours in the last 48 my 'party animal' status is in distinct danger of failing me dismally!

Justification or not??

I came upon this a few days ago in the comments on beFrank.

As yet I have made no real comment and despite the owner being apparently articulate and polite I'm still slightly confused over the motivation of someone from outside the counter-culture seemingly asking for, or requiring justification from ourselves on what we do. I say 'apparently' here because within 2 posts the individual concerned had made a post that I imagine was designed in the main to get a reaction.

Is the answer not for him or her, incidentally this person has a hidden profile so we know nothing about them,to blog properly themselves to find out why we do it?

I'm not sure I want or need to justify myself, am I being over sensitive here? Go look see.....feedback appreciated.

Bloggers block.

Is this the same as writers block but on a smaller and less financially damaging scale? I have woken this morning with my mind completely devoid of anything even remotely interesting to impart here. My usual sources of inspiration have failed to ignite any interest in me what so ever and nothing has happened North of the border here worth mention.

Normally, verbose as I am, I don't have time to post everything that's in my mind but today what I can only call 'bloggers block has set in and any inkling of verbosity has deserted me.

Perhaps the fact that we went to bed at 04.00 has had an impact on my powers of thought. PG and I got into a 'heated discussion' regarding whether the rapist Iorworth Hoare should be forced lawfully to spend his recent lottery win of £7 million on projects to help victims of rape. It's a difficult one this,I think that morally (do rapists have morals?) he should feel obliged to at least donate some of his good fortune to those who's lives he damaged so brutally. Had he had the means at the time of his trial he would have been ordered to pay compensation. PG on the other hand supports the opposing view in that his sentence was set at the time of trail knowing he could not make financial recompense for his crimes and consequently reflected that. When his custodial sentence is complete that should be his dues to society and his victims paid.

It seems the government are going to legislate on the matter soon anyhow and at least not allow offenders or their families access to any such future wins during the term of their sentence.

I'm still divided on this one..........any thoughts?

Once in a lifetime

Total Eclipse

11th August 1999, five years ago today, was a remarkable day, a once in a life time phenomenon that I will never forget. The event was the last total solar eclipse of the 20th century, there had not been one since 1927 and will not be another until 2090.

I had been desperate to witness this event but the only place in the UK to see the totality in it's full glory was the south of Cornwall. At the time I lived close to London and despite begging and pleading with my employer (the same one as currently) they would not allow me a day off.....let alone two to enable me to make the 800 or so mile round trip.

As I left work on the evening of 10th August my boss called me to his office and told me I could have the following day off.

Not to be put off by the logistics or practicalities we (myself and my ex) threw a few essentials into a tank bag, hastily called a friend who had expressed interest, arranged to meet him en route and called my brother who had ridden down a day previously with some friends and had already 'set up camp'. We leathered up and rode off into the dusk for Cornwall.

We traveled for perhaps 150 miles before the rain set in, stopped to put on the obligatory waterproof gear, have a coffee and something to eat and carried on our journey. As we began to near the South West there was a tangible excitement in the air. The roads, whilst perfectly reasonable where unusually busy for 2am, as traffic warnings had predicted and the majority of those traveling where likeminded individuals attempting at the last minute to get as close as possible to the tip of Cornwall. For those who have never ridden a bike for any distance at speed, in the dark and wet no matter how well 'geared up' one might be it begins to get damn cold.

The cold and creeping tiredness meant we had to stop a number of times to unwind our increasingly stiff limbs ( a sports bike isn't built for comfort) and at each place we took a break there where groups of people excitedly discussing the forthcoming eclipse and their varying journeys. As always there was the camaraderie that exists unspoken among bikers, regardless of socio-economic status, profession or creed bikers are drawn together and by the time we reached the half way point in our journey we were no longer three lone travelers but riding with perhaps another 30 bikes.

