04/02/12diplomatic immunity and The Unburied Dead
The Boy is so
well-mannered. The other day he came home from work and both
surprised and impressed me with the extent of his diplomacy skills.What he found at Starry Towers was a mother, more than a little less than prefect. I had put in a little effort, I had showered and put on my freshly washed starry onesie, so I wasn't a total minger, but I hadn't bothered with the effort of doing my face and hair. I was no-make-up and after putting a comb through it, I just let my hair dry, no hairdryer, no straightners. I knew already I wasn't at my best.
He told me bout his day, then just before leaving the room, he enquired..."Mum have you done something different with your hair?" How very sweet.
There's a free ebook available at Amazon from them Blasted Heathens, the new Scottish epublishers. For 48 hours only, so do it now.
The Unburied Dead from my personal favourite author of all time, the wonderfully miserable Mr Douglas Lindsay. This is the all new, all improved version of the very special book Mr Lindsay sent me in 2010, my uncorrected proof paperback copy of this in it's first life, when it was called 21 Years On The Back Of Dixie Klondyke's Spanish Guitar.
He even sent me a message on The Twitter thanking me for encouraging him to stick with Dixie K, he's so sweet too.
01/02/12Daddy Skinner and the Edinburgh pandas
I
was catching up on my regular podcast listening last night and heard
Frank Skinner on the Absolute Radio podcast say “I have something of an
announcement to make…I’m going to be a father.”I was quite taken aback, I felt like I should phone someone and tell them, or email Frank at Absolute Radio to congratulate them. I'm soooo happy for him and his long term girlfriend, the lovely Cath Mason. What great news, congratuwelldone to the two of them.
Missing from recent Frank podcasts is Emily Dean, The Divine Miss Em, I don't know why, but there is a tweet saying it's something to do with family. I miss her, I hope things get better and she's able to come back soon.
I watched "Wild About Pandas" on BBC1 this evening, telling the story of the Edinburger pandas.
I'm not particularly happy bout the pandas being here. Pandas shouldn't be used as political sweetners, China ought to clean up it's human rights record before Scotland's diddy parliament goes sooking up their arse. I'm not saying I'll never go see the Edinburger pandas cos I might one day, it would be an experience and a box ticked, but I still don't agree with them being here.
They managed to stretch this out to a whole hour of tartan and black and white.
There was an amazingly funny bit. The Scottish woman talking to a Chinese man dressed in a panda suit.
You may ask why? and that would be a very good question. He says it's to demonstrate how the Chinese keepers enter the baby Panda enclosure without the cubs suspecting a thing, yeah...ok. The woman kept a straight face throughout, was very very funny so I took a photo.
30/01/12intruder and The (sick) Boy
A few steps from the top I can see into the bathroom. There's some ceiling lights hanging down in there, this in itself is nothing to fret about, they've been that way for a while waiting for The Husband to get the bathroom re-fitted and redecorated. The big shock is I hear the noise again and one of the lights starts moving in a tugging type motion, like something or someone in the attic is pulling on it. The attic hatch is in the corridor above where I'm standing and slightly open.
I shout out "WHO'S UP THERE?". Silence. Then I hear a quiet thud like something quite heavy moved carefully, but not carefully enough, just then a shadow flits across the open attic hatch. That's it, I'm out of here.
On my way down I grab a phone and I'm outside in the back garden. I phone The Parents and they're immediately on the way. So I'm outdoors in my starry onesie with a phone, in January, in Scotland. To be honest the immediate need that drives me back indoors isn't the temperature, I want a weapon first, coat second. So I tiptoe back in, cursing that my UGGs are upstairs I have to make do with the crocs on my feet, in the kitchen I slip a big knife out a drawer and lift a parka off the coat stand. Then back outside lifting some keys on my way out at the back door. I lock the back door then go open the side gates and wait for The Parents.
I
have plenty time to rationalise while I'm out in the cold light of
knife-wielding day, it must be a creature rather than a person.
However, I don't know for sure and weighing up the odds of what's best
to do against what's the worst that could happen, I decide to wait in
safety. I watch a lot of thriller/horror type movies and have a
healthy fear of psychopaths.When The Parents arrive The Dad gets a ladder out the shed and we three venture back indoors together. Going up stairs we hear noises, at the top of the stairs I see something move quickly in the bathroom. It's a starling. After The Dad catches the blighter and we release it out a window, he goes and checks the attic but can't find any obvious entry point. On a positive note there's no damage in the attic AND it's a starling, not a serial killer. It's my lucky day.
This is the second time a starling has breeched the Starry Towers security measures. Years ago one of them fell down the chimney and spread soot around a couple of rooms before waking me at 5.30am with it's incessant attempts at flying out a window.
In other news, The Boy has been complaining of earache and a sore throat, but mainly the ear thing, while his other symptoms decreased, the ear thing got worse. A couple of nights ago he woke me at 3am telling me to go downstairs and get him Paracetamol. You can imagine what happened there, yes I told him where the Paracetamol is kept then stuck an iPod earpiece further into an ear canal while burrying my other ear deeper into my pillow.
