Crowned!

Jeez....for someone who is truly terrified of anything remotely associated with dentists and dentistry I seem to be spending an inordinate amount of time glued upside down in one of their confounded chairs of late!

Today again it was my nightmare privilege to be subjected to more toothy torture. Lately I have been diagnosed as having a specific problem, the result of which is that I will likely loose most of my teeth sooner than I would like, this in turn causes other 'delightful' problems to present themselves...one of which is a tooth needing crowning that may or may not last more than a few weeks/months!

Oh joy, so I have two choices, have it removed (fat chance!) or have the crown fitted at a cost of £300 and hope that the underlying problem doesn't mean that it will only last a few weeks a few weeks!....I opted for the latter having been told that having a crown is 'childs play', ok, so the actual phrase used might have been slightly less polite but you get my drift!

So off I went to the dentist, this on it's own is no mean feat, it takes a week of no sleep, a degree of badgering by those nearest and dearest to me and for my father to accompany me (yes I know I'm 40 something) to get me there at all. But get there I did and surprisingly in somewhat less of a 'tizzy' than is the usually the case....and into the chair I went.

And it is at this point I would like to take issue with those who mentioned the phrase 'childs play'. Ok, so dentistry isn't my forte, accepted, but I fail to see who on earth would find this experience even remotely easy.

For forty minutes I endured continuous drilling, lumps of choking plasticine stuff jammed in my mouth and six (at the last count) injections, at least two of which were the the particularly painful 'twenty second (seems like an hour) roof of the mouth jobs' during which you can't help but scream murmur an indication of pain!

I think as I re-emerged into the waiting room looking for all the world like a stroke victim and as white as a sheet I probably didn't do much for the confidence of those waiting still to be seen by the torturer....but hey, I have a temporary crown in place now and they promise me the next part isn't anything like as unpleasant.

Yeah right, didn't they tell me that about this visit?!!

.....and 7 hours later the large amounts of anaesthetic it seemed to take to deaden half (literally) of my head is only just wearing off....no dribbling jokes please!

Catwalk!

Eekkk! I can hardly bear to watch this....

Ride your world ~ part 2

For me the weekend was invaluable, not only was it fun to be back under canvas (or in this case rip-stop),amazingly well catered, sometimes in torrential rain, courtesy of the 'Fletch school of haute camping cuisine'


and the evenings highly amusing (I'm even learning the alcohol thing after 20 or so years tee total) but to meet and mix with so many like minded individuals touched some kind of chord in me. People who in the first instance don't assume you must be a hells angel or a thug if you are dressed in leather and sporting a very fetching 'helmet hair-do' and who secondly don't assume you must have completely lost every vestige of sanity to even consider ditching your life (what life? I hear you say in my case) and leg it to some distant parts on two wheels for a time. Like minded individuals who maybe just want to perhaps experience another kind of life and who in many cases have done it.

I suppose up until now, despite having some loose plans to travel, the whole issue seemed in some ways rather freakin' scary big and unwieldy, maybe too awe inspiring to really believe it might happen or that I would be able to cope with all it's demands but one session in particular dispelled all of that for me. I attended a 'women only' presentation which whilst it spent a degree of time on information regarding 'womens things' in in the back of beyond, also provided information on woman specific safety and the various traditions that one needs to respect in different parts of the world, Muslim countries in particular.

But most of all it was an opportunity to talk to women who have acually done it, not only with a companion or in groups but entirely alone and to hear their stories and experiences and to realise that they are just flesh and blood like me, not superwoman, was a real eye-opener. One in particular was an amazing inspiration, Lois Pryce. Lois rode over 20000 miles across the Americas completely alone!. She has a great deal of grit, courage and tenacity, way more than I could ever muster but the fact that she was so approachable and 'normal' gave me some confidence that it really is possible.

But hey...let's not get carried away here, first stop Europe in August, as many countries as we can hit in 16 days....it's a start! :o)

(Can I go now please?....I can't wait!)

*For Fletch's take on it all go HERE.

Ride your world ~ part 1

I'm back at last and so I had better enlighten you as to what all the bru-ha-ha and need for time off work was about....and it definitely wasn't Glastonbury, oh no, this was a far more (um) select bunch of muddy and wet souls that I spent the weekend with.....to be more specific something in the region of 500 hard core bikers who's dream is to travel the world (or at least large parts of it) on a motorbike.

The venue, a field/pub in Ripley, Derbyshire, the occasion, the Horizons Unlimited 2007 rally. Horizons Unlimited is an organisation set up by a Canadian couple, Grant and Sue Johnson, to share information on their round the world travels and has grown into the most respected source for all things related to long distance motorcycle journeys.

