Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Brief Blog - due to staff illness

This is from our office window. I would have gone to dig for my crock of gold in the middle of the football pitch, but I couldn't manage the spade.

The disability-needs assessor arrived on time (always a good start) and was a delightful and competent young lady. Lots and lots of useful suggestions and a run through what is possible. Simple things we had never thought of, like the depth of the front step. Too deep apparently, after she had seen my trying to walk, and we are to have a half-step to make things easier. Grab handles, walking aid wheels, loo raisers, things to make getting out of bed easier etc., etc. And as Bungus endorses, it is better she saw me bad rather than good. A lovely girl who is to be married at the weekend, and when she told us about it, she actually blushed. Absolutely delightful - I didn't know that girls could still do that. She assured us that the improvements wouldn't make the house look like a rest-home for the elderly, with its possible effect on potential purchasers.

Y cooked, all meals (and very good they were too) plus frequent tea and coffee. We managed a couple of hours in the office (I find the IKEA swivel office-chair with arms ideal 'cos I can trundle about in it) and did Nat Trst minutes etc., and we've designed a letter-head for Y as Secretary. She was unsure whether or not to use her B.Sc, my advice was 'go for it' so we've added it. If nothing else it will irritate you-know-who.

Comments......Jill..... When you say "most gardens in Chiswick have at least one" I assume you mean a 'camellia' rather than 'a greenhouse designed by Joseph Paxton' ha ha! Hope you enjoy your school play. Freeview boxes seem notoriously fickle but, after 3 years, yours probably has simply expired See Rob's comment). Although we have other problems with Virgin, the actual NTLbox seems OK.

Bungus...... The 'Y carried me' remark referred solely to my mental performance which was distinctly under par. Back to normal today. Telegraph xword, design, minutes (solely in my Secretary's PA role) the actual minutes are down to Y.

Isn't it strange that the Lidl catalogue seemed like a special issue for my benefit? However, I shall await the outcome of this morning's assessment before making purchases.

The title 'springtime' for your cat/dove picture is superb. Trouble is it would probably go over the heads of most camera-club judges. I wonder what AnonymousRob thinks?

For a chicken to reach 6lbs in 7½ weeks is incredible. One must suspect growth hormones and god-only-knows what else and my instincts are repelled.

AnonymousRob....... I agree that I had only previously associated this camouflage behaviour with animals not plants. Perhaps I should submit the picture somewhere where it may be of academic interest.

The blog was only released on bail, until I was sure that it wasn't a generalised blogger.com-glitch that had caused PC problems, and I needed to check on the forums. Pleased to announce that RG is now completely exonerated and won't need to answer bail.

Unfortunately I will have to give Thursday a miss (Magwitch 1 RG 0) because I would really have liked to see your theme pictures. Getting in and out of the car is difficult and those stairs would defeat me. If there aren't too many perhaps you could either send them, or a link to them if you use a file-hosting site. I promise not to blog any without specific clearance.

I posted this in a different place, due to a query. But it is well worth sharing with you all, if you don't like Russ Abbott and Bela Emberg just don't open the link. Personally I love it.

Quotation time..... Quite thought provoking this one:

"Perhaps in time the so called Dark Ages will be thought of as including our own"


Sleep tight, catch you tomorrow. Y bussing over to BJ for Millicent's third birthday. Me - can't manage WoW so I shall be messing-about, staggering, and resting.



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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

So pleased that part of our NHS is working as it should - it all sounds very hopeful and helpful, I hope it doesn't take too long to implement some of her suggestions. What about one of those armchairs that push you up out of the seat? I tried one at some show, felt a bit like a kick up the backside, but it certainly got you on your feet without any effort.....

Annie's school production of 'Calamity Jane' was last night,in a proper theatre, forty-two schoolgirls in different stages of development, sounds like somebody's dream....I think you could say there was more enthusiasm than artistic skill, but they all worked very hard, the lead 17 year-old was excellent, good strong singing voice in tune. (it amused Perry and me to note that she was quite Indian in appearance, as were quite a few others!)It must be very difficukt casting this, all the tall girls had to be cowboys regardless of development. Biggest hit of the night was the burlesque bit, twelve 'chorus' girls in fishnets and basques (ask Y) doing the can-can....this is a private convent school which takes all nationalities/religions.

We wondered about their choice of musical - last time it was 'The Sound of Music' My friend has just been to grandson's school production of 'Oh What a Lovely War' - but they bussed in girls from another school to play the few female parts.

That was a thought-provoking but depressing quote, however I'll let it pass given your present circumstances, I think you are doing brilliantly. And I like Russ Abbott too....

Anonymous said...

