.....no more worries for a week or two... tra la la la tra la la tra la.
Come on, sing along! Ok, ok, no singing.
Well that's it...everything's finally packed, Fletch is home (flight delayed as ever) Hammy is relocated for the duration and the crossing is booked from Dover for 12.30 hrs today. First night in Strasbourg, second in Milan, third hopefully the destination, Positano, and then Europe is our oyster.
I'll try to post here and there along the way, though I've been banned from taking a lappy so it's down to internet cafes or my phone and consequently likely to be intermittent.
Now for a few hours sleep and then I'm gone, back in approx. two weeks. Yayyyyyy :o)
Saturday, 30 August 2008
Friday, 29 August 2008
Just another day in gemmak's-ville
So, I woke to no water supply at 6am, that, it transpires, was the easy part of the day!
Midday the water was restored and we discover quite rapidly that some dipstick has left water running somewhere in his flat. He is of course not in residence. The building houses a fair number of 'elderly and infirm', there is much panic among said elderly and infirm as the water begins to flood the four floors below.
The floor immediately below houses a man who is almost 90 years of age and blind. His property is quickly 2 inches deep in water, he won't let anyone in to turn off his electrical supply and no-one can gain access to the flat above creating the problem.
I can't silence the fire alarm which is shrieking, I can't persuade the blind man to let me in but he tells me he is trying to locate his power to turn it off!!!! Whaattt??? Stood in water, blind and infirm???!!! Noooooo!!
I am now joined by various elderly souls issuing me with information that the flood is making it's way rapidly down the other four floors....and flapping.
Why has all this suddenly become my responsibility?
Ok....'firm words' issued to blind man about getting the hell out of his flat please and now, 999 call made, this may not be an emergency of enormous proportions but I don't have the local station number and I do have an old man trying his best to fry himself. E.S. operator wants to know everything but what colour my underwear is, strangely I don't have to hand contact numbers for a complete stranger in a building of 40 flats! Stopcock located but of course its too tight for me to shift, flats lower down checked for anyone else in distress and finally old man appears, wet and somewhat confused.
Boys in red appliance show up (sorry, the usual girly 'firemen' aspect is lost on me....I was married to one), narrowly beating the shame-faced owner of the offending flood, access is gained (damn, he deserved to have the fire brigade break down his door) and we discover he has left his power shower turned on and laying on the floor! WTF??
Daughter in law arrives shouting the odds, (hello?...how is this my fault exactly?) and takes charge of blind man, fire brigade 'make safe', owner paddles back into his flat to find insurance papers and finally I can go get a cup of coffee.....all this and did I forget to mention that I had Hammy in my handbag the whole time!!
Well, I didn't know it wasn't actually a fire when the alarm sounded did I??....and I sure as hell didn't get a chance to just 'pop' her back home for a while.
She is one very miffed hamster right now.
Really, I will get packed for this holiday!
Midday the water was restored and we discover quite rapidly that some dipstick has left water running somewhere in his flat. He is of course not in residence. The building houses a fair number of 'elderly and infirm', there is much panic among said elderly and infirm as the water begins to flood the four floors below.
The floor immediately below houses a man who is almost 90 years of age and blind. His property is quickly 2 inches deep in water, he won't let anyone in to turn off his electrical supply and no-one can gain access to the flat above creating the problem.
I can't silence the fire alarm which is shrieking, I can't persuade the blind man to let me in but he tells me he is trying to locate his power to turn it off!!!! Whaattt??? Stood in water, blind and infirm???!!! Noooooo!!I am now joined by various elderly souls issuing me with information that the flood is making it's way rapidly down the other four floors....and flapping.
Why has all this suddenly become my responsibility?
Ok....'firm words' issued to blind man about getting the hell out of his flat please and now, 999 call made, this may not be an emergency of enormous proportions but I don't have the local station number and I do have an old man trying his best to fry himself. E.S. operator wants to know everything but what colour my underwear is, strangely I don't have to hand contact numbers for a complete stranger in a building of 40 flats! Stopcock located but of course its too tight for me to shift, flats lower down checked for anyone else in distress and finally old man appears, wet and somewhat confused.
Boys in red appliance show up (sorry, the usual girly 'firemen' aspect is lost on me....I was married to one), narrowly beating the shame-faced owner of the offending flood, access is gained (damn, he deserved to have the fire brigade break down his door) and we discover he has left his power shower turned on and laying on the floor! WTF??
Daughter in law arrives shouting the odds, (hello?...how is this my fault exactly?) and takes charge of blind man, fire brigade 'make safe', owner paddles back into his flat to find insurance papers and finally I can go get a cup of coffee.....all this and did I forget to mention that I had Hammy in my handbag the whole time!!
Well, I didn't know it wasn't actually a fire when the alarm sounded did I??....and I sure as hell didn't get a chance to just 'pop' her back home for a while.
She is one very miffed hamster right now.
Really, I will get packed for this holiday!
Wot....no coffee???
The day has not started well!
Having woken with a start to the sound of my alarm clock, a particularly horrible noise that I consider should really be outlawed, and having scrambled out of bed very bleary eyed as the result of an hilarious night on Skype that went on way into the wee small hours...... I discover we have no water!! Zip, zilch, nada, not a drop.
The water board have no idea why at this juncture but promise service will be restored soon, despite their not yet having traced the problem, hmmmm, excuse my cynicism... and I have the big and final pre-holiday laundry to get done somehow!
But worse, much worse than any laundry issues, no water means no coffee, this is unthinkable, or it would be if my system had suitable levels of caffeine racing around it to enable me to think at all!
I'm beginning to believe Fletch when he says I'm jinxed, thus far the kettle, microwave, washing machine and amp. (though the amp. remains subject of some 'discussion') have all disintegrated on me, the Internet connection was as flaky as hell until recently and the power in the flat trips out if I use more than two items at once!
In fact there have been so many incidents of electrical failure in just six months that I have lost count and last night another was added to the list, the cooker hood extractor blew up on me in a reasonably spectacular manner!
Now no water!!
Having woken with a start to the sound of my alarm clock, a particularly horrible noise that I consider should really be outlawed, and having scrambled out of bed very bleary eyed as the result of an hilarious night on Skype that went on way into the wee small hours...... I discover we have no water!! Zip, zilch, nada, not a drop.
The water board have no idea why at this juncture but promise service will be restored soon, despite their not yet having traced the problem, hmmmm, excuse my cynicism... and I have the big and final pre-holiday laundry to get done somehow!
But worse, much worse than any laundry issues, no water means no coffee, this is unthinkable, or it would be if my system had suitable levels of caffeine racing around it to enable me to think at all!
I'm beginning to believe Fletch when he says I'm jinxed, thus far the kettle, microwave, washing machine and amp. (though the amp. remains subject of some 'discussion') have all disintegrated on me, the Internet connection was as flaky as hell until recently and the power in the flat trips out if I use more than two items at once!
In fact there have been so many incidents of electrical failure in just six months that I have lost count and last night another was added to the list, the cooker hood extractor blew up on me in a reasonably spectacular manner!
Now no water!!
Thursday, 28 August 2008
On the home stretch
These last few weeks have seemed interminable and fraught with difficulties and problems of varying degrees of magnitude but I think I made it through pretty reasonably, even if I do say so myself! Not everything is resolved but much is, the outcomes are some good, some bad but along the way I faced, and I think won in the main, a pretty big personal battle....and I'm still here to tell the tale!
Now, (fingers very crossed here, I hate to tempt fate) at last, we have made it to a good bit and a break from the day to day carrying-ons in the shape of three weeks much needed and anticipated holiday. We are on the home stretch and it's all looking good from here!
Fletch, 'Mr Workaholic-I-badly-need-a-break-geek' flies home on Friday night and sharpish on Saturday morning we hit the road for Dover, en-route to Positano in Southern Italy for a family wedding on Tuesday.
Post nuptials we have the rest of the time to do as we please, we have the tent, the car and no firm plans other than to meander about Europe and stop where we fancy. There is a vague idea we might do Venice, Rome and San Gimignano (well it would be rude not to) then head on into the Austrian Alps for the majority of the time...or until the money runs out! Even without the pleasures of the bike I can't wait!
We hadn't planned on doing Europe again this year. Holiday rule#1: never go back, there are too many other places in the world to see, but the wedding is a damn good excuse and the Alps just has to be a place worth breaking all the rules for!
And then, once the holiday is over, it is almost October and that brings with it even more great excitement because it is at the beginning of October that Lisa arrives in the UK and I finally get to meet my best friend for real!!
Now all I have to do is get my ass into gear to get the packing done (more coffee please) and then we can revel in a fun bit of life for a few weeks.
Yayyyy.....yipeeee.....hurahhh.....wooooooo!
:o)))) <------- very excited face!
Now, (fingers very crossed here, I hate to tempt fate) at last, we have made it to a good bit and a break from the day to day carrying-ons in the shape of three weeks much needed and anticipated holiday. We are on the home stretch and it's all looking good from here!
Fletch, 'Mr Workaholic-I-badly-need-a-break-geek' flies home on Friday night and sharpish on Saturday morning we hit the road for Dover, en-route to Positano in Southern Italy for a family wedding on Tuesday.Post nuptials we have the rest of the time to do as we please, we have the tent, the car and no firm plans other than to meander about Europe and stop where we fancy. There is a vague idea we might do Venice, Rome and San Gimignano (well it would be rude not to) then head on into the Austrian Alps for the majority of the time...or until the money runs out! Even without the pleasures of the bike I can't wait!
