Sunday, December 24, 2006
Merry Christmas
I am about to depart this life for a better one in which there is more food, presents and good company but less online access. So I would like to wish both my readers a very warm Christmas full of twinkly lights, vintage port and a ready audience for endless bad jokes.
Back by Boxing Day eve; the cats will need feeding.
Not sure whether I'm more excited about the immanence of Christmas Day or next weekend's resolution of last night's Robin Hood cliffhanger. Both are exceedingly good :-)
Back by Boxing Day eve; the cats will need feeding.
Not sure whether I'm more excited about the immanence of Christmas Day or next weekend's resolution of last night's Robin Hood cliffhanger. Both are exceedingly good :-)
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Even more woo hoo
Got my OU result- obviously slightly high is a good way to do exams since I managed to exceed my coursework score, which I wouldn't have thought likely- I distinctly recall rambling cheerfully but not necessarily coherently :-) Anyway they gave me huge quantities of marks and told me I was wonderful, which I always like hearing.
And I've cleaned everything in sight. When I've managed to tear Son away from "Mr and Mrs Smith" then we will go and spend money and drink hot chocolate in town.
And, possibly best of all, we are not being thrown out of our office at the end of January but sometime in the rather more distant future, so I can stop worrying about that.
Suddenly I feel all Christmassy....
And I've cleaned everything in sight. When I've managed to tear Son away from "Mr and Mrs Smith" then we will go and spend money and drink hot chocolate in town.
And, possibly best of all, we are not being thrown out of our office at the end of January but sometime in the rather more distant future, so I can stop worrying about that.
Suddenly I feel all Christmassy....
woo hoo!
Slept four hours yesterday afternoon. Slept very little last night, but in an unworried sort of way. Now happy and active and ready to go out there and spend money like water (a strange phrase when one thinks about it.) More mince pies to make first and I might even get round to cleaning the kitchen.
Taking Son with me shopping so will probably not be allowed to buy shiny orange things in profusion, which is, thinking about it, rather good. There is , theoretically at least, a limit to the number of shiny orange objects that can adorn one otherwise crammed to the gills (why gills? Is this a stuffing fish analogy? I've never stuffed a fish. Would one go up to the gills or stop around the top of the body cavity?) house.
Note to self- when depressed, sleeping for 5 days works. Now just have to work out how to come down again. Maybe won't bother till after christmas.
We all watched Resident Evil last night. It was just like a computer game. Quite watchable though.
Right, mince pies. And Melvin Bragg discussing Hell.
Taking Son with me shopping so will probably not be allowed to buy shiny orange things in profusion, which is, thinking about it, rather good. There is , theoretically at least, a limit to the number of shiny orange objects that can adorn one otherwise crammed to the gills (why gills? Is this a stuffing fish analogy? I've never stuffed a fish. Would one go up to the gills or stop around the top of the body cavity?) house.
Note to self- when depressed, sleeping for 5 days works. Now just have to work out how to come down again. Maybe won't bother till after christmas.
We all watched Resident Evil last night. It was just like a computer game. Quite watchable though.
Right, mince pies. And Melvin Bragg discussing Hell.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
A brief visit
Been a bit of a long gap again. Work was hell and I reached about 6 inches away from nervous breakdown. But I am now engaged in my 2 week Christmas/New Year holiday (much to the horror of a couple of my customers who have been screaming blue murder about my absence this week- that's the sort of thing that is reallyhelpful for Christmas relaxation), and better still, Son's holiday starts this lunchtime so I have no more long days on my own to fill. Really I ought to be a little better at spending time on my own but, especially when I'm already stressed and a little down, I find it very difficult. I did have a rather pleasant time watching Madagascar yesterday morning, and went for a long walk in the afternoon.
Anyway I have made mince pies and stained-glass-window biscuits, and I'm about to plunge gently into the Christmas crowds of fanatical shoppers for the morning.
