... although you wouldn't know that from my recent LJ activity (read: total lack of) but I've surfaced now because today is a very important day - it's sparrow2000's birthday!!!
Happy birthday, my dear. Wishing you the best of days.
I also send belated happy birthday wishes to spikesgirl58, to lilachigh and to trepkos who all had their birthdays during the summer. And also today, lindahoyland.
I'll go crawl back under my rock now. Well, I will in a minute. Since I'm here now... I'm not sure why I've not been on LJ since when?
May?
Yes, May.
What have I been doing?
Much the same as before - gardening, reading, listening to the radio, avoiding housework. I've taken up exercise, which is enjoyable - swimming, walking, cycling, football, etc. But I've no real reason for not checking in here occasionally. I'm not going to make some kind of pious promise to do better in future. I'll be back at some point. Maybe once winter settles in again. In the mean time, I wish you all a lovely autumn.
Random thought - there's been a lot of ceremony in the last week. Charles has had to make a lot of public speeches, but every time I hear the phrase "The King's speech" I get a really strong mental image of Colin Firth. It still sounds odd to hear the words "God save the king" and "King Charles III" said on the radio. I don't have anything to say about the late queen that has not already been said better by others. I never really thought much about the royal family, they were just there. And I am very glad to have a head of state who is not also the head of government - a non-political head of state strikes me as a much better arrangement than the opposite. But constitutional monarch or constitutional president has never really been an issue for me... except that if we get rid of the monarchy we'll have too actually formulate a written constitution and I fear the rigidity such a thing could impose upon our legal system.
...although, I am in self-isolation because I've tested positive for covid. That means I'm stuck in the house until the end of the week. And it could be longer if I continue positive. My symptoms are mild, courtesy of three jabs. Mainly a slight temperature and a cough. Thank science for the vaccine that means I get away with only that.
However, forced inactivity has reminded me to login to LJ for the first time since February. *waves sheepishly* Hi, everyone, how you all?
Firstly, I want to wish very, very belated Happy Birthday wishes to skargasm for February, texanfan and ani_mama for March, tabaqui, snycock and twilightofmagic for April and laazikaat and janedavitt for the first half of May. I hope you all had a wonderful day on your birthdays, although not everyone on that list is really active on LJ these days.
If you'd asked me last year I'd have said that there was no way I could start the day without logging into LiveJournal to see what was going on. I have no explanation or excuse for having dropped out of sight for so long. What I can say is I've been moderately busy, although the definition of moderately busy has shifted quite dramatically since I retired.
I know everybody says this when they've been absent for a while, but I really mean it – if there are any posts from the last umpteen weeks that will bring me up-to-date with what's going on in your lives I would love to see them. Please do point me at them.
Back in 2019 I engaged with ljbookbingo and I had half determined to do the same again this year. This year it's all about reading books with titles that begin with each letter of the alphabet. So I've been stocking up on short reviews of the books I've read so far this year. I'll try and post them occasionally and see if I manage to fill the alphabet bingo card.
Meanwhile, spring is finally in the air, my little garden is bursting with colour and I've made myself a totally new flowerbed which is just waiting to be planted up as soon as I can get myself to a garden centre. Which I hope *fingers crossed* might be at the weekend.
Happy new season to you all. And I'll try and do better about being around in future.
The last day of the month and I remembered to post the last few questions on the meme. Yay! Go me!
28. Who was your best teacher/professor? Why? My English teacher in the first years of secondary school, who gave me extra time outside class to finally teach me to spell. Or, at least, to spell better. She taught me some simple rules that have stood me in good stead ever since.
29. If you are an only child, do you wish you had siblings? If you have siblings, do you wish you were an only child? No. When we were kids we moved around so much that my parents and my siblings were the only constants in my world. We have stayed close.
30. Do you sleep with your sheets tucked in or out? If you don't use top sheets, if you stay somewhere that does, do you prefer your sheets tucked in or out? In the summer I usually sleep with my feet sticking out of the bottom of the duvet, but in the winter I definitely tuck my feet in.
