3 Good Things

My radio alarm clicked on at exactly the right moment for this... "I don't want nobody else I love you" " She's lying" " There won't be somebody else and that's truuueeee" "She's lying" "Say you'll always be my friend sweet darling" "Why does she preteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeend?" which pleased me greatly.

AND I saw Habitat have a sale on. No big deal, their stuff is vastly overpriced anyway. BUT...they've dug out all their christmas stuff and put it into a big clearence sale!!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

AND I got that nice new 'puter.

Sandi Toksvig

I just...I can't...I don't know what to say. I am NOT a Sandi Toksvig fan. Tho I'm sure she's just lovely in real life her humour is mostly based on her doing something unlikely the other day (said in weird high pitched voice that suddenly does down low) "when I was in the jungle catching amazonian bird spiders the other day" and everyone falls about laughing. "when I was polishing the giant monster tuck that I have parked outisde my London flat the other day" and everyone falls about laughing. Ridiculous. Beautiful Hilary sent me this link...

http://idiotica.co.uk/archive/sanditoksvig/index.shtml

Words fail me.

Brilliant day

For a number of long and complicated reasons today has been utter shit. So I decided to leave work early and stomp home in time for neighbours (which, as it turned out, wasn't on). I had a big pile of books, my phone, my dongle (USB thingy whatever the hell they're called), and my keys. Dropped my keys, bent down to pick them up dropped my dongle. Bent down to pick up keys and dongle, dropped my phone. Scrabbled after phone which had shot across the lab, dropped my keys.

So going to try to forget about today because it's all about yesterday! Which was a brilliant day. Started well when I got into work and found a small gift bag on my desk - there are few things more exciting. My boss had bought me back a gorgeous coin purse from the New York Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art! It looks like this...



AND I got an hilarious e-mail from the beautiful Hilary who I haven't heard from in ages. Actually got loads of funny e-mails yesterday. AND I went for a coffee and a lush piece of chocolate crunch cake with my very good friend Dr H and we speculated about our colleagues' love lives in a very gossipy manner. AND inspite of my excessive e-mailing and coffee drinking I got masses of work done. AND there is talk that my ancient old laptop at work will be replaced with a fancy new 'puter. AND I made an amazing thai curry for dinner which was so good I wish I could eat it again right now.

Something fishy

Some fish I met...





They belong to Stu's mum and are the weirdest fish ever. One of them was looking at me, looking totally normal, but turned the other way and has only got one eye. And the thing is it's not like it's got a hole where the eye socket should be, it's just a flat gold surface.

Another one has got some sort of hideous, ridged, purple, brain-like structure on top of its head. It's massive. And it's very sly looking, like it's plotting world domination form right there in its little tank.

I don't know a lot about fish, but I'm fairly sure they shouldn't float. One of them floats and its life is a constant struggle against floating. It swims and swims, furiously, and as soon as it stops swimming it shoots straight up to the surface and bobs, upsidedown, until it can be arsed swimming again. What a life.

Having a good trip

Little mum sat safely on my sofa (with one of Stu's books)



Message received from Gem Gems in Majorca...

"Mum tripped over a bollard today and fell flat on her face. She has grazed every bony prominence. It was Hilarious. She was properly flat out in front of the whole coach trip"

Hehehehehe!!! What a state to be in. I laughed SO much I cried. And writing this has given me the giggles again! 'Stupid place to have a bollard' apparently.

It's weird because the last time she fell over was on holiday with me in Vienna when she did the splits on a slippery walkway. Just can't take her anywhere.

Nice cup of tea and a sit down

In Weymouth again at the moment looking after Stu’s nan for a bit while his mum is away. Jeez louise, I’ve not known anyone drink so much tea. I’ve got a little timetable of when to make her pots of tea! Not cups, pots! There’s not more than 2 hours between each pot! And I was hoping to get some work done!

This is a great site I came across a couple years ago when I was writing something about some scientist who had done something to do with biscuits and dunking them...

www.NiceCupOfTeaAndASitDown.com

"...the premier web site for tea drinkers who are keen on sitting down and biscuits. Oh and cake aswell. If you eat biscuits then its a fair bet you'll have some cake if its on offer"

Brilliant.

Wish you were here

Well gem gems and mum have gone to Majorca and the vet has gone to Thailand. And yet here I still am. Stu is away for most of this week...what the hell am I going to do with myself? The vet bought his plants round for me to look after. Being something of a horticultural genius (see below) this shouldn’t pose too much of a problem, though his mint plant is in grave danger of just being plain old eaten. Mojito anyone...?

