The house is smelling of winter laundry as we dry things on radiators and I've hit the winter cooking with a choclate steam pudding straight out of Mrs Beeton. Sad isn't it, but meets Cal's desire for custard and cake...... Mrs Beeton is of course the households ultimate arbiter of trad recipes and reference tool handed down from Elsie my grandmother onwards.
Whinging England fans who travelled to Istanbul despite fairly clear warnings that they were'nt welcome hit the news. Still carrying the St. George's Cross or a Butchers Apron is a bit of a giveaway. See if they'd nipped down the local kebab shop and checked out the culture they could have got deported for pretending to be Greek. I've been to Instanbul twice now and I've always found the Turks to be friendly, welcoming and very pleasant to chat to. Istanbul lived up to my expectations both times, sure it isn't the cleanest city I've ever been to but it's exotic and mysterious. The Mosques especially the Suyleman Mosque and Blue Mosque are stunning and worth a visit.
Every librarian should have a Steve P. in their IT department. Steve finally has solved a terminal services problem that has restricted our ability to get Cairs access to the server to sort our database. Top man and in his own time too due to the prevarication of the NHSIA in letting us have a little bitty hole out of their firewall. So I really am nearly there with the Fade stuff. Seriously though it's something that came across well in our pre-accreditation because we do have a good relationship with IT. It isn't hard, they live on the third floor and the only way they can escape me is out the window and while the thought of Big Bri base jumping is a momentarily funny notion and they haven't hidden away. On the other hand the help desk has, behind a locked door that I for one hate.
So far a day of gentle domesticity. Bath time for some of the house. I for some strange reason have been sat listening to the Rugby World Cup which is odd given that I reckon that rugby is a game based on a total absence of logic. Monst is enjoying some time with Cal. I'm vaguely planning on writing some of my chartership portfolio once I get a chance.
Just had a spate of Wayne Rooney lollipop searches. Has Sam H possessed me while I wasn't looking? Young Wayne spoilt an afternoon at Goodison for me last season by scoring the winner against Arsenal so I ain't likely to be offering the boy lollipops. Madness, pure unadulterated madness.
Monst came home today so she can work her shifts this weekend. Arranged to pick her up at the lovely Warrington Bank Quay, in the shade of the steaming Lever Faberge works. Got there and on the arrivals screen it declared the Glasgow train was running 15 minutes late, in which case so was I because no sooner had I read that than she appeared. Much to her delight Cal ran into her arms delighted to see her. Nice to see. Word is from up north Margaret was told the diagnosis officially today and it's all palliative care from here on in. Not good news. Trouble is Monst is the one who's meant to keep it together while everyone else falls apart around her. Trouble is she's also the most aware of the outcome. Not good. In the meanwhile I got an offer to upgrade my manhood in my mailbox today. Yipee, I can go from bloke who is having trouble working out if he's hit what is delicately termed middle-age straight to geriatric. At least that's what I presume it was going on to offer because I read no more. Still if they can do that all them Viagra mails'll come in useful.
Early morning flattening of clothes. I don't get ironing, whats sensible about ironing some creases out and some creases in, where's the logic? What does make sense is coffee, and lots of it. Think I'll investigate that. At least Northern Primary don't do the hat thing and where did I put Cal's pumps....... All this and a late start which means I'm going to fume at the traffic on the way to work.....
There's heroin in Whiskas I'm reasonably sure The cat's getting desperate Pacing the floor He hangs round the food cupboard Waiting to score Wild-eyed and reckless Quick on the claw He's sharing a needle The cat from next door Comes round at mealtimes And ties-off his paw They shoot up together And beg me for more Who should I turn to? The vet or the law? There's heroin in Whiskas I don't think it's crack He said he could handle it Lying on his back But last night the chemists Came under attack The only things missing Were chocolate and smack And some halibut oil From the vitamin rack He won't have the dried stuff Which comes in a pack If it ain't got the tincture He reckons it's cack There's heroin in Whiskas And reasonably pure He completely refuses To go for a cure He just lies around Till it's time for his feed But what makes it worse Is the dog's taking speed. A little offering from the pen of Martin Newell in celebration of National Poetry Day which I noticed John Hegley touting on TV (er... yeah I dipped into a biut of Richard and Judy by mistake, listened to John and turned it off) so I'll close with one of his: Glasgow as we walk across the bridge across the Clyde I talk of the tide and the spring and the spring in the suspension but do not mention our tension is there any hope of a bridge over that divide Stephen a rope even or must we remain as strangers like the Pope and Glasgow Rangers
Monst may or may not appear tomorrow which means I'll be sat round the phone at about 5.30 hanging on events. If not she'll be down on Saturday to work her shifts and then heads back up North again on Wednesday. They're off to the hospital tomorrow for a couple of bags of platelets and a chat with any luck with the Quack. Just wish I was in a more cheery mood. Feel knackered, need a bath, a book and some beer. Picked up Sparklehorse's 'Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot' and mighty fine it is too. Just had a minor row with Monst on the phone, she's knackered and fed up, I'm just plain knackered. Roll on Friday, just feel like I'm living through the day idents in Teachers.
