Sloth

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Sorry of the lack of blogging action over the last week, I've not done much I can write about recently and as work has been a little intense recently I've not felt like going out to look for stuff to witter on about either, I'm not sure when things will be back to their usual low standards round here but they will be.

But lookee a Sloth.

Happy Easter

The first proper snow all winter and it happens at Easter. We are off to my mother's this morning, I'm fairly sure that the snow won't stop us. I hope you all have a lovely day.

It's Cold Outside

Seeing as it is, still, only March it would be unreasonable to expect warm, barmy days just yet. Which is good because it's bloody cold out there (comparatively) We were out on the road today, the road into and past Lynn were chocka with big cars pulling caravans, to spend Easter in Norfolk, however coming back home this afternoon the roads were quiet. Last Easter the traffic was far heavier, but it was warmer as Easter was later in the year.
But even I can tell that no matter how cold it is right now spring is definitely getting here, the hedgerows are greening up, the fields are vibrant with the young shoots of whatever is being grown in them. I drive through the countryside Monday to Friday it is a bit closer to nature than I actually would care to be, I am a townie at heart and like my nature to be well cared for botanical gardens or people friendly parks surrounded by the comfort of civilisation or failing that bricks and mortar. So although I am getting this exposure to the great outdoors on a much more frequent basis I am still almost completely blissfully ignorant of what happens in the countryside around me. Frankly if it doesn't happen in the Archers then do not expect me to know. I only found out that there was type of tree called a silver birch last month and I knowingly saw my first one today when Simon point one out to me. And to be honest I'm still not 100% sure that he's not pulling my leg.

Hubris and Make Believe

Hubris and Make Believe

It couldn't have happened to more deserving people/organisations.

Time Capsule

I've signed up for a web service called Photojojo's Photo Time Capsule, it sends you an email every so often showing your most interesting photos from this time last year so for me it showed.

this



this



(my favourite I think)

this



this



one of the last pictures I took with my old camera - it died that day

and finally this



I think getting these reminders is rather cool.

Kilobyte by xkcd

Made me laugh anyways. I still remember where I was when I was told that half a byte was called a 'nibble'

Brockly

Brockly, originally uploaded by Jane Goth.

When I first saw this I was stood there asking my friends "have you heard of brockly? Is it like a methi?" Turns out this is the phonetic spelling of broccoli. We were at the Spiceland restaurant off the A1(M) near Sawtry, it's an easy drive from work and at £5.95 per head for all you can eat, it's hard to go wrong. Throw in a wide variety of different curries, bhajis, rices and something and chips for those who can't stomach Indian food, it gets better. Then take into account that it almost all tastes delicious then it's a major bargain. They don't have a licence so they operate on a BYOB for booze. They do an aubergine bhaji that is crisp, light and melts in the mouth. None of the flavours in the food were bludgeoned by heat from chili you can taste the bay leaves, the cardamom, coriander and cumin. They even do all you can eat puddings though at lunch time this means fresh fruit salads, which is no bad thing. It's worth coming off the A1 for, after all what's the choice, good food here or dubious rubbish at the "Xtra" near Peterborough.

Hard Sell

I am now seeing through a pristine windscreen (shield for our ex colonial friends to the west) the old one developed a crack over the weekend which required replacing rather than fixing, and seeing as the recommended company from the insurers is no where near work and it would take at least an hour to cure, it meant that I couldn't get it done during the lunch hour yesterday. So I took the day off, (I've saved leave days for the car* like others save them in case the children are ill, we are either going to need a new car or very healthy children.) it was nice to be cozily wrapped up in bed this morning watching the snow trying to make what was left of the winter count. By the time the chap came round to do the windscreen the clouds had temporarily scudded away and the sun was doing its best to shine.

We got more snow, hail and wind in the afternoon but it was far too warm for it to stick, I think that could be the last gasp of a rather pathetic winter.

Just watching a programme on BBC4 called Hard Sell - they are discussing the advertising of alcohol, quite a few of the commenters are saying that the days of advertising alcohol are numbered much like it became clear that tabbaco advertising had a slow and lingering death. But no one has really commented on whether the increasingly strict advertising rules have worked in reducing the amount of drink related deaths/accidents/arrests. The anecdotal evidence seems to suggest not, but I don't trust anecdotal evidence as it isn't evidence it's just what someone thinks. I wonder what the real evidence is.

*to be fair, the car isn't a lemon by any means. We were a bit unlucky with it been broken in to as well as the gear box linkage chain thingy seizing up. It's just any problem that needs a garage immediately or a man to come out gets amplified by a 90 mile round trip to work and a strict "no tradesmen on site" rule once there unless it's a case of towing or getting the car started.

Just random stuff

Who are you gonna vote for?

Implicit Association

The mere thought of Huckabee being associated with "good" was giving me serious finger trouble.

I've been getting into Jezebel an American on line magazine for all the cool chicks and dudes

Lolvogue

I have to thank Thau for mentioning the 'zine on her blog, it's what I wanted Cosmo to be instead of the sad sack of tired cliche it is.

And that's it, I couldn't find a third thing for today

Reasons to feel Mopey

Simon is off on a course this week in Reading, right now as I type he is crawling his way around the M25. I don't know what to do with myself, I can watch whatever I want on telly but by a cruel twist of fate that is often suffered on a Sunday there is bugger all on. This will be the longest we have been apart since I moved in and almost since we met each other back in August 05. There were a couple of weekends when one of us didn't go to see the other because of ill health and a couple of Wednesday we may have missed out on because of work and stuff but that is it.

I know, I know it's only a few days but I'm no longer used to being on my own and it feels definitely odd, too quiet, no one to make me tea and no one to drink all the milk without warning me.

There is an upside I can prawns, sprouts and cauliflower as much as I want but it's not much of a benefit.

It's going to be a long week.

Reasons To Be Cheerful

I love to moan as much as the next under appreciated, under paid, mis understood, worker bee but I will allow little rays of sunshine into my life every now and then.

Yesterday afternoon was just the time for a faint glimmer of a smile in the face of Arctic winds and the whipped, stinging cold rain. I don't know if I have mentioned this before, but for some time now I have been having trouble with my ears, especially the left one, almost constant tinnitus, frequent ear aches, not being able to hear people properly and then having other sounds, that were no louder then the people I couldn't hear go through me like warm pneumatic drill through butter. And then there were the dizzy spells, not often, but over the course of the last year there have been times when I've not been able to keep my head up because everything felt like it was moving.

Anyway as part of the investigation into these problems I had two hearing tests last year both of which showed some hearing loss in the left ear. For the consultant's appointment on Friday I had yet another test on Tuesday. The cow of an audiologist would not let me know what the results were, so I had to wait until yesterday afternoon to get some surprising but good news.

My hearing is back to normal, there is no sign of damage to the ears and they look all OK. The consultant thought that I had probably had something called labyrinthintitus which like most viruses has over the months finally got better of its own accord. Except for I am still having earache and tinnitus which he said was probably because it can take a lot of time for the ears to get back to normal so I'm gonna have a scan to see if the wonders of modern technology can show if there is anything untoward.

It's not a complete sign off but it is such a relief that my hearing has returned to normal, even if it doesn't feel like it at the moment, as I don't think I could stand loosing the ability to enjoy music and the world about me aurally.