Blasphemy and Blogger

Jeez....what in Gods name are Blogger up to now? It is perhaps not courteous to bite the hand that feeds you and feeds you for free into the bargain but hells bells and little fishes, never in all this time have I know our beloved server to be quite such a pain!

Last night, again it took a nose dive, it did allow me to post a picture but then refused point blank to let me into the dshboard or beyond to add any text. An hour and five minutes (yes I timed it) it took to load the page, not even an internal server error message, nothing, just a progress bar interminably making no progress. Success at last, I made it to 'edit posts' only to discover, yes you guessed it, again another unending wait. Not one to leave half a post hanging in mid cyberspace I persisted.......another half an hour to make it to 'delete post'! Arghhhhhh. Having made it that far I hit delete....more waiting and then, joy..... it froze my pc!

I re-booted a thousand times, I reconnected more, I blamed my appalling dialup connection but no, webpages the world over were fine, it was of course another Blogger gremlin!

This morning a little improvement, it kindly allowed me to post a comment the blogs of two others before fading like a dying swan yet again. It has struggled now, at a snails pace, as far as 'new post' but will this ever make it into the blogosphere I wonder.

Much more of this and I'm off elsewhere and be damned to the web spiders, life is too short to get stressed about something I do for fun!

Here's hoping this post makes it..........

P.S. I am amused to note that even with the weight of Google behind them, the Blogger dashboard this morning has a somewhat 'broken' sidebar! :o)

Sleepless in Scotland

It is a bad habit of mine that I rarely hit the sack before the small hours and one that I am sure can't be good for me but none the less I seem to persist in it!

My excuse is that I am a 'night person', that would be just fine if unfortunately I wasn't also a 'morning person' and up with the birds on most occasions. Certainly the idea of sleeping is an appealing one at times but from morning until morning I just always seem to have far too much I want to do and sleeping then, in my peculiar mind, appears to be a waste of my lifetime!

Twas thus that yesterday evening I made an avowed promise to myself that I would entertain a state of narcosis by midnight..... Yeah right!

We had dinner at a reasonable hour or at least Ditto did. It was a lazy meal of pizza and a green salad, eaten off trays on our lap, infront of the moving wallpaper. I made a wrong move. Madam, is not generally given to the act of begging for human food off plates, unlike Poppy who has made a lifetimes study of the effect of pleading eyes and the 'silent meow' on humans, when requiring an unallowed titbit.

So, with this in mind you will understand, I took no notice as Ditto casually wandered along the arm of the sofa, still I was not completely aware as she advanced on me further, of her intent, that is until as I lifted a large portion of pizza toward my mouth only for her, in an instant, to extend a claw clad paw, pizza-ward and snatch it from out of my grip. Having attained her goal she just a rapidly ensnared it in her jaw and fled the scene of the crime, pizza dragging on the floor!!! Stern words were spoken in her direction, believe me, but she was unrepentant as she began the 'killing' process and somehow I couldn't quite keep a straight face.

And so, pizza thieving incident over I settled here to fiddle and still promising myself a reasonably early night logged off at midnight, it was not to be. I logged back on to sort 'just one more thing' and subsequently got involved (how did that happen?) in an IM conversation. At 1am I tried again and off I logged. ok, so 1am may not be an early night but it's pretty good for me. Suffice to say, I decided a few pages of my current book would settle me. I duly put my book down half an hour later to find I had become victim of that God-awful situation where one finds that to get up and crawl to bed is more effort than to stay put, at which point I became engrossed in something less than pleasant on the TV!

Ok...........I failed, my head finally hit the pillow at 4am! Ugh. Please don't ask me how I feel this morning....... I must find myself a little more self discipline!

Queen of the Sky ~ update #2

The BBC reports today that Q of S has now been fired from her position with Delta Airlines. It seems a little late in the day, those of us following this one knew at the weekend but it is at least confirmation.

Well done Delta....for shooting yourselves in the foot! You deserve your impending bankruptcy.

Good luck Q of S in your litigation.

Just a little fun

In the absence of anything even remotely worthwhile in my mind to blog today I thought I would post one or two of those infernal emails we all get that still amuse me despite having been loitering on my hard drive for years!

I know, I'm easliy amused :o)

Mouse

Stealth refuel

Cat Shower

Blog-less

I am completely blog-less and I appear not to be alone in this state today. This morning, on checking out my blogroll I discovered for the first time in my blogging life not one single updated blog!

Hours have passed since then and still nothing is milling around in my mind to blog and still no one has updated save for one. Blackrat has as ever, managed to post something well worth the read and on an item of news I feel strongly about, go look HERE.

Unhappy cat!

My apologies for the quality of this picture and the 'halloween eyes', it just so amused me I decided to post it anyways. :o)


Put me down!

Chilled

Ok guys, I have calmed down now..... I'm chilled and I'm calm and collected!

