Four years on

Today, the 31st of January, is the day PG and I consider our 'anniversary'. We obviously don't have a wedding anniversary and neither of us recall the date of the day we first spoke to one another, at the time the significance was not apparent, and so the day we first met face to face, after the months of 'hoo ha' and difficulties is the day we mark....and what a day it was. Not only is it the day in my life I recall with most fondness but also it was one of the scariest.

In essence this was the day that having already left my husband and never having met one another 'for real' we were about to finally meet at 6.30 am at Marble Arch.


After much thought I blogged it last year on this date and as I am still asked about it more than anything else, whilst I won't write it all again if you want to read the tale it's in two parts, part one is here and part two here.


*Happy anniversary PG.

The best and the worst!

The best, sleeping.....

Tilly at her best
Video sent by gemmak

....and the worst, her more usual behaviour!

Usual behaviour
Video sent by gemmak

There's always one!

What is it with some individuals?

It seems that for some the only pleasure in life is causing trouble and making mischief. I do not talk of the Tilly kind of mischief here, madness and mayhem created in the wake of high spirits but of those, who for reason best known only to themselves, see fit to trample rough shod through the lives of others and blunder their 'sweet' way into places uninvited.

Those of us in the blogosphere welcome our readers happily, it is afterall the whole point, to have others read our thoughts and most of us, if we are honest are 'comment whores'....what we are not is game for all!

Certainly for myself I welcome heated discussion, I would never want for comments to only ever be in agreement with me, the whole idea for me is one of free speech and of listening to the opinions of others. This differs however from the half wits who persist in making inappropriate, rude and insulting comments to salve their own need for attention.

What motivates these people I wonder? Maybe it is merely the need for attention they feel they are missing in other areas of their lives, maybe they feel it is their 'five minutes of fame' in a strange way. Whatever the reason it confounds me. These are not people spamming comments, that is done automatically and whilst it may be annoying, at least it is not an individual with and axe to grind sat in front of a pc typing unpleasantness unendingly merely to cause offence.

Really, could you be bothered? I certainly couldn't and I doubt many of us could. Ok, so maybe one reads something that hits a nerve, maybe leave a comment to 'say your piece' but to keep on going back, time after time??

Hell, life's way too short!

Not the safest place to play!

Or for that matter to sleep, but despite all manner of 'Tilly-proofing' devices and all efforts to dissuade her, the back of the computer remains one of her favorites! Unfortunately the desk is against a small alcove and no matter how we board up the back, she merely hurls herself off the desk top into the abyss if she can find no other route!



Oh, and just in case you wondered, the large and inelegant blob of blue-tac jammed into the skirting is a cheat....there was a time when many a large spider advanced from the gap under that blob and I figured that given no-one sees it, to 'fill' the hole with the cure-all blue stuff was the quickest fix! What a bodger eh?

Saturday silliness Tilliness

This weeks Saturday Sillines comes courtesy of one of Tilly's biggest fans, Joanna.

An unpopular view

I watched a film last night, you know how you do, kind of by mistake, I flicked over to a channel, coincidentally at the start of this particular offering and became enthralled, if that is the right word in this case, in what I was watching.

The film depicted the life and crimes of serial killer Ted Bundy and I
think almost without exception, it was one of the most disturbing films I have ever had the misfortune to go see. From start to finish I wanted to turn off the TV but somehow I couldn't, so half asleep I remained glued to this horrific tale until 3am, barely able to watch it in some parts and completely and utterly horrified by what this man had done.

I was of course aware of his crimes but not in the detail I am now, I can't find the words to describe just how despicable his crimes were, as I'm sure is the case with anyone familiar with even the briefest of details. I have no idea if this particular film was produced in a manner that would increase the shock value, it was indeed particularly graphic but no amount of 'toning down' the reality would have detracted from just how utterly and truly terrible Bundy's reign of terror was. I can honestly say this film, and the information contained in it, of the heinous specifics of the mans actions really affected me, is still this morning affecting me, I can't express how utterly terrible this man's crimes were but that is not all that has affected me...... and this is where likely I will fly in the face of popular opinion.

I don't profess to have the answers so maybe I shouldn't be posting this at all but the aspect of the film that disturbed me almost as equally as the crimes themselves was the ultimate execution of Bundy. Despite my gut reaction screaming 'kill the bastard, make him suffer as terribly as he made others suffer' I cannot for the life of me see where executing anyone, particularly in the manner he was executed, is a positive or good step.

For me it reduces us to being barely any more humane than he himself was, there is no excuse in the world for his actions but there were perhaps reasons, in the main psychosis. The man was blatantly, profoundly psychotic, one only has to have a basic knowledge of psychiatry to recognise that and whilst it still doesn't excuse his crime to any degree, psychosis is not something one chooses any more than the rest of us would choose any major illness.

By contrast, we the civilised educated world chose, with all our faculties intact, to kill him and put him through a terror and albeit he had inflicted worse on many, try as I might I can't accept it as suitable retribution by those of us standing in judgment.....and judged he certainly needed to be and punished to severe degree.

As I said earlier, I don't have the answers and the debate surrounding execution as a legal punishment will go no forever, everyone has differing views but for my part I felt almost as horrified and ashamed to be part of the human race by the execution, as I did by the original crimes. Retribution needed, without doubt, to be severe and I accept that execution nowadays isn't as barbaric as it was in the 80's as a rule, but by carrying it out at all I can't see that we solve anything, we merely lower ourselves, knowingly, to a similar level as the perpetrator.

