I seem to have spent all day juggling and firming up arrangements with five different people to fit everyone in this week: grandson on half term, daughter before she goes away mid-week, son to do some gardening between his work commitments, u3a French group ( venue changed- no longer coming here so now I don’t need to bake or do a super-tidy) and a friend unexpectedly back home from Spain for a week wanting to meet up. Harder than doing a jigsaw.
In between times I have done some ironing, a bit of prep for tonight’s rehearsal and hemmed one curtain. Where has the day gone?
I seem to have spent all day juggling and firming up arrangements with five different people to fit everyone in this week: grandson on half term, daughter before she goes away mid-week, son to do some gardening between his work commitments, u3a French group ( venue changed- no longer coming here so now I don’t need to bake or do a super-tidy) and a friend unexpectedly back home from Spain for a week wanting to meet up. Harder than doing a jigsaw.
In between times I have done some ironing, a bit of prep for tonight’s rehearsal and hemmed one curtain. Where has the day gone?
I gather you are retired? We have days like that. How did we do anything when we worked?
A mix of sunshine and showers here, luckily the former was prevalent when I ambled along to Tessie's with the Trusty Trolley at lunchtime to get a few bits and bobs, and it was just stopping raining as I left the office in the evening.
Supper was fishcakes with veggies and some leftover coleslaw.
I hope all Shipmates feeling poorly at the moment start to feel much better soon.
It was a day of sunshine and showers here, a vast improvement on yesterday, even if I did get a bit wet heading to my Pilates class today.
After an afternoon of listening to podcasts while knitting an experimental flower for a display this summer I headed off to a council meeting this evening. I think a few of the other councillors were a bit surprised at how cross I was at a decision a small sub-committee made last week. There is a full council meeting on Wednesday so I need to get my arguments rather better nailed down for that.
I've been in all day so far, seeing someone this morning and then trying to make progress with the Casa Nen Sort and Declutter. I'm out shortly to see friends for coffee and then an early tea (Lazy Curry) before Mr Nen and I attend different meetings this evening. Mine is on Zoom so I haven't got to go out and will be able to indulge in a glass or so of wine to wash the curry down with.
While cold and grey outside it is not actually raining and we had a glimpse of sunshine this morning.
I hope you get your arguments sorted for the meeting tomorrow @Sarasa .
There was some nice Sun-Shine in Arkland the Mild this morning, but the default Clouds are now beginning to cover the firmament.
Pilates has been endured - quite a painful session today - but some useful homework exercises have been set. I have an awful suspicion that the Torturer will know, at next week's appointment, whether or not I've obeyed her diktat...
I do well to obey the Torturer, of course, as it is she who is keeping me mobile-ish.
Lunch is Chinese - BEEF in Black Bean Sauce, with Rice etc. etc., but I'd prefer it if They left out the bits of red Pepper. Still though.
A sunny if rather cold day today, and the only day this week with nothing planned. I did go to the corner shop aka Waitrose this morning to pick up the avocado I thought I'd put on the grocery order that came first thing. This afternoon I also went out for a walk. The one downside of living here, is that there are no nice walks without quite a walk to get to them. Instead I walked along the river path to the not-quite out of town centre for a mooch.
Keep up the Pilates @Bishops Finger. I'm trying to do some on-line between going to classes and I think it does do me good.
Ah FOOD. Today a real treat. Mrs Sionis Vegetable Lasagna, one of our Alpha group standbys, to a) cater for vegetarians b) challenge the cooks.
This time however we are hosting youngest grandson of eight (all boys) and there is a bit of crisis feeding little ones as some brands of formula milk have been withdrawn, causing panic buying and therefore shortages. This is a feature hereabouts: during lockdown there was a rumoured shortage of toilet paper and supermarkets were attempting to ration sales, but people continued to panic buy and I’m sure there are some households with loo rolls bought in 2020 😟
Yet another rejection from the last interview, followed within 5 minutes by a rejection for a fucking postie job. Why do I bother?
Oh, and not forgetting a call and a meeting with people with a broader view of the job market than me, who both concur that it's still fucked. Yay!
