bookmark_borderWeekender

Where to start? How about Friday evening? In fact, how about Friday afternoon.

As I had a half-day I took the opportunity to head to Achilles Heel, a running shop on Great Western Road, where Steven fitted me for my first pair of proper running shoes. If you are shopping for anything that can be considered ‘specialist’ then it’s always best to get good advice, and I have to say that I was hugely impressed with the service at Achilles Heel.

Continue reading “Weekender”

bookmark_borderT.F.I.F.

Visited my father-in-law last night, he’s been here for a week now and seems to be filling his days. Not that he does much, he doesn’t really have any hobbies and he’s not the most social person so Louise was worried about him, sitting in a caravan park all day. But he seems to be coping. I don’t think he’s finding it easy being back here though, too many reminders I’m sure.

Anyone watching the new series of Huff on FX? Ohh and any American readers, please don’t post spoilers, we are only a couple of episodes in over here. It’s bang on the money yet again, and it’s good to see Hank Azaria in a ‘mature’ role, in fact the entire cast is strong, particularly Andy Comeau’s character Teddy (Huff’s schizophrenic brother). He has a much bigger role in the first two episodes and we’re loving it. It’ll be back on one of the normal channels* soon.

So, the weekend looms large and we have… NO PLANS! We’ll that’s not strictly true. We might be going to Perth with Louise’s Dad to visit an old friend of their family (the ever mental “Auntie” Brenda), or Louise’s Dad might be coming over tonight, or we might end up having a free weekend.

Of course there is so such thing as a free weekend. For starters I’ve got JogScotland on Sunday morning, the garden needs some tidying up —amazing how quickly weeds are growing at the moment, the perfection combination of rain and sunshine— and I’ve still got outside windowsills to paint. I’ve got a website to design, CDs to box up and move into the loft, and the list goes on.. but then it always does.

Ohh and we are going to cancel our subscription to the cinema. We’ve not used it in months and as Louise pointed out the other day, our visit to see Pirates 2 cost us something like £30! It may only be £11 a month but I’d much rather it was in my pocket (that’s two train fares worth a month… and believe me, that’ll make a difference when the next five week month rolls around).

And finally, I need some suggestions for a cheap weekend break. Location – either north Scotland or northern half of England (I don’t want to be driving more than about 4 hours to get there). Price – as cheap as possible. Must have enough to do during the day. And we’ll consider staying one night in one location before moving somewhere else for the second night. We need to get something booked for the end of this month, so suggest away!

* My Mum has taken to calling any of the non-terrestrial channels the “funny channels”. Basically anything ‘above’ Channel 5.

bookmark_borderSnippets

Attempting to read Naked Lunch. Struggling. Whilst there is some gorgeously grotesque imagery and I don’t mind the clipped language, it’s all a bit.. well.. rambling. I can’t get a fix (!) on anything as it veers all over the bloody place, and that’s after 100 pages or so. Will persevere but not for much longer.

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I’ve got a day off on Friday as Louise’s Dad will be back in Scotland for… well we don’t know how long for sure. It’s his first time back in Scotland since Grace passed away (why is it so hard to write “died”.. is it just because the word itself is so short, so brutal?), so I’m guessing it’ll be an emotional couple of weeks. It’ll be good to see him though, and I know he’ll be glad to return to our cooler shores.

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My Gran is doing OK. She giving power of attorney to my Mum, and Social Services have started looking to get her into a home so things are moving along. She’s still seems… well not happy, but realistically resigned to her fate – she managed to walk to the end of her hospital bed a few days ago and when told, my Mum reacted enthusiastically “Well that’s good”. My Gran replied “Well no, it’s not really, is it?”.

There’s still life in the old dear yet, we just don’t know how much.

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I’ve put the re-design of this place on hold for a wee while, got some different ideas that I need to work through… but expect a few tweaks here and there over the coming weeks.

I’m favouring a return to a more minimal style, and again I’ll be looking to cut out more clutter, ditching the stuff that no-one really uses. Your feedback in the past will be used for, whilst I write the content for me, the site needs to be usable for YOU. Err.. by you.. no.. OF you? Bugger… you know what I mean.

