Absolutely well done, NE Man - I wouldn't have had the nerve!
My "getting wet" quota has now increased to four times in as many days. Linlithgow doesn't generally seem to get a huge lot of rain; I don't think I've seen so many consecutively wet days since I moved here.
No matter; BEER has been acquired, and prawn curry Part II will shortly be consumed with some of it.
Been to see my smallest grandson being a sheep in his school nativity play. The children did so well; mainly clear voices and tuneful singing. I can’t remember seeing either of my girls in a nativity play once they’d left nursery so this was a treat.
A quiet day in Arkland the Calm, with some Sun-Shine and a gentle westerly breeze.
Night has now fallen, of course, but the Yuletide lights are appearing, along with wisps of smoke from the stovepipes of various Arks. These two phenomena prove that at least some of my Neighbours are alive and well, though I haven't seen (or spoken to) any Humming Bean all day.
A light day today, just admin, comms and a meeting. So I managed to do some housework this afternoon, in anticipation of our guests.
Unfortunately I have a batch of marking arriving tomorrow, followed by more early next week. Just before the university closes for Christmas.
Tea was venison burger on a bed of fried kale and mushrooms (with cayenne and paprika) combined with leftover potato and aubergine in cream from yesterday, which created a lovely glossy heap. All topped with a fried egg.
I think my winter depression would improve if there wasn’t so much kale in my veg box over the season.
{{{Nenya}}}
David would have turned 70 today, and I had a nice chat with his sister, who has promised to send me some pictures of Sally, her new granddaughter, who I'm sure he would have adored.
Originally posted by Piglet: Absolutely well done, NE Man - I wouldn't have had the nerve!
As he tells it, he had the coffee and pastry for the Big Issue seller, rounded the corner and saw what was happening, and the only way he could give her the coffee and pastry was by getting rid of the men. Which he did. His mindset was not "intervene" but "give her the coffee."
If he had just happened to be passing, and decided to intervene, that would have taken nerve. But the decision to give her coffee and a pastry had been made when all was well with the world and he'd found himself with an unexpected £3.
It wasn't till he got home that he started thinking through what had just happened. The men claimed to be members of the "ADF" but we have no idea what that might be. Perhaps he misheard. They walked off shouting "No surrender" which he found ironic as they had just been chased off by a retired bespectacled sciencey geek.
I've just looked up ADF and there is an organisation called the Alliance Defending Freedom who claim to be a Christian group defending our freedom to free speech. Well done NE Man.
We've had a day without rain. I headed off to the city to the west to pick up my hearing aids that needed sorting out and to do a bit of shopping, though I didn't actually get much. This evening I went to our local museum to see some architectural drawings of our town. The artist is Chilean, and he finds the way our town which is mainly Georgian with a big chunk of Medieval is set out compared to towns in his country really fascinating. Afterwards there was a Town Council meeting which was pretty productive as a couple of things were decided and we managed to finish in good time.
This morning I drove to a nearby village which has easy parking by the post office, bought stamps and gift tokens and some goodies from the supermarket, then visited Mr P’s grave on the edge of the village. He would have been 79 today, and shares David’s birthday.
Lunch, then Scrabble group, a quick turn around before Choral Society. It was the last rehearsal before the Christmas concert. The tenors and basses were on poor form. Maybe they will be “ alright on the night”?
I've got a busy day today starting with visiting the post office to send a card to my friend in Australia. Then its on to my lipreading class's fuddle. Is that a Nottinghamshire word or is it used elsewhere for a bring and share party. My friend from the class who is welsh and Londoner me hadn't come across it before we moved here. Then its on to my charity bookshop shift which should be interesting. I couldn't make the staff meeting on Tuesday but left a question about censorship. A lot of books are being taken off on-line sales that I don't think should be. Banning books even if your intentions are honourable is never a good idea. I'm interested to know what other volunteers thought.
Finally tonight is the Mayor' quiz evening. We're encouraged to bring items for the foodbank or a cat's charity she's supporting so I need to pick up something to take with us.
Yoga this morning, followed by coffee with the ladies. Some of my students have an assignment due today (on achieving a good death) so I need to check on those and I might summon up the courage to do some early marking. Officially it is my day off/study day so I will see how I feel.
