Zone Doubt

2012-02-02T21:38:00.005Z

Glorious sunny day - which didn't stop it being absolutely freezing out there. Literally. Went out to chip ice off birdbath and refill with liquid water, came back in for ten minutes before venturing up the veg plot to dig up the last couple of spring onions for the egg mayonnaise for my nuked spud and on the way back down the garden had to stop to chip away the film of ice that had formed over the water.

Then I found I was out of the berry suet bird food, and had to bus up to Broadwalk to pick some up (annoying as I hadn't planned to go out today). Temperature's supposed to get down to -6° or -8° tonight, and be freezing again tomorrow, so put out lots of food and will keep checking the water during Friday.

play.com were having one of their sales, so I ordered the first DVDs of the Water Margin (first 2 eps) and Monkey (first 3 eps), for fun: the former arrived today so we watched it after dinner. Triffic! Shih Chien (Tattooed Dragon) was my favourite character (of course! He's pretty!) when I first watched it back when dinosaurs ruled the earth, and he's still fun today. Umming and ahhing now about whether Ken would like the whole lot as a birthday present...

Also reorganised my desk and shelves a little, to make more room for Tf figures. (There's now room in front of me for Starscream, though how he'll take to sharing space with OP and Sideswipe I dread to think). Have also spotted a deluxe Tf: Animated Prowl on amazon.us - bit pricey but very nicely made... Maybe with birthday cash!

Poppy4.6 coming on apace.

2012-02-01T20:57:00.001Z

Happy Imbolc!

[blink] Blimey. 20 19 more posts and I hit the 4,000 mark...

2012-01-31T23:40:00.002Z

After yesterday, today was a bit of a letdown, although I did manage to get good use from Ken's Firstday ticket and get up to kitchens (for a new salad spinner - the transforming one finally fell apart - ice-cube trays for freezing home-made stock, and a decent garlic press). Haven't accomplished much else though.

2012-01-30T22:41:00.004Z

Monday. I don't like Mondays.

Actually that's not strictly true. This Monday was surprisingly productive - the usual wash, watched eps 2 and 3 of Onna's 'magical girl' anime DVD (comments when I've watched the whole thing, but it's very strange. Though whether that's because I'm completely unfamiliar with the genre I don't know. Lutra tells me that having one of the main characters die off in a very early episode is a sub-genre, so at least there's precedent for that...), repotted two orchids, cleaned the waterball (the pump is now too noisy for the bedroom so it's sitting amongst my orchids making them feel all loved-up), made stock from yesterday's chicken carcase (with parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme - and three fresh bay leaves - picked from the garden) and got shot of a whole load of client stuff. All before lunch.

So not a bad start to the week. I have the proposal to work on tomorrow - really want that sent off by the end of the week.

2012-01-29T16:19:00.002Z

Next part of The Poppy Tales - Affaires - now posted - link above!

2012-01-28T22:13:00.003Z

[sigh] So I had to get down to Sainsug's yesterday, and while I was there I found they had Breville steamers in the end of season sale, £20 instead of £50. I opened one and had a good read of the instructions, then came back to discuss it with Ken, who thought it sounded good (as did I) and the price was excellent: he then went back to pick one up. Got it home, took it out of the packaging - only to find there was no instruction book inside (or warranty card). Well of course there wasn't - this is us we're talking about.

So I went back this morning and explained to customer support what had happened, and they happily took a booklet out of one of the other boxes (and kept the box back). I used it tonight - it's very good, with a 'keep warm' option. It has a timer option too, and is very efficient - will need to cut down the cooking time. The old steamer has done us proud but was second hand to start with and is definitely on the way out.

This evening we watched the latest Lovefilm rental, Zookeeper. We expected not to really enjoy it, but actually it's a delight, a little predictable but funny and charming, beautifully avoiding a cheesy ending. One to get when I find it cheap!

Back to Poppy...

2012-01-27T19:18:00.005Z

We had a pair of robins in the medlar, earlier! Fingers crossed for birdlets later.

I finally managed to get the OP pic onto my Deviantart account last night. That was fun. Now need to learn how to associate it with the overall Tf categories...

It has been manic here this week. And for some completely unknown reason I can't get IE to load (no great problem except I've been using it to download vids from Youtube). It was working fine yesterday - today, nothing...

Starting Poppy4.5 tonight.

2012-01-25T19:13:00.003Z

[g] So the pic is finished and now posted over at WaveWrights, in the Galleries, which I have tidied up a little - ye gods, it hadn't been changed since 1999! Sooo last century. As ever, I'm a writer, not an artist, Jim, but I think it looks OK.

Muse is happy now and will let me get back to Poppy and the umpteen other things I'm supposed to be doing. Although Lutra did wonder what his back side would look like, nudge nudge wink wink...

2012-01-24T23:51:00.003Z

We've finally been given our new green recycling box for the plastics and tetrapacks - saves me lugging 'em to Tesco and Sainsbug's every week.

My drawing muse doesn't bite all that often, but since finding the Transformers dance the Thriller vid on Youtube I haven't been able to get it out of my head (I blame OP's sexy li'l wiggle, myself), so of course muse had to stick his oar in and demand I draw a humanised OP dancing... [g] It's almost finished, and will be posted over in Wavewrights when it's done.

2012-01-23T21:50:00.000Z

And the usual Monday. Roll on spring - I'm itching to start planting...

2012-01-22T23:56:00.001Z

Usual Sunday.

Poppy 4.4 - Intrigues 2 posted in The Poppy Tales (link above).

2012-01-21T22:27:00.005Z

So, as a treat for the end of this lot of exams, Kai and I went out today, Firstday Southwest bus ticket to Trowbridge (the Town Hall is currently covered in scaffolding and plastic sheets, but that's what it would look like if they weren't there), via the beautiful little town of Bradford-on-Avon.

Fun ride, bouncing along winding roads barely wide enough for the bus. My father always used to say that the country roads in the South West were designed by rolling drunken Saxons wending their rolling drunken way...

We stopped for an hour at BoA, checked out the tangle of tiny streets called The Shambles that constitute the centre, and went for a walk along the river, where we saw a heron perched on a railway bridge pier and Kai caught sight of a kingfisher.

It's a lovely place, and we plan to go back in the summer, maybe take a picnic along the river. There's a path from the riverside walk up to the Avon and Kennet canal that we could investigate...

But of course, since I can't go anywhere these days without tripping over a Defender...

Snazzy silver too. Heh, and complete with its own canine defender.

Trowbridge was OK. A couple of malls and a handful of charity shops, where Kai managed to pick up the sequel to one of the books he's reading (James Patterson's When the Wind Blows) and I found a copy of The Forever War, which I read back when ~~dinosaurs ruled the earth~~ I was at uni and never forgot, so quite pleased about that.

Then it was a pleasant trip back as night was falling, Ken made fajitas for dinner, and we watched eps 19 and 20 of Heroes. All in all a very nice day.

And Poppy4.4 is three pages in, so hoping to have that online later...

2012-01-20T22:48:00.004Z

Today was a day for Minis (lost count) and extremely sexy sportscars. A crimson Ferrari passed as I was waiting for the bus, then there was a gorgeous blue beauty (couldn't see the marque, alas, and I'm no car buff. Well, more of a one since the Tf thing, but still...) on the trip.

Mundane day. Up to Broadwalk, back, into town for skoosh and soaps, then a small (hah! No such thing) shop at Sainsbug's. Legs aching now.

But tonight's sunset was beautiful. I was on the bus on my way back, so Ken took a few pics for me...

This - Transformers dance to Thriller - is wonderfully daft and very cute. Lutra's comment was "Oh, someone had way too much fun with this [g]...." and it's true. (Tf's from right to left are Skyfire, Hot Rod (latterly Rodimus Prime), Perceptor, Ultra Magnus and Drift. I think. I'm not really up on the G1 charas. Then there's OP, of course, and the purple one at the end is Shockwave.) It's chuckleworthy though, and very well made.

Poppy4.4 tonight.

2012-01-19T15:58:00.002Z

Well, 123-reg is now sorted out and the BCP site up and working, which is good.

I had planned to get up to Broadwalk, just to get out of the house, but the bus wasn't running at the stop up the road because the roadworks at the top of Talbot Hill aren't finished yet. (I swear that last week the note said it would only be Fri the 13th that was affected. It now says until today. Hopefully it'll be back to normal tomorrow...)

So it's been a couple of dull, January days with nothing much happening. Roll on spring...

2012-01-17T23:00:00.006Z

Kai appears to have quite enjoyed his Computing exam, yesterday...

Having problems with 123-reg at the moment. Last week the BCAP Virtual Museum went down - took me a couple of days to convince them it wasn't working - and while it is now fixed, neither Ken nor I can get the email or ftp working. I have no idea what they've done. It wasn't us, we've made no changes to it since before Yule. That took up most of the morning.

This afternoon was the first of 3 or 4 visits to the dental hospital. Feeling a little... not worried, exactly, but not exactly sanguine about the whole thing, and having a couple of complete heroin heads on the bus was not exactly the best way to start the trip. Forget images of broken eggs, just use this pair as a reason not to do drugs. They had the attention spans of the average goldfish. (Harmless enough though, and so out of it they'd have fallen over it you just breathed on them.) And what happened when I got into the hospital (after the 25 minute wait to be seen, that is)?

They couldn't find my notes from my last visit with the consultant.

[headdesk] Well of course they couldn't, this is me we're talking about. Apparently they have a six-week backlog at the moment. Someone did go off in search of them but never arrived back (I think it's the Tf haunting continuing, myself: while standing waiting to make the next appointments I heard one of the staff say they didn't supervise 'Cons...). But at least my x-ray was on the system so I didn't need to have another taken.

So the first couple of minutes were taken up by me repeating what I told the consultant last time. Then the very nice young (what's that they say about age and policemen? Like that) doctor explained that this visit was just to take impressions of my teeth.

Ick. Foul tasting squidgy bright pink goo on both top (had to purse my lips for that) and bottom (had to stick out my tongue for that bit. No, no idea why), and then a line of something white along my bottom teeth which was to show the position of my bite when my mouth is relaxed. And all this just to make a denture that I sincerely hope will never be needed...

Anyway, I have two 90 minute appointments in Feb, for them to remove the old root canal filling, clear out any pockets of bacteria and the site of the old infection, and possibly do something that to me sounds like they're going to enlarge the hole to make sure the filling completely fills it. Or something. I was feeling a bit light-headed by then. What happens at the second appt will rather depend on what they find during the first, and whether the tooth can be saved, I think.

So another month of painkillers, oh joy.

Just keep reminding me it'll be worth it in the long run, to be out of pain for the next however many years...

For the uninitiated, 'Cons is the short form of Decepticons...

2012-01-15T01:37:00.001Z

Poppy4.3 - Intrigues - now posted in The Poppy Tales (link above).

2012-01-14T23:43:00.003Z

Oooh - a parcel arrived from Asia (with pretty floral and fruity stamps) containing a boxed set DVD of Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika, with a CD of the original soundtrack. I assume this is from you, Onna? I understand why you warned me about the cover. So much pink... Will make time to give it a go in the next couple of weeks... Thank you!!

K&K took advantage of the glorious (sunny but very cold) weather to ride on buses this afternoon. They ended up at Street, wandered around for an hour (apparently there are seven charity shops along the high street!) then bussed back. The plan had been to come back later, stop off at Farrington Gurney or Chewton Mendip and do a little skywatching, but as it happened the forecast for cloudless night skies was wrong. Eh well. Maybe next time.

Poppy4.3 nearly finished.

2012-01-13T17:51:00.004Z

Tyjer is not a lap cat - unless I'm under the lion, then he can ignore that I'm there...

Kai had his Maths exam today. He says it was fun... [grin] That's my son!

We finally have a touch of winter - forecast is for sub-zero temperature over the weekend. I've tried to protect the few plants in the greenhouse - French tarragon, Vietnamese coriander and my lemongrass - but not sure it'll work. We'll see. It's already bloody cold out there!

Finally caught up with the client site stuff - 'ooray! Can play tonight. Poppy4.3 hopefully.

Finally, Sue sent me this - it's absolutely beautiful and it made me cry...

When they ask to see your gods
your book of prayers
show them lines
drawn delicately with veins
on the underside of a bird's wing
tell them you believe
in giant sycamores mottled
and stark against a winter sky
and in nights so frozen
stars crack open spilling
streams of molten ice to earth
and tell them how you drink
a holy wine of honeysuckle
on a warm spring day
and of the softness
of your mother who never taught you
death was life's reward
but who believed in the earth
and the sun
and a million, million light years
of being.

J.L. Stanley

Not often I say it - but I wish I could write like that...

2012-01-12T19:55:00.000Z

Shopping. Broadwalk then Tesco. Fascinating stuff...

2012-01-11T20:04:00.002Z

... ooops... Got so engrossed in a fic last night it was 2.30 am when I realised I hadn't written up the blog, and by then it was really too late...

