By The Time You Read This, I Will Be Gone...

... to spend the weekend at my sister's farm with my brother and Viki. (Did I have you worried there?).

My sister & brother-in-law are away on holiday for a couple of weeks, and my brother is farm-sitting, looking after the cats and their elderly dog... so Viki & I are tagging along for tonight, tomorrow and tomorrow night... returning Sunday night because we both have to go to work on Monday.

So, I've cunningly pre-prepared the music video posts for the next couple of days, as well as planting this to auto-publish at 11pm... by which time we should be sitting in the dark (and I mean DARK... their farm is down in a valley, away from the main road and any lights), with a flatulent dog (and probably a flatulent brother), and the cows outside, and watching the DVD of "Poltergeist", which I've not seen for years, and which Viki has never seen... so no phoning when you read this trying to give us a fright - the mobile will be on silent (if I can get a signal at all, which is unlikely... as I said, they're down in a valley)!

See you in a couple of days!

What Do You Get If You Cross...

Too much alcohol last night, only getting to bed at 2o'clock in the morning, and having to work today?

You get me clutching a bottle of Irn Bru, alternating it with gulps of coffee, and trying to muster up a vague appearance of being human every time a customer comes in and rings the bell!

That's it! I'm NEVER drinking again!





(at least, until next weekend)

Just Call Me Red Adair!

"Whooooooooooooooooooo?", I hear you cry...

Red Adair

And then I hear you cry "Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?"... Well, pull up a comfy seat and I'll tell you about this morning's near-death-experience...

It all started as Viki was making Sunday breakfast as normal... her afore-mentioned wicked scrambled eggs, crumpets and (for the first time, since it was on offer in Tesco) smoked trout, with fresh orange juice...

I was in the sitting room, getting the table ready, when Viki came flying through from the kitchen, in a total panic, having temporarily lost her normally brilliant grasp of English (for those of you who haven't read my blog before, Viki is my Hungarian flatmate)... all I could make out was:

"Sorry... micro... fire... really!"

So I dashed into the kitchen, expecting there to be nothing more than something smoking a bit...

But, no, sure enough... there was an orange glow coming from inside the microwave (the door was slightly open, so at least it wasn't still going)... clearly flames!

Opened the door and found the culprit... a tub of butter (well, by this time it was half a tub, and half a melted, burning pool of butter and plastic). Wearing proper protective gear (oven gloves), I grabbed the turntable from the microwave and ran out the back door with it (thank god it was raining... and thank god I was dressed by this time). Viki chucked a jug of water over it, and the fire was out.

It turns out that, not unusually, she had put the hard butter in the microwave to soften it a bit before spreading on the crumpets... and when she does this, she sets the timer for a minute (being one of those horrible knob timers, not a fancy digital one), but takes the butter out after about 10 or 20 seconds, nicely softened...

This time, however, she decided she would start to open the smoked trout while the butter was softening... and the silver paint or whatever on a tub of Lurpack Lighter Spreadable must have been too much for the poor microwave to cope with!



Emergency over, I found a tiny bit of real butter left in the fridge (so we could still have our crumpets), and we had our breakfast.

Microwave survived (albeit a little bit blackened inside til I cleaned it out), the breakfast was delicious (as usual), and the cats eventually calmed down.

If this was Viki's plan to not have to make breakfast again, I hate to disappoint her... I WILL let her cook in my kitchen again - just maybe I'll supervise her next time!

The Weekend...

What a lovely weekend we've just had... if you discount the fact that I was working on Saturday and Viki was working Saturday evening...

You already know we had a meal out on Friday night...

Well, my sister & brother-in-law were away for a few days, and my brother has been looking after their farm. They've got a house on the farm that they usually rent out, which is empty at the moment, so my brother suggested that Viki & I come out for Saturday night and Sunday (they were coming back Sunday evening).

So, I went out about half past 7 on Saturday evening, and then my brother went in to get Viki from her work after half past 9.

