This sky was my view yesterday evening driving home from a late shift after a particularly crap day......almost compensation. :o)
(Clickable)
Sunday, 30 April 2006
Red sky at night
Ok....can you tell it's another day of bank holiday retail hell heaven, more images, no words, no time!
This sky was my view yesterday evening driving home from a late shift after a particularly crap day......almost compensation. :o)
(Clickable)
This sky was my view yesterday evening driving home from a late shift after a particularly crap day......almost compensation. :o)
(Clickable)
Saturday, 29 April 2006
Friday, 28 April 2006
Friday's Feast (91)
Appetizer
On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how polite are you?
Ummm....6 or 7 maybe.
Soup
What was the last thing that made you laugh out loud?
Something someone said to me in an email.
Salad
Who is your favorite cartoon character?
Shrek...does he count, is he technically a cartoon??
Main Course
Tell about the funniest teacher you ever had.
I don't think I ever had a funny one....funny peculair maybe but not funny 'ha ha'.
Dessert
Complete this sentence: I strongly believe that ...... Life sucks sometimes!
On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how polite are you?
Ummm....6 or 7 maybe.
Soup
What was the last thing that made you laugh out loud?
Something someone said to me in an email.
Salad
Who is your favorite cartoon character?
Shrek...does he count, is he technically a cartoon??
Main Course
Tell about the funniest teacher you ever had.
I don't think I ever had a funny one....funny peculair maybe but not funny 'ha ha'.
Dessert
Complete this sentence: I strongly believe that ...... Life sucks sometimes!
Thursday, 27 April 2006
Wednesday, 26 April 2006
A camellia and a pick up truck!
Some years ago, maybe seven or eight, whilst I made my way across a Sainsbury's car park on my daily foray from work to find myself some lunch, I looked on in some degree of miff-ment as a woman driving a very large American pick up truck, merrily reversed into another vehicle.
Not satisfied with merely hitting this parked and brand new car she proceeded to drag her very hefty bumper the full length of it....and then move forward and drive off. She knew without doubt I had watched her antics but off she drove anyways.
Incensed I hastily took her index number and left a note on the windscreen of the now badly damaged victim vehicle giving details of where I could be contacted.
Two days later a woman I didn't recognise approached me as I went about my business in the store I worked in at the time and introduced herself as the owner of the damaged car. I gave her further details, she thanked me and left....returning later that day bearing a small thank you gift for me.
The gift in question was a small Camellia, no taller than maybe a foot, a twig really but I 'do' plants, my dream job would be to be a botanist or horticulturalist at Kew gardens (ok I'm twenty years too old and short of a first class degree but that aside) and so I took it home touched that this stranger had been kind enough to offer me a gift at all and planted said twig to begin its new life with me.
And it grew and it grew but when I left London for Scotland I decided it would unlikely enjoy such bitter howling winds and so transplanted it into a pot for re-homing at my parents.
Every year now my father regales me with progress reports and photographs and my once little tiny twig, has in it's seven or eight years now transformed itself under the close supervision and tutelage of my mothers green fingers into this:
It's now bigger than me (yes I know most things are) and happily produces it's stunning blooms year after year...much the same as the insurance companies involved in the original accident claim who harassed me year after year for five years for one statement after another.....but each spring it is worth it. :o)
(Images clickable)
Not satisfied with merely hitting this parked and brand new car she proceeded to drag her very hefty bumper the full length of it....and then move forward and drive off. She knew without doubt I had watched her antics but off she drove anyways.
Incensed I hastily took her index number and left a note on the windscreen of the now badly damaged victim vehicle giving details of where I could be contacted.
Two days later a woman I didn't recognise approached me as I went about my business in the store I worked in at the time and introduced herself as the owner of the damaged car. I gave her further details, she thanked me and left....returning later that day bearing a small thank you gift for me.
The gift in question was a small Camellia, no taller than maybe a foot, a twig really but I 'do' plants, my dream job would be to be a botanist or horticulturalist at Kew gardens (ok I'm twenty years too old and short of a first class degree but that aside) and so I took it home touched that this stranger had been kind enough to offer me a gift at all and planted said twig to begin its new life with me.
