Biting the hand that feeds you

I was directed this morning to a blog that frankly has made my blood boil but has also made me consider my own position.

I was given the link for an entirely different reason to the one I am now going to post about, I knew nothing of it's content previously but having read it, even at this early hour, my hackles are well and truly up!

The author of the blog in question has by their own choice moved from a city to the countryside, do you begin to see a parallel here, but seems to have very little good to say about their new surroundings, more than that, this individual displays a positively scathing and superior attitude toward those in the locality.

As one who moved from a big city into the 'middle of a field' myself I can understand the sometime frustrations of the reduced and far flung facilities, hell yeah, I miss not being able to have a pizza sent out or having access to galleries, theatre and retail therapy at a five minute drive but....and this is a very big but, there are also massive compensations.

Crime here is almost non existent in comparison with almost any city and that alone is something that makes for a more relaxed and less stressful existence. I live among some beautiful scenery, the stuff of postcards that many people only see 'once in a blue moon', I wake up to panoramic views every single day that many can only dream of.

There are now sights and sounds as part of my life's daily backdrop that I used to spend a fortune on holidays to experience, wildlife, weather changes, the ocean and green vistas that go on forever. Add to that the friends I have made and the community, that despite my being an incomer, has made me very welcome. I will never be a 'local', one has to have about 5 generations here to become that but none-the-less I feel 'at home'.

Sure, there are times that I have moaned and groaned about the down side but my point is this; having chosen to move my life from the city it is up to me to make a life here, no one forces me to be involved in the things I choose not too be and yes it is a different lifestyle to the one I was used to but, it takes time to make a life anywhere and to adjust. Rome wasn't built in a day!

One thing is for sure, publicly insulting the people and the lifestyle I chose to live among and who have accepted and befriended me will not aid my transition from city girl to country dweller and I sincerely hope I have never done that. Now and again I might privately expound on the aspects that I have found frustrating and I will admit to finding it hard at times to make the necessary adjustment but I hope that in the main I concentrate on the positives, of which there are many, and I certainly hope that I have never offended anyone of the people who allow me to live among them and have accepted me more than I ever imagined.

Coincidentally I had a short conversation with someone yesterday along these lines and 'post conversation' I was aware that I had been somewhat negative about some aspects of my lifestyle here.....who's fault is that I wonder? It seems to me it is mine, it is my responsibility to adjust not anyone else's!

One thing is for sure, there is nothing more guaranteed to alienate someone in my position and to hinder the settling in process than to 'bite the hand that feeds me'!!! Let's face it, I chose of my own free will to live here, no one forced me and no one forces me to remain....... insulting the way of life of others, just because it isn't what I am used to would be unhelpful, condescending and wrong.

Blog'ito ergo sum

Forget Dior, D&G, Chanel or Westwood, this seasons 'must have' item of attire can be found HERE....the one and only 'I BLOG There4 I am' T'shirt!!!


Like the man says, we bloggers are an intellectual lot and hence a little fun has been had with Descartes original 'cogito, ergo sum' ~ 'I think, therefore I am'.

Go on...lean on the guy a little you know you want one and maybe we can persuade him to remove a digit or two and get these into production!

Katrina

So hurricane Katrina has done her worst and left the expected trail of devastation in her wake despite being downgraded to a 'tropical storm' prior to hitting land.

Sitting here in the UK where we consider severe weather to be gale force winds and anything more than and inch or two of rain or snow it's almost impossible to imagine the power of such a storm or the havoc and damage it leaves where it passes.

We have the power of images and video on television but it still doesn't come anywhere near recreating the real power and fear experienced by those unfortunate enough to be in it's path and be subjected to it's wrath.

Fifty people have sadly lost their lives to this cruel phenomenon of the natural world and £14 billion in damage to property and infrastructure has been suffered. By comparison the freak weather events we suffer here intermittently seem almostinsignificantt. Incidents such as the Boscastle flood of last year and the great storm of the 1980's seemed disastrous to us and yet in comparison to the havoc and trauma caused to thousands and thousands of people by Katrina, our severe weather is child's play.

I have long been fascinated by extreme weather, have always intended that when I have the means to, I will go on one of those 'storm chasing' holidays but that is very different to finding ones home and life suddenly decimatedd through an act of nature over which one has absolutely no control.

Incidents such as yesterdays in the US seemed once to be remote, certainly I used to watch news reports and feel concern for those in the path of such forces but the internet has bought it all so much closer. Now I know of people who have been affected and have had to evacuate New Orleans, I have friends who's homes and lives are close enough to have been watching the path of Katrina very closely and it all now seems far more 'real', our global village is getting smaller and smaller.

My thoughts this morning are with those who have suffered over the last few days at the hands of Katrina, those who have lost loved ones, lost their homes, lost their possessions and who have lost their peace of mind.

So that was a bank holiday was it?

I can't say I noticed! Whatever happened to the British Bank Holiday?

Even in my lifetime, and no, it hasn't been that long, I recall these supposedly 'special days' being just that, special! A day when families and friends spent time together, fairs and fetes took place, we took to the roads for a day out or just relaxed, it was almost like another Sunday, a day when we felt we were 'allowed' to relax and have fun.

No longer it seems is any of that the case for a large number of people. I didn't have to work today but that was luck not judgment, many of my colleagues did, as did thousands of others working in retail and other service industries.

What has happened to the human ability to entertain itself? I know, I sound like an old git here but please, can't we find something to do just for one whole day that doesn't involve shopping?

Shopping is quoted as being the UK's most popular 'leisure activity'....... leisure activity my foot, there is damn all leisurely about it and it barely rates as an activity. What it is as a rule is a great deal of stress, aggravation and dissatisfaction on both sides of the fence and for numerous reasons, and it will never fail to amaze me that so many of those who actually manage to get the day off, can think of nothing better to do with it than shop!

