Things to do in the office ...


When the database and the computer are having a can't be bothered day, there is a lot to amend, saving more than one change at a time makes the *!@HSGFU£%^" thing time out and each change takes around 50 minutes to save and while it is saving the database is out of bounds



  • log in on another computer to blog.
  • beat colleague to the phone, then regret having answered the call.
  • have a little dance while listening to the ipod when going between desks to check on the hourglass making sure the builders who are about don't see me and notice I don't have a single dancing bone in my body.
  • run out of remotely danceable tunes
  • have a little sing song since nobody can hear just how off key I sing
  • worry voice carries in fairly empty building - give up singing
  • go and make yet another cup of tea
  • follow the links on Annie Mole's site to watch the video of Tami's interview on the BBC (heh, they used my pictures) and listen to Geoff talking slowly on BBC world service.
  • resist the temtation to count the number of changes I need to make on the database and work out how long I'll have to keep myself enterttained for and how long i'll have to try and not look at all the other work which can't be done until the changes are saved... arrghhh.
  • tea?
  • consider filing for at least 32 seconds
  • fiddle with ipod
  • get restless
  • resist the temptation to kick the $W"£"^%^£ machine into submission
  • consider joining the builders who are having a tea break outside and are skipping (I kid you not)

You are welcome to offer suggestion in the coment box as to how a fidget like me can remain sane watching an hourglass all day today.
1.9.05 12:48


El sado moment in the strops household. Him Indoors and
Stroppycow having a conversation on google talk while sitting in the
same room... Need I say more?

Update: Him Indoors has reverted to Speech v1.0
3.9.05 16:38


How much of a Londoner have I become?


Via Annie
Mole


  1. You say "the City" and expect everyone to know which
    one.- I say I'm going "into town". Does that count? If I say
    city I mean the Square Mile. 1/2point?
  2. You have never been to The Tower of London or Madame Tussauds
    but love Brighton. -Went to the Tower of London and Madame
    Tussauds long before I ever lived in London and am not particularly
    fond of Brighton. Nul point.
  3. You can get into a four-hour argument about how to get from
    Shepherds
    Bush to Elephant & Castle at 3:30 on the Friday before a long
    weekend, but can't find Dorset on a map.- Can win the argument
    in less than 4 hours and can find Dorset on a map. Oh dear, not doing
    so well, nul point
  4. Hookers and the homeless are invisible.- Hookers and
    homeless people? In London? really? Can't say I ever noticed. 1 point

  5. You step over people who collapse on the Tube.- Are
    you nuts? I don't step over them they might grab/hit/project bodily
    fluids, I side step instead. Seriously I don't, I do tend to stop and
    check, but it's only happened a couple of times, nul points again I
    guess
  6. You believe that being able to swear at people in their own
    language makes you multilingual.- 1 point
  7. You've considered stabbing someone.- Hasn't everybody? 1 point
  8. Your door has more than three locks.- not scoring again
  9. You consider eye contact an act of overt aggression.
    - It IS an act of overt aggression, why else would I use it when I
    cycle to stop motorists from cutting me up? 1 point
  10. You call an 8' x 10' plot of patchy grass a garden.-
    I'm lucky my garden is bigger than that but yes, if something grows in
    it and it's big enough to sit down it's a garden. 1 point
  11. You consider Essex the "countryside". - Don't know what I consider Essex. 0 points
  12. You think Hyde Park is "nature".- Yes, it's nature
    without the bad bits (spot the born and bred townie). I feel slightly
    sorry for all the people who live in the countryside and are missing
    out on all Hyde Park has to offer. 1 point
  13. You're paying £1,200 a month for a studio the size of a
    walk-in wardrobe and you think it's a "bargain".- No, I have a
    crippling mortgage, but it's still a bargain for what I get.
    1/2point?
  14. Shopping in suburban supermarkets and shopping malls gives
    you a severe attack of agoraphobia. I can handle it. 0points

  15. You pay more each month to park your car than most people in
    the UK pay in rent.- I don't use my car much, I use the tube
    instead. 0 points
  16. You pay £3 without blinking for a beer that cost the bar 28p.Guilty as charged. 1 point
  17. You actually take fashion seriously.- I shop in
    Primark and I am still wearing some clothes I bought over 5 years ago
    so I expect I fail on that one too. 0 points
  18. You have 27 different take-away menus next to your telephone.- more like half a dozen. 1/2 point?
  19. The UK west of Heathrow is still theoretical to you.- I know it exists. 0 points
  20. You're suspicious of strangers who are actually nice to you.- yes. 1 point.
  21. Your idea of personal space is no one actually physically standing on you.- yep. 1 point.
  22. £50 worth of groceries fit in one plastic bag.- no, I am way too stingy for that, 0 points
  23. You have a minimum of five "worst cab ride ever"
    stories. - I have only used a cab 3 times, so I only have 3
    "worst cab ride ever" stories :-). 0 points
  24. You don't hear sirens anymore.- Full marks here at last - 1 point
  25. You've mentally blocked out all thoughts of the city's
    air/water quality and what it's doing to your insides. - What
    do you mean bogies aren't meant to be black? - 1 point
  26. You live in a building with a larger population than most towns. - 0 points
  27. Your cleaner is Portugese, your grocer is Somali, your
    butcher is
    Halal, your deli man is Israeli, your landlord is Italian, your laundry
    guy is Philippino, your bartender is Australian, your favourite diner
    owner is Greek, the watch seller on your corner is Senegalese, your
    last cabbie was African, your newsagent is Indian and your local
    English chippie owner is Turkish. - don't have a cleaner or a
    landlors but used the halal butcher until it closed down a few months
    ago, corner shop and grocer are Indian, fish shop owner is Greek etc...
    1 point
  28. You wouldn't want to live anywhere else until you get
    married.- Wouldn't want t live anywhere else full stop. 1
    point
  29. You roll your eyes and say 'tsk' at the news that someone has
    thrown themselves under a tube train. - Admitting with some
    degree of shame having uttered "plonker" at such announcements, yes.
    It's a very inconsiderate way to kill oneself. 1 point
  30. Your day is ruined if you don't get a copy of Metro on the
    way to work. - Nope can always pick up a discarded copy later
    on the way home. 0 points

