Body Clock

Last night we stayed up late to watch the 'season finale' of Brothers and Sisters. We caught the first episode while we were on holiday back in June and have said almost every week something like "this is rubbish" or "I don't know why we watch this" but it is so watchable! Every episode left me wanting to know what happened next and now I'm already looking forward to the new series next year. I just hope that now that this has finished we can have ER back, please Channel 4? It's October already! Anyway, because we went to bed late I set my alarm for a bit later this morning - 90 minutes later thinking there was nothing I had to be at work early for. But, by 6.30 I was wide awake and so here I am, at my desk a whole half an hour before I normally would be with my car parked in one of the premium spots by the back door. I'll be asleep on my feet by lunch time though - I'm already onto my second coffee.

 

Sick

Things just haven't been working as they should recently. No internet/phone line for a while, no mobile phone for a day, and now no light in the toilet.

And, two weeks ago the Wife was struck down with a nasty bug which she finally seems to be getting over. Proof: a) it's nearly 9pm and dinner has only just gone in the oven; b) almost a whole bottle of wine has been consumed; c) she's 'harmonising' (her own words) with a fantastic CD she has put together - a bit folky, a bit poppy, a bit rocky - perfect. Oh and d) having been banished during her illness, I'm back in the marital bed tonight!!!

a & b are certainly related. c is a common occurance and d can only be classed as bloody good news!

Edited because the Wife wanted to add that d) is due to a mutual respect for each others germs.

Late Nights

I don't understand why The L Word is on so late on a Friday night and why they don't repeat it at any other time of the week. Midnight is too late, especially after a really busy week and a few glasses of wine. Last night was only the second episode I've seen this series and it's been on for weeks already. Consequently, I didn't wake up until 9.30 this morning which means that it's not that long since we had breakfast and it's lunch time already. I love food but hate the thought of missing out a meal at the weekend!

Invasion

I think we have a wasps nest somewhere in the roof. Wasps keep appearing in our bedroom and the spare room upstairs. The problem we have is that this house has a small loft above the master bedroom and from there the roof slopes down in all directions leaving a small space to crawl around in the eves. I've checked as far as I can in both areas, but there isn't much room to move in amongst the beams and old pipes and I'm afraid of crashing through a ceiling. I wasn't see or hear anything in amongst the dirt and the dust before my torch battery died.

I've read that the wasps will die off in the autumn and that the nest won't be reused but with the wife threatening to sleep on the sofa I'm not sure how long we can wait.

A Load of Old Rubbish

In recent month I've become a wee bit obsessive about recycling. The council take garden waste and glass, paper and cans for recycling and I'm trying to reduce the amount we put out to go to landfill. Grass cuttings and other smallish bits from the garden go into our own compost bin along with fruit and veggie peelings, tea bags (of which there are many), egg shells clean bits of cardboard (toilet roll inner tubes etc). I have a box in the garage for all other card and plastics which I take for recycling myself. Last weekend we cleared out the garage and I was rather proud of the fact that out of a car full of rubbish, only one box full went to landfill while the rest went into the designated skips for rubble, wood, cardboard, plastic and green waste for recycling. The wife was cursing a bit at all the running around we were having to do but they keep re-arranging the skips.

Water is my other obsession. Since being on a meter I'm all too aware of flushing water down the drain. So the cold water that comes out of the hot tap before the hot water does is collected in empty 2 litre milk bottles and used to water the garden and I only wash the dishes once each day (yes, water conservation is my excuse). However, the wife has put her foot down at my suggestion to recycle bath water using a bilge pump and a pipe out of the bathroom window. To be fair, I can see where she's coming from.

Rugby

On several occassions in recent times I've seen eight tries scored in a Scotland game. They are usually going the wrong way, rarely do we score them all ourselves. I am really enjoying this world cup! Being realistic, we are going to get beaten by NZ on Sunday and Italy may have beaten us in the Six Nations this year but my boys have been working hard and I have every faith in them. At the beginning I thought I was being optimistic hoping to make it to the next round but now it looks like England are at greater risk of not making the quarter finals than we are! And if Ireland manage to top their group (and it's always nice to see the home nations do well) we will be up against them for the semi's. Wait a minute, didn't we beat Ireland last month? He he.

Let's just hope it's not a case of 'famous last words'!

Court Jester

My desk at work is part of a large open plan office space that we share with a group from a different school. There is one particular student in their group who wanders. He spends ages walking around the floor, weaving in and out of desks, stopping to look out of the windows and generally irritating me. I face the window with my back to everyone so that the only indication I have that someone is approaching is a reflection in the window and nine times out of ten it's him. It's getting to be really annoying. I came out of the toilets today to find him strolling up and down just outside of them. The one amusing thing is that he looks just like Timothy Claypole from Rentaghost (although I don't recall ever seeing the wanderer smile). Unfortunately he's probably too young to remember Rentaghost.

Change

I may have written something similar last year. Or maybe the year before. Regardless, I'm going to write it (again) now.

September always feels like a new beginning to me. Perhaps because for the last 25 or so years my life has revolved around the academic year. Perhaps, in part, it's due to the change in the season. Summer is all but over; the days are cooler (although the weather is better than it has been all summer) and the nights have a chill to them. Flowers are dying off in the garden, the tomatoes are starting to limp in the greenhouse and there are large bare patches in the veggie plot. The roads and car parks are again full of traffic and the campus is soon to be invaded again. And, the next Bank Holiday is Christmas. Despite all that, I love this time of year.

