Happy New Year! Here's hoping it's going to be a good one.
Luckily mine doesn't start until my birthday, so for me tonight isn't as special as it is for others, which is just as well as I managed to put my back out yesterday and am still in quite a bit of pain today. I don't even know how I did it as I was packing my bag to go to Edinburgh for the night and when I stood up, that was it. I think I've trapped a nerve, but quite frankly I don't care what it is I just want it to go away, so at least I have a couple of weeks for it to mend before my true New Year begins.
We had good fun at Shirley and Andy's last night, tho I think the painkillers and the wine didn't mix terribly well and I ended up on every losing team when we were playing Team Trivial Pursuit. Funnily enough I could answer most other people's questions but when it came to mine... blank! Anyway such a good time was had that we are going to have a return match in a few days time, which we're greatly looking forward to.
So folks, enjoy yourselves tonight - or about now for those of you who are in Australia and will just about have had it, and this afternoon for those in Bangkok, this evening for those in South Africa, and early tomorrow morning for those in New York... etc etc
Happy 2011 everyone!
Friday, 31 December 2010
Monday, 27 December 2010
And that's that.
Everyone departed today. Sadly because it snowed last night and this morning, my boys decided that it would be best for them to go too and not to chance the bus but take the train. So my Beloved took everyone off to Berwick station. My mother to go south to London and the boys to go north to Edinburgh. The house is awfully quiet already.
Anyway, I survived!
It was the first visit from my mother for 11 years, and the first xmas visit ever I think. It's one I've pretty much avoided as when I was a child my xmases were awful and punctuated by bad moods and arguments. Still she's 87 and so I thought it would be good to have her here, but of course as she comes from London there'd be no way she could come for the day, so 4 days it was.
I did a lot of disappearing into the kitchen to cook (sometimes it was a bit more Gordon than Nigella) - I noticed No. 2 son accompanied me quite a bit, while my Beloved seemed to have had a lot of work on his computer to do and No. 1 son could be found doing quite a lot of reading. But the Wii was a godsend. She'd never played one before, and apart from one disastrous moment when she smacked her hand off one of our wooden posts in a moment of competitive madness, she absolutely loved it. She also loved the board games and card games we played. And of course the wine helped! She declared it the best Christmas ever and is determined to do it again! Next year it's my brother's turn. Phew!
I'm sad to see the boys go. I felt because my mother was here I never got the chance to spend as much time with them as I would've liked, but never mind. It was lovely to see them, and even though it was more stressful than usual, I think they had fun. They certainly helped me through it all.
So now my Beloved and I are on our own. Only for a day tho as we have friends coming tomorrow night and then we're off to Shirley and Andy's for our annual get together, which we're greatly looking forward to.
But for the rest of today... it's time out. Films to watch, food to eat, wine to be consumed... sounds like Xmas to me!
Anyway, I survived!
It was the first visit from my mother for 11 years, and the first xmas visit ever I think. It's one I've pretty much avoided as when I was a child my xmases were awful and punctuated by bad moods and arguments. Still she's 87 and so I thought it would be good to have her here, but of course as she comes from London there'd be no way she could come for the day, so 4 days it was.
I did a lot of disappearing into the kitchen to cook (sometimes it was a bit more Gordon than Nigella) - I noticed No. 2 son accompanied me quite a bit, while my Beloved seemed to have had a lot of work on his computer to do and No. 1 son could be found doing quite a lot of reading. But the Wii was a godsend. She'd never played one before, and apart from one disastrous moment when she smacked her hand off one of our wooden posts in a moment of competitive madness, she absolutely loved it. She also loved the board games and card games we played. And of course the wine helped! She declared it the best Christmas ever and is determined to do it again! Next year it's my brother's turn. Phew!
I'm sad to see the boys go. I felt because my mother was here I never got the chance to spend as much time with them as I would've liked, but never mind. It was lovely to see them, and even though it was more stressful than usual, I think they had fun. They certainly helped me through it all.
So now my Beloved and I are on our own. Only for a day tho as we have friends coming tomorrow night and then we're off to Shirley and Andy's for our annual get together, which we're greatly looking forward to.