The night wore on and by maybe 4.00am we were lost in fog in small lanes somewhere near Lands End (to this day I'm not exactly sure where we were) trying to locate the field where my brother and his friends had landed themselves. This was not a legitimate camp site, it was a farmer who had hired a portaloo and offered his land to the visiting masses for the occasion and hence was not signed. In the absence of any signal we could not make contact for directions and by then cold and worn out the whole idea was beginning to wear a little thin!

Eventually we found the designated field, slid the bike across what in the rain had become a quagmire and parked up.....no easy feat in pitch black and with only a side stand on soft mud! Five of us squashed rapidly into a two man tent and despite the odds slept until daybreak.

Daylight, hunger and a desperate need for the 'portaloo' woke us at about 6am, we had a breakfast of fried eggs and bacon (well just the egg for me, I'm vegetarian) and much needed coffee and then waited.

There where perhaps nearing 300 people in our field and in which ever direction one looked there were others as far as the eye could see, dotted around this small part of the British Isles. Strangers became friends and animated conversation about the impending event was the sole topic of conversation. None of us I'm sure, had any real idea what we were about to see and even less scientific knowledge of it but a common interest and excitement had bought us all to this same point, in expectation of something we would never have a chance again to experience.

We of course wanted clear skies or our efforts would be thwarted but the morning had been very overcast and we were not hopeful. We didn't really know what to expect but we did know we needed a clear sky!

I now can't recall the exact time but at some point in the late morning or very early afternoon the skies where just clearing when gradually everybody began looking in one direction. On the horizon what I can only describe as a dark translucent wall of something similar to fog was suddenly approaching us, it filled the horizon and came toward us quite rapidly. At the same time a complete hush fell, the birds stopped singing, cows and sheep became quiet and all of us, hundreds of individuals fell silent. As the 'black wall' advanced and enveloped us, we were plunged into almost complete darkness within a few seconds.......The cloud parted slightly and we could see the sun ........totally eclipsed!

In the absolute quiet and darkness thousands of us stood gazing at the sky in amazement, the black wall advanced beyond us, we watched it go, almost like a tangible thing we could touch and as it moved away on its path so the daylight returned.

The whole of the area suddenly erupted in spontaneous applause, I didn't like that, I wanted to stand in silence a few seconds longer and take in the phenomenon we had just witnessed but I understood it.

The whole event lasted maybe two and a half minutes but it was something I will never forget and a feeling I don't imagine I will ever experience again. Something so massive and so beyond our control.....awesome in the extreme.

The journey home on two hours sleep doesn't bear mention, all the traffic that had filtered into Cornwall over the previous week or two suddenly seemed to leave at once. The road problems we had been warned about materialised and despite being on two wheels the journey back took 10 hours! We had spent 17 hours in 24 riding in the cold and wet but I would do it all again.....no question.

Will I ever learn?

I had a post, a long post, typed, spell checked, photograph uploaded and almost ready to hit publish.......if I say so myself it was quite a reasonable post...and what happened? Bang! A power outage, some fool working on a mains cable cut the wrong thing (and yes it was a he before anyone accuses me of sexism here). Did he not know I hadn't saved my efforts, that if he could have waited a minute longer all would have been well?? Apparently he didn't which brings me to the question who is the bigger fool.....myself I fear! One of these days I will learn the lesson and type this in notepad first or at least save it to draft more frequently! Arghhhhh.

And so...all that remains is the photograph, languishing alone, waiting for this fool to start typing again. Later I may redo it, for now the impetus has gone.

My stupidity didn't end there, oh no, today I seem to have abandoned any intellect I may have to some secret and unknown place. Immediately after my connection to mains electricity failed, intrepid as ever (not) I decided a cup of coffee was in order. Power outage is not rare here and for such times I invested in a camping stove. So full of renewed enthusiasm I dug it out, brand new, never used and installed the gas cartridge. Hey presto!.......the damn thing is faulty and promptly spewed it's noxious, and very cold contents at high pressure all over me! The cats fled at the high pitched hissing sound and as I fought this contraption in an endeavor to control it PG remained sleeping oblivious! Said item was not to be tempted back into any reasonable state of operation and was unceremoniously hurled into the field to continue its discharge out of harms way.

