The Adventures of Kat

The science of nature.

2012-01-04T13:09:00.007Z

Interesting.

I just finished reading (yesterday) a book on weight loss that advocates food combining and natural hygiene. One of my new years resolutions is to look after my body much better, which has been complaining to me of abuse for over a decade now, and which I have been abysmally ignoring, so weight loss and healthy eating are very much on the agenda.

But what is food combining and natural hygiene, you say? Both are rather controversial, and not at all supported by a lot of the scientific community, but I thougth it was worth a look anyway. If it didn't make sense, there was no way my logical brain would accept it.

Food combining advocates the separation of foods into groups which are easy for your body to digest together. So fruits should not be eaten with anything but other fruit, meat and carbohydrates should not be mixed together in a meal, but meat and veg or carbs and veg are fine.

Natural Hygiene advocates eating the types of foods we are biologically designed to eat, as well as a lot of other stuff. Ie, vegetables and fruits, like the Apes do now. They advocate becoming vegans in other words.

Well, I'm not sure I agree with a lot of what they say. The whole combination thing is complete hooy to my mind and as for Natural Hygiene we've been eating meat since we lived in caves and if we haven't adapted to digest it by now I'd say natural selection would have insured we'd have died out rather than thrive as we have. But they have something in the 'eat as natural as possible and eat as much veg and fruit as possible'. All diets say that.

The thing is, since reading it I now feel completely and very happily justified in chucking milk and dairy. Well, I've been allergic to milk all my life, so that really wasn't a hardship. I've trialled a couple of milk-substitutes recently, and found one based on rice that I quite like, more than I like milk actually, so that determination was rather easy.

And on ordering a salad for lunch today I avoided the meat section of the salad bar. That too was no real hardship; I've always had to make an effort to eat red meat. For a few years I refused to eat it at all, and only really started to 'enjoy' it when I could afford the very top quality cuts, and then only by always slathering them in a large helping of wholegrain mustard. But in the UK you can pay over £30 a kilo ($45 Aus at today's exchange rate, but it used to be a lot higher!) for fillet steak, so I've really cut back. Chicken, yes I eat it regularly, and I do enjoy a good roasted chicken, so I'm not going to give that up any time soon. But fish... well, I eat that only once a year at the most. Doesn't help that I'm allergic to shell fish and bad experiences in that arena have lead to a general distaste for the whole variety.

The whole food combination thing I'm also very suspicious of, but the one thing the book says you really should do, above everything else, is eat fruit for breakfast. I've heard that before too. So I'm going to try it.

Anyway, my problem seems not to be quality, but quantity. My diet is not horrible, but I eat far too much of everything. I eat far too fast and so never recognise when my body is full. I've read in more than one book that the way to lose weight is actually to be come conscious of what you are eating and how much.

So, here is my new eating regime (gleamed from various books, not just the one I finished yesterday!):

1. Eat only fruit for breakfast.
2. Cut out milk and reduce the rest of the dairy section (Very easy and really good for me in terms of my allergies).
3. Avoid processed meat and reduce other meats (Not hard, already done!).
4. Look after my wonderful machine; listen to my body, eat only when I'm hungry, eat slowly, chew each mouthful to liquefaction, stop eating when full, try to exercise daily.

Let's see how long it lasts... :s

New Year, New Rules.

2012-01-03T11:30:00.007Z

This year may herald very big changes for me. It might be the last year I live in England. It might not. The Visa Gods have yet to decide. But regardless of my location, I am determined to make a few changes in my life. I have in the past overcome a couple of good obstacles, but I still have a couple of large ones to be encompassed.

So, my goals for this year are quite all-encompassing:

1. To live within my means, and pay back all I owe.

2. To look after this wonderful machine, my body, and let it become the weight it should be.

3. To experience as much as I can and say yes to new experiences, especially to those things that scare me.

4. To blog about all of my experiences and to finish writing a book. Ie, Write, Re-Write and Submit!

5. To open myself up to finding new friends and love and to learn to enjoy socialising.

Some old, some new. We'll see how we go.

Happy New Year All!

Christmas 2011

2011-12-28T13:55:00.018Z

This was my very first Christmas by myself. Not bad really, for 35 years worth.

I managed not to be morrose at all though. I had my own tree, I called the family, and spoke with them on Skype for a good couple of hours and then I watched movies and did a lot of needleturn and went on a 'London Walk' walk of Dickensian London.

That was quite amazing - there was easily 100 people in my group of tourists, (the photo shows as many of the group as I could catch - no there weren't any other peoeople around, just us!) and there were five or six guides on the day. Obviously not much to do in 'ole London Town of a Christmas day. It was truely strage to not see a single red bus the entire day though. And the rain held off until the very end of the tour, which was lovely.

And then I cooked a proper christmas dinner. It even included roast potatoes, sweet potatoes and carrots - although I managed to undercook the carrots and overcook the brocoli but never mind - it's really quite hard to judge food preparation times for just one person when I'm so used to cooking for many! Entre was Bree and specialty cheeases and complimented by a Jacob's Creek Shiraz/Cab-sav. And I even had my own little christmas pud with custard and brandy butter. So the food compliment was achieved.

On boxing day I caught the Doctor Who Christmas special, which was indeed special. Humany-woomany tears! Lovely.

Aunt Millie's Garden Blocks 9-14

2011-12-27T14:07:00.014Z

I've been remiss in my showing off of this wonderful quilt. It really has taken me far too long to get it done, but then I've had great excuses!

Here are Blocks 9-14. I now only have blocks 15 & 16 and the borders to do. Mind you, it'll probably take me another year just to do the borders! Sheesh they're big. And I have to decide which of the duplicates to put on the quilt and which to make into cushions. But that's a problem for when I've finished all the blocks.

So here they are:

Block 09, finished December 2010

Block 10, finished January 2011

Block 11, finished July 2011

Block 12 , finished November 2011

Block 13, finished December 2011

Block 14, finished December 2011

You can see I got inspired after going to Houston - but I'll tell you about that in another post. :)

It's been a while...

2011-12-22T14:16:00.005Z

I've been doing things and not blogging about them for quite a long time now. It's been a busy year but I haven't written the blog because writing it was becoming a chore and something to be guilty about, and there are so many other things I could do voluntarily that would make me happy rather than guilty, so I did those instead. Simples!

But while doing NaNoWriMo this year I realised something very valuable about this blog; It forced me to write regularly. And that act of writing regularly, turning over my accumulated impressions of the world around me and filtering the rubbish from the stuff that could make good compost, gave me a wonderfully rich and fertile ground for my imagination. This year during Nano, I ran out of inspiration. I could not get excited about the very few ideas I had because I had no others to link them to.

I had neglected my garden, I didn't turn or contribute any nutrients to the ground and weeds grew and strangled it. I was only hit by inspiration at the very last minute, and that wasn't particularly original inspiration. A new take on another's tale in fact.

For as long as I've been doing Nano, I've been doing this blog. I didn't realise the two went hand in glove. Of course, I could have written my own stream of consciousness in a diary or some such, but that doesn't force me to edit as I go along, and it somehow is not so sharp a stick for producing regular work.

I did a lot relating to writing this year, I've been particularly studious in fact, but I concentrated all my efforts on revision rather than on creating any new content, and I feel the lack most direfully.

So, I am going to try here on in to be a more faithful correspondent. It's for my own good after all.

Hello again world!

Baby it's cold outside....

2010-11-24T18:42:00.005Z

I was just sitting here trying to warm up my hands and thought - this is silly! I'm wearing gloves, have a jumper on, am wearing my uggs and am snuggled under multiple blankets - why am I still cold? I put the heater on and then had a look at the weather forcast just in case...

This would be why:
The little x's on the clouds for this evening? That means sleet and / or expected snow. Nice.

In other news, I've managed to reach the 40k mark in Nanowrimo. This year has been a slog uphill all the way. Not so easy the fourth time around. Keep your fingers crossed I'll make it to the finish line! :s

Nano has begun.

2010-11-04T21:13:00.004Z

9903 words written so far, so not a bad effort.

Four days ago actually. I'm nowhere near as psyched about it as I have been in the past. Probably because I'm working all the hours available to me, including Saturdays, and I'm just really, really tired.

I also peaked a tad too early in my preparation. I was rearing to write the story around the first week of October, and the fact that I had to wait a further three weeks to start dampened my ardor just a tad.

I'm thinking that this could even possibly be the first year I don't succeed. But then I know I'm damn stubborn, so I'll probably get there in the end. It might be just by the skin of my teeth...

There is one other rather cool thing I'm doing this year, which I'll have to rave about in another post 'cause I'm falling asleep right now and it rather requires enthusiasm to rave, but I must and will tell you all about my adventures with a speach-to-text software package I'm playing with. It's really saving my fingers.

Anyway, need to sleep. Will report back later.

G'night.

I feel like a two-year-old.

2010-11-01T19:13:00.003Z

My mouth hurts. Ha, boy is that the understatement of the century.

Several weeks ago, as I reported here, I had a tooth extracted. At the time, the damn bugger didn't want to come out, it was happy where it was thank you very much. The poor dentist-lass was yanking at it for a good 15 minutes before it would even budge, and in the end, some bits of the roots broke off rather than leave their comfortable home.

The dentist couldn't remove the pieces, or perhaps didn't want to given I was already white and shaking all over, as there was too much blood etc in the way. She told me that the pieces would eventually erupt on their own, like any new tooth. I thought, fair enough, they must know what they're doing, I'll go along with that.

Idiot.

Well the first piece erupted successfully, although it spent a good five days cutting my tongue to ribbons before it would dislodge itself. Enamel - the stuff that coats your tooth - is the hardest substance in the body, and this was a very sharp, broken shard of enamel.

But the second shard would seem to be a lot bigger than the first and it has somehow managed to migrate under the skin to lie along the inside of my jaw in a prime position to get bumped every time I move my tongue. It has started to erupt and has got to the point of cutting up my tongue, but will go no further. It is making my mouth bleed daily, but it won't come out. It's been nine days now, and I am sick to death of it.

I can't eat, I can't talk, I can't swallow, I can't drink and I can't sleep on that side without causing myself excruciating pain and tasting copper.

If this is what a kid feels when her teeth come through, I can totally sympathise with and understand all the screaming. Please feel free to scream your head off kiddo, I wish I could, because I know it f***ing HURTS!

Edit to add: Not copper; Iron. Blood tastes like iron. I honestly don't know why I said it tasted like copper, except that that's the commonly held belief. I'm not common. It tastes like iron.

Cat and Printer

2010-10-23T11:30:00.001+01:00

This is hilarious!

And so exactly how I relate to technology sometimes!

Butter for the King...

2010-10-02T20:44:00.011+01:00

There is a guy at work called Jon, but I have it stuck in my head that his name is James, as that's his surname and also the name of one of my cousins and, lets face it, my memory resembles a swiss cheese. Unfortunately, I call him James to his face - regularly.

It's become a bit of a standing joke, and the poor guy is very nice about it. Today for the umpteeth time I did it again, and after yelling at myself and startling him I started reciting 'James James Morrison Morrison', which is the first line of a poem by A. A. Milne - of Winnie the Pooh fame - called Disobedience.

One of my other, older workmates was damn impressed with my referential knowledge and recited the rest of the poem for us. Thus encouraged, out of the unfathomable recesses of my mind, I then proceeded to recite my favourite Milne poem for his edification, and to general bemusement all round.

Since it's stuck in my head, here it is for you too. I always make a big show out of the 'Oh Deary Me!' bits so try to imagine them in my voice accompanied by lots of over-acting... :D

The King's Breakfast
by A. A. Milne

The King asked
The Queen, and
The Queen asked
The Dairymaid:
"Could we have some butter for
The Royal slice of bread?"
The Queen asked the Dairymaid,
The Dairymaid
Said, "Certainly,
I'll go and tell the cow
Now
Before she goes to bed."

The Dairymaid
She curtsied,
And went and told
The Alderney:
"Don't forget the butter for
The Royal slice of bread."
The Alderney
Said sleepily:
"You'd better tell
His Majesty
That many people nowadays
Like marmalade
Instead."

The Dairymaid
Said, "Fancy!"
And went to
Her Majesty.
She curtsied to the Queen, and
She turned a little red:
"Excuse me,
Your Majesty,
For taking of
The liberty,
But marmalade is tasty, if
It's very
Thickly
Spread."

The Queen said
"Oh!:
And went to
His Majesty:
"Talking of the butter for
The royal slice of bread,
Many people
Think that
Marmalade
Is nicer.
Would you like to try a little
Marmalade
Instead?"

The King said,
"Bother!"
And then he said,
"Oh, deary me!"
The King sobbed, "Oh, deary me!"
And went back to bed.
"Nobody,"
He whimpered,
"Could call me
A fussy man;
I only want
A little bit
Of butter for
My bread!"

The Queen said,
"There, there!"
And went to
The Dairymaid.
The Dairymaid
Said, "There, there!"
And went to the shed.
The cow said,
"There, there!
I didn't really
Mean it;
Here's milk for his porringer,
And butter for his bread."

The Queen took
The butter
And brought it to
His Majesty;
The King said,
"Butter, eh?"
And bounced out of bed.
"Nobody," he said,
As he kissed her
Tenderly,
"Nobody," he said,
As he slid down the banisters,
"Nobody,
My darling,
Could call me
A fussy man -
BUT
I do like a little bit of butter to my bread!"

One Month 'Till NaNo!

