Blogger in draft

Since I can't remember when I've used Blogger in draft. On one occasion I switched back when the photo-uploader wouldn't work properly. I've always been a fan. Blogger in draft has had a face-lift. I'm loving it! (click on  screen-shots for larger images).

Screen-shot 1	You are greeted on the dashboard  with a list of your blogs (screen-shot 1). Each with information showing total number of posts and interestingly page views. The pencil button takes you to the 'post' page and the house button is a drop down menu. Click on your blog's name and you'll be taken to an overview page (screen-shot 2). This shows you information including followers, page views, etc. As well as the news from Blogger and Blogs of Note (which we all aspire to!). The posts button will give you a list of your posts including information on views and comments (screen-shot 3). Yes. It is all very white. It is a bit space out and maybe the text could be a bit larger... but the usefulness of everything accessible in one place can't be denied. Stats from the left hand menu gives you this page (screen-shot 4). There seems to be some interaction with Google Analytics taking place here as a lot of the layout will look familiar to anyone who uses that service! Here you can find out everything about your visitors - where they came from, what browser they are using... you have the choice of now, day, week, month and all time. My service seems to go back to 2009 - so I can see the most popular post since then. Last we get to the post page (screen-shot 5). The toolbar hasn't changed other than the compose/html switch has moved from right to left. All the options which used to be below the post necessitating screen-scrolling on my lap-top are now on the right. The publish button is now to be found at the top of the page next to the save button. So far I've made several posts with no issues... everything has been much easier to use. Oh, and for those who once coded in their own favicon only to find that somehow the code didn't work anymore and you still got the orange 'B' - on the layout page there is now an option for setting your own favicon. All in all I'm one satisfied blogger.
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London still remembers

6 years later, London still remembers the victims of the 7/7 bombings.

On the mend

At last! Feeling better... can sit up and everything. Back to work tomorrow then. I shall miss the kitten love!

Stuck in bed

Still in bed, still lying on my back, still hurts to sit up. Very bored. Thank goodness for kitten love!

Health issues

Back to bed (again) due to severe but undiagnosed pain in my side (you can read about my day here). Only relief is lying down flat. Wow the ceiling is boring! As Twitter would say health #fail.

Things that break

First the printer decided to give up the ghost. Doubly annoying as my little one was already refusing to talk to my laptop so that left us printer-less.




Happily the rather nice wireless model we got was on sale so it didn't break the bank.

The toaster also decided to cease to function this week. Popping bread out barely toasted all over the place. New toaster rather more expensive than I wanted... one problem I was in Bluewater which has a dearth of electrical shops and second problem the toaster has to have a little pop up rack to toast things to big to go inside. It also has to be small as our kitchen isn't very large. Happily this rather attractive matt black model fits the bill.

What the with broken camera and the kettle last month it hasn't been a good time for electrical appliances.

Shopping trip

Bluewater this afternoon with my mum for some shopping and some lunch. First outing for the wheelchair too.

Nature in town

Fletching Road is a short little street in Charlton - it doesn't really go anywhere and runs along the back of the shops in The Village so it doesn't have the best views... some unexpected little pieces of nature though!

Weeks end

A day of strikes today. Westminster the focus at the end of the day. Traffic terrible on the way to work and on the way home from work.

Good weather again today - not that I noticed as I had the blinds shut and was chained to my desk as I have been all week.

Really looking forward to the weekend and a rest!

90 years young!

My grandmother, amazing lady, is 90 years young today. Happy Birthday Gran!

Outlook - changeable

Yesterday the weather was hot (very hot) and sunny - looks a bit more variable.

Hospital day

It is still weird that I have to walk past the cemetery to get to the hospital.

You can read about my hospital visit here.

Sunday hours

Had to work today. Drove to the office which wasn't too bad... shame to waste such lovely weather though!

More of the same

Same bed, different day.

Bed-day

Busy week means bed rest on Friday!

That Thursday feeling

Glad to finish the working week! Meetings, deadlines, recalcitrant computers - oh and mostly rubbish weather... there have been better weeks.