Yet more stupidity followed. Feeling like I had lost the use of my right arm and with computer idle I set about pottering around the flat doing what I could without power, miffed that I couldn't post this morning. Two hours passed in which I achieved little before it dawned on my less that impressive mind that my laptop was sitting in the bedroom........fully charged! Give me strength.......I think I will go back to bed today and start again.

All this and then I realise I have yet to safely get myself through Friday the 13th in two days time! Hmmmmmm.

Just another day

Berwick. © M. Robertson

Another whole day of absolutely nothing I have to do ahead of me....heaven!

It's PG's birthday this coming weekend so I may venture into town in an attempt to find an inspired gift this afternoon, though I have the distinct feeling I will have to trek into Edinburgh or Newcastle later on in the week.

Our closest town is Berwick upon Tweed, a beautiful historic place for those visiting on holiday but slightly less than perfect for day to day necessities and at this time of year overflowing with tourists, who currently have my sympathy. It seems to have rained almost constantly here this summer and not just light 'civilised' rain, torrential, serious rain, day in and day out. Even for those with the British spirit of adventure where weather is concerned it has been dismal, the place has been shrouded in sea mist for the main part and what are usually beautiful panoramic views have been completely hidden!

I have seen any number of intrepid visitors this season, wandering around the various 'places of interest', with wet and bedraggled children who really want only to be playing on the beach and in the sea, if they could see where it is for the fog! It's such a shame to have saved and looked forward to their holiday for however long only, to have it washed out as it has been this summer. This is a beautiful country and I normally wonder what makes so many rush off to Spain and the like so readily.... this year I can understand it!

But I digress, it's off on a birthday present hunt for me today, perhaps brave the hairdressers before something nests in my head and pick up one or two other bits and pieces we need, including yet another new collar for Ditto, who manages to destroy hers on an almost weekly basis. I have no idea what she subjects it too but it is always in a serious state of disrepair.....I must get her chipped!

Tuesday stupidity.

Apparently this is my 'sign of affection', yet another quiz in which I seem not to score the exciting result! Lol.


cuddle and a kiss on the forehead - you like to be
close to your special someone and feel warm,
comfortable, and needed


What Sign of Affection Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

A plea for help!

Ok......I admit it, I'm about ready to give up on this one!!

My 'comments delete' icon is still AWOL and hence so is the function it is supposed to provide. This has now been an issue for me for a fair few days and the novelty is wearing pretty thin.

I emailed Blogger help as you know and received some advice, clear my temp. files, cache, cookies and history etc. and try again. I did all that......still nothing. I went on to follow their next suggestion, I have checked and re-checked and reset and un-reset more browser settings than is known to mankind (or in this case womankind) and finally I tried their last suggestion, to install Mozilla Firefox and see if that showed anything...... and still nowt. Add to that I.E didn't seem to take kindly to the Firefox being anywhere in it's vicinity and promptly fell to pieces. Two hours more and I had I.E back to it's inglorious normality..........but still no bloody icon!

So I'm at a complete loss. Blogger say they can see the icon at their end and when I post on another Blogger I (intermittently) see the trash can icon so where in Gods name has mine gone?? I have fiddled with my template unendingly, I have set up a different account to see what happens there.........a big fat nothing, I have printed out an original and a copy of the said template and compared them piece by piece..........NOTHING!!! It seems my laptop also has whatever gremlin is causing this, it must be a 'family' thing.

So here is my plea, if anyone out there has even the remotest idea or thought on what I have missed or am doing wrong, please, please enlighten me. I am only too happy to be made an utter fool of, feel free to laugh at my expense but just tell me how to fix this. My next option is to re-format a pc and see if that gives me any clues and believe me I really don't look forward to that only to find I still have nothing.

Perhaps I should just live without it, hell, I rarely need to delete a comment anyway, but I just can't, it is there staring me in the face, begging to be done and ignoring it is not an option, I have to beat this thing.

