My So-Called Life

Eye test

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 12:50:33 GMT

Yesterday was rather busy by my standards. It was the 6 year anniversary of Ben and I getting together and we went out for dinner at Cafe Des Amis in Canterbury - the first time I've been and it was yummy. I would highly recommend, though wish you better luck in who you sit next to. The people next to us started arguing and walked out half way through the starter. Exciting!

Ben was very sweet and got me chocolate, Season 3 of ER and some flowers. It was lovely and the flowers look so cheerful :)

We ended up in town in the afternoon because he had the day off and I needed (was overdue) an eyetest and wanted him to come so I had some advice on what glasses to pick afterwards. Even if my prescription had remained the same, I needed new glasses anyway.

Sooooo... previous eye test.

New eye test:
(Sph is my short sight, Cyl is my astigmatism)

Right eye
Sph: -1.75
Cyl: -1.00
Axis 20

Left eye
Sph: -2.50
Cyl: -1.25
Axis: 180

So my astigmatism is marginally better in my left eye, and my short sight marginally better in my right eye, but this eye test has pretty much confirmed that my sight is settling down, which is nice. I suspect, short of laser eye surgery I won't have 20:20 without glasses, but I'm pretty pleased that it's at least not really getting worse any more.

It turns out that with glasses I have superhuman sight! BWhahahahahaha - well, what I mean is, with my new glasses I have better than 20:20 vision (two notches better apparently). It's a pity that without them everything is blurry :(

Will post pics of me with new glasses when I get them (on Thursday). These are them (and these are my new sunglasses). It's a bit scary how fast money disappears when you buy an eyetest and new glasses (even on 2 for 1).

Yesterday was a bad day for travelling... (for me, anyway) - long, contains angst!

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 16:02:24 GMT

I went up to London yesterday to see pot luck theatre* with no1typo. We ended up seeing Hairspray, which I hope to write about at a later date. I've been all writers blocked recently, even when I've had things to write about, and so this journal has been very quiet.

Anyway, to return to this entirely uninteresting tale of Woe, for which Livejournal is famous and I just want to get off my chest...

I should have known what the travel situation would be from early(ish) in my journey, when I drove onto the slip for the M20 (off the A249) and stopped. And stayed stopped for over three quarters of an hour after an accident on the M20 between the junction I was coming on at and the next one, which closed the whole carriageway for most of the time I was stopped, and two lanes were still closed when I finally got past.

It wasn't really the best start, and very nearly made me late for picking up no1typo. After that things went mostly to plan (bar the overcrowding/traffic jams of a bus getting around London at 5pm :)) and we got our tickets, had dinner and wandered to the theatre. It was after the show that it all started to get interesting.

First, as to be expected really at Theatre kicking out time, the traffic was solid for a while and it took us ages to get a bus back to Victoria - a number 38, which advertised Victoria as its destination and then kicked us (and the rest of the passengers) out at Green Park. By this time it was nearly 11pm, we were getting tired and Victoria was a dark and scary walk away across the park (yes, I know it's not far, but it was dark and scary. So we decided that, given we couldn't really be bothered to wait for a bus that may or may not come (and may or may not pick us up when it does come) we got a cab the rest of the way to Victoria.

Where we found a train back to the place we had left the car was indefinitely delayed because of problems at Clapham Junction. After half an hour or so of waiting, we decided to get on a train to East Croydon, because at least then we'd be getting closer to the car and home and we could always get a train from there to Purley. When we got there we found that, again, the closest train for Purley, had it been On Time was still ages away and it was already showing as "delayed" (by this point, I was getting heartily fed up with signs at train stations merely saying "delayed"), which could mean anything for us and our wait.

At which point we completely lost our heads and splurged on a cab for us back to the car and I took mum home and then made a run for it before any more disasters could befall my travel arrangements. I did have clothes etc to stay over if I needed to, but by now I was craving my bed. Which is how I made my next mistake in deciding to go home.