31. Toilet paper: over or under? It took me a moment to figure out what this question meant. In my case the answer is neither. My toilet paper sits on a small table next to the toilet, along with a clock and occasionally a book.
I went to see the new Macbeth at the cinema the other day. It's certainly very dramatic. The black and white format is very stylish and the sets manage to tread a neatly balanced line between cinematic landscape and stage set. The weird sisters were absolutely amazing. Brilliantly done! But... but... it always takes me a moment or three to adapt my ear to Shakespeare's speech rhythms, but in this case it took so much longer. I had real trouble making out the words the actors were saying. Such a shame.
I won't say I didn't enjoy it, because I did, but I do wish I could have better heard what they were saying.
Once again time has got away from me. I've been a bit busy and didn't realise how many days had gone by. So my catch-up is behind a cut, because it's almost 2 weeks worth. ( Read more...Collapse ) And that's me caught up. I will admit to running out of steam a bit *g* I'll try not to let so long go by in future.
I just realised it's a week since I posted the first 6 days of January. If I'm not going to end up posting a month at a time, I begin to suspect I might need to log a reminder in my diary *g* So here's another week...
7. Have you ever saved an animal's life? How about a person's life? I can't remember ever saving an animal's life. Maybe the occasional wasp, bee, or moth. And I'm pretty sure I'd remember if I'd ever saved a person.
8. Would you rather be able to see 10 minutes into your own future, or 10 minutes into the future of anyone but yourself? That would have to be a constant ability to be in any way interesting. Seeing ten minutes into my own future right now would just show me sitting here doing this*g* Being able to see ten minutes into other peoples' futures might be uncomfortable, but might, potentially, change my answer to question 7, since I might be able to distract someone from crossing the road at a time when they shouldn't... except I've never seen a person knocked down by a car, so would I suddenly start seeing that potential? Probably not. Hmm... if I had to choose, I think I'd go for me, over everybody else, if only because in a crowded place being able to see everybody else's ten minutes future could end up being very confusing and a bit hallucinatory.
9. Would you rather lose the ability to read, or the ability to speak? Assuming the question is saying 'permanently' I think I'd rather lose the ability to speak. Sign language and writing can serve most purposes, even if sign language has limited coverage and writing is time-consuming. And I'm not much of a talker, anyway. But being unable to read and unable to learn how to do so again, would be awful in both emotional and practical ways.
10. What Olympic (or other) sport would be the funniest to add a mandatory amount of alcohol to? No. Not going there. It all sounds far too dangerous *g* Oh, okay then. Umm... beach volleyball? Most sports are risky or require physical coordination, so alcohol would either result in a dangerous situation (fencing, javelin, ski jumping, toboggan, etc) or something very boring to watch (who wants to see a tennis player fail to return every single serve?) At least with beach volleyball you'd get to see people falling over in silly ways, but not really harming themselves.
11. What do you think are three things that are pretty great or interesting about you? My past adventures (which I am keeping to myself). All three of them *g*
12. What's your favourite number? Why? I haven't really got one, but if pushed I'd go for 9, since that is both my birth date and three times three.
13. Would you rather have all illicit drugs be legalized, or duelling between consenting adults be legalized? Drugs. If they always had been, there'd have been no need for organised crime to get involved, there'd be far fewer people sick and involved in crime to pay for a hit and society would have evolved social means of avoiding too much abuse, just as it has with both alcohol and tobacco.
Looks like I am going to do this again. I need an excuse to post occasionally. I'm also considering taking part in this year's LJ Book Bingo (at https://ljbookbingo.livejournal.com/), but I'll see whether I can get a couple of book reviews in stock before I decide about that. This year, rather than subject and title, the bingo card is purely alphabetical.
