cats and digiboxes
Home again yesterday evening. My parents drove me to the station in Norwich, but we ran into a lot of traffic for a home football match, and it really looked as though I'd miss this train too. Fortunately, they weren't in a hurry to send it off promptly - possibly realizing there would be latecomers caught in the traffic, and I made it OK. The train was about a third full, and generally pretty quiet all the way back. I've been on some Christmas-time trains that have been packed to the rafters, which is a miserable experience. Quiet why both of this year's trains were so quiet I don't know, but I'm grateful. On the last leg, I had a taxi driver who told me how pleased he was the Harcourt Road had been resurfaced just before Xmas. It used to be so cratered it was like driving on the moon, but is now lovely and smooth. (Let's see how long that lasts)
I'll miss Mum and Dad's warm house, the warm bathroom, and their shower. I'll miss being able to chat to them, and having a hot dinner provided every day, with no washing up at all (Mum has a dishwasher, so don't need to offer help). But although it's nice to have food provided, I won't actually miss Mum's cooking very much. It's the old-fashioned, 50's style, which features boiled-to-death veg. How the brocolli and cauliflower hold their shape, I don't know, since they're so soft they're almost liquid. Still, Mum does make wonderful rice pudding, even without the Aga.
The cats have flourished in my absence, though they were still pleased to have me back. They do like company, bless them. Mum gave them a white, furry clockwork mouse, which is rather cute. You wind it up and the first thing it does is spin madly in a circle until it's most wound down, then it runs about. The cats looked rather bemused by it, though Diesel has pawed at it, and did actually pick it up once to fling it like she would a real mouse. However, I suspect I'll get more entertainment out of it than the cats will.
I was extremely somewhat late to bed last night, and not best pleased to be woken at 7:50 am by the deliveryman from John Lewis. I went back to bed, and later was awake, though not dressed, when the Tesco deliveryman arrived at 11:20 - some 40 mins before his scheduled delivery slot from 12-2. I spent a chunk of the afternoon setting up the new digibox with hard drive, and trying to get it to talk nicely to the video recorder. While I was dealing with cables behind the telly, I tidied up the snake nest of assorted leads and cables with the help of some cable ties. Need to buy more cable ties. I was kneeling down and bending over, fiddling with cable, when Diesel decided to jump up on my back. Which was cute, but not terribly helpful. I've kept the video mostly because I still have to load of tapes with movies taped off the telly that I intend to watch (eventually), and also because I'll still be recording stuff on it until I get the hang of recording stuff with the new box of tricks. And as I'm busy for the next coupld of days, that probably won't be happening immediately.
Oh, and among the post waiting when I got home, was the contract and cheque for 'The Judas Metal', and the copy-edited ms of 'Silver Express' which I have to check and return. I'm sure the publishers don't expect things to happen very fast at this time of the year...
I'll miss Mum and Dad's warm house, the warm bathroom, and their shower. I'll miss being able to chat to them, and having a hot dinner provided every day, with no washing up at all (Mum has a dishwasher, so don't need to offer help). But although it's nice to have food provided, I won't actually miss Mum's cooking very much. It's the old-fashioned, 50's style, which features boiled-to-death veg. How the brocolli and cauliflower hold their shape, I don't know, since they're so soft they're almost liquid. Still, Mum does make wonderful rice pudding, even without the Aga.
The cats have flourished in my absence, though they were still pleased to have me back. They do like company, bless them. Mum gave them a white, furry clockwork mouse, which is rather cute. You wind it up and the first thing it does is spin madly in a circle until it's most wound down, then it runs about. The cats looked rather bemused by it, though Diesel has pawed at it, and did actually pick it up once to fling it like she would a real mouse. However, I suspect I'll get more entertainment out of it than the cats will.
I was extremely somewhat late to bed last night, and not best pleased to be woken at 7:50 am by the deliveryman from John Lewis. I went back to bed, and later was awake, though not dressed, when the Tesco deliveryman arrived at 11:20 - some 40 mins before his scheduled delivery slot from 12-2. I spent a chunk of the afternoon setting up the new digibox with hard drive, and trying to get it to talk nicely to the video recorder. While I was dealing with cables behind the telly, I tidied up the snake nest of assorted leads and cables with the help of some cable ties. Need to buy more cable ties. I was kneeling down and bending over, fiddling with cable, when Diesel decided to jump up on my back. Which was cute, but not terribly helpful. I've kept the video mostly because I still have to load of tapes with movies taped off the telly that I intend to watch (eventually), and also because I'll still be recording stuff on it until I get the hang of recording stuff with the new box of tricks. And as I'm busy for the next coupld of days, that probably won't be happening immediately.
Oh, and among the post waiting when I got home, was the contract and cheque for 'The Judas Metal', and the copy-edited ms of 'Silver Express' which I have to check and return. I'm sure the publishers don't expect things to happen very fast at this time of the year...