So I get out of bed and step into a puddle. That suggests to me that rain is getting in.
I'd left some clean clothes out which had been dripped on so I had to have a quick rethink at 5.15 before going out into the rain to catch my ridiculously early bus.
And I came out without my ID badge which means I can't get into the building until someone else arrives to let me in. No sitting in the warm with a leisurely coffee for me this morning! Just hanging around outside getting wetter.
Growl
The house has sprung a leak from somewhere!
I don’t think it’s rain getting in. It’s dripping very slowly through the lounge ceiling but the bedroom floor above it seems dry as a bone, unless I’m missing something which isn’t impossible.
I’m hoping that it’s going to be fixed tomorrow but then I hoped it was going to be fixed today. Tomorrow is another day though, right? Perhaps Thursdays are better starred days for amateur Irish plumbers.
For tonight, that is all. Bed beckons. Goodnight everyone.
I feel better now. Getting paid monthly takes a little adjustment and it's Younger Daughter's birthday next Monday.
It took counting out some change and getting €55 changed into paper money but today I bought and posted a little something for her. I think it's something she'll enjoy and I have an idea for Christmas too!
Wow. The meter at right tells me that I’ve hit 1500 visitors since Twirling went live. Can I take this opportunity to thank everyone who has dropped by. It’s rather humbling to know that people take time out of their busy days (and nights) to call in here and read my ramblings. It gives me great pleasure to note that visitor #1500 was browsing on the Meteor Mobile network from Ireland, via mobile phone. I know who that is. Hiya, Polly!!
So it’s Sunday. I don’t know what it is currently about this day of the week. I wasn’t terribly cheerful last Sunday and haven’t really been this one either. I’ve hardly left the house today but had no real, pressing reason to do so and if I don’t go out, I don’t wind up spending money. It’s been getting gradually greyer all day and finally started throwing it down with rain about tea-time, with the consequence that both my internet and my mobile phone signal died completely for a while. Thank God for radio.
I then spent about an hour to see if there was anyway for me to pick up a stream of BBC TV over here so I could watch Dr Who but sadly not. I can get most of the BBC radio channels, with the exception of a few live sporting events which are licensed for the UK only, but no TV at all. Not even past shows on the iplayer. Never mind.
I don’t plan on being up much longer. I shall take the laptop up to bed as, once I have the famed electric blanket turned on, it’s by far the warmest place in the house. There’ll I shall listen to online radio for a while, poke at Facebook and maybe have a page or two of a book.
Earlier this evening, I had the pleasure of speaking to my Younger Daughter on the telephone. I say “speaking to” rather than “speaking with” because, as long-time readers of my blog may know, she’s profoundly autistic and has no verbal communication at all. It’s a matter for debate how much she understands but she has no recognisable speech at all. She cooed and squeaked down the phone at me for a few minutes, while I spoke to her and then she ran off giggling. Sounds like my littlest girl is doing well. She’s got a birthday coming up soon and the carer I spoke to at her residential school said that she thought Y.D. would probably like a colourful cookbook for her birthday. She’s always loved flicking through the pages and tapping at pictures of food she recognises. I’ll see what I can find. I was also given an idea for a Christmas present. Apparently one of the other kids there has one of those yoga/exercise balls – the big ones, which Y.D has fallen in love with. I’ll look into how much they cost.
Okay then. I think I’ll start powering down the downstairs of the house and go somewhere my feet will be a little warmer. Sweet dreams, everyone.
I had every intention of blogging tonight but I spent the largest part of the evening in the company of a delightful, beautiful lady and am far too blissed out to type anything other than how happy she makes me.
So for tonight, “I’m very happy” and goodnight!
So I’m back. It’s later than I intended and I’m in bed. Laptops are wonderful things!
Wow, I felt rough earlier, not to whine about it. The fresh air helped a little bit and I managed not to get too badly rained on. I now have all the makings required for a fire for whenever it gets cold early enough to light one. If it’s not worth it I shall probably just retire to bed.
I got my pretty picture framed this evening and also hung a curtain to hide a rather unsightly alcove in the bedroom. The plaster in the wall was a nightmare to drill into, to put up the curtain pole – I dread to think how old it might be.
I kind of think that I ought to have something to say as I’m blogging from bed at silly o’clock in the morning. I have no deep insights to share with you, I’m afraid. Yet again it’s late and I feel wide awake. I’m kind of peckish again, too. So much so that I’m probably going to curtail my ramblings here and go and get something to snack on.
I went for Bran Flakes. What I really fancied was a bacon sandwich but I’m buggered if I’m grilling bacon at this hour.
Luckily I’m not at work tomorrow. The way the shifts have fallen I don’t go back until Tuesday. Hopefully by then I’ll be feeling a little better disposed toward the firm than I do at the moment.
