Sunday 28 November 2010
Gimme a shot of Sarsaparilla Pardner
I had a little "moment" when I walked into the pub last night. For a start the bar had been renamed the "Saloon" and when we walked in the first person I saw was Desperate Dan. Everyone was dressed up as cowboys and saloon girls and we were dressed up as two people who'd been out in the extreme cold!! It was Wild West night at the pub. Who would have thought the village would embrace fancy dress theme nights, but it was packed and we were practically the only people there not dressed up! We obviously missed the memo!!
It's f-f-f-f-freeeeezing
Britain is currently in the grip of a Siberian winter and this mini Ice Age is due to continue for another couple of weeks according to the forecasts. I may not have all my digits by then! It was minus 10C (14F) when we got up this morning, and its never got above minus 3C (27F) all day. My feet are frozen! I've now got 2 pairs of socks on and they're still cold - I've practically got them IN the fire and they're only just beginning to warm up.
We had some snow yesterday. We were lucky - it was only a light dusting, like icing sugar on top of a sponge cake. Not the inches of snow that some parts of the country are getting. It was gone by lunchtime which both surprised and pleased me. I feared that it would get walked on and slippy and be with us for weeks due to the extremely cold temperatures, but YAY! I am Bambi when walking on ice and snow so I'm very happy when it doesn't hang around to cause me to bruise my ample butt padding!!
We had some snow yesterday. We were lucky - it was only a light dusting, like icing sugar on top of a sponge cake. Not the inches of snow that some parts of the country are getting. It was gone by lunchtime which both surprised and pleased me. I feared that it would get walked on and slippy and be with us for weeks due to the extremely cold temperatures, but YAY! I am Bambi when walking on ice and snow so I'm very happy when it doesn't hang around to cause me to bruise my ample butt padding!!
Wednesday 24 November 2010
Decorating grinds to a halt
Stephen went shopping today for paint, brushes, rollers...everything you'd need to decorate a room. he was eager (well - ish!) to get stuck in. There was a bit of plaster that needed knocking out and replastering and, after phoning umpteen plasterers over the past week without a call back, he decided that it wasn't a big job and he'd just do it himself. After getting handy with a hammer things came to a grinding halt. The brick behind the plaster was soft, so its now time to get the damp-proofing specialists in as that's obviously a bit of a problem. This means that a pretty simple decorating job is now likely to be a major project which will no doubt take weeks....and the sofa is due to be delivered on Monday! Argh! The joys of living in a house which is 180 years old...
Actually, its as well Stephen isn't going to be doing the plastering. Last time he tried plastering it all crumbled and fell off when I began to paint it. It was, errr, rustic...!!!!!
Actually, its as well Stephen isn't going to be doing the plastering. Last time he tried plastering it all crumbled and fell off when I began to paint it. It was, errr, rustic...!!!!!
Can you hear the shouting?
Stephen is watching the Rangers v Manchester United match and, being a highly excitable Scotsman, is yelling his head off. I'm sure his comments could clearly be heard in Glasgow if you'd like to open the door and have a listen.
It seems Rangers are playing that classic 6-3-1 formation. A formation that Stephen particularly enjoys shouting about...! Its difficult to score with only one man up front. Challenging game! However, its 80 minutes in and its still 0-0 so the six man defence is working. They should probably be thanking Sir Alex as he seemingly forgot to make sure his best defenders were on the coach. And Wayne Rooney is looking like he'd rather be anywhere than Glasgow tonight... There is hope...
Uh-oh.... Penalty to Man U.... Rooney is taking it.....and he scores. Stunned silence from the sofa next to me.
Rangers are now playing their other classic 1-0-9 formation. It looks like a primary school match with everyone running after the ball... A classic performance!
It seems Rangers are playing that classic 6-3-1 formation. A formation that Stephen particularly enjoys shouting about...! Its difficult to score with only one man up front. Challenging game! However, its 80 minutes in and its still 0-0 so the six man defence is working. They should probably be thanking Sir Alex as he seemingly forgot to make sure his best defenders were on the coach. And Wayne Rooney is looking like he'd rather be anywhere than Glasgow tonight... There is hope...
Uh-oh.... Penalty to Man U.... Rooney is taking it.....and he scores. Stunned silence from the sofa next to me.
Rangers are now playing their other classic 1-0-9 formation. It looks like a primary school match with everyone running after the ball... A classic performance!