And it grew and it grew but when I left London for Scotland I decided it would unlikely enjoy such bitter howling winds and so transplanted it into a pot for re-homing at my parents.
Every year now my father regales me with progress reports and photographs and my once little tiny twig, has in it's seven or eight years now transformed itself under the close supervision and tutelage of my mothers green fingers into this:
It's now bigger than me (yes I know most things are) and happily produces it's stunning blooms year after year...much the same as the insurance companies involved in the original accident claim who harassed me year after year for five years for one statement after another.....but each spring it is worth it. :o)
(Images clickable)
Tuesday, 25 April 2006
Into the big wide world
Yesterday Tilly made her first foray alone out into the big wide world, well not exactly alone, I chaperoned her of course, she needs a little practice at finding her way back before she will be allowed full freedom and anyways I was mindful of her still relatively small size and the local thug tom cat who still regularly terrorizes the larger more battle hardened Ditto. Ok....so I'm an overprotective parent but hey....
So, her contraceptive issues having been suitably dealt a lethal blow and having healed up nicely It was decided yesterday was the day for the first big outing but
things did not work out quite as the young Tilly anticipated, for having spent six months rushing excitedly to the door each time it has been opened and trying to jam herself through the little gap as we attempted to close it again she suddenly discovered that 'outside' is somewhat more scary place than she had anticipated, particularly that stuff we humans call wind and that she had never encountered before. Her first attempt was rather abortive, she rushed headlong through the door onto the balcony, came to a shuddering halt, turned tail and rushed back in again!
Second and third attempts progressed only marginally further but eventually she found a little more courage, became fixated on a sparrow and with a little persuasion made it all the way to the bottom of the stairs......before she turned tail again and headed for the front door in a state of rush and panic!
This however is not a bad thing, we barely see Ditto over the summer months and I rather like the idea of a more 'indoor Tilly' to keep me company....I suspect though that she will soon find her feet in the big wide world and it won't be long before the both of them are bringing me 'summer gifts'. Ugh!
So, her contraceptive issues having been suitably dealt a lethal blow and having healed up nicely It was decided yesterday was the day for the first big outing but
things did not work out quite as the young Tilly anticipated, for having spent six months rushing excitedly to the door each time it has been opened and trying to jam herself through the little gap as we attempted to close it again she suddenly discovered that 'outside' is somewhat more scary place than she had anticipated, particularly that stuff we humans call wind and that she had never encountered before. Her first attempt was rather abortive, she rushed headlong through the door onto the balcony, came to a shuddering halt, turned tail and rushed back in again!
Second and third attempts progressed only marginally further but eventually she found a little more courage, became fixated on a sparrow and with a little persuasion made it all the way to the bottom of the stairs......before she turned tail again and headed for the front door in a state of rush and panic!
This however is not a bad thing, we barely see Ditto over the summer months and I rather like the idea of a more 'indoor Tilly' to keep me company....I suspect though that she will soon find her feet in the big wide world and it won't be long before the both of them are bringing me 'summer gifts'. Ugh!
Monday, 24 April 2006
The first sunny Sunday
Some things never leave you, some things, however distant, can return and fill your mind and senses in an instant with memories usually long forgotten, vivid all absorbing memories, the sights, the sounds, the smells, the feelings, all conjured up in a moment by perhaps a very small incident.
The first sunny Sunday is for me one such incident. The first sunny Sunday is not a fixed date, it is just what it says, the first Sunday in any spring where the sun shines all day and everything feels new, the tantalising promise of the summer to come, the Sunday when from an early dawn the sun is high in the sky already evaporating the dew, transforming it into a light veil hovering above the ground, a day when new lambs are rushing around madly, no longer huddled for warmth by their mothers, a day when daffodils bob their yellow heads gently in a light breeze and suddenly everything green seems greener.
But it is none of this that transports me to another place, that fills my head with long forgotten memories and alerts my senses, for me the first sunny Sunday means just one thing and yesterday, on my routine early morning drive to work some guy, someone I don't know and have never met turned my ordinary day into a very different one, just for a few minutes.
This is not a tale of great love or loss, not a tale of any world shattering event but it is a tale of a passion that once found is never lost.