I’ve just noticed how quiet it is. I guess all the students have rolled back to their digs, there’s hardly any traffic going by and the night is dark, restless and blustery. Cold. Not far off a frost, I think. I can hear the wind, even though I haven’t opened the window yet. I guess I should renew my acquaintanceship with my pillow. Just relax and switch off for a few hours. See if I can’t drift away into the land of nod.
I’ve said an awful lot of nothing here, haven’t I? Sweet dreams, everyone. I’ll lay here and listen to the wind singing for a while…
I’m usually more of a late-night blogger than early afternoon, so I hope this doesn’t surprise anyone too much.
It looks like a beautiful Autumn day out there and I’m cross that I’ve missed so much of it. Without wanting to whine, I’ve felt like crap all day so far though, and haven’t felt up to going out. There’s stuff that I need to get today so I’m going to have to bite the bullet, wrap up warm and do it. I’d love to have gone out just for a walk to enjoy the day, rather than being sat here but I think that I wouldn’t have enjoyed it. I’m at a little bit of a low ebb today – I think that being under the weather for well over a week is starting to take it’s toll. For God’s sake, I’m going to turn into a paracetamol tablet at this rate!
Anyhoo, my plan was to try and collect some wood to help start a fire, rather having to buy any. I might still see if there’s any laying around but unless I feel a lot better once I’m in the fresh air, I shan’t be making any specific trips to do so.
I’m sure that you all know what it’s like when you’re feeling poorly – everything tends to be half-empty rather than half-full and it’s easy to drift into melancholy when you’re alone.
*reaches for bootstraps* So I’m going to get ready and go out. I’m going to strictly limit what I spend, although I do want to buy a frame for the picture I was bought so I can put it up when I get back. One of the cool things about living in a city, even a relatively small one, is that there’s always a buzz going on somewhere. If I can feel a little vibrancy around me, it might shake me out of this torpor.
I’ll be back later and I’ll let you know.
I bought coal today. Yes the house has central heating but I only spend any real amount of time in the lounge and I have an electric blanket to warm the bed.
I haven’t had the pleasure of real fires since I was a young boy. As of the age of about seven I was considered responsible enough to build a fire and vividly remember doing so on Saturday mornings, waiting for the television to start. You have to remember that this was in the days that between midnight and about 9 o’clock all the television showed was white noise, unless you were lucky enough to catch the Test Card.
So tomorrow I’m going to buy firelighters and find some kindling. I don’t want to have to buy that too but any wood I can find is likely to be too wet to burn.
I have visions of being sat here of a cold evening with a fire blazing to warm my heart.
Of course, getting the coal home was a task. After yesterday’s exertions with a big, heavy box, today I found myself walking up a rather steep hill with a 20 kg sack of coal thrown over a shoulder. Oh, and a bag of shopping in one hand. I am getting too old for this kind of shit. I made it home before the rain started, though. Considering how wet and stormy the weather has been here today, I think I’ve been pretty lucky to have missed getting a soaking. I wasn’t out for long but I don’t think being drenched in particularly cold rain would have helped my physical condition.
I’m fairly convinced that I don’t have Swine Flu. I don’t feel consistently ill enough to have any kind of flu, although as Polly’s noticed as well, it comes in waves. One minute we can be feeling fine, the next minute there’s a wave of…well…weakness, as much as anything. Aches appear but then fade away after a while. My recollections of seasonal flu are of feeling like death warmed up all the time. And only just with the chill taken off, at that!
The last embers of the fire are settling slowly and gradually fading from a pulsating orange to a tired ashen-white, still with ghosts of flames playing about them. I think it’s nearly time for bed. I could, of course, take the laptop with me but I only get about an hour’s usage on the battery and I can’t be arsed to carry the power cable up as well. I may have a Sunday morning in bed online, maybe but we’ll see. For now it’s time to snuggle in the warmth with a book.
Sleep well, everyone. Keep the chills away.
So have we had/do we have Swine Flu? With no underlying health conditions that it might affect, I guess it’s possible. If this is a head cold that myself and Polly have been trying to shake off then it’s a complete and utter doozy. “Ping, motherfucker” as a young fairy might have said. Better to get it out of the way, maybe. I don’t know. I haven’t felt particularly flu-like but I don’t remember ever having such a nasty, persistent cold ever before.
Isn’t it funny how just looking at a coal fire can make one feel warmer? And why have I never owned an electric blanket before?
Should I be worried that my short-term memory is so poor that I forget to even write a shopping list?
31kg is kind of an abstract figure until one tries to carry a box weighing that by a pair of thin plastic straps. Who can blame the Gard for being amused?
