Size Is Important!

This piece of modern art can be found around the urinals in the 5-star Sofitel Hotel in Queenstown, New Zealand. Whereas 5-star hotels are normally better known for their opulence, their design or their cuisine this particular Sofitel is gaining notoriety for their men’s room!

The design plays on our fears of being watched in the loo – and for the men who use this particular restroom not only are they being observed, but the girls seem to have no qualms about measuring, photographing or just having a laugh at one of the most ‘sensitive’ parts of the male anatomy (and ego!)

Apparently, apart from being the most popular room in the hotel, it’s also attracted a couple of complaints from Churchgoers and a few hundred people who just want to have a look!

Hotel Manager – Mark Wilkinson, says that the idea behind them was just to ‘put a little levity into a posh hotel’

Odiham's War

Someone told me a while ago that it pays to whinge! I can't say I'm going to argue with that, as a nation it's something that most of us Brits are quite good at, and in a world where customer service should be the backbone of any successful business (in my view) if you're not happy about something you should speak up. As someone who is trying to run their own business it seems obvious - whereas we are always looking for new customers what's the point if you can't hang on to them when you find them? So we do everything we can to make our customers feel good about giving us their money and when we do mess up, because lets be honest, everyone does at some time or another, we do everything we can to fix it and make that customer come back to us again, even if sometimes that means going the extra mile or two!

Business is hard at the moment for a million and one reasons, but as a consequence I find that I'm turning into a right miserable old cow! The upshot of that is complaining about things comes so much easier, and has a certain therapeutic effect! I can't fix the things that I need to fix overnight; so making a mountain out of a molehill over things I can do something about makes me feel better.

The latest victim was the location manager of the Foyles War film crew that visited our sleepy little village recently. We were given a few days notice of their intention to spend around half a dozen days/nights over a two week period filming in our village and very close to our home. So close in fact that we had a huge klieg light hanging over our garden wall, bouncers outside our front door, a myriad of cables to navigate our way around every time we wanted to leave our house and numerous, very inconvenient, requests to turn various lights on or off in the house depending on the shot that they were after.

If I was in a happier place right now I may have got a little excited at the thought of a film crew at our front door, and our house (and business) making it onto the small screen but on another of many bad days they seemed like fair game for a complaint.

I wrote a very sternly worded letter to the location manager and enquired about compensation for the business's affected by their disruption (they closed off just about every public parking space in the village in the process of filming so we may as well of not opened our little gift shop on the days they were there for the amount of customers there were!) So he came to visit to say sorry, which I had to admire, and it was worth it for them because for the sake of letting me have a ten-minute rant and presenting me with a free Foyles War DVDand a signed photo of the star of the show my anger was sated. Which just goes to show how easily people can be pleased. I have a DVD of a TV series that I've never shown any interest in before (and I'm sorry to say but beyond the episode that features our house I probably never will again) and a signed photo of someone I had barely heard of before but I'm happy now. I guess complaining isn't so much about what you get from it as what you get out of it. Sometimes all you need to do to make someone happy is to listen to them.

So look out for an episode called 'Bleak Midwinter' due to be shown in the UK in September, featuring the sleepy little village of Odiham and the back of our house! Fame at last?

New Icon I Have

Adium meets Star Wars, meet Yoda Duck.

The Return Of The Flickr Monthly Scavenger Hunt.

I bombed on the February hunt, I only managed 1 item, which had a lot to do with a general air of apathy for anything creative in February which was bought on by the combination of dark depressing days and nights, a prolonged and alcohol fuelled celebration of my birthday and a deeply ingrained cynicism towards anything romantic!

However with spring just around the corner, the mornings and the evenings are getting lighter and a little more optimism than of late for life in general I'm back on track again.