It's that time of fortnight

Time to take the every other week trip to Oxfordshire. Points failure outside Didcot and pouring rain at the taxi rank, plus five hour meeting - with no lunch break. Perfect!

There was a touch of nostalgia at Paddington this morning with heaps of people wearing wellies and carrying rucksacks off to Glastonbury. Can't believe that it is over 15 years ago I was there!

Chiliad

Now we are 1,000 posts! Thank you for reading... without somebody reading a blog is nothing.

A blog is what all “websites wanted to be” updated on a regular basis, contains content that is of interest to a select or target audience and is easy to update and change. ~ Unknown

But of course

First week of Wimbledon, Glastonbury at the weekend... of course it is raining (again).

Father's Day

I took a trip down to Kent to visit the cemetery where my Dad is buried. It is a lovely rural spot - peaceful and full of birdsong... and today a brief rainshower for the duration of my visit!

After that I swung by the house where my mother grew up and I spent a lot of happy childhood moments. In a serendipitous coincidence my cousin and his girlfriend were down for a visit so I stopped for a cup of tea. It's an amazing cottage in a hamlet in a beautiful part of Kent. 

It's a Grade II listed building and here is what the listing website has to say about it "Probably C16 timber framed house with later façade. 2 storeys, 3 windows. High pitched tiled roof half hipped at left, with ridge stack. Tile hung lst floor, red brick ground floor with diaper of blue headers. Modern casements mostly leaded and one old leaded iron casement. Plain boarded door. Roof sweeps low at back."

Behind the cottage are woods. As a child we used to have the "Little Grey Rabbit" stories read to us when we stayed there and I was quite convinced that she and her friends actually lived in that wood! The stairs to the first floor have a bell rope instead of a balustrade on one side (still there) and there is a sinister hook on one  of the beams in the kitchen (probably used to hang food of some sort from) - also still there. The garden is glorious - my cousin and my uncle have done a lot of work out there - although the cherry tree that had the swing has fallen victim to a storm and is no more, shame as the blossoms were wonderful. It is a wonderful peaceful spot although not for the modern world as there is a limited bus service and no shop!

Web wanderings

365 Project
What they say "The 365 project is a
photography project where you document a year of your life by taking a daily photo. We want to help you build a picture of the little day to day things that make your life so special and unique. Everyone can take part and join in! All you need is a camera."
What you do: take you camera about and catch life as it goes by. I started mine on 1st January this year so I've the whole year so far to remember.  Some days there isn't much to take photos of if I don't get out and about or am stuck in the office so my project features quite a lot of photos of Casper and Tinker! You get to see other people's projects and enjoy some really good and inspiring photography.

Happy Rambles
What they say "Every night we'll email you the question "What are you grateful for today?" Reply with three to five things and your entry is immediately stored in your own private, secure and personal online gratitude journal. That's it!"
What you do: reply to the email - that's it! So I've only been having one thing a day - but that's a start and it makes you appreciate that no matter how rubbish the day has been there has been something, somewhere, that was good.

More tube strikes

Best take the last week in June off work if you use the tube!

Latest tube strike dates:

• Sunday 19 June 9pm until 3am Monday 20 June (which means trains will be out of position for the morning rush hour).
• Monday 27 June 9pm to midday the following day - affecting the Tuesday morning rush hour.
• Wednesday 29 June mid-day for 24 hours to Thursday 30 June (affecting Wednesday evening and Thursday morning rush hours)(. 
• Friday 1 July 12pm to 9pm (affecting Friday evening rush hour).

End of the working week...

Cass with one of his many bottle tops

Tinker takes the tunnel

The kittens had a busy night... this tunnel belongs in the dining room... but had made it all the way to the hall - my shoes were strewn about as well. Still at least they didn't find any bread products to shred!

No quiet cuddles this morning - manic kitten behaviour continued until I left for work!

Although Tinker did seem to be volunteering for laundry duty!

Due to staying up far to late last night there was a strong requirement for coffee when I got to work so I treated myself to a double espresso. That did the trick!

Lack of traffic and the driver being ten minutes early meant that I was in work before 8am! Good to get a head start on the day.

