chaletian: (spock fucking serious)
Jizzy fucking Chrizzy, will someone please just shoot Osborne. He’s such a fucking tosspot. Please explain to me, Georgie, what the fuck is the point of forcing a whole load of people to go to a Jobcentre every single day. Oh no, wait, there is no point, plus I find it hard to imagine that Jobcentres these days are actually staffed to be able to cope with that level of activity. Just a stupid way of punishing people who can’t get a job. Vile. This Government’s obsession with vilifying the unemployed and in fact anyone who needs any kind of benefit (despite the cold, hard fact that the countless number of people on minimum wage are not in fact making a living wage) is revolting, and the way the majority of the media seem to be playing along with it is doubly so.

In other, more localised news, I had precisely zero 3G this morning (not exactly a surprise) and a similar level of mobile service. So, thanks Orange/EE. Shit as ever. I spent half my way into work trying to text Katie to ask her to take some chicken out of the freezer; will now have to revisit dinner plans. Vexing, vexing. I am so fed up with the lack of service in London. FFS, it’s London. I really don’t understand. I was opposite the Hs of P on Friday afternoon, and there was just no service at all. Honestly, you’d think our noble parliamentarians would have got pissed off to the point of getting it fixed by now. Or probably they have a bubble of wifi and are thus unconcerned by the problems the rest of us face*.

Anyway, in happier news, as previously advertised, went to see the National’s Edward II on Friday. Oh, that was good! I can see why it would be polarising, but I really enjoyed it; their choices really worked for me. The staging was fantastic – loved the shack-of-plotting where baronial whispering went on (set in the middle of the stage, you couldn’t really see inside, but the scenes were projected onto screens – I thought it was a brilliant way of representing all the secret conspiring that went on, and the implicit danger of those meetings). Also there was a comedy portacabin of terror which tickled our fancy. I thought the characterisation of Isabella was fascinating – she seemed simultaneously to have agency and yet to be dependent on the man in power, whether that man be her husband, her lover, or her son (and that final scene with Edward III was mesmerising). That one line, “All live to die, and rise to fall,” I think perfectly captures the mood of the whole play and that medieval view of the progression (or cycle) of life: the wheel of fortune, indeed. All in all, fabulous.

Saturday, as planned, we went to Ham House, where it was fortuitously open cabinet day! Open cabinet day is the best day. An update on Ham House (as I am sure you have been eagerly awaiting): the Duchess’s bathroom smelt very vinegary; the paintings on the staircase have been taken away for cleaning or summat; they’d left the door to the lumber room off the beer cellar unlocked so I had a little look round (it’s full of lumber); we discovered where they must have barred the kitchen door to the outside world; the library was, alas, locked, so we couldn’t go in and instead peered longingly through the window; they’ve got a new second-hand bookshop (thumbs up).

Didn’t do anything on Sunday except roll around the sofa like a would-be potentate whilst Katie brought me a bacon sandwich for lunch and squash & blue cheese riz for dinner. TV watched over the course of the weekend included Agents of SHIELD and, natch, Downton. My feelings on Downton:

1. I’m sorry, I’m not happy about Edith’s fella. Very concerned he’s going to turn into a Nazi. Back to the drawing board there.

2. Well. At least Matthew left a letter with testamentary effect, but I still find it massively a) out of character and b) fundamentally unlikely, given his profession and state in life, that he did not just make a fricking will. And, in fact, he says he never has made a will. Not when he became Robert’s heir. Not when he inherited Ginger Lavinia’s dad’s fortune. Not when he got married. Not when he bought half of Downton. Really? Really? DO NOT BELIEVE.

3. FFS. Cora’s credulity and Robert’s blind bullheadedness are really giving me the pip. I harbour a longstanding fondness for Robert, but he is being a complete dick.

4. Bates should not look twinkly-eyed; it is extremely disconcerting.

5. There is not permitted to be any conspiracy against Anna. Unacceptable.

6. There is an unwavering truth about Downton that has been apparent from the very first: the Dowager is the best thing.

7. The new lady’s maid. No. Must go. Cannot bear all the petty plotting and mean-spiritedness.

8. Rose is annoying, but that chap she danced with was A+ adorable.

9. The footmen are also annoying. Daisy, you deserve better and one day your prince will come.

10. Molesley. Oh, Molesley. No words, really.

Also watched Atlantis, which I have to say I thought was a bit shit, so I probably won’t bother with it again.