What made me happiest today? An outrageously priced snack lunch, an aviary, an unfinished game of Jenga in a summerhouse and the fact that a lad of 9 is so comfortable calling me by name.
I seem to bring out people’s inner hippie. I got called “man” today by one of the guys in the local corner shop.
I did the washing up tonight and promise to iron tomorrow. Maybe.
I’d like another glass of wine but don’t have any. Between you and me it’s been an awful long time since I had a joint. I mean years. In fact I’d like another glass of wine so much that it’s probably a good thing I can’t have one.
I fully understand that I’m never going to make a living as a singer but it won’t stop me singing at the drop of hat, nor dancing for that matter. Boogie chillun!!
I’m going to buy a television in the January sales (if they have such things in Ireland). As much for news and sport as anything else. I’m in no hurry - “I don’t need T.V. when I got T.Rex”!
I’m getting so OCD about formatting of electronic communication I’m now seriously considering going back over this to make it a bulleted list.
Life’s a gas.
I was bought a pretty picture by a pretty girl and must remember to buy a frame for it. See above for details of my memory.
I remember clearly January 16th this year and always will.
It’s later than I realised and I should probably try to sleep. Wide awake now, though. Thoughts cascading through my mind like copper coins in a “coin waterfall” at an arcade when I was young. For some reason, I remember going to the local corner shop when I was about 5 to buy 10 Woodbines for Mum. And that I could read and play chess before I started school and knocked over a jigsaw on my first day and cried. Jesus, nearly 40 years ago.
I heard a church bell today and instantly thought of my brother. That’ll never stop. In the same way the smell of engineering oil and sugar beet will always make me think of Dad. I can almost hear him laughing now, bless ‘im. Silly old fart. “Less of the ‘old’”, he’d say. Or Mum appearing unexpectedly at a gig I was at with my friends in a pub in town at the age of about 20, buying a round for all of us and asking the band to play “Smoke On The Water”. I’m going to have to tell you about my family one day.
Not now, though. Shall I tell you about listening to Radio Luxembourg (the mighty 208) under the bedclothes? Or about the number of times I’ve cried at weddings? Hopeless romantic. If you’ve read here before, you’ll already know that I like the rain and fog. How appropriate is it, then, that I find myself in a land that shows itself best in the mist, more in love than I ever hoped to be or dreamed that I would be?
Currently listening to “Love’s No friend Of Mine” by Rainbow. That ain’t so. Not anymore.
Sweet dreams, everyone.
I have guilt that several people around me, including the person most dear, appear to have stinking colds of their own. Granted this is the season for that sort of thing but it seems a bit of a coincidence.
There's a school of thought that it's better to get these things and get them out of the way. I'm not 100% sure that I'd subscribe to that but at least whatever it is, it isn't the 'flu.
It's turned remarkably chilly around here in the last couple of days. It was actually almost magical - the last day of October was mild, if a little damp. The first day of November was chilly with a biting wind which made it feel cold enough for snow. There hasn't been any snow, nor any sign of it, just plenty of bitter rain and that persistent lazy wind. So much so that I was moved to go out and buy a warmer coat!
Right, I go to check on someone. Tea or chocolate may be required. Maybe a hug. Maybe just a sympathetic, understanding ear.
I’ve had a stinking cold over the last few days. Fingers crossed it’s not the Swine Flu (nor is it Man Flu!) and I appear to be over the worst of it.
I’m sure that there’s lots I should be saying here but I can’t bring any of it to my fevered mind. I’m a little distracted, you see. I’ve been thinking about an IOU – I just hate to owe people and I have a very important IOU to pay, hopefully very soon.
I don’t want you to think that I’ve forgotten about you all. I’m very excited tonight, though.
I had post waiting for me when I got home from work. It was my first Payslip (not counting emailed slips while working for a temp agency) for 9 years to the month! Appropriately enough, someone picked it up and passed it to me. I say “appropriately enough” as the Payslip is neither the first thing that they’ve picked up off the floor nor the first thing that they’ve given me.
And I have an Electric Blanket so I’m off to bed to be all warm and cosy. Sweet dreams, everyone.
I had every intention of blogging something tonight. However since leaving work I have had the most delightful, magical evening that, now I’m home, I intend to go straight to bed and drift off to sleep with a blissed-out, loved-up smile on my face.
So maybe tomorrow…
There was a beautiful rainbow outside work this evening. A full arch of glowing colours across the sky. It's no exaggeration to say that it actually stopped me in my tracks as I was walking through reception. If anyone was amused (or outraged) that I walked out of the building to look at it for a while then they didn't mention it.
I think that everyone should take more notice of the beauty around them, whether it's in the ochred gold of Autumn's colours, the defiant piping of the first birdsong of the morning or a pair of shining eyes over a happy smile on a pretty face.