The weather continued it's general gloominess - although I could have taken this same shot later in the day with blue sky and sunshine! Gotta love the English summer!

Elevation

The lift is fixed so at least we can stop climbing the stairs. That is probably the best I can say for today work wise.

Rain, rain go away

Did I mention, every time it rains... the roof leaks. This is why. There's a hole in my roof.

Take the stairs!

The lift is now 'professionally' out of order as the maintenance company have come and stuck 'out of service' stickers on the call buttons at each floor... haven't fixed it though!

Rain stops play...

It turns out there isn't much you can do sports-wise when it rains. No cricket, Queen's Club final postponed... Canadian Grand-Prix red-flagged... and our bedroom roof leaks (happily not above the bed)

What happened to summer?!

Not that the F1 was up to much before it stopped... started under a safety car - pretty dull - stopped. Have had to watch a lot of nonsense since whilst they fill time!

Carrying on the laziness...

I hadn't seen the video when I decided that this was my weekend theme song... the monkeys freak me out a bit!

I like Fridays

Casper

Another lazy (ish) Friday - had to run a few errands but managed to spend the rest of the time laying around the bedroom with the cats.

Meeting make minutes and waste hours

Despite my fervent desire to be at my desk getting on with work required to meet deadlines, for the second day in a row, I was thwarted.

This time a large meeting (9 people) that required several hours preparation (no lunch for me) and then went on for several more hours (over 4 hours in fact).

I drank far too much coffee and ate a few biscuits.

Hours later still suffering the caffeine buzz!

Site visit (again)

Off to Oxfordshire for another site visit. The day couldn't have gone worse.

On the way to Paddington my driver's car broke down and I had to walk to Vauxhall and get the tube.

The meeting went on twice as long as I'd hoped... I was desperate to be back in London to get on with work to meet the many looming deadlines.

I fell up the steps at Didcot Parkway. It hurt.


It was 4:30 by the time I was back at my desk. Only an hour and a half before the car was due.

Happy accident

During the raining/roof leaking incident on Sunday another disaster occurred. I went to fetch my camera on the basis that the zoom function might allow us an insight of the roof problem (that bit of our house is 'L' shaped and the roof of the bedroom a lower level than the viewing point in the spare room. I then fell over with the camera, which was switched on. 

 

Sad result - extend lens bent out of shape and won't retract. Camera broken.

 

Irony - same problem that caused me to buy this camera to replace its predecessor.

Happy result - new camera, cheaper than the last with 14 megapixels to the old camera's 10. 

Sadness - new camera not pink.

Disasters

It is raining

The roof is leaking.

Yesterday was not a good day. Summer vanished again to be replaced with fairly heavy rain. Drip, drip, water came through the roof. Cats considered climbing bookcases to be one with the water. Happily the rain soon stopped as did the leaking.

Sunday thought (3)

Lego Xbox games

I love gaming. I'm a bit of a geek that way. These days the Xbox 360 is my console of choice, although my gaming life goes back to the Sega Megadrive!

My favourite games are the 'Lego' series. Currently I'm playing Lego Star Wars III. It's based on the Clone Wars cartoons (which I've never watched) but that doesn't matter. The fun is running around the little Lego worlds... and destroying bits of Lego in return for studs (which are the games' currency).

I've played them all... as you can see here (Lego Star Wars: II and the Complete Saga currently on loan to the Better-Half).

Now Pirates of the Carribean is coming... and of course the second half of Harry Potter. The great thing about the games is once you've played every level in 'story mode' (with only a limited choice of characters) you can go back and play 'free play' where you will have all the required characters with the skills to complete the level to 100%. This means that the games last for ages (Star Wars III currently 28 hours and counting!).

Wheel-chair arrives

Here it is. I've decided to view it as a positive thing. It doesn't mean that I am more handicapped and can do less... it means that those days when my legs don't want to co-operate I have the freedom to go out and about and do more!

Busier times

Today I had to do what would normally take at least a few days in an afternoon. As usual I feel like I've crossed the line of a marathon!

Busy times

Busy, busy days at work. So of course computers decided to misbehave.