First Sunday

As Douglas Adam's wrote in Life, the Universe and Everything (the third book in the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy series): 

 

"In the end, it was the Sunday afternoons he couldn't cope with, and that terrible listlessness that starts to set in about 2:55, when you know you’ve taken all the baths that you can usefully take that day, that however hard you stare at any given paragraph in the newspaper you will never actually read it, or use the revolutionary new pruning technique it describes, and that as you stare at the clock the hands will move relentlessly on to four o’clock, and you will enter the long dark teatime of the soul."

That is a common problem often enough in this house. Not this week though. My day started excellently watching the Gators win in the Outback Bowl.

Why does someone for London support the Florida Gators? Well that is illustrated by the photo on the left. Back in the day there was a college football game on NASN and one team was the Gators and I took to their bold blue and orange and the Gator on the helmets. Never looked back... helped by mighty quarter-backs Chris Leak and Tim Tebow and legendary coach Urban Meyer.

After that Rich settled down to the New Year's Day Old Firm Derby. He was happy as Celtic triumphed over Rangers.

At this point I decided that the thing I really ought to do was go through a stack of magazines that had been stacking up since June. That accompanied by the gentle strains of Handel's Water Music and two sleeping kittens proved a very peaceful way to finish the afternoon.

I'm now sitting watching the final week of the regular NFL season. Happily there is still the post season and the Superbowl to go... before that unfortunate gap until the baseball season starts again!

Tuesday things

Excellent start to my morning today. The bus I got on had a broken Oyster reader, so the driver was waving on all passengers... including those who would normally pay a cash fare but were pretending to have an Oyster. Free ride to London meant that I could get another bus from Whitehall to Piccadilly instead of having to take a long walk. Ironically that bus had the revenue inspectors get on at the next stop. I wondered why the guy next to me suddenly swiped his card... he must have been a seasoned fare dodger and spotted them in advance of the stop. Yes, of course it was a bendy bus.

My little corner of Mayfair has turned into an urban wildlife habitat. The light-well/fire escape area behind our building has been inhabited by about a dozen love-sick pigeons. All you can hear from the common areas is incessant 'coo-ing' and when I looked out of the window so intent were they on their courtships that they didn't even notice and carried on puffing and strutting regardless.

I'm hoping that there is better dissemination of information than the white-board at North Greenwich station. According to an obviously hastily written sign tomorrow night's concert at the O2 starring Tina Turner has been cancelled. Now what are the odds that more than about half a percent of the attendance will be passing through the station on the night prior to the Concert?

I had a moment of panic at North Greenwich when I couldn't find my iPod in my (admittedly capcious) work bag. I sent Rich a text asking if it was at home. Of course it was, came the reply. It would appear that I had made a conscious decision in the morning not to take it with me. Further evidence of my truly appaling memory. The frequent failure of my memory is excellent for enjoying books, movies and TV shows for a second time as if new - but it is getting to be quite irritating in day to day life!

What comes before Valentine's Day...?

At some point last night I realised that if Saturday was Valentine's day then the preceding day must be Friday the 13th.

I'm not generally superstitious. I don't throw salt over my shoulder when I upset the salt cellar (not that we have salt in our house anyway) and I have no problem with ladders. I don't have any problem with black cats (although I always thought they were lucky rather than unlucky). I do have two superstitions that I pay close attention to.

One is never to open an umbrella indoors. I did this once as a small child and the next thing that happened was a slipped and fell on a wet pavement and cut my wrist extremely badly missing my artery by millimetres. The origin of this superstition is quite interesting - umbrellas were originally used as protection not from the rain but from the sun, and to open one inside was considered an insult to the sun.

I digress. Friday the 13th is my other pet superstition. Reason being for this one, experience. Friday the 13th (I have found) is often a most unfortunate day. The funny thing is, I'm not superstitious about the number 13 at all. For seven years I lived at number 13; I don't mind the 13th floor (although most buildings seem not to have one!) - or even 13 at dinner (again, most other people do, and I've never actually sat down with 13 at dinner). It is only Friday the 13th I mind. It is called (according to the ever knowledgeable Wikipedia) paraskavedekatriaphobia which is clearly a very focused form of triskaidekaphobia (fear of the number 13). Why is Friday 13th unlucky. Nobody seems to agree. Recent years have seen the popularisation of the unlikely theory of the unfotunate Knights Templar being rounded up and arrested on Friday 13th. It seems unlikely as the notion of Friday the 13th didn't really become mainstreen until the late 19th or early 20th Century.

Whatever the reason, my Friday the 13th didn't go altogether well. My camera broke. Again. This is my camera that only came back from being repaired a year ago... died the same death as last time. When I rang up to find up how much it would cost to get fixed (because it is of course now out of warranty) I was told nearly £90 (flat rate charge for all repairs). I can buy a new camera for less, which is what I told the man on the phone, and indeed what I decided to do.


I reserved one online, waited the requisite half an hour and then went to fetch it. I paid for it and they went to find it, and I waited... and waited... and then waited some more. Eventually the manager came to tell me they couldn't find the camera. But I'd already paid for it I pointed out (very reasonably I thought given I'd been standing there for 15 minutes). Perhaps they could fetch one from another store and I could pick it up in the morning, the manager suggested. Not possible I told him, as I was to fetch my mother-in-law from hospital. I pointed out (still quite calmly considering) that the whole reason that I'd reserved it online was so that I would be sure that I would get the model that I wanted. The to-ing and fro-ing went on for some time. The cameras, were missing (presumed stolen) and the only option was to offer me an alternative for the same price, I was happy to go along with this subject to the proviso that the camera took AA batteries not a Li-Ion rechargeable. Stumbling block. Eventually I was offered the display model of the camera I had requested at a 10% discount.