2010-10-01T09:39:00.002+01:00

The count-down begins. Only 31 days until the month of madness recommences.

I really do love it.

I can't believe I've been doing this for four years already. I can't believe I didn't do it for the three years I knew it existed prior to 2007. I can't believe that after this November I'll have written stories with a collective word count of at least 250k. I can't believe I'll have finished four stories that could, given some help, be turned into real live novels!

But I do believe I'll have a damn good time doing it. To force yourself to be so intensively creative for such a short period of time is such an amazing experience. And to have written 50,000 words is such a mind-blowing achievement!

It is also totally insane. Last year I spent my walk to work talking out loud to myself recording bits of my story on an mp3 player - and seriously alarming the people I passed. No, I am not drunk, I'm just crazy! And in typing on my laptop to reach the 100k mark I completely stuffed both my wrists. I couldn't type anything for months and I was in constant pain. I have an ergonomic keyboard now - I learned that lesson, never fear.

But damn, it is worth it. I have a proof copy of the mess I wrote last year - An actual book with my (pen) name on it! That's really very cool. I also love the fact that I have managed to finish three novels. I've spent so many years saying 'one day', and never doing it - and now, it's done!

Come on November! I can't wait to see what you've got in store for me this year.

Eight-Ball or Blackball?

2010-09-29T22:04:00.009+01:00

Some useless information for you!

There isn't much to do in Aber most nights of the week, so for some time I've been trying to get my work mates to join me in a couple of games of pool. This evening I finally succeeded - only, the game they were used to calling pool was not the game I call pool.

Now as far as I was aware, there were only three games you could play on a Billiards table: Billiards, Snooker and Pool.

Billiards and Snooker are the same game both here and at home.

Billiards is the game where you have two cue balls and a red ball and you score up to 12 points depending on whether you can get just the red ball in, or the red and your opponents ball in... I think. I never really understood Billiards, and I think I always thought that Billiards was actually Snooker, but when I think about it, I do know the difference.

Snooker is the game where you have one white cue ball, 15 red balls worth one point each, and six balls of different colours; those being yellow (worth 2 points), green (3), brown (4), blue (5), pink (6) and black (7). You have to pocket a red ball first and then you can pocket a coloured ball and the coloured ball gets replaced after the score is recorded until all the red balls are done and then you pocket the coloured balls in order... or thereabouts. This was the game I learned to play with my friend Nick Burden back when I was 9 or so - he had a table in his back room, and was Brilliant at it.

The game of Pool however, is a completely different kettle of fish. There is not one, but two games played under the name of Pool: Eight-Ball, an American game which is what is known as Pool in most of the rest of the world, and Blackball, which is the English version of the same game.

No wonder I was confused. The rules are remarkably similar, but the table and the balls are not.

The game I know is the American game. It has a white cue ball, the black 8-ball (logically so called 'cause it has the number 8 on it!) and then seven striped and seven plain balls of various colours with numbers on them. You are assigned either the striped or plain balls, and win when you have first pocketed your seven balls and then successfully pocketed the black. I spent many enjoyable evenings with Amy, Marty, DB, Jase and others at the Norwood pool hall playing this - which I always called pool.

The English version of the game has a white cue ball, a black ball and seven red and seven yellow balls. The balls are slightly lighter and slightly smaller than their American cousins and the balls aren't numbered. The tables are also slightly smaller, and have smaller pockets - just larger than the balls - which are hard edged, rather than the softer ones we often see at home. I played this for the first time the other night at a farewell do - but I don't remember what we called it... the evening was sober for me, but not for my companions. I don't think the name came up actually... :D

From the discussions we had tonight, I believe that the rules are pretty much the same. Fouls, when you pocket the white ball or your opponents ball, or when you miss a shot, lead to a double shot for the other side seem to be the same. You still have to pocket all your balls and then the black to win and if you pocket the white after the black, you still lose. But as with any game, the 'House' rules also apply.

Anyway, all this was leading to me learning a few things and having a great evening. I taught the English guys how to play 8-ball pool, and then proceeded to get walloped for the first three games. I thankfully won my last two, thus saving myself from complete disgrace, but will have to pick up my game if I'm to have any hope of a reasonable reputation. Next week we're going to play Blackball and I expect to get even more soundly walloped... but them's the breaks. :)

GTHBA.

My first tooth...

2010-09-27T17:03:00.003+01:00

Warning: This is a bit graphic and probably too much information.

Holy cow.

This morning I noticed that the bit of tenderness in my jaw that made eating not so fun had managed to get perceptively worse, so I thought - better get me to a dentist. Not that I wanted to go mind you, I hate every member of the profession just 'cause, but there are some things you just gotta do (Read: I had arrived at the point where the pain was not something I could will away).

I expected that there would be a wait and have been repeatedly told that getting into a dentist here was difficult. But no, the second practice I rang up said they had vacancies and that in fact they had a cancellation for this afternoon and would I like to take it? Damn.... Well, yes, I suppose I really should.

So I did...

They took x-rays to see what was going on.

Let me 'splain. Me and my teeth do not get along. I tell you, I have THE worst luck and THE worst teeth. I brush, I use mouthwash, but no. I have fillings in all of my molars and caps on many of the front ones. I had my first root-canal treatment at 17, my second at 21. My body doesn't seem to like calcium much.

Anyway, The x-ray revealed another possible two root-canals in the making: One completely hopeless tooth that probably couldn't be salvaged even with the root canal and another that had a cracked filling which could lead to a possible second root-canal.

EEEEEEEEK!

The lovely lady dentist gave me a choice; anti-biotics to calm the pain, then root canal on hopeless tooth with the possibility of collapse of the tooth (yes, that's happened too - I have a wisdom tooth somewhere in my mouth which they re-planted into the space another collapsed tooth had vacated) and at the cost of some 400 plus pounds, or, remove said hopeless tooth completely for the bargain price of 40 quid.

Well, I have no money. So the choice was painful but clear. Extract, excavate, uproot and discard. In other words: Remove The Tooth.

OUCH! OUCH OUCH OUCH! OUCH OUCH OUCH OUCH OUCH OUCH! I hate dentists... lovely people, but crap they hurt like hell!!!

So, I am now minus one tooth. I have survived my very first extraction. I am still on the anti-biotics though and I have to go back to have an assessment done on the other one and they didn't even look at the top row.

*whimper*.

One day, when I have money, I'll get a replacement denture or something. But in the meantime... I have a bleeding hole in my mouth. Literally!

OUCH!

Autumnmnmn

2010-09-23T23:29:00.003+01:00

I know it's been here for a while, but it finally really feels like Autumn. So, because all the trees are reminding me of the fact around here:

To Autumn
by John Keats

SEASON of mists and mellow fruitfulness!
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,
Drowsed with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers;
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cider-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

Carmen Aber-Style

2010-09-21T21:42:00.003+01:00

Interesting...

My first rehearsal with the Aber Choral Society was a study in contrasts. Granted this is only the second choir I've sung with since I became an adult but it's strange how quickly you become accustomed to a certain way of doing things.

Aber's choir has no-one younger than me, whereas at least half the Plym choir were Uni students. This changes the sound considerably, believe me. There was a lot more warbling than I was used to! Mind you, I didn't hear any really bung notes either, so that was a most definite plus. But I missed sharing subtle eye-rolls with people my own age at some of the endearing but daft statements some older of the constituents make. I had to really suppress a fit of the giggles at one stage and I would have loved to have shared a smile with someone.

And the way the sections were placed was different - we were spread out more like an orchestra, with Soprano's, Tenors, Bases and Alto's fanned around the conductor in that order rather than having the Sop's & Alto's at the front with the Tenors & Bases sitting behind like in Plym. I miss having the deeper sound behind me! I find I'm best at keeping myself in tune when I can hear the harmonies and counter-melodies. Something to keep me on my toes most definitely.

We also did no vocal warm-ups this evening, which I dearly missed not having sung for six months, but in place of the quiet pianist of yore who I always had to struggle to hear, tonight we had this wonderfully bombastic lady who thumped out the tune extremely proficiently and managed to be louder than the full-voiced choir. Generous applause was given to her from all at the end and deservedly so.

We are learning the concert arrangement of Carmen for performance in December. In English, which is a tad disappointing, as I'd like to learn the French, but still, all the tunes are very familiar. Actually, the one real problem with singing stuff you know well, is NOT singing the tune! I had to keep pulling myself back onto the Alto line as I found myself wandering into the Soprano's territory. Someone's also played a bit fast and lose with the lyrics which are a little ... odd. I really don't believe Bizet would approve of the line 'Buy one and Get one Free' appearing in his work. But there you go. It will certainly amuse the audience, if they can work out what we're singing. :P

Anyway, the music is still the same, and that is all that really matters. I shall enjoy my 12 week stint in this choir and cherish every moment that I get to be part of such an enjoyable activity. I am grinning now and shall be for some time to come.

I really am blessed, I know that, to have the ability to sing. It's so difficult to explain to someone who has not known it, but be it in an orchestra or a choir, participating in the massed effect of music lifts you up out of yourself. You become greater than the sum of your parts and it is a really wonderful feeling.

Wish I could share it with you. Love & Music - K.

Summer is officially over...

2010-09-19T20:10:00.004+01:00

It is now getting dark before 8 pm and I've been wearing a light jumper for the past couple of days.

I have to admit though, summer here was pretty impressive. The first 'real' summer I've had in the UK. I was in T-shirts most of the time and even got my sandals and thongs out for part of it. Sun and more sun and even some heat.

So yes, it's getting cold and getting dark rather more quickly than I'm used to, but at least it was light and warm for a period of time. Remind me of that when it gets miserable, won't you?

Backblog: Singing All Day Long...

2010-09-17T17:40:00.003+01:00

On the evening of the 13th of March 2010 I wrote:

Amazing day! We (Plymouth Choral Society) just had a vocal workshop. This means learn the song in the morning, perform it in the afternoon. I just got back and my throat is ... croaky. But what a day! We were singing in St Andrew's Minster, which has an awesome acoustic, and had a wonderful mezzo soloist. She sang among other things, Adele's laughing song from Die Fladermaus (Johann Strauss II) and Mimi's introduction from La Boheme (Puccini). Wonderful.

The choir sang some equally great stuff. From Opera we sang Verdi's Anvil Chorus and his Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves, The Villages Chorus by Rossini, Handle's Chorus of the Enchanded Islanders, Bizet's Habanera (Carmen) and Dido's Lament and Chorus by Percell. This was intermixed with some sacred music; from Brahms, Ach, arme welt, From Mozart, Ave Verum Corpus, from Anerio 'Christus Factus est', from Palestrina 'Sicut Cervus', From Vitoria, 'O quam gloriosum', from Stravinsky 'Ave Maria' and a piece by Bruckner that I forgo to write down. None of which elicit any immediate triggers for most of you I know, but I assure you, if you heard them, you'd know them - well, most of them anyway.

It really was a divine day. I haven't felt as Euphoric as that since the last time I performed in a Tea Tree Gully Youth Orchestra concert. Makes me wish I had had the dedication to keep up with my Violin practice. Well, there is always choir here to look forward to, and it will start up again shortly, so expect more singing related posts soon!!

Click on a Joe or a Yoe?

2010-09-16T20:12:00.000+01:00

On the way to Powis castle t'other day, R & H put on a Play School album to entertain A with. Oh my gosh - I remembered so many of the songs! I knew the voices - I knew the singers names for heaven's sake! So many memories from childhood...

Anyway, one, a very Australian song which needs no introduction, was sung by the singers using a lyric I was unfamiliar with. To whit; 'Yeo' rather than 'Joe'. Yeo, it was explained by our singer, is an English dialect word for female sheep, so it does make sense. But it threw me a bit.

I investigated a little. Not only is the Yeo/Joe bit debated, it can be bare bellied, or blue bellied or even a Ewe! And other lines of the piece also get chopped around.

Well, there is no known author, so changes to the words can't really be contradicted, but still, strange to find so many differences in a song I thought I knew backwards.

I learned stuff though. As an Aussie, you'd think I would have some idea of the meaning of the words of a song I sang regularly. But I had no idea that a snagger was a shearer who rushed his job and therefore left tufts, or snags, of wool behind. In actual fact, I always thought the word was swagger! :D You learn a new thing every day. See this good website for explanations of the first four verses or so.

Anyway, here are the lyrics with some of the additions that I found. Interesting.

Click Goes the Shears

Out on the board the old shearer stands
Grasping his shears in his long bony hands
Fixed is his gaze on a bare-bellied "joe"
Glory if he gets her, won't he make the ringer go

Chorus
Click go the shears boys, click, click, click
Wide is his blow and his hands move quick
The ringer looks around and is beaten by a blow
And curses the old snagger with the blue-bellied "joe" (a.k.a. bare-bellied Yeo)

In the middle of the floor in his cane-bottomed chair
Is the boss of the board, with eyes everywhere
Notes well each fleece as it comes to the screen
Paying strict attention if it's taken off clean

The colonial-experience man he is there, of course
With his shiny leggin's just got off his horse
Casting round his eye like a real connoisseur
Scented soap and brilliantine, and smelling like a whore (or smelling like a sewer, or a.k.a. Whistling the old tune "I'm the Perfect Lure")

The tar-boy is there awaiting in demand
With his blackened tar-pot and his tarry hand
Sees one old sheep with a cut upon its back
Here's what he's waiting for "Tar here Jack!"

