Toast

I very much meant to mention something odd when I blogged earlier, but I was somewhat sidetracked, perhaps even blinded, by thoughts of the imminent return of Lovely Girlfriend.

The thing I meant to mention was toast. I drove over to fetch my son from his mother's this afternoon, and as we drove back to mine, I noticed the smell of toast. I asked my son "Have you had toast for lunch," and he said no. As we drove on the smell became more obvious. My son agreed that there was indeed a toasty smell pervading the car. This began to worry me. What, I wondered, in an engine, would smell like toast? Could it be the head gasket? Do they smell of toast? Perhaps I have a brake pad binding. Would that smell of toast? Perhaps the car is about to burst into flames, and the toasty smell is just the general odour of the engine compartment burning?

We made it back to my house safely, with no sign of flame, smoke, burnt out brakes or destroyed engine, but out of curiosity, I decided to have a peek under the bonnet.

And there, arranged across the rocker cover, was indeed toast. Somehow, I presume, I have managed to drive over somebody's sandwiches, and they have managed to fly up inside the engine compartment and arrange themselves on top of the engine, whereupon they have been toasted. Nice crusty bread as well.

If anybody else had a key for my car I would be a touch suspicious, because the bread was arranged in such a way that you wouldn't imagine could occur accidentally, especially given the design and arrangement of the engine compartment of my car.

But nobody else, to the best of my knowledge, has a key to my car. And as far as I am aware the bonnet can only be opened from within the car. So how did the bread get where it did? I don't know. If it was a strange random event, then that's pretty weird. And if it wasn't a strange random event, then that is weirder still...

Normality Nears

This is probably my final jotting before Lovely Girlfriend returns on Monday, unless something particularly interesting happens tomorrow, and I'm pleased to say that I did manage to do one of the things on my "to do list" today. I fixed my vacuum, and so, to celebrate, I actually used it and now have a nice non-grubby rug in my living room.

And that's it. That's all I have to report. Make the most of it, because it'll be back to a couple of blogs a month if you're lucky.

Travelling

I've had a great, but tiring, day. I've been to Newcastle. Newcastle itself seems alright, but to be honest I didn't see very much of it, because I was working. Nice bridge though.

Now, without coming over all Jimmy Saville "This is the age of the train", it was the journey I enjoyed. Whereas when I drove to Bristol last week all I really saw was the motorway, going by train means you can look out of the window. Sideways, rather than forwards. And this means you can effectively do a bit of sight-seeing. Today I have seen castles, ruins, Durham Cathedral, York Minster, the crooked spire of Chesterfield, and of course lots of lovely English country side. And actually been able to look at them for longer than a microsecond without having to dodge traffic.

Durham Cathedral looks magnificent, I think that was the highlight. Nice and visible when the train stops at Durham station, all they really need to do is demolish the rest of Durham to really set it off. York Minster is also a fascinating building, albeit one I have seen before, but still pleasant on the eye. The crooked spire? Well, I just think it looks like a wonky church spire and a bit odd to be honest. But nevertheless, still an interesting sight. The Angel of the North, it has to be said, doesn't look terribly impressive from the train, as you don't get an idea of it's scale (I assume from pictures I have seen of it looming over the road up there that it is fairly large.)

And the Tyne Bridge in Newcastle, you get a good view of that from the train as well. I could go on and on and on. But I won't.

Give us yer fockin money!

Not a great day today, but did get 3 postcards from Lovely Girlfriend, in one of which, sent after a visit to a mint (of the striking coins variety, not the Polo type) she says that they do this thing were they weigh you and tell you literally how much your weight in gold is worth. Which was quite a lot of Australian Dollars, but not even a fraction of her true value (how, after all, can you have a fraction of priceless?)

So anyway, as I have no intention of selling Lovely Girlfriend, but have something of a cash crisis, if there happens to be anybody passing by who would like, for no obvious reason, to give me money, it would be greatly appreciated!

Spring

Is Spring ever actually going to arrive? Or, has the Gulf Stream finally given up the ghost?

Probably not. Yet. But I'm bored of Winter now, I could do with some sunlight. British Summer Time does start on Sunday morning however, which is one good thing. I get to go home in daylight, cold though it may be. And today is the spring equinox, so daylight is now winning the battle over the darkness of winter. Lighter it may be, but a bit of sun wouldn't go amiss, surely? At the end of last March I managed to get sunburnt, this year I'm more likely to get frostbite...

Short Term Memory Loss

Drat. Really, reading back, I have already done the going to work in a positive way bit already. Last week on my Bristol trip. Never mind, it filled some space, and I was getting slightly concerned about the possibility of the house burning down which was perhaps distracting me a little.