So, my new season's resolution is to blog more and to comment more. Although I'm relatively anonymous around blogland, that shy streak that I struggle with in the real world often crops up around here too. And that's what I'm going to work on.

Improvisation

Our big bedroom is a strange shape with sloping ceilings and a fireplace making fitting in furniture slightly difficult. We searched everywhere but couldn't find a wardrobe that would both fit in the space and would be big enough for everything it needs to house. We did however find a bookcase whose width and height was perfect, only it wasn't deep enough. Solution: Buy two bookcases, leave the back panel off one and leave the shelves out and stick them together. Screw in a rail and add in a couple of the shelves, hang a couple of nice doors on the front and you would never know that it isn't a wardrobe.

I just love Ikea flat pack!

Knockers

It seems to have been a day for people knocking at the door telling me what I should be doing - however well meaning they have been.

Firstly, this morning it was a pair of Jehovah's Witnesses wanting to discuss the Sermon on the Mount. Dispite my Catholic upbringing and a basic knowledge of the passage he was threatening me, I declined the offer and managed to escape relatively quickley. Although the Catholic church probably aren't too impressed with my lifestyle I'm guessing that the Jehovah's Witnesses would be even less impressed.

Secondly, I've just had a visit from one of the old guys who lives up the road, the same guy who invited us to see his garden a couple of times last summer (and also told the wife a few weeks ago that the front garden grass needed cutting). This time he had a bunch of very fragrent Sweet Peas for us (or as the wife described them when I took them in to her: they stink)! Knowing that I'm a scientist, he seems to think that I'm interested in things such as different plant propagation methods (I'm not particularly - in fact, I have never had much time for plant biology) and so I've just had a telling off for not knowing that Sweet peas are annuals and therefore how can we have them in our garden if we have not grown them from seed ourselves. I don't know myself, but according to another neighbour they came from France many years ago and have flowered every summer since. They are very nice to look at and don't stink. I don't know why or how, that's just the way it is. And yes, the grass needs cutting again - it's on my to do list!

P.S. I'm still working on that list of 8 facts/habits thing and I will get around to posting it soon.

Out of Hibernation

I'm still here and inspiration for blogging is slowly coming back. More and more over the last few days I've found myself thinking "I should blog that" - although I can't think of any examples right now!

I've been busy out in the real world and since my mom has recently discovered the internet, my online time has been taken up indulging her. It finally stopped raining a couple of weeks ago (the only experience we had of the floods were a few dodgy miles on the motorway as we wound are way up and down the country) and as summer put in an appearance in the last few days, much of my attention is focused on the garden. The cauliflower and broccoli didn't survive the wet weather but everything else seems to be doing well. In fact, I would almost dare to say that I could start to get fed up of courgette, cucumber and beetroot with everything!

Thanks for still dropping by, things will start to get a bit more interesting around here now.

Two Things

1. I know why it hasn't stopped raining for weeks - I bought a new pair of shorts for our holiday. I rarely get my legs out and this is the first new pair I've bought in about five years. Sods law says I'll not get a chance to wear them this summer. (As I type the patio is flooded and at least 1 cabbage and 2 lettuces have got waterlogged and rotted - but thank God we haven't been flooded like other parts of the country).
2. I'm stuck. Tonight is my turn to cook. The wife has cooked all week and quite rightly, can't be bothered tonight. I thought this would be the case but didn't think ahead and so have nothing planned. After making a couple of suggestions that didn't go down too well my only option was to get a take away. "Sounds good" sounded good to me but I then promised to put some thought and some effort into doing something delicious on Sunday (we are out tomorrow). I have less than 48 hours to come up with an idea and then shop. Help!!! (i.e. feel free to let me know your favourite recipe)!

Doctor Who?

This post was going to be about the weather but once I got started I just couldn't stop. Actually I forced myself to stop because I could go on for hours on this topic

More often than not I get frustrated during my drive home from work but today I was early enough to be ahead of most of the traffic. The potential was there for a relaxing half hour. It wasn't to be. Gillian McKeith (note the deliberate omission of her 'title') was on the radio advertising her latest TV programme. I may have ranted about the woman before on here but today saw me waiting at traffic lights in the middle of a city centre landmark yelling my head off at the radio and almost missing the green light.

She's not just irritating. She's frightening. And not in the way she would like to be! Some of the garbage she comes out with, dressed up as science, is just plain wrong. For example, today she was talking about how important a healthy, nutritionally balanced diet is. Now that makes perfect sense and I would never argue with that. But she followed up by saying that, as part of that diet, tea (ordinary black tea) should be ditched in favour of the likes of nettle tea because it contains various essential vitamins. So tell me please, if I am eating a balanced diet why should my delicious morning cuppas, which provide me with a good dose of antioxidants along with a splash of calcium and various other goodies found in milk, need to be replaced with crap that tastes like dish-water which provides nothing more than my balanced diet does.

And does a balanced diet really mean not eating protein and carbohydrates at the same time? As for smoothies for breakfast, why? The types of fruit she recommends for her smoothies are far too expensive, just eat a balanced diet! As for quick and easy (3 mins to make according to the 'good doctor'), by the time you've prepared the fruit, blended it and washed up I've had my tea and (wholemeal) toast and am half way to work.

It's crap. Everything she says is crap. And I have been known to stand beside her products in the supermarket and tell the wife, and anyone else within earshot, just how crap her over priced products are. Even the recipes she was talking about today contain various beans I have never heard of. I despair that people spend money on these sorts of products. Head round to the fresh fruit and veg aisle - it's cheaper, healthier and you won't be lining her pockets!

