Yesterday I had to go to Glasgow for a meeting and then rush back to Edinburgh, pick up the dog and head home to the Borders. So far so good. It was lovely to be in a place that didn't smell of paint and floor oil, and be able to go through the whole house without being faced with piles of furniture. I decided to have a leisurely dinner and would follow that by getting online and to grips with all the emails that had piled up while I was away in the big city.
I tried to log on and couldn't. I did what any self respecting IT no-nothing would do and that is switch it off and switch it on again. Still nothing. So I left it off and then put it on again this morning. It worked fine.
Anyway, my brother phoned me not long ago to tell me that Edinburgh and the North of England had a BT shutdown fault on internet access yesterday... how amazing is that? Doesn't it make you think that there's something going on here that no-one is telling us?
Conspiracy theory alive and well and living in the Scottish Borders!
Saturday, 30 October 2010
Thursday, 28 October 2010
Another bonus
Yes folks, yet another bonus of living in a house with limited electrical working goods, and that is that according to the meter that tells me how much electricity I'm using by the second and how much it costs per month... well it's now 28p per day! That's pretty good news.
Of course the gas bill will be horrendous as the painter had the heating on full blast to dry the paint quickly, so in a way it's a case of swings and roundabouts.
But yet again, a bonus is a bonus and I'm happy with that!
Of course the gas bill will be horrendous as the painter had the heating on full blast to dry the paint quickly, so in a way it's a case of swings and roundabouts.
But yet again, a bonus is a bonus and I'm happy with that!
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
There was one bonus
Well folks... the dog and I moved into the Edinburgh house yesterday. No downstairs lights, no TV, no internet access, no landline phone working. So after a complete freak out on my part, I went next door and asked if I could use their internet, which they kindly let me do. At 10.30 I was still sealing the kitchen floor and I still have the bathroom to do tonight.
I managed to enlist the help of No.1 son to join me in sanding the wood floor today and then have oiled it with a first oiling, will have to do it again before the night is out.
The bonus however was that the electrician who helped restore order after my Beloved's DIY skills went slightly awry, managed to leave a vital, and very expensive piece of kit behind. So when he sent his minions round to get it, they were kind enough (for a cash in hand price of course!) to sort the downstairs lighting and tried to sort the TV. Now I can get BBC4, but not much else... not that there's much on anyway, but it would be nice if the bloody thing worked. Still a bonus is a bonus and I am pleased with that.
I managed to enlist the help of No.1 son to join me in sanding the wood floor today and then have oiled it with a first oiling, will have to do it again before the night is out.
The bonus however was that the electrician who helped restore order after my Beloved's DIY skills went slightly awry, managed to leave a vital, and very expensive piece of kit behind. So when he sent his minions round to get it, they were kind enough (for a cash in hand price of course!) to sort the downstairs lighting and tried to sort the TV. Now I can get BBC4, but not much else... not that there's much on anyway, but it would be nice if the bloody thing worked. Still a bonus is a bonus and I am pleased with that.
Tuesday, 26 October 2010
Update about updates
Well eventually it took me about 8 hours to download the bloody iPhone upgrade. This was because I was getting so fed up with the whole process that I decided to pause it to see if that might get it to hurry up. Now when I see 'pause' I think it means temporarily stop then start again... if only! No such luck. The whole thing just stopped completely and then started all the way from the beginning. I gave up in the end and let it do it's thing.
Then I got a phone call from the painter who said, and I quote, "Don't worry about the paint on the floor, we're going in today to clean the whole thing and it'll be like new." This would've been great news except I'd already done the cleaning. Still at least it should all be finished by now.
And then I got a phone call from the guy who's been overseeing all the renovation works to tell me that when they went in and switched the lights on the whole thing blew and smoke was coming out! His electrician was straight round and discovered that my Beloved had wired the wall lights in but hadn't quite checked that wires weren't touching. I'm relieved I wasn't the one to find that out. And I have to admit at points like that I feel obliged to play the 'girlie card'. Luckily Davy is a good sort and thought the whole thing was rather funny, but did warn me to warn my Beloved not to play electrician again. Not sure how he'll take that news as he prides himself on his DIY abilities.
So now me and my dawg are off to the bright lights of Edinburgh for the next few days. Wish us luck. It'll be like living in a bedsit. I haven't told Nell yet as I don't want to freak her out before she's even got there!
