This bucket thing......

....wasn't designed with my ears in mind! Fffbbttt.

Playing catch-up again

This last week seems to have been madness in many ways and I'm still in some degree of disarray. My usual routines have disintegrated and there has been so much to do and to sort out that I'm back to playing catch-up again. Another of those times where I find myself having to offer many of you an apology because I still haven't replied to your email or a comment and I have to thank so many of you for your truly kind and supportive words over the last few days, it's at times like this last week in mine and PG's life that the old adage 'you find out who your friends are' proves just that, you really do find out who your friends are and many of mine are here in this virtual little world. So I thank you, your words of advice and encouragement have meant a lot to both of us and an extra special thankyou to those who seem to stick by my side through thick and thin, you know who you are L, M. and J.

So what else......Tilly's little operation went according to plan and she is gradually returning to normal, if having a bucket on your head can be considered normal! The vet as ever after an anesthetic advised us last night to offer her a light meal, scrambled eggs for instance, but she was having none of it, the real deal it had to be and so I gave in and fully expecting her to 'return' it to us gave her her usual cat delicacies.....robust little madam that she is she wolfed the lot down quite happily and that was the last we saw of it. She made a cursory attempt at cleaning around her offending and hated new adornment and then fell back asleep for the night. It shouldn't be too long now before she's back up to speed, I just wish she would listen when I tell her that if only she would leave her stitches alone she could be bucket-less!

And finally it is a week of birthdays in gemmak's-ville so maybe things will improve for a day or two, on Wednesday this little blog is two years old and on Thursday I am 'x' years old....probably the less I concentrate on that aspect of the week the better!

So that's it, my small bits of news caught up with, all that remains is to find a job for PG and to catch up on some design work and emails now and to thank you all again once more. :o)

Post-op puss

One very sorry for herself little cat came home from the vets at three o'clock. :o(


The vet reported thankfully that she had got through her little operation with no ill effects and had been 'absolutely no trouble' since....almost as soon as she came though the door here things changed a little however. My hope that she wouldn't require her 'bucket' was soon shown to be rather too hopeful as she immediately began chewing and pulling at her stitches and trying to get her into her required piece of equipment proved to be quite a test of perseverance when she suddenly turned form a staggering weak little thing to her usual feisty self...my hands now bear the scars!

Once adorned with her 'crown' she made concerted efforts to remove it but thus far has been unsuccessful, despite almost tying herself in knots in the process.

She is so sad to watch, I hate this bit, she can't walk properly, staggers like she has made far to greater inroads into the Guinness and falls over looking completely confused in a little heap somewhere.

After maybe an hour of fighting the bucket and the wobbly legs effect she was completely exhausted and has now spent the last three hours fast asleep on PG's lap making occasional little sad squeaks when she tries to reorganise her sore little body and bucket into some position of comfort.

All that said though, and I hate to see her looking so 'out of sorts', her surgery went well and no doubt she will be back to her usual state of madness in a day or two. :o)

Nil by mouth

Tilly has come of age, her last big growing up milestone is upon us and I don't like it too much. That little tiny, almost helpless kitten, has reached the age of of maturity where a mother daughter talk was necessary recently and among all the other adolescent feline life skills issues to be covered, contraceptive advice was required if she wishes to go out dating, something she is showing somewhat of an interest in lately!


Was she really ever this tiny?

To that end, the once tiny wee Tilly kitten has just been shipped off in her little box, complaining loudly for the entire journey, having been less than impressed by the 'nil by mouth' rule over the last twelve hours, to the vets for her first ever surgery. Hopefully her one and only. Much as it was tempting there will be no 'Tilly kittens' it's just not practical in a small flat and with our current 'employment status' not a good move at all, to save the cost of the surgery now would be something of a false economy compared to the cost of a pregnancy and the resulting offspring......besides which I would never be able to give any of them away!

So now I'm like a nervous parent, it's her first anesthetic and that always makes me a nervous wreck little uncomfortable. Hey ho, nothing more can go pear shaped this week surely, so it's fingers crossed and back off to the vets at 3 to collect what will likely be someone feeling very sorry for themselves temporarily and sporting a shaved patch and bucket on her head!

How do I just know that Tilly and the 'bucket thing' are going to mean trouble this evening!

The true use of a laser pointer....

....is to exercise and consequently wear out small cats in an effort to ensure a reasonable nights sleep!

Exercise for cats
Video sent by gemmak

Saturday silliness

The next step

I'm sat here this morning and things seems a little surreal, everything about me is exactly the same, looks the same, smells the same, sounds the same but conversely everything's changed completely. I can't feel anything much, I'm just kind of numb.