It's Epiphany, the day that Christmas Decorations are traditionally taken down. Except I did that on January 1st *g*
So, January. My goodness, it's 2022. How did that happen and where did the years go? I remember when the idea that the world would ever reach the year 2000 seemed so futuristic as to be almost impossible. On the radio yesterday they did a little piece about the fact that the film Soylent Green was set in 2022. I remember watching that on the television in the mid-seventies.
January. And the first six questions of the year. Behind a cut, to save your flists. ( Read more...Collapse )
I did so badly at posting during the last half of this year, I'm not sure I'll do this meme again. But on the other hand, these questions have been the only posts I've made this year.
I need to think about this.
However, for now I'll finish off the year.
21. Do you have memories from preschool? Yes. I have a lot of early memories. I always feel kind of sorry for the people who say that their first day at school is their earliest memory, because it makes me think that the event was so traumatic for them that it became somehow dominant and overwhelmed anything earlier.
22. Is there anything about technology that scares you? By technology I suppose the question is referring to the various manifestations of IT? In that case, loss of privacy. If the question is referring to electrical and electronic technology in generally, it's the fact that 'things' nowadays can't be mended. When I was younger every high street had a television and household machine repair shop.
23. What’s a word/phrase that’s commonly heard in your region, but not anywhere else? The dialect of this part of the North East of England is called Geordie and is heavily influenced by both Eastern Scots and Norse, but obviously they're not exactly the same as the words used in those places. There's a whole list here. But a particular phrase I heard a long time ago and still love was the question asked of me as a child, new to the area, when I tore my coat at school. A friend asked me. "Will yer mam play war wi yer?" (Trans for those who need it: Will your Mum play war with you?)
24. Do you bite on straws, lollipop handles, or ice cream sticks? No, nor pencils.
25. Do your parents still live in the same house they raised you in? No, my parents moved house when the children all left home and they retired.
26. What’s your favourite flavour of soda, pop or whatever else you call it? I like ginger beer. And I like Sicilian lemonade. But I don't drink fizzy drinks very much... except tonic with gin in.
27. What time do you usually have dinner? I eat early, because I don't like going to bed with a full stomach, so not later than five or six, by preference.
28. Do you keep the cabinets in your kitchen and bathroom organized? I think the best I can say is that I try.
29. What do you wish you’d spent more time doing five years ago? I try not to have regrets. It's bad for my piece of mind.
30. How often do you light candles? Only when suffering from a power cut at night.
31. What are you looking forward to in the next year? Summer! *g*
Once again, I've not really been online lately, so I'm sure I've missed things. If I have missed something you think I'd like to see, please do let me know.
Somehow, I think that I shouldn't engage with this meme next year. I haven't done very well with it lately. But the completest in me is determined that I will manage to finish this year's questions. So under the cut are the last 11 days and goodness knows when I'll post the last few *g*
In case I don't manage to do so before next weekend, I wish all my flist a very, very Merry Christmas!
Oh my goodness, it's almost mid-December and I suddenly realised I have once again failed to post for the meme since the end of November. So once again, behind a cut to save your flists. ( Read more...Collapse )
I've suddenly realised how long ago I last posted. I've been under the weather for a while, which is why I've only been around intermittently. Then I got my booster jab and spent a couple of days feeling rather unwell in a different way. Don't get me wrong - I'm very pleased to get it, but I'm also really concerned about the large parts of the world where people haven't even got a first jab. For all the early chorus of "None of us are safe until all of us are safe" the rich countries are not making enough of an effort to get vaccine to the rest of the world.
Given the amount of time, I did consider giving up on the meme, but the completest in me insisted that that was silly, since it's the end of November so there are only a couple of weeks left to make the whole year. So I have done it, but with so many questions I've put them under a cut, to spare both your flists and your patience.
It still feels remarkably mild for November, but the forecast is for cold next week and I'll probably be hunkered down then, doing very little and just reading my library books. So I thought I'd post an update to the meme, before potentially disappearing *g*
Which reminds me, I need to go to the library today to return three books. *nods* I'll do that as soon as I've posted this.