Anyway - yesterday was weird. Woke up at 5 am after a mostly sleepless night (faaaar too hot) and couldn't get back to sleep, so headed off to do the Sainsbug shop before Kai had even left for school. So early, in fact, that the deli wasn't yet open and the bakery hadn't finished the first batch of loaves...

Got the next demi-jon of wine on the go when I got back, then more client stuff. Then in the evening the very long Tf:A fic.

Kai says his Psychology exam went OK. Tomorrow he has Physics...

Today's been... odd. Ever woken up and felt as though reality has slipped sideways just very slightly? Like that. Haven't managed to get anything useful done, even though there's some client stuff I really must tackle very soon. Maybe tomorrow will be more sensible.

2012-01-09T01:41:00.001Z

Officialdom, the next part of Consular, now posted in The Poppy Tales (link above). Enjoy!

2012-01-08T16:18:00.002Z

Ken dug the new heuchera bed for me - on the patio area, between the mahonia, the big fern and the grass beside the steps - a small space but it will give them the partial shade they prefer. When I planted them I found that one of them isn't a heuchera at all - it's a tiarella Iron Butterfly. That's fine though, as it likes fully shady conditions, so it's now under the mahonia. The other two are heucheras Plum Pudding and Ginger Ale. Kai has moved the native lilies that were in the space to his grove, where they should do well.

He and I pruned the bay tree as well - looks better now, though it still needs a little more attention. Next is the buddleia and the wisteria...

Poppy4.2 - Officialdom - should be ready to post later tonight. (And sort of on that subject, the Defenders are back. Even saw a new one, deep maroon with COUNTY stencilled in white slantwise on the passenger door...)

2012-01-07T18:39:00.002Z

We actually managed to get a little gardening done today, and pruned the cherry tree at the front. Well, except for one major upward reaching branch, that will have to go next year. Weather's supposed to be fine tomorrow too: I'd like to make a start on the buddleia, and the bay tree needs a good going over too.

Kai is revising for exams - he has three next week and another the week after. Fingers crossed.

Poppy 4.2 half-written...

2012-01-06T12:21:00.004Z

WAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!

[FUGE big grin] Ken says "Birthday present!" so he's now ordered. Take a look at the actual figure and enlarge it. He even has his trademark smirk!!

So that's with folks' pressie money. And Starscream was the one I wanted first, so I am dead chuffed. (Now just have to wait for the others I want - Megatron, Ratchet, OP but not the one they're currently advertising which looks nothing like him and is downright ugly (ignore me, I was looking at the wrong thing) Bee and Knock Out...)

In other news, it's been another busy morning with invoicing and sorting out some more books to go (we're desperately trying to streamline), and I now have some fiddly client stuff to get done before I can carry on with Poppy4.2. Oh joy.

[bg] Ken has just reminded me that WaveWrights is twenty years old this year. Happy Anniversary to us!

2012-01-05T22:23:00.004Z

Gah, still tired! Got the first bus up to Broadwalk to resupply mealworms and suet berry treats for the birds, back home, unpacked, then straight out to Sainsbug for shopping. When Kai got home we took down and put away the rest of the Yule decorations, then Ken and I went through a load of old videos to see if there was anything worth saving (about three tapes out of a couple of dozen). Still, it's made more space on the shelves.

Plotting Poppy4.2...

2012-01-05T01:23:00.001Z

Introduction, the first part of Consular (the fourth part of The Poppy Tales) now posted - link above. Need a new background tile but too tired tonight...

2012-01-04T20:31:00.001Z

Slightly less busy day, but still productive. Poppy4.1 now well under way.

2012-01-03T23:14:00.003Z

[blink] Cor. I didn' 'alf get a lot done today...

Up early. Read Nefarious (terrific story, that). Made stock with the duck carcass and the last leeks from the garden (though got a bit wet digging them up as the weather in the UK is frightful at the moment), put a wash through, did some major orchid care, including moving two up to the bathroom to see if they improve, took down and packed up my tree and the cards. This is GoodTwin's ->
Tyjer as a kit!

Then watched Dark of the Moon this evening, for reference for Consular. Tired now...

2012-01-02T17:52:00.004Z

Lie-in, shopping, then Kai and I went out to Hurrans this afternoon. They're having their post-Yule sale, and I managed to pick up three heucheras at half price to start my collection! Chuffed about that. Will take photos tomorrow, and try to decide where we want them to go. I'd like a bed of them eventually, I think. They do look splendid when all grown together.

I also bought another swingy thing for underneath the other seed-feeder, as I'm getting a lot of wastage from that one as well. £9.99 but it'll pay for itself fairly quickly.

Other than that, we haven't done much. Kai is back to sixth form tomorrow: he has exams later this month, so not looking forward to that much. I have Tf withdrawal symptoms, so will probably start the day off with a film. Or Darkness Rising perhaps. [bg] Only three months til I get the whole series!

Will probably start the next Poppy Tales ep tonight.

2012-01-01T22:39:00.003Z

Tidy up day today. Sort of. Have archived nearly five thousand emails from last year and deleted them from my hard drive: that'll speed up the weekly scan! Need to do the same with last year's photographs - maybe Tuesday when I have the house to myself again...

It strikes me that Yule and New Year were rather sombre occasions, though with the global financial position I suppose that's not entirely unexpected. Hoping things pick up this year, though I'm not too hopeful.

2012-01-01T00:20:00.002Z

Happy New Year!
Wishing us all peace, health and happiness for 2012

2011-12-31T17:21:00.004Z

So. Today... Two major lots of shopping, a general house-clean for the New Year, and the last part of Mechanism - Cogs (thanks Lutra for the title!) - now posted in The Poppy Tales (link above).

Taking it easy tonight with my latest Lovefilm - Cowboys and Aliens - though we'll nip out for the fireworks, if there are any and if it's not raining, otherwise we'll catch the London ones on TV.

2011-12-30T20:43:00.004Z

Rain, shopping, and Poppy3.9 - hoping to have it finished tonight and online tomorrow. This part should be the finale of Mechanism, but since the story is nowhere near finished I suppose I'll have to start a fourth part, oh woe... [g]

2011-12-29T17:47:00.001Z

"Weather should be cloudy with sunny spells until 3 pm, when rain will sweep in from Wales." they said. So we went to Weston-super-Mare for a last 2011 breath of sea air.

Yeah, right - 11.30 am...

But at least my earmuffs work (when the wind isn't ripping them off my head).

We didn't get very far, in between the squally showers, but we did find a café with a covered outdoor terrace where we had a rather nice espresso and the sun came out for just a minute...

Oh, and all the Defenders apparently went to Weston for a holiday. Except for the green one around the corner and the snazzy blue one in Eagle Rd.

Very tired now, and Poppy3.9 is nagging to be written. Will try after dinner.

2011-12-28T16:58:00.003Z

[frown] It's a curious coincidence, but ever since I put Stronghold in the Poppy Tales I haven't seen one, single Defender. Even the one that lives down the road has gone. So, not so much stalking me as demanding a bigger role, then...

2011-12-27T15:32:00.001Z

Anvil - the next part of Mechanism - now posted in The Poppy Tales (link above).

2011-12-26T13:57:00.004Z

Ironhide. He only came with one cannon (the one on the left) although he should have two, so I gave him the one that came with OP (on the right - that's your right, not his) to complete the look...

Food porn for Lutra... ->

2011-12-25T23:24:00.006Z

So, up late with a hangover after celebrating getting the Poppy Tales Xmas Special posted in time: had paté on sesame baguette for breakfast while opening presents. [vbg] Transformers: two text novels and six graphic novels (including Tales of the Fallen, which has a Sideswipe backstory/sidestory and a Jetfire backstory and delicious artwork...) I have a couple of days of reading to look forward to.

[GLOMPS] Sue (who also found a magnificent Tf:A OP head fridge magnet! ->)
and GoodTwin!

Had British pork and Melton red ale sossijs for lunch (very tasty) then watched Pirates of the Carib 4 (picked it up cheaply as a family present) then had dinner before the Dr Who special.

A little food porn for Lutra - prawn cocktail starter and venison with roast spuds, pork apple and cranberry stuffing, and steamed veg. (The Eton mess - raspberries, strawberries and home grown blueberries - was delicious but looked a mess so didn't photograph it...)

Then we watched another of my charity shop finds - a brand new copy of Priest (live action film based on a Korean manga - always a recipe for fun!) We enjoyed it - shades of Necroscope and Trigun - and think it deserves better than the dreadful reviews it got.

And now I'm chilling and plotting the next Poppy part...

2011-12-25T01:37:00.004Z

... tired...

However, the Poppy Xmas Special is now posted - Hammer, part 7 of Mechanism - over in the Poppy Tales (link above). I'm actually quite pleased with this bit...

The Darkness Rising DVD is just superb: the clarity and detail breathtaking, the colours and designs razor sharp and new-world clear. I can't wait for the first season boxed set (except of course I have to as it won't be out til March) Just stunning. I'm still finding detail I hadn't yet noticed...

And for Lutra, food porn as promised...

Left, smoked salmon fillet with salad and new potatoes, right, chicken in honey-mustard glaze with Thai sweet chilli stir-fried veg and Basmati rice. We had Iceland Cointreau cake for dessert and Sainsbug's Elderflower Cyder (which is out of this world) to drink with the meal.

Omnomnomnom!

And now I need to go fall over....

2011-12-24T10:15:00.004Z

[g] My copy of Transformers: Prime - Darkness Rising arrived this morning. (At 8.30 am, in fact, with a very loud knock on the door, after I'd got to bed at around 3.30. I was half-way out of the bedroom before I remembered that Ken was up and would answer it, and by then it was too late to go back to sleep... Still, I was able to get the chicken fillets in the honey-mustard marinade nice and early, so they should be tasty tonight.) The DVD has combined the pilot five eps into a feature-length film, and there are a couple of bonus features, so I shall curl up with it this afternoon. Lovely start to the holiday!

In the meantime, poppy37 continues apace, although I don't have a title for it yet. Aiming to have it online by midnight tonight.

2011-12-23T23:03:00.003Z

Gah. Busy. Up early to get to Sainsbug's before everything sold out (got the last two packs of raspberries, but they didn't have large organic wholemeal loaves so will have to make do with a small one), then back, then over to the Showcase with Kai to see Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. Mm. Interesting. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it. It uses that motif - Holmes plans out the fights in advance then they happen in fits and starts - again. The first time in Game I was all [sigh] not again... The second time it was [SIGH] Not a-bloody-gain! And the last time it was [grump] oh for.... oh, hang on a mo, I see what they did there... In places the film is quite clever. Though I'm not at all sure of the gratuitous slashy fanservice. And I could definitely have done without a naked Steven Fry. [shudder] need eyebleach... On the whole it's not at all bad. We'll pick it up when it comes down in price.

Then after dinner we watched my latest Lovefilm offering - Captain America: the First Avenger. Never my favourite superhero, but if I remember rightly it was a pretty faithful adaptation of the original story, nicely paced and of course with the GCI quality we've come to expect these days.

Now plotting the Poppy Xmas Special...

2011-12-22T18:18:00.001Z

Mechanism part 6 - Chisel - now posted in The Poppy Tales (link above).

2011-12-22T11:20:00.002Z

Merry Solstice!
Joyous Yule!
And happy 22nd Anniversary to us!

There was a solstice kiss in the sky this morning...

The sky was very pretty, even though they were only contrails.

Next Poppy should be up this evening!

2011-12-21T22:33:00.002Z

[sigh] Tyjer likes the lion...

So, shopping and the start of the next part of Mechanism...

2011-12-20T21:36:00.006Z

Ortho for Kai today. She is very pleased indeed with the work, and only wants to see him once more (Eostra break next year) to make sure things carry on OK, then she'll discharge him. He'll still need to wear the retainer at night for 2 or 3 days a week, but otherwise he should now be fine.

After much searching I haven't been able to find a wolf for me, and having priced them up in BHS (£100! Well, £50 in their sale...) I decided to make one instead (although it's a lion rather than a wolf).

Fabric from Fabric Land - £14.75. Not bad. Took me two hours to sew by hand, both of which (and my shoulders) are now aching like hell. Should be OK by the 24th, I hope. And I will now be nice and warm when the weather gets cold (and it does look rather snazzy though I say it myself!)

2011-12-18T22:55:00.002Z

On our bed, under his runner. Best let sleeping Tyjers lie...

More shopping, a little gardening (K&K between them have dug my new mange tout/bean bed and I've cleared the unsuccessful brassicas and cut down the dead asparagus) and tonight we watched Tropic Thunder - not our usual type of thing but it was amusing and had us LOLing in places.

Now considering the next part of Mechanism. Or watching some more Tf:A...

2011-12-17T23:20:00.001Z

Aaaaand Prism now posted in Mechanism. Link to The Poppy Tales is above.

2011-12-17T20:30:00.002Z

That's it - I'm being haunted by Defenders...