Oh, and I forgot to mention rabbits. Rabbits. There we go.

Pie...

...well everything needs a title, doesn't it? And I'm shortly to eat pie. Chicken and Mushroom pie. With no discernable chicken. Or mushroom, for that matter. I may have moaned about this before, though a quick flick through the last week or so's blogging efforts would appear to show that I haven't. The joys of short term memory loss, eh.

Speaking of short term loss, this time in a week Lovely Girlfriend will be on an aeroplane heading home. This of course means that my infrequent ramblings here will be become even less frequent again, so make the most of my possibly duplicated comments about pie while you can.

It also means that I have just one week to cram in all the stuff on my to-do list of which so far I have still done just one item. However things are looking good for at least one attempt at "going into work with positive attitude". Maybe tomorrow. Depends on the nature and length of my sleep tonight, really. As I have a good book to read an early night perhaps is too much to hope for...

Wednesday, I suspect, is the most likely day for this strange event to occur as I am out travelling again, and off to Newcastle. The "Upon Tyne" one, not the "Under Lyme" variety. I've never been there, but I'm quite looking forward to going. Unfortunately I shall only be there for about 3 hours, and working. Which sadly allows little time for a sightseeing stroll around what I believe the locals call "toon", but I will get to see the River Tyne and look for fog and what have you. The only minor blip on the positivity side is the fact I am going by train and will therefore be a nicotine-starved wreck by the time I arrive after the three and a half hour journey. That's three and a half hours assuming no delays...

My pie is now calling me. As is the fact, now I look in that direction, that my clothes horse looks set to imminently collapse into the fire...

Tea

I have a mug of tea next to me. For a lot of people, I'm sure, this is not an unusual occurence, but I actually cannot remember the last time I drank tea.

It's not bad either. But I think I'll go back to the coffee next time around.

Gyratory System

I've had a great day today. On the grounds that a change is as good as a rest, I decided to get out of the office and hit the road. So, as there was a long outstanding piece of work that required attention in Bristol, that was where I headed.

Bristol is an interesting place. Full of interesting road layouts. As you approach there are lots of signs suggesting that parking and riding is a great idea. And indeed this was my initial plan. But a combination of there being no free parking spaces at the park and ride site, and having a really, really heavy laptop bag full of stuff left me with no choice but to drive into the city.

So, I drove in.

Now, in fairness, I had been warned that drivers in Bristol will carve you up in ways that haven't even been thought of elsewhere. And this is indeed the case. They also ignore traffic lights in ways that put even Birmingham bus drivers to shame. And indicators? Well, they're just there for when you need your hazard lights on when you double park, aren't they?

All said though, I don't blame them. A more confusing road layout with less useful signposting I have yet to come across. Whereas in Brum, people will jump traffic lights or cut you up basically because they are pillocks, in Bristol I'm convinced it's because even the locals haven't got the faintest idea what they should be doing.

This may all sound quite contrary to my initial statement that I had a good day, but I did really. I got the work I needed to get done done, and then trundled off to visit my uncle and aunt for a cuppa or five, and discuss the finer points of problem solving technique, ODBC drivers, Pink Floyd, PIC controllers, frog spawn, APIs, elderly relatives and bloatware.... and then I came home and found I finally had a post card from Lovely Girlfriend. Marvellous!

Catching Up

I am pleased to report that, so far, last night's "to do list" has been largely untroubled bar item number one - catch up with old mates. Though in fairness that was a slight cheat, as I'd already set the wheels in motion prior to writing my list. Oh, and item number 18, go into work with a positive attitude, was perilously close to being achieved today, and in a round about way could be achieved tomorrow.

Not to worry! I shall merely add more to my list if I start ticking too many items off.

I shall now offer some advice, linked to "catching up with old mates": the longer you leave getting in touch, the harder it is to actually get around to doing it. So, do it now. And if you are lucky, whatever reason it was you fell out of contact will be forgotten and you will remember why you were friends in the first instance. Alternatively, you will swiftly remember why you haven't bothered getting in touch for so long - and then you know not to bother again. Thankfully, my old mate Jim fell into the first category. Catching up was brief and then the conversation carried on pretty much where it left off three years ago.

So today has been good - despite it being a Tuesday, and I really don't like Tuesdays. And... its another day nearer the return of Lovely Girlfriend!

To Do List

Just two weeks before Lovely Girlfriend is back and a: I will eat vegetables again, rather than oven chips and whatever happens to be lurking in the freezer and, b: this blog will return to it's intermittent near dormant level. There are of course many other very good things to look forward to, but as far as the public domain is concerned just these two will do.