Really not looking forward to tomorrow's networking event - there has been someone at the last few who has no idea how patronising it is telling people in my situation how they should be positive. If they do it again tomorrow there is a fair chance I will be banned from the events for life... even if I'm not jailed for life!
Apart from that, happy mardi gras. Captain P had carnival at school today. He dressed up as a police officer. Not necessarily what I would have chosen, but that's what he wanted, and I found the costume on Vinted for €3, so whatevs. I already made crêpes for Candlemas, and I made more for him to take to school. I don't particularly like making them, so by this evening I was all crêped out. Consequently my family got apple fritters instead.
So sorry about the job rejections Sanders - that really does suck great festering goose-balls. 😥
Still cold in West Lothian, but (whisper it) beginning to feel a little bit Springy. The evenings are getting lighter, and it was positively sunny as I ambled to work.
I cobbled together a fairly successful sausage casserole with tomatoes, chickpeas and orzo for supper, with enough for tomorrow.
I suppose that means I haven't an excuse not to go to the Ash Wednesday service at St Pete's ... 🙃
Our Place has two services tomorrow - 10am and 730pm - to give the Faithful a choice, especially those who don't like to go out in the evening.
Our Cathedral has the main Eucharist at 530pm (instead of Evensong), but they also have Eucharists at 8am and 1pm. I went to the lunchtime service one year, and was pleased to find a simple said liturgy (with Ashing), but no sermon...
I have my hand up to confess that I have loo rolls dating back to covid - or possibly to Brexit.
You buy what you can get at such times, and a couple of times I bought loo rolls that I found too flimsy, and which came only in packs of nine. Once more substantial ones were back in the shops the flimsy ones were demoted, to become the emergency supply for the next dire shortage, when it comes.
Sunny and cold today. I had originally planned to get some writing done today but ended up working to 3pm sorting out issues and then marking.
Church group this evening where we had a social with pancakes, expertly cooked by Mr Heavenly.
Yet another rejection from the last interview, followed within 5 minutes by a rejection for a fucking postie job. Why do I bother?
Oh, and not forgetting a call and a meeting with people with a broader view of the job market than me, who both concur that it's still fucked. Yay!
Really not looking forward to tomorrow's networking event - there has been someone at the last few who has no idea how patronising it is telling people in my situation how they should be positive. If they do it again tomorrow there is a fair chance I will be banned from the events for life... even if I'm not jailed for life!
Much sympathy from one who has trod where now you tread. Many years ago I had a file of PFO letters that were quite funny when they tried to tell me how sorry they were to have to tell me that I was over/under/unqualified to help lead their companies into their glorious futures.
The New York Times business section once ran a piece on outplacement agencies, to which I responded with a blistering letter condemning such things to hell and blazes, giving detailed reasons. A couple of days later I got a call from the paper telling me they wanted to run my letter along with a self-congratulatory one from a man who owned one of these agencies. A brief conversation disclosed that the other letter writer in fact owned the company that I was excoriating. The poor editor laughed himself silly when I told him this. And he ran both letters the next day.
As it is written, fight the good fight; also the other one.
My jigsaw week is slotting into place. My daughter rang me instead of an actual visit. My grandson came for tea ( fish pie) yesterday, a day when I was stuck at home in case the neighbour’s workmen needed access to their property extension via my garden. They didn’t, but are back today to finish. I need to go out this afternoon so I hope that will work out.
Grandson’s visit was a delight. He is an intelligent but not showy-off 18 year old, who listens as well as chats ( unlike his cousin who is even more intelligent but never shuts up and thinks he knows it all.) His mum was going to cook pancakes for when he got home, so we didn’t have pudding. Unfortunately she ran out of milk, so pancakes are postponed until tonight ( shock! horror!)
U3a with speaker this afternoon, with entertaining tales of the highest inn in the UK.
This evening, instead of singing, as the DM needs to be at church for Ash Wednesday, we have a choir committee meeting on Teams. We hope the Chair remembers and stays on track.
I headed off to Mass first thing this morning, which was really well attended. I now have a very large ashen cross on my forehead. I have a council meeting tonight and though I normally keep the ashes on all day, it is such an in your face mark I think I need to take it off otherwise my fellow councillors will think I'm guilt tripping them, or maybe making a statement about the current state of British politics.
