Tag Archives: February

amusements, personal

Unblogged February

Diary-type thoughts on what occurred around here which weren’t otherwise written about

Saturday 1
Today I was reminded that the traditional Korean equivalent of “once upon a time” is “back when tigers used to smoke”. I’ve always puzzled as to why?

Sunday 2
Spring is on the way. There’s a nice, but small, drift of pale lilac crocuses in the lawn.[Later in the month the lawn was just a mass of crocuses.]

Monday 3
Excellent Zoom meeting this evening for a reading group for Anthony Powell’s 12 novel series A Dance to the Music of Time (one book a month). This was the first meeting so we were discussing A Question of Upbringing. It’s being run by an American literarist, so it’s not an AP Society event, although we’re supporting it and about a third of those present were Society members. Of the rest quite a few were newcomers to Powell. It’s good because it is making many of us old lags reread the books, again!book cover

Wednesday 5
I was woken this morning by the Rosie cat lying between us purring like a Harley-Davidson. I stretched out an arm to stroke her, whereupon she decided I needed a wash. She started at my left armpit and over 10-15 minutes worked her way down to the inside of my left elbow. She spent so long on my elbow that her wonderful raspy tongue made it quite sore and has left a rather red abrasion!sore arm

Thursday 6
We gave in and ordered pizza!

Saturday 8
Making coffee in the kitchen this afternoon when through the catdoor comes Rosie. She leaves several trails of superb wet and muddy pawprints, very neatly formed, across the floor. Back at my desk, it is covered in muddy pawmarks; not Rosie as she had followed me, so I suspect Tilly. And that’ll be the second time today I’ve had to wipe down my desk.

Sunday 9
Checking the pond today. Lots of big chubby goldfish. But the ground was like a marsh.

Monday 10
Trip to the dentist for the four predicted fillings. Remarkably she managed to do all four in the one (long) appointment, so I don’t have to go again in a couple of weeks time – result! The credit card is still smarting a bit though – although when you think about what the cost has to pay for it’s not that unreasonable.

Tuesday 11
What an incredibly useful session this morning meeting patients at the doctors, where we do twice monthly “Meet the Patients” sessions. First up a very sensible conversation with couple of black guys, one who’d been in the police for 20 years. Then an old boy of 90 who had walked up the hill to find he was there the wrong day; we listened to him grumble about the NHS for half an hour – after which my colleague very nicely gave him a lift home. And finally a very nice lady taxi driver to run me home who also turned out to be a relatively new patient at our surgery, so we compared notes about the doctors. Overall it felt like a good outreach session.

Thursday 13
Well I was warned. At the hospital today for some blood tests in the new, purpose built, centre. And it’s dreadful. It’s an absolute rabbit warren of corridors, corners and doors. With almost no signage, and half of what there is consists of sheets of paper blu-tacked to the wall. And when you get to the right place the décor is a sunny-ish yellow and sick green. Worse the green area (an alcove) is decorated in four slightly different shades of sick green: floor, wall below the dado, wall above the dado and the seating; none is a nice colour. This is juxtaposed with the yellow area and a plum red area. GOK how anyone can work in it.

Friday 14
Valentines Day, and I got told off because I’d bought her a present when she hadn’t bought me one. It’s a tough life!

Saturday 15
Late this evening I was reading an article in New Scientist about when babies brains develop an integrated consciousness of the world. [https://rb.gy/puso5n] And I suddenly had a memory which I’d totally forgotten. I remembered having a “rattle” consisting of several hard plastic shapes on a string; pieces of different sizes and colours. Now this must have been quite early, as I have no later memory of this toy. I’d completely forgotten it. The memory was just a single still photographic image and fairly indistinct. I don’t think my brain was making up the memory, but durable coloured plastic in the early 1950s seems somewhat unlikely (though not impossible). Unfortunately I no longer have my mother to ask.

Sunday 16
Following on from yesterday’s entry … isn’t the mind strange. So I was minding nothing while washing a houseplant saucer this afternoon and my mind suddenly reminded me about a girl I knew over 45 years ago. She was a colleague; never even close to being a girlfriend – although I think we all fancied her. She sat next to me on our final qualifying sales course, wearing a pale blue, floaty, low cut, summer frock and no bra. But why does she suddenly pop into my mind now, and for no reason, when I’ve not thought about her in ages and ages? I always wonder where these people are now.

Tuesday 18
My dendrobium is in full flower. It’s clearly thriving on benign neglect, although it’s been on the study windowsill getting whatever sun there is, occasional water, and over a radiator. I caught a grumpy-looking Tilly cat was sitting in front of it.tilly cat with dendrobium

Saturday 22
Absolutely snowed with work. Loads for both literary society (mostly website related) and the doctor’s patient group. Not a chance to do anything else this week or next, and probably the one after.