There is barely anything to define a bank holiday as any different to any other day now and I'm probably as guilty as the next woman. PG was working, most of my friends were working and so, just like any other day I spent the majority of it here!

......but at least I wasn't hot and bothered and pushed and shoved in a faceless shopping mall somewhere, it could have been a lot worse! :o)

Rippled skies

If you ever catch me.....

....feeling sorry for myself, moaning about some insignificant occurrence in my life or indulging in a 'self-pity party' please kick my ass hard and remind me of this post!

A few weeks ago I posted about my friend who having just been diagnosed with breast cancer was coping in a manner which I found then, and still find now, incredible.

This lady is a true inspiration I think to all who know her. I won't go into her personal situation, it is not for me to elaborate on that and if she even knew I write about her doubtless she would deny all I say, for she herself thinks she is 'nothing special'!

Nothing special eh? Within ten days of her diagnosis she underwent the necessarily quite major surgery....... and three days later she returned to work! From that day to this she has not missed one shift, never called in sick, never been late and has been the devils own job to persuade to go for an extra break here and there, even when she feels shattered. She hasn't complained of her quite considerable pain, she hasn't uttered a single self pitying word and she hasn't allowed anyone to take any of her work responsibilities from her. We do quite a physical job at times, we are required to life items sometimes up to 25kg, in multiples, and the only concession she has made to her illness or surgery is to allow me or someone else to do some of the heavy lifting for her, though on occasion I have had to be particularly 'firm' with her to stop her carrying on even that as usual!

This coming week she undergoes the first session in a particularly gruelling program of chemotherapy that is set to last well into next year....still not a murmur of complaint! Yes, of course she is scared witless, her greatest horror right now is in losing her beautiful hair but even that she has faced and later next week she is having it all cut off so that the 'falling out' process hopefully won't seem quite so traumatic. For her it is not a case of 'if' she loses her hair, rather of 'when'. The doses of chemo she is to receive leave little room for doubt.

This lady is truly amazing and leaves me feeling very humble, she has barely 'missed a beat' throughout this traumatic time, she has remained fun to be around and to anyone but those who know her very well there would be nothing in her manner to even suggest she has a head cold, let alone cancer. In all of this I have only known her shed one tear and thus far she has attended every hospital appointment alone, despite constant offers to accompany her.

Finally today she gave in a little and has agreed to let me take her for some of her chemotherapy sessions, but I might add she has every intention of driving herself where she can and her parting words to me this evening as we left work were...."I'll see you next Saturday", this was not a reference to a visit we have planned, it was a reference to her intention to be at work next Saturday!!

In comparison I feel an incredible lightweigh, my friend is facing all this with a level of courage I can't imagine possessing and yet I, the bystander, find myself at times just looking at her and having to bite back the tears! I have of course become quite adept at various distraction techniques for should I shed a tear she would no doubt 'clip me one hard around the ear' and tell me to pull myself together in no uncertain terms!

So, from here on in it's 'best foot forward' and all that, I am not ignorant of the facts but being a wimp never helped anyone and a positive attitude just might....and like I said at the beginning of this post, if you hear me even begin to organise a self-pity party over some insignificant happening, do me a favour and kick my rear hard!

Relax!

Backup your blog

I'm wondering, has anyone actually tried to do THIS? It all seems a little worrying, somehow I have the feeling it would be all too easy to lose the whole damn blog with one ill placed click.

Come on, all you real techies out there, if you've tried it and it worked (or not), please let me know before I destroy this in it's entirety! :o)

Friday's feast (60)

Appetizer
Do you get excited when the season begins to change? Which season do you most look forward to?
Yes, winter, I'm already done with summer, if it could be called that....bring on the snow!

Soup
What day of the week is usually your busiest?
Saturday

Salad
Would you consider yourself to be strict when it comes to grammar and spelling? What's an example of the worst error you've seen?
Reasonably strict yes but as for an example, you can better judge that than me! :o)

Main Course
Who has a birthday coming up, and what will you give them as a gift?
My mum, I have no idea yet what I will give her though

Dessert
If you could have any new piece of clothing for free, what would you pick?
A Dainese racing suit....maybe I'de get the bike to go with it again then!

How un-cool am I?

Well, having banged on this morning about my 'state of hermit,' necessity dictated that I make a hasty forray into town almost as soon as my fingers had left the keyboard!

Nothing more exciting than a bottle of milk, some chocolate and a kitchen bin who's lid decided to fly accross the kitchen of it's own free will and had landed in a far from operational state, on the opposite side of the room.

So off I trundled for the 15 mile drive, a little miffed at having my final days holiday disrupted. Through lack of choice rather than preference I was forced into Argos, those of you in the UK will understand my lack of excitement at this prospect but things were about to change. This was to be no ordinary trip to Argos.

Whilst I stood waiting in the inevitable queue the guy in front of me struck up a conversation, friendly (and yes I know I can also talk the hind legs off a donkey) soul that I am I chatted back, well it relieves the boredom I thought.

As this conversation with 'Mr. Anonymous' continued it suddenly struck me with some degree of panic/amusement/amazement that he was not merely 'chatting'...... he was chatting me up! I'm sorry, I know I should have noticed sooner but I wasn't quite 'with it', remember I am a hermit, I was only on temporary release and I don't latch onto the minutia of social interraction too early in the day! But good God, to be fair to myself one doesn't expect it in Argos does one?

Bear in mind here I was in clad in the least elegant of items, old track pants, old fleece (yes it's cold in Scotland) and my best 'just out of bed' hair style was very sadly evident.

