... I'd write my autobiography, but no-one would believe it....
If you come across any words you don't recognise in this blog, take a look at the Taylorspeke Glossary in the left-hand infopane, you'll usually find a definition there.
EO - Everlasting orchid. Phalaenopsis. I've had this orchid since 2007 and it just keeps flowering...
AO - Alien face orchid. Phalaenopsis . Bought 2018 - lovely little flowers, all different patterns!
RO - Rescued orchid photo to come when it flowers. Phalaenopsis. Rescued from a bin up the road in 2019. Classic!
TO - Tiny orchid. Phalaenopsis. Bought at Tesco 21.8.20. It just begged to come home with me. How could I say no?
CO - Crimson orchid. Cambria. Another Tesco find. This one may be going to live in Ken's room once we've redecorated and put up the new shelving; it prefers a cooler, less sunny windowsill. If so, I'll need to find another cambrian to keep it company.
Now donated to Jeff at The Zone.
GO - Golden orchid. Phalaenopsis. Saw this one when I bought CO and left it behind - then immediately regretted it as soon as I got home. Never seen one like it before. Ken, bless him, went back over to Tesco in the rain and bought it for me...
DO - Dendrobium Orchid. Smells of wisteria, so beautiful...
RO2 - Rescued orchid no 2. Phalaenopsis. This is the one I rescued from the wall along the road middle of 2021.
PO. Pink orchid. Phalaenopsis. This is the one I bought at Cabury Garden Centre on special, late 2021. It's much happier here!
TWO. Teeny weeny orchid, Phalaenopsis. Rescued from Tesco end 2021 (I think). Now donated to Jeff at The Zone.
"Autumnal - nothing to do with leaves. It is to do with a certain brownness at the edges
of the day...
Brown is creeping up on us, take my word for it... Russets and tangerine shades of old gold flushing the very outside
edge of the
senses... deep shining ochres, burnt umber and parchments of baked earth - reflecting on itself and through itself,
filtering the light. At
such times, perhaps, coincidentally, the leaves might fall, somewhere..."
(Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
are Dead Act
2: Tom Stoppard)
Autumn...
I love this time of year. I love the colours, the sharp slant of sunlight on the trees, mosaics of acid-yellow and harts-
blood, velvet and
darkness and a haze of mist-grey over the hills. I love its immanence, its mellowness, the tang of frost just around the
corner of the
year...
Watching the little birds in the goat-willow in my garden, I realised something more.
I love this land with a fierce, possessive love, deep-rooted in two thousand years of history. From the frosted beaches
and cloud-brushing peaks of the north to the wind-haunted meanderings of the rivers of the east, from the sensuous
rolling patchworked hills of
the south to the demanding dark moors of the west, this land seeps into bone and blood and synapse, mother of
motley nobility,
culture, individual freedoms. It can be known. It can be understood. It can be felt deep inside.
I love its effortless eccentricities, its vigour and vibrancy, its flawed perfections, its silent strength and tenacious
resilience, its hard-won tolerances and intense and variable beauty, the profound energy in its sacred mythical
landscape.
Home and more-than-home, the forces that shape and protect and bind, in me, as I am in the land. Love returning love
in the stillness
for those who'll only take the time to listen...
Currently reading:
Cixin Liu - newest favourite author.
Ben Miller. wow. Just, wow...
Currently working on: Haadri
Dystopic novel starring Devon from Dystopia
Currently chuffed with: My garden
Currently miffed at:
Effing BND (you know who I mean) Nestlé, TFG Tinyhands Fart, Toadface Farage
Currently maintaining:
Wavewrights, on and off... BCHS BCW
Blog Pics I've gathered some of my pages of photos together: the page of links is here. I'll be adding more as time goes
by!
Evil Squid
A Little Glossary of Taylorspeke
(in no particular order)
plit popints - n. Typo for 'plot points' typed on a keyboard with more than half the characters worn off...
[PING] (alt [ping]) - n. A brainwave. The text equivalent of a lightbulb going on blindingly over someone's head. Usually mine. And usually at the most inconvenient of times. [sigh]
TPTB - The Powers That Be.
wulmet - n. A person of little or no talent who somehow inveigles himself into a position where he is in power over other, far more talented people and uses his position to downplay them in order to try to make himself feel superior.
biteable - referring to an anatomical part vb, tasty.
Flatterfed - vb. 27.02.08: my typo for flattered, but since it's so cutely apt I thought it would fit nicely
here. Lutra defined it as "the lovely warm feeling of satisfaction resulting from enthusiastic reviews..." (which I've been
getting for my MB fics).
Composted - vb, 'compos mentis', mentally capable of working. Contrast with
uncomposted or non-
composted, not 'compos mentis', not capable of working, hungover...
Cumbles - n, cucumbers.