It happened in a moment, a split second, without warning he was there, almost unbearably close, breathing down my neck, big and powerful and stunningly beautiful, dangerously exciting and offering a tantalising promise of things to come.
......And then in an instant he was gone leaving me lost in another time, lost in my memories.
But as I said this is no tale of a great love lost, my unknown man, he who inspired in me on this first sunny Sunday such memories was no long lost lover, no hero, he was merely an unknown guy on a bright gleaming all powerful motorbike who hung on my offside rear for that split second it takes at phenomenal speed to make the decision to 'go for it'!
Bright chrome and paintwork glinting in the early sun, expensive and matching leather race suit, harsh halogen headlight glaring at me from behind, the feel of extreme power rumbling through me, of tangible torque waiting to be unleashed for that split second, the sound, the sweet sound of a highly tuned 1200 cubic capacity 'doing it's thing' the engine whistle, the can popping with impatience, the gentle 'clunk' of dropping one cog.... and then with an almost imperceptible flick of the wrist my leather clad stranger was gone, leaving me almost breathless in his wake, lost in my memories!
For me the 'first Sunny Sunday' is not about lambs, it is not about gentle mist or bobbing daffodils but about the promise of dry roads, warm air and the possibility of a whole long new summer, released from the confines of snow and ice and biting cold, it is the memory of raw power, of excitement, of Friday nights at Chelsea Bridge, of Sunday afternoons at Box Hill, of hours and hours just riding, the high speed turbulence beating against leather, of (wo)man and machine in harmony, the smell of petrol and exhaust, burning rubber and knee sliders making their first contact with tarmac, the aching limbs and muscles, unused for months, to such punishment, the fear, for there has to be a little fear, the momentary frission of a rear wheel twitch......
Hey, you can take the girl out of the bike but you cant take the bike out of the girl!
The first sunny Sunday is for me one such incident. The first sunny Sunday is not a fixed date, it is just what it says, the first Sunday in any spring where the sun shines all day and everything feels new, the tantalising promise of the summer to come, the Sunday when from an early dawn the sun is high in the sky already evaporating the dew, transforming it into a light veil hovering above the ground, a day when new lambs are rushing around madly, no longer huddled for warmth by their mothers, a day when daffodils bob their yellow heads gently in a light breeze and suddenly everything green seems greener.
But it is none of this that transports me to another place, that fills my head with long forgotten memories and alerts my senses, for me the first sunny Sunday means just one thing and yesterday, on my routine early morning drive to work some guy, someone I don't know and have never met turned my ordinary day into a very different one, just for a few minutes.
This is not a tale of great love or loss, not a tale of any world shattering event but it is a tale of a passion that once found is never lost.
It happened in a moment, a split second, without warning he was there, almost unbearably close, breathing down my neck, big and powerful and stunningly beautiful, dangerously exciting and offering a tantalising promise of things to come.
......And then in an instant he was gone leaving me lost in another time, lost in my memories.
But as I said this is no tale of a great love lost, my unknown man, he who inspired in me on this first sunny Sunday such memories was no long lost lover, no hero, he was merely an unknown guy on a bright gleaming all powerful motorbike who hung on my offside rear for that split second it takes at phenomenal speed to make the decision to 'go for it'!
Bright chrome and paintwork glinting in the early sun, expensive and matching leather race suit, harsh halogen headlight glaring at me from behind, the feel of extreme power rumbling through me, of tangible torque waiting to be unleashed for that split second, the sound, the sweet sound of a highly tuned 1200 cubic capacity 'doing it's thing' the engine whistle, the can popping with impatience, the gentle 'clunk' of dropping one cog.... and then with an almost imperceptible flick of the wrist my leather clad stranger was gone, leaving me almost breathless in his wake, lost in my memories!
For me the 'first Sunny Sunday' is not about lambs, it is not about gentle mist or bobbing daffodils but about the promise of dry roads, warm air and the possibility of a whole long new summer, released from the confines of snow and ice and biting cold, it is the memory of raw power, of excitement, of Friday nights at Chelsea Bridge, of Sunday afternoons at Box Hill, of hours and hours just riding, the high speed turbulence beating against leather, of (wo)man and machine in harmony, the smell of petrol and exhaust, burning rubber and knee sliders making their first contact with tarmac, the aching limbs and muscles, unused for months, to such punishment, the fear, for there has to be a little fear, the momentary frission of a rear wheel twitch......
