My goodness, this course is a lot of work. I haven't done much this weekend except work and worry about my lessons.
I am definitely going to laze around for the rest of the year. And some of the year after that.
30 September 2007
27 September 2007
22 September 2007
Update
Hi folks! Just a quick note. I am in Moorhensroad staying with my parents. It is lovely. My Dad showed me a partridge feather. We rode his fold-up bike down the road. We are having chicken casserole for dinner.
The course is very hard work and surprising. I have forgotten most of the grammar I ever knew and it doesn't seem to be relevant anyway. Tenses and participles have been renamed, which is very confusing. (the Pluperfect is now the Past Perfect; the past participle is now the Third Form)
But the most surprising thing is that I am rather good at teaching. (I hope this doesn't sound too immodest). I have this teaching persona, which in some ways resembles my blogging persona...It's like being taken over by my own evil twin. I tease my students and make the occasional silly joke. While this new part of my personality is coming in very handy, it's rather exhausting for the quiet bit that likes sitting in a corner cataloguing documents. The genie is out of the bottle.
time to learn some more tenses and write a lesson plan.
By the way, James is reading people's blogs at the moment because I'm not there to do it for him. So enjoy his comments while they last...;)
The course is very hard work and surprising. I have forgotten most of the grammar I ever knew and it doesn't seem to be relevant anyway. Tenses and participles have been renamed, which is very confusing. (the Pluperfect is now the Past Perfect; the past participle is now the Third Form)
But the most surprising thing is that I am rather good at teaching. (I hope this doesn't sound too immodest). I have this teaching persona, which in some ways resembles my blogging persona...It's like being taken over by my own evil twin. I tease my students and make the occasional silly joke. While this new part of my personality is coming in very handy, it's rather exhausting for the quiet bit that likes sitting in a corner cataloguing documents. The genie is out of the bottle.
time to learn some more tenses and write a lesson plan.
By the way, James is reading people's blogs at the moment because I'm not there to do it for him. So enjoy his comments while they last...;)
09 September 2007
News flash
Our house is packed and our tenants move in next week. We are camping at friends' houses. It's strange.
I gave all our bottles of sauce and stuff to Pete and he has blogged about them in rather an amusing way. What a lot of stuff! What bad housekeepers we are!
Packing was awful and we got very stressed. I had to have a brief cry when we found a tub of Flora in the fridge door, which was dated best before 2005:
"It's white! Is it meant to be that colour?"
"Oh no! It must come from our last move."
I didn't date that letter I was cataloguing, but on closer inspection, I discovered that it referred to a previous letter in the series, so that was good.
The ESOL course starts a week on Monday. I will be living partly in Oxford and partly in Moorhensroad. I keep hearing from various people who have done the course that it is a lot of work. I don't want to do lots of work. I want a holiday. After the course I am going to Australia for a month. I go to France at the end of November.
A la prochaine!
I gave all our bottles of sauce and stuff to Pete and he has blogged about them in rather an amusing way. What a lot of stuff! What bad housekeepers we are!
Packing was awful and we got very stressed. I had to have a brief cry when we found a tub of Flora in the fridge door, which was dated best before 2005:
"It's white! Is it meant to be that colour?"
"Oh no! It must come from our last move."
I didn't date that letter I was cataloguing, but on closer inspection, I discovered that it referred to a previous letter in the series, so that was good.
The ESOL course starts a week on Monday. I will be living partly in Oxford and partly in Moorhensroad. I keep hearing from various people who have done the course that it is a lot of work. I don't want to do lots of work. I want a holiday. After the course I am going to Australia for a month. I go to France at the end of November.
A la prochaine!
30 August 2007
I went to work this afternoon. It was much better than being at home in our half-packed house. I am dreading packing my wardrobe. I have too many clothes.
There is an undated letter in the series I am cataloguing at the moment. It would be possible to date it, if I could discover when in 1918 the person it was written to was awarded a medal by the Queen of the Belgians.
I mean, honestly. Life is too short.
We are trying to pack everything up by Sunday evening. We are not doing too badly.
There is an undated letter in the series I am cataloguing at the moment. It would be possible to date it, if I could discover when in 1918 the person it was written to was awarded a medal by the Queen of the Belgians.
I mean, honestly. Life is too short.
We are trying to pack everything up by Sunday evening. We are not doing too badly.
24 August 2007
Funfares
That's what National Express calls their cheap tickets.
Going on National Express buses is not fun.
Poor James bought a cable that is supposed to link his Mac to the TV in colour. It didnt' work.
Going on National Express buses is not fun.
Poor James bought a cable that is supposed to link his Mac to the TV in colour. It didnt' work.
23 August 2007
Dull whining post
If you're going to be ill, it's much better to have a few symptoms. Some spots - you can rub cream on spots. A cold. You can blow your nose and drink hot toddies and take aspirin (not together, I know). Aching bones: you can go to bed for a few days and keep warm.
But this illness is just vague tiredness, slight nausea, and a nagging sense of guilt and depression. It sounds like my usual state, except that James has it too and this is not his usual state. So, although it is bad to be ill at the same time as him, in this case it's slightly better because I know this is an illness and not my imagination.
I am now very familiar with daytime TV; in particular, the works of Noel Edmonds and John Burton Race. TV has become so cruel. Thank the Valar for Stephen Fry.
James is reading The Woman in White, so I wont' see him this evening. The TV version had me cowering in terror last night.
People are coming to view our house, which is looking unnaturally clean and tidy. We hide the untidiness under the bed and in cupboards when people come round. James is boxing up his books to send to Ango.
But this illness is just vague tiredness, slight nausea, and a nagging sense of guilt and depression. It sounds like my usual state, except that James has it too and this is not his usual state. So, although it is bad to be ill at the same time as him, in this case it's slightly better because I know this is an illness and not my imagination.
I am now very familiar with daytime TV; in particular, the works of Noel Edmonds and John Burton Race. TV has become so cruel. Thank the Valar for Stephen Fry.
James is reading The Woman in White, so I wont' see him this evening. The TV version had me cowering in terror last night.
People are coming to view our house, which is looking unnaturally clean and tidy. We hide the untidiness under the bed and in cupboards when people come round. James is boxing up his books to send to Ango.
20 August 2007
I feel sad today because I have the flu. I have spent most of the day sleeping. I woke up this morning weighed down by more doom-laden thoughts than usual and failed to get out of bed. I thought I was just being lazy but I think I'm having the illness that James had a couple of days ago, which makes you very miserable and think that everything you do is useless.
How can you tell? It's a good question.
I saw a TV programme which included some film of kakapos. A kakapo climbed down a tree and then jumped to the ground. They said that there are over 100, but I'm sure the web site says 86. Have they hatched 14 eggs without anyone alerting the world? I have a Google news search for kakapo so I'm sure I wouldn't have missed it.
If you want a laugh, watch Enemies of Reason, and pretend it's a comedy instead of a programme about science.
Scene: a New Age Fair. Richard Dawkins approaches a stall.
"So, do I have any guardian angels?"
"Everyone has angels guiding them on their path through life."
"Can you see my angels?"
"No, you haven't asked them to come near you."
Scene: Richard Dawkins lies on a massage table. A kind woman wearing a purple shirt rubs his feet and he strokes his temples. He's quite enjoying himself, he says.
"So," she says, "Repeat after me: "Fear of being ignored."" (James, mend this punctuation please x).
We are tired of waiting to move. We want to get on with it.
How can you tell? It's a good question.
I saw a TV programme which included some film of kakapos. A kakapo climbed down a tree and then jumped to the ground. They said that there are over 100, but I'm sure the web site says 86. Have they hatched 14 eggs without anyone alerting the world? I have a Google news search for kakapo so I'm sure I wouldn't have missed it.
If you want a laugh, watch Enemies of Reason, and pretend it's a comedy instead of a programme about science.
Scene: a New Age Fair. Richard Dawkins approaches a stall.
"So, do I have any guardian angels?"
"Everyone has angels guiding them on their path through life."
"Can you see my angels?"
"No, you haven't asked them to come near you."
Scene: Richard Dawkins lies on a massage table. A kind woman wearing a purple shirt rubs his feet and he strokes his temples. He's quite enjoying himself, he says.
"So," she says, "Repeat after me: "Fear of being ignored."" (James, mend this punctuation please x).
We are tired of waiting to move. We want to get on with it.
15 August 2007
Satisfactory
James has bought a new pair of trainers. They are like trainers that skateboarders wear. They are very comfortable. They are blue. He has ordered a second pair, in black. In the sale.
He now owns at least five pairs of comfortable shoes.
I nearly took a photograph but perhaps that's going a bit far.
He now owns at least five pairs of comfortable shoes.
I nearly took a photograph but perhaps that's going a bit far.
The Enemies of Reason
Roused my brain from its usual torpor. I thought he chose some rather easy targets, though.
14 August 2007
Two observations.
Cleaning a bathroom while listening to a programme about the Sino-American arms race is not the most cheerful way to spend an evening.
But every misfortune is grist to the blogger's mill.
But every misfortune is grist to the blogger's mill.
07 August 2007
Hey everyone, do you like my new mission statement?
Everyone needs a mission.
James's mission today has been to get cheap phone calls. This has involved testing internet phones on me and his family and friends in America. He is on the phone for the third time this evening. Most of the conversation deals with phone and computer technology:
"Do you see the little window that shows me? Pretty good, eh?"
"No, click on the other button."
"You probably have to run windows on your computer. I'm just plugging in my ethernet cable to see if it gives a better connection."
"You're breaking up now...Still there... You froze there but came back...I guess the call quality is kinda variable. The camera is a real cheapo one"
Earlier in the evening I spoke to his friend M in New York, who had twins about two months ago. She said that she wasn't going to candy-coat it; it's really hard and you don't get much back and you don't get to use your brain. I talked to her wearing the weird little earpiece that dancers and call centre operators wear.
Everyone needs a mission.
James's mission today has been to get cheap phone calls. This has involved testing internet phones on me and his family and friends in America. He is on the phone for the third time this evening. Most of the conversation deals with phone and computer technology:
"Do you see the little window that shows me? Pretty good, eh?"
"No, click on the other button."
"You probably have to run windows on your computer. I'm just plugging in my ethernet cable to see if it gives a better connection."
"You're breaking up now...Still there... You froze there but came back...I guess the call quality is kinda variable. The camera is a real cheapo one"
Earlier in the evening I spoke to his friend M in New York, who had twins about two months ago. She said that she wasn't going to candy-coat it; it's really hard and you don't get much back and you don't get to use your brain. I talked to her wearing the weird little earpiece that dancers and call centre operators wear.
I hate levels in archives
When you are cataloguing archives, you are supposed to do it according to international standards. These are The International Standard for Archival Description (General) shortened to ISAD (G) to make it sound more important; The National Council for Archives's Rules for the Construction of Personal Names (or something like that); and the International Standard for Archival Authority Records (ISAAR). I've probably got all this wrong but it's something like that. At the beginning of September I can forget all about it. In practice you hardly ever have time to make any authority records because in the time available you can just about catalogue the collection if you are a project archivist and you seldom make much of an index either because there isn't time to do that. If you are a real archivist who runs a service you spend most of your time answering enquiries and trying to keep your reading room open and writing funding bids to get project archivists in to do some cataloguing.
But if you do happen to do any cataloguing, you have to contend with Levels. There are five levels of description with infinite numbers of sub-levels in between. The Levels have names to make them sound more important:
Fonds or Collection - this is the whole archive as generated by its creating organization or individual e.g. Records of the Archival Committee for Makign Things Sound Important
Sub-fonds - this is a functional sub-division of the fonds if its an organizational archive or whatever you make up if its the papers of an individual because most people have better things to do than arrange their archives for the convenience of history (you usually have a couple of extra levels in here) e.g. Records of the Archival Sub-Committee for Making Things; Records of the Archival Sub-Committee for Importnat-Sounding Things
Series - volumes of minutes of the Archival Committee for Making Things Sound Important - generally things in a series look the same, which helps a bit
File - a single volume of minutes, a group of papers
Item - an intellectually indivisible unit e.g. minutes of a meeting
Piece - a physical division of an intellectual whole - e.g. a single page from a volume of minutes.
Sounds good, doesn't it? Until you try and apply it to, well, almost anything.
Can you have a series of letters? Is a group of letters from Marvin Marblesons to James Lee a file or a series? To me, it sounds like a series because it's the same thing repeated not a group of unrelated things bundled together. And I think a letter is an item because you can't have an intellectual sub-division of a letter, can you? Can you have a series of items or do all items have to be in a file?
Reference codes in archives are usually hierarchical and some people even try to give a reference code for every level in the archive, but I gave up on this and found things much easier.
