I got an award!

I have very kindly been given a 'sisterhood' award by Wise Herb, I might could question her choice in me but just the same I feel kind of flattered so thankyou Mrs Herb :o)

It goes like this, I now have to choose eight lady bloggers, sorry guys, I didn't make the rules, who's blogs show great Attitude and/or Gratitude to pass this award on to so here goes, the following are hereby duly awarded:

Lisa - because she's my best friend and her attitude to life has got the pair of us through many a 'scrape'....and likely, given how we seem to live our lives, will go on doing so for a long time yet!

Fabulous - for making me think, for her insightfulness, her honesty....and her cakes!

H.L.- for great tenacity and attitude in the face of tough times.

Daffy - for having the right attitude to life and despite our friendship being in relative infancy, being one of those 'sisters' who already makes a difference to my life.

Alright tit - a relatively new blog to me but one who's author has the most astounding approach/attitude to life and what it throws at her, refreshingly 'pulls no punches' and retains a fab sense of humour despite her trials.

That's the way life is - because Joanna is one of life's truly special people.

Daisy the curly cat - because she has great cattitude and brightens my every day!

....and finally, I'm going to break the rules here because it's my blog and because the recipient of my final award goes to a man who is without doubt secure enough in himself to be called a 'sister' and not be phased by it! I just can't hand out awards for attitude/gratitude without including him!

JW of Welcome to my world, long time friend, supporter of me in my good and bad times, a very clever guy with a knack for kicking my arse when I need it and for knowing 'where I'm at'. An intellectual who confounds and confuses me at times but who makes me think, never deserts me and can always be relied upon whatever is going on in his own life. This guy is family to me and I can't exclude him purely for his gender, so shoot me! ;o)

*Incidentally, I won't beat any of you over the head if you prefer not to pass it on!

That's it!

Ok...enough already!...the phone is going in the post today and winging it's sad way back to it's originator, I've had enough, life is too short to spend two days fighting a crap operating system!

I'm confounded really as to how an apparently high end piece of kit could have such basic flaws. Ok, I know the more the dev. guys cram into any piece of equipment the morel likelihood there is of problems... but to miss out such basic things as the ability to name a folder strikes me as pretty poor. Yup, it's a fact. The software version in the 6220 allows one to create folders for images, documents etc. but not to name them, in fact not to identify them in any way, the result of which is that one ends up with any number of folders, all completely unidentifiable! Useful eh? I thought it was me but many calls later, some internet research and a visit to a phone geek chap proved it not to be me but the software.

And that was just the start. I won't bore you with the other specifics but suffice to say, I got more than an acceptable number of 'blue screen of death'(ok, they were grey but you know where I'm coming from on this) appearances, it crashed completely more times than anyone could find remotely acceptable and wouldn't restart without much poking and prodding among stuff that Jane Doe shouldn't be expected to have to poke and prod at!

So, I don't know what next, I'm tempted by an iPhone, if for no other reason than it's just so sexy but the decision is on hold for a few days, I'm all phoned out!

On a happier note tho....we have BIG snow forecast as a 93% possibility for Monday so fingers crossed please! :o)

Nasty new phone!

Well, the new phone arrived yesterday, or rather I had to go and pick it up, o2 having for the first time in history managed to make a next day delivery, just when I didn't want them too....and it's nasty!

Well that might be something of an overstatement but thus far I can't say I'm impressed. This is not an item that displays Nokia's usual build quality, in fact this model, the 6220, is more reminiscent of a child's toy rather than a high end, 'smartphone' piece of technology! Add to that, thus far, the much heralded, Symbian operating system leaves a lot to be desired in my humble opinion with the result that I spent much of yesterday fighting it....with not much success.

To be fair I am not an expert but I am usually pretty good with phones, hell, I managed to circumnavigate Nokia's own software at length to convert certain files to a csv. format and load them successfully when nothing that was supposed to work actually did but the whole thing is just so convoluted and protracted that it's simply a pain.

Perhaps it's the old familiarity thing, my last phone uses a different o/s but I don't think so. I can forgive the build quality if the function is good but by last night it was back in it's box ready to be returned! This morning however I have woken with new geeky vigour, maybe I will give it one more go, damn, why did I 'restore factory settings', but if it doesn't shape up fast back it will go, despite there being nothing else I want on the market right now.....I would rather stick with the one I have!

Gingerbread men....and women!

I shouldn't encourage this but I couldn't help but laugh.

The moral of the story?....never let inebriated men into the kitchen!