Home via Waitrose for some bits and pieces. Husband has gone to London for the day and as I need to be at the Town Hall by 6.20 so I wanted something quick and easy for tea tonight and I also fancied baba ghanoush for lunch.
Our Place has two services tomorrow - 10am and 730pm - to give the Faithful a choice, especially those who don't like to go out in the evening.
And those who are at work during the day.
Yes, indeed - AIUI the 10am service (which doesn't include hymns) caters largely for the older or retired demographic.
The evening service (which does include hymns (and incense!) is likely to have a better attendance than 10am, but FatherinCharge is happy to duplicate services on special occasions (such as Ascension Day), even though it makes more work for him.
U3a with speaker this afternoon, with entertaining tales of the highest inn in the UK.
The Tan Hill Inn, Swaledale?
We had an unscheduled stay there one snowy night - we were snowed in. They have their own snowplough.
All the woodwork is done by the owner and it's outstanding.
They have good live bands and serve excellent food.
Wikipedia confirms that this is indeed the nearest pub to Heaven (so to speak) in the UK . I've never been in those parts, but it sounds as though it's well worth a visit, perhaps preferably without Sn*w.
Another grey and chilly day in Arkland the Drear, with a nasty East Wind.
I did briefly consider going to the 1pm Ash Wednesday Eucharist at the Cathedral, but the Wind pushed an already-forecast high tide up even further, and I was marooned on the Ark from about 12 noon until 2pm. OK, I could have left early, and come back late, but I wasn't feeling penitential enough...
Instead, I began my prescribed homework Pilates exercises, with some success, so I'm now feeling particularly virtuous. I have, as it happens, fasted so far today, but will now partake of a late lunch.
Cold here today. I’ve done my work, including some marking, and I am now having a couple of hours break as I am teaching this evening (double bill of youth inequality/literature searching).
Indeed it is the Tan Hill in beautiful Swaledale, North Yorkshire. I have not been inside but drove round the area, back in the days when I lived in Yorkshire. The speaker is a former owner. He has written two books about it, including the famous Everest advert. He spoke most entertainingly of his time there. He now lives in Ilkley, West Yorkshire.
The rain it raineth every day. We have it cold and wet.
We have been invited to a Wild West themed birthday party. I had a look for my inner cowgirl and realised I don't have one. I also don't think I can carry off the "harlot in a saloon" look, which means there's only one thing for it. I'm going to have to go full Little House on the Prairie.
I've spent a good part of the afternoon making one of these, and on the sly I think it's extremely cool. I'm making the one with the ruffles, using a navy blue cotton gabardine I already had. I don't like buying or making garments that I'm only going to wear once, so I need to come up with some sort of floral maxi dress I can wear again after (granted, the bonnet's probably not going to get a lot of reuse). An apron may also be in the offing.
I spent a long session today (10am - 2.30pm) catching up with a friend over coffee. We see each other about once a year but have a shared history (used to live very near each other with daughters of the same age who went to the same school) and always pick up where we left off. I then had a couple of errands in town and got home just as the rain started to arrive.
Mr Nen is out this evening and wanted to have tea early, so we ate at 5pm. Consequently I've spent the past hour feeling that it must be bedtime, but I have a Zoom meeting at 8. This may or may not keep me awake... it's a weekly meeting and a fortnight ago I fell asleep during it .
LVER, in the days when I made children’s clothing from vintage fabrics I sold a lot of prairie bonnets, mostly for babies but also for children dressing up for visiting historic houses. I also made the occasional prairie dress to order.
I have a fine collection of original early 1970s Laura Ashley prairie dresses from my 1990s grunge days of vintage dresses, leather biker jacket and docs. Alas, the dresses are now too small for me and I really should sell them as they are now worth a fortune. I still wear docs though, and have a rainbow of brightly coloured boots in the hallway (having small feet means I can buy cheap children’s ones on eBay, some of the docs even have glitter in their soles!).
I’ve just finished this evening’s lecture and am having a glass of rose with Mochi on my lap. Mr Heavenly is out on the razzle with the local dads.