Definitely a mistake. All was fine until I hit the M25 (for reference this is my normal route home from my mum's) at which point it became mostly single lane because of roadworks, and to my utter woe the sliproad to the M26 was closed, meaning that the M26 itself was closed, meaning that I ended up going to the Darenth Interchange and straight on to the M2. The M25 was single lane pretty much from the point I joined to the point I came off at Darenth. Despite the fact that the route I ended up taking is only ~10 miles further than the route I usually take, it took me significantly longer to get home, because for the entire stretch of the M25 (which, I remind you all, dear reader, was single lane) I was at 50mph or less.

Luckily the rest of my drive was ok, but I ended up nearly freezing myself with the aircon to stay awake, so it took me ages to thaw when I got home.

So it took me forever to get home. The show finished at 10pm and I didn't get back until around 2am.

It was a brilliant evening otherwise though :D

*What I call it if you go with the intention of seeing a show, but are not bothered as to which one thus purchase your tickets for far less than you otherwise would from a booth like tkts in Leicester Square. (A list of what they have on sale today.)

Ben's doing the London to Brighton bike ride tomorrow!

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 08:48:26 GMT

Just a quick note as I'm standardising today for edexcel. Basically benc (my lovely husband) is doing the London->Brighton bike ride on Sunday (tomorrow!). He's been riding for a year or so now, and this is a very important milestone for him. It's for the British Heart Foundation.

If anyone has the time/money/inclination it'd be great if you could sponsor him. Just Giving.

Thanks :)

Euro and KCC elections, leaflets specifically.

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 00:27:28 GMT

This post has been brought on by two things. First, it's the Euro and County Council elections (at least for us in Kent) tomorrow (possibly today, depending on when I finish writing this). Second, we finally received a leaflet from Labour today and I really don't think they're even trying to contest this election. I was shocked by the poor quality and decided to share. Then I figured that I may as well document all the political bumf that Ben and I have had through the letter box during this process.

Some were addressed to me, some were addressed to Ben. Interestingly, apart from the Greens, it was different letters/leaflets addressed to each of us (if they were addressed at all), rather than any overlap.

Click on pictures to embiggen throughout.

An artfully arranged display of all our leaflets.

I'll start with the shoddy leaflet that kicked all this off, which is the last one we have received.

This one is courtesy of Labour. I'm not a Labour supporter, so I admit this might be rather biased of me, but this is possibly the worst political leaflet I have ever seen. Acres of blank space, poor grammar and spelling, and clearly has not been proof read before being printed off. Which is sad because I can only assume it's been/being passed around the district, and it's really not a good advert for the Labour Party. Read it and you'll see what I mean.

The Conservatives have tried hardest, sending round several leaflets, and the only party to send someone to Canvass us. I should mention that neither Ben nor I are currently registered with any political party, so that can't be the reason we have quite so many Conservative mailshots. I can only assume that they're trying this hard with everyone.

This was the most recent.

Ben had a 'personal' letter from the Conservative candidate...

...which came with a regular leaflet.

Don't they look stylish together? ;)

Another Conservative leaflet. I can't remember when this one turned up.

This last one is a copy of the main Conservative KCC leaflet. This one was hand delivered by the canvasser. We have two copies of this as one was in with the letter that Ben got, shown further up.

The problem we had with this is that it reads like a particularly poor CV. On the upside, there was little wasted space and it did appear to have been spell checked/proof read before it was printed.

On the downside, it does lie, as did the Canvasser about the John Simmonds (the Cons Candidate for Canterbury West, which is our ward) being "The Local Choice". The Canvasser told me that the candidate lived "just round the corner". This is untrue. John Simmonds lives in Whitstable, which is not "just round the corner". According to google maps it is actually 5.7 miles away from my address to his. I suppose it could be a very large corner...

In fact, I believe the Canvasser was referring to the Conservative candidate for the Canterbury South-West Ward (Maureen Robinson), who does live "just round the corner" in Oaks Park (I believe).

While Whiststable may be "local", it's not local in the sense the canvasser, and I believe the leaflet, were aiming at.

Not impressed.

Also not impressed with myself - I only remembered the questions I wanted to ask the canvasser (pot holes, Iceland[as in banks, not supermarkets]) after I closed the door, and I wasn't about to go chasing after him!