There's the dark grey one down the road, the black one parked in the road on the way back from Sainsbug's, a white one parked off the road on the way to the Bloomfield, yesterday a red one went past as we were waiting to cross the road at Broadwalk, and today a blue one turned into Sandy Park Rd on the way to Sainsbug's and a different blue one went up the Bath Rd while I was walking back. Are they the car of the moment or something?

More shopping was bought today. On a more interesting note, the next part of Mechanism - Prism - is almost finished and will be online tonight.

2011-12-17T01:49:00.002Z

And the next part of Mechanism - Wrench - now posted in The Poppy Tales, link above...

[g] Enjoy. I did.

2011-12-16T19:52:00.004Z

I should probably have put the bottles on the table before taking this...

Kai took the day off today. There were no lessons, just 'community games' and general getting-into-Yule-spirit type things, which he's never really enjoyed, so he stayed home. This is fine by us: he tends to do a lot of course-related stuff outside of sixth-form anyway (where .xhtml is my second language, .java is his. The things he can make it do...)

He came up to Broadwalk to help me carry the Iceland shopping home: got everything we went for, including both cakes. All I now need are the perishables, which I can pick up next week.

Lutra suggested I make a mood monster for my desk. I pointed out I really didn't have room for one...

Next part of Mechanism - Wrench - is a page in: hoping to have posted by Sunday at the latest, or I won't have time for the Yuletide Special...

2011-12-15T23:48:00.001Z

WAIIIIIII!!!

Pre-ordered. That's my 2012 birthday present sorted!!

2011-12-15T20:15:00.007Z

Well, that's the bulk of the shopping done. Here's our proposed menu (and a little food porn for Lutra...)

24th: Lunch - smoked salmon fillets with new potatoes and petit pois
Dinner - mustard and honey glazed chicken fillets with sweet Thai curry stir-fried veg and Basmati rice

25th: Brunch - paté and crispbakes, nibbles (Sainsbug's deli are doing some extremely nice pork and cranberry snack-size sossij rolls at the moment) and crisps (Kettle and McCoys seasonal specials)
Dinner - venison steaks, roast potatoes, mixed steamed veg (home-grown mange tout, beans and sweetcorn)

Boxing Day: Brunch - the usual running buffet
Dinner - mixed cold roast meats, creamed spuds, salad

Old Year's Night Lunch - undecided. I'd like to use up the last of the home-made beefburgers, but I also want to roast a beef joint for dinner, and I usually try for different meats in a day. We'll see

New Year's Day: Lunch - the usual running buffet.
Dinner - roast duck, roast or creamed spuds, steamed veg.

Desserts I'll be picking up tomorrow at the Broadwalk Iceland. They're selling Cointreau and Bailey's Irish Cream luxury cakes; hoping to get both! And probably some special ice-cream as well. Omnomnomnom...

Also had the inspiration for the next Poppy Dreams while walking to the Bloomfield (pub) for an informal get together with the Discover Brislington Brook people this evening. Hoping to get that written and posted tonight but I am a little tired at the moment.

2011-12-13T21:30:00.006Z

[sigh] This is what I woke up to. No, it's not snow - it's hail.

Very bad winds last night. The pic on the left is before, the one on the right was taken this morning. Pretty much a disaster: our sparrow flock have been roosting in that ivy for the last few years.

I'd like a whole series of sparrow terraces on the side of the house (if Kai could cope with the noise!)

So, Post Office, then Sainsbury's (where I bought too much and now my shoulder is killing me), then up to Broadwalk for mealworms and red wine makings (and a couple of DVDs, including a cartoon pack with the first four eps of the Galaxy Rangers, which I used to like when I was younger: it's still fun now). And my Transformers: Animated film (Transform and Roll Out!) arrived. We watched it tonight - it's GREAT fun! Quite different from any other continuity, with a magnificently threatening Megatron (only beaten by his Tf: P incarnation) and a thoroughly nasty - and effective! - Starscream. A pink Starscream... Absolutely brilliant and now I want the rest...

2011-12-12T23:13:00.006Z

[bemused] This is the back of the packaging for a small magnifying glass Kai bought a while back. Bet you never knew you were supposed to wear protection when using a magnifying glass, didya?

Odd sort of tidying up day today. Reorganised the top kitchen cupboards (Ken mentioned that when he took out the jar with his teabags in it everything else pulled out too - everything else being the packets of herbs that won't fit in my spice rack). It doesn't now.

I also had a go at tackling my filing. GoodTwin and Sue may remember my filing system - everything non-vital gets shoved randomly into my in and out trays until nothing more will fit and then I go through it. (At least now I only have two trays - used to have four!) The system has one merit: by the time I get round to sorting it all out, whatever it's about is well past and I can usually just recycle the paperwork (given I had stuff there dating back to 2002... yers, well. I need a PA...)

However, I did find this.

I'd completely forgotten I'd drawn it. It's an unfinished illustration for that CCO808 AU fic I wrote years ago, SirenSong (the one with Benten and Jade as the Ichthians (merfolk) Meriel and Jaid). This is Jaid of course... actually, it's not too bad. Perhaps I should rework and finish it some time.

Tomorrow I venture to the Post Office. I may be some time...

2011-12-11T01:01:00.001Z

Next part of Mechanism - Spanner - now posted over at The Poppy Tales (link above)...

2011-12-10T18:47:00.003Z

Yule cards! All written and addressed and ready to be taken to the Post Office for me to queue for half an hour to get the stamps to get them in the post. [sigh]

Next part of Mechanism nearly ready to upload...

2011-12-09T19:12:00.007Z

The forecast was for a lovely sunny day today, so since Kai was home - it was admissions selection day at the Academy - we went to Midsomer Norton. Yes, just for the hell of it. Been through it on the bus but never stopped off, and it looked pretty...

The High St. ->

That's the River Somer running through it.

And it was, but there's not a whole lot there, so we only stayed for an hour then came back via a quick check of the charity shops in Keynsham. (Picked up the 2-disc version of 30 Days of Night and the Wallace and Gromit trilogy - and checked out the new Poundland that's opened. They had the Transformers Annual 2012 there. For £1. RRP is £7.99. [g] The artwork is beautiful...)

And just to let me know I am still being haunted by Tfs:

Shower gel and body spray.
I have no doubt it refers to a different Lennox but the Major is the only one I know...

Well, OK, he's not exactly a 'bot, but it's still valid.

On the subject of Tfs -

Michael Bay will be back for more metal mayhem with a fourth outing in the Transformers series.

.......................

.........................

.....

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

...sob... Not Bay, please not Bay...

2011-12-08T20:05:00.002Z

[sigh] It's that time of year when I seem to spend most of my time shopping again...

2011-12-06T22:40:00.004Z

Tuesday is the new Monday.

Watched Source Code (on Filmflex) this evening - cracking film! Intelligent, complex s-f, really good (though I had guessed a major plot element within twenty minutes...)

Sure there was more but it's wafted away on the cold winter wind...

Oh, I remember! I was browsing Youtube (I do occasionally, for a break) and took a peek at Transformers Animated, which I'd seen mentioned but hadn't watched. There's a fair bit posted on Yt, so I watched the first twenty minutes or so - and it's a delight! Really funny (and let's face it, any series that has a pink Starscream has to be worth a look). The series box sets are out-of-the-question expensive, but there's a film (which I found on play.com for £8.98, free p&p) which constitutes the first three episodes and which I've ordered. Looking forward to that for Yule! (I think K&K will like it too, it's both familiar enough and daft enough to be a lot of fun.)

2011-12-05T20:09:00.004Z

So, dental hospital...

Appointment was for 9.30 - but the confirmatory letter said to allow three hours, as there are always delays. I ended up seeing the first consultant at 10.05, which isn't too bad at all. However, after twenty minutes with her, I then had to wait for an hour and a quarter for my x-ray. And I forgot to take a book with me. [sigh]

Still, it was then only ten minutes until I saw the second consultant.

Long story short: I have another appointment in January to remove the old root canal filling, have the space where I had that infection sorted out, and the root canal replaced, then they'll see about a brace to pull it back into line. And as, it seems, I'm a 'good' and 'interesting' case I can have it all on the NHS as it will be good and interesting for trainees to attend. (Well of course, it couldn't be something simple, could it. This is me we're talking about.)

That's assuming the tooth is 'recoverable'. If not, they'll remove it, but they'll take a mould for a denture first. I think that's also covered by the NHS but I shall be sent a copy of the letter to the dentist so can check then.

Plan B would be a dental implant - that would cost between £2,000 to £3,500. So, plan A and fingers tightly crossed then...

In the meantime, it's painkillers when I need them and hoping it doesn't flare up over Yule. Oh joy.

Got home at 2 pm. Planning to start poppy3.3 this evening.

2011-12-04T13:29:00.011Z

Goldfinches at the sunflower hearts feeder ->
(Photo © Ken)

I got very tired of the unbelievable amount of wastage I was getting - the little darlings were dropping about as much on the ground as they were getting in their beaks, not only expensively wasteful but also unhygienic as it clumped together and rotted, and produced some very unwholesome-looking fungus. So I moved the swingy hangy thing to underneath to catch the spillage. It's proved very popular: all the birds (including the collared doves - we have four now) happily eat what drops from the feeder.

I'm thinking I should maybe get another for the multi-seed feeder.

Poppy Dreams part 6 is now posted over at The Poppy Tales (link above)!

Skype, Friday:

Joules: [blink] I have 18 transformers. Most of them doublers. Or triplers in Sideswipe's case.
Lutra: ROFL! How did that happen? You were getting one or two, possibly three!
I haz mechtech ones, and itty bitty diddy ones, and DotM Sides.
Um, yers...
ROFLMAO!
Massive fail there, aifinks.
Thorough AND obsessed!
Erm, yersss...
I can't talk. I was only going to get the Schleich plastic horsies I liked. I have them all. All 80ish...
[smug] See, I'm not too bad at all!
ROFL! In that perspective, then, um, no, I guess not.
Then again, when the Prime ones come out..... wanta Ratchet ana Starscream ana Megs ana OP ana Bee.....
Doesn't hurt that the other things you've been obsessed about have very little in the way of collectible figures!
This is very true - except for the three Zaabons and the three Radittsus...
hang on...
[smirk]
52. 55 if you count Ninetails, the black cat from Trigun, and the other pokemon I can never remember the name of - oh, Flareon.
LOLOL!
That includes the Matrix Twins, the 4 Trigun figures, my LotR figures, Deathnote and DBZ, Scorpion King, Vaako, whatisface from Watchmen... ah, Ozymandias...
But that's over a multitude of fandoms, not just 1. Ooh, you have an Ozymandias?!
Yep! Found him dead cheap, brand new in a charity shop...
... actually, it's 56 figures - I missed a Zaabon
Oh - 57 - haven't included the Ironhide I have coming at Yule.
[g]
... I'm supposed to be writing PD6, aren't I...

2011-12-03T22:37:00.007Z

Brean Down from the northern end of Weston's seafront

For once the forecast was right: gorgeous sunny day, so Kai and I bussed to Weston-super-Mare to see if the Café actually exists...

Unfortunately not. This is the place it would be if it did, we think. ->

<- Bristol had gorillas, apparently Weston has donkeys!

And apparently the queen also stays there! ->

And I own a shop!!

There's a walk between the boating pool on the left and the sea on the right - we went across it. The boating pool is like an infinity pool from the shore-side...

Fantastic day!

2011-12-02T16:36:00.007Z

Later edit: Heh. I found the flash on my camera and took some photos...

New DotM version of Sideswipe (old RotF version here), and new black Yule tree.

[bemused] I wonder what it says about us that the only xmassy DVDs we own are Love Actually, The Nightmare Before Christmas and Die Hard 1 and 2...

Gave in to temptation and bought myself the DotM Sideswipe (at a third off plus the 90p Sainsbury voucher I got last shop as part-payment). Will take photos later, but he's very cute, much smaller and lighter - and a damn sight more stable! - than the other (which used to fall off my desk and into the bin at the lightest nudge or breath of wind. Not sure what he was trying to tell me...)

We decided to put up the Yule decorations this evening, and go the whole hog for a change. Except I couldn't find my silver tree anywhere. I didn't think I'd got rid of it when I blitzed the decorations last winter, but I suppose I must have. So Ken came over to Tesco with me to see if we could find a new one - and they had a black tree, which I've wanted for a few years now. Picked up a few other bits of Yule stuff then came back and started decorating: Kai did the lounge, then I put the black tree up, with teal coloured tinsel and jewelled shinies. It's quite something. I once described someone being so grateful they'd "give you a black hole gift wrapped in tinsel if you asked for one" (Prime Contact) and that's what the tree looks like! I tried to take a pic but my camera wouldn't cope with it: will see if Ken's can tomorrow.

Back to the next Poppy Dreams ficlet...

2011-12-01T23:04:00.002Z

Next part of Mechanism - Drill - now posted at The Poppy Tales (link at top).