We hadn't planned on doing Europe again this year. Holiday rule#1: never go back, there are too many other places in the world to see, but the wedding is a damn good excuse and the Alps just has to be a place worth breaking all the rules for!
And then, once the holiday is over, it is almost October and that brings with it even more great excitement because it is at the beginning of October that Lisa arrives in the UK and I finally get to meet my best friend for real!!
Now all I have to do is get my ass into gear to get the packing done (more coffee please) and then we can revel in a fun bit of life for a few weeks.
Yayyyy.....yipeeee.....hurahhh.....wooooooo!
:o)))) <------- very excited face!
Wednesday, 27 August 2008
Hamster in hiding!
Yesterday was our six monthly 'inspection'. By that I mean the day the letting agents who manage this flat come snooping around to check that we aren't wrecking the place, housing forty seven illegal immigrants or using it as a bordello.
It's always a pain, in the main of our own making I have to admit, because we smoke and the lease forbids such heinous activity, so inspection day always requires much rushing around with all the doors and windows open and cans of sweetly smelling air fresheners pressed into heavy service.
This time though there was one extra problem...Hammy! We aren't allowed pets either and whilst maybe we would get away with a hamster I wasn't going to test the theory, so the crack of dawn yesterday saw me racing around hatching a cunning plan to make her disappear temporarily!
This was no mean feat, given that her 'house' begins to resemble NASA and wouldn't fit in it's entirety in the designated hiding place, which from very limited options was the wardrobe! The whole kit and caboodle just wasn't going to fit and so I had to dismantle the whole issue and re-design a more compact pied a terre....all with one very stubborn and grumpy hamster still 'in situ'.
Eventually the task was complete, Hammy was installed in the bottom of the wardrobe and the multitude of spare parts were hidden away in cupboards...we were ready for inspection.
Oh no we weren't!
The inside of the wardrobe of course is dark, hamsters are nocturnal, her body clock was almost instantly thrown into confusion and she just wouldn't go to sleep, instead choosing to race around her (supposedly silent) wheel making a god-awful racket and scratching like merry hell trying to burrow her way out! Much faffing and many treats later she settled down some but as I was about to go out to the dentist and leave her to the inspector alone, should he arrive in my absence, she started up again!! Arghhhh.
I could think of no other option than to pretend (waddya mean 'pretend') I was a half-wit and turn on the bedroom radio, loud, in the hope that it would drown out her noise making antics and Mr Inspector man would assume I had left in a hurry and forgotten to turn it off!
In the event of course he didn't arrive until long after I had returned, so instead I steered him in and out of the bedroom poste haste and hammy remained safely undiscovered...then of course came the re-building NASA process and this time around an even more seriously disgruntled little hamster, who was by now completely fed up with all the disturbance and has very sharp teeth!
What a performance!
It's always a pain, in the main of our own making I have to admit, because we smoke and the lease forbids such heinous activity, so inspection day always requires much rushing around with all the doors and windows open and cans of sweetly smelling air fresheners pressed into heavy service.
This time though there was one extra problem...Hammy! We aren't allowed pets either and whilst maybe we would get away with a hamster I wasn't going to test the theory, so the crack of dawn yesterday saw me racing around hatching a cunning plan to make her disappear temporarily!
This was no mean feat, given that her 'house' begins to resemble NASA and wouldn't fit in it's entirety in the designated hiding place, which from very limited options was the wardrobe! The whole kit and caboodle just wasn't going to fit and so I had to dismantle the whole issue and re-design a more compact pied a terre....all with one very stubborn and grumpy hamster still 'in situ'.
Eventually the task was complete, Hammy was installed in the bottom of the wardrobe and the multitude of spare parts were hidden away in cupboards...we were ready for inspection.
Oh no we weren't!
The inside of the wardrobe of course is dark, hamsters are nocturnal, her body clock was almost instantly thrown into confusion and she just wouldn't go to sleep, instead choosing to race around her (supposedly silent) wheel making a god-awful racket and scratching like merry hell trying to burrow her way out! Much faffing and many treats later she settled down some but as I was about to go out to the dentist and leave her to the inspector alone, should he arrive in my absence, she started up again!! Arghhhh.
I could think of no other option than to pretend (waddya mean 'pretend') I was a half-wit and turn on the bedroom radio, loud, in the hope that it would drown out her noise making antics and Mr Inspector man would assume I had left in a hurry and forgotten to turn it off!
In the event of course he didn't arrive until long after I had returned, so instead I steered him in and out of the bedroom poste haste and hammy remained safely undiscovered...then of course came the re-building NASA process and this time around an even more seriously disgruntled little hamster, who was by now completely fed up with all the disturbance and has very sharp teeth!
What a performance!
Tuesday, 26 August 2008
Monday, 25 August 2008
Just one memory
I got this little game from Karen's blog.
The rules are simple;
1. As a comment on this post, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember! And if we've never met in real life, leave me a comment of your favorite post I wrote and why it was your favorite.
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually quite funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.
The rules are simple;
1. As a comment on this post, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember! And if we've never met in real life, leave me a comment of your favorite post I wrote and why it was your favorite.
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually quite funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.
Sunday, 24 August 2008
How did he do that?!
As previously mentioned, next week we are driving to Positano for a family wedding, this is all good, save for one aspect....wedding's require a suitable outfit, this aspect is not good!
Firstly I don't 'do' posh clothes, it's just not my style, I don't like frocks and stuff of the flowery and flouncy persuasion and secondly and more importantly, it's almost impossible to buy 'grown up' attire for someone my size.
Years of trailing around shops getting hot and frustrated has taught me to dislike the whole dressing up carry on, because if you're a size 6-8 and only just five foot tall it just isn't happening...... and childrens size shoes are never what you could call elegant!
But, Fletch insisted that in 35-40 degree heat I just couldn't be dressed in anything I already have (the suit and boot kind of stuff) and consequently yesterday morning decided he was going to 'deal with' the issue.
I was far from convinced that in a village with only one clothes shop catering for the under 70's he was going to achieve anything other than failure but I humoured him and trailed without hope, into the aforementioned store.
I kid you not, literally within 5 minutes he had selected a dress he considered suitable and thought would fit and I was dispatched into the changing rooms, convinced I would re-appear looking ridiculous. I just don't suit dresses, they never fit, why wouldn't he be told!
Wrong....I scrambled into the provided item and looked in the mirror, it fitted like it was made for me!!! There was someone one staring back at me from the mirror who looked like a girl, with flowers!!! Bloody hell fire, where were my leathers? Much to my amazement it actually looked good, despite the fact I wouldn't ever have imagined myself in a flowery dress. Really, the last time I wore a dress I was still at junior school.
So I crept out of the changing room (as you do in that horrible self conscious way) for himself to assess the situation.... thinking only that I could still save the day because there wasn't a hope in hell of finding shoes to go with it.
Wrong again, while I was changing he had also found from somewhere the perfect pair of strappy, girly, heels which were handed to me with the instruction to 'put them on and stop faffing'. I did, they too fitted and were perfect with the dress!!! Done deal, he paid while I got out of the ensemble and home we went.
So, it looks like I'll be wearing a dress for the first time in forever, ok, it's a bit 'hippy' so I don't feel too much like a dogs dinner and it fits like a dream so I won't be uncomfortable but what I really want to know is....how did he do that??
Men aren't supposed to be able to shop for anything other than gadgetry, cars and bikes but from door to door the whole outing took twenty minutes and was a complete success!! Alone I would have spent three days scrambling into ill fitting items and still gone home empty handed!
I'm impressed, though I hate to admit it!
Firstly I don't 'do' posh clothes, it's just not my style, I don't like frocks and stuff of the flowery and flouncy persuasion and secondly and more importantly, it's almost impossible to buy 'grown up' attire for someone my size.
Years of trailing around shops getting hot and frustrated has taught me to dislike the whole dressing up carry on, because if you're a size 6-8 and only just five foot tall it just isn't happening...... and childrens size shoes are never what you could call elegant!But, Fletch insisted that in 35-40 degree heat I just couldn't be dressed in anything I already have (the suit and boot kind of stuff) and consequently yesterday morning decided he was going to 'deal with' the issue.
I was far from convinced that in a village with only one clothes shop catering for the under 70's he was going to achieve anything other than failure but I humoured him and trailed without hope, into the aforementioned store.
I kid you not, literally within 5 minutes he had selected a dress he considered suitable and thought would fit and I was dispatched into the changing rooms, convinced I would re-appear looking ridiculous. I just don't suit dresses, they never fit, why wouldn't he be told!
Wrong....I scrambled into the provided item and looked in the mirror, it fitted like it was made for me!!! There was someone one staring back at me from the mirror who looked like a girl, with flowers!!! Bloody hell fire, where were my leathers? Much to my amazement it actually looked good, despite the fact I wouldn't ever have imagined myself in a flowery dress. Really, the last time I wore a dress I was still at junior school.
So I crept out of the changing room (as you do in that horrible self conscious way) for himself to assess the situation.... thinking only that I could still save the day because there wasn't a hope in hell of finding shoes to go with it.
Wrong again, while I was changing he had also found from somewhere the perfect pair of strappy, girly, heels which were handed to me with the instruction to 'put them on and stop faffing'. I did, they too fitted and were perfect with the dress!!! Done deal, he paid while I got out of the ensemble and home we went.
So, it looks like I'll be wearing a dress for the first time in forever, ok, it's a bit 'hippy' so I don't feel too much like a dogs dinner and it fits like a dream so I won't be uncomfortable but what I really want to know is....how did he do that??
