Gordon Bennett, this is getting ridiculous!

Yes, I am still here (though both Kai and I have truly awful colds at the moment, the sort that actually had me incapable of doing anything for a couple of days, and that has kept Kai home all week). I haven't managed a swim in two weeks (I miss it...!) but I do at least now have a working knowledge of html5, css5, and the WaveWrights site is now on the server at 123-reg. There are a few broken links, I know: will see about running a sitelevel search for all of them later, but if anyone finds any, please let me know. The password protected subdirectory isn't accessible yet, as apparently WW is on one of 123's new hosting plans and the instructions for that are slightly different from their support pages (well, of course they would be. When is anything ever simple and straightforward for us?) I'm waiting on tech support and hopefully will have everything up and running by the weekend. End of the weekend at any rate.

Kai and I did make it to Weston Sunday before last. It was cold and windy, but quite exhilarating for all that.

We're going to put up the Yule decorations on Sunday. Kai wants everything sparkly and joyful and playful and pretty this year. With tinsel. Lots and lots of tinsel. He's going to enjoy this Yule! And I've had great fun planning the theme for his advent calender this year - more once he's started opening things...

In other news... I'm arranging to rehome Feather. Much as I don't want to lose her, I have to admit that I simply can't give her the sort of life she deserves. She's now got too big for me to handle easily, and it's simply not fair to keep her here when I can't give her the attention she deserves. The Reptile Emporium have agreed to take her: I'm waiting on them letting me know when they have space.

I shall miss her.

Labels: busyness, nothing's ever easy 'round here..., snakes

Well, at least it's only a week this time...

Been a bit of a fraught week though. Very high winds blew down one of the fence panels overnight on Friday: on Saturday we all went out to haul it back up and wire it in place temporarily until we can sort out a more permanent solution. Of course, next door came out to stick his oar in (while I was in the greenhouse), telling Ken he'd acquired a cross piece (at great expense) and would come onto our land to repair it, and also give us paint to repaint the thing. This led to an exchange of letters, the final result being him claiming entire ownership of the fence - despite it being on our property and despite his first words to Ken when we bought the house being that the concrete uprights were on our land and therefore it was our responsibility.

Fine. I've put up with twenty four and a half years of constant whining and nagging and bitching and bullying. He wants it, he can have it. That absolves us of any and all responsibility for helping with its upkeep. Our original plan, once we had the cash, was to remove it and replace it with a good, solid wall. The mortgage is cleared next March and we will finally have cash available to make the improvements we want, so I have spent a couple of days organising quotes. We will still have it built, but next to the fence. It'll mean losing the rubus shrub that came with the house (although I rescued two rooted branches that are now happily flourishing up on the slope), hard pruning, sleeving and lifting the pyracantha in the hope I can persuade it to recover when replanted, and possibly disassembling the greenhouse temporarily, but we'd have had to do that anyway.

I have someone coming (today or Monday) to take a look, measure up and give me two quotes, one for a wall to match the one on the other side of the garden (which will almost certainly be too expensive) and another much cheaper option. Fingers crossed!

Oh, and I must remember to update my complaint with the Avon and Somerset Constabulary over the weekend.

Monday's sunrise on the way to the pool...

(Camera phone again so not a great pic. The reality was jaw-dropping.)

Physio on Tues was early (8.30 am) but good - he's so pleased with progress I don't have to see him again, and if by a month's time everything is still fine and I haven't needed to make an appointment to see him he'll sign me off. I have really been working on the exercises and can feel the difference. It's nice to be (mostly) out of pain!

So far I am delighted with the new fridge freezer.

Kai and I are both fighting off a bug at the moment. He took Tues and Thurs off to rest and recover - days with lectures he can easily make up and labs that he usually spends helping other people rather than being left in peace to get his own work done. He and I both spent much of yesterday watching DVDs and dozing, and I (at least, Kai isn't up yet) feel a lot better for it. He does need to go in today though, and a little early, as someone has asked him for help. Pity he's not getting paid for it!

Other than that I've spent much of the week in an intensive study of html5, which is gloriously flexible and a lot easier than xhtml. It won't take much getting used to: going to take a look at upgrading WaveWrights today.

Labels: busyness, household matters, medical matters

Been a bit of an odd week. On Sat Ken and I went to Wells for a couple of hours while Kai got homework done. Lovely to get out of Bristol together! Enjoyed the trip, as ever - Glastonbury Tor was rising out of a sea of mist as we descended the hill, very mysterious and Arthurian (but we were moving too fast for a photo, alas). Did a little shopping, but didn't find what I was looking for, unfortunately. Nice trip all the same.

Then on Sunday, after shopping and lunch, Kai and I walked the Whitchurch Way, as I'd promised him. Sunny to start with, then the mists rolled in and it got a little cold, which was actually rather pleasant.

12 lengths swim on Monday morning, then after Kai headed off got some client work done. I've been asked to take over the BCHS site, and Fox and Howard want a revamp of theirs before the London Bookfair in April, not to mention I'm transferring WaveWrights to 123-reg at the end of the month and Ken thinks a revamp is a good idea, so it's now urgent I learn html5 asap. In the evening I met Ken at Curry's in Avonmeads and we decided on one of these. It's a little smaller than the current one, but it has five fridge shelves and four door compartments (which we really need), and now that I can't carry anything like as much as I used to, I have to shop more often, which means I can pick up everything we need fresh, so more fridge space and less freezer space is much better. It still has plenty of capacity for our needs.

Tuesday evening I met Kai from Uni, treated him to a meal at the Crazy Fox, then we were off to see Michael Berry's Optica Fantastica lecture at the Institute of Physics (one of of Bristol's annual Festival of Ideas events: we try to go to at least one every year, many of them are free). It was wonderful, and I learned a lot, but some of the concepts were unfamiliar so not only did the brain get a bit of a workout but Kai was very happy to explain the things I didn't know on the way home. Though I'm still uncertain about the concept of 'knottiness'...

Wed was supposed to be quieter, but after two lots of shopping and a small baking session (I had several ripe bananas to use up so made a banana loaf -

- a John Barrowman recipe I found online, extremely tasty but it gave me an upset stomach and Kai a touch of stomach ache. No idea why, it was properly cooked and the ingredients were all fine. Ken was OK...) I didn't have much time left to do anything.

Yesterday morning was my appt at the BRI. I thought it was about my arm, but it was actually a review of my hip. All OK, but the manipulating and prodding has of course left it aching today. Still, the exercising is making a difference. Next review in six months.

Afterwards I did a major hunt through Broadmead and Cabot Circus for a Yule present for mum in law. She's recently bought herself an 'autumn coloured' coat and wants an autumn coloured headsquare to go with it. Problem is, they're now definitely out of fashion and very hard to find (unless you can afford £69 for pure silk at House of Fraser). So that was a bit of a washout. Caught the bus to Broadwalk to make Kai's second MMR appt and go to the PO, then walked home. After dinner Ken and I cleaned behind and under the old fridge in preparation for the new one...

... which is being delivered between 3.10 and 7.10 this afternoon, according to the text I got at 6.58 this morning. Yay!

Tomorrow is set aside for major shopping expeditions to both Sains and Tesco. I've saved up £30's worth of Sains rewards, which is enough to stock up the freezer, and I have a 'spend £50 save £7' Tesco voucher which will come in handy in stocking up for Yule stuff. So we're all organised!

Tesco had The Book Thief cheap, so I picked that up. Hoping to watch it over the weekend.

Labels: busyness, client sites, cooking, medical matters, presents