Older blog entries for ringbark (starting at number 490)

Tweets for Today

  • 07:26 Fell asleep listening to Tubular Bells last night...will need to try again tonight. Another exciting day is ahead of us. #
  • 08:13 Wet platform. Crowded train. Which is better? #
  • 08:31 Oh no. I think I forgot to touch in at Wembley Stadium. That makes the trip to work much more expensive. :+( #
  • 08:41 Quick check at Baker St says si, in fact I did touch in after all. Guess it must be second nature by now. Last such error was back in June. #
  • 09:24 Another Aussie has returned to these shores bearing gifts. So you know what that means: more Tim-Tam biscuits! #
  • 18:35 On the way back after a day with frankly far too much excitement. A quiet evening would be just the right thing. #
  • 19:26 Walking back up to Wembley Plaza in the rain. What exactly does a *traditional* Cornish pasty contain, I wonder? #
  • 19:34 Back in the room which is warm and dry, just like the teacher's car... #
  • 20:39 Watching a presentation about web harvesting in NZ by a guy from the National Library. Remarkable. #
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Syndicated 2009-01-29 05:48:40 from C'est dur de mourir au printemps tu sais

Tweets for Today

  • 06:44 Wow, Tuesday morning already. Coffee and cyberslacking under way. Rest of day not far behind. Hair washing, if there's time. #
  • 07:32 It's foggy here, but nearly so much as the forecast seems to be claiming. #
  • 07:48 Breakfast buffet offer whole fresh tomatoes where there used to be hash browns. What's that all about? Healthy? No thanks. #
  • 08:09 Wembley Stadium Station. The best adjective this morning is "gloomy" but that describes the station, not me. I'm as happy as you'd expect... #
  • 08:28 That was horribly crowded even for a Chilern train. Now walking to Baker Street. Dry, but still gloomy. Roads closed round here too! #
  • 08:56 Just dropped my tie off at the dry-cleaner. Is anyone interested in this level of detail? #
  • 08:57 Masses of BTPs at the exit to Liverpool Street station. Far more than usual. What is happening? #
  • 13:40 Out for a walk to buy some salad for lunch. #
  • 17:57 A busy day spent catching up on all sorts of bits and pieces. Now off to see if the dry-cleaner is still open. #
  • 18:11 Yes, so now properly attired for tonight's meeting at Dirty Dick's. Stupid name for a pub, but at least it's name with some history to it. #
  • 18:47 Change of plan: Red Lion, Eldon St, round the back of Liverpool St. #
  • 21:27 Very good Toastmasters meeting followed by a truly inspirational speech. But now, it's back to Wembley for another night's sleep. #
  • 22:00 Was going to Oxford Circus to pick up the Bakerloo Line but there's nothing to Wembley till 22.20. So it's the Jubilee Line from Bond St. #
  • 22:15 8 minutes to wait for a bus from Wembley Park to the Stadium. I reckon I could walk it in less. So I am doing. Would I lie to you? #
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Syndicated 2009-01-28 05:39:01 from C'est dur de mourir au printemps tu sais

Tweets for Today

  • 05:39 Awake, getting ready. Don't feel quite so much a zombie as I do some Mondays. #
  • 07:02 Good morning. Bromborough Station already. The birds are twittering too, a sign that winter is nearly over: can spring be far behind? #
  • 07:35 On the train at Chester. It's pretty full, probably because Network Rail won't let Virgin run half the trains in their new timetable. #
  • 08:42 Zipping through the countryside between Nuneaton and Rugby. Sunny morning, a bit hazy. Bob Dylan and The Band entertaining me as I go. #
  • 09:48 On the Metropolitan line already, just 2h 54m after leaving home. Of course, you can't always count on this happening but good when it does! #
  • 13:29 With lunch, I was given a fortune cookie: "Listen to your intuition. It will help you." So there we have it. #
  • 17:46 Pleased to be leaving the office at this early hour. It'll never last all week. #
  • 18:27 Marylebone. Looking at Upper Crust but deciding it's not the right thing for tonight. Tax returns to sort out tonight. Oh joy, oh rapture. #
  • 19:20 Back at the hotel before 7! Whatever will I do with my time? At the moment, watching C4 news and waiting for evening-meal to be delivered. #
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Syndicated 2009-01-27 05:33:11 from C'est dur de mourir au printemps tu sais

