Month: April 2001

I know – it’s quiet here. Reasons:
– I’m very busy – lots to do at work, and just as much to do at home;
– I’m very tired – too many late nights, too many long days, not enough sleep;
– I’m working on too many projects – blog, homework, pub, redesigning work website, plant fairs, learning new software – the list is endless;
– I’m thinking about too much stuff – personal things, work issues, my finances, the impending 30ness, friends – another endless list.

I will endeavour to write stuff here – for my own purposes. Entertaining you is a secondary, but very important, part of why I keep this thing going. It’s just that I may not write as much as I usually do for a few days until I get on top of things again.
And no, Ian, I am not going to piss in my boots (some people!).

questions for today:
– why is it that a pair of boots that you’ve had for ages, truly broken in, and find very comfortable, can suddenly develop a squeak? well, more of a creak really. but a noise, nonetheless.
– why do passport photos always look so utterly dreadful? Needing a new one for my replacement driving licence, I decided not to have one taken in a booth, but in a non-booth environment. Looks no better than a booth photo.
– why do bumblebees keep coming into this office? Or maybe it is the same one?
answers?

please excuse the low blogging volume today – I’m really busy.
Whilst you wait for me to grab a moment to say something, go take a look at a few of the very good blogs that I link to – they’ll love you for it.

today’s blogging was brought to you by the letter M, this book sent to me by this person. Life is good – my birthday is stringing out over several weeks. The longer it lasts, the better. Oh, and it isn’t too late to show how much you love Graybo.

tonight should have been spent doing my college homework, and then having an early night. Instead, I got in from work and instantly collapsed into sleep on the sofa, then had IM chats with a couple of people, then browsed the net looking at old maps and stuff. Now I am doing my homework, washing up, cooking dinner and browsing the web at the same time.
Whilst browsing, I stumbled on this which succeeds in combining my love of good web design, good architecture and good blogging. May just get added to the navbar.

St George’s Day today. Surprisingly, I haven’t seen this fact mentioned on any English blogs that I read.
Is there a patron saint of Europe? if so, who? and when is their feast day? answers on a postcard please.

A very large bumblebee has just flown into my office. It really was enormous, creating such a downdraft as it buzzed about that small pieces of paper skitted around. The great thing with bumblebees is they are slow, and relatively easy to catch safely with an old coffee jar and a piece of paper (two things that happened to be handy), which allows you to carry the creature to freedom and also have a good look at her. This one was particularly handsome, free from varroa and typically stupid – once I removed the paper, she just buzzed about inside the jar for a minute or so, before then deciding that she could get out after all, and lumber on her way.

as I travelled through the undulant Sussex countryside on my way home, I reflected on the rapprochement that has been created between me and some of the London bloggers.
You know, it is definitely easier to deal with these words two at a time.

book review time kids!….
Russell Hoban’s Amaryllis Day and Night. Class reading. A strange sort of combination of bizarre fairytale, romance, science fiction (for wont of a much better category/pigeonhole) and Londonstory (in the current vogue) that manages to be plausible (in spite of the implausible storyline), entertaining (in spite of its introspective monologues) and gripping (in spite of its occasional arty-fartiness). Very very readable, and with a story that succeeded in keeping me interested right the way through to the last page (with an interesting though not entirely unexpected ending – in a way, I kinda hoped it would end differently, but then that may just be my maudlin nature).
Anyway, my overall one-word review: not bad at all.

ok, ok, ok – the masses want to know what else I did today. It isn’t that interesting, really. I woke up early, had a bath, did the washing up, went to Boots to drop off a film for processing, popped into Costa for lunch, nipped into Sussex Stationers for a roll of brown paper, then, later, caught a train to London so that I could meet Meg, Davo, Luke, Catherine, Nick, Mo and Katie for beer and putting-the-world-to-rights. Satisfied?