One of the reasons I started tinkering with this site was to try and kick-start my ‘design head’ as I’ve currently got another blog to re-design but can’t seem to break past the initial layout. Thankfully it seems to have worked, so I’ll switch my energy to that site for the meantime.

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Glorious day today and I spent 30 minutes just sitting in the sun at lunchtime, watching people stroll past. There is a nice area of grass right on the riverside outside our office, and by 12.30 it was dotted with groups of people, picnicing (picnicking?) with their lunches. Tres continental. I just hope they all picked up their rubbish.

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Lily Allen’s album is quite good. Infectious reggae-tinged pop. With swearing. Ace.

bookmark_borderCalling Occupants

The time has come to replace our ageing Ascom handsets. One handset has a faulty screen, the other won’t charge the batteries properly and randomly turns itself off. They are well past the point of returning to the manufacturer so it’s time to start shopping/researching.

The last time I looked the Panasonic DECT phones were getting good reviews, but as times have moved on I’m wondering if we’d be better (cheaper!) to go down the online route? Obviously we have some specific needs:

We primarily use the home phone for calling the same 5 or 6 people. We are currently with Telewest for our phone line (and broadband), and have a special deal for phoning overseas (Louise’s Dad). Other than that all calls are within the UK and typically our “evenings and weekend packages” does us fine, it’s a flat rate that means Louise can waffle away to her sister for as long as she wants as long as it’s after 6pm (which is about when we get in from work so that’s fine).

The handsets MUST have caller display as we have caller ID at the moment, this is not something I want to lose, it’s far too valuable and allows me to avoid most cold-callers – the ones that have worked their way past the Telephone Preferences Service it seems.

Now, I know a few of you have switched to Skype/online calls only, how is it? Is it more costly? Is the call quality good enough? Would you recommended it for “average” use or is it better for those with low usage?

And for those of you still on “standard” phonelines, any good deals in that area? What about digital handsets, any recommendations?

In short, has ANYONE got any advice or pointers in this area? What’s the best deal you’ve seen recently? Any websites I should check out? Or should I just email the Blue (Value) Witch and be done with it! 😉

Yours, awaiting the deal of the century,

Gordon

P.S. No, I’m not sure why this has suddenly turned into a letter…

bookmark_borderPlans

Busy day yesterday but still didn’t really make that big a dent in my to-do list.. sigh… oh well.

Shopping for Father’s Day pressies today. My Dad will probably get a couple of tops, and Louise’s Dad will get a bottle of brandy and some cigars (same as always).

The rest of the day will consist of watching the England game, the Lennox/Tyson fight (in about 45 minutes repeated on the Beeb), and then heading through to Dumbarton to give aforementioned Father’s their presents. Dinner at the in-laws (steak.. yummy).

As for Sunday, well we’re leaving Sunday to it’s own devices, see what it comes up with, we’re fed up deciding what to do for it, and it never comes up with any suggestions at all…

Ohh and as it’s Saturday, that must mean it’s time for…

Saturday Scruples

1. You phone a friend at 2 a.m. but accidentally dial another friend. When his indignant voice answers, do you hang up?
Yes. Even in the fear that he has caller id and will know it was me. I’m basing this on the fact that if our phone rings at 2 a.m. and the other person hangs up, I’ll usually be asleep within the 30 secs of putting the phone down. Anyway, I fall into the “if it was important they’ll phone back” camp.

2. You’re about to buy a newspaper when you notice the vending box is open. Do you pay for the paper?
Yes I would pay. These little things are sent to test us, and it’s always hardest, when there is no-one but yourself about, to be true to your own scruples!

3. A new business opportunity could make you rich. Do you try to involve family members and in-laws?
NO ABSOLUTELY NOT!! I would take the risk myself and if it paid off, I would make sure I spread my new found wealth around the family (just not too thinly…). Hey, call me a capitalistic pig if you want, well I’d rather you didn’t obviously, but.. ahh sue me for wanting to be rich…