Another stunning summers day.

Need I say more!

(Click to enlarge for 'optimum summer' effect)


13.05 hrs


My current view!

A happier nation?

Prozac

According to a report in yesterdays 'Observer' traces of the drug Prozac, or Fluoxetine to give it it's generic title, have been found in the UK's water supplies. Despite our water being treated to remove pesticides and the like it would appear that we take this drug in such numbers it still remains to be recycled into its next unsuspecting glass of water!

The report states that the level to be found, once it continues it's journey back into the water system, is likely not to pose any threat to individuals given it's greatly dilute state. I for my part wonder if perhaps we will all gradually become a nation of wonderfully chilled and happy people!

All joking aside this in theory at least is marginally worrying. We have long been concerned about the quality of drinking water in the UK and this will only serve to send a new battalion of concerned souls rushing headlong into Sainsburys to buy up stocks of various bottled products. As an individual I have never subscribed to the bottled water option, I prefer to take my chances, there are greater things to worry me in this world but I understand the concerns of those that do, particularly those with children to consider. If Prozac can find it's way back into our water system then presumably so too can other chemical compounds, that I find more worrying, Prozac is at least manufactured for human consumption, manufacturing and agricultural chemicals are not!

What I find far more worrying than finding this drug in our water is the fact that the numbers of people being prescribed it are high enough to cause this situation in the first place. This I hasten to add is not an indictment of the medical profession on my part more an indictment of the society so many of us live in. I do not believe that in the main doctors prescribe this drug unnecessarily, quite the reverse. We are a nation forced into longer and longer working hours, we live in a 'must have it all' culture where we try to attain perfection in our lives, we have more personal debt than ever before and live with the permanent threat of one atrocity or another hanging over our heads. Is it any wonder so many of us rely on a drug to keep us going?

I over simplify the situation of course, 'pill popping' is not the best answer but for many it is an answer or at least part of an answer. I am angered often by blase statements I hear from entirely unqualified individuals regarding the use of Prozac and it's like. Commonly I hear people say things such as "Oh I would never take tanquilisers" or "you shouldn't take those you know, they are addictive" blah blah blah. I was party to such a conversation yesterday by coincidence, in which someone blithely said "tell her (a colleague of mine) to stop taking the prozac, they don't work anyway" Had this woman any idea of what she was saying she perhaps would have realised what a dangerous statement that was both physically and psychologically.

We are it seems far more frightened of Prozac than most other drugs and mostly in my opinion because it has had some bad press and the differences between this and previous drugs used in the treatment of the illnesses indicated for its use, are not fully understood This is not an old fashioned tranquilising compound such as Diazepam ( though that too has it's uses) it is a modern SSRI antidepressant which has transformed the lives of millions and is a great pharmacological breakthrough.

The side effects of this compound are well documented, the most serious of which of course is a claimed higher likelihood of suicide in some users. This is still under dispute and subject to investigation but the incidence when compared to the incidence of those using it with no serious ill effects is minute. I do not of course detract from the tradgedy of that for those affected in this manner but life is a compromise, nothing is completely safe and under the correct medical supervision Fluoxetine is comparatively safe. Drugs used in chemotherapy are extremely dangerous but we accept the down side to gain the positive benefits, depression etc. for some is no less life threatening than cancer.

In an ideal world there would be far less use of this drug. Those suffering from the various disorders, which include among others anxiety, depression, OCD, and bulimia, would receive the appropriate therapy and the millions suffering an over abundance of day to day stress would find other ways to reduce their stress levels. We do not however live in an ideal world, we live in a real world with all it's inherent problems and those who expound, without the appropriate knowledge, on the use of Prozac are perhaps lucky enough not to have not suffered one of these life damaging illnesses. They might also bear in mind here that for some of those illnesses no amount of therapy will rid the sufferer of all the symptoms because depression etc. are not in all cases purely 'in the mind'.........for many the cause is chemical and needs to be addressed chemically!

