Sunday 25 January 2009

Emotionally tired

Another quiet week :-)

I'm down 13lb to a stone since new year which is good. Only quite a lot left.

Despite that my soul has been very tired lately. As I was driving back from shopping in Windsor something told me to go to The Airforce Memorial, it is the most serene place I have ever been, and I really did feel a lot better after walking round. Not really sure why.

Burns night tonight to celebrate the famous Scottish Jew Rabbi Burns. So I am full of haggis now, cannot help feeling that I am letting the family down by not liking whisky, and by having sugar in my porridge, still there you go!

Anyway failed to win the lottery again, although not buying a ticket might have contributed to that so back to work tomorrow.


The Air Forces Memorial is a memorial for all the Commonwealth (Which includes American prior to 1941) aircrew who died in the second world war, in the western campaigns and whose bodies were never recovered. It is a concrete building with over 20,000 names written on its walls, very moving, and definitely the most serene place I know.

Sunday 18 January 2009

Tony Hart

I suspect that no-one reading this blog will ever have heard of Tony Hart, however to me, and millions like me, he was our introduction to art and wonder.

The BBC says http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7836151.stm

However for me the memories will be of a man who was always enthusiastic, childishly enthusiastic, joyously enthusiastic, about art, and was accompanied by a signer when he drew. I believe that "Vision On" was the only mainstream program that the BBC produced where the signer was a part of the show. As a hearing person I can only hope that this allowed deaf children to enjoy the programme as much as I did.

With Tony Hart and Johnny Morris dead I think that my childhood has finally gone, and I pity those who never knew them.
Yesterday I went to IKEA... No don't pity me just yet.

When I was at University for the second time (Well the first was a Polytechic back then, but you know what I mean) in the early to mid nineties IKEA was all we ever wanted to decorate our rooms, even after we left it seemed that everyones house or flat was filled with strangely named Swedish furniture. I used to enjoy looking round the rooms in the store, planning what I would buy when I could afjord (Scandinavian joke - yes I know it doesn't work) a home.

I have had a flat for about 12 years (Housewarming was the day of Dianas funeral), and you know what? There is no IKEA furniture here. My chopping board, table lamps and room lamp are plus scissors and various bits and bobs, but nothing major. I have two units from Argos (Note for non-UK readers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argos_(retailer) Yes it is as bad as it sounds) so it isn't because I am buying from more expensive shops (Although I do have a fantastic John Lewis Bedstead which cost more than I made in a month at the time, but still brings me pleasure, and a fantastic trunk come coffee table http://www.johnlewis.com/783/Product.aspx well near enough)

So I only have four bookcases at the moment, which means that I have a lot of books sitting abround the place and I need at least two more.

Which brings me to my visit yesterday, I am in dire need of bookcases, so I went to IKEA, on the way there I went to Hoo Hing to get some Dim-Sum and Thai spice pastes, as always I wished that my freezer had more room in it so I could purchase more, realised when I arrived home that I have only 4 Demae Ramen left and had purchased 24 Won Ton and 24 Sui Gow, still I am sure I will work it out.

Where was I? Ah yes, IKEA, for some reason I did not set off until 09:30, and so was too late for breakfast there (I am dieting, however for a fried breakfast I would fall of the wagon, even though I missed this I seem to have only lost 1 lb this week :-( ) rewind... Go! Walking through the upstairs with the rooms set out in it everything seemed a little, tatty, nothing really leapt out at me. I want bookcases for paperbacks, and all of the bookcases could take two paperbacks easily depthwise, I know that we need the bookcase secure, however if one screws it to the wall (as is suggested) do we really need them that deep? To be honest with you I was most disappointed with the products on show.

Quick cup of tea and croissant later (Actually if the croissant had been fresh it would have been great, as it was it was still better than any I have had in the UK for a long while, which sadly tells you more about UK croissants than IKEAs bakery) I went to the "Marketplace" this is still quite good, if I were setting up a house it would have been wonderful, as it was I purchased a thermos, and a picture frame.

Having ambled through the warehouse and paid for these delights I went to the food shop, where I proceded to spend more on lumpfish roe, rosti and sausages than I had in the store proper.