Here is the list for this months challenge -

1. A Lion
2. People Dancing
3. Empty
4. Something you made (can't be the same item as #19)
5. An animal doing something funny
6. Someone playing a guitar
7. Pink Flamingos
8. A spelling mistake on a sign
9. "I know, it's bigger than the last one."
10. A mural (like on a wall or the side of a building)
11. Far far away
12. A boat that won't float
13. A public toilet
14. A picture of yourself as a teenager (or younger if you are a child)
15. A delivery person
16. Something with a for sale sign
17. Someone blowing a bubble
18. Multi-colored graffiti
19. A hand-drawn sketch (you draw it! Can't be the same as item #4)
20. A lamb

Good luck to everyone who's playing the game and if you like taking photographs and fancy a bit of fun check out flickr and the monthly scavenger hunts, but I warn you, it's addictive.

March :(

A Letter To Our Pets!

I was sent this by email and it just reminded me of a few of the many reasons why, on days like today, I like animals more than I like (some) people!

Dear Cats and Dogs,

The dishes with the paw print are yours and contain your food. The other dishes are mine and contain my food. Please note that placing a paw print in the middle of my plate and food does not make it yours and I don't find it cute!

The stairway is not a race track! Beating me to the bottom is not the object. Tripping me doesn't help because I fall faster than you can run.

I cannot buy anything bigger than a king-sized bed. I am very sorry about this. Don't think I'm going to sleep on the sofa to ensure your comfort. Dogs and cats can actually curl up in a ball when they sleep. It is not necessary to sleep perpendicular to each other stretched out to the fullest extent possible. I also know that sticking tails straight out and having tongues hanging out the other end to maximize space is nothing but sarcasm and disrespect.

For the last time, there is not a secret exit from the bathroom. If, by some miracle, I beat you there and manage to get the door shut, it is not necessary to claw, whine, meow, try to turn the knob or stick your paw under the edge and try to pull the door open. I must exit through the same door I entered. I have been using the bathroom for years - canine or feline attendance is not mandatory.

The proper order is kiss me, then go smell the other dog or cat's bum - NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND. I cannot stress this enough!


And just to keep the pets happy these are the rules, for people who don't cohabit with a Cat or Dog, visiting our house!

Rules for Non-Pet Owners Who Visit.

1. They live here. You don't.

2. If you don't want hair on your clothes, stay off the furniture. (That's why they call it "fur"nature )

3. I like my pets a lot better than I like most people.

4. To you, it's an animal. To me, he/she is an adopted son/daughter who is short, hairy, walks on all fours, and does not speak clearly.

Remember: Cats and Dogs are better than kids because:

1. They eat less

2. They don't ask for money all the time.

3. They are easier to train and usually come when they're called (for Cats read sometimes come when they are called, if they are hungry at the time!)

4. They never drive your car.

5. They don't hang out with drug-using friends and don't smoke or drink.

6. They don't worry about having to buy the latest fashions.

7. They don't wear your clothes.

8. They don't need a "go-zillion" dollars for college/university

9. If they get pregnant, you can sell their children, and nobody arrests you!

Badger Or Frog?

I can't decide which is the more annoying, but I am certain that the 'crazy students at the Technic University Delft (holland) playing the famous (?) Badgerbadger cartoon' need to go out more!




What do you think?

February

A Few Of My Favourite Things.

Voted for by the flickr community

Wanna see the slideshow?

WLTM

Another extract from my Bad Cats Book. If you like these then have a look at My cat Hates You.Com .

Ding Dong The Witch Has Gone!

I had some great news today, my neighbour is going away, only for three weeks admittedly but that's three weeks of sheer bliss for me! Don't get me wrong he's not a bad neighbour really; in fact he's quite a nice guy. Twenty something young lad, works as a KP in one of our local restaurant, quite polite in fact he's only got one flaw - he wants to be a Rock Star!

Now I've got nothing against that but my problem lies with the fact that in order to get anywhere in his dream career he needs to practice, and practice and practice, and his bedroom is right next to mine. Which means that HIS AMP IS RIGHT BEHIND MY BED! Add to that the fact that the wall inbetween us is paper thin and it's not a recipe for a good nights sleep.

He has Guitars, both electric and acoustic, a Keyboard, a Drum Machinejavascript:void(0) and even a Violin! There's only so much any normal rational human being can take of Final Countdown being played over and over and OVER again! We had a little chat about his noise levels when I first moved in and when that didn't work I had a little chat to the Environmental Health! We eventually reached an agreement (that is still occasionally ignored) that he shut's up by 11.30pm, and in return I call off the noise pollution brigade and let him know if I'm going to be staying away for the night so he can let loose once in a while.

