Hello lovelies
I'm here in beautiful Snowdonia with very limited wifi, but I'd just like to take the opportunity to wish you all a fabulous Easter.
See you all in a few days when you've all got over your chocolate hit!
Friday, 18 April 2014
Wednesday, 16 April 2014
Penguin takes a holiday
Hello my lovelies! Tomorrow I'm off to Wales for a week, staying in a cottage on the coast near Porthmadog and Portmeirion. I'm praying that the weather behaves itself but then again, Wales is notorious for drizzle and mizzle. That's the kind of rain that while not heavy, can soak you through while you fight to get your brolly up. No wonder you see loads of abandoned brollies in Welsh hedgerows - people have just given up and thought "Ah WTF - I'm pi$$ wet through anyway!"
So, in anticipation of mixed weather I've packed 2 hoodies, 1 sweater, a couple of t-shirts, a decent top for dining out in, my good jeans together with the not-so-good jeans. I'll travel in yoga pants and zip top and despite all I've taken will probably live in those all week!
The journey is getting broken up by a night's stay in north Wales at a small town where my great grandparents originated. I've never been before and it was an opportunity to get a sense of the place. My only dread is navigating through Stockport and Manchester, then the motorway towards north Wales. It's a horrible road to drive if you don't know it very well and will no doubt stress out Grumpy trousers. He'll need us to stop at the service area at Chester for a pee and a 5 cigarettes to chill himself out. Cigarettes for him not me. The rest of the journey will run smoothly until the sat nav tells us we are arriving at the hotel in which case we'll overshoot the entrance and Grumpy Trousers will take up to a couple of miles before he finds somewhere to turn round. He will have missed a multitude of opportunities in the meantime, and I will have turned off the sat nav in lieu of becoming homicidal.
So I'm all packed and ready to got. Just need to deliver Polly to the cattery in the morning, and cry all the way home because I hate leaving her. She'll have the huff on when I fetch her back in a week, and won't speak to us for days. Until I show her a can of Tuna!
Bye for now xxxxxxx
So, in anticipation of mixed weather I've packed 2 hoodies, 1 sweater, a couple of t-shirts, a decent top for dining out in, my good jeans together with the not-so-good jeans. I'll travel in yoga pants and zip top and despite all I've taken will probably live in those all week!
The journey is getting broken up by a night's stay in north Wales at a small town where my great grandparents originated. I've never been before and it was an opportunity to get a sense of the place. My only dread is navigating through Stockport and Manchester, then the motorway towards north Wales. It's a horrible road to drive if you don't know it very well and will no doubt stress out Grumpy trousers. He'll need us to stop at the service area at Chester for a pee and a 5 cigarettes to chill himself out. Cigarettes for him not me. The rest of the journey will run smoothly until the sat nav tells us we are arriving at the hotel in which case we'll overshoot the entrance and Grumpy Trousers will take up to a couple of miles before he finds somewhere to turn round. He will have missed a multitude of opportunities in the meantime, and I will have turned off the sat nav in lieu of becoming homicidal.
So I'm all packed and ready to got. Just need to deliver Polly to the cattery in the morning, and cry all the way home because I hate leaving her. She'll have the huff on when I fetch her back in a week, and won't speak to us for days. Until I show her a can of Tuna!
Bye for now xxxxxxx
Friday, 11 April 2014
Happy Old Bags Reunion
I consider myself to be lucky. Very lucky. I have the most wonderful set of girlfriends whose ages range from 30 something through to 60 something. They come from all walks of life, some are old chums from my school days, there are a few who share my hobbies and interests, others I have kept in touch with from the various jobs I've had, and latterly the lovely colleagues from my present job.
It's the latter that ended up with the dubious group title of Happy Old Bags. I'm not sure which one of us came up with it but it formulated years ago and still makes us smile, even now. Just to quickly put you in picture, there is a shortage of parking spaces around our campus, therefore it was necessary to arrive extra early for work to get parked. This in turn meant we'd gather up in the office with at least 30 minutes to spare, so whoever was in first would have the kettle on ready and waiting for the rest to arrive. Over coffee before work we'd put the world to rights, have a little moan here and there, and very importantly share a confidence or two that you can only do with trusted friends. That said, most likely we'd be laughing at some story one of us had to relate because we were (still are) terrible pervs. Age has no barrier to women perving! No-one could mention Hugh Jackman or a bare chested David Gandy without 'phwoar' noises being emitted round the room followed up by a plethora of smutty innuendo's. We'd set off snorting with laughter once again and I think it's this that earned us the name 'Happy'. We're still wondering about 'Old Bags'. You might have a theory on that!