Last evening I tended to his complaints by heating my hot microwave panda for him to apply to his ears, he said it helped, see...I am a good mother/nurse. I also explain to him that I can't judge how bad it is, he's the one with the symptoms, I put the ball firmly in his court to decide if he needs to see a health professional who isn't actually a close relation. He says he will if it's no better by today. Good decision. He came back with medication, he does have an infection. He'll be feeling better soon as the antibiotics kick in.
29/01/12Tom Harris, Referendum and mystery pansies
River
Island dresses...for frocks sake.See them on The Star Swag Blog.
I recently had a little moment of wonder at the Labour MP for Glasgow South, Tom Harris, who is or was, purported to be a www social media expert, till he uploaded a parody short video likening Alex Salmond to Hitler to YouTube. He had to apologise and stand down as Labour's Twitter Tsar. I take it he's still an MP, and they just have to find him another role?
It's titled "Joan's Downfall". If you haven't seen it already just Google "Youtube Tom Harris" it's still on there. So he's said sorry for the joke but hasn't removed the joke. Smacks of not really sorry. I had my moment of wonder because I couldn't believe a man in his position could think it was a good idea to make and publish such a video. It is a bit funny, though not the best of the Hitler parody videos out there.
Anyway I saw this Referendum Voting Paper on The Twitter, tweeted by comedian Frankie Boyle today and thought of Alex Salmond, then Tom Harris. Tom Harris hasn't tweeted anything since the 17th January, the day the Hitler parody story broke, must be keeping his head down.
A few days ago a stranger left a tray of pansies on my doorstep. I say a stranger, but I dare say I do know the person, it wouldn't have been a complete unknown, it's just that I haven't discovered who it was yet. Must be someone I know being friendly and thoughtful and, so far, mysterious.
Today I got the hanging baskets out the shed and planted them up with the gift pansies.
I await the discovery of my mystery pansy donator's identity and live in hope the pansies survive and flourish.
28/01/12PC World and Red State
On my recent Norway trip I inadvertently didn't pack a power adapter cable for my ASUS Eee netbook. I discovered my mistake while I was still in the UK, the obvious answer was to go to the closest purveyor of such items and buy a new one and the nearest retailer was PC World. To make it extremely simple and exclude any possibility of error I took the Eee into PC World. I obtained the undivided attention of a shop assistant chappy, told him what I needed and handed over the Eee.
What could possibly go wrong? What seemed like and should've been the easy solution, wasn't. The shop guy accepted my Eee then quickly took me over to the shelf with power adapter cables, lifted one then demonstrated how this was the item I needed by slipping it from it's packaging and plugging it into my Eee and the national grid.
The PC World guy proved to be ridiculously bad at his job. On my first day in a Norwegian hotel I set up the Eee with the power adapter. I thought my Eee was dead, I tried other power sockets in the room, I tried other international plug adapters. No use. But when The Husband got back from work he sussed it was the PC World adapter cable. He told me how the cable was the wrong wattage for the Eee cos he knows more about these things than a man who works for PC World. Then he took me to a local general store in Stavanger, we handed over the Eee to a young shop boy who immediately showed us the right adapter cable. A Norwegian teenager who knew more about these things than a man who works for PC World.
The seemingly blatantly obvious that even a Norwegian school boy knew in a blink of an eye was what pushed me over the edge, I really had to tell PC World about it. So I went to PC World on the www and found a contact function that just wasn't good enough. They offer a contact box of only 500 characters. I used it to tell them 500 characters wasn't enough and could they please give me a contact email address that would allow me to spill my guts at length please. To my surprise they did.
I told them my story and the PC World customer service department did good. In telling the tale I said I accepted I couldn't take the item back for a refund because I was still in Norway, I just wanted to ensure no other customers got sold the wrong thing because that man knew no better. They asked for the details of my receipt, which included the name of the individual assistant, promised that the manager of the branch would be informed and even gave me my money back. In the form of a coupon to be redeemed at PC World, Currys or Comet, but still. Good enough, I can't be arsed arguing over that.
Sorry bout that Seth, but you was asking for it.
I watched Red State this evening. It was OK, just not as good as I expected, I have been waiting for a very long time. I was hoping for more thriller, more scary tension, more wasn't expecting that, more I really feel connected with that character so I care what happens to them. Kevin Smith has previously admitted there were few if any redeeming characters. I'm not sure that makes a movie. I tried to connect to the teenage boys, then the young female cult member, then even the FBI agent played by John Goodman...failed, either because they're killed off too soon or don't seem convincing at all.
26/01/12Mice News, Alan Davies, work and Super 8
Finally, The Norway 2012 Journal is on the www. Still got hunners of photies to sort out.
Starry Towers 7 : Mice 0
More than a bit excited today, I've got tickets to see Alan Davies's show "Life As Pain" at Venue 150 at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre in August 2012. Tickets can be purchased from Venue150.co.uk.