Commencing phase two

Phase one of the hectic few days is done.

Unexpectedly we managed to make it home last night instead of spending the entire duration away, plans changed and instead of taxi-ing to and from the south coast we instead have a house guest for a few days, Fletch's younger brother, who we bought back with us last night and who will have to tag along with us for part two.

The birthday celebration weekend was cool, as ever. Fletch's mums manages the best family gatherings and among all the good humour, food and fun it was a day or two to forget the coming week and relax. We managed a walk on the beach, well I walked, Fletch sat on a groyne (Oh...I'm not sure that sounds very nice) and watched me walk, and I got to take a few photographs (see yesterday), something I haven't had much chance to do of late.

Today we re-group for phase two and the next journey, this time north for the funeral and somehow I have to get Fletch and his brother suited, booted, smart and away from the X-Box and ready to hit the road very early in the morning.

Wish me luck!

Beside the seaside

Saturday, a (cold) walk on the beach.

(Clickable)

The problem with printers is.....

A lazy, scheduled post in my abscence! ;o)

A few hectic days!

You know how everything seems to happen at once, for weeks you have nothing much to do and then suddenly, out of the blue come a list of things that need doing at once...the next few days in gemmak's-ville is one of those times!

Tonight, in theory at least (I'll come to that later) we are off down to the South coast to spend the weekend at Fletch's parents doing the 40th birthday celebrations family style. It should be good, it always is, fun, laughter, good food, good company and the sea, even in winter I love the beach.

However, you might recall that Christmas became somewhat hectic when unfortunately one of Fletch's close relatives became very ill....sadly she died last week and the funeral is to be held on this coming Tuesday, which means a trip up to Yorkshire and possibly some taxi-ing of relatives.

As a result I have no idea where or when I will be, the next few days will probably be spend mainly on the road again, covering distances from Cambridge to the south coast, to Yorkshire, to the south coast, to Cambridge....and that's where I said earlier 'in theory' because as sods law would dictate, Fletch's company car, late last night, presented a 'fatal flaw' message regarding it's road holding capabilities flashing manically from it's warning systems......wouldn't you know it! Fantastic timing Mr Toyota!

It is thus that today himself is 'working from home' (wink) while frantic efforts are made to get the local dealership to at least make the problem safe, the alternative is to take my little crap car, the prospect of which is not a good one when faced with the probablilty of over 1000 miles and the likelihood of us never actually making it to the funeral.... and instead finding ourselves on the back of a rescue truck!

Happy weekend guys! I'm packing for the long haul, I'll be here when I can make it and in the meantime I'll doubtless be Twittering!

Orange - The debacle continues

You might remember a few days ago I blogged a situation I was enduring with Orange. To re-cap briefly, they believe I owe them £30 from a broadband account I held almost three years ago in Scotland. I dispute the debt in the first instance but rather than discuss it with me, they emailed me the notification on the email address they had closed when I terminated the account and when unsurprisingly they got no response, they 'sent their boys after me', despite my having already furnishing them, on a number of occasions, with all the legally necessary information to prove that regardless of whether or not the debt was valid, it was dated prior to my being declared bankrupt and hence I wasn't liable!

But the saga continued. Orange (and their heavies) wanted hard copy but as a small act of defiance I refused to send it on the grounds that none of my real or significant creditors had required it and that the law doesn't require that I provide it either, only the details of the court and case number etc.

Not put off they continued to hound me two or three times a day, including Christmas eve and boxing day, I reminded them that to hassle me 'post bankruptcy' is contrary to the bankruptcy laws, but still they continued, so finally I just stopped answering their calls.

Next, given a few weeks to calm down I decided that to capitulate was probably the sensible way to resolve the situation....and sent them hard copy, with a covering letter expressing my feelings regarding their behaviour and requesting confirmation in writing that the matter was now closed.

No response! Well actually there was a response....a company of bailiffs contacted me....may I remind you this is all over just £30! They however acted within the law and once I had given them the bankruptcy case details they backed off, almost as confounded as me by Orange's actions.

Enough already! With my hackles raised once more I contacted Orange's bully boy company again.....and it will come as no surprise to you to discover they deny ever having received the hard copy! Any degree of patience I had retained was lost at this point and whilst I stuck to the basic rules of remaining polite and calm I 'let them have it with both barrels' so to speak and then requested that a manager call me back, pronto.