My new strategy for coping is to plan to do as many things as possible in the next two weeks, thus ensuring that even without my natural tendency to lethargy, I will not have enough to time to do it all, and that by this time next week, I'll be moaning about this, rather than the fact I am missing Lovely Girlfriend.

Here is my list of things to do, so far:

1. Catch up with old mates
2. Fix the vacuum
3. Defrost the freezer
4. Clean the oven
5. Fix the toilet cistern
6. Visit parents and extract dinner from them (though this may involve vegetables. Which may spoil things.)
7. Copy old bootlegged tapes onto CD
8. Copy what vinyl records I have and have not "upgraded" to CD onto CD
9. Weed the garden, and get rid of dead remains of last years bedding plants
10. Clean pond filter system (stupid fish are starting to thing spring has arrived...)
11. Write new material for website
12. Simulate and photograph crash landing of alien spacecraft in Welsh mountains for website
13. Discover new species of pigeon
14. Learn Latin
15. Attempt to cook something that doesn't come out of a packet
16. Single handedly sail around the British Isles on an inflatable matress
17. Design and commence construction of space rocket
18. Go into work with positive attitude
19. Create world's largest topiary ostrich
20. Invent solution to global warming.

So not a lot, really, but it should keep me busy...

Snow?

Last night, reading the weather forecast, I was getting all excited - something to look forward to today, snow. Finally, thought I, a chance to take my son sledging.

The forecast seemed quite definite - heavy snow. Excellent.

So, I tucked myself into bed last night and settled down to sweet dreams of Lovely Girlfriend fully expecting to awake to a slightly late, what with it being spring and all that, winter wonderland. And I woke up and found what? A few flakes in a dark spot of the garden. So instead of rushing off to pick my son up at the last possible moment, I had a bit of a drive around first. I checked on the local hills. No snow - well certainly not enough of the stuff to consider any type of winter sport.

Never mind, however - my plan had one obvious flaw - relying on the weather aside - I don't actually own a sledge.

Sod's Law now means that of course I'll wake up tomorrow and there'll be tons of the stuff, ready for rush hour and a nightmare struggle into work.

Comfortably Numb...

...was on the radio this afternoon. The live version, the same one that Lovely Girlfriend and I often listen to as we fall asleep in each others arms. And I had to turn it off.

It just wasn't right. I can listen to the original album version, I can even just about bear the Scissor Sisters version, but the live version? Without Lovely Girlfriend? Just wrong.

Luckily, well, lucky if I wanted to listen to a live version of Comfortably Number while Lovely Girlfriend is away, there happened to be a concert on the radio by David Gilmour, and in the course of procedings he and his band managed an excellent live Comfortably Numb which I managed to record...

...but not until after a cable nightmare. All I needed, to connect the radio to the laptop so I could record the most excellent Mr Gilmour, was either a 1/8th inch stereo mini-jack (male) to 1/8th inch stereo mini-jack (male) lead, or alternatively a 1/8th inch stereo mini-jack (male) to RCA audio connectors lead. A doddle, you might think, though perhaps only if you'd seen my audio lead collection about 10 years ago. After spending a frantic half an hour demolishing all known storage areas in the house, I had got to a point where I had two old sets of headphones, a pair of wire strippers, some insulating tape and the soldering iron, when out of the blue the perfect 1/8 inch stereo mini-jack (male) to 1/8th inch stereo mini-jack (male) cable turned up. Right next to the stereo, as it happens.

Then I had to actually test recording the radio onto the laptop. It didn't work. So, to cut a long story short, I had to download recording software, install it, configure it, configure the laptop so it recorded from the right input, and then, perish the thought, I had to put up with banal BBC Radio 2 for 5 minutes before the actual concert started.

But record it I have: it's not a brilliant copy, but at least Comfortably Numb isn't causing uncomfortable "I'm missing you" moments.

And now to complete the "Comfortably Numb" theme, I shall have another drink.

The Blues...

No, not a football team of any description. Perish the thought. That feeling you get when the sky is grey, the days are still too short and Lovely Girlfriend is thousands of miles away on the other side of the world. That sort of blues. And my excuse for not having actually got around to writing any new stuff for my website. Actually, that's not true, I have written some new stuff, but I'm not that happy with it. Though that could just be me being miserable...

Bereft

Lovely girlfriend has gone to Australia for a few weeks. I did think this might be an opportunity to maybe do some things I haven't spent much time on recently. Like blog. Or even create some new material for the increasingly forlorn and cobwebby website but alas instead I have just been all miserable because I'm missing her.

That said, I have at least made the effort to type this... so maybe... just maybe... I might find the motivation to trawl the dark depths of my imagination...