Tea was turkey leg confit with courgette fritters (leftover batter from last night).
I am a bad piglet: when I got home from work I thought "stuff it", changed into my scruffies and settled in for the night, and didn't go over the road for the service.
Supper was part 2 of the sausage casserole, and rather good - I think it's one I'll do again.
Our Place has two services tomorrow - 10am and 730pm - to give the Faithful a choice, especially those who don't like to go out in the evening.
And those who are at work during the day.
If I have a complaint about my current place. Well, I do, I'll start again.
Amongst my complaints about my current place is their failure to recognise that one or two members of the congregation are actually young enough to be still working.
I managed to tell the person who made a decision I profoundly disagree with last week how annoyed and upset I am by it. I hope I did it in a calm and collected way and at least he now knows how I feel. It won't change anything, at least not yet, but I'd rather he knew what I thought than otherwise.
It is wet again here, after a brief reprieve yesterday. No lip reading class this morning, but I am off to my bookshop shift this afternoon and should be going out to my writers group this evening. I really ought to go as there are various things I need to discuss with the group, but I can't say I'm that enthusiastic about going out in the cold and wet for the third time this week.
Last evening turned into a bit of a mess. Bear with me, or just scroll past.
I ate early and allowed plenty of time to get onto Teams ready for our choir committee meeting at 7. At 6.40 my daughter sent a panic text asking me to provide 110gm of plain flour for her delayed pancakes. I broke off, weighed it and put it in a plastic tub. I did not hear the doorbell ( problem with my Ring doorbell?) so missed her when she called by on her way to athletics at 6.50. She texted to tell me, but I was still struggling with Teams, so later I absented myself from the meeting and popped it outside on the doorstep just in time for her to collect it after training. Meanwhile I am still trying to get into the meeting, eventually succeeding by circuitous routes, but although I could hear them, they could not hear me. No, I wasn’t on Mute. I contributed via the Chat but I’m pretty sure the Useless Chair did not see my contributions. Others did thankfully and picked up my points.
The Chair failed spectacularly to distinguish properly with the Minutes, dealing straightaway with Matters Arising even if covered by the Agenda later, and failing to pickup on other MA not covered, going straight into the actual Agenda….. you get my drift. The meeting went on until gone 10 pm. We all lost the will to live.
The Treasurer is finishing at the AGM and a replacement has been found, the Secretary is also retiring after 15 years and had already asked me if I would take it on. In the meeting there was a long pause when the Chair asked if any member was prepared to do it. Meanwhile I wrote a lengthy reply in Chat as to why not me. ( I did a substantial voluntary job when I first retired, for 15 years, and now is not the time at 80 to take up a new role, though I am happy to help. We need someone newly retired, with good IT skills).
Not sure if the Chair read this as nobody else spoke up to comment. An e-mail has already gone out to all choir members, seeking a replacement but she appeared not to know this, even though she wrote it, so hopefully a younger ( newly retired) person may respond.
I spent a further 20 minutes after the meeting trying but failing to sort my microphone problems. Something to ask my son about when he comes over this afternoon as delving into Settings is not my forte.
Rant over.
My problems are trivial when compared to Andrew Mountbatten- Windsor.
Well, Mr M-W does indeed have some huge problems, but mostly (I suspect) of his own making. A sad day for an already rather frayed monarchy. Roll on, the Republic, with Anne Windsor as President!
Another grey and drizzly day in Arkland the Wet. I managed a trip to Tess Coe, and reached home in good time to get back aboard the Ark before today's high tide . S & Q time in the wheelhouse, accompanied by my homework Pilates exercises (and BEER), followed by a nice LAMB STEAK, pan-fried in Rosemary & Sage Butter, for lunch.
Well, Mr M-W does indeed have some huge problems, but mostly (I suspect) of his own making.
I initially misinterpreted that as Mr Mystery Worshipper. I think some of us who have done Mystery Worship have caused some issues when the calling card has been found.
Grey and cold with almost drizzle here.
No yoga this week so I got some chores done and then logged in to catch up with work before studying this afternoon. I need to start writing a new chapter today, which I always find difficult, so I have prevaricated by planning my work timetable for the next 6 weeks. But I am now mentally prepared to attack it.
