Review of 2007

I had every intention of continuing with regular postings here, but for various reasons real life has got in the way of virtual life somewhat, so there are gaps in this Blog. Time then for an update of what's been happening.

The year started with me still in the rented flat in Dowanhill in Glasgow's west end, where I'd moved after leaving Johnstone, in Renfrewshire, when my wife and I separated and we sold our lovely house in summer 2006.

January 2007 saw me starting to look properly for my own place and I had decided I didn't want to waste money on chasing "offers over" properties, so was interested only in fixed price. Not only that, but with Ernie & Elmo, our two cats, living with me I was only prepared to consider ground floor or at a push first floor flats so they could get out. It also had to be in the west end of Glasgow. My choices were, to say the least, limited!

Taking advantage of all t'InterWeb has to offer, I was on various mailing lists, and eventually I was notified of a flat which ticked all of the boxes except that it wasn't in the west end but 5 miles further out, in Clydebank. Long story short, I bought it and have been happily living here since May. More recently I had a cat flap fitted in the back door, so Ernie & Elmo have now got used to 24/7 access to the great outdoors, which seems to suit them well!

In March I was playing badminton, for only the second time in a long number of years, when I ruptured my Achilles Tendon, putting me into a plaster cast for 2 months, and off work for 3 months. That was not a pleasant experience.

My enforced lay-off from singing in the choir of St Mary's Cathedral while unable to stand without crutches, led straight on to a period of time out from singing there for various reasons I don't intend blogging about. I am still not singing in the cathedral, and I have only been back in the building twice, once for a funeral and once to sing in a concert with another choir. I remain very disillusioned with organised religion, which is a shame.

I visited Belgium with my dad over a weekend back in about April to see my brother who was working there for a few weeks, and despite being on crutches which made things difficult, that was the high spot of the year, partly because I haven't done much travelling abroad in my life, and partly because it was great to spend time like that with dad and with my brother who I see so rarely because he lives in California.

In Manchester I attended the civil partnership of the brother of a friend. It isn't all that long since these were first allowed in the UK, and a straw poll conducted during the speeches at the reception confirmed that not one person attending had been at one before!

Later in the year I was in Kent, this time without crutches, at the wedding of friends of a friend, and that was good partly because they're nice people, but also it's a nice part of the country.

In September my divorce came through. As an observation, it's easier to get divorced than married, at least as far as the amount of paperwork which need completing is concerned! We remain on friendly terms, and I sincerely hope it remains that way. No reason for it not to.

Work is good again. I moved out of my comfort zone into a different department a bit over a year ago, and that caused me for a time to consider where my future lay, but thankfully I am now enjoying it again and have no intention of moving. Sticking with my personal policy of not blogging about work, that's all I intend saying about it.

In late summer I embarked on a quest to pass my Institute of Advanced Motorists bike and car tests. It has been the subject of extensive posts over the past month or so, so suffice to say that I have now passed my advanced bike test, and I'm awaiting a date for my advanced car test.

Missing singing, but not missing the cathedral, in September I rejoined Glasgow Chamber Choir. I was one of the original members when it was founded, and I've sung with them on and off since then. I'm enjoying it immensely and, because there are a fair number of people who have joined since 2002 which was the last time I sang with the choir, I have been enjoying making new friends, some of whom look like becoming very good friends indeed.

So, there you have it. The short version of Lay Clerk's 2007.

Put simply, I have come from a real low in summer 2006 to being just about back on track, and the future looks potentially bright for all sorts of reasons.

My New Year's resolution for 2008 is to start to really enjoy life again, and to try to do what's right and necessary for me even if it's not necessarily right for other people. I'm certainly not going to go out of my way to hurt or upset anyone, least of all my friends, but I need to get my priorities sorted, and my priority this forthcoming year is going to be me!

Can I take this opportunity to wish everyone reading this, particularly those (and I am told there are some) who for some obscure reason read this Blog regularly, a very happy Christmas and a prosperous new year.

A summary

I missed the anniversary of this Blog! In fact I've missed it by a long way. My first post was on 2nd June 2006 and a lot has happened since then. Some I've Blogged about and some I haven't and never will.

