Chatiryworld

Notes

• The films Sleep Furiously and Sunshine Cleaning are worth seeing.
• Typepad has a thing where I can reply to comments by email and they also show up on the blog.  Doesn't appear to be working at the moment.
• Did anyone put my name down as referring them to lovely Liz Earle products?  I got some freebies a few weeks ago as a thank you for referring a friend but I have no recollection of doing this!
• Present and Correct have some interesting goodies in their shop.
• I have a new job.  I've known about it unofficially since April but only got proper confirmation and a start date right before the wedding.  It's still in library world and will mean there will be less ranting about serious stuff and possibly more ranting about buses.  I've been walking to work for the last 4 years but now I have to brave regular public transport in the rush hour again.

Inside and out

Croila, D and E came round for dinner on Saturday.  We had been due to go out to the Pentlands together but the weather wasn't brilliant, so we had a bit of a Nintendo night.  And lots of chat and putting the world to rights.  The first thing D spied was Jon's Nintendo DS and within minutes had Jon synching them together so they could place Mario Kart together.  Then we moved on to Mario Kart on the Wii and finally, after dinner, Guitar Hero. 

Jon made a delicious meal, as ever.  Bit of a Mexican theme with burritos and goodies from Lupe Pintos, including the wonderful tomato and nigella chutney from Mr Vikki.

Sunday was a better day and we went over to Lower Largo to see my dad, M and about 47 children and teenagers.  Slight exaggeration.  We had a good walk on the beach and saw my brothers. We ate well again, lots of homemade waffles.

Emily explains quantitative easing to Jon

Second in the series 'Jon, Emily and the financial crisis' (first photo here).  We spent a lovely day hanging out with Emily and her parents, going to Bothwell Castle to look for the Sleep Fairy and trying on Emily's bridesmaid dress.  Jon and Emily also had a discussion about whether Emily's view that the Early Learning Centre catalogue was better than Dr. Dog was a controversial opinion or not.  Em made some marvellous attempts to say that phrase.

We gave Emily her birthday presents from last month, I had made her a shrug (Debbie Bliss Baby shrug - free pattern!).  I used Artesano Aran, as recommended by Katharine at K1 Yarns, and it was lovely to knit with, should keep Emily nice and cosy.  I really could have done with an extra skein though as it was getting a bit short towards the end.

Snowblogging - everyone's doing it

Whilst the rest of the country may have had numerous snowdays, in Edinburgh, it's not been that impressive.  Granted, the roads have been safer and people have been able to go about their daily business as usual, but I haven't experienced Real Proper Snow for a long time.  This photo was taken on Monday afternoon, it's our back green, shared with several other tenements.  By Tuesday morning there was barely anything left.

Helping another friend

If you're not already a reader of our friend Kal's fabulous blog Trauma Queen then you really ought to rectify that.  He's just been offered a great opportunity to go out and do medical supporty-type things (that's a technical term, that is) in Dubai for the Desert Challenge.  But he needs to cover the cost of his flights and some expenses and like many people, he doesn't have that kind of money lying around.  If you have any spare pennies and you fancy helping someone gain some interesting experience that will ultimately help him fulfil a dream of working with organisations like Medicins Sans Frontieres, then please go and find out more.

I must admit I feel slightly uncomfortable touting for more pennies after all your generous donations for Aid for Children with Tracheostomies via Emily, and especially now we are Officially In A Recession, but Jon and I plan to give some money and to be honest, this plea is aimed at rich readers who don't know what to do with their money, if I have any of those.  Or stupid readers who think they have money.  And unfortunately this time I can't bribe you with photos of a cute toddler, because Kal is a grown man (you'll be pleased to know, given his line of work).  I'm sure the cute toddler and the nambulance man will hit it off at our wedding though.

Back

more animals

Had a great few days in Yorkshire, thanks family!  This lolcat reminded me of our cat Moggie (sadly run over a few years ago), she thought she was human and sat at the table at meal times.

As the pound weakens further...

Jon and Emily worry about their savings.  Or maybe they check out the Peppa Pig website.  We had a fun few hours yesterday, I can't keep up with Emily's signing anymore, she now does signs for letters, colours, all the characters from In The Night Garden...  At one point I thought she was doing impressions of me but I've realised that because I was using lots of hand gestures when I was talking, Emily may have thought I was signing what I was saying and was just copying me.  She can also say a fair few words, once her trach comes out next year I think there will be no stopping her!

And thanks to Mad, Dave and Lil, Em is now only £45 away from making £1,000 for Aid for Children with Tracheostomies.

Dreams becoming reality

At one point during my bizarre dreams last night I dreamed of monkeys riding small horse-like animals along the strip of land outside our and our fellow basement neighbours flats.  I wouldn't normally bore you with such things but whilst reading Boing Boing this morning this post came up.  The monkeys in my dream didn't wear clothes though. 

Go Emster!

I just noticed that my widget for Emily's fundraising page shows she has gone well over her target of £300 and made £408!  Well done lovely girl!

Farewell towers

sheffield towers demolition, originally uploaded by siandara.

Looking at some of these photos and watching the film of them coming down is bringing a tear to my eye.  Sound a bit melodramatic for some ugly cooling towers?  They are/were an icon for Sheffield, Yorkshire even.  When I was a kid and we drove back up to Ilkley from holidays, you'd know you weren't far from home when you saw the towers (and even nearer when you got to Harry Ramsdens, which was a landmark for one of my sisters).  I will admit that for a while the consumerist 'paradise' of Meadowhell next door held more appeal but as I grew older the towers became a bigger part of the landscape. 

Once I moved to Sheffield, they would be the signal to put your book away as the train neared the station, or a dramatic sight as the tram to Meadowhell (which by this time I was trying to avoid like the plague) swung past.

I haven't been to Sheffield for nearly three years now, circumstantial rather than not wanting to go, but next time I do go it will seem very strange not to see the Tinsley towers as the train nears the city.