But for the rest of today... it's time out. Films to watch, food to eat, wine to be consumed... sounds like Xmas to me!
Friday, 24 December 2010
Arrivals
My boys arrived the other night and it was lovely to have them here. The Xmas games began, though we were all so shattered that the only one we could be bothered with was Whot!
Then we woke up yesterday to even more snow, which I thought might impede my mother's journey north, but no... she phoned to say she was on the train, and as soon as we had that information I went into cleaning overdrive, which proved fatal for the Dyson which collapsed under the pressure and will have to get fixed sometime after the holidays. Thank goodness I have an old Henry.
No. 2 son and I made canapes (which were excellent), while my Beloved and No. 1 son went off to Berwick to pick my mother up. Luckily she was in a good mood when she arrived, but I decided to drink copious quantities of wine just in case her mood changed later.
And so this morning I woke up, slightly worse for wear, and scared in case I have to resort to the same strategy tonight. I'm not sure xmas in a drunken haze is such a great idea.
Then we woke up yesterday to even more snow, which I thought might impede my mother's journey north, but no... she phoned to say she was on the train, and as soon as we had that information I went into cleaning overdrive, which proved fatal for the Dyson which collapsed under the pressure and will have to get fixed sometime after the holidays. Thank goodness I have an old Henry.
No. 2 son and I made canapes (which were excellent), while my Beloved and No. 1 son went off to Berwick to pick my mother up. Luckily she was in a good mood when she arrived, but I decided to drink copious quantities of wine just in case her mood changed later.
And so this morning I woke up, slightly worse for wear, and scared in case I have to resort to the same strategy tonight. I'm not sure xmas in a drunken haze is such a great idea.
Wednesday, 22 December 2010
Old dog, new trick
Well ok, not quite a trick, but after almost 12 years with us our dog, Nell, has acquired a totally new habit and we don't know why.
Nell has always had the strongest of bladders. So much so that it has been a talking point whenever she goes to stay with folk. She has a walk anywhere from 4 - 6 pm and then she has her food and settles down for the evening. Prior to bed around 10 pm she wants her biscuits and then she goes to bed.
Nell was a rescued dog and although 6 months old when she first came to us, we had to house train her, which actually didn't take very long. And for a while we used to open the back door for her to go out last thing. She would take a look out, turn round and come back in as if to say, 'Very nice out there, not sure why you want me to look, but never mind I've done it now, so please can I go to bed.' (Yes, alright I know, lots of anthropomorphising going on!) and never actually go out. So we stopped doing it.
Anyway, last week when I was staying overnight in Edinburgh, my Beloved phoned me to tell me Nell had been staring at the back door after she'd had her biscuits, so he opened it and she went out and had a wee. She then stopped, but has started again this week and has demanded the same every night.
I'm wondering if it's her age, or if it's the cold. No matter, we shall now have to alter our well trodden night time routine and remember to let her out. This might well prove quite hard for us, creatures of habit that we are.
Nell has always had the strongest of bladders. So much so that it has been a talking point whenever she goes to stay with folk. She has a walk anywhere from 4 - 6 pm and then she has her food and settles down for the evening. Prior to bed around 10 pm she wants her biscuits and then she goes to bed.
Nell was a rescued dog and although 6 months old when she first came to us, we had to house train her, which actually didn't take very long. And for a while we used to open the back door for her to go out last thing. She would take a look out, turn round and come back in as if to say, 'Very nice out there, not sure why you want me to look, but never mind I've done it now, so please can I go to bed.' (Yes, alright I know, lots of anthropomorphising going on!) and never actually go out. So we stopped doing it.
Anyway, last week when I was staying overnight in Edinburgh, my Beloved phoned me to tell me Nell had been staring at the back door after she'd had her biscuits, so he opened it and she went out and had a wee. She then stopped, but has started again this week and has demanded the same every night.
I'm wondering if it's her age, or if it's the cold. No matter, we shall now have to alter our well trodden night time routine and remember to let her out. This might well prove quite hard for us, creatures of habit that we are.