There's so much beauty all around us all the time, if only we stop to see it. It saddens me that people become jaded and tired and never notice the simple things.
Try to look at the world anew every day, to see the wonder in everything that shines or flies or swims or walks.
Never let go of that feeling.
It’s wet, wild and windy night in Cork. I can hear the wind howling down the chimney and there are occasional spatters of rain making it down into the grate. The wind is blowing the sheets of rain away from my windows so I didn’t realise how hard it was raining until I just opened the back door to go to the bin. It can wait until tomorrow!
I’m going to do some ironing in a little while and let my mind wander. I may pop back to the laptop and slip a few random thoughts in, then publish the lot before bedtime.
"A baby has survived after his pushchair rolled onto the tracks as a train pulled into a station in Melbourne, Australia.
The train had slowed right down as it pulled into the station and the six-month-old baby suffered only a bump to his head."
BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Baby survives after being run over by train
This is unbelievable! I can still barely bear to watch the footage but thank God this little guy was okay. It’s quite a story to tell his grandchildren I suppose…
So as I’m in training for a few weeks as of tomorrow morning, I should probably be in bed already. I’ve been strangely restless all day, though. Yes, I laid quite late this morning and then nearly dozed off in the armchair late this afternoon but apart from that I’ve had this “creeping anxiety” thing going on.
Not about anything that I can put my finger on, just a vague sense of unease. I don’t like it.
I guess I could write it off as my subconscious getting nervous about the new job but I’m not inclined to do so. You girls don’t have the monopoly on intuition, you know! I think for the next couple of days, at least, I shall keep my eyes and ears open, take care on stairs and when crossing the road and generally keep my sword loose in it’s scabbard. Just in case, y’know?
I have a new coffee table. This is a good thing. It was cheap in Argos but it’s quite nice, sturdy and certainly better to sit my laptop on than a chair. I’ve also got the curtains that I wanted for the alcove in the bedroom. They actually look a little plain now I see them. Tie-dye, maybe. I’ve got a few days to think about it as I didn’t think to buy an electrical extension cable and of course the power lead on my drill doesn’t quite reach the wall.
Okay, this is silly. Bedtime. If I can’t sleep I’ll be back later!
As seen from the bus stop near my place of work. The sky was amazing for about an hour. This is the only photo that came anywhere near to doing it justice.
I was in a rather funny head-space last night, as that stream of consciousness displayed. Tiredness, worry, anger and an unexpected question combined to put me somewhere not terribly fun to be. I’m not a violent man by nature, having inherited my Father’s slow temper. Last night, however, had they been within reach, one person may well have felt the weight of my hand while another would have heard what you might describe as a full and frank expression of my opinion.
Fast forward to here and now. I have a large glass of Tropical Fruit Juice and a pack of Lincoln biscuits rapidly diminishing. I also have a full-time, permanent job, as opposed the temporary agency-based contract I had been working under. Yes, gentle reader, the fear of my contract running out and my struggling has gone. I am under no illusions about the work I’ll be expected to do and have no doubt that I can do it. I’ve struggled to suppress squeals of excitement since about lunchtime.
So on Monday, I’m back into training and ready to soak it up.
And I got to make a cup of tea for my Lady tonight somewhere other than the Works Canteen. Today was a good day.
There was something written about doors and corridors and life by a far wiser man than I. He may have had a point. Opportunities present themselves like unexpected doors around corners. Which of those doors we choose to step through defines where our life will go. Only to certain extent, though. Some doors we may find opened for us by others and we have the choice then to enter or to pass them by. Some doors may be locked and unopenable. Others will be slammed in our faces. Some that we hope to walk through may be quietly and politely closed in our faces. Doors, doors, doors.
Corridors can be eerie things. Uncanny, in a way. Dorothy L. Sayers wrote that it didn’t do to think to closely about cats or bells. Corridors are similar. Passageways to the unknown, for who amongst us can say with certainty exactly what waits around the corner. We all have our hopes and dreams and God knows, I’ve not made a very good job of keeping mine secret. I hope that no-one reading this ever turns a corner to find something unpleasant waiting for them. I hope that I don’t!
Of course, unpleasantness can be a purely subjective term. For example, I would find a very hot, sunny day unpleasant and a cool misty morning delightful. I guess that some people might think that I was kinda weird and it wouldn’t be the first time that’s been levelled at me. I’ve been called worse things before though and undoubtedly will be again.
I have just read something that distracted me somewhat and I’ve realised that it’s later than I thought. So before I have a shower and run shivering to bed, I have three words to leave you with, laden with meaning, allegory and hope for the future.
Bag of sugar.
