Meridian Line

Time starts at Greenwich. Where east meets west, sometimes in the night sky. The green line in the sky is the Greenwich Meridian Line - zero degrees longitude.

Hopeful sunrise

Shame it didn't set the tone for the weather or the rest of the day!

Birdwatch

This weekend was the RSPB's Garden Birdwatch. I filled up the food and water and was ready to watch for an hour. I decided to do my watching from the bedroom window where I'd disturb the birds less... of course the kittens had to be locked out otherwise they'd probably have tried tightrope walking on the window cill or other acrobatics!


There were quite a lot of birds about... especially the pigeon families and the tit families. Sadly for the watch (although not our pond) didn't see the heron. Didn't see the fleeting green parakeet once spotted either.

To be honest, a nice sunny afternoon (like today) would have been better for it - it just really didn't seem to be the weather for it. Grey and rather cold. I think maybe the birds were all tucked up in their nests!

Some lovely photos to finish with though - Tinker (left) and Casper (right) posing (as usual) for the camera!

Chemical compound

I love weekends right now. Friday night is time for the weekly dose of Avonex. This is my 'disease modifying drug' that I take for my MS.

The selling point is that it gives you 33% less relapses or the relapses you do have are 33% less severe. Of course, there is no way of testing this without stopping taking it.

A few years back my Neuro decided that it wasn't strong enough and I should take Betaferon instead. Betaferon is taken every other day subcutaneously (which means a smaller needle) unfortunately my skin was extremely intolerant to this so back to Avonex it was. Avonex is given intramuscularly so I don't get the same skin reactions; sadly the needles is about 150% longer and it usually hurts quite a bit - sometime it bleeds too and I end up with a lovely bruise for a week. Lucky it is on my thigh and I no longer wear skirts that short! DMDs are famous for their flu-like side effects. I distinctly remember the first time I took Avonex. It was the same night as BBC's Children in Need, which I don't normally watch. I remember on this occasion lying in bed aching and shivering and feeling generally rotten and dosing on paracetamol as often as the box would permit. Happily I've never had it that bad again, and I think that the every other day Betaferon helped build an immunity. I still have occasional bad nights but they are rare.

Right now the evenings aren't the only problem. My MS Nurse suggested a five day course of steroids were in order. Those are the blue tablets on the left. They taste vile. The only thing that helps is Robinsons Fruit and Barley Peach flavour, strangely it must be peach. They should put that in the advisory leaflet. Fail in this and the horrid taste will hang around all day no matter what you eat and drink. The yellow tablet is Omeprazole which protects your stomach from any effects of the steriods - a fifteen day tapering course they'd add Calcium as well. The little white tablet is anti-histamine which I take for random pruritus (that's the medical term for itching) - they also help my hayfever in the summer.

Not shown here is the night-time tablet Clonazepam which is a muscle relaxant and cures my legs of stiffness and crampiness - bonus side effect it sends me to sleep.

So that's me - a chemical compound. No wonder I don't feel quite myself... hopefully soime will start doing some good soon!

Skywatch Friday (41)

Urban sunset captured from the bus

Join in!

Green fingers

Still managing (despite the odds being stacked against them) to keep last year's poinsettias alive. Alive and growing new shoots. At some point I suppose they will have to come home and be repotted.

Random kitten moments

Casper is counting his pocket money. What he is going to spend it on I couldn't say as he has a food and litter provided for him and boxes of toys!  £1.20 won't go far... that's for sure!

Tinker meanwhile has taken very literally the fact that the cushion on the chair says 'cat' (and the grey blanket out of shot says 'Miaow') and taken this as a sign that this is to be his chair.

Another wet London day

Although it had stopped raining, everyone was still in a big hurry to get home!

I enjoy the effects of rain on London... as long as I'm not getting wet!

Feline mischief

Here's all kinds of trouble waiting to happen. The marks on the carpet are where we've just finished playing with soap bubbles. The aim of this exercise was to distract the kittens whilst my nearly-mother-in-law attempts to prepare her dinner in the adjacent kitchen without feline help.

Strange things cats do

Casper likes to sit in the bath tub if he gets the chance... we know that. Not usually when the water has just finished disappearing down the plug-hole! I had to fish a rather soggy moggy out of the bath tub and suggest that he might find somewhere warmer and drier to sit.

Afternoon at the Valley

Valley Sunset

Charlton Legend Chris Powell was appointed as manager at the club and today was his first game in charge. In honour of the occasion I made my once a season pilgrimage to the Valley. One upon a time I was a season ticket holder at Charlton... in fact I was introduced to my better-half in a pub after a game.

As time passed though I got busier and busier at work and worked longer and longer hours I had less time free in the week. I began to resent having to go to games on the weekend, and I had to go because with a season ticket I'd already paid for the games. 

After nearly a decade I gave up my season ticket, and generally manage a game once a season. The return of the legend that is Chris Powell seemed as good a reason as any. Charlton beat Plymouth by two goals to nil; and the second goal was worth the whole match. The football wasn't great, but like most sporting events the afternoon is about more than just the game - it's the whole experience... and it was nice to be back at the Valley again after so long.

New Change

I spent some time in Islington this afternoon and opted for a bus back to Waterloo. I was rather taken by this image of St Paul's Cathedral reflected in the glass façade of the New Change shopping centre.

My time in Islington itself was centred around the part just outside the City - Old Street and environs. I rather like their habit of painting their telephone exchange boxes!

Lunchtime at Tiffany's

"...the only thing that does any good is to jump in a cab and go to Tiffany's. Calms me down right away.The quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there."

Of course Holly Golightly was in New York and not Old Bond Street - but I echo her sentiment. I was having a rather stressful day at work but even looking through the window of Tiffany's did make me feel calmer.

Unexpected Visitors

Arrived home this evening to find my in-laws and my niece were visiting. They were on the way back from a hospital appointment where apparently the doctor had offered my niece a balloon (left). 

 

Aged just over a year she is just learning to walk now... a burbling a bit which will soon lead to talking - the quiet life is over for my in-laws!

Sunshine after the storm

After the torrential downpours of Monday the glorious sunshine of today was a pleasant surprise!

Resting in Peace

The graveyard was there first but I always think that it is a little macabre having a cemetery on the opposite side of the road. I had a lovely watery walk past on my way to the hospital this morning.

All change

The New

The Old

I've given the site a major overhaul both in terms of design and address.





The new address is
http://www.london-calling-blog.co.uk
the old Blogger address will continue to forward to this page.

Note that the email address has also changed:

The sofa

Although our sofa still has a lot of life in it we decided it was time for a new one. So having selected a likely candidate online we took a trip to our local DFS (advertising works!) to sit on it. It passed the test - and now we just have to wait up to twelve weeks whilst it is manufactured for us.

Even though our current sofa is a two seater the new three seater isn't that much bigger - just makes better use of its dimensions it would seem.

Skywatch Friday (40)

Watercolour Sunrise

Join in!

So long, farewell

Lunch today at our favourite pizza haunt to say goodbye to one of my colleagues who is leaving after six years.

It will be quite strange as he started at the company only a few months after I did so he's nearly always been there.

I wish him all the best in his new job.