He sent me a text today to let me know he's off to London for three weeks to do a Music Producers course, I wish him well - no I really do! I don't hold a grudge, in fact I generally feel bad about moaning at him mainly because it makes me feel like I'm turning into my Mother! I can still hear the Echoes of her wailing at the bottom of the stairs '"turn that music down"! Besides he's coming back eventually and if he makes it big it's always worth keeping on the good side of a backstage pass source (I didn't say I didn't like Rock did I?) However, I am looking forward to the best three weeks sleep I have had in the last two years :)


UPDATE!

So now I feel really bad for moaning about him. My old neighbour has moved out, after nearly two and a half years of being moaned at by me for all the noise he makes, but before he left he made me a CD of the songs he's been writing and wrote a very sweet letter which he posted through my letterbox on the day he left.

Cathy

Sorry if I've been a bit of a pain in the arse the last couple of years with my music! But you'll be rid of me soon! Not sure when my official moving out date is yet, but around the 15th March.

My last day at work is 10th, which is a Friday night, so we're going to be having a late night party, I imagine it'll be downstairs so it shouldn't be too bad!

Well here's a CD of stuff I've written, I thought you might like to hear it from the right side of the wall! A fair share of Rock Songs, ballads, instrumentals and classical pieces..! All remastered since my return from London, don't be afraid to turn it up loud, it's professionally done so no glitches! All mastered to the same volume as a normal CD so no messing around with CD player required!

Thanks also for all the inspiring tapes you gave me! Sex and Religion (Stevie Vai) was the last album to complete my collection. When I met him in October he also gave me a rare CD (1 of 2000) not available in the shops!

Well all the best, hopefully next time you see me it'll be on the front cover of a guitar magazine - but don't hold your breath!

Love

Chris Howard

(The noisy neighbour type)

Porn?

A little bit of fun, thanks to Garrett for pointing this out to me. I warn you though - you'll never get the song out of your head :)

Of Mice And Mogs

I had to do something yesterday that I hated having to do. Having never knowingly killed anything larger than a bug in my life (Oh and a pheasant that forgot to look both ways when he crossed the road!) the idea of setting anything other than a humane mousetrap was something I found abhorrent. However we’ve had a bit of a problem with them over the last week or so and unfortunately even I had to agree it had to be done. Cute though I think they are I don’t want to share my home with them.

We’re fairly certain that as opposed to having mice in our house, the mice are being bought into the house by Smodge - my cat. So why has he suddenly decided to start bringing his victims home with him, and what’s more bringing them home alive!

I did a bit of searching around to find out about the whole cat/mice thing. Apparently it’s all about the Mother cat teaching her kittens to hunt. The first stage is to bring home a dead mouse and eat it in front of them; eventually they get the idea and join in. Next she brings them a dead one all of their own and lets them tuck in. Once they’ve got used to mice on the menu mummy then brings them one that’s maimed but still moving and lets her brood have a go at catching it themselves, then eventually once they’ve got the idea she brings them a nice live one and lets them take their hunting test.

So is Smodge trying to teach us to hunt? If he is then he must have sussed out that we’re crap at it by now! We’ve only managed to catch one out of about half a dozen, give up Smodge – we are never going to get the hang of it!

Or is it nothing more complex than the fact it’s winter and he prefers a little warmth and home comfort whilst torturing his prey? Either way after finding one of my lipsticks and a couple of dusters had been eaten and spending two nights trying to sleep whilst listening to the rather disturbing sounds of little feet scrambling around somewhere beneath my bed I’d had more than the humanitarian in me could take.

I had set the humane trap for two nights in a row and I’d actually seen the mouse run into it, get a nice chunk of the Mars Bar bait and leg it straight back out again, unharmed but also uncaged! I had a long chat with it, I explained that its last chance for mercy was to get in the humane trap and stay there before I went to bed, but did he listen? No! So very reluctantly I set the nasty one before I went to bed.