Oh it's all so dull.
But if you do happen to do any cataloguing, you have to contend with Levels. There are five levels of description with infinite numbers of sub-levels in between. The Levels have names to make them sound more important:
Fonds or Collection - this is the whole archive as generated by its creating organization or individual e.g. Records of the Archival Committee for Makign Things Sound Important
Sub-fonds - this is a functional sub-division of the fonds if its an organizational archive or whatever you make up if its the papers of an individual because most people have better things to do than arrange their archives for the convenience of history (you usually have a couple of extra levels in here) e.g. Records of the Archival Sub-Committee for Making Things; Records of the Archival Sub-Committee for Importnat-Sounding Things
Series - volumes of minutes of the Archival Committee for Making Things Sound Important - generally things in a series look the same, which helps a bit
File - a single volume of minutes, a group of papers
Item - an intellectually indivisible unit e.g. minutes of a meeting
Piece - a physical division of an intellectual whole - e.g. a single page from a volume of minutes.
Sounds good, doesn't it? Until you try and apply it to, well, almost anything.
Can you have a series of letters? Is a group of letters from Marvin Marblesons to James Lee a file or a series? To me, it sounds like a series because it's the same thing repeated not a group of unrelated things bundled together. And I think a letter is an item because you can't have an intellectual sub-division of a letter, can you? Can you have a series of items or do all items have to be in a file?
Reference codes in archives are usually hierarchical and some people even try to give a reference code for every level in the archive, but I gave up on this and found things much easier.
Oh it's all so dull.
31 July 2007
27 July 2007
24 July 2007
James's good news
James has been given a stipend for the first 3 months of his stay in Angouleme. So no tech journalism for him for 3 months, lucky little Texan!
He says I can tell you because he can't be bothered to blog any more. He only did it to copy other cartoonists he likes. I am disappointed because I like the robot blog and the characteristic curmudgeonly tone of his posts, but I suppose greater things beckon...
I spent all day entering proofreading changes on the database. By 4.30 I felt like I was going to lose my mind. It is still here, I think. I have entered all the changes. Now we have to mailmerge the data and use the spellcheck to find more mistakes.
I have bought some short trousers like what girls are wearing at the moment. With little dresses.
The sun shone and the sky was blue today.
He says I can tell you because he can't be bothered to blog any more. He only did it to copy other cartoonists he likes. I am disappointed because I like the robot blog and the characteristic curmudgeonly tone of his posts, but I suppose greater things beckon...
I spent all day entering proofreading changes on the database. By 4.30 I felt like I was going to lose my mind. It is still here, I think. I have entered all the changes. Now we have to mailmerge the data and use the spellcheck to find more mistakes.
I have bought some short trousers like what girls are wearing at the moment. With little dresses.
The sun shone and the sky was blue today.
23 July 2007
I was wrong about Dudley Dursley. I was right about other Harry Potter stuff though. Can't say because some Potter fans might not have read it yet.
The Observer's review was very churlish, I thought.
I went into the pub at about 5pm on Saturday and bumped into Jerome and friends.
"Have you read it already?" Jerome enquired, looking amazed.
"Er, yes," I replied. I read very quickly; it's an occupational hazard of cataloguing documents. I tried to read it slowly but I couldn't. The advantage of being a fast reader is that you don't waste much time reading stuff you don't like and if things are any good you can read them over and over again and savour them.
They were really surprised. I don't see why reading books fast is so surprising, but I am resigned to the fact that loads of things I do (like wearing odd socks because I can't be bothered to put them into pairs - it's a waste of time) seem to surprise people and make them think I'm odd. Despite living in the suburbs and working a 9-5 job in local government, being married, and not going out much, what could be more dull than that?
"So how long did it take you?"
I decided to refuse to tell them because then they'd be impressed that I'd read it so fast and think that I'm really clever and that would annoy me. Reading fast isn't clever; it's just reading fast.
"Did you buy it at midnight?"
"No."
"First thing in the morning?"
"No."
"We saw all those nerds queueing up last night in the rain when we were coming out of the pub. Ha ha."
"Oh." (feels slightly insulted on behalf of fellow Harry Potter fans, but it's not good explaining that, to me and to large numbers of other people in the country, the last Harry Potter is like Christmas and the Rugby World Cup rolled into one)
"So who dies?" enquired Jerome.
"You don't know the names of any of the characters."
"Which of the main characters die?"
"Well, loads of them die. It's a bloodbath. I'm not saying. You only want the information so you can disappoint someone you know is a fan. I'm not risking that."
"Oh come on. Is it Gandalf or Dusseldorf?"
In other news...
Work is winding down in the slow, weird, mindboggling way that work tends to. In the last week you come into the same office and do the same things as you've done for the last 2 years, in the knowledge that it's all going to end and you will never come back there or do those things again. It should feel different because it's ending but it doesn't until the last day, when suddenly there's no need to do any more work.
James has some good news. I won't say in case he wants to tell the world.
The Observer's review was very churlish, I thought.
I went into the pub at about 5pm on Saturday and bumped into Jerome and friends.
"Have you read it already?" Jerome enquired, looking amazed.
"Er, yes," I replied. I read very quickly; it's an occupational hazard of cataloguing documents. I tried to read it slowly but I couldn't. The advantage of being a fast reader is that you don't waste much time reading stuff you don't like and if things are any good you can read them over and over again and savour them.
They were really surprised. I don't see why reading books fast is so surprising, but I am resigned to the fact that loads of things I do (like wearing odd socks because I can't be bothered to put them into pairs - it's a waste of time) seem to surprise people and make them think I'm odd. Despite living in the suburbs and working a 9-5 job in local government, being married, and not going out much, what could be more dull than that?
"So how long did it take you?"
I decided to refuse to tell them because then they'd be impressed that I'd read it so fast and think that I'm really clever and that would annoy me. Reading fast isn't clever; it's just reading fast.
"Did you buy it at midnight?"
"No."
"First thing in the morning?"
"No."
"We saw all those nerds queueing up last night in the rain when we were coming out of the pub. Ha ha."
"Oh." (feels slightly insulted on behalf of fellow Harry Potter fans, but it's not good explaining that, to me and to large numbers of other people in the country, the last Harry Potter is like Christmas and the Rugby World Cup rolled into one)
"So who dies?" enquired Jerome.
"You don't know the names of any of the characters."
"Which of the main characters die?"
"Well, loads of them die. It's a bloodbath. I'm not saying. You only want the information so you can disappoint someone you know is a fan. I'm not risking that."
"Oh come on. Is it Gandalf or Dusseldorf?"
In other news...
Work is winding down in the slow, weird, mindboggling way that work tends to. In the last week you come into the same office and do the same things as you've done for the last 2 years, in the knowledge that it's all going to end and you will never come back there or do those things again. It should feel different because it's ending but it doesn't until the last day, when suddenly there's no need to do any more work.
James has some good news. I won't say in case he wants to tell the world.
20 July 2007
17 July 2007
I survived Trailwalker support.
What an epic weekend I have had. The last four days feel like a week. It was intense. And having seen what our team went through, I thank my lucky stars I didn't do Trailwalker.
And with that frustrating and cryptic post I will not blog any more about it because I am a gremlin.
And with that frustrating and cryptic post I will not blog any more about it because I am a gremlin.
09 July 2007
James's life
A short report on the interesting life of James Lee. He has been feeling very tired since Friday. All he wants to do is to lie in bed and read trashy detective novels. He doesn't know whether to set up a facebook profile or not. I don't think he should because he won't update it which will be disappointing for his friends. Like his blog, which is very dull. He set up a facebook account to look at other people's profiles but then he suspended it. He might activate it again, but he is concerned that he will become obsessed by facebook and spend hours altering it. Like his posh web site, which took him an entire weekend of total obsession.
James has been writing lots of notes. He always writes notes. That is not news. I pity anyone who has to sort out his archive and catalogue the vast numbers of notebooks full of scrawls about the future of his comics career and the sources of his inspiration. You may deduce from the tone of the last few sentences that I will not be taking this on. Sometimes I read interviews with the wives of famous authors who talk eloquently their husband's work, and continue it after their death. I am not such a wife. I do not really understand. And I do not try to either. When we visited Gregory, James's comics chum in France, he said he was surprised that I am coming to Ango since I don't really like comics. I'm afraid it's even worse. I am indifferent. I like some comics if the story is interesting or it they are funny. Someone else suggested taht I am James's muse, which is a very amusing idea. A very lazy muse who lies on the sofa and eats chocolate and tells him to do what he likes. I don't even read his comics properly, if I'm honest. But, for some reasons, James thinks this is satisfactory.
James has been trying to work out why Ian Rankin's books appeal, since they are not very well written.
His shoes are satisfactory at the moment. His green bag has lost a few zips but is still serving him well. He bought some new shirts from Debenhams which was exciting for me because he had been wearing the same outfit (blue jeans, black shirt) for weeks on end. I am not exaggerating. He really did. The new shirts come in a variety of colours which is also quite exciting. The green one looks particualrly nice, although they all look quite good. He wears all black for trips abroad so he can spill his dinner on his clothes.
James's friend is coming to visit. If anyone is dedicated enough to have read his travel diary, he's the friend who goes to Barcelona with him. (But dont' feel guilty if you haven't read it ).
James had pasta and meatballs for dinner. I can't think of any other James news, but I can supply more mundane detail, if anyone is moved to enquire.
James has been writing lots of notes. He always writes notes. That is not news. I pity anyone who has to sort out his archive and catalogue the vast numbers of notebooks full of scrawls about the future of his comics career and the sources of his inspiration. You may deduce from the tone of the last few sentences that I will not be taking this on. Sometimes I read interviews with the wives of famous authors who talk eloquently their husband's work, and continue it after their death. I am not such a wife. I do not really understand. And I do not try to either. When we visited Gregory, James's comics chum in France, he said he was surprised that I am coming to Ango since I don't really like comics. I'm afraid it's even worse. I am indifferent. I like some comics if the story is interesting or it they are funny. Someone else suggested taht I am James's muse, which is a very amusing idea. A very lazy muse who lies on the sofa and eats chocolate and tells him to do what he likes. I don't even read his comics properly, if I'm honest. But, for some reasons, James thinks this is satisfactory.
James has been trying to work out why Ian Rankin's books appeal, since they are not very well written.
His shoes are satisfactory at the moment. His green bag has lost a few zips but is still serving him well. He bought some new shirts from Debenhams which was exciting for me because he had been wearing the same outfit (blue jeans, black shirt) for weeks on end. I am not exaggerating. He really did. The new shirts come in a variety of colours which is also quite exciting. The green one looks particualrly nice, although they all look quite good. He wears all black for trips abroad so he can spill his dinner on his clothes.
James's friend is coming to visit. If anyone is dedicated enough to have read his travel diary, he's the friend who goes to Barcelona with him. (But dont' feel guilty if you haven't read it ).
James had pasta and meatballs for dinner. I can't think of any other James news, but I can supply more mundane detail, if anyone is moved to enquire.
08 July 2007
Marvin's interesting year
Good afternoon, everyone. I hope you are all well.
Here is what's happening in the world of Gremlins Online over the next few months. Actually, as I move around, this blog will suddenly become very useful since I will not see anyone who reads it. .
Trailwalker is next weekend. James has organized everything. I have been working incredibly hard this week and have no brainpower left when I come home.
At the beginning of August I start work at the university for a month, listing a collection of First World War letters. Everyone I have told this to seems to think that it will be very interesting. I think it will be the same as all the other stuff I've catalogued. It's time to move on.
At the end of August, we will move out of the house. James will take stuff to the flat in France. If anyone would like to have me to stay in the first two weeks in September, that would be much appreciated. Apart from being compulsively untidy, I am a very good guest. James is going to live in France without me for two months.
In the middle of September, I start my English language teaching course, which is very intensive and hard work apparently. More hard work.
Towards the end of October I go to Australia for a month - my cousin is getting married. I am going with my Mum. We are going to get the train up the east coast from Sydney to Brisbane, which will be rather interesting.
We come back from Australia at the end of November and then after recovering from horrendous jet-lag I will go to France. I think we are going to come back for Christmas, so I will laze around in France for 3 weeks and start to get used to it. At the end of January, there is the big comics festival in Angouleme so I expect we will have visitors and that will mean I won't have to do anything much until the end of January except look after them. I am going to take things very slowly and try not to be dutiful and do boring things in order to earn money to spend on pointless things. (Like silver shoes) I am going to follow the good example of my dear friend Em, who does things very slowly and beautifully.
I will have no home for the last few months of this year. I will have my old room at my parents' house, but I will be wandering around living out of a suitcase.