We all cheated for tea, coz we had microwave chicken tikka, and then we just had a laugh until about 3o'clock on Sunday morning. At that point Viki & I went round the corner to the guest house where we slept in the living room (one on the sofa, one on a couple of armchairs pulled together... there wasn't a big lot of furniture in the place since it's empty at the moment).

And, would you believe, because it's so quiet there in the middle of a valley in Holm, and there isn't traffic going zooming past 24 hours a day like our place, we didn't waken up til almost 12 noon?

And when we did waken up... Oh. My. God. What a beautiful day! My sister has a porch on the front of their house, and the temperature in there was reading about 40 degrees!

Had toast for breakfast (for once I had to miss out on Viki's scrambled eggs... she does wicked scrambled eggs), and then we came into the town to get some dead animals to barbecue for dinner / tea.

Returned with steaks (which were reduced... woo-hoo), a couple of gammon steaks, and some lamb kebabs. Sat in the concrete area in front of the farmhouse and my brother was in charge of the barbecue.

Viki, me, him... and my sister's elderly dog... all ate very well, before he took us back home... me with very slight sunburn on the one arm that was facing the sun.

It was a great day.

I've Got To Stop...

going out on a Friday night when I'm working on Saturday!

moar funny pictures

Viki and I went out for a bar meal last night (it's our Friday night thing... neither of us wants to cook) and then for a couple of drinks.

Then, when the pubs closed at 1am this morning, it was such a beautiful night that we went a walk along the harbour front and sat on a bench just talking for a while, while Viki had a cigarette or 3 (that'll really help her cold(!)). It was dead quiet... for some reason there wasn't the usual lot of drunken layabouts looking for taxis and folks just hanging around... and the sky wasn't properly dark (I love Orkney around mid-summer)... and there wasn't a breath of wind...

Came home about half past 2 and I collapsed into bed... pleasantly tiddly.

Woke up this morning at 20 to 8... unpleasantly hungover. lol.

Now I'm at work. Had a cup of coffee, so I'm feeling a wee bit more human, but I'm still struggling.

Bleurgh!

It really, really isn't a good idea to go out on a Friday night when you're working the next day!

Viki & I went out for a meal last night, and then for "a couple of drinks" - Aye, right(!) - There were probably more like 5 or 6... and I took it easier than Viki, because I only had this really good rum that I've been introduced to, called Sailor Jerry's (which you drink with coke and lime, so at least I won't get scurvy, I guess)... Viki was drinking Budweiser AND straight whisky!

So my one consolation today is that however bad I was feeling when I got up this morning, she was feeling a lot worse!

Met her for lunch and, sure enough, she looked a little bit green around the gills... hee, hee... er... I mean... Poor baba...

That Was The Weekend, That Was...

And what a great weekend... for a start, my 3rd Saturday off in a row.

But first, Friday night... which involved a nice bar supper at a local pub with Viki, then we met a guy that she speaks to on the bus some days, as we were standing outside waiting for a taxi, and we discovered that he was heading to the same pub as us... so we offered him a lift... and spent the rest of the evening (til 1o'clock in the morning) in his company. Spent the last hour as his guests in a local members-only club just talking about life, the universe and everything, and having a laugh over a quiet drink, before leaving him to go home.

Woke up Saturday morning with a slightly fuzzy head, but with a mission for some retail therapy. Brunch was had at a cafe, and we left feeling a bit more human after some food and coffee. Spent all the afternoon (until Viki had to go to work at about 5pm) wandering about the shops, checking our favourite charity shops for bargains, and window shopping... only slightly marred by the fact that the bonny weather of the last few days had broken and it was dull and rainy. Hired a DVD for watching at night but, for some reason, we didn't manage to get it seen.

Today (Sunday) dawned a bit cold and dull still, but by about 1pm it was sunny and dry again. Spent the morning (after a breakfast of Viki's scrambled eggs and bacon... it's great having a flatmate who can cook) surfing YouTube for silly music videos, before we headed out about 3pm to see some of the parade for Norway Constitution Day (Orkney, having strong Viking / Scandanavian links, usually has some sort of thing on for this). Stood outside the cathedral and listened to the speeches, then there was music and some traditional dance displays, and then (Viki's favourite) the Kirkwall City Pipe Band played a couple of tunes.