Yesterday was probably one of the most difficult days of mine and PG lives, so much to consider, so much information to take in in such a short space of time, it felt among all the other issues that we were trying to complete a crash course in employment law inside about four hours but one can only make a decision on the information one has so that information has to be as complete as it possibly can be within the given time restraints.

Coming to a decision within such a short time frame was tough, very tough, it had to be PG's decision ultimately but with the help of the lawyer and bouncing our thoughts off my father the decision was made and duly carried out.

PG I think spent the day in a haze, for those of you who don't know what he did he worked and has always done, with severely mentally and physically disabled adults so aside from all the usual losses he has to deal with, the financial loss, the self esteem issues, the 'belonging' and having an identity he also has to deal with the loss of the clients he has taken care of, some for many years, and they to the loss of him, someone they trusted, because he was good at his job, very good. It's an industry that most don't remain in for very long but he survived all of his working life thus far because he cared about his clients and wanted to make a difference. He was also a great advocate for them and I think if the truth be known, therein lies part of the problem, he would always fight for their rights, their quality of life and he wasn't afraid to go up against the health board or management in an endeavour to attain what he considered was the right care someone....in these days of cutbacks and business management within our health services etc. that is rarely popular and given that this kind of industry leaves it's employees very vulnerable to all kind of accusations they maybe saw a chance to rid themselves of a 'thorn in their sides'. The accusation made against him didn't even involve a client, it involved another member of staff and was so utterly ridiculous that it's hard to believe the situation has ended where it has.....but it has so we have to deal with it and to that end today it's onto the practical issues.

So that's it, today we have to take stock, kill off a few peripheral expenses like Sky Television (ok, that's not a bad thing!), reduce my massive industrial sized broadband connection, take stock of our finances eekkkkkk and begin to make some plans for survival. PG has managed already to find eight positions to apply for so there will be much letter typing, form filling and phone calls to make and it's onward and hopefully upward.....one thing is for sure, I'd rather be sat here right now typing this than taking him to the tribunal he would have attended this morning just to have the system whitewash the whole issue!

"It won't happen to me"

Don't you believe it!

We've all been there, listened to friends talking, read the reports, overheard conversations between strangers or merely had it cross our minds that something awful could happen to us unfairly that we couldn't escape, that no matter how we tried we couldn't find an acceptable way to resolve the given situation, the classic and worst scenario of course is to to be wrongly convicted of a crime and to never be able to prove one's innocence.

We all think of these things fleetingly from time to time but we all imagine "It won't happen to me". We mostly believe in the Western world in justice and in fairness of our systems....well believe you me it can happen to you and it just has to me....or more specifically to PG.

Anyone popping into this little patch of the blogoshere will know things haven't been quite their usual self over the last week or so but until now I couldn't blog any of it, some of the issues going on I may never be able to blog but one I now can.

Last week, out of the blue PG was called into the office at his place of work and without any preamble was suspended from his job. The reasons? Someone had seen fit to make an accusation against him that required investigation. As you might expect he was shattered, we both were but I think at that point we assumed that 'things would work out'. They didn't, despite fighting almost to the end, despite much research, despite expensive legal advice and despite any protestations or proof of innocence, things very much didn't work out.

Whether we like it or not the mighty dollar reigns and carries the weight, common sense and fairness do not and the employers fear of litigation, however ridiculous the accusations, seem to dictate that fairness is not a necessary commodity. Bear in mind that in British law, matters of employment don't require proof as in a court of law or criminal investigation, ultimately there seems to be no real or workable form of defense. Yes, PG could appeal against a decision, take his employer to a tribunal or ultimately begin proceedings against his accuser and/or employer but to what end?....likely none other than more stress and great expense.

And the the upshot of all this?

Today, feeling left with no other alternative and having fought from every angle we could think of PG has been left with no real option but to resign from the job he loves and has done well for thirteen years, before he could be fired at a disciplinary hearing tomorrow morning. In reality there was no other choice but to escape while the one thing he could retain in tact is his right to a halfway decent reference and a little dignity!

This is not fun, there are tragically few jobs in these parts and we can maybe only survive financially for perhaps a couple of months.......... anyone know where the nearest DSS office is?, Oh though of course having resigned, and not been fired, he can't even claim benefits!

So, 'it can happen to me', it just did and it sucks and again the law seems to be an ass. The whole situation is so ridiculous and borne out of greed or vindictiveness, or both that even our lawyer, on reading the papers, felt forced to laugh out loud but still, there is nothing in real terms, else that PG can do, he just has to bite the bullet and accept that sometimes life is just utter crap, if someone accuses you of something there is nothing you can do to defend yourself in an employment situation....because proof is not required!

Smile please

Especially for Natty who wanted to see more of Ditto!.