I was prepared to hear it snap in the night, I was prepared to find a dead mouse in the morning, but I was not prepared for what happened! I caught my finger in the trap when I first set it and it really hurt so I felt a little consolation in the thought that he probably wouldn’t know much about it, or so I hoped.

The reality was very different. I was woken up at about 3am this morning by a strange sort of nibbling sound, followed by a sort of dragging sound. I listened for a while then put the light on and was horrified to find the poor little mouse was caught by one of it’s back legs and tail in the trap and was dragging itself and the trap along the floor, it looked very much still alive and very very frightened.

I can’t stand to see animals suffer, not even annoying mice but there wasn’t much I could do. If I released it now it was going to die anyway, its leg was practically hanging off, and besides it was three o’clock in the morning and I sleep in the loft! I was not going to get dressed, walk down two floors and out into a freezing night for a half dead mouse! I couldn’t bear the thought of just leaving it there to suffer, any more than there was a hope in hell of me putting it out of its misery. So I did the only thing I could, I opened the bedroom door and gave Smodge a call! He did the job with his normal aplomb dragging the trap with the mouse towards the garden. The trap fell off eventually, thankfully without any bits of mouse still attached and so far there are no signs of any more. I am going to have nightmares about zombie mice for weeks!!

WLTM

Thanks to Bex and Lee for the funniest Christmas pressie this year, "244 not-so-pretty kitties and cats gone bad" also found at My Cat Hates You there will be many more from this book on my blog so watch this space :)

Januarys Flickr Scavenger Hunt

Well it's a new year, and a new month, which means a new challenge with the monthly Flickr Scavenger Hunt. I didn't quite manage to get all the items for December, which was my first attempt so here goes for January - the list is (drum roll please)...

1. A Red Reflection
2. Something Triangular
3. A New Beginning
4. An Outdoor Statue
5. Something Broken
6. A Bus
7. A Picture OF Your Own Camera
8. A Set Of Screwdrivers
9. A Fire Alarm
10. A Movie Poster
11. A Line With At Least Four People Waiting
12. Your Favourite Book
13. Keep Out
14. The Same Object In Three Different Colours (no photoshop)
15. Something Abandoned
16. 3 Generations
17. Something Dangerous
18. The Boy Or Girl Next Door
19. Re-create Your Favourite Movie Scene with people/props
20. A Resolution

And they're off.......

Happy New Year

What My Horoscope Said.....

Your understanding deepens and you will solve problems - and get a family working together again. Venus unlocks secret feelings - and you see love in special eyes. Draw up a work plan and watch it happen. Destiny smiles in a cinema queue.

Reality!

Well, despite all my good intentions, as is the norm, I started the New Year with a stinking hangover. However my understanding did deepen, my understanding of hangovers that is! Instead of resorting to the usual approach of drinking lots and lots of water then waiting to throw up, I decided to try solid food first to see if that helped but after a while I understood on a new and profound level that the only way my body is ever going to cope with red wine followed by several shots, including something called a brain haemorrhage which involved curdling a shot of Baileys on top of something red, and a concoction that was described to me as liquid cocaine, followed by yet more Red Wine and a touch of Vodka, was to vomit profusely the following day until all traces of the previous nights excess have been expelled!

In a moment of weakness I agreed to deliver a balloon, locally for a customer in France, on New Years Day. It seemed like a good idea at the time, the address was only five minutes away, by car, the only flaw in my logic was that John (Alison's husband) had the car - and he was in Lancashire. It was considerably more that five minutes away by foot! So we decided, eventually, to go for it, kill two birds with one stone and take Jade for a walk, clear our booze muddled brains and deliver the balloon. The fact that the address was opposite a very nice country pub called The Fox and Goose helped clinch the decision.

So we walked, and walked, and walked! Jade had a great time, but hindsight is such a wonderful thing, I think we may have been a little adventurous. The field was really really muddy and by the time we'd made it across it our boots felt like they weighed a tonne.






My head ached, my legs ached, I had blisters on my feet caused by the totally inappropriate footwear I chose for the trek, but we delivered it, popped in the pub and stared at a couple of Jack Daniels and Diet Cokes for a while then began the equally arduous return trip. But even though it felt like a lot longer walk than it really was it certainly cleared the cobwebs and apart from a couple of blisters I felt much better for it. A quiet, sober night in tonight for me I think :)

Welcome to 2006!