Sorry to disappoint but it was nothing earth shattering just personal stuff the details of which I can't blog about without aggravating the situation. Suffice to say it's not blog or internet related, I have discussed it with a friend (thank you, you know who you are)and I have a better perspective now.

Thanks for tolerating my rant, I will endeavor to keep a lid on it next time but the weird thing is....It actually helped to shout here for a few minutes, thanks. :o)

Sometimes.....

.....I just wish others would get out of my little world! Not, I hasten to add, everybody just one or two individuals who see fit, when I am as happy as a pig in muck, to come crashing in, uninvited shouting and screaming via technology and upset the apple cart with their unpleasantness and unnecessary nastiness!!

Why, I wonder, can't people just be nice to each other, life is too short. I love people, I love interaction but I most certainly don't love 'attitude'!

Talk to me, argue with me, discuss with me, laugh with me....... but those who just want to be plain difficult.....please, get the f**k out of my space!

I rarely get angry but right now is one of those occasions.

Rant over, sorry and thank you for listening.

It's winter now

So the clocks have gone back and it was dark, it seemed by mid afternoon, yesterday, halloween is over and for me it is now winter. My favorite season.

Those loyal few that visit here regularly will have by now realised two of my passions, natural history and photography and whilst my personal endeavors to bring the two together fall somewhat short, those of others do not!

As a consequence, over the years I have gathered together a large number of such winter photographs that I adore and that are just begging to be used here. My blog is not known for being left be, I have a small obsession with 'template tampering' and so from now on you can expect more changes than usual whilst I share some of my most favorite images! It will at least be some respite from cats! :o)

I am currently awaiting permission from the copyright owner to use a photograph that has to be 'number one' on my list. Until such time as he is kind enough (or not!) to allow it, I will hope for the best where copyright is concerned with others that I just can't track down the owners of!

I do this every year!

I have just had my once a year conversation with PG, no I don't mean we only converse on one occasion in the year, I mean I hold this specific conversation just one time each year, though not always with PG!

Of what am I muttering? The time! PG is at work on a night shift. He always calls me to say goodnight when he's not here and tonight's 'goodnight' conversation revolved around the fact that it is (or was then) 10.30 pm and I am already tired. For those who know me well this is strange I know, I am never heading to bed before 1 am and yet tonight, at such an early hour, my lust for being awake has waned drastically already.

Why?...... the clocks of course, they might well say 10.30 but it is in fact in my head 11.30 and it will remain that way for at least a few days! We will overlook here that I am 'getting on a bit' and had a late night last night, that of course has nothing to do with my state of near collapse! It is the clocks I tell you, it really is 11.30 and not 10.30!!

Whatever......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Prestonpans pardons witches!

Thanks to Wacky Southern Housewife for bringing this piece of halloween news to my attention. Not very astute research by myself to say the least. She is in the US whilst I am not 5 miles away from Prestonpans and yet it is she who told me... Doh!!

I'm not sure I'm up for another shindig after last night but it needs investigation!

I concede

It's not too many years since I could work all day, go clubbing until the wee small hours, be back at work the following morning in a reasonable state of coherence and do it all again the subsequent night, night after night after night.

Things have changed it would seem!

I was up before 6 yesterday morning and driving through rain and thick fog to work by 7, the day was a busy one with a few customers of note causing disruption and despair among the ranks and then it was home and time to drag oneself into some semblance of elegance to attend the local golf clubs annual prize giving 'do'. At this point my minute by minute plans began to unravel somewhat. I left work to find a seagull or more probably, seagulls, plural, had deposited mounds of something unpleasant on my windscreen (a common problem in these parts) in such large quantities it had to be 'dealt with' before I could move off the mark!

This entailed rapid ferreting in the boot to uncover the ice scraper that had not been unearthed since last winter, whilst attempting to hold my phone on my shoulder and converse with PG who was calling to say he had got his times incorrect and I had one hour to get home, get elegant and be out, bright eyed and bushy tailed!

Arghhhhhh. I dropped the phone, which skidded worryingly down the bonnet of the car and bounced along the tarmac and at the same time, distracted, I scraped the window with some vigor, forgetting that 'seagull' contains a proportion of sand which is of course abrasive, and annihilated my windscreen, rendering it covered in scratches and likely requiring replacement! The phone thankfully survived it's tarmac dance but I was by this time not a 'chilled and ready for partying person'!

So home I duly fled, eyes peeled through scratches for any signs of a gatzo, now was not the time I needed to be dealing with over effusive members of the local constabulary issuing SP30's with wry grins on their faces.

Journey achieved without further incident I had half an hour to fall into the shower and become decent! I made it, harassed and hungry but I made it and off we went to this function that if I am honest, the thought of which did not fill me with inspiration.

Small town golf club, blue rinse brigade and much back slapping and guffawing was what I envisaged with my city mentality, how wrong was I? Golf in Scotland is in the main not as elitist as in other parts of the UK and I should have known better. What a night! The Scots, I have to say, know how to party!