Men aren't supposed to be able to shop for anything other than gadgetry, cars and bikes but from door to door the whole outing took twenty minutes and was a complete success!! Alone I would have spent three days scrambling into ill fitting items and still gone home empty handed!
I'm impressed, though I hate to admit it!
Saturday, 23 August 2008
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Friday, 22 August 2008
Two good things!
#1. Fletch comes home for the weekend tonight :o))
#2. Because he has been away all week I have had his nice big, new, comfortable, fast, shiny black, corners like it's on rails, all the bells and whistles, I don't have to pay for the fuel, car.
I'm off to my parents for the day and collecting himself from the airport on my way home tonight...it should all take about half the time it does in my old jalopy and be way more fun! ;o)
Note to self: *keep sharp eye for speed cameras.... yellow things on stalks old jalopy can't muster speed to activate*
#2. Because he has been away all week I have had his nice big, new, comfortable, fast, shiny black, corners like it's on rails, all the bells and whistles, I don't have to pay for the fuel, car.
I'm off to my parents for the day and collecting himself from the airport on my way home tonight...it should all take about half the time it does in my old jalopy and be way more fun! ;o)
Note to self: *keep sharp eye for speed cameras.... yellow things on stalks old jalopy can't muster speed to activate*
Thursday, 21 August 2008
Finish this sentence
I don't recall where I thieved this from but if it was you, I hope you don't mind!
1. My uncle once: won the world diamond design competition.
2. Never in my life: have I achieved my dream...yet.
3. When I was five: I pushed a peanut up my nose that required medical intervention for removal! Ack, kids.
4. High school was: all girls and boring!
5. I will never forget: the day Tilly had to go to her new home.
6. Once I met: (albeit briefly in most cases) David Bowie, Paul Mc Carney, David Essex, Liam Neeson, Terry Wogan, Simon and Yasmin LeBon, Jasper Carrott, Paul Daniels, Bob Geldof, Louis Malle, Paula Yeates, Nigel Lithgoe, David Seaman, Vinny Jones, yada, yada, yada....
7. There’s this girl I know: who races a Ducati with the best of the guys.
8. Once, at a bar: I was asked outright and with no preamble, by a complete stranger "do you f*ck"! Smooth line mate...not!
9. By noon, I’m usually: tired!
10. Last night: I was trying not to scratch my eczema ridden legs...attractive huh?
11. If only I had: Some antibiotics for this bloody tooth abscess.
12. Next time I go to church: will probably be a wedding or a funeral, it's the only time I ever go in a church.
13. What worries me most: Everything!
14. When I turn my head left I see: a white wall.
15. When I turn my head right I see: This....
(sorry, appallingly done but no time)
16. You know I’m lying when: I don't lie. I occasionally tell tiny fibs but I do that well!
17. What I miss most about the Eighties is: The [relative] naivety.
18. If I were a character in Shakespeare I’d be: Puck.
19. By this time next year: I hope life is a little simpler.
20. A better name for me would be: Hmmmmm, I have no idea.
21. I have a hard time understanding: Man's inhumanity to man.
22. If I ever go back to school, I’ll: make the absolute most of it this time.
23. You know I like you if: um......
24. If I ever won an award, the first person I would thank would be: Lol...doesn't that depend on the award?
25. Take my advice, never: count your chickens, because the buggers invariably do the off.
26. My ideal breakfast is: made for me!
27. A song I love but do not have is: I have what I like.
28. If you visit my hometown, I suggest you: call me and we'll go for a beer/coffee.
29. Why won’t people: make love not war.
30. If you spend a night at my house: please help yourself to stuff, I'm a crap hostess.
31. I’d stop my wedding for: which one?
32. The world could do without: The tabloid press.
33. I’d rather lick the belly of a cockroach than: see a spider, no contest!
34. My favourite blonde(s) is/are: I hope I'm not that shallow.
35. Paper clips are more useful than: Gordon Brown.
36. If I do anything well it’s: very unusual.
37. I can’t help but: watch Big Brother.
38. I usually cry: too easily.
39. My advice to my child/nephew/niece: Do it your way, not the way expected of you.
40. And by the way: I miss Fletch.
Tag - You're it..
1. My uncle once: won the world diamond design competition.
2. Never in my life: have I achieved my dream...yet.
3. When I was five: I pushed a peanut up my nose that required medical intervention for removal! Ack, kids.
4. High school was: all girls and boring!
5. I will never forget: the day Tilly had to go to her new home.
6. Once I met: (albeit briefly in most cases) David Bowie, Paul Mc Carney, David Essex, Liam Neeson, Terry Wogan, Simon and Yasmin LeBon, Jasper Carrott, Paul Daniels, Bob Geldof, Louis Malle, Paula Yeates, Nigel Lithgoe, David Seaman, Vinny Jones, yada, yada, yada....
7. There’s this girl I know: who races a Ducati with the best of the guys.
8. Once, at a bar: I was asked outright and with no preamble, by a complete stranger "do you f*ck"! Smooth line mate...not!
9. By noon, I’m usually: tired!
10. Last night: I was trying not to scratch my eczema ridden legs...attractive huh?
11. If only I had: Some antibiotics for this bloody tooth abscess.
12. Next time I go to church: will probably be a wedding or a funeral, it's the only time I ever go in a church.
13. What worries me most: Everything!
14. When I turn my head left I see: a white wall.
15. When I turn my head right I see: This....
(sorry, appallingly done but no time)16. You know I’m lying when: I don't lie. I occasionally tell tiny fibs but I do that well!
17. What I miss most about the Eighties is: The [relative] naivety.
18. If I were a character in Shakespeare I’d be: Puck.
19. By this time next year: I hope life is a little simpler.
20. A better name for me would be: Hmmmmm, I have no idea.
21. I have a hard time understanding: Man's inhumanity to man.
22. If I ever go back to school, I’ll: make the absolute most of it this time.
23. You know I like you if: um......
24. If I ever won an award, the first person I would thank would be: Lol...doesn't that depend on the award?
25. Take my advice, never: count your chickens, because the buggers invariably do the off.
26. My ideal breakfast is: made for me!
27. A song I love but do not have is: I have what I like.
28. If you visit my hometown, I suggest you: call me and we'll go for a beer/coffee.
29. Why won’t people: make love not war.
30. If you spend a night at my house: please help yourself to stuff, I'm a crap hostess.
31. I’d stop my wedding for: which one?
32. The world could do without: The tabloid press.
33. I’d rather lick the belly of a cockroach than: see a spider, no contest!
34. My favourite blonde(s) is/are: I hope I'm not that shallow.
35. Paper clips are more useful than: Gordon Brown.
36. If I do anything well it’s: very unusual.
37. I can’t help but: watch Big Brother.
38. I usually cry: too easily.
39. My advice to my child/nephew/niece: Do it your way, not the way expected of you.
40. And by the way: I miss Fletch.
Tag - You're it..
Wednesday, 20 August 2008
Adrian Sudbury - Baldy's blog
Adrian very sadly died in his sleep this morning with his parents at his side. It was in the end inevitable but the news is no less shocking or sad for that knowledge.
I of course never met him, I only knew him through his blog but he was one of the most inspirational and courageous people I am ever likely to have the privilege 'knowing'.
My thoughts are with his much loved family and friends, he was a truly special man and one who leaves an amazing legacy that we now have the honour of continuing.
Rest in peace Adrian...you were one in many millions.
I of course never met him, I only knew him through his blog but he was one of the most inspirational and courageous people I am ever likely to have the privilege 'knowing'.
My thoughts are with his much loved family and friends, he was a truly special man and one who leaves an amazing legacy that we now have the honour of continuing.
Rest in peace Adrian...you were one in many millions.
Tuesday, 19 August 2008
The secret....
.....is not a secret anymore! I can tell you now what it was that I was blethering on about the day before yesterday. I am sooo excited!
We all have, if we are very lucky, a friend or two in our lives who we can really really count on and I have been very lucky
to have always had good friends who have stood by me despite my not always being the er... the 'easiest' of people to deal with along the way sometimes, but I have one friend who probably knows me better than almost anyone else on this planet.
For almost five years now we have shared just about every aspect of our lives on a daily basis, the ups and downs of what have for both of us been a pretty turbulent period in our lives one way and another, I doubt we have any secrets from one another and no matter if it's 3 in the morning or a more civil hour, if I need her or just want to share something with her she is there!
We met via blogging, a chance in a million (or however many blogs there is out there in the blogosphere these days) when she posted something about a cat and I mailed her a response instead of commenting...and that was that, we became friends. I wouldn't like to hazard a guess at how many emails we have sent between us, on an average day it can run into tens, it has been literally a five year ongoing conversation, almost everyday about everything, no matter where we are one way or another the wonders of technology keep the 'conversation' up and running!
Anyone who knows me well knows who I am talking about, even the few individuals I know who can be pretty skeptical about the 'validity' of internet friendships, refer to her and enquire after her, as though she lived just down the street but she doesn't, she lives in Nebraska in the U.S and for those of you who don't know who I am talking about it is LISA, she of Lisa's Place....and what's all the excitement and secrecy about?
Well, circumstances and luck have conspired and worked in our favour...... and one very early morning at the beginning of October she will land on a flight from the U.S. at London Heathrow and finally we will meet!!!!
I am just sooooo excited! Ever since it began to look like it might actually happen I have been bouncing up and down like a small over-excited child, I can't believe it! We always planned to meet up but life being how it is we never imagined that it would happen anytime soon but it has, and much plotting and planning later it looks like we can finally have a conversation over a beer instead of over the internet and real American pancakes for breakfast!!!!