Here is what's happening in the world of Gremlins Online over the next few months. Actually, as I move around, this blog will suddenly become very useful since I will not see anyone who reads it. .
Trailwalker is next weekend. James has organized everything. I have been working incredibly hard this week and have no brainpower left when I come home.
At the beginning of August I start work at the university for a month, listing a collection of First World War letters. Everyone I have told this to seems to think that it will be very interesting. I think it will be the same as all the other stuff I've catalogued. It's time to move on.
At the end of August, we will move out of the house. James will take stuff to the flat in France. If anyone would like to have me to stay in the first two weeks in September, that would be much appreciated. Apart from being compulsively untidy, I am a very good guest. James is going to live in France without me for two months.
In the middle of September, I start my English language teaching course, which is very intensive and hard work apparently. More hard work.
Towards the end of October I go to Australia for a month - my cousin is getting married. I am going with my Mum. We are going to get the train up the east coast from Sydney to Brisbane, which will be rather interesting.
We come back from Australia at the end of November and then after recovering from horrendous jet-lag I will go to France. I think we are going to come back for Christmas, so I will laze around in France for 3 weeks and start to get used to it. At the end of January, there is the big comics festival in Angouleme so I expect we will have visitors and that will mean I won't have to do anything much until the end of January except look after them. I am going to take things very slowly and try not to be dutiful and do boring things in order to earn money to spend on pointless things. (Like silver shoes) I am going to follow the good example of my dear friend Em, who does things very slowly and beautifully.
I will have no home for the last few months of this year. I will have my old room at my parents' house, but I will be wandering around living out of a suitcase.
04 July 2007
Numbering miracle
Today, I renumbered 162 CDs three times (here are some brackets for the pedantic among you) and changed all the numbers on the database. There are 206 CDs in the whole series, but I didn't have to renumber them all because somehow the numbers from 163-206 turned out the same in the old arrangement and the new arrangement. It was like magic, like the God of Archives (probably a goddess actually) had decided to spare me the pain of renumbering the final 40 CDs.
James bought me a present today. It is a purse in the shape of a pig wearing a scarf. The pig has a quizzical expression and its eyes follow you round the room. I will keep my keys in it and hope nobody at work notices how funny it is.
We had our final choir rehearsal today. Disaster. We don't know the music. It's not looking good. so don't come to Coventry Cathedral at 7.30 on Saturday unless you are tone deaf.
I am 52% addicted to blogging.
Why has facebook suddenly become so popular?
James bought me a present today. It is a purse in the shape of a pig wearing a scarf. The pig has a quizzical expression and its eyes follow you round the room. I will keep my keys in it and hope nobody at work notices how funny it is.
We had our final choir rehearsal today. Disaster. We don't know the music. It's not looking good. so don't come to Coventry Cathedral at 7.30 on Saturday unless you are tone deaf.
I am 52% addicted to blogging.
Why has facebook suddenly become so popular?
02 July 2007
Metallic shoes
Fashion lasts for a week; style lasts forever.
I do listen to Chrissy Wissy sometimes.
Last week, I bought some silver shoes. Everyone is wearing silver accessories at the moment.
I am breaking them in and trying to like them. I think they are a bit daring. Perhaps they are a mistake. They were in the sale. I think James has his doubts but he is too polite to say. James is quite good for a bit of fashion advice.
Plus they have ankle straps which Trinny and Susannah say are unflattering to all but the most elegant of ankles. My ankles are more carthorse than racehorse...
I wish they were red.
I do listen to Chrissy Wissy sometimes.
Last week, I bought some silver shoes. Everyone is wearing silver accessories at the moment.
I am breaking them in and trying to like them. I think they are a bit daring. Perhaps they are a mistake. They were in the sale. I think James has his doubts but he is too polite to say. James is quite good for a bit of fashion advice.
Plus they have ankle straps which Trinny and Susannah say are unflattering to all but the most elegant of ankles. My ankles are more carthorse than racehorse...
I wish they were red.
28 June 2007
It has been a weird week. Our project is ending. Tomorrow most of the people I've worked with for the last 2 years will leave. Desks are being cleared and the office is emerging from its usual chaos and looking unnaturally tidy.
We are having several goodbye dos. I don't like work parties.
End of an era...spooky...
We are having several goodbye dos. I don't like work parties.
End of an era...spooky...
A rare and not very profound political comment
Many people will have failed to notice that yesterday a new Prime Minister took over in Downing St. His name is Gordon Brown. As I walked to work this morning, it struck me that everything looked exactly the same and no-one looked bothered at all.
We now have several government departments with silly names for everyone to mock.
I wonder when he will do something that makes people take notice.
We now have several government departments with silly names for everyone to mock.
I wonder when he will do something that makes people take notice.
25 June 2007
ugly face
I am still using facebook. I have been advised that it is for keeping in touch with friends of friends you meet in passing.
Village fete
Some of you may know that I registered to take part in Trailwalker, a 62 mile hike along the South Downs Way in aid of Oxfam. I had to pull out because I pulled a muscle in my leg. It still isn't right, my leg.
Anyway, this project involves more than just walking 62 miles: you have to raise money for Oxfam and the Gurkham Welfare Trust. We have to raise £2000 by the end of September.
I have had what I think is a really good fundraising idea. It is to have a mini-fete in our back garden which could also be a leaving do. We could have a cake stall, a book stall, a clothes stall, and possibly a plant stall, people could bring old junk to sell, we could make burgers and sausage rolls and people could wander in and out and give lots of money to Trailwalker. We could also book a pitch at a car boot sale the following day and sell off anything left over.
I think this is a brilliant idea. I am very proud of myself. It is my idea of fun. We will probably do in the second or third weekend in August.
Anyway, this project involves more than just walking 62 miles: you have to raise money for Oxfam and the Gurkham Welfare Trust. We have to raise £2000 by the end of September.
I have had what I think is a really good fundraising idea. It is to have a mini-fete in our back garden which could also be a leaving do. We could have a cake stall, a book stall, a clothes stall, and possibly a plant stall, people could bring old junk to sell, we could make burgers and sausage rolls and people could wander in and out and give lots of money to Trailwalker. We could also book a pitch at a car boot sale the following day and sell off anything left over.
I think this is a brilliant idea. I am very proud of myself. It is my idea of fun. We will probably do in the second or third weekend in August.
20 June 2007
Namarie
You know the bit in Lord of the Rings where Gandalf gets on the ship to the Undying Lands and leaves the world in the hands of Men and Hobbits because his work is done? Well, although I may not resemble Gandalf in, well, any way at all, I have some inkling how he felt at the moment when the Ring was cast into the Fire and all the creatures of Mordor crawled back into their holes. Although defeating one of the children of the world's ultimate evil being forever is a bit more impressive than cataloguing the archive of Mr Genius. I hope you will forgive me the comparison because you know I love The Lord of the Rings.
I have spent the last year cataloguing the archive of Mr Genius and it has been a real challenge. It is not the most difficult job I have ever done - the railways was worse, so bad I can't blog about it without being libellous - but it has certainly caused me several sleepless nights and I have gone to work for most of the last few months in a state of plodding despair. Because no matter how hard we worked, it seemed impossible that we would ever finish. There was no point even thinking we could finish. Every time I did the maths it looked worse. (5 people x number of weeks left (minus leave and interesting things) divided into number of tapes left to catalogue) The archive is about 3000 reel-to-reel tapes, their boxes, the annoying little bits of paper Mr Genius saw fit to put inside them, and copies of the tapes on three sets of CDs. (by the way, CDs are no longer a preservation medium, before some smart alec points this out) That's 9000 CDs to catalogue, label, and store, plus 3000 reel-to-reel tapes and 3000 of their original boxes, annotated in Mr Genius's bad handwriting (and you remember my views on important historical information and bad handwriting, don't you?). It has taken 5 people working for between six months and a year to do it. I have been doing it since last April.
Now, at the beginning of last week, I began to think that we might be able to finish after all. I have had these foolish ideas before and dismissed them as delusional. But today and yesterday, it became increasingly obvious that there are only about 300 tapes left and since they aren't very important, they are already listed briefly. So in the next couple of weeks, I need to find and label these 300 tapes, or persuade someone to do/help me do it and everything will be catalogued.
So now I am feeling optimistic. It is the most peculiar feeling. It is like being slightly drunk.
I bought myself a coat to celebrate. It is one of those trendy little short ones with the pleat at the back and short sleeves. James didn't like it because it had no waist. He said he'd get used to it. I think it's really cute but I feel it will date. Like the Selfridges in Birmingham. That will date too, mark my words.
Correction: The Ring was not cast into the Fire; Gollum slipped and fell into the chasm holding it. I wouldnt' want Jonathan or Dan to be disappointed in me.
I have spent the last year cataloguing the archive of Mr Genius and it has been a real challenge. It is not the most difficult job I have ever done - the railways was worse, so bad I can't blog about it without being libellous - but it has certainly caused me several sleepless nights and I have gone to work for most of the last few months in a state of plodding despair. Because no matter how hard we worked, it seemed impossible that we would ever finish. There was no point even thinking we could finish. Every time I did the maths it looked worse. (5 people x number of weeks left (minus leave and interesting things) divided into number of tapes left to catalogue) The archive is about 3000 reel-to-reel tapes, their boxes, the annoying little bits of paper Mr Genius saw fit to put inside them, and copies of the tapes on three sets of CDs. (by the way, CDs are no longer a preservation medium, before some smart alec points this out) That's 9000 CDs to catalogue, label, and store, plus 3000 reel-to-reel tapes and 3000 of their original boxes, annotated in Mr Genius's bad handwriting (and you remember my views on important historical information and bad handwriting, don't you?). It has taken 5 people working for between six months and a year to do it. I have been doing it since last April.
Now, at the beginning of last week, I began to think that we might be able to finish after all. I have had these foolish ideas before and dismissed them as delusional. But today and yesterday, it became increasingly obvious that there are only about 300 tapes left and since they aren't very important, they are already listed briefly. So in the next couple of weeks, I need to find and label these 300 tapes, or persuade someone to do/help me do it and everything will be catalogued.
So now I am feeling optimistic. It is the most peculiar feeling. It is like being slightly drunk.
I bought myself a coat to celebrate. It is one of those trendy little short ones with the pleat at the back and short sleeves. James didn't like it because it had no waist. He said he'd get used to it. I think it's really cute but I feel it will date. Like the Selfridges in Birmingham. That will date too, mark my words.
Correction: The Ring was not cast into the Fire; Gollum slipped and fell into the chasm holding it. I wouldnt' want Jonathan or Dan to be disappointed in me.
18 June 2007
17 June 2007
Confession
I whinged rather a lot during Sports Day. I had to take a football penalty and stand in goal. I didn't like it. And I didn't try very hard.
15 June 2007
Je n'aime pas le sport.
A weekend of fun and frolics beckons which includes a sports day for grown-ups. We are going to have an egg and spoon race and a dressing up race, and a 10km run. (this last must be a joke. I never run if I can help it)
I am not sure whether this is a good idea or not. Most people I've talked to think it isn't. Our referee is a public prosecutor, so I hope this will help. She should be able to keep things in order when people have tantrums when they don't win, cheat, and get cross when people break the rules. I am determined not to get cross when Jerome cheats, as he probably will. I will try and take part in a civilized way and be very sporting when I lose at everything.
I will report on my success. Wish me luck, mes amis.
I am not sure whether this is a good idea or not. Most people I've talked to think it isn't. Our referee is a public prosecutor, so I hope this will help. She should be able to keep things in order when people have tantrums when they don't win, cheat, and get cross when people break the rules. I am determined not to get cross when Jerome cheats, as he probably will. I will try and take part in a civilized way and be very sporting when I lose at everything.
I will report on my success. Wish me luck, mes amis.
13 June 2007
I have put some stuff on facebook, but I'm not sure what Facebook is really for and whether it will be useful to me.
Lots of the people I'd like to find (Snaap Dragon, friends from school, friends from BAC days) are not on facebook.
Lots of the people I'd like to find (Snaap Dragon, friends from school, friends from BAC days) are not on facebook.
11 June 2007
Another day in the land of the gremlin and the cartoonist...
The cartoonist did not sleep well last night.
The gremlin did lots of clever things with Excel spreadsheets.
The cartoonist made vegetable curry for tea.
The gremlin watched the final of 'Grease is the Word'
The cartoonist started a new story.
The gremlin talked to her friend and her mother on the telephone.
The cartoonist reset the clock on the gremlin's computer.
The gremlin put the very tasteless cover on the garden chairs. It has a picture of a flower meadow in vile bright colours.