After that, took a wander up the street for some ice cream, before heading to my brother's to get ready for our Sunday run.

Headed out East again (but not to The Hup again... not risking that again - David's just had his tyre repaired after last week)... This time we stopped the car at The Gloup, and then walked along the cliffs to the Broch Of Deerness. Me, being a coward, didn't cross to the broch (it being reached by a path that was altogether too close to the cliffedge for my liking)... so I braved the Terns and Kittiwakes that were less than pleased that I was so close to their nests - until they started flying close enough that I could see the whites of their eyes... then I retreated a bit. When David and Viki came back across from the Broch, we walked back to the car before driving somewhere to stop and have some sandwiches and coffee just after sunset (about 9:30pm).

Didn't get a chance to watch our DVD again tonight, and it has to be returned tomorrow... so that's £3.50 "wasted", but it's a small price to pay, considering the rest of the weekend was so good.

Working next Saturday, but we are going to a concert on Friday night as part of our local Orkney Folk Festival... we were listening to Radio Scotland as were eating our sandwiches in the car, and there was something about a Hungarian violinist who is going to be playing as part of the festival... so we've booked tickets for next Friday night to see his band (The Jani Lang Band), a local band called The Chair, and a couple of other artists, at 10pm through in Stromness. Funny that Viki comes to Orkney to see Hungarian music played! Really looking forward to it!

Bad Day At Work?

I'm at work (alone, and in all day again today (still only part-time during the week, coz I've still got a bandage and a stupid "plaster boot" on one leg), and it's chuffing freezing if I have to go out into the store to serve customers, and we don't seem to have anything that they want, and there's no milk for me to make coffee, and I'm craving a bacon roll (which I can't go get because I'm alone, and anyway, I'm stuck on the industrial estate, too far away from anywhere that I could purchase said item), and I just want to go home and sleep, and my leg is itchy under the bandage where the dead skin is coming off and the new skin is coming in, and there's an iodine dressing on the actual ulcer bit and it's stinging a wee bit, and I am feeling grumpy and unsociable...

But I'm still not having as bad a day as the guy in this thing I was emailed...

If you don’t laugh out loud after you read this you are in a coma! This is even funnier when you realize it’s real! Next time you have a bad day at work think of this guy.

Bob is a commercial saturation diver for Global Divers in Louisiana. He performs underwater repairs on offshore drilling rigs.

Below is an E-mail he sent to his sister. She then sent it to radio station 103. 5 on FM dial in Indiana, who was sponsoring a worst job experience contest.

Needless to say, she won. Read his letter below.

~Hi Sue,

Just another note from your bottom-dwelling brother.

Last week I had a bad day at the office. I know you’ve been feeling down lately at work, so I thought I would share my dilemma with you to make you realize it’s not so bad after all. Before I can tell you what happened to me, I first must bore you with a few technicalities of my job. As you know, my office lies at the bottom of the sea. I wear a suit to the office. It’s a wet suit. This time of year the water is quite cool. So what we do to keep warm is this: We have a diesel powered industrial water heater. This $20,000 piece of equipment sucks the water out of the sea. It heats it to a delightful temperature. It then pumps it down to the diver through a garden hose, which is taped to the air hose.

Now this sounds like a darn good plan, and I’ve used it several times with no complaints. What I do, when I get to the bottom and start working, is take the hose and stuff it down the back of my wet suit.

This floods my whole suit with warm water. It’s like working in a Jacuzzi. Everything was going well until all of a sudden, my butt started to itch. So, of course, I scratched it.

This only made things worse. Within a few seconds my ass started to burn. I pulled the hose out from my back, but the damage was done. In agony I realized what had happened. The hot water machine had sucked up a jellyfish and pumped it into my suit. Now, since I don’t have any hair on my back, the jellyfish couldn’t stick to it, however, the crack of my ass was not as fortunate. When I scratched what I thought was an itch, I was actually grinding the jellyfish into the crack of my ass.

I informed the dive supervisor of my dilemma over the communicator. His instructions were unclear due to the fact that he, along with five other divers, were all laughing hysterically. Needless to say, I aborted the dive.