Shearing is all over and we've all got our cheques
Roll up your swag for we're off on the tracks
The first pub we come to it's there we'll have a spree
And everyone that comes along it's, "Come and drink with me!"

Down by the bar the old shearer stands
Grasping his glass in his thin bony hands
Fixed is his gaze on a green-painted keg
Glory he'll get down on it ere he stirs a peg

There we leave him standing, shouting for all hands
Whilst all around him every shouter stands
His eyes are on the cask which is now lowering fast
He works hard he drinks hard and goes to hell at last

You take off the belly-wool clean out the crutch
Go up the neck for the rules they are such
You clean round the horns first shoulder go down
One blow up the back and you then turn around

Click, click, that's how the shears go
Click, click, so awfully quick
You pull out a sheep he'll give a kick
And still hear your shears going click, click, click

A question of pens...

2010-09-15T18:22:00.005+01:00

Not that he reads this, but Happy Birthday M-Moose!

This post is all about Zebras - I swear!

I went shopping online today for a very important implement; A new pen for NaNo.

This can be no ordinary pen. It has to have ink that flows quickly and freely across the paper I most prefer using so I can write at the speed of my brain. It has to have a non-slip grip so that when my fingers start getting sweaty, with the stress of keeping up with my mind, I don’t loose the pen. The same grip has to be comfortable and slightly giving so I don’t end up with ridges or blisters on my fingers from the extended use I make of it. It has to have a large diameter so that when, in my panic to get my word count up, I grip too tightly I don’t give myself cramp. It also has to have enough ink to last me for at least 50,000 words. No mean feat I can tell you.

The search has been long. Over the years I have survived many inferior pens. When I was at school I liked Schafer pens, tapered and angular, but these actually gave me blisters somehow. After I had started writing regularly I spent years using uni-ball micro roller-ball pens, bog standard and relatively cheep, which were great for easy-flowing writing and weren’t too uncomfortable although the finger-ridges thing happened regularly. Only problem was the damn roller-ball point kept detaching itself with my vigorous use. I would always manage to break the pen well before it ran out of ink. I went through at least thirty before giving up. I tried Bic four coloured pens as these were slightly more chunky than the usual pen, hoping to overcome finger cramp, but they have no grip and my fingers just slid right off.

And then about five or six years ago I started using PaperMate’s four-coloured multi-pens. Really nicely chunky, a soft, non-slip grip, a lot of ink (four times as much!), comfortable... But it just didn’t flow as quickly as I wanted, and it’s standard nib-size (1.0 I think), is too thick for my preference. I like a fine line.

Well, they don’t sell PaperMate’s here, so last year in Plymouth I went looking for a substitute and discovered a Zebra brand four-colour pen. I had already fallen in love with their Tapli Clip pens as work-pens in Canberra (unfortunately TapliClip are now discontinued :S) so when I saw the four-colour ones, I grabbed the very last two in the WHSmith in Plymouth.

And right there, for me, heaven in pen form had been discovered. The nib size was perfect, the ink flowed beautifully, the grip was great and NaNo was a breeze – well, I notched up 100k words, so yes, it went well!

Unfortunately, I never saw the pens in ‘Smith again, although I looked routinely hoping to buy more. My current two are all but out of ink now, so I have been studiously looking for replacements. I couldn’t find them anywhere. I searched Plymouth, I searched London, I searched Melbourne over Christmas, I searched Aber, I searched Shrewsbury, I searched Birmingham: No Zebra four-colour chunky pens did I find. So I went online. I went to the UK Zebra website and the US Zebra website and even to some websites in Japan, Zebra’s home country, but they no longer make them.

*deep groan*

I was properly horrified. My favourite pen has been discontinued! Even worse, they haven’t (as yet) come up with a replacement for it! I am devastated. Why do these companies have to keep improving and re-inventing the wheel? Have they not heard of the adage ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!’?

*sigh*

I discovered a sort-of substitute four-colour chunky pen from a company I have never heard of – Reynolds – which works ok, suffering from the same problem as the PaperMate pens being not-flowy enough and a bit too thick for me. And although they’re good enough for everyday writing, they’re not good enough to survive NaNo. Not as I do it these days at any rate.

So I went searching today for substitutes. I looked under ‘4-Colour’ and ‘Multi-pen’. I found bic's but steered well clear of them. Then I thankfully discovered a good website selling hundreds of different brands of pens. I found three four-colour pens that look like they might be chunky enough to be comfortable. Actually, there were only three four-colour pens on the site! Two Pilot pens – the Feed GP4 and the BegreeN Feed GP4 and something by a company called Tombow – their Reporter 4-Colour Pen. I thought I’d try out each, so I bought all three. They were dispatched almost immediately. I should get them in the next day or so.

And then of course this evening when I got home, I looked at the shell of my favourite pen and realised it wasn’t called a multi-pen or anything nearly as snazzy. It was called Clip-On. Just that. How very undescriptive.

So just on the very off chance that they might exist in some hereto-undiscovered corner of the universe, I went looking for the 'Clip-On'.

And guess what they have up on the WHSmith website at 10% off right now?

You guessed it, the Clip On! I bought six, which is all I can really justify at the ‘mo as at over 3 quid a pop, they’re not cheep. But they still exist!!! Happy Happy Joy Joy!

*Kat Happy Dance*

Of course, they are still discontinued, but ‘Smith have a surplus supply so yay for me! When I feel sufficiently extravagant, hopefully before WHSmith run out, I will buy some more.

But for the meantime, I’m very happy. I have discovered a supply of my favourite Zebras and they are on their way to me right now!

See, I told you this post was about Zebras! NaNo 2010, Here I Come!

Aunt Millie's Garden - Block 8.

2010-09-14T20:14:00.009+01:00

Done and Dusted. This means I'm half-way through the blocks, and have completed one block of each of the colours that will be represented on the quilt top!

Block 8: Purple - I like the way the green leaves make an additional pattern inside the flowers, but it does make it rather a bit too green!

And here's a refresher- Click to enbigen!

The warm colours:

And the cool colours:

Yay! They are looking good, even if I do say so myself!

Core of my heart...

2010-09-11T17:25:00.007+01:00

I have a lurgy. I have no energy. So a Poem it is...

It was T's Birthday yesterday (Happy Birthday T!) and I got homesick, so here is one for the home I miss. Apparently it was originally called 'Core of My Heart', hence the blog title, and also that the last line of the third stanza used to read 'And ferns the crimson soil' which I like much better - but here is the currently accepted version thereof:

My Country
by Dorothea Mackellar (1885 - 1968)

The love of field and coppice,
Of green and shaded lanes.
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins,
Strong love of grey-blue distance
Brown streams and soft dim skies
I know but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me!

A stark white ring-barked forest
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon.
Green tangle of the brushes,
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops
And ferns the warm dark soil.

Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When sick at heart, around us,
We see the cattle die-
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady, soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the Rainbow Gold,
For flood and fire and famine,
She pays us back threefold-
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze.

An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land-
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand-
Though earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.

Aunt Millies Garden: Blocks 4, 5, 6 and 7

2010-09-02T20:33:00.013+01:00

Aunt Millie's Garden progresses!

Block 4 in Orange: Very Cheerful!

Block 5 in Red: It took me a long time to accept the centre petals of these ones but I think they work.

Block 6 in Indigo:

Block 7 in Yellow: - Not too happy with the centres of these, but will have to change it later - I don't have my fabric stash with me!

And here are Blocks 1 through 6:

I am now working on Block 8 which is the first purple one, then I just have to do 9-16 and the borders of course... oi vay!

New Home: Aberystwyth, Wales, UK

2010-08-31T08:45:00.007+01:00

Right, so I moved to Aberystwyth in May this year, four months ago. Yes, I've been slack. But anyway, Aber, as it is known locally, is located half-way up the West coast of Wales. Essentially a University town these days, it had its hay-day in the 1800s when it was a favoured sea-side resort for the upper class. The Georgian promenade is still an attraction but it is the Welsh who come here for their holidays now.

It is at the end of the train line and with roughly 12,000 inhabitants, not including the annual influx of 8000 uni students, it is a rather small place. The smallest I've lived so far in actual fact.

For all that, living here has been lovely. It's a very relaxed place. The weather has so far been great (I'm told to expect endless rain in Winter, but Summer was brilliant!), it's very easy to get around, with lots of interesting independent shops to browse and walking along the sea of an evening has been just perfect. Very easy to lose track of time in a place like this.

Really, how could I not love a country whose flag sports a dragon?!? And it is oh-so-easy to imagine that 'There be Dragons' in them thar hills!

Anyway, some pics for show and tell: 1. The view from my Attic, 2. Along the Bay, 3. The ruined Castle, 4. The Foreshore, 5. View of the town from the top of Constitution Hill.

Powis Castle

2010-08-30T21:55:00.010+01:00

Ok, as promised, a start to the backlog. Well, this actually only occurred last weekend, so not so much backlog but at least it's keeping abreast of things!

So, this last weekend, I visited Powis Castle with R & H & A. Powis is located just outside the town of Welshpool, in Wales, near the English border. It dates from the Medieval period and has the most beautiful gardens I have ever been in. Absolutely humongous! Some 26 acres or so they say. I couldn't take any photos inside the castle itself, so you'll just have to be awed by the gardens. I was!

Finishing the Book...

2010-08-29T19:52:00.005+01:00

Something else rather major I did in May was finish the final draft of my 2009 NaNoWriMo book. And sent it off, to get a real-life, hard copy thereof.

So damn exciting, and I'm so damn proud of myself! And I'm swearing too much again... shall stop now!

But WHOHOOOOO!!!!

... of course, the very first sentence I read contained a typo. My dragons don't die, they debate the philosophy of right and wrong. But them's the breaks! :D

Yoiks!

2010-08-28T19:37:00.006+01:00

Time got away from me. It is now the end of August which means I've been in Aberystwyth, Wales for four months and haven't blogged about it once. I shall remedy that very shortly - I promise! Really!

It has been a very timeless four months actually and I can't process the fact that I've been here that long. The job is so endless - I do pretty much the exact same thing every day of the week - that it is really difficult to pin-point any markers that actually distinguish one week from another. Time is diffuse and relaxed and kinda endless. Nice really, but not very productive!

I have done stuff though.

I visited Nottingham and saw R & H on the weekend of the 29th of May. We went to Nottingham castle and saw jousting there, and I visited the caves under the city.

I went to see Shrewsbury and the Iron Bridge World Heritage Site with Pat and Alan on the 28th of June. We wandered around a few places, got lost and saw a Victorian era town.

And last weekend - the 21-22 August - I went to Birmingham and visited the Festival of Quilts, and had a major shopping spree.

I have also completed blocks 4 through 7 of Aunt Millies Garden, started knitting a winter shawl for myself, took up Mandala drawing again and will hopefully soon be singing with the local choir - the start again in September.

I will write further about all of these soon. I just wanted to make sure I wrote now, so I wouldn't forget again.

Sorry to have been so lax guys! I'll pick up the pace again asap.
Kat

A moment of levity...

2010-06-24T19:24:00.003+01:00

Yes I know I haven't blogged for ages, but I've been busy. I'll get back to it soon.

In the meanwhile...

Huma's Hymn

Oh mighty Arkleseizure, thou gazed from high above.
And sneezed from out thy nostrils, a gift of bounteous love.
The universe around us emerged from thy nose.
Now we await with eager expectation, thy handkerchief, to bring us back to thee.

From The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy soundtrack, by Joby Talbot.

Oxford

2010-04-19T17:48:00.008+01:00

R & H took me up to Oxford on the 17th. It was lovely, if rather imposing. I found it actually quite intimidating. Not sure I'd really like to study there, although I imagine if I did, I'd love it. It's another light and airy town like Bath but with a lot more gravitas somehow. There were some truly beautiful buildings and the attention to detail is amazing - the gargoyles themselves are a damn hoot! I enjoyed it, but perhaps would go back when we didn't have a little person around who had to be entertained. Any hoo, pics are of Christ College x 2, a replica of a Venetian bridge, inside the college of physicians and the library!

There is no 'R' in 'Bath'

2010-04-10T21:02:00.014+01:00

Whence I went today. And a brilliant day it turned out to be. Beautiful weather, beautiful city, beautiful... well you get the picture.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself even after being woken up yet again by the ass of a person in the bed next door snoring like a train... anyway.

Bath is full of 'Bath Stone' which is white to begin with, hence the city is mostly a light yellowish colour. Very bright and airy.

I went on one of those bus sight-seeing tours before getting out and trotting around on foot. I saw the Royal Crescent and Royal Circus, went for a tour around the Jane Austen Centre and through the Roman Bath's (Acqua Sulis?) and went inside the Bath Cathedral.

I bought and ate some fudge which was remarkably light. It was ancient and amazing and beautiful and pretty and yes, I enjoyed it immensely.

Images in order of appearance are: The Upper Assembly Rooms, The Royal Crescent, Bath Cathedral, Inside the Roman Baths, and the outside of the Roman Baths and Pump Room

You'll think I'm crazy...

2010-04-08T20:04:00.022+01:00

But I really enjoyed driving around England. Everyone has told me horror stories and say it's blood awful, but I think I have inherited dad's love of driving, 'cause I found it fun. It was certainly very zen.