She did, though of course not pronto, and finally, much haggling later, she agreed to accept hard copy by fax. Easy?Of course not, their fax machine was buggered and my 'manager' didn't have access to the office to deal with it! Jeez!

I suggested I email a copy, this was met with some degree of confusion because she was concerned it would arrive in a format she couldn't open!!!! I promised it in a common format and she eventually gave me an email address....which didn't work either and bounced back at me countless times!

I called her again, each call I might add involves all the usual phone menu frustrations and then the inevitable, "she's on another call, I'll get her to call you back" in three days time response! Eventually I got hold of her again and she gave me another email address, with a promise to confirm receipt of my mail by return.

This time success...... Of a sort......at least my mail didn't bounce back but I can only assume it arrived because thus far, which is three days later, I still don't have any confirmation! In fact I have had no contact at all, so my assumption is, that as they appear to have got off my bloody phone line on a thrice daily basis, something must have worked and got throught to them at last!

You will understand though why I am more than a little sceptical and why I still anticipate having to deal with the bailiffs at my door.

This is outrageous behaviour from a national company. Firstly it's appalling that these companies employ debt collecting factors that they are very well aware operate outside the law. Secondly, every aspect of their administration systems appear to fall down spectacularly, which from a company in a hi-tech business isn't very impressive, thirdly, do they really think anyone goes through the nightmare of personal bankruptcy without familiarising themselves with the legislation and rights, fourthly I am sick of being blatantly lied to by fuckwits who assume I don't know the law, and consequently they can do as they please and finally....can anyone really believe they have spent so much time and money chasing a disputed debt of only £30 from a bankrupt that they know ultimately they can't collect from!!! It's no bloody wonder the country is in the state it is right now!

They now have one more item of hard copy, a letter stating my dissatisfaction in a very specific manner and a promise that should this continue any further I will go to law to stop them, if only on principle.

I can deal with these situations without too much bother, albeit a lot of stress, I'm not easily intimidated and I know my way around but Lord help anyone who is less able, it horrifies me to think just what these companies might inflict on some!

ORANGE....the future is bright, the staff are not!

Oh, and the bully boys if you are interested....Buchanan Clark and Wells a subsidiary of The BCW group, who interestingly seem to have a lot of negative google returns!

And in the news today

Given that the whole world will today be writing on the subject of Obama, I thought I would give you one or two alternative news stories instead. That's not to say that yesterday's inauguration was of no interest to me, I watched every moment of it and with a new sense of hope and even pride, despite not being American, but politics is not my forte so I'll leave that to those who know what they are talking about.

So, courtesy of the BBC a couple of reports of a lighter nature...

A weather forecasting cat in Germany,

A cow travelling by car in Beirut,

and a cat burglar in Swindon that reminds me very much of Tilly, who also had a penchant for soft toy theft, though she did at least stick to those in her own household!

Enjoy.

A moral dilemma

I'm on the horns of a dilemma, one I have been pondering for a while and still can't really find a comfortable solution for inside of my own head.

It's the work situation, or rather the lack of it. I haven't worked now in paid employment for coming up to a year, I have tried various options, the design thing, though that was never likely to make me a living income yet at least, employment agencies who generally didn't have suitable types of work (or the motivation to do their own job properly, I'm not sure which) and managed to find me the grand total of four placements and the obvious, job hunting by the usual routes. All to no avail.

If I am entirely honest, for some of my period of unemployment the hunt for a position has been a little more 'low key' than might be ideal, mostly for various personal reasons but with the new year a new stronger push for work was commenced.....and believe me, it's tough out there and getting tougher by the day, particularly when most of your life's work experience is in retail!

Fletch has supported me both financially and emotionally throughout and as I didn't claim a penny in benefit, our decisions regarding my work status, I felt were our business, but things have changed in that positions are very few and far between right now and I have a moral obligation to him also.

In the main the state expects him to support me although we are not married but if one applies the same principle to the taxation system, they don't allow us the same rights as a married couple! No surprise there then! I think that's called 'having it all your own way'....the more I look into the benefit and taxation systems in the more it becomes apparent that where it suits them we are counted as married but where being married might be beneficial to us, we are counted as individual people with no connection at all!

So this is my dilemma....do I now 'sign on' or not?

The pro's are obvious, I get a little money, which whilst it might not be much, it is more than nothing, I will feel that I am contributing financially a little the running of our life, the systems will kick in and make efforts to help me find a job and I will be counted in the unemployment figures, something that is important to me.