Some will say that had one of my loved ones been a victim of Bundy I would want revenge, I would want to sit and watch him die in terror. Of course one can't really know the answer to that unless, God forbid, one is faced with the situation but I truly believe, that whilst my initial reaction may well be that an eye for an eye would be suitable punishment and that revenge would assist my pain, I don't honestly think, that ultimately I could wish to have someone executed for anything.

Maybe I'm weird, maybe I'm the odd one, certainly I don't think mine is a popular view but I can, hand on heart, say that despite the utter horror of crimes like Bundy's, and there are few worse, I can't find justification in my own heart for execution. I could regale you with many of the horrific images avaliable of Bundy's execution to help make my point but I won't, though believe me if you haven't had the misfortune to see them and I don't recommend that you do, death by electrocution is pretty barbaric in itself. Thankfully we now more often deal out this punishement by lethal injection, which is marginally more 'sanitised', but still we are killing someone and is that not the very crime we are punishing the individual for in the first place?

Google censorship

I could spout on and on about this issue, but I won't. It angers me immensely, I'm disappointed in Google, they aren't the creature I thought them to be but I can maybe also see a little credence in their argument for going this route.

Whatever my vacillation........ I am damn glad I live in the UK and not China!

Blame my dad.....

....he did this to me, he thinks it's funny, he's obsessed with my ears, I can't think why........someone should tell him it's unkind to mock the afflicted!

Was it really only four years.......

....ago today that my life changed so dramatically? It seems like a whole other life now, a whole lifetime away, I can't imagine my life was any other way than it is right now, but it was.

For me the events 25th January 2002 in my little life were very significant, they were good and bad for differing reasons but the decision had to be made and whilst most, had they known, would probably have thought me mad/cruel/stupid/misguided etc. etc. I knew, probably for the first time in my life, that I was making the right decision for me..... and ultimately for the others involved.

I am still sorry for those I hurt, I still wish there had been some other way but sometimes there is no real choice, other than to take the path in life we know we need too, despite the fallout.

Those of you who know me well might know already to what significant event in my life I am referring, those who don't may think my decision bad, wrong, unkind or immoral, some may have been on the receiving end of what I did or been in my position and know how hard it was to bite the bullet and go against everything I had believed previously in my life. For myself I have experienced it from both sides, maybe that made it harder, maybe knowing how I had been hurt years before made it more difficult to do it to someone else but I had, probably for the first time in my life, to do what was right for me, regardless of the consequences and against my usual moral code, for want of a better term.

This day four years ago my life changed in an instant, beyond recognition, and I was as scared as hell, it felt almost like I had jumped off a cliff, I had no real idea what would happen next or when I would hit the ground, but I had to jump, and jump I did.

January 25th 2002 I left my then husband, for a man I had never yet met, who lived 400 miles away.

The fallout was difficult, it was always going to be. I had always tried to live my life the 'right way' until that point. I knew I would cause hurt, I knew many of those who knew me would think I had gone mad or taken leave of my senses, friends I had would turn their backs on me and others would disapprove strongly. Had anyone told me years earlier the course I would choose I would have laughed at them, I didn't 'do' things like that but life changes, we change. Judge me as you will, as hard as it was, I knew, for the first time in my life, what I had to do.

This is getting way beyond a joke!

You guessed it, or maybe you didn't but anyone who is familiar with my carrying's on here will know that things are not always as they should be where my internet connection is concerned, and yes, yet again my broadband connection has 'done the off'!!! Arggghhhh. Give me strength!

So again, it has been phone calls to the incredibly rude and inept Wanadoo overnight and all morning to get precisely nowhere. The first time it took months, the second failure, which was only last November took three weeks of battles and £80 of phone calls to get sorted and this time Lord only knows, it's anyone's guess.

Looks like I'm gonna have to pay for a dreaded dial-up again. Grrrrrrrr.

More later but for now I'm way too miffed to articulate coherently, I have a hospital appointment to attend and I am still waiting for Wanadoo's 'techie' (the term is used extremely loosely here) to call me back....likely another long wait!

FFS!

Bonsai cat!

I may not have caught 'madam', scaling the doors on video yet, that one will require her to be allowed to hone her climbing claws a little sharper again, having made them 'trimmed' temporarily, and for some rapid response on my part, this activity is carried out at hight speed..... but I have managed to catch her doing her level best to destroy my much cared for bonsai!

Apologies for the quality, I don't have a dedicated video camera but you get the gist.........oh, and the 'sound effects' are her little tail causing yet more destruction behind her!

Bonsai cat!
Video sent by gemmak

You may need to click the video title link if the 'play' button fails to do it's job, there seems to be an intermittent problem that either myself or the service provider have yet to iron out!.

The Gods of golf

As has been documented here on previous occasions I am what is commonly termed a 'golf widow', that is to say, come hell of high water PG can be found on a course somewhere most of the time.

He of course would dispute this small point, as men do in these situations, but believe me, he is renowned for his attendance levels and it is in part why he tolerates the negative aspects of his job, because the positive is that his shift pattern allows him to get on a course at least 4 days a week, under normal circumstances.

However, none of this presents a problem, what does present a problem is his 'misfortune' yesterday during one of these chase a ball around a field golfing excursions.