We all have, if we are very lucky, a friend or two in our lives who we can really really count on and I have been very lucky
to have always had good friends who have stood by me despite my not always being the er... the 'easiest' of people to deal with along the way sometimes, but I have one friend who probably knows me better than almost anyone else on this planet.
For almost five years now we have shared just about every aspect of our lives on a daily basis, the ups and downs of what have for both of us been a pretty turbulent period in our lives one way and another, I doubt we have any secrets from one another and no matter if it's 3 in the morning or a more civil hour, if I need her or just want to share something with her she is there!
We met via blogging, a chance in a million (or however many blogs there is out there in the blogosphere these days) when she posted something about a cat and I mailed her a response instead of commenting...and that was that, we became friends. I wouldn't like to hazard a guess at how many emails we have sent between us, on an average day it can run into tens, it has been literally a five year ongoing conversation, almost everyday about everything, no matter where we are one way or another the wonders of technology keep the 'conversation' up and running!
Anyone who knows me well knows who I am talking about, even the few individuals I know who can be pretty skeptical about the 'validity' of internet friendships, refer to her and enquire after her, as though she lived just down the street but she doesn't, she lives in Nebraska in the U.S and for those of you who don't know who I am talking about it is LISA, she of Lisa's Place....and what's all the excitement and secrecy about?
Well, circumstances and luck have conspired and worked in our favour...... and one very early morning at the beginning of October she will land on a flight from the U.S. at London Heathrow and finally we will meet!!!!
I am just sooooo excited! Ever since it began to look like it might actually happen I have been bouncing up and down like a small over-excited child, I can't believe it! We always planned to meet up but life being how it is we never imagined that it would happen anytime soon but it has, and much plotting and planning later it looks like we can finally have a conversation over a beer instead of over the internet and real American pancakes for breakfast!!!!
Monday, 18 August 2008
I'll be brief....
(I know that will make a nice change won't it!).....because I have to go sleep.
Last night's itinerary;
Out for early dinner and a beer, early night (no smut please) in readiness for a 4am start today to get Fletch on his flight.
Easy.
WRONG!!
The actuality;
Early dinner and a beer, very relaxing in readiness for the 4am start. Bed early....all went horribly wrong.
Bed collapsed, making big scary cracking noise (honestly we were sleeping), spend hour trying to fix in sleepy miffed state, couldn't fix, grumpy and very unrelaxed. Back to now very sloping and unstable bed, much rolling downhill, no sleep until 3.30am, up at 4.00am, drive to Luton, fight annoyingly happy Tenerife/Malaga hordes. Drop off very tired Fletch dragging bags through heavy rain to terminal, drive home in still very heavy rain, struggle to stay awake, miss last turning (bugger), do extra 20 miles, make it home, get tool box, mend bed (no mean feat)!
Moral of the story: Don't buy an Ikea bed!
Sleep, I need sleep........
*Update;
Fletch's flight delayed, missed connecting train, stuck in middle of nowhere waiting for next one...two hour wait. Total estimated travelling time Luton-Scotland: 10 hours!!! This week is starting well then I see.
Last night's itinerary;
Out for early dinner and a beer, early night (no smut please) in readiness for a 4am start today to get Fletch on his flight.
Easy.
WRONG!!
The actuality;
Early dinner and a beer, very relaxing in readiness for the 4am start. Bed early....all went horribly wrong.
Bed collapsed, making big scary cracking noise (honestly we were sleeping), spend hour trying to fix in sleepy miffed state, couldn't fix, grumpy and very unrelaxed. Back to now very sloping and unstable bed, much rolling downhill, no sleep until 3.30am, up at 4.00am, drive to Luton, fight annoyingly happy Tenerife/Malaga hordes. Drop off very tired Fletch dragging bags through heavy rain to terminal, drive home in still very heavy rain, struggle to stay awake, miss last turning (bugger), do extra 20 miles, make it home, get tool box, mend bed (no mean feat)!
Moral of the story: Don't buy an Ikea bed!
Sleep, I need sleep........
*Update;
Fletch's flight delayed, missed connecting train, stuck in middle of nowhere waiting for next one...two hour wait. Total estimated travelling time Luton-Scotland: 10 hours!!! This week is starting well then I see.
Sunday, 17 August 2008
Stuff and secrets
Well, I made it through the last week relatively unscathed, it had it's tough moments, it presented one or two extra problems along the way and the original issues that were concerning me on Monday are in some cases still ongoing and of great concern, but on a much happier note, one in particular is well on it's way to being resolved and with a much, much better outcome than I think anyone involved had dared to hope for.
So, it's onward and upward. Some of the issues may well be present for some time to come but there is nothing I can do to affect the outcome of most, there is something however I can do in one case and that one I am dealing with thus far successfully and in the knowledge that in two weeks time life will take a definite upturn for a while, the problems might not all disappear in a puff of magic but some pretty cool stuff is about to happen!!!
Firstly, in two weeks time Fletch and I will be in Positano on Italy's Amalfi coast, well in actual fact we won't have made it all the way there by the Sunday of that week, we will be en-route driving the 1500 miles or so from Calais, to attend a family wedding. After the wedding we plan to make the trip back by a more circuitous route and various camp sites. We have no fixed itinerary and Fletch has three weeks off work so we can stop and go as the fancy takes us. Sadly we won't be taking the bike, she's ill right now and time and money have conspired against us in getting her well again but hey, even in a car it's gonna be good, if a little tame!
But for all I am looking forward to the holiday it is not the thing that has me jumping up and down like an excitable child and wishing away the next few weeks at the moment. The real 'biggy' is something entirely different! Something I thought might never happen, something hoped for over years and finally, after much plotting and planning it is going to happen soon after we return from Europe.
Yes, I have a secret, a big fat super exciting secret........ ;o)
So, it's onward and upward. Some of the issues may well be present for some time to come but there is nothing I can do to affect the outcome of most, there is something however I can do in one case and that one I am dealing with thus far successfully and in the knowledge that in two weeks time life will take a definite upturn for a while, the problems might not all disappear in a puff of magic but some pretty cool stuff is about to happen!!!
Firstly, in two weeks time Fletch and I will be in Positano on Italy's Amalfi coast, well in actual fact we won't have made it all the way there by the Sunday of that week, we will be en-route driving the 1500 miles or so from Calais, to attend a family wedding. After the wedding we plan to make the trip back by a more circuitous route and various camp sites. We have no fixed itinerary and Fletch has three weeks off work so we can stop and go as the fancy takes us. Sadly we won't be taking the bike, she's ill right now and time and money have conspired against us in getting her well again but hey, even in a car it's gonna be good, if a little tame!
But for all I am looking forward to the holiday it is not the thing that has me jumping up and down like an excitable child and wishing away the next few weeks at the moment. The real 'biggy' is something entirely different! Something I thought might never happen, something hoped for over years and finally, after much plotting and planning it is going to happen soon after we return from Europe.
Yes, I have a secret, a big fat super exciting secret........ ;o)
Friday, 15 August 2008
Big foot...little foot!
I took this while we were camping recently, I had no intention of doing anything with it but once I saw it I couldn't help but laugh....
it kinda sums up what an odd pair Fletch and I are, from an aesthetic point of view at least!It's something that hasn't gone unnoticed by those around us and had been commented on in mirth frequently, physically we are two extremes and the sight of us next to one another is I suppose quite amusing!
Why? Well, he is well over six foot tall while I barely scramble to five foot and am about level with his elbows, he has loooong flowing curly locks, I have short cropped very un-flowing hair, he is built like a strapping rugby player and over twice my body weight, (oopss, did I just say that in an out loud voice?) whilst I am pathetically small in build.... and he has feet the size of landing barges (no coarseness please) while mine still fit readily into children's shoes!
Yeah, ok, I can see why people laugh!
On a more serious note though it is quite a revelation to someone like myself who is small. Small people get used to being walked into on the pavement, to being overlooked in queues, to not being able to get served at a bar because the staff just don't see you there. We get used to being the one who has to move out of the way because passers by look straight over our heads and to feeling pretty vulnerable in a physical sense.
The revelation is this this and something we short people just don't imagine; None of that happens if I'm with Fletch. We get served at a bar in an instant, no-one walks into us, we can make it in a straight line along a street without being barged out of the way and no-one gives us any kind of aggravation! It's all pretty peculiar to me, who for instance if a drink is spilled onto me barely gets noticed let alone an apology, whereas if it happens when I'm with Fletch, profuse apologies are always forthcoming!
Being big it seems carries with it some degree of presence and respect, whilst being little makes one almost invisible.
it kinda sums up what an odd pair Fletch and I are, from an aesthetic point of view at least!It's something that hasn't gone unnoticed by those around us and had been commented on in mirth frequently, physically we are two extremes and the sight of us next to one another is I suppose quite amusing!Why? Well, he is well over six foot tall while I barely scramble to five foot and am about level with his elbows, he has loooong flowing curly locks, I have short cropped very un-flowing hair, he is built like a strapping rugby player and over twice my body weight, (oopss, did I just say that in an out loud voice?) whilst I am pathetically small in build.... and he has feet the size of landing barges (no coarseness please) while mine still fit readily into children's shoes!
Yeah, ok, I can see why people laugh!
On a more serious note though it is quite a revelation to someone like myself who is small. Small people get used to being walked into on the pavement, to being overlooked in queues, to not being able to get served at a bar because the staff just don't see you there. We get used to being the one who has to move out of the way because passers by look straight over our heads and to feeling pretty vulnerable in a physical sense.