Home and Away

I've not been completely lost, life has been storming ahead and I've been running behind. Apart from a holiday. The wife and I decided to escape to the other end of the country (via a short visit to my mum conveniently situated half way down - 420 miles might not seem like a long journey to some but here it is literally from the north east to the south west corner of the country. The journey was made that much more enjoyable by the compilation CD's the wife had put together beforehand). So here is Cornwall in pictures:

Tintagel and the remains of the castle which, according to legend was the home of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Or his birthplace. Or something like that. History/mythology never was my strong point and I was too busy looking at the ocean to take notes.



The harbour in the lovely little village of Boscastle - site of the huge floods in 2004. The shops on the main street had markers showing the height of the water and it reached the ceiling on the ground floor and whole buildings were destroyed. Work was still ongoing on deepening the river bed and this photo was taken two days before the town flooded again. Fortunately this time the water only reached 3ft and the town returned to business and usual the following day.



New York, straight on, 3000 miles.



At the end of the scariest lane I have ever driven down we were rewarded with views like this. The photo doesn't do it justice, the sea was so blue. After a stroll in the sunshine we had a bargain lunch in the hotel perched on the headland and just as we were leaving the rain started. I stopped the car and jumped out to snap this, getting soaked in the process:
This picture doesn't do it justice either, it was stunning, even in the rain.

It was a great week and just what the two of us needed. It's the first holiday with just the two of us for four years and although it rained a bit (the risk you take holidaying in England) we also managed to dump the coats and get some sun.

Good Neighbours

Our house is on a corner plot, at the entrance to a small cul de sac. Since the old guy who lives at the other end told the wife that the grass needed cutting a few weeks ago I've been trying to keep on top of it. Just as I was finishing the front lawn another old guy who lives a few doors up stopped and introduced himself (he seems to pride himself on knowing all the goings on in the road but can't be too good at it as he didn't realise we had bought the place and thought I was cutting the grass for the old lady). I was hot and sweaty and the wife was waiting for me to finish so that we could go shopping. Having been grilled for my details (husband, job, birth place etc) I think I was only half way through his life story when the wife came to see what was takinging me so long. Hours we were there for. So long in fact that my nose got sunburnt.

Apparently he knows Bill Gates but I wasn't really listening to closely. The woman in the house across the road was in her bedroom trying on different clothes. With the curtains open. And three of us stood in front of her. Next time I'm cutting the grass it'll be head down and mow.

One Year

I can't believe that it's a whole year since we moved into this house. Looking at the old photos, the inside is barely recognisable (apart from the bathroom and the upstairs; and there are still bits falling off the roof - but they'll get done eventually). However, the biggest transformation has been in the back garden. The flower beds are kind of bare, but we're in the process of getting rid of all the overgrown stuff and putting some sensible plants that we like (like the little osteospermum with pretty flowers that close up when they get cold - so cute!).

Back in March the veggie plot was a load of stones covering some very, very compacted mud. And now it looks like this:



What can't be seen in the picture is the tomatoes, cucumber and peppers in the Greenhouse (Mark II). There is also a couple of large bins of potatoes behind the greenhouse and a small patch with some spinach and rocket in. Any available space will be filled with more of the same and any unlabelled pockets are radishes, which are taking over the world. Those pots along side the greenhouse are our herb collection.

It all makes dinner time so exciting!

The Wife's Life

I've been working from home again today (although I did actually do some work today) and The Wife was doing her tax return. Since she is self employed and also in the last year has started renting out property it sounded as though it was getting a little heated. The upshot is, that the tax man owes her and it looks as though he will do next year as well. She is quite comfortable with this.

In celebration I took her to the walk-in clinic this afternoon. 25 days ago when the wife was working in the garden she'went over on her ankle' and it is still bruised and swollen (being the dutiful partner I am, at the time I tried for days to get her to have it seen but she can be a little bit stubborn). Anyway, they don't think it's broken but as it's over 2 weeks since the accident they can't x-ray it. (They said that if it was broken it would probably be more painful, it's probably a sprain). I don't think she told the nurse that her gardening boots have two inch heals!

Homeward Bound

As I type, the wife is heading home and I can't wait until she gets here (I'm 'working at home' so that I can tidy the place up welcome her home). She often tells me that I have a bit of an obsessive personality and that has been evident this week without her. Not checking taps are off or doors are locked multiple times, but watching videos. There has been nothing on the TV so I dug out my Bad Girls collection and started at the very beginning. By bed time last night I only had two episodes of series 2 left. And, because I remembered what happened at the end of the series, I stayed up and watched them. 23 episodes in three days (evenings only, I'm not quite sad enough not to find better things to fill my days with). I had forgotten just how good a programme it was back in the early days, before it got a bit too far fetched.

Anyway, back to reality. I just wish my wife would sometimes drive a little bit faster!

It's Oh So Quiet

The wife has gone away for a few days with her daughter and granddaughter leaving me and the dog home alone. All the dog has done for the last 24 hours is sit by the front door pining (and I'm feel like he looks - lonely). Apart from when I went to bed last night and then he sat at the foot of the bed looking at me as if to say "no, you can't go to sleep, the boss isn't here. What are you doing? Go and get her!"
It's the first time in our six year history that the wife has gone and left me at home and the place seems very, very quiet without her. I also don't really see the point in cooking just for one - why waste all that electricity on putting the oven/hob on for just myself when the takeaway down the road have theirs on anyway!

