Saturday, December 06, 2003

Looks like three days was the best I could manage on the advent calendar!

Thursday I was out and about again looking for new timetable outlets. A succesful jaunt once more, although there was one place refused to stock them for a change - grumpy sods. In the evening we started a long weekend (well, long for me, interrupted for Joan as she has had to go to work today) by watching Still Crazy - cracking film in the Spinal Tap vein but more British. And Jimmy Nail, Bill Nighy and Billy Connolly are a lot more watchable. And the music's damn good too.

Yesterday we had a lazy start then went shopping for more Christmas stuff. Nearly all sorted now. And not really much else to say about the day! Oh, yes, finished the Darwin Awards book - more funny lessons to learn there. Not started anything else yet though.

Today Joan was not at all well to start with, but finally went to work around 1030. Hope she makes it through OK as tomorrow we are off to Belgium and the Brugges Christmas market. Which should be a great if long day. More news on that after the event.

Wednesday, December 03, 2003

Foggy today and I didn't fance driving over the Orwell Bridge. So used Martlesham instead of London Road. Not actually much slower either (OK, so it didn't help that I saw the bus I was aiming for leave while I was parking the car, but then we did leave home late).

Right then, what's under today's window? Ooooh, a nice hippo. Can you guess the theme of the calendar yet?

Today I am supposed to be doing some testing of our on-street timetable/journey planning kiosks. But the test rig upstairs that should have been updated earlier is still not working. Great. Really fills me with confidence this place some days.

Tuesday, December 02, 2003

OK, time to see what's under today's flap of advent calender. Fumble, rip, open... Aaah, fluffy sheepie! I wonder how many days I will manage to keep this going for.

Here's a strange conincidence I heard on the radio this morning. A farmer in Scotland once saved the son of a local Lord from drowning in a bog. When the Lord went round the next day to thank the farmer he also offered a reward. The farmer refused, but the Lord persisted and offered to pay for the farmer's son to have the same education as his own. The farmer's son was Alexander Fleming who went on to discover Penicillin and the Lord was Randolph Churchill, with his son being Winston. So if the farmer hadn't pulled the boy from the bog we might never have had the wonder drug or the inspirational leader. Funny how things interconnect.

Mind you I have also seen the latest in a long line of jokes scrawled in the dirt on the back of vans today. Following from the original "wash me" and later variations "don't wash - seeds planted" and "I wish my wife was this dirty" we now have "Driven well? Call 999 it must be stolen".

Monday, December 01, 2003

Crikey, its December already. Better open up the first window on the advent calender. Hmm, rustle, tear of perforations, oooooh. A picture of a kitten. How nice. Wonder what will be under tomorrow's flap...

Anyway, another good few days from my point of view since last post. Friday I was out in the van looking for new timetable outlets. Did the Felixstowe and Bawdsey peninsulas (well, I had to do them some time, couldn't keep putting them off just because I live there) and got a whole load of successful hits. Plus lunch at home with Tawny. And once again reminded of what a lovely part of the world it is that we live in.

Saturday I basically stayed home tidying and stuff. Joan had her works Christmas dinner in the evening and brought Marion home to get changed. Which turned out to be quite a noble gesture as she had really upset her earlier in the day. Just general insensitivity I think - saying other stores were doing better because of who was at them and thus running Joan down by implication. I thin they are sorted a bit better now but it isn't the best working atmosphere at the moment. I just wish there was something other than listening I could do to help. Still, they had apretty good evening as far as I've been told.

While they were out enjoying themselves I watched Rat Race which had a funny moment or two. Not the best comedy film I've ever seen but a passable way to kill a couple of hours. Also finished the Gap books. Overall a superb series with just about the right amount of resolution and finality to the ending. That's not to say there is no room for a second series following on some time, but only in the sense of it being a big old universe out there and things have changed over the course of these five books. So that it would be nice to see how those changes pan out over a longer period. Bit of a breathless read as well due to the style of writing with
precious little in the way of description of the locations etc - just action and conversation. But still enjoyable. Am now about to start the second collection of Darwin Awards as compiled by Wendy Northcutt.

Then yesterday Joan and I had our big Christmas shopping day. Used Martlesham Park & Ride and spent several hours and a lot of money in Ipswich. We certainly broke the back of it, but still quite a few bits and bobs needed due to shops being out of stock etc. Mind you, the town centre was absolutely heaving so it was inevitable we wouldn't be able to get everything. I'll just have to keep wandering up to the shops of a lunch time.