Third/Fourth Day of Christmas
Three French Hens
Well, for those who were interested, the Revenge of the Apostrophe was actually due to a staple which had slid down inside the keyboard & was shorting a few bits together in the innards. H performed sucessful exploratory surgery & an even more sucessful staplextomy. Now all I have to bother about is the flashing autosave!
Meanwhile I'll just publish the first para, then poke "edit journal" & continue writing in 'edit' mode cos there the autosave doesn't flash. Which may be dull but hey, it's the few days after Christmas, you really want more excitement?
The Post Office are issuing a new set of stamps based on Beatle albums. There now, that might brighten someone's mail soon. And the Post Office is planning ahead - making sure it can cope with delivering the new Harry Potter Book when it comes out. Crumbs, what's to plan? They handle Christmas each year!
Meanwhile various parts of Scotland, having seen the latest weather forecasts for next Sunday night, are considering cancelling their outdoor Hogmany parties. I know the Scots are hardy folk, but they're also very careful with their money. So if anyone was thinking of going along, getting injured & suing, they can jolly well think again! Oh I expect officially run Events, & privately run ones for that matter, to be done as safely as possible - but I do not expect the authorites, or whomever, to have to pay for sheer human stupidity. How about a resolution for 2007, folks? "This year I will take some responsibility for myself" Not beyond the wit of some LJ-ers is it? Even if it means we'll have to THINK for ourselves as well.
We went to visit H's parents yesterday. They live in north London. Whomever is responsible for the railway tracks is doing (much needed) maintenance & refurbishment in the Portsmouth area. Consequently all this week trains in & out are buses - to Fareham, Chichester or Petersfield - which isn't a problem this week with many people on holiday. We got the bus to Petersfield, got the train eventually (already running late) to find that there was another hiatus further up the line & between Guildford & London your guess as to the route they'd take was as good as anyone's. Oh we got there, & in about the time it would have taken if we'd not had the hiatus at Guildford. Very nice lunch, sit round chatting etc. Only thing was, I'd gotten up before I was awake, decided, in the cause of actually going at a reasonable time, to forego the lightbox, & didn't really wake up all day! Spent too much of it dozing - which is ok on the train, H & S would have told me, but when it's on the in-law's settee . . ! Coming back there was a similar hiatus at Clapham Junction - "due to the late arrival of a train at Waterloo". I'm staying home today, of going by bike!
Boxing Day we'd eventually all surfaced, then headed off towards the Front for a walk - trouble with living in the middle of the island is that it's a two mile walk to anywhere worth going for a Walk (unless you want a brisk constitutional around the local Recreation Ground or the Cemetery). Then we put in around three miles along the Front. Not cold, just chilly, very little wind - & I've been down there when the wind's been so strong you've had to walk with it, against just wasn't an option - and an awful lot of people. So we walked along playing "Spot the Christmas pressie hats/scarves/mittens" & enjoyed ourselves. S even snapped the robin which was doing it's "I'm staking my claim for this patch & advertising for a mate" in the Rock Gardens. Having arrived at the Point after the local restaurants had finished serving lunch (about 15 min late but . . .) we wandered on round to Gunwharf & found somewhere there, which was nice, but chilly. As it was dark by the time we came out we were wusses & got a taxi home. Buses? Trains? This was Boxing Day! & I hadn't taken Val. Definitely Hot Chocolate when we got in!
Now the literate, or those with literate children, among my Readers may have come across Dick King-Smith's "Harry's Mad". For that matter British TV viewers may have also come across it. Well, it turns out that Madison, the fictional African Grey (despite the TV using a Macaw) may not be all that unusual. OK, so this, real, parrot lives in the US but . . . Makes you wonder doesn't it? I mean, how many parrots have you seen just shut up in a cage day after day. I'm told they have the intelligence & curiosity of a bright three year old, & live up to eighty years or so.
On which note I shall publish (& be damned?)