Sunday 23
Who would have guessed that foxes like pickled herrings and also cream cheese? Earlier in the week they demolished the remains of the duck (mostly just bone and fat) we had last weekend too – except for the orange we’d cooked with it!
In other news we seem to have this one, lone, dark grey feral pigeon; and only very occasionally a second – very odd because there are many others around.

Monday 24
Came the gardener (aka. odd job man) today. Despite the marsh which is the garden he went an filled the bird feeders just before lunch. By teatime one of the peanut feeders was already half empty! Oh and we agreed on a count of 22 goldfish.

Tuesday 25
And it rained again all night and most of the morning. Our garden is just a swamp, with a large area of casual water – larger, I think, than I’ve ever seen it before. The photo gives you an idea: the area outlined in yellow largely under water, despite us having raised the ground a couple of inches.garden under waterIt’s not really surprising as we think there was probably an old field ditch running across the gardens about where the blue line is. There seems to be a little spring next door to the left. There is definitely water there as we’ve dowsed it, and it runs left to right (downhill) in the photo. The houses were built in 1930 on what was fields, and I bet the builders just bulldozed their rubble in to fill the field ditch and dumped a bit of topsoil on it. If the area where the ditch probably is wasn’t a mass of tree roots, I’d play archaeologist and dig a test pit to find out.

Thursday 27
I was hoping to receive my 300th Postcrossing card before the end of the month, and the three which arrived today hit the target. So here is the board of cards 251 to 300.cork board with 50 postcards

Friday 28
So here endeth February, and somehow we’re already 16% of the way through the year. On 14 March there’ll be 20% of the year gone. How?

medical, memes

February Quiz Answers

Here are the answers to this month’s six quiz questions. If in doubt, all should be able to be easily verified online.

Medicine

  1. What is dermatophobia the fear of? Skin disease
  2. How many teeth do adult humans have? 32
  3. In 2015, which country started thanking people via text message when their donated blood was used? Sweden
  4. An absence of the SRY gene means what for a human being? It means the human is a female. The presence of the sex-determining region Y (SRY) gene is the specific factor which leads to maleness in mammals
  5. In which part of the body would you find the atlas and axis bones? Neck
  6. First developed by John Salk, the vaccine for which illness was first tested in 1952? Poliomyelitis

Answers were correct when questions were compiled in late 2024.

books, memes, quotes

This Month’s Poem

No Man Is An Island
John Donne

No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thy friend’s
Or of thine own were:
Any man’s death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.

Find this poem online at All Poetry

medical, memes

February Quiz Questions

1 Comment

Each month we’re posing six pub quiz style questions, with a different subject each month. As always, they’re designed to be difficult, but it is unlikely everyone will know all the answers – so have a bit of fun.

Medicine

  1. What is dermatophobia the fear of?
  2. How many teeth do adult humans have?
  3. In 2015, which country started thanking people via text message when their donated blood was used?
  4. An absence of the SRY gene means what for a human being?
  5. In which part of the body would you find the atlas and axis bones?
  6. First developed by John Salk, the vaccine for which illness was first tested in 1952?

Answers will be posted in 2 weeks time.

history

February 1925


Our look at some of the significant happenings 100 years ago this month.

1. Ahmed Zog ascended to power in Albania, becoming its President, Prime Minister and Marshal of the Royal Albanian Army.King Zog I

2. Born. Elaine Stritch, actress and singer, in Detroit (d.2014)

8. Born. Jack Lemmon, actor, in Newton, Massachusetts (d.2001)

11. In the English House of Commons, Reginald Applin of the Conservatives asked the Speaker of the House if Labour MP Ellen Wilkinson was in order while addressing the House without wearing a hat. The Speaker ruled that she was and a precedent for women was set.