15 and 1/2 points. There's hope for me yet.
3.9.05 17:46


86

I prefer circular routes to symetrical ones. I rarely take the exact
same route on the return jouney to that which I chose on the way out if
I can avoid it. It often means taking a detour. If taking the same route back cannot be helped
I will often walk on the other side f othe the pavement on the way back.
I do not always do it consciously.
4.9.05 16:45



One UFO down, only a dozen to go

I have at last finished
my mum's sea creatures shawl and it doesn't look half bad not it's been
blocked, even if I say so myself. Now I suppose I'll have to get on
with all he other unfinished projects which litter the house before
winter sets in and I lose the taste for doing anything at all.

sea creatures shawl
4.9.05 16:54


What's this sponsor me link thinggie in the blogroll for?


On the evening of the 16th September I will be taking part in a 17 mile overnight hike around the Circle Line with Annie Mole and her friend Mecca of  "One Stop Short Of Barking fame; to raise funds to build London's first Maggie's Cancer Caring Centre, close to Charing Cross Hospital in Hammersmith, West London.


Maggie's Centres help people adjust to living with cancer. Its pioneering support programme has been developed for patients, their carers, family and friends. Each centre is located close to an NHS hospital and they have been designed carefully and imaginatively to make sure people feel at home.


There are about 1,000 hikers taking part and we start at about 10pm and will be walking through the night, following the London Underground Circle Line route and hope to finish at dawn on Saturday morning.


Maggie's aim to raise £300,000 from this event, so here's your chance to help with a few quid or more.



  • £10,000 Ensures the London Centre can provide a benefits adviser for a year
  • £6,000 Funds a course in the Centre for a year e.g. 'Living With Cancer'
  • £4,000 Funds a nutrition workshop for a year
  • £3,000 Ensures the library are kept up to date with current cancer information
  • £2,000 Funds a networking and support group at Maggie's for a year
  • £1,000 Would buy 500 Cancer BACUP booklets, which are a vital source of information for visitors to the Centre

Anyway, I would really appreciate it if you could sponsor me. Donating throughthe just giving site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor the team: Maggie's Centres will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you. So please sponsor me now!



Many thanks for your support.
4.9.05 17:10


I have been
book tagged



Annie
Mole has asked me the following so:





  1. Number
    of books I own
    -     Enough that shelf space has become an issue. And difficult to
    count because I have started lending books again. It’s a sure way of never
    seeing them again and it clears space for the next round of purchases (I have
    considered bookcrossing
    but in my usual procrastinating fashion I have not got around to doing it yet).
    And I have no idea how many are in boxes in my parents’ house. So I suppose
    quite a few will have to do as an answer

  2. Last
    book I bought -    John
    Gribbin    ’s In
    Search of Schrodinger’s Cat    . I have not made it past chapter 2 yet.

  3. Last
    book I completed -
    That is a difficult one. I tend to start books and abandon them for a bit and I
    think quite a few have been scattered about recentlty and I can’t remember for
    sure when I last finished a book. I’ll hazard a guess an say it was probably Girl
    with a Pearl Earring     which was marginally better than the film but
    still made me cringe a number of times.

  4. Five
    books that mean a lot to me –



The series of Tintin comics because
they remind me of the time spend at my paternal Grand-Parents as a child. My
cousins and I read the entire collection over and over. Because the books had
been bought when my father and uncles were children, they were the unedited
politically
incorrect versions. My favorite one was “The Shooting Star”.



One
Hundred Years Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez I read it in the
French translation version and I have no idea as to whether the words flow
quite as nicely when translated in English. I just like it and it is one of the
rare books I would be happy to reread.



Le
Voile Noir by ex-actress
Annie Duperey. The book touches on subjects which are uncomfortably
familiar. If you fancy reading an extract there are a few translated paragraphs
in this
old post.



Fairy
Gunmother by Daniel Pennac because it is funny and dark and the Paris it describe may be unreal but it does not
suffer from Amelie
Poulain sanitization.



Je voudrais que
quelqu’un m’attende quelque part by Anna Gavalda. My best friend gave it to me
as a birthday present with other books of short stories a few years back
because we had spoken of my shortening attention span since The Boy had reached
toddlerhood. The book fit the bill “I tell her that my heart is like a big
empty bag, the bag is strong, could hold a whole load of mess and yet, there’s
nothing in it.”



 Who
shall I tag next – Whoever fancies being tagged. Just link it in the comments when you
are done.
11.9.05 02:17


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