So, after all that verbal diarrhea , the question is, has IKEA stopped producing desireable furniture, did I grow up and discover that they never did, or have our tastes diverged?

films

I was listening to the only movie reviews worth paying attention to : http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/entertainment/kermode.shtml when I suddenly realised that I haven't actually been to the cinema since Star Wars episode 1. Whilst I know that it wasn't a great film it seems unfair solely to blame that.

I watch films on DVD (occasionally via various other mediums) and have them stacked up a bit, however for some reason I find the idea of paying not far off the cost of a DVD (When one includes parking) puts me off going to the cinema.

Life meanwhile is quiet, I am still struggling with my new role, however I did manage to sort out a couple of things last week so am starting to feel more confident.

Monday 12 January 2009

Ouchie

A very boring post...

Since last Thursday I have been suffering from a cramp/bruise pain.

On Thursday at work it was in my left foot, when I woke up on Friday it was in my right foot, spent the day in bed, and only got out four times because it was so painful to walk. Saturday getting better, Sunday almost right (thank heavens), today I worked from home as it is my driving foot, and the pain started on the left side of my body! Where next?

So I had to call a plumber out on Sunday because the lavatory was blocked and leaking. He did a bit of a fix, told me the leak was linked to the blockage and I should replace the side pipe, but he didn't have the parts. According to his time sheet he spent three and an half minutes in my flat, including his processing my payment I would put it closer to eight. And the cost - One hundred and fifty pounds :-|

Saturday 10 January 2009

Who ate all the cakes


Weighed myself on Wednesday, it was a frightening result, I am a lot heavier than I thought I was. Maybe I will put the actual figure in the blog when I have lost a bit.

I have very little willpower, and for some reason when I cannot have something I crave it, but when I can have it I don't care too much. For example when I used to be on call, I always used to fancy a beer, when not on call I didn't care. When I did a purge on my flat about a year ago I poured away a Crate of beer from that era! Today I was driving back from my mothers, having "fixed" her computer again, why does she keep trying to edit her normal.dot? Thinking "I should go to McDonalds that way I can just fall on the bed and eat". I managed to resist that, however I did eat spaghetti carbonara, so not sure if that was any better.


Another week...

For some reason I seemed to be down to one duvet cover, one bed sheet, and about 10,000 pillowcases it seems. I'm sure that there are other bedclothes hiding in a drawer somewhere, but I couldn't track them down.

Now this isn't a massive problem as one can wash ones bedding in a day. I am using a launderette at the moment as it is cheaper than the insurance excess last time I used the washing machine, however it is nice to have a change of scene in the bedroom occasionally.

On Tuesday I went to M&S, however all of their sheets were white or light pastels, now I have Eczema so these look seriously bad after a couple of days, so I went on to John Lewis on Wednesday, again the same! Managed to get a fitted sheet (I move around a lot in bed so valences or tucked in sheets don't really work) and a patterned duvet cover with not too much white on it.

On Thursday afternoon and night my left foot was very uncomfortable, felt like it was bruised, when I awoke on Friday morning my right foot was in that situation, I couldn't drive so I had to work from home. I have no idea what has caused this, but my right foot is recovering slowly.

Monday 5 January 2009

First day in the office this year.

Just a few things

1/ It snowed here overnight :-) only about an inch, however I awoke to a lovely scene, it still took me about an hour to get out of the flatlet, however it was lovely to do a little snow crunchy walk to the car, and I didn't have to scrape it, just push the snow off. We had a small snowstorm at work, well about ten minutes and barely any snow, and then some hail, and now... All the snow has gone, still it was lovely whilst it lasted.

2/ Back at work after the break, well I was working, but working from home just isn't the same, it was nice to see a few people and catch up on their breaks, so far it seems everyone had a good time, except the couple who went to Floridia and wish they were still there, and one chum of mine whose hubby is having big tests at hospital manana.

3/ My old souris was cutting out from time to time, so I have purchased an air mouse, I am using it now, but I think that it may take some time to get used to. An air mouse is sort of like a wiimote one just points it at the screen, or it seems in a random direction, and it moves the cursor. it looks cool, but my wrist is not used to the movements yet.