The revelation is this this and something we short people just don't imagine; None of that happens if I'm with Fletch. We get served at a bar in an instant, no-one walks into us, we can make it in a straight line along a street without being barged out of the way and no-one gives us any kind of aggravation! It's all pretty peculiar to me, who for instance if a drink is spilled onto me barely gets noticed let alone an apology, whereas if it happens when I'm with Fletch, profuse apologies are always forthcoming!
Being big it seems carries with it some degree of presence and respect, whilst being little makes one almost invisible.
Dodgy dentistry!
Yesterday was something of a harassing day one way and another and left me questioning what on earth has happened to professional integrity and customer service. What seems to be apparent is that they just don't figure any longer with any degree of importance in the worlds of corporate and economic gain!
I've split this into two posts, this and the one below.
After much research I eventually found a dentist yesterday that is taking on new NHS patients, so despite my fears I called them having been told by my doctor that I have to get the abscess situation sorted out properly. The conversation that ensued I find pretty concerning!
I was informed by the receptionist that before I can be considered for acceptance onto the dentists list I have to have a dental x-ray performed! Yes, I said 'before'. I queried why this was and the reply was somewhat vague and confusing I have to say. She seemed (I say seemed because she was so vague it was hard to decipher any real meaning in the conversation) to be suggesting that if the x-ray indicates I need much work I won't be accepted! Now forgive me here if you are a dentist reading this but it smacks yet again to me of dentistry in this country no longer being about care or integrity but being about making the buck! I know we all have to make a living and I appreciate many of the issues dentists have had over recent years with the government but at some point I wonder if they could stop in-fighting and consider us, the patient stuck in the middle!
But I digress. I questioned the receptionist further as to what I could do should I be denied treatment and was told I could visit the local emergency dental access service. I told her I had tried that but they could only deal with the initial presenting problem, i.e. prescribe more antibiotics in this case and along with my doctor had said I must have the underlying dental issue treated properly by a dentist!
Her response was that "I would be ok with more tablets"! I pointed out again that was contrary to all other information I had been given and that even those of us not medically qualified are now only too well aware of the problems of resistance in the over prescribing of antibiotics. I was met with silence...which I suggest says it all!
So, let me get this straight. The dental and medical professions say I have to have this dental problem dealt with by a dentist properly. The doctor says I can't have more antibiotics I have to see a dentist. The one dentist I can find wants to take the very odd step of x-raying before they accept me with a view to not accepting me if I need much treatment and has referred me to the emergency access center..... and the emergency centre tells me I have to see a dentist!
Where does that leave me....up the bloody dental creek without a paddle is where it leaves me and still with an underlying problem that isn't going to just fix itself! The doctor won't (and rightly) just keep prescribing willy-nilly, the access centre can't help and the dental profession is yet again sitting in it's ivory tower while our teeth rot and we suffer the pain.
I am so f*cking angry and fed up with all this.! I've had this hassle with dental treatment now for over six years on and off and it is part (though to be fair not all) of the reason I am now likely to lose my teeth before time. Come on guys, we are a nation who were lucky enough to have the education and facilities to have healthy teeth, this is not a third world country and it would be kinda cool if you could all start showing some integrity and stop trying to turn it into one dentally!
I've had enough now of the excuses and of understanding how hard done by our dental professionals are, we all have to live within the constraints our laws and governments decisions inflict on us but we don't all have the power to inflict continuing pain and discomfort on the poor sods caught in the middle! Where's the pride, integrity or professionalism in that?
If dentists still have an issue with their 'terms and conditions' take it up with those who impose those terms by all means but stop using the likes of me as a bargaining chip because it's unfair, inappropriate and does absolutely nothing to help the cause...which I have to say, when all this began years ago I supported.
I don't any longer.
Just sort it out and start behaving with at least some degree of care and integrity please!
Oh...was that naive of me? Sorry.
I've split this into two posts, this and the one below.
After much research I eventually found a dentist yesterday that is taking on new NHS patients, so despite my fears I called them having been told by my doctor that I have to get the abscess situation sorted out properly. The conversation that ensued I find pretty concerning!
I was informed by the receptionist that before I can be considered for acceptance onto the dentists list I have to have a dental x-ray performed! Yes, I said 'before'. I queried why this was and the reply was somewhat vague and confusing I have to say. She seemed (I say seemed because she was so vague it was hard to decipher any real meaning in the conversation) to be suggesting that if the x-ray indicates I need much work I won't be accepted! Now forgive me here if you are a dentist reading this but it smacks yet again to me of dentistry in this country no longer being about care or integrity but being about making the buck! I know we all have to make a living and I appreciate many of the issues dentists have had over recent years with the government but at some point I wonder if they could stop in-fighting and consider us, the patient stuck in the middle!
But I digress. I questioned the receptionist further as to what I could do should I be denied treatment and was told I could visit the local emergency dental access service. I told her I had tried that but they could only deal with the initial presenting problem, i.e. prescribe more antibiotics in this case and along with my doctor had said I must have the underlying dental issue treated properly by a dentist!
Her response was that "I would be ok with more tablets"! I pointed out again that was contrary to all other information I had been given and that even those of us not medically qualified are now only too well aware of the problems of resistance in the over prescribing of antibiotics. I was met with silence...which I suggest says it all!
So, let me get this straight. The dental and medical professions say I have to have this dental problem dealt with by a dentist properly. The doctor says I can't have more antibiotics I have to see a dentist. The one dentist I can find wants to take the very odd step of x-raying before they accept me with a view to not accepting me if I need much treatment and has referred me to the emergency access center..... and the emergency centre tells me I have to see a dentist!
Where does that leave me....up the bloody dental creek without a paddle is where it leaves me and still with an underlying problem that isn't going to just fix itself! The doctor won't (and rightly) just keep prescribing willy-nilly, the access centre can't help and the dental profession is yet again sitting in it's ivory tower while our teeth rot and we suffer the pain.
I am so f*cking angry and fed up with all this.! I've had this hassle with dental treatment now for over six years on and off and it is part (though to be fair not all) of the reason I am now likely to lose my teeth before time. Come on guys, we are a nation who were lucky enough to have the education and facilities to have healthy teeth, this is not a third world country and it would be kinda cool if you could all start showing some integrity and stop trying to turn it into one dentally!
I've had enough now of the excuses and of understanding how hard done by our dental professionals are, we all have to live within the constraints our laws and governments decisions inflict on us but we don't all have the power to inflict continuing pain and discomfort on the poor sods caught in the middle! Where's the pride, integrity or professionalism in that?
If dentists still have an issue with their 'terms and conditions' take it up with those who impose those terms by all means but stop using the likes of me as a bargaining chip because it's unfair, inappropriate and does absolutely nothing to help the cause...which I have to say, when all this began years ago I supported.
I don't any longer.
Just sort it out and start behaving with at least some degree of care and integrity please!
Oh...was that naive of me? Sorry.
Virgin on the ridiculous!
And yesterday's other 'delight' in customer issues....
After much fobbing off and mis-information, Virgin Media, my ISP finally admitted that my lack of connection when I awoke yesterday was a fault at their end. This admission alone had not been an easy thing to achieve and in fact I only discovered it when having visited my local computer shop in an effort to buy the part I was told I needed the proprietor said that he had had over twenty customers during the morning all with the same problem and all with Virgin as their ISP!
Of course, Virgin's half-witted helpline staff didn't bother to inform me of the problem at any point in the proceedings and despite having promised on five occasions to call me back, not one call back did I receive. The last time I spoke to them a guy who appeared to have less technical knowledge than even I do told me it was my modem at fault and by the afternoon the helpline had 'conveniently' switched to a recorded message telling me that the fault would be rectified by 15.00 hours. In fact it wasn't up and running until gone 18.00 hrs but that I can accept, we all know that fixing this stuff is a pain, what I can't accept is Virgin's inability to take responsibility for the problem at the front end and to just be honest with the customer. It's not that hard is it to just adhere to a few basic principles of customer service??
Whilst I was wasting my money on their expensive phone lines I decided to also tackle the long standing 'phone line' issue we have. When Virgin originally installed our cable facility 18 months ago, it was to include TV, broadband and a phone line but they had problems installing the phone. They promised to return and complete the job....but despite numerous calls and much beating of one's head against a brick wall they never did. Yup....for 18 months we have been paying line rental for a phone line that doesn't work!!!! My patience already worn thin finally snapped and I made my feelings on the subject of the whole debacle of an operation abundantly clear....the result, in theory at least someone will be here Tuesday to at last connect our land line and the process has been set in motion to recoup the line rental over the time it hasn't been operational. However, if their thus far apparent 'form' and speed of service continue, by the time we actually receive a refund it will probably be worth pennies at current inflation rates!
No wonder Mr Branson is so well off! He (and those like him) have us by the proverbial balls, we can't migrate our custom elsewhere because they make it so damn difficult to do so and even if we have the fortitude to fight that fight it seems that none of the big providers are much better. In a corporate world where the benchmark is so low and where we have no real choices there is little to motivate these companies to behave with any real integrity!
After much fobbing off and mis-information, Virgin Media, my ISP finally admitted that my lack of connection when I awoke yesterday was a fault at their end. This admission alone had not been an easy thing to achieve and in fact I only discovered it when having visited my local computer shop in an effort to buy the part I was told I needed the proprietor said that he had had over twenty customers during the morning all with the same problem and all with Virgin as their ISP!