Kewp - how Ken says 'thank you'. We rather like Lutra's 'nanx', too...
Musekick - noun, music, without which I cannot work.
'feinne - noun, caffeine, essential for correct mental functioning, especially first thing in the morning. I
prefer mine in the
form of SodaStream Diet Coke. And on that subject...
Skoosh - verb, noun. To skoosh - to add CO2 to a sodastream bottle filled with water to make it
fizzy, prior to adding
Diet Coke syrup (or just drinking as sparkling water). A skoosh - a bottle of water that has been skooshed. Skooshy
- something that
has been skooshed, water, or that whipped cream that comes in tins you have to shake then upend and press the
nozzle...
Shoogle - verb. To shake gently, for example, of roast potatoes in a roasting tin to ensure they're
covered with oil. I
have vague memories of this being a real Scottish colloquialism...
Stegasaurus - n, spider of the genus tegenaria. Why? No idea. I just find it easier, that's
all...
Edit 08.09.07: Lutra thinks that Brian is a good name for a mini-stegasaurus. From now on, any 'Brian's in the posts
may be assumed to be a tegenaria. Except where otherwise specified.
Viterals - noun, vitamins + minerals. Also a pun on victuals.
Splish - verb. A combination of slosh and splash.
Parrots - noun, paracetemol (from the old joke "Why are there no aspirin tablets in the jungle?
Because the parrots eat
'em all...")
Maggles - noun, magpies. As opposed to non-magical people.
Flamewings - noun. Swifts. So called because the first time we became aware of them was an early
summer evening
when they were flying high, the light from the setting sun seemingly turning their wings to flames. Lovely little birds. We
always know
summer's arrived when we hear their high-pitched squeeing.
Murfs - noun, moths.
Peasant cut - noun, roughly cut up into big chunks, e.g. vegetables chopped in a hurry for a
hearty stew or
soup. By extension, anything prepared in a hurry - haircut, material, even a first draft of a story...
Giraffe - noun, a carafe (of wine, coffee or water, for example).
Shrumps - noun, mushrooms.
Splings - noun, Kai's spelling homework: by extension, any spelling.
Tyops - noun, typos. var toyps, typso, psyto, psoyt, etc. Usual result of a dose of the
fingerials (see next
entry).
Fingerials - (pr. fin GEEE ree yalls) noun, fingers that will not type what you want
them to.
Haddock - noun, time, of which I never have enough. (Origin of this term here.)
Sleep - noun? vb? a.k.a. sheeeeeeeeep.... I used to know what this word
meant...
:: World Timeserver For checking the current time around this world
:: Universal Currency Converter Actually it's just a terran-global currency
converter, not universal,
but it's still useful...
So what is it with the
haddock? Am I some kind of fish freak?
I'll leave that to
others to decide.
The tale (or tail if you prefer) harks back
to October 2000, when my GoodTwin and I, ably assisted by Sue,
ran the first UK Professionals convention... It's common
knowledge that I never have enough time, and I was determined
not to bewail the fact that weekend: hence I promised not to use the
'T' word... Of course, that didn't really work (if nothing else I
had to let the trainees know what times things were supposed to be
happening!) so we decided a substitute word would be employed
instead. There were several suggestions. Banana came very close to
being chosen. However, I eventually decided that 'haddock' fitted
the bill nicely. Ever since, haddock=time. Hence the title of my forthcoming
autobiography, My Half-Life in the Haddock
Space Continuum....
Normally I wouldn't, but these
were just irresistible...
These
Too-Kawaii Kitties were adopted from Ghost's Anime
Page (which appears to have disappeared, alas...)
Anime still needed to complete series' I'm collecting...
Many thanks to everyone who has helped me acquire the collection!
Ai no Kusabi
Owned:
DVD Dj: June Special CD: Ambivalence
Cyber City Oedo 808
Owned:
DVD
All 3 eps on Video, dubbed Dj: Cyberage 1-3
Illustrated Book 2 (Benten's) in Japanese
From Eroica with Love
Owned: Manga Vols 1, 9, 11
Mirage of Blaze
Owned:
DVD Vol 1 (eps 1-4)
R.G. Veda
Owned: English Manga: Vol 1 Japanese Manga: Vol 1-7 complete Tarot Pack
R.G.Veda video
Twelve Kingdoms
Owned: Anime Vol 1-12: complete
Under the Glass Moon
Owned: Manga Vol 1, 2
Vol 3 needed
Vampire Hunter D - Bloodlust
Owned:
DVD
Vampire Hunter D Book 1
New Vampire Miyu
Owned:
(Studio Ironcat) Manga Vols 1 -5 (complete)
Yami no Matsuei
Owned:
Viz Manga: English translation, Vols 1 - 11 (complete: I believe vol 12 is only available online)
Japanese 3-DVD set
Central Park Media: Descendants of Darkness Vol. 1, English/Japanese subbed.