I've been separated, sold our lovely marital home and moved to a rented flat with our two cats, been involved in some exceptionally interesting and unique stuff at work (twice), bought a huge motorcycle, changed department at work and thereby gone from feeling absolutely on top of my game to feeling like the most know-nothing new-start imaginable (a truly terrible feeling and one which for a time has caused me to seriously question my future at work), failed to get even an interview for another job because I have no degree (I have heard recently that the person who got the job is crap though, so that's something!), completely and painfully ruptured my Achilles Tendon putting me in plaster and on crutches for eight weeks and off work for ten, started an extended and ongoing period of time out of the Cathedral Choir I used to love but can't be arsed with now, visited Belgium for the first time, bought a new flat and moved there, and cried a lot. And of course some stuff I'm not going to mention.

I feel as though I've packed several years worth of life experience into a single year, but I really wish I hadn't.

Boss

On the right is an Oxford Boss Alarm disc lock. It features all sorts of impressive security features, not least of which is a 100dB alarm if the thing is tamperfered with. To you, £59.95 only. It is currently nestling happily on the front brake disc of my motorcycle parked outside the flat, protecting it gently.

Yes, that's right. I am riding again, several weeks before I thought I would be. Hurrah!

The bike (see photo) has been safely and securely parked at work for the past lots of weeks, but yesterday I had reason to move it to allow access to a building's perimeter over the weekend for some work to be done. To my surprise, I found it really easy to ride it the 50 yards or so to its new temporary location. So when I woke this morning with basically no pain in my ankle, I thought I'd go to work in the car, dressed for biking, and give it a quick careful go round the block. Fifty of your finest miles later, via Lanarkshire to check my brother's lockup garage was OK, I parked it outside home and I am back in biking action. I had no problems whatsoever and despite this I'll still be careful and gentle for the foreseeable future.

So having moved from a flat with an integral garage in which the car and bike fitted safely, I am now in a flat with only on-road parking. Hence the disc lock with alarm.

I'm about to use public transport to get to work and collect the car. Hopefully the bike will still be here when I return!

Alarm, Alarm!

The flat continues to progress and I now have a state of the art alarm system installed. Separate zones, panic buttons, and the ability to part-set it so that it can be armed overnight when I am sleeping make it one clever bastard of a system! It even bleeps when the front door is opened by anyone, and can be set so that it also does so whenever any room(s) is/are entered so you could, say, have a party but be warned if anyone enters your bedroom. The cleverest thing though is that it is set to recognise and differentiate between little pussycats jumping around, and fully grown people breaking in and walking around so that it doesn't go off during the day on those rare occasions when the cats move off their beds while I am at work! Yes, one clever bastard of a system.

Just been watching a biography of Sir Edward Elgar on BBC Four. Very interesting 1962 film by Ken Russell mixing archive footage with reconstruction, and obviously featuring a great soundtrack. Full of chest-swelling empire-building sabre-rattling Britishness, no, Englishness. I am not English, but somehow listening to Elgar's music makes me proud to be English. Not just Elgar when I think of it, but various other English composers of a similar style. Class.

Had far too much to drink last night. Travelled across to Edinburgh to go to a leaving party for two colleagues. One of the two pubs we were in had a two drinks for the price of one offer which isn't unusual, but slightly unusual was that it was for every drink, not just spirits or bottles of beer. So an order for a pint of lager got you two pints. Now the sensible thing to do would be for our group to order half the amount of drink and share it, but no, we each got two drinks every time, and it just made us drink them faster to keep up with each other. Very sensible. Not. I only threw up once though, into a litter bin at Buchanan Street bus station when I arrived back in Glasgow. Felt better after it all the same. I am very much suffering for it now though, with a badly swollen ankle being more painful than it has been for weeks. Spent too much time standing yesterday. And that's not to mention this morning's hangover which thankfully has now passed.

Back to normal (whatever normal is)

I now have heating. Mirabile Dictu! The cats look pleased. I am pleased.

Back to work yesterday. Went well but I have a lot to catch up to try to get up to date with what's happening. This evening my ankle is fairly badly swollen in comparison with what it's been recently. A handful of painkillers and a glassful of Gin & Tonic seems to be in order. Then an early night. It's strange setting the alarm to get up in the morning.