I'm back at work after the Total Hysterectomy and Bilateral Oophectomy. This is week two of my phased return. Last week was x2 3.5hr shifts, this week it's x3 3.5hr shifts. All going well so far.
My long-awaited Red State DVD arrived this morning, that's my Saturday night sorted out. Meanwhile I watched Super 8. It's OK, just not really my kinda movie.
18/01/12iglobal scam and Microsoft Security Essentials
The
phone rang today, a bitch with the accent of someone from India told me
she worked for a company called i-global. And she knew my name,
well, my old name, prior to the current marriage.Obviously I wasn't pleased, I don't like unsolicited phone calls invading my life at the best of times, this one was particularly enraging because it was an attempted scam. Ohh how I hate scammer criminals. She lied, claiming i-global are associated with Microsoft and she was calling about the error reports I get on my computer. I was spitting nails, you what? What the hell was anything happening on my computer to do with i-global? The call lasted a little over a minute, so long because there was the problems with understanding what she was saying, as I took in what she was saying I became...1 annoyed, 2 suspicious, 3 feckin fuming and 4 no longer participating in the call.
On The Google I found that this attempted scam is well known as explained at Techeye.net.
This rubbish attempt at ripping me off did make me think though.
I turned to the Microsoft Safety and Security Centre and found a free tool I didn't know about. I've ditched my free AVG antivirus prog and am now running the free Microsoft Security Essentials to guard against viruses, spyware, and other evil software. A quick scan took minutes and found nothing bad, a full scan took over five hours and revealed one severe threat, then sorted it in seconds, alls well again.
17/01/12Scandinavia trip, Bad teacher and Arthur
The
Star Swag Blog has a couple little January sale type
bargains.Hello, it'll probably be obvious by my lack of regular and lengthy blogging, but I've been away. I'm back from two weeks of exciting Scandinavian tripping. I've endured many dangerous weather conditions on land and sea and got loads of tales to tell. Look out for The Norway Journal 2012 and added Norway Gallery photies. Once I find the time to get the stuff up here.
A result of the trip...I'm scared to step on the Starry Towers chrome Dualit scales, The Husband had me out for dinner every evening while we were trotting the northern hemisphere of the globe. I won't even go near the scales for at least a week of starvation, which starts tomorrow. It doesn't start today because today saw me accepting KLM's offerings of deli egg sandwich, apple turnover and caramel biscuit (Trondheim to Amsterdam) and a measly snack pack of cheese flavoured Doritos style nachos (Amsterdam to Edinburgh). All that before 10.15am, Edinburgh arrival time.
The Parents picked me up at the airport and before she left Starry Towers The Mum had a pair of DKNY Cascade Boots ordered from ASOS.com cos she loved mine so much. I knew she would.
The Husband and I recently watched Bad Teacher, enjoyed by both. Then we watched Russell Brand's Arthur. I can't stand Dudley Moore and never watched the original, but have seen enough clips and bits to have a good idea about it. We both perfer Russell's version.
13/01/12hailstones
11/01/12first swag of the year
10/01/12Berlin Journal and Gallery
mm
09/01/12Berlin stuff nearly done, more severe weather & SKY/BT problems, Kill List and Rise Of Planet Of The Apes
I know I'm a little late, what's 9 days amongst friends. I've been up to stuff that's kept me away from long hours slogging over a hot blog.
My Berlin Gallery and Journal are taking longer than I expected, my excuse, same as above. Also, I get so caught up in reading all about it while doing the www research needed for the sorting my photies for publication and the writing up my journal. What I do on return from my travels is start working my way through my pictures, many of them I have to find out online and by referring to my travel guide books, what they actually are. At the same time I start the journal telling the story of our trip and work my way from start to finish with the memory jogs of the pics to assist me in the telling of the tale. We only had two days in Berlin, but we seemed to have covered a lot of ground and seen lots and lots, it's very time-consuming, but I'm enjoying doing the research too.
Watch this space...I'm hopeful it won't take very much longer to have the Berlin stuff up on the www.
Here we go again, high winds and telephone problems. It's not the winds that are the real problem, it's the NOWG's trees (Neighbour Over the Wall Guy) that cause the damage. The telephone exchange thingy is up a pole that pokes up into one of the trees and the cables go through the branches of said tree and several others before they get to Starry Towers and all the rest of the lesser, non-starry, non-towery type abodes in the vicinity.
One very long, very insistent, verging on threatening and abusive phone-call later and The Husband had arranged for SKY to get the real engineer guys, BT, to come fix it. It's all sorted again, till the next gale.
The Husband and I watched Kill List recently, it started off well, two ex-soldiers and their Kill List. Paid to kill three strangers by a stranger, all was going horrifically brutally well, till much to my dismay, it all went a bit too Wicker Man for my liking.
Next up was the most recent damn dirty ape movie, which is entertaining enough, though them Chimps were the biggest damn dirty Chimps I've ever seen, and I really liked the Orangutan.