I sympathise, @Puzzler: poorly chaired meetings are among life's most vexatious ways of spending time. Humans are not designed to function in meetings of more than 90 minutes!
Good chairs have certain basic skills relating to managing agendas, managing people and managing time. Few match up, whether in charity, local government, Diocese or anywhere else.
Sounds as if you need to resist being appointed secretary at all costs!
Yes, and then glue to fix the bits you have had to carve out. Many of these things were not meant to ever be taken apart, I suspect if it broke Kodak just sent you another.
I will be spending far more on this than it will be worth when I am done, but it's too lovely not to repair.
Despite wearing a thermal vest and a thick woolly the bookshop was freezing. I didn't do much in the way at work, but had some nice conversations. I also managed not to get wet, despite the weather not being the best.
Sorry about the Teams problems @Puzzler. I've had similar problems in the past with microphones, but can't remember how it was resolved now. Maybe something in settings. Useless chairmen (of either sex) really make meeting more of a trial than they should be. Good ones make meetings so much more pleasant.
My son has resolved my microphone problems, though first he had to sort internet connection issues. One thing leads to another. He introduced me to the advantages of ChatGPT and used it to resolve our issues, then demonstrated other uses. I’m hooked.
Cold here today. I did my aerobics class followed by coffee with friends and a few errands before home for lunch.
This afternoon necessitated me reading a document of 168 pages related to the house we're proposing to buy. I am fast losing the will to live.
Mrs BF and I once received a similarly-sized document regarding the late 15thC house we were proposing to buy. It was the Surveyor's report, complete with graphic colour photos of the dry rot, wet rot, and death-watch beetle ravages...the lovely peg-tiled roof needed to be completely stripped, and the 18thC tiles re-used, where still sound...the electrics and plumbing (1950s) required total replacement...and the plaster infill on virtually every wall had to be removed, with appropriate materials substituted.
The good news was that the oak frame of the house (walls, ceilings, and floors) was basically sound, and that the Georgian lead-lined gutters were also OK.
(We did, in fact, go ahead with the purchase, having obtained a couple of substantial grants from the local authority and from English Heritage, no less! The Council's Listed Building Officer - brought in from retirement as a consultant - could not have been more helpful).
Sandemaniac, Best wishes for your job hunting and your camera repairs.
As for house hunting and surveys, we were once given a fifty page report which we read, thinking that the property appeared more of a project than we could handle. A friend looked at the first page and when he drew air through his teeth three times in thirty seconds, we rejected it outright. It eventually sold for little over two-thirds of the original price but we did get most of the survey fee back through selling it to other potential buyers!
On other subjects, I have picked up the idea of ceasing to whinge, whine, complain and moan, but it is not easy. I really do need to pray about it.
Sandemaniac, Best wishes for your job hunting and your camera repairs.
Thanks! One of the two I find quite satisfying...
The bellows have now been extracted and packaged up ready to post to a company who will use them as patterns to make new. Pity it's such a ballache removing them in the first place.
Just a little point to say that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was taken to (and released from) Aylsham police station in Norfolk. My sister lives in the town so I'm sure there will be a lot of local gossip!
One local chap is recorded as saying that the law will take its course, and that life goes on as usual (or words to that effect). Very true, for all the media hype and feeding frenzy which will now ensue.
A trip to the Co-Op has just been postponed, as Arkland the Soaked is being rained on yet again. O well - tomorrow is another day, as they say, though it'll no doubt be wet...
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In between times I have done some ironing, a bit of prep for tonight’s rehearsal and hemmed one curtain. Where has the day gone?
I gather you are retired? We have days like that. How did we do anything when we worked?
Supper was fishcakes with veggies and some leftover coleslaw.
It was a day of sunshine and showers here, a vast improvement on yesterday, even if I did get a bit wet heading to my Pilates class today.
After an afternoon of listening to podcasts while knitting an experimental flower for a display this summer I headed off to a council meeting this evening. I think a few of the other councillors were a bit surprised at how cross I was at a decision a small sub-committee made last week. There is a full council meeting on Wednesday so I need to get my arguments rather better nailed down for that.