I was instructed to make three agonizing in-water decompression stops totaling thirty-five minutes before I could reach the surface to begin my chamber dry decompress ion. When I arrived at the surface, I was wearing nothing but my brass helmet. As I climbed out of the water, the medic, with tears of laughter running down his face, handed me a tube of cream and told me to rub it on my butt as soon as I got in the chamber. The cream put the fire out, but I couldn’t shit for two days because my ass was swollen shut.

So, next time you’re having a bad day at work, think about how much worse it would be if you had a jellyfish shoved up your ass.

Now repeat to yourself, ‘I love my job, I love my job, I love my job.’

Whenever you have a bad day, ask yourself, is this a jellyfish bad day?

Viki's Here!

She arrived last night (40 minutes before ETA, so I wasn't at the airport yet), in dreadful weather (as my brother & I left for the airport, there was a hail shower), and without her luggage (top marks to those useless pillocks at Heathrow for losing it!) - but at least she's here!

And today the sun is shining!

I had my own dramas yesterday... at 20 to 6 in the morning, I was woken up by a "bang" as the electricity meter went out. Got up, and made my way through to the kitchen by torchlight to push the emergency credit button... and nothing happened! Tried a few times, until eventually I gave up and went back to bed... still in the dark.

When I got up for real, I pushed the button, and on came the lights.

Went to the Hydro shop, and bought £15 worth of tokens to put in. Came home (making a small detour to buy a Starbucks latte and a bacon roll to take home for breakfast) and put the tokens in... Well, TRIED to put the tokens in. I put in all 3, all 3 came out with a line through them (which is meant to show that the credit has gone in) - except I couldn't tell, because the display was frozen showing "Error 5".

Phoned Hydro Electric, and they said they'd send a man out. He came about quarter past 4, and reset the meter (discovering in the process that only one of the three cards had registered). Then he said that, as HE were going to replace the token meters with key ones anyway, he would just fit one of the new meters to me now... because he couldn't guarantee that my old token one would work next time.

So, that meant power out, so I couldn't get the last-minute hoovering I was going to do before Viki arrived done.

He left at about half past 5, so then it was a case of jump in the shower, get changed, and go round to my brother's so we could go out and "wait for" Viki.... except she'd got there before us and was stood standing in the smokers' shelter! Dammit... what business did the plane have being EARLY!?

Well, we're off grocery shopping in a bit.

Catch you later!

Moar Pleh!

A lolcat by me...

moar funny pictures

A reflection of how I'm feeling. Remember I said yesterday morning that I had a bunged-up nose and thought I might be getting the cold? Well, that was about half past 8... and by 10am I was coughing so hard I would get dizzy, and sometimes I just couldn't get my breath properly.

Struggled through work until stopping time at 4pm, and then got a taxi down to the chemist for some cough medicine (I want this gone before Viki comes) and some decongestant tablets for my nose, because I could feel my sinuses getting sore - and I really didn't want that, because when my sinuses get blocked, they get really, really sore... kinda like someone hitting you in the face with a sledgehammer.

Watched a film last night, sat on the sofa under a blanket... "Catch & Release" - not that great really, but a bit of a no-brain chick-flick, and it only cost £5 in Woolies yesterday.

Didn't have that great a sleep... was sore and coughing and couldn't get comfy. At one point I woke up thinking it must be about 5o'clock, and when I looked at the clock, it wasn't even 3am. Knew then it was going to be a long night.

Had an appointment with someone at the house at 10o'clock this morning, so couldn't even have a lie-in... although I did get that sleepy this afternoon that I just had to go back to bed for a few hours. And I've not really done anything of any consecquence today... just coughed and sneezed blown my nose.

And now I'm off to bed... hopefully to sleep, and hopefully I'll waken up feeling soooo much better tomorrow. (No, I'm not betting on it).

Oh, I must have done something to please the karma gods this week though - I won £20 on the lottery last night!

Pleh!

It's too early... I'm at work already... and first thing I did was put the kettle on!

