... I'd write my autobiography, but no-one would believe it....
If you come across any words you don't recognise in this blog, take a look at the Taylorspeke Glossary in the left-hand infopane, you'll usually find a definition there.
There's room for one - or maybe two, at a pinch - more on that bedroom windowsill (the only one in the house that's ideal for them). Let's see what I find. Well, that didn't last long...
EO - Everlasting orchid. Phalaenopsis. I've had this orchid since 2007 and it just keeps flowering...
AO - Alien face orchid. Phalaenopsis . Bought 2018 - lovely little flowers, all different patterns!
RO - Rescued orchid photo to come when it flowers. Phalaenopsis. Rescued from a bin up the road in 2019. Classic!
TO - Tiny orchid. Phalaenopsis. Bought at Tesco 21.8.20. It just begged to come home with me. How could I say no?
CO - Crimson orchid. Cambria. Another Tesco find. This one may be going to live in Ken's room once we've redecorated and put up the new shelving; it prefers a cooler, less sunny windowsill. If so, I'll need to find another cambrian to keep it company.
GO - Golden orchid. Phalaenopsis. Saw this one when I bought CO and left it behind - then immediately regretted it as soon as I got home. Never seen one like it before. Ken, bless him, went back over to Tesco in the rain and bought it for me...
DO - Dendrobium Orchid. Smells of wisteria, so beautiful...
RO2 - Rescued orchid no 2. Phalaenopsis. This is the one I rescued from the wall along the road middle of 2021.
PO. Pink orchid. Phalaenopsis. This is the one I bought at Cabury Garden Centre on special, late 2021. It's much happier here!
TWO. Teeny weeny orchid, Phalaenopsis. Rescued from Tesco end 2021 (I think).
"Autumnal - nothing to do with leaves. It is to do with a certain brownness at the edges
of the day...
Brown is creeping up on us, take my word for it... Russets and tangerine shades of old gold flushing the very outside
edge of the
senses... deep shining ochres, burnt umber and parchments of baked earth - reflecting on itself and through itself,
filtering the light. At
such times, perhaps, coincidentally, the leaves might fall, somewhere..."
(Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
are Dead Act
2: Tom Stoppard)
Autumn...
I love this time of year. I love the colours, the sharp slant of sunlight on the trees, mosaics of acid-yellow and harts-
blood, velvet and
darkness and a haze of mist-grey over the hills. I love its immanence, its mellowness, the tang of frost just around the
corner of the
year...
Watching the little birds in the goat-willow in my garden, I realised something more.
I love this land with a fierce, possessive love, deep-rooted in two thousand years of history. From the frosted beaches
and cloud-brushing peaks of the north to the wind-haunted meanderings of the rivers of the east, from the sensuous
rolling patchworked hills of
the south to the demanding dark moors of the west, this land seeps into bone and blood and synapse, mother of
motley nobility,
culture, individual freedoms. It can be known. It can be understood. It can be felt deep inside.
I love its effortless eccentricities, its vigour and vibrancy, its flawed perfections, its silent strength and tenacious
resilience, its hard-won tolerances and intense and variable beauty, the profound energy in its sacred mythical
landscape.
Home and more-than-home, the forces that shape and protect and bind, in me, as I am in the land. Love returning love
in the stillness
for those who'll only take the time to listen...
Currently reading:
Cixin Liu - newest favourite author.
Ben Miller. wow. Just, wow...
Currently working on: Haadri
Dystopic novel starring Devon from Dystopia
Currently chuffed with: My garden
Currently miffed at:
Effing BND (you know who I mean) Nestlé, TFG Tinyhands Fart, Toadface Farage
Currently maintaining:
Wavewrights, on and off... BCHS BCW
Blog Pics I've gathered some of my pages of photos together: the page of links is here. I'll be adding more as time goes
by!
Evil Squid
A Little Glossary of Taylorspeke
(in no particular order)
plit popints - n. Typo for 'plot points' typed on a keyboard with more than half the characters worn off...
[PING] (alt [ping]) - n. A brainwave. The text equivalent of a lightbulb going on blindingly over someone's head. Usually mine. And usually at the most inconvenient of times. [sigh]
TPTB - The Powers That Be.
wulmet - n. A person of little or no talent who somehow inveigles himself into a position where he is in power over other, far more talented people and uses his position to downplay them in order to try to make himself feel superior.
biteable - referring to an anatomical part vb, tasty.