Y'all have a good day now!
Well, for those who were interested, the Revenge of the Apostrophe was actually due to a staple which had slid down inside the keyboard & was shorting a few bits together in the innards. H performed sucessful exploratory surgery & an even more sucessful staplextomy. Now all I have to bother about is the flashing autosave!
Meanwhile I'll just publish the first para, then poke "edit journal" & continue writing in 'edit' mode cos there the autosave doesn't flash. Which may be dull but hey, it's the few days after Christmas, you really want more excitement?
The Post Office are issuing a new set of stamps based on Beatle albums. There now, that might brighten someone's mail soon. And the Post Office is planning ahead - making sure it can cope with delivering the new Harry Potter Book when it comes out. Crumbs, what's to plan? They handle Christmas each year!
Meanwhile various parts of Scotland, having seen the latest weather forecasts for next Sunday night, are considering cancelling their outdoor Hogmany parties. I know the Scots are hardy folk, but they're also very careful with their money. So if anyone was thinking of going along, getting injured & suing, they can jolly well think again! Oh I expect officially run Events, & privately run ones for that matter, to be done as safely as possible - but I do not expect the authorites, or whomever, to have to pay for sheer human stupidity. How about a resolution for 2007, folks? "This year I will take some responsibility for myself" Not beyond the wit of some LJ-ers is it? Even if it means we'll have to THINK for ourselves as well.
We went to visit H's parents yesterday. They live in north London. Whomever is responsible for the railway tracks is doing (much needed) maintenance & refurbishment in the Portsmouth area. Consequently all this week trains in & out are buses - to Fareham, Chichester or Petersfield - which isn't a problem this week with many people on holiday. We got the bus to Petersfield, got the train eventually (already running late) to find that there was another hiatus further up the line & between Guildford & London your guess as to the route they'd take was as good as anyone's. Oh we got there, & in about the time it would have taken if we'd not had the hiatus at Guildford. Very nice lunch, sit round chatting etc. Only thing was, I'd gotten up before I was awake, decided, in the cause of actually going at a reasonable time, to forego the lightbox, & didn't really wake up all day! Spent too much of it dozing - which is ok on the train, H & S would have told me, but when it's on the in-law's settee . . ! Coming back there was a similar hiatus at Clapham Junction - "due to the late arrival of a train at Waterloo". I'm staying home today, of going by bike!
Boxing Day we'd eventually all surfaced, then headed off towards the Front for a walk - trouble with living in the middle of the island is that it's a two mile walk to anywhere worth going for a Walk (unless you want a brisk constitutional around the local Recreation Ground or the Cemetery). Then we put in around three miles along the Front. Not cold, just chilly, very little wind - & I've been down there when the wind's been so strong you've had to walk with it, against just wasn't an option - and an awful lot of people. So we walked along playing "Spot the Christmas pressie hats/scarves/mittens" & enjoyed ourselves. S even snapped the robin which was doing it's "I'm staking my claim for this patch & advertising for a mate" in the Rock Gardens. Having arrived at the Point after the local restaurants had finished serving lunch (about 15 min late but . . .) we wandered on round to Gunwharf & found somewhere there, which was nice, but chilly. As it was dark by the time we came out we were wusses & got a taxi home. Buses? Trains? This was Boxing Day! & I hadn't taken Val. Definitely Hot Chocolate when we got in!
Now the literate, or those with literate children, among my Readers may have come across Dick King-Smith's "Harry's Mad". For that matter British TV viewers may have also come across it. Well, it turns out that Madison, the fictional African Grey (despite the TV using a Macaw) may not be all that unusual. OK, so this, real, parrot lives in the US but . . . Makes you wonder doesn't it? I mean, how many parrots have you seen just shut up in a cage day after day. I'm told they have the intelligence & curiosity of a bright three year old, & live up to eighty years or so.
On which note I shall publish (& be damned?)
Y'all have a good day now!