And I think I'm coming down with a cold... my left nostril is all bunged up...

more animals

Pleh!

Urgh....

more animals

It's half past 8, I've been at work half an hour, but I'm really not awake yet... not until the coffee that I'm surgically attached to starts to kick in.

Yesterday was the girl in the office upstair's last day before she starts her new job, and a few of their firm were going out for drinks and something to eat... and I was asked along too. I'd debated for days whether to go or not, thinking:

1. I don't really feel like socialising at the moment.
2. But it's probably going to be my last chance for a while, coz I'm going to be too skint.
3. The fact I don't feel like socialising is precisely the reason I should, or else I'll turn into a recluse, too embarrassed to face people.
4. She's a good friend.
5. I've got to work at 8am Saturday (today).
6. I don't have to drink (aye, right(!)) and I can leave early.

So, at about half past 5 last night (they were meeting sometime about 6 or half 6), I found myself getting ready and heading out.

And it was a good night... I was disciplined and only had 3 (maybe 4, I can't remember) drinks, and about 6 or 7 of us went for an Indian. Was home by about half past 10, leaving the rest of them heading off to another pub.

Had an early night, but didn't get to sleep that easily because my leg was a bit sore. Got up at half past one and took a couple of pain-killers, and that seemed to help, because the next I knew was quarter past 6 and the first of my 7 alarms going off.

However, I'm far more tired and "bleurgh" (it is an accepted medical condition) than usual after 3 drinks. Maybe it's the new antibiotics I've just started taking for my leg? (The ones I was put on last week did a bit of good, but the bugs I've got are resistant to them). Hence the coffee... and the bottle of Lucozade for later.

I hope there aren't many customers wanting anything complicated today, considering my head is full of cotton wool at the moment... and might not improve for a few hours.

Having It Off!

Er... the weekend, that is!

I was expecting to be working tomorrow, especially since I'd been off on Tuesday... and then I got a text from the boss last night.

It said, as he needed me to work the next 2 Saturdays (he's away on another secret mission for MI6 again), I could have this Saturday off!

Woo-hoo!

So, the next few Saturdays go...

13th - Off
20th - Working from 8am (groan)
27th - Working from 8am (double groan)
4th October - Off, and Viki arrives!

It's 20 Past 8...

in the am, the sun is shining, and I'm sat here at work.

So much for being able to have a Saturday off when the boss is not away.

Yes, I'll get Tuesday off, but as that's for my auntie's funeral, it doesn't really compensate.

My Weekend...

Has been pretty damn good, thank you very much!

It's amazing the difference just having 2 days off can make!

Yesterday morning I had a nice lie-in... getting up around about 11o'clock... and then kicked about the house for a bit. Blogged, pottered on the computer, listened to music... Bliss!

Then in the afternoon, I had a wander round the shops, not really buying anything. At 5o'clock, I went to get coffee for me and my brother (as I usually do on a Saturday, but it's normally after I've had a shit day at work) - Americano for him, and a nice latte for me. And I got chips for myself, since I hadn't really eaten yet. Stayed with him until he went out about 7pm, and I headed up to Broad Street for an open-air concert by Kirkwall City Pipe Band and Orkney-born musician, Ivan Drever - "Ivan On The Apron" (The Apron is the raised, paved area in front of the Cathedral, from which you go down the steps onto the Kirk Green).

Here is a photo of Ivan with a few members of the pipe band helping him out:

It lasted from 8pm til just after 10, and was fantastic... A lovely evening (with the exception of the midges hanging around), standing outside the majesty of the Cathedral, as the sun went down, with hundreds of people, from toddlers up to grannies and granddads in wheelchairs, and no trouble at all... no pushing, no drunken louts, no swearing or heckling... Just the best way to spend a Saturday evening.

Then home, via my brother's to pick up the bags I had left there, and a nuked chicken korma while I watched a DVD - "Stardust", which was brilliant, even if I'll never be able to take Robert De Niro seriously in a gangster film again (if you've seen "Stardust", you'll know what I'm getting at). Wandered off to bed, not at all shattered like I usually am on a Saturday, at about 2o'clock this morning, after the film was done.