The cartoonist wondered how to get good feedback about his cartoons from other artists he respects.
The cartoonist wondered what the gremlin was thinking. The gremlin tried to explain but found it too hard.
The gremlin played around with facebook.
The cartoonist did not sleep well last night.
The gremlin did lots of clever things with Excel spreadsheets.
The cartoonist made vegetable curry for tea.
The gremlin watched the final of 'Grease is the Word'
The cartoonist started a new story.
The gremlin talked to her friend and her mother on the telephone.
The cartoonist reset the clock on the gremlin's computer.
The gremlin put the very tasteless cover on the garden chairs. It has a picture of a flower meadow in vile bright colours.
The cartoonist wondered how to get good feedback about his cartoons from other artists he respects.
The cartoonist wondered what the gremlin was thinking. The gremlin tried to explain but found it too hard.
The gremlin played around with facebook.
09 June 2007
some dull gibber that you will only find interesting if you are my friend
Good afternoon, all. What a lovely day it is today. I have been sitting in the garden looking at the beautiful green plants and thanking the Valar that I am not at work.
The relentless cycles of fashion have spun round in my favour once more. I am wearing a very fetching purple dress with jeans, which has an attractive flowery print. I bought this dress in the 1990s, when I was at university. I feel frivolous and cheerful in a lazy weekend kind of way.
I am growing my hair because long hair is cheaper. But I don't really want to have long hair. It falls in your face and takes ages to wash. Plus it doesn't really suit me. Shall I have long hair or not? If you're a boy, you can shave your head. It's not fair.
Last night we went to the ballet. I do think that the good people of Birmingham should thank their lucky stars for the BRB. They are so good. The audience went crazy at the end - some people even shouted 'Bravo', which is quite brave for a British audience, I feel. The male lead, or whatever you call him, Tyrone Singleton, was amazing. He's really tall and can jump really high. He did that cool dance round the stage in a circle turning round at the same time thing most marvellously. The sets and costumes are always brilliant at BRB. (it was Coppelia, by the way, shoudl have said that at the beginning - don't hire me to write reviews. I would be useless because they would be incoherent and I like almost everything I see) James loves ballet. He liked the bit when the cheeky ballerinas steal into Dr Coppelius's workshop and break all the dolls. I have never understood why people think you have to be intellectual to like ballet - all the stories are so silly. Usually they get it out of the way in Act 1 and spend the rest of the time having a masque or a party so that they can have lots of dancing.
I played that fun game spot-the-men-under-40 game but I saw only one man apart from James who could qualify.
I got an email from jerome today. He has signed up for facebook. I wonder whether this will come to anything. Really blogger looks positively old-fashioned these days. Facebook is full of complicated clever things you can do. Facebook gave me the option to Poke Jerome so obviously I had to do that. I could have poked Pete Ashton as well but I won't in case he gets offended and won't move any furniture for us and endure our idiocies so patiently. I have created a facebook account even though I don't really like sites that list how many friends you have because I wouldn't have very many. Most of my friends aren't bloggers. Or perhaps I havne't got any friends... sniff.
I will have to post about my ebay handbag obsession but that requires a post to itself. it's very embarrassing.
Have a good weekend, mes amis. A la prochaine!
The relentless cycles of fashion have spun round in my favour once more. I am wearing a very fetching purple dress with jeans, which has an attractive flowery print. I bought this dress in the 1990s, when I was at university. I feel frivolous and cheerful in a lazy weekend kind of way.
I am growing my hair because long hair is cheaper. But I don't really want to have long hair. It falls in your face and takes ages to wash. Plus it doesn't really suit me. Shall I have long hair or not? If you're a boy, you can shave your head. It's not fair.
Last night we went to the ballet. I do think that the good people of Birmingham should thank their lucky stars for the BRB. They are so good. The audience went crazy at the end - some people even shouted 'Bravo', which is quite brave for a British audience, I feel. The male lead, or whatever you call him, Tyrone Singleton, was amazing. He's really tall and can jump really high. He did that cool dance round the stage in a circle turning round at the same time thing most marvellously. The sets and costumes are always brilliant at BRB. (it was Coppelia, by the way, shoudl have said that at the beginning - don't hire me to write reviews. I would be useless because they would be incoherent and I like almost everything I see) James loves ballet. He liked the bit when the cheeky ballerinas steal into Dr Coppelius's workshop and break all the dolls. I have never understood why people think you have to be intellectual to like ballet - all the stories are so silly. Usually they get it out of the way in Act 1 and spend the rest of the time having a masque or a party so that they can have lots of dancing.
I played that fun game spot-the-men-under-40 game but I saw only one man apart from James who could qualify.
I got an email from jerome today. He has signed up for facebook. I wonder whether this will come to anything. Really blogger looks positively old-fashioned these days. Facebook is full of complicated clever things you can do. Facebook gave me the option to Poke Jerome so obviously I had to do that. I could have poked Pete Ashton as well but I won't in case he gets offended and won't move any furniture for us and endure our idiocies so patiently. I have created a facebook account even though I don't really like sites that list how many friends you have because I wouldn't have very many. Most of my friends aren't bloggers. Or perhaps I havne't got any friends... sniff.
I will have to post about my ebay handbag obsession but that requires a post to itself. it's very embarrassing.
Have a good weekend, mes amis. A la prochaine!
29 May 2007
Sports injury
Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would give a post this title.
I have pulled a muscle at the top of my thigh. L and I walked 12 miles up most of the hills near Malvern last Thursday, including the Worcestershire Beacon, which is a massive hill. I felt very proud of myself.
But. I pulled a muscle in my leg and I haven't been able to train for the last week. It has been all right over the last few days, but I walked round Queen's Moor today in a pair of boots with heels and felt it again. Then I walked round town and felt it some more.
Oh dear.
I have looked on NHS Direct but it's not very helpful.
Trailwalker (a 62 mile walk along the South Downs Way for charity) is in 6 weeks' time and I was starting to believe that I could do it. If I can't attempt it I will be relieved and a bit gutted.
I have pulled a muscle at the top of my thigh. L and I walked 12 miles up most of the hills near Malvern last Thursday, including the Worcestershire Beacon, which is a massive hill. I felt very proud of myself.
But. I pulled a muscle in my leg and I haven't been able to train for the last week. It has been all right over the last few days, but I walked round Queen's Moor today in a pair of boots with heels and felt it again. Then I walked round town and felt it some more.
Oh dear.
I have looked on NHS Direct but it's not very helpful.
Trailwalker (a 62 mile walk along the South Downs Way for charity) is in 6 weeks' time and I was starting to believe that I could do it. If I can't attempt it I will be relieved and a bit gutted.
28 May 2007
A new edition of Talisman will be released in October
Jonathan and Dan, have you played Talisman? I'm sure you would like it.
Click on the title to go to a page with some information about it. I wanted to put a link in the post text, but I can't face wading through blogger help at the moment. Have just discovered that the title of the post doesn't change when you make it into a link, which is unsatisfactory.
Apologies to the rest of my readership, who might have been hoping for something more interesting. Although by now you should know better.
Click on the title to go to a page with some information about it. I wanted to put a link in the post text, but I can't face wading through blogger help at the moment. Have just discovered that the title of the post doesn't change when you make it into a link, which is unsatisfactory.
Apologies to the rest of my readership, who might have been hoping for something more interesting. Although by now you should know better.
22 May 2007
15 May 2007
The shit has not hit the fan yet
But I am suffering from terrible archive fatigue. I wish the whole thing would disappear.
12 May 2007
Dark Archivist
This is an interactive web site created by Oxfordshire Record Office, which takes you into Oxford's fascinating and grisly past. I think it's great fun.
Something for you to play with, my little kakapo chicks.
Something for you to play with, my little kakapo chicks.
I am not a geek.
I am 28% geek.
This question made me smile: have you ever taken anything to bits so you can try and make it work better? (written in much better English than that)
Obviously I answered 'No'. I would never do that. I would not be able to put it back together.
This question made me smile: have you ever taken anything to bits so you can try and make it work better? (written in much better English than that)
Obviously I answered 'No'. I would never do that. I would not be able to put it back together.
08 May 2007
I have been in France so I have not posted for a few days.
I am going to Australia at the end of the year. Not forever.
Now I need something to eat.
Didn't feel too scared at work today by the insane amount there is still to do. I am doing as much of I can with every minute then going home again and forgetting about it. This is really quite a sensible attitude, but when you see a post with this title you will know that the sensible attitude has evaporated:
Shit hits fan.
Our Eurovision Sweepstake Party is on Saturday and we have quite a respectable number of Sweepstakers. So I expect our stakes to be brushed very clean indeed.
It's the way I tell 'em.
James is out watching Spiderman 3 with the pubmeeters.
That Gok Wan is a very strange fellow.
I am going to Australia at the end of the year. Not forever.
Now I need something to eat.
Didn't feel too scared at work today by the insane amount there is still to do. I am doing as much of I can with every minute then going home again and forgetting about it. This is really quite a sensible attitude, but when you see a post with this title you will know that the sensible attitude has evaporated:
Shit hits fan.
Our Eurovision Sweepstake Party is on Saturday and we have quite a respectable number of Sweepstakers. So I expect our stakes to be brushed very clean indeed.
It's the way I tell 'em.
James is out watching Spiderman 3 with the pubmeeters.
That Gok Wan is a very strange fellow.
30 April 2007
Why do I read about nearly extinct animals? It's so depressing.
Long-beaked echidna
Traditional hunting is the main reason for the species' decline. Long-beaked echidnas are highly prized game species and are hunted for food by local people with trained dogs. The other threats come from farming, logging and mining, which are causing a decline in the echidnas' forest habitat.
Z. attenboroughi may already be extinct. The only known specimen was collected in 1961 and the species is thought to be restricted to a single mountain summit with only 50km² of habitat.
Traditional hunting is the main reason for the species' decline. Long-beaked echidnas are highly prized game species and are hunted for food by local people with trained dogs. The other threats come from farming, logging and mining, which are causing a decline in the echidnas' forest habitat.
Z. attenboroughi may already be extinct. The only known specimen was collected in 1961 and the species is thought to be restricted to a single mountain summit with only 50km² of habitat.
A few lines from the Bible.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
27 April 2007
26 April 2007
A question
Has anyone (meaning Messrs Bashford and Hall) read The Children of Hurin yet? Is it any good?
The Amazon reviews were quite mixed.
The Amazon reviews were quite mixed.
24 April 2007
I am trying to come up with a satisfactory answer to the question, 'What are you going to do in France, Marv?'
So far, I have thought of the following:
1 I won't get there until the middle of November, by the time I've done my teaching course and been to Australia for my cousin's wedding. That leaves a month until Christmas, which I'll probably need to use to settle in. So nothing of much importance will happen until the New Year.
2 I will read lots of books. When I was little, I used to read a lot. I mean, a lot. Now I only read trashy books with gold titles and magazines because my brain is exhausted by too many years of archives. Occasionally I read a proper book and remember why I spent all that time reading when I was young.
3 I will do more music.
4 I will write a novel.
5 I will do some research.
6 I will do an online course.
7 I will do as little as possible.
8 I will find out about archives in France.
9 I will do the Stage in Paris.
10 I will go to the beach.
11 I will learn to cook really well.
So far, I have thought of the following:
1 I won't get there until the middle of November, by the time I've done my teaching course and been to Australia for my cousin's wedding. That leaves a month until Christmas, which I'll probably need to use to settle in. So nothing of much importance will happen until the New Year.
2 I will read lots of books. When I was little, I used to read a lot. I mean, a lot. Now I only read trashy books with gold titles and magazines because my brain is exhausted by too many years of archives. Occasionally I read a proper book and remember why I spent all that time reading when I was young.
3 I will do more music.
4 I will write a novel.
5 I will do some research.
6 I will do an online course.
7 I will do as little as possible.
8 I will find out about archives in France.
9 I will do the Stage in Paris.
10 I will go to the beach.
11 I will learn to cook really well.
23 April 2007
Still here
It's Monday night and the worst of the scary stuff is over. I didn't tell all the volunteers to go away and leave the archive alone. I didn't shout at anyone for putting the archive in the wrong order. I didn't tell the annoying talky man who thought he knew it all to get lost. I was charming, I was kind, and I made tea.
I can be morose and uncommunicative for the rest of the week now.
I can be morose and uncommunicative for the rest of the week now.
19 April 2007
17 April 2007
Bird brain
James bought some pictures of sparrowhawks to stick on the kitchen windows. We hoped that this would deter Hector.