We take several vital lessons from this debacle.
1) Just because you reserve it don't assume they have it - this goes from bitter experience in many stores
2) Don't take payment until you are sure you have the goods to sell
3) Offer the dispaly model first - not last!


I have my new camera - which cost a fraction of the cost of the old one (or the repair bill for the old one) and is actually better specs than its predecessor. All good in the end then.

The end of the day... the end of the week

It's been another long week at work. The economic slow-down is beginning to bite. The phone doesn't ring so much and the work is getting slower and slower. We're not giving up hope yet, but times are looking lean.

Today was a 'working from home' day. I didn't manage it last week due to the pressures of deadlines; what with that and the set of ten hour days I've been feeling pretty bushed this week. Happily the days have been normal length this week, that and a lot of sleep and not having to do the big commute today, I'm almost feeling 'me' again.

Tonight I'm catching up with the neglected TV and enjoying a glass of wine. Rich is taking a nap prior to the baseball tonight, off on the West Coast so a late start. I'm not participating with the baseball until we get to the World Series, at which point I may have to find a team to support!

This weekend the road up the top of my street is closed as 'Run to the Beat' is passing by - a half marathon sponsored by Sony Ericsson. The thing that made me laugh was all the road closure signs that have been put up have spelt the sponsors name wrong, with only one 's'. Oh dear.

My laptop is still busted. A friend who works with computers took a look at it, and recommended getting the internal power fixed. I'd been hoping he was going to circumnavigate me having to spend any money. C'est la vie. Off to Harrow then.

So this is democracy...

I get home from work last night to find a brown envelope. Brown envelopes are generally considered ominous. Few people use them... two I can think of are the Hospital (who I can recognise immediately as they put their postcode in their postage franking) and the Tax man (never a good thing). This one however had 'Courts Service' stamped on the front. Immediately I wondered who was suing me. The reality was almost as bad... a summons for jury service. The fact that I might get called for jury service had never even occurred to me, and I can't honestly say that I'm too pleased by this. Yes, democracy in action - there is no way to get out of it. With really good reason you can apply for deferral... and criminals and those lacking mental capacity are exempt... but that is it.

I immediately sent Boss-one a text message to find out if the company still pays me whilst I'm not working. I knew he'd reply straight away as he's surgically attached to his phone. He has no idea, he's considered the possibility about as much as I have.

The shocking thing is that you don't get compensated whilst you are doing jury service for loss of earning. You get paid an absolutely nominal daily amount (about £30) which covers absolutely nothing in this modern world. Clearly the Courts Service need to adjust their allowances for inflation.

Good news is, though, that my random purchase of a EuroMillions ticket yesterday (due to the immense 'must be won' prize fund) netted me £13. Added to the £10 on last week's lottery draw I'm definitely making a profit.

Creativity

It must have been the nature of the week... the whole chained to the desk, head down, deeply concentrating vibe that inhabited this week; but today I felt remarkably creative. I spent the morning scanning old photos into the computer - mine this time, rather than my parents' to put together online albums.

I had to disturb this pleasant pass-time for a trip to the optician. Happily my eyes are healthy (although I must be getting old as I had to have the puff-off-air test for the first time) but unsurprisingly my prescription had altered as my vision had deteriorated. I had guessed this, as the incidences of managing without my glasses has decreased to pretty much not at all unless I'm watching TV in the living room (our living room is VERY small). I can't even see my work computer or the TV in the bedroom now without my glasses. Ah well. I chose a very nice pair of frames (which were happily remarkably cheap) and then came the lenses. The frames I chose were £89 (which considering they were from a 'designer' range was pretty good) and the lenses came to £150. Ouch! The problem is that I like Reactions lenses which negates the need for me to have sunglasses. That is an extra £60. The cheapest lenses available were £90. Those weren't the first ones offered me... oh no. The first ones were £150 (not even the most expensive) I flatly told the sales assistant that I wasn't paying over £200 just for the lenses!

This afternoon I carried on with my creative vibe and got musical. First a little time with the piano. A bit rusty as I haven't played in a while - so I murdered Mozart for a while before moving onto Lloyd-Webber and the like. I find it very difficult to play and sing unless I know the song really well so I decided that I might go and take my guitar out of mothballs instead. I only play the guitar in the sense that I can strum chords to accompany myself (classical guitar and I parted company when I was around eleven after a short and not very profitable relationship). I was delighted to find that Audacity (which I can't even remember why I installed now) allows me to plug in the microphone and record my singing. It even then exports it to MP3. After rediscovering some old favourites (Danny Boy, Amazing Grace and more) I remembered why it is that one should regularly practice. Not just so that one improves... those who don't play the guitar regularly get soft fingers. Those fingers get sore from fretting the strings... and thumbs get sore from strumming. I am finding it painful to type with my left hand now as the fingers are extremely sore for that couple of hours... hence I shall now stop and go nurse my poor fingers!