* Huh. It’s like a little allegory, right there.
chaletian: (firefly wash evil laugh)
So, let's see where we stand a couple of days into this LJ revival. I'm almost afraid that I do not have sufficient events in my life to sustain any kind of daily blogging. I know. It's hard to believe. However, I just went out to the Tooting metropolis and bought a pasta salad and some caramel buttons for lunch, so let's sit here while I consume them and think of things to share.

First things first. Had a surprisingly relaxed morning (largely brought about by the fact that I woke up to wee half an hour before my alarm went off). Had an egg. Chatted to Katie. Sauntered onto the 337 and broke my journey at Southside to purchase an orange mocha as recommended by [livejournal.com profile] morganmuffle - tasty tasty. And then I went to work which meh whatevs.

Subsequently, my mother broke my brain by referring, without a trace of irony, to the upcoming "hip hop happenings" of her weekend. My mother is neither hip, hop, nor happening (and neither, by the sound of it, is her weekend). I love her. Going to Barlborough in a couple of weeks' time as the pater will be in the country, so that will be pleasant. Well. As pleasant as jaunts to Barlborough ever get. I still maintain it's improved since they got the garden centre down the road.

Katie and I are going to see Edward II at the National tonight, which I am excited about. 1. I love a history play. 2. I love the Olivier. 3. Edward II (the king) is a slightly hilarious character in the annals of this, our native land. I read Holinshed last night, which at various points accused him of "naughtie rule" so that will be fun. Saturday is put aside for this year's visit to Ham House and Katie making chicken katsu curry (the actual best). Also an Ocado delivery. Exciting times.

And finally, in other news, I need a haircut.
chaletian: (blackadder news)
So, I have decided, in my infinite wisdom, to try and rejoin the world of LJ, as it’s really the only blogging (lol that word seems so dated now) that I’ve been able to do successfully. And frankly who doesn’t want to hear about my ever-growing tea towel collection*? To that end, let me get you up to date with my life. Settle down: it’ll be a rollercoaster ride**!

Work

Is exactly the same. Oh, except all the commissioning in the NHS has changed and we have a new patient management system that is for shit and absolutely nobody has a clue what’s going on. Good times. I have my own office now, though.

Family

Is exactly the same. Grandma turns 85 next week. My father’s still in the middle east. My mother gets to retire next December; that’s exciting! My brother’s contemplating going round the world but in order to do that he needs to save money and not spend it all on wine and cheese and music festivals.

Home

As you can tell (unless this is a cunning ploy 0.o), Katie has still not killed me; we continue on in domestic bliss. Her parents are visiting next month and we’re getting the kitchen painted and (after a mere six years; we’re so proactive) we’re getting an actual kitchen light instead of a lightbulb dangling sullenly from that attractively unpainted patch of kitchen ceiling it calls home. Hmm, what else? We bought two beautiful bird glasses in Liberty as part of our snail-paced quest to replace our boring crocks with a kaleidoscope of beautiful crockery/china. To that end we also have the hen bowl and the bunny bowl, not to mention the gnome glasses. (Also, I bought some earl grey chocolate in Liberty that was absolutely gorgeous. Prestat. I recommend it wholeheartedly.)

Larking

I have been to many places and many exhibitions and seen many things. The Pompeii exhib at the BM was amazing. Also interesting were the Propaganda exhib at the British Library, Treasures of the Royal Courts (Russia & England in Tudor and Stuart period) at the V&A (some ridic massive silver, and interestingly the Lord Chamberlain’s little record book thing for a production (poss the first production, actually) of Twelfth Night, at which the Russian ambassador was present), and The Lost Prince at the NPG.