Yesterday saw me driving from Exeter to London and back to drop off some stuff at my storage thing and I found the trip really easy. The roads are good, the services are fabulous (at least five different shops, always including a cafe. Mmmmm... coffee...), the other drivers are polite, the speed limits are not limiting and with a GPS unit, there was so little stress the nine hour trip was a breeze! I actually found driving through London easier than driving through Sydney because of the GPS taking all the stress out of navigating.

I took the M5/M4 route through Bristol and stopped off at Reading for a job interview on the way back (don't get your hopes up, I'm not too confident about that part), and I didn't get caught in a single traffic jam. I was hellishly lucky about that last bit I know, but all the same, the drive was a lot more pleasant than I was led to expect. Admittedly I have probably done a lot more driving than most of my friends here, what with all the countless trips between Melbourne-Adelaide and Canberra-Bendigo I've done, but still...

So, having spent a lot of time on the motorways yesterday, today I took to the back routes. I drove down to Torquay (Lovely, pretty little town that trades heavily on it's Agatha Christie connection, with a gorgeous Abbey) and spent a relaxing morning wandering around and having tea on the terrace by the water! :) I also went to Cockington, a model village nearby, and spent a lovely time wandering around the grounds there.

And then I wound my way up through Devon to the edge of Dartmoor, and somehow managed to find Castle Drogo.

That was fun.

I really didn't believe that there were as many narrow lanes around the place as I had been told, but I found, and spent hours driving on, a whole heap of them today. So narrow you can't open your car doors if you stopped and passing another car is an adventure. I had to do that several times and it was damn hairy! You can only do it at certain spots on the road, so I actually spent a fair amount of time going backwards so that I could reach said spot and let another car pass me. I'm so glad I spent so long driving a manual when I was younger, otherwise today would have been impossible!

Castle Drogo was interesting. The last real castle built in England, it was constructed between 1911 and 1930 I think, with a break for the war. Very stylised. An Englishman's ideal of what a castle should be I think. Luxury and comfort and central heating and grandeur and opulence (three, count them, 3 kitchens!). Not sure it was really worth the 8 quid entry price though. But I found and went and had an actual Devonshire tea, in Devonshire (my first in eight months of living here would you believe?) at the cafe there, so not a wasted trip by any means.

Now, I'm knackered. But yeah, I enjoyed driving in England. Go figure.

Freedom

2010-04-06T12:33:00.004+01:00

I have almost left the building. I mean, Plymouth. Well, I've almost left the building in Plymouth.

What am I waffling about? Well, I am about to be homeless. My job contract ended last week and now my rental contract is up, so I am about to take off into the wide world and explore. I have a rental car, I have too much stuff as always, and I have nowhere I have to be and no one I have to please, so I'm going to float. Zen traveling. Well, almost. I have a date with a hostel in Exeter and a desire to see Bath before I might have to leave this country, so some time in the next week, I'll see those places.

But other than that - life is wide open. Scary. Fun.

ARHHHHHHHHHHHH!

2010-04-01T15:30:00.002+01:00

I don't want to go back to Australia. But no-one here wants to employ me. This sucks!

Alice in Someplace Else

2010-04-01T12:31:00.002+01:00

Saw 'Alice in Wonderland' last night. The title is misleading. It's not quite Alice in Wonderland - more like Alice through the looking glass but she didn't go through the glass, she went down the rabbit hole - all a bit confusing really. They mashed the stories together. Very Weird. But good on the whole. I saw it in 3D. It's a Tim Burton / Danny Elfman / Johnny Depp production, so very quirky and colourful and strange. A lovely adventure into escapism which was very welcome. Three and a half out of five for me.

Unemployment

2010-03-26T10:09:00.002Z

Blerch!

The WWIP

2010-03-02T19:55:00.003Z

The title of this post stands for The Writing Work-In-Progress. Ie, the current NaNoWriMo story. Which is called 'Coeurmorph I: Dragons of Death' by-the-way.

I decided that this year, I was going to complete my NaNo story. I've done three NaNo's so far and the end result has been three complete messes. This year, the mess is going to be sorted into a linea-storyline, with-complete-sentences, as-few-mistakes-as-possible, first draft.

I am determined to do this and to do so before the first of July.

This way I can get an actual bound copy of my draft, which as a winner of NaNo, I am entitled to. This is one very cool thing about doing NaNo, of which I have yet to take advantage.

In order to facilitate this achievement, I have persuaded the three young ladies who, along with myself, managed to complete NaNo in Plymouth, to join me in finishing their stories. We meet every couple of weekends and write and discuss problems and are going to exchange our (hopefully) finished masterpieces with each other so that we can also get some feedback before the actual publication.

Exchange is to occur at the end of March. Ie, less than four weeks away now.

I have only edited about a quater of the damn thing and that took me from January to now.

EEEEEEEK!

Of course, in writing this post right now, I am procrastinating. I'm brilliantly good at doing this. So, back to the story woman!

London and Chicargo.

2010-02-28T20:16:00.016Z

The first a city, the second a musical!

I went up to London on Friday and spent the evening playing Agricola with Richard, Hillary and Helen. It was nice to say hi but we were all pretty pooped. Afterward I actually had a bit of a mini crisis; I couldn't for the life of me remember why I was in the UK and it was all rather overwhelming.

But then Saturday was a beautiful day and reminded me why I like this side of the earth so much.

I started the day by shopping around Camden Markets for stripy over-the-knee socks; an item of clothing I have found it difficult to purchase elsewhere. Oh, you can get over-the-knee socks, but not the incredibly dazzling ones you find in Camden. I got eight pairs :D.

Then I proceeded to have a lovely cuppa at my favourite tea-house (also in Camden Markets - in the Camden Lock Market out the back if you're looking) called YumChaa. This is a place where they have smelling pots of every tea variety they sell out on display so you can choose what you want to drink that day by sniffing it! Heaven! They also sell chocolate brownies that are to die for.

Jason joined me for brunch at Foggs. Of around-the-world-in-80-day's fame. Need I say more?

Then we went off to do tourist stuff - and decided to see and to climb St Paul's Cathedral. I hadn't been inside St Paul's before, it was under wraps the last time I was in London, but it is indeed beautiful. I couldn't take photos inside but the detail was literally awe inspiring - the point I guess. It was built by Christopher Wren after the London fires 300 years ago. 528 steps later you get an absolutely awe-inspiring biew of London too. Hoooowee!

Atferward, the requirement for energy and a place to rest my dead knee led us to a Paul's. Jason will stand testament that I drank the whole of a large hot chocolate in no time flat and the rhubarb flan was as incredible as I remembered... yaum!

We met up with Belinda Knott (incredibly, she stepped off the bus right in front of us whilst Jason was talking to her describing where we were - coincidence incomparable!), and went for a beer, found with difficulty due to the number of closed pubs. I couldn't tell you the name of the bar though, as I gulped my (very tasty) beer in order to get changed so that I could rush off to meet up with Helen and Hilary... who were late.

But I got a few good pictures of the Cambridge Theatre at the Seven Dials (a roundabout with a statue on it with seven dials and seven streets leading away from it). We were there to see the musical Chicargo, and after a hurried dinner at some italian restaurant which looked remarkably like a wagamamma inside, we did so.

It was magical! I am squirming right now as I type due to the exquisite enjoyment I derived from those incredible dancers and singers. The reason we went was to see Ruthie Henshall - a legend of the theatre, and she was absolutely fabulous as Roxy Hart. Not quite as young and naive as perhaps the role required, but her acting was truly superb. And the men.... ooooooh the men! Their hips! They could DANCE!

Wow.

And we topped the evening with cocktails at a hotel bar across from the theatre. I had a cosmopolitan, which was really delicious. Must remember to have that again some time.

So, yeah. A great day. And a good trip. All I need now is a job.

The Hobbit

2010-02-23T20:13:00.007Z

I saw The Hobbit at the Theatre Royal last Wednesday evening. Before rocking up I wasn't sure if it was actually a play or a musical, but at only 19 quid, it hardly mattered.

It was a slow starter. The story is essentially a road trip so rather difficult to show this on stage. There was a lot of walking on, around and over the set by the actors. I found the same problem with the Grapes of Wrath. Journeying just isn't inherently interesting.

But it got better.

The actors finally found their stride about a third of the way through and no longer seemed to be just wandering around aimlessly. The spider was a real highlight and so was smaug. I especially enjoyed the riddle game between Bilbo and Gollum. Bilbo apparently played Sam in the Lord of the Rings musical. The scenery and props were really good (two tree-looking things on rotatable bases with stairs and doors), transforming from Hobbiton to Mirkwood to Laketown with ease and the cast clambered all over them, and even rope-swung between them. The barrel scene was also well played with the actors getting into the wine kegs and disappearing into apparently thin air. Very cool. I liked the archers too. Good effects.

The actors were very carefully chosen for height too. They were either over six foot or under five so there was a very discernible difference between the 'dwarfs' and Bilbo and the 'men'. It really enhanced the illusion that there were two different races. Although one of the actors who played a man was clearly a sub for the dwarfs.. with such a height difference, it was very obvious what he was intended to be. :D

But then Gandalf fluffed his lines a couple of times, some of the lighting techs were off in their timing and the staging had a few problems too, so although the actors were good, especially Thorin and Bilbo, it just didn't engage me as much as it possibly could have if the flaws hadn't been so noticeable.

My rating for that performance would have to be about 3.5 out of 5. I wanted to like it more than I did. Ah well, experience experienced.

Black Ice - Ouch!

2010-02-19T20:09:00.001Z

I discovered what Black Ice looks like this morning. It masquerades deceptively as just normal ground but is incredibly slippery.

I took an inelegant tumble.

Only minor damage to one knee but still a very painful shock to the system and now my body is aching in strange places from muscles that were contorted in weird ways.

The thing is, my work trousers were undamaged, my thermals likewise excepting a few blood stains, but my epidermis is peppered with holes and currently leaking!

I don't get it.

On Reality

2010-02-13T10:17:00.003Z

I just read this in a post by Lynn Flewelling and I couldn't not re-blog it! I must go and read the rest of the sonnets!

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun (Sonnet 130)
by William Shakespeare

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.

Sublime...

2010-02-09T21:55:00.028Z

I've just got back from Choir practice and I'm floating on air...

We are currently rehearsing Shumann's Requiem Op 148, along with two Mendelssohn pieces, Song of the Lark and Hear My Prayer. The song is a perky little piece sung almost in rounds, and makes you happy just bopping along to it. The prayer is something most of the older generation in the choir recognise as a tune that their primary school teachers tortured them with - anyone know 'Oh for the wings of a dove'? - that's the prayer.

The Requiem though... I should really call this post sublime mess as that's what it sounds like most of the time. I bought a recording of it by the Berliner Philharmoniker, with Bernhard Klee and the Dusseldorf Symphony Orchestra so that I'd have something to practice to, and it really is sublime. The comparison with our choir is rather invidious to be sure, but every so often, as with the last piece we sang tonight - the Requiem from the Requiem - we manage to achieve something really magical.

I remember when I was in the TTG youth orchestra, playing along and getting so lost in the experience, I was no longer an individual, but an extension of this greater being that was the music itself. It's really hard to explain, but getting to that place in a creative endeavor where you are no longer one, but many - the whole being greater than the sum of its parts - is truly euphoric. And at the concert last year (which I promise to tell you about shortly dear friends!), and this evening, I touched again that place where person-hood disappears and only music remains. It was wonderful.

Peace to all & to all a good night!

Guilty Pleasures

2010-02-06T21:29:00.008Z

As some of you may know, I'm an avid collector of DVDs. I love the feeling of escape into another world you get from watching a good movie or a film. From light and fluffy to deep and introspective, I've got a large and varied collection. I'm actually not at all good at NOT buying a DVD if I wander past any on sale. And when I start a series, if I enjoy them, I'll end up collecting and watching every episode, gorging on the series to completion if possible. I bought and watched the entire series of Gilmore Girls last year. Right now my guilty pleasure is Star Trek: Voyager. Such a feel good series as it is. I bought the first season last week and watched it over the weekend. I then went and bought season two, and am mid-way through that now. There are seven seasons, right now, they're on sale at Amazon! Oh dear...

Backblog: The better part of valour is discretion.

2010-02-02T19:31:00.018Z

From Shakespeare; Henry IV, Part One, spoken by Falstaff.

On the 6th of January I wrote this:

SNOW!!!

I at first thought this morning that I would walk to work. It had been snowing pretty much all night and was continuing to do so plentifully.

It took me just the six steps from my front door to the footpath to decide otherwise. It was manageable but probably would have taken me twice as long to do and a 90 minute walk is not something I wanted to do. I caught the bus instead

This is my front gate:

This my front door:

And this is a tree on the way down into town:

Weeeheeeheee!

This was my backyard three days later:

SNOW!!!

Aunt Millie's Garden Blocks 2 and 3

2010-01-30T15:37:00.011Z

I have finally made progress!

This is block two, completed over Christmas:

And this is block three, completed just this week:

Only 13 more to go!...
Oi Vey!

Hello, I'm Moby!

2010-01-29T15:27:00.003Z

Pleased to meetcha!

Let me explain:

When the guy who sits next to me saw me this morning, he said "You're moby, aren't you?"

This took me aback. Initially I thought he said mopey, but then processed what he'd actually said and, since he's worked with me for four months now and knows my name's not moby, I intelligently said "What?"

"Moby. Moby Dick."

This statement, still illiciting confusion on my behalf, I shook my head.

"Moby Dick. You know, Sick."

Oh.

Yeah. Ok, so this rhyming slang thing is still not really what I'm used to. And since I am indeed 'Moby' I had to agree with him.