It didn't work. Hector is now jumping against the pane of glass next to the picture of the sparrowhawk. Perhaps we should try pictures of cats instead. Today, from the top of the bus, I saw a blackbird hopping happily around on the lawn with some worms in its beak. I wish he would live in our garden instead of Hector.
I played tennis tonight but I wasn't very good because I hadn't had any lunch, a foolish decision I regretted when I lost every game.
James has finished his comic. It took him a year.
It didn't work. Hector is now jumping against the pane of glass next to the picture of the sparrowhawk. Perhaps we should try pictures of cats instead. Today, from the top of the bus, I saw a blackbird hopping happily around on the lawn with some worms in its beak. I wish he would live in our garden instead of Hector.
I played tennis tonight but I wasn't very good because I hadn't had any lunch, a foolish decision I regretted when I lost every game.
James has finished his comic. It took him a year.
16 April 2007
I survived the volunteer day.
I am never going to run a volunteer programme again. It's too much trouble. Halfway through, I wanted everyone to go away and leave me alone. I don't think it showed. It turned out all right in the end.
We had another weekend choosing bridesmaids' dresses. James (and I suspect, the other men fortunate enough to be in relationship with bridesmaids) is appalled by our inability to make a decision because of our extreme politeness.
I am still trying not to be dutiful but sometimes I think I am beyond help or reason.
I am never going to run a volunteer programme again. It's too much trouble. Halfway through, I wanted everyone to go away and leave me alone. I don't think it showed. It turned out all right in the end.
We had another weekend choosing bridesmaids' dresses. James (and I suspect, the other men fortunate enough to be in relationship with bridesmaids) is appalled by our inability to make a decision because of our extreme politeness.
I am still trying not to be dutiful but sometimes I think I am beyond help or reason.
12 April 2007
Dread
A mood of uncharacteristic honesty has come upon me, so I am going to give you a little insight into the Mind of Marv.
I have spent most of the past week dreading today and Monday of next week.
I was dreading today because I had an interview for a language teaching course. The 2 hour interview included a "language awareness and methodology test". Sounds scary, doesn't it? Various people have told me not to be ridiculous and this is the sort of thing I would be good at and I have studied various things that will help, but in my world that doesn't help for the followign reasons:
1 My inner gremlin might decide to do it badly on purpose because it can
2 I might actually be rubbish at it
3 Although I would be good at it, my tendency to overcomplicate simple things might lead me to look like I don't understand and I will therefore fail.
4 Various other paranoid reasons I cannot bring myself to admit
You will be pleased to hear that none of the above applied. I went to the interview, behaved like a normal adult, and was offered a place. So I start in mid-September. I will have to spend all day talking to other people, which I find very exhausting. But it's only four weeks long and then I can go and be a hermit for a while. Or is it an anchorite?
I am dreading Monday because I am holding a work volunteer programme and it's our first day. I really don't want to mess this up and I want it to work and be well organized. Why did I think this was a good idea? Why didn't I opt for a quiet life? Why did I invite loads of strangers in to help? But I am not alone. One of my colleagues will do all the talking to people and he could sell anything to anyone. Even heritage!!!
I will report on progress.
We are going bridesmaid's dress shopping this weekend again, what larks! We have some very jolly dresses in mind. I will post some photos if you can't see our faces and show what true Beauty is.
My training has gone up the spout. Must Do Better.
I will be very happy on Tuesday because I have my first hour long singing lesson with my beautiful Swedish singing teacher and the worst of the scary stuff will be over. Apart from moving to France, finishing my project, letting the house, finding work in July and August, doing this course, going to Australia with my mother.
Yikes! I think I'll crawl under a duvet and gibber for a while in order to pretend it's not happening. A tried and tested approach to life's challenges. When we get to France, I am resolved not to be such a good girl all the time and behave like a lazy arse for a bit.
I have spent most of the past week dreading today and Monday of next week.
I was dreading today because I had an interview for a language teaching course. The 2 hour interview included a "language awareness and methodology test". Sounds scary, doesn't it? Various people have told me not to be ridiculous and this is the sort of thing I would be good at and I have studied various things that will help, but in my world that doesn't help for the followign reasons:
1 My inner gremlin might decide to do it badly on purpose because it can
2 I might actually be rubbish at it
3 Although I would be good at it, my tendency to overcomplicate simple things might lead me to look like I don't understand and I will therefore fail.
4 Various other paranoid reasons I cannot bring myself to admit
You will be pleased to hear that none of the above applied. I went to the interview, behaved like a normal adult, and was offered a place. So I start in mid-September. I will have to spend all day talking to other people, which I find very exhausting. But it's only four weeks long and then I can go and be a hermit for a while. Or is it an anchorite?
I am dreading Monday because I am holding a work volunteer programme and it's our first day. I really don't want to mess this up and I want it to work and be well organized. Why did I think this was a good idea? Why didn't I opt for a quiet life? Why did I invite loads of strangers in to help? But I am not alone. One of my colleagues will do all the talking to people and he could sell anything to anyone. Even heritage!!!
I will report on progress.
We are going bridesmaid's dress shopping this weekend again, what larks! We have some very jolly dresses in mind. I will post some photos if you can't see our faces and show what true Beauty is.
My training has gone up the spout. Must Do Better.
I will be very happy on Tuesday because I have my first hour long singing lesson with my beautiful Swedish singing teacher and the worst of the scary stuff will be over. Apart from moving to France, finishing my project, letting the house, finding work in July and August, doing this course, going to Australia with my mother.
Yikes! I think I'll crawl under a duvet and gibber for a while in order to pretend it's not happening. A tried and tested approach to life's challenges. When we get to France, I am resolved not to be such a good girl all the time and behave like a lazy arse for a bit.
04 April 2007
Hector
James wants to rename him Nijinsky because Nijinsky did a dance with a mirror. We could also name him Gene, after Gene Kelly, who did a dance with his double.
Hector's wife/girlfriend has been watching his antics. I read up on blackbird behaviour. It seems likely that he will carry on throughout the summer.
Sigh.
I feel sorry for Hector but James says that in Hector's own (small) mind, he is a hero and I am wasting my pity. And now he has a lady to impress, he will be even worse.
I am so looking forward to Easter. Five days off!! I am going to replant some pots with geraniums and other spring flowers, investigate our compost and plant some seeds.
Hector's wife/girlfriend has been watching his antics. I read up on blackbird behaviour. It seems likely that he will carry on throughout the summer.
Sigh.
I feel sorry for Hector but James says that in Hector's own (small) mind, he is a hero and I am wasting my pity. And now he has a lady to impress, he will be even worse.
I am so looking forward to Easter. Five days off!! I am going to replant some pots with geraniums and other spring flowers, investigate our compost and plant some seeds.
03 April 2007
In which Marv tries to convey the profound tediousness of her work
I have had a minor breakthrough with my catalogue. I think we might make it after all. Now I have to cope with the excitement of feeling optimistic for once - it's like a drug.
I am so sick of this archive now. Words cannot convey how tedious it all is. But let's try.
Imagine being faced with a list of 350 tapes, most partly identifiable only by a transcript of the badly=written labelling on the boxes, and some of which mess up the order of the 1400 tapes already catalogued, Imagine picking the most obscurely labelled and listening to the beginnings and ends to determine whether they were broadcast or not. I did listen to a rahter good programme about canals, far too interesting to be made by Mr Genius, probably, although I have no way of telling who did make this programme.
I have a large blister on my ankle. It is painful. I put a plaster on it and made it more painful still.
What a jolly Easter I will have. And I'm not going to the gym tomorrow. Perhaps I will try on the bright red bridesmaid's dress in Monsoon.
I am so sick of this archive now. Words cannot convey how tedious it all is. But let's try.
Imagine being faced with a list of 350 tapes, most partly identifiable only by a transcript of the badly=written labelling on the boxes, and some of which mess up the order of the 1400 tapes already catalogued, Imagine picking the most obscurely labelled and listening to the beginnings and ends to determine whether they were broadcast or not. I did listen to a rahter good programme about canals, far too interesting to be made by Mr Genius, probably, although I have no way of telling who did make this programme.
I have a large blister on my ankle. It is painful. I put a plaster on it and made it more painful still.
What a jolly Easter I will have. And I'm not going to the gym tomorrow. Perhaps I will try on the bright red bridesmaid's dress in Monsoon.
30 March 2007
Today I went to a conference celebrating the life and work of Mr Genius. We gave a little presentation about some of the stuff from his archive.
As I listened to the talks, I became more and more annoyed. I am sick to death of Mr Genius. I don't want to have anything to do with his archive for a long time. I find all his ideas really tedious. I hate all his friends. I hate the way he works because it makes things personally inconvenient for me. I know a lot of his opinions and I hate them too. And I particularly hate his close friend and collaborator, Mr McGenius, who wrote the most terrible songs.
So when I heard someone play the music at the beginning of one of his most famous programmes, and declare, "This bears repeating", I am forced to disagree. I have listened to that music many, many times and my reaction is - not that irritating jangle again. When I watch a film about a group of singers who are carrying the torch for the folk revival, and hear them sing, I think "I bet Mr McGenius is to blame for this - he taught them that song". And so on, for an entire afternoon.
You will be relieved to hear that this is not the impression that I gave when I spoke. I pretended that I thought it was all really interesting.
As I listened to the talks, I became more and more annoyed. I am sick to death of Mr Genius. I don't want to have anything to do with his archive for a long time. I find all his ideas really tedious. I hate all his friends. I hate the way he works because it makes things personally inconvenient for me. I know a lot of his opinions and I hate them too. And I particularly hate his close friend and collaborator, Mr McGenius, who wrote the most terrible songs.
So when I heard someone play the music at the beginning of one of his most famous programmes, and declare, "This bears repeating", I am forced to disagree. I have listened to that music many, many times and my reaction is - not that irritating jangle again. When I watch a film about a group of singers who are carrying the torch for the folk revival, and hear them sing, I think "I bet Mr McGenius is to blame for this - he taught them that song". And so on, for an entire afternoon.
You will be relieved to hear that this is not the impression that I gave when I spoke. I pretended that I thought it was all really interesting.
28 March 2007
Last weekend, I went shopping for bridesmaids (James, should this have an apostrophe or not?) dresses with A,C,C, and A, who is getting married in September. My dear friends have just emailed me some pictures. I look like a murderer in all of them, with my big staring eyes and chubby little face.
But I don't care. I am going to have hour-long singing lessons every week next term with my lovely new singing teacher. I am beginning to suspect that I rock.
Don't tell. Keep it quiet.
But I don't care. I am going to have hour-long singing lessons every week next term with my lovely new singing teacher. I am beginning to suspect that I rock.
Don't tell. Keep it quiet.
27 March 2007
James has more problems with birds
A large pigeon keeps coming into our garden and poohing on our garden chairs. It also flies up on the roof near James's window and moves around in a noisy and annoying fashion. So if pigeon pie suddenly appears on the menu at Eastmede Rd, you'll know why.
I am reading such a good book. It's called Sovereign. It's a thrilling mystery set in Tudor Times, with lots of period detail. It's great, the kind of thing my brother would buy me for Christmas because it's for weirdos. There are 2 more in the series.
L and I are all set to play tennis next week. I have months of badminton defeats to avenge. We are both much fitter now, so I am interested to see how this will change our games.
James and I are both feeling nervous about the move to France. I am feeling paranoid and James is being very organized. We have discovered that our flat is a single-room studio and we are rather concerned, because fences make good neighbours.
The Boden catalogue is rather disappointing this season. All the things I want are ridiculously expensive.
I am reading such a good book. It's called Sovereign. It's a thrilling mystery set in Tudor Times, with lots of period detail. It's great, the kind of thing my brother would buy me for Christmas because it's for weirdos. There are 2 more in the series.
L and I are all set to play tennis next week. I have months of badminton defeats to avenge. We are both much fitter now, so I am interested to see how this will change our games.
James and I are both feeling nervous about the move to France. I am feeling paranoid and James is being very organized. We have discovered that our flat is a single-room studio and we are rather concerned, because fences make good neighbours.
The Boden catalogue is rather disappointing this season. All the things I want are ridiculously expensive.
21 March 2007
Somewhere, buried in the vaults of this blog, under a pile of dull moany posts, is a list of my heroes.
They are:
the kakapo
Gandhi
my cat Jenny
Bob Dylan
Gene Kelly
and I think I neglected to add Winnie the Pooh.
Winnie the Pooh is obviously a hero. There has never been any question in my mind about this. Without him, there would be no Useful Pots for Putting Things In, or Expetitions, or Rabbit's Friends and Relations, or songs like 'Cottleston Pie' and 'How Sweet to Be a Cloud'. How would we know to Plese Knck if an Rnsr is Not Required?
