Category Archives: Irrelevance

Anything that doesn’t fit in anywhere particular

Zero out of Ten

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Woops

The challenge isn’t going too well so far is it?

Day two and I nearly didn’t manage to post.  I have a nice little blog post half typed out on my Macbook but it needs tidying up.  It looks like an essay or some lecture notes at the moment….

Anyway, I suppose this counts as it shows I am struggling with my motivation today.  First day back at work tomorrow since Friday 23rd December 2011.  It’s going to be tough. I have enjoyed my break and being able to do very little as and when I want.   My motivation to do anything much apart from drink Cointreau is ZERO right now…..

However, I DO know that I work better under pressure so I am fully expecting to have a SURGE of inspiration as soon as I get back to work and I don’t have the time to write

WATCH THIS SPACE!

I wonder how many times this year I will be saying “Watch this space”?

Anyway, here’s a photo I took of a squirrel on Boxing Day in the cemetery where my dad and nan have memorials.  He looks like he is thinking very hard about his New Year Resolutions, don’t you agree?   I wonder what they are.  Probably won’t be to give up smoking.  Which is what my next post will be about (if I can be arsed)

Project 365 – The Conception

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Well, after spending most of the night awake, pondering on a topic to write about for a whole year (yes, I really did spend half the night thinking about this!) I have decided that the topic I am going to write about for a whole year is

MOTIVATION!

I have chosen this theme for several reasons

1. I find the whole topic of motivation fascinating.  My job means I teach motivational techniques to help my clients think about change and it never ceases to amaze me how powerful these motivational tools can be or how much can be achieved when the motivation is there

2. Despite the above, I sometimes find it very hard to motivate myself.  This blog is an example of where I have flagged and lost some of my drive to write.  The 365 project inspired me to try and stick at something for a whole year so, what better topic to write about than motivation?  I’m hoping it will inspire me to keep up with my blog!

3. I am trying very hard to become fitter and healthier this year.  I am hoping a daily reminder to stay motivated will encourage me to keep at it!

4. I can incorporate sketches and photos if I am inspired, something I really want to do more of this year as part of my resolution to start being more creative again

And finally

5. I can get away with writing a post saying very little if I can’t be arsed and say I just didn’t have the motivation that day!  The perfect get out!!

If you are intrigued by what I might write about over the coming months, well so am I!  

I have no idea where this will take me but I hope it will be a bit of a voyage of discovery for me and possibly for my readers!!

Project365 – a challenge!

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I don’t know why really but I have just not been blogging for a while now.  It started well and I thought I had found my new blog home.  But, for whatever reason, I stopped…..writers block, maybe? 

Anyway, I logged in to WordPress the other day to see the new challenge for 2012- Project365 – the idea being to pick a topic or idea and blog about it for a year.  There are some brilliant ideas that others have chosen but a whole year is a long time for one topic! 

So, my New Year Resolution for 2012 is to try and find something to write about and DAMN WELL WRITE ABOUT IT!!!

Best hurry up though…it’s the 1st tomorrow….and I still don’t have any ideas!

Although I am working on it!

Neglected

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Oh I can’t believe I have neglected my blog for so long.  This is the first time I’ve logged in for AGES it seems!! I even forgot my password, it’s been that long!

Truth is, my head is empty. Well, no, it’s not. It’s full.  But of pink, fluffy stuff – that’s all.

Which means there isn’t any room for words or ideas that help me to blog.

I am working on clearing out the pink, fluffy stuff but it keeps coming back and pushing all the words out again.  The ideas aren’t even getting a look in!

Anyway, don’t take any notice of me, this is just a ‘test’ post to see if I can still write anything at all.   I’ll have to build up to anything that is remotely interesting to read…..

Bear with me

Would you like fries with your chips?

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Over the years, I have made many friends online, from different countries.  My sister refers to them as my ‘virtual friends’ but they are all quite real and some of them I even exchange Christmas and birthday cards with and we all chat on Facebook!   Mostly, these friends live in the USA – a place I have never visited

One of the things I find most entertaining and interesting about these friends from over the pond are the discussions we have about FOOD

This weekend we were discussing fish & chips, a traditional British dish

It all started when my American friend posted up some ‘things’ on a plate that turned out to be hash browns – they looked like little chips to me, and in a way, they were – small fried potatoes.  Not what I thought a hash brown looked like and not much like our chips either

So I posted up a photo of some chips, along with a portion of fish.  This was followed by her version of the same, except the chips were hidden under the fish and she had COLESLAW and TARTARE sauce with them…..SHUDDER!!!

Here, it is vinegar and/or ketchup.  Up North, you might get curry sauce or gravy with your chips (also WRONG) – but never coleslaw or tartare sauce!!!!  Well, ok, maybe tartare sauce if you are having fish-fingers but not with fish and chips, surely?!!

In America there is also something called ‘steak and chop sauce’ – made by ‘London Pubs’ and advertised as ‘a ‘traditional British sauce’.  On further investigation this turns out to be Daddies Sauce, or Brown Sauce.  A must with fried eggs (for some!).  But NEVER with steak or chops!!!

Anyway, it just delights me to find out these little differences in the accompaniments to the same food

It’s Sunday – I should be having a traditional roast beef dinner.  But we are having pasta instead

I’m so cosmopolitan

Animal Abduction!

