Remembering

Today's a beautifully sunny day, and sitting here in the office I'm reminded of walking through Hyde and Regents Parks last November with a certain someone. It was a day much like today, crisp and cold, and the sun turned the leaves into a coppery mass. The Canada gate by Buckingham Palace seemed to glow, with its gold leaf caught in the light, and the Horse Guards were a spectacular sight, buckles gleaming and the horses' coats shining.

We stopped for coffee by the Serpentine, and watched the dog walkers and horse riders go by. Later, we saw a parrot, looking as at home amongst the English oaks as I imagine it would in the rainforest. It may have been a little chilly though - do birds feel the cold? I think so.

I hope that we'll have many more memories like this. What's the Kiwi equivalent of Hyde Park? I want to have coffee there, on a sharp sunny morning, and watch the world go by.

The Secret History of Revolving Doors, and other stories

I found this article while browsing The Nonist. I enjoy reading that blog - the prose is wonderful, and the articles interesting and varied in their topics. Where else would have a post about revolving doors that wasn't along the lines of "I hate them" or "I got stuck in one once"? Go and read it, and be drawn in.

In other news, research for New Zealand continues apace. The plan is to spend two years there on a working holiday visa, so lots of paperwork to be done and hoops to be jumped through. I feel like a circus animal, although one that hasn't been put down due to animal cruelty fears.

A shiny camera has been bought! Look at it, and drool with me:


So very pretty. I'm excited to pick it up in March, when I go to visit my boy in Chicago. Oh yes, I get to go back to the Windy City, and I'm looking forward to it. How can I resist this city? It has beautiful lakefront and towering buildings, green spaces and bustle, and most of all great people , some of whom I'm proud to call friends. Oh yes, I'm looking forward to it, and maybe my shiny new toy will be broken in on the varied and beautiful images that Chicago holds.

Dear Windows...

I would really appreciate it if you didn't lie to me. You know, when you say you're saving something, I think you're saving it. Maybe I was too naive, since in fact, you were eating it. Like a cat with a mouse, you've played with my work, ultimately destroying it. Unlike a cat, I can't tap you on the nose and tell you that you've been bad.

I know you have a habit of tidying up for me, but honestly I can do that myself. I've looked in all your usual hiding places, but to no avail. An old version appears every now and then, taunting me with its representation of eight hours lost.

(Later)

You've well and truly lost it, haven't you? If you were a naughty child I'd make you redo it all. As you're not, I'll just have to do it myself. Marvellous.

Poor work.

It's suffering, because I'm addicted to this game: http://www.aliciaramirez.com/crypto/index.html

Simple, yet addictive.

I'm not dead! \o/

Instead I am incredibly busy with no rest in the foreseeable future. Don't you hate it when real life gets in the way of other, more appealing things? Between work, getting fit at the gym (which is working, huzzah!), climbing and trying to have some kind of social life, I have virtually no time left for other things I'd like to do, like browse certain websites, get outside more, and writing. Such is the way of life.

I've been getting involved with a website and e-zine called 'Locution', which can be found here: http://www.locution-zine.com/forums/index.php . Good people and very good writers, they've inspired me to try getting back into scribbling things, which I used to enjoy. I'm not very used to writing straight on to a computer though - sounds odd but it's hard for me to think properly when faced with a blank Word document compared to a blank piece of paper I can soon make marks on with a pen. Funny how that works. I'm trying hard to write a short story for this competition ( http://forums.megatokyo.com/index.php?showtopic=1726987&st=0), but I'm already into the extended deadline with no real ideas and certainly nothing resembling a finished piece.

My new plan is to spend two hours a week while I'm at home browsing the internets, so I can catch up with those sites I've been neglecting. I have shiny new Ubuntu dual-booting goodness on my laptop, which I've not been spending nearly enough time loving, and it'll enable me to go to sites I can't see at work. I will catch up with my internet friends!

So anyway, how are you? Regale me with tales of passion and horror, because vicarious living is the way to go~

--
Fight slavery! www.stopthetraffik.org

Is it really that hard?

I tried to make a doctor's appointment. Simple, you might say. I thought so too. I phoned the surgery, and after a few redials got the receptionist on the phone, only to be told that since I'm not actually registered there at the moment (what with having been up in Durham for the past four years) I can't have an appointment. That's ok, I understand that. Can I register? No, she says, we're not taking on patients. Not a problem, should have checked, whatever whatever.

I phone another doctor and ask whether they're taking on patients. Yes, she says after finding out my address, not a problem. I just need to go in to fill the forms in, and then again for a 'new patient medical', and finally I can have an appointment. Um, ok, but I work in Manchester and you don't open till after I've left, and  you're closed before I get home again. You want me to effectively take three mornings off work for one appointment. "Oh, well," she says, "I can post the forms out to you, but you still have to come in for a new patient medical before you can have an appointment." So now it's down to two mornings off work. Can I do the two things together, and take just the one morning off? No.

Can't they just, I don't know, read my fucking medical records which will tell them whatever they need to know in more precise terms than I can? I've just started this job, I earn two days off per month, and I really don't want to spend what is in effect one of them sitting in a doctor's waiting room. Lots of GPs earn over £100k - surely having staggered starting times to cover from, say, 7am to 7pm isn't too outlandish a suggestion? Angry angry angry.

Anyway, Zen-like calm. Zen-like calm. Zen-like calm...

Hahahaha!

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse than those damn Heely things...

http://www.bbyhds.com/index.html

--
More people are sold per year nowadays than during the entire 400 years of legalised slavery. It's illegal, but it hasn't stopped. www.stopthetraffik.org

Just testing

Another long gap!

Oh dear, it's been a while. What have I been doing? Well...

I graduated, which was lots of fun and involved swanning round in a fancy gown with a fur-trimmed hood (oh, I love that Durham has Traditions!). I met Bill Bryson, who is our Chancellor, a couple of times - once for the Stop the Traffik campaign stuff, which meant that we got to handcuff him! Heh, he was very sporting and really interested in what we were doing. And he recognised me later on too! After the graduation ceremony, when we were getting photos with him, he was chatting to me about STT. Lovely man.

So I'm officially a graduate. And where has it got me? To an office in Manchester, doing data entry! Although I'm not actually doing anything at the moment (there's no work), and I'm only here to save up monies and run away to New Zealand for a couple of years. biggrin It'll be fun, the boy is coming too and we're just going to do back-packery type jobs and lots of travelling and climbing and other outdoorsy stuff. Yay for Master Plans!

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