Then I got a phone call from the painter who said, and I quote, "Don't worry about the paint on the floor, we're going in today to clean the whole thing and it'll be like new." This would've been great news except I'd already done the cleaning. Still at least it should all be finished by now.
And then I got a phone call from the guy who's been overseeing all the renovation works to tell me that when they went in and switched the lights on the whole thing blew and smoke was coming out! His electrician was straight round and discovered that my Beloved had wired the wall lights in but hadn't quite checked that wires weren't touching. I'm relieved I wasn't the one to find that out. And I have to admit at points like that I feel obliged to play the 'girlie card'. Luckily Davy is a good sort and thought the whole thing was rather funny, but did warn me to warn my Beloved not to play electrician again. Not sure how he'll take that news as he prides himself on his DIY abilities.
So now me and my dawg are off to the bright lights of Edinburgh for the next few days. Wish us luck. It'll be like living in a bedsit. I haven't told Nell yet as I don't want to freak her out before she's even got there!
Sunday, 24 October 2010
Updates
I was going to take photos and give you all an update today on my coffee plants, a couple of which are doing incredibly well... ok that's a bit of an exaggeration, but they've got offshoots which is spectacular progress... but sadly I'm trying to update my iPhone. I started about an hour ago and now it's informed me it's got another 3 hours to go. I've got so pissed off you'll just have to take my word on the plants and forego the pleasure of a photo. I will take one at some point, but I can't wait around anymore as I have work to get on with.
You'll be pleased to know that I posted my first OU assignment on Friday, a mere week early, but for me that's like cutting it fine. In the end I managed it all just about ok, but I misread part 3 and thought it demanded 750 words, which I managed no problem and then realised it said 300! That meant a lot of Friday afternoon was spent trying to get it down to the wordcount, and of course it ended up not at all how I wanted, but realised I could spend the next year trying to make it perfect so sent it off and then spent the next day thinking of all the things I could've done to make it better. Ahh well. OU don't you just love it!
My pied-a-terre in Edinburgh has been being done up. New kitchen, new tiles in the bathrooms, and a paint job throughout. So yesterday my Beloved and I spent the whole day cleaning and tidying. Sadly I don't quite know how, but the painter had managed to spray bits of paint all over the wooden floors, which is quite unlike him, but it took a lot of the day to get the bits off. He's supposed to be finishing up tomorrow so I hope he's going to be a bit more careful.
My Beloved is off to the hills for a week to do his Mountain Leader Training and so the dog and I are going to have to stay in the Edinburgh house for 4 days so that I can go to work and No 1 son can look after the dog for me. This is going to be a bit of a trial as we won't be able to use the living room, as the floor needs to be waxed before I put the furniture back, and the spare room is off limits waiting for the new carpet so had to have all furniture removed - and that's not happening for another week. Still at least we can use the kitchen and the bedroom and bathroom, so not all bad.
So good luck to my Beloved. I hope he doesn't freeze up there in them thar hills, and gets back to civilization with his certificate firmly under his belt.
You'll be pleased to know that I posted my first OU assignment on Friday, a mere week early, but for me that's like cutting it fine. In the end I managed it all just about ok, but I misread part 3 and thought it demanded 750 words, which I managed no problem and then realised it said 300! That meant a lot of Friday afternoon was spent trying to get it down to the wordcount, and of course it ended up not at all how I wanted, but realised I could spend the next year trying to make it perfect so sent it off and then spent the next day thinking of all the things I could've done to make it better. Ahh well. OU don't you just love it!
My pied-a-terre in Edinburgh has been being done up. New kitchen, new tiles in the bathrooms, and a paint job throughout. So yesterday my Beloved and I spent the whole day cleaning and tidying. Sadly I don't quite know how, but the painter had managed to spray bits of paint all over the wooden floors, which is quite unlike him, but it took a lot of the day to get the bits off. He's supposed to be finishing up tomorrow so I hope he's going to be a bit more careful.
My Beloved is off to the hills for a week to do his Mountain Leader Training and so the dog and I are going to have to stay in the Edinburgh house for 4 days so that I can go to work and No 1 son can look after the dog for me. This is going to be a bit of a trial as we won't be able to use the living room, as the floor needs to be waxed before I put the furniture back, and the spare room is off limits waiting for the new carpet so had to have all furniture removed - and that's not happening for another week. Still at least we can use the kitchen and the bedroom and bathroom, so not all bad.
