Monday 29th December 2008

Not much to say (again!). One little snippet is.... Yesterday, David and his friends had organised a cooking competition. They do this kind of thing every few months - the last one was for Lasagne. This one was different, this one was on MY turf.....curries :).

So....I am thinking, SHEESH, this is gonna be a walkover :). First you have to define what a curry actually IS. And its all things to all people...from a mildly spiced stew to something that raises the hairs on the back of your neck. Well, to me, curry means HOT. Hell, its MEANT to be spicy!! A curry is something you and your mates desire after a night in the pub, makes ya sweat a lot, gives you the hiccups, makes your eyes water, and lets you crap through the eye of a needle while sitting on a hot poker (ok, that was a bit crude.....but I couldn't resist :) ).

I also have to point out that one of David's friends is a professional chef!!

Sooo....saturday evening, there I am, chopping and stirring and all the prep work ya do. I am thinking.....this one is gonna be PERFECT! (My curries tend to be a bit ad-hoc - just usually whatever is available ). Now the ESSENCE of a curry is LONG and SLOW cooking so all the bits come together. Well MINE cooked all night (in that magical slow cooker), VERY slowly :). By Sunday afternoon, I was all set to go, while David is still destroying my kitchen (he's the messiest cook I ever met, and I have a THING about clearing up stuff as you go along ).

Finally all is ready....and off he goes bearing HIS contribution, and mine.


At NINE o'clock that night, I still had not heard!! The plonker was supposed to ring me with the results, only got waylaid with Thomas and stuff. Eventually I found out I came second.....beaten by (you guessed it) the professional chef. There's no justice in this world :). (I was all ready to copyright the bloody recipe, too!).


Ah well...............may all those BIASED people get Delhi Belly!! :).

Saturday 27th December 2008 - more

I meant to add...yesterday, Boxing day, I got to visit (online-wise) with a very old dear friend in Texas, who was having HER family to visit. So I got to see them all (I've met them all before, but this year the kids are much more aware, if you see what I mean.........it was just good to see them all. Sorta makes 22 Charing Cross Road look a bit Victorian, don't it :).

Saturday, 27th December 2008

Well now!....dust has settled on Christmas so mebbe time for some natter....


So .... 'the arm' (I should really do that bit in capitals!)

Went to my appointment on 22nd, expecting to HAVE an MRI. How stupid was that? I arrive at the outpatients with a good 15 minutes to spare (in case you've forgotten, the appointment was for 8pm). I thought I had arrived in a ghost town! There was NO one to be seen anywhere, not even to ask for directions. ANYONE could be getting away with murder! But eventually I found the right place (he said, skimming over the bit where he was getting madder and madder by the minute). Nice little asian nurse, with the BROADEST Belfast accent you ever heard, smiled at my moans, took my details, then showed me to a cubicle. Right on the dot of 8pm, in comes the consultant. Shakes my hand, exchanges a few pleasantries, then starts grilling me on the history of 'the arm'. After that comes the prodding and poking and banging with those little rubber hammer things doctors delight in. Honest to God...within about 4 minutes from the start, he sits back and says, 'Right, I have my diagnosis - you have a nerve trapped by the 6th cervical'....(and at this stage i LOSE it.....he's asian and I am struggling to follow his accent). But hold on a minute here!!...I knew I had a trapped nerve...I'm supposed to be here for a bloody MRI !!! Doctor then goes on to lay out options, all two of them. All these TWO options, naturally, follow on from MORE tests - by which he means a REAL MRI instead of the con trick this one turned out to be :). Options are, steroid injections or an operation. Discussions will follow on results of tests. .....yeah, ok, whatever you say..... Its only BEEN a year already!


