19 May 2012 (Saturday) - Family Barbie

Having fallen asleep in front of the telly last night I woke at 1.30am and took myself off to bed. A bit of a lie-in, and then a quick on-line survey over brekkie. Lacey came to visit, and showed us her skipping skills, and told us all about Rainbows. She's got a badge already. And she told us that after Rainbows is Brownies, and then Cubs(!) I wonder if Brown Owl knows that's how Brownies and Cubs are seen by the littluns these days?

Once littlun had set off to wherever it was she was going (apparently it involved a Panda dressed as a person) we went out to collect the catalogues I had delivered on Thursday. Quite a good return rate, really. And three orders as well. Can't be bad.

Home; where I had a small apple turnover and a cup of coffee for lunch. In days gone by I wouldn't have thought anything about having had two of those turnovers as well as some lunch. But when one is calorie counting, one can scare one's self. And talking of calorie counting, the morning's weigh in showed another pound gone since last week. Weight loss has definitely slowed, but is progressing. Which (I suppose) is some small consolation for being permanently hungry.

The Folkestonians arrived, and once they'd done with the hair straighteners we went round to the Fudgery for the rest of the family. And with a carfull we made off to my brother's house for a family barbecue. A great time was had by all; really should do the family thing more often. I got to be father and son, husband and brother, uncle and cousin. And the first fruit of my loin scored with a biddy fifty years his senior. There's even one or two photos of the day on-line as well (if you know where to look)

And I've got guts ache now......

18 May 2012 (Friday) - The News

The morning's news made me think. The government is proposing introducing lessons in how to be a good parent to prospective parents; after all (as the Prime Minister says) driving lessons are a must, so why not parenting lessons. I must admit that being faced with a baby was a daunting prospect: some help and advice would have been welcomed. But then the newsreader when on to say that the idea of parenting classes was to improve the general unruliness and social behaviour of the youth of today. And that's when I got a bit cross.

The best parent in the world does not have face to face contact with their child for most of the child's average day. The parent will spend most of that time at work, or looking for work whilst the child is at school. Surely (if the object of the exercise is to improve the social skills of the kiddies) some onus needs to be placed on the schools and the teachers. I can remember many years of frustrations from teachers telling me what bad brats I had engendered; and telling me a week or so after whatever crimes had been committed, and with no inclination to inflict any discipline of their own.

Meanwhile our old friend science has invented a new fruit. It's actual name is T109, but seeing how that is rather a dull name, the pundits have dubbed it the "papple" because it's (apparently) a cross between a pear and an apple.

My mobile rang - the number was 01772643080. When I answered the person on the other end hung up. This has happened quite a bit lately. I Googled the number and found that I'm not alone in getting these nuisance calls, and that the number has been reported to OFCOM, for all the good that would seem to have done.

And in closing today spare a thought for Her Majesty. Who has found herself in a no-win position. The Foreign Office had sent out invites to all the world's assorted monarchs inviting them to a beano at Buck House. Today they all showed up for the bunfight, and the country's media has decided to go through the list and decide which ones are acceptable, and which ones should be told to get knotted because of various misdemeanours they may or may not have committed.

It strikes me that if you're going to get all the world's royalty together, you get the lot, or you don't bother. Picking and choosing will only give offence. And who exactly should get to do the choosing anyway?

17 May 2012 (Thursday) - Hot Dog Sandwich

With a double dose of catalogues to unload onto an unsuspecting public this morning I made an early start. I was just delivering the last one when a voice called out: "What you sticking through my letter box!" Suspecting the worst I put a happy smile on my face and prepared to get an earful of abuse. But to my surprise it was a chap I used to work with. Someone who's even on my Facebook list. He'd seen me delivering to his house, recognised me, and had come out to see how I had been keeping. We spent an enjoyable ten minutes chatting. I'd not seen him for ages. It was good to catch up.

And so home, where I applied for a few jobs. And had a couple of phone calls from agencies. Something might come of these applications, something might not. Time will tell; it usually does.