However, certain people have suggested that Winnie the Pooh should have more pride and he shouldn't wear the little red coat in the winter without wearing pants as well. And have published non-E.H. Shepherd illustrations on their blogs.
So far, I have objected to these slanders in fairly moderate terms. This may not continue. I spent a lot of time in the Hundred Aker Wood when I was little and I know it very well. So beware.
They are:
the kakapo
Gandhi
my cat Jenny
Bob Dylan
Gene Kelly
and I think I neglected to add Winnie the Pooh.
Winnie the Pooh is obviously a hero. There has never been any question in my mind about this. Without him, there would be no Useful Pots for Putting Things In, or Expetitions, or Rabbit's Friends and Relations, or songs like 'Cottleston Pie' and 'How Sweet to Be a Cloud'. How would we know to Plese Knck if an Rnsr is Not Required?
However, certain people have suggested that Winnie the Pooh should have more pride and he shouldn't wear the little red coat in the winter without wearing pants as well. And have published non-E.H. Shepherd illustrations on their blogs.
So far, I have objected to these slanders in fairly moderate terms. This may not continue. I spent a lot of time in the Hundred Aker Wood when I was little and I know it very well. So beware.
19 March 2007
James has been given a year's residency in France. He gets a free flat and maybe some money from the French government.
(posted after 3 glasses of bubbly)
james is marchign up and down the hallway phoning all the people who are likely to be awake at this time - so far Pete Ashton and his mother in America.
It's been a weird week and not just because of this.
(posted after 3 glasses of bubbly)
james is marchign up and down the hallway phoning all the people who are likely to be awake at this time - so far Pete Ashton and his mother in America.
It's been a weird week and not just because of this.
15 March 2007
A torment worthy of Hades
Some of you may be familiar with this poem:
The Spring is sprung,
The sun is riz
I wonder where the birdies is?
That's all I can remember.
It is spring at Eastmede Rd, but we are not wondering where the birdies is because there is one right outside our kitchen window.
He is a large, very handsome blackbird.
By now you are probably wondering what the point is.
Well, the point is that in a previous life this bird did something Very Bad. Whatever he did is up there with the crimes of Tantalus, doomed to reach for fruit forever slightly out of reach, or Sisyphus, who had to push a large stone up a hill only to see it roll back down just before it reached the top. I can't remember what their crimes were, but maybe someone will enlighten me.
Every day for the last month, the blackbird has been hurling itself at our kitchen windows. It sees its reflection and thinks it's a rival male. James hung towels out of the windows to blank out the reflection, but they went all damp when it rained so we took them down.
Today James said he considered killing it, but only for a moment. I was very shocked.
We decided to name the bird, since he's been banging around for so long. The list included Blackie (banaal and obvious and therefore amusing); George (in case we couldn't think of anything better); Narcissus (because issues with his own reflection get him in trouble); and, the final choice, Hector (because he is a valiant warrior who will probably come to a bad end and because of his persistence).
If anyone can think of a way to free Hector from his personal hell, do let me know. I am considering Doing Something, and you know how radical that is.
I am glad I'm a girl.
The Spring is sprung,
The sun is riz
I wonder where the birdies is?
That's all I can remember.
It is spring at Eastmede Rd, but we are not wondering where the birdies is because there is one right outside our kitchen window.
He is a large, very handsome blackbird.
By now you are probably wondering what the point is.
Well, the point is that in a previous life this bird did something Very Bad. Whatever he did is up there with the crimes of Tantalus, doomed to reach for fruit forever slightly out of reach, or Sisyphus, who had to push a large stone up a hill only to see it roll back down just before it reached the top. I can't remember what their crimes were, but maybe someone will enlighten me.
Every day for the last month, the blackbird has been hurling itself at our kitchen windows. It sees its reflection and thinks it's a rival male. James hung towels out of the windows to blank out the reflection, but they went all damp when it rained so we took them down.
Today James said he considered killing it, but only for a moment. I was very shocked.
We decided to name the bird, since he's been banging around for so long. The list included Blackie (banaal and obvious and therefore amusing); George (in case we couldn't think of anything better); Narcissus (because issues with his own reflection get him in trouble); and, the final choice, Hector (because he is a valiant warrior who will probably come to a bad end and because of his persistence).
If anyone can think of a way to free Hector from his personal hell, do let me know. I am considering Doing Something, and you know how radical that is.
I am glad I'm a girl.
14 March 2007
Today I had a conversation about the collection I'm cataloguing and was struck by the peculiar habits of mind I get into in order to get the job done.
One important way of coping is to pretend that none of it is interesting. Obviously most of it is interesting, or it wouldn't be worth keeping, but it's important to remain slightly detached from the subject in order to keep going and not get distracted. You need to say enough to explain what it is so people can see whether it might be useful for research. Then you need to do the same with the next thing on the list. And so on. Until you can't stand the subject any more and want to throw the whole collection out of the window. Fortunately you can't open the windows of our office.
It's weird when I start talking to someone who's doing research on it because their job is to be interested and make connections and this gets me doing it too. I do have lots of opinions about the archive, but I don't pay much attention to them because that's not my job. So I'm always slightly taken aback when someone else thinks they're useful and makes notes about what I'm saying.
One important way of coping is to pretend that none of it is interesting. Obviously most of it is interesting, or it wouldn't be worth keeping, but it's important to remain slightly detached from the subject in order to keep going and not get distracted. You need to say enough to explain what it is so people can see whether it might be useful for research. Then you need to do the same with the next thing on the list. And so on. Until you can't stand the subject any more and want to throw the whole collection out of the window. Fortunately you can't open the windows of our office.
It's weird when I start talking to someone who's doing research on it because their job is to be interested and make connections and this gets me doing it too. I do have lots of opinions about the archive, but I don't pay much attention to them because that's not my job. So I'm always slightly taken aback when someone else thinks they're useful and makes notes about what I'm saying.
13 March 2007
It's been a while since I wrote anything, so here's some gibber
Attentive readers of my blog - and if you are such a creature, take a long, hard look at yourself and resolve to become a better person - may have been wondering why I haven't written about the Ent yet.
I read the entry for Tolkien on Wikipedia and decided that I didn't know enough about his connections with Birmingham to be able to write anything very informed.
Except to say that an Ent is not a tree. An Ent is a tree herder, a shepherd of the forest.
James has improved the bathroom. He is the Ann Maurice of Eastmede Rd. There are three pretty red candles on top of the toilet cistern and a very attractive shower curtain with red flowers.
I feel grown up. We have got rid of the comedy shower curtain with the cartoon starfish and other sea creatures.
I did 10 minutes on the step machine at level 6.
I read the entry for Tolkien on Wikipedia and decided that I didn't know enough about his connections with Birmingham to be able to write anything very informed.
Except to say that an Ent is not a tree. An Ent is a tree herder, a shepherd of the forest.
James has improved the bathroom. He is the Ann Maurice of Eastmede Rd. There are three pretty red candles on top of the toilet cistern and a very attractive shower curtain with red flowers.
I feel grown up. We have got rid of the comedy shower curtain with the cartoon starfish and other sea creatures.
I did 10 minutes on the step machine at level 6.
07 March 2007
I have been going to singing lessons this term. It is very interesting. It is over ten years since I have had any singing lessons. I had a lot of lessons when I was a wee imp.
Last week, my teacher made me sing some jazz and improvise. I never thought I could sing jazz because you can't get rid of years of classical singing in a single lesson, so I thought, wrongly.
I can sing jazz, yippee! I can sing classical as well, yippee!
I love to sing-a
About a moon-a and a June-a and a spring-a,
I love to sing-a,
About a sky of blue-a, and a tea for two-a,
Anything-a with a swing-a, or a "I love you-a,"
I love, I love to sing!
Give me a song-a
About a son-a gun that went and done her wrong-a.
But keep it clean-a,
By a cottage small-a with a waterfall-a,
Any sob-a that will throb-a to a bluebird's call-a,
I love, I love to sing!
I was born a singin' fool-a,
Lah-de-dah!
Ol' Major Bowes is gonna spot me,
Got through Yale with boula-boula,
Lah-de-dah!
Old microphone's got me!
I love to sing-a,
I love to wake up with the Hendy in my mouth-a,
And wave a flag-a,
With a cheer for Jrome and Danny and another for my mammy,
I love to sing!
The swingin'est,
Hot singin'est,
Bell-ringin'est,
Song singin'est
High tootin'est,
Sky tootin'est,
I love to sing!
Last week, my teacher made me sing some jazz and improvise. I never thought I could sing jazz because you can't get rid of years of classical singing in a single lesson, so I thought, wrongly.
I can sing jazz, yippee! I can sing classical as well, yippee!
I love to sing-a
About a moon-a and a June-a and a spring-a,
I love to sing-a,
About a sky of blue-a, and a tea for two-a,
Anything-a with a swing-a, or a "I love you-a,"
I love, I love to sing!
Give me a song-a
About a son-a gun that went and done her wrong-a.
But keep it clean-a,
By a cottage small-a with a waterfall-a,
Any sob-a that will throb-a to a bluebird's call-a,
I love, I love to sing!
I was born a singin' fool-a,
Lah-de-dah!
Ol' Major Bowes is gonna spot me,
Got through Yale with boula-boula,
Lah-de-dah!
Old microphone's got me!
I love to sing-a,
I love to wake up with the Hendy in my mouth-a,
And wave a flag-a,
With a cheer for Jrome and Danny and another for my mammy,
I love to sing!
The swingin'est,
Hot singin'est,
Bell-ringin'est,
Song singin'est
High tootin'est,
Sky tootin'est,
I love to sing!
Some information which, while of great interest to me, is of little use to the readers of this blog
Here's what I learnt in singing lessons today.
Let out all your breath until your lungs are completely empty. Then breathe in. You will naturally breathe from your diaphragm and leave your throat loose and relaxed. Remember what this feels like and practise. It's good to practise when you're lying in bed because you will lift up off the bed slightly.
Smile when you sing. It looks better, improves the tone, keeps you in tune, and relaxes the body.
Smile, then drop your jaw slightly. This is the best mouth shape for singing. It doesn't look silly, although it feels like I am girning like a gremlin.
All this seems very simple, and it is, but it involves changing my habits and that's hard. I think this could make a real difference. I have resolved to practise.
Let out all your breath until your lungs are completely empty. Then breathe in. You will naturally breathe from your diaphragm and leave your throat loose and relaxed. Remember what this feels like and practise. It's good to practise when you're lying in bed because you will lift up off the bed slightly.
Smile when you sing. It looks better, improves the tone, keeps you in tune, and relaxes the body.
Smile, then drop your jaw slightly. This is the best mouth shape for singing. It doesn't look silly, although it feels like I am girning like a gremlin.
All this seems very simple, and it is, but it involves changing my habits and that's hard. I think this could make a real difference. I have resolved to practise.
04 March 2007
Thank the Valar I live in King's Heath
From time to time I have blogged about the stupid plan to build an enormous metal statue of an Ent on the Green in Moseley.
I have just discovered that the Council have accepted the planning application and the lovely people up the road in Moseley will have their stainless steel Ent, surrounded by several non-native ornamental trees, including a gingko - isn't that the one that smells like shit during the summer, James?
A chance to get really aerated and blog about The Lord of the Rings is really not to be missed, so watch this space for a detailed post, with extensive references to The Lord of the Rings, which will explain exactly why 1) an Ent is not a tree 2) an Ent should not be made of metal 3) the whole idea is rubbish.
I have just discovered that the Council have accepted the planning application and the lovely people up the road in Moseley will have their stainless steel Ent, surrounded by several non-native ornamental trees, including a gingko - isn't that the one that smells like shit during the summer, James?
A chance to get really aerated and blog about The Lord of the Rings is really not to be missed, so watch this space for a detailed post, with extensive references to The Lord of the Rings, which will explain exactly why 1) an Ent is not a tree 2) an Ent should not be made of metal 3) the whole idea is rubbish.
01 March 2007
The right question
I didn't ask the right question. The question was: if you buy a pair of trousers that look like denim, but are in fact corduroy, what is the point?
The answer is that in the World of Marvin, corduroy is always a Good Thing. Beings from other worlds may disagree, but what do they know?
And it's not just me. There is a Corduroy Appreciation Club in New York. Surely there is room for one here too?
The answer is that in the World of Marvin, corduroy is always a Good Thing. Beings from other worlds may disagree, but what do they know?
And it's not just me. There is a Corduroy Appreciation Club in New York. Surely there is room for one here too?
28 February 2007
27 February 2007
A question
"Why is corduroy good?" asked James this evening.
Although corduroy is a very popular fashion choice in my family, and today I acquired a new pair of corduroy jeans,I was not able to answer this question.