'Working' from home

When you look as good as I do it's best to work from home if at all possible lest young children be afraid. And I've got some thesis writing to catch up on so it seemed like a good idea. But what I've mostly been doing is eating. Made a LUSCIOUS watermelon and ginger juice, which I know sounds rank but was really yummy...

Big thick wedge of watermelon
'Coin' of ginger finely grated
Splash of water
5 or 6 ice cubes

Blend it up good and drink it (from Nigel Slater's 'Juice'). Enjoy.

Face Monsters Suck

Thanks to a sudden and vicious flare-up of rosacea (aka face monster) I currently look like the singing detective. The vet has fashioned a paper bag for me, complete with eye holes. It's actually quite effective and it's no plain ordinary paper bag but a posh one from a posh deli. All those years of vet training are being put to very good use.

A few things have cheered me though. Firstly, there's always someone worse off (not cheered me as such but made me mindful of moaning quite so loudly about looking like the elephant man), secondly the fact that out of pity for such a hideous creature as myself gem gems bought me a t-shirt and a pair of pants! And also the news that a great big Banksy has appeared on Park Street. Which is weird because the lovely little Anna took me to see a really good one round the corner from her in London on Monday (which is really good but some moron has graffitied it! can you deface a defacement? is defacement a word?) and I was saying there hadn't been any big ones round near me for ages. Perhaps he heard me. Perhaps Anna is Banksy...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/5103306.stm

But the best news of all has to be that yesterday was the solstice, the longest day, which means the nights will start drawing in, which means its nearly christmas!!!!!!! Wooohoooo!!

London Calling

Monday - went to london town to visit posh london friends. Stayed at little Anna's VERY nice flat. Had a fab time eating yummy italian food on the southbank as the sun went down. Posh.

Dr Gem Gems

Huge congratulations go to my most cleverest sister who qualified as a doctor today!!!!



So proud! Well done Gem Gems!

Weekend

Friday
Mine and Stu's ten year anniversary (!) so we went to the Primrose Cafe for one of the best meals of our lives. It was LUSH. Then we came back and drank a yummy bottle of wine of the balcony which has a new occupant - a rhododendron courtesy of Stu (isn't rhododendron just about the funniest looking word ever?)





Saturday
Weymouth for a family BBQ! Woohoo! F**king love a BBQ.

Also saw mum's new water feature...



David says "I like your water feature Val"



Then went dancin' in Weymouth with Gem Gems. Haven't been out in Weymouth for YEARS. And I managed to spend £60!!!!! Back in the day it was 80p to get in and 80p for a vodka. Not any more.







Sunday
Out for Father's Day lunch in Poundbury, the weird village that Prince Charles built. It's nice and all that but it just feels like a film set, a bit like no one really lives there. The pub is a bit the same. Definitely a bit creepy (sorry Your Highness).

Peace at last

By contrast the walk home was bliss thanks to some football game or other...

Rush Hour!

Grrrrrrr

Work is not a good place to be today. The building work is obscenely loud in the office. So much so the boss has gone home in a huff. The lab is like a sauna. We have no choice but to do science in our swimwear. There is a huge lab just up the corridor with air conditioning in which one person works, only she isn’t there at the moment and hasn’t been for the last week. Probably too cold for her. So me and the vet are wedged into our boiling little hell hole. Rubbish.

Oh god it's back

and the starting bids are even lower...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1979-PORSCHE-911-SC-BRONZE_W0QQ
itemZ4648887254QQcategoryZ9860Q
QrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Nooooooooooooooooooooooo

Oh. My. God. It can't be true. Helen and Paul have SPLIT UP...

http://www.sky.com/showbiz/article/0,,50001-1224528,00.html

I guess these things happen when you live your life like an international pop star but this is terrible.

Delayed Gratification

Behold. Feast your lucky little peepers on these gems, courtesy of my fishy eyed lens.

The most gorgeous boy...rodney!!





Lab iDog for playing our pods on



No eating, drinking or decorating birthday cakes in the lab



I got my beloved fish eye for xmas (see lomography link for details), loaded it with film in february, used the film in march, and got it developed last week. 6 months. Ridiculous. I'm the laziest slug in town.

BTW.......it's XMAS SOON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Boss

Yesterday was the Boss' birthday. It also happened to be the first england game of the world cup. Joy.

So we went to Zero Degress to watch the game, then on to Bar Ha Ha. We actually ended up having a right old time. The weather was great and we got good and drunk.

Drinking wheat beer


Drinking mango beer (yum)


On the way home we got a kebab from Jason's Donner Van and ate it on the steps of The Victoria Rooms while talking utter bollocks. So all in all a very good day.