Whilst I stood, suddenly feeling somewhat uncomfortable about my state of appearance, 'Mr Anon' was eventually served and went on his way. Relief?....it was short lived!

My turn at the front of the queue came and went and as I turned to leave he re-appeared and struck up a further conversation. Way too polite to flee the scene I stood talking for a minute and then made my excuse to depart. It was at this point things really became surprising....here, in Argos of all places, bed head, old fleece and all, the guy asked me out! Yes, that's what I said the guy asked me out, you didn't mis-hear. I was caught completley off guard, any pretence at the 'Ms.I'm a grown up and I cool with this stuff',act deserted me and I mumbled some pathetic excuse, gathered up my purchases and beat a hasty retreat!

Just how un-cool am I eh??....but hell, this was 11 o'clock in the morning....in Argos.... in the middle of nowhere,come on, give a girl a fighting chance at least! ;o)

Hassle with Haloscan

Is it just me or do I detect a more general level of disatisfaction in the blogosphere with what was not long ago considered the epitome of commenting systems....Haloscan?

I resisted for longer than most the lure of it's promise to work well, I tolerated the Blogger comment system for months, back in its days of repeated failure, but finally I bowed to pressure, capitulated and installed Halo heaven....or is it?

I seem to hear more and more negativity with this once considered all singing, all dancing system and I have to admit to finding myself a feeling a little rankled with it these days.

The 'issue' I have with it is this. I pay good money (albeit a pittance of $12 p.a.) for an upgraded version of Haloscan and yet they only show a comment count for what they list as 800 comments. I find that hard to believe, I'm too lazy to actually count but if you go back only two months here, there is no comment count and I doubt very much that I have attracted over 800 comments in such a short time. Yes, if the link is clicked the comments are still there but how on earth will a reader know to click when the counter shows a big fat zero?

The situation is far worse if you run the free version, only 200 comments kept and not even showing on click. They are saved on the Haloscan archive server but are not accessible unless the account is upgraded.

ok, so they have the prized trackback system but how often does that get utilised.....very rarely!

On the other side of the coin the once terrible Blogger comments seem to have ironed out most of their problems and reliablility is now the order of the day.....and they manage to keep and show all of the comments that we 'comment whores' hold so dear (come on now don't deny it).

All of this leaves one with the age old problem, comment loss, but this time in reverse....do we stick with my non-showing comments system or abandon it and lose all those comments forever? We found a way around losing blogger comments when installing Haloscan but save for the copy and paste method I have yet to discover a way to import Haloscan into Blogger! Gah.

What are the crowd thinking?

From the hermitage!

It suddenly dawned on me sometime yesterday, as I bemoaned the fact that my holiday is almost over, that I am turning into a hermit!

Gemmaks-ville is a lovely, nay beautiful place but it does however present one or two small challenges where entertainment is concerned. It is heavenly if you wish to walk the hills, put a hook in a fish's mouth, kill a bird with lead pellet or chase a terrified fox with hounds ( I won't do that subject right now, it's to early for 'immotive' but I'm sure you can detect my general feeling) but if your bag is more mundane joys such as galleries, cinemas, flexing a plastic card or the theatre, the logistics are a little off putting!

It is thus that I realised my current 'state of hermit' yesterday. I have been home from the big city since last Saturday, that's seven whole days for those of you still 'out of your tree' at this hour, yes you know who you are, and I haven't been further than my car in all that time, not once have I ventured out any greater distance than a neighbours for coffee!

There are two peculiar aspects to this little fact. The first is that I don't know where the days went, but seven days feels like two...... and the second is that I thoroughly enjoyed my time hidden away. My intellect tells me I shouldn't, that I ought to be 'out' and with people but who needs intellect and who needs 'a life'....I am afterall on holiday and there is of course the great God broadband now in gemak's-ville!

That said, my little hiatus is to end abruptly soon, tomorrow heralds the dreaded return to the 'day job' and an alarm that will ring cruelly at 5 am.......dammit, I kinda like being a hermit!


N.B. Apologies for any spellling errors, Blogger seem to have lost all their bells and whistles this morning, good grief, I even had to type my own tags....it's not good.

Behind cloud

Thursday's sunset....I missed these while I was in London. I don't understand the specifics of why we get one here almost every evening and I rarely saw one in years of living in the south but whatever it seems almost a fair swop for the lack of facilities and retial therapy here in my field!

A wolf in sheeps clothing

Ok, so when we take to the shower it is generally to shower is it not? I accept that this modern convenience may on occasion be used for other purposes, you will understand here that I have that information only as hearsay not through any experience of my own!

Add to that my understanding that Cussons Imperial Leather shower gel is manufactured purely as a cleansing agent and you will begin to understand my confusion one morning last week when I made haste to the bathroom to carry out my daily ablutions.

My mother, God love her, had left sitting temptingly in the corner of the shower an innocent enough looking bottle of shower gel, specifically
'Imperial Leather Ice'. A refreshing looking substance if ever I saw one.....for it was refreshment I was after having indulged in far to late a night on the previous evening.

Refreshment of the kind I was looking for was a far cry from what I got! You see, whether this was a manufacturing fault or whether in fact Cussons have decided to give Anne Summers a run for their money I now question.

We are all (aren't we?) familiar, if only by advertisement *she says innocently* with the 'apply in certain areas for an exciting sensation' products marketed by our less family orientated manufacturers but one does not expect for an innocuous company such as Coussens to be dishing out such merchandise.

The aforementioned 'Ice' shower gel it seems, contains some form of mint or menthol product, presumably to impart to it's user the 'invigorated' sensation so much advertised.....well believe you me (and I have to choose my words very carefully here for fear of offence) 'invigorated' is not quite the description I would have chosen! Hells bells and little fishes.......I know not if this was a batch with an over zealous amount of the menthol product mistakenly added but this stuff has more in common with some of those Anne Summers substances than ever it does with soap, !! Be warned ladies....and likely men, if all you want in your shower is to get clean...this is not the product you want and I advise you, think very carefully about where on your body you choose to apply it!