So we, that's myself, Fletch and Eloise (get your mind out of the gutter guys, this was not a menage a trois, Eloise is the bike) remarkably, given the prevailing weather forecast for the weekend, managed to arrive in the dry and even got to pitch our tent before the heavens opened....and they did!


We spent better part of the next 48 hours assailed by torrential rain.....and it was wonderful, what's more it was a good initiation and test for the new tent, if this thing is ever going to see us any distance it's going to need to withstand some pretty testing conditions and it passed with flying colours. It should do, it's a damn good Hilleberg 'residence'but all the same it was good to have evidence that it was up to the job.

We had looked forward to this event for months but I have to say hadn't anticipated such a well organised, informative or enjoyable time, we had a blast. The information available was amazing, there were three conference rooms running lectures, shows, forums etc. etc. etc. almost back to back for the whole three days covering every aspect of 'large scale' traveling by bike, from safety and security to obtaining a carnet or changing a tyre on the side of a dirt track, hey, I even attended and hours 'yoga for bikers' session, normal yoga but concentrating on the parts that hurt most after hours in the saddle.....all the people involved were amazing, dedicated, knowledgeable and inspiring and the yoga was so relaxing I could happily have fallen fast asleep in the middle of the floor!


None of this was obligatory, we chose what we wanted to attend, including photography (Grant Johnson was previously a professional photographer), a talk by Austin Vince, he of 'Mondo Enduro' fame, the 'how to change a tyre in five minutes malarky', hell he made it seem so simple!,.......


......and of course the only obligatory event, the evenings hours spent in the bar!

*Part 2 to follow

I'm a bad person

Well the deed is done, I am not at work and I should be!

I wont regale you with the details of how I escaped, I am not particularly proud of my apparent new found ability to behave dishonestly, despite the mitigating circumstances.

It was necessary and I did it but my feelings are very mixed. On the one hand I feel as guilty as hell and that I have in some way let myself down, on the other hand a part of me feels a little pleased with myself that just for once I did what I needed too as opposed to 'towing the line'.

Whatever, it is done now and there was absolutely no point at all if all I do is feel guilty and beat myself up over it. I did what I could along the way to allevite some of the impact for my employer, and let's face it, it's cost me better part of a weeks pay into the bargain.

So here goes, good or bad, right or wrong, excusable or otherwise, I'm determined to make the most of every minute of my time off and enjoy it, even if I do end up covered in mud......

and no, I'm not off to Glasto!

Yes, honestly!

Sometimes I so annoy myself! We are none of us perfect and I probably less so than many but there are times when my reactions and responses to a situation seem ridiculous and I wish I could modify them more successfully.

I am currently on the horns of a dilemma, it's really only a small issue but it's causing me untold internal argument.

This coming weekend there is an event I am desperate to attend, it is important to me on a personal level for a number of reasons that I make it. Hmmmm I hear you say, so what's the big deal? Well the big deal for me is that to attend this function requires me to tell a big fat porky pie. To be more specific the event is over four days, attending part of it would be pretty useless and so I have to 'throw a sickie' to facilitate my escape from work.

To date I have never taken a sickie in my life. Yes I have had one or two days off ill when perhaps with a little more effort I could have got myself into work but I have never taken a straight out sickie! Ok...call me sad.

I can rationalise and justify this one time bad behaviour in that I have tried to take unpaid leave but my request was denied out of hand, I have no annual leave left after my summer holiday is taken (we only get 10 days a year!), my employer is crap, pays only legal minimum wage, contravenes almost every bit of employment legislation one way or another and shows no loyalty to staff but expects it in return in bucket loads....but none of this stops me feeling as guilty as hell for letting them down. I know they have no-one to cover my absence and that they will lose money, yada, yada, yada.

Oh, and add to that I am probably the worlds most abysmal and unaccomplished fibber to boot. I have concocted all manner of plausible reasons and illnesses in my head and run through and through actually telling the fib but to no avail, I still feel guilty and I just know I am gonna sound completely unconvincing!

Ok......now is your cue to tell me that I won't go straight to hell for this one time misdemeanour and that just occasionally one can be too honest for one's own good! ;o)

Ugh.

Achieving the impossible!

This might might mean absolutely nothing to those of you unfamiliar with the Honda Goldwing but to anyone who is aware of just what a big and unwieldy lump it is the following clip proves that it is possible to achieve the impossible!

Amazing....whoever is riding this deserves a medal and a great deal of respect....or sectioning immediately! ;o)

Tilly-less

My parents are away on holiday right now for a few weeks and it has been quite a rude awakening for me in one respect. I had over the last three months or so got a little more used to being without Tilly, I missed her daily but I was getting resigned to the situation maybe...that however was before I found myself entirely 'home alone'.

