| Flooding in the Lake District |
[Nov. 21st, 2009|12:20 pm] |
This year the worst of the floods (so far) seem to have been in Cockermouth and north Cumberland, not far from the bad Carlisle floods last year. Anyone living in the Lakes is of course used to flooding to some degree, but it's pretty bad at the moment.
I spoke to my mum this morning - she said the part of Ambleside she lives in is cut off and many shops closed as so many roads are impassable that people can't get to work. (And these are the kind of people who look at you funny if you wear a hat if it's only drizzling.) My brother has been out volunteering with the Mountain Rescue and much of what he's doing is ferrying the police and other emergency services around because their vehicles can't cope with the deep water on the roads. And it's not just houses near rivers and lakes that are affected - the amount of rain running off the hillsides means that even houses out of the way of the rising water are affected by streams and mud sliding down into their homes.
( Some video ) |
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| Memory from an early 70s childhood |
[Nov. 5th, 2009|12:12 am] |
I was lying in my parents bed next to my mum after dad had gone to work one cold morning in our little terraced house in Old Swan, bored because I wanted to get up and mum wanted to sleep. My space hopper rolled in front of the one-bar electric fire and promptly exploded, waking mum up for good.
I still remember its sad little deflated face. |
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| An uncharacteristic 'writing about what is going on in my life' moment |
[Oct. 27th, 2009|11:09 pm] |
I should be packing for Whitby so of course I am here instead.
It has been a busy few days. Thursday night was a trip to the Magistrate's Court with ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) anadel1976. We stayed much longer than planned (seeing a mock trial where the audience was considerably more lenient than the magistrates was a surprise to all the court staff). I now have a Probation Service balloon, a Witness Protection Programme pen and an Inside Justice week cloth bag. Why is it so hard to stop yourself collecting this stuff you don't need, just cos it is free? There was a strange age range too - almost exclusively *either* over 50s *or* under 20s.
After that, we needed sustenance, so we went to Fiesta Mehicana for some food and a long and fascinating conversation about art.
Saturday was Katherine's formal(ish) birthday party at the local Hotel du Vin. After a little hitch with the dress which was ably sorted out by ms_siobhan and planet_andy we headed over there and had a great time - the venue was lovely as was the company and Katherine looked very elegant indeed. It was particularly good to have the chance to chat to people who aren't in York much (and especially to gossip with childeric who is always just the right side of indiscreet while telling you exactly what you want to know :-)
People were taking pictures as the night progressed so there is copious evidence of 'vampire mouth' from the red wine. I'm sure there's something you can do with vaseline to keep your dignity but who ever thinks of these things before the awful moment you're looking in the mirror realising that you've been grinning like a medieval witch and talking nonsense for at least the last hour. Sometimes it is SO traumatic, darlings, not liking champagne.
As a result most of Sunday was spent on the sofa but in the evening I went to meet Cathy WINOLJ to see the Illuminating York installation at King's Manor. Beautiful and atmospheric and a lovely way to start the evening (and it's on for most of this coming week). We got some food and had a bit of a gossip and then it was off to the pub for wendels birthday drinks.
It's been a funny few weeks and a lot of people have been having a hard time of it. Let's hope it eases up a bit between now and Christmas.
In the meantime, it's late and I'm going to see if I can beat my 'pack for Whitby in 45 minutes' record. |
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| Inside Justice week |
[Oct. 18th, 2009|12:11 pm] |
Not sure if this is national or a Yorkshire thing, but one of the Inside Justice Week events is an open evening at the Magistrate's Court (Clifford Street). I might see if there are any places on the lunchtime guided tour as well.
Anyone else fancy it? |
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| It's what he would have wanted |
[Oct. 15th, 2009|03:39 pm] |
Today is the anniversary of the death of blue_condition.
Pete was a man of wide interests. Anyone who knew him will probably have heard his views on the importance of women wearing decent quality lingerie, especially for those of us who require firm uplift. I have a distinct memory of him telling me off for wearing a bra that was definitively past its useful life (apparently) and estimating my bra size through my clothes.
He saw this issue partly as an engineering problem and could expound for hours on the subject, giving it an alarming degree of thought. (Scroll down for the full exposition.)
So in his honour (and with foxy76's advice) I've bought a new bra. This seems like a fitting tribute. It is underwired and lacy, but tasteful, and I'm sure he would have approved.
puritypersimmon and I are going out for a drink tonight and will raise a glass of whisky in his memory. Cheers Pete, you are missed. |
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| Hero |
[Oct. 11th, 2009|11:04 am] |
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This person gets my vote as the nicest person in Britain, today. |
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| Donation-y stuff |
[Oct. 8th, 2009|07:00 pm] |
Some good news and and a pat on the back for the Trust - most of this work is down to our amazing Chair but it's always good to have compliments.
And the NGDT blog - not a blog in the true sense but there's still some interesting stuff on there. If you're interested in that kind of thing of course.
There've been big changes in the law this year - waiting to see how that plays out.
I was going to write about other things, but they have decided they were not interested enough to stay in my head long enough for me to write them down, so that's that for now. |
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| Ultravox vs Adam and the Ants |
[Sep. 30th, 2009|11:23 pm] |
I can't decide whether this is great or a hideous mangling of two good songs.
Either way, it's an excuse to listen to Midge Ure's divine voice. |
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| Florence |
[Sep. 28th, 2009|04:50 pm] |
Mum: (tossing aside ludicrously expensive copy of Daily Fail) I've run out of things to read.
K: Why don't you read one of my books?
Mum: What have you got?
K: 'A short history of tractors in Ukrainian'.
Mum: What? What on earth are you reading something like that for?