4/ Went out for a walk and possiblr shop at lunchtime, I'm looking for a new fitted bed sheet and duvet cover, for some reason all the bedsheets seem to be pale pastels at the moment, sadly with my skin I would hate that, so I will walk to John Lewis tomorrow. M&S did have some nice duvet covers, however I want to buy the two together, not sure why, it is just something I do.

5/ Sigh, I was reasonable with food today porridge with a little sugar, (don't tell my mother) for breakfast, then at lunchtime I succumbed to temptation, and having purchased a salad from Marks and Sparks went into Pret for soup, and then two sausage rolls (pastry) from the pasty shop. I was going to have the salad for supper, however it is a little nippy so I think I will finish the Thai red curry that I cooked yesterday instead. Will take the salad to work tomorrow, if I manage to avoid any food shops then I should be safe. Oh and I did have the last two chocolates from my advent calendar as well.

6/ Saw the cutest story on the BBC about two bairns (5 and 6) in Germany who ran away from home to get married in Africa as they were so in love, I loved the police comment "They can still put their plan into action at a later date,"!

7/ For the past four or five years I have had two desktop calendars, Dilbert and Sports Illustrated, I decided to stop getting the SI one when I hit forty, as I am now definitely old enough to be those girls father! So instead I decided on a cutesy animal calendar. Now I really miss the SI one, mainly because it had the whole month laid out on each page, and now I am having to rely on outlook for my longer term calendar :-(

Saturday 3 January 2009

New Doc

Matt Smith? Matt Smith?? Matt Smith???

No idea who he is, but he looks interesting. Lets wait and see.

Friday 2 January 2009

Dr Who?

OK here I am 40 and a half, and I am feeling as giddy as a bairn on Christmas Eve :-)

Who is it going to be?

My vote would be for Sarah Alexander, she fits well with Steven Moffat and was head and shoulders the best at acting in "Coupling".

However it appears the favourites are James Nesbitt, Paterson Joseph, John Simm and David Morrissey. Have to say I am not sure about them.

21 hours to go!





French Animals vs English Meat

A quiet day today, so my mind has gone to one of the things I have been confused about for a while.

We are told that the reason that animal names in English are different from the name of the meat from that animal because the meat was eaten by French nobles. So...

Animal Meat French
Cow Beef Boeuf
Pig Pork Porc
Sheep Mutton Mouton

Which all makes sense so far, it is Mutton rather than Lamb because that was generally what was eaten back then.

However in French

Meat Animal
Boeuf Vache
Porc Cochon
Mouton Mouton

Ok so for Sheep it is the same, however why is it different for Beef and Pork? Is there another language that France took the meat names from?


Oh and whilst I am on confusing things.

Why is it "Loaves and fishes" when the plural of fish is fish?

Thursday 1 January 2009

Resolutions

The BBC tell me that New Year Resolutions are counter productive, however that said hopefully putting these out there on t'web will give me a little more willpower.

Aim - To lose weight, I was wearing a white jumper last night. and when I took off my coat in the restaurant Abdul said "Oh look, the Michelin man". Kim berated him, however I found it quite amusing and sadly true.

Resolutions:

1/ Drink less alcool, at the moment I seem to be drinking about three or four bottles a week, these are just useless calories that I can save on.

2/ Not have takeaways until I can fit into at least three of the shirts I bought back from Floridia. And even after that only once a month.

3/ Start walking for at least half an hour four days a week (to take account of wind and rain, I should push myself to every day if it is dry).


Aim - To build up my self confidence and avoid depressions jags.

It seems odd, I vary from super confident to no confident, just want to eliminate the no-confident side of things.

1/ Get the hang of my new job, at the moment I have done very little on it, and am having panics about not knowing what to do.

2/ Join a club of some sort. Round Table folded when I was Chairman elect (and I am too old now), I went to an am dram group and found it a little too full of egos for me. However I am doing an Archeology evening course starting in a couple of weeks so hopefully something will come of that.

There are probably many other things I should do, however I think these will do for starters.