Well, I was right about one thing - the name book was indeed finished on Wednesday night. Very interesting and one that will no doubt be dipped into again in association with other London Books. Am now re-reading Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett. I seem to have managed to forget the majority of the plot so it is proving just as enjoyable as when I first read it a few years back.
Yesterday was very busy sorting out nit-pickedy changes, surprising the purchaser of the millionth Park & Ride ticket and a New Routes meeting. Today is more book changes and more book changes and yet more book changes. I'll be glad to get home tonight for a long weekend I think, even if it does feature the last tooth out on Tuesday. And of course we aren't going straight home either. Instead we are having dinner at Helen & Bhupen's to make up for not doing it on her birthday due to Joan being so ill.
OK, film review time (finally, scream the millions). Stuff we have watched and (mostly) enjoyed of late:
The Fast And The Furious - A bit different from what I was expecting but very enjoyable anyway. I admit I am a bit of a sucker for fast cars, but also got gripped by the plot too.
Legally Blonde - Much better than I was expecting. Have seen so many American College comedies that it was nice to be surprised by a bit of difference in the plot and intelligence in the script.
Saving Private Ryan - Been putting this one off for years after hearing about the grisly first half hour or so, and yes it is pretty gruesome at times but glad we gave it a chance at last. Very well played piece of drama and not too sentimental in the end for Mr Spielberg.
The Parole Officer - Steve Coogan not playing up as much as most of his charachters and actually being watchable as a result. I saw this a while back with Gary and have been meaning to watch it again with Joan ever since, so it turning up on Sky Widescreen was great.
Bridget Jones's Diary - Had avoided this like the plague after all the hype surrounding it and the book inthe first place but finally caved in and found it pretty good. Not as good as all the hype but better than a slap in the face with a wet haddock.
Star Wars Episode II - Attack Of The Clones - I'm turning away from this even more. Not even sure if it's better than Episode I now. Too many things that mess up the continuity of the rest of the series (and indeed internally in the film it self), the plot os just appalling and there are just too many CGi stupidities. So glad I resisted buying it and just borrowed Richard's copy.
And probably some more I can't remember now.
Friday, May 02, 2003
Wednesday, April 30, 2003
My mouth hurts again. Yup, another tooth out yesterday - that in itself is fine, it's the spot where he stuck the needle in to numb me up that hurts (as usual). The tooth actually came out easier than the first one and I didn't even have to stop him for a rest half way through the pulling process this time. I was about to when he stopped himself to change pliers or something and two seconds later it was out. And less blood than the other one too.
Otherwise yesterday is nothing much to write about. Having got up early ish for breakfast I then went back to sleep until nearly 11! And the afternoon was spent lazing about reading as well. So now I am at work again, clear in my head what to do with the area books (full scale delay, major checking and poking to ensure as good as we can get accuracy) and possibly even ready to do some of the work on them this afternoon.
OK, so as I type this I am waiting for 100 or so pages of book 5 to print out and if the speed doesn't pick up on the printer that's about all I will get done today! Mind you, I had a pretty good meeting this morning with a chap from the Ipswich hotels association about doing more to promote Park & Ride through them so I will still have managed something constructive today. And during that sentence my eagerly awaited reports on whether it is possible to change the layouts at the existing P&R sites has been delivered, so a little light reading there for me.
Speaking of light reading, I guess I should update that section of my musings while I am at it today. Finished off The Riddle And The Knight and enjoyed it thoroughly. Looking forward to reading the other two books I have by Giles Milton over the coming months. I have also started and finished volume two of the Otherland series by Tad Williams - River of Blue Fire. That was absolutely superb, moved the plot of the saga along nicely, introduced a whole load more in the way of subplots, motivations, group dynamics and the like. Really building nicely and I'm so glad I have parts 3 and 4 ready for when I want to read them rather than having to wait for them to be published. That got to be so frustrating a few years back I decided to just buy each book in sets from Authors I liked but wait for the whole lot to be owned before starting to read them. Am now reading What's In A Name? by Cyril M. Harris which is basically a descriptor of where all the names of the stations on the London Underground come from, what they mean etc. So more another book about London than one about trains as such, and again very interesting but also very short so I don't see it still being in active service at the end of the week.
I think that's all I'm going to say today. But still plan to add films watched over the last month at some point.
Otherwise yesterday is nothing much to write about. Having got up early ish for breakfast I then went back to sleep until nearly 11! And the afternoon was spent lazing about reading as well. So now I am at work again, clear in my head what to do with the area books (full scale delay, major checking and poking to ensure as good as we can get accuracy) and possibly even ready to do some of the work on them this afternoon.