I am ever thankful, that in a small town where everyone has known everyone forever and 'incomers' are not always welcomed I have some good friends and have rarely suffered discrimination despite the slightly dubious circumstances that bought me to these parts. Yes the 'north/south jokes' are always in evidence but it is mostly in fun and on the odd occasion it isn't who cares?

The night was a memorable one, marked by the fact that the club chairman, a local dignitary and peer of the realm, forgot that he and his good lady where to preside over events and fell through the door an hour late looking marginally disheveled and causing those catering the evening some degree of stress, while they maintained the quality of the hot fare on offer as we waited!

Do peers of the realm not employ P.A's to remind them of these things?

And so..........an hour or two of good food, average speeches and presentations over with the fun began in earnest. The second memorable event of the evening was that PG was persuaded to dance, PG does not as a rule engage in this activity for anyone or anything but happily inebriated beyond normal constraints he became remarkably unstoppable! The night wore on with good conversation, much alcohol induced madness and general good feeling until at 'something past civil o'clock' people began drifting off into the foggy night.

I, as regular readers will know, am tee total and am required at such events to offer a 'taxi service', last night however everyone seemed to have made their own arrangements thankfully. I had by now, been 'up and at it' for almost 22 hours and was beginning to fade! All that remained was for me to drive home and steer PG into the flat, a task that is not assisted by the slippery metal stairway that is the only access to the property. On this point PG amazes me, he has a somewhat impressive capacity for alcohol despite only drinking a few times a year nowadays. I will not embarrass him by divulging quite how much he can consume and still remain upright but whilst progress was a little slow, it was good humored, if noisy...... sorry to our neighbour for any disturbance caused.....and we fell laughing through the door to the relief of Ditto who was ready for a late night/early morning snack!

And it is here I concede......... I can no longer party night after night after night! This morning, despite my not drinking I am most definitely not at my best and the fact that I had the forethought to take a days leave from work today is something I am extremely thankful of.

PG incidentally is still sound asleep, plans of 18 holes abandoned...... though in his defense he does have to work a night shift tonight!

The night was only incomplete in one aspect......not one single kilt clad man was in evidence, unusual at these functions and most disappointing! Tsk! :o)

Queen of the sky ~ update

Queen of the Sky has just been fired!!!

How utterly ridiculous :o(

Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please

The following are apparently announcements made by London Tube train drivers to their passengers, who knows if they are genuine but they are certainly very funny.
For anyone who actually made one of these announcements, as someone who works with the public.......you have my greatest respect! I make tannoy announcements all day every day at work......oh to have the courage just once! :o)

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I do apologise for the
delay to your service. I know you're all dying to get home, unless, of course, you happen to be married to my ex-wife, in which case you'll want to cross over to the
Westbound and go in the opposite direction".

"Your delay this evening is caused by the line controller suffering from E &B syndrome, not knowing his elbow from his backside. I'll let you know any
further information as soon as I'm given any."

"Do you want the good news first or the bad news?
The good news is that last Friday was my birthday and I hit the town and had
a great time. The bad news is that there is a points failure somewhere between Stratford and East Ham, which means we probably won't reach our destination."

"Ladies and gentlemen, we apologise for the delay, but there is a security alert at Victoria station and we are therefore stuck here for the foreseeable future, so let's take our minds off it and pass some time together. All together now....”’
‘Ten green bottles, hanging on a wall.....'

"We are now travelling through Baker Street, as you can see Baker Street is closed. It would have been nice if they had actually told me, so I could tell you earlier, but no, they don't think about things like that".

"Beggars are operating on this train, please do NOT encourage these professional beggars, if you have any spare change, please give it to a registered charity, failing that, give it to me."

During an extremely hot rush hour on the Central Line, the driver announced in a West Indian drawl:
"step right this way for the sauna, ladies and gentleman... unfortunately towels are not provided".

"Let the passengers off the train FIRST!" (Pause...) "Oh go on then, stuff yourselves in like sardines, see if I care - I'm going home...."

"Please allow the doors to close.Try not to confuse this with 'Please hold the doors open'. The two are distinct and separate instructions."

"Please note that the beeping noise coming from the doors means that the doors are about to close. It does not mean throw yourself or your bags into the doors."

"We can't move off because some idiot has their
f***ing hand stuck in the door"

"To the gentleman wearing the long grey coat
trying to get on the second carriage - what part of 'stand clear of the
doors' don't you understand?"

Please move all baggage away from the doors (Pause..) Please move
ALL belongings away from the doors (Pause...) This is a personal message to the man in the brown suit wearing glasses at the rear of the train – put the pie down, four-eyes, and move your bloody golf clubs away from the door before I come down there and shove them up your a**e sideways"

"May I remind all passengers that there is strictly no smoking allowed on any part of the Underground. However, if you are smoking a joint, it's only fair that you pass it round the rest of the carriage".

Thanks to Retroguy for landing this in my inbox.