My first cold of the year, and it's a very visible one. I'm white and shaking and running a temperature. Oh joy.

But at least I can say I'm also a character from a classic novel so life isn't all bad! :)

Happy Australia Day!

2010-01-26T18:35:00.004Z

Wish I could be there... Hugs!

This is the birthday report:

2010-01-22T22:38:00.006Z

'How wonderful it is to do nothing all day long, and after having done so, to rest.'

Well, not quite nothing. I went into work and had a quiet, relaxing day there due to an error of mine on Monday which saw me take that day off rather than this, but it was a very easy day.

I went out for a getting-older-day meal with a friend last night to a new restaurant here called The Barbican Steakhouse. My meal consisted of fillet steak followed by a drunken chocolate brownie, which are two of my favourite things, and I was not allowed to pay either, which was very, very nice.

I received various emails, texts and even a couple of phone calls from my brothers, which absolutely made my day. It is always lovely to be remembered and to be told I am loved.

I received presents of useful stuff and useless stuff which is really all you'd want in terms of presents.

And now, I am doing one of the most enjoyable things in the world, and curling up in bed with a good book.

Thank you universe, for a pretty perfect birthday.

Thing are looking up again...

2010-01-19T22:15:00.003Z

They always do come around. It's just hard to remember that in the middle!

Today was a good day.

When I left home, the sky was actually starting to lighten. The days are getting longer and soon I will see the sun come up. I am hanging out for that day!

I also got some good news. My base pass finally came through, which will allow me to roam around the place unescorted. It will also allow me to work in similar situations so might actually improve my job prospects.

And this evening, choir practice resumed. Who can be miserable in the middle of such amazing sound? We're doing Schumman's Requiem 148, which I had / have never heard before. From what we've sung so far, it has some really tricky bits and some really sublime parts to it. I'm going to really enjoy singing it.

So, yeah. A good day. Here's hoping that more like that come around soon.

Flat as a pancake

2010-01-16T12:44:00.004Z

Sorry I haven't blogged lately. I've been really antsy. I learned, just prior to Christmas, (and what a wonderful Christmas present it was) that I probably wouldn't have a job come March.

My employer (Govt) is having to rationalise to pay for the bank bail out and so all external recruitment has been stopped and all agency contract will not be renewed. Which means me. It's nothing personal, I know they'd keep me if they could, but they can't.

I tried not to let this affect Christmas at home but I think it did. I wasn't as social as I could have been and I missed spending some quality time with my brothers which is a real shame. I just hope I didn't affect their enjoyment of the holiday - I'm so sorry if I did guys!

But ever since I got back, I've not been able to rouse enthusiasm for writing at all. We even had snow for a few days as I reported and I couldn't keep my joy in it alive for long enough to build a snowman which I have wanted to do for years.

I am down.

I hate job hunting and when you feel bad about yourself it's even harder. I've had all this positive feedback from work too - they like me and I like it here so it's doubly damning.

The job market really sucks in the UK right now too. I can guarantee I won't get another job in Plymouth so I'll have to move again.

It all just sucks lemons, so I'm grumpy and writing up-beat blogs is beyond me. Sorry guys. Hoping it will get better soon. Send me cyber hugs in the mean time please!

Yours in a puddle,
Kat

Plymothian Snow

2010-01-05T18:18:00.004Z

It snowed this morning as I was walking to work. It snowed until about 9am, coating everything in a white brilliance... and then it rained. And unhappily, it didn't stop raining for long enough to dry out so now walking has become rather frighteningly interesting, and everyone is waddling. I almost fell over several times on the way home. A stiff-legged sliding gait is the order of the day. Very weird.

But back to the morning snow. It was amazing, not very heavy and it only managed to create a light coating before being rained on, but it was snow!

And I saw something I'd never seen before: Diamond snow!

You know snow is white of course - the frozen water reflects all light. Sometimes fluffy (this I have yet to see) and sometimes hard, it kind of floats down to the ground, slower than rain, and makes a shushing sound. Well it's ice of course, and in the right light, it sparkles. This morning walking along, when the car headlights caught it just right, it really looked like I was walking through a shower of silver glitter or a rain of tiny diamonds. It was extraordinarily beautiful.

Unfortunately, it was also Bloody Cold! I have just gone and bought myself enough thermal underwear to last the week out and a second hat, one with ear-flaps. Brrrr!

What are your new years resolutions?

2010-01-01T11:53:00.003Z

Mine will be:

1. To finish writing one of my books this year.
2. To eat more vegetables... a thing I always forget to do.
3. To do yoga at least once a week. I love it and I keep forgetting this fact.
4. To see more of England.
5. To find a more permanent job, one I can get my teeth into.

Happy new years 2010 and good luck with whatever you desire to do this year.

That was a first.

2009-12-31T15:18:00.020Z

I'm currently (as in on a train right now) en route back to Plymouth.

I left Bendigo at about 8pm ish some time yesterday and have been on the road about 32 hours now and have at least another 3 to go. Nowhere near as bad as Helen's 60 hour nightmare, of which I must obtain the details of at some stage, but enough for me.

I was really annoyed too when I left, as I only remembered to check in at about 6pm, and so couldn't get the best seat and had been shifted from my customary window seat to a middle isle. This was admittedly further to the front of the plane than I had been, but I still didn't want to try to sleep in an isle being bumped all the time and so I was very grumpy with the airline... that was up until I actually got onto the plane and realised where they'd put me. Qantas now has four classes of travel. First, Business, Premium Economy and plain cattle; and I'd been upgraded from cattle to premium. I had to triple check this, even almost asking one of the attendants if this was right, but I wasn't quite that stupid. I was very happy.

This is the first time I've ever been upgraded. It was heavenly and I didn't at all mind the isle as the seats were so much better. Spacious and comfy, and I had leg room! And the food was good too and the service excellent. Very, very happy.

Right now, I'm sitting in first class on the train too. I had had a seat reservation for the 6pm train this evening, having no idea how long it would take me to get from the airport, and if I'd be delayed etc. If I'd waited for that train I'd have extended my journey by another 4 hours though, so not fun and really not what I wanted to do. But the plane was in fact early landing and I got out of Heathrow very quickly so I am now waiting to pay for an upgrade on this train as I decided to just get on the first one going my way and pay for it (20 quid, quite reasonable in the state of exhaustion I am currently suffering).

So I am going to finish my journey in the style to which I have become accustomed.

Bliss.

Happy New Year to Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney, which happened two hours ago, and Happy New Year to Adelaide which happened an hour and a half ago.

And Happy New Year to the Uk, in about 8 hours, by which time if I am not asleep I'll be pissed beyond belief and not with the affects of alcohol.

Ok, going now. See you on the other side! :)

'Twas The Night Before Christmas

2009-12-24T21:37:00.005Z

My favourite Christmas piece. There is some confusion as to the author of the piece, a guy called Clement Clarke Moore claiming authorship after it was initially released anonymously, however, it is believed by some to be the work of Henry Livingston Jnr. Either way, it's a great Christmas poem and one I'd like to share with you here.

A Visit From St. Nicholas ('Twas the night before Christmas)

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tinny reindeer.

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

"Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid! on, on Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack.

His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"

Off to Oz

2009-12-17T16:40:00.005Z

I'm going to thaw out over Christmas in the 33 degree heat that is home right at this moment. I'm looking forward to seeing the family very much, but I'm not looking forward to the five days of traveling I have to do to get there, especially as I only get eight days actually in the country. Ah well. Home sweet home it is.

Scrooge!

2009-12-11T20:42:00.007Z

I saw the musical Scrooge at the Theatre Royal in Plymouth. It starred Tommy Steel, who at age 73 doesn't look a day over 50 and is still as spry as a 50 year old.

It was a very professional production. Steel is a master at comic timing and so comfortable in his milieu.

The stage was awesome, the characters appeared and disappeared magically and damn fast too! and there were lots of flying sets changing the look and feel instantly.

The dancing was excellent. It was mesmerizing watching the cast, one guy in particular who's name I can't find but who's body was like rubber and just did what he wanted when he wanted it done perfectly.

I didn't actually make the connection to the Albert Finney film of the same name until afterwards, but the music was very familiar in places and I could sing along so the memory was still there.

It was a delightful Christmas romp and I enjoyed it immensely.

Phrase of the Day: Cloud Cuckoo Land

2009-12-08T20:44:00.004Z

This phrase turned up in a meeting some time ago but as my hands are only just starting to recover their dexterity, I've only just got around to blogging about it.

The meaning of the phrase is to imply that the person or thing referred to exists only in a realm of fantasy or in the imagination or that the person has their head in the clouds.

We were talking about local property tax ratings and land valuations in the meeting, and how they are calculated, and the presenter quoted a judge who had said the whole system existed only in cloud cuckoo land. Hence my interest.

In all fairness to the rating system, it began life in the 1600's and has grown organically ever since, so it's hardly surprising that it makes very little sense these days.

Anyway, the phrase finder has a lovely explanation of the origin of this phrase which I am going to re-post in full here as it's very clear:

Origin

It is nice for once to have a definite and unambiguous origin for an expression. Cloud-cuckoo-land was coined in Aristophanes' whimsical and extravagant play, The Birds

Chorus leader: So what name shall we give our city?
Pisthetairos: Well, do you want to use that mighty name from Lacedaimon - shall we call it Sparta?
Euelpides: By Hercules, would I use that name Sparta for my city? No. I wouldn't even try esparto grass to make my bed, not if I could use cords of linen.
Pisthetairos: All right then, what name shall we provide?
Chorus leader: Some name from around here - to do with clouds, with high places full of air, something really extra grand.
Pisthetairos: Well, then, how do you like this: Cloudcuckooland?

The play was first translated into English by the poet and translator Henry F. Cary, in 1824, which is the date of the entry of 'cloud-cuckoo-land' into the language.

So there you have it.

Great Weather for Ducks

2009-12-01T17:57:00.004Z

That's what the lady in the pub I passed this evening said to me anyway.

This morning I had my first Plymouth frost of the all-cars-are-now-white-cars kind. A glorious red sunrise on the way into work didn't actually make me feel any better as it made me realise that I actually start my walk to work 20 minutes BEFORE dawn... :S

And then this evening it rained. It doesn't take a very heavy rain to soak me if it's persistent rain, and this was rain was bloody minded. My thought-to-be-waterproof-shoes, were not, and I had to wring my socks out when I got home. I now have the lovely bath-wrinkled-toe look. :) It's not yet sleeting though, so a little saturation I don't mind so much. The cold utterly sucks, but the wet is bearable. I'm not looking forward to the snow though. That'll be here sometime. Ich Ach Och.

100,000 Words

2009-11-29T17:42:00.005Z

One-hundred-thousand words. 100k. 100,000. Two times fifty-thousand words. Four times twenty-five-thousand-words. 100,679 to be precise.

One Hundred K.

Yep.

Holy Cow.

:D

YIPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*Snoopy dance* ya-da-ya-da ya! da! ya-da-ya-da ya! da!

Ah, that feels better.

Now to stop. My hands hurt.

Two Days to Go...

2009-11-28T21:42:00.004Z

I'm at 94,439 as I write this and my brain has died and my eyes are watering and I have a sugar headache and I'm wearing a wrist brace because my wrist is killing me and I'm missing letters and have to keep retyping words because my fingers are not doing what I want them to... but there are only two days left and I only have just over 5500 words to go!

Stay On Target, STAY ON TARGET!!!

I lost my cow!

2009-11-18T22:33:00.005Z

My house keys came with a key-ring-charm of a tiny cow. And it's gone!

I lost my cow!

... I'm sorry, I know it's really not a very exciting thing to be blogging about but every time I say it (the first time completely unselfconsciously I assure you), I smile and giggle. And everyone needs a daily laugh!

50k in 15 Days

2009-11-15T22:57:00.006Z

I completed NaNo in 15 days.

Holy cow. I mean, wow. Exhaustified and brain dead and amazed and in awe of my fingers and wow.

The last two days were a race to the finish line as I was determined to get there. I was at 38k-ish on Friday night, and that's so reasonably close to 50k I thought I'd see if I could make it to that by the half-way point of Nano. And then I got closer and closer, and more and more determined... and more and more brain dead and tireder and tireder. I had to spend large amounts of time staring into space for inspiration, I lost all coherence and became a mumbling somnolent mess, and I'm not sure I was able to communicate at all on Sunday. But my stubbornness kept me forcing out the words. And I got there. Admittedly I all but crawled over the line (by 54 words to be exact) but I got there!

I had Jason and Charlie over here for the weekend too and all we did was sit and write pretty much. Oh, we did have an absolutely gorgeous meal at the Village Restaurant. It's the best food I've had in Plymouth actually, so I highly recommend it.

But really!

I mean, 50,000 words! In fifteen days! Fifty Thousand Fricken Words! Ha. I shall never doubt my bulls**ting ability again!

Blind insanity or reasonable goal?

2009-11-08T14:52:00.006Z

I'm thinking of possibly this year for NaNoWriMo aiming for 100,000 words instead of the normal 50k.

I know, this does sound a bit insane, but whereas in the last two years I was, as of the 8th of November, at 12910 and 19853 respectively, this year I'm already past 25k. And in the previous two years I had at least half my days where my word count was less than the allotted 1667 words, but this year I've had no day where I've written less than 2300 words. It would mean I'd need to average 3334 words a day, but I'm not too far off that pace at the moment, and although it seems I can't write more than 3000 on a week night, I'm thinking that the weekends would be my salvation.