:)

January 2006

Altogether Now..

(To be sung to the tune of 'One Man Went To Mow)

5 more sleeps to go
5 more sleeps to Santa
5 more sleep till the big fat bloke comes down your chimney and leaves you presents and drinks your beer
5 more sleeps till Santa.

Feeling festive yet? :)

We're All Going On A Llama Hunt.

As a fully paid up flickr addict I was quite excited when one of my contacts – Monster , aka Steve, organised a flickr meet. For the unaffiliated out there flickr is a website that gives anyone, amateur, professional or wannabee a chance to show the world what they can see through the lense of a camera, or at least that’s the simple explanation. I’m not going into my own thoughts on flickr because part of the genius of it is that it is something different to everyone who uses it. You need to discover it for yourself.

Anyway last Sunday I headed down to Portsmouth to meet up with a few cyber friends from flickr. It was a strange meeting. Firstly there were only three of us! I have no doubt whatsoever that Steve did everything possible to badger others into coming, no doubt there was lots of promises made to be there but at the end of the day only three of us turned up. But that was ok, because we had a really nice day.

It was doubly strange (in a nice way) because I had known Steve pretty much all my life but not met the other contact that came, and yet I’d had the chance, via flickr to get to know her and see the world through her eyes, so it felt like I already knew her. The fact that I was meeting up with Steve was weird in itself, we grew up on neighbouring streets, we went to the same schools, we almost got it together as teenagers but then drifted apart and didn’t see each other for over 20 years. Then with the advent of friends reunited we made contact again. We met up for the obligatory school reunion then kept in touch via a few e-mails, but on a chance trip to the little village that is now my home, en route to drop his dogs of to kennels, I showed him flickr and literally created a Monster! He takes great photos, and is hoping to make a career out of it now, and I wish him all the luck in that. (and if you read this Steve – don’t get big headed, I still have that photo!) Anyway I digress. The other flickrite that came to the meet was a lady who goes by the screen name of Joker the Lurcher . Now (and this will only make sense if you take a look at flickr) I’d had a quick nose at her photos whilst looking at Steve’s but I’d never really had much contact with Angharad, but from the moment we all met up it was like meeting up with old friends. We warmed up with a couple of drinks in a pub in Old Portsmouth and talked and talked! There were no awkward silences, no struggles to find a common topic, if all else failed there were two real and one surrogate dog owners round the table, that conversation alone could go on forever! And, may I add, Joker has the most amazing eyes, he’s a cool dog.

Then we wandered over to Portsmouth Cathedral, camera’s at the ready and wandered round snapping away in there for a while, and even though the same things caught our eyes we still managed to come out of there with three different views. A Nice start to the afternoon, then…..

Steve and I went to look for Llamas! My latest obsession is the flickr monthly scavenger hunt. Twenty photos’s to get by the end of the month, and December’s challenge is (drum roll please)…

1. A waitress/waiter dressed all in black.
2. The number 12.
3. A set of twins.
4. Someone with no hair.
5. A bicycle in the snow or rain.
6. Someone on crutches.
7. A dog on a leash.
8. A Hot drink.
9. Green eyes.
10. Red shoes.
11. An airplane, not in the air.
12. A Llama.
13. A U.S. veteran, uniform optional (or a Veteran from your own country)
14. A lighted Menorah.
15. A strange hat.
16. A burning fire.
17. A coin, not from the U.S.
18. A holiday desert.
19. A gift.
20. Brown eggs.


So I checked on their website and there was a park that was near the area that both Steve and I grew up in that allegedly had Llamas! So, eventually getting back to the whole point of this tome! We went on a Llama hunt (photographically speaking of course).

We got there, and worked out that neither of us had visited this area in well over a decade so we weren’t sure exactly where the Llamas might be, it was just an open bit of park when we were kids, a nice lake, an arch thing in the middle, some good trees to climb, but no zoo. But the website said they had one, so in we went. We wandered down to the lake, and round a bit of it but neither of us could be bothered to walk all the way round – it’s big, and besides we were looking for the Llamas. Then we wandered back up to the arch thing, took a few pics then spotted a path that we hadn’t seen before – the zoo maybe? No, it was a Coach House. Interesting, a good place to play with a camera, but no Llamas!