Flatterfed - vb. 27.02.08: my typo for flattered, but since it's so cutely apt I thought it would fit nicely
here. Lutra defined it as "the lovely warm feeling of satisfaction resulting from enthusiastic reviews..." (which I've been
getting for my MB fics).
Composted - vb, 'compos mentis', mentally capable of working. Contrast with
uncomposted or non-
composted, not 'compos mentis', not capable of working, hungover...
Cumbles - n, cucumbers.
Kewp - how Ken says 'thank you'. We rather like Lutra's 'nanx', too...
Musekick - noun, music, without which I cannot work.
'feinne - noun, caffeine, essential for correct mental functioning, especially first thing in the morning. I
prefer mine in the
form of SodaStream Diet Coke. And on that subject...
Skoosh - verb, noun. To skoosh - to add CO2 to a sodastream bottle filled with water to make it
fizzy, prior to adding
Diet Coke syrup (or just drinking as sparkling water). A skoosh - a bottle of water that has been skooshed. Skooshy
- something that
has been skooshed, water, or that whipped cream that comes in tins you have to shake then upend and press the
nozzle...
Shoogle - verb. To shake gently, for example, of roast potatoes in a roasting tin to ensure they're
covered with oil. I
have vague memories of this being a real Scottish colloquialism...
Stegasaurus - n, spider of the genus tegenaria. Why? No idea. I just find it easier, that's
all...
Edit 08.09.07: Lutra thinks that Brian is a good name for a mini-stegasaurus. From now on, any 'Brian's in the posts
may be assumed to be a tegenaria. Except where otherwise specified.
Viterals - noun, vitamins + minerals. Also a pun on victuals.
Splish - verb. A combination of slosh and splash.
Parrots - noun, paracetemol (from the old joke "Why are there no aspirin tablets in the jungle?
Because the parrots eat
'em all...")
Maggles - noun, magpies. As opposed to non-magical people.
Flamewings - noun. Swifts. So called because the first time we became aware of them was an early
summer evening
when they were flying high, the light from the setting sun seemingly turning their wings to flames. Lovely little birds. We
always know
summer's arrived when we hear their high-pitched squeeing.
Murfs - noun, moths.
Peasant cut - noun, roughly cut up into big chunks, e.g. vegetables chopped in a hurry for a
hearty stew or
soup. By extension, anything prepared in a hurry - haircut, material, even a first draft of a story...
Giraffe - noun, a carafe (of wine, coffee or water, for example).
Shrumps - noun, mushrooms.
Splings - noun, Kai's spelling homework: by extension, any spelling.
Tyops - noun, typos. var toyps, typso, psyto, psoyt, etc. Usual result of a dose of the
fingerials (see next
entry).
Fingerials - (pr. fin GEEE ree yalls) noun, fingers that will not type what you want
them to.
Haddock - noun, time, of which I never have enough. (Origin of this term here.)
Sleep - noun? vb? a.k.a. sheeeeeeeeep.... I used to know what this word
meant...
:: World Timeserver For checking the current time around this world
:: Universal Currency Converter Actually it's just a terran-global currency
converter, not universal,
but it's still useful...
So what is it with the
haddock? Am I some kind of fish freak?
I'll leave that to
others to decide.
The tale (or tail if you prefer) harks back
to October 2000, when my GoodTwin and I, ably assisted by Sue,
ran the first UK Professionals convention... It's common
knowledge that I never have enough time, and I was determined
not to bewail the fact that weekend: hence I promised not to use the
'T' word... Of course, that didn't really work (if nothing else I
had to let the trainees know what times things were supposed to be
happening!) so we decided a substitute word would be employed
instead. There were several suggestions. Banana came very close to
being chosen. However, I eventually decided that 'haddock' fitted
the bill nicely. Ever since, haddock=time. Hence the title of my forthcoming
autobiography, My Half-Life in the Haddock
Space Continuum....
Normally I wouldn't, but these
were just irresistible...
These
Too-Kawaii Kitties were adopted from Ghost's Anime
Page (which appears to have disappeared, alas...)