OK, so as I type this I am waiting for 100 or so pages of book 5 to print out and if the speed doesn't pick up on the printer that's about all I will get done today! Mind you, I had a pretty good meeting this morning with a chap from the Ipswich hotels association about doing more to promote Park & Ride through them so I will still have managed something constructive today. And during that sentence my eagerly awaited reports on whether it is possible to change the layouts at the existing P&R sites has been delivered, so a little light reading there for me.
Speaking of light reading, I guess I should update that section of my musings while I am at it today. Finished off The Riddle And The Knight and enjoyed it thoroughly. Looking forward to reading the other two books I have by Giles Milton over the coming months. I have also started and finished volume two of the Otherland series by Tad Williams - River of Blue Fire. That was absolutely superb, moved the plot of the saga along nicely, introduced a whole load more in the way of subplots, motivations, group dynamics and the like. Really building nicely and I'm so glad I have parts 3 and 4 ready for when I want to read them rather than having to wait for them to be published. That got to be so frustrating a few years back I decided to just buy each book in sets from Authors I liked but wait for the whole lot to be owned before starting to read them. Am now reading What's In A Name? by Cyril M. Harris which is basically a descriptor of where all the names of the stations on the London Underground come from, what they mean etc. So more another book about London than one about trains as such, and again very interesting but also very short so I don't see it still being in active service at the end of the week.
I think that's all I'm going to say today. But still plan to add films watched over the last month at some point.
Monday, April 28, 2003
OK, long time no waffle. I apologise if anyone has been waiting for some! Partly too busy, partly Blogger not publishing what I was writing (hopefully fixed now via a change of template) and partly cos I've been off work and thus additionally busy. Why is it that being at home when you would expect to have all the free time you want actually means no time to think at all?
Anyway, where was I?
Friday 4th April was the day after I'd been ill on the way to work. Woke up still feeling fairly bad but not as bad as Joan. I stayed at home late in order to take her to the Doctor as she really was not well. Some sort of sinus/chest infection jobby that had also produced a nasty looking rash on her legs. Not fun. I won't go into all the gory details and stuff on here but suffice it to say another three visits and four different types of tablet later (including some that stopped her from going out in sunlight and couldn't be taken with milk) she is finally back at work today. Suffering is not quite the word for what she has been through so it is quite nice to finally see her up and about again. I was a bit worried for a while.
I can't recall much of what was done on what day after that as I was just busy working when at work and looking after Joan when at home. But basically that pattern continued until the 15th which also happened to be Richard's 30th Birthday. Joan was fit enough by that point for them all to come round for an hour or so in order for him to have presents. The 16th was Helen's birthday and also my last day at work for a while.
She popped along to see Joan in the afternoon while I got taken out to lunch along with the rest of the group as a "thank you" for all the work we had put in getting the revised rural bus services in and publicised. The plan was to go for a pizza but it seems Pizza Hut refuse to take bookings during the school holidays and when we got there the place was full up to busting. So we went to the pub instead. Had smothered chicken which was fairly nice but not up to Garfunkels standard, and not what I will have should I ever eat there again.
Anyway, getting home that night was pure bliss as I am also back at work today for the first time since then.
OK, so Thursday the 17th was not a particularly fun day for me as I had the first of my Wisdom Teeth out. Only the one as the lower one on the right never developed in the first place. As I'd never had any teeth pulled out before I wasn't sure what to expect. And apart from all the hanging around due to Mr Norfolk running late, waiting for the drugs to kick in etc it wasn't actually too bad. OK, so him pulling felt like pushing and I am still not keen for tomorrow to come but I survived. No major bleeding or anything, just a bit of discomfort for the next few days and a couple of meals worth of soft, squidgy food. Hopefully it will be the same tomorrow despite it being 2 this time. Must remember to buy some pain killers just in case though.
After that though it was time for relaxing, eating Easter eggs and so forth. Or so I thought. Wrong!
Despite the solemn vow last year after all the painting and stuff that we were not going to do any decorating during 2003, I still seem to have spent large chunks of the last week up to my elbows in paint. OK, so I knew I would have to do four doors as they were newly hung (probably mentioned above) and in need of a top coat, but I didn't anticipate doing the kitchen as well. And not just the door! Still, it looks much better blue than it did in green. We even replaced the roller blinds with vertical venetian ones with no real fuss or bother. I do have to confess to being happy with ther result even if I didn't want to do it. Definitely nothing else getting painted in our house this year. The garden of course is another matter, as we bought a load of paint for the fence yesterday. Does it ever stop?
We did manage a whole day of relaxy stuff sort of by virtue of coming in to Ipswich on Thursday last. Did a spot of shopping (woo, new pedal bin for kitchen, new trousers for me) and had a reasonable lunch at The Rep. Joan's was wonderful, mine a bit bland. We had planned to eat in Pals, but just as we had made our minds up the fire alarms for the whole Buttermarket centre went off so we were forced to relocate. Also went round to Ma & Pa's for dinner that night as Grandma was up for a few days. Good time had by all.