The Green Party sent us two leaflets, one addressed to each of us. Unfortunately they were both identical and both came through the post. Have to wonder about the Carbon Footprint of that.

We also got a leaflet from the "No2EU" party, who appear to be endorsed only by Bob Crow of RMT Union fame.

We have also received the now infamous BNP leaflet. Not sure what we'll do with it yet. Possibly shred it and then set it on fire. Ben pointed out it looked rather like a kebab menu, which is funny because it's true.

I don't know where to start on the ways in which this hate filled nasty little piece of racist propaganda annoys and frustrates me, so I shan't even try. I only picture it for completeness and posterity. I hope in years to come I can look back and laugh on the fact that people ever considered voting for these cretins, especially on the basis of this.

I just hope they don't win a significant share of the vote, especially a share significant enough to win a seat.

Given my political sympathies swing towards the Lib Dems, perhaps naturally as they were the party supported by my parents while I was growing up (I delivered my fair share of Focuses, did several shifts of telling at several elections at my local polling station, had an action room in our living room during a general election - tables and tables of addresses! - and even attended a Count as Lib Dem representative - all while I was 18 or younger) I am disappointed by the efforts of the local party.

No Canvassing, at least, not round my block of flats. Only one leaflet about only one of the two elections. Given they say on their leaflet that "only the Lib Dems can beat the Conservatives here" I don't feel like they really tried at all. One leaflet specifically about the election, and then only about the Europeans, nothing at all about KCC.

A Lib Dem publication was the first one we got during this cycle, I seem to remember anyway, but it was a regular quarterly Focus, nothing really to do with the election. It was also in need of a proof read as at the very least the URL at the bottom of page two was wrong - "www.cantlibdem" is no URL at all.

What I'm trying to say, badly, is that I'm disappointed in the Lib Dem campaign, at least in my ward. I want to vote for them, but I feel like they've done nothing to deserve it. They've certainly not actually tried to get my vote.

I hoped for more.

We got this leaflet, which is the Lib Dem Euro specific one, only very recently - possibly the last week or so?

I know campaigning in a Tory stronghold (Canterbury constituency has elected only Conservative MPs since 1874, the longest any current UK constituency has remained under the control of one party [source=wikipedia]), but really, if you don't make the effort (and I apply this to Labour, much as I dislike them atm, as much as I do to the Liberal Democrats) then they'll never be beaten here. Most elections here (Canterbury) seem to have a depressing enevitability about them. Purely on the basis of who sends out the most stuff and is the most visible (including on the doorstep), it is the Conservatives who are the most visible.

Anyway, I should go to bed. I'm getting up early to vote!

ETA: the election is today as I finish writing. It's gone 1am!

Poetry

Fri, 22 May 2009 13:01:32 GMT

Following on from xanantha here and chaletian here, here is a poem, which is one of my favourites.

Long Distance II
(Tony Harrison)

Though my mother was already two years dead
Dad kept her slippers warming by the gas,
put hot water bottles in her side of the bed
and still went to renew her transport pass.

You couldn't just drop in. You had to phone.
He'd put you off an hour to give him time
to clear away her things and look alone
as though his still raw love were such a crime.

He couldn't risk my blight of disbelief
though sure that very soon he'd hear her key
scrape in the rusted lock and end his grief.
He knew she'd just popped out to get the tea.

I believe life ends with death, and that is all.
You haven't gone shopping; just the same,
in my new black leather phone book there's your name
and the disconnected number I still call.

---

Your turn friendslist. What poems do you like?

Socks

Thu, 21 May 2009 22:06:12 GMT

This website (Sock Dreams) makes me wish I lived in the US.

*dribbles*

I have a great weakness for nice/funky/cool socks.

Star Trek.

Thu, 07 May 2009 23:14:59 GMT

Just been to the Vue at Westwood Cross and saw new Star Trek.

Dude. It was amazing.

Just...dude.

Wow.