Sunday, 19 December 2010
Sad news
And the snow is back. Drew back the blinds on the velux windows this morning to be greeted by the white stuff completely covering them and so now we're back in the snow bolt hole. Approx an inch and a half so far, so nothing like a couple of weeks ago. But snow is snow and I'm fed up with it. Apparently it's worse in Edinburgh and I'm supposed to head there tomorrow for the work xmas party ... or maybe not. And even worse No. 2 son is supposed to be coming up from Bristol today for his xmas break. He's booked on EasyJet so who knows. Nothing anyone can do about it, but keep fingers crossed and hope for the best.
Saturday, 18 December 2010
Police update
I had a phone call from the police re the London incident. They asked me if I wanted to press charges as the guy who'd been spat and rammed by the taxi decided he didn't want to. I have to say I wasn't at all surprised by this, as the poor guy couldn't speak very good English and going to court would have been difficult for him.
My decision was not to go to court. But I also asked that the authorities (taxi ones that is) give the taxi driver a warning. I hope I've done the right thing and the taxi driver never behaves like he did again.
But of course having made the decision I'm now beset with worries that it was the right decision. I know I did the right thing in helping the Turkish guy in the first place, and also that I called the police and reported the incident. But it's difficult to know that decisions are the right ones. But it's made now. Done and dusted.
The only thing I won't do is get into a taxi with the license plate T 273 AGH, and I advise you all to do the same.
My decision was not to go to court. But I also asked that the authorities (taxi ones that is) give the taxi driver a warning. I hope I've done the right thing and the taxi driver never behaves like he did again.
But of course having made the decision I'm now beset with worries that it was the right decision. I know I did the right thing in helping the Turkish guy in the first place, and also that I called the police and reported the incident. But it's difficult to know that decisions are the right ones. But it's made now. Done and dusted.
The only thing I won't do is get into a taxi with the license plate T 273 AGH, and I advise you all to do the same.
Thursday, 16 December 2010
It's only taken me 9 years
Ok... what's going on? My iPhone wasn't working and then yesterday it suddenly kicked in and started again, downloading emails by the hundred. I did what any self respecting gadget queen would do and looked it up on the web. I came across an MA research paper entitled 'Disruptive effects of electromagnetic interference on communication and electronic systems.' I thought it would give me answers.
Essentially the summary is this, and I quote:
"As the reliance on wireless data networks and transmission systems increases to include more critical systems, unintentional and intentional interference have the ability to disrupt these systems and cause temporary or permanent failures, which have the ability to cause catastrophic results due to the unavailability of these wireless data links and the information which they carry. The most effective protection against these types of disruptions is to conduct susceptibility assessments and provide measures of protection against known interference sources at the data link design phase and attempt to protect against currently unknown or unanticipated interference sources using measures employed after system deployment."
So effectively, we know that the more we use our phones, we can get disruption from unintentional and intentional sources. And we need protection. Mmmm no flaw in the argument. Only problem is I could have told you that. For once in my life I actually realise the work I did for my Doctorate was actually ok and at least I came out with some interesting research that said something new. And it's only taken me 9 years to realise it. So thank you to my iPhone for not working for a couple of days... I'm still none the wiser as to why, but at least I have a sense of pride!
Essentially the summary is this, and I quote:
"As the reliance on wireless data networks and transmission systems increases to include more critical systems, unintentional and intentional interference have the ability to disrupt these systems and cause temporary or permanent failures, which have the ability to cause catastrophic results due to the unavailability of these wireless data links and the information which they carry. The most effective protection against these types of disruptions is to conduct susceptibility assessments and provide measures of protection against known interference sources at the data link design phase and attempt to protect against currently unknown or unanticipated interference sources using measures employed after system deployment."
So effectively, we know that the more we use our phones, we can get disruption from unintentional and intentional sources. And we need protection. Mmmm no flaw in the argument. Only problem is I could have told you that. For once in my life I actually realise the work I did for my Doctorate was actually ok and at least I came out with some interesting research that said something new. And it's only taken me 9 years to realise it. So thank you to my iPhone for not working for a couple of days... I'm still none the wiser as to why, but at least I have a sense of pride!
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