While cold and grey outside it is not actually raining and we had a glimpse of sunshine this morning.
I hope you get your arguments sorted for the meeting tomorrow @Sarasa .
Pilates has been endured - quite a painful session today - but some useful homework exercises have been set. I have an awful suspicion that the Torturer will know, at next week's appointment, whether or not I've obeyed her diktat...
I do well to obey the Torturer, of course, as it is she who is keeping me mobile-ish.
Lunch is Chinese - BEEF in Black Bean Sauce, with Rice etc. etc., but I'd prefer it if They left out the bits of red Pepper. Still
Keep up the Pilates @Bishops Finger. I'm trying to do some on-line between going to classes and I think it does do me good.
This time however we are hosting youngest grandson of eight (all boys) and there is a bit of crisis feeding little ones as some brands of formula milk have been withdrawn, causing panic buying and therefore shortages. This is a feature hereabouts: during lockdown there was a rumoured shortage of toilet paper and supermarkets were attempting to ration sales, but people continued to panic buy and I’m sure there are some households with loo rolls bought in 2020 😟
Oh, and not forgetting a call and a meeting with people with a broader view of the job market than me, who both concur that it's still fucked. Yay!
Really not looking forward to tomorrow's networking event - there has been someone at the last few who has no idea how patronising it is telling people in my situation how they should be positive. If they do it again tomorrow there is a fair chance I will be banned from the events for life... even if I'm not jailed for life!
Apart from that, happy mardi gras. Captain P had carnival at school today. He dressed up as a police officer. Not necessarily what I would have chosen, but that's what he wanted, and I found the costume on Vinted for €3, so whatevs. I already made crêpes for Candlemas, and I made more for him to take to school. I don't particularly like making them, so by this evening I was all crêped out. Consequently my family got apple fritters instead.
Still cold in West Lothian, but (whisper it) beginning to feel a little bit Springy. The evenings are getting lighter, and it was positively sunny as I ambled to work.
I cobbled together a fairly successful sausage casserole with tomatoes, chickpeas and orzo for supper, with enough for tomorrow.
I suppose that means I haven't an excuse not to go to the Ash Wednesday service at St Pete's ... 🙃
Our Cathedral has the main Eucharist at 530pm (instead of Evensong), but they also have Eucharists at 8am and 1pm. I went to the lunchtime service one year, and was pleased to find a simple said liturgy (with Ashing), but no sermon...
You buy what you can get at such times, and a couple of times I bought loo rolls that I found too flimsy, and which came only in packs of nine. Once more substantial ones were back in the shops the flimsy ones were demoted, to become the emergency supply for the next dire shortage, when it comes.
Sunny and cold today. I had originally planned to get some writing done today but ended up working to 3pm sorting out issues and then marking.
Church group this evening where we had a social with pancakes, expertly cooked by Mr Heavenly.
Much sympathy from one who has trod where now you tread. Many years ago I had a file of PFO letters that were quite funny when they tried to tell me how sorry they were to have to tell me that I was over/under/unqualified to help lead their companies into their glorious futures.
The New York Times business section once ran a piece on outplacement agencies, to which I responded with a blistering letter condemning such things to hell and blazes, giving detailed reasons. A couple of days later I got a call from the paper telling me they wanted to run my letter along with a self-congratulatory one from a man who owned one of these agencies. A brief conversation disclosed that the other letter writer in fact owned the company that I was excoriating. The poor editor laughed himself silly when I told him this. And he ran both letters the next day.
As it is written, fight the good fight; also the other one.
Grandson’s visit was a delight. He is an intelligent but not showy-off 18 year old, who listens as well as chats ( unlike his cousin who is even more intelligent but never shuts up and thinks he knows it all.) His mum was going to cook pancakes for when he got home, so we didn’t have pudding. Unfortunately she ran out of milk, so pancakes are postponed until tonight ( shock! horror!)
U3a with speaker this afternoon, with entertaining tales of the highest inn in the UK.
This evening, instead of singing, as the DM needs to be at church for Ash Wednesday, we have a choir committee meeting on Teams. We hope the Chair remembers and stays on track.