One hundred films meme

As my mind is still in somewhat of a funk and the thought processes required for a real post are still not much in evidence...... here's another cheat! I don't even recall where I stole it from but if it was you sorry and thankyou! The idea is that you bold/highlight each film in the list you have seen, so without further ado, here's my list and this time, just for once I won't be so unkind as to tag anyone, if you wanna have a go feel free to join in, just let me know in my comments so I can go visit your list.


1. Citizen Kane
2. Casablanca
3. The Godfather
4. Gone with the Wind
5. Lawrence of Arabia
6. The Wizard of Oz
7. The Graduate
8. On the Waterfront
9. Schindler's List
10. Singin' in the Rain
11. It's a Wonderful Life
12. Sunset Boulevard
13. The Bridge on the River Kwai
14. Some Like It Hot
15. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
16. All About Eve
17. The African Queen
18. Psycho
19. Chinatown
20. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
21. The Grapes Of Wrath
22. 2001: A Space Odyssey
23. The Maltese Falcon
24. Raging Bull
25. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
26. Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
27. Bonnie and Clyde
28. Apocalypse Now
29. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
30. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
31. Annie Hall
32. The Godfather, Part II
33. High Noon
34. To Kill a Mockingbird
35. It Happened One Night
36. Midnight Cowboy
37. The Best Years of Our Lives
38. Double Indemnity
39. Doctor Zhivago
40. North by Northwest
41. West Side Story
42. Rear Window
43. King Kong
44. The Birth of a Nation
45. A Streetcar Named Desire
46. A Clockwork Orange
47. Taxi Driver
48. Jaws
49. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
50. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
51. The Philadelphia Story
52. From Here to Eternity
53. Amadeus
54. All Quiet on the Western Front
55. The Sound of Music
56. M*A*S*H
57. The Third Man
58. Fantasia
59. Rebel Without a Cause
60. Raiders of the Lost Ark
61. Vertigo
62. Tootsie
63. Stagecoach
64. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
65. The Silence of the Lambs
66. Network
67. The Manchurian Candidate
68. An American in Paris
69. Shane
70. The French Connection
71. Forrest Gump
72. Ben-Hur
73. Wuthering Heights
74. The Gold Rush
75. Dances with Wolves
76. City Lights
77. American Graffiti
78. Rocky
79. The Deer Hunter
80. The Wild Bunch
81. Modern Times
82. Giant
83. Platoon
84. Fargo
85. Duck Soup
86. Mutiny on the Bounty
87. Frankenstein
88. Easy Rider
89. Patton
90. The Jazz Singer
91. My Fair Lady
92. A Place in the Sun
93. The Apartment
94. GoodFellas
95. Pulp Fiction
96. The Searchers
97. Bringing Up Baby
98. Unforgiven
99. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
100. Yankee Doodle Dandy

Thermodynamic charactersitics

Read to the end, I know its long.... But worth it.... :o)

The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry mid-term. The answer by one student was so "profound" that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well.

Here is the professor's "Bonus Question":
Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant.

One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving.
As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different Religions that exist in the world today.
Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell.

With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added.

This gives two possibilities:

1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.

2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it?

If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year that, "it will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you", and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number 2 must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct...leaving only Heaven . . . thereby proving the existence of a divine being . . . which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting "Oh my God."

THIS STUDENT RECEIVED THE ONLY "A"

Yes it's pink!

You may all detest pink but I love it, it cheers me up, it's a happy colour and it's my blog, so for now it's pink, no arguements! :o)

Shush Fletch!

You might wonder...

...if you're one of the loyal regulars in gemmak's-ville why things have become a little slower than usual in this little patch of the blogosphere.

Well all that I can say is that things have been less than fun at times here recently, we've had one problem after another, you know, one of those times when just when you thought you were getting to beat one problem another presents itself.

None of the details I can blog, I wish I could but it's not appropriate that I do, even I have a little decorum here and there. You can be rest assured though that there is a chink of light at the end of what feels right now, is quite a long tunnel, I have some good support going on (thank you you know who you are both of you) and if you could just bear with me a while, and perhaps put up with even more of these than normal (what more cats? I hear you scream)


in the interim, soon things will return to normal...or at least I damn well hope they will! ;o)

Hey ho, ain't life grand sometimes.

Saturday silliness

So, you travel all the way from Scotland to London, you take a walk along the South Bank to take in the sights, sounds and smells of the city and what do you hear??? From every point, above the day to day melee of voices and traffic could only be heard one thing.......

Turn up the sound.....and if for some reason you can't, scroll down to the bottom!

South Bank
Video sent by gemmak

Bagpipes! Bloody Scottish bagpipes is what you hear! :o)