26. Born. Everton Weekes, cricketer, in St Michael, Barbados (d.2020)

amusements, memes

Unblogged February

Thu 1 Today is Imbloc, or St Brigid’s Day, depending on one’s belief system. It was originally a pagan, Gaelic festival which marked the mid-point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. Imbolc holds significance in various modern pagan and witchcraft practices. It represents the awakening of the Earth from its winter slumber and the anticipation of the coming spring. It is a time for focusing on new beginnings, creativity, and personal growth; fostering a connection with the natural cycles of life and the energy of rebirth. As befits the day our weather, although chilly, was full of bright sunshine.
Fri 2 After a pagan festival yesterday, today is the Christian feast of Candlemas, or the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple. In Biblical times this occurred 33 days after a boy’s circumcision and is now set as the fortieth day after Christmas. In some traditions Christmas decorations are taken down on this day, as opposed to Twelfth Night.
Sat 3 We had the weekly supermarket delivery today, instead of yesterday. And it has completely thrown me. Today seems to have been some combination of Friday-not-Friday-not-Saturday-not-Sunday-maybe-Sunday, while at the same time being some inglorious admixture of them all – sufficient that my mental calendar is completely addled.
Sun 4 Squirrels like avocado, but who knew that foxes do too – or at least they consider it a trophy?
Mon 5 Having spotted the first mauve crocus a few days ago, we now have an absolute drift of pale mauve flowers throughout the lawn. I know we planted quite a few bulbs some years ago, but they must be spreading. Oh and the pink hellebore is now in flower.
Tue 6 I don’t quite know where the money has gone in the last month, and it isn’t the hangover from Christmas. But at least we’re still solvent, and may even be able to save a bit extra.
Wed 7 Well that scuppered that. We should have been having an outing this afternoon to the dentist for check-ups etc. But N wasn’t feeling well, so she cancelled it; and I had to nip to the doctors with a sample for her. I must say I wasn’t heart-broken not to be wasting an afternoon – much as we like our dentist.
Thu 8 Good grief! That never happens. A day when I didn’t have to do any work for anyone. So I actually managed to do a couple of hours on my family history – not that I made any progress
Fri 9 In the open porch at our front door we have a woven coconut fibre doormat; it’s been there for some years. Very recently something has taken it into its head to attack it, and has been pulling it apart so there are lots of broken and loose threads. The mat is too sturdy for it to be a cat, so one suspects fox; I don’t think even a bold corvid would come that close to the door for the time which would be required. But why would a fox do this? I can think of three reasons: (1) it could be territorial; either marking its territory or trying to remove the markings of another. (2) It fancies some (all?) of the material for lining its den. (3) It fancies the mat as a trophy – we know foxes like trophies – but it would be quite large and unwieldy for a fox to carry away!
Sat 10 Oh happy days! Afternoon spent setting up the mail merges for literary society membership renewals. Still at least I have all the skeleton documents and know how to do it after 20+ years! It’s just a tedious job, so you always miss something stupid which you don’t see until too late. It’ll be good when we can get the new website etc. completed, when with luck it’ll be a job that’s automated.
Sun 11 Spring is definitely on the way. Lots of stuff in the garden is beginning to move. I spotted breaking leaves on some of the roses, lilac, an ornamental crab apple and even the liquidambar. But not yet any sign of movement on the silver birch, oak, ash or hawthorn.
Mon 12 What a lovely sunny day – when I should have been out taking photographs. Especially as yesterday I noticed our small ornamental crab apple is growing a really superb crop of lichen – nothing very special I think, but remarkable that it’s there, so prolific and looking so good.
Tue 13 So today I was going to photograph the lichen I mentioned yesterday. But instead of being nice and sunny it was dull, grey and raining all day. Even the wildlife stayed hunkered down and out of sight; scarcely a pigeon, parakeet or squirrel to be seen; cats likewise.
Wed 14 It’s Valentine’s Day, and an excellent example of how to get the day buggered up! First comes the gardener, which is always disruptive. Then the doctors demand to see N today, to which she wants me to accompany her. We spend around 40 minutes with the nurse – never let it be said you don’t get the time when you need it! It turns out they’re being rightly cautious given that she’ll have surgery coming up – and it was useful for me too. But it took out a large chunk of the afternoon.
Thu 15 And the medical stuff goes on. My turn today with an audiology appointment. As I had a couple of errands to do on the way to the hospital, and they took a lot less time than expected, I was very early for my 12:15 appointment. Astonishingly I was seen almost immediately, so I was ringing for a cab to pick me up by 11:40, and was home about 12:20! Result! What wasn’t a result was that I got a tea on my way into the hospital; it was so hot that even with a carrier I managed to spill a bit and burn my thumb! By the time I’d finished my appointment it was still too hot to drink! Luckily it cooled down enough in the 20 minutes I had to sit in the sun waiting to be picked up.
Fri 16 A surprisingly quiet day, and not because I left my hearing aids out; just not a lot happening. And yes, I was wearing my hearing aids, which are much more comfortable having had them adjusted yesterday – although I’m noticing I need them turned up a bit more now. It’s good wearing them; everything is very dull without; but it is nice to take them out at the end of the day!