*dies of the happy*

A few hours in London

Fri, 01 May 2009 22:33:56 GMT

Some friends and I are going to see Les Mis in July, and I went up to London to book the tickets in person at the box office at the Palace Theatre. I could have done it over the phone or the internet, but I had a theatre voucher and the easiest way to redeem it was in person, so I made an afternoon of it, and went on the train which, while not the cheapest way to travel, is by far the most relaxing (when things go right!).

My trusty backpack and I started off from Canterbury West. Saw a cool new train being tested (saw loads more at Ashford, mostly unliveried, which means they must be pretty new :) They certainly looked pretty). At 10:40 the train was nice and quiet so I got a four-seat with table all to myself and spread out a little.

(Click to embiggen)

I went all arty on the journey, both in to London and back to Canterbury, experimenting with my camera, getting lots of pictures of trees and things whizzing past while moving...

(Click to embiggen)

...and structures when we were stopped, or going slowly.

(Click to embiggen)

I met red_pill at Charing Cross, and we wandered round "Theatreland" taking some pictures and looking for the Palace Theatre so I could buy the tickets. The Priscilla, Queen of the Desert title thing and giant high heel was especially cool. The picture doesn't really do it justice - it was all sparkly!

On our way back to Charing Cross, we accidentally ran in to the May Day protests in Trafalgar Square, but we escaped without being bludgeoned by the police or the protesters :)

Headed home at 2:50pm-ish. Long way to go, but a lovely day in London and nice to be out. More importantly I was going home with what I'd come to London to get :D

All pictures.

I'm getting quite excited about going now :D If only I didn't have to wait till nearly the end of July!

Shiny thing

Fri, 01 May 2009 21:23:01 GMT

My new laptop (Thinkpad SL500) arrived on Wednesday, which was extremely exciting for me. As always, I got a lot of pictures :) Now I've finished setting it up and moving files around I finally got around to getting the pictures off my camera and posting them here to show off :)

My old laptop (Thinkpad R50e) was old...

...and pretty busted :/ (Yes, that is micropore holding a corner on.)

When I got back from picking it up there was some post for me :)

It was my new copy of Ramona Forever! :D

I'm not quite sure how I managed it, but I was patient enough to take pictures of the unwrappening:

The lid is shiny, but fingerprints silly easily.

Old vs New (click to embiggen).

All pictures.

The new one runs like a dream, even with Vista installed. I think I'm in love (sorry benc).

I'm still trying to decide what to do with my old one, which is staying with me for a few weeks at least so I'm sure I have everything I need from it and I'm completely happy with my new one. Any ideas? Any people maybe interested in taking it?

Exciting post and geeky bear

Sun, 19 Apr 2009 14:22:43 GMT

On Friday there was some interesting post and for a change it was all for me! Usually all the postie brings me is bills and bank statements, but today I got a much better haul, which inserted some excitement my usually predictable days.

First up was the TV Licence (excellent value for money IMO). Ok, so it's not very exciting, but it was part of my haul, so I included it for completeness' sake. What that TV Licence does mean is that it is coming up for four years since we moved in to our flat and had a "putting Ikea furniture together and watching Eurovision" party (pics of that here, here and here). It really doesn't seem like that long. It's also worth saying that there is nowhere near that much space in our flat any more!

Next up was my Graze Box, which was supposed to arrive on Thursday, but got stuck in the post somewhere and actually turned up on Friday instead. It was yummy - especially the fresh apple, which appeared not to have suffered from being in the post an extra day :) If you want a free first box and half price second box (you can easily cancel after the free one has turned up), then go to graze.com and enter the following code: QV67PBDC.

Last in the stack of post, a set of 15 War films given away in editions of the Daily Mail a month or so ago. Huge thanks to no1typo, who sullied her bank account and house by buying the paper and sending off for the films. They arrived on Friday, with the rest of my exciting post and I don't own most of them. I'm looking forward to settling down and watching them over the next few weeks :)

Finally for this post, I took the above today of my favourite bear Max posing with benc's eee 900A. I've made an icon out of it :) All of the pictures are here. Sometimes I think I have too much time on my hands ;)

EDIT: On the theme of geekiness, my new laptop should hopefully be showing up on Tuesday. If you've not voted in my name poll, I'd appreciate it if you would :)

Help me name my new laptop.