I need to clean the kitchen at some point.
Did my usual exercise class this morning which I've missed for a couple of weeks so it was good to get back to it, followed by coffee with friends.
I've been distinctly Under The Weather for the past few days, with a slightly sore throat and a few aches which don't develop into a full blown cold but don't seem to want to get better either. With all the tidying and sorting involved in a possible house move next year - plus being exhausted because I'm not sleeping well and continuing to be horrified at the Stuff that's coming out of our loft - I am very behind on All Things Christmas and hope I can catch up on myself over the next few days.
Belated hugs to Puzzler and Piglet. I hope the birthdays went as well as they can.
I decided that I am enough on top of my work to skip the marking today and I just made my marking plan instead. I am currently having a sit down with Mochi before doing some tidying.
Tea will be mutton chop and mushrooms, all by myself as Mr Heavenly is having a late Christmas lunch with his work.
A day of tidying and cleaning, in preparation for hosting my French group tomorrow afternoon. The hardest part was clearing the piano which holds piles of music for three different carol events, and my side table of multiple To Do lists and other essentials of my existence.
I decided to leave my 23! birthday cards up for one more day. Only a few Christmas cards have arrived as yet. I have still got three vases of birthday flowers. I’m going to deflate the remaining balloons.
Unfortunately I managed to dislodge my Advent bridge and now it won’t light up.
{{virtual hugs}} to all of you going through emotional times just now, or simply feeling unwell - There Is A Lot Of It About...and the forced jollity of the season often doesn't exactly help, especially if you're under pressure.
Another breezy but dry day in Arkland the Blustery (though the wind has died down now somewhat). A few more Arks are displaying festive lights this evening, but Neighbour F's HO-HO-HO is hard to beat.
Tess Coe was visited at the usual midday-ish hour, but was (perhaps unsurprisingly) very busy. The car park was full, but after a couple of trips around it whilst people loaded up their booty shopping, my Guardian Angel found me a disabled bay close to the door.
I bought the last Crimbo Prezzies I needed to get - two large boxes of CHOCOLATE (Green & Black) and a bottle of WINE - but forgot to stock up on loo rolls. With only a fortnight to go before The Day, I need to make haste, because there will undoubtedly be a Shortage very soon, with the entire kingdom usually becoming incontinent at holiday times. It's all that Bread and Milk they insist on buying...
{{{Puzzler}}} I hope David and Mr P had a nice pint in Heaven!
At last, a day without Getting Wet; it's still unseasonably mild, but at least dry. Having said that, the hoolie that was blowing the other day, and had abated somewhat, seems to have come back, probably because I got my hair cut at lunchtime, and we couldn't have it behaving itself on the way back to the office, now, could we?
I'm still coughing like an engine; one of my bosses phoned down this morning to ask if I was all right! I was a bit worried that I might be frightening the horses clients, but it was kind of him to ask! The thing is, I really don't feel ill; it's just this rather alarming barking ...
Supper was the curry, Part the Third, and very nice too. I must try and replicate the spice quantities next time I make it.
Comments
My "getting wet" quota has now increased to four times in as many days. Linlithgow doesn't generally seem to get a huge lot of rain; I don't think I've seen so many consecutively wet days since I moved here.
No matter; BEER has been acquired, and prawn curry Part II will shortly be consumed with some of it.
Night has now fallen, of course, but the Yuletide lights are appearing, along with wisps of smoke from the stovepipes of various Arks. These two phenomena prove that at least some of my Neighbours are alive and well, though I haven't seen (or spoken to) any Humming Bean all day.
A light day today, just admin, comms and a meeting. So I managed to do some housework this afternoon, in anticipation of our guests.
Unfortunately I have a batch of marking arriving tomorrow, followed by more early next week. Just before the university closes for Christmas.
Tea was venison burger on a bed of fried kale and mushrooms (with cayenne and paprika) combined with leftover potato and aubergine in cream from yesterday, which created a lovely glossy heap. All topped with a fried egg.
I think my winter depression would improve if there wasn’t so much kale in my veg box over the season.