He arrived home looking distinctly dejected. The bats, balls and miscellaneous, multifarious paraphernalia required for this pursuit are not cheap, in fact it puts the cost of this little set up I inhabit in the shade, to the best of my knowledge.

It was thus that he had a hang dog expression when he walked through the door. I assumed that this meant a 'bad round' had been had..... but no, it was worse,(is there anything worse?), in his hand was a nine iron, apparently an indispensable bat......and it was in two pieces, broken in half, midway down the shaft, completely and utterly defunct!

These bats I might add, are not trashy things they are Callaway if you please, I was trying not to giggle shocked, I can tell you.....for even they could not withstand the 'PG effect'.

It would appear that the golfing God's had not been smiling on him yesterday.

I was regaled with the whole sad tale of how he had misjudged a swing somewhat and had, in his swing through (or whatever they call it), belted the living daylights out of a tree trunk! 'Crack'...one nine iron decimated! Gah! The man plays off a decent handicap, what is going on there?

I am assured that this incident was not the result of a sudden moment of anger but hey....if any of you have ever watched a group of guys on a golf course mess it up, you will know only too well that anger is seemingly all part of it, this golf stuff is a very serious business, a less than perfect round dictates the mood of the remainder of any given day!

Please don't ask the cost or the complication of getting a repair, I promise you this is not a straightforward as one might imagine......do I look surprised?

Growing up and playing up

At four months old her advancing age has not calmed Tilly any, precisely the reverse! Now instead of a tiny wee kitten hurtling about the place at break neck speed we have a much larger, though still small cat, bowling into, climbing up and falling off, everything. The damage left in her wake is proportionately greater too!

New additions to her 'feline hobbies' include anything involving water, be that the bathroom hand basin at every attempt to use it, the kitchen sink, with no consideration for it's contents, her water bowl which she upends all over the floor for a game and any running tap....no matter the temperature of the water coming from it.

Water baby


Her nose biting antics at what she dictates is 'getting up time', usually about 5.30 am have increased to include cheek nibbling, she scales the doors like spider man if we don't keep her claws clipped and her short lifetime fascination for computers (like mother like daughter) has cost two sets of speakers in three days and makes it almost impossible for PG to use the laptop for her little head being placed firmly in his line of view!

eBay for cats.


She remains mostly in her natural state of nocturnal-ness, choosing to sleep for most of the day and then springing into action in the late evening just when we humans are considering chilling a little. She is a scream, a constant cause of amusement though I have never encountered a kitten quite so manic and just now and then an 'off' button would be helpful.

PG is convinced that if we search through her little furry coat long enough we will find three sixes 'tattooed' somewhere about her!

Please can I utter profanities?

Today, rather than be in gainful employment as I should be I managed an unscheduled day off, well to me more precise it may well turn into more than the one.

This is not a good situation, don't get me wrong, I am far from adverse to days off as you well know, the 'day job' is not my pastime of choice, quite the reverse but it does pay the bills and it does get me out of my usual 'state of hermit' for a few days a week.

As I said, this was unscheduled, I am off sick but I am not 'sick' in the usual sense of the word, that is to say, I am not suffering one of the many obnoxious bugs that attack us so readily in the winter months, what I am instead is a victim of that law that would seem to chase me through my life here and there......sods law!
For last night, as I prepared for an early night in preparation of my 5 am Saturday start, Tilly and Sod's law joined forces with great aplomb to create an incident of annoying proportions!

As I walked from the kitchen to the living room, hands full of one thing and another, 'madam' appeared from nowhere at high speed and positioned herself squarely under my feet. The ensuing debacle was likely quite comedic for any onlooker but thankfully there was only PG taking front row in the audience as in an instant, in my endeavors not to stand with my full weight in the middle of her little kitten back which was where my foot was headed I instead found myself in mid air crashing to the floor in a most ungainly and painful heap!

This is the point at which sod's law took over and rather than fall on the side of my body that is not currently suffering the aggravations of this Hyper mobility hoo ha, it dictated that it was precisely that side of my body I did land on, hip, ankle, knee,arm, the whole bloody lot and to add insult to injury I hit my head on the way down too!

So, that's me, if I wasn't hurting before I damn well am now, I'm hobbling like an old bint, I still have a headache from the battering my bonce took, I have some particularly attractive bruises brewing and I don't get paid when I'm off work sick.

Oh happy happy days!

Saturday silliness

Coming out to play?
No!
Fat slob!!

Yayyy, I am officially not old!

Yesterday's visit to see a physiotherapist who was to attend to my arthritic bits resulted in two things.

The first was the inevitable pulling, bending and stretching of my legs into inhuman positions, the second was far more acceptable....the opinion of the attending torturer that I don't have arthritis afterall! This has yet to be confirmed of course but it is her opinion that I have something called Hypermobility syndrome. I'm not entirely sure if that's a good or a bad thing but relative to some case histories I have read I seem only have it reasonably mildly, so I am treating it as a good thing and at least one doesn't have to be old to get it!! In fact I have had it all my life apparently but because I was a gymnast and because I did a very physical job for years the muscles surrounding the joints were strong enough to keep them in place.

However, the last few years of sitting like a big pudding infront of this machine have of course resulted in weaker muscles, hence the recent appearance of the symptoms.