Home via Waitrose for some bits and pieces. Husband has gone to London for the day and as I need to be at the Town Hall by 6.20 so I wanted something quick and easy for tea tonight and I also fancied baba ghanoush for lunch.
Yes, indeed - AIUI the 10am service (which doesn't include hymns) caters largely for the older or retired demographic.
The evening service (which does include hymns (and incense!) is likely to have a better attendance than 10am, but FatherinCharge is happy to duplicate services on special occasions (such as Ascension Day), even though it makes more work for him.
The Tan Hill Inn, Swaledale?
We had an unscheduled stay there one snowy night - we were snowed in. They have their own snowplough.
All the woodwork is done by the owner and it's outstanding.
They have good live bands and serve excellent food.
Wikipedia confirms that this is indeed the nearest pub to Heaven (so to speak) in the UK
Another grey and chilly day in Arkland the Drear, with a nasty East Wind.
I did briefly consider going to the 1pm Ash Wednesday Eucharist at the Cathedral, but the Wind pushed an already-forecast high tide up even further, and I was marooned on the Ark from about 12 noon until 2pm. OK, I could have left early, and come back late, but I wasn't feeling penitential enough...
Instead, I began my prescribed homework Pilates exercises, with some success, so I'm now feeling particularly virtuous. I have, as it happens, fasted so far today, but will now partake of a late lunch.
🤣
We have been invited to a Wild West themed birthday party. I had a look for my inner cowgirl and realised I don't have one. I also don't think I can carry off the "harlot in a saloon" look, which means there's only one thing for it. I'm going to have to go full Little House on the Prairie.
I've spent a good part of the afternoon making one of these, and on the sly I think it's extremely cool. I'm making the one with the ruffles, using a navy blue cotton gabardine I already had. I don't like buying or making garments that I'm only going to wear once, so I need to come up with some sort of floral maxi dress I can wear again after (granted, the bonnet's probably not going to get a lot of reuse). An apron may also be in the offing.
I spent a long session today (10am - 2.30pm) catching up with a friend over coffee. We see each other about once a year but have a shared history (used to live very near each other with daughters of the same age who went to the same school) and always pick up where we left off. I then had a couple of errands in town and got home just as the rain started to arrive.
Mr Nen is out this evening and wanted to have tea early, so we ate at 5pm. Consequently I've spent the past hour feeling that it must be bedtime, but I have a Zoom meeting at 8. This may or may not keep me awake... it's a weekly meeting and a fortnight ago I fell asleep during it
I have a fine collection of original early 1970s Laura Ashley prairie dresses from my 1990s grunge days of vintage dresses, leather biker jacket and docs. Alas, the dresses are now too small for me and I really should sell them as they are now worth a fortune. I still wear docs though, and have a rainbow of brightly coloured boots in the hallway (having small feet means I can buy cheap children’s ones on eBay, some of the docs even have glitter in their soles!).
I’ve just finished this evening’s lecture and am having a glass of rose with Mochi on my lap. Mr Heavenly is out on the razzle with the local dads.
Tea was turkey leg confit with courgette fritters (leftover batter from last night).
Supper was part 2 of the sausage casserole, and rather good - I think it's one I'll do again.
If I have a complaint about my current place. Well, I do, I'll start again.
Amongst my complaints about my current place is their failure to recognise that one or two members of the congregation are actually young enough to be still working.
It is wet again here, after a brief reprieve yesterday. No lip reading class this morning, but I am off to my bookshop shift this afternoon and should be going out to my writers group this evening. I really ought to go as there are various things I need to discuss with the group, but I can't say I'm that enthusiastic about going out in the cold and wet for the third time this week.
I ate early and allowed plenty of time to get onto Teams ready for our choir committee meeting at 7. At 6.40 my daughter sent a panic text asking me to provide 110gm of plain flour for her delayed pancakes. I broke off, weighed it and put it in a plastic tub. I did not hear the doorbell ( problem with my Ring doorbell?) so missed her when she called by on her way to athletics at 6.50. She texted to tell me, but I was still struggling with Teams, so later I absented myself from the meeting and popped it outside on the doorstep just in time for her to collect it after training. Meanwhile I am still trying to get into the meeting, eventually succeeding by circuitous routes, but although I could hear them, they could not hear me. No, I wasn’t on Mute. I contributed via the Chat but I’m pretty sure the Useless Chair did not see my contributions. Others did thankfully and picked up my points.