Sat 17 For the first time in some years we had a total reorganise and clear-out of the bathroom cabinet. No, we didn’t find a pile of expired drugs (a) because we don’t have expired drugs and, (b) most drugs don’t live in the bathroom cabinet anyway. There were a couple of ends of ointment that were consigned to the bin though, as well as a certain amount of supernumerary crap – but nowhere nearly as bad as I had expected. The first aid box – which is almost never used! – got turned out too.
Sun 18 Dear God, we had some rain last night. It must have been throwing it down all night. This morning we have standing water in the garden, on the path by the pond; an area of about 6m x 1m! I know the water table is high at present – the gardener reported on Wednesday that it was only a few centimetres down – but I think this is the worst I’ve seen it (except when next door’s kiddo leaves their garden hose on). Not that the wildlife is deterred: as I type this there’s a pair of magpies ripping twigs off the silver birch; squirrels and parrakeets hopping about everywhere. Well it’s better than that because the magpies have decided to build a nest almost at the top of the silver birch.
Mon 19 So how much worse does it have to get before it gets better? Everything’s going to the dogs in a handcart – or is that going to Hell in a dogcart? Either way there seems to be no chance to jump off and run away to sea.
Tue 20 Went with N to her hospital appointment this morning, which as usual turned into a 2½ hour marathon – consultant, samples, bloods, pharmacy, nurses … it seemed never ending – and apart from 15 minutes with the consultant all I was doing was sitting around. The waiting area we were in was heaving; hardly a spare seat. There must have been 50 patients/hangers-on all the time, plus at least 20 staff of all grades. Out of all those, at no time were there more than 5 mask wearers; and the air quality was dreadful. This in a clinic for people at high risk if they get Covid. Boy, was I glad of my well fitting N95 mask. Needless to say we escaped to the fresh, but cold, air as soon as possible.
Wed 21 What a dismal day, so no surprise that very little got done apart from the supermarket order. So I really cannot blame the gardener for not coming today. The weather was absolutely filthy. It had clearly been raining most of the night and was peeing it down until gone lunchtime, then on and off. Nobody would want to be out working in that, especially as everything is so wet that it goes audibly “squelch” under foot. And the weather people all seem to be predicting that we’re in for at least another two weeks of mostly wet, wet, wet. I think by then we might all have drowned!
Thu 22 Arrggghhhh!!!! My main email worketh not. Two ways to access it, neither works. Everything else is OK, including lots of other email accounts. Oh, N’s email is dead too! After much head-scratching the guys at the ISP find that there’s something misconfigured at our end (how?) which is causing our IP address to get blocked – but only for those email addresses. Seems all to be OK from soon after lunch – now to read the influx of 50 emails since last evening. Later I checked over N’s email and found a misconfigured server address.
Fri 23 One of the few perils of having a cat flap is that the local bovver-cats think they can come in; mop up any spare food lying around; and generally make themselves at home. But they soon skedaddle when we appear. Mind in this weather who can blame them. Oh, and by the way, it is Saturday isn’t it?
Sat 24 Something must have happened today, but if it did it passed me by and I have nothing to show for the day other than writing one of my monthly blog posts and then getting depressed.
Sun 25 04:00 Thick fog, and yet the full moon was visible.
07:00 Fog cleared, heavy frost.
11:00 Bright and sunny.
14:00 Dull and raining.
Mon 26 Well the magpies seem to have abandoned their nest building in our silver birch tree. Although a couple of days ago I did see one of them “paddling” in what little they’ve built, I’ve seen no activity, and there’s been no obvious construction since the day they started. But then we know that many birds will start several nests before settling on which they prefer.
Tue 27 Luckily it was dry, because the gardener came by. He spent the whole time from 11:00 to dark rise, pruning and cutting back shrubs etc. Then after dark spent an hour sitting nattering – once he starts it is almost impossible to get him out the door to go home!
Wed 28 So the magpies have obviously come into some funds, because they’ve restarted construction work in the silver birch tree. They were around a bit yesterday, but there’s been more activity today. Mind you they need a good Clerk of Works or QS … Several times today I watched one of them trying to magpie-handle a twig twice it’s own length, held cross-ways in it’s beak, into the nest and wondering why the twigs of the tree were getting in the way. They mostly succeeded, but knowing how cunning they are I’m surprised they didn’t work it out faster.
Thu 29 It’s Leap Day. We haven’t had one of those for a while. In fact it’s been four years since this happened. That calls for a celebration and a bottle of Champagne – after all we may not live to see another.
And I’ll leave you this month with a picture of my Dendrobium orchid, which chose today to burst into full flower.Three magenta Dendrobium orchid flowers
history, memes

February 1924

Our look at some of the significant happenings 100 years ago this month.

3. Died. Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States, Nobel Peace Prize recipient (b. 1856)

14. The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR), based in the US state of New York, is renamed International Business Machines (IBM)

21. Born. Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician, 1st President of Zimbabwe (d. 2019)