A few posts ago I mentioned engineering and I was accused by Gogs of not loving it enough. Just to show that I love engineering just the right amount, I have sourced the image below. You should try building it sometime. Sorry that I can't remember where I swiped the image. If you know the origin please let me know and I will attribute it appropriately.

The best things in life are free

But you can give them to the birds and the bees.

What you see on the left, lying on my computer table, equates to one old non-working gas central heating boiler removed from the wall, and one brand new gas central heating boiler delivered by a supplier and fitted on the wall by a CORGI registered heating engineer to replace the old one. Tomorrow. I will have some heating in the flat at last.

Utilities

Scottish Gas. Don't you love them?

When I moved to the new flat I took initial meter readings for both gas and electricity (that was when I discovered the prepayment meters) and advised both Scottish Power and Scottish Gas of the readings, who each also advised me on how to get prepayment cards. Scottish Gas were particularly helpful in that they looked back 3 addresses of mine (the last time I used them) to confirm that my account had been conducted acceptably (i.e. I hadn't defaulted on any payments) and being satisfied they immediately arranged that the prepayment meter would be changed a few days later before I moved in. This was done as arranged and the engineer said that I would receive a letter from them in a few days confirming that the meter had been swapped.

In the meantime (during the meanwhilst?) I have received a couple of letters from Scottish Gas addressed to the occupier asking that I furnish them with my details now that I have moved. I have of course ignored those letters since I have already given them my details and the meter reading (otherwise they wouldn't have changed the meter). This morning I received a letter with Scottish Gas on the envelope so I thought it would probably relate to the meter change, although it was again addressed to the occupier rather than me by name.

No.

It was a further letter accusing me of ignoring their previous letters and threatening that they will disconnect the gas supply if I don't tell them my name and other details!

I called the number on the letter, prepared to deliver some sharp words to them, but a recorded message told me that the call centre was closed for the holiday weekend. I hadn't realised it was a holiday in Mumbai. Wankers. They will receive both barrels on Tuesday.

The image on the right is for them.

Ultimately I think it usually makes financial sense to get both gas and electricity from one supplier. I will run with two until I decide which has pissed me off less, then switch. Right now Scottish Gas is (are?) in second place, and funnily enough that's why they had to go back 3 previous addresses to find the last time I used them as a supplier, because I normally use the same selection criteria when I move house and Scottish Power usually win! Strangely, in the past I found for a period that it was cheapest to get my electricity from Scottish Gas and my gas from Scottish Power. Something to do with each using the "other" utility as a loss-leader to try to attract new business I believe.

Changing the subject, although still connected to gas, I need a new boiler. Bollocks. The missives for the purchase of the flat state that the gas central heating system should be in working order, and the seller's solicitors were informed within the required 5 working days that the boiler wasn't working, so theoretically the seller is responsible for the cost of replacement. I still haven't heard back from my solicitor whether I'll receive payment easily or have to consider legal action, but in any case I have no heating so there's a new boiler being installed on Tuesday and I'll worry about recouping the money later.

No dumping

I took the photo on the right yesterday in the Charing Cross area of Glasgow. Some people clearly can't read, or maybe just have a blatant disregard for the law of the land!

On a related topic, when I moved into my new flat, despite having specified that I didn't want the scabby looking old washing machine which had been in the kitchen when I came to view the place, inevitably it was still there when I took possession of the property. The nice removal men were already going to be disconnecting and reconnecting my own washing machine, and they kindly agreed to disconnect the old one too. So they duly left it outside the back door and I was left wondering how long it'd be before I'd feel fit enough to lift it (with assistance of course, the days of me being able to lift a washing machine on my own are probably over) and take it to the recycling place 500 yards away.

I happened to be waiting for the engineer from Scottish Power to arrive on Wednesday morning when I heard what was the rear shutter of a van being opened or closed outside. I hobbled to the window to see if it was the engineer, only to discover a white transit luton parked outside and two scummy neds manhandling the old washing machine towards the back of it, while looking furtively around. I could see that the back of the van already contained various old looking white goods (cookers etc) so presumably the bold boys had been doing the rounds looking for stuff lying around to nick. I took their registration number, but to be honest it saved me the trouble of disposing of the thing myself so I didn't bother chasing them away.