Christmas. Well what can I say? Started the day with my nose kind of out of joint because this is the first year not cooking dinner and having the family HERE.......and ended the day quite getting into this 'no work' stuff . So there I sat....on the sofa being harrassed by kidlings....and with one eye watching Simon and Claire dash around like blue-assed flies trying to get everything prepared and on time etc etc, as ya do....and naturally with a nice glass of sherry in my hand (twas a wee bit early for the brandy ). The more frantic things got in the kitchen, the more laid back I got about it all, thinking to myself, 'hey, I can live with this' . The kids were GREAT! As you would expect......all excited about what Santa had brought them, all wound up about all that was going on around them, all the company...just FUN. Did I mention they had a captive audience?....me?

There is a little aside to all this. Previously, when my Mum and Dad were alive but getting on in years, and everyone came HERE for Christmas, I would take little video's of things that were going on. Right there, in MOST of the little video's, is my Dad, sitting on the sofa, just looking round and smiling at the antics of kids. The thought suddenly struck me............I am my Dad all over again! Now thats SCARY!!

As for the meal?...well,son, if you ever get to read this...........work on your veggies . Apart from that, it was perfect! (and by the way, the dogs thought so too )

A further addendum to all this Christmas meal stuff. Later on, David, (who had obviously been mulling this over in his head) mooted the idea that next year HE should play host. Well...bring it on!!

Sadurday 20th December 2008

OK.........its been too long since I done anything here. Mainly because to me it seems nothing happens worth writing about. However.......gotta write something :)


On the techie front (always a good place to start). I was wandering around Tesco's the other day, looking for inspiration (as ya do).....and I find a webcam on sale for a mere £5. Now given that my own webcam, which cost me a bloody FORTUNE when I got it, seems now to be on its last legs, this was a no brainer. Installed FINE on XP....got a pic and everything, though I have not had a chance yet to try it out with a third party. THEN I dual booted Vista. Nightmare!!! First, because I really don't LIKE Vista, it had been a while since I booted it - and naturally there is a TON of updates to be done. So I let it get on with it. ONly.....it seemed like after every update, I had to reboot. Guys, this is a LOT of rebooting!! Well finally I get to the point where I think all this nonsense is finished, so I can now try installing the new cam. Guess what?....more rebooting. BUT.....not without some trouble I finally get it installed.......only to be told I need to reboot again. So I do. Then what?...now that I got VISTA all patched up etc etc ad bloody nauseum, the bloody thing THEN tells me its got ANOTHER update...only this time its a service pack. I bow to the inevitable, and let it go ahead. (keep in mind this is all just to install a cheapo webcam!!) WELL!!...the FINAL tally was a good EIGHT hours of patching and installing before I could even get to look at the cam to see if it worked. (It did ) No wonder Vista gets slated........that amount of time before you can actually DO anything is just plain ridiculous!
On a kind of parallel note, the OLD webcam is now moved over to Linux....and works. Admittedly there were a FEW issues (still is), but in general its fine (apart from the crappy picture it now puts out that makes me look like I just overdosed on carrot juice after being locked in a tanning booth )

The foundling. Well......he now has FOUR teeth.....and is practicing like mad with them :) He's into chewing everything he can get his hands on. Including any flesh that wanders his way :) He's also finding his legs. He's got a baby walker thing, and he's tickled pink with himself that he can (a) stand up in it and (b) make the damn thing move (backwards only, at the moment ) He's a perfect little delight.....always GRINNING!! I think he and Daniel are going to be mates...... I had to borrow Joanne's digital vid cam to try keeping up with all this development, and now I need to get it all burnt on to a DVD. Getting it shrunk enough to share on the internet is also now a bit of a problem.......I'm running out of disk space! Do I hear shopping trip being muttered in the background here??

Monday coming, I have my appointment for an MRI on my neck/shoulder. At 8pm! I really now don't expect much to come of it all, after talking a lot with DR Stu about what is possible and what is NOT possible. Ah well....maybe I can become ambidextrous :) Its the STUPID little things that get me!....like just buttoning a shirt when you can't FEEL the damn buttons!!


aaaccckk!!...now I'm angry with myself!!