 |
| Hugh Jackman |
 |
| David Gandy |
A few of the group have left for reasons of redundancy or retirement, but we gather up occasionally for a gossip-fest and leisurely lunch and this is what we'll be doing on Tuesday next week. It's the Easter break and we all work term-time only (one of the perks of working in education) so it's an ideal opportunity for the Happy Old Bags to convene. I know we'll all come away with our spirits lifted and glad we met up. It's a known fact that laughter is the best medicine, and I know that better than most.
Thursday, 10 April 2014
Warning about the Heart Bleed computer virus
Just so you know, I heard on the radio about the Heart Bleed Virus that is likely to affect everyone's computer. I checked it out on the Business Insider website and below is the article they produced on Wednesday this week................
There's also a link at the bottom to take you to another article about how it will actually affect you.
Looks to me like we're all vulnerable, and changing passwords MIGHT help. This is a right beastie though. Let's hope it gets sorted. Hackers make me so cross - I imagine people with no life, and nothing better to do. Grrrrr!!!
Computer-security expert Bruce Schneier has weighed in on Heartbleed, the security flaw that opens up much of the Web to hacks.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/schneier-heartbleed-security-flaw-2014-4#ixzz2yUExc9Ha
There's also a link at the bottom to take you to another article about how it will actually affect you.
Looks to me like we're all vulnerable, and changing passwords MIGHT help. This is a right beastie though. Let's hope it gets sorted. Hackers make me so cross - I imagine people with no life, and nothing better to do. Grrrrr!!!
Security Expert: On A Scale Of 1 To 10,
The Heartbleed Bug Affecting Almost Everyone
Online Is An 11
In a post on his blog, Schneier calls Heartbleed a "catastrophic" attack that
could allow hackers to easily grab usernames and passwords.
could allow hackers to easily grab usernames and passwords.
"On a scale of 1 to 10, this is an 11," he writes.
Heartbleed is a flaw in OpenSSL, or the standard encryption many sites and online
services use to keep your username and password encrypted. In theory, a hacker
can use the Heartbleed flaw to access passwords, encrypted communications such
as instant messages, and credit-card information.
services use to keep your username and password encrypted. In theory, a hacker
can use the Heartbleed flaw to access passwords, encrypted communications such
as instant messages, and credit-card information.
Schneier speculates that someone could have intentionally added the Heartbleed bug
to OpenSSL, but it's more likely the case that it got in there by accident.
to OpenSSL, but it's more likely the case that it got in there by accident.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/schneier-heartbleed-security-flaw-2014-4#ixzz2yUExc9Ha
Wednesday, 9 April 2014
Single minded, or multi tasker?
Hey you! How are you today? Better than the weather I hope.
I was surprised to find it's been over a week since I last posted. I have really missed tapping away at the keyboard as my thoughts fall out of my head through to my fingers. A couple of reasons for my silence is that I've been a bit busy, and also under the weather.
I've been right off-colour for a while but I know the cause so I'm not too worried. It's just the pain in my hip getting me down. I get the MRI scan on my foot tomorrow so within a short while I'll know the outcome and what the course of action is going to be. In the meantime, I'll keep shoving more chemicals into my body hope they keep the pain at bay.
So, the busy bit.....Grumpy Trousers is working on the family ancestry (his side) and literally has stuff everywhere! I don't mind a bit of untidiness, but his just takes over. Kitchen worktops, dining room table, spare sofa, spare bed, and any available floor space. Quite honestly, if we found him a barn to work in, it wouldn't be big enough! There's nowhere I can go to do anything without having to shift his stuff first. It's not mess of course, just a bit of organised chaos. It's how he seems to work. But frustrating for me because I end up having to deal with it before I can set to and make meals, or set the table. It's actually better if I shout out to him to move it himself then I don't get into bother for putting it somewhere he can't find it.
I do admire what he's doing though. I admire his tenacity and determination. I also admire his single-mindedness, and that is something I don't have. He can carry on with a job to the cost of almost everything else. With time slipping away he'll eventually emerge from wherever he is, declaring "blooming 'eck, where's the time gone?" Swiftly followed by "What's for tea?" Clearly it's his stomach that has a perception of time, not his mind.