My day started badly and got worse so I'm going to crawl into bed and hope for better things tomorrow.
David would have turned 70 today, and I had a nice chat with his sister, who has promised to send me some pictures of Sally, her new granddaughter, who I'm sure he would have adored.
Originally posted by Piglet:
Absolutely well done, NE Man - I wouldn't have had the nerve!
As he tells it, he had the coffee and pastry for the Big Issue seller, rounded the corner and saw what was happening, and the only way he could give her the coffee and pastry was by getting rid of the men. Which he did. His mindset was not "intervene" but "give her the coffee."
If he had just happened to be passing, and decided to intervene, that would have taken nerve. But the decision to give her coffee and a pastry had been made when all was well with the world and he'd found himself with an unexpected £3.
It wasn't till he got home that he started thinking through what had just happened. The men claimed to be members of the "ADF" but we have no idea what that might be. Perhaps he misheard. They walked off shouting "No surrender" which he found ironic as they had just been chased off by a retired bespectacled sciencey geek.
We've had a day without rain. I headed off to the city to the west to pick up my hearing aids that needed sorting out and to do a bit of shopping, though I didn't actually get much. This evening I went to our local museum to see some architectural drawings of our town. The artist is Chilean, and he finds the way our town which is mainly Georgian with a big chunk of Medieval is set out compared to towns in his country really fascinating. Afterwards there was a Town Council meeting which was pretty productive as a couple of things were decided and we managed to finish in good time.
Lunch, then Scrabble group, a quick turn around before Choral Society. It was the last rehearsal before the Christmas concert. The tenors and basses were on poor form. Maybe they will be “ alright on the night”?
Finally tonight is the Mayor' quiz evening. We're encouraged to bring items for the foodbank or a cat's charity she's supporting so I need to pick up something to take with us.
I need to clean the kitchen at some point.
Safe travels @Boogie .
Did my usual exercise class this morning which I've missed for a couple of weeks so it was good to get back to it, followed by coffee with friends.
I've been distinctly Under The Weather for the past few days, with a slightly sore throat and a few aches which don't develop into a full blown cold but don't seem to want to get better either. With all the tidying and sorting involved in a possible house move next year - plus being exhausted because I'm not sleeping well and continuing to be horrified at the Stuff that's coming out of our loft
I decided that I am enough on top of my work to skip the marking today and I just made my marking plan instead. I am currently having a sit down with Mochi before doing some tidying.
Tea will be mutton chop and mushrooms, all by myself as Mr Heavenly is having a late Christmas lunch with his work.
I decided to leave my 23! birthday cards up for one more day. Only a few Christmas cards have arrived as yet. I have still got three vases of birthday flowers. I’m going to deflate the remaining balloons.
Unfortunately I managed to dislodge my Advent bridge and now it won’t light up.
Another breezy but dry day in Arkland the Blustery (though the wind has died down now somewhat). A few more Arks are displaying festive lights this evening, but Neighbour F's HO-HO-HO is hard to beat.
Tess Coe was visited at the usual midday-ish hour, but was (perhaps unsurprisingly) very busy. The car park was full, but after a couple of trips around it whilst people loaded up their booty shopping, my Guardian Angel found me a disabled bay close to the door.
I bought the last Crimbo Prezzies I needed to get - two large boxes of CHOCOLATE (Green & Black) and a bottle of WINE - but forgot to stock up on loo rolls. With only a fortnight to go before The Day, I need to make haste, because there will undoubtedly be a Shortage very soon, with the entire kingdom usually becoming incontinent at holiday times. It's all that Bread and Milk they insist on buying...
At last, a day without Getting Wet; it's still unseasonably mild, but at least dry. Having said that, the hoolie that was blowing the other day, and had abated somewhat, seems to have come back, probably because I got my hair cut at lunchtime, and we couldn't have it behaving itself on the way back to the office, now, could we?
I'm still coughing like an engine; one of my bosses phoned down this morning to ask if I was all right! I was a bit worried that I might be frightening the horses clients, but it was kind of him to ask! The thing is, I really don't feel ill; it's just this rather alarming barking ...
Supper was the curry, Part the Third, and very nice too. I must try and replicate the spice quantities next time I make it.