Monday 1st December 2008


Time for some kind of update, I suppose, though I have no idea about WHAT! So..herewith me rambling :).

Things now is in a kind of flux (re Thomas). With David being mobile again, he's able to go straight home from work and get the place warmed up. The obvious corollary is, we have been seeing less of David. No doubt things will settle down into some kind of routine, but at the moment its a bit 'suck it and see'. Still, there have been no major disasters, so thats gotta be a good thing.

Its been one of them days where the sun shines BRIGHT, yet its bloody freezing outside, and the frost in the shadows never melts. Quite perfect weather for walking :). So we did. Nell pushed the pram with Thomas, and I pushed the buggy with Daniel, and we took off down the towpath. Loaded with stale bread, I might add :) . Ducks and swans got fed, Daniel thoroughly enjoying that, and Thomas, with his little bright enquiring eyes looking at everything. Well....he got a wee bit fractious towards the end, but it WAS past his feed time, so that was forgivable :). It also knocked Daniel out - when ya gotta sleep, ya gotta sleep :). Was good :).

New flat screen monitor is now in place, and the omens are favourable. Things look good at the bigger resolution now possible. I should have bought one of these things ages ago! I like it :).

Also on the techie front? The fancy DVD recorder that Joanne bought me last Christmas has been being put through its paces. Not, of course, without a few glitches (and coasters!) along the way. I had saved all kinds of stuff on the sky+ box, and I was running out of space, so it was time for some burning. Ever tried reading a manual with one hand while spoonfeeding a baby with the other? Its quite difficult :). Now, of course, I need to resupply my stock of DVD's - did I mention I made a few mistakes along the way? :). Keeping up with technology just gets more difficult by the day!

What else? Joanne. Dr Stu had one of them fancy Iphone things (the original version), which was freely updated for him to the latest version. Joanne then got his OLD one, which she promptly managed (after a few weeks use) completely knacker. Daughter, is it any wonder I send you back to the shops to deal with stuff like this? The OLD one was still in warranty, so she complains. Then follows all the 'returns' crap that you have to go through. The bottom line is, tonight, right in the middle of zoo time known as dinner, UPS arrives with a parcel. When Joanne arrives, and the parcel is opened, what is inside? You probably guessed....a brand new MK 2 Iphone. Does the expression 'falling in shit and smelling like a rose' mean anything?

enough for now....maybe when I have a couple of brandies, I'll add :).

25th November 2008

...and really the 24th November, since I have not been to bed yet :).


OK...some updates. David has FINALLY bought a car. Nine month old VECTRA, which he picks up Thursday. In the meantime, they actually LENT him a car. I found that a wee bit strange, but who am I to argue? He's mobile as of now. I think he's quite pleased with it....I know WE are quite pleased . Meanwhile, being as he is mobile, he's been driving around the country like a mad thing, visiting EVERYONE! As a little example, he went to visit Nell's brother, Billy. Now, its probably been 4 years since he SEEN Billy, but is that a deterrent? He also learned a little lesson - always carry a spare set of EVERYTHING in the car. Apparently Thomas had an 'episode' whilst there, which entailed him borrowing some of Billy's g/kids clothes. In other words, there was shit EVERYWHERE :). He'll learn .

Today, I had to go register Jude's death. I had assumed, from the phone call I got, that they now had all the details to hand, from the Coroners report. Bad mistake! I was asked questions like, Jude's date of birth?....her maiden name? (of COURSE I knew it...I just could not SPELL it!!). All the stupid little details!! Like 'Where did she die?'............well how in hell do you say 'in a car in an abandoned garage' ??? Anyway...its done. I now have the death certificates in my hand, and now the REAL work starts, like sorting out the mortgage and benefits etc. The Registrar was a very sympathetic lady....I guess she has to be. Still, it was a very uncomfortable time for me, trying to answer all those questions.