Dunched

Last week I got stuck in traffic on my way to work so got there too late to get parked in my usual little car park on campus. The only option was the large, council run car park near by (which costs twice as much per hour and where the ticket machines always reject at least half the coins I try to feed it). It being the first time I'd parked my new, bigger car in a proper car park I walked around it ensuring that I was within the white lines and checked the time on the ticket before heading into work. On getting back to the car later that day I spotted one of these:

Along side this was a scrap of paper onto which someone had scribbled the words "you were dunched by a Picasso" followed by a registration number. Slowly, it dawned on me that something had happened to my shiny new car and on walking round to the passenger side discovered exactly what. The door and front wing are no longer quite so shiny and are slightly bent and twisted. Since some kind person (I'm guessing not the driver involved) left the reg number I contacted the local police. One week later I'm still waiting to hear if they contacted the other driver and what he (I'm assuming it's a he, it makes me feel better) had to say and if he/his insurance company will pay for the repairs. Now I know it's not a serious incident, but it should be easy to sort - they have to speak to just one person and by doing so could save me a few hundred quid in repair bills.

As for the £30 parking fine, I've appealed (assuming that the jolt of the collision caused the ticket to slide down the dash and out of view) and all I have to do now is send them the ticket to prove that there were 20 mins between the penalty notice being issued and the ticket expiring. Oh and I've also lost the cost of the theatre ticket for the show I missed while I was waiting for the police. Did I mention that one week on I (and my insurance company) am still waiting to hear back from the police.

One week after getting the car, this has, quite literally, taken the shine off it.

Eurovision

We don't get out much and perhaps that explains why we are actually looking forward to the Eurovision Song Contest. It looks like it's going to actually be fun - Eurovision is not supposed to take itself seriously. I don't hold out much hope for Scooch but it's not the winning that's important, it's the being camp that counts.

Free Kicks

I have just realised that the football season finished last weekend (the Black Cats being promoted to the premiership as champions = one happy Wife = one happy blogger)! This means that where by 3pm each Saturday afternoon for the last however many months we have had to be near a radio, I now have at least a few weeks of weekends where I have the Wife all to myself. I'm now racking my brains trying to think of something fun to spend a cold, wet Saturday afternoon doing!

"Am I Bovvered"

The other afternoon I got a phone call at work from the Wife saying that the dog had escaped. He followed her into the front garden and jumped the wall without her noticing and it was about two hours before she realised. By then we both thought that he would have been squashed - although the roads around here are fairly quiet it's not far to a couple of major routes in and out of the city. After phoning around various vets and the police station there had been no reports so there was still hope he would a) come home or b) be found. So while the Wife waited I went for a drive around. The trouble is that there are so many side streets and back lanes in the area that at the time it felt like an impossible task. After checking around the old house I decided to head home the long way and by chance spotted him out of the corner of my eye, trotting down the middle of a side street. When I reached him he just looked at me as if to say "what are you doing here?" and then proceeded to jump all over my shiney new car as I drove him home. As soon as he walked through the door he was after his dinner then slept for the rest of the evening. I'm amazed that he survived five hours out there (indeed as I picked him up a woman told me that he had just narrowly avoided being run over) and I don't think he would have made it home on his own. He of course must have found it to be just one big adventure and is oblivious to the trouble he caused. At the time I was saying that if he does make it home alive I would quite happily murder him but he really is a big part of the family.

Introducing...

Dr Me!

The graduation ceremony was held the other day making it official. I managed not to fall down the steps or trip over the gown and the only daft hat was for the official photograph (which will not make it onto this blog, for two reasons: 1) to retain some degree of anonymity and 2) it hanging in my mothers living room will be embarrassment enough)! Needless to say my mum enjoyed it more than I did and the highlight for my brother was getting drunk with the wife that evening. As for me, it marks the end of my 20 years of education (although I hope that I will never stop learning). And two fingers to my sixth form biology teacher who told my parents not to expect me to get any A-levels!

Vroom

Time flies when you're having fun!

So much of the time I was spending on the computer is now spent in the garden and various other projects have been keeping us busy. Including new cars. Back in February I decided it was time to get rid of my old one as things were starting to go wrong but (as with the tale of the houses last year) it takes me a while to make decisions. In the mean time the wife decided her car also needed replacing and it was her deciding to change and finding a car within a week that spurned me on. So last night I picked up my shiny new car and this morning we collected the wifes sparkly new bubble. The only problem is that a couple of days ago the wife tripped in the garden and can barely walk let alone drive so not only did I have the ordeal of driving my own new car but I had to drive hers home as well (and for that reason I cancelled my BP check at the doctors this morning)!

My old car (which was my first and therefore has a special place in my heart) was just about the smallest you can get so I'm freaking out a bit about parking the Astra - I have been known to get into spaces then have to wait for the other cars to go before retriving it. But, I can fit more than just a wee bag in the back which will save much effort squeezing and squashing the weekly shop. Although I doubt that the wife will stop reminding me to mind the eggs!

And on that note, normal blogging service has resumed.

All Go

My life seems to have been taken over, mostly by little people but it looks like I finally have a moment to relax. It would seem that all of the grandkids would like to move in (and made a pretty good attempt to over the Easter weekend). Someone decided it would be a good idea to have a BBQ on Sunday so Saturday was spent shopping and preparing all sorts of yummys. Come Sunday the weather forecast was good, the sun was shining and the wife and I had a great couple of hours in the kitchen. Then they all arrived and things started to degenerate - apart from the easter egg hunt we arranged for the 6 kids, which was just chaos. When they decided it was too cold outside I stopped enjoying myself and started to regret going for a beige carpet (of course it was too cold - who has a BBQ in north east England in April?). The only way to get through it was to sit it out outside and stay warm beside the BBQ (safe in the knowledge that babywipes get just about anything off the carpet).