We went on our traditional holiday-in-a-cottage, this year to Ludlow in Shropshire. Had a smashing time, as usual. Saw the Mappa Mundi in Hereford which was amazing. Ludlow itself was a lovely town, and Ludlow Castle was smashing – it’s tumbledown, but in the best kind of way. We also went to Hay-on-Wye, where I was astonishingly reticent on the book-buying front (and also refrained from buying a beautiful tiny jug with a bee and a ladybird on it because it was about a million pounds***). I really like Hay Castle – the way it’s just sitting there atop its little hill, not doing anything except enact the role of local safety hazard. And then we went to Ironbridge twice. Ironbridge is ace. We saw the Iron Bridge itself (the only surviving bridge on the Severn from the 1795 flood), and the tile museum (tops) and the china museum (less tops, tbh), and the Victorian village, and the iron museum, and the old iron forge from the c17th. Fascinating stuff.

Hmm, what other thrilling little adventures have I been on? Katie and I went to Haddon Hall in Derbyshire with my mother. It’s been there forever (the curtain wall dates to King John’s reign), and is just the prettiest house. It’s got a chapel where they’ve restored the c15th wall decorations, and they’re amazing! It was interesting, you could really see the period’s influence on the Arts & Craftsy designs (and also, speaking of, the influence of the art in Pompeii on – of course – Adam’s designs of the c18th (cf the deliberate imitation in the Etruscan room at Osterley Park) but also on some of the motifs of later Victorian art).

Katie and I went to Osterley with Katherine the other weekend, largely, I cannot lie, in order to buy a marrow which, per autumnal tradition, we later stuffed with sausage and ate with gusto. There was a mini exhib about the East India Company (the Childs family, which owned Osterley, was heavily involved), and the amount of money they made was absolutely ridic! There was a room pretending to be a merchant ship, and we wore high-larious sailor hats while poring over an c18th merchant map. In the bookshop between Osterley and the Great West Road I purchased a book about Edward IV and another about Roger Mortimer.

Let’s see, what else? We walked a bit of the Thames path, between Ham House and Hampton Court, and saw many a crenellated building; also the remains of the medieval Kingston Bridge underneath John Lewis.

Theatre

After a couple of lacklustre theatre years, we have kind of gone all out on the theatre this year, so I’ve seen lots of things. The Globe season has, as usual, been excellent. I loved Macbeth (we’re going to see it again next week), and Dream was excellent. Also enjoyed Bluestockings (with a couple of reservations) and Lightning Child (even though I remain a bit confused by it all!). I was delighted by the Henry VIs – part 2 in particular was amazingly good. I do love a history play.

General thumbs up for the Michael Grandage season. We missed Privates on Parade, but saw Peter and Alice and The Cripple of Inishmaan, and are going to see Dream shortly; also, I need to get around to booking Henry V.

We went to Bath (lovely day out) to see Jamie in Candida, which was very enjoyable. You can’t go wrong with a bit of Shaw, I always say. Enjoyed Othello at the National (far more than Hamlet, I have to say; a far more convincing production). We’re going to see their Edward II on Friday, which I am looking forward to.

I have also expanded my cultural horizons and been to the ballet a lot more. Seen some good things at the ROH, but the highlight has to be the Canadian National Ballet’s production of Romeo and Juliet at Sadler’s Wells – I really loved that. Prokofiev’s score is basically the best thing ever. Going to see the ROH’s version in November, so will be interesting to see how they compare.

TV

What is life without TV? A barren, featureless wasteland is what. A few things I have watched:

All of Justified. Amazingly awesome and hilarious. Can’t wait for January!

Hannibal. OH MY GOD WILL GRAHAM! OH MY GOD HANNIBAL IS THE WORST!****

The White Queen. I can overlook many, many anachronisms, but giving Elizabeth fricking Woodville a French manicure is surely gratuitously evil? What even? Still, Richard and Anne were adorable. I haven’t been able to watch the end because I know how it ends. :’( [Historical sidebar: leaving aside objective questions as to whether Richard did usurp the throne or was justified, he must surely have felt that God was not on his side, what with his son dying and then his wife dying and everything going to shit.]

Peaky Blinders & Sleepy Hollow. These are both new and I am enjoying them in different ways.

Downton. That is all.





* Ha. Joke. We have an extremely strict one-in-one-out tea towel policy at Fangirl Towers.

** No, it won’t. Literally nothing has changed in my life.

*** Exaggeration.

**** 100% accurate summary of season one.
chaletian: (narnia once a queen)
Hullo, world! Hullo, sky! Hullo, trees! It’s been an age since I tottered to my chaise longue to tap out a few lines regarding my recent activities. I shall do this in numbers. Structure is everyone’s friend.