Yeah, about 1.30 am I decided to clear some clutter while sorting this Fade site out. Typically the bit I cleared I wanted so a quick nip into work, a coffee, dump the stuff I needed to a CD. Back home via Speke and Reuban to pick up books. Finished the basis of the site, need to sort the accreditation bit out still and then once Cairs is sorted we meet identity guidelines.
Yep, I'm acting as head toaster as Cal demands more toast and jam as I wait for the taxi to take him to Northern Primary. So far the Fade site redesign is going ok, structure is there. Design is there, content ain't. Will be by end of play today as the house echo's to the sound of Coax. Feels weird being here. Need to nip to see Reuban to pick up more of the Margaret Thompson Medical Centre (15 books have suddenly appeared....). It'll be a horrible shock for them, I ain't dressed as a librarian today!
Margaret was sprung from hospital today and along with her went an unsealed envelope for her GP. Monst being typical nurse person opened it to check on the drugs she'd been given only to find a diagnosis of Acute Myeloid Leukaemia contained there in. Trouble was Margaret cottoned on to the thing being opened and then asked Monst what was in it and was it what the Doctor had told her. Assuming that her Mum knew what was going down Sharon then told her what was in the letter. She now feels crap because she was the one that broke the news to Margaret. Another medic fails to be straight with people. I now feel crap because from here all I can offer is words. Margaret is worried about a future for Tom. What a fucked up world.
I have rather a complex attitutde to Sheffield. I've tried and failed twice to go to college there. Liz Knowles my first proper serious significant other type person went to college there and dumped me for a chippy called Richard. Never ever get thrown over for a Dick it does your self esteem no good whatsoever. So I've always had a sneaking suspicion that while I might kind of like the place, it hates me. Or at least if not hates me does take the piss. I went there while at school on a Geography field trip and we had to do a survey of buildings and shoppers. On the former Al and I were in luck, three quarters of our buildings was a bus station. On the latter our teenage minds went into overdrive. Where do you find shoppers we asked ourselves, only to reply in shops. So the first bloke we do the survey on is 6 foot odd and black. First question of the survey is,
'Where do you come from?' 'Barbados' he replies 'Do you shop here regularly?' So it is with some trepidation that I allow South Yorkshire SHA to take my FOI publication scheme as a template after Lexie S. got in touch wanting to do so. Still I do think it's quite cool.Way back in July I was bemoaning the fact that I'd kind of lost track of Mark Matthews and Rob Grigg. I then found trace of Mark Matthews by the 27th but no joy with Rob until today when the following mail turned up in my box. Hey Kieran Came across your blogs whilst doing some nostalgic web searching. Good to see it. If there are specific info / releases you are looking for, let me know. I may be able to help. Rob. Rob Grigg Must be the week for odd mail's just turning up!
The imperfection of Hefner's live performance of Hello Kitten is such a wonderful thing, 'Love is coming in spurts, I'm so fucking happy it hurts' is such a cracking couple of lines. Keep imperfection I say, perfection is a sterile beast at best. Darren Hayman write such a beautifully twisted songs.
Callum's done the classic fall asleep on you as you rush to cook a meal for him. Great I get to eat an hour too early for me and he misses the dinner I've lovingly prepared.....kids. Got into a bit of a row at the school, they demanded money with menaces I pointed out they'd already had it on Monday. So anyway they're off to check the facts, in the words of Wolfie Smith 'I demand a recount'. Not at all helped by Monst's phoning in the middle of me cooking. Good to see Tracy today. Another person that just gets on and does her stuff. While on the subject of library people, hello Bernie, good to talk to you today.
Need to remember to do additional pages on publication scheme and send it to people. Another cold day in the library, where's all the heat gone. Not content with that we have a bunch of people with a severe psychological problem (they think they want to be people that think they are bushes - squaddies) exercising outside the window and shouting about it. No joy on springing Margaret today, looks like Friday. Preliminary results show no blood products being produced by the bone marrow but it won't really be til next week that the whole set of results come back. Plan is to keep on transfusing twice a week and keep things going that way. Don't know, it don't sound good to me. Monst's coming back Saturday to work her shifts then going back up Wednesday.
Once more I'm locked out of bits of stuff I should have access to. Admitedly it's the Ebsco Health Management Collection that I usually joke about but this is silly.