The down side though, and the real crux of my dilemma, is that whilst we aren't exactly flush financially we aren't on the bread line either, we manage ok and are way better off than tens of thousands are right now. I feel guilty that I might be claiming monies that someone else needs much more than we do, families with children they can barely afford to feed, people living on the streets etc. etc.

But of course, as has been pointed out to me, it doesn't work like that, if it did it would be simple, but the reality is that anything I might be entitled to, if I forfeited it, wouldn't go to help someone in more need. It may be a better option and solution may be to claim any entitlement I have, use what I really need and donate the remainder to an appropriate charity.

I don't much relish the idea of being humiliated and degraded by the attitude of the benefits agency staff again....my last experience of that a few years ago was enough for one lifetime thankyouverymuch but the unfairness of the system, and my having relied solely on Fletch for a year, is beginning to make me consider that perhaps my morals should now lie elsewhere. At the very least, if I claim unemployment benefit, even if I don't qualify for payment, suddenly the system will show an interest and help me in my quest for work and in the meantime I will be counted in the unemployment figures.

I just don't know......

Hamsters and physics

Hammy, it would appear, hasn't quite grasped the principles of basic physics yet!

(Clickable)

'Fletch is 40'!!!

Well, I had it all worked out, today's post was going to be simple, none of the 'what shall I write about today' malarkey, it was sorted, I had subject matter right in front of me.....but then, dammit, Fletch mentioned it wasn't er...'necessary' to blog the fact that today is his 40th birthday, and suddenly my easy post was gone!

So, no public jokes about age, no rejoicing in the fact that from today, he can no longer poke fun at my having been languishing in the '40 something' category for years while he was merely '30 something', no chance for public asides regarding age, wrinkles or decrepitude, as I can't mention that it is Fletch's 40th birthday today, and of course I wouldn't dream of it, all those opportunities for revenge are lost to me!

Ain't life a bitch!


*Hey...... shhhhh, just between you and me Fletch, HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY, I love you.... wrinkles 'n' all! Have a fab one. ;o)

Excuse the mess!

I've spent better part of the last twenty four hours fighting with this blog's code in an endeavour to change it from HTML to XML, don't ask me why, probably just because it's there to be done!

Anyway, along the way and for a day or two to come you may notice it appear to fall apart here and there, my apologies, normal service will be resumed shortly, I'm almost there. In theory it's not hard, in practice it isn't really either but in my usual picky nature there are some bits and pieces that I want 'just so', no one else will likely ever notice but I will and until I have cracked them all the fiddling will likely continue for a few days.

One things for sure, while most of me loves all this faffing and it has the ability to swallow up a whole day into something that feels more like just an hour or two, right now I think if I get one more 'this can't be parsed' error message I might just be tempted throw this machine out of my third floor window!

So, as the title says, if you arrive here and it looks like a tornado has just passed through...please excuse the mess, I'm working on it!


*P.S. Should anyone out there know how to get Haloscan and Blogger commenting systems into the XML together please let me know, it was easy in HTML, not so it appears now! Hell, I don't even use Haloscan comments anymore but I just can't bear to let all the old ones disappear into the ether, again, it's just me, no one else reads them but occasionally I still do!

The 'F' letter!

Ok, you may or may not have seen this but it arrived in my email yesterday and fascinated me. I have no idea if it's a scientific fact or some kind of illusion but it's still interesting. You have to follow the instructions, no cheating and no scrolling down until you have tried it!

It's typed out here exactly as it was presented in the mail, again, I don't know if that's 'part of it' or just poor typing but whatever, here goes;

Count every ' F ' in the following text:

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RE
SULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTI
FIC STUDY COMBINED WITH
THE E XPERIENCE OF YEARS...

How many did you find?

WRONG, there are 6 -- no joke.
READ IT AGAIN !
Really, go Back and Try to find the 6 F's again.
Can you find them all yet?

The reasoning;
The brain cannot process 'OF'.

Incredible or what? Go back and look again!!
Anyone who counts all 6 'F's' on the first go is a genius.

Three is normal, four is quite rare.

Like I say, I don't know if it's trickery or true but it's amusing/frustrating anyhow.

Incidentally, I got 4 and I had to look carefully twice more to find them all!

What did you get??

Bloody bollards - redux!

So, just in case you were in any doubt as to what these things are all about, I thought I would enlighten you further with a little clip I took yesterday on my travels! Hell, I'm good to you lot! ;o)


Try being behind that....you can't see infront of the first approaching vehicle and by the time you get to them yourself the damn things are back up! Ack.