As we walked back to the car I started to doubt my sanity, I knew I had seen a zoo on their list of attractions, I KNEW it had Llamas – how hard can it be to find a Llama in the only bit of green land midst the biggest council estate in the South of England? Then, just as we were about to cross the road back to the car park, we saw a map. And there it was – the ornamental gardens, complete with Llamas, on the other side of the road, in the bit that was never open to the public when we were kids! I have no doubt that, by then, Steve would have told me where to shove paying £4.60 to go into the zoo and take Llama pictures but he needed the little boys room and the only one for 10 miles was the other side of the ticket office!

So I had a great day, met an old friend and made a new one, proved my sanity and got a picture of a Llama. All in all really a good Sunday.

Christmas Quackers!

Tis the season to be jolly and all that, and today we, that is my business partner and I, decided, for the second time, that if we can't beat the Tuesday Market in our little village then we'll join 'em! Alison did the first week, after I pulled the "I've got a cold' card so today, despite the remnants of a really annoying cough I stood outside in the freezing cold, and occasional shower, flogging our wares.

I got to pitch up next to Gary, or "the Duck man" as he is more commonly known in Odiham. It's amazing just how many people want wooden Ducks! We are in the wrong business! Even I succumbed eventually and came back with a little wooden duckling of my very own :) And you know what? I quite enjoyed it! There was a real sense of community amongst the market traders. It's only a small market, no more than 6 stalls at the moment, and to be honest it's always been a source of friction amongst the retailers in the village. Parking is hard enough as it is, but when the Tuesday Market takes 10 parking spaces out for 4 hours it's impossible! So, just like everyone else, we moaned! "Our shop is always quiet on a Tuesday" we said. "It's our worse day of the week" we whined! Then Alison suggested we give it a go ourselves, set up our well-worn Gazebo, take a few chocs out, some toys, and a Christmas card or two and see what happens. So we did!

Although the market itself will never pay for our retirement the strange thing is as soon as one of us stood outside freezing to death for the morning the shop got busier! Go figure! And we didn't do too badly on the stall so all in all it's worth it. We'll stick it out until Christmas then maybe do it once a month in the New Year.


So there I was, full of the Christmas spirit, albeit frozen to the very core when on a trip out later in the evening I stumbled across this! I think Christmas has arrived in South Warnborough! I think I saw a collection box at the gate, although it was hard to see past the glare. So I hope they are doing this for charity! I'll take a trip back under the safety of daylight to see. Happy Christmas!

The Art of Asking Questions

I keep six honest serving-men
(They tought me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and When and Who.
I send them over land and sea,
I send them easy and west;
But after they have worked for me,
I give them all a rest.

I let them rest from nine till five,
For I am busy then,
As well as breakfast, lunch and tea,
For they are hungry men.
But different folk have different views;
I know a person small-
She keeps ten million serving-men,
Who get no rest at all!

She sends 'em abroad on her own affairs,
From the second she opens her eyes-
One million Hows, two million Wheres,
And seven million Whys!

From The Elephants Child by Rudyard Kipling.

Utterly Pointless Lists!

We all make lists don't we? Things to do, shopping, things to buy and so on and so on. But be honest how many pointless lists do we all make? There seems to be a huge increase on British TV of the 'Top 100 TV Adverts' or 'The Top 100 All time Great Love Songs, Movie Moments, the number of top 100's is a whole endless list in itself. So in this evening's moment of boredom I decided to start composing my own utterly pointless lists, it'll fill up a space in the sidebar if nothing else! I really can't be bothered to list 100 of anything so I think I'll stick to top 10's. So in the true spirit of the season here's my first (of no doubt many) Top 10's.