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Last night was one of those nights again.  Around midnight, we were disturbed by our dog stirring at the sound of a cat wailing.  This went on for a bit and we were just dozing off again when the neighbour’s dog started barking.  They must keep this dog in a kennel as it was clearly outside and it went on and on and on and on

I can only assume the owner lives alone and works nights and is therefore not at home when this is going on as there is never any attempt to shut the dog up  

It is difficult to know which house the dog belongs to because of the layout of our little estate and I was on the point of getting up and walking round the block to try to establish which garden it was coming from, when another neighbour yelled for the dog to shut up.  This seemed to have some effect as the dog went quiet

At the same time as all this was going on, as if it wasn’t noisy enough, we could hear the sound of some engineering work being carried out on the nearby railway.  Well, I assume that is what it was.  Could have been an alien spaceship landing

In fact, maybe that IS what it was

And that’s why the dog was barking

And stopped so suddenly!

OMG!  Maybe I SHOULD find out where the dog lived and tell the owners that their pooch has, in fact, been 

ABDUCTED BY ALIENS

Open letter to the Highways Agency

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Dear Mr Highwayman

Please take note of the following points and act accordingly:

1. When you set up a contraflow system, give me plenty of warning you are about to divert a lane so that I have time to pull into the correct lane in order to get off the motorway at my usual junction

2. At the NEXT junction, bearing in mind I just missed my usual exit place due to lack of road signage, don’t stick up a BIG sign saying WORK ACCESS right next to the exit. This will confuse me

3. At least give me some idea where to get off now, I don’t want to go North but that’s what the next exit says

3. Don’t fill the whole road up with an array of cones, misleading signs and trucks. It’s not an obstacle course, it’s a motorway

Oh, and going back to the time I was returning from my holiday late at night the other week:

4. Don’t decide to close a slip road that I want to get off at and omit to tell me the junction beforehand so I have to go MILES and MILES out of my way to get back to where I wanted to be

And finally:

5. Hurry up and finish these bloody road works! I am developing cone-phobia and an intense hatred of signs

yours sincerely

Mrs Angry from Essex

There.

I think that should sort it

Not getting my five a day!!!

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We are advised that we should have five portions of fruit or veg per day to remain healthy.  Well, I’m definitely lacking one bit of fruit at the moment….

What is going on??? Blackberry DOWN???

I went to London on Monday for an overnight stay – a two day conference.  Great, I thought, this is where the BB comes into its own.  Not only can I use the map facility to find my way around, I can also Facebook when I get bored in the conference…..As well as check emails and all that stuff BB’s are good for

NORMALLY

Typically, Blackberry chose this time to crash.  I didn’t know this until I got home, not having access to the news (ON ACCOUNT OF BLACKBERRY BEING DOWN!) so I spent half my time fiddling with my phone, trying to work out whether it was a Facebook issue or a network provider issue (never dreaming it would be a BLACKBERRY issue!) and eventually giving up and feeling very isolated

Not to mention LOST.  I was relying on that location finder!!

Anyway, it is still not working and now, on top of all that, my workplace have decided to introduce some new system that means they read every single email in detail before sending it out.  They don’t really but they might as well be, the amount of time delivery is taking!

Unless they are all in it together

You don’t realise how much you rely on instant communication until it isn’t there anymore, do you?

Home time

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Well, the holiday is nearly over.  We have a final day here but we won’t stray too far from the hotel as we are being collected at 5pm.  So we thought we would have a nice, lazy lunch and a stroll down to the reservoir later for a last minute rare bird photo opportunity and, in the meantime, a catch up on here

We’ve just been listening to the other guests checking out, exchanging contact details and complaining about errors in the bill, which turned out not to be errors.  We are not this sort of traveller.  It’s fine to exchange pleasantries with fellow guests but ‘holiday bonding’ is just not my thing, especially with a bunch of miserable old people who have nothing better to do than complain

We have had a fantastic week here, the staff have been lovely and the hotel is beautiful.  They have provided us with complimentary drinks and extra lifts and I think it’s interesting to note that the other guests have NOT had this privilege!  More about our adventures another time!

I’m afraid my Post a Day has been very lacking but when I get home I will be writing about my holiday and posting up some photos.  It’s been a wonderful week and I don’t want to leave this lovely little island but real life has to kick in again and, apparently, we will arrive just as the mini heatwave has ended.  Ah well, we also had beautiful weather.  And I didn’t have to go to work, so I’m not complaining!

On another note, I received a text message from the personal trainer at the gym I belong to (and which I haven’t been to since March!) asking if I still want my remaining pre-paid sessions with her!  She must have known I’ve just spent a week over-indulging!  I think I’ll take her up on the offer anyway.  Boot camp was far too hard!!

Checking in!

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Well, I haven’t been able to keep up my post a day for the last couple of days because I am on holiday

However, the hotel has wi-fi AND free internet, except we can’t work out where the @ is on the keyboard and the wi-fi is a bit erratic so I won’t be posting daily.  Oh, plus I am having a rather nice time without the internet, as it happens!

More on my holiday when I return I think, with photos.

For now, I’ll just say I am using my brand new APPLE MAC AIR netbook to send this.

This is probably my most expensive spontaneous purchase to date, I bought it at the airport.  I was going to get an iPad2 but when I saw this, I just melted and HAD to have it.

Thank goodness for credit cards, that’s all I can say

I had a moment of regret when I realised I could have paid for my next holiday with what this cost me but it was short-lived as this is, without a doubt, the most marvellous gadget I have yet bought

So, I may blog again while I’m here.

There is certainly lot’s to blog about…..