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.