Incidentally, can anyone confirm that the roadsign on the left has the correct spelling? I always thought that mews would be correct. It's directly across from The Observatory pub in Glasgow's Elderslie St. A nice little place to have a bite to eat and a drink, particularly if you can sit in the conservatory, from where the photo was taken.

Back again

I've finally cleared enough space to set up the PC again, but having changed to Cable I've had to buy a new Router and I haven't yet managed to get the Laptop connected wirelessly so no sitting in the lounge and surfing for me yet!

I've been on the go unpacking all day, and it's now late, so this is a short hello again type post. Maybe more tomorrow. Maybe something interesting for a change (but probably not). I might regale you with tales of faulty gas boilers and useless people on the ends of phones, but if you're lucky I won't.

And now, the end is near

Just about to disconnect the PC etc. So no more posts or emails until it gets re-assembled at the new place, probably tomorrow. Unless I can be arsed firing up the laptop that is.

Houses, legs and advanced driving techniques

The recent lack of postings in the past 10 days, for which I apologise, has been largely due to me being very busy with preparations to move house two days from now. That, combined with the removal of the cast from my leg last Friday and the resulting hilarity caused thereby (not), has meant I have had no time to sit down and type even a stream of consciousness (as is my wont sometimes) never mind anything into which any thought has been inserted.

I currently have half an hour of sitting with my swollen left leg up as I take a break from packing, so I will now allow you the benefit of my wisdom (yeah, right!) and banter (ooh, the banter!) via the medium of t'InterWeb.

Unusually for this Blog, two comments were left on my previous post. Gogs, who is a real life friend (yes, I have one or two) but clearly wishes to remain anonymous on his/her comment so I will respect that, has meanly suggested that I don't love structural engineering and that in any case civil engineering is more fun. Well I'm sorry Gogs, but you are way off the mark, despite what I may have suggested in that posting. I do actually really enjoy structural engineering (yes, genuinely) and will happily slob out watching The World's Biggest Whatever, or programmes about steam engines and industrial architecture presented by the late, very great Fred Dibnah, or (a personal favourite) Mark Williams' Industrial Revelations, and all sorts of similar televisual feasts. As for Gogs' comment that civil engineering is more fun, well I can't comment on the fun aspect of it, but I will concede that the world does need civil engineers. Who'd dig the graves otherwise?

The second comment wasn't exactly on the posting itself, just a general comment on this here Blog from Colleen who is a fellow Blogger from Maine in the USA. She apparently has been reading this for a while and for some reason enjoys it and has a link on her Blog to mine. She comments that introducing herself in this way makes her feel less stalkerish, and I have to say it's the first time (to which I'll admit) I've ever been stalked! Hi Colleen, thanks for the comment. I hope my habitual profanity doesn't offend!

So what's been happening I hear you ask.

Call me naive but I suspect I had thought that last Friday I would hobble into the fracture clinic at hospital, have the cast removed, thank the staff, hand back the crutches, and walk out. Aye, right! I am still using the crutches, although I can now put some weight on my emaciated left leg, and it will be another week before I return to work.

I still am not allowed to drive since I can't perform an emergency stop safely. Come to think of it, now that I know I've gone global I should maybe explain that in common with most drivers in the UK I drive a manual car (on the stick as I believe it's known in some places) rather than an automatic, so to perform an emergency stop one needs to be able to depress the clutch with your left foot without stopping to think whether it'll hurt or not.

Or at least medical opinion is that my injury will stop me performing such a stop. Leaving aside the fact that you should almost never have to perform an emergency stop if you are an alert skilled driver (I hardly need say, I am both, ahem!) who pays attention to what's happening on the roads ahead, behind and to the side and anticipates the actions of other road users and pedestrians, in actual fact to perform an effective emergency stop one should not depress the clutch until just before the car stops as then the engine will assist with the braking. The clutch usage is then much more controlled and measured than the brake which should basically just be hammered to the floor as hard and as soon as possible (particularly if you have ABS anyway, otherwise use cadence braking).

But it's medical people who are advising me that I wouldn't be able to perform an emergency stop, not advanced drivers. But even though I know better than the medics the problem is that if I was driving and some fanny drove into me, then my insurance company might not cover me if medical advice had been that I shouldn't be driving, even if the basis for that assessment was partial bollocks. And the police wouldn't be happy either. So I can't drive for the moment. And God knows how long it'll be before I can get on the bike again. It would be fine 99.9% of the time, but the one time at traffic lights when I let it go past the balance point to my left and there would be no way I would have the strength in my leg to stop all 44 stones of bike crashing embarrassingly and expensively to the floor.