Monday we went to the races. The wife and I have only been once before and that time we made a profit. This time we just about broke even, which I guess makes for a cheap day out. The six year old came with us (her mum was going to come as well but couldn't afford it) and we let her pick a horse in each race to put a pound on. After the first three races she had won nothing and was starting to get bored (the wife and I on the other hand had winners and placed horses in every race). But, in race four Dead Mans Dante did good and the grandkid was back in the black (the same horse also gave me my best result of the day). When it came to choosing a horse for the fifth race she didn't even need to look at the parade ring before deciding to put the pound back in her pocket and was happy enough just to cheer on the horses that her nan and myself had picked. We worry about her taking after her mother - spend, spend, spend being her motto - but after the day at the races I'm not so worried.

Smiles

I'm ill. I'm lying in bed, dozing and listening to the wife entertain two of the grandkids (the 4 and the 3 year old). She's wonderful, listening to her making them laugh it is making me smile. Laughter truly is the best medicine.

Filth

The tenants have moved out of the other place. They were two guys, both just split from their wives and having seen the state the place was left in, I can see why they are now single! They claimed to have cleaned the place but it took me 3 - yes, three - hours to clean the bathroom. How it could get in that state in 6 months is beyond me, I've never seen so much slime in my life. I would post pictures but I wouldn't want to put anyone of their breakfast/lunch/dinner. Fortunately they had cats so I just kept telling myself that it was the cat hairs that got everywhere. And I'm blaming them for the smell on the bathroom floor!

Mark 2

Previously on Contentedly Discontent:
The original greenhouse survived the summer but as the year came to a close it fell victim to the weather.

The latest (and ideally last) installment:

So last weekend Greenhouse Mark 2 was constructed. Complete with three bags of B&Q's finest quick set cement, every single nut, bolt and clip included in the box as well as a few salvaged from Mk 1. Of course this weekend was blowing a gale resulting in one sleepless night. But, apart from an emergency replacement of a few clips whilst still in pyjamas on Sunday morning, it seems to have withstood the weather this time.

While I was constructing, the wife was harvesting stuff planted in the autumn (in pots rather than the greenhouse for obvious reasons)


The first carrot - I think that the shape makes it obvious that this is an organic carrot (the suits in Europe wouldn't approve of). It was delicious. I didn't manage to snap the first leek before it went into tonights dinner.


Throughout construction, I was being watched by two cuties - the wife won't let me post her picture here but Freddie didn't object:

Do I look Stupid?

I'm looking for a new car. Having sat inside a few there is one model that I'm keen on and so let the sales guy take me into the showroom to talk numbers. All I wanted to know was how much money I need to find. Having got out of me that I prefer the 3 door over the 5 door version (they just look funkier and the back seats don't get much action anyway), and that silver (or blue) would be my fave colour he went away to tap on a computer then came back and said he had found the ONLY car matching that description and that because it's the only one and they were going to do me a great deal I should hand over the deposit straight away. Oh and after taking a measly sum off for part-ex it was only just a few hundred over my budget. I umm'd and ahh'd a bit and sensing he was loosing he was replaced by the sales manager followed by the finance manager all telling my I was mad for not taking it. They even managed to convince The Wife - and it's a bloody good salesman who can do that! I eventually left, to much shaking of heads - it was the ONLY 3 door, silver Focus in the country and I was walking away.

Imagine my surprise then when I checked the dealers website and found page after page of 3 door, silver Foci! Imaging my greater surpise on seeing the very one that they had been trying to sell me was £1000 cheaper on the website than the 'fantastic' deal they had been offering.

Only one at a rock bottom price indeed. Pah! They have my number, now I'm just hoping that they call me.

House Hunting (Again)

The other day we went to view a house - almost a year to the day since we agreed to buy our current home. But we're not looking to move. For years we have been talking about investing in property (blame Sarah Beeny) so this is nothing new, we tried to buy a place four years ago but missed out by just a few quid (the same house sold recently for over twice the original price, having been renovated and rented out).

The agents details for the latest house said it needed a "full scheme of modernisation". We came out saying it needed pulling down and rebuiling. In one room I felt like I was about to go through the floor and the walls didn't look much healthier. We've seen a few renovation jobs but that was in the worst state I've ever seen. And some poor old person had been living in it until relatively recently by the looks of it. I think for the moment we are going to stick to decorating the guest bedroom here and worry about my retirement fund later!
(Yes it is all about making money. With the wife being so much nearer to retirement than I am, I'm looking for an alternative income so that we can then enjoy retirement together).

Mirror, Signal, Manouver

My drive home from work can take anything from 20 minutes up to an hour, depending on the mood of The Gods. Today as I set off and hit the back of the queues I decided to just go with the flow and relax - there was nothing I could do about it so I just crawled along, singing along to the radio. Once we did get moving I let people out in front of me, ignored people indicating left but turning right or sitting in the wrong lane and enjoyed the drive. I managed to stay calm for the whole 15 miles! When I arrived home there was a van parked in my place in front of the gate so I parked up behind it and got out. I didn't curse once. Just as I reached in to get my bag the van started up and reversed - straight into the front of my car, shoving it and myself backwards. "Sorry, I didn't see you" was the womans reaction. "Do you not look before you move" was mine.

Fortunately no damage was done but bang (literally) went my relaxed state!