Any ideas, anyone?
Although corduroy is a very popular fashion choice in my family, and today I acquired a new pair of corduroy jeans,I was not able to answer this question.
Any ideas, anyone?
22 February 2007
What a lot I haven't got to say tonight.
I have been trying to think of something to write but there isn't really anything so I will keep going till I think of something.
My training is having some effect. I played badminton on Monday and went to the gym yesterday and tonight, but tonight I only did half an hour. Must start going to classes - the gym is so boring.
I am cataloguing a lot of boring discussions about whether beat music impedes the development of the adolescent.
I have managed not to buy the gold shoes from Jones.
James's brother has gone home and we are sad. I can hear soothing baroque music coming out of James's room. He is trying to start drawing again. Yesterday he couldn't clean his brushes properly, which was unsatisfactory.
Today I woke up and felt very happy. It was raining, but I sang anyway.
Why does no-one I know like Gene Kelly? What is wrong with everyone?
I have been trying to think of something to write but there isn't really anything so I will keep going till I think of something.
My training is having some effect. I played badminton on Monday and went to the gym yesterday and tonight, but tonight I only did half an hour. Must start going to classes - the gym is so boring.
I am cataloguing a lot of boring discussions about whether beat music impedes the development of the adolescent.
I have managed not to buy the gold shoes from Jones.
James's brother has gone home and we are sad. I can hear soothing baroque music coming out of James's room. He is trying to start drawing again. Yesterday he couldn't clean his brushes properly, which was unsatisfactory.
Today I woke up and felt very happy. It was raining, but I sang anyway.
Why does no-one I know like Gene Kelly? What is wrong with everyone?
19 February 2007
Training update
L and I are in full Trailwalker training now.
On Saturday we (that's yours truly, James, N, James's brother, and Pete) walked for about four miles through lots of mud.
On Sunday we (that's yours truly, C and L) walked for about eight miles through lots of mud and up lots of hills.
Tonight I played badminton with L and Jerome, resplendent in the silver trainers and the ace silver trousers that unpop. I have improved, but still got beaten. I keep waiting for the shuttlecock to bounce. In a month the clocks will change, and we can play tennis again.
I feel really tired tonight. I am supposed to go to the gym tomorrow but I think I might go on Wednesday instead.
I don't know why I thought Trailwalker was a good idea. I will never be fit enough. I am scared. James says it shows how desperate I was to have some purpose in my life, ha ha. This remark falls into the accurate-but-a-little-too-perceptive category. I suppose this is why I keep him on.
James has bought me a new computer. It is a Mac. I am now a Mac user. So far we have discovered that the quote marks and @ key were the wrong way round and you can't use the Home and End keys in the browser, which is really annoying. But I have managed to write this post so if you can see it, I hope you are very impressed by my Macness.
Goodbye for now, dear readers.
On Saturday we (that's yours truly, James, N, James's brother, and Pete) walked for about four miles through lots of mud.
On Sunday we (that's yours truly, C and L) walked for about eight miles through lots of mud and up lots of hills.
Tonight I played badminton with L and Jerome, resplendent in the silver trainers and the ace silver trousers that unpop. I have improved, but still got beaten. I keep waiting for the shuttlecock to bounce. In a month the clocks will change, and we can play tennis again.
I feel really tired tonight. I am supposed to go to the gym tomorrow but I think I might go on Wednesday instead.
I don't know why I thought Trailwalker was a good idea. I will never be fit enough. I am scared. James says it shows how desperate I was to have some purpose in my life, ha ha. This remark falls into the accurate-but-a-little-too-perceptive category. I suppose this is why I keep him on.
James has bought me a new computer. It is a Mac. I am now a Mac user. So far we have discovered that the quote marks and @ key were the wrong way round and you can't use the Home and End keys in the browser, which is really annoying. But I have managed to write this post so if you can see it, I hope you are very impressed by my Macness.
Goodbye for now, dear readers.
13 February 2007
Hello world. Thought I'd blog because there's nothing on the TV.
We've had enough winter now. The clocks change at the end of March, not a moment too soon. I am at the stage where I cannot stand it any more, which is the stage when it gets better.
Our project ends in June so I need to find a new job. Yesterday I thought that cataloguing business records in Wolverhampton would be the answer. The draw being that it's part time. However, this is not the answer. Other things are afoot.
I have eight very recalcitrant tapes that will not fit into my order. They are labelled "Beatlemania" but contain (can a tape contain? I know it can't but I dont' know/can't be bothered/do not have time to think of another word to use) recordings of American folk songs. Here are some of the titles: 'I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground', 'Turkey in the Straw', 'Death Valley Lovers'. There are also some awesome fiddle and banjo tunes. I am at the stage where I hate the archive and everything to do with it - it will pass - so this made a nice change. I got really cross with the whole thing today. I went to the store four times. There was no pen to sign in, the lead in my pencil broke so I coudlnt' write any notes, nothing in the file made any sense (ie explained what all the Beatlemania-in-fact-folk-song tapes were doing with the 113 other tapes about a different but slightly related programme made by Mr Genius) and almost everything in the file was written in very bad handwriting. Then I felt too cold to stay there and read the file, which began with a typewritten sheet of paper about how modern music is a product of industrial society. I don't think I've ever worked on a collection that's provoked me more than this one.
"There is no English folk tradition. It was destroyed by industrial society."
"Dylan is a rebel American society can afford."
The archive is packed with statements like this. I disagree with them, not just the statements, but most of the ideas that underpin them, but trying to work out how as well as cataloguing it is really exhausting. In another situation it would be good that I respond so strongly to this and it might help me articulate my own ideas, but this is neither the time nor the place, as teachers at school like to say.
We've had enough winter now. The clocks change at the end of March, not a moment too soon. I am at the stage where I cannot stand it any more, which is the stage when it gets better.
Our project ends in June so I need to find a new job. Yesterday I thought that cataloguing business records in Wolverhampton would be the answer. The draw being that it's part time. However, this is not the answer. Other things are afoot.
I have eight very recalcitrant tapes that will not fit into my order. They are labelled "Beatlemania" but contain (can a tape contain? I know it can't but I dont' know/can't be bothered/do not have time to think of another word to use) recordings of American folk songs. Here are some of the titles: 'I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground', 'Turkey in the Straw', 'Death Valley Lovers'. There are also some awesome fiddle and banjo tunes. I am at the stage where I hate the archive and everything to do with it - it will pass - so this made a nice change. I got really cross with the whole thing today. I went to the store four times. There was no pen to sign in, the lead in my pencil broke so I coudlnt' write any notes, nothing in the file made any sense (ie explained what all the Beatlemania-in-fact-folk-song tapes were doing with the 113 other tapes about a different but slightly related programme made by Mr Genius) and almost everything in the file was written in very bad handwriting. Then I felt too cold to stay there and read the file, which began with a typewritten sheet of paper about how modern music is a product of industrial society. I don't think I've ever worked on a collection that's provoked me more than this one.
"There is no English folk tradition. It was destroyed by industrial society."
"Dylan is a rebel American society can afford."
The archive is packed with statements like this. I disagree with them, not just the statements, but most of the ideas that underpin them, but trying to work out how as well as cataloguing it is really exhausting. In another situation it would be good that I respond so strongly to this and it might help me articulate my own ideas, but this is neither the time nor the place, as teachers at school like to say.
11 February 2007
Good morning, all. We had lots of snow this week but it has melted now and the sun is shining.
I can't think of anything to say.
Please don't send me the meme about 6 unusual things that have happened to me. I won't be able to do it.
I am putting off doing star jumps with Davina.
James's brother is staying with us.
I have a new computer monitor.
They are showing The Wizard of Oz at the arts centre near here.
That's all for now. Perhaps I'll retell a few more fairy tales.
I can't think of anything to say.
Please don't send me the meme about 6 unusual things that have happened to me. I won't be able to do it.
I am putting off doing star jumps with Davina.
James's brother is staying with us.
I have a new computer monitor.
They are showing The Wizard of Oz at the arts centre near here.
That's all for now. Perhaps I'll retell a few more fairy tales.
04 February 2007
03 February 2007
Too slow
Well, I had a sneaking suspicion that I didn't know what I was really letting myself in for when we signed up for Trailwalker. We discovered this morning that our walking speed is less than 3 miles an hour on a route with no hills.
I'm scared now. But maybe this is one of the many kicks up the arse I need if I'm going to have any hope of doing it.
Oh no, what have I done?
I'm scared now. But maybe this is one of the many kicks up the arse I need if I'm going to have any hope of doing it.
Oh no, what have I done?
01 February 2007
Reflections
I have just done one of Davina's 30 minute workouts. I feel very tired. I went and did my star jumps in the kitchen because I didn't want to jump through our beautiful wooden floor. This meant that I couldn't see the TV. Then I realised that the screen was reflected in the plastic frame of one of the posters on our wall, so I watched the tiny figures of Davina and her personal trainer jumping up and down inside our Toulouse Lautrec poster.
Perhaps L and I could raise money for Trailwalker by charging our friends to come over and laugh at us doing Davina exercises in our living rooms. This is not a serious suggestion. I do have some pride.
Perhaps L and I could raise money for Trailwalker by charging our friends to come over and laugh at us doing Davina exercises in our living rooms. This is not a serious suggestion. I do have some pride.
30 January 2007
Privacy settings
Blogger now has privacy settings. If I put them on or activate them or whatever techy word is appropriate, you will have to give an email address to Google and sign in every time you want to read my words of wisdom/tedium. Most people I know who read this blog have Blogger blogs of their own anyway, so I don't think it will be a problem, will it?
Hello, everyone
It's 1 am.
I am going to the gym tomorrow, so perhaps I will be able to go to sleep and get up at the right time.
I am going to the gym tomorrow, so perhaps I will be able to go to sleep and get up at the right time.
29 January 2007
Whinge and gibber
I am very glad that there are no timestamps on my posts. It is quarter to three in the morning. My sleep patterns have gone completely AWOL. I was supposed to go to Paris to see my lovely French friends but I couldn't go because I felt too ill after the vicious flu that knocked me for six for most of last week. Instead I have sat in the house all weekend trying to get better and all of last weekend as well wishing I was in their nice flat meeting their children and admiring them and thinking how lucky I am. Sniff.
So, here I am at quarter to three in the morning, feeling knackered but not able to sleep, sitting at the computer wearing James's dressing gown (don't know why this is relevant, but this is a blog so relevance is never an issue) having failed to sleep despite reading the Boden catalogue, a quick blast of Lord of the Rings - the film, and some of the Noam Chomsky Reader. My mind is racing like the locomotive in The Ballad of John Axon. It feels like I've had too much caffeine but I haven't. I have a vicious dry chesty cough which is keeping me awake and I will stagger into work tomorrow like a zombie. So I am resorting to my other cure for insomnia - manic blogging.
I have been watching a lot of crap TV recently (even more than usual) and I have come to the conclusion that the programme I hate most is Masterchef Goes Large. I hate the way that the terrified contestants walk up to the presenters/cooking experts carrying their plate of food, humbly place it in front of them, and watch in terror as the presenters slowly chew one mouthful and either say something incredibly critical like "Peas and mushrooms should never go together on a plate in my world or anyone else's" or damn with faint praise: "Although the fish is well cooked, the anchovies overpower your bechamel sauce".
I hope the presenters' wives give them hell when they get home. They desperately need someone to take the piss out of them because, as Nigel Slater says, after all, we are only making ourselves something to eat.
The other, even more insidious programme, is Ten Years Younger. Although I do quite like the fashion bit of this programme as it explains fashion in a way that fashion illiterates like me can understand, the rest of it fills me with horror. My dear friend CF says it shows why we still need feminism. It's the plastic surgery and getting all your teeth replaced that I object to. Last week's programme stated that you should visit the hairdresser every six weeks to get your grey hairs recoloured because you owe it to yourself and the people around you. Might I humbly suggest that you will also owe it to your overdraft and credit card and that this is a conspiracy to get us to spend more at the hairdressers, that's the 20% of the populaiton who will turn grey by the time we're 40, which will probably include me. I also think the woman who chooses the clothes has terrible taste and isn't really that stylish herself.
Occasionally Gremlins Online offers simple ways of thinking about the world which the humble author believes would save everyone a lot of stress and money - but will never happen. The last suggestion was that we should make Less Fuss About Christmas. Here's another suggestion for your delight and edification. Let's all admit that we go grey as we get older and decide that it's OK. If you go grey, it doesn't mean that you hate yourself or you've let yourself go, it just means some of your follicles aren't making pigment any more. Having said all that, I may succumb to Davina MacColl's adverts yet - Natrel plus in the new honey range, don't ya know.