Despite not having taken a tablet for a couple of weeks now, I am still having the odd dodgy dizzy moment with increasingly fewer electric shock zappy feelings. Still feel a bit sick of a morning and indeed there have been a couple more throwing up incidents, although fortunately not while in the car. Very odd, but no way I'm going back ont he damn things now.
So now I am back at work and find once again that while I've been off the book production has gone all to pot and back again. Sonic nit-picking basically meaning something needs changing on nearly every page, but of course he isn't in today or tomorrow to clarify what he means by some of them so nothing is going to get done until Wednesday at the very least. I sometimes wonder why I even bother.
Oh, and we have managed to find the time to watch a shedload of films since I last posted but I haven't got the energy to mention them all now. Perhaps next time...
Anyway, where was I?
Friday 4th April was the day after I'd been ill on the way to work. Woke up still feeling fairly bad but not as bad as Joan. I stayed at home late in order to take her to the Doctor as she really was not well. Some sort of sinus/chest infection jobby that had also produced a nasty looking rash on her legs. Not fun. I won't go into all the gory details and stuff on here but suffice it to say another three visits and four different types of tablet later (including some that stopped her from going out in sunlight and couldn't be taken with milk) she is finally back at work today. Suffering is not quite the word for what she has been through so it is quite nice to finally see her up and about again. I was a bit worried for a while.
I can't recall much of what was done on what day after that as I was just busy working when at work and looking after Joan when at home. But basically that pattern continued until the 15th which also happened to be Richard's 30th Birthday. Joan was fit enough by that point for them all to come round for an hour or so in order for him to have presents. The 16th was Helen's birthday and also my last day at work for a while.
She popped along to see Joan in the afternoon while I got taken out to lunch along with the rest of the group as a "thank you" for all the work we had put in getting the revised rural bus services in and publicised. The plan was to go for a pizza but it seems Pizza Hut refuse to take bookings during the school holidays and when we got there the place was full up to busting. So we went to the pub instead. Had smothered chicken which was fairly nice but not up to Garfunkels standard, and not what I will have should I ever eat there again.
Anyway, getting home that night was pure bliss as I am also back at work today for the first time since then.
OK, so Thursday the 17th was not a particularly fun day for me as I had the first of my Wisdom Teeth out. Only the one as the lower one on the right never developed in the first place. As I'd never had any teeth pulled out before I wasn't sure what to expect. And apart from all the hanging around due to Mr Norfolk running late, waiting for the drugs to kick in etc it wasn't actually too bad. OK, so him pulling felt like pushing and I am still not keen for tomorrow to come but I survived. No major bleeding or anything, just a bit of discomfort for the next few days and a couple of meals worth of soft, squidgy food. Hopefully it will be the same tomorrow despite it being 2 this time. Must remember to buy some pain killers just in case though.
After that though it was time for relaxing, eating Easter eggs and so forth. Or so I thought. Wrong!
Despite the solemn vow last year after all the painting and stuff that we were not going to do any decorating during 2003, I still seem to have spent large chunks of the last week up to my elbows in paint. OK, so I knew I would have to do four doors as they were newly hung (probably mentioned above) and in need of a top coat, but I didn't anticipate doing the kitchen as well. And not just the door! Still, it looks much better blue than it did in green. We even replaced the roller blinds with vertical venetian ones with no real fuss or bother. I do have to confess to being happy with ther result even if I didn't want to do it. Definitely nothing else getting painted in our house this year. The garden of course is another matter, as we bought a load of paint for the fence yesterday. Does it ever stop?
We did manage a whole day of relaxy stuff sort of by virtue of coming in to Ipswich on Thursday last. Did a spot of shopping (woo, new pedal bin for kitchen, new trousers for me) and had a reasonable lunch at The Rep. Joan's was wonderful, mine a bit bland. We had planned to eat in Pals, but just as we had made our minds up the fire alarms for the whole Buttermarket centre went off so we were forced to relocate. Also went round to Ma & Pa's for dinner that night as Grandma was up for a few days. Good time had by all.
Despite not having taken a tablet for a couple of weeks now, I am still having the odd dodgy dizzy moment with increasingly fewer electric shock zappy feelings. Still feel a bit sick of a morning and indeed there have been a couple more throwing up incidents, although fortunately not while in the car. Very odd, but no way I'm going back ont he damn things now.
So now I am back at work and find once again that while I've been off the book production has gone all to pot and back again. Sonic nit-picking basically meaning something needs changing on nearly every page, but of course he isn't in today or tomorrow to clarify what he means by some of them so nothing is going to get done until Wednesday at the very least. I sometimes wonder why I even bother.
Oh, and we have managed to find the time to watch a shedload of films since I last posted but I haven't got the energy to mention them all now. Perhaps next time...
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