Things are looking up......

....how could they not be after all those nice comments, thank you you lot :o)

Work was very little improved today although I did 'win' a big bar of chocolate! Strange I know. These little in-house competitions seem to be related to the very sudden and new positive attitude displayed by those in authority. Of late there seems to be a considerable attempt to improve moral among the grass roots and prizes are part of that. Please excuse me if I sound a little sceptical, I don't decry the efforts and I'm not ever adverse to chocolate but the words horse and stable door spring rather rapidly to mind when I consider what caused the particularly low moral in the first place!! For anyone reading this who is new to my rambling go here if you would like to catch up.

Anyways, enough of that for now,I am am sitting here typing between mouthfulls of a particularly large pizza with an obscene amount of extra olives and fresh parmesan. I have 5 glorious days off ahead of me to do with as I wish and to play to my hearts content!

Along with that we (that's PG and myself) had some good news today. A couple we are friends with have just discovered they are pregnant! This couple, although we don't see as much of them as we would like are particularly special and were a great support to PG during a very difficult time...... Such exciting news is brilliant.

So congratulations D & W.............you know who you are :o)

I also received an email from someone I thought I would not hear from again ( I hate losing touch with people) and another from a man for whom I have great admiration and didn't expect to ever be in personal contact with. The latter has asked me to be a 'guest writer' on his blog. I have never been asked to do that before and it's very flattering if a little daunting. More on that at a later time.

So as they say in these parts.......... 'I'm in much better 'fettle' now and thanks again.

Rant alert!

I've got the right hump!

Work has been considerably less than fun the last two days and damn hard work. 'Joe Public' seems to be suffering a shortness of temper in the now considerable heat and humidity and yours truly just has to keep smiling and being unendingly polite.

Just how much would I like to have told just one of them precisely how I feel as a response to their offloading on me!! How much I would like to remind the odd one or two that my being in the position I am does not render me a lower lifeform, happy to be treated with no respect and spoken to with so little common decency..........A lot I can tell you!

Hey ho........ in the end I suppose that's what I'm paid for, to take the crap and look happy, a model of retail service. I didn't feel like one today, I felt like I had something closer to a grimace glued to my face and being shouted and sworn at was harder than usual to rise above. I managed it none the less, though inappropriate responses where closer to seeing the light of day than usual.

So I'm just home now, my head hurts, my back hurts, my legs hurt and I'm tired and hungry but I have no appetite. PG has had a hard day too and as a consequence has a mood to match mine and ontop of all that there isn't even Big Brother to distract me tonight! Damn......no mindless TV!

Ok...rant over, my apologies. I'm off to bed, tomorrow is another day :o)

Oh... to be a cat.

Relax!

Today I wanna be my cat.....this looks a good life! Instead I have ahead of me three workdays. I just sooooo don't wanna go there. No time for meandering through blogland sipping coffee, playing with templates or gazing into the countryside, Joe Public calls and will doubtless test my currently short patience.

Stop moaning woman and get on with it..........

:o)

Two of the reasons.....

....I love living where I do is seeing these sights each time I go anywhere!


Highland cattle


Foulden Village

Arghhhhh!

My comments delete icon has mysteriously disappeared (this may well be my fault) and despite my best attempts, including trawling the template with a fine tooth comb for hours looking for bits I may have lost or damaged I have been unable to resurrect said icon.

So I emailed Blogger support three or four days ago asking for help. My mail said, and I quote here,
"The trash can icon by each comment posted has disappeared and I am unable to delete any comment. Please can you advise".

This morning I received a reply and again I quote,
"To delete a comment, first make sure you're logged into Blogger, then
visit the Post Page where the comment is displayed. Next, click the small
trash can icon next to the comment".

Am I missing something here or did I not state clearly enough that I have no bloody icon!! I am only too happy to be shown I have made an error somewhere but purleaaaaase!

I perhaps shouldn't knock Blogger who so kindly provide us all with this free service, but just sometimes.............

Arghhhhhhh!