Tweets for Today

  • 08:38 Woke up. Starting the new day. Should have gone to bed a lot earlier. #
  • 09:10 Just had breakfast. Mmm. Porridge. Toast. Orange juice. Coffee. And now it's time to get ready. Communion this morning. #
  • 09:55 I've finished shaving before Betty arrives to give us a lift. #
  • 12:33 Just got on a rail replacement bus. Need to buy some milk on the way home too. Sunny but cold. #
  • 12:54 Bought milk. Bought The Observer. Want to have something to read while we're over at Alder Hey for Christopher's chemotherapy this afternoon #
  • 14:19 Watching Chris play on a cool virtual game thing at TCT. #
  • 15:52 Back home with a son with noxious chemicals coursing through his veins. Then off to buy petrol. #
  • 17:15 Coffee again, of course. Accidentally ended up watching The F Word. In other news, Matthew has discovered the screen of his laptop is toast. #
  • 18:04 Liverpool 1 Everton 1 - outrageous! Whatever happened to extra time? And we've just missed a rail replacement bus too. :-( #
  • 21:21 Home after church and the curry is here. Yum yum. Spinachy stuff, chicken tikka masala, onion bhaji. And coffee, of course. #
  • 22:51 Hello! Testing twitter4skype - because you can't have too many twitter clients available to you #
  • 23:15 Just waiting for Viv before we go and wash the dishes. Then need to pack for tomorrow morning before it gets too late, which it already is. #
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Syndicated 2009-01-26 05:17:08 from C'est dur de mourir au printemps tu sais

Tweets for Today

  • 10:26 Awake again, ready to do all sorts of things. But bacon and eggs, coffee and a bath first, not necessarily in that order. #
  • 11:33 Just finished breakfast when the Asda order arrived. So we won't starve this week. #
  • 13:49 Hey! Matthew is just home from last night's party. #
  • 19:15 Should have done more today, but at least it hasn't been a total waste of time. #
  • 20:07 Disaster strikes in the form of a broken coffee mug. And it was the "you are so special" too. I suppose Bob the Builder is unbreakable. #
  • 20:30 Off to the station to meet Viv. Because it's always good to get a bit of exercise in a day too. Seems extraordinarily dark here. #
  • 21:00 Sitting quietly in the living room listening to the new CdeB album. Drinking coffee. Reflecting on life. #
  • 22:19 I've finally found the forms I need for tax returns. #
  • 23:05 @br3nda When I was unsure, I always headed over to Leuven on Featherston Street. www.leuven.co.nz/ #
  • 23:35 Wasting time cyberslacking. Watching more ST:TOS. Making a last coffee for the night. #
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Syndicated 2009-01-25 06:49:52 from C'est dur de mourir au printemps tu sais

Twitter

Does anyone else here use Twitter? If you do, why not follow me there?

Syndicated 2009-01-24 15:04:12 from C'est dur de mourir au printemps tu sais

Another week

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were all busy days at work, but not
unduly so. Out of the office at reasonable hours, with not much
happening in the evening.
Friday night started promisingly, as I caught the 18.10 out of Euston.
Just sitting quietly listening to music and using my laptop, it
vaguely occurred to me that we weren't moving. To make a long story
short, using TfL's euphemism, there was a person under a train on the
train in front of mine. So we had to wait till they got a replacement
driver and the police were satisfied. We then travelled south past
Leighton Buzzard to switch to the other line and get up to Milton
Keynes and then on to Crewe, where my train terminated. Change at
Crewe for Chester. It was raining in Chester, where I gave up and
caught a taxi. Back home 00.15.
Saturday, off to Liverpool to see David off on his way back to
Sheffield. That ran very smoothly. Viv wanted to go
somewhere/anywhere, so we went to New Ferry to look at the Mersey
coast there. I didn't know the Great Eastern had closed, though by the
look of it, it's been closed fpr years. It looks like it was a
magnificent place in its heyday.
Then Viv went off to Messy Church and I went home. MC is a monthly
pre-schooler friendly church event/service/activity/meal.
Saturday evening was quite quiet.
Sunday morning the usual service followed by a farewell lunch for Mark
and Kat, who are now worshipping at Kat's church. I don't think by any
means that we have seen the last of them.
Then home before going back there for the evening.
An early morning start today as every Monday. Probably a
straightforward journey, as I am already south of Watford without
incident. That is all.

Syndicated 2009-01-20 03:40:39 from C'est dur de mourir au printemps tu sais

Passing through Stafford again

A busy week since the last time I wrote here, with late nights both at
work and at home. Once again, it's not the right forum to talk about
work issues here, so I won't do so.
For my own records, I need to note that Viv, David and I all gave
blood on 3 Jan 2009.
Monday last week has already been touched on here, but there is really
little to add. Leaving earlyish on Tuesday both too and from work,
deciding to take it easy on Tuesday and maybe see a movie or a show on
Wed or Thu. Bad mistake: those were two late working nights. Didn't
get back to Wembley till after midnight on Wed night/Thu night.
Saturday we went to Birkenhead. I had to certify someone's identity
and after that we did a load of shopping.