The bike has now been taken away to my work by a colleague where it will remain secure until I can ride it again.

I had my first session of physiotherapy yesterday. Oh fuck, it hurt!

Very nice friendly physiotherapist who clearly, patiently and accurately explained to me what she was going to do and why. It still hurt though. But afterwards my ankle felt a lot better. Physiotherapy will take place once a week for the foreseeable future with a suggestion that sometimes 6 months to a year of treatment is necessary. So I'll be paying regular visits to the Western Infirmary for some time to come. The photo shows the swelling on Saturday. Impressive, eh? Hurts too.

So, the flat.

Everything is going fine. I now have the keys and am about to move. A little bit of work has been done in the past three days (new Damp Proof Course) and tomorrow morning I will be taking a break from packing here and spending the morning at the new flat while Virgin Media come to install the telephone, broadband and cable TV, Scottish Gas come to exchange the prepayment Gas meter for one used by people with bank accounts and the ability to pass credit checks (cynical? who me?), and a heating engineer comes to light the gas boiler which I couldn't manage on Sunday, despite having spent almost 13 years of my life selling the bloody things and therefore having some idea of how they work! The boiler is a slight worry as it looks a few years old so I am half expecting it to either be condemned, necessitating an expensive replacement, or to require expensive parts replacing (my guess is that at the very least the piezo ignition isn't working). We'll see what happens anyway, and in fact having just taken possession of the property it may be that the seller has some legal obligation to have such integral facilities repaired/replaced at his expense. Here's hoping it'll be OK anyway. I still have to arrange for Scottish Power to come to exchange the prepayment electrickery meter for one which doesn't need repeated trips to the corner shop to purchase credit using cash.

Anyway, time is getting on and the packing isn't doing itself. I may extend my half hour break and have something to eat first before I get back to the grind.

At last it can be told

My offer has now been accepted and the necessary legal bits basically completed, so I am just about back on the housing ladder again. Hurrah!

I have to say I was feeling genuinely sick on the day I made the offer while waiting for the answer in case the offer was rejected. I feel pretty happy now that it seems all to be OK.

The entry date is Thursday 10th May, which seemed like ages away when the ball started rolling, but of course is now less than a couple of weeks. The flat is nice, and while there's some potential for improvements and changes, there's actually not very much needing done right away.

So where is it?

I was looking to remain in the west end of Glasgow, albeit I was very aware that the budget I am prepared to spend wouldn't get me much there. I like to think that the flat is in the Greater West End. It's actually in Clydebank, five and a half miles west of where I am now! It's close to Clydebank railway station and very near Dumbarton Road, so getting into the "real" west end should be easy.

The location of the flat is roughly 500 yards from the site of the John Brown Shipyard where various Cunard ships were built including the Royal Yacht Britannia, RMS Queen Mary, RMS Queen Elizabeth & RMS QEII.

No pain, no gain

It didn't actually hurt!

Despite gleeful assurances to the contrary from several people beforehand, on Friday when they moved the angle of my ankle from the equinus (tiptoes) to the semi equinus (not quite so extreme tiptoes) position I felt no pain at all. Nausea and lightheadedness, yes, but no pain. And the nausea is apparently fairly common when a cast is removed and was there well before anyone moved my ankle. Very strange.

And there was good news too. When I had the accident the A&E doctor told me I would be in a cast for about six weeks. The following day the orthopaedic doctor told me it'd in fact be twelve weeks (three months). But on Friday I was told that having had the first cast on for 5 weeks instead of 4, the next one could be reduced to 3 weeks in the semi equinus position. I replied that this would obviously be followed by another cast but was told that I might have just a heel lift for the remaining time. I'm not 100% sure what that means because at the time I assumed it'd be something put into my own shoes to decrease the length of my tendon (i.e. lift me kind of onto tiptoes) but since then I have heard a credible suggestion that it will still be some sort of cast/bandage/whatever so I don't know for sure. I'm also guessing and indeed hoping that the crutches will no longer be necessary but I'm expecting to use walking sticks for a while. That's speculation though.