Hogfather was rather good. Beloved thought that it would be a perfect style for Northern Lights, but I suspect they will do something rather different for that. Robin Hood was dire this week; Torchwood was QI, my Owen/Guy crossover story is progressing slowly in my head and is at least a good way of getting to sleep, which doesn't say very much for its theatrical merit.
Christmas eve and day with Sister and family. No further plans at the moment. Son has kayak for Christmas (out of "his" own savings (or all the old Child benefit money)- cunning, that). It's a whitewater boat which will also play in surf, so about half the length of mine and turns on a halfpenny, with most of it underwater half the time, and he particularly likes the way that it can churn up the canal water for about 200 yards in about 10 seconds flat (he's going to be unpopular with the fishermen). It's got sufficiently cold for me to be a little unenthusiastic about going out in mine on my own- I tend to think that if I fell in the shock might be a little too much and I might just sink gently to the bottom and stay there.
Right, lets try town. Bank, food, chemists, anywhere else that looks interesting and the queues aren't too long. I heard a R4 programme about taste the other day so now I need to get some food colouring to establish whether Son is in fact a super-taster or just fussy. Not that it will help any; just curious.
Been following the war against the war against the war against Christmas with great amusement. Son and I spend our time out pointing out potential evidence of the war against Christmas. Sadly, the local paper seems to have steered clear this year, after last year's phenomenal "banning Nativity plays" story which managed to establish that every infant school polled in Solihull was in fact putting on a nativity play but stuck gamely to its shocking headline nonetheless. Brief discussion at work Christmas dinner- lady next to me demanded to know why the Jews were trying to muscle in on Christmas- was quite astonished to hear about Hanukah and even more so to find out that those little up and down candles weren't actually Christian symbols. Our office has the same decorations that it's always had, and they still fall down regularly. I feel that SkyOne is sticking it's neck out a little with its Happy Hogswatch slogan, but maybe no-one cares what Sky does.
If anything is going to be banned I feel maybe the Argos advert is a prime candidate.
One of these days I will write a blog entry about scooters in vacation in the fall, or maybe the fall of scooters due to the vacation of their seats, or something of the sort. I always feel slightly guilty that I don't fill in the labels for my posts but "vague chatter" would probably cover all of them without providing much indexing material.
Right. Definitely need to go into town now. I might catch a bus though; it's wet and foggy and my hair is nowhere near dry.
Anyway I have made mince pies and stained-glass-window biscuits, and I'm about to plunge gently into the Christmas crowds of fanatical shoppers for the morning.
Hogfather was rather good. Beloved thought that it would be a perfect style for Northern Lights, but I suspect they will do something rather different for that. Robin Hood was dire this week; Torchwood was QI, my Owen/Guy crossover story is progressing slowly in my head and is at least a good way of getting to sleep, which doesn't say very much for its theatrical merit.
Christmas eve and day with Sister and family. No further plans at the moment. Son has kayak for Christmas (out of "his" own savings (or all the old Child benefit money)- cunning, that). It's a whitewater boat which will also play in surf, so about half the length of mine and turns on a halfpenny, with most of it underwater half the time, and he particularly likes the way that it can churn up the canal water for about 200 yards in about 10 seconds flat (he's going to be unpopular with the fishermen). It's got sufficiently cold for me to be a little unenthusiastic about going out in mine on my own- I tend to think that if I fell in the shock might be a little too much and I might just sink gently to the bottom and stay there.
Right, lets try town. Bank, food, chemists, anywhere else that looks interesting and the queues aren't too long. I heard a R4 programme about taste the other day so now I need to get some food colouring to establish whether Son is in fact a super-taster or just fussy. Not that it will help any; just curious.