Saturday 20 November 2010
Home refurb is beginning - slowly
Having failed to find much time, or enthusiasm, for decorating the house in the 18 months since our return we are finally getting our act together. We have rather a lot of "stuff" in the house. We left a lot of "stuff" here when we went to the US, and we brought a whole house of "stuff" back with us. So we've essentially been climbing over piles of "stuff" for the longest time, having run out of clever places to put it all some time ago.
We took the bull by the horns a couple of weeks ago and gutted the Day Room which was just filled with junk. We also tackled the garage and threw out loads of "stuff". Result! We're still climbing over "stuff" but there is definitely less of it now...
Our first proper decorating project is the dining room, or the music room as it is soon to be. We have a massive dining table that we never actually use and we thought "what a waste of a room". So the table and chairs are going into the newly emptied garage, the open fire will be swept and properly re-instated and a sofa and chair have been purchased today. Working out the room dimensions has been funny. Whereas most people would just get a tape measure and work out what size of sofa would fit that approach is not for us. No. Perish the thought! We have to measure it very carefully and Stephen has to spend every free moment for a week creating a 3D CAD model of the room and proposed furniture...
The sofa comes in a couple of weeks and we still need to decorate and replaster a bit of the wall. I suspect that this will happen only when Stephen has created a team of android tradesmen and written a command programme...!!!!
We took the bull by the horns a couple of weeks ago and gutted the Day Room which was just filled with junk. We also tackled the garage and threw out loads of "stuff". Result! We're still climbing over "stuff" but there is definitely less of it now...
Our first proper decorating project is the dining room, or the music room as it is soon to be. We have a massive dining table that we never actually use and we thought "what a waste of a room". So the table and chairs are going into the newly emptied garage, the open fire will be swept and properly re-instated and a sofa and chair have been purchased today. Working out the room dimensions has been funny. Whereas most people would just get a tape measure and work out what size of sofa would fit that approach is not for us. No. Perish the thought! We have to measure it very carefully and Stephen has to spend every free moment for a week creating a 3D CAD model of the room and proposed furniture...
The sofa comes in a couple of weeks and we still need to decorate and replaster a bit of the wall. I suspect that this will happen only when Stephen has created a team of android tradesmen and written a command programme...!!!!
Crucible exhibition at Gloucester Cathedral
After a tip off from a colleague Stephen and I headed down to Gloucester Cathedral a couple of weeks ago to see the sculpture exhibition that was taking place there. Despite Gloucester being only about 30 minutes away we hadn't been there since a visit about 16 years ago when we first moved down and made the mistake of going there as opposed to its near neighbour Cheltenham. Unlike Cheltenham, its not a Regency delight and shopping mecca...
The Cathedral turned out to be worth a visit, and the sculpture exhibition was just amazing. Amongst the many, many pieces on show was an Antony Gormley (the artist who created the Angel of the North and "Stockie") and a Damien Hirst. The only other Hirst piece I've actually seen in the flesh, so to speak, was in New York and it featured a shark and a large tank of formaldehyde. I'm sure it is a masterpiece of creative genius, but it does leave you with the little nagging thought at the back of your brain that given access to a shark and a large tank of formaldehyde "I could do that". I was therefore blown away by the Hirst piece that was on show. It was a remarkable bronze sculpture of the Exquisite Pain of St Bartholomew, showing the saint brandishing a pair of scissors with his skin draped over his arm. It was disturbing, detailed and beautiful.
The Cathedral turned out to be worth a visit, and the sculpture exhibition was just amazing. Amongst the many, many pieces on show was an Antony Gormley (the artist who created the Angel of the North and "Stockie") and a Damien Hirst. The only other Hirst piece I've actually seen in the flesh, so to speak, was in New York and it featured a shark and a large tank of formaldehyde. I'm sure it is a masterpiece of creative genius, but it does leave you with the little nagging thought at the back of your brain that given access to a shark and a large tank of formaldehyde "I could do that". I was therefore blown away by the Hirst piece that was on show. It was a remarkable bronze sculpture of the Exquisite Pain of St Bartholomew, showing the saint brandishing a pair of scissors with his skin draped over his arm. It was disturbing, detailed and beautiful.
The Hirst drew much attention
A female figure haunts the Cloisters
I sat for 5 minutes on the cold, damp stone floor trying to get a good shot.
Low light, no tripod and camera shake due to the cold seeping into my bones made it challenging!
Low light, no tripod and camera shake due to the cold seeping into my bones made it challenging!
The was stunning when the sun came out and shone through the glass and lit up the figure.