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:17:53 GMT

So today I paid for my new laptop, a Lenovo Thinkpad SL500, and all things being well, it should arrive in the next 2-3 weeks. So now I'm thinking about names, and I want the lazywebs to help me name it.

My naming scheme for computers is Lord of the Rings based. My main machine is Aragorn, my VM is Legolas, my phone is Eomer, and my current laptop is Shadowfax, named after the horse that Gandalf rides. I chose the name because the horse goes places and so does the laptop. Yes, I know the other characters go places. Just humour me ;)

So, pick. Shadowfax is included in the list as I'm toying with the idea of just calling the new one what the old one was called. I also reserve the right to ignore the whole thing and go with my own choice if there is a tie, or I don't like what you pick ;)

View Poll: Laptop name

Dr Who

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 15:52:51 GMT

Trailer for new Dr Who has just been released. The trailer will be first shown on TV later tonight on BBC1 apparently. The episode (Planet of the Dead) will be airing on BBC1 on 12th April (Easter Sunday).

Via The Stage.

Government to track movement out of the country

Sat, 14 Mar 2009 14:41:26 GMT

I'm currently feeling rather annoyed by this. " All travel plans to be tracked by Government". Under the plans, starting to be brought in already: "Anyone departing the UK by land, sea or air will have their trip recorded and stored on a database for a decade."

I don't know where to start on this, or what annoys me most. Perhaps it is the justifcation from the government:

"The changes are being brought in as the Government tries to tighten border controls and increase protection against the threat of international terrorism."

How does tracking people leaving the country and holding the details for 10 years protect us against terrorism? This comes across as a standard line from the government, much like how ID cards will apparently protect us, even if they didn't protect the people of Madrid.

Or it might be the "condemnation" of the plans by Chris Grayling, the home affairs spokesman for the Conservatives:

""Of course we need to keep a proper record of people as they come in and leave the country.

"My worry is that the Government is creating something which will be unwieldy, impossible to manage and expensive to operate.

"I think this system has to be much simpler.""

I don't know about you, but that doesn't sound much like it's condemning the plans to me.

Grrrr. This government is making me so annoyed with plans like this I barely know where to start. As soon as one lot are withdrawn, another lot comes up. I'm starting to feel quite worn down by it all.

Personality meme and a couple of videos

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 20:59:53 GMT

You Are An INFP

The Idealist

You are a creative person with a great imagination. You enjoy living in your own inner world.

Open minded and accepting, you strive for harmony in your important relationships.

It takes a long time for people to get to know you. You are hesitant to let people get close to you.

But once you care for someone, you do everything you can to help them grow and develop.

In love, you tend to have high (and often unrealistic) standards.

You are very sensitive. You tend to have intense feelings.

At work, you need to do something that expresses your personal values.

You would make an excellent writer, psychologist, or artist.

How you see yourself: Unselfish, empathetic, and spiritual

When other people don't get you, they see you as: Unrealistic, naive, and weak

What's Your Personality Type?

And a couple of videos for you all, from my recent trip to Wildwood.
Phil on a swing:

Phil on a mini zipwire:

A visit from Phil and a trip to Wildwood

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 11:00:20 GMT

Last Monday red_pill was down for a visit, so we did the touristy thing and went to Wildwood to see all the cute animals.

We started off at Canterbury Asda, where Phil got some new jeans and I went all arty on the place with my camera.

From there we proceeded to Wildwood. We chose Wildwood on the grounds that I've been before and Phil has been dying to see the cute British animals they have there for over a year. I took loads of pictures, but lots had to be deleted as they were mostly very good pictures of fences or perspex windows ;) Some of the pictures aren't as clear as I'd like them to be, but they were all taken through fences or windows, so I don't think they're too bad, given the circumstances and my lack of skill :)

All the signs had a badger theme:

We also found a sign that clearly needed fixing - the "preferred habitat" and "favourite food" sections had obviously become switched at some point:

We saw lots of animals on our travels including (but not limited to):
A red fox.

Water birds of various types.

Cranes (at least, I think this is a Crane ;))

Sleeping Arctic Foxes.