Skype:

Joules: just gave Tyjer a bit of roast beef from my sammij - happy cat is happy
Lutra: [bg] not surprised! Meanwhile, in Australia, limpet cat is being annoyingly limpety...

2011-11-30T19:09:00.006Z

<- Xmas lights at Cabot Circus. Kai thinks that someone has a sarky sense of humour!

[blink] That shop at top left is called Rumble! Erk. I'm still being haunted... (For the uninitiated, Rumble is a G1 transformer, one of Soundwave's deployers...)

Kai's actual sixth form schedule for this morning would have been supervised course work - which he can't do unsupervised - so he did homework while I went shopping.Well, first I went to the Post Office. But before I went there I thought I'd better ring them to check they were open, as I wasn't sure how the strike would affect POs...

I thought I'd wait to boot up until later this afternoon, since I planned to be out a large part of the day, so grabbed the Thompson Local Directory to get the number. Only it wasn't in it. Nor was it in the Yellow Pages. As a final resort I even looked in the normal phone book. To no avail.

That all took me half an hour. I booted up and found the number in 30 seconds. Why do we have these phone books, again?

Cabot Circus lights looking the other way. ->

Anyway, being delayed by that, I was rather later picking up the shopping than intended. Not to mention Sainsbug are selling the MechTech figures (those are the larger ones under my monitor, GoodTwin and Sue) at a third off, and yes, I know I said I wouldn't buy any more this year, but that was before Samhain and the Celtic New Year so I'm not really... Where was I? Oh yes. And I'm fancying a Roadbuster to go with my Topspin (and that's all because of a convo over at the awesomeness that is Death-Hendry's site: colour-coordinated spikes and stickysmut at its most delicious). But they didn't have one. (The Entertainer in town did but £13 is far too much to fork out for a non-fave figure.)

ANYway... Kai wanted to see In Time, so I thought I'd take him this afternoon. However, to my irritation it was no longer on at the local Showcase - but it was on at the Showcase De Lux in town. So off we tanked for the 2.15 pm showing - only to find the town absolutely packed with strikers and the queue at the cinema so long, and with only one person issuing tickets, that the film would have started before we got in. [grump] So we did a little shopping (Yule cards and bird food mostly) and bussed back again. Kai says he doesn't mind, and I'll add it to the Lovefilm list, but it's still a little disappointing.

Decided to put the Poppy Tales link ~~over in the left-hand infopane~~ at the top to save me adding it every time. Will note here when the story has been updated (which will hopefully be tomorrow, although Ken is now angling for me to get the proposal written for the book I keep putting off). Now just have to remember to remove it when the story is finished!

2011-11-29T10:04:00.000Z

Rain. Lots and lots of rain. September weather at the end of November. My acanthus spinosa thinks it's spring and has two new flower spikes, and my magnolia stellata is budding. [grump] I hope they survive...

Kai is home tomorrow - his teachers are on strike with the rest of the public sector workers, and Ken has swapped days so he doesn't have to break the picket line. And the budget is going to be hell for us, oh joy.

Day spent researching a little extra text that's needed for the book (Ken's next, that is). Found what I needed but it took all day. Tired now: I'd like to get the next bit of the Poppy Tales written but not sure I have enough braincells operational...

2011-11-28T17:34:00.003Z

Well, that was fairly good for a Monday. Got a fair bit of client stuff done and made my first appointment with the Dental Hospital to try to get this tooth sorted. Will also have to get back to the doctor as so far the gel isn't working and the pain in my hand is worse.

On Skype, earlier:

Joules: What you up to?
Lutra: Just finished a blog update. Battling with the cat for keyboard space. Going to remind cubs it's rubbish night. brb :)
LOL! K. lotl [= lopes off to look. At blog, that is.]
`-=======================================================================================================
this is what the cat did while I was gone [rolls eyes]
[blink] whoa, clever kit! Railway tracks! It's an OMEN!!!!
[blinkgasp!] You're right!!!

It remains to be seen quite what it's an omen of, however...

2011-11-27T23:04:00.004Z

Another really nice day - for once less hurried than Sunday usually is. Picked up the usual shopping (and some specials, including a very nice duck on half price that's in the freezer ready for Yuletide), finally got around to disinfecting three quarters of the greenhouse (need help moving the staging to do the rest and by the time Kai reached a natural break in his homework it was too late), and this evening we watched my latest Lovefilm, The Other Guys, which was OK, funny in places, but hardly quality entertainment. It did manage to keep us all wake, however, so that was good. We're all knackered!.

And Battery - PDpt5 - is now up at Poppy Dreams. For anyone new, start over at The Poppy Tales. The story starts with Appliances and continues with Devices, Too. Best to read those first (Appliances at least) before Poppy Dreams.

2011-11-26T22:37:00.006Z

Lovely, lovely day - Carol and Sue visited to exchange presents, laugh ourselves silly, and generally catch up...

But first, a lightning-fast intro to the Transformers for them, since they've never seen any and I thought it would help with setting the Poppy Tales in context. We watched the Arrival to Earth from the first film, The Shanghai section from the second, and Scrap Heap from Transformers: Prime. [g] Sue thinks she'll stick with my versions...

Discussing Things Seen On TV, Both Recent And Ancient:

Me, talking about the new Brit comedy The Café (which Kai and I watched on Wednesday and which we both loved):
"... oh, and there's also a local boy made good, an events manager from London..."
Sue - (bouncing enthusiastically) "Ooh, I saw him in the trailer... Oooh, ooh, what's his name? (Turns to Carol - no use asking me!) You know... Hathaway!"
Carol (thinking) - "Anne Hathaway?"
Sue (waving hands) - "No, no, of course not... You know, Lewis!"
Carol (grinning) - "Fox!"
Sue (exultantly) "Yes! Lawrence!
... it's not him."

[second of silence, then hysterical laughter all round for at least five minutes. Even from me, who didn't have a clue who they were talking about...]

And the day was rounded off by the pilot ep of Dead Like Me, which neither had ever seen. Wonderful day, really relaxing for me, and great fun.

Thank you, both!

Off to write the next part of Poppy Dreams...

2011-11-25T23:27:00.003Z

And the first part of Mechanism - Nuts and Bolts - now posted over at The Poppy Tales.

Knackered. Been stupidly busy today. Bit of a rest tomorrow.

2011-11-24T22:46:00.003Z

Still not Poppy, but I betook myself off to The (other other) Zone to have my hair trimmed today: Jeff, as usual, did a wonderful job, and scrunch-dried it for me with a thing that looked a bit like a mini-version of one of Ironhide's canons. (I believe it's called a diffuser. 'Hide could really do some damage with that! [g] And I'm not sure whether to be impressed or scared that google was able to translate what I actually typed into the search - haior fryer diffused - into what I was actually looking for...) Anyway, the end result was amazing and for the first time ever I'm tempted to consider getting one - assuming I can find the time to use it...

On the subject of tfs... Yesterday my salad spinner broke: the inside wheel bit that makes the inner basket turn came apart from the lid, a blasted nuisance since I use the thing every day when making Kai's lunches. I couldn't fix it - hugely fiddly, you have to line up three tiny spikes with three matching holes (nearly said valves there!) while at the same time matching up the inner and outer cog wheels. Kai said he would have a go after dinner, so I plonked the lid upside down on the draining board and dropped the wheel on top of it.

When Kai picked it up after dinner it was fixed.

Ken says I have a transformer salad spinner...

I say there's a reason why the subtitle of this blog is Surreal Я Us...

On that subject, the first part of part three (Mechanism) of the Poppy Tales - Nuts and Bolts - is now underway and should be posted soon.

2011-11-23T12:55:00.003Z

[g] And the next bit of daftness - Hair - is now up at Poppy Dreams.

(For anyone new, the story starts with Appliances and continues with Devices, Too. Best to read those first (Appliances at least) before Poppy Dreams..)

2011-11-22T23:45:00.002Z

[sigh]

MISSING: 24 HOURS

Reward offered for their successful return.

2011-11-20T16:08:00.003Z

[beg] The latest Poppy Dreams - Pole - now posted in The Poppy Tales. Enjoy...

2011-11-19T18:08:00.007Z

Arno's Vale Cemetery.

This weekend it's the Totterdown Art Trail, and I thought I'd see if Kai wanted to join me for a hike to check out some of the events...

It was great fun! We started off at the Spielman Centre at Arno's Vale Cemetery - some absolutely gorgeous artwork on display, accompanied by the artists who were very happy to talk about their work. A lot was on sale too, for once at very reasonable prices.

These are sculpted sycamore seeds over the stairwell in the Centre - the stairs lead down to the crematorium exhibition...

From there we went over to Paintworks, where we stopped off at The Tube Diner for lunch. We both fancied pancakes - and this is what we got: plain with maple syrup for Kai, blueberry with vanilla ice-cream for me. (Those plates are dinnerplates, and the cutlery is normal size...) Huge, freshly made, and absolutely delicious. Highly recommended! (The place itself is fun too.) The photographs around the walls are the amazingly atmospheric works of David Webb.

The Paintworks event space itself had these in the courtyard -

Tulips!!

Inside there were another handful of artists, some very nice craftwork.

<- Installation.

This house was beautiful and wonderfully tranquil, filled with coloured glass and Nazca-inspired décor and twinkling lights.

All in all we visited nine venues with everything from knitted woodland animals (and the cutest ladybirds!) through photochromaic glass jewellery, gorgeous wooden bowls, candles in teacups and a graphic novel writer to the Fools on the Hill playing their own - extremely professional and appealing - music.

A crackin' day out, but ye gods we aren't 'alf tired. Totterdown is one of the hillier parts of Briz and our legs are really feeling it tonight.

Could try for an early night. Haven't succeeded in the last week but you never know...

2011-11-19T03:01:00.002Z

Right - the last part, part 8, of Devices, Too is now posted in The Poppy Tales: the story continues in Mechanism, coming soon!

2011-11-18T23:51:00.002Z

Client stuff again, and the uploading of a second Poppy Dreams, over at The Poppy Tales. Now working on Devices, Too part 8, which will probably be the last in this section before I start the third part of the story - haven't decided on a title yet...

Haddock. Needs moar haddock.

2011-11-17T22:35:00.003Z

Shopping, client stuff, and a rejig of the Poppy Tales section on the WaveWrights site (which I am told was being moved to a new server last night, hence the downtime. Everything is back to normal now). You can now get to the whole thing here.

2011-11-16T23:41:00.002Z

OK, it looks like WaveWrights is down for the moment. Anyone trying to email me please use my JAT addie: no WaveWrights emails are making it through.

[g] I've posted the first of a little series of very small ficlets over on FFNet - Poppy Dreams. I'll get round to posting them on on WaveWrights when it's back up, but for the moment you'll need to read the first one over there... M rated, though not explicit. And very silly.

2011-11-16T22:11:00.001Z

Client stuff, more client stuff, and an Environmental Group meeting tonight. Looks like the weekend may be busy...

2011-11-15T23:38:00.002Z

Well, Devices, Too part 7 is finally finished and online. Can't post it here though - it's over eleven pages long. This link will take you straight there, however - hope you find it worth the wait.

(For anyone new, the story starts with Appliances and continues with Devices, Too...)

2011-11-14T19:28:00.002Z

Monday... I don't like Mondays.

Now Kai has a cold.

And just as well I didn't guarantee. Although it is coming along very nicely. 7 pages now.

2011-11-13T20:36:00.004Z

The usual Sunday - Sainsbug shop, a bit of garden work (the dogwood is now planted, lawn mowed and we've started pruning the medlar), Kai ploughing through homework (getting a little ahead of himself so less to do during the week).

Oh, yes, forgot to say... remember I gave Agent Graham a Defender as his car? There's one now parked a few doors down, and another in the road I walk on the way back from Sainsbug! Synchronicity strikes again? Or perhaps I'd subconsciously noted them previously and thought they looked like the sort of thing he'd drive. Who's to say... (Not me, half the time I have no idea where my mind is playing...)

Still working on poppy2.7. I'd hoped to have it online by now but devising a plot that wasn't immediately predictable, and then the research needed for what I want to do, has taken longer than I thought it would. Sorted now - just have to write it. I'm hoping to have it up tomorrow, though not guaranteeing...

2011-11-12T20:19:00.002Z

Wow, actually managed a lie-in!

Kai and I went to Hurrans this afternoon - I had some reward vouchers to spend. We came back with a red dogwood, something I've always wanted and which will sit very nicely at the far end of Kai's copse.

Other than that... it's been quiet. Still working on poppy2.7.

2011-11-11T22:04:00.002Z

I picked up Children of the Stones a couple of weeks ago for £1.99 at the cats charity shop , and over the last two nights we've all watched it (I missed it when it was shown on TV). Excellent stuff, thoroughly enjoyable for us all. (Though it does sound a little strange to hear Queen's English spoken on a TV show. Rather sad reflection on how sloppy the language has become, I suppose.)

Poppy2.7 is coming along nicely...