This stuff is lethal....or amazing, depending on your point of view.

I could regale you with further detailed warning but I think it best I quit now while I'm ahead and some degree of dignity and decency still remains....albeit hanging on a very fine thread!

And crafted especially for.......

....The Tate Modern, just in case you missed this artwork in comments, I give you *insert virtual drum roll* an exclusive preview of...............

Fletch's take on Chihuly!


Too funny!

Chihuly 'Sun'

Ok, so I am a little obsessed with this Chihuly stuff right now but I couldn't resist just one more set of images, this time of 'The Sun' (link requires Quicktime player) the center piece of the Kew exhibition........ amazing!

(Images clickable)

Apologies....

....for the apparent break in service here, my hosts server seems to have gone 'toes up' temporararily and consequently I am image-less....still maybe you like the clutter free look :o)

With luck and a little 'finger pulling out' at the hosts end things will return to naormal soon.

The chair

No....not Van Gogh's version, nothing as high brow I'm afraid, rather an issue I am currently having with one small cat, namely of course that cat is Ditto.

There is not much in this flat that is good quality, most of the furnishings are Ikea, which whilst it is good value for money and suits our taste it is hardly the stuff of Chippendale, cabinet makers not male strippers.


However, given the amount of time my rear end is planted firmly on the computer chair it was decided long ago to invest in something reasonably well made and in nice squishy leather. Said chair is big, cozy and the favoured seat in the house by all who visit, assuming as is rare, that I am not already in situ.

Ditto has other ideas and has recently decided it is her favoured spot, not good enough that she already inhabits a brand new chair that has in two years rarely had the opportunity to hold a human rear end or that she treats the 'people bed' as a 'Ditto bed'....nope, now the computer chair is now also her domain (no pun intended).

She has long since destroyed the leather on the back of the chair giving it her own special 'distressed' look by constantly flexing small claws upon it as she climbs to a perch at the top of the back, wobbling precariously but now she has advanced to what she feels is her true right....a place on the seat no less!


This started with her beginning to immediately appear should I vacate the position, she would suddenly spring from out of the blue and land herself in the

favoured spot the moment it was free! Things have advanced somewhat since then and she now considers it appropriate to 'share'. The term 'share' in this context really means that all day and night long, should she not be out hunting and butterfly chasing, she ferrets herself between my rear end and the back of the chair and then surreptitiously spreads herself out until yours truly is perched rather inelegantly on the front two or three inches!

No amount of shuffling backwards, sitting on her tail or forcible removal works....she remains, staunch in her belief that it is indeed her chair!

Perhaps I should teach her to master HTML and she could then complete that takeover!

(Images clickable)

Dontcha just love it.....

....when someone deservedly gets a great big dollop of egg squarely in the face!

I made mention of an incident on the tube whilst we were in London last week that amused me highly, that incident involved the utter humiliation of another passenger. Now I'm not usually one to laugh at the misfortune of others but this guy was a very suitable candidate and no guilt or self reproach was felt for my uncontrollable laughter at the time.

Having spent the day marveling at the diamonds at the Natural History Museum we had made our way to Baker Street station for journey home. As soon as we entered the tube and sat down it was evident that we had parked ourselves in seats adjoining what can only be described as 'less than elegant company'.

Sat on the opposite seats were two guys, perhaps in their middle twenties, both mixed race ( is that a pc phrase, my apologies if it's not) one untastefully clad in complete chav regalia and the other in garb that I am never quite sure of the name for but which consisted of a baseball cap, jeans that were barely hung on the guys hips and had the rear almost dangling on the floor behind him, a vest displaying his previously knife wounded torso, much horrifically garish 'bling' and a pair of extremely expensive training shoes.....that he had parked challengingly on the seat opposite him, directly below a 'please keep your feet off the seats' notice!

Ok, so my hackles were up already and unsure just how intimidated I felt I was considering my options where instructing him to remove his feet was concerned. As I considered my next move the two guys in question struck up a conversation in a barely decipherable language, yes it was English but a street gang version spoken extremely loudly and with attitude. Thes idiots knew they were causing offence but also knew they were intimidating and carried on with that insolent 'I dare you to take me on' intermittent glare in the direction of ourselves and other passengers.

My hackles were rising at this point beyond any level that their best efforts at intimidation would affect when the phone, constantly in the hand of guy number one rang. He was 'sporting' a hands free kit and proceeded to take the call at a volume best described without exaggeration as shouting. The conversation was again barely understandable with phrases including having to 'shake a few moves to make the dough' for whatever it was he was intending to purchase. No prizes for guessing what that was!

Now I could see my fathers blood beginning to boil, my mother trying very hard not to look decidedly uncomfortable and PG restraining himself from putting the guy up against the nearest carriage wall!

At this point the whole display began to fall spectacularly apart as over the P.A. system the station announcer announced the destination and stops for the train we were sat on waiting to leave. Idiot number two at this point realised that they were on the wrong train, something the rest of us were already aware of courtesy of guy number one telling his 'phone conversation' where and when he intended to alight, it was nowhere this train was about to go!

Man number two shot out of his seat shouting to man number one that they were on the wrong tube, who, still screaming into his hands free kit also made haste to depart....en-route to the closing doors he stumbled, righted himself, still shouting, and here is the hilarious bit, as he passed through the doorway his timing for one so cool was completely 'off' and he became amusingly, thouroughly stuck in the doors!