Hey, you can take the girl out of the bike but you cant take the bike out of the girl!
Sunday, 23 April 2006
Saturday, 22 April 2006
Saturday silliness
I wonder, should I get the knitting needles out now and begin creating two of these designer 'must-haves' for Ditto and Tilly in readiness for next winter?
....but the real silliness today is that it's 5.20 am, I'm on about and hours sleep and I have to go to work now, ugh!
....but the real silliness today is that it's 5.20 am, I'm on about and hours sleep and I have to go to work now, ugh!
Friday, 21 April 2006
The child in me
When I was a child I used to imagine that ‘old’ people, I think at the time I defined ‘old’ as anything over about 23 years , knew what life was all about, they had it well and truly sussed, they knew the answers to the stuff I didn’t, they could solve problems, nay, they probably didn’t even have them, they seemed ‘grown up’, they seemed 'together' and in my little mind there was always going to be that stage in life for me, the one where everything in life ran like clockwork and on the rare occasions it didn’t I would be grown up too, I would fix whatever the problem was without delay and with expertise, after all, that’s what all those tall people I saw around me did wasn’t it?!
I was told in a moment of childhood complaint, about something I now don’t recall, that ‘no one promised me life was going to be fair or easy’, I can still remember it vividly, not because of the message it should have been taking from it but because my young mind was so astounded that anyone should even so much as suggest such a thing let alone believe it, my life, that’s for sure, was going to be all things good, including fair and easy!
How so then it didn’t quite work out like that? Don’t get me wrong, I may have had my fair share of life’s ups and downs but no more or no less than most of us.... but it just doesn’t seem to work out like that child imagined, where are the instant and all encompassing answers? Where did ‘fair’ go to and what on earth happened to the perfectly fun life I envisioned all those years ago?
Er..........life happened I suspect.
And then there is the question of life and it’s up’s and down’s, those tall people ( ok so everyone is tall in relation to me before one of you points that out) I saw as a child, those that had it sussed, they learnt things from life did they not, or that was the theory that I commonly heard bandied about, they came up against life’s troubles big or small, they struggled through them and they learnt stuff didn’t they? They gathered this vast store of knowledge on how not to fcuk up again and how to mend those glitches that occurred when all else failed and life dumped a big heap of something unpleasant on top of their heads.
So what happened to my childhood ideal then, how comes this ‘grown up’ isn’t, how come that when things go pear shaped in gemmak’s-ville there is no vast store of knowledge, no instantly available solution and no magic wand to put it right. How come that I like everyone else seem to flail around in a state of confusion just trying to do the best I can......and usually getting nowhere fast? Where did all those adults go that knew it all and what happened to my theory that ‘grown up’s’ had it sussed?
The child inside is still there, that idealist little kid that saw the world as a wonderful place full of wonderful things, that thought life was fair and the lives of grown ups were hunky dory, she’s still there but maybe, just maybe this time she has learnt a little, maybe despite herself she is beginning to be a grown up, just not the grown up she imagined.
.....but she never did get tall!
I was told in a moment of childhood complaint, about something I now don’t recall, that ‘no one promised me life was going to be fair or easy’, I can still remember it vividly, not because of the message it should have been taking from it but because my young mind was so astounded that anyone should even so much as suggest such a thing let alone believe it, my life, that’s for sure, was going to be all things good, including fair and easy!
How so then it didn’t quite work out like that? Don’t get me wrong, I may have had my fair share of life’s ups and downs but no more or no less than most of us.... but it just doesn’t seem to work out like that child imagined, where are the instant and all encompassing answers? Where did ‘fair’ go to and what on earth happened to the perfectly fun life I envisioned all those years ago?
Er..........life happened I suspect.