Another nice long lie-in today. Got up, changed the dressing on my leg (which the nurses seem to think is slowly getting a peedie bit better) and did the same as yesterday... listened to music and pottered around on the computer.

But then came my first disappointment of the weekend (unless you count not winning the lottery last night)... I went a wander round the corner to the street, thinking I would get a coffee from Starbucks - only to find that they've decided it's "winter", and they aren't opening on a Sunday any more! Not til next summer! So I had to come home and make my own latte... and - let's face it - a spoon of Nescafé Gold Blend in a mug of milk just isn't the same!

So now, here I am, pottering on the computer again. In a sec I'm going to cook the spring rolls I've got for my tea, and then a bit later I'll have a chat with Viki on MSN, if she's around.

All in all, it's been a good weekend!

Time For Bed...

Long past time, in fact... I've twice almost bounced my head off the keyboard because I've nodded off. So I'm offski...

But guess what?

I'VE GOT A DAY OFF TOMORROW! I'm actually going to have a 2-day weekend!

The boss is back now, and he's finally seen that I need some more time off. So I was only supposed to be working from 12 noon til 4pm tomorrow, and off altogether next Saturday... but he needs me more next week, so I got a text saying I didn't need to come in tomorrow! Woo-hoo!

Long lie for me, I think... followed by a leisurely afternoon window shopping (trying to save some pennies), and a DVD and a beer or two at night... oh, and a Starbucks latte after the window shopping (not trying to save THAT many pennies).

Oh, a plea... My 93 year old auntie (she'd kill me if she knew I'd told her age) is in hospital. She's very poorly, and the doctors are saying it's just a matter of time. We've had this happen before, and last time she amazed everyone by rallying (that was about Christmas last year, I think) and has been fine since, until now. But the docs are very pessimistic this time.

So please ask your god(s) for healing for her if it's not her time to go yet, or for a peaceful, pain-free end if it is... Her name's Joanna, or Jo.

Thanks.

Goodnight...

A Weekend O' Woe...

My weekend actually started with a bit of excitement - I came home after doing my shopping and there was a "We tried to deliver a package, but your letterbox wasn't big enough" card from the Post Office... and immediately I got excited:

"Ooo! Someone's sent me a parcel! I'm not expecting a parcel! Wonder what it is?"

So, Saturday morning (starting work at 8am, so up at the back of 7) I phoned the Post Office about 10 to 8 to find out their opening hours - and they said the sorting office was open already. Gathered all my stuff, got a taxi, and got it to wait at the Post Office til I collected my goodies - and then up to work (about 2 minutes past 8) - costing about £4.

And what was my wonderful, unexpected surprise? 2 free energy saving lightbulbs from Hydro Electric! Whoopee-doo(!)

So, opened up at work, and went to take one of my anti-biotics, which I'd put in my handbag the night before... hadn't I? Well, no, I hadn't actually! So I had to close for 15 minutes at dinnertime, get a taxi home, get it to wait until I grabbed my tablets, and then take me back to work (I wouldn't be home again until after 8pm coz I always visit my brother after work on a Saturday to watch "Doctor Who" with him)... costing me £5 this time!

Was actually a reasonably busy day at work compared to the last few Saturdays.

Closed up at 4o'clock, did a few messages, and then headed at the usual time (just after 5pm) to the local Starbucks for me & brother's Saturday coffees... only to be told that - due to it being the arty-farty St Magnus Festival here this week - they were closing early before re-opening a bit later for "The Festival Dining Experience" for the arty-farty Festival goers!

So, feeling more than a little pissed off, I headed down to my brother's (I'd been there already after work to drop some stuff off, and he hadn't been home)... only to find that, in amongst the stuff I'd dropped off, was the spare key I had for his house... which was now locked inside his house, coz he still wasn't home!

At this point, I was severely hacked off, just wanting a seat and a coffee. Why didn't I go home? Because the key for my house was on the same ring as the key for his house... locked inside his house!

So I had to wander up the street a wee bit to the nearest bench and sit there and wait for him to come back from the job he was doing up the street... sat there for about 20 minutes looking (and feeling) like a numpty!