Nice rainbow. After 7 decades of looking at them they are still irresistible. The red isn’t very strong and the blue and indigo have disappeared somewhere (just a note, not a criticism). Consolation: by the time you got to the football pitch, the crock would have moved well into the woods.

Glad the assessor had some useful info. I can see you now, doing the military two-step at the front door (we have a similar arrangement at our back door as Sandra found the single step too deep.
Glad to hear that you are once more mentally alert which is more than I can say much of the time! At least I can blame the chemo rather than decrepitude.
Yes, remarkable that Lidl should offer everything you need just at the time when you appeared to need it!

I am sure Yvonne is right to flaunt her BSc in the NT case. Sandra is embarrassed by mention of her MBE but I persuaded her to put it on the Community Workshop letterhead. It just makes the chances of someone helping a little bit better as they take you more seriously.

I have had a freebox thing for at least 2 years now and it has given no trouble; perhaps because it has never been connected. I am 99% happy with just the four channels.

The cat/dove pic is 'springtime?', not 'springtime'. I think the '?' gives just a hint to the less alert.

I suspect you are right about the chicken. With it being a small operation (is it?) I assumed incorrectly that it was free range. Not so, and the chickens are there just for the eggs, not as meat.
I plucked and drew the second one on Mon/Tue. Easier than the first one because at a suitable stage I cut it in half enabling better viewing of the insides. It is now frozen. We shall see whether the extra few days hanging, before drawing and halving, imparted any more flavour.

The mushroom is almost 100% certainly a Common Earh-ball (Scleroderma citrinum). The odd thing is that its season (like all other Earth-balls and Puff-balls) is autumn/winter. Global warming?

I don’t know whether it puts off potential readers but I find considerable portions of the blog unintelligible because of the technical language (photographic and computerese). It doesn’t put ME off, because I can just ignore those bits, however irritating!

I couldn’t watch Russ Abbott and Bella Emberg because it was too complicated opening it. It looked amusing from the still.

I don’t think the quote’s very funny. How about the following:
“Everybody dies.”
(Ungleby Cowpertrew, 1954)

Jill:
The armchair that pushes you up out of the seat sounds a good idea except that Sandra (following 2 laminectomies) had a stair lift fitted but had it taken out a month or two later because the jerk as it took off caused her intense back pain (worse than climbing the stairs - but she won't move because she doesn't want to get 'bungalow legs').
I like the seats with a footrest that springs up at the touch of a button.

'Calamity Jane' sounds fun.
I know what a basque is and suspect the blogmeister does too. We’ve both been around a bit, you know.
I presume, when you say Indian, you don’t mean Native American?

Rob:
All sorts of creatures imitate other things, eg, stick beetles.

"Tad is the word I recognise as meaning ‘a little bit’

Sorry, I don’t get the Magwitch (geddit?) joke/comment. Perhaps it is too obvious.

Last night’s County result means that if Stags win the ‘game in hand’ by more than one goal, they will change places. What a state! But I think they can both get above Macclesfield and quite right if they do too. Bloody upstarts.

Aficionados of ‘Corrie’ wil not be surprised that Gail ‘failed miserably’. She wouldn’t know any other way to do it.

Inapproproiate comment:
A friend of two girls who drowned when their car went into a canal, said “It’s not yet sunk in”.

Favourite Xword clue (not mine):
'Elk cits' (11)

Anonymous said...

As a photo judge I tend to ignore titles as I can usually see what the 'authors' thoughts and intentions were from looking at the picture. Bungus's "Springtime?" is no exception but it is an excellent title. However, not only do I wonder how many N&EMPF judges would get it, I wonder how many competition secretaries would pronounce the title in a way that enabled the judge to get it. In my view it should properly be pronounced as any other question, with a slight rise in the voice at the end. I guess, though, many would say "Springtime question mark" which would probably confuse the judge even more. I have, on rare occasions, taken notice of a title and reduced my mark accordingly saying something like "I'll give the picture 14 and the title minus 2 making 12." It's usually met with the question "Is that 14 or 12?"

I don't know why judges mark out of 20 other than that is usually what they are asked to do. Marks, in my view, are meaningless. My 16 out of 20 will have absolutely no correlation with another judge giving 12 to RG for one of his shots.

Elaine remembers tadge from her childhood and another derivative of it "Tidgy" as in "He's tidgy" ie small. We watched Gavin and Stacey the other night and the Essex people in it spoke of having lots of shrapnel, ie loose change. Maybe it's more widespread than just the 'north'.

The Magwitch 'joke' was a feeble attempt to link able (Abel) and Magwitch; not worth bothering with really.

Aren't basques the native people of the Pyrenees area?

Good luck to the Stags tonight.

Rob

Anonymous said...

I wonder if 'tidgy' comes from 'titch' or 'titchy'?