post

its the best thing isn't it. i've just received this in the post and its made me into a very happy smiley and most of all giggly person

and yes, if you can't see clearly, that is a packet of waitrose organic milano salami. yum.

ah well

so three days back. my cold is dreadful, my back hurts like a hurty thing, and i'm working and working and working. how easy it is to fall back into the old ways. but i promise, i'm going to get through this week and get some things done and actually achieve something. and then this weekend i'm going to achieve something with my garden and my chimney and maybe even do some painting. or something like that.

actually tell you what i am doing this saturday - having my lawn mower serviced! now that is definitely progress of some sort ....

gah

so i scrapped home yesterday at 10pm, into a freezin' cold house, and let me tell you that a wheely suitcase is not much use in 2 inches of snow.

i was a bit sniffy on the train home and this morning i'm proper snotty, which is well annoying and then to top it all off i tweaked by back trying to pick up my suitcase. yes, yes, poor technique but ouch it hurts!

so all in all, i'm not 100% happy about being home, but i'm sure i'll perk up in a day or two. when i've fixed the chimney, zapped the cold and done seven tonnes of work. *sigh*

all quiet on the south western front

have you been wondering where I've been? in the 'diff, innit!

i've had a week off, and i've spent it getting new contact lenses, and a new glasses prescription, and a bit of a hair do, and seeing my sisters kid and spending qualidy time with the ma and pa. oh and some of the old lahndan crew, hellooooo clare and looooceeee!

i'm heading back tomorrow, hoping its not snowing too badly at inverness airport, seems i can't get a train out of the 'diff anyway so it'll be a bus the bristol airport. ho hum. it's going to be a long day, but it has been well worth it! looking forward to going home tho. if it's still there that is ...

yummy fish

i went to Chris and Helen's for tea last night, and this is what we ate:

john dory liver and roe on oatcakes. yum

homemade calamari - yum yum

grilled john dory with mediterranean potatoes and mange tout - yum yum yum

all fresh off the boat that morning.

with a glass of white burgundy, yum yum yum yum.

See that's why its a good thing to live by the sea.

car update

so i had to go the doctors yesterday which means a trip to Castletown, but hey, guess what. the car wouldn't start.

good job I live next to the garage, cos the guys there started it for me, but told me not to turn it off when i got to the doctors, cos it might not start and guess what I did? completely without thinking, parked up, handbrake, neutral, keys turned. ooops.

Of course it wouldn't start. don't even ask that question! Good job I've got a friend who lives in Castletown who could start it for me again. And I drove straight back and left the little car at the garage waiting for a new battery.

And guess what. The doctors doesn't even open on Wednesday afternoons, so I'm a double idiot. But you all knew that anyway, didn't you.

chimney update mark ii

so there I was delicately using a screwdriver to scrape away the plaster holding the vent into the wall when Jen came round.

'hang on a sec' she said, and picked up a chisel and hammer. she went round to the outside of the house, and within seconds the vent was in pieces and I could gently pull it out on my side. Yay!

Except. Progress on the chimney installation is now held up by the fact that the wall construction, which I had thought was plasterboard and insulation and brick, actually appears to be, plasterboard, concrete and brick. great.

Jen took the chisel to that too, but its going to take a greater effort to get the 2 inches of depth I need on this side. I'm really beginning to think that going straight up would have been a better idea after all. I can probably still do that, at this point in time! maybe I should start knocking holes in the ceiling instead ....