Shopping Trips

This evening we had to go shopping. I just wanted to be in and out of the shop whereas the wife likes to browse. So having negotiated isle one, I started heading off down isle three, only to have the wife root herself to the spot and shout after me "where do you think you're going? We've not done this isle yet and you can't be sick already." I never get away with that trick but I just can't help trying, and a big grin in the wife's direction always speeds her up a bit.

Which reminds me of our shopping trip on Saturday when the wife bumped into an old friend. The conversation started off well enough but, within a couple of minutes I was listening to this woman talk about giving birth and the number of stiches she needed and various infections she's had 'down below.' Nice to meet you, but we're in the middle of a supermarket and I was about to choose something for dinner!

Deep Breath In...

... and relax!

I'm banging my head against a brick wall trying to figure out this analysis software. Help manual describes very simply what I should be doing:
"Edit Button: Applying this button opens the List Editor" which is exactly what I want to do but, that it all it is saying. One short line. It's not bloody telling me where to find this edit button or what to do if and when I find it. I can see 8 different edit buttons but none of them take me to where I want to be. A am tempted conclude from this afternoons experiments that I'm trying to do the impossible!

Differences

Today the age difference in our relationship became apparent. The Wife and I were outside planning the garden and measuring up for the vegetables. I worked out the optimal width for each of the raised beds in the veggie plot, allowing for paths and borders, and marked them out with canes. The Wife was pleased with the amount of space available for planting and brandishing the tape-measure, asked how high the raised beds should be. Of course I was working in cm and the Wife was working in feet making for a very confused conversation - 2ft vs 50 cm - or in the end 1ft or 30cm seemed a logical conclusion, I'm sure inches came into it somewhere but I couldn't figure it out. Now we just have to hope that B&Q sell the right sized timber and label it appropriately.

Planting

About a month ago I came home from work to find that the wife had turned the kitchen into a potting shed. She was determined to start the tomatoes off early this year and while she was at it sowed onions, leeks, cabbages, carrots and parsnips. I got home yesterday and the first thing she said to me was "Don't play war with me". This usually means that she's been shopping and filled the freezer (the freezer is always full to bursting but the wife can always seem to find more space to fill). However, I soon discovered that she's been transplanting the original plants into bigger pots and then planting more - this time radish, lettuce (3 varieties), spring onion, cauliflower, sprouts, peas, more leeks and more parsnips. How could I play war about that. It just means I'm going to have to get outside and build the replacement greenhouse. Besides, the plants keep her happy. The other morning she got up to put the kettle on and when she didn't return for 10 minutes I went looking for her. She was bent over the seedlings, talking to them and watering them with a teaspoon. It amuses me everytime but she swears that that is why the stuff tastes so good.

Verdict

The Verdict is probably the best thing I've watched on TV for a long time (so good I even missed ER for it tonight). Briefly, a mixed bag twelve 'famous' people make up the jury for a rape trial. The defendents and the victim are actors but the judge, barristers, court officials and the court itself are real and the trial is unscripted and conducted as though it were real. It makes for fascinating viewing, not only to see how such a trial works, but also to listen to the evidence and form opinions on who is telling the truth or not.

At the moment I'm coming down on the side of Anna, the 'victim', but I think I'm basing that mostly on gut feeling rather than the actual evidence. It will be interesting to see what tomorrows sessions bring!

Observations from the Laboratory

A couple of thoughts from my afternoon at the bench:

1) Every time I wash my hands I get an electric shock due to build up of static electricity, probably a combination of my 65% polyester lab coat and friction! I know I'm going to get this shock every time but it still makes me jump. (Which reminds me of the time I had a conversation with my boss about wearing nylon knickers - again apparently it's a static problem, but not one I have experienced, strictly cotton here).

2) I have a really snotty cold at the moment. What are you supposed to do when you're all gloved up, working in a fume hood and you need to sneeze? Your sleeve really is the only option. Unless anyone can give me a better option?

Possibilities

I've found a job which would be perfect for The Wife. It's a one year contract at the uni where I work, although in a different faculty. It's been a few years since she did any research and I think that what she's doing at the moment isn't enough for her. The job being advertised follows on virtually from the stuff she spent years working on. I'm pushing her to apply because it would mean we could travel to and from work together and meet for lunch/coffee/anything else we feel like (the building she would be in is across the road from my lab). On the down side with working for herself at home she currently does most of the shopping (which I hate to do) and most of the cooking (which she is so good at). In weighing up the pros and cons I think I'm prepared to have to do a few more chores if it means getting to spend more time with my woman.

But We Can Still Rise Now

A follow up to the last post: Okay so Wilkinson was back but he shouldn't have had that try given, he was clearly in touch. And he missed a couple of kicks! All the hype about his return before kick off yet it was only after half an hour of the game that we were told that actually our man Chris Patterson has the best kicking record in the world! Take out the try that wasn't and a couple of dubious penalty decisions and the 42-20 score line would better reflect the game. We still wouldn't have retained the Calcutta cup but it would have been fairer!

Flower of Scotland

The Six Nations has kicked off and just 1 hour and 25 minutes until Scotland defend the Calcutta cup! Yet again everyone is saying it's going to be a walk in the park for England, especially with Jonny Wilkinson returning, but we won last year and finished above them in the table and there's no reason why we can't do it again. Wilkinson hasn't played a full game in months, England have lost eight of their last nine games and it's their first outing with the new coach. Then again the Scots have only won at Twickenham four times in the last 100 years almost and not at all in the last 24 years. Still, today I'm playing the optimist!