Anime still needed to complete series' I'm collecting...
Many thanks to everyone who has helped me acquire the collection!
Ai no Kusabi
Owned:
DVD Dj: June Special CD: Ambivalence
Cyber City Oedo 808
Owned:
DVD
All 3 eps on Video, dubbed Dj: Cyberage 1-3
Illustrated Book 2 (Benten's) in Japanese
From Eroica with Love
Owned: Manga Vols 1, 9, 11
Mirage of Blaze
Owned:
DVD Vol 1 (eps 1-4)
R.G. Veda
Owned: English Manga: Vol 1 Japanese Manga: Vol 1-7 complete Tarot Pack
R.G.Veda video
Twelve Kingdoms
Owned: Anime Vol 1-12: complete
Under the Glass Moon
Owned: Manga Vol 1, 2
Vol 3 needed
Vampire Hunter D - Bloodlust
Owned:
DVD
Vampire Hunter D Book 1
New Vampire Miyu
Owned:
(Studio Ironcat) Manga Vols 1 -5 (complete)
Yami no Matsuei
Owned:
Viz Manga: English translation, Vols 1 - 11 (complete: I believe vol 12 is only available online)
Japanese 3-DVD set
Central Park Media: Descendants of Darkness Vol. 1, English/Japanese subbed.
Sketchbook
[::..Joules SP fied..::]
... this is Terra? How the hell'd I end up here...?
It's been an interesting month. Friday is now dedicated to me writing (will continue with the WIP when I've posted this): TV off and music on. It would work rather better if things didn't keep happening on Fri...
Last week it was Virgin Media. I've recorded the BBC One Show ep from a month ago with an interview with Keifer Sutherland and Kai spent a couple of days trying to record it to disc for me, using the scart and usb sockets on the back of our new black box. To absolutely no avail, regardless of which connector/cables we tried (£40 worth so far). So we looked on the forums, only to find it wasn't just us - none of them worked. Because they haven't been enabled. Cue a call to Virgin Media... After half an hour talking to the guy who answered, I was transferred to tech support, who took my name, and Ken's name as he's the account holder (we were going to change it to my name but they were going to charge us 20 quid for the pleasure so sod that!) - and she put the phone down on me. 40 minutes wasted.
Rang again, got an apology, and discovered that the TV 500 black box had the scart and (probably) usb sockets enabled and would we like one sent to us? Only problem was they needed Ken's authorisation. Which was OK, we arranged a call back on the Sat at 6pm, although when we checked the details the TV 500 was older than our current one and had a number of complaints against it, so we decided to stick with the one we have. Worse comes to worst, I can record the interview using the film setting on Ken's camera - not ideal but at least I'd have it! 6pm Saturday came and went with no call. Then on Mon I got an email from Yodel saying they were delivering the new box on Tues...
[headdeskheaddeskheaddesk] So it was another phone call to Virgin Media, who were very apologetic, said to not accept the parcel or sign the receipt and it would go straight back to them. He also guaranteed that our service would remain unchanged (it's different settings at their end for the older box). After a second email from Yodel saying there was a delay and they couldn't deliver until Wed, I thought I'd ring them and explain it was sent in error and not to deliver. Found they 'do you want to speak to someone?' phone number on their site, rang it - and got a recorded message saying to ring their new number (the one I'd just rung) and then went into that horrible automated thing where a human voice asks for information. Which I gave, hoping I might then be transferred to a real person. But no. 'Goodbye' [click]. Tried again, same result, looked up how to raise a complaint, had to register with the Resolver service and make the complaint to them.
[Cue hair-tearing-out session]
HOWEVER... Resolver actually worked extremely well, and I got an emailed apology from Yodel and assurance that they would return the box to VM, first thing Tues.
And synchronicity strikes again, as when I was later checking up the process for taking someone to the small claims court, the Money Expert site recommended Resolver as an excellent service, so I may be able to use them for Fixit too.
Success - but it took hours to get there.
And then yesterday afternoon I suddenly realised I could hear dripping. After half an hour listening carefully outside and all around the kitchen, we finally found that the water pipe to the hot tap on the kitchen sink unit was leaking (the one that we had put in Dec 2017. I'm really glad I blog about these things as I then have a record to refer to!) So we have Tom the Plumber coming to see to it later this afternoon. I'm just keeping fingers crossed he can repair it without having to pull out the sink unit...