I also have some snowdrops to plant in my small garden. Snowdrops always disappear from the shops as soon as they come in, so I'm lucky to have some. I need to get them in the ground before they start to sprout where they are *g*
That all sounds like a plan.
11. What are some things a house would need to have for you to purchase it? Hmm... Since I live alone, I think I would want a couple of spare bedrooms because hey, it's nice to have an office as well as a place to put visitors. And a garden. That's good. Apart from that... being close to the sea is a definite plus.
12. Would you ever go out in public wearing pyjamas? No. Especially not if they looked like pyjamas. Occasionally when camping I've worn soft trousers and a sweatshirt to sleep in and have gone out into the open in those, but on the whole I do prefer to be dressed when outside.
13. Have you ever had a lemonade stand? No. Not really a thing in any of the places I've lived.
14. Do you think you look older or younger than your real age? On the whole I think I look my age, although in the past people have often underestimated how old I was, by up to a decade.
15. Where have you lived throughout your life? All over the place. All over the world at various times. I'm not going to list them *g*
16. Do you want any piercings? No. My ear lobes are pierced and that is quite enough for me. I can admire additional piercings – those ones that run up the ear, even some nose piercings, but like tattoos, admiring them on other people does not tempt me to indulge in them myself.
I knew I hadn't been online for a while, but I didn't realise it was so long. But here I am on 10th of the month and I realise the last time I was in LJ was almost a week ago. I will check back a couple of days, but if there's anything I've missed that I really should see, please do let me know.
I've been thinking about numbers. I really enjoy More or Less on Radio 4, which is all about how statistics are presented and whether statistics quoted in the media are true.
I heard an interesting one the other day - according to a senior police office there were 600 murders in England and Wales last year. I thought it would be more. Which if accurate and as a separate issue, just goes to show how listening, watching and reading the news can skew your perception of the world. But assuming it is, I went to see what the population of England and Wales is and according to the Office of National Statistics, the best estimate for 2020 was 59,720,000 last year. Call it 60,000,000. That's a murder rate of 0.001%, which doesn't seem like much. But it's also 1 in 100,000 and that somehow seems like so much more. At least, it does to me. Hmmm.... Numbers and their presentation - fascinating.
On Friday I made my Halloween lantern, so that the kids in the street will know they're allowed to ring the bell. I have a large bowl of sweets that it would do me no good to have to myself *g* I thought I might get visitors last night, it not being a school night, but not a one. Maybe tonight. If not, I will save them for Guy Fawkes before I give up and eat them myself.
Before we leave October totally behind, I am posting the rest of the month's meme.
21. Would you rather read a book or listen to the audiobook? Oh, read. I can't just sit and listen. I have to be doing something at the same time and that means I have to keep going back to re-listen to the bit I just missed because I got distracted by the task in hand. 'Tis why I don't listen to podcasts, either.
22. Have you ever eaten snow? Of course. As a child. Clean, smooth, freshly fallen snow looks so inviting.
23. Curtains or blinds? Curtains. Blinds just don't look right in an old house.
24. Have you ever adopted a stray (cat or dog)? No. I did once bring a kitten home, but it wasn't a stray. It was from an unplanned litter.
25. Do you own/wear any jumpsuits? Jumpsuit? No. Onesie? Certainly not! Overalls? Yes. Especially when painting walls. They're all basically the same sort of thing, but they have such different associations *g* And what other people have said is absolutely right - not easy to get out of when rushing to the loo. If they weren't so usefully protective, I wouldn't use overalls, either.
26. Do you struggle with dry skin in the winter? No. But I do get dry skin on my face at the change of the seasons in spring and autumn. Thankfully it doesn't last long and I've worked out how to deal with it.
27. Have you ever got angry at an employee and complained to the manager? No. I almost did once, but she was young and gauche and I think that my reaction to her ill-considered comment might have told her that she'd made a mistake.
28. Do you add unnecessary letters to the end of words? I don't understand this question.
29. What was the last thing you used your phone for, besides calling/texting? I imagine it was a quick internet search for something.