Dawn, though a more dismal one than last week. Another week of the
same, though punctuated by a trip home on Tuesday for the church
council meeting.

That's about it for now.

Syndicated 2009-01-13 15:05:10 from C'est dur de mourir au printemps tu sais

A happy new year

A quick check reveals it has been a week since a posting of value.
Monday to Wednesday were still quite busy workdays, though not quite
at the frenetic pace of the week before.
The opportunity to stay upmarket at lower prices was very welcome as I
went off to the really rather splendid place at Canary Wharf.
A straightforward trip home on Wednesday afternoon. Viv met me and we
went off to a friend's place for her birthday before going home and
having a lazy evening before going to another friend's place for a
fairly quiet New Year celebration. It was snowing a little.
New Year's Day and Betty came to visit us for lunch. We played games
in the afternoon, if I've got the right day. I think that was the day
I successfully mined $1m of tin. But that's the object of the game.
Friday. Not much. A deliberately quiet day. David and I went to the
bank while Viv and Christopher went to the hospital...
Don't remember much else about it. I think that might have been the
day we all ended up playing computer Monopoly. Saturday was a trip
into town to give blood. Viv and I gave quite happily. It was David's
first time and I think he learnt a lot from the experience.
Then we had lunch and bought him a coat with some money he had been
given for Christmas for that purpose.
In the background in the evening was the 100 best adverts programme. I
wrote the sermon for Sunday morning while that was on. We were looking
for something that wouldn't distract me and that was ideal...
Sunday morning. Delivery of the same sermon. A disappointly small
congregation and a freezing church. The same at the other two
services. I think the combination of the end of the holidays and the
poor weather will have put many off.
Lunch at the Merebrook. Betty joined us. It was another relaxing afternoon.
And an early start this morning. I'm on the train to Euston, which
should be an adventure in itself.
The plane crash that blocked services near Stafford on Friday has now
been sorted. The overhead cable issue near Watford may not have been,
but the announcement on board didn't give any clue of a problem. Wait
and see... though I would not expect a great amount of trouble if the
line is clear, as this train is diesel-powered.
Dawn is breaking over the frosty Cheshire countryside.
Current music: Blonde on Blonde

Syndicated 2009-01-05 08:08:18 from C'est dur de mourir au printemps tu sais

meme time :-(

A) People who have been tagged should write their answers on their blog and replace any question that they dislike with a new, original question. I was tagged by [info]vih who was tagged by [info]moth2fic.

B) Tag eight people. Don't refuse to do that. Don't tag who tagged you. I randomly tag [info]617, [info]mrs617, [info]jiggery_pokery, [info]shewalksonroses, [info]highway61poet, [info]davidbrider, [info]ghoti, [info]atreic - I think that's eight... Of course, if they’ve already done it they only need to link me to their post...


What are your nicknames?
AMong others, ringbark.

How do you style your hair?
I wash it, I comb it, I part it on the left, I'm grateful still to have it.

What's the last book you read?
The World in 2009.

What colour shirt are you wearing now?
Blue and white.

Are you an introvert or extrovert?
Shy extrovert.

Is your ear itchy?
No.

Do you nap a lot?
Occasionally.

Who was the last person you hugged?
Viv

What's your current fandom/obsession/addiction?
Still trying to promote a Dominick Hide fandom, without much success. Otherwise,it's probably ST:TOS.

What was the last thing you ate today?
Coronation chicken sandwich.

How long does it take you to get ready in the morning?
Around an hour, including bath and web.

What websites do you visit daily?
Gmail. Livejournal. Telegraph. Stuff. Aardvark. Flyertalk. Often some financial sites too.

What classes are you taking right now? And if you're not in school anymore, what's your job?
Senior Credit Risk Analyst.

Do you like to clean?
Myself? Yes. The house? No.

What's the last movie that you watched?
The day the earth stood still.

What cell phone model do you own?
Blackberry 8310 smartphone (EDGE)

What is your favourite weather?
Hot and sunny

How are you?
Very well, mostly very happy.

Where would you see yourself in ten years?
Who knows? New York? London? Paris? Munich?

Syndicated 2008-12-29 19:22:18 from C'est dur de mourir au printemps tu sais

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