Of course, Virgin's half-witted helpline staff didn't bother to inform me of the problem at any point in the proceedings and despite having promised on five occasions to call me back, not one call back did I receive. The last time I spoke to them a guy who appeared to have less technical knowledge than even I do told me it was my modem at fault and by the afternoon the helpline had 'conveniently' switched to a recorded message telling me that the fault would be rectified by 15.00 hours. In fact it wasn't up and running until gone 18.00 hrs but that I can accept, we all know that fixing this stuff is a pain, what I can't accept is Virgin's inability to take responsibility for the problem at the front end and to just be honest with the customer. It's not that hard is it to just adhere to a few basic principles of customer service??
Whilst I was wasting my money on their expensive phone lines I decided to also tackle the long standing 'phone line' issue we have. When Virgin originally installed our cable facility 18 months ago, it was to include TV, broadband and a phone line but they had problems installing the phone. They promised to return and complete the job....but despite numerous calls and much beating of one's head against a brick wall they never did. Yup....for 18 months we have been paying line rental for a phone line that doesn't work!!!! My patience already worn thin finally snapped and I made my feelings on the subject of the whole debacle of an operation abundantly clear....the result, in theory at least someone will be here Tuesday to at last connect our land line and the process has been set in motion to recoup the line rental over the time it hasn't been operational. However, if their thus far apparent 'form' and speed of service continue, by the time we actually receive a refund it will probably be worth pennies at current inflation rates!
No wonder Mr Branson is so well off! He (and those like him) have us by the proverbial balls, we can't migrate our custom elsewhere because they make it so damn difficult to do so and even if we have the fortitude to fight that fight it seems that none of the big providers are much better. In a corporate world where the benchmark is so low and where we have no real choices there is little to motivate these companies to behave with any real integrity!
Thursday, 14 August 2008
How bloody wonderful!
Do you detect a note of sarcasm there in the title of this post? Today is not going well... Fletch is away on business and I have 24/7 alone to try and occupy myself. I don't know anyone in these parts, I don't have a job to go too and too much time on my own is NOT my forte. Now to add to that I have another and particularly well timed (not) issue. A clue is to be found in the format of this post perhaps. When I have all this time to fill I really rely on my computer to keep my mind occupied... And what has happened? My bloody internet connection has dropped off is what has happened..... and after much expensive time on the phone to the halfwits at the ISP's (un) helpline it would appear that it's not likely to be restored anytime soon! I am not chuffed to say the least. In fact I am particularly un-chuffed! The halfwits have fobbed me off with a new modem which will take days possibly to arrive and which I have to wait in to sign for... though of course they can't even tell me which day it might deign to arrive on, so I cant even go out! On top of that I have a sneaking suspicion that when it does turn up it's not going to solve the problem. Un-chuffed is an understatement!.... and the clue in this post? I'm reduced to blogging from my phone. :-/
Wednesday, 13 August 2008
Tuesday, 12 August 2008
Fat face!
Joy!
Now on top of everything else I have a tooth abscess! It hurts, I'm hungry, I can't eat and I've got the right hump!
The quack was finally persuaded to prescribe me some anti-biotics this morning after much ado and 'words' about dentists, which incidentally, even if I could deal with thefinancially motivated oral professionals dentist malarkey right now I can't find one yet again who has any places on a list,....but I've done the dentist issue here til I'm blue in the face so I won't start that one again!
Yup, I've definitely got the hump today....and I can't even eat any chocolate. ppfftt.
Now on top of everything else I have a tooth abscess! It hurts, I'm hungry, I can't eat and I've got the right hump!
The quack was finally persuaded to prescribe me some anti-biotics this morning after much ado and 'words' about dentists, which incidentally, even if I could deal with the
Yup, I've definitely got the hump today....and I can't even eat any chocolate. ppfftt.
Monday, 11 August 2008
Is it Friday yet?
This coming week is one I am entering without much relish, it's one of those odd weeks where a number of difficulties and worrying situations have managed, in their inimitable way, to come together all at once and I am faced with a week of feeling I will very probably be picking my way on a daily basis, through a confusing maze of emotional contradictions and practical difficulties in an effort to get to Friday unscathed.
There is no guarantee of course that everything will be resolved by the end of the week, I am merely focusing on Friday in an effort to break down the possible time span into manageable pieces. Very few of the situations are within my control at all, within any one's control in fact, they are just the crap bits of life 'happening', I can only stand by offering support and hoping for the best outcome for those concerned.
One however is within my control to a greater degree and that one I am endeavouring to face full on and with a positive attitude. I won't go into detail, that would only serve to make it harder for me and in reality it is something many wouldn't find a problem, but it is something I have battled with for years and as a consequence I intend to approach it with a positive outlook and as a chance to prove to myself and others that I can 'cut it' when I really need to.
The post title 'Is it Friday yet'....I know I shouldn't wish my life away, one of this weeks issues brings that home to me very starkly and really I am not wishing it away, I hope I will make best use of the days, but when Friday gets here I can't deny it will be a relief!
There is no guarantee of course that everything will be resolved by the end of the week, I am merely focusing on Friday in an effort to break down the possible time span into manageable pieces. Very few of the situations are within my control at all, within any one's control in fact, they are just the crap bits of life 'happening', I can only stand by offering support and hoping for the best outcome for those concerned.
One however is within my control to a greater degree and that one I am endeavouring to face full on and with a positive attitude. I won't go into detail, that would only serve to make it harder for me and in reality it is something many wouldn't find a problem, but it is something I have battled with for years and as a consequence I intend to approach it with a positive outlook and as a chance to prove to myself and others that I can 'cut it' when I really need to.
The post title 'Is it Friday yet'....I know I shouldn't wish my life away, one of this weeks issues brings that home to me very starkly and really I am not wishing it away, I hope I will make best use of the days, but when Friday gets here I can't deny it will be a relief!
Sunday, 10 August 2008
Tongue tied!
I think in my dotage I am becoming completely witless!
We have all heard others use the wrong words when trying to articulate something or laughed heartily at someone else's misfortune when they get so tongue tied that absolutely nothing coherent comes out and we have all, I suspect, done the same ourselves on occasion, but as I get older it seems to be a slightly more frequent occurence, along with the inability to think of the right word I want at the moment I need it.
Friday I surpassed myself in the stupidity stakes!
Fletch and I were watching the news and a clip of Chinese president Hu Jintao making his Olympic opening speech. I turned to Fletch and in all innocence and without a trace of apparent confusion said "Oh...I like his rectum"! FFS!
The look on his face, along with a very slight niggle in my own mind, that something was not quite right in the claptrap that I had just uttered warned me I was about to become the butt (no pun intended) of much derision and amusement!
Please someone, tell me that the words 'rectum' and 'LECTURN' at least sound slightly similar!!! Ugh, what a donkey!
I suppose I should only be glad that it wasn't me in front of a lecturn!
We have all heard others use the wrong words when trying to articulate something or laughed heartily at someone else's misfortune when they get so tongue tied that absolutely nothing coherent comes out and we have all, I suspect, done the same ourselves on occasion, but as I get older it seems to be a slightly more frequent occurence, along with the inability to think of the right word I want at the moment I need it.
Friday I surpassed myself in the stupidity stakes!
Fletch and I were watching the news and a clip of Chinese president Hu Jintao making his Olympic opening speech. I turned to Fletch and in all innocence and without a trace of apparent confusion said "Oh...I like his rectum"! FFS!
The look on his face, along with a very slight niggle in my own mind, that something was not quite right in the claptrap that I had just uttered warned me I was about to become the butt (no pun intended) of much derision and amusement!
Please someone, tell me that the words 'rectum' and 'LECTURN' at least sound slightly similar!!! Ugh, what a donkey!
I suppose I should only be glad that it wasn't me in front of a lecturn!
Saturday, 9 August 2008
The Olympics........1972!
You know how once in a while you are reminded unexpectedly of something so acutely you can recall every last detail, the sights, the sounds, the emotions, even the smells, well yesterday, as I perused the BBC's coverage of the Olympics this year I was suddenly transported by a short clip of video back to my childhood. This clip, as it transpired, was to literally change my life. (Below is a version of same but the linked BBC version is much better.)
It was 1972 and TV wasn't encouraged in our family (despite it being my father's lifetime profession) but the Olympics were apparently different and relatively unlimited viewing time was allowed.
By chance I was sat in front of the dreaded 'box' when Olga Korbut did her winning floor routine for the gymnastic finals and unusually for me (Ms.limited concentration span here) I was absolutely transfixed.
Almost immediately my mother found herself with the task of finding one small daughter a gymnastic club that would allow her to 'try out'. As mothers do she found one post-haste and I was given my chance to 'impress' them a few weeks later. Oh, the confidence of youth, bear in mind here I had not had so much as a moments coaching thus far and other than watching Korbut I knew nothing whatsoever about the sport.
However, my confidence was rewarded. As the club put me through my paces for a day and instructed me on each move it began to be apparent that I might just have found my niche, whatever they asked me to do I could, it seemed and I won my place already able to perform much that the long standing members could.
I can still now remember the feeling, the realisation that 'Ms Average 11 year old kid' had found something she excelled in naturally, the attention I got from coaches and onlookers that day felt tantamount to adulation at my tender years and I felt like I was famous in my little world!
And that was the start of it, the next however many years were to be spent in a gym every waking moment I wasn't being schooled, weekends and evenings were spent competing at various levels and I often made it home with a winning result to my name. Remember that we are talking the 1970's, gymnastics, like all sports, was in comparison to current standards in it's infancy, but to the those not familiar with the finer points, I would have appeared at least, to have mastered much that my inspiration Korbut was competing with by the time I had been coached for maybe only a year.
