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[Nov. 15th, 2009|08:36 pm] |
Will be in Edinburgh Fri 27th to Sun 29th November, as I may have mentioned... I have no real reason for visiting except to reassure myself the city is still there, so feel free to suggest any fun stuff that may be on that weekend. Current plan, however, is:
Friday pm, Dagda from about 7.30 or 8. Unless it's silly busy in which case I'll retreat to Dan's flat with a bottle of wine.
Sat am. If it's clear weather, then either a circular walk from Hillend, or Holyrood Park/Arthur's Seat. Foul weather - probably the farmer's market.
Sat pm. Princes Street markets, ferris wheel, ice skating: probably from about 3 pm (the rugby starts at 2.30 so *maybe* it'll be less crowded then. otoh some of you may be watching the rugby...). Retreat to Guildford Arms for a little gentle rehydration. Evening - Dan's, or Dagda, or Auld Hoose.
Any ideas for a place to eat on Saturday evening? anywhere both new and good in the last 5 years or so?
Sun am: there is no such time. If there were, perhaps you could find me in the Forest cafe with mint tea and a blank expression.
Sun pm. Bye!
It would be great to see any of you any of these times - drop a comment if you need my mob number or email. |
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[Nov. 7th, 2009|01:31 pm] |
Have just re-read The Crow Road and Agyar. The Crow Road is copyright 1992, Agyar 1993, and they both mention the first Gulf War and meditate on death and love.
Part of my brain is busily trying to work them into the same continuity. This does not work at all well and is most likely impossible, but does that stop my brain? No, it does not. Silly brain.
( Cut for spoilers and plot-mangling ) |
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[Oct. 31st, 2009|09:49 pm] |
I would rather not be in the office at 21:49 on a Saturday night, but on the other hand it's amazing how much more work I can get done without other people bothering me all the time.
Also it's being paid at time and a half :-) |
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[Oct. 13th, 2009|10:36 pm] |
A few weeks ago there was a cloudburst over London: very heavy rain for three or four hours. Walking over Blackfriars Bridge it was a couple of hours before top of the tide; the Thames was half-way up the bridge piers, looking brown and turbid and as if it wanted to drown Southwark but couldn't be bothered. On the north there was a curious-looking slick - at first I thought an oil slick: getting a bit closer, it was just water, but dark grey and with completely different surface currents showing. This patch of water was almost smooth, right up against the north bank under the Embankment, and running up and down the river for about 50 meters in each direction.
If you happen to know London at all you are saying "the Fleet Ditch", and of course it was. But this grey-black fount of water holding out against the muddy Thames was an incredibly dramatic image, and completely unexpected. Also it'd taken that dull greyish colour from diesel soot and petrol fumes and brake compound and tire tracks shoe soles and basically all the crap that accumulates in gutters in dry periods, which is a cheerful thought.
The north part of the Fleet ditch is a bit complicated to trace (although it rises on Hampstead Heath and is easy enough to find there), but from Holborn Viaduct to Blackfriars Bridge it's pretty much right underneath Blackfriars Road, if you ever feel you want to trace it. I'm not sure that you can get a clear view of the outfall except from a boat, though. |
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[Oct. 1st, 2009|08:52 pm] |
( books )
It's been annual appraisal time (in fact we've had to run through last year's appraisal as well, as we managed to skip it at the time but it's since come up as an ISO 900-whatever issue...). They still like me, there's still fuck-all budget for raises or promotions, but what they can do is spend their training budget, so I've been encouraged to find lots more things to learn. When there is a budget for promotions again I have a very, very strong paper trail to justify it up the managerial chain. And now it's over I can actually get some work done!
(I work for a FTSE 100 company, doing terrible things to innocent data. It didn't used to be a FTSE 100 company but we got taken over. As well as being an ISO-whatever shop we now have a competency model and 360-degree feedback.
I think I may dress up as 360-degree feedback for Halloween.) |
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[Sep. 15th, 2009|09:03 pm] |
I would appear to have broken a bike wheel. Oops.
