Category Archives: personal

personal, ramblings

Christmas Solitude

Yesterday, like most of the last 20 or more, we spent on our own. We have no immediate family — no parents left and we’re both only children. Our very elderly neighbour, who Noreen often pops in to see, is unfortunately in hospital. All our other friends were (rightly) engrossed in the bosoms of their families.
This was good as it meant we could do exactly as we pleased, so we made it up as we went along … starting with getting up late and fiddling about for the rest of the morning while drinking tea.
A light lunch of smoked salmon sandwiches and a large gin & tonic (for me), Bacardi & coke (for Noreen).
After lunch we sat and opened presents — mostly books and booze. In fact enough booze to float a battleship. This was accompanied by playing “hunt the kibble” amongst the discarded wrapping paper with the two youngest cats. Then we spent a merry hour organising the discarded paper for recycling.
For many years we’ve had Christmas Dinner in the evening, and so it was this year. Roast crown of turkey.** Garlic roast potatoes; roast Jerusalem artichokes; steamed sprouts. Sausage, sage & onion stuffing. Shallot sauce. Washed down with the obligatory bottle of Bollinger. Naturally enough the cats assisted with the turkey!
We never have Christmas Pudding these days as Noreen isn’t keen and we’d just as soon have a good stuff of the main course. However I have bought a couple of individual Christmas Puds this year as I quite like it; I shall enjoy them over the coming days — I’ve even been known to eat Christmas Pud for breakfast. In fact Christmas Pudding was a bit of a family tradition when I was a kid. My mother used to make her own, and always made several: one for Christmas, one for New Year, one for my birthday in January, one for my father’s birthday in March and sometimes one for Easter!
After Christmas Dinner we sat about doing very little and sampling some of the new spirits and liqueurs until it was time to clear up and head for bed.
So yes, we had a day doing exactly as we wanted, ie. eat, drink and be idle. Not a minute of television was watched, nor radio listened to. And the phone didn’t even ring.
Isn’t that how holidays should be? Relaxing.

** Turkey Crown. If you like turkey (we do, but not every year) this is a good wheeze which takes about 5 minutes with a good knife and some kitchen scissors. Buy the size of bird you usually would; this saves you from weeks of eating up turkey. We buy a whole small-ish bird from our good butcher who specialises in free-range, humanely reared meat. (I then butcher the bird: remove the legs; then the wings; now cut horizontally through the ribcage and remove the spine. (If you need a video of how to do this, have a hunt on YouTube; different butchers have slightly different methods.) This leaves you with just the breast (crown), on the bone, which will be about half the weight of the bird and so cook faster; roast according to your favourite method. Bag the legs, wings, spine and put them in the freezer for use during the year.

personal, photography

Cat Cuteness

In today’s episode of cate cuteness from our furry tribe, Tilly has discovered the trough on the study windowsill in which I grow chillies. (The plants were cut back a few days ago and the trough hasn’t yet been moved!)

Tilly asleep in the empty chilli trough
Tilly asleep in the empty chilli trough

Meanwhile Wiz has found the warm spot in front of the airing cupboard.
Wiz has found the warm spot by the airing cupboard
Click the images for larger views on Flickr

amusements, personal

Meme Me

Thanks to Emily Nagoski over on Facebook, I bring you a slightly different meme — well at least one I’ve not seen before. The original is somewhat too American for my liking so I’ve Anglicised both the language and some of the questions. So here goes …
Piercings : 1
Children : None
Surgeries : At least 5
Fired a gun : No
Quit a job : Twice
Flown in a plane : Quite a few times
Been 100+ miles by car : Only twice (there and back) so far this year
Been 100+ miles by train : Oh so many times
Been zip lining or bungee jumping : No way!
Cried over someone : No
Fallen in love : A few times
Skipped school : Once, when aged 8, my parents took me to the Chelsea Flower Show
Watched someone give birth : No
Watched someone die : No
Been to Canada : No
Been in an ambulance : Yes, once
Bid at an auction (eBay doesn’t count) : Yes, and I won
Been to Egypt : No
Been to Scotland : Yes
Visited Disneyland (US or Europe) : No, and I have no desire to
Visited Poland : No
Visited Las Vegas : No, and again I have no desire to
Sung karaoke : Not on your life!
Had a pet (or pets) : Yes, many
Been sledding on big hill : No
Been downhill skiing : No, I have no wish for a broken leg
Ridden on a motorcycle : Scooter yes, motorbike no
Ridden a horse : Yes, once and never again
Been in hospital overnight : Yes on at least 6 occasions
Donated blood : No, to my shame
Driven a Transit van or bigger : No, I’ve never driven anything
Been in the back of a police car : No
If you’re daft enough to want to play this very silly game — well at least it will provide 5 minutes distraction from these trying times — then copy the list, past it to your blog or Facebook, oh and don’t forget to update your answers!
Toodle pip!

personal

Ten Things

Something much more mundane for this month’s Ten Things, if only because I have numbness of the brain!


Some are obvious, some are not, but here are Ten Things on my Desk:

  1. Desk tidy containing pens, scissors, screwdriver, torch, nail clippers, emery board, 20cm rule, paper clips
  2. Mug of tea
  3. Watch
  4. Calculator
  5. Electric stapler
  6. Cheque book
  7. Hearing Aid Dryer
  8. Box of tissues
  9. Monocular
  10. Bottle of aftershave

And then of course there is the plethora of computer stuff. But no, no cat — the current set don’t seem to like my desk, but then I don’t have a hot desk lamp these days.

medical, personal, ramblings

Why?