Now that David is mobile again, he went straight home from work. He needs to.....the house is COLD and he needs to get a fire going and heating on, for us delivering Thomas. So by the time Nell took Thomas out there, there was a fire going in the hearth, and heating going. That has to MEAN something? Like, 'hi son....lets get you bathed' without freezeing the lil mite :).

Meanwhile, I spent that time while Thomas was being delivered bloody IRONING!! I had to - I'd run out of shirts . Still....I caught up on some recorded tv programs while doing it :). Once, I'd have spent my evening romping around the internet......now I iron. A poem occurs to me, a few lines of which are:

And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings,
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away."

......now THAT just TOTALLY encapsulates the changes in my life :). Where once I roamed free and untrammelled, now I am a footnote :).


Kids? I miss my friends. Will-o-the-wisps in cyberspace they might be, but nevertheless, they were (ARE!) real to me. You lot never quite got your head round that, did you :). You can keep your 'facebooks' and 'friends reunited' and MODERN stuff like that.......I far outdated you :) (HEY!...how ABOUT that!.......the oul' fella was actually quite hip . ).

SO.....on to tomorrow (actually today!). I get my usual sticking plaster again (Daniel). I might actually get my new monitor too (its in the post). I am quite looking forward to that because I have lusted after a flat screen for AGES! Its a 19".......it woulda been a 22" only I had my doubts that I could actually get something that big to SIT up here :). You can just BET that with Daniel stuck to me, I won't get a chance to FIDDLE with the damn thing!!! .

ah well........

enough for the noo

Wednesday 19th November 2008

Things happening. I had a phone call today from the Registrar (of Births, Deaths, and Marriages). A nice, very sympathetic lady. To tell me they had recieved all the relevant information from the Coroners Office, and that Jude's death can now be officially recorded and death certificates issued. She asked if I would be the one doing it, or David. Well, I had to talk to David about it, naturally. He wants me to do it. I can understand that - especially since while talking to her she mentioned that she REMEMBERED David and Judith registering Thomas' birth. Everything is still so RAW! Even perfect strangers feel the need to say something!

So, in the next few days I have to pay a visit to her office. What I still have to find out is just how many copies of the death certificate I need. Insurance companies....pension funds...they all need a copy, and these things are £6 each. Strange, that even dying costs money.

As for today?.....Daniel was being a perfect little SOD! By the time Joanne came to collect the kids, I was worn out. Not PHYSICALLY worn out - mentally! They leave, and blessed silence ensues. And if Nell is off driving David and Thomas home, well, I turn off the TV, and put a CD in the player. Nothing like a bit of classical music, or opera, along with a glass of wine to help unwind :). Not that I can play it for long...........it goes off as soon as Nell returns :).

I really AM a bit concerned about Joanne's kids. Wild animals, the bunch of them! Not being the parent, I naturally have to sort of keep my distance, but I know if they were mine, there'd be an accounting :). They don't know (or won't) eat at the table, they regularly use 'no!' when they don't want to do something, they throw tantrums, scream, kick stuff.............and I just get madder and madder. This is NOT the way to bring up children! Then, of course, when I finally DO lose my temper and start to enforce some discipline, I am immediately in the wrong. Its starting to lead to friction in this house. Perhaps I am partly to blame for not speaking up sooner or laying down the law when they were younger (and by that I mean as regards that arch-spoiler of kids, Nell). I do know that its not going to happen again, with Thomas. This time, I WILL have my say, AND my way.

Hmm....right ole curmudgeon, ain't I :).

Bit annoyed, also, that since my circumstances have changed so drastically, I am losing touch with people I really value. OK, so they are mostly online folk - but all of them I consider genuine friends. (Come ON kids!!....keep up!). But its the nature of 'online' that 'offline' is starting to mean 'out of sight, out of mind'. I don't want that....I somehow have to find the time to keep those contacts up.

ok...enough for now.... More soon on the great car hunt, and the registration thing, and the tree thing (which Joanne is dealing with). Its never dull around here :).