Wild horses.

Various types of Deer. I think this one is Fallow Deer.

Tawny Owls.

A sleeping polecat.

Sleeping Badgers.

A weasel - at least, I'm fairly sure it's a weasel. Getting a clear picture of it was extremely difficult. It's extremely fast and agile.

Brief comedy interlude:
What's the difference between a Stoat and a Weasel?
A weasel is weasel-y recognised, while a stoat is stoat-aly different!
Boom boom!

A sleeping Lynx.

Wolves. These were also difficult to get pictures of. I never realised how quick they were before - they all came out slightly blurry.

Sheep.

And Black Rats. I'm rather pleased with this picture, which was a complete fluke.

Of course, there were lots of other animals we saw, but those are my best pictures. For the rest, see here.

Here you see the Philip Overal ("reddus pillus") in his natural habitat.

Also on a swing...

...and a mini-zipwire.

We got told off shortly after that picture was taken by an eight year old who told us that the playground was only for children. We couldn't find any signs to say so though, so I have a clear conscience :). I also had a go on the zipwire. T'was good fun, even if my first go was with my eyes shut and I wouldn't let Phil give me a push off ;)

This is always good advice:

Some camera and lens porn (SFW - not actual porn) for camera geeks:

Philip and Little Bunny Foo-Foo pose for a picture:

It turned out that he had worn his dressing gown to Wildwood. Arthur Dent's influence on his childhood and later life can not be overstated.

We had lunch at The Parrot (the pub formerly known as Simple Simon's). Pictures here. Food was lovely :)

Finally we explored the River Stour a little.

It was a beautiful spring day, with the sky reflecting in the river.

Spring is truly springing:

Some cool throwbacks to the time when there was a mill on this particular section of the river:

Phil got very close to the river in search of pictures. Unfortunately he didn't fall in. That might have been funny.

It was a really nice day :)

Asda.
Wildwood.
The Parrot.
The River Stour.
Phil's pictures of the day.

More on "One for the Chalet Fans"

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 19:09:17 GMT

One for the Chalet Fans (posted last night).

I finally managed to sleep, and when I woke up my camera was charged, so with benc's help, I photographed the cover again, properly, in decent light (so ridding the pictures of that yellow fuzzy hue).

Here's the decent version:

(There's also a huge version)

Here's the cover, free of annotations:

---

Spent today doing the above, shopping and seeing my in-laws. I can tell you are all awe-inspired by the excitingness of my life right now ;)

One for the Chalet fans.

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 02:08:56 GMT

I couldn't sleep, so I made this:

Sorry about the picture quality, I took it with my camera phone cos I went to use my proper camera and found that the battery was flat (now on charge) and I was too impatient to wait for it to be ready. I'm very pleased with myself for working out how to stick them all together in Paint Shop though :)

Might make a better quality one if I can be bothered.

Picture is of the cover of my GGB copy of The Chalet School Reunion. It has been annotated according to the key on the last page of that edition.

Lush

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 09:42:47 GMT

I have two Lush 10% off vouchers to give away - valid for shopping in person and mail order, but not on the internet.

I'd like to give them to two different people. I was going to send them through the post, so it doesn't matter if you're not seeing me any time soon, you're still eligable. I'm going to leave this post "open" for 24 hours so everyone on my friends list has a chance whether they're working, or sleeping or whatever right now.

Comment if you'd like to be considered. Comments are screened.

Foreword suitability fail? When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 16:56:41 GMT

I've recently been reading my brand new copy of When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit (my old one, that I had had since I was 8 or so, fell apart from being read rather a lot). I got my new copy through the lj_uk Christmas Wishlist exchange - it's this edition (2008). According to Barnes and Noble (and various other sites) this book is recommended for 8-12 year olds. I'd agree with that, seems like a good age to read it for the first time.

My edition has a foreword called "Why You'll Love This Book" by Michael Morpurgo, Children's Laureate from 2003-2005. Bear in mind, when reading what comes next that this book is recommended for ages 8-12. His style in writing the foreword suggests that he is talking to these young readers.