The Chair failed spectacularly to distinguish properly with the Minutes, dealing straightaway with Matters Arising even if covered by the Agenda later, and failing to pickup on other MA not covered, going straight into the actual Agenda….. you get my drift. The meeting went on until gone 10 pm. We all lost the will to live.
The Treasurer is finishing at the AGM and a replacement has been found, the Secretary is also retiring after 15 years and had already asked me if I would take it on. In the meeting there was a long pause when the Chair asked if any member was prepared to do it. Meanwhile I wrote a lengthy reply in Chat as to why not me. ( I did a substantial voluntary job when I first retired, for 15 years, and now is not the time at 80 to take up a new role, though I am happy to help. We need someone newly retired, with good IT skills).
Not sure if the Chair read this as nobody else spoke up to comment. An e-mail has already gone out to all choir members, seeking a replacement but she appeared not to know this, even though she wrote it, so hopefully a younger ( newly retired) person may respond.
I spent a further 20 minutes after the meeting trying but failing to sort my microphone problems. Something to ask my son about when he comes over this afternoon as delving into Settings is not my forte.
Rant over.
My problems are trivial when compared to Andrew Mountbatten- Windsor.
Another grey and drizzly day in Arkland the Wet. I managed a trip to Tess Coe, and reached home in good time to get back aboard the Ark before today's high tide
Lunch is halloumi and salad - very tasty.
It's lovely and sunny, but cold, so I doubt if any gardening will be done. I may brave it for half an hour.
No yoga this week so I got some chores done and then logged in to catch up with work before studying this afternoon. I need to start writing a new chapter today, which I always find difficult, so I have prevaricated by planning my work timetable for the next 6 weeks. But I am now mentally prepared to attack it.
Good chairs have certain basic skills relating to managing agendas, managing people and managing time. Few match up, whether in charity, local government, Diocese or anywhere else.
Sounds as if you need to resist being appointed secretary at all costs!
I will be spending far more on this than it will be worth when I am done, but it's too lovely not to repair.
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Sorry about the Teams problems @Puzzler. I've had similar problems in the past with microphones, but can't remember how it was resolved now. Maybe something in settings. Useless chairmen (of either sex) really make meeting more of a trial than they should be. Good ones make meetings so much more pleasant.
This afternoon necessitated me reading a document of 168 pages related to the house we're proposing to buy. I am fast losing the will to live.
Mrs BF and I once received a similarly-sized document regarding the late 15thC house we were proposing to buy. It was the Surveyor's report, complete with graphic colour photos of the dry rot, wet rot, and death-watch beetle ravages...the lovely peg-tiled roof needed to be completely stripped, and the 18thC tiles re-used, where still sound...the electrics and plumbing (1950s) required total replacement...and the plaster infill on virtually every wall had to be removed, with appropriate materials substituted.
The good news was that the oak frame of the house (walls, ceilings, and floors) was basically sound, and that the Georgian lead-lined gutters were also OK.
(We did, in fact, go ahead with the purchase, having obtained a couple of substantial grants from the local authority and from English Heritage, no less! The Council's Listed Building Officer - brought in from retirement as a consultant - could not have been more helpful).
As for house hunting and surveys, we were once given a fifty page report which we read, thinking that the property appeared more of a project than we could handle. A friend looked at the first page and when he drew air through his teeth three times in thirty seconds, we rejected it outright. It eventually sold for little over two-thirds of the original price but we did get most of the survey fee back through selling it to other potential buyers!
On other subjects, I have picked up the idea of ceasing to whinge, whine, complain and moan, but it is not easy. I really do need to pray about it.
Thanks! One of the two I find quite satisfying...
The bellows have now been extracted and packaged up ready to post to a company who will use them as patterns to make new. Pity it's such a ballache removing them in the first place.
A trip to the Co-Op has just been postponed, as Arkland the Soaked is being rained on yet again. O well - tomorrow is another day, as they say, though it'll no doubt be wet...