The Duck Pond
Tuesday, March 30, 2004
I had to smile at this.I waited until coming off the motorway before getting my top off and experiencing what can only be described as "the only way to travel"Dan you are such a slapper :p
I do wish the bloke from next door's office wouldn't wander round our office yelling into his mobile phone. Grrr.
Monday, March 29, 2004
Diving last week was a bit horrifying. I was just doing stuff that I've done before with no problem whatsoever only this time it all "felt wrong" so I had a bit of a panic attack and messed up big time. I'm still hyah though luckily. Next time I'll know how not to handle it as I was perfectly able to cope with it all but didn't because of the mad panic. Not sure what was wrong with me. I was incredibly tired that day though which didn't help. This week I'm bowling with the diving lot tomorrow, have a dive lecture on Wednesday and a pool session on Thursday so I'm going to be sick of the sight of them all by Friday, hehe just kidding. o/~ baybeee's got the bends...o/~ *shudder*.
Excellent beer festival over the weekend, drank lots of beer, no surprise there, and ate for England so I'm having to be especially good this week to make up for it. Excellent start this morning when I overslept (daylight savings I tell ye!) and missed swimming. It was good to see Ricey and Cathleen and Emily again.
Thursday, March 25, 2004
You can't be a non conformist if you don't drink coffee.
Monday, March 22, 2004
I dreamed in XML last night!
Sunday, March 21, 2004
Just returned from a weekend's delightful debauchery in Aberystwyth. I was pondering all the stuff I would write on the train but we'll see how far I get :)
Stepping off the train after a strangely uneventful journey I was very pleased to see Matt looking especially gorgeous in a black shirt and trousers, ready for the evening ahead at the pub with his colleagues. I had a good time, they were all as mad as particularly loony hat-making specialists and incredibly drunk but were splendid fun and even though we sampled the horrors of the pier I had a good old evening.
Suffered a bit the next day so my planned training from Devil’s Bridge to Aber failed miserably. I was in the kitchen, trying to decide with which foodstuff to nurse my hangover when a sound of drums and stamping feet, strangely reminiscent of the Uruk-Hai marching upon Helm’s Deep for some reason, arose from outside. I rushed to Matt’s bedroom to see a huge mass of people with banners and rainbow flags marching for peace. It all seemed rather sixties-like. Not that I know for sure what the sixties were like as I wasn’t there but how I imagined it to be. The drums were excellent and there were people singing and also a couple of people shouting which sounded a bit lame compared to the drums and singing but all good. Suddenly moved, I mentioned to Matt that I wouldn’t mind joining them so there was a sudden flurry of frantic dressing and donning of shoes and we rushed out to join the end of it.
My trousers are now far too large. Had to go to the charidee shops to find some that fit me. It’s a hard life. I got a pair of levis for 4 quid. Bonza.
On one of the four trains I got today (Cheltenham-Reading) two pissed-up blokes embarked, shouting and being stupid. One of them, unbelievably and completely unprovoked, slapped a girl only a few rows in front of me in the face. Luckily she wasn’t the timid sort and shouted “Oi, fuck off, how dare you hit me in the face you cunt”. They decided to leave her alone and went and made a lot of noise on the other side of the train. When the conductor arrived the girl reported them and the conductor kicked them off.
Yoga news – I can do a (somewhat shaky and brief) headstand! I’m in the middle of writing an uber diving blog which may or may not get posted.