K: But it's good!
Mum: Why would I be interested - it's really not my kind of thing. Honestly!
For anyone who might be interested, or to pass on: Web jobs at York. Happy to chat about the work if you'd like. |
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| Crumbs! |
[Sep. 10th, 2009|02:56 pm] |
The Daily Telegraph recently published an article on people who'd had biscuit-related injuries, and it doesn't half make you think some people are quite feckless.
Poll #1455723
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 32Which is the most dangerous biscuit? Not in fact a biscuit: |
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| Distance learning providers |
[Sep. 6th, 2009|08:05 pm] |
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I'm thinking of studying AS sociology by distance over the next year (not available near me as a face to face taught class unfortunately). Can anyone recommend a good distance learning provider? |
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| You love nature don't you? |
[Sep. 5th, 2009|11:08 pm] |
My dating technique is not destined to be remediated, at least not this month. The session was cancelled (they are apparently developing a distance learning course instead), but as a single woman in possession of an already-paid-for return rail ticket to London, I was definitely in want of a good time. firedraken, Mark, and three very nice bottles of red wine were a much better option.
On Saturday firedraken wanted to go to the RA to see the Waterhouse exhibition. I have very mixed feelings about Waterhouse. Mum used to love him and kept a print of Hylas and the Nymphs above our fireplace for years. I'm sure I read somewhere that the woman who was the model for that picture died of pneumonia from being made to stand in ponds for hours on end.*
The bloody pre-Raphs are the curse of all redheads. I consider them directly responsible for the many hours I had to spend, as a child, sitting still in one position while mum practised her life drawing. It was a blessing when we got lost on the way to the RA and ended up having Chinese on Carnaby St, ogling shoes in Irregular Choice and jewellery in that expensive but cool place where Katherine gets her rings, eating patisserie in Paul and finally playing Pirates of the Caribbean pinball at an arcade Mark had discovered in Soho which had a solitary working machine.
Poll #1453719
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 30Preraphaelites or Pinball?
* I've never been able to verify this, but it sounds entirely reasonable to me, given my personal experience of what artist's models have to put up with |
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| I could only stare in disbelief as the crowds all left |
[Aug. 17th, 2009|12:20 am] |
I was idly wondering today just how many cover versions there have been of Shadowplay by Joy Division - the answer is loads. Have a listen and see what you think.
Poll #1444770
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 3Which is the best version of Shadowplay?
I've spent a lot of this weekend listening to old Siouxsie, Jam and Undertones tracks - all sparked off by hearing the original version of The Last Beat of my Heart. Apparently the Undertones are playing at the Bingley Festival on Friday 4th September... not even headlining. The first 45 I ever bought was My Perfect Cousin; the person who told me they were playing hadn't even heard of them.
Added to that was finding out (old news) that Bruce Foxton's wife died a few months ago and that since then he and Paul Weller have made it up - enough for Bruce to attend Paul's dad's funeral which was also earlier this year. |
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| Facebooking |
[Aug. 12th, 2009|02:33 pm] |
People complain about the vacuous nature of Twitter and Facebook status updates, and how you never really get to know anything meaningful or interesting about people's lives from the occasional update announcing that they are making a cup of tea.
It struck me the other day that, actually, that kind of thing is small talk, and as such is exactly the kind of thing that steer keeps telling me I should learn how to do better. Apparently it's a crucially important part of human communication, all this apparently vacuous chatter about nothing much.
What you get from a Facebook status update is more or less what you'd get if you saw someone fairly regularly... all the mundane details of someone's life that you chat about idly when you have nothing really to say (but which apparently make a person feel loved and wanted *snort*). I would love the ability to have face to face conversations which consisted simply of this:
Person: I'm having a cup of tea
K: *likes*
Person: *feels loved and wanted*
Sometimes that's the only level of conversation you want with some people, or need to have to maintain some semblance of staying in touch. I like the idea that Facebook is small talk for introverts. It makes it possible to build up a closer friendship at some stage, instead of having the yawning gap of years of no contact at all, by which point it's much harder to know where to start.
I think we should pick a day when everyone changes their status update to record the fact that they're having a cup of tea, or alternatively, *insert beverage of your choice*. |
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| Maybe thieves just have standards? |
[Jun. 22nd, 2009|07:46 pm] |
With apologies for linking to an article in the Daily Fail: here's a story about how long it takes to have a bike nicked if you leave it unlocked in a city centre - Liverpool came out best. Still not great, as it was pinched anyway, and 'Liverpudlians not as quick off the mark as London bike thieves' is hardly a selling point.
Years ago when my uncle was living in Belfast, he tried to have his car pinched because it was a complete wreck and he couldn't afford to have it mended. He left it unlocked on the Falls Road, assuming that with its fearsome local reputation for pilfering and vandalism the car would be gone in a matter of hours. Three days, it took, for his car to be pinched and burned out somewhere. |
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| Happy solstice! |
[Jun. 21st, 2009|10:01 pm] |
noctulita and I went to Kilnsea (near Spurn Point, on the north bank of the mouth of the Humber) to watch the sun rise over the sea. It's a long journey and we made it with only a few minutes to spare. Well worth it though, the sunrise was stunning, with just enough space between the horizon and a thick bank of cloud above the sea to watch the sun rise for ten minutes before it disappeared again.
We then took a rather tortuous route back through the Wolds and Howardian Hills to Husthwaite (near Thirsk) to have breakfast with my aunt before finally getting back to York soon after 9am. This part of the trip took us through Wetwang (in memory of Richard Whiteley) and past the Cittie of Troy turf labyrinth near Brandsby. It was beautiful. |
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