And then there is the question of life and it’s up’s and down’s, those tall people ( ok so everyone is tall in relation to me before one of you points that out) I saw as a child, those that had it sussed, they learnt things from life did they not, or that was the theory that I commonly heard bandied about, they came up against life’s troubles big or small, they struggled through them and they learnt stuff didn’t they? They gathered this vast store of knowledge on how not to fcuk up again and how to mend those glitches that occurred when all else failed and life dumped a big heap of something unpleasant on top of their heads.
So what happened to my childhood ideal then, how comes this ‘grown up’ isn’t, how come that when things go pear shaped in gemmak’s-ville there is no vast store of knowledge, no instantly available solution and no magic wand to put it right. How come that I like everyone else seem to flail around in a state of confusion just trying to do the best I can......and usually getting nowhere fast? Where did all those adults go that knew it all and what happened to my theory that ‘grown up’s’ had it sussed?
The child inside is still there, that idealist little kid that saw the world as a wonderful place full of wonderful things, that thought life was fair and the lives of grown ups were hunky dory, she’s still there but maybe, just maybe this time she has learnt a little, maybe despite herself she is beginning to be a grown up, just not the grown up she imagined.
.....but she never did get tall!
Thursday, 20 April 2006
ABC meme
I can't rememeber where I found this but it suffices for a day when my brain in fried!....oh and this time I feel mean, go to the bottom for those I have tagged! Heh.
Accent – Lord knows....South Eastern England, with a little mancunian somwhere in there.
Booze of choice – None, tee total...yes, really!
Chore I hate – Cooking.
Dog or Cat – You need to ask?
Essential electronics – Hey...... ok, computer, camera, phone, memory stick, is it possible to live without those?
Favorite perfume - Thierry Mugler, 'Angel'
Gold or Silver? Gold.
Hometown – Near London is as close as you get.
Insomnia? – Not usually.
Job Title – Customer Service supervisor.
Kids? – Nope.
Living Arrangement – Co-habit.
Most-admired trait – Mine? heaven knows, you're asking the wrong person there!
Overnight Hospital Stays – Yes, peritonitis age 12.
Phobia – SPIDERS!!!!
Quote – "The pursuit of happiness is the greatest cause of unhappiness" Anon.
Religion – None.
Siblings – One of of each...both younger.
Time I wake up – 6 ish....unless Tilly decides otherwise.
Unusual talent/skill – Um..... does still being able to do the splits (I think)count? If it doesn't I don't have one!
Vegetable I refuse to eat – brussels sprouts. Ick.
Worst habit – Smoking.
X-rays – Yes, quite a few but I don't recall what they were all for.
Yummy foods I make – Told you before I don't do cooking! ;o)
Zodiac sign – Aries but it's all hogwash to me.
...and those required to please join in are:
Natty, Paddy, Fletch, and Wallo
Go guys.......and don't say I never give you anything!
Accent – Lord knows....South Eastern England, with a little mancunian somwhere in there.
Booze of choice – None, tee total...yes, really!
Chore I hate – Cooking.
Dog or Cat – You need to ask?
Essential electronics – Hey...... ok, computer, camera, phone, memory stick, is it possible to live without those?
Favorite perfume - Thierry Mugler, 'Angel'
Gold or Silver? Gold.
Hometown – Near London is as close as you get.
Insomnia? – Not usually.
Job Title – Customer Service supervisor.
Kids? – Nope.
Living Arrangement – Co-habit.
Most-admired trait – Mine? heaven knows, you're asking the wrong person there!
Overnight Hospital Stays – Yes, peritonitis age 12.
Phobia – SPIDERS!!!!
Quote – "The pursuit of happiness is the greatest cause of unhappiness" Anon.
Religion – None.
Siblings – One of of each...both younger.
Time I wake up – 6 ish....unless Tilly decides otherwise.
Unusual talent/skill – Um..... does still being able to do the splits (I think)count? If it doesn't I don't have one!
Vegetable I refuse to eat – brussels sprouts. Ick.
Worst habit – Smoking.
X-rays – Yes, quite a few but I don't recall what they were all for.
Yummy foods I make – Told you before I don't do cooking! ;o)
Zodiac sign – Aries but it's all hogwash to me.
...and those required to please join in are:
Natty, Paddy, Fletch, and Wallo
Go guys.......and don't say I never give you anything!
Wednesday, 19 April 2006
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