(Great big chunk out of the rim, sharp edge, dead tyre, what fun.) |
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[Aug. 31st, 2009|08:59 pm] |
( Books )
Have also been for a short walk in the Chilterns. About 43 miles over three days. Saw lots of red kites, and some fantastic woodlands and chalk meadows. |
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[Jul. 31st, 2009|10:24 pm] |
Somebody was very rude to me a week ago and said I never post anything but book lists. This is... well, it's mainly true. Dammit. But sometimes I post recipes!
Today is not such a day.
( Books )
Also I have been to Santander and Vitoria and Ithaca* and Wellfleet and (today) Provincetown and I have mosquito bites and my first speeding ticket ever and a tan and I have to go eat leftovers now. Bye!
*Not going to disambiguate this. Sorry. But the first two are Spain and the last two are Cape Cod. |
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[Jun. 27th, 2009|09:13 am] |
Laptop dead. Bother.
Estimated cost of repair exceeds current value, as the machine is about 6 years old. Will probably put the hard drive, which seems fine, into an external inclosure (my word, there's a fine oxymoron) and get a new laptop when I get around to it. And in the interim I might pick up a cheap netbook to see how I get on with the concept.
The point of all this being that posting will be intermittent. More intermittent than usual, anyway. |
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[Jun. 14th, 2009|01:25 pm] |
Things I learnt today: chickpeas take up the blue pigment in my current brand of food colouring, such that when I add a dark blue tomato and garlic sauce to boiled chickpeas, I end up with bright blue chickpeas in a red sauce. I think it's rather fetching. I may have to keep a jar or two in the freezer to feed unwanted guests.
I wonder what happens with other colours? |
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[Jun. 12th, 2009|10:16 pm] |
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Diplomatic relations with the inanimate world have just reached an all-time low. I've managed to cut myself flossing my teeth; cut the outside of my cheek, that is. |
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| Beer. |
[Jun. 6th, 2009|09:49 pm] |
Dark Star Espresso: Coffee beans are thrown in after the boil. Smells better than it tastes, to me - weak and pissy coffee in a what might otherwise be a decent black beer. Just about worth trying, and some else might like it. In fact it's won an independent brewer's award so someone must do.
Caledonian Top Banana: Banana beer. Tastes like banana custard with a little too much vanilla. I don't usually drink custard by the pint, or even the half-pint, so it was a bit disconcerting. Maybe by the gill?
Harviestoun Natural Blonde: Now we're talking. Perfectly decent pale bitter, not quite as full-on as Bitter & Twisted but definite floral hoppy notes without actually tasting of grapefruit. Not mentioned on the brewery website (yes, I do research these things, just to make sure I haven't been hallucinating), but I suspect it's this year's version of Gold Rush. Either that or it was just mis-labelled, since Dark Star have a Natural Blonde in their range. (Pump clip was hand-written.) |
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[Jun. 3rd, 2009|09:43 pm] |
So UKIP posters have a picture of Winston Churchill and some nonsense about "end unlimited immigration now!"
...that would be Winston Churchill, the son of an immigrant. I'm not saying UKIP members are necessarily dimmer than the average breeze block, but let's face it, that's the way to bet. |
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[May. 24th, 2009|12:53 pm] |
C & A successfully married at the Liverpool Palm House on Friday night. (In the palm house at the Geneva botanic gardens they have a population of lizards hanging around and eating the slugs. I didn't see any lizards in Liverpool, though*.)
Both looked happy and kind of scared early on, and happy and relaxed later. I'm extremely pleased for them. Food was good. There was a letter of apology from Boris Johnson **.
C wore an excellent dress - backless to the waist, sparkly bodice, extremely simple skirt with short train. This led to a small part of me speculating about exactly how the Incredible Levitating Boobs were being supported. I know it's probably double-sided tape but I prefer to imagine superconducting diamagnetism.
Also I was made to dance. Bah. Admittedly dancing with the bride is kind of obligatory.
* No punchline. The bit about Geneva is true, and I did look for smart Liverpool lizards or slow-worms and didn't see any. I'm fairly sure there are lizards further north than that so it must just be a little bit too urban. Or they were hiding from the wedding and making snarky remarks about us all.
** "I'm Boris Johnson. Sorry." Well, more brief congratulations and regret that he couldn't make it. C was an intern for him several years ago.***
*** Yes, she's a tory. Wet tory with a social conscience, though, so I don't actually have to wear garlic and a crucifix every time we meet. |
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