9°C, Dull dull drizzle
Here I am, lying in bed with a mince pie and a brandy. It’s grey out, no wind and no sign of an end to this claggy drizzle. Hence, I have the brandy and wondering what is the point of this all. I work all day, so that I have the money to enjoy myself? No, it’s so that I am too tired to sense it all. It’s quite different to my other occasional bedtime drink- whisky. after reading all of that, just to cheer you up, here is more fungal fun:
12C, clear, NE light. CR:61 miles
Mushrooms live rather well on roadside verges, this was an un-missable display, like clusters of eggs.
Coprinus comatus, the Shaggy Inkcap?
Even on this small scale, you can see it’s a fuzzy photo. I carry my phone with its pinhole camera on bike rides. Sometime this winter, an upgrade- but to what? My next phone should have a really good camera, and by that, it must have a good lens, control over exposure, colour balance and optical zoom. Does such a camera-phone even exist?
6°C, some veils of very dense mist
French teapot, really!
Superb French restaurant found by chance in Congleton, Cheshire. I ate the finest Risotto I can remember, and the place has a friendly, homely atmosphere. We didn’t choose the most exotic wine on the list- £255 per bottle, blimey. L’endroit comes very highly rated by me.
12°C, light cloud
On this day, things went wrong. Firstly, my modem/wireless router has partly failed. There is no response from it via the network cable link that my desktop PC uses. Wireless internet access still works, but if any router settings need a change, then I may not be able to get back into the preferences page. So the wireless works, so does the WAN side, but the LAN cables don’t; that suggests it needs a firmware update, but will that leave it locked in.
Have you ever misplaced your bank cards? Mine are probably at work but to be safe the bank have disabled them for me. Yesterday, I spent 2 frantic hours searching, finally cancelling my weekend plans unable to buy petrol. I know they haven’t been used…
That’s the second time this week that valuable time has been lost to manic searching. The other at work wasn’t my fault but probably looked that way to the class. There, valuable marking time was lost in the face of a looming reports’ deadline. the more you try to get done, the less…
10°C, heavy showers
Compared to last year, it’s remarkable that we’re well into November, and my house’s central heating is still switched off. Last year, we were receiving warning of impending “arctic weather”, but this time we’re emerging from the warmest October on record. There is always some weather record broken every year, so maybe that’s no story.
Mid night-time hunger: woken in the night by rumblings, this has happened a few times this month.
Film: The Infidel– a spoof on the UK Muslin/Jewish experience in Britain. It raised a few laughs with us, but was, on the whole, rather feeble and ‘forced’. If you get the chance- don’t bother.
14°C, S winds, CA:20 miles
This counts as the strangest thing I have ever confiscated at work.
The Year 11 girls were waggling it around at the end of a lesson. The gales of laughter were obvious enough to attract attention. They laughed even more when I told them I really didn’t know what it is. It’s the oddest thing, rather like a warm semi-transparent fillet of fish. I held it by the end and waggled it with some caution. It’s as dense as meat and about 4″ long.
The women in the reception were kind & worldly enough to tell me of its true identity. My incredulity increased, why, just why? Is some kid going through the school day somewhat asymmetrical? Perhaps they can be spotted unconsciously walking with a slight curve to one side with her balance thrown out.
It’s in Lost Property now, will anyone ever pick it up?
17C, rain then sun, wind lightening. CR:70.2 miles
After a few days off the bike, today’s ride felt easy, right up to the 70th mile. Only early sunset stopped me doing more. Home, the dogs were caught working on a puzzle. the chocolate box must have had a second layer, it just had to!
11°C, rain
A day for mortgage hunting. Important, necessary and will save over £7000 over the next decade, but ultimately boring. What else can you do on a wet autumn day at home. I have a slide-rule here on the table.
Day’s best feature- Bessie is home, she seems well and was striding in a springy way round the vet’s when I walked in and she recognised me. she’s been there for four days now. It was sad to be here without the ol’ girl. We thought the worst was going to happen, but she is reinvigorated. Awww.
13°C, clear, fresh colourful
You know a good film when you talk about it on the way home, a great film has you chewing over it all of the next day too. We Need To Talk About Kevin had this effect on me today. We saw it at FACT in Liverpool last night. A very nice Cinema, but sorry Liverpool, it’s not as stylish as The Electric in Birmingham. Immediately, I was struck by how clear and sharp the picture is on these modern digital screens, especially on the adverts oddly. The films idea is well documented on the web, and in many places, more articulately explained than I could. I am, however, glad that I didn’t ready many reviews before going, the final culmination of the plot revealed itself to me in the film, not in the papers beforehand.
The best thing for me was that I didn’t feel patronised by this film. The plot appeared in small clues, amid pictorial sequences and focus on details of the characters’ lives. Each of those pictures would have stood as a ‘short’ in itself. The tension slowly built up throughout, images added on top of images seen earlier in the film. The whole story was fed to us, no need to spell out the plot and tell us what each bit meant. We worked it out for ourselves.
13°C, lighter winds, some sun. CK:29 miles
She’s been ill for a week or so now. A second vet can’t now find a lump, the first thought it quite large. Maybe now she is getting some treatment, her belly is fuller that lump is obscured when feeling by hand. I haven’t done any such probing. she has (sorry for the grisly details) black diarrhoea which sounds like there’s blood in it. I hope that this hasn’t been triggered by us feeding her sausages, minced-meat and such. Dog food is quite bland, but the change could be the problem.
I have to face the fact that this may be her last winter. She is 13 years 11 months at the time of writing.
Micycle 