The fifth paragraph starts:
"When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, published forty years ago, speaks to us of a time most of us know only through books of history and fiction, through archive film, as well as through movies. It is from The Diary of Anne Frank to I am David and Schindler's List and The Pianist that most of us have our haunting but distant insights into the lives of those who had experienced the terrors and horrors of Nazi persecution and extermination..."

I understand that 8-12 year olds may well have read the former two (The Diary of Anne Frank and I am David) - I know I had read at least one of those at that age (Anne Frank), having both a taste for the historical and something of a fascination with all things WWII (and Holocaust - I think I was a rather odd child). However, I highly doubt they have seen the latter (Schindler's List and The Pianist), not least because they're both rated 15. Don't get me wrong, they're both right up there as favourite films, I think they're amazing. But they're definitely not for children of the age the book is primarily aimed at.

I dunno. That part of the foreword just felt rather odd. Surely, given the writer's status as a former Children's Laureate, he would be aware of what a child of that age has been exposed to, and what they haven't?

Demons, Part 16

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 13:23:55 GMT

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10
Part 11
Part 12
Part 13
Part 14
Part 15

It was quite some time before Margot calmed down enough to think about anything rationally. For a long time she had whirls of angry thoughts against a great many people in her head, swirling round and round. Her parents for keeping it to themselves for so long, and because she was sure they were the cause of it, putting all that responsibility on to Len. Her school. More responsibility for Len, no indication that anything might have been wrong with her until Margot was sent home. Anger against several other people, all for increasingly tenuous reasons. It was only as Margot calmed down that she realised that a good deal of that anger was really at herself.

She was starting to feel rather ashamed of herself. She had been happy to be the naughty one. Little pressure there, low expectations. A free pass to break out every once in a while, but really she could, and should, have taken some of the load from Len's shoulders. She could have noticed something was wrong with Len but had not taken the time.

Her thoughts continued in a similar way for a long time. None of the thoughts were pleasant, but they wrought within her a deeper realisation and change than had resulted from any previous event. Margot had no idea how long she sat wrestling with herself, and even less of an idea how long her father had been patiently waiting some distance away for her to be ready, but when she was finally calm enough to notice him, she was glad of his presence. She looked over to him and gave a small smile and a nod. She was ready to talk, and then, perhaps, to leave the Auberge and see her sisters.

---

Meanwhile, back at Freudesheim, Joey slept.

After the shock of the initial revelation, the stormy interview with Margot and the latter's headlong flight from the house she was all in, and starting to become hysterical. Frank knew he must act to calm her down and help her sleep so as to be better able to cope and to help Jack make the decisions that Frank was sure would have to be made sooner or later. He had taken Anna up on the hot milk she had been preparing for Jo, and, once she had finished it all, had Anna put her to bed, before giving her a dose that would finish the calming effect of the milk and help her sleep, ready for whatever awaited her and Jack the next day.

Bulldozers in the snow

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 12:44:21 GMT

There's still snow here today, not as much as most of you but a good inch or so, and more is falling now, meaning UKC is closing at 2pm, and a couple of schools are closing now that were open earlier due to worsening conditions. Our stairs, which have been swept and salted twice since yesterday are overwhelmed with snow again. It's all rather exciting ;)

For readers elsewhere I should explain that here in the UK, especially in the South East corner (and I'm almost as south and east as you can get) we don't usually get snow, especially snow that settles enough to do stuff in due to the jet stream which keeps Britain warm, despite it being on the same longitude as Moscow (I believe). So when it does snow and settles it causes chaos ;)

Our excitement this morning was doubled (or more!) by being able to have a proper play with benc's Christmas present, Lego Technic set 8275, a Motorized Bulldozer in the snow.

Research suggested it would work very well in the snow, as there are videos of the Lego development team testing one of the development models in the snow, but we still wanted to have a play ourselves. This most recent (and heavy) snow has given us the perfect opportunity.

So we did. Here are the videos to prove it!

First benc had a go while I filmed:

Then I drove it while benc filmed:

I think I can safely say that a good time was had by all :)

Snow in Canterbury, Yorvik Viking Centre in BBC History

Sun, 01 Feb 2009 17:05:57 GMT

It's all snowy here, hence the icon - apparently the only one I have, in over 100, that features snow.