Did eventually get a cup of instant coffee at his house, and saw "Doctor Who" (not as disappointing as the last few weeks).

Decided to treat myself to a house special fried rice from the Chinese round the corner for my tea, before falling asleep on the sofa and wakening up about 10 to 3 in the morning. Dragged myself through to bed.

And I've been really lazy today... Just spent most of the day in bed, resting my gammy leg. It seems to be helping too... no wet bandage today, but my leg is a bit itchy. Not even had anything to eat until about half an hour ago... just rested with Harriet for company.

Don't think it'll be that long before I'm back in bed either... I don't get the chance to rest my leg any other day of the week, so I'm making the most of it.

Let Sleeping Staff Lie...

Oh, god... I hate 8am starts on Saturdays...

I'm so sleepy (despite being in bed before 11pm last night)... Sat here with my cup of coffee, waiting for a customer to come and break the monotony... but I may have a long wait.

We've started to close at 4pm on a Saturday now, but that's little consolation at the moment.

Back later... hopefully a little bit more awake...

Wrll, I'vr Had A Peoductivr Aftrenoon...

It's brrn so boeing hrer at woek this aftrenoon that I'vr ersoetrd to clraning my drsk - rvrn taking all thr krys off my kryboaed and clraning thrm individually.

Hang on... somrthing's not eight hrer... Oh, buggre... I know what I'vr donr...

*Swaps the "E" and "R" keys the right way round*

Hello? There... That's better!

Yes, as I was saying (or trying to) - I finally had enough of the boss complaining that my desk was needing cleaned (you should see his! Except you can't - not for all the piles of paper that's on it!), that I washed it, everything on it - even taking all the keys off my keyboard and polishing them with some evil-smelling foam stuff for cleaning office equipment... and now it feels really strange to type on it!

Well, you've not had a general waffle post from me for quite some time, have you? That's mainly because I've not really had anything worth generally waffling about. Work's been generally boring... except we've got a new part-time member of "staff" at the moment... a furry one... The boss has just got a new dog - not a puppy, she's about 7 months old... and she's gorgeous! She's a samoyed, and is just like a huge teddy, or a sheepskin rug on legs. As distractions go, she's pretty cute. At the moment, they can't really leave her at home alone, so when the boss' wife is at work too, the dog comes to us. My cats aren't that impressed though when I go home smelling of dog!

Weather's still bonny here - very rare for May. That's a good couple of weeks we've had now without rain. Hope we don't pay for this in July & August... especially August when Viki's here... Really don't want rain then, thank you very much!

Still loving the new house. Still not got very much further unpacking and things, but most of the boxes down behind my couch are to go up in the attic, and I need a big, strong man to help with that.

And that's really it.

Well, it's half past 4 now, and we've been shut for half an hour (we close at 4pm on a Saturday now), so I'm going to bugger off and get a coffee, have a wander round the shops, and then home.

I'll probably end up watching The Eurovision Song Contest tonight - yes, I am that sad! Come on... United Kingdom, Nul Points... PLEASE!

Okay... See ya laters!



ps. I hadn't REALLY put the "E" & "R" keys on the wrong way around... that was just for comic effect!

IWANTONEIWANTONEIWANTONEIWANTONE

After work last night, I went down to my brother's (after a race past Starbucks to get a bucket of coffee, and the chippy to get some food)... and ended up there until midnight.

Watched the first of the new series of "Doctor Who", and I must say... I hoped Donna would fall out of the TARDIS when she was waving out the door... and Rose can stay faded away (sorry if this is spoiling things for anyone who's not seen the first episode)... and I'm finally warming to DT's Doctor as a character (I really liked Christopher Eccleston)... but, the main thing I must say is...

I WANT AN ADIPOSE!!!!!!

Aren't they just so cute!?

Well, my Slim Pickings came in 4th in the National... so I get something back for my £2 each way. Not enough to retire on, but at least it's some of my stake money back.

Right, I'm off in a minute to make something quick for tea and to see if there's anything good on telly.

See ya!