Oh the joy and hilarity. Now these doors usually reopen automatically should something become jammed in them but on this occasion for some unknown but very appropriate reason they did not! Suddenly 'Mr smart ass, too cool to move' lost all of his ability to intimidate as he flailed and swore against the contraption holding him fast in such an undignified manner!

Within a few seconds the doors caught up with the situation and released him but the damage was done, his pride was in tatters on the floor along with the headset that in the struggle had parted company with his head!......and how we all laughed in his now egg covered red face?!

If ever there was an appropriate incident of come-uppence this was it!

What a performance!

This is most certainly not a post about some wonderful West End stage performance or anything even nearing it, it is in fact about 'two cats' who should know better and who on the occasion of this recent holiday created mini mayhem between them!

Bear in mind here that Poppy in particular is a very well traveled cat indeed, she has done countless car journeys of hundreds and hundreds of miles and never been a moments trouble, Ditto for her part whilst not as widely ventured is more than well versed in the rules applied to car travel.

But nay, it was not to be, rules were not adhered too on this occasion and the whole 'cat in transit' issue consequently fell to pieces rather spectacularly last Sunday

PG was charged with the task of taking said cats to the cattery for their holidays whilst I was at work, thus enabling us to leave on our travels in the wee small hours. This is a much practiced 'carry on' though usually performed by the two of us as negotiating cats into boxes is not always without incident. Happily there were no incidents at this point in the the cat transport operation and both duly allowed themselves to be deposited on nice, clean, cosy bedding in their respective carrying equipment and off they all set.

Almost immediately things began to degenerate from there with Poppy deciding that now, in the close confines of PG's car, it would be a good time to hone her projectile vomiting skills and in her endeavors, created a new design of interior car design 'stippling'. The man was not amused but duly stopped the car, did the best job he could of a clean up operation and they continued on their way.

Barely was the engine running again than Ditto decided that not to be left out of the proceedings she would do her best to make the short journey memorable by making new use of her travel compartment in the manner of a litter box! There was little to be done and a rather less than amused PG was forced to drive the remaining miles with sun roof and all windows as wide open as he could get them! Eventually himself and said, now disgraced cats, arrived at their destination where 'very nice cat lady', full of sympathy for the cats, rather than PG's trauma, whisked them out of their various unpleasant surroundings and began the clean up process. Why does that happen? I have to admit to being just very slightly amused, PG doesn't 'do' animal nastiness where it can be avoided, rather leaving such tasks to yours truly and here, when I thought he would be forced into some action someone comes to his rescue, had I been there no doubt it would have been down to me!.

This was not to be the end of the cat troubles.

Home at last!
On Friday a good friend kindly offered, as he always does, to collect small furry creatures and deposit them home enabling us to arrive home late and therefore miss the traffic.

On Friday evening, still in London we received a phone call from 'very nice cat lady' saying she had retained Poppy for a further night whilst Ditto has been collected by aforementioned friend to be taken home. Given that in her elderly and less than well state I was already concerned about how Poppy would fare on her 'holiday' I immediately went into silent panic mode as PG took the call. When he eventually got off the phone I discovered that rather than being a panic situation it was a 'stubborn old cat' situation, Poppy in her annoyance at the whole malarky had refused point blank to be incarcerated in her travel box and no amount of gentle, or less gentle physical persuasion was going to budge her! Both our Friend 'L' and the cat lady are well practiced at this maneuver but nothing was going to beat old puss and eventually she began to hyperventilate causing a rapid cessation of all attempts to get her securely 'jailed'.

It was thus that we arrived home, as mentioned, to only one small confused cat in the small hours of Saturday.

Immediately we saw what the problem had been with Poppy. The carrier that Ditto had been 'packaged' in was the big one we have...... which meant that attempts at inserting Poppy had been into the smaller one, usually inhabited by Ditto. One has to understand the specifics of cat life here and know that Poppy just does not go in the small carrier, it is not an arguable point, it just doesn't happen, we know that, she knows that but it had never occurred to us to tell anyone else, we just assumed that as they arrive in that manner they would come home in that manner.

So yesterday morning we set off on the Poppy rescue mission, BIG box in hand, upon arrival we were met by verbal protestations uttered loudly in 'cat-eze' by 'someone' having been left behind an extra night, despite it being her own fault it suddenly became our fault! Her behavior had caused much amusement once she had stopped her overbreathing lark it seems, and much was said of her ability, despite declining health to dig her heels in when she chooses. She was duly and happily placed in her big box with no nonsense, and off we set happily homeward.

You thought that was the end? Well you are wrong! As a final act of defiance, this cat, who had traveled thousands of miles over her lifetime without any incident now, on this 15 mile journey decides that she must have the last word so to speak.....and followed Dittos lead of a few days earlier by making inappropriate use of her carrier as a litter box!!

Feisty old bag!

Five days of fun

Why is it that holidays seem to pass so quickly?

Having spent the small hours of Monday driving to London I recall on Monday evening saying to PG that the day seemed to have lasted forever, that was where 'forever' ended though it seems! Tuesday through to Friday shot by in a blur of hilarity, chatter, good food and days out......and then suddenly we were home again.

Monday was spent catching up with my parents, there was plenty to talk about of course as ever and the fact that we had not seen one another for almost six months made the possibility of unending gossip all the more likely! We ate, drank and talked into the early hours and fell into bed for a long overdue sleep.

Tuesday we mustered early and bleary eyed, set off for the tube and a day at the Natural History Museum.

(All images are clickable)

to marvel at the diamond exhibition currently showing. For anyone it was a stunning display but for me, with a lifelong passion for diamonds it was just out of this world, I wandered in a state of wonder for hours, rapt by the sights before me. I don't know quite what it is about these little pieces of carbon that so enthralls and fascinates me but something always has, there is just nothing to compare with the brilliance and fire of a flawless well cut diamond!