2011-11-10T23:18:00.003Z

Another day vanishes. APAG meeting was useful, but I do find typing up minutes tedious. Would help if I could read my own handwriting, of course...

2011-11-09T22:43:00.001Z

And I blinked and there was today gone...

Well, a couple hours research for the next part of Devices, Too, a Sainsbug shop and a Tesco shop did take up a bit of it, I suppose.

2011-11-08T20:23:00.006Z

Bonus post - Devices, Too part 6.

(For anyone new, the story starts with Appliances and continues with Devices, Too...)

Part 6 - Survive

'Beat took the direct route this time: the weather was cloudy with a hint of drizzle in the wind, the autumn leaves looking somewhat duller than before, limp until the wind dragged them from the trees and tossed them into the air. Not a great day for the scenic route.
     There was only one other car parked in the 'car park' when they arrived; Poppy wondered absently how the pub kept going, being so out of the way and with hardly any customers. Perhaps their evening trade was better. The same woman was behind the bar: she looked up and grinned a welcome as Poppy entered.
     "Ullo again! Back for seconds?"
     Poppy chuckled.
     "Thought I'd try your puddings this time!"
     The woman - the owner's wife, Poppy had discovered - nodded and reached for a half-pint mug, pausing to glance at Poppy.
     "Same again?"
     "Please." It was nice to be remembered, though it did reinforce the idea that not many people used the pub. Poppy took her cider and glanced casually towards the corner - then looked again, her face falling, and heart plummeting, at the large 'Out of Order' sign taped to the jukebox's front.
     "Oh! What happened?"
     The proprietress sighed.
     "We dunno, love. Switched her on yesterday evening, something went bang and smoke started coming out the inside. Had to switch her off. Lucky it didn't blow all the fuses in the place! Someone's coming to take a look..." she checked her watch. "Should be here by now..."
     And the door opened, and in came a middle-aged man in overalls, carrying a bag of tools.
     "Gotta problem wi' yer jukebox?"
     The proprietress nodded and held her hand out for his card, checking it as she pointed to the machine. Poppy watched from the corner of her eye as he pulled out screwdrivers and a torch and set to work removing the front panel.
     "What you fancy today, then, love?"
     "Mm? Oh..." Poppy ran her gaze over the proffered menu and opted for chicken and chips with a side salad. That should leave room for a dessert. She took her drink to the table near the jukebox where she'd sat last time and watched as the workman poked and prodded around inside the machine. She was no expert, but the burnt cabling and cracked components didn't look very promising. She bit her lip, expression anxious. Was Lightdance even still... alive?
     A light twinkled at her, very briefly. She blinked, gaze darting swiftly to the bar, but the proprietess was pottering around washing glasses and hadn't noticed. And the power cord was still clearly lying on the ground, unplugged from the electricity socket. She watched a little more intently as the workman tugged on wires and jiggled connections, finally shaking his head and pulling himself upright.
     "Nope, s'no good. No-one'll be able to fix that. S'too old, can't get the parts any more."
     The proprietress plunked Poppy's lunch on the table and sighed.
     "Well that's a damn shame. Are you sure?"
     "Yers. Whole thing's shorted out, destroyed half the whatchamacallit."
     Poppy nearly giggled, inappropriate as it was, at the wonderfully imprecise description. The proprietress grumped quietly for a moment, then shook her head.
     "I suppose it had to come sometime. She is very old."
     "You insured?"
     "Yes, but I don't think it'll cover wear and tear on an antique."
     "Shame, that." He tilted his head to one side, then said, "I could take it off yer hands. Come in useful for spares."
     "No!" Poppy half stood in agitation. They both turned to her, startled. "You said I could have first refusal..."
     The proprietress frowned.
     "But she's useless."
     Poppy nodded, thinking fast and apologising mentally for what she was about to say.
     "It's still pretty though. I could gut it and use it for... a drinks cabinet. Or a bookcase."
     The proprietress looked at Poppy, then turned her gaze to the workman.
     "Wellllll, I dunno..."
     "How much do you want for it?"
     A speculative gleam entered the woman's eye.
     "Oooh, let's see..." She eyed the workman. "What's she worth for parts?"
     He pursed his lips, then surprised Poppy by shaking his head.
     "Not much. S'all shot to hell. Maybe a couple hundred tops."
     The proprietress smiled at Poppy.
     "And what's she worth to you?"
     Poppy swallowed, then squared her shoulders.
     "Fifty quid more than he's offering."
     "She's worth more than that! Even just as a piece of furniture."
     Poppy nodded.
     "But how many people do you know who want an old jukebox as furniture?"
     The workman hissed through his teeth.
     "Mm. Course, you could always strip out the insides and replace 'em with a new system. Play them mp3 things..."
     Poppy could have kicked him.
     "Isn't that going to cost a lot? I mean, surely you'd be better off buying new."
     "True, that. Won't come cheap. New'd be cheaper.
     Poppy was seriously beginning to wonder whose side he was on.
     "OK. Two seventy-five."
     "Three hundred."
     Poppy winced - but then realised that NEST would reimburse her. Surely. Wouldn't they? Of course they would! Reluctantly she offered three twenty-five.
     The proprietress's gaze switched back to the workman, who frowned and drummed his fingers on the edge of the table.
     "Three thirty."
     "Three fifty."
     "Four."
     Poppy gritted her teeth. It was, after all, in the best of causes...
     "Four fity. And transport."
     The workman shook his head.
     "Nah, that's too much. Let the young lady have it."
     The proprietress grinned rather too triumphantly at Poppy.
     "S'yours, love. When can you collect?"
     "I'll try and get that sorted now." A little worried that the woman might change her mind, Poppy pulled out her mobile and rang Ramp, who immediately patched her through to NEST. Graham wasn't available, but his second-in-command, a Lieutenant Smith, was able to speak to her, swiftly authorising the transaction and organising a van to pick up the jukebox in about two hours, just before closing time. The driver would also bring the required cash. She sighed and relaxed, thanking the officer gratefully. The proprietress smiled at her.
     "All right?"
     "Yes. Be here in a couple of hours."
     "And payment?"
     "Cash. I'll need a receipt though."
     "O' course." She glanced at Poppy's lunch, now going cold on the table. "Want me to warm that up for you?"
     Poppy gazed down at the plate. She'd forgotten it was there in the stress of the last few minutes - and she hated cold chips. "Yes please."
     "Won't be a minute, love." As the woman disappeared through the door into the kitchen Poppy slumped back and finished her drink, gazing at the jukebox. Five minutes later her lunch was back - with freshly cooked chips and another half-pint of cider, on the house.
     She chose plums stewed in red wine for dessert. It was delicious, but the cook wouldn't give her the recipe.

Poppy was beginning to get twitchy: the closing time bell had already been rung twice and the transport hadn't arrived. The proprietress was beginning to give her dubious glances.
     Then to Poppy's relief a head poked itself around the door and grinned at her.
     "Poppy Moss?"
     "Yes?"
     The young man sauntered to her table, inconspicuously flashing an ID and handing over an envelope.
     "Sorry I'm late. Traffic snarl-up in the town centre."
     Relieved, Poppy took the envelope with a smile.
     "You got here in the end." She gestured to the jukebox. "Need a hand?"
     He eyed it narrowly then shook his head.
     "No. Got a sack truck in the van - should do the trick. Be right back."
     As he ambled off, Poppy handed over the cash to the proprietress, who counted the notes then handed over a receipt, hand-written on pub notepaper.
     "Good luck with her."
     "Thank you." Poppy carefully stowed the receipt in her wallet, then helped steady the jukebox as the young man eased the wheeled trolley under its base.
     "See you again, love?" The proprietress inclined her head as Poppy headed to the door.
     "Oh, I expect so. You've still got some puddings I'd like to try!"

Outside, the young man - who introduced himself as "Second Lieutenant Philip Collier, but please just call me Phil" - was easing the jukebox carefully into the back of the white van parked beside 'Beat. He grinned as he climbed into the van's driver's seat.
     "I'll follow you back."
     "Thanks. It's not far." Poppy slid into the Mini and let 'Beat take over the driving. The drizzle had turned to rain, though it wasn't too heavy, and the afternoon turned overcast: the sooner they got home the better.
     But first she had to have words with 'Beat.
     "Did you know he was out of order?"
     "Yup - tol' me when we got here. But's jus' pretendin'. Easiest way t'get out."
     "You could have told me! I thought he'd died!"
     'Beat was silent for a few moments, then sighed.
     "'M sorry. I forget y're not one of us, sometimes."
     Poppy wasn't sure whether to be flattered or insulted. She decided flattered was less hassle.
     "Well, that's nice, 'Beat, but I can't read your mind. Or your internal communications. You have to tell me these things in future, please."
     "Oh, all right."
     A few seconds of silence, then, "He really is just pretending, isn't he? All that damage looked very real."
     "'E's fine. Give 'im a mo to transform an' it'll all be back t'normal."
     "Oh... good..."

All was quiet back at the house: the transformers were understandably a little wary of strangers after the energon incident. Phil wheeled the jukebox in and settled it against the wall, then saluted Poppy, politely declined her offer of a coffee, and headed back to his base. As he drove off she called out "All clear!" and her charges made their way swiftly into the lounge. Even 'Beat squeezed in, careful not to damage anything, and seated himself on the floor, knees pulled up to his chin. Poppy smiled at the jukebox.
     "Welcome, Lightdance. You're among friends..."
     For a moment there was silence, then the newest arrival performed that wonderful twisting, transforming dance that always had Poppy transfixed, and suddenly there was a new individual standing (a little shyly, she thought) before them. She opened her mouth to speak...
     'Spin flung himself forward as Chill lunged for the newcomer, hands outstretched and frighteningly sharp 'claws' extending from his fingers, the washing machine catching the fridge around the waist and preventing him from colliding with the jukebox. Poppy stumbled back a pace or two, eyes wide in shock, as the fridge began shouting, his usually fairly blank, expressionless face contorted with what could only be fury, though since he was bellowing in very fast Cybertronian she couldn't understand a syllable of it. With 'Spin also speaking loudly, trying to calm his friend down, and TeeVee and Blue shielding Lightdance, who was shouting back at Chill (but without trying to attack, as far as she could tell), and the smaller transformers scrambling to try to hide behind various bits of furniture, the lounge was a scene of pandemonium. Poppy jumped onto the coffee table and tried to make herself heard, but was completely ignored - until 'Beat sounded his horn, loud enough to rattle the windows and leave Poppy deafened for a few seconds. Everyone went still, and the Mini stood, looming over them all. His own Cybertronian was deep and sounded angry, but whatever he said at least had them all calm a little - although Chill was still snarling. Poppy glanced gratefully at 'Beat and managed to grab back control.
     "Chill - kitchen. NOW."
     "Poppy..."
     "Save it. I'll speak to you later. 'Spin, go with him. I don't want to see either of you in here until this is sorted." As 'Spin shoved the fridge in the direction of the kitchen, Poppy turned to Lightdance, who was glowering angrily after them. "You, over there." She pointed to the corner furthest away from the kitchen door. "Not a word until I say." She scowled after him as he obeyed, slowly and reluctantly. Then she turned to 'Beat.
     "Right. Translation please."
     With Lightdance grumbling an almost inaudible, incomprehensible counterpoint from his corner, 'Beat began the sorry tale.

© JAT Nov 2011

2011-11-08T13:34:00.005Z

[sigh] Well, I suppose the cold is marginally better than it was yesterday, only now I'm coughing again, and my ribs hurt...

Skyping, earlier...

Lutra: Blog's updated, btw.
Flare: lotl (note: lopes off to look).

ROFL!!
[sbg] I laughed out loud. in the office.
...Oops. You're obviously reading too much Transformer stuff.
ROFL! y'think? Can see the washing machine from the loo seat. With the door partly closed I am constantly misreading the 'energy' label as energon... I blame you [bg]
[falls off chair laughing] It's nice to be... something. You should put that on the blog. Or I should... Or in the comments?
You do. More people read yours!
Actually - comments will do - let me kog in. Um, kog???
ROFL! How steampunk of you!
Heh.... it's a transformation cog (note: from G1 Tfs). In Swedish
[twitch] LOL!
[snerk]

And on the subject, the next part of Devices, Too is almost written...

2011-11-06T16:03:00.004Z

A fine example of felis fastidius. See those four little round things neatly arranged in the bowl? Those are peas (from his turkey with vegetables pouch of Whiskas cat-food). Yes, we have a cat who won't eat his peas... (The hopeful expression is him waiting for us to clear the bowl and put something else in it. Sorry he's a bit out of focus, he didn't want to hold still.)