A more complete view of the Antony Gormley sculpture
A very interesting fishy!
Sorry...
It amazing how time flies when your busy, mildly depressed due to the onset of winter dampness and gloomy dreich days, tired at night and very easily distracted. No posts for nearly a month...oops!
I'm sitting here on Saturday afternoon. Its about 3pm and its dark. Its not raining, but it is damp and very overcast. I really, really dislike this time of year in the UK. The dampness has begun...we've got about 6 months of this to look forward to. Urgh. Give me the frosty, blue-sky days any day!! We had a couple of those at the beginning of the week. It was -3C when I left the house on Monday morning and I had to scrape the car. A task that was made slightly more difficult by the fact that all the car doors had frozen shut and I only had a tiny amount of de-icer...in the trunk of the car which was, you got it, frozen shut. After using a bit of brute force I managed to get one door open so I could climb in and get the car started, blowers going full blast in an attempt to thaw it from the inside out. After 10 minutes of thawing I could finally get the boot open and get to the de-icer, but two doors were still not opening and the windows wouldn't wind down. This last fact gave me a few moments concern, as I did worry about how I was going to get onto site if I couldn't get the window down to swipe my pass...but thankfully after the drive to work everything was working and I didn't have to ram the gates to gain entry!
It was Cake Day in work on Friday, all proceeds going to Children in Need. People brought in cakes and these were sliced and wheeled round by volunteers whilst we formed reasonably orderly queues to buy the treats on offer. I had the most delicious piece of a biscuity, chocolate, peanut butter slice. It was delicious, but oh so rich...I had to drink a lot of water afterwards as I was feeling a teeny bit ick. I passed on later cake rounds and just donated money instead. Imagine my dismay when someone bought me a cupcake. I made a cuppa and squared my shoulders. This cake was not going to beat me. I had an honourable Scottish tradition of sugar consumption to uphold after all! Well, I did it, but I have obviously been living away long enough that my capacity for sugar has diminished! I was practically in a diabetic coma at the end of the afternoon!!! When Stephen phoned to ask what I wanted for dinner I answered "vegetables, fruit, water". That apparently translated into "curry" in Stephen's mind!! His curry was delicious, just not as detoxing as I perhaps needed!! Nor indeed was the wine, or the cider in the pub later... Oh, what the hell - it was Friday, it was needed and I can detox after Christmas.
I'm sitting here on Saturday afternoon. Its about 3pm and its dark. Its not raining, but it is damp and very overcast. I really, really dislike this time of year in the UK. The dampness has begun...we've got about 6 months of this to look forward to. Urgh. Give me the frosty, blue-sky days any day!! We had a couple of those at the beginning of the week. It was -3C when I left the house on Monday morning and I had to scrape the car. A task that was made slightly more difficult by the fact that all the car doors had frozen shut and I only had a tiny amount of de-icer...in the trunk of the car which was, you got it, frozen shut. After using a bit of brute force I managed to get one door open so I could climb in and get the car started, blowers going full blast in an attempt to thaw it from the inside out. After 10 minutes of thawing I could finally get the boot open and get to the de-icer, but two doors were still not opening and the windows wouldn't wind down. This last fact gave me a few moments concern, as I did worry about how I was going to get onto site if I couldn't get the window down to swipe my pass...but thankfully after the drive to work everything was working and I didn't have to ram the gates to gain entry!
It was Cake Day in work on Friday, all proceeds going to Children in Need. People brought in cakes and these were sliced and wheeled round by volunteers whilst we formed reasonably orderly queues to buy the treats on offer. I had the most delicious piece of a biscuity, chocolate, peanut butter slice. It was delicious, but oh so rich...I had to drink a lot of water afterwards as I was feeling a teeny bit ick. I passed on later cake rounds and just donated money instead. Imagine my dismay when someone bought me a cupcake. I made a cuppa and squared my shoulders. This cake was not going to beat me. I had an honourable Scottish tradition of sugar consumption to uphold after all! Well, I did it, but I have obviously been living away long enough that my capacity for sugar has diminished! I was practically in a diabetic coma at the end of the afternoon!!! When Stephen phoned to ask what I wanted for dinner I answered "vegetables, fruit, water". That apparently translated into "curry" in Stephen's mind!! His curry was delicious, just not as detoxing as I perhaps needed!! Nor indeed was the wine, or the cider in the pub later... Oh, what the hell - it was Friday, it was needed and I can detox after Christmas.
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