Been following the war against the war against the war against Christmas with great amusement. Son and I spend our time out pointing out potential evidence of the war against Christmas. Sadly, the local paper seems to have steered clear this year, after last year's phenomenal "banning Nativity plays" story which managed to establish that every infant school polled in Solihull was in fact putting on a nativity play but stuck gamely to its shocking headline nonetheless. Brief discussion at work Christmas dinner- lady next to me demanded to know why the Jews were trying to muscle in on Christmas- was quite astonished to hear about Hanukah and even more so to find out that those little up and down candles weren't actually Christian symbols. Our office has the same decorations that it's always had, and they still fall down regularly. I feel that SkyOne is sticking it's neck out a little with its Happy Hogswatch slogan, but maybe no-one cares what Sky does.
If anything is going to be banned I feel maybe the Argos advert is a prime candidate.
One of these days I will write a blog entry about scooters in vacation in the fall, or maybe the fall of scooters due to the vacation of their seats, or something of the sort. I always feel slightly guilty that I don't fill in the labels for my posts but "vague chatter" would probably cover all of them without providing much indexing material.
Right. Definitely need to go into town now. I might catch a bus though; it's wet and foggy and my hair is nowhere near dry.
Friday, December 08, 2006
Not sick leave
I'm at home today. Day's holiday. Next week I intend to do 3 days and then give up until the new year ( thus neatly avoiding the newly abolished Christmas).
Been working too hard, got too stressed, running at the moment on permanent low grade panic symptoms and too much going through my head all the time, so this is official winding down time. Its very difficult to stop once one has got going to this extent; there are a dozen critical things happening at work that need my input but they will have to live without me for a bit. The alternative, I suspect, is for them to live without me for considerably longer on a non-optional basis. Right, enough about work. The whole point is to get away from it for a bit!
Other news; well, there isn't any really. I feel like I've done nothing but work and kayaking for months. I think the kayaking has helped. I lie awake at night and mentally rehearse rolls till I fall asleep. I must try one in the water at some point!
We did watch Superman last night. I'd forgotten that it was so slow. Quite watchable though. And quite gruesome in places. Clark is so much in control, both as Superman and Clark Kent, which is an interesting comparison to the later superhero movies.
My list of jobs for today involve sorting out ingredients for mincemeat.
Been working too hard, got too stressed, running at the moment on permanent low grade panic symptoms and too much going through my head all the time, so this is official winding down time. Its very difficult to stop once one has got going to this extent; there are a dozen critical things happening at work that need my input but they will have to live without me for a bit. The alternative, I suspect, is for them to live without me for considerably longer on a non-optional basis. Right, enough about work. The whole point is to get away from it for a bit!
Other news; well, there isn't any really. I feel like I've done nothing but work and kayaking for months. I think the kayaking has helped. I lie awake at night and mentally rehearse rolls till I fall asleep. I must try one in the water at some point!
We did watch Superman last night. I'd forgotten that it was so slow. Quite watchable though. And quite gruesome in places. Clark is so much in control, both as Superman and Clark Kent, which is an interesting comparison to the later superhero movies.
My list of jobs for today involve sorting out ingredients for mincemeat.
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Gently down the stream
My ear is rather better today.
Which is fortunate, because today we went on a 300 mile round trip in a minibus to the Brecon Beacons, where we gazed in some horror at the River Usk in spate. The river was brown, churning and carrying large chunks of trees very fast.
Then we paddled 200 yrds, waited 20 minutes for the rescue of two paddlers, boats and paddles, paddled another 200 yards and repeated the process (this time I was doing the wet bit), then finally paddled an extremely exciting 200 yrds and went home(after an hour or so doing sorting out things and waiting for the minibus).
White water kayaking is very like a video game. You have a forward, backward, left and right control. Your aim is to keep the boat headed downstream while avoiding obstacles (trees, rocks, other boats) appearing on left and right. The river itself is pushing you into sideways eddies, while waves crash over the boat and have to be met head on. And it all happens too fast for conscious though.
The biggest difference, of course, is that when you fail then you don't (hopefully) lose a life. Instead you find yourself upside down in a fast flowing and freezing cold Welsh river in December.