Unfortunately to those with a practiced eye, namely the judges, I had a way to go and my dreams of getting into the British squad were just that, dreams, and realitically it wasn't going to happen. Yes, for the era, I was good if I say so myself, but I wasn't that good and as the years progressed and I repeatedly started to place second or third or even lower in the competition arena, the obsessively competitive kid in me began to lose interest. Spending all my time in a gymnasium with a coach barking orders at me and with most parts of my body bruised, bumped, twisted or injured in one way or another began to seem something less than the fun my contemporaries were by then engaged in....namely the usual teenage interests of partying, discos, boys and booze.
I was sweating it out and they were out partying, they wore fashionable clothes and I couldn't even get my way too big and un-feminine calf and thigh muscles into the narrow jeans of the day, they were developing a girly shape while I was looking more akin to a short version of Charles Atlas and they were building stamina for late nights while I was building stamina for day after day bandaging torn muscles and ligaments!
You can see why the interest began to wane!
Winning awards and medals might have had it's pull once but the little perfectionist already in me felt it was pointless if I wasn't going to make the grade. This coincided with my losing my coach (long and not very nice story) and being unable to find another as good..... and so almost as fast as I had started the whole malarkey years earlier, I stopped it and walked out of a gym for the last time at around age sixteen. I spent a few years fending off those trying to persuade me to become a coach but somehow it wasn't the same, my time in a gymnasium was well and truly over.
But it did change my life, it filled much of those odd early teenage years, it gave me direction, it taught me stamina and it gave me confidence, at least some of the time and it's the reason my asthmatic lungs have thus far had the capacity to let me breath normally despite my smoking!
Annoyingly in the longer term it's the reason I have the painful joints now of someone much older, being uber bendy and pummelling ones body to within an inch of it's life for years eventually takes it toll and though I don't understand the physiology I will never give Dolly Parton or Jordan a run for their money, the only part of a gymnast's chest that becomes 'well developed' is the pecs! ;o)
Strange what one little video clip can bring back!
It was 1972 and TV wasn't encouraged in our family (despite it being my father's lifetime profession) but the Olympics were apparently different and relatively unlimited viewing time was allowed.
By chance I was sat in front of the dreaded 'box' when Olga Korbut did her winning floor routine for the gymnastic finals and unusually for me (Ms.limited concentration span here) I was absolutely transfixed.
Almost immediately my mother found herself with the task of finding one small daughter a gymnastic club that would allow her to 'try out'. As mothers do she found one post-haste and I was given my chance to 'impress' them a few weeks later. Oh, the confidence of youth, bear in mind here I had not had so much as a moments coaching thus far and other than watching Korbut I knew nothing whatsoever about the sport.
However, my confidence was rewarded. As the club put me through my paces for a day and instructed me on each move it began to be apparent that I might just have found my niche, whatever they asked me to do I could, it seemed and I won my place already able to perform much that the long standing members could.
I can still now remember the feeling, the realisation that 'Ms Average 11 year old kid' had found something she excelled in naturally, the attention I got from coaches and onlookers that day felt tantamount to adulation at my tender years and I felt like I was famous in my little world!
And that was the start of it, the next however many years were to be spent in a gym every waking moment I wasn't being schooled, weekends and evenings were spent competing at various levels and I often made it home with a winning result to my name. Remember that we are talking the 1970's, gymnastics, like all sports, was in comparison to current standards in it's infancy, but to the those not familiar with the finer points, I would have appeared at least, to have mastered much that my inspiration Korbut was competing with by the time I had been coached for maybe only a year.
Unfortunately to those with a practiced eye, namely the judges, I had a way to go and my dreams of getting into the British squad were just that, dreams, and realitically it wasn't going to happen. Yes, for the era, I was good if I say so myself, but I wasn't that good and as the years progressed and I repeatedly started to place second or third or even lower in the competition arena, the obsessively competitive kid in me began to lose interest. Spending all my time in a gymnasium with a coach barking orders at me and with most parts of my body bruised, bumped, twisted or injured in one way or another began to seem something less than the fun my contemporaries were by then engaged in....namely the usual teenage interests of partying, discos, boys and booze.
I was sweating it out and they were out partying, they wore fashionable clothes and I couldn't even get my way too big and un-feminine calf and thigh muscles into the narrow jeans of the day, they were developing a girly shape while I was looking more akin to a short version of Charles Atlas and they were building stamina for late nights while I was building stamina for day after day bandaging torn muscles and ligaments!
You can see why the interest began to wane!
Winning awards and medals might have had it's pull once but the little perfectionist already in me felt it was pointless if I wasn't going to make the grade. This coincided with my losing my coach (long and not very nice story) and being unable to find another as good..... and so almost as fast as I had started the whole malarkey years earlier, I stopped it and walked out of a gym for the last time at around age sixteen. I spent a few years fending off those trying to persuade me to become a coach but somehow it wasn't the same, my time in a gymnasium was well and truly over.
But it did change my life, it filled much of those odd early teenage years, it gave me direction, it taught me stamina and it gave me confidence, at least some of the time and it's the reason my asthmatic lungs have thus far had the capacity to let me breath normally despite my smoking!
Annoyingly in the longer term it's the reason I have the painful joints now of someone much older, being uber bendy and pummelling ones body to within an inch of it's life for years eventually takes it toll and though I don't understand the physiology I will never give Dolly Parton or Jordan a run for their money, the only part of a gymnast's chest that becomes 'well developed' is the pecs! ;o)
Strange what one little video clip can bring back!
Friday, 8 August 2008
I'm weak....very weak!
It would appear that my ability to resist the temptations of any mindless pass time is sorely lacking!
You name it, Facebook, Twitter, Friends Reunited, each time a new way to 'socially interact' appears or a new 'lowest common denominator' TV programme is scheduled I promise myself I won't get sucked in...and each time I do, despite my best efforts to ignore them all initially.
I have had my mouse on the Facebook delete button a thousand times but I never quite manage to hit it. I stopped paying for Friends Reunited so I couldn't use it....and then they made it gratis and I got sucked back in and Twitter....hell Twitter is the real killer, Twitter have hit the spot, quick, easy and simple, completely irresistible and should one get bored with merely 'Twittering' there is of course all the different apps. to access it with to investigate and play with too!
I could go into the long, drawn out psychological reasons these things get us (or me at least) and how the marketing guys win us over but I won't, you know all that stuff already no doubt and the fact is simple, they have us by the balls, they know what makes us tick and they have powerful tools to infiltrate our psyche, it's pretty clever stuff really,it's more my ability to resist it, even armed with that knowledge, that annoys me!
However, it gets worse! I have a confession, I resisted for three whole years but I have fallen off the waggon again this year and have become victim to that which is the horror of all humankind....Big Brother! Another mindless carry-on and this one not even requiring the ability to do more than press the 'on' button and stare idiotically at a screen! Not even a mouse to take control of!
You know it's bad when you wake up on a Friday morning and mention with copious amounts of glee to a horrified partner that it is 'eviction night'....and worse still find you are having trouble understanding why that happily imparted piece of information doesn't fill him with the same glee and is met instead with a silent and pitying stare!
You name it, Facebook, Twitter, Friends Reunited, each time a new way to 'socially interact' appears or a new 'lowest common denominator' TV programme is scheduled I promise myself I won't get sucked in...and each time I do, despite my best efforts to ignore them all initially.
I have had my mouse on the Facebook delete button a thousand times but I never quite manage to hit it. I stopped paying for Friends Reunited so I couldn't use it....and then they made it gratis and I got sucked back in and Twitter....hell Twitter is the real killer, Twitter have hit the spot, quick, easy and simple, completely irresistible and should one get bored with merely 'Twittering' there is of course all the different apps. to access it with to investigate and play with too!
I could go into the long, drawn out psychological reasons these things get us (or me at least) and how the marketing guys win us over but I won't, you know all that stuff already no doubt and the fact is simple, they have us by the balls, they know what makes us tick and they have powerful tools to infiltrate our psyche, it's pretty clever stuff really,it's more my ability to resist it, even armed with that knowledge, that annoys me!
However, it gets worse! I have a confession, I resisted for three whole years but I have fallen off the waggon again this year and have become victim to that which is the horror of all humankind....Big Brother! Another mindless carry-on and this one not even requiring the ability to do more than press the 'on' button and stare idiotically at a screen! Not even a mouse to take control of!
You know it's bad when you wake up on a Friday morning and mention with copious amounts of glee to a horrified partner that it is 'eviction night'....and worse still find you are having trouble understanding why that happily imparted piece of information doesn't fill him with the same glee and is met instead with a silent and pitying stare!
Thursday, 7 August 2008
You know those days....
....where you can think of absolutely nothing constructive or positive to say?
This is one of them!
I'm in a bit of a funk, lots on my mind, not enough sleep, yada, yada, yada.....
This is one of them!
I'm in a bit of a funk, lots on my mind, not enough sleep, yada, yada, yada.....
Wednesday, 6 August 2008
Tuesday, 5 August 2008
Red boat
Despite having a camera in my hand much of the time I very rarely take a photograph that I actually like, in fact I can think of probably only three in my lifetime!
However, at Robin Hoods Bay last weekend, just for once I managed to take a series that I think are ok so I'm gonna blow my own trumpet just a tiny bit! That said, I was lucky, I happened to notice a scrap of evening sunlight hitting the red tarpaulin when everything else was shrouded in mist...and it hung around long enough to take a few pictures!