A creature of habit

I hate doing that......I woke up late today, 11.15 to be precise. I never do that despite rarely going to bed before 02.00 I'm always awake by 07.00. Life is too short to spend it asleep, we are a long time dead, a state that in my limited imagination must be like sleeping without the dreams. There is too much to do in life to be asleep.

We humans are a strange breed, creatures of habit, this one small change in my routine has rendered me flumoxed. I have wandered around getting nowhere, keep looking at the clock wondering where the day is going so fast and thinking of all the things I wanted to do today that now won't get done!

In the workplace we all merrily claim to 'embrace change easily', we all include similarly blase statements in our C.V because we know employers expect it of us. In reality when the slightest thing is changed and our normal day to day work routine is disrupted we hate it and most complain bitterly. The change may be for the better (though frequently with employers it is not), but it is not the change itself that we dislike it is the fear of that change and of the anxiety that creates. We do not like the unknown. This is so much the case that there are now highly qualified psychologists and behaviourists that specialise in the management of change, in teaching us and those that force it upon us how to face the inherent fear we carry.

And yet, when forced, as a race we are perversely, extremely adaptable. In times of war and great challenge for instance we manage to adapt marvelously and deal with whatever life throws at us. In our personal lives too, when change is forced upon us we adapt with remarkable speed. As an individual I have had significant changes in lifestyle forced upon me twice, that had I tried to imagine would have terrified me. I would have balked and avoided them at all costs, but none the less once in the situation, in what seems a blink of an eye, the apparently terrifying situation becomes the norm and often a positive thing.

Coping with change is like many of our traits a matter of practice, those who's lives dictate much change will become 'practiced' at it, at dealing with the anxiety it creates until such a time they no longer have fear of it and embrace it. The rest of us who's day to day lives by necessity are made up of routines continue not to gain that practice and continue to be happy in those routines.

One late wakening and my day is completely upended........ We are indeed a strange and contradictory breed, or at least I am!

A summers evening

And so you might wonder, what exotic and interesting entertainment a grown woman avails herself of on a Scottish summers evening. Warm soft air, a gentle breeze and a clear moon in the sky, the possibilities are endless. A romantic meal, walking hand in hand along the beach under the moonlight. A gentle walk through fields of ripened corn perhaps?

But it was none of these..........instead two grown women, no sordid comments please guys, with a joint age nearing a figure I cannot disclose, on opposite sides of the globe............. did this!


Doodle!

Cheers Magz......what a giggle!

Wednesday silliness

I'm 39% freak!!

Take this test!

My currently confuddled mind does not recall where I stole this one.....if it was you thank you and I hope you don't mind!

Cor blimey mate!

Well I made my self imposed target, almost at any rate. I was at 98 by midnight but went over the 100 hits mark by 00.17 ...... that's good enough for me!! In the 24 hour period I would normally have received something in the region of 50-60 hits, I woke up this morning to find 155!! Hells bells, my day is made.

This feat is in no small part thanks to beFrank,who's blog incidentally is one of the best on the block (go there if you haven't already) and who leapt athletically to the top of my referrers list in the said period. So much so that my other target of going over 2000 by the end of the week is looking possible now....amazing. It's the small things in life that make it worth living......that and referrer stats.

So a big thank you beFrank........I owe you one and have you by chance ever considered charging for advertising!! :o)

Hit record!

Wow!

I have already today exceeded my 'hits for one day' record. Not a massive number in comparison to many but a small feat for me. 72 hits and still hours in the day to go.........perhaps I will make the magic 100 before the day is out. Dare I wish for exceeding 2000 in total by the end of the week........pushing my luck a little there I think!

Am I the only one here with the new obsession that is counter stats. and tracking?? I check my stats almost manically and am fascinated by tracking visitors to my site. To find a visitor from some obscure part of the world is a highlight in my day and I am amazed at the places individuals come from, albeit probably in error! When I began this blogging malarky I really didn't expect anyone to visit, save maybe for a loyal friend or two and thought that within a few weeks I would have ditched the whole thing for lack of interest..........so my friends, thank you for submitting yourselves to my ramblings and tolerating my typos, it is much appreciated.