Wooooo Hoooooo!

I am horticultural f**king genius. This thing was dead I tell you! I have bought it back from the brink.

Baby you can drive my car...

...providing you stump up half the cash.

Well this is interesting. The auction for the prettiest Porsche in town ended today at £5800 – the reserve was not met. Which means it is not been sold yet! Eeeeee!

Stu’s fab dad came to stay on Tuesday night. He always plies us with plenty of alcohol and I always end up talking way more bollocks than I should. Tuesday was no exception. We had an ace night, Pizza Express (bottle of wine), followed by The Albion (another bottle of wine), then home to drink yet more wine by candlelight on the balcony (I love my balcony I do). At some point we came to an agreement which involves me buying a 911 in the next 5 months. The logic is hazy but the argument goes something like…

Stu’s dad: Go on, buy that gold beast off e-bay

Me: I can’t. I’ve got no money and the next 5 months are going to be such a nightmare the last thing I want to do is fanny around buying and selling cars that are going to cost me a fortune in insurance and maintenance, never mind the fact I’ve nowhere to keep it.

Stu’s dad: If you don’t do it now you’ll never do it and when you get stressed with work, think how nice it will be if you can take the Porsche out for a spin of an evening, seeing that whale tail in the rear view mirror as you jet off over the suspension bridge.

Me: My god you are SO right! But I still haven’t got any money.

Stu: I’ll go halves with you if I can drive it too

Me: Ace! Ok! (thinking, I should get shit-faced more often, these decisions are SO much simpler)

So then we all shook hands and that was that. So now I’m duty bound. My hands are tied, what can I do?

The Day of the Beast

Despite it being a blazing bright day yesterday I was in a hideous grump. The Vet tried his best but could not drag me out of it. He went as far as encouraging me to bid on the beautiful chunk of gold loveliness being auctioned in the link below.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1979-PORSCHE-911-SC-BRONZE_W0QQitemZ4644918449QQcategoryZ9860QQss
PageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

It was even built in the same year as me . I know it isn’t white, like what it is in my dreams, but will you look at it. Don’t look too hard though as looking at gorgeous things you want but can’t have makes your eyes bleed. Sigh.

The main reason for my dark mood yesterday (other than extreme tiredness having woken up at 4.18am unable to get back to sleep) was that today, 06/06/06, the day of the beast, was also the day of a big meeting with my PhD supervisors. But it was actually pretty positive and lots of nice things were said :-). So currently I have a big smile on my little face. The day of the beast is generally treating me very well so far. I think the beast must like me.

Shopping with my most favourite sister

Yesterday I spent a day that should have been much more productive using money I don't have to buy things I'’ll probably never wear. Also decided that, now it's got some nice flowers, the balcony fancied being dressed up a bit so I bought it some lanterns and beanbags. It's a veritable paradise out there now. Or it would be if it weren't so filthy dirty. Anyway, me and gem gems had a right old time. There was nearly a small hissy fit in Argos when the quick pay (ha!) console froze halfway through the transaction and it proved impossible to just buy the damn beanbags. But a minor inconvenience in an otherwise lovely day. Rounded off with, of course, Big Brother. Smashing.

Update: Today I cleaned the filthy dirty balcony and it is no longer filthy or dirty. There is something perversely satisfying about spending all the livelong day rubbing muck off of ridiculously intricate ironwork. It looks GREAT now. I love my balcony.

It is possible I need to get out more.

The view from my balc...

Grand Designs

Stu fancies he's going to build himself a house. So on Friday we went to Grand Designs Live in London town. Due to a slight navigational error on my part we missed Kevin's lecture and couldn't be arsed to go see the Beeny but we did find lots of inspiration for the magical house. We did both agree there was much more crap than good stuff. The one thing we did want to buy was this guy...



We felt he wanted to come and live on the balc with the flowers. And he seemed to take quite a shine to Stu...



But he wasn't for sale :-(

Weirdly there was a lot of oversized stuff, including a huge chair for children to play on, and this on a stand for boiling water taps....



They also had an actual Huf Haus and a Pad house built outside the exhibition centre...

Huf Haus


Pad House


And so now we wants a Pad house. And a white cow to live outside it. And the biggest coffee you ever did see in the kitchen.

First flower on the balc.

But he is only a recent acquisition. This guy has survived winter, moving house, and a re-potting disaster...



Watch this space for more wonders of nature. Exciting times people.

Too cute

Go here...

http://boston-terrier-blog.blogspot.com/

Look! Look how cute! (Having a very very busy day at work today)

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