When my parents are away I kinda have a whole new set of routines to those I usually follow when they are here and I hadn't realised just how much of those routines included Tilly, nor how much I relied on her for company.

I don't ever particularly relish rattling around in this house on my own but as a rule, after a day or two I get used to it, this time I am really not enjoying it, it's lonely. From when I leave work until when I return again the following morning I see no-one and speak to no-one, save for a phone call or two and call me mad or demented but looking back, I used to talk to Tilly constantly. We had our little routines, she was company, another living being to keep me company, a distraction and a friend.

This is the first time in my life I have been completely on my own that I can recall, any time previously I have had one or other of my cats and here I had Tilly. I hadn't expected to miss her again so much and I can't say I am enjoying what others might call 'peace and quiet'.

It's been a long week.....maybe next week I will begin to get accustomed to it.

Killer tortoise!

I can't decide if this tortoise is brave or utterly stupid but either way it appears to have the upper hand! Heh.

Sunset in suburbia

(Clickable)

The week upside down

If only we could live each week upside down...that is to say that we worked only the weekends and had the week off to do as we please..... This I doubt somehow is a new philosophy though!

This last weekend I had the best time, an amazing, fabulous, relaxed, fun weekend, full of good food, alcohol (ok, not so much of that in my case, I'm a serious lightweight), lots of sleep, lots of laughter and most of all excellent company. You know the kind of weekend I mean, the ones where the rest of the crap that is life seems a million miles away and just for too short a time you actually begin to believe life is good again, that there might just be a light at the end of the seemingly unending tunnel.

It's been quite some time since I felt so happy, since somehow I managed to eradicate all the worry that usually fills my mind and feel for a time that I am floating on air as opposed to dragging my feet through mud.

But as ever we are never satisfied are we, the all too brief reminder of how good things can feel throws real life back into a stark relief on a Monday morning and whilst somehow one would wish for the 'feel good factor' to improve an early morning outlook in a contrary way it makes it all the harder!

Yeah I know, someone is gonna tell me that if that were the case, if happy were the norm then I would no longer truly appreciate it...but hey, I'd take my chances! ;o)

An empty nest

Finally it seems that my egg-less nesting swan has, after over two months of patiently waiting on her nest, realised that there are no eggs and has left.

I'll miss seeing her everyday now, I had got used to checking on her daily but it was sad to see her perched there week in week out to no avail so the fact that she has at last realised and has gone back to the water and her usual life is a happier situation.

Hold my hand!

As I have been accused of concentrating way too much on the peacocks of late and as my recent cat 'situation' has changed I thought I had better go for something else.

Ok....so it's still mammalian but hey......you know me, cats may be my passion but anything with fur or feathers (and less than eight legs) comes a close second!

Enjoy. :o) (Watch to the end)

Still on the subject of peacocks.....

....I am horrified to read THIS story in the press today! :o(

Seven healthy peacocks that has been resident at Paignton Zoo were culled yesterday on the basis of just one complaint.

The birds in question had escaped the immediate confines of the zoo some time ago and taken up residency in a nearby street where they had taken a liking to a particular tree for roosting purposes. It seems that whilst most residents were only too happy with their new neighbours, one (yes, just one) was unhappy, To be fair, for a few weeks in the spring during the mating season Peacocks make an almighty calling noise which is not particularly conducive to a sleeping 'late on a Sunday morning' but to cull the birds for this reason alone seems appalling to me.

The zoo and the local authority had tried all manner of solutions over time to placate the complainant but ultimately when they were threatened with litigation, as a charitable organisation, they were forced into this sad course of action.

I would so like to know the identity of the complainant in question and have a 'word' in their ear..... this story has particularly angered me but unsurprisingly, not only does this individual present a selfish and uncaring attitude but he or she is also a coward, requesting that their name not be released to the press!

Incidentally, these birds have been at the zoo for over 80 years and were there long before any of the houses affected were.

Hitching a ride!

Remember the peacock I came across on my daily manderings a week or two back?


......well today he was in evidence again, only this time hitching a ride on the back of a forklift truck!



Somehow it doesn't seem an appropriately elegant mode of transport for something so beautiful!

*Phone cam again...ugh apologies!

Shift happens!

Well I was gonna post this but 'someone' beat me to it so I'll just take the lazy option and direct you HERE instead! :o)

A special thank you....

.....to those of you who left such kind comments and sent emails on my post 'One year on'. It has been a tough year, a damn tough year and at a time when my self esteem and general state of 'whoopeee-ness' have suffered somewhat, your positive input and support makes a very big difference.

Thank you :o)