Becoming increasingly concerned with the NHS Identity guidelines and as a result I'm redesigining the Fade site. Periodically I go through this rediculous notion that I'm bored and a site redesign is needed. Then I whinge about it. Still this redesign should clean up loads of shit that's floating about on the current site and streamline it all nicely. Mind you I said that last time. Monst getting fed up in Scotland, Tom's doing bugger all to help, Margaret wants home and is blaming Monst for keeping her in the Monklands, Kitty's doing an Ostrich and Mattie's doing her best but has gone home on the basis Monst is gonna try to spring Margaret tomorrow. Wierd mail tonight I believe that Elsie Rapley was my fathers sister. My father was born William John Rapley but always referred to himself as John William and was known as Jack. Did Elsie live at one point in Hurst near Twyford, Berkshire, in a bungalow? Having chatted to the olds I reckon it may well be. Spooky or what? Don't know if the geezer concerned is gonna be too chuffed with my version of Else, much as I loved her I don't believe in romanticising the past and I remember Else in the good times and with Alzheimers. Need to chat to Nick to get the lowdown, the old fella was a bit hazy but out of a family of 13 or so it ain't suprising.
Callum put his own socks on today, this is a first as far as I'm aware. Can't be bad. Biopsy has been done in Scotland, results are due Wednesday/Thursday. Tracy's back tomorrow, it'll be good to see her. News on Alastair, he's safe, well and shooed the parents away as soon as possible. Maybe I'll be a little less telegraphic later.
Been reading the first couple of months of this and can't believe a year ago I started writing and haven't stopped apart from the odd day. Sat here explaining RSS to Val. Don't feel I'm doing a great job but its in the words of the Red Guitars 'Good Technology'. So go back find out about nubuck, the new shoes which are now the old new shoes or read the first post which is recreated below How do you work this thing? That's what I want to know It should reinflate when you've used it So you can have yourself another go Once more the words of Mr. Robyn Hitchcock apply. here.
Got a problem with your neighbours? Came across an ad in the BBC History Magazine which might provide a solution: Medieval Siege Engines Easy build Kit - Solid Oak - Max Range 8M www.stonethrower.co.uk Don't get mad, hurl rocks at them. Unleash the power of 90p in 2p pieces with the mighty Trebuchet or lets twist again with the Mangonel. Unfortunately they only seem to make the tabletop models not yer great big don't you mess with me boy jobs. So you won't be able to flatten next door. Mind you I'm lucky I get on with our neighbours but the bloke behind with his motorbike that he used to rev on a Sunday morning as Monst was trying to kip, well be greatful you had a kid and the bike has shut up......
A rare punt on Black Sam Bellamy and Vinnie Roe in the Arc. Maybe it's more to do with opportunity rather than anything else. Need to put all the washing away, wow, won't that be fun. Usual rules have applied, I've picked the wee beasties on the base of the names. Still it's better than sticking myself with a pin. Last night cracking pint of St Austell Clouded Yellow good stuff indeed. So plan is to head upstairs to do the clothes along with a bottle of Adnams Broadside. It apparently celebrates the Battle of Sole Bay in 1672. Sounds like it was a bit of a score draw.
Christmas planning kicks off for me today. Ordered a goose from Holly Tree Farm down in Knutsford so once again a confused goose is wandering around with Lamb stamped on the poor beasties bum. Meanwhile I've been investigating the properties of Tobasco Sauce the fiendish sauce that is great as a small scale additive to many things (I sneak it in when the family isn't looking!). Phoned the old drear for a chat. The old fella told me Maidenhead lost 2-1 yesterday, I haven't a clue who against but they had a good first half but crap second and that went for the umpires too. More improtantly they're off to Swindon today. To do anything interesting? To visit the White Horse at Uffington? To go and find the roots of the wonderful XTC? No they're off to Asda, but not just any Asda the old drear told me, no it's the biggest Asda in the UK and that's why the old fella is dragging her off to Swindon. Hallelujah, Swindon has a wonder of the western world in addition to the Magic Roundabout. Madness utter madness, is this the first sign of premature senility on his part?
Spotted on Rita Vine's SiteLines the Consumer Web Watch's Report on the Evaluation of Criteria Sets for Assessing Health Web Sites may be worth a look. It doesn't include DISCERN which I tend to use as a tool to assess the quality of information, presumably because it's a tool for assessing patient information leaflets and not explicitly websites. They do use criteria that I have used in the past like Mitretek.
I've long held dawn to be an over rated experience but as I contemplate ironing Cal's school uniform this morning it seems even more so. Need a coffee first I think. The weekly garden of links is complete and away we go.