The result is much the same, it hurts, I have to undergo a few tests to determine the diagnosis, I have to exercise (sheesh), I have to wear a damn brace on my left wrist (double sheesh, I'm left handed), yes, I have carpal tunnel syndrome too it seems, though how that explains a tingly foot too I don't know..... and I have to remove my rear from it's parked position on this this seat at least once an hour for five minutes!

Hells bells, do the medical profession have any idea just what they are asking there?!! Move from this machine? Me? Heavens above, a complete lifestyle change then!

One less worry?

As someone who rarely has her mobile phone unstuck from her ear, this report is perhaps comforting....though of course there will be another research project published any day now resulting in exactly the opposite findings!

Twas ever thus.......at some point some body of medical researchers will profess that just about everything results in some horrendous ailment....best we just go about our business and take most of it with a large pinch of salt.

I'm off now for some breakfast eggs.....remind me, are they harbourers of salmonella today or was that yesterday?

I can't deny it any longer......

....I am getting old and I am feeling none too chuffed at the realisation!

Old is relative I suppose, in comparison to Tutankhamen let's say, I am but a mere stripling but my wee body is feeling particularly decrepit of late and for me that begins to signify old.

I may still be supple but that is merely down to a natural 'strangeness' in my joints and a childhood and adolescence spent as a gymnast, nothing has yet begun it's gradual 'journey south' but the reason there is only because there is not enough of any part of me to be tempted by gravity and I may still be able to sustain rapid enough leg movement to catch and apprehend a shoplifter occasionally but believe me, today is a very significant day in the 'gemmak is getting old' situation!

And what had cause today to be of heinous significance?.....today, for the first time I have to attend hospital for physiotherapy on what has, courtesy of the very same gymnastic early years, become a knackered left side. Yup, no longer can I ignore it, I am getting old.....the arthritis in my left shoulder, hip, knee and hand (Gah I'm freaking left handed) has become enough of an aggravation to require treatment, this is not good, I am not pleased, I am very dischuffed!

Lord knows what this will involve, doubtless my sore bits will be prodded and poked, I will be pulled into unnatural positions and made to exercise, I don't relish this trip, I suspect that into the bargain I will be chastised for sitting cross legged at this machine for hours on end (well I'm too short for my legs to hit the floor and see the monitor through the correct part of my specs, more proof of old, and cross legged is strangely comfortable anyways) and finally I fear I will be reminded that it is 'my age'.

I am only too well aware that it is my bloody age, that is precisely the problem! Age as a number doesn't concern me, age as a state of bodily bits becoming defunct does! I am told I am relatively young for my hip to be in it's current condition, so much for the childhood of healthy exercise, the constant and extreme pummelling of gymnastics may have been good for the heart and lungs etc. but it sure as hell ain't good for the joints!

Young I may be for this physiological state but it still makes me feel old!

Ah well, best I get used to it.......

fffbbbppppptt!

Four things meme

It's been quite some time since anyone tagged me with a meme.........

We have Shephards Alley to thank for this one. ;o)


Four Things You Love About Spring
1. Azaleas
2. Tilly will be old enough to go outside and run off some energy!
3. Lighter evenings
4. The fact that it's nearly my birthday.

Four Things You Love About Summer
1. The sun! Some hope.
2. Watching things grow on my balcony (no garden).
3. I always get to go to my parents.
4. Big Brother (sorry)

Four Things You Love About Autumn
1. The 'cozy' feeling of darker evenings.
2. TV improved marginally
3. The anticipation that soon there might be snow!
4. Kids go back to school.

Four Things You Love about Winter
1. SNOW!
2. I don't need an excuse to be a hermit.
3. The anticipation of Christmas.
4. Having a bath rather than a shower...don't ask, as winter arrives I just seem to gravitate to the bath.

Four U.S. Cities that YouÂ’d Visit in a Heartbeat
New York, Omaha, Las Vegas, Beverly Hills, I know that's not a city but hey...my geography is poor!

Four Funniest Movies (in no partic. order)
I don't 'do' funny movies.

Four Tear-Jerkers (in no partic. order)
The Color Purple, Ghost....damn I'm stuck...ok, I don't really 'do' movies at all!

Four Most Romantic Songs
1. Wind beneath my wings ~ Bette Midler
2. The way we were ~ Gladys Knight
3. Run ~ Whitney Houston
4. I knew I loved you (before I met you) ~ Savage Garden

Four Songs That Make You Happy
1. Angel ~ Robbie
2. I was only joking ~ Rod Stewart
3. Hotel California ~ Eagles
4. Freebird ~ Lynnard Skynnard (sp?)

Four Favorite Singers/Groups (in no order)
Katie Melua, George Michael (sorry, again), Lighthouse Family, Robbie.

Four All-Time Favorite TV Shows
1.Coronationn Street
2. Poldark
3. Casualty
4. Bad Girls

Four Things You Love About Where You Live
1. The view
2. The wind
3. It's 'cat safe'
4. The people

Four Things You Don't Like About Where You Live
1. Lack of facilities
2. No anonymity
3. Having to have sat TV to receive a signal at all.
4. The 'odd' guy that lives in the flat below us.

Four Favorite Meals
1. Anything with fried rice.
2. Anything I don't have to cook.
3. Seafood Salad
4. Soup & a great Sandwich.

And, this is the fun bit, the people who I will likely fall foul of by tagging are:
Lisa, Fletch ( I bet ya don't do it!), Kitty, Dale and Paddy.