Bloody bollards!

Necessity dictates that today I venture into the big city, not the big city of course, I'll be damned if I'm driving 100 miles just to pay the congestion charge, I mean the closer to hand big city, Cambridge, that of beautiful architecture, historic interest and top end seats of learning but also sadly a million life threatening push bikes and a traffic system straight from the depths of hell!

You might deduce that I am not keen to be making this trip and you would be right. Cambridge might be famous for all manner of things intellectual, highbrow and beautiful but I don't like it one bit, or at least not in the practical sense and I rarely venture anywhere close. Truly, the place is most definitely not a number one destination if what you need to do is get in and out and do a little speedy practical shopping, so much so that usually I prefer to not shop at all.....and that's quite something!

It's an odd place altogether, it has a strange 'transient' unfriendly feel about it that doesn't endear it to me, maybe it's because most of the population is made up of students who are only there for a few years or tourists who are only there for a few days, maybe it's because the place is so spread out and scattered or maybe it's just because everyone is in as much as a hurry to get back out as I am before they become embroiled in the spokes of a speeding bike or have the front of their vehicle annihilated by a 'rising bollard'.

Rising bollards, now there's a thing, the traffic system is controlled by these items of engineering and they are just that, large bollards that rise and fall controlled by sensors on buses, taxis and other 'allowed' modes of transportation, sounds a clever idea? Well it might be aside from the fact that should you fail among the melee to notice a dropped one (and believe me they are easy to miss if you have traffic infront of you), the speed with which they rise out of the ground again is pretty scary and offers every possibility that you won't get home again without a tow truck!

Maybe the drive into London isn't such a bad idea after all.....

Decisions, decisions!

It's that time of year again, one of my favourites, the one where I can kid myself I am getting something for nothing though of course in reality I am not, instead I am merely paying through the nose by more nefarious marketing routes to fulfil my insatiable gadget obsession!

January is the month my mobile phone contract is due for renewal, the down side is of course that it requires a good deal of haggling each time to negotiate a suitable contract (it's amazing what you can get out of these companies if you put your mind to it) the upside though and the bit that outweighs all other aspects is that I get to choose a brand new shiny handset, a new toy to amuse me and fiddle with, oh the delight!

Of course, I get to this point, a week before I can claim my new piece of technological heaven, and I have never actually made the decision as to exactly which model of gorgeous gadget to choose. As ever I have perused at length the spec. for just about everything on the market and as ever I come to the same partial decision, it has to be substance over style (hey, you can't fiddle with 'style' or connect to the internet suitably fast) and it has to be Nokia, I can navigate a Nokia blindfold and I'm too set in my ways to learn another system to that degree of second nature!

So, all that remains is the final decision, an N95, the N96, though to pay a sum upfront which this model requires is usually against my self imposed phone acquisition rules, or the 6220, which is actually small enough for my little thumbs to race over with the necessary speeds and dexterity!

Hey....this is important stuff don't you know! ;o)

Decisions, decisions!

It's been...

.....a funny old weekend and it's gonna be a funny old week, so the lesson for the coming days, as offered to me by himself is 'Chill out'.

Hence, that is what I'm going to endeavour and do!

Move along, not much to see here today.....I'm chillin'....and shopping and one or two other things I don't usually get around to doing. ;o)

Don't try this at home!

For reasons as yet still unexplained, aside from the obsessive gremlin inside of me that likes everything to neat and tidy, I embarked on one of those 'little projects' yesterday that you soon begin to wish you had never dreamt of, let alone started!

Tagging is what I am talking about. I never bothered before to tag any of my blog posts but for a while I have thought maybe I should for various reasons, so yesterday morning I set about what turned out to be the marathon task of actually getting it done....big mistake! Why? Because there is almost 2000 posts and my chances of recalling what each one is about with only the title for a clue was almost nil!

Suffice to say I was still sat here tearing my hair out and trying to scan read almost every post at 2am this morning and as far as indexing goes it's still pretty poor.....but on the upside, they are in some degree of order now and it pushed my Technorati rank up two points instantly (small compensation I know)....though I doubt anyone will ever actually want to search here by tag in the first place and now I discover that unless I convert to the nasty widget template, even if they do Blogger will only kick up the first twenty or so posts in a category anyway!

I suspect there is a conspiracy afoot to make us use that widget thing!

My kinda kitteh!

