Tuesday 30 October 2007

Poppy Appeal


When I was shopping today I bought my first poppy of 2007. This probably will be the first of many that I'll have to buy as every year I seem to loose at least two before Remembrance Sunday!

Did you know that if you can't buy a poppy locally you are now able to donate online at http://www.poppy.org/

or that you can show your support for the poppy appeal through facebook:

Legion urges Facebook users to give virtual poppies

Stuart Gendall, Director of Corporate Communications for the Legion

“Social networking websites such as Facebook present us with an invaluable opportunity to reach a whole new generation of supporters. We hope that Facebook users can send to and receive poppies from all of their friends in the next fortnight and help us reach our target of 1,011,011 poppies distributed by 11am on 11 November when the nation pauses for the Two Minute Silence,”

http://apps.facebook.com/poppies/

Free Rice

James has sent me the link to a very compulsive game called Free Rice.

The aim is to choose the answer that best describes the word they give you. I suppose that you could call it a thesaurus word game. For example, they give you the word

central

you then choose your answer from the following list

terrible
speedy
unhappy
middle

When you click on the correct answer you are automatically donating grains of rice that will be sent to countries that need it by
the United Nations . The rice bowl at the side of the screen shows just how much your game has generated in rice, very clever. The donations are paid for by the sponsoring advertisers on the site, so it doesn't cost you a thing.

The fun part is watching your word level grow or fall depending on your answers. There are 50 levels to aim for I'm at 41, not sure how good that is maybe you can do better!

For more information about Free Rice or to start playing the game go to http://www.freerice.com/index.php

Thursday 25 October 2007

New Template

I've decided that I have been getting a bit stuck in my ways with the template for this blog, so with a bit of playing around with different option I have chosen this...cool or what?

Wednesday 24 October 2007

Too Cold for Flip Flops

I'm making a lousy patient.

All this lovely autumnal sunshine just makes me want to get out in the fresh air and go for a good walk. Rather than drive everyone else mad with my grumbling, I thought it would be a good idea to try and get my shoes on for the first time since the nail surgery.

With a bit of effort, and much loosening of the laces, I eventually got my posh skater shoes on. Great I thought now let's see if I can drive in them, OK driving is fine, lets try a trip to Asda. You can probably guess the rest...my toes are now throbbing like mad and I feel a bit of a fool,well I never said I was perfect!

Saturday 20 October 2007

Smashing up the bedroom

We are in chaos, Dave is dismantling the bedroom furniture ready for the plasterer who is coming on Tuesday.

Reading that sentence back to myself I have realised that I can talk the most utter drivel sometimes. I tend to presume that because I can second guess what people are about to say that everyone knows what I am prattling on about.

What I meant to say was, we are having new bedroom furniture fitted soon so we thought that we would use this opportunity to have the ceiling re plastered. All the ceilings in the house were Artexed when we bought it and as we are having each room refurnished or decorated we are having the ceilings re plastered so that they look nice and smooth.

So that is why Dave is taking a sledge hammer to the old fitted wardrobes and why the house is chaotic, phew note to self, try writing in complete sentences, you know it makes sense.

Thursday 18 October 2007

Off our Feet

Have you ever tried to find a foot related joke that wasn't either a) filthy or b) just not very funny...well let me tell you there is an absolute dearth of funny foot jokes. Why, I can hear you asking, am I wasting my time on such nonsense, well I found out last night that my great nephew Paul is in hospital with a very nasty infection in his foot and ankle. As another poorly foot person I thought that I would try and cheer him up with a joke but no joy. So he had to make do with a sympathetic email, not the same as a joke but at least he knows that we are all thinking about him.

Tuesday 16 October 2007

Feeling Sorry For Myself


I hate being house bound, but as it has been raining today and I have been warned not to get the dressings on my feet wet I am stuck indoors.

Not one to sit around doing nothing, I have been trying to do some editing and here's the rub, the more I am rereading the episodes of Spanish Steps, that only last week I though were ready for publishing, I now am unhappy with them. It is probably just me being all girly and feeling sorry for myself. So I have decided to pull myself together, print off everything that I had filed for publishing, light the fire, pour myself a glass of wine and edit by firelight.

Monday 15 October 2007

Nail Surgery

Last Friday, I had what I hope, was the last operation I need on my feet, at least for the next few years.

One of the problems with having a wonky foot straightened is that it throws up problems in other places. In my case it highlighted amongst other things the fact that I have one leg slightly shorter than the other and that the ligaments in my toes are shot to hell.

Now I have special orthotics made for my (not so pretty) shoes I am walking straight but my big toes have been really painful with numerous corn type things growing along both edges of each nail. So last Friday I had the nails cut away to make them narrower and had the bed of the nail zapped so the nail doesn't grow back again.