No, OK, I do understand why. But it is a real pain …
Yesterday morning I had my ‘flu jab. I do this every year as (a) I’m now over 65 and (b) I have diabetes so I’m considered to be at “high risk”.
By mid-afternoon yesterday I was feeling rough. Last night I might as well have had ‘flu, I felt so awful — and I was so hot you could have fried an egg on me. (What a nasty idea!) I felt marginally better this morning and luckily I’ve gradually been improving as today has gone on.
Every year follows a similar pattern. 10+ years ago when I first started having ‘flu jabs they would make me feel rough for maybe half a day; on one classic occasion I felt awful for just one hour.
However a few years ago, when the vaccine contained “bird ‘flu” it knocked me out for over a week. Each year since then the vaccination has affected me for at least two full days, usually starting about24 hours after the injection. Consequently I scheduled this year’s shot when I knew I had three four days clear afterwards. It’s just as well I did, although if it has knocked me down for little more than 24 hours this year that’s definitely progress.
Yes, I do understand why this happens. Although the vaccine cannot give you ‘flu (the constituent strains are either live but attenuated or are totally inactive) like all vaccines they stimulate the immune system into producing antibodies — that’s what they’re supposed to do. And it is this reaction of the immune system, which thinks the body is being attacked, which causes the “illness” side-effects. What’s curious is that not everyone get these side-effects; and of course there are a small number of people (eg. those who are allergic to eggs) who cannot have the vaccine (or have to have an expensively produced alternative).
While the side effects are not pleasant they generally only last a day or two, and for my money they are far better than having real ‘flu which could last 2 weeks even without complications.
It’s just a nuisance to have to go through this every year. However until a way is found to produce a reliable “one shot forever” ‘flu vaccine we are stuck with annual injections. The ‘flu viruses are so variable, and they mutate so quickly, that the vaccine has to be changed every year. The game is to pre-guess which strains are most likely to be active during ‘flu season — for the northern hemisphere this guess has to be taken in February for the following winter; that’s because of the time required to produce the vaccine. When the experts guess right the vaccine is maybe 75-80% effective; guess wrong (as happened last year because of a late mutation) and effectiveness may be down at around 10%.
So while having a ‘flu jab is an annual PITA, it is one which for me is worth it. Until we get a universal vaccination, that is.

personal

Ten Things

Ah, yes, it’s Ten Things time, so here goes with this month’s instalment …
Things I’ve Done Today:

  1. Read my email; also Facebook, Twitter and several weblogs
  2. Wasted time — on what I don’t even know
  3. Written the slides for AP Soc AGM in 10 days time
  4. Helped clear bedroom for decorating; and did some hindering too
  5. Read news items online — and wondered why I bother
  6. Slept — not enough when I wanted to, and too much when I didn’t want to
  7. Scanned lots of my mother’s paintings to make a calendar and our Christmas card; must get both off to the printers soon
  8. Revised the talk I’m giving on Wednesday evening
  9. Not gone to a meeting this evening
  10. Added more to the “to do” list than I’ve managed to take off
history, personal

Ten Things

This month’s Ten Things is for those, like me, who were children in the 50s and 60s. It is a little nostalgia about radio programmes, in the days before everyone had television and before there were hundreds of radio channels — ie. when there was BBC Radio or nothing; the days of the Home Service, the Light Programme and the Third Programme.
So here are Ten Radio Programmes I Remember from My Childhood:

  1. Listen with Mother
  2. Mrs Dale’s Diary
  3. The Archers (and OMG it’s still going! Why?)
  4. Round the Horne (Kenneth Horne, Kenneth Williams and Hugh Paddick)
  5. The Navy Lark (Leslie Phillips and Bill Pertwee
  6. Music While You Work
  7. Down Your Way (with Wilfred Pickles)
  8. Children’s Favourites (introduced by Uncle Mac, aka. Derek McCulloch)
  9. Does the Team Think?
  11. Palm Court Orchestra
personal, ramblings

How Long?

As of about 3 o’clock this afternoon, Noreen and I have been married for 37 years! Eeeeekk!
That’s 10 years more than we haven’t been married!
I can’t decide whether if feels like forever or feels like for never. It just is; it’s like an old shoe that is so comfortable you don’t know you’re wearing it. Although like all shoes you get a stone in it occasionally — indeed, contrary to the usual tenet, marriage is a bed of roses: it looks pretty but has thorns too!
Back in 1979 we were still coming out of the hippie-ness of the 60s and 70s, and we were still students at heart — we still are! So we did the wedding our way, slightly eccentrically. There wasn’t a lot of money around — the country was crawling its way out of recession, we didn’t have any spare money, neither did Noreen’s mother, nor my parents. So we did it all ourselves, made it all up as we went along, did our own thing, very simply, and still had a good time.
We were married at St Peter’s, Acton Green; at the north end of Chiswick where it merges into Acton. We had been living there for about 4 months, and going to church, so it seemed sensible to get married there. St Peter’s was Anglo-Catholic, and sufficiently high church that it even satisfied our RC friends.
We lived just 400 yards from the church, so we walked to church, from our flat. No, cars; what’s the point when it is less than a 5 minute walk? My best man was my friend Victor, from my post-grad days, who was old enough to be my father. Noreen had three “maids of honour” all her own age — friends from school and university — and all four had made their own frocks. Noreen was given away by another university friend, her mother did the flowers and one of my aunts made a cake.

w22

The reception was in the church hall next door and the vicar (who was later unfrocked!) made us a present of his fees. So the only think we had to pay lots of good money for was the caterer and the wine. And a few days away in Salisbury.
Total, a few hundred pounds. All in contrast to weddings, even then, which were costing thousands. And worse today when tens of thousands get spent.
Ah and like today, it was a lovely, bright, sunny, warm day.
Every year on our anniversary, Noreen and I look at each other and ask “How have we done it?”. We still don’t know! But I did wonder today, to Noreen, whether we might manage another 37 years. Now that would be something as we’d both be over 100!