30. Do you always check the prices of things when you buy groceries? Yes, I do. Especially the bit in small print that says what the price per 100g is. It's not always true that the large pack is better value.
31. How many nights per week do you cook dinner at home vs. going out to eat? I can't remember the last time I went out to eat. My birthday last year maybe..., or maybe the year before *g*
It's a rainy Sunday here. I hope you all have a good day, whatever you are doing with it.
I feel like I say this every time I post, but I can't believe it's more than a week since I last did. It would appear that it's actually ten days.
It's certainly autumn now. 7am and there's only the beginning of light in the sky to the east.
11. Do you still take hot showers when it’s hot out? It's never so hot in this country to make a hot shower inappropriate. In hot countries I have been know to turn the shower temperature down to lukewarm, but here it is always set to the same comfortably hot level.
12. Do you like the picture on your ID? My passport and driving licence have the same picture and I would not say I am fond of it. The rules for the passport forbid a smile, so those pictures always look so grim.
13. Is there someone you pretend to like but you really don't like? No. That would be silly. If I don't like someone I avoid them.
14. Have you ever raked leaves, and then played in them? Many, many years ago, when I was about ten years old, but rarely. Kicking through leaves was mostly reserved for when walking down the street.
15. What is one thing you've realized or discovered lately? That depression happens and there is a danger in trying to attach it to a cause.
16. Which family member did you inherit your hair colour from? My Dad, although that didn't really become clear until I was in my late teens and it began to darken.
17. What’s the average length of a shower for you? I don't know. Three or four minutes? Maybe six or seven. I've never timed myself, but I don't hang around long – get wet, soap on, soap off and that's it.
18. What’s something about adult life you were never warned of or prepared for? I don't think I was ever 'warned' as such, but prepared for? I suppose I wasn't prepared for falling in love and getting married as early as I did. A very nice surprise it was, though.
19. If you won the lottery, do you think any of your family members would ask you to give them some of your money? No, they wouldn't need to ask. I'd get in there first and share some of it out.
20. What is the craziest thing you’ve seen happen at your workplace? *thinks back* I suppose in recent years there was the day a man walked in and started declaring some sort of political manifesto. I couldn't actually hear him and now I can't remember what it was all about, but once he'd done he left peacefully enough.
Goodness knows where the time goes. Suddenly it's almost mid-October. The leaves are visibly turning now and the other evening there was an evocative smell of bonfire smoke in the air.
6. Have you ever locked yourself out of your car? Yes, once. I arrived at a hotel in the Lake District and put the keys on the back shelf while I unloaded my case, then shut the hatch before I realised the keys were still there. Luckily one of the staff at the hotel knew how to break into my sort of car and he got it open so I could get them back *g*
7. What’s your favourite kind of cheese? I don't have a favourite. The cheese I buy most commonly is an extra mature cheddar, but like Wallace I love a good Wensleydale. Double Gloucester is good, too. In fact I like so many different cheeses for different reasons. A soft cream cheese is sometimes absolutely right, even cottage cheese has its place. And a cheese I've not seen in the UK is mature Edam, which is a deep orange colour and crumbly. There are so many good cheeses, I couldn't have a favourite.
8. Have you ever boycotted anything? I think we all used to boycott anything from South Africa, back in the 70s and 80s, didn't we? And I remember boycotting Nestle products when there was a movement to stop them pushing milk substitute as better than breast milk in what are now called emerging markets. I still try to do that.
9. Do you have any embarrassing usernames? No, the secret of creating a good username is not to choose something embarrassing *g* (she says, as if there was deliberation behind her own choice of username.)
10. Have you ever done well on a test when you didn’t study? That's too long ago for me to remember. On the whole I never did well in academic tests, mainly because I didn't study *g* At least, not until it really mattered and somehow I managed that time.