This way too, I'm going to hopefully keep myself motivated in the latter half, as at the rate I'm currently going, I'll be past 50k in less than 9 days.

So, Blind Insanity or Reasonable Goal? What do you think?

Happiness is a patch of blue sky.

2009-11-07T13:50:00.002Z

I'm finding living here a lot easier to deal with than London - even though I get wet regularly, there are patches of sunshine almost every day, and blue bits of sky poke through every so often. The world is a lot easier to deal with if you can see a bit of blue sky. There is very little smog and not too much traffic. There is no Tube! There are fewer muppets and friendlier shop assistants on the whole. Ok, so there aren't the musicals and theatricals and shopping variety that there is in london, but there aren't the crowds and there is virtually no traffic noise either and I live in the city! Much pleasanter.

I'm lying in a spot of sunshine right now in fact. Happiness is a lovely day. Yay for the country!

Rising Damp

2009-11-03T22:49:00.005Z

It's raining here at the moment. In fact it's been raining a lot lately. I got to Choir practice this evening, and my legs from the knee down were a much darker colour than my trousers above the knee. As I was scooching past one of the older ladies to get to a free seat, she commented "Ah, I see we have rising damp this evening."

I was dripping! :)

These Plymothians crack me up.

My Hero: Placky Dacks

2009-11-02T20:54:00.005Z

It's a tad wet here at the 'mo. Having no wish to repeat the performance of saturation that got me my current cold, I went to Gould's on the weekend (army store) and got myself some plastic rain-proof trousers. I was very happy indeed with this purchase as it poured on me this morning. They worked wonders. In fact my bottoms were dryer than my top was when I got into work.

Unfortunately, I made the fatal error of calling them 'Plastic Pants' in front of my co-workers. In the UK, plastic pants are what babies wear to stop you-know-what from leaking. Here, they're outer-trousers or waterproof trousers (which is sensible I guess if you're into sensible!). I caused hilarity and a repeat of my error to every other staff member that happened to walk past. *sigh*

Well at least I was dry. I may look like a burke, but I'm a DRY burke!

NaNoWriMo 2009!!!

2009-11-01T01:03:00.004Z

It has begun. The month of madness.

Now I had no intention of being up at the crack of NaNo this year but it would seem my brain had other ideas as it kept me tossing and turning. The lights went out at 10pm sharp, but I just couldn't stop thinking. This is not unusual for me, but the cough certainly isn't helping. About five minutes ago, I suddenly wondered if it was past 12 yet and therefore would it be the first of November? A referral to the mobile said it was indeed past 1 am, and so it most definitely was the first and hereunto the beginning of National Novel Writing Month and since I won't be getting to sleep in the next five minutes, here's to NaNo09!

May the madness never end.

Inchworm.

2009-10-31T19:27:00.009Z

To try to make myself feel better (see last post!) I've just been watching one of my favourite programs, The Muppet Show, and I came across this gem. It has to be one of my most beloved pieces from the show.

Inchworm

(Chorus)
Two and two are four
Four and four are eight
Eight and eight are sixteen
Sixteen and sixteen are thirty-two

Inchworm, inchworm
Measuring the marigold
You and your arithmatic
You'll probably go far

Inchworm, inchworm
Measuring the marigold
Seems to me you'd stop and see
How beautiful they are

The lyrics don't do it justice though. Such a simple song and yet it gives me shivers every time I hear it:

Here, watch the Muppet Danny Kay version in all it's glory:

Gah!

2009-10-31T16:21:00.003Z

I am an IDIOT. Certifiable. You’d think I’d learn wouldn’t you? I know my body, I know its limits, I know its quirks and its quibbles, and yet I ignore all the warning signs for what?

All this last week I’ve been battling a cold. Now, I know that the best thing for me when in the middle of a cold is lots of rest and relaxation. Most of the time I am good and obey this rule and come out of it quite cleanly with only a few days of foulness to deal with. But when I don’t, then I can often find myself completely bed-ridden for days with a nasty fever and wracking cough – you know the kind I mean? The type that makes it feel like you’re hammering a spike into your head every time you splutter? Yeah, one of those.

So, what have I been doing every day this week? Walking to and from work in the cold and the wind (45mins each way) and spending 8 hours concentrating. And Friday, warning of all warnings, I was falling asleep at my computer – literally! I had something like six cups of coffee and I still wasn’t staying awake. But did I go home early? No, I battled on.

And even with all that, did I take it easy? Did I rest? Today what did I do? Get up early and go shopping, is what! Stupid, Stupid girl.

I got halfway to the shops and the shakes started. I ignored them, got some chocolate and a coffee and kept going. The cough became the spike-hammering kind half-way to Sainsburys but I went and did the food shop anyway.

Now the shakes won’t stop, the cough has settled in and I feel so rotten I want to cry. And Bonus: I have a fever.

And I am supposed to be starting NaNo tomorrow. Oh what a complete and utter, utter, utter, utter Idiot am I. Someone hit me will you? I assure you, the punch you give me will feel better than my head does right now.

Sleep, I implore you, come and take me away from my stupid self.

Two sleeps 'till NaNo!

2009-10-30T19:24:00.003Z

Not nearly ready enough this year. I'm blaming a wicked cold but in reality I'm not so organised this year as I have been in the past... flying-by-the-seat-of-my-pants may yet be required!

Wish me luck!

:)

No Cornish Pastie from Cornwall... :(

2009-10-27T17:51:00.004Z

Today for work we had to go out to one of our sites and stake out a piece of land which is going to be sold off. GPS and measuring tape and stakes and yellow paint and huge mallet and wet weather gear in hand, we drove down to Falmouth to meet our contact. This was my first trip into Cornwall, despite living on the very border of the place, and I was looking forward to seeing the place which all Devonians make fun of and all Cornwellians believe is superior to England (they don't believe they are English). Two hours of beautiful countryside later, I was well impressed. The site was fun too - something that had been constructed for the second world war and no longer required, it was a tad overgrown and we waded our way through wet grass that was longer than our stakes were high - so trying to get a true line between points was a tad difficult, but we managed in the end. But I didn't get to taste a Cornish Pastie! They are apparently the best in England and highly recommended, but we couldn't find a place to buy them from. Ah well, next time perhaps.

Freezing Kneecaps

2009-10-24T06:28:00.005+01:00

The water sheeted down yesterday. And whilst I was relatively dry due to my purchase of a knee-length raincoat (which is so thoroughly saturated, it's still wet 24hrs later!), my knees got a good soaking. And with a freezing wind whipping around me at 50km/hr that meant bloodly cold knee caps and soaked trousers. I changed my trousers when I got home to find my knees were red raw. It is COLD people!

JVC

2009-10-21T23:47:00.006+01:00

I went to an interesting pub this evening. A new friend suggested I go along to the open mic night at this place. It wasn't a bad pub but the stand out was unfortunately the buck's party of wanna-be sailors who turned up just ahead of me. All dressed in white and most wearing only a singlet with lashings of coconut oil... they kind of stank. They were into getting smashed so fortunately only stayed a short while but in that time they made a lot of noise. The music during and afterward was quite palatable though so all good. Another experience I never expected to have but enjoyed. Having no expectations really is the best way to enjoy life I think.

STONEHENGE!!!

2009-10-20T19:42:00.005+01:00

Well, I didn't actually get up and personal with it but I saw it. I took loads and loads of pictures from over the fence and as we were driving past, so I have a record of the visit, but one day I'd like to actually go in and see it up close.

The reason I was there was that we had a meeting outside Salisbury and as it is a 3.5 hr drive from Plymouth to Salisbury, we stayed overnight in the town. Andy was kind enough to take me to see the famous rocks en route to our meeting. And so I saw Stonehenge. Very impressive.

Salisbury is a very atmospheric place actually. The place we stayed at was the Pembroke Arms, and out our window we could see Wilton House I believe, which is the main seat of the Earl of Pembroke. The hotel used to be part of the (very large) stables of the estate, and is very old too. The door to my room was not quite square having sunk on one side, and if I'd been two inches taller I'd have hit my head on it.

Some of the people from the Salisbury office came out and took us on a tour of the town so I got to see Salisbury Cathedral by night, which was very fine. I wish I'd been able to see it in daylight actually, it was quite beautiful. And then they took us on a ghost tour. :) The ghosts are not inimical - one plays the piano, another is a maid who tidies up, and there is a poltergeist who re-arranged the china displays in the windows. Quite interesting.

We then went for a drink in a pub called "The Haunch of Venison" where they have a glass case enclosing the remains of someone's hand - it was apparently cut off for stealing or something during the 16 or 1700's and then re-discovered when the pub was renovated. Nice.

We then toured some more - there are some amazing old buildings around the place, of Tudor age I think, sinking their way gracefully into decay - and finished the night in a second pub called the New Inn which had beams low enough that even I would hit my head if I wasn't careful - very cosy and very cool.

And very atmospheric. Lovely town Salisbury. And lovely Stonehenge.

Knocking Pipes

2009-10-16T20:58:00.003+01:00

My pipes creak!

I have never experienced this phenomenon before. I've heard of it, and read about it in novels, and seen it on TV. And from one memorable episode of red dwarf, I laughed my head off about it. But I've never witnessed it.

This is an older house so when I moved in I was expecting the usual creeks and groans. There are also 12 people living here (finally established the actual number) so I kind of expected strange noises to be happening and didn't really think much on those I did hear. There were a couple of regular one's I noticed in passing but didn't really pay attention to; there was a fairly persistent knocking sound that I thought was probably something loose somewhere and a door-closing recurring creak that puzzled me. But I never thought they were coming from my room. But so they are!

Today for the first time, I noticed that the heating element / radiator things were on finally. I went over to mine to get warm and then heard the knocking I'd been hearing coming from beside the radiator. And the noise that sounds like a door is gradually creaking shut is the radiator itself.

So I have talking pipes! How very cool. And how very annoying!

Wrathing Fantastic

2009-10-07T23:48:00.007+01:00

In my first theatrical outing in my new home town I saw 'The Grapes of Wrath' at the Theatre Royal in Plymouth.

It was really good. The cast was simply amazing, including Christopher Timothy (who played James Harriot in All Creatures Great and Small), Sorcha Cusack and Oliver Cotton. Cotton as the Preacher was especially impressive, and his acting and story telling ability was incredible - I found myself riveted to him every time he spoke. The American accents were a bit dicey at times and there wasn't quite the consistency of accent across the cast you'd like but the acting was suburb and all the supporting cast members were equally brilliant in all the various (and multiple) roles they played.

The set was minimal and very evocative. With just a few changes, it was quite amazing the range of expression it could achieve. They had a working car that the cast all clambered aboard and which both somehow went forwards and backwards but also sideways and in circles!?! And not initially visible to the audience they had a trough of water in the stage which the cast members bathed in at one point, and later they made it rain and absolutely drenched the cast! Very cool.

Produced by the English Touring Theatre, who brought us The Scottish Play with Patrick Stewart, it was just as impressive. The story was vastly condensed from the book, or so I was told having never read it, but the idea and intent was definitely delivered; you could feel the anguish of the people who were being systematically crushed, and yet feel a great respect for their endurance and tenacity in the face of such hardship.

I went with one of my work-mates and her sister and they were understandably inordinately proud of their local theatre. I shall definitely be seeing more productions there. And I loved the Grapes of Wrath.

Slimy...

2009-10-06T22:34:00.005+01:00

I always thought Autumn was beautiful; the cooling drop in temperatures after a scorching summer, the amazing array of colours, the lovely smell of fallen leaves, the crispness of an Autumn morning. I walk to and from work so I have been able to see the leaves turn and have been reveling in all the splendor of the changing season... But no longer.

Fact: Millions of leaves on the ground + days of rain/sea mist = wet leaves decomposing and turning into slime.

Wet decomposing leaves on footpaths leads to footpaths coated in slime.

Footpaths coated in slime leads to Kat having extreme difficulty remaining upright.

Ouch. :S

NaNoWriMo 2009!!

2009-10-04T13:58:00.008+01:00

It's coming! Only 27 days now until NaNo 09. I'm really chuffed to announce too that this year I'll be joined by two lovely acquaintances in this month-long madness spree: The Oh-so-lovely-ancient-friend-Jason and the Most-excellent-new-friend-Charlie. I'm planning to have word wars with them both, so please feel free to keep up with our efforts. I'm HERE btw. He he he... SO looking forward to it now this year!!!

Dancing Lobsters...

2009-10-03T22:05:00.001+01:00

When up in Bristol, for some reason which now escapes me, Clare and I had reason to refer to a piece of Lewis Carroll madness. I just wanted to reprint it here, as it is one of my favourite pieces of sillyness.

The Lobster Quadrille

“Will you walk a little faster?” said a whiting to a snail,
“There’s a porpoise close behind us, and he’s treading on my tail.
See how eagerly the lobsters and the turtles all advance!
They are waiting on the shingle—will you come and join the dance?

Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, will you join the dance?
Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, won’t you join the dance?

“You can really have no notion how delightful it will be
When they take us up and throw us, with the lobsters, out to sea!"
But the snail replied, “Too far, too far!” and gave a look askance—
Said he thanked the whiting kindly, but he would not join the dance.

Would not, could not, would not, could not, would not join the dance.
Would not, could not, would not, could not, could not join the dance.