Thursday, March 18, 2004
BBC NEWS | UK | England | Cornwall | SOS bus to rescue binge drinkers. Undecided of whether this is a good idea or not, all I know is that it's not a job I'd like to do! I would imagine that preventing people from getting so utterly smashed is better than 'cure' certainly but I can very easily just rant on about "something should be done!" when, really I can think of no realistic solution. Certainly not in the short term. If these people want to get out of their minds on alcohol then they will. Without some kind of shift in our ingrained "culture" this will be very difficult to achieve. Some little things could make a difference though. Last night I went to the pub (drinking cola don'tcherknow) to meet with a small club I'm a member of here. There was a middle aged man wearing a huge guinness hat, drinking on his own, at the bar, in the corner. He eventually got so drunk that he was unable to count out his money to pay for his drink so he put all his money on the bar and the barmaid counted out the money herself and gave him his pint. I stared in disbelief. Yes it could be argued that if he wanted to drink himself into an early grave it was his decision and his "right". It just all seemed so ludicrous and so sad. From a selfish point of view also I found him quite intimidating as immensely drunk people can be prone to sudden, unpredictable bursts of violence as I've experienced in the past.
I've visited the counties in yellow.
Which counties have you visited?
made by marnanel
map reproduced from Ordnance Survey map data
by permission of the Ordnance Survey.
© Crown copyright 2001.
Wednesday, March 17, 2004
!
Tuesday, March 16, 2004
BBC NEWS | Have Your Say | Rail security: are you reassured ?
"I use the trains nearly everyday, and I have no worries - I mean any terrorist trying to attack our national rail network, would be thwarted by the endless delays, countless cancellations, and a indecipherable timetable."Hee.
Steven , Gateshead UK
"I have no faith at all in transport security. Whilst sharing a carriage with some drunks who decided it would be fun to assault a member of our group and smash our camera, 3 calls were made by females in tears to 999, saying they were being attacked and where the train was. It took the police an hour to turn up at the next station, and, despite there being 3 separate surveillance cameras, they couldn't find the footage. When we followed up the case, they advised us that we had been on an old 'slam door' train that doesn't have cameras, even though we'd told them it was an electric train. After all this, the transport police said it wasn't worth trying to find them. If they cannot even protect us against drunks then how can they possibly protect us against a calculated attack??"Aye, something really should be done about drunks on trains, but no, they even sell alcoholic stuff to said drunks on trains.
CF, London
"I was appalled at how little interest Americans have shown in Madrid's tragedy. Local murder trials, gay marriage, business as usual-these take precedence in our newspapers. No moment of silence. We simply don't care what happens to you foreigners. Why should you support our wars for revenge and oil?"Yup but not surprising given the US lack of interest when the UK and Ireland were getting regular IRA attacks etc.
Ron Smith, San Francisco USA
And lastly:
Great for the protection of all in the UK, almost forgot that all the UK population lives in London!Hear hyah, although London is an obvious target I can also think of one or two other likely targets nowhere near London which are more likely to be considered if everyone's concentrating on London.
Pamela, Manchester
Pretty much my story too, unfortunately.
Aha!
Interesting that in the UK St. Paddy's day is all about guinness whereas in the US it seems to be just about eating green things and corned beef (hopefully not green). None of us are Irish - that's right, it doesn't matter that a vague ancestor's best friend broke his toe in Ireland, that doesn't make you Irish, ok? (this applies particularly to the Americans who seem rather quick to claim an - alternative nationality, must be embarrassing to be American or something) so I sometimes wonder why there's such a fuss about it. Ok this probably makes me sound like a miserable old bag and I don't mean it to. I love an excuse to party, I just find it odd when you compare the international recognition of St. Patricks day with St. George's Day or St David's day, where hardly anyone knows when it is, let alone bothers to do anything! Still, I like guinness so I'll not argue. Strangely I don't have a clue what they do in Ireland. Smirk at the rest of us, probably.
Sunday, March 14, 2004
The other day I was eating lunch by the canal when suddenly a poor duck came speeding round the bend carried by the tide. The poor thing was paddling frantically trying to go the other way but to no avail. The look on its face! Very comical and, of course, cute.
I managed to do 50 lengths swimming on Thursday which was great. I only made it because I was guilt tripping myself about the previous night's beer and takeaway, anyway this is bad in a way because being as bloody minded as I am, I will from now on have to do at least 50 lengths each time! The improvement in my strength and technique after only two weeks means that it'll be well worth it though. In yoga news I can now do a shoulderstand without using my hands to support my back. Now I'm going to start work on the headstand *gibber*.