Catch-up time... Went for my doctor's appointment on Friday. All good news - x-ray (which I didn't get to see) shows nothing wrong (well, there's a tiny touch of degeneration of the first phalange of my thumb, which will mean a touch of arthritis when I'm older) and the blood tests were all fine too. Which means there is no obvious physical cause for this bloody awful constant pain. (Ken says - "You hardly ever go to the doctor, and when you do they can't tell you what's wrong!") She's prescribed me piroxicam gel, which I can use under a tubigrip thingy to help support it when I'm handling things, and says to exercise it gently to stop it stiffening up. (Images of thumb doing weightlifting with tiny barbells...) If it hasn't improved in a month I'm supposed to go back - but the next things to try are a steroid injection (DO NOT WANT) or a consult with the osteos (though what they could do if no-one can tell me what the problem is I don't know. Dr says they mostly perform surgical operations...)

I may just be stuck with the pain - not a happy prospect. Still, will see if the gel works. Will have to do a spot check first to make sure it doesn't contain wintergreen (the pharmacist couldn't tell me!) I'm allergic to that, makes my skin blister.

Picked up a copy of X-Men: First Class yesterday from Sainsbug: watched and thoroughly enjoyed it last night (Ken hadn't seen it). A fine film, intelligent and well acted.

The lurgy has turned into a full-blown and most unpleasant cold. Really hope it goes as quickly as it came.

I think that's about it. The birds are, as usual, eating us out of house and home (going to need to get more sunflower hearts soon, the goldfinches can empty a feeder in a day) and it looks like the hedgehogs have settled in for the winter - at any rate, the food I'm putting down isn't being eaten any more.

Time to start writing the next part of Devices, Too...

2011-11-05T22:54:00.008Z

Bonus post - Devices, Too part 5.

(For anyone new, the story starts with Appliances and continues with Devices, Too...)

Part 5 - Funtime

The first hint Poppy had that all was not as it should be back at the house was when, pulling into the drive, she saw Muncher cuddling a tree...
     'Beat yelped as she slammed her foot on the brake, forcing him to stop dead before she scrambled out and raced to the front door. Which was open.
     "'Spin? Chill?"
     A sound reached her from the kitchen. She frowned, trying to place it, then realised it sounded like... a giggle? What the hell?
     Heavy footsteps behind her had her whirling, alarmed, only to relax a little as the bulk of the transformed Mini loomed over her.
     "'Beat?"
     "Can't let you go in there alone." Internal sensors measured the doorway and he nodded, calculating he would just be able to squeeze through without causing damage. Well, much damage, anyway. "You better stay behind me."
     Only too happy to have half a ton of metal between her and whatever was inside, Poppy followed him as he wormed his way into the downstairs hall. She peered out from behind him, looking around carefully, but couldn't see anything to cause any immediate alarm. Then the giggle came again. She laid a hand on 'Beat's back.
     "I... I think we'd better see what that is."
     "Mm." It sounded a little dubious, but, making sure Poppy stayed behind him, 'Beat moved cautiously to the kitchen door. He could be surprisingly quiet for such a large, metal creature, Poppy thought absently.
     At the door he paused, then sniffed loudly – then straightened up, his head just brushing the ceiling. Arms folded across his chest he turned to glance at Poppy. She was startled by his expression – narrow-eyed, lips a thin line, almost scowling. At least, that was the impression he gave, and looking into the kitchen she thought she knew why.
     'Spin was lying in the middle of the floor in a shallow pool of liquid, with Steamy jumping up and down on his stomach and giggling, while Sucker... was lying curled up in the sink? What...?
     "What the hell is going on?!"
     'Beat growled from somewhere deep inside.
     "They've been at me energon!"
     Poppy closed her eyes with a shudder, then shouted loudly for Chillvern...

"I'm so sorry, Poppy." Chill – who had been so engrossed in the five games of chess he was playing simultaneously with Ramp that he hadn't noticed what was happening in the rest of the house – was wringing his hands. "I didn't hear anything, didn't realise anything was happening... I'm sorry." He bowed his head, shoulders hunched, and Poppy sighed.
     "It's not your fault, Chill."
     "But you left me in charge, and I've let you down."
     "It wasn't your fault! They all knew the energon was for 'Beat." She glowered at 'Spin, who was wincing and rubbing his head with both hands. "You at least should have known better!"
     "But..."
     "Honestly..."
     "But we only had a little bit! A tiny little bit each. Jutht to... tathte."
     Poppy humphed her disbelief. 'Spin flapped a hand vaguely in the direction of the garage. "Go and thee if you don't believe me..."
     With Chill and 'Beat following her, Poppy went to check. To her surprise she found that 'Spin wasn't exaggerating: there were barely two pints missing from the first tank, and none from the other three. She frowned at Chill.
     "It is really that potent?"
     "Not usually, not even after such a long time without..." He leaned closer and sniffed cautiously at the upended cap, and pulled back sharply. "That's... strong." He glanced at 'Beat. "Is that your usual grade?"
     'Beat smelled the cap and shook his head.
     "Nah. That's had stuff added, that has." He carefully removed the caps of the other three tanks, large fingers surprisingly dextrous, and he and Chill sniffed the caps. "All the same. All had somethin' put in 'em."
     Poppy switched her gaze between them uncomprehendingly.
     "Is that good or bad?"
     Fridge and Mini stared at each other for a moment or two, then Chill turned to Poppy and shook his head.
     "We'll need to have it analysed. It would probably be best if no-one took any more until we know what's in it."
     "I have to contact Graham anyway – I'll tell him what's happened. Will NEST be able to check it?"
     "Yes. It's a pity we don't have the facilities here – it would be quicker - but that can't be helped."
     "Will you be able to manage?" Poppy was watching 'Beat anxiously. "Without refuelling, I mean."
     "Got enough in me tanks to cope for a couple weeks, s'long as you don't want to drive Landsend to John O' Groats."
     Poppy chuckled briefly. "Not in my diary for this year. Will everyone be OK though?" She gestured towards the house. Chill nodded.
     "It would have been useful to have clean energon to flush the other out of their systems, but since we don't have any, it'll just be a matter of time. Sunlight would help, but the forecast is for cloudy for the next few days." He eyed Poppy wryly. "I'm afraid you'll have to cook your own food for a day or two. I wouldn't trust Steamy to boil water at the moment."
     "I'm sure I can remember how." Poppy turned back to the door. "But I'd better contact NEST right away."

Graham frowned.
     "Hm. I'll arrange to have the tanks collected – no, on second thoughts, I'll pick them up myself. When they left HQ they were perfectly fine. If the energon was doctored, it was probably on route, and that couldn't happen without the driver's cooperation. I'll have him detained for questioning. What I don't understand is why anyone would want to tamper with it. Not to denigrate your value to us, but your operation simply isn't that important in the larger scheme of things."
     Poppy nodded: she'd considered that herself already. Her transformers were all neutrals, refugees, and none of them were fighters (though she suspected they could all defend themselves if they had no alternative).
     "Well, we see what we can find out." He glanced to one side as someone leaned in to speak to him, then nodded and turned back to Poppy. "Fortunately we have enough energon stockpiled for me to replace the dodgy tanks. I'll bring it with me."
     Poppy grinned. "Thanks. 'Beat says he has enough for a week or so, but I'd rather not push it."
     Graham nodded. "And how did your meeting go?"
     Poppy frowned momentarily, then smiled.
     "Oh, yes, at the pub. Well, Lightdance's alternative form is a jukebox, of all things. We couldn't actually speak, but 'Beat says that he likes me but isn't sure he really wants to leave the pub."
     "I expected that. It really would be safer though."
     "We're going back on Thursday to see if he's changed his mind. Or if we can change it for him."
     "Good. Let me know how you get on. I'd rather not intervene if we don't have to but I do want to see him settled with you."
     "Do my best." She was about to sign off, then remembered. "Oh, just one last thing. Do you think you could take Grunt back with you? He seems to think he's training me to join the army and Chill thinks he'd be better off at one of your bases. You know, where he can torture real soldiers."
     Graham laughed.
     "Oh, I'm sure he would. Very well. Tell him it's an order from me. I'll see you later – I should be able to get there by 2 a.m., if that's not too inconvenient."
     Well, she was already tired, but should be able to get in a nap this afternoon.
     "Should be OK. I'll see you then."

Graham had only stopped long enough to unload the new tanks, load the old and get Grunt (who to Poppy's relief had raised no objections to being moved on: she rather suspected he was simply used to obeying orders. She wondered idly what he'd been, back on Cybertron) settled in the back of his Defender. She waved him off, hiding her yawn behind her hand, then locked up and set the alarm. As she passed the kitchen door Chill appeared, a mug of rich hot chocolate drink in his hand.
     "Don't tell Steamy..." he chuckled. Poppy grinned tiredly.
     "Thanks Chill. You're a star."
     The fridge blinked, head tilted to one side – then smiled as he tracked down the reference.
     "One does one's best. Sleep well, Poppy."

Wednesday morning was... awkward. 'Spin was sullen, Muncher maudlin, TeeVee and Blue – who had imbibed less of the energon than the others – were irritable, Sucker was hiding somewhere, Livewire was curled up on the bed with his head under the pillow refusing to speak, Grounds (the coffee maker) was sulking, Hotpot the microwave refused to open his door, Downbeat (the stereo) was working – sort of, if you could call playing music at the wrong speeds working, Airhead (the tumble drier) wouldn't stop working, Blurt the kitchen TV played nothing but static, Hooker the food processor kept shorting out, and Steamy was inconsolable, not least because he still wasn't sufficiently recovered to cook Poppy's food. Ramp, who'd been playing chess with Chill and hadn't partaken, was unbearably smug and amused himself by making loud noises whenever one of the suffering transformers was in his vicinity. Cable had been with Poppy so had missed out on the fun, but was wisely keeping quiet. Only Chill and 'Beat were normal. Well, what passed for normal in this household, anyway. Poppy was torn, on the one hand wanting to be sympathetic – after all, they were all suffering the transformer version of massive hangovers – and on the other wanting to shout at them all to just shut up!
     Eventually she took herself out to the garage and offered to rub Ratchet's special oil into 'Beat's frame, an offer he accepted warily. She opened the can and carefully poured a little onto a soft chamois cloth as he transformed from Mini to robot mode and hunkered down so she could reach all of him.
     It was very soothing. 'Beat was happy to play music quietly rather than talk, and after a few minutes apparently decided she was skilled enough for him to relax (though quite what he thought she could do to cause him discomfort Poppy couldn't work out. Perhaps the cables and wires between his metal plating were particularly sensitive...) and settled a little lower to the ground. She took her time and used careful strokes, and an hour later patted him on the shoulder as she finished.
     "How's that feel?"
     'Beat stretched and blinked at her.
     "S'good. It'll do nicely."
     "Good... How often do you need it applied?" She frowned. "Come to that, how do I keep you clean? Should I take you through a carwash? Or can you use a hose? I mean, I can help you with that..."
     "Hose would do, as long as water's hot, ta. We got our own cleansers – there'll be some at NEST, if your officer could have 'em sent. And th' oiling should do me for a month, unless weather's really bad."
     "Thanks. And I'll be sure to ask Graham." She sighed then patted him again, affectionately. "I suppose I'd better go and see how everyone's doing..."

By Thursday morning everything was back to normal – helped, admittedly, by Chill allowing everyone a little of the pure energon on Wednesday afternoon. (Poppy had watched, bemused, as he'd trickled small amounts into inlet tubes with the precision of a nurse: the beneficial result was almost immediately clear as they'd all visibly perked up.) 'Beat had also refuelled – Poppy saw that the first of the energon tanks was now about a quarter empty and made a mental note to keep an eye on the supply so she could request more in plenty of time – and was ready and waiting as she slid into the driver's seat. She took hold of the wheel as he started his engine.
     "Right. Let's go and see if Lightdance has changed his mind."

© JAT Nov 2011

2011-11-05T14:02:00.005Z

Heee.....

Right - I am not buying any more.

... this year...

2011-11-04T22:34:00.003Z

Bleurgh... gods I hate colds...

His teachers are very pleased with Kai - especially his psychology tutors, who say he's a straight A student and they'd like him to take a psychology degree, please. He has the intensely analytical mind, and the literary skill to present his findings, to be very successful in the field. I can't say I'm surprised, but whether he'd want to do that we don't know this early!

Kim picked me up at 10 this morning to go to the Cadbury garden centre at Congresbury. It's lovely there at the moment - they have all the Yuletide decorations on display. I picked up two Small Bird Feeders (because the magpies have discovered they can squeeze under the bars and raid the birdtable, and our flock of goldfinches is back) which will go on the medlar once all the leaves have fallen.

Tonight Kai chose Insidious on Filmflex: scary film - made me jump in places!

Now I'm going to try - again - to get Devices, Too pt 5 finished. Takes longer when I'm poorly, unfortunately.

2011-11-03T14:38:00.005Z

While shopping at Sainsbug yesterday, I saw that all their toys were on half price sale - so I picked up an itty bitty Ratchet and Ironhide to match the itty bitty Sideswipe I bought earlier in the year. (Ended up costing me about 60p, as I had £5 worth of reward vouchers plus a £1.64 voucher under their new 'if you could have bought it cheaper elsewhere we'll give you a Sainsbury's cash voucher for the difference' scheme.)