So good luck to my Beloved. I hope he doesn't freeze up there in them thar hills, and gets back to civilization with his certificate firmly under his belt.
Thursday, 21 October 2010
Comparisons
Yesterday when I left the house to go to work it was -1. Today it was +3, and it felt so warm in comparison I almost wondered if summer was making a reappearance!
But the weirdest thing. It usually takes me 55 minutes to drive from my house to my work near Haymarket Station in Edinburgh, so when I set out this morning I was a bit taken aback to discover every large lorry possible seemed to be on the A697, which is the road that runs from Coldstream to Carfraemill. The road from Gordon, our village, cuts into this road and my normal journey it takes me 12-15 minutes to get from our house to Carfraemill. At 30 mph it takes considerably longer. But then usually when I hit the Edinburgh By-pass it is a bit slow and then it gets slower as I head into Edinburgh centre. However, this morning it was clear all the way through from the By-pass and bizarrely it took me just 57 minutes door to door, a mere 2 minutes longer than normal.
I discovered that the police had closed the A1 due to "investigations into an accident" according to the radio (which word on the street has it was actually a shooting) and the road was shut from the middle of the night right through to midday today, hence all traffic was being diverted along the 'scenic route' which meant it took them about 1.5 hours longer to get to Edinburgh than they might have hoped. Poor sods. Still being stuck behind a whole lot of them and not being able to overtake as they were too wide for the narrow roads was no joke.
I've only just realised that I have a rather strange way of passing the time when driving, which is to work out how long it's going to take me to get anywhere. Oh well, better than listening to the depressing news of spending cuts... or is it?
But the weirdest thing. It usually takes me 55 minutes to drive from my house to my work near Haymarket Station in Edinburgh, so when I set out this morning I was a bit taken aback to discover every large lorry possible seemed to be on the A697, which is the road that runs from Coldstream to Carfraemill. The road from Gordon, our village, cuts into this road and my normal journey it takes me 12-15 minutes to get from our house to Carfraemill. At 30 mph it takes considerably longer. But then usually when I hit the Edinburgh By-pass it is a bit slow and then it gets slower as I head into Edinburgh centre. However, this morning it was clear all the way through from the By-pass and bizarrely it took me just 57 minutes door to door, a mere 2 minutes longer than normal.
I discovered that the police had closed the A1 due to "investigations into an accident" according to the radio (which word on the street has it was actually a shooting) and the road was shut from the middle of the night right through to midday today, hence all traffic was being diverted along the 'scenic route' which meant it took them about 1.5 hours longer to get to Edinburgh than they might have hoped. Poor sods. Still being stuck behind a whole lot of them and not being able to overtake as they were too wide for the narrow roads was no joke.
I've only just realised that I have a rather strange way of passing the time when driving, which is to work out how long it's going to take me to get anywhere. Oh well, better than listening to the depressing news of spending cuts... or is it?
Tuesday, 19 October 2010
A waste of time?
Yesterday I was supposed to be getting on an doing my first assignment for the Open University Creative Writing course I've taken on. I don't know what my problem is, but the mere mention of tutors and marking seems to have had the most debilitating effect on me. Previously I've been writing away, even getting up at 5.30 am to do my morning pages before I go to work, but the moment something has to be marked, well that's a different story. I went into mindblock meltdown. I managed to write one paragraph about twenty times in different formats and then junked the whole lot.
However, there was a mention in the core text that some writers use repetitive things like playing Solitaire to get them in the mood, and I decided I'd give that a try to see if I could manufacture a cognitive shift. So, I started back playing Bubble Island on Facebook.
I did really well and even managed to get past the Mountain region of stage 9 and onto the Volcano of stage 10 thereby beating She Who Must Not Be Named and my beloved in one fell swoop.
Writing? Nada - Kudos? Loads!
However, there was a mention in the core text that some writers use repetitive things like playing Solitaire to get them in the mood, and I decided I'd give that a try to see if I could manufacture a cognitive shift. So, I started back playing Bubble Island on Facebook.
I did really well and even managed to get past the Mountain region of stage 9 and onto the Volcano of stage 10 thereby beating She Who Must Not Be Named and my beloved in one fell swoop.
Writing? Nada - Kudos? Loads!
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