I've spoken to work, and they have offered to get me collected and taken back home every day while I can't drive (I had assumed that as soon as I get the heel lift I'd be able to drive but I've since been disabused of this notion!) and they will also put measures in place so that I can work in a downstairs office to save having to tackle the stairs. This is really good of them, and is much appreciated. So the bottom line is that I may well be back at work about a month before I thought I was going to be, albeit still unable to walk or stand normally.

Various plans I had to fill in my time (family tree research, scanning old photos and updating my website amongst other things) might now be returned to the back burner. But I'm happy to do this if I can get back into some sort of normality. Having recently had lots of time to sit around and, perhaps rather worryingly, think, I have realised that I have been subconsciously reassessing what things are important to me and what things aren't, with somewhat surprising conclusions. Surprising to me anyway.

I've now had a qualified acceptance of my offer on a new flat. It could still technically fall through (although this is hopefully unlikely) so I will still hold back from providing fuller details.

I like the sentiment in the image in this post.

Uisge Beatha

I think the image on the left sums up the effect malt whisky had on me recently! Good stuff though. It was an Islay one, but I can't remember which. Bowmore I think.

Anyway, soon I should have news either way about the potential house hunting. Fingers crossed.

Yesterday's decision to sit and do nothing seems to have done the trick as I feel a lot better today. Much less upper body pain. If you've never had the misfortune to need to use crutches you are lucky, but until you do have to use them you just don't appreciate the effort and pain involved in getting about, and the fact that everything takes twice as long to achieve.

Gents, next time you are in the toilet, try standing on one leg while you are doing it (aiming carefully, of course!) and see how easy it is to do while being unable to put any weight on one of your legs. Ladies, next time you are doing the dishes, cleaning or ironing, try doing it on one leg (only joking!)

Simple things we usually take for granted shouldn't ever be taken for granted. Be thankful for the ability to get about unaided and unhindered.

A step in the right direction

Just had the solicitor on the phone. My offer's been accepted. My offer of course was subject to survey and that hasn't happened yet, so I'll still not give further details just yet.

Charming

The one and only Mr Johnny Cash, ladies and gentlemen!

Now here's a thing. I was about to put his full name in this post, since I know his initials are J R Cash, but according to Wikipedia he was actually given only initials by his parents because they couldn't agree on a name. When he joined the Air Force they wouldn't accept just initials so he adopted John R Cash as his legal name, and when in 1955 he signed for Sun Records he adopted Johnny Cash as his stage name. And yes, I know Wikipedia can be wrong, but it's a good story if it's true! And you should read the Wikipedia entry about Cash, it's very interesting.

As you may have guessed, I watched Walk the Line on DVD yesterday. Great film.

The other thing I did yesterday was view a flat in the evening, and I liked it enough to have instructed a survey today. Let's see what happens, and I won't jinx it by giving any details yet.

That's a bloody long time!

Collected my sick note from my GP this morning. The first one I can remember ever having in something like 27 years of working! I had asked that, having self-certificated for a week, my GP give me a certificate from Monday 26th until my next appointment at the fracture clinic on 20th April. This would give me about 3 weeks of certificated absence plus the first week, then I would re-address whether I need to stay off work for longer, in consultation with the doctors at the clinic and my GP of course. I thought 4 weeks was a long time to be off and had hoped that I might be able to return after then.

So I collected my pre-prepared sick note (written after my GP received a letter from the hospital so I didn't actually have to see her) this morning and took it straight to work. To my surprise, when I got to work and looked at the certificate it said I was to stay off for 6 weeks from 26th! That's 3 weeks longer than I had hoped to be off for this initial period. Although I'm mindful of the very real possibility (actually it's a probability) that I'll be off for the full 3 months, I don't want to accept that as for definite and was hoping to fool myself by staying off for repeated shorter periods. But now the earliest I'll be back to work is about 7th May. Fuck.

So, anyway, went for lunch to The Lansdowne with dad, who had kindly come and collected me to deal with said sick note. Very enjoyable it was too.

For the first time since starting to look for a place to buy, I've seen somewhere which has sparked my interest enough to actually go and look at it. So I've emailed the estate agent asking to arrange a viewing. It's slightly further away from the west end of Glasgow than I'd have really liked, but the property looks interesting. Hopefully no one gets in in front of me. No doubt further posts will reveal all!