Whilst on the subject of friends I have met some real nice and interesting people in my few months here. I hadn't envisaged at the start that blogging would be such a 'community'or that the feedback and interraction would be as it is. I love people and this has given me the opportunity to meet like minded and not so like minded souls, I would otherwise have never met. In the beginning there were and still are, my first 'blogrollers', Menina, Jenny at Demob happy teacher(I think we started this thing at about the same time), Francesca at Pushing an Elephant up the Stairs, Snowbabies and Black Rat at Someone else's Life. More recently there are new friends, Magz at Maggiezfarm, Brian at beFrank and Leif Wright from 'the other side of the pond.' For anyone here for the first time or for those who haven't done so yet they are all well worth a visit!

Happy reading............. I'm off to check out the hit counter now..........

:o)

Red Moon Rising

The Scream

When Norwegian artist Edvard Munch produced 'The Scream' It was not his intention that it signify the subject on which I am posting. That said art is many things to many people and this famous pastel has long been one I have felt an affinity too and loved, not only for it's obvious attractions but because strangely perhaps it has always illustrated for me exactly how I feel on certain occasions.

The title of this post does not of course exclude you guys from reading or commenting on what I am about to say, it serves rather as a gentle warning for those of you with a squeamish nature where the physiological aspects of womanhood are concerned, that you may prefer to give this one a miss!

Let me say here, just in case there is any doubt, that I do not enjoy having my life dictated but something completely out of my control, that renders me clumsy in the extreme, causes me to drop anything I lay my hands on, trip over and bump into things that anyone with any reasonable degree of spatial awareness could avoid without effort. I do not enjoy spending days at a time driving like a fool, unable to rationalise and falling apart in a pathetic display of tears for no apparent cause. I do not enjoy my back aching, my legs feeling like they are fashioned from lead, the spots, more bad hair days than you could shake a stick at and a stomach that feels like it has 'gone ten rounds with Mike Tyson'

And so what has caused this rant?...........individuals who blithely say to me and others, 'Oh, you have PMS I suppose' or some similar dismissive comment and expect us to be amused.

Yes it has it's funny side but mostly PMS is patently not funny, this is a condition that many many women suffer for years on end and has a profound effect on their lives. It is the butt of many jokes and a condition that affects all those around the sufferer. I for one would not like to live with me at these times and consequently understand the male jokes and aggravations in dealing with a woman who most of the time is a normal human being and then suddenly becomes mildly insane.

What concerns me more is the apparent lack of understanding in some quarters. PMS it seems is not an excuse to take time off work, to under achieve on occasion, to cause erratic behavior or to prevent one attaining goals. Well no you are right it is not an excuse it is a reason and a valid one. Those who are lucky enough not to have to arrange their lives to some degree around this particular female peculiarity, and I include women not only men here, should perhaps take a moment to consider the impact such disruption might have on their life and the difficulties it would cause.

Unfortunately this is a state that if one has not experienced it is probably very difficult to imagine. It is pain and mental confusion that I can't equate with any other, it has foibles all of it's own and has been used as a successful defense in murder trials, not I add thankfully, that I suffer to that extreme.

Some may consider this not a subject to be posting on but I do not apologise to those people for doing so. This is the 21st century, I am proud to be a woman and menstruation is an inherent part of my femininity. Thankfully we are no longer hidden away and considered as 'unclean', save for one or two cultures an religions.

I don't want for the women among us who know only to well about what I am talking, sympathy or platitudes, just a little tolerance when we display these strange changes in behavior. I can accept and even laugh at the jokes if you laugh with me not at me. I don't want to use it as an excuse I just want a little consideration.

And so why 'The Scream'......despite it not being the artists intent,in fact the 'screamer' is a man, this image captures for me, far better than my words ever could, precisely how I have felt for a quarter of my adult life!