2010 Week 24 - fasting & needles

[dinogrrl]

School systems are slowly getting more flexible with dealing with various kids' needs these days - hopefully it'll work out well for you all.

So the Boss sent an email this Monday helpfully 'suggesting' that 'I choose July 31st as my termination date', given how good the response was to their advertising my job. This is careful phrasing on the Boss's behalf, because if I 'choose' to leave, I don't qualify for unemployment, which over here is partly paid for by the company themselves. That only works if I get fired, so if he manages to work it so that I'm the one leaving, he isn't then on the hook to pay unemployment insurance.

All because I told him that I was going to send in a resume to a steel company about a month ago.

[The Doctor]

I'll be in a similar position very soon, despite my every effort.

I feel quite ill with stress (or whatever you want to call it) today and finding it hard to settle on doing anything. Parked myself down the pub this am with a pint of coke and some comics but that hasn't helped. I'll go visit the city farm shortly and see if that helps my mood at all.

-Ralph

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Jun 19, 2010 12:14:37 GMT The Doctor said:

I'll go visit the city farm shortly and see if that helps my mood at all.

I hope it provides some temporary solace.

I was sneezing like a maniac this morning and had pretty much decided not to go to the open day thing at a nearby park, but I had a dip in the sneezing and so went anyway. Glad I did, as one of the stalls was run by "Owls 4 U", and rescued owls charity. They had three tawny owls, one barn owl and two Bengal eagle owls (one of which I got to stroke). They were awesome, and very tame, except when dogs came near, at which point the big eagle owl would go like this:

.

Came away with three fridge magnets showing photos of the very same owls that were there on the day.

I'll remember today as a lesson the next time I'm wavering about whether to be lazy and stay in or make the effort to go and check out something like that. Never know what you might miss.

Martin

[kayevcee]

I'm back in Philadelphia! In fact I think this might be the same terminal I checked in on the Hub at last year. Ah, the last year...

June '09 Los Angeles.
Stranded at the airport by a broken toilet. Forced to drag luggage around LAX for 13 hours.

April '10 Denmark
Stranded at the airport by massive volcanic eruption. Forced to drag parents across Western Europe for 3 days.

April '10 Swindon
Phil jr skilfully infected me with his cold. Ears wouldn't pop during descent. Head nearly exploded on approach to Edinburgh.

June '10 Cairo
Taxi driver turned out to be wrong 'un who drove me to a group of his mates instead of my hotel and shook me down for all my cash.

What will go wrong this time? Who can say?

-Nick

[Philip Ayres]

Hadn't heard the Swindon story !

I think God may be trying to tell you something about flying !

[dinogrrl]

I hope you have a smooth trip over there Nick! Surely this bad travel luck has to take a vacation itself sometime.

[Dark Stranger]

What the hell Nick? How much did they get off you in Egypt? Were you threatened? Bastards.

[Shockprowl]

That is terrible, Nickos, glad you got outa there just some cash sort.


Piglet's birthday party with the bouncey castle was a great success yesterday. Seeing 20 odd kids jumping around for nearly 2 hours solid is a wonderfull way to spend an afternoon! No injuries thankfully. And Piglet came away with a fine haul of prezzies! Kicked them both out this aft to some Fun Day somewhere with a grandparent or two so I can crash and watch footie! Perfect Father's day! Oh, and she got me the Die Hard box set! She's a little genious, she is!

[Grand Moff Muffin]

The peregrines are down from four to just one surviving chick, it seems, which is a poor show given that two years ago three out of three survived. Still, this one seems lively enough, flying about the tower and dismembering pigeons for itself, provided the parents catch them first.

Within the space of seven days, and without having to travel more than two miles from my front door, I've seen four wild dormice, all those rescued owls, and three peregrines, which makes it perhaps my best week of wildlife in Cardiff.

Just seen the 1955 film 'Helen of Troy' on Film Four, which knocks the spots off the recent 'Troy'. Although the gods aren't in it as such, it otherwise sticks to Homer's plot, and amazingly doesn't give it a Hollywood ending in terms of who lives and dies. Huzzah!

Martin

[legios]

Phil, it is good to hear that you seem to have found a good school for the young'un. Provision, and attitudes have improved a lot over recent decades but I know it can still be a bit hit and miss. Still, it does sound like you have found one that has the right approach.

Nick, hope you have a good time over at Botcon. I'd say don't do anything I wouldn't do, but that is a silly metric. Don't do anything you wouldn't do - and have yourself a good time.

Hope that the trip down to the Farm helped thy mood Ralph. It is a good spot for a wander, I sometimes head down their of a lunchtime I wonder how the goats down there are doing in this heat. Mind you, they seem to be pretty much unflappable so I doubt that this is going to phase them any more than anything else does.

As for meself, I realised this morning that various things that had been going on during the week had left me far grumpier than I thought they had. So I resolved to do something about it. I took advantage of the lovely weather to head out for a walk, stretch my legs and clear my head a bit. Not only was it good exercise on a warm day, but I also came back feeling a lot more relaxed. Probably something to do with spending a lot of time in the company of animals other than human beings - it does wonders for the perspective. After lunch I pulled up a chair in the garden and did a bit of reading for a while, before setting to in the kitchen for a very productive stint of cooking to restock the freezer.

I did feel quite priviledged this morning. Normally the heron's along the canal stop what they are doing and stare at passers-by reproachfully until the bipeds are out of site, but today one of them decided to blithely carry on fishing. I stood and watched him catch three or four fish (one may have been a twig) before he packed it in for a sit down (in this heat I can't really blame him). I'm impressed by how effect their camouflage actually is once they blend into the reeds. Even though I knew exactly where he was sitting, once I moved a metre or so down the towpath I would have been hard-pressed to point him out.

Karl

[The Doctor]

Popped along to Portobello beach this afternoon to fry in the sun for a bit while reading a book. Had a nice ice-cream and a bad portion of chips while watching the waves.

Stealing myself for the terrible week ahead. I just want a certain part of my life to be over and done with asap now so that this dreadful stress is gone one way or another.

-Ralph

[The Doctor]

Oh forgot to say well done to the Ayres clan for getting a school sorted out for the little one.

-Ralph

[KoshNaranek]

Whoops! Sorry Tony- forgot to sign out of your account. -Nick

[kayevcee]

I'm sorry that all I can offer to ease the stress is plastic toys in ludicrous colours, Ralph. All I can do from here is channel for your continued resilience.

I like Florida! It's bloody hot in the mornings but last night and this afternoon it absolutely pissed down. It's still really warm and the rain is sort of tepid so it doesn't fase me or the Irish crew, and it doesn't half trim the queues for the roller coasters! We're back at the awesome hotel (it's in a beautiful part of the country and the whole area is a heady mix of engineering wizardry, genuine charm and all-American tack) watching Brazil hammer Ivory Coast just now, then I think we're off to Hollywood Studios to launch ourselves gaily across the landscape before Bogatan and friends arrive.

-Nick

[legios]

Jun 20, 2010 20:02:45 GMT The Doctor said:

Popped along to Portobello beach this afternoon to fry in the sun for a bit while reading a book. Had a nice ice-cream and a bad portion of chips while watching the waves.

Today was a very nice day for an ice-cream, but it is never a good day for bad chips.

Stealing myself for the terrible week ahead. I just want a certain part of my life to be over and done with asap now so that this dreadful stress is gone one way or another.
-Ralph

I can do little but offer my moral support, good thoughts and the like. But for whatever value they may have, they shall be provided.

Karl

[blueshift]

I actually LIKE bad chips, either too hard or soggy.

It is when they are just boring that I like them the least.