The first day of the week?

Well, that's as clear as mud still.

Thank you all for your comments on the 'Sunday Monday' question, it seems about an equal split in opinion but of course I will deem myself the winner of this little argument!

I consider the first day of the week a Sunday, calendars and diaries begin on a Sunday, my salary is calculated Sunday to Saturday and well, it just is that Sunday is the first day!

PG of course would give you an alternative set of reasons for it being a Monday but hey, this is my blog! heh.


*EDIT:
What I am considering the definative arguement to support my theory has kindly been dropped here in my comments, courtesy of Pusher Robot. I may not understand every last word of it but it sounds damn convincing. ;o)

Breakfast time!

As is evident Tilly has not yet honed her table manners and has no consideration whatsoever for the waste her 'breakfasting' creates!

Hmmm....is porridge good for cats too?

Anyone for coffee?

There must be an easier way!

Settle an argument?

PG and I have been having a small 'discussion' as to which day is considered to be officially the first day of each week, Sunday or Monday.

I won't tell you at this stage which one of us thinks what!

Opinions please. :o)

Fight or flight........

......or behave like a damn fool?!

The 'flight or fight' response in humans, animals, birds, in fact almost all living creatures, is not a new phenomenon. Since time in memorial, when faced with danger we have had this in-built response to threatening situations, our mind recognises a danger and immediately floods our body with the various chemicals, adrenaline being the obvious one, necessary to give us the speed, strength and presence of mind to 'fight or flight', i.e. fight the danger or escape from it.

Not so it seems in some! Sure, there are those who have trained their minds and bodies to overcome the response, the feeling of panic and of having to 'get the hell out'. Emergency services personnel who's remit requires them to walk toward what the rest of us run from, armed forces personnel etc. etc. they have all had to learn to overcome and control their bodies natural response to threat, and with good reason......but then there are those, that sometimes I am sure, are just devoid of enough common sense to recognise a danger and consequently behave like complete fools!

I have been witness to this once before and again in a smaller way yesterday and it confounds me. Many years ago, in the late 70's, I was working in a West End department store that the IRA saw fit to bomb. Luckily on this occasion it was only a small incendiary device in a window space, but we didn't know that when the call
came through and it none the less resulted in serious injury for those in close proximity. Two aspects of the incident remain strong in my mind, the first was the almost overwhelming feeling of my body telling me to escape, to run, to do anything but remain where I was and the second was my incredulity at the stupidity of some others.

Whilst my job required that I remain in the building to evacuate customers and to help look for the device (yup, all sixteen years of me) there were those, that despite the threat, were so intent on making or completing their purchase that we had to argue with them to get them to leave the building!!

Yesterday I was reminded of this stupidity.

Mid morning at work the fire alarms sounded. I was on a break with a colleague, for a moment we considered if this was merely a drill but instantly recognised that
there are never drills in opening hours, the company is way too concerned about losing an hours trade to do that, and so we set about our evacuation procedure and left the building. Our location in the store meant that by virtue of the 'leave by the nearest exit' rule we were not involved in having to secure the building or evacuate customers and there was no apparently immediate threat to our safety but I was still aware of my flight or fight response beginning to kick in.

Conversely, as we stood, shivering in the cold wind watching the evacuation it was patently obvious that some seemed not too perceive any threat whatsoever.
Never mind the usual fear of panic in a situation presenting danger, no, some of our customers were sauntering about and almost requiring a cattle prod to persuade them to leave with any degree of urgency! Whilst in that part of the building there was no immediate evidence of fire and so panic was not going to be the order of the day, did they have some inside information that there was no fire in a roof or wall space, that in a store full of flammable materials there would be no explosion? Has shopping become of such importance in some people's lives that they will risk their lives for a purchase, have they become so desensitized by today's graphic media images that their normal responses have declined or do some people merely have the I.Q. of a peanut rendering them completely stupid???

Furthermore, as the situation unfolded and the building was resplendent with screaming alarm system and fire tenders sporting blues and two's, it's staff all stood in the car park and obvious activity by the fire brigade.......potential customers were arriving, meandering up to the doorway, apparently oblivious and asking if they could be let in.....and then showing displeasure when told no!

As it was, the alarm had been triggered by a fault but one wonders, had there been 100 foot flames leaping from the roof whether some of these idiots would have noticed anything unusual at all?!

I accept that having been married to a fireman for years I am maybe more aware of the possibilities but hell, it's not rocket science is it.........

The feel good factor

Rather than blatantly thieve the post, may I direct all you good people HERE for a small dose of the feel good factor and a Sunday evening smile.

Well worth the click I promise.

Once in a lifetime?

My knowledge of astronomy is somewhere between 'very little' and 'absolutely nothing' and as a consequence I can't account for the reason I was treated to an amazing display on my home from work this evening.

I left work at about four fifteen and as I walked out of the building I smiled a little to myself that it was the first time for months that daylight was still in evidence, spring is next on the agenda and whilst I love winter, I like the changes too.

I turned my engine on and set off on my journey home. As I hit the A1, at this point a long, straight, uphill drag with the sea just below the horizon, I was struck by a strange light, it was barely dusk but the light was odd, almost a creamy yellow. Something caught my eye on the horizon, I looked straight ahead of me and there, seemingly sat on the roadway and filling the horizon, was the biggest, roundest moon I have ever seen. Absolutely untainted by cloud, haze or darkness, just a massive creamy yellow, perfectly glowing ball.