Ask anyone who knows me what the first thing I would do would be if I won the lottery and they will tell you I would buy a large, flawless diamond. In fact, when I inherited a sum a while back that's just what I did, ok so it wasn't a sum the size of a lottery win but the first day I had the money in my hand I bought a good quality stone! I just can't help but be absolutely captivated by them.

Having spent as long as we possibly could with diamonds in our eyes we pottered along Exhibition Road to the V&A for a quick look at the Chihuly chandelier that hangs in the foyer We had seen it on another visit a while back but with Wednesdays trip to Kew Gardens and Chihuly's installations there planned we decided to refresh our memories. The V&A installation still remains my favourite of those works I have seen for myself. Early evening and we made our way to Baker Street station and our homeward journey, we were witness to a very amusing incident whilst waiting for the train to depart the station but I will blog that another time.


Dinner on Tuesday night was to celebrate PG's birthday on Monday and we enjoyed probably one of the most scrumptious meals we have ever devoured at a little local restaurant of some note. It was one of those evenings that was just perfect, the food was excellent, the service just as impressive, the ambiance just the right balance of decorum versus 'al fresco' dining and of course the company was outstanding.....yes, my parents read this sometimes!

Wednesday was subject to a sudden change of plans to accommodate PG's feeling utterly unwell ( not a product of the previous evenings intake of food and alcohol I might add) and the small disaster that was the dishwasher suddenly deciding to 'give up the ghost'. While PG ailed in his bed a very nice engineer man repaired said indispensable item of kitchen equipment and by afternoon PG had improved enough to indulge in a little retail therapy.

In the evening I abandoned PG to the clutches of my parents while I set off for a long awaited 'girls night out' with colleagues and friends from times past when I lived in the South. We have tried on previous occasions to get us all together over the last four years but for one reason or another we had never managed it until now.I might add at this point that despite the possibility of it being otherwise we were all very well behaved, a little 'loud' maybe but hey, we had a lot of catching up to do! It was one of those evenings that just passed by in a flash, we had all worked together for years and years before I shot through unannounced to follow my heart to Scotland and I could happily have stayed chatting for hours and hours longer. There were none of the silent pauses, no uncomfortable moments one fears in these situations, we just all immediately slotted back into 'how we were' and I for one had a ball. It was just so good to spend time with friends who had been such a big part of my life for such a long time and who I hadn't seen for years.

It was odd but I never realised just how much I missed them all until I saw them again. Maybe the circumstances surrounding my departure and the fact of having a whole new life to build from scratch distracted me but now life has settled back down I realised just how much I had missed them. I must take this opportunity to thank 'P' for her efforts in making it happen.


Thursday we made our way to Kew Gardens, a favourite haunt of all of us at any time of year but particularly in the summer, though the sun we all wish for was so hot on this occasion that we seemed to spend much of our time racing from one shady spot to another in search of some relief from the heat. We were of course there on this visit specifically to enjoy the Dale Chihuly 'Gardens of Glass' exhibition which in the 'way of Kew' were scattered far and wide, nestling almost unnoticed among shrubbery in some places and standing tall and loud in others. These pieces of glass art are amazing, beautiful and some say almost disturbing at times and though I could only see beauty in them I could see the 'triffid-ness' at times.







The evening was spent in the garden in fading sunlight while we mastered the art of cuisine 'a la barbecue' and as night fell we chatted away our last full evening together.

Friday morning we set off for the local town and Waitrose. For those of you who do not know this emporium of food it is the very best in high street 'supermarkets' and as it's not a luxury afforded those of us North of the border we have to make the most of the opportunity and fill the car boot with culinary delights to take home......though I'm not sure that to entirely fill the boot was a good idea, once we had packed our luggage too there was barely room for us in the car and to have to unload and unpack £150's worth of foodstuffs at 4am when we arrived home is not to be recommended as a fun pastime!

My sister, her husband and my niecess arrived at my parents en-route from a holiday on the South coast late in the afternoon and things went a little pleasantly mad as all of us caught up together for the first time in a very long while.....and then it was time to leave on our overnight journey home.

Sad farewells were bid, promises of trying not to 'leave it so long' next time were made and off we drove onto a typically busy Friday night M1. The journey though as usual boring (would you believee that of 374 miles there is not one single turn, junction, set of lights or roundabout etc. for 350 of those miles) was uneventful and we finally staggered to our door at about 4am to be greeted by a rather confused and alone Ditto....Poppy remained in the cattery an extra night as a consequence of her display of somewhat stubborn behaviour when a friend went to collect them earlier in the day! More on that tomorrow!

And so that is it, another holiday over though I still have a week off work and of course I have my new connection to fully test!

Batten down the hatches......

....I'm back....your peace is shattered!

Arrived home 04.00 this morning had a few hours sleep, colleced 'old puss' from the cattery, Ditto arrived home yesterday.....long story.

Reality dictates that four loads of washing etc. need to be attended too and then it's time to play with this 2 meg connection!

:o)

Lots to Do This Weekend in Edinburgh

I'm not sure if you're aware of this or not, but Edinburgh seems to be the place to go in August. Of course, that would be a long trip from Omaha, Nebraska, US, or even for you, but just FYI...

The Edinburgh Festival is a generic term used to describe the cultural explosion in August each year.

Since the late 1940s Edinburgh has become a hotspot for artistic talent beginning with the International Festival and the Fringe. The summer programme has grown with the Edinburgh Book Festival, the largest book festival in the world, the Edinburgh Film Festival, a world renowned showcase of cinematic talent and the Military Tattoo in the magnificent backdrop of Edinburgh Castle. The Jazz festival starting in late July and the Edinburgh Mela in the last days of August bookend a phenomenal six weeks of arts and culture in the city. Hogmanay is the world's most famous celebration of New Year, the Edinburgh Science festival is a springtime journey of discovery in its own right and the Children's Festival starts the summer with playful exuberance.