By the way, I have finally entered the world of the culotte. Very excited about this. Although everyone else has been wearing culottes for months, it has taken me this long to take the plunge/find a cheap pair in the sales. So if you happen to see me wearing culottes, I want lots of compliments. I think they are very flattering and stylish, particularly when I wear them.
Better stop now. Goodnight.
So, here I am at quarter to three in the morning, feeling knackered but not able to sleep, sitting at the computer wearing James's dressing gown (don't know why this is relevant, but this is a blog so relevance is never an issue) having failed to sleep despite reading the Boden catalogue, a quick blast of Lord of the Rings - the film, and some of the Noam Chomsky Reader. My mind is racing like the locomotive in The Ballad of John Axon. It feels like I've had too much caffeine but I haven't. I have a vicious dry chesty cough which is keeping me awake and I will stagger into work tomorrow like a zombie. So I am resorting to my other cure for insomnia - manic blogging.
I have been watching a lot of crap TV recently (even more than usual) and I have come to the conclusion that the programme I hate most is Masterchef Goes Large. I hate the way that the terrified contestants walk up to the presenters/cooking experts carrying their plate of food, humbly place it in front of them, and watch in terror as the presenters slowly chew one mouthful and either say something incredibly critical like "Peas and mushrooms should never go together on a plate in my world or anyone else's" or damn with faint praise: "Although the fish is well cooked, the anchovies overpower your bechamel sauce".
I hope the presenters' wives give them hell when they get home. They desperately need someone to take the piss out of them because, as Nigel Slater says, after all, we are only making ourselves something to eat.
The other, even more insidious programme, is Ten Years Younger. Although I do quite like the fashion bit of this programme as it explains fashion in a way that fashion illiterates like me can understand, the rest of it fills me with horror. My dear friend CF says it shows why we still need feminism. It's the plastic surgery and getting all your teeth replaced that I object to. Last week's programme stated that you should visit the hairdresser every six weeks to get your grey hairs recoloured because you owe it to yourself and the people around you. Might I humbly suggest that you will also owe it to your overdraft and credit card and that this is a conspiracy to get us to spend more at the hairdressers, that's the 20% of the populaiton who will turn grey by the time we're 40, which will probably include me. I also think the woman who chooses the clothes has terrible taste and isn't really that stylish herself.
Occasionally Gremlins Online offers simple ways of thinking about the world which the humble author believes would save everyone a lot of stress and money - but will never happen. The last suggestion was that we should make Less Fuss About Christmas. Here's another suggestion for your delight and edification. Let's all admit that we go grey as we get older and decide that it's OK. If you go grey, it doesn't mean that you hate yourself or you've let yourself go, it just means some of your follicles aren't making pigment any more. Having said all that, I may succumb to Davina MacColl's adverts yet - Natrel plus in the new honey range, don't ya know.
By the way, I have finally entered the world of the culotte. Very excited about this. Although everyone else has been wearing culottes for months, it has taken me this long to take the plunge/find a cheap pair in the sales. So if you happen to see me wearing culottes, I want lots of compliments. I think they are very flattering and stylish, particularly when I wear them.
Better stop now. Goodnight.
28 January 2007
23 January 2007
I am Belinda Carlisle
I scored Totally Singstar for Heaven is a Place on Earth. I never liked Belinda Carlisle but I can remember almost all the notes and words exactly. How did this happen?
(Please, someone tell me which bits of a title should have capitals. I can't remember and I haven't got a style guide. )
Here's another very telling story. When I was in the sixth form, I did A Level French. We had to have a conversation about the first record we'd ever bought. I didn't know what to say because I had never bought a record.
(Please, someone tell me which bits of a title should have capitals. I can't remember and I haven't got a style guide. )
Here's another very telling story. When I was in the sixth form, I did A Level French. We had to have a conversation about the first record we'd ever bought. I didn't know what to say because I had never bought a record.
22 January 2007
I would like to be the kind of person who meets to the many things in the world that annoy me (smoking on buses, Big Brother, Performance Indicators, decoarting shows, the ethical dogmatism sweeping the land, use of the words "in terms of", bad films, lime green paint) with grace, humour, and charm. Instead, I stomp and fume. I hope it doesn't show too much.
Here's Groucho Marx showing me how to respond gracefully. Found by Jonathan.
Here's Groucho Marx showing me how to respond gracefully. Found by Jonathan.
20 January 2007
I linked to the Edge project, which is a site about lesser-known endangered animals. It makes very depressing reading. At least people know about the kakapo and are studying it and there is a conservation plan.
Haven't got any further with Eragon. I decided it was too exciting to read late at night.
I have been to the gym once this week. I have taken my kit in twice and then gone home. I cancelled badminton with Jerome because I had an extremely unmotivated Monday.
We ordered a vegetable box. It has arrived and looks rather delicious, although I am dismayed to see how muddy the vegetables are and I am not looking forward to cleaning them. It contains an enormous bunch of purple sprouting. James has never eaten purple sprouting and I hope he likes it because it is a staple at this time of year. I have found a recipe with olive oil, chile, and lemon to drizzle over it. We thought we could make a huge roast dinner but James will probably not be available. He has gone into comics overdrive ready for Angouleme next weekend. By the way, if you know a small amount of French, go and have a laugh at www.mattmatt.fr
The sun is shining. Global warming is happening faster than expected.
I went for a singing lesson on Wednesday. The teacher is going to bring some Dowland and Purcell to sing, how lovely.
I did 3 hours' work this morning. There's some real tat in this collection.
I started knitting a vest but I cannot do rib. It's going completely wrong. It looks quite pretty, though.
I ordered a DVD of the 1975 version of Anne of Avonlea and watched the entire series in one sitting. It was very good apart from the end and it had Nicholas Lyndhurst in it. He was very good.
That's all for now, folks. Thank you for your kind attention.
Haven't got any further with Eragon. I decided it was too exciting to read late at night.
I have been to the gym once this week. I have taken my kit in twice and then gone home. I cancelled badminton with Jerome because I had an extremely unmotivated Monday.
We ordered a vegetable box. It has arrived and looks rather delicious, although I am dismayed to see how muddy the vegetables are and I am not looking forward to cleaning them. It contains an enormous bunch of purple sprouting. James has never eaten purple sprouting and I hope he likes it because it is a staple at this time of year. I have found a recipe with olive oil, chile, and lemon to drizzle over it. We thought we could make a huge roast dinner but James will probably not be available. He has gone into comics overdrive ready for Angouleme next weekend. By the way, if you know a small amount of French, go and have a laugh at www.mattmatt.fr
The sun is shining. Global warming is happening faster than expected.
I went for a singing lesson on Wednesday. The teacher is going to bring some Dowland and Purcell to sing, how lovely.
I did 3 hours' work this morning. There's some real tat in this collection.
I started knitting a vest but I cannot do rib. It's going completely wrong. It looks quite pretty, though.
I ordered a DVD of the 1975 version of Anne of Avonlea and watched the entire series in one sitting. It was very good apart from the end and it had Nicholas Lyndhurst in it. He was very good.
That's all for now, folks. Thank you for your kind attention.
18 January 2007
A campaign to save lesser-known mammals, including the slender loris.
James once told me I look a bit like a slender loris.
James once told me I look a bit like a slender loris.
17 January 2007
A conversation with my brother, shortly before Christmas:
"What do you want? Do you want Eragon?"
In Latin, there are questions that expect the answer 'No' and questions that expect the answer 'Yes'. This was the latter. Don't ask me how this works because it was a long time ago and I only did GCSE.
I have started reading it twice. The first time I was a bit disappointed. The style is a bit ugly and it's quite derivative of Tolkien and Anne McCaffrey.
Last night, I gave it another go. And it's so exciting! Yes, I still think it's derivative and a bit clumsy but I can ignore a lot for the sake of a good story. I explained the story to James and felt like a nerdy teenager. The excitement of Eragon, coupled with the mental mania of trying to stretch my appallingly bad maths to calculate box and shelf sizes at work meant that I couldn't sleep until about 2.30 last night.
"What do you want? Do you want Eragon?"
In Latin, there are questions that expect the answer 'No' and questions that expect the answer 'Yes'. This was the latter. Don't ask me how this works because it was a long time ago and I only did GCSE.
I have started reading it twice. The first time I was a bit disappointed. The style is a bit ugly and it's quite derivative of Tolkien and Anne McCaffrey.
Last night, I gave it another go. And it's so exciting! Yes, I still think it's derivative and a bit clumsy but I can ignore a lot for the sake of a good story. I explained the story to James and felt like a nerdy teenager. The excitement of Eragon, coupled with the mental mania of trying to stretch my appallingly bad maths to calculate box and shelf sizes at work meant that I couldn't sleep until about 2.30 last night.
11 January 2007
The New Zealand Fairy Tern is a critically endangered bird; there are between 35-40 pairs left. For the first time in five years, a chick has just fledged.
08 January 2007
05 January 2007
News
In this year's New Year pop quiz, I knew the answers to 3 questions. The answers were "What's New Pussycat?", "Do You Wanna" and "The Manic Street Preachers".
In other news, James purchased today: one small umbrella that fits in the pocket of his green bag; a Swiss Army knife; and some waterproof trousers.
The brown shoes he dyed black are still black.
In other news, James purchased today: one small umbrella that fits in the pocket of his green bag; a Swiss Army knife; and some waterproof trousers.
The brown shoes he dyed black are still black.
04 January 2007
Oh no, what have I done?
I am one of the laziest people I know.
I am not saying this to prompt lots of kind comments of denial, (although people don't comment, I know you're all there, bunch of lurkers...I picked this term 'lurkers' up from another, much trendier blog...)
ahem, as i was saying - here are a few examples:
When the phone rings, I hope James will answer it because I am too lazy to speak to people, even people I really like. Even when it's Mrs Edwards wanting to talk about Anne of Green Gables, my favourite book, the one that ruined my life, or my favourite TV programme, that's Strictly Come Dancing (why do I never meet anyone apart from Mrs Edwards who likes it? It got millions of votes, so why do I never meet any of the voters?)
My pink suede boots are too dirty to wear but although I bought some stuff to clean them with last winter, I have not used it yet and it is a year later.
Every spring for the past four years I have resolved to ride my bike to work. Last year I didn't do it at all. The year before I didn't do it at all. The year before that I rode to work twice.
Every time I am due to go on holiday, I genuinely feel I can't be bothered to go. Parties are the same.
I am haunted by the ghosts of the things I should have done years ago. It's exhausting. I wish they'd go away.
The point of all this gibber is to say that all this idioting around is about to end. L and I have signed up to do Trailwalker, which is a 60-ish mile hike along the South Downs way in 30 hours (that means no sleep) in aid of Oxfam. It happens in July.
This means I need to get training immediately. So far I have:
Oh no, what have I done?
I am not saying this to prompt lots of kind comments of denial, (although people don't comment, I know you're all there, bunch of lurkers...I picked this term 'lurkers' up from another, much trendier blog...)
ahem, as i was saying - here are a few examples:
When the phone rings, I hope James will answer it because I am too lazy to speak to people, even people I really like. Even when it's Mrs Edwards wanting to talk about Anne of Green Gables, my favourite book, the one that ruined my life, or my favourite TV programme, that's Strictly Come Dancing (why do I never meet anyone apart from Mrs Edwards who likes it? It got millions of votes, so why do I never meet any of the voters?)
My pink suede boots are too dirty to wear but although I bought some stuff to clean them with last winter, I have not used it yet and it is a year later.
Every spring for the past four years I have resolved to ride my bike to work. Last year I didn't do it at all. The year before I didn't do it at all. The year before that I rode to work twice.
Every time I am due to go on holiday, I genuinely feel I can't be bothered to go. Parties are the same.
I am haunted by the ghosts of the things I should have done years ago. It's exhausting. I wish they'd go away.
The point of all this gibber is to say that all this idioting around is about to end. L and I have signed up to do Trailwalker, which is a 60-ish mile hike along the South Downs way in 30 hours (that means no sleep) in aid of Oxfam. It happens in July.
This means I need to get training immediately. So far I have:
- bought a Davina McColl exercise video which I have not watched. (Just to be clear - I am not a fan of Davina McColl - if aliens came and stole Big Brother and everything to do with it, I'd be very pleased, although if they did they'd probably send it back when they realise their mistake) L uses Davina and says she's quite good.
- Tried to buy some new tracky bottoms but failed
- taken my gym stuff to work twice, carried it round all day, then gone home
- gone to the gym to pick up their timetable without going near the exercise machines or the swimming pool
Oh no, what have I done?
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