There is a definite feeling of autumn in the air now. The leaves on the trees are beginning to show a tinge of brown, sunrise is later and sunset earlier, it's approaching the 'tentacles in and curl up in a ball' time of year. I pulled my winter jacket out of the cupboard to go for my walk to the beach yesterday. And once again I have meme questions to catch up on.
1. Do you like rain? That really depends. I think like most people I enjoy listening to it on the roof when I'm snug and warm inside. But I also love tropical rain - the sort that soaks you in moments, but is so warm it doesn't chill you.
2. Have you seen someone recently you used to talk to, but don’t anymore? No. Again, like most of us, I haven't really seen many people in the last 18 months or so. Also, the reason I stop talking to people is when they or I move away, so we don't see each other anymore.
4. How long have you known the last person you text messaged? Oh goodness. I've known T since the mid-1980s when he used to come around and drag DJ out to the pub leaving me in peace to study, so 35 years or thereabouts.
5. Do you keep notes, drawings or letters that people give you? Yes, I am a natural hoarder. I keep letters. I have a box full of them, going back decades. I intend one day to go through them, re-read and organise them. But will I? There's the question.
It's the last day of September. How did that happen? I think I'd better wrap up the meme for the month and attempt to do better in October. Behind a cut, to save your flists. ( Read more...Collapse )
The sunrise has been beautiful, if fleeting this morning, but now it is time I got moving. Have a lovely day, folks.
I've been really busy for the last couple of weeks. If I've missed anything that I really should see, please do point me at the post. I also have quite a lot of catch-up to do on the meme, but to save your flists I'll just put it all behind a cut.
I'm not actually sure whether I'm back or not, but I hope I am.
Being British, I'm also subject to the national obsession with the weather and it has been wonderful for the last weeks – sunny and warm without being too hot. Really good weather for sitting out on the front step, although I haven't actually managed to do that *g* I do hope it continues for a bit longer so I can properly enjoy it.
I've been MIA for the last few days and will continue to be for the next few, but I had to pop into LJ to say Happy Birthday to sparrow2000, because she is a special person (in a good way *g*) as well as being a brilliant best friend, wonderful beta and and all round delightful person.
It's September! How did that happen? This year has just zipped by. And yet... and yet... there were times when it really seemed to drag at the time. *shakes head*
And not only is it September, but it's September 9th! More than a whole week since I last posted. And yet, if it weren't for this meme I probably wouldn't post at all. There's not much happening in my life and I've pretty much left fandom, so I'm not writing.
But let's catch up with the meme and I'll resolve to try and do better in future.
1. When did you last stay in a hotel, and where? A long time ago. I haven't been anywhere for so long *g* Did I go to WriterconUK in 2019, or was that 2018? I did stay overnight in a pub in southern Scotland in 2019.
2. Have you ever had any teeth pulled? Yes, a couple of molars that had been impacted against by wisdom teeth and ended up damaged.
3. What is one of your favourite comedy movies? Oh my goodness, I don't watch many comedy films. I suppose Shaun of the Dead is the one that comes to mind.
4. Do you have a crush on anyone that you haven’t really talked to before? No. That question doesn't really parse for me.
5. What is your least favourite sour patch kids colour? I don't even know what this question is referring to. What is a sour patch kid?
6. Have you ever won a competition? If so, what was it and what did you win? No. I don't think I ever have. Mainly because I can't think of a competition I've ever entered. I've participated in the occasional quiz. I suppose that counts. I think I might have been in a team that won a bottle of wine once, but since it was part of a group activity at work, that wasn't really much use to us. I think we donated it to the one member of the team who seemed keenest/least choosy about the quality of the wine.
7. Did you ever take classes for a musical instrument when you were younger? No. I've never really been very interested in music, either to play or listen to.
(These answers all seem to be in the negative. I feel really boring *g*)
8. How often do you walk around barefoot? Ah, a positive. As often as possible. It's good for your feet to not wear shoes, because it makes you walk and run in the way our bodies were designed for.
9. What architectural style was your childhood home? I think I would describe it as 'classic 50s Council House style'.
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sparrow2000's birthday!!!