Alcoholics

It being Friday night, all three of us are enjoying a beer. Not just myself and the wife but the dog has joined us! It's a while since we've had our favourite bottles of kronenbourg but as soon as the dog saw them he started barking. He has his own little bowl for his beer and after the first one he must have remembered how much he loved the stuff because he kept coming back for more. Five bowls later and he's passed out in the corner. It's only a matter of time before the snoring starts.

Delayed

As I was drinking my tea this morning and trying to wake up, the local news told me that my route to work was gridlocked because of roadworks and to avoid the area. So I did. I started off working at home planning to go in later this morning. Then the wife started making a big pan of soup which smells delicious so I think I'm going to have to work at home all day.

Edited at 17.25 to add:
The other advantage of working at home today was that I got the paper which is due by the end of the week finished and sent away and I got to play (and loose) a few games of uno since the grandkid was off school today (of course we only played during my lunch break)!

Bonjour Mes Amis

Today we spent hours working out our holiday for this year. We've been talking about 'doing' France for years and having not had a proper holiday for almost four years this year we're going to do it. There are two reasons for why we never got over to France. Firstly, it would cost too much to fly and hire a car to see all that we want to see and secondly taking our own car would mean spending several days driving virtually non-stop on the wrong side of the road. However while the former is still a problem, the latter I can do something about. So come June we're packing up the car and heading south, (approximately following the route marked on the map). A couple of overnight stops on the way down through central France to the Mediterranean coast where we're going to spend a few days then another few days travelling through the Pyrenees to the Atlantic coast, via Andorra. Then another few days driving back up the other side. The plan is, in two weeks, to travel around 3000 miles, explore many places, climb several mountians, eat lots of good food, drink a few bottles of good wine (and bring a few bottles home with us), and anything else we find to occupy our time!

Tasty

Our saturday morning routine has become a bit of a habit. We lie in bed watching the various cookery programmes on the TV, taking it in turns to run up and down the stairs with cup after cup of tea, until we get too hungry. At that point we relocate downstairs and finish of watching the food stuff with sausage/bacon sarnies. This morning was better than most Saturdays for two reasons - 1) Breakfast was bacon and cheese oatcakes with Oatcakes that I brought back from my last visit to my mum (can't get them in this part of the world) and 2) Rachel Allen on all morning, not just her own show but also on Saturday Kitchen. Every week she does something delicious that we want to try. The food - I mean the food! Well, mostly I mean the food! Her enthusiasm for the food and down to earth nature is fab and the Irish accent adds a certain something. In fact, as much as the wife might protest, I think we both find her rather tasty!

Smelly

On Saturday morning I rifled through all of our cookery books looking for inspiration. Although I enjoy cooking, I'm not particularly creative in the kitchen. Having come up with a shopping list off we went to Asda. Whatever possessed us on a Saturday afternoon I'll never know. Despite being a 'Walmart Supercentre' they had nothing left. No leeks for leek and potato soup. No cauliflower. No decent bits of pork. No crusty bread. No apple filled donuts. All my dreams of cooking up a delicious dinner went out of the window and Sunday dinner was pasta and meatballs.

Imagine my delight when I walked through the door this evening to find the wife preparing beef in red wine (we'll ignore the fact that she used the last of my red wine for now), with all sorts of yummys in it. With mustard mash. And she found a cauli! I wish I could post smells here. It's not the only way, but it's true about the way to a girls heart being through her stomach!

Straightening things out

This article worried me a bit when I first read it.

"Scientists are conducting experiments to change the sexuality of “gay” sheep in a programme that critics fear could pave the way for breeding out homosexuality in humans. The technique being developed by American researchers adjusts the hormonal balance in the brains of homosexual rams so that they are more inclined to mate with ewes.

"It raises the prospect that pregnant women could one day be offered a treatment to reduce or eliminate the chance that their offspring will be homosexual."

Yes, apparently a simple hormone patch, similar to those used by people wanting to quit smoking, could be all that you need to ensure that your kids are straight.

Perhaps most worrying is a quote from a Neurology prof.: “Allowing parents to select their children’s sexual orientation would further a parent’s freedom to raise the sort of children they want to raise.”

Two issues here 1) the idea that it could be possible to breed out homosexuality and 2) that parents should have all this freedom to decide what sort of person their child is going to be.

I could go on for hours on this subject but after reading the article I went on to read this Bad Science article. Phew! It seems like the Times got a little bit carried away, possibly something to do with the fact that the research was first mentioned in an animal rights campaign.

I'll leave the last word to Ben Goldacre:
"we cleared up the question of Lamarckian inheritance of acquired traits over 100 years ago. If it helps, you could think about whether boob jobs will make future generations have larger breasts. And even if you could intervene to make a gay human straight... you might reasonably expect this to make any inherited tendency towards homosexuality more prevalent, rather than less."

Questionable Lifestyles

Following my having to look after myself last night I asked the wife if it was a bad reflection of my lifestyle that when I went into the off license to get the wine the assistant recognised me and then the same happened in the Chinese where I am also known. Her reply: 'Well the woman in the betting shop went on as though she knows me as well today*'. It appears we both live a good, wholesome life.

*In her defense, she had a bet on the horses over Christmas and won so placed another bet when she went to collect her winnings. Yet again she won, and so it goes on.