Diving was excellent but a little scary now there's more pressure on me to do everything right and put my own equipment together and everything. It's really good of them to put a fastrack ocean diver course on for me and one other person though so I'm determined not to let them down! A very expensive hobby to get into but much healthier than a coke habit.
Matt came down for the weekend again and it was good fun. It's actually not as far as we expected to walk to Hungerford. By the time we got there my pedometer was only stating that we'd done 7 miles. I'm going to have to work out some more rigourous routes for future training. Maybe I should try to get hold of the suggested moonwalk route and start practising round there.
Last night we decided to go to the Lock Stock and Barrel pub for a couple of drinks. We were just chatting away merrily when 2 policemen walked in. They approached us and asked us both for ID. Lowey of course is asked for ID all the time so always has some with him, no problems there. I was pissing myself however because being 24 I never have ID on me anymore. I don't exactly look underage by any stretch of the imagination! So this meant that even though I was 24 there was absolutely no way I could prove it. I asked if they accepted credit cards and they said "Photo ID only", and with mental images of being dragged down to the station by my earlobes I was desperately trying to think of a way I could quickly nip back to my flat and get my passport. While I was dithering the policeman asked how old I was, to which I replied "24". He then started laughing (I suppose I should be flattered) and said "you're not trying to kid me are you". I shook my head incredulously and he asked me my date of birth and seemed content with the answer and let me off. I think I'd better start carrying ID around with me again!
Wednesday, March 10, 2004
Must be mating season for ducks because there's a hell of a lot of drakes fighting at the mo. It's still cute.
Friend failed to turn up to meet me after work tonight and after about 15 minutes of trying to get through to her I got an SMS saying "sorry, I'm visiting in hospital. Another time?" THANKS FOR TELLING ME AND NO, MUCH AS I LOVE STANDING AROUND IN THE FREEZING COLD, PROBABLY NOT.
Had a very productive day at work today and was in a really good mood when I left. This has been ruined somewhat by friend standing me up and Orange sending me a bill for a phone I never actually got to see because of initial shitty link. I'm still going out though, hurrah.
No message saying "WHAT A MESS, WE FINE YOU 1 BILLION MILLION DOLLARS" so I presume the house inspection went well.
I finished the Chrysalids. It's a very good book but very sad. Poor Sophie. I don't think I'd read it again but I'd recommend it.
Tuesday, March 09, 2004
Criminy! Not the article but the bloke:Dr Jeremy Sims MB BS MSc MRCGP FRIPH FRSH PGDipHI DipN&H MRNT CCCRegHe must have made that up!
Hi, pleased to meet you, I'm Elizabeth Wood BSc IRT REG DFSU TRHOJRTH RPG WETDF ZXD XMM XZCZXC WASS ERWER dfDSF
** banging on about swimming again**
Made it swimming again (thanks Paul again) although this time, even though I was out of bed and everything, I found it incredibly difficult to drag myself down the pool. All this will be so much easier when the weather isn't cold enough to freeze your tits off in the morning! I did 36 (or maybe 38, I got a bit confused and lost count so estimated towards the lower side of the scale) lengths and my technique, speed and stamina have already improved considerably. Usually I take a short rest every 10 lenghts but I didn't need to today. I also didn't feel knackered upon getting out of the pool. This is after only 4 times swimming! I actually felt pretty good when I got out of the centre too. Sun shining, endorphins flowing, my earlobes freezing. Good feeling (except for the earlobes).
** fatcamp news **
Approximately 2 years ago I was calculating my BMI (as you do) only to find that I was officially obese. I was really depressed and cried and cried. Really stupid of me to let myself go like that! Well on Monday I discovered that I have now made it within the healthy weight range, yippee! Only just though and I still want to drop one dress size which will take me back to the size I was when I started Uni (I thought I was so fat then - poor old demented me!). Maybe I can even wear a bikini this year although there probably won't be much opportunity while camping in Devon ooar.