The image? I watched a bit of Shaun of the Dead last night on TV. Good film. I have it on DVD and need to watch all of it again soon.

Dies Irae

Well today is the big move.

It's now just after 8am and I've already been up for two hours doing the final wee bits. Disconnecting the washing machine, and the TV (and all the assorted gubbins attached to it - Sky+ box, Cinema Surround Sound system, DVD recorder. Really it's like an electrician's nest behind the TV!). Dismantling my bed, unscrewing the bookcases from the wall. Trying to calm down the cats, who know something's up. Smart little buggers, cats.

Almost the last thing to be dismantled is going to be this PC but so I can use the laptop to get onto the Interweb for a little while longer I'll leave the wireless router connected until tomorrow when the phone line's being cut off here and started at the new place, at which point I won't have any Internet access for up to 10 working days, so there may be a gap in posts until Tiscali do the needful and transfer my service to the flat.

Wish me luck.

Oh, I should have mentioned, I feel a lot better today.

Keys, Cats and the Black Dog

Well I picked up the keys to the flat yesterday morning, so I've spent much of yesterday and today making the 24 mile round trip with (small) carloads of boxes. I was starting to get pissed off living all week surrounded by cardboard so I thought I'd clear it a bit. I'm pretty well ready to move now. Everything except the TV/DVD Player/Surround Sound System, in the lounge, and the computer etc in the study are packed away waiting for tomorrow morning when I pick up the van. I am very appreciative of CH, CW and MB who have all volunteered (were pressganged?) to help. Thanks guys. Curry and refreshments will be forthcoming at the end!

Having been back and forward between the new flat and the house, I've noticed something that I'd forgotten about this place. It is very light, bright and airy. In comparison the flat, and it is a nice flat, is a dark gloomy place. Maybe the gloominess is in my mind of course when I subconsciously realise just why I'm having to move there, but I dare say I'll get used to it. It's only a stopgap anyway while I look around for somewhere suitable to buy. I'll miss this house though. At the risk of over-dramatising it, I'm leaving a lot of dreams behind. I'm leaving my marriage behind. I'm crying right now, something I've been doing a fair amount lately. On my own behind closed doors. With only the cats as witnesses. I feel quite lonely right at this minute. It's quite overwhelming. I have taken ages to type this, between sobs. If it wasn't for the fact that it'd scare the cats I'd do what I really feel like doing. Scream at the top of my voice, and howl like an animal. That might help. Typical British reserve though, musn't upset the neighbours! I only started to feel like this as I typed, mostly it's kept way down under wraps in a secret place in my soul. A place so secret no one knows about it except me. A black place. Lasciate Ogne Speranza Voi Ch'Intrate.*

It's amazing the mood swings I'm suffering just now. Ernie, the older cat, has just come in and insisted loudly on climbing onto my knee where he's fallen asleep purring. This has had two effects. I am now forced to type with one hand, and I feel a whole lot better! The Black Dog has been pushed back through the gates for the time being.



*Dante's Inferno Canto III: The Gate of Hell

Per me si va ne la città dolente,
per me si va ne l'etterno dolore,
per me si va tra la perduta gente.
Giustizia mosse il mio alto fattore:
fecemi la divina podestate,
la somma sapienza e 'l primo amore.
Dinanzi a me non fuor cose create
se non etterne, e io etterno duro.
Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate

Through me is the way into the woeful city; through me is the way into eternal woe; through me is the way among the lost people. Justice moved my lofty maker: the divine Power, the supreme Wisdom and the primal Love made me. Before me were no things created, unless eternal, and I eternal last. Abandon all hope, ye who enter!

A well trimmed bush

I'm really not a gardening person and since getting turf laid in the back garden (I was overruled - probably rightly to be fair - when I suggested concrete or Astroturf) we had a gardener come twice a month to cut it and the front lawn. It's getting close to moving time though, so today I called the gardener and told him he was essentially fired! No point in leaving the new people short grass if it's going to cost me money!

And the image at the left reminds me of a (female) colleague who told us that some time ago she asked a (male) colleague of hers if he would "come round and trim my bush at the front". Obviously she knew what she meant, but he perhaps didn't!. SMcG, you are an outrage!