The JW interview

Following on from the 'interview meme' of a few days back my good friend and blog-buddy JW decided to invent a new one....this one has twelve questions but you only have to answer those you want to. For more details go here, you don't even have to have a blog to join in.

So....verbose as ever, I'll try and do all twelve, here goes!

1. If you could change one piece of legislation, national or inter-national, what would it be and why? Would you just kill it or amend it?

Can I say the 'no smoking' legislation or is that too shallow?

Ok, more seriously, politics and law aren't my forte so I can't come up with one specific piece of legislation but any legislation that is forcing us into a namby-pamby nanny state instead of individuals with responsibility for ourselves should be revoked in my opinion.

Oh....and those bloody speed cameras! They can go.

2. If able to remove all mention of one individual from all media, who would it be and why? I have already done Simon Cowell, Bruce Forsyth and Michael Winner.

David Miliband, why? Because his ineffectual excuse making and ability never to answer the question have the ability to anger me almost before he opens his mouth these days.

3. What has been your most memorable meal and why? Was it the food, the company, the occasion celebrated or – what?

The meal Fletch and I had at a Chinese restaurant the night before we flew to Andalucia (see answer to question 10)...why? I was soooooo excited and I got to fulfil a small dream I had held for a long time.

4. You may go on vacation to anywhere you choose. Where, why and with whom?

Easy. Fletch and I had a two year round the world motorbike trip planned down to the last detail a year or two back. 55000 miles beginning in Dover, ending in North America and going via all but one continent en-route - ex-China, who wouldn't allow our bike in unaccompanied. It was almost fully financed and completely scheduled but circumstances conspired against us and the project was forced onto the shelf indefinitely. So...if I could go anywhere, I would go everywhere, we still have all the plans, the routes, the legalities in hand, it's ready to roll if you're providing the finance and the time out.

5. Ignorance of the law is no excuse. Do you believe that? If so, why do we have appeal courts?

Correct, ignorance of the law is no excuse, though of course there maybe in very occasional situations some extenuating circumstances.

6. Boy friends or dogs – which are the most loyal and loving?
Can I add 'Cats' here??

No brainer....dogs! But cats even more so....that said, boyfriends are pretty cool too! ;o)

7. If doing good resulted in personal danger or inconvenience, would you still try?

Yes, where the outcome for me was purely inconvenience of course, however if I was putting myself in real danger I would attempt to weigh up the odds before making the decision to help, though under extreme circumstances my adrenaline kicks in and I tend to act/react and think of the possible consequences later.

8. Who had the most influence on you during your growing up period? Mother, father or A.N. Other. Why?

I'm not sure I can choose one person, both my mother and father had a huge influence in shaping who I am now, each of them gave me different strengths. My mother instilled in me what I hope is some understanding of people and emotional issues along with a quiet strength, which whilst I might not always display it is an excellent 'model' to follow and from my father I got my cussedness, determination and sense of 'fair play'.

9. What will you do tomorrow that you would not have done this time last week?

Nothing! By that I mean I will do nothing I don't want to or have to....the last few weeks have been hectic/stressful, tomorrow is for chilling! Despite not working, weekdays I still have a 'work day' mentality, there is still stuff I have to do, chores, look for a job etc. etc. Saturdays I try to allow myself not to think of any of that, usually it doesn't work but tomorrow it will! ;o)

10. In your life to date, which were the best of times? Why?

My early childhood, why, because I felt completely safe and secure and life seemed simple. Yes, I can remember back to about age 1!

Latterly the first holiday Fletch and I took together, a week in a very posh villa in the hills of Andalucia. We hadn't known each other very long and it was like every girls romantic fantasy but for real. Walks on the beach hand in hand, long nights under the stars, days out exploring the Moorish architecture and Andalucian mountains, the heat, the sun, skinny dipping, fantastic food and fantastic company!
(My apologies, can I offer you a sick bag?)

11. Burial, cremation, leave body to science?

Cremation, though if those I left behind felt strongly that they would prefer another way I would be happy for them to make that choice.

12. What on earth made you buy THAT dress/pair of trousers?

A moment of madness and probably the momentary belief that I would actually have the courage to wear it in public!


Your turn now!

Taking a Benylin day!

Company bosses seem to have taken exception to the recent TV commercial from the makers of cold remedy's Benylin, so much so that it has been referred to the advertising standards authority!

And what is the problem? Apparently they don't approve of the fact that the advertisement promotes the perfectly sensible very silly idea that should we fall genuinely ill we should perhaps take a day off work and look after ourselves. No surprise there then! In fact the very thought is described by Stephen Alambritis of the Small business Federation as 'outrageous'!