Apparently a severe weather warning has been issued for Kent valid from now till Tuesday. Will be interesting to see how all this turns out :) We're well provisioned, so lots and lots of snow would be lovely :D

I was amused by a piece in the February 2009 issue of BBC History magazine ("Footsteps" section) about the Jorvik Viking Centre, which I think will strike a chord with all who have visited. I've transcribed it below - sorry for any typing errors :)

The Smell of History
Come as close as you're ever likely to get to seeing, hearing and smelling how our Norse forebears lived with a visit to the Jorvik Viking Centre

It must be the smell that most people remember after visiting the Jorvik Viking Centre. That's certainly the case for me, and a decade on from my first visit to York's Viking museum, I was looking forward to seeing if my nostrils would be wrinkled to quite the same extent by the tenth-century urban odor that they have conjured up. I'm delighted to report that they were.

If you don't like fairground rides, historical dioramas, plaster cast figures of indeed, olfactory sensory experiences, Jorvik won't be for you. However, if you're interested in seeing, hearing and smelling how the Vikings lived, this is as close as you're going to get. York was a key Viking city in the ninth and tenth centuries and archaeologists have made some fantastic finds there - over 40,000 artefacts were unearthed, for example, during the 1976-81 Coppergate excavation, run by York Archaeological Trust. Jorvik itself sits on the site of this now-legendary Coppergate dig.

Your visit commences in a time machine room, with a floor that shakes to signify your decent back to the year 975. Then you're ushered on to the main event, a haunted house-style ride through reconstructed Viking streets, complete with life-size models of the original inhabitants. It's all positioned on the site of the excavations so you're looking at the actual building and street layouts. You might also be gawping at orginal Viking countenances as the curators have used skeletal reconstructive technology to create the models' faces. It's great fun, and full of witty detail to keep even the most jaded museum visitor entertained.

After the ride you're ejected into a more conventional museum exhibition space. Here's where they tell you how the finds made during the Coppergate excavations have informed the recreation you've just enjoyed. It's good stuff, with lots of interactive touchscreens and some slightly off-putting floating heads of Viking ghosts that start talking to you from video screens inside the display cabinets. The actual archaeological finds do get rather overshadowed by all this technical trickery but they are there if you want to look. The basic effect is to ensure that you don't leave Jorvik without understanding that the Vikings of York were an industrious bunch for whom trade and craft were the way of life.

But, before you're pressed out into the inevitable gift shop there's one more display, lest you've formed the impression that the Vikings were solely interested in the quiet city life: a Viking skeleton handily annotated with all teh wounds its unfortunate owner received in what must have been a violent life. There's barely a bone on the man that hasn't been damaged. It's fashionable to dismiss the martial element to the Viking existence these days, so this clear depiction of the brutality of the age is a useful counterbalance to conclude your trip round an excellent attraction.
David Musgrove
Don't miss the new Are you a Viking? display which gives you a chance to work out how likely it is that you had Viking ancestors.

Yorkshire

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 05:47:18 GMT

I'm heading to Goole (not to be confused with Google which is what I nearly always type by accident >.<) in Yorkshire very shortly with no1typo for a few days to visit relatives. I probably shan't be online, but I'll be contactable on my mobile (see the contact details post for my number [friendslocked]). I shall also probably be tweeting. This is me on Twitter.

Have a lovely few days people :) Write lots of interesting things for me to read when I get back!

President Obama's first 100 hours

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 12:14:34 GMT

This is pretty cool - it's a bullet pointed list of all the things Obama has done in his first 100 hours of being President. Makes very interesting reading.

Political Quiz: I am apparently a hippy.

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 11:42:00 GMT

My Political Views
I am a left social libertarian
Left: 5.14, Libertarian: 4.25

Political Spectrum Quiz

My Foreign Policy Views
Score: -5.04

Political Spectrum Quiz

My Culture War Stance
Score: -7

Political Spectrum Quiz

From ontd_political and red_pill