“What matters it how far we go?” his scaly friend replied.
“There is another shore, you know, upon the other side.
The further off from England the nearer is to France—
Then turn not pale, beloved snail, but come and join the dance.

Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, will you join the dance?
Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, won’t you join the dance?”

Excerpt from Alice in Wonderland By Lewis Carroll

Bliss...

2009-10-01T21:40:00.010+01:00

This has been a week of new experiences. Tonight I tried my third; a meditation class at the Ashoka Meditation Centre. I've been using guided meditation cd's on and off for years now to help deal with stress and generally reduce my worrying quotient, but I've never been to a class before.

I can't honestly say I'd thought I'd ever go into a Buddhist centre. A meditation class, yes - that's something that's been on the 'to do perhaps one day' list rather than on the 'must do' list, so I hadn't actively been looking into it. But on the way to Exeter on Saturday, I passed the centre and it's literally two minutes walk from my house. In fact, if it weren't for a fenced garden in the way (very pretty btw), I could see it from my front gate. It was one of those 'Ho boy - that's too neat to be ignored' things. So then I looked it up on the web - and guess what? Thursday evening classes at five quid, and a drop-in with no commitment policy, which would balance out the week nicely since choir will be on Tuesdays... so, why not?

The people running it were surprisingly normal and the participants even more so, and it was a good mix of sexes and we all sat on chairs bar the nun leading the meditation - not at all like I was expecting having been to Thailand and seen the Buddhist shrines and temples there. It was actually really interesting. The nun didn't go through any doctrine either that I could tell. The center has other classes if you're into that. But they do go through a 'course' - foci for the meditation if you will - and the current one is on anger. Rather insightful. I believe I'll be going again...

La-la-la, La-la-la, La-choak-cough-gargle-la!

2009-09-29T21:45:00.010+01:00

I just did one of those things I've been saying I'd do for...well, ever! I just joined a choir!! The University of Plymouth Choral Society to be exact.

Wohooo...ooooh...oh shit. I haven't sung regularly for seven years, I haven't sight-read for a lot longer than that and I've never sung in a community choir before. What have I let myself in for?

It was one of those things that I had to not think about to do. I've had 'join a choir' on my To Do list for years now, but whenever I've looked into it, the location was too far away, or the people were too uppity, or the cost was too prohibitive, or you had to audition (horror of horrors!), or it clashed with something else I was doing.

Well, this one is 6 minutes walk from my place, is only 35 quid, the people are really friendly, it's open to everyone and what else am I doing with my time at the moment???

So I said to myself, said I: Just Do It. So I did. And shat myself for the entire 6 minute walk to the ex-church they rehearse in. And shat myself again when I got handed wads of paper a centimeter thick full of black dots that are supposedly called notes. And then shat myself again when I looked at the title of the first wad of paper...

THE, and I do mean the capitals, THE Messiah!!!!

Crap...

Cool...

Shit...

Wow...

Holy ... yeah, well you get the idea.

It's a damn good thing that my mother has played Master Handle's Masterpiece to us every Christmas that I can remember - the music is part of my soul I swear - as sight reading something that complex would have been a nightmare otherwise. And I did ok I think - I was very rusty, and not at all sure I was in key and on note (I couldn't hear myself!), and I had a bit of trouble with a twisted tongue at several points. But it went OK. And Boy was it FUN!

And then there was a second piece. This was a tad more tricky. You see, it was Magnificat, by Tommasso Albioni. In Latin if you please. ... Oi Vay. I got lost there I can tell you. I couldn't read both the notes and the words at the same time so ended up humming 'cause there was no way I could pronounce the words let alone sing them. Something to learn!

Yipee, yay, wee-he-he!!

SO GLAD. So cool. So, are you going to come to see me at the concert? 12th of Dec I think. So shit me twelve ways from Sunday, I'm going to enjoy the hell out of this!

Brown Day.

2009-09-28T21:08:00.003+01:00

Down day today. Don't know why but every human interaction is taking a lot more effort than usual and every time I stop being "On Show" - ie, polite and friendly for an appearance of normality when talking to someone - I slump into a brown study.

Sometimes I feel a bit like an alien in hiding. Like the Slitheen - wearing a human body suite (without the farting of course!). The point is, my insides do not match my outsides at all right now. Maybe I'm a part-time alien? Once every couple of weeks my psyche gets subsumed by another sentience and it watches my life through my eyes. A very sad sentience.

However, the beauty of experience and the wonder of perspective gives me to know that I shall be free of my visitor very soon, and all will be well again. Wonderful thing is knowledge - you can learn from your own history. If you're bright enough that is.

I'm also taking steps to hopefully reduce the frequency of my visitors, visits. I've found a choir to join and also a meditation centre to go to - both within easy distance from my house. More about those anon. And admittedly, the visitations are 100 times better (more infrequent) than five years ago when the monster had a strangle hold on my mind and was choking the life out of me. Millions of thanks go to Jo, Sally, Andrew and Stacy for helping me out of that quagmire. Whether they knew it or not, together we fought the monster until he was forced into full retreat.

But until then, please stare into space with me and wish me luck escaping my monster. Actually, rather than a Slitheen, I think it's more of an octopus, perched on my head, tentacles holding on tight, emitting a cloud of ink, blinding me to reality. That works for the strangulation part too.

So, wish me luck escaping my octopus. Right now, he's being bloody persistent and clinging on against all attempts of removal. Gah.

English lil ole ladi scrum!

2009-09-26T21:00:00.006+01:00

Decided to go up to Exeter today. There was a craft expo on, and you all know I can't go past a good craft show! Am now exhausted and, surprisingly, not a pauper. It wasn't a quilting show so much as a paper-craft and knitting show, so I didn't spend a whole lot... only a few irresistible fabric pieces and a pack of needles... honest! Oh, but I did buy a craft lamp that is supposed to help with the SAD's. That is an actual worthwhile investment that I don't feel guilty about... well, maybe a little! :)

Navy Days

2009-09-25T19:07:00.007+01:00

On the 5th of September I went to Navy Days day at the Plymouth Navel Base. It was all rather interesting actually. There were 14 vessels on display, including 2 subs which I didn't go to see, and lots of people, lots of walking and lots of fun.

It was one of the few times I've actually wished I had kids, as any child had a kind of 'access all areas' pass. They were allowed to climb all over the vehicles and pretend to shoot the guns and ask all sorts of silly questions and get smiled at - and any adult with them got the same treatment. I wasn't brave enough to be silly in front of all these men in Uniform so was envious of the parents who could be. The navy boys were incredibly patient with the questions too and very interactive with anyone who asked. It was really impressive how helpful they all were actually. I guess it was a kind of holiday for them.

I'm not a mechanical person, but the ships were very interesting. It was quite amazing the difference between the biggest and smallest of them. The smaller ones were virtual obstacle courses and quite fun to try to navigate. In the larger ships you felt remarkably like you were inside an office building that just happened to be able to move.

The active displays were very cool too! Flyby's of course, and some helicopters doing some quite hair-raising passes, but the best was a mock capture of a pirate ship (a tug!) complete with a jolly roger flying on the mast. The navy boys 'captured' the vessel by zooming round it in fast little boats (exchanging audible gun fire!) and then dropping a team onto it by helicopter. Very impressive.

People watching was just as interesting. I watched two very different girls on different vessels doing exactly the same thing; trying their damndest to attach two commando boys to their purse strings. Very amusing!

So yes, an excellent day. Of course I did chose the one day of the two that it rained, but you can't let a little weather stop you! GTHBA.

Bristol Encounter

2009-09-21T17:16:00.011+01:00

The weekend of the 18th of September saw me on a trip up to Bristol to catch up with the marvelous Marty, joining us from Oz for a blitz, and the generous Jason. Jason has a good friend there, the charming Charlie, who he has told me, on more than one occasion, I would like immensely. As usual, he was right! In fact the splendid fellow has already introduced me to new things, heading my war cry of 'Experiences, Not Acquisitions!' Charlie and her lovely housemate Clare made us feel very much at home on their hill, and even Clare's cat, Molly, joined me on my bed of an evening.

On arrival, we was introduced to a most excellent pub called The Cornubia, brewer of many fine beers, and then meandered into town for a very interesting meal at Zulu (a South African restaurant). I had Blesbok, of which animal I had never previously heard! Then we headed back to the Cornubia and the night got rather beer-tinged!

On the Saturday, after a rather luxurious lie-in and wonderful breakfast cooked by the excellent Charlie, we hoofed it up to Clifton to visit the White Lion bar for a tea on the terrace and a look at the famous suspension bridge. We then decided not to go to Camera Obscura, which was further up the hill, in favour of seeing the SS Great Britain, which was closed by the time we got there. Ah well, lots of chat and sights seen and fresh air had so all good!

I actually managed to come home almost rested from this trip, and as always it was lovely to catch up with the boys - who I miss dearly - and to make new friends. A GTHBA weekend methinks!

Tori Amos and Hairspray... huh?

2009-09-15T19:20:00.009+01:00

I went up to London on the weekend of the 11-13 of September to see two very different shows: Tori Amos in concert and Hairspray at the Shaftsbury theatre.

Firstly, Tori Amos is an artist I have long enjoyed - ever since Helen introduced me to her when we were about 18 I think! She is entirely mad though - her lyrics will show you that if her pronunciation of same does not. She has been touted as the inspiration for Neil Gaiman's Delirium, and I can well believe it.

I went with Jason, who, upon my demand for 'Steak!' took me to a lovely adult pub in the wilds of London called the Andover Arms, a cracking good place with a lovely atmosphere and very helpful staff (I will admit to at first miss-reading the name and thinking 'why on earth would anyone call a pub the handover?!?' but decided not to mention this to J who already has an evil sense of humour regarding my use of the English language!). After steak was had (I always get a rush of energy from red meat, sorely needed after the three and a half hour train ride from Plymouth!), Jason expounded his theory on pub goodness, which goes somewhere along the lines of "The excellence of a public house is inversely related to it's distance from the nearest source of mass transportation; the further away it is from said hub, the better it will be." which I think is very true.

Anyway, Tori was to be found at the Apollo Stadium. She played a good mix of her old and new pieces. I didn't recognise a couple of tunes, but the rest were well known and I enjoyed the way she re-interpreted her own songs. The concert started a little slow, but after a solo stint (including Mr. Zebra!) the energy picked up and by the end, the stage had a swarm of fans squished between the stage and first row of seats trying to get close to her. 'Precious Things' and 'Little Amsterdam' were highlights for me as well as the staple 'Cornflake Girl' which she absolutely rocked. I thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

Hairspray on the other hand was a completely different kettle of fish if I can mix my metaphors. Hillary and I went for a girls night out, and excluding the overwhelming heat of the theatre and the phenomenal line for the ladies, it was a really enjoyable night.

In fact, I haven't laughed so much in a musical since I saw 'The Producers' - I was crying from laughter at one point! The parents of the protagonist, Tracy, sing a love duet called 'Timeless to Me'. Tracy's mother, Edna, is played by a man, so the set-up is already ripe for many sniggers. However the father on our night was played by the understudy, Nigel Planer being absent for whatever reason, and this guy either flubbed a line, or exaggerated a gesture, and caused the both of them to spend most of the number trying not to laugh, and for some reason there is absolutely nothing funnier than an actor in a funny situation snorting to suppress laughter. I had stitches!

The storyline to the show is slightly different to the movie version too, all to the good in my opinion. Two new musical numbers made the show fresh for me, and the energy of the dancers was incredible - I was tired just watching them! I won't tell you the story here - you'll just have to find out for yourselves!

All in all, it was a very enjoyable, if very exhausting, weekend away.

Happy Birthday Kiddo!

2009-09-10T17:11:00.002+01:00

Was my inestimable youngest brother's birthday on this date. Sing his praises everyone!

I hope you had a lovely day brother dearest. I'm sorry for the (very) short phone conversation - but I have very little dough right now and was at work. I'll make it up to you soon I promise! Get a landline!!!

Love you!

Life in Digs...

2009-09-08T19:52:00.011+01:00

For the first time in my living-arrangements-career, I am in what could possibly be classified as digs. I have lived with family, I have lived with friends and I have lived alone. I have lived in houses, town-houses, appartments and flats, in barracks and hotels and I have lived in backpackers, but never in quite this situation.

I am now living in an old, very large house, which used to be a B&B of some description. I guess you would call it a boarding house, if this were the 1950s, only in this day and age we have to cater for ourselves. I have a room to myself with a lock on my room's door, but am sharing the facilities with possibly 10 to 14 other people. Yes, that many.

Now, that's actually not as bad as it sounds. There are eight official 'Rooms' in this place, but two (those which I believe have couples living in them) are en-suite, so I actually only share two bathrooms with as few as five, but possibly 10 other people, if each room actually has a couple living-in which I don't believe. I don't know how many are really here, but there is only one bed in each room so maximum of 14 others. I've met five of the housemates in passing, but I've caught glimpses of another two and then a few are supposed to be on holiday, and I've heard but not seen another couple...

Anyway, I don't think you can call it a share-house, as we don't have to ever talk to each other. There are no shared bills and each room has their own allocated cupboards in the kitchen and have to supply their own dishes and plates and saucepans and washing-up liquid and laundry powder. You even have to take your own toilet paper to the loo each time you go as that's not shared either. We all pay the landlord for all bills and he has a cleaner who looks after the common areas and that's that.