They're just adorable! So tiny yet so beautifully made and articulated...

(Will try to get decent pics at some point.)

Even in alt mode.

So after my BCP comms group meeting this morning I thought, since I still needed to pick up a couple of things shopping-wise, I'd get an itty bitty Bee and Prime as well, complete the collection. (Well, OK, not quite, but I haven't found an itty bitty Jazz...)

[GRUMP] They're no longer on half-price sale, and I really can't justify the £15 it would cost to pick them up at full price. I'll keep checking elsewhere though - a lot of places are selling off their old stock cheaply, presumably to make space for the oncoming Yule stuff.

In other news, I'm very dischuffed. Haven't even properly got rid of the last lurgy yet and I'm coming down with something else. Oh joy. Feel sufficiently rough that Ken's going to Kai's parent/teacher evening today (for some reason it's at the Bristol Metropolitan Academy, out Filton way, instead of at John Cabot). I really hope I'm not going to have a winter where I get every new bug going...

2011-11-01T22:01:00.002Z

Almost-belated Joyous Samhain to All

This was our pumpkin lantern (my design, but Kai did all the work). Basement cat!

Today was busy as usual. Nothing much to report, just a load of stuff out of the way...

2011-10-31T23:27:00.007Z

Bonus post - Devices, Too part 4.

(For anyone new, the story starts with Appliances and continues with Devices, Too...)

Part 4 - Outside

A couple of hours later Poppy flopped down at the kitchen table, winced as her back made contact with the chair, and took a long swallow of her cooling coffee. Chill shook his head. None of her charges were able to make much in the way of facial expressions but in the last year she'd become something of an expert at reading their body language and overall attitude: Chill was a little alarmed.
     "Are you all right?"
     "I will be." Poppy rubbed at the back of her neck. "But I'd appreciate it if you could have a word with Grunt. I'm not a soldier, I can't be expected to do their workouts!"
     The multigym had turned out to be a bit of a tyrant, insisting on her using him at least once a day, and continually upping his programme. Poppy had tried resisting, but he was stubborn, and followed her around the house until she gave in. And since he had turned out to be particularly clumsy, unless she wanted half the furnishings broken she was pretty much forced to do as he wanted. So far it hadn't been too bad, and she'd been feeling the benefits in increased stamina and flexibility, but it was time now to grab back control before everything got out of hand.
     Chill nodded understandingly. "'Spin and I will have words with him. If matters don't improve, we can always have him seconded to one of the NEST bases." He paused in thought, then inclined his head. "That might actually be a better idea. The soldiers there would get more benefit from him than you ever could. When do you speak to Agent Graham next?"
     "He asked me to contact him after I get back from the pub."
     "Then I suggest you mention it to him this afternoon."
     Poppy nodded, a little reluctantly.
     "It'd probably be for the best, though it feels like I'm failing Grunt..."
     Chill shook his head.
     "Not at all, Poppy. He'd be a lot more useful, and a lot happier, somewhere he feels he has more purpose."
     Poppy considered it, then smiled.
     "I suppose so. Thanks, Chill."
     "You're welcome. May I get your breakfast?"
     "I'd rather you tell me what that business was this morning at the crack of dawn. What's energon?"
     "Our lifeblood."
     Poppy blinked.
     "You what? Seriously?"
     "Yes. It fuels and feeds us."
     She considered that for a moment then frowned.
     "But... You've never said anything about it before. And I thought you used solar power for fuel..."
     "Solar power can be converted into energon. It's easy enough for we smaller transformers. But the larger ones - especially those with vehicular modes and weapons - require a lot more than can be simply gathered from sunlight."
     "Ah, I see. That makes sense. So the energon in the garage is just for 'Beat?"
     "Primarily. Though if he's willing to share, we'd all welcome a little. Energon has a certain... pleasurable effect if one hasn't had any for a while. If I've understood it correctly, it's a little like human alcohol."
     Poppy stared, then waved her hands.
     "Oh god... I don't want drunk robots running loose! Can you imagine what Muncher would do?"
     Chill made the sound she'd come to associate with him chuckling.
     "No, it's nothing like that. Well, not for us - I can't vouch for our larger colleagues. We just become... mellow is probably the best way of putting it."
     "You sure?" At Chill's nod, Poppy breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, OK then. But I'll hold you to that!"
     "Of course..."
     There was a moment's silence, then,
     "So if that's energon in the big tanks, what's in the others?"
     "Coolant in the smaller tanks, additive-rich refined energon in the drums, and medical-grade oil with added nanites in the can. That's one of Ratchet's specials: it'll help protect Upbeat's exterior and heal any little scratches he may pick up. It's different from the medical nanites, for general use rather than for injuries."
     Poppy grinned.
     "He thinks of everything!"
     "Ratchet is rather good."
     "What does the refined stuff do?"
     "It acts as lubrication. Your planet's surface has an astonishing amount of irritants. They're not too much of a nuisance for us, but for the vehicles... most aggravating, if not actually painful."
     Poppy nodded thoughtfully, chin propped in her hand, and gazed at Chill.
     "You're well-educated, aren't you? What were you? You know, back on Cybertron."
     He stilled, staring at her, then lowered his head, shoulders bowed.
     "I was training as... your equivalent would be a cross between architect, electrical engineer and metallurgist. I wanted to specialise in creating versatile, self-sustaining domiciles..." His voice tailed off and he shrugged. "Then the war came..."
     Poppy bit her lip, regretting she'd asked.
     "I'm sorry."
     He raised his head and regarded her sadly.
     "So am I." The brilliant light of his eyes faded for a moment, something she'd come to associate with them closing, then brightened again as he straightened. "But I'm alive, unlike so many of my colleagues. I may even be able to resume my studies, one day. And in the meantime - this is not such a bad life."

Steamy was agitated.
     "But Poppy! That sort of food isn't good for you!"
     "Just once isn't going to do me any harm."
     "But I've read so much about how bad pub grub is for you."
     "Yes, if you eat it all the time." She was trying to be patient. She knew they all had her best interests at heart - no, they had sparks instead of hearts, didn't they - but honestly! Even her fussy aunt Veronica hadn't been this pernickety. And even 'Spin, who usually took her side when such issues were mooted, wasn't helping.
     "But we've heard terrible thingth about what cholethterol doeth to your bodieth. And alcohol! You could have a heart attack! Liver failure! Obethity! You could die..."
     Oh for... Poppy took a deep breath and gazed around at the worried forms of the assembled transformers. "Those things take years to happen. You all know I'm healthy - you've all been making sure of that! All I'm going to do is have one little meal at the pub. Just one. I will be fine."
     "You promith?"
     Poppy nodded.
     "I promise. We'll be back in a couple of hours or so and tonight I'll eat whatever you think would be best for me. How's that sound?"
     'Spin grumbled. "It'll do, I thuppothe."
     "Great. Now, if you'll excuse me, 'Beat is waiting. Chill's in charge 'til I get back."

Poppy sat back, her hands loosely on the wheel, and just let 'Beat drive. The radio station he'd chosen today played rather more recent music than his usual golden oldies, but also avoided what passed for pop these days. She wasn't surprised when he took the scenic route, the narrow road winding through autumnal countryside.
     "This is nice."
     "Thought y'd like it. Your planet is very pretty."
     She grinned and settled a little more deeply into her seat with a contented sigh, happy to ride without words for a few minutes.
     But her curiosity wouldn't let her stay quiet for long.
      "So... How often do you need to refuel - and do I need to help you with it?"
     The Mini juddered for a second, on the verge of stalling, then the forward motion smoothed out again before Poppy could ask what was wrong.
     "Nah. Can feed meself. Might need a hand with th'oil, though. Can't reach me back."
     "Hm. Do you need it in both your forms?"
     "'s useful in both. If you don't mind."
     "Of course not. I want you to feel comfortable."
     "Ta. Maybe when we get back?" It was tentative, and Poppy chuckled.
     "OK." She peered forward. Through the trees ahead she could make out a building. "Is that it?"
     "Yup."
     Moments later 'Beat pulled into an area that was more paddock than car park. Framed by trees a short distance away was an ancient and rather unprepossessing building, blocky, its roof thatched, its windows small. The sign was so faded as to be almost illegible: Poppy could just make out 'The King's Head'.
     "Blimey. Which king?"
     There was a moment's silence, presumably while 'Beat accessed information, then,
     "Charles the second, I think."
     History wasn't Poppy's favourite subject.
     "So how old is it?"
     "Middle 1700s. Was old coaching house."
     Poppy frowned.
     "It's a bit off the beaten track for a coaching house, isn't it?"
     She almost felt 'Beat shrug.
     "Not me place to criticise human ways..."
     Poppy grinned and opened the door.
     "So, how do I recognise Lightdance?"
     "He's over in th'corner at th'end of th'bar."
     "OK, thanks. I shouldn't be too long."
     "Don't mind me. You enjoy y'rself."

There were only a handful of people in the pub, the owners of the four other cars parked outside, presumably. They glanced up as she entered, as people are wont to do in half-empty pubs, then resumed their quiet conversations as Poppy approached the bar. The middle-aged, motherly-looking woman behind the counter smiled.
     "Ullo love. First visit?" Poppy nodded. "Going to be eating?"
     "Please." She took the offered menu card, asked for a half-pint of local cider, then, her eyes finally adapting to the dimness inside the room, ran her gaze to the corner at the end of the bar.
     And blinked. Apparently Lightdance's alternative form was a jukebox. She was anything but a connoisseur, but the machine looked like an original - and was very pretty. She moved closer, admiring the smooth curves, the broad, stylised glittery petal effect at the base, the chunky design. The sign on the front read Wurlizter. And ye gods, it still played actual records!
     "Aren't you a beauty?" She murmured, touching the glass front.
     Lightdance twinkled at her. She inclined her head.
     "Hello. I'm Poppy."
     "In't she grand?" Poppy jumped and looked over her shoulder. The barmaid was hovering behind her, cider-filled half-pint mug in hand.
     "It's lovely! I didn't know you could still get ones that play vinyl."
     "Not many left outside museums, these days."
     "I'd love one. I don't suppose it's for sale?"
      "No, love, 'fraid not."
     Poppy grinned.
     "No harm in asking. If you ever do decide to sell, can I have first refusal?"
     "If you like." She handed Poppy a notepad and pen. "Give us your name and phone number and I'll tell the boss."
     Poppy obliged, then took her drink to a table close to the jukebox and had a look at the menu. Ploughman's lunch, fish and chips, baked spud with an assortment of toppings... Her mouth watered. Healthy food was all very well as standard fare, but sometimes you just had to indulge in something deliciously naughty.
     Ooh, steak and ale pie with chips and mushy peas! Perfect!
     Steamy would have a fit. Perhaps better not tell him...
     She gave her order at the bar then stood in front of Lightdance, ostensibly taking a look at what music was on offer while speaking very quietly to the transformer.
     "'Beat tells me you're a friend. I suppose he's told you about me. I'm here to say hello and invite you to join us."
     With a whir and a click, without being touched the jukebox slid a record into place, and seconds later the warm strains of a clarinet drifted across the room. The barmaid smiled as she carried Poppy's lunch to her table.
     "Ah, 'Stranger on the Shore'... somehow that one always gets played. Enjoy your lunch, love. Let me know if you need anything."
     'Stranger on the Shore'. Somehow that seemed highly appropriate...

The meal was delicious and filling, and Poppy treated herself to another cider (though only because she knew 'Beat would be driving back), while Lightdance regaled the pub in general and Poppy in particular with a variety of melodic old songs. Poppy recognised 'World Without Love', 'Aquarius' and 'Exodus', but most of the rest were unfamiliar. Though no less delightful for that, and somehow very fitting in the ancient low-ceilinged room with the smoke-darkened beams overhead. Poppy leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes, soaking up the atmosphere.
     "Everything OK love?"
     Poppy opened her eyes and nodded as the barmaid lifted her empty plate.
     "That was really good, thanks."
     "Glad you enjoyed it. Can I get you anything else? Pudding, maybe?"
     Poppy considered it, but the meal had been of the usual generous pub quantities and she really was rather full.
     "Next time. I'll make sure I order something a bit smaller!"
     The barmaid chuckled.
     "Right you are!"
     Poppy swallowed the last of her cider and, with one last smile and gentle pat to the jukebox, paid for her meal and exited the pub.

'Beat opened the door for her and reminded her to put on her seatbelt as she slid behind the wheel. She slapped lightly at the dashboard.
     "What's all the fuss for?"
     "Eh, you've had a drink. Can't be too careful..."
     She considered remonstrating, but it was too much effort. Chuckling, she directed the Mini to take them home.
     'Beat took the direct route this time, and after a couple of minutes said carefully,
     "Lightdance liked you."
     "Oh good. I liked him too. Wonderful choice of music."
     "'e's not sure 'e wants t'leave th'pub though."
     Poppy sighed.
     "I can understand why. Though I'd love to have him join us."
     'Beat was silent for a moment., then asked, tentatively,
     "Pr'aps we can go back again, in a couple o' days? See if e's changed 'is mind?"
     "I think that's a very good idea. Thursday lunchtime it is."