My Top 10 Worse Possible Xmas Presents

1. Anything bought 'In 10 easy instalments' from a newspaper or newspaper colour supplement. (For that matter, anything bought from a newspaper or newspaper Sunday Supplement)

2. Collectables. (With the possible exception of Star Wars or Bad Taste Bears)

3. Tea Towel

4. Fake designer labels, (smell-a-like perfumes, fake designer watches etc)

5. A Celine Dion CD

6. An England Rugby shirt

7. A Self Help Book/CD/DVD

8. Anything that smells of Magnolia, Rose, Sandalwood or Lily Of The Valley

9. A Calendar with picture of cute fluffy kittens/puppies/ponies etc etc.

10. Real Fur

11.11.11

11.11.11
Originally uploaded by Cathy G.

Decades of easy peace may go their way and tide, and time may drift us far apart but you who have shared our savage yesterday will hold the highest places in our heart



And whilst I'm on the whole war thing, I found this. I know it's a member of my family but I found it in a box of old photo's and there's no one left alive who might know who it was. I thought it was a good pic though, and worth sharing.

Jigsaw Puzzle

Jigsaw Puzzle
Originally uploaded by Cathy G.

So... following the whole coffee and keyboard incident one of my speakers decided to give up as well, although in true style the day the nice man came out to fix it the speaker sprang back to life. He fitted a new one anyway, just in case. So this is what a Mac looks like on the inside - scary, and very dusty!

Cat Dictionary

Did someone say Mouse?
Originally uploaded by Cathy G.

Insomnia
The inability to get more than twenty hours sleep in a day

Loyalty
Staying with the same human for more than six weeks

Stress
A condition only observed in other creatures

Bird
Canned food with wings but no can

Flea
A tiny vicious dragon

Dog
A large hairy overgrown flea

Conciousness
That annoying time inbetween naps

Food
Something which must be taken at 30-minute intervals

Love
A feeling one can only truly have for oneself

Box
A possible portal to utopia which must be explored and guarded

Work
An activity carried out by mankind to maintain catkind in comfort

Humility
No known definition.

Coffee and Keyboards don't mix!

Thetaefthecffeeandtheeybard!

StherewasSundaymrnnghafaseeturnednmytrustyMac
thenrceededtsthencehtcufcffeethatdjustmadeavertheeybard!

Theresutwassmethngantthehardwareequvaentf
astrearayseddwntherghthandsdewthnyhafthe
eyswrngntncudngthesacebarranyfthenumbers

Frtunateytsstunderwarrantyandthenceeefrm
Aearesendngmeutanceshnynewneverysn!

or...when typed with a new keyboard...




The Tale of The Coffee and The Keyboard!

So there I was Sunday morning, half asleep, I turned on my trusty Mac then proceeded to spill the nice hot cup of coffee that I had just made all over my keyboard!

The result was the hardware equivalent of a stroke, paralysed down the right hand side with half the keys not working including the space bar and any of the numbers.

Fortunately it's still under warranty and the nice people from Apple have just sent me a shiny new one!

Thought For The Day.

We'll have some friends round for dinner we said. Have maybe two; three bottles of wine (between 5 of us) have grown up conversation, after dinner coffees and a nice sensible evening.

So... 10 bottles of wine, and 4 extra guests later there we were dancing (?) around the living room to Judas Priest (classy huh?) and upsetting the neighbours (whom we apologised to profusely today). I finally passed out at about 3.30am and my housemates finally threw the towel in at around 5am - not bad for a bunch of thirty and forty somethings huh? And on a School night as well! For some reason I felt the need to create this little poster halfway through the evening, I have no idea why, other than I was fairly focused on drinking at the time, but I thought I'd share it with you.

It was not big or clever, but I have to confess it was fun! Tomorrow I shall try to resume grown up behaviour. Slippers, Cocoa, a good book and an early night for me tonight I think.

Rainy Days and Mondays....

Rainy Days and Mondays....
Originally uploaded by Cathy G.

Talkin' to myself and feelin' old
Sometimes I'd like to quit
Nothing ever seems to fit
Hangin' around
Nothing to do but frown
Rainy Days and Mondays always get me down.

What I've got they used to call the blues
Nothin' is really wrong
Feelin' like I don't belong
Walkin' around
Some kind of lonely clown
Rainy Days and Mondays always get me down.

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