It's impossible for me to do it justice , it was as low as I have ever seen the moon and so clear it's darker shadows were starkly visible. It appeared enormous, it really, truly seemed to fill most of the horizon and perch just on the tarmac, it was hard to believe that one wouldn't just drive straight into it....and still it was almost daylight.

Of course, as ever on these rare occasions, the only camera I had with me was my phone. I stopped as soon as I was able and took one or two pictures but needless to say they were dire!

For the remainder of my journey this beautiful moon, the like of which I have never before seen was 'following' me in my rear view mirror, apparently suspended, in all it's glory just above the ground, filling my rear view.

By the time I got home it was lost, nightfall had proceeded and my beautiful moon was higher in the sky, still perfect, still clear but not the amazing sight it had been just half an hour earlier.

Not to be defeated I rushed in and grabbed my camera but as is apparent from this image, whilst still it was a nice moon, I missed capturing what was probably a once in a lifetime vision.


Truly, I just can't describe the sight adequately, of the moon so yellow, so big and so low, just 'sitting' happily and brightly on the tarmac filling all of the view!

Saturday silliness

Blogs, splogs and vlogs

Thanks to BFJ for this link which explains way better than I could, how the bastards are out to get us one way or another.

What is the matter with some people? Those who commit these offences (are they even offences in a legal sense?) to extort money or information I suppose are no better or worse than any other perpetrator of a crime but the real clever guys, the seriously geeky kids that do this just because it is 'there to be done' need to find a better outlet for their apparently very selective, intellectual abilities!

Gah!.

Precarious positioning

Why just sit comfortably on a chair when as an alternative one can perch precariously atop the narrow back....... for hours on end?!

Love it or hate it.....

......the argy bargy is over, the pink has gone, hurrah I hear some of you scream, no promises though that it won't return in another guise. I like pink....though I will admit it was very pink!

But...er.....the image was of questionable 'heritage', I remembered finally from where I got it and despite much tampering, the copyright is the under the ownership of someone other than moi! Oopsss.

This being friday the 13th and given my recent history on this unfortunate date, I thought it best not to push my luck! ;o)

He came...he came!

I take it all back, well ok, not all of it because despite my landlords late arrival the job is still not done in it's entirety!

Why am I not surprised.

The leak is from the neck of the monobloc, I could have told him that, it is in need of a new 'o' ring, but did he bring one? Did he hell. Once the water has escaped the neck of the tap it is tracking down to the (perished)gasket and leaking in under the sink via that little convoluted route.

Did he have a spare gasket? Nope. Did he even have a bloody basin wrench? Nope. Seems a pretty basic requirement when one is called out to fix a leaky tap but none the less, who am I to assume! So what did he do? He lifted the tap a little and squirted some silicone sealant under the offending gasket! Arghhhhhh.

So in exasperation I have done him a deal, I will buy a gasket and 'o' ring and I will fit them........on the strict understanding that if it all falls apart he will stand the cost of further repair.

Hells bells and little fishes, is nothing simple?

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


........and for those of you questioning my current choice of colour, I'm not sure I can stand it either!

So here I am......

....waiting yet again for my landlord to turn up, as promised on each occasion I might add, to make some repairs. This is the sixth day of waiting and thus far he is very conspicuous by his absence!

He used to be good, I phone if I had a problem I couldn't resolve myself and he would be here, in a flash, but no longer. Nowadays it's akin to extracting blood from a stone trying to get him here.

Most jobs I or PG do ourselves, we never charge him for parts, as we could, but this time the problem is plumbing, or more specifically the fact that I collect about two litres of water from a pipe under the kitchen sink each day, my understanding is that the water should be exiting the system via the tap, not a joint! I don't like plumbing, or rather I don't like messing it up, particularly as we live on the first floor with some other poor unsuspecting soul below us should I cause a flood.

And so, many calls later and on the sixth promise of a visit, here I am waiting again. Forgive my cynicism but I'm not giving good odds.

Why oh why can people not just call and say if they can't make it, it's not rocket science.....even I could show the guy the intricacies of a telephone!

Challenge accepted

I'll probably live to regret this but when I posted a few days back that I had managed to meet the challenge issued to me to post here every day for a year two people, Melissa and Shephard, challenged me to make it two years!

So, for good or evil I accept the challenge to get a post here everyday heaven help me again until 31st December 2006. Same rules as before, the 'how's why's and wherefore's' don't matter, I just have to get the post up somehow each day.

....and you thought you had escaped so much drivel! You thought wrong.

Oh and Melissa, Shephard, backatcha guys, I am offering up the same challenge to you. Any takers? ;o)

Really, honestly, I promise......

....that if I owe you an email I will get to it. Life has seemd more hectic than hectic this last week but at last I have three days off the day job and some catching up is well overdue. Honest guv. I promise I will get to it all.......

Wonderfully winter

Now this is revenge!

In the news today, as story of a mouse and a house. I shouldn't cheer or laugh but I did, I can't help but feel little or no sympathy for the owner of the house and cheer loudly for the mouse, who unwittingly caused the ultimate revenge to rain down upon the perpetrator of such unkindness!

Mountaineering!

I can do this....


Made it!



Damn......down ain't so easy!

STOP! ....I wanna get off.

That is today I am talking of, today I would like to stop and get off.