These I assume are the same bosses that have their staff jumping through hoops when they call in sick, who treat their employees like they perpetually lie and aren't ever actually ill, those who terrorise and threaten what should be their most precious resource into working despite even obvious ill health and who ostracise those individuals when they return to their desks. That is what is really outrageous Mr. Alambritis!

I'm not advocating here the taking of a true 'sickie'...that is a day off for fun under the pretence of illness, and I am not stupid enough to think that doesn't cost employers dearly, but what I do advocate is that if one is ill then time off is appropriate and that we minions shouldn't be treated worse than criminals for our human failings!

I for one have had some pretty appalling responses to a day off sick in my time, even more worryingly have allowed myself to become quite seriously ill as a result of my reticence to face the wrath of the boss should I call in sick and more worryingly still, having worked at both management and 'low end' levels it is apparent that trust from employers diminishes rapidly the further down the hierarchical ladder you get!

So....'GO BENYLIN' is my feeling, a little bit of support for the underdog is never a bad thing....even if it is in the name of advertising!

Snow fight

I'm poorly and I have the definite hump, I don't know what ails me but all of me hurts, I feel sick, I have the tummy and head ache from hell and I don't like it....but this video clip in my mailbox this morning cheered me up so I will share it with you coz I'm nice like that! ;o)


Sound on

Interview me!

I did this a few years back but I thought another go might be fun. This version comes via Mr Nighttime and it works like this;

If you want to be 'interviewed on your blog' drop me a mail or a comment and I will mail you five questions, you answer them in a blog post and send me the link. I think originally the rules said to mail the originator the reply as well as post it but just a link seems simpler.

Here's my interview, as supplied by MrN.

1. Which movie/television show best describes your life and why?

'Forrest Gump' for this quote alone; "Life is like a box of chocolates....you never know whay you're going to get"

2. A former friend that badly hurt you in past, now calls you up and asks for your help with a serious matter, one of life or death. Do you help them?

Yes, no question. To be honest I'm not sure if that's because I would feel guilty if I didn't or because I would actually care about the outcome for the individual but either way, yes.

3. Vacation - Paris or New York City?

No brainer - NYC, my #1 destination since about age six!

4. What is your favorite curse word? (okay, I stole this from "Inside The Actor's Studio.)

Um....'f*ck', sorry but it can be said with real feeling. If I'm in the company of anyone I might offend then 'bugger' would be my second choice.

5. If there is one moment in your life that changed your outlook on the world forever, what would it be?

I'm not sure I can come up with just one, there have been a few instances that changed my outlook on life significantly for differing reasons so I'm going with three;

a. Meeting Fletch....who taught me to look at life differently and made the previously impossible seem possible.

b. Losing my career through long term health issues.....not to be recommended.

c. Having to give Tilly away.....which taught me a degree of cynicism.


Ok....your turn now guys, come on, join in! ;o)

A little bit of SNOW!!!!

This morning I woke to snow!!!....I'll grant you only a tiny bit but snow nonetheless and I'm grateful for what I can get! :o)

Apologies for the picture quality, too dark and too lazy to go down three floors this early to get closer!

Reality bites!

Today is the last day of our holidays, as I don't actually go to work I define that by the fact that Fletch returns to work tomorrow after his two week break, most of which it transpired was pretty stressful and not much of a break for him at all but hey, that's life.

So, what of the return to the day to day routine for me? The coming year is likely to take himself away on business more than this last year has, not something I relish one bit, I cope with weeks alone but I don't like it, in fact I hate it, there are times I can go for days and days without seeing another human being, one of the inevitable side effects of moving so often and of not working is that one learns quite rapidly to become something of a hermit!

Things need to change some. I am very lucky in that I don't desperately 'need' to work from the financial aspect (thank you Fletch) but like everyone we could use more income and I need to be occupied if I am to spend much time alone. To that end, starting tomorrow I need to either kick start the design thing into greater action or get a bloody job! Neither seems to be a simple option, a new blog design in a recession is probably not top of anyone's 'must have' list and with most of my work experience in retail and retail management, and retail being at the sharp end of said recession, that too is going to present it's own challenges!

Likely I won't blog much about the in's and out's of the job hunt, last time I did that the perpetual reporting of my not getting a position became somewhat disheartening and the thought of getting 'out there' again is pretty terrifying in itself, but things will change gradually with a bit of luck..... and perhaps somewhere out there will the perfect little job and some life outside of these four walls.