Single mindedness is something that's in short supply for me. When I'm writing, doing research, or some photography I can get lost in time, but generally my brain is multi-tasking despite what I'm working on at that moment. I have this bizarre perception of time whereby I can suddenly stop what I'm doing and decide the time must be around 11am for example. I check the clock and sure enough, it's 11am. I'm rarely wrong on this, and I've often wondered how it happens, or indeed if anyone else is able to do it. It doesn't help me be any better organised though, as you'll see below.
On the other hand I can be inordinately scatty which I think is the result of creating several tasks at once - I begin with good intentions, and set out my photography project or writing for that day, then I remember the laundry so I sort it and put in machine but forget to switch it on. I've been known to leave the dishwasher half emptied, bedroom half vacuumed, toilet cleaner put round the bowl but has been there so long it stuck and won't flush away......need I go on? I used to be so good at completing things in a timely fashion but now I seem to bog myself down. I blame daytime TV, Facebook, Spotify, Amazon, eBay, face-packs, gassing with the neighbours (though not with a face pack on - I do have SOME level of dignity).............I can see this is leading to procrastination, can't you?
So, it all gets done eventually but with a kind of scattergun approach. I'm not too bothered mind you, there's a fair amount of coffee and the occasional biscuit consumed while I'm thinking of how else I can entrench myself in interesting distractions.
I was surprised to find it's been over a week since I last posted. I have really missed tapping away at the keyboard as my thoughts fall out of my head through to my fingers. A couple of reasons for my silence is that I've been a bit busy, and also under the weather.
I've been right off-colour for a while but I know the cause so I'm not too worried. It's just the pain in my hip getting me down. I get the MRI scan on my foot tomorrow so within a short while I'll know the outcome and what the course of action is going to be. In the meantime, I'll keep shoving more chemicals into my body hope they keep the pain at bay.
So, the busy bit.....Grumpy Trousers is working on the family ancestry (his side) and literally has stuff everywhere! I don't mind a bit of untidiness, but his just takes over. Kitchen worktops, dining room table, spare sofa, spare bed, and any available floor space. Quite honestly, if we found him a barn to work in, it wouldn't be big enough! There's nowhere I can go to do anything without having to shift his stuff first. It's not mess of course, just a bit of organised chaos. It's how he seems to work. But frustrating for me because I end up having to deal with it before I can set to and make meals, or set the table. It's actually better if I shout out to him to move it himself then I don't get into bother for putting it somewhere he can't find it.
I do admire what he's doing though. I admire his tenacity and determination. I also admire his single-mindedness, and that is something I don't have. He can carry on with a job to the cost of almost everything else. With time slipping away he'll eventually emerge from wherever he is, declaring "blooming 'eck, where's the time gone?" Swiftly followed by "What's for tea?" Clearly it's his stomach that has a perception of time, not his mind.
Single mindedness is something that's in short supply for me. When I'm writing, doing research, or some photography I can get lost in time, but generally my brain is multi-tasking despite what I'm working on at that moment. I have this bizarre perception of time whereby I can suddenly stop what I'm doing and decide the time must be around 11am for example. I check the clock and sure enough, it's 11am. I'm rarely wrong on this, and I've often wondered how it happens, or indeed if anyone else is able to do it. It doesn't help me be any better organised though, as you'll see below.
On the other hand I can be inordinately scatty which I think is the result of creating several tasks at once - I begin with good intentions, and set out my photography project or writing for that day, then I remember the laundry so I sort it and put in machine but forget to switch it on. I've been known to leave the dishwasher half emptied, bedroom half vacuumed, toilet cleaner put round the bowl but has been there so long it stuck and won't flush away......need I go on? I used to be so good at completing things in a timely fashion but now I seem to bog myself down. I blame daytime TV, Facebook, Spotify, Amazon, eBay, face-packs, gassing with the neighbours (though not with a face pack on - I do have SOME level of dignity).............I can see this is leading to procrastination, can't you?
(image from Microsoft Clipart)
So, it all gets done eventually but with a kind of scattergun approach. I'm not too bothered mind you, there's a fair amount of coffee and the occasional biscuit consumed while I'm thinking of how else I can entrench myself in interesting distractions.
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