© JAT Oct 2011

[grump] Sue sent me an email earlier...

Browsing the latest catalogue from my friendly bookseller, this caught my eye… [g]
Alan Dean Foster : Codgerspace
Severn House 1994
"THE TOASTERS WERE REVOLTING . . . . . as were the lawn mowers, vacuum cleaners, dishwashers and just about every other household appliance imaginable... Now an alien threat to man and machine has put the fate of the galaxy in the unlikely hands of five senior citizens - and their brave little food processor... "

There's nowt new under the sun. I've never heard of this (though it does sound fun): the Poppy Tales are based on the Bayverse Tfs. (And looking at the date, I wonder if the original Tfs were inspirational... Probably not.)

2011-10-31T18:30:00.004Z

Busyness. Up at 7.15, two pages of Poppy24 (Devices, Too part 4) written before heading off to the doctor (blood tests, one to check auto-immune system, t'other to check for rheumatoid arthritis), then to dentist (had a letter on Saturday saying they'd cancelled today's appointment, which was when I was supposed to get the cap fitted on the broken molar: when I got there it was my Nov 14th check-up that had been cancelled... [sigh])

Back down the hill and a Tesco shop: back for a very quick lunch then back up the hill for the dentist (via Wilkinson and provisions for the birds). The repair is silver coloured amalgam, but it's right at the back and can't easily be seen. I'm just happy to have the tooth repaired and no sharp edges jabbing into my tongue. As a bonus, I don't need a check up now until next April. And the dentist is contacting the dental hospital again to urge an appointment, as the front root canal is now just a constant ache (under control at the moment as I'm taking the 'prufen and parrots for my hand. Ye gods, it's an analgesic balancing act!)

Then it was making dinner, carving the pumpkin oh blast I forgot to take a photo sorry about that (we did a cat's face), dealing with all the trick or treaters, and then we watched The Adjustment Bureau on Filmflex (intriguing film, very stylish, got a little too religious at the end for my liking).

And now I'm settling down to get Poppy24 finished. Not too far to go and I can post.

2011-10-30T12:39:00.002Z

Food porn for Lutra...

There was a Samhain Love Food Festival at the Paintworks today - I treated us to these deliciously lush cakes. Anti-clockwise from top: chocolate and vanilla (with sugar ghost), chocolate caramel, raspberry ripple, apple crumble, blackberry and apple, pumpkin spice. Omnomnom.

Back to Devices, Too in a bit.

2011-10-29T18:36:00.003+01:00

Well, the weather was supposed to be OK today, at least until 2 p.m., so we headed off to Weston-super-Mare.

Alas, it started raining before the bus reached the town, but stopped again when we arrived, so at least it was dry while we were walking (went right along the seafront to the dunes at the far - southern - end. Photo is from there looking back to the centre). Debated having a go on the big wheel but it's £6.50 each so gave up on that idea. It was nice to get out of Briz for a few hours, and the wind up the Severn estuary is always bracing!

Next Devices, Too part now plotted out in my head: will make a start tonight.

2011-10-29T02:23:00.003+01:00

Aaaand the next part of Devices, Too...

(For anyone new, the story starts with Appliances and continues with Devices, Too...)

Part 3 – Hideaway

The roses were just so pretty, so fragrant – and Graham was sparkling in the moonlight...
     Poppy frowned as a soft voice intruded, drifting across her dreaming mind.
     "Poppy? I'm sorry, but you have to wake up. There's someone at the door and they don't want to go away..."
     Groggily, Poppy forced open her eyes to see her 'radio alarm clock' – a sweet little cat-like transformer who went by the designation of Livewire and who made it a point of honour to always wake her as gently as possible – gazing at her apologetically. She groaned and rubbed her eyes.
     "Wassa time?"
     "An obscenely early 4.30 a.m."
     "Bugger..." She hauled herself more or less upright and shoved hair away from her face. Livewire started playing soothing music, and awkwardly pushed a freshly brewed cup of coffee within reach. Not for the first time Poppy silently thanked whatever was looking after her that one of her wards was a coffee-maker with a timer: she was useless without that first cup of coffee...
     As the caffeine hit her system she became aware of the noise from the front door – a prolonged ringing of the bell, followed after a space of about ten seconds by several firm raps on the metal door knocker, a pattern that repeated after another few seconds. Whoever it was was obviously not going to be put off by the non-responsiveness within, and Poppy dragged herself from the bed, pulled on a floor-length fluffy purple dressing gown that almost swamped her – last year's birthday present from her mother – and managed to get down the stairs without tripping, distantly relieved to see that all her charges were acting human-normal, silent and dumb.
     She opened the front door, gazing blearily at the figure outside, then, with some alarm, jerked upright.
     "What's happened?"
     The soldier smiled in a conciliatory fashion.
     "I'm really sorry to have to wake you, ma'am... uh, Ms Moss. I know it's early, but I really have to be in Southampton in a couple of hours..."
     Poppy waved a hand vaguely at him.
     "S'OK. S'there a problem?"
      "No, but I've been ordered to make the energon delivery."
     Poppy stared blankly.
     "The what?"
     And suddenly Chill and 'Spin were there.
     "Energon? Why... oh, of courth. Upbeat."
     Chill inclined his head to the soldier.
     "If you would wait just a minute, I'll open the garage."
     The young man smiled gratefully.
     "Thanks, that'd make my life easier!"
     Poppy watched, a little dazedly, as between them Chill, 'Spin and the NEST operative manoeuvred four large tanks of... something into the garage, setting them against the rear wall. They were followed by four smaller tanks, two metal gallon drums and what looked like a large can of oil.
     The soldier proffered a clipboard and a pen, which Poppy automatically took, signing the delivery sheet, and handed back. He saluted her with a grin.
     "I'll let you get back to sleep now, ma'... Ms Moss. I'll try to deliver at a more reasonable time, next time."
     "Ta." As he climbed back into his truck, Poppy turned to her transformers. "What...?"
     Before either could answer, she stiffened and swept an alarmed and now fully awake gaze around the garage. The empty garage.
     "Where's 'Beat? Oh god, he's not been stolen or something has he? Surely he has an alarm, or something..."
     'Spin laid a hand on her arm.
     "It'th OK, Poppy. He jutht went out for a little drive."
     "He what? He's not supposed to do that! What if anyone saw him?"
     'Spin's reply was interrupted by the sound of a familiar engine, and seconds later Upbeat eased himself into the garage. Poppy glared as he transformed, her hands planted on her hips.
     "And where do you think you've been?"
     The Mini flinched, lugubrious expression even more hangdog than usual.
     "'m sorry. Was out meetin' a friend."
     "... scaring me half to death, s'not good for my blood pressure you kn..." Poppy stopped and stared. "You were what? What friend?"
     "Lightdance. Lives in pub down the road."
     Poppy could feel her mouth opening and closing like a goldfish, but was unable to force anything intelligible out for several seconds. She looked at 'Spin, who shrugged, and then at Chill, who dropped his gaze to the floor, then she turned back to 'Beat.
     "In the pub down the road?!"
     The Mini winced at the volume.
     "Um, yeah."
     "There's a transformer living in the pub down the road??!"
     "... yeah..."
     Poppy spluttered, and Chill handed her a glass of water. She was too stressed to wonder where he'd got it from. Taking a gulp of the cold liquid, she made herself calm down.
     "OK. OK. Let me get this straight. You have a friend living in the pub down the road. How long has he been there and why didn’t you tell anyone? And do the owners know?"
     "Nah. He keeps to 'imself, and's learned to use mains power to stay hidden. 'Is own signal's hid by the electrics in the place. Been there a few years now."
     "Why didn't you tell us?"
     "You never asked."
     Poppy rubbed at her forehead, fighting back the incipient headache. She really wished they'd be a little more forthcoming and a little less literal.
     "How often do you go to visit? And how do you... I mean, you wouldn't fit in the place..."
     "Nah. I pops down every month, an 'e comes out t'me. "
     "Unsetting all the alarms, I suppose."
     "Yep. Then activatin' 'em again when he goes back in."
     "OK..." Poppy frowned to herself. "How did you know where he was?"
     "'e told me."
     "And you've been sneaking out every month since you got here to meet up with him?"
     'Beat looked shifty, then shook his head.
     "Been meetin' up since I got here. To your planet. That were ten year ago."
     Poppy blinked. "I thought you were a new arrival."
     "Nah. Just got tired of tryin' to hide on me own and turned meself in to NEST."
     Well that was a bit of an eye-opener.
     "So, how long has he been here? On earth, I mean."
     'Beat considered the question, then raised his hands.
     "Must o' been about... fifty o' your years, give or take."
     Poppy stared, speechless.
     "There've been transformers here for that long?"
     "Much longer'n that." He gave her what passed for a grin. "We're good at hidin'."
     "Obviously." Poppy shook herself. "But he should really be here with us, shouldn't he?"
     "e's happy where 'e is. Likes watchin' humans. Finds you interestin'."
     "It's not really safe though, is it?"
     'Beat shrugged.
     "Been awright so far."
     Poppy sighed.
     "I need to report this."
     The Mini nodded mournfully.
     "I s'pose you have to."
     She patted his shoulder.
     "I'm sorry. But wouldn't you like him to live here?"
     "I would. Dunno if 'e'd agree."
     "It would be safer for him."
     "e's been safe for fifty year."
     "Well yes, but people here know about you now. And some of them are unhappy about it. Your being here, I mean."
     "Yeah, so 'e might be safer stayin' where 'e is."
     Poppy could see his point of view.
     "OK then. At lunchtime you and I are going to go and visit so I can see him. I know we won't be able to talk, but I'd still like to see what we're dealing with."
     "Awright."
     "Can you speak to him from outside the pub? Do you have some sort of... internal communications?"
     "Oh yeah."
     "Good. Would you introduce me, so he knows I don't mean any harm?"
     "Awright..." It was said reluctantly, but Poppy was determined. She'd had nightmares where her friends had been captured by hostile humans and gutted in front of her, and they had made her wary of being too trusting.
     "Thanks." She patted his arm. "I promise I'll do what I can to cause as little fuss or upset as I can, but I really think NEST need to know about this."
     "I know." 'Beat sighed – then his eyes brightened as he caught sight of the tanks against the wall. "Ooh! Energon!"
     'Spin snickered.
     "I hope you're going to thare thome of it."
     'Beat smirked.
     "I'm sure I can spare a bit."
     Poppy frowned. "And on the way to the pub you can tell me what that's all about."

She'd lost track of the time, or she might have thought twice about contacting Graham. As it was, the unshaven, bleary eyed face that regarded her from the screen had her glancing at the clock. Quarter past five? Oops...
     "Poppy?"
     "I'm sorry. Shall I ring back later?"
     He rubbed a hand over his eyes and rested his chin on a hand: it took Poppy a moment to realise he was in bed.
     "What's the problem?" Behind him she could just make out a pillow covered with a mass of pale blonde hair. Oh bugger it: she'd not only woken him up, she'd disturbed him too. Best to get the message delivered so she could let him get back to sleep. Or whatever else it was he did first thing in the morning.
     "I've just found out there's another transformer not a mile from the house."
     He was immediately alert, sitting up, the continental quilt falling to his waist. Apparently he didn't believe in bedclothes.
     "How did you find out?"
     "'Beat told me. Apparently the new one's been here about fifty years."
     The NEST officer frowned.
     "Hm. The older ones can be difficult to persuade to move."
     "I thought I'd go there at lunchtime – he's living in a nearby pub – and get a feel for the situation."
     "We don't want you endangering yourself."
     She grinned.
     "I'll be fine. I mean, it's a pub. What could possibly go wrong?"
     He raised an eyebrow.
     "That sounds like 'famous last words'. I should really accompany you, but I can't get away until mid-afternoon."
     "No, honestly, I'll be fine. If I'm the least bit worried I'll get out and ring you right away."
     She could see him considering it, and sighed.
     "Please. I'm not incompetent, you know."
     He chuckled. "Oh, I know that. Very well. But take Cable with you. In a pinch he can contact me urgently."
     "Oh, OK." Graham smiled, and she suddenly remembered her dream. She burst into giggles, and the officer eyed her warily. She waved a hand dismissively.
     "Sorry. Just remembered – you were in a dream I had last night."
     He looked alarmed. "I was?"
     "Yes." She tried to quell the giggles and ended up spluttering. "You were all sparkly, like one of those stupid American vampire things."
     Both eyebrows rose. "I'm... not sure whether to take that as a compliment or an insult..."
     "Oh, an insult, definitely. Sorry. I sometimes worry about my mind. It wanders off into the weirdest places."
     "Yes..." He eyed her wryly. "And on that note, I will say goodbye, and please report in as soon as you can after your foray to the pub."

JAT Oct 2011