If I were asked to compile a list of the top twenty crap days in my life, today would surely be in there somewhere.

It began yesterday afternoon in fact and just carried on into today, progressing steadily downhill. Yesterday I managed, despite getting toward two years in the blogosphere thus far 'incident free' to have two fellow bloggers call me a 'moron'. Both in comments, both completely unconnected. The first because I made a mistake with something and despite my attempting to rectify that mistake and apologise, and the second, purely because the individual concerned didn't like my only mildly expressed opinion. It begs the question quite how insulting he/she might have been had I said it how I really saw it!

So I was somewhat narked, the first incident quite upset me but I let off steam to a friend and that was that.

This morning I woke having only had three hours sleep. I never sleep well on a Friday night, it's the knowing I have to be up at 5am that does it.....or rather the fear that I won't be to be more specific. It was one of those mornings where the well oiled routine somehow didn't work quite as it should. The milk in my coffee was sour, the cats got under my feet and my car breaks seized again, though this is only the first time this winter, so perhaps I should count myself lucky in comparison to last year.

And so I stumbled into work at the very last moment (I hate doing that), hot and bothered and tired....to be met with some sad news about someone whom I care, and which others of our number seem to consider only good fodder for malicious gossip. What is it about other people's misfortune and sadness that some find so amusing? My hackles rose still further.

The day continued, it was a maniacally busy one, my hip was giving me serious gip (yes, I am old enough to have an arthritic hip thankyouverymuch) my head hurt and all I wanted to do was slope off into a corner somewhere..... but no chance. It took four, not the usual two of us, to fend off the customers on our little customer service 'box'....four people barely fit, we were tripping over each other, we were each trying to deal with a multitude of problems at any one time, there were queues of moaning, irritated people constantly, the EPOS software played up, the whole computer system attempted to crash completely, threatening to disable everything in in it's wake if it succeeded and gradually I had that horrible, sinking feeling that what usually runs like clockwork, well mostly at least, was spiraling rapidly out of control before my very eyes.

On and on it went, no let up. What it was specifically about today that made it fall so badly apart I don't know, a mad day at work is usually more entertaining than the slow ones but today I just lost the plot somewhere amid the madness, today I just wanted to slope off and snivel for a while, but of course I didn't......well, it just wouldn't be seemly would it!


Much chocolate is now in order I think.......

Saturday silliness

I hang my head in shame

I have a confession to offer up this morning, my head is hung in abject shame, I should perhaps be manacled in stocks and pelted with rotten tomatoes, ridiculed by all!

What is my sin, this despicable, heinous crime of mine? I sat and watched, purposely I might add, this was no accident, the first episode of Celebrity Big Brother , the whole issue, one and a half hours, I can't even prove repentance by having switched off within the first half hour....

I watched it all, start to finish, every last moment, I have no excuses!

What makes it worse is that it was appalling, the word 'celebrity' where applied to this particular bunch of contestants is somewhat inappropriate, they are a bunch of 'has beens' and Z listers. Save for perhaps what might be considered by some the voyeuristic ratings pull of persuading Michael Barrymore to take part, the others are not anything remotely approaching names of high celebrity calibre, very much the reverse......Rula Lenska, Pete Burns, Traci Bingham and Jodie Marsh to name but a few.

But there was worse to come, the final death knell sounded loud and clear for me with the entry of the final 'celebrity', George Galloway. Need I say more, my punishment was complete, to give that man any kind of access to air time or exposure is bordering on the obscene!

Bloggers are nice!

Yes, I'm going to blow our own trumpet.

We bloggers, I consider, can be a nice bunch, we may be a little odd, a little obsessive from time to time but nice seems to also be a trait of many in the blogosphere. Not for the first time, someone out of the blue and who I don't know very well, thought of me, or more specifically Tilly yesterday and made the effort to brighten our day. It was a small thing but it's the little surprises that count.

Janine of Reflective Musings was out and about in her native Saskatoon, Canada when she noticed a road sign, took the time to take a photograph and mailed it to me. Thanks Janine, I'm still amazed when people so far away take the trouble to do little things like this.

Yes, we bloggers are a nice bunch. :o)


Tilly thinks we should move!

A small trail of destruction

She may look all innocence and peace but believe you me Tilly has far from grown out of her predilection for living life like a manic bag of frogs!


In just the week since we returned from our Christmas trip away her catalogue of destruction has increased dramatically to include yet more casualties. There are more curtains with 'track marks' and pulls, a torn bed sheet, the result of trying to apply her brakes way too fast, a broken vase, a bonsai tree looking somewhat 'ragged' through her constant passion for it as a dietary supplement, more scratches on my now almost beyond redemption leather computer chair, a storage basket minus a handle, apparently seagrass is a tasty tidbit for teething kittens, a constantly soaked corner of the kitchen carpet from her incessant attempts at high diving off the counter tops into her water bowl and a very old and precious teddy bear with more tufts of fur removed than over forty years of ownership had managed!

Her claw ends have been clipped, much to her annoyance, she currently 'enjoys' quite regular spells of 'time out' in the hallway and she has been subjected to the odd stern talking too here and there.....but does she care?....does she hell, she puts her head on one side, looks the disciplinarian hard in the eye and begins to purr at a decibel level of a large tractor!

Oh, and I still get woken at an unearthly hour each day having my chin or hair chewed! God love her!

Dear customer......