"My Boy ^TM" was about; clumping up and down the stairs, as he does. Just as I was getting a tad peckish he hollered up the stairs to me. Did I fancy a hot dog sandwich? He had a tin of eight of the things and didn't want them all. I was quite happy to have lunch made for me, and I sat with him and scoffed. Very nice (!)

As he set off out to work I wrote a letter to the bank about the astro club's account; a year after we told them about the change of address for bank statements they are still sending the statements to the wrong address. I then set myself in front of the telly with a plan to muck about doing on-line surveys on my lap-top for the afternoon. I didn't get many done - I had quite a few phone calls from employment agencies with possible jobs for me. Some seemed quite appealing. Some impractical. We shall see.

This evening I had planned to get the cameras out and have a go at photographing the deer at Kings Wood. But I cancelled that idea in favour of a better offer from the Heaths Countryside Corridor (a bunch we know through the arky-ologee club) inviting us to a bat and newt evening.

And then I remembered it was astro club committee this evening. Oh well - so much for making plans.

Mind you, although a committee meeting sounds much duller, it wasn't. A chance to meet up with a gaggle of people who have become some of my staunchest friends is always a good thing.

And I had a letter I needed countersigning by the committee bods too...

16 May 2012 (Wednesday) - Yet More Stuff

 

I slept well last night for a change. Mind you I was tired yesterday evening. Which was unusual: I rarely feel tired. For all that I fall asleep in front of the telly with infuriating regularity, it's not because I am tired. Or, to be a bit more specific, not because I feel tired. One minute I will be wide awake watching whatever is on the telly; the next minute I am out for the count. But rarely do I ever actually feel tired. I did yesterday; I didn't like it.

I got on the scales this morning. I've lost three quarters of a pound since the last time I weighed myself, which was only a couple of days ago. Thirteen stones, thirteen pounds. And I did some research on the internet. For all that I've shed over a quarter of the mass I had a year ago, I still have quite a way to go. Exactly how much is open to question. The least amount I have to lose is another sixteen pounds, but the consensus of opinion is that I should shift at least another twenty five pounds. And that would only be to get to the top end of the "not overweight" category. So realistically I've got to shift another two stones. Well, I suppose I'm two thirds of the way.

One of the blokes at work was showing off a photo of his daughters: they'd had someone bring in some snakes to their school. The girls looked quite sweet with the royal python. It reminded me of another little girl who was particularly good with serpents in her youth.

Seeing that the latest amazing MMORG was now free, I signed up for Star Trek On Line. I signed up for free, like it said. And the downloading started for free. And then I had a look at what was downloading. Three gigabytes worth. An estimated three complete days of downloading. So I cancelled that idea. Which was a shame... Perhaps I could have a look-see to find out what's been going on in NeverWinter since I was last there...?

15 May 2012 (Tuesday) - More Stuff

Yesterday I mentioned that I shall be one of the attractions at a craft fair on Sunday. I put a plug for the thing on Facebook, and invited about a hundred people. Of course a lot of people will be busy. I totally understand that. So why do I feel so disappointed when a very small minority of people say that they have prior arrangements?

I was woken by the noisy chatter of a gaggle of whoever-it-was walking up the road at 5am this morning. I wonder if there would be any mileage in our decamping to the back room for sleeping and to use the main room as a dressing room? And so to work. Having been paranoid that yesterday's missed phone calls was something terrible from work, i arrived to find no one had any burning issues or messages; all was the same as it ever was. I wonder who those phone calls were from?

Another phone call. From an agency I'd never heard of. Had I considered a career in the financial world? And then she started wittering on about this and that. I stopped her and told her I knew nothing about finance. But she seemed to think that with the sales experience on my C.V., that wouldn't be a problem. The only fly in the ointment would be that I would have to relocate outside of the UK. I wasn't keen on that. Still, if nothing else it shows my CV is now working.

Other than a minor intestinal emergency in the early afternoon, my working day was relatively uneventful. Which, these days, is probably for the best.