Reading "The Chrysalids", as was recommended by that Deviant Matt. BLASPHEMY.
Monday, March 08, 2004
By some miracle I made it swimming today, I think it'll be a hell of a lot easier when it's not so damn cold in the morning! Brrr. Interesting that not many people were in the pool this morning. Most people probably find it an unbearable thought on a Monday maybe. Even though there weren't many of us in the pool and 2 free lanes, every newcomer kept choosing to swim in my lane until I got really pissed off with this one woman, who had awful perfume on that kept choking me as I passed her, and swam into one of the free lanes to finish off my set. Swam 36 lengths which is not much more than I usually do, but I really pushed myself. I still have that heavy limbed feeling I aalways get when I've swum hard (baybee). Dunno why I do it to myself. Must want to lose weight or something.
Sunday, March 07, 2004
Well I've had a fab weekend. Matt came down again to visit and also I went into Swindon (ewww) to meet up with my old friend Tasha. Good fun except for Swindon being packed with Ratboys and lots of people with pushchairs and the like, making it very hard to get anywhere. I always get a bit claustrophobic in busy towns.
My toaster talks! It scares the hell out of me. Firstly it banged on about butter in a scottish accent and the second time it shouted at me in a northen accent. The horror! Anyone seen red dwarf?
Friday, March 05, 2004
Cor
Thursday, March 04, 2004
"you'll have to find an instructor to take you out and get you wet"
I cracked. How can you keep a straight face after that? I grinned lots and tried to pass it off as being very keen and excited about diving. Poor bloke.
According to my manager, in the olden days[tm] poor people who couldn't afford bone china had to make do with enamel mugs that would crack if the liquid was too hot, therefore, while making a cuppa, they would put the milk in before the hot water to avoid this. Therefore I'm apparently peasant scum for putting the milk in first in my coffee this morning!
Hopefully diving tonight \o/
Made it to swimming again although not quite so smug this morning, just bloody well knackered! There's a slight twinge in my ankle too, this health lark is dangerous! Went out last night which I'll go into later. Busy busy busy.
Wednesday, March 03, 2004
The cossie had gone! Oh woe. Oh well, they had another one in the same style but all in black so I got that instead and will try it on in a minute. I hope it looks OK. That'll teach me not to be utterly stupid in future. Oh ok, it won't but I'd like to think a lesson of some sort has been learned here. Hopefully I'll be sufficiently motivated to wear it that I'll have no problem getting up at 6 tomorrow, but I doubt it.
Just seen an utterly hideous, horrid film with a rat-faced man. There's a funny and somewhat worrying noise coming from upstairs. Right now I'm off to bed.
Tuesday, March 02, 2004
Knackered but smug today as I got up at 6am (thanks Paul) and went swimming. Felt even more smug when I got to work and the estate agent rang me and said "I wanted to catch you before you go to work". How smug can one girl get? Swimming was good fun as it was separated into lanes of different speeds so there was no risk of getting barged out of the way by someone doing crawl at high speed and not looking where they're going as so often happens. Everyone who was there was there to swim too so no groups of people who do 2 lengths and then spend an hour chatting while taking up far too much of the pool and the best part... NO KIDS. Wandering around trying to find the lockers for 5 minutes only to put all my stuff in and then realise they were the 20p ones and I only had money for the 10p ones was a bit embarrassing. My cossie is a little bit large now so it was a bit difficult trying to keep my er upper-area in line. I went to buy a new cossie tonight and found a perfect one except I realised in the changing rooms (thank god it wasn't at the till) that I'd left my wallet with all my cards and money behind at work - D'OH! I just hope it's still in the shops tomorrow.
I have received a questionnaire from someoneorother saying l@@k w@w, free Lindt chocolates if you fill this out. I can buy my own chocolates and I get enough spam as it is, thanks.
Work's getting a bit better, yay.
Now I have to stay awake at the cinema tonight (providing I can blag some money to go!).
