Category: old blogging

Still impossibly busy. Today was a busy day with few highlights. This morning I bought a new duvet because the one I have is just too darned hot for summer use (I know, this doesn’t make for exciting reading). Then I went to a place just outside Bristol to give a talk on hardy Geraniums (they’re plants, ok).
The most interesting part was finding that rural Somerset is beautiful, and very possibly a future short break destination – looks like there is plenty of good walking (once the paths are open again), plus nice towns and villages and no small number of good looking country pubs.

I first read this site about a month or so ago. Thanks to Ev, I’ve just been and looked again. It’s the first time that a blog has moved me to tears.

gah. Only just finished working – didn’t get home from the office until well after 8pm, but brought work with me. Now must sleep. Minimal blogging tomorrow too, as I have to go to Bristol to give a lecture. Normal service will be resumed just as soon as I can.

Should we worry about Marcia? I mean, where does she find this stuff???

The impact of past relationships:

• I now only like girls with good teeth
• I now eat Peperami
• I like Andy Goldsworthy’s work
• I hate Laura Ashley
• I hate Robbie Williams
• The Eurovision Song Contest will always be associated with pushing my face into thick black curly hair to kiss a soft neck tenderly
• I avoid drinking neat vodka after 2am
• I avoid Luton
• Poodles make me laugh
• Distance is an object
• A warm soft voice will break my heart
• I know what I like (insert knowing look here)
• I know that every person is new and different

What has been the impact of relationships on you?

And in other news, Nico becomes a dad. Congratulations!
originally posted at 10:14pm

Today I had to drive over to East Sussex and Kent on business (and get back to Chichester by 4.30 for an appointment with Jo – who is, officially, lovely. She is my hair stylist in case you were wondering/had forgotten.) I love that area – there are some beautiful villages, and the trees and fields were looking very lush and fresh and green. But it is a strange place, in that it has a rural atmosphere, some rural characteristics (such as the profusion of small local shops for local people – though, sadly, three of the ones I regularly visit had closed since August when I last went that way. Hey Mr Blair! come take a look at the real rural economy! come see how many rural votes you’re going to get! none mate! not one! [stop ranting Graybo!]), but is also only a short journey down the A21 from London, so is commuterville. So you have this strange contrast – small country shops, local country pubs, and then little bijou design shops in the middle of nowhere. Not that rural people don’t do design, but as a rule, they are more inclined towards function first, form later.
originally posted at 9:57pm

Here is an mpeg of me cutting my birthday cake (one of them) during the picnic in Priory Park yesterday. From left to right: me, Arron (behind me, but you can hear him talking about getting up at 5.30am to take a pill), Matt, Tanya, DAGS, Sacha and Ian (who doesn’t like icing). The famous purple Frisbee is on the ground behind the wine bottle. Be warned – 5.24Mb file.
originally posted at 9:14pm

The present list, as promised:

• MVC vouchers, from Tim
• Waterstones vouchers, from Jane P
• The Jubilee Line Extension, from Nick
• Don’t Tell Me The Truth About Love, from Vaughan
• A nice cheque from Dad
• Another cheque from my uncle
• A stone elephant and a mouse nightshirt from Sarah (don’t ask)
• A hipflask filled with port from Fi and Alison
• A beer monster glass tankard from DA and DAGS
• A very expensive bottle of red wine from Al and Arron (need a suitable dinner guest to share that with. volunteers?)
• Home made goat’s cheese (and some cash) from Jane G (using milk from her own goats – how cool? – the cheese that is, not the cash)
• Monkey Business – the Life And Times of the Marx Brothers and Chairman Blair’s Little Red Book from Gary, Sue and Alex
• Chocolate from Mum
• A groovy shark-shaped foil cutter from Sacha
• Classic Superman cartoons on video from Ian (to be watched at the parent’s house)
• plus the pressies from Mo and Meg that you already know about
• and three birthday cakes!

Thank you everyone (hope I’ve not missed anything!!). My birthday was utterly brilliant (the bits I remember). Apparently I was utterly offensive, totally incoherent and generally unpleasant, so just like a normal Saturday night really. There are enormous holes in my memory, probably due to huge quantities of beer on an empty stomach – I’ve had to ask Sarah to help me fill in a few gaps.
Present for the beerfest on Saturday were (deep breath): Sarah, Andy, Nick T, Phil, Jane G, Ian, DA, DAGS, Matt, Arron, Al, Fi, Alison, Paul F, Bora, Neil, Helen, Steve C, Kearn, Claudette and probably a bunch of other people that I was too drunk to remember. gah! We all got bladdered in the Nags, then W2 and finally back here until godknowswhen. Highlights (I don’t remember most of them, but everyone else thought they were funny) included me leering at Claudette (sorry hun), Matt and Ian doing goldfish impressions, the lightswitch game, Bora’s spliff, me telling everyone that Nick fancied Sarah (sorry mate), the phallic elephant discussion and Sarah insisting that I should walk the mile to her house with her and Andy and then get a cab home from there, ignoring the fact that I was home already (did she have other plans I wonder?? the mind boggles!).
Sunday involved returning a huge hired lorry to the hire company (no way I should have been behind the wheel!), doing the recycling (how many empty bottles???) and popping to Waitrose to get kitted out for an afternoon of leisurely picnicking as described below.
I love my friends – they’re great!
originally posted at 8:25pm

present list tomorrow – too tired now.
But a great day, in the company of Sarah, Andy, Tanya, Ian, Sacha, Matt, Tim (my brother), Jane P, DAGS, Gary, Alex (bless! – only 4 months old!), Arron and later Paul F and Aris. A great day, made noteworthy by our stunning skills with my purple Frisbee, a warm sunny park and good friends in a bar that is a second home.
Still suffering slightly from that maudlin feeling from this morning. So need someone to snuggle with – I know, I’m an old softy, it’s the way I am.
originally posted 13 May 2001 at 11:59pm