And then home. Via Chippy's for the traditional Tuesday night gathering. Seeing I'd come straight from work, "er indoors ^TM" had brought up some scoff - Co-op's Chinese chicken curry. If any of my loyal readers are considering having a Co-op's Chinese chicken curry, be very wary. If you like liquorice, then you'll love it. It's like liquorice and rice. For myself it is quite possibly the worst thing I have ever eaten....

14 May 2012 (Monday) - Painting

For some reason I wasn't feeling one hundred per cent this morning. Some days are better than others, and this morning wasn't one of the good ones. For all that I was having a grumble it was good to see the most recent fruit of my loin. It seemed odd not seeing her over the weekend.

There is only so much sulking that one can do, and I got my paints out. I've got the offer of running a stall at a craft fair on Sunday, and so I thought I'd put together some smaller paintings that might be more likely to be snapped up by the punters. I quite had the muse on me as I got going, and I painted for over three hours. With eight small paintings done I was quite pleased with the morning's efforts. It's a shame that the photos don't do justice to the paintings. But then photos of paintings rarely do.

"My Boy ^TM" and Cheryl popped in. They'd been to the dentist, and were squabbling about fishing trips and EuroDisney. And once they'd set off on their way I watched the second half of the documentary about Hitler that I'd started watching last week. And I fell asleep during it. I hate that. I woke up to see it was raining; so I made a quick dash outside to get the laundry in. Bearing in mind how good the weather was this morning, I'd had a vague idea to pootle in the garden for the afternoon. But rain put paid to that idea. Which was a shame. Instead I got literary and wrote another seven thousand words of novel. It's now over thirty thousand words long. I really need to go back to the plan and write paragraphs which are in keeping with the story. Rather than randomly writing what seems a good idea at the time and popping it in.

I then wrote the review below for basketball tickets. It's not an especially loquacious article; perhaps I could have done better. But I only had three days to respond to the advertiser; and having been working for the last two days, I think I did leave checking my emails to the last minute. I really must make a point of checking them more often. I then did some more surveys and applied for more advertising commissions. Something might come of it. One lives in hope.

My mobile rang. There was no caller number displayed. And no one on the other end. I hung up, and the same think happened with the house phone. No called I.D., no one on the other end. I wonder what that was all about? I'm suspecting the worst.... It's odd how a missed phone call can set me worrying....

And then the Folkestonians visited. Which was good. For all that I like having non-working days in the week, they can get lonely at times...

13 May 2012 (Sunday) - Religious?

As I came home last night I nearly impaled myself on the bicycle of the first fruit of my loins. For some reason he'd parked his trusty velocopede in the hallway. Having survived the experience I took myself off to bed. Just as I was dozing off he came home quietly to claim his bike. I'm sure my loyal readers half way round the world must have heard him quietly collecting his bike in the early hours.

After yesterday's debacle of getting to work an hour earlier than I needed to, I made a point of lying in my pit until 7am this morning, and then over a bit of brekkie I checked to see what the world was doing. Actually I logged on to Facebook - it's much the same thing really. Some people were up and about. Some weren't. I was quite pleased to see that i wasn't the only person up early on a Sunday. And one of my cousins had remarked what a beautiful morning it was. As I drove to work I realized she was right. There is something particularly special about the early morning sunshine. Seeing it is one of the things than makes camping and early morning fishing so special. Mind you, I'd rather have spent another couple of hours in my pit. But today that was not to be.

As I drove to work I had Radio 4 on (as I usually do). Rather than a news program they were broadcasting the Sunday service. I could have turned over. I could have put a CD on. I didn't I listened. And what did I think? A couple of years ago I would have dismissed it all as the superstitious nonsense that I then thought it was. Nowadays.... I'm not so sure. Whilst reason tells me it's all crackpot gibberish, a small voice of doubt is creeping into the back of my mind. Am I getting religion in my old age? I don't think so, but sometimes I wonder....

And I then spent another day in work, looking out of the windows at glorious weather; sulking about the week of rain I've just spent at home...