Then you get one of those little sections where you get a timer counting down and you have to complete a task or lose a life. In this case the time is indeterminate but feels very short, the task is to detach yourself from your boat while still under water so that you can reach the surface. But the consequence of failing is the same.
Having reached the surface, you take a huge gulp of air and watch your boat and paddle spinning off downstream, far faster than the current is carrying you. It's too deep to stand and the current would be far too strong to let you anyway, so the only option is to swim the 30 feet or so to the bank.
The highlight of my school swimming career, after I'd demonstrated that I could swim up and down indefintely and pick up rubber bricks from the floor of the deep end, was the pyjama swim. This involved donning a pair of light pyjamas, jumping in to the pool and swimming to the other side. The purpose of this was to equip us for any occasion when we might end up clothed in water.
I haven't ever fallen into a heated indoor pool while wearing nightwear, although I understand that it is a common pastime among media celebrities. I have however fallen into a whitewater river in winter wearing a wet suit, tracksuit bottoms, socks and trainers, long sleeved T shirt, hooded tracksuit top, cagoule, helmet, glasses, sealskin gloves, a large rubber spraydeck firmly attached around my chest and, possibly the best £30 I've ever spent, a buoyancy jacket. And when I saw that bank I can assure you that I swam about twice as fast as I ever managed in pyjamas!
Beloved and son didn't fall in. Son is starting to get quite good at anything that involves not entering the water abrubtly.
The next river trip is February. Maybe we get snow!
Which is fortunate, because today we went on a 300 mile round trip in a minibus to the Brecon Beacons, where we gazed in some horror at the River Usk in spate. The river was brown, churning and carrying large chunks of trees very fast.
Then we paddled 200 yrds, waited 20 minutes for the rescue of two paddlers, boats and paddles, paddled another 200 yards and repeated the process (this time I was doing the wet bit), then finally paddled an extremely exciting 200 yrds and went home(after an hour or so doing sorting out things and waiting for the minibus).
White water kayaking is very like a video game. You have a forward, backward, left and right control. Your aim is to keep the boat headed downstream while avoiding obstacles (trees, rocks, other boats) appearing on left and right. The river itself is pushing you into sideways eddies, while waves crash over the boat and have to be met head on. And it all happens too fast for conscious though.
The biggest difference, of course, is that when you fail then you don't (hopefully) lose a life. Instead you find yourself upside down in a fast flowing and freezing cold Welsh river in December.
Then you get one of those little sections where you get a timer counting down and you have to complete a task or lose a life. In this case the time is indeterminate but feels very short, the task is to detach yourself from your boat while still under water so that you can reach the surface. But the consequence of failing is the same.
Having reached the surface, you take a huge gulp of air and watch your boat and paddle spinning off downstream, far faster than the current is carrying you. It's too deep to stand and the current would be far too strong to let you anyway, so the only option is to swim the 30 feet or so to the bank.
The highlight of my school swimming career, after I'd demonstrated that I could swim up and down indefintely and pick up rubber bricks from the floor of the deep end, was the pyjama swim. This involved donning a pair of light pyjamas, jumping in to the pool and swimming to the other side. The purpose of this was to equip us for any occasion when we might end up clothed in water.
I haven't ever fallen into a heated indoor pool while wearing nightwear, although I understand that it is a common pastime among media celebrities. I have however fallen into a whitewater river in winter wearing a wet suit, tracksuit bottoms, socks and trainers, long sleeved T shirt, hooded tracksuit top, cagoule, helmet, glasses, sealskin gloves, a large rubber spraydeck firmly attached around my chest and, possibly the best £30 I've ever spent, a buoyancy jacket. And when I saw that bank I can assure you that I swam about twice as fast as I ever managed in pyjamas!
Beloved and son didn't fall in. Son is starting to get quite good at anything that involves not entering the water abrubtly.
The next river trip is February. Maybe we get snow!
Friday, December 01, 2006
Ow.