Missing an arm

This evening I've realised how sad my life would be without the wife in it. She's gone out for the evening leaving me and the dog to fend for ourselves. After I dropped her off I picked up a Chinese takeaway, bought a couple of bottles of wine (red for me, white for the wife for her return) and with nothing better to do I've eaten the whole chow mein and worse still, resorted to working. As for the dog, he's alternating between sitting by the front door and whimpering at my feet. Whether he's also missing the wife or after the remaining prawn crackers, I don't know. Can't even open the wine yet as I've offered to go pick her up when she's finished.

Boardwalk

When we bought the house my mum sent me some money to 'buy something for the house' and we decided on a painting of some sort. We love Jack Vettriano but he's a bit above our budget. Mark Spain had also caught my eye but although cheaper would still have been pushing it. The other day in the local department store I spied three Mark Spain limited editions, two of which were sold, one of which wasn't. Better still they were reduced in the sale. I phoned the wife who found the picture I was looking at on the internet, pulled out my wallet and Boardwalk is now hanging on the bedroom wall. The only problem is we can't work out if it should be Boardwalk or South Beach - the painting says Boardwalk but the website says the South Beach.

The way it should be

I've just had my weekly meeting with the boss and it was just perfect: in at 9.59am and out at 10.03am. In that time we both said everything that had to be said and managed to exchange pleasantries. If only it went that well every week. But was it wrong to walk the long way around campus to get back to my building? I spotted someone heading towards my office that I can't be doing with this morning. He's bound to catch up with me later but I have enough trouble with monday mornings without having to wipe his arse as well.

Monday, Monday

Monday morning already! It seems everyone is back to work this morning after the holidays. My commute last week took just 20 minutes and I was at my desk by 8.30 (never been known). Today it was back up to 45 minutes giving an average speed of 20mph.
 
The weekend was a productive one. Saturday saw the decorations come down and the house getting a thorough cleaning along with loads of washing and shopping. Sunday I finally unpacked my last two cases of clothes and sorted out the wardrobe (it's only been eight months since I packed them away for the move and it took until last month to get the wardrobes built and so only now can I access my winter woollies). Anyway, this all means I'm not ready for Monday morning, couldn't we just postpone it for another 24 hours?

Starting All Over Again

So now that the holidays are over would someone please tell me what all the fuss was about for so many weeks before hand!

Christmas was nice and quiet, spent with my mum. Ate too much, drank to much... the usual. The only downside was going to friends for Christmas dinner meaning no left overs for Boxing day. The next few days I spent fighting off a virus to make sure that I was home in time to spend New Year with the wife. Again, New Year is usually a quiet affair, just the two of us and while last year was quite exciting when we thought the latest grandkid was about to appear (she didn't, she was born a few days later) this year was far more exciting.

We made an effort for each other, I even went so far as to put on the one dress I own (first time since a wedding April '05), opened a bottle of champagne and settled on the sofa. At about 11.10pm the wife headed off for nibbles in the kitchen and noticed something amiss in the back garden. It was the beloved greenhouse. While I thought it was well fastened down it would appear not well enough for the gales blowing that night. I would post photos but didn't have time to take any. In my best frock, in a gale there we were pulling apart what was left of the tangled frame and flapping plastic before it flew off again and damaged something other than the wifes lettuce.

The following morning and all that's left is the path. Next time I will use more concrete!

We flung the remains into the garage and made it back inside with 5 minutes before the bells, just enough time to wash the mud off ourselves. And what else could we do but laugh.

Happy New Year!

2006

Been trying to write a review of the year for a few days but have pinched this instead.

What did you do in 2006 that you’ve never done before?
So many DIY things around the house that I would probably never have done had the wife not said ‘go on, have a go.’

Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions and will you make more for next year?
Not sure I made any. I thought about it but couldn’t decide on anything.

Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yup – grandkid number 6 appeared early on in the year.

Did anyone close to you die?
No thank God.

Did you go anywhere special?
Not really – all our special times this year we spent at home.

What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?
Successful experiments at work.

What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Getting my PhD. And plastering a wall.

Did you suffer illness or injury?
Plenty of cuts and bruises working on the house but nothing serious.

What was the best thing you bought?
Our house!

Where did most of your money go?
On doing up the house.

What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Getting our house (is there a pattern emerging here?).

What song reminds you of 2006?
America by Razorlight

Compared to this time last year are you:
a. Happier or sadder?
Happier.
b. Thinner or fatter?
About the same.
c. Richer or poorer?
Richer – why I don’t miss being a student.

What do you wish you’d done more of?
Visiting family.

What do you wish you’d done less of?
Eating & drinking!

Did you fall in love in 2006?
Yes – with our house! And of course I love the wife more each day.

What was your favorite TV show?
Anything on the Gardening channel!

What was the best book you read?
Instruction books for flatpack furniture. I think I did read a novel back in the summer but I can’t remember what it was called.

What was your greatest musical discovery of 2006?
Don’t think I found anything new this year.

What did you want and get?
This house (getting a bit repetitive this)

What did you want and not get?
I think I got all I could have asked for this year.

What was your favorite film this year?
Have I seen any films this year? Certainly never made it to the cinema.

What did you do on your birthday?
Nothing much. Probably ate at my fave restaurant.

What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Getting my system working at work.

How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006?
Mostly paint-splattered and when leaving the house the cleanest pair of jeans I could find.

What kept you sane?
The wife. Or is that who? If a who doesn't count then probably the escapism of pottering around the garden.

Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
No one comes to mind.

What political issue stirred you the most?
The campaign by the media to get rid of Blair really pissed me off.

Who did you miss?
My Dad. Time to bury the hatchet.

Who was the best new person you met?
New grandkid.