Here are a few of them:
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(All clickable but big files)
However, at Robin Hoods Bay last weekend, just for once I managed to take a series that I think are ok so I'm gonna blow my own trumpet just a tiny bit! That said, I was lucky, I happened to notice a scrap of evening sunlight hitting the red tarpaulin when everything else was shrouded in mist...and it hung around long enough to take a few pictures!
Here are a few of them:
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
(All clickable but big files)
Monday, 4 August 2008
Animal antics
I'm away down south again for a day or two on 'patient transport' duties, TP is still doing remarkably well but it's kind of an ongoing thing.
I should be back soon but until then I'll leave you with a couple of scheduled posts and two amusing stories from the news recently.
The first, a guy who thought his asthma inhaler was for use on the cat!! You have to wonder about some people don't you!
.....and the second, a sheep that got stuck on the roof of a house!
*PS. Um....anyone I owe email too...sorry, I will get to it!
I should be back soon but until then I'll leave you with a couple of scheduled posts and two amusing stories from the news recently.
The first, a guy who thought his asthma inhaler was for use on the cat!! You have to wonder about some people don't you!
.....and the second, a sheep that got stuck on the roof of a house!
*PS. Um....anyone I owe email too...sorry, I will get to it!
Sunday, 3 August 2008
Blogging award!
Thank you to Kate of Shambles Manor who has seen fit to bestow upon me a blogging award, complete with golden cup!
I'm not entirely sure why I should deserve it but it's kinda nice just the same.
Now it's my turn to present the award to my favourite five blogs/bloggers so here goes, in no particular order:
1. Lisa of 'Lisa's Place'. Firstly for longevity, her blog might not seem one of very long standing but that's only because she shifts it with regular monotony! In actual fact Lisa has been blogging for years, her posts are thoughtful, insightful and often times very funny. We met through our blogs and became firm friends, we ran a small design business together for a time and there are probably only one or two other people in the world who know me as well as Lisa does.
2. Mr Nighttime. A relatively new blog to me but always fascinating, well written and very honest. I like this guys style.
3. Bendy Girl of 'Benefit Scrounging Scum'. For highlighting many of the difficulties faced by those with a disability and promoting discussion by her 'pull no punches', open and honest manner of writing.
4. Jenny of 'Demob Happy Teacher' . Jenny and I go back years almost to the very first day we began blogging. I think we were probably about the first to comment on one anothers blogs, so again she gets this for longevity along with her highly amusing and appealingly cynical slant on issues she encounters in life.
5. Leesa of 'Peace of my Mind', again another blog of long standing but she gets a gold cup because her photography is fantastic and amazing and always makes me smile!
So...pick up your cup and go nominate your five! :o)
I'm not entirely sure why I should deserve it but it's kinda nice just the same.Now it's my turn to present the award to my favourite five blogs/bloggers so here goes, in no particular order:
1. Lisa of 'Lisa's Place'. Firstly for longevity, her blog might not seem one of very long standing but that's only because she shifts it with regular monotony! In actual fact Lisa has been blogging for years, her posts are thoughtful, insightful and often times very funny. We met through our blogs and became firm friends, we ran a small design business together for a time and there are probably only one or two other people in the world who know me as well as Lisa does.
2. Mr Nighttime. A relatively new blog to me but always fascinating, well written and very honest. I like this guys style.
3. Bendy Girl of 'Benefit Scrounging Scum'. For highlighting many of the difficulties faced by those with a disability and promoting discussion by her 'pull no punches', open and honest manner of writing.
4. Jenny of 'Demob Happy Teacher' . Jenny and I go back years almost to the very first day we began blogging. I think we were probably about the first to comment on one anothers blogs, so again she gets this for longevity along with her highly amusing and appealingly cynical slant on issues she encounters in life.
5. Leesa of 'Peace of my Mind', again another blog of long standing but she gets a gold cup because her photography is fantastic and amazing and always makes me smile!
So...pick up your cup and go nominate your five! :o)
Saturday, 2 August 2008
Friday, 1 August 2008
What......no coffee??
Yesterday morning, having only just staggered out of bed, bleary eyed and with a brain only functioning at minimum capacity things began to fall apart almost immediately and just how much we rely on the infrastructure that is the 21st century was bought into sharp focus!
Our level of dependence on modern day conveniences, things we take for granted without a second thought, but that millions of people throughout the world don't have the privilege of, is really quite concerning and our ability to function efficiently without them is even more worrying.
What am I talking about? Well in this case power, the items littered around our lives that rely on it and the fact that at an early hour yesterday we had a complete power outage.....before I had even managed to get the first coffee of the day organised, this was not a good start to the day!
So, coffee-less and grumpy I decided that as I had a doctors appointment anyway I would wander into town early and have breakfast and the much needed coffee at Costa. Things were to go further downhill. As I approached the town I was aware of umpteen alarm sirens ringing, a sure sign that the power outage wasn't confined only to our building, and sure enough as I turned the corner into the main street it was very apparent that no-one had power anywhere. Ugh.... still no coffee!
From there on in it began to dawn on me just how much we take for granted. Next I thought I would make use of the time and go check my poorly bank balance....nope, ATMs don't function without electricity. Ok, I'll go buy something to eat and drink from the supermarket...nope, point of sale equipment doesn't work without electricity. Right then, I'll get to the doctors early....and sit in the window-less waiting room in the dark, unable to even read a magazine,fun and still no damn coffee!
Next problem, the doctor can't access my notes, they are on the computer of course, computers don't work without power, ok, I refresh his memory, I need a prescription.....nope, prescription requires computer, computer requires electricity....you know the rest!
Finally an 'old fashioned' handwritten prescription pad is located. I go back into town to get the prescription filled....nope, the pharmacy can't dispense, dispensing is via a computer, the computer of course needs power, there is no damn power, they can't do it manually, they don't have the 'systems' in place.
I decided I might as well go home, still without coffee. The entire town was littered with the staff of shops and banks standing aimlessly outside their premises looking completely lost, unable to do anything without power and completely at a loss as what to do other than apologise over and over again to disgruntled customers for the inconvenience....that wasn't their fault in the first place.
At home I was stuck still. I decided to tidy up, our bathroom and kitchen have no windows, pitch black in there, too dark to do anything, right, I could catch up on the ironing....no I couldn't, irons need power, ok, get showered....nope, showers need power....and on it went, no power, no router, no computer and still no bloody coffee!
We know of course how much we rely on modern conveniences but we don't truly realise just how much until they all fall off at once but strangely, once I had gotten over the being frustrated aspect and accepted there was damn all I could do about it, it was actually quite liberating. I played with Hammy and I read a book and all without the guilt of thinking I should be doing something else more constructive, because there was nothing else I could be doing.....because it all needs power!
I got my first cup of coffee around late lunch time when the boffins at the sub-station got their act together, and you know what, I survived! ;o)
Funny old world.
Our level of dependence on modern day conveniences, things we take for granted without a second thought, but that millions of people throughout the world don't have the privilege of, is really quite concerning and our ability to function efficiently without them is even more worrying.
What am I talking about? Well in this case power, the items littered around our lives that rely on it and the fact that at an early hour yesterday we had a complete power outage.....before I had even managed to get the first coffee of the day organised, this was not a good start to the day!
So, coffee-less and grumpy I decided that as I had a doctors appointment anyway I would wander into town early and have breakfast and the much needed coffee at Costa. Things were to go further downhill. As I approached the town I was aware of umpteen alarm sirens ringing, a sure sign that the power outage wasn't confined only to our building, and sure enough as I turned the corner into the main street it was very apparent that no-one had power anywhere. Ugh.... still no coffee!
From there on in it began to dawn on me just how much we take for granted. Next I thought I would make use of the time and go check my poorly bank balance....nope, ATMs don't function without electricity. Ok, I'll go buy something to eat and drink from the supermarket...nope, point of sale equipment doesn't work without electricity. Right then, I'll get to the doctors early....and sit in the window-less waiting room in the dark, unable to even read a magazine,
Next problem, the doctor can't access my notes, they are on the computer of course, computers don't work without power, ok, I refresh his memory, I need a prescription.....nope, prescription requires computer, computer requires electricity....you know the rest!
Finally an 'old fashioned' handwritten prescription pad is located. I go back into town to get the prescription filled....nope, the pharmacy can't dispense, dispensing is via a computer, the computer of course needs power, there is no damn power, they can't do it manually, they don't have the 'systems' in place.
I decided I might as well go home, still without coffee. The entire town was littered with the staff of shops and banks standing aimlessly outside their premises looking completely lost, unable to do anything without power and completely at a loss as what to do other than apologise over and over again to disgruntled customers for the inconvenience....that wasn't their fault in the first place.
At home I was stuck still. I decided to tidy up, our bathroom and kitchen have no windows, pitch black in there, too dark to do anything, right, I could catch up on the ironing....no I couldn't, irons need power, ok, get showered....nope, showers need power....and on it went, no power, no router, no computer and still no bloody coffee!
We know of course how much we rely on modern conveniences but we don't truly realise just how much until they all fall off at once but strangely, once I had gotten over the being frustrated aspect and accepted there was damn all I could do about it, it was actually quite liberating. I played with Hammy and I read a book and all without the guilt of thinking I should be doing something else more constructive, because there was nothing else I could be doing.....because it all needs power!
I got my first cup of coffee around late lunch time when the boffins at the sub-station got their act together, and you know what, I survived! ;o)
Funny old world.
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