Sketchbook
[::..Joules SP fied..::]
... this is Terra? How the hell'd I end up here...?
It snowed quite heavily last night - huge soft flakes sleeting down completely covering the ground - and the silence was extraordinary. Alas, it was melting by sunrise, and the usual dull city noise was back...
I told Kai, who watched out of the landing window as a fox trotted through the garden, silhouetted against the white. I missed it, was in the bathroom, but reminds me we should put food out tonight. The weather's turned colder for a spell.
Xmas eve we watched Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets... Luc Besson has been involved with some very good films. This, unfortunately, isn't one of them. Fabulous cinematography, great sfx, the overall plot was sound, but the acting... Valerian was a Marty Stu and completely unbelievable, with soddall chemistry with Laureline (it should probably be mentioned that Cara Delevingne's acting was very much better than Dane DeHaan's). And what the hell was that abomination of a scene with Bubble? It served no purpose other than titillation, apparently... Very disappointing.
The day itself was very nice (well, except that Ken has gone down with a nasty stomach bug, but I honestly can't remember a time when one of us wasn't ill at Yule. He's had to take Wed and Thurs as sick leave..) The presents were all wonderful - thanks GoodTwin and Sue! - and we enjoyed Masters of the Universe after dinner (duck with all trimmings. Sorry Lutra, I completely forgot to take any photos of food at all this Yuletide...) Wonderfully awful film! Much hilarity resounded. Kai will never watch the latest Money Supermarket advert the same way again...
(If this loads the Divaram video from Baahubali, as it keeps doing for me, refresh the page a time or two, that should fix it. Otherwise, watch it on Youtube here.)
Then after the Doctor Who Special (I can't comment. I kept nodding off) we settled in with The Dark Tower which, by contrast, is much better than the preceding two films. Still nothing very new (but then, what am I expecting these days, given the number and variety of films I've seen?) but good acting, an intriguing premise, and very nice cg.
On Boxing Day friend Dawn came over for the usual running buffet and a Bollywood fest - both Baahubalifilms back to back... Absolutely brilliant. Love those films - and Dawn enjoyed them too. Butter chicken curry for dinner then a couple of Black Books eps before K&K walked her home. Very nice day!
Today's been quieter. Both deliveries, some tidying and making sure as much as possible went out for recycling (all bins tomorrow). And the bird feeders are full and the fox food is out in the garden: forecast is for freezing weather for the next couple of days, oh joy. I need to shop tomorrow...
GoodTwin - to explain my comment in my thank you email... My main present was the gorgeous (and IDW accurate) Rodimus figure (from the Big Bad Toy Store. I've now found an equally wonderful Megatron, who is half as much again (and comes with both miner and tyrant forms!) and the damn near perfect Dinobot, which I am going to pre-order and put all my Yule and birthday money for the next two years towards!)
I think Ken is bemused. If you believe the ads you'd think that most women want expensive clothes, shoes, jewellery and perfume as presents. Me, I want custom Transformers!
Quite where I'm going to put them I'm not sure. I think I need to reorganise my display cabinets...
Anyway - Rodimus came with two heads, one with a grim and serious expression, and one with his usual trademark smirk. It took us half an hour and a Youtube video to figure out how to change the heads as there were no instructions for that bit. This is him in his temporary home. I'll take him out and get some more pics later - you can't see his bow here.
#
Joules *Dances with Haddock* Taylor
pontificated this at 9:04 pm
It’s a very informative article. I am happy to read all this stuff.you are doing a great job. I admire your efforts. Thanks for sharing this article.
11 Comments:
You got a Rodimus! Wow!
Video not available in my country. We must have really pissed someone off by electing that orange thing. And I'm still not a robot.
Just like Worzel, then... :D
We didn't get much snow either, and it didn't last. Not that I was anxious to do anything in it, so that's not a bad thing...
I just had to do six of those verify thing...!
GoodTwin
testing part four: we've run out of ideas for this franchise
Testing Animated: the TV Series
Testing the 5th: the unmasking
Well, with Kai's help. I have now hopefully resolved the robot verification nonsense... let me know if you still have problems commenting.
Though it's not very pretty. Sorry about that.
oooh snow! (xmas day here in Aus wasn't too bad but we had 3 stupid hot days afterwards)
Expensive clothes etc? pfft no, get me my geek stuff! :D
Thank you for thinking of me with the food porn but honestly, I'm pretty much fooded out and wouldn't have appreciated it as much!
(ok, let's see if I can remember my login to comment...)
Testing....
Yep, that seemed to work!
It’s a very informative article. I am happy to read all this stuff.you are doing a great job. I admire your efforts. Thanks for sharing this article.