......I feel it only right and proper that with the increasing evidence that despite showing no physical signs of having suffered a heinous blow to the head or other physical injury you are presenting with an apparently retail specific form of amnesia I remind you kindly of a few points.

Christmas: Christmas is a time of good will to all men, I believe that this term is a generic one and was intended to refer to all of mankind, the consequence of this is that it includes womankind. Because I am smaller and less of a physical threat to you it does not automatically invite you to choose me to take your life's frustrations out on. I assure you, it is not my fault your offspring stayed out too late last night against your wishes and inhibiting your sleep and then came home drunk at age fifteen, that your dog was sick on your newly laid carpet or that your wife suddenly suffered a 'headache' when you least wished her too. It does not mean you may use me as a verbal punch bag, poke me, prod me, throw things at me or spit in my face in your anger that your chosen item for purchase it out of stock or has in some other way displeased you!

Opening times: Please note, our changes to opening times are clearly displayed on the doors and counters over the festive period. We are not feeling blessed at working throughout this time so please don't moan so incessently that our hours are shorter than the norm and I might at this point make a polite request that you cease to call us before we have opened, or after we have closed, only to be told such and persist in expecting us to carry on serving you regardless. We too have homes to go to.

N.B. Please resist the temptation to use the general enquiry line as your own personal shopper, how about considering the possibility that if you got off your fat rump and came to select your own goods it may help in the post Christmas pud excess weight issue!

Refunds: Yes, our refund policy is clearly stated in bright colurs on the reverse of your receipt...which incidentally we did give you, you subsequently lost it, that is not our responsibility. It states that you may have a no quibble refund or exchange (your choice) within 28 days of purchase, if the goods are returned to us in resaleable condition and with your receipt....that applies to you too. There is not a special dispensation clause for you because the dog ate it, it's 'somehwere' but you can't find it, your husband/mother/auntie/son has it, you have been away on darkest Africa for six months or you 'forgot' to return the item for two years. No we can't re-sell it in that annhilated condition and no the next customer doesn't want it second hand!
Don't give me the old hogwash about 'I must refund you because it is an own brand product therefore you must have purchased it with us'....live in the real world please, do you have any idea how many people pick something off the shelf and then walk directly to customer sevices for a refund? It's the oldest form of retail theft in the book and whilst I am sure you would never do that sir and I would never suggest such a thing, thives don't these days wear a stripey jumper and carry a bag on their shoulder marked 'swag'.

N.B. The law does not entitle you to a refund in any other instance than that of faulty goods or those not fit for the purpose. We will however offer you a no questions, full refund if you adhere to the above conditions, this is however a goodwill gesture, not a legal obligation.... don't try to fight me on this one, I know the law on the subject I promise you. Threats carry no weight, trading standards don't scare me and I will happily get the manager to speak to you sir/madam, he is more than welcome to deal with your nastiness and he knows retail law just as I do.....oh and he's bigger than me so your intimidation tactics won't wash there either.

Abuse: Abuse in any form won't win you your battle, I have learnt over many years to tolerate being shouted at, insulted, threatened and physically man handled, I will not shout back, I will not insult you back, I will still smile at you..... I have had the psychology lessons. I can make you feel much smaller than even me and remain the epitome of manners. If you are polite to me I will help all I can, if you are rude I have already closed my mind to you and you can go to hell, no deal. My job description requires that I tolerate your ill mannered behaviour but at the point you resort to oscene language or physically threaten or touch me I can ask you to leave, if you don't I can have you removed forcibly.

Tills: If you find yourself in a queue I will do all that I can to alleviate the problem quickly but I only have nine till lanes...... once they are all mannned I cannot invent more, much as I may like to.

EPOS: EPOS system breakdowns are not my fault, I don't rig my tills in the morning to break down purely to annoy you and if your bank declines your card payment I cannot access your bank account and fix it for you. You might like to consider that you are over your overdraft limit rather than blame me.

Closing time: When I make an announcement over the tannoy that we are closed it means just that....we are closed! I have already given you warning of this for the last half an hour at five minute increments and at high volume, don't tell me you didn't hear it, I am infamous for my loud voice even without the electronic enhancement. Closing time is not the moment at which to choose to place a complicated order and on a Sunday it is a legal requirement that we close on time, we are not trying our best to ruin your day intentionally.

And finally a question that has long confounded all of us in retail: What in God's name posesses or motivates you to be queuing at the door at 8am in the snow on a bank holiday? Do you really have nothing better to do?


*This post is also reproduced here.

Back to normality.....

....whatever that is!

As a child I adored Christmas and new year, though quite why New Year was of any interest to me I don't really recall but as the years fly by I find myself somewhat less enamored of the whole performance.

That said I enjoyed Christmas immensely this year, three whole days with my family and to share a Christmas with my nieces was a treat indeed but as for new year, that always just strikes me as a 'non event', nothing really happens and mostly we all have the usual up's and down's in any given year, nothing great to celebrate and hopefully nothing too dreadful to mourn.

As a rule I show willing and at least stay up to see the new year in but this year, a few heavy days at work and PG working all evening meant I stumbled into bed before the allotted hour. PG arrived home some tiny time before Big Ben did his thing (is Big Ben a him I wonder?) and woke me up to say 'Happy New Year'..... and that was it. Some party animal me eh?

Can we all get back to some semblance of normality now please?

Happy New Year!