I guess this'd be like living in one of the huge share houses in London, where everyone is crammed in and living on top of each other. Only, we're not. Crammed I mean. My current bedroom is definitely the biggest room I've ever slept in. But then I always thought of those share-house arrangements as being a lot more communal.

So is this a classifiable living arrangement? Is this a boarding-house-without-board or digs or a classification of share house I've never heard of before?

I suppose others will tell me it's not so unusual so maybe won't find it strange. But this living-alone-with-other-people-who-you-never-see thing is rather weird to me. Detached but a part. Apart but together. Isolated in a crowd. Alone but not.

So and so. Strange to me.

Harry Potter 6

2009-08-31T18:24:00.006+01:00

This weekend I went on a marathon watching session of all six currently produced Harry Potter movies. Today was a bank Holiday, so it had been a long weekend and as I am pretty much cash-less and very much bored, all I could afford to do was re-watch my dvd's and then scrimp on my food budget to go to the local cinema for a five quid movie, and what better movie to see when you're starving than Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince?

Well, I enjoyed it as I enjoyed the rest of the films, as an exercise in escapism with some smiles, some frights and some feel-good moments. I enjoy the books more, as pretty much is always the case, but c'est la vie. It was no better or worse - although, the acting from the kids does get better each time - than any of the other films. And I do enjoy the music and seeing the realisation of my imagination on the screen.

But the movie theatre itself was more of an adventure than I bargained for. HP6 been out for a while now - I have been putting off seeing it to avoid the crowds - so I was expecting it to be shown in a smaller cinema rather than on a bigger screen, but I didn't expect the size of screen I got. It had to be the smallest theatre I've ever been in, including the one's when I was a kid on summer holidays at the caravan park in Lorne where the movies were shown in the local guide hall. This was a tiny room. The screen wasn't much bigger than a large plasma, about four feet by seven I'd estimate, and the cinema wouldn't have had more than 100 seats. The lighting was all red, and I mean blood red - I felt like I was in a bordello - and the elevation... well, there wasn't any. I could hear the film whirring in it's reel behind me and every whisper of every patron was perfectly clear.

All-in-all, I think that next time I want to see a film here, I won't wait to try to avoid the crowds. I seriously could have had a better viewing experience on my laptop.

Ah well, lesson learned and experience experienced.

My New Home

2009-08-23T14:32:00.008+01:00

Some pictures from Plymouth. It's actually quite a lovely little town - about the same number of people as Canberra in actual fact - and there are enough book shops and HMV stores to keep me happy. And there is loads of history here - Drake set off to conquer the Spanish armada from here - after finishing a game of bowls at the local club of course, which is also still here. Hay, the tide was against him ok? :) Mind you, it's not usually as blue-sky'ed as it is in these pics... Rain is pretty much a constant, so I was lucky to pull a lovely morning for these shots.

Word of the Day: Matelot

2009-08-20T21:52:00.006+01:00

Pronounced Mat-lo, it's French for Sailor, and it's what they call the Navy boys around here. Used to specifically refer to a sailor on a merchantman, but has been hi-jacked to mean any person who walks on water these days.

If you hadn't already guessed, I'm working in the Plymouth Navy Yard, so during lunch time 'rambles' around the base (as is the custom here), I am invariably inducted into the history of the place. I can't for the life of me remember what we call Sailors in Aus - the army are the grunts or diggers and the air force are fly boys, but I never had much to do with naval personnel before. However, I am now forever hearing about what the matelots do around the place, and when I questioned the origin, I got a rather strange look. Why isn't a sailor a sailor? 'Cause he's a matelot of course! Right.

Anyway, I didn't have much luck finding too many definitions for the term that weren't in french, but I did find some rather interesting descriptions here and here. Have a read if you want to raise an eyebrow!

Flavour Fest

2009-08-16T12:01:00.002+01:00

Another outing in the Plymouth Summer Festival calender: Flavour Fest. This was an open air market, kind of like a big farmers market or a food-oriented Christmas market, under rows of white canvas. It was quite interesting as there was a lot of local produce and specialties. I had a Durby Lardie, which is politically incorrect sweet bread soaked in lard. Yes, lard. It was ... oily but nice. And then there were the local beers to taste and cheeses and meats and stuff generally. I wandered around but as I am penniless, I was looking but not touching. Ah well, maybe I'll be around for next year.

Bluuuuue! NO! Greeeeeen!

2009-08-12T21:59:00.012+01:00

I have been quite lucky in the timing of my arrival in Plymouth. There's been lots of things happening for a summer festival that the city has organised, so I've had things to do whilst I was waiting for a job.

One of these 'things' just happened to be the British Firework Championships, held in Plymouth every year on 'The Hoe', which is a large green area facing the Sound of Plymouth. Six fireworks companies compete for 10 minutes each over two nights to be crowned king. That's 60 minutes of fireworks for the proles to watch folks! And 60 minutes of GOOD fireworks too. Very, Very, Very Cool!

I, unfortunately, started my first day of work on the first night of the championships, so crashed out and slept through it... well, almost. The backpackers is located quite close to the foreshore, so I was woken up several times by some pretty loud bangs. It also happened that the first night was the good night - no clouds and minimal wind.

The second night (this evening) there was almost complete cloud cover and some misting rain. This is of course the night which I chose to go. Anyway, I enjoyed it and saw lots of pretty colours and heard many loud bangs and here are some photos to prove it.

And for any of you who went to the Royal Show at Adelaide Show Grounds... remember the announcer? Every time I see fireworks, I think of that guy! :)

Heart Re-Start

2009-08-11T17:58:00.002+01:00

I have a job. Finally, I actually have income. One day soon it'll even be more than my expenses! I won't be paid for another month yet, but I will be paid. I can breath again.

I'm not going to give details of the job here - that's bad manners - but I'm happy and they're a lovely bunch of people and the work should be interesting so all good.

And get this - the building I'm working in was built in 1722, which is 50 years before Captain Cook 'discovered' Australia. How cool is that?!?

The Cure to Everything

2009-08-06T10:32:00.004+01:00

I'd forgotten how much I love The Cure. I was talking to the two Aussie girls in my dorm yesterday about music and how it brings back memories, and one of them hadn't heard of The Cure. I was dumbfounded, but then, there is a decade difference in our ages (they're both 21) so I'm not sure why I was. Anyway, I decided to find The Cure's greatest hits online and played 'Love Cats' and 'Friday I'm In Love' to the girls, to recognition I'm happy to say. But it reminded me of how much I love the band. I'm now listening to the Wild Mood Swings album, which is actually one of my favourites, next to Disintegration and Wish. Ok, so their music is very melancholy for the main part and pretty insane for the rest, but they were a very large part of the soundtrack to my life for a number of years, and that music brings back so much. Those memories may be sad, but oh, they are so precious, and now-a-days, the music makes me feel safe and happy. Go figure.

Hostelling

2009-07-29T10:42:00.008+01:00

Living out of a suitcase, sleeping on dead mattresses, hitting my head on the top bunk, the girl who lost her credit card so gets food out of dumpsters and looks like a hippy fairy, showering in tepid water in thongs, tearing thread-bare sheets, the sweet asian kid who wanted a photo with me 'cause I helped her find the shops, living off of the cheapest possible food, sharing stories about far-off lands with total strangers... yep, I'm in a hostel again.

A soggy day in Wiltshire

2009-07-21T11:27:00.002+01:00

I went for a job interview today. It was in the sticks – and I mean, the deepest sticks. I caught a train out to Salisbury (note to self – next time you go to an interesting destination, bank some extra time to actually SEE the place!!), and then took a 40 minute bus ride through the middle of some amazing villages to get to my destination.

My first ever experience of actual English villages and wow! I mean, WOW! Ok, so they weren’t all out of picture books, but there were a couple that had my jaw on the floor of the coach not knowing where to look there was so much to see. Even the kid’s play grounds looked magical. I passed one that had a turret and arrow slits on it. So cool!

And the pub I went to! It was called the Rose and Crown in a tiny village called Tilshead and it had beautiful exposed beams and real wrought-iron chandeliers, and was so cosy and yes I’m gushing and I’ve probably seen similar pubs in London but none with that lovely relaxed and helpful atmosphere. One of the workers gave me a lift out to where I needed to be as it was a bit of a walk and I was in my heals. So friendly. Everyone smiled at me too!

Well, the interview went well and then one of the interviewers took me back into town ‘cause it was starting to rain. How cool was that? I do hope I get this job. They were such a nice bunch of people.

Zip! Zap! Zoom!

2009-07-13T11:26:00.002+01:00

Emma and Nik visited London for a flying tackle. I met them at St. Pancras (at 3pm), took them to their hotel in Paddington, then we took a bus to Westminster and saw the Abby, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. We walked along the Thames and then over to Trafalgar square to see Nelson. We had coffee in the west end, walked to Piccadilly Circus then through Soho and had Lebanese for dinner (saw an amazing belly dancer!) then I sent them home. Next day, we met at Camden for breakfast at Bar Solo, Nik took off to see family and I took Emma round the Camden Markets, we met up with Richard for a cup of tea, bought stuff, saw more markets then met back up with Nik. We then went to Harrods for Lunch (15 quid a pop = OUCH!!!) and had a very successful shopping afternoon. Back to Paddington for an hour of relaxation and a very bad Tim Allen movie (DON’T watch Zoom: Academy for Superheroes – I warn you!), dinner at a small Indian restaurant, with desert at their Hotel including a whole bottle of sticky and I wound my way home. Monday, I met them at St. Pancras again for goodbyes. 48 hours without a breath, and I miss them already.

Jason and the White Lion

2009-06-30T12:02:00.003+01:00

Jason finally caught up to me in age again. He invited all an sundry to a beer afternoon at a pub in Hampstead called The White Lion. It was really lovely to catch up with him and also to see Belinda again. A little bit of gossip, a little bit of food, a lot of walking (R, H & I walked there - ouch!), and a lot of relaxation later and a good day was had I think. Happy Birthday Humpy!

Michael Palin at the O2

2009-06-29T11:22:00.002+01:00

On the 26th, saw Michael Palin at the Indigo O2 centre: 20 years of travelling, 40 years of jokes. I went with Jason & London Dave. It was fascinating. I’ve never been to the O2, let alone the Indigo but yet again, I forgot to take my camera, so no pictures.

The night was interesting and entertaining but also slightly uncomfortable and I had a restricted view of the stage, so it was a 70% night, not 100%.

It was a charity event supporting victims of torture and was introduced but a famous Indian guy who sported a very long-haired look and who gave us a rather chilling insight into the torture victims lives. Then Palin spent the first half of the night on happy snaps of his many world tours, all fascinating, and then the second half on stories of Monty Python.

But the evening started almost ¾ hr late due to the length of time it took to get everyone in. and they pretty much oversold the venue as where I was sitting ¼ of the screen was obscured by speakers, and many people weren’t as lucky, missing up to ¾ of the action. The second half was really just a history lesson on Python with amusing stories thrown in, but he did do some very funny readings, and had us in stitches with some anecdotes. … but I kind of wanted something more.

Michal Jackson also died, but to talk about it would only encourage the megalomania. His best hits were in the 80s and he should have stopped there I think. Although the man was a music legend, his personal life was not worthy so enough said.

So, yeah. A strange night.

A Little Night Music

2009-06-16T11:26:00.004+01:00

I really liked this production. I went with Hannah, Paul and Jason. Desiree was absolutely fabulous. I love Sondheim, and ALNM is my second favourite next to Into the Woods. God, the tunes!!! I enjoyed it immensely. The sets were good, I loved how the swingers were part of the set moving and always interesting, and the costumes were fabulous.

This is the first time I’ve seen it live too. I’ve seen the film version and I know the music so well I didn’t think there would be much surprise in it for me, but it still managed to catch me. I had no idea the maid and major domo had a fling for one thing – which is why “And I Shall Marry…” is included. I always wondered where that came from. And I didn’t know that the old lady dies in the end either. Hannah cried.

The only thing I didn’t like was the Brigadier. He came off as silly and nonthreatening and unworthy, rather than the rather stupid but physically impressive and therefore actual potential rival for Desiree shown in the movie and in the music I’ve heard.

The countess was brilliant though, and so was the new wife and Frederick was great, so, yes, a fabulous production.

Gershwin at St. Martin-in-the-fields.

2009-06-11T09:42:00.001+01:00

Just went and saw a guy called Warren Mailley-Smith play a piano in St. Martin-in-the-Fields church. Well, heard anyway. We (Hannah, Paul et Moi), were stuck behind the pulpit, but most of the time I prefer not to watch an artist at such events as it kind of detracts from the music.

It was very beautiful.

I love, love, love it when a piano is teamed with an orchestra. Some of my favourite pieces are concertos. I’m not such a fan of the lone piano – I have to be in the right mood in the right atmosphere to really enjoy that. But then, SMITF, was definitely the right atmosphere. It was sublime. He played four Chopin pieces (Nocturne in C#, Balade No 1 in G min, Waltz in E min & Souvenires de Paganini), Beethoven’s “Appassionata” in F Minor and the “Moonlight” (C# minor!) sonata’s, Rachmaninov’s Prelude in G Minor and the frontispiece – Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. He even gave us an encore – a Liszt piece.

It was really, really lovely. And it’s the first time I’ve been inside SMITH, as last time I was here they were still patching it up. I also saw the famous egg – and totally failed to remember my camera so I didn’t get any pictures of it. Although, weirdly, I had Déjà vu on the egg. I’m more than sure I’ve seen it before.

Anyway, divine concert, literally.