I'm used to my hermit existence, I would even go as far as to say I like it in many ways, I don't deal with stress well to put it mildly and the thought of going back into low end employment where one is treated like dirt as a rule, is not overly appealling to me but at least this time, if I get another employer who thinks he is above employment law, I can just shoot through instead of having to tolerate it endlessly, thank you again Fletch.

So, reality bites, it's back to the real world....and whatever it may bring here's hoping some of it at least is good!

'The wonder of Woolies' - end of an era

Call me sad but I happened to be in our local branch of Woolworths on Thursday at the close of business. This wasn't any old day of course, it was the day the receivers closed the doors of this particular branch for the very last time and the staff became from that moment, unemployed and headed for the benefits office.

Woolies was all the things it has been accused of as the media have watched it draw it's last corporate breath, directionless, tatty, low end etc. etc. etc but for all that it was an institution and who among you can honestly say it doesn't have a place in your childhood memories or that you never popped in from time to time when it was the only shop in your high street that sold some obscure item you desperately needed!

Woolies will be synonymous for me with pick and mix, household hardware and all those dreadful compilation vinyls we bought as teenagers, way back far too many decades than I care to remember. It was the place where you went with your posse of 14 year old mates and pulled funny faces in the photo booth on a Saturday afternoon, in an era (God forbid)when mobile phones hadn't been thought of let alone included cameras. It was where we bought 'Brut' for our fathers, nasty rose bath salts for granny and probably our very first make-up and despite it's faults I still regularly went there for odds and sods and a lottery ticket!

Ours here I have to say had some of the best behaved and trained retail staff I have come across, way better than many in some high end stores, staff that actually knew the meaning of the words 'polite' and 'service'(and believe me after 25 years in the business I am picky)and watching them work there last few minutes, with the receivers actually standing over them waiting to dismiss them made me feel quite sad...but you know what, right to the end they still behaved well and did their jobs without a hint of their own future worries!

Perversely, with the announcement a few weeks ago that good old Woolies was about to be consigned to the scrap heap, the branch here became really busy, even prior to the sales....maybe a case of we don't appreciate things until they are gone?

It might not have been Fortnums but I'll quite miss it.

Hamster!

I'm feeling pretty witless today, I think the last week finally caught up with me and what little mind I had remaining has imploded temporarily, leaving me staring blankly at anything I have attempted to do since I crawled out of my bed this morning!

It is thus that the best I can manage today is the offering of a small 'toy' for your amusement....



(click on the wheel/bottle etc.)

...well it amused me! ;o)

Can we get back to normal now ?

That's it then, all the festive malarkey is over, the New Year shenanigans are done and dusted and we stumble forward into 2009 full of hope, happiness and hangovers!

It's an odd thing New Year, I've always found it a bit of a 'non-event', something we anticipate somehow as offering a chance to celebrate, the magical midnight hour that will herald something special but of course doesn't.... and as it chimes and we kiss complete strangers while we are jostled shoulder to shoulder at one event or another, nothing actually changes except the date on the calendar!

I don't view this as a 'bah humbug' attitude, it's just how I see it, the changing of the year changes nothing, one is much the same as another, some good, some bad, some trials and tribulations and some smiles and happiness, though hopefully a larger percentage of the latter rather than the former and with a little luck one or two special highlights.

So what of my 2008? Some good some bad. My highlights? The top spots....I got to move in with the love of my life, TP survived massive surgery for usually inoperable cancer spectacularly, and continues to deal with the ongoing treatment equally spectacularly, I got to meet my best friend Lisa for real at last, I left the white van from hell firmly residing in my past, I got to see a bit more of the world and drive Stelvio Pass and I began what will hopefully be my next little menagerie with the acquisition of Hammy.

The lowlights....probably best forgotten but including of course TP's original diagnosis and the fact that rendering oneself unemployed at the front end of a recession is not professionally wise perhaps!

Regrets.....none, I don't do regrets, I live by my heart and I live for the small pleasures, I do what my heart says is important and it's only in not doing things that we have regrets.

And what of 2009? I don't have aspirations as such, I have one or two private hopes and dreams but I can fail quite well enough thankyouverymuch without setting myself up, so I potter into 2009 enjoying the small things, braced for the bad bits should any occur, hoping for maybe one or two highlights and thankful for what I have, which is where the title of this post comes in....if you enjoy 'normal' it has to be a good thing!