I just hope that the weather stays mild so that I can carry on wearing my glamorous flip flops without getting frostbite.

PS... Sorry if you were eating your lunch while reading this
PPS...Don't worry there won't be any pictures!!

Tuesday 9 October 2007

Visit to the Dentist

Sod's law, the one day in six years (much to my shame) that I have to go to the dentist, I wake up with a horrible cold.

Needless to say the dentist spent 10 minutes telling me off for leaving it so long between appointments, I threatened to pass on my cold if he carried on nagging me but he just laughed and told me that all dentists are immune to germs. I think they are only immune because they are the sons of Satan and nothing short of a wooden stake will finish them off.

You may have gathered from this that I have a love hate relationship with my dentist. On the one hand he is a lovely chap and was very kind and gentle with the kids when they were growing up. On the other hand I have a morbid terror of all things dental, from the noise of the drill down to the taste of the mouthwash. Even the chair tilting back is guaranteed to make me break out in a sweat!

Kevin (the dentist) calls me a wimp but has promised that the schedule of works that we will be looking at will be (probably) pain free but possibly on going....I only went in with a broken filling...

Friday 5 October 2007

Updating the Blog

It has been a good day today. The weather has been fab for this time of year, I had a lovely lunch with the old Echo crew (my God you sound like a bunch of rappers!) and saw Gary's beautiful babies, then I spent the afternoon in the garden rewriting Episode 1 in longhand.

After all this (and cooking the dinner and doing the washing and going to the tip) I decided that I deserved a little treat so have just spent a lovely hour updating some of my holiday postings with my photos (the cable was in the desk in the hall)

I doubt that may people will trawl through the old postings to look at the pictures but I had fun doing it and that's all that matters.....

Crossing The Bridge

I have no idea why some people think that walking across the bridge might be a fun thing to do, I would need a safety net and a bottle of Valium to even attempt it!

And just when you thought it was all over

Safely across the other side and what awaits......yes you guessed it, another b****y bridge

This is just the approach to it!!!

I'm not sure if the lorry was tilting or whether the fact that I had one hand gripped to the dashboard while I was trying to take this photo had something to do with it...

Photos of the Pont de Normandie

By popular demand, the photographic evidence that I crossed Le Pont de Normandie.

Tuesday 2 October 2007

Writers Block is Real

I am really enjoying the writing for Spanish Steps, my office is decorated with family trees and character development spider charts, so far I have written enough for the first 20 Episodes but now I have to face the uncomfortable truth...I'm not happy with Episode 1.

It's not that it is rubbish or anything, in fact it's not bad at all BUT and this is a big but (hence the capitalization) it needs to grab the reader by the balls and make them want more. So I have been looking for inspiration and did the only sensible thing, well sensible for a woman sitting all alone in her little office, well OK spare bedroom, I Googled Great Opening Lines. Just look what I found:- http://www.book-club.co.nz/books/openers.htm Brilliant examples from all genres of literature and how do I feel now...depressed, I am not worthy!

Here is the News

As I was making the tea this morning I put on the TV to watch the news on the BBC. Well I'm sorry but how the BBC can call their breakfast show a news programme is beyond me. Their lead item was the inquest into the death of Diane Princess of Wales, they then 'reported' on the resurgence of the beehive hairdo and rounded off with an interview with Don McLean (remember him?......American Pie, Vincent etc). A quick look on their website however tells us that the Prime Minister has flown into Baghdad and the Tory's are planning to scrap the early release of prisoners, as well as news from Burma, an obituary for Ned Sherrin and my personal favourite news item of the day, 'Italian Convent To Close After Sisters Maul Mother Superior' Now that's what I call news!!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/

Monday 1 October 2007

A Funny Sunday


It was a funny day yesterday, as it was bright and dry Dave and I went out for a walk. We didn't go far, just down to Wigg Island, which is a new nature reserve on the banks of the Mersey in Runcorn. It is a lovely spot with hides for bird watching on the estuary and nearly 4km of well kept paths around the reserve. But is seemed strange just the two of us walking there. We seem to have spent the last twenty odd years either pushing a buggy or holding dog's lead when we have been out and about and now it's just Dave and I holding hands.

I know that this introspection is probably due to the 'empty nest syndrome'. Lesley is happily settled into her new house in York, James is working all hours to get the money together for his round the world trip next year and two weeks ago Billy, our lovely old black Labrador, died peacefully after a very short illness.

But, in the grand scheme of things, holding hands in the sunshine is not a bad way to spend an afternoon................................