It's no wonder that Edinburgh has truly become the FESTIVAL CITY.

Art Festival - £15,000 was awarded to 6 Edin galleries to fund marketing to fund development of new work for this year's festival.
Edin Military Tatoo - Many military groups/musicians have gathered in Edin for years to perform. You can find some video clips at the Tatoo Website.
Fringe - Outdoor music entertainment
International Book Festival - buy books or listen to authors. J.K. Rowling already appeared on August 15th, but you still have time to listen to author fascinating authors.

International Film Festival - For over half-a-century, the Festival has presented some of cinema's most important and exciting moments and played host to the world's greatest filmmakers.

So if you're interested in knowing what's going on in Gem-Land, check it out. If you're in the neighborhood, feel free to stop in at any of these entertaining events.

Homeward bound

It seems only a few hours since we arrived here at my parents and already it's almost time to return home. All that remains of our holiday now is a few hours with my sister and her family who take over the 'guest rooms' as we depart, an early dinner and then it's back on the road for another overnight drive, this time heading northward.

With a little luck and a decline in the torrential rain currently falling, we should make it back to Scotland at about 4am. Ugh. There is of course a silver lining to every cloud and on this occasion it is that Poppy and Ditto will be waiting for us when we arrive, having been 'rescued' from the cattery by a friend earlier in the day.

Normal service should be resumed tomorrow. :o)

More Chihuly

And here's another. I love Chihuly glass design. They come to our museum annually and give a demonstration and have several displays for us to view. Thanks for sharing, Gem!

Something strange.....

.....growing in a lilly pond, courtesy of Dale Chihuly, Kew Gardens installation.

If ever I coveted anything......

.... it is the Millennium Star! What the most beautiful thing in the world, over 203 carats of flawless sparkling stone, perfectly cut from a rough stone of originally 777 carats and sending a kaleidoscope of rainbow light to every corner of the room in which it is currently displayed within the Natural History museum. Worth over £200 million and at about 2 inches high by an inch in width it is one of the largest cut diamonds in existence and a thing of utter and beauty and perfection.

It is of course displayed along with hundreds of other stones and design pieces of particular note, an extremely rare red diamond, an even rarer orange diamond, blue diamonds and brown diamonds but none come anywhere near the breathtakingspectaclee of themillenniumm stone.

Security in gaining entry into this exhibition is understandably tight, the usual scanning with a detection device and emptying of pockets is obligatory but to be allowed access to this display it is also obligatory to 'hand over' ones handbag, mobile phone, PDA, camera etc. etc. for the duration of the visit, something I felt a little uncomfortable about but was in the end well worth any risk of loss. Hell, they could have had the whole shebang for good, just to be allowed the pleasure of being so close to that magical stone for a few minutes!

So what next on the agenda.Today'ss planned trip to one of my favourite places, Kew Gardens, has been postponed until tomorrow, PG having unfortunately fallen victim to some nasty bug that has caused havoc with his gastro-intestinal system.....the less details here the better...... and so this morning I am lazing in 27 degrees in the garden, will partake of a little retail therapy this afternoon and then this evening it's off on a 'girls night out' with friends and colleagues from my place of work when I last lived here. I can't wait, I haven't seen any of them for almost four years and there is a distinct possibility that things could become a little wild! :o)

The Tube Fanatic That I Am,

Gem has sent these "live" camera shots to keep me properly envious of her trip to London. :)

Diamonds are a girls best friend

Eventually we made it safe and sound. No great traumas just a slow and boring nine hour drive, I told you that the idea of an overnight journey was becoming less attractive by the moment and by 3 am, after a day at work and only an hours sleep I was convinced.

The numerous coffee breaks en-route coupled with an accident causing a long tail back meant that despite leaving home at 2am we didn't arrive until 10.30 Monday morning.

Of course things have improved since then, much chatter, good food and celebrations of PG's birthday later, a good nights sleep and it's off into town this morning to an exhibition at the Natural History Museum destined to make me spit with envy and keep me riveted for hours. My passion, the one thing that could tempt me to wish I was a millionaire, an exhibition that could have been staged 'just for me'.....an exhibition of diamonds!! Big, beautiful, sparkling, diamonds. Yup, diamonds really are this girls best friend, or at least would be given the opportunity!

More later, train to catch :o)

That's it.....

....everything is done and we are about to head off into the night on our journey South.

The cats are ensconced in their own holiday home for the duration (I miss them already) after a small hoo ha getting them there (more on that when we get back), our bags are packed, I have completed my last day at work for a whole fortnight (yayyyyy) and everything is turned off, all that remains is to make the 400 mile drive.

I will as ever do my very best to ensure my challenge to post something here every day for a year doesn't fall by the way-side, tho likely with a little help from Lisa here and there.

So that's it for now, it's time to hit the road ........ I'll catch you at the other end guys :o)

A fanfare please!

Finally, unbelievably, amazingly, gemmak is coming at you at the earth shattering, stunning, superfast, sexy speed of 2 meg!!!!

Wooooooooo hoooooooooo!!!!

UK summer

You may need to click this picture and enlarge it too really appreciate what I mean when I say that something just tells you beyond all doubt, that it is definitely Summer in the UK! :o/


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Only half a sleep until London now, the half is courtesy of PG, who in his wisdom has decided we will leave at 02.00 hours tomorrow and drive overnight in an effort to miss the worst of the traffic. It's beginning not to seem quite such a good plan as I drag myself off to work this morning!

P.S. Still no broadband!