Onto more fun things.
My hearing is now back to normal ('OORAY!). Swimming continues with Kim every Tuesday (except last week when she was in Gibraltar). It's a lot of fun. We swim 20 lengths every week. Kai's ferritin level is continuing to drop and his last venesection was really quick and easy. He and I got the bus to Wells and Street last Sat to see if I could find the marble effect toothbrush and toothpaste holders like the ones I missed buying in the sale at Tesco - didn't find anything but had fun anyway!
Media... We're watching Years and Years. It's compulsive, frighteningly plausible, superbly acted, and staggeringly, terrifyingly good.
There's been a positive rush of films being released to DVD at the same time that we want - Bumblebee, Aquaman, Mortal Engines - but I'm waiting for them to drop in price. We still have a huge backlog of things to watch, and I've just ordered Stranger Things season 1 and 2 cheap from ebay, because Kai wants to see it.
Finally watched Child 44, which is... disturbing. Baywatch (picked up cheaply for Dwayne Johnson - I'm kind of collecting his films as and when I find them cheap. I love his comedies). It's actually a lot better than I was expecting - gross, but in an unusual way, reversing the usual perspective. A lot of fun with a very satisfying ending. Annihilation. Hm. Rather good, but not as enjoyable as I'd hoped.
Kai and I have started watching the second season of Designated Survivor. It's very very good - and I absolutely adore the little (and occasionally not so little) digs it keeps making about politics and media in the states. Last night Seth mentioned Pres Kirkman not being seen eating Dijon mustard - a snide reminder of the media's (especially Fox media's) appalling treatment of Pres Obama.
This had me in stitches! It's so true...
Garden (front).
The planting is coming on slowly but surely, and showing results already...
Sleepy bee...
Can anyone tell me what this is? I didn't plant it. Not sure if it's invaded from somewhere else or is a 'weed'. It's rather pretty though, so will leave it in situ. Edit - apparently it's a Phacelia tanacetifolia, not native but very attractive to bees and insects. I don't remember planting it, so maybe it's an invader? Though I don't think I've seen it in other nearby gardens either... Will leave it and see what happens!
Garden - back...
Ken built a stone wall to keep the rocks that are going to make the path tidy and out of my way (the dead conifer has now been cut down)...
The cobbled path so far...
Through the greenhouse. I have tomatoes and cucumbers ripening already...
Sultan's Palace...
Indoors...
I treated myself to some pretty, cheap butterfly twig lights from Dunelm for the bedroom (tch', they've reduced them...)
And my alien orchid is coming along splendidly!
And to my joy my other, original orchid has a tiny flower spike just showing (I broke off the earlier one, by accident: hoping the orchid has forgiven me...)
Treated myself to a couple of little badges I found on amazon -
Quite apt, I thought!
Right, that's about everything I can remember. There's been weeding and hoeing and general household maintenance, but no further driving lessons: planned to correct that this Sun.
Lastly... Found on tumblr:
Good vegan alternative for those who don't want to throw milkshakes at fascists.
Bricks.
love the badges! [happy sigh] and your garden :) that movie trailer? I would watch the hell out of that movie give it to me! (clearly I've just woken up but when you said Ken had built a wall to keep the rocks out of the way... it took me too long to realise the rocks were the wall [sigh] )
The garden looks fab! I'm also enjoying Years and Years but from something I read recently, I gather the viewing numbers are dropping. Which is a huge shame because I think RTD is a excellent writer and yes, it is very prophetic.
3 Comments:
love the badges! [happy sigh] and your garden :)
that movie trailer? I would watch the hell out of that movie give it to me!
(clearly I've just woken up but when you said Ken had built a wall to keep the rocks out of the way... it took me too long to realise the rocks were the wall [sigh] )
LOL!!
That's pretty much the trailer for most blockbusters - certainly all the Bayverse Transformer films!
The garden looks fab! I'm also enjoying Years and Years but from something I read recently, I gather the viewing numbers are dropping. Which is a huge shame because I think RTD is a excellent writer and yes, it is very prophetic.