The sworn enemy

Ditto yesterday spied her sworn enemy, much growling and spitting ensued, paws flailed and much a scene was created....it's easy to be brave from one floor up and indoors!

In her defence he has 'knocked holes' out of her on more than one occasion and when one faces the other without glass separating them various neighbor's, along with ourselves rush to her rescue when the yeowling alerts us.

At least this display of faux-bravery doesn't result in sore bits and vets bills and is highly amusing!



N.B. Still no broadband in sight!

Nipples and other miscellanea

There is currently a debate going on in gemmak's-ville between Idgie, MIL and myself, a debate of monumental importance concerning the chick at the top of this page, the cat-woman, she who is clad in the stripey threads. The debate is this....can you or can you not detect a nipple escaping from her well designed and carefully placed attire??
I have scrutinised her, I really have but I just can't see it, the other parties concerned are absolutely convinced though that she is sporting a more sassy look that I was aware of and given my somewhat questionable eyesight I am happy to be proved wrong.....any opinions? who is right, who is wrong....should I be visiting my optometrist again?

Onto more serious things......yesterday another hour and a half was time wasted on the phone to BT and our ISP....still of course we have no action and still of course we have no broadband, I begin to despair of it ever happening, PG was so un-amused by last night there was even talk of canceling the order and living with dial-up, I quickly worked to calm him on that one but I can see his point!

We are today in a new situation, apparently, despite promise after promise of connection daily, for over a week now, and despite a 'guarantee' when we placed the order that connection would take place within 10 days, we are now on day 18 and BT now tells us that they don't give dates or times, they work in strict chronological order...end of story! When I put the question to them that engineer after engineer had made specific promises I was informed 'they shouldn't have done' and that he found that 'unlikely'! So now I'm being accused of telling untruths and still there is no route within one of the UK's largest companies for complaint, escalation or access to higher levels. This company seem to have completely by-passed any efforts at customer service or management techniques, hell, you and I could run this company better methinks!

I will of course be spending more time calling them today but in the meantime you might like to join Dave in this amusing little spin off from the gemmak's-ville broadband saga! Too funny Dave :o)

And last but not least in the days miscellanea.......there are only 2.5 'sleeps' left until we go on holiday! This has been the longest period in my life that I have not seen my parents and it's taken it's time in passing. It's almost 6 months since we last headed 'sarf', but at last the day is almost upon us. I have to attend the 'day job' on Saturday and Sunday and then in the wee small hours of Monday morning, in an effort to miss 'rush hour' at all points on the drive, we leave, headed for London :o)

The annual tussle

This morning I was forced from in front of this machine at an unearthly hour to make the annual trek to the local vet, two cats in tow, for the much hated booster jabs.

This is not a favourite trip as you might imagine, both for myself or for small cat and big puss. As ever the trip is preceded by the annual tussle to prise both into detested cat carrying contraptions. We have a well honed method, whilst PG holds said carrier in mid air I eject required cat from a faux-cuddle and into the opening, there is nowhere for cat to go, nothing to stand on and it is my proven method of operation. It is usually a succsessful method, however, whilst Poppy generally acquires a sulk on her face but obliges Ditto this morning adopted the 'spread eagle cat' position and required almost unending maneuvering of various limbs to complete the task in hand. Finally, a few scratches and much hissing and spitting later, she was suitably incarcerated, scowly faced, and the 5 mile drive began. This was, it goes without saying, accompanied by the expected duet of howling and wingeing.

Things began to go further downhill upon arrival, we discovered that our 'you don't need an appointment just turn up, vets' had evolved into the 'you do need an appointment' setup. We plead ignorance and I did my best 'oh please just this once' face and 'Mr very kind cat doctor' agreed to take the now silent and jammed into the back of their carriers cats, there and then. Things were looking up.

It was Ditto's turn first and having played merry hell whilst we tried to get her into the box she now dug her heels in and of course wasn't for coming out. No surprise there then! She was consequently ejected unceremoniously and was prodded and poked in the usual manner, her heart listened to and pronounced in excellent health, the feared needle was inserted neck-ward and she made her escape, this time with absolutely no protest, headlong back into the previously hated box.

The came Poppy's turn. This is the bit I dread. At almost 18 years old and already with failing kidneys I just know I am going to hear medical information I do not want to. Her heart is good, her lungs excellent but her kidneys have deteriorated further, she is now showing signs of dehydration and her weight loss is more pronounced. Hell, I know these things, I can see them for myself I just hate to have them confirmed by a professional!

We discussed my 'non intervention' decision of last year and it was agreed it was still the kindest route but the reminder that she is not immortal and that 'things are progressing' is not something I want to listen too.


She received her hated jab, made appropriate growling sounds and fled like a kitten back into her now considered safe, carrier amid warning from the vet that having just paid for a years protection it would be appreciated by all if she could possibly see her little way to making use of at least a fair proportion of it!

So now I'm sat here, heavy hearted, knowing the inevitable will happen probably sooner rather than later and questioning my non intervention decision. I always do this. In my heart I know that to feed her a special and likely hated diet, to stop her drinking her milk and to no longer feed her a myriad of tidbits is not the way to go, that to allow her to carry on happily as she always has is the right route and to let her enjoy whatever time she has remaining....... but right now the temptation to do all the 'life prolonging stuff' is hard to resist. I know though that ultimately to put her through nasty food, more vets visits and more prodding is no joy for her, merely my wanting to hang onto her as long as possible and that at 18 it's not fair, in the end her life would likely only be extended by a few months and they would be less happy months for her, so I'll stick to my guns, but this time I very carefully didn't ask for timescales, last time they said a few months, that was almost a year ago and I don't want to know now, what will be will be.

Why do cats with kidney failure so adore all the high protein foods that do them the most harm?! Gah.

*Sniff*