1. I have now seen the Avengers film three times. Do not imagine I am planning to stop there. Ever since Katie and I cottoned on to the whole Cineworld unlimited pass thing, I have cast aside such restraints. Anyway: Avengers. AWESOME. (Fear no spoilers here, btw.) Totally lived up to my expectations. Everyone was brilliant; to my mind, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce and Scarlett Johansson as Natasha, particularly. I LOVED IT SO MUCH. Naturally, I am now writing fic, because that is what I do. It took me a while to find the right voices, but I’m getting there, I think. Take-home message: OMG AVENGERS YAY!!1! \o/

2. ... actually, I can’t really think of anything else. I’m just pottering around, really. Went to France at the beginning of April to stay with K’s parents, along with her sister and nephew (best baby face ever). Off to Norfolk next month (OMG next month yay!) with Helen, Katherine and our Nellie. At some point later in the year, I’m also hoping finally to pop to Qatar to hang out with the pater. So, good times.

3. Saw the Swahili Merry Wives of Windsor at the Globe – super funny. Also (at least) seeing a hip-hop Othello and French Much Ado, before my long-awaited fantasy viz Jamie Parker returning in Henry V. I WANT THIS NOW. We went to see Matilda again, this time in the west end, with Kathye and Megan, and it was still, I am pleased to report, extremely excellent. Um, what else? Ooh, She Stoops to Conquer, at the National – so, so funny. We’re going to see Travelling Light and Collaborators there in the next couple of weeks as well. Theatre fills me with joy.

Anyway, that’s about it. I’ll totter off again, shall I?
chaletian: (p+p mr collins shelves)
Bonjour, darlings! Long time, no LJ. I felt the urge to leap upon you all and tell you about all the good things in my life at the moment, because I was just in the kitchen making raspberry jelly and admiring the jars of passata and raspberry jam that Katie's parents brought us and the little box (sadly now empty) of Ladurée macaroons that Kathryn so superly gave me for my birthday, and thinking about how smashing my life is.

1. National Trusting. K and I have had NT membership this year, and I have been to loads of places. Started with going to Polesden Lacey (near Dorking) with K and my mother, when we had an absolutely lovely day. The house was beautiful, ditto gardens, weather was perfect, we had a gorgeous picnic (including fizz), and I bought a tea towel with BEEEEES! On hols in Dorset, we went to Corfe Castle, which (leaving aside the carrot issue) was ace; Kingston Lacy, which is the house the Bankes family built when the Roundheads blew up Corfe Castle; and Mompesson House, which is a lovely, lovely Queen Anne house in the Salisbury cathedral close (I will be living there when not at the Mump; there's even a hut for Nellie). Also been to our local place, Ham House, twice - a brilliant C17th house on the bank of the Thames, just outside Richmond. Then, the other weekend, K and I finally carried out our longstanding plan to go to Hampstead to see 2 Willow Road (a modernist house which is hilariously like going to see a grandparental house rather than NT) and Fenton House (which is where we will live when the revolution comes - lots of alcoves; lovely little gardens; a freakishly huge number of china knick-knacks; lots of aged keyboard instruments). (Also Kenwood House, which is English Heritage but free - a bequest from the Guinness family - very worth a visit.) And finally (so far), a young crowd of us went to Osterley Park last weekend. I do love a house you can walk to from the tube. NT tat bought on these visits include: recycled wool rug (shades of blue and pink, very snuggly, and bargainous at only £12!), a multitude of tea towels (naturally), many souvenir magnets, lots of postcards, and a marrow (later stuffed).

2. I HAVE BOOTS! I bought them yesterday and am super excited because I've wanted some knee-high boots FOREVER but my legs are too short and fat to find any to fit, except NOW I HAVE!!! Sadly, the same boot is not available in brown, which would be the summum bonum, but nevermind, I will take the win.

3. Spent a lovely birthday weekend in Derbys. with my mother and brother. On Saturday we went to York. Popped round the Macarthur Glen place (I bought a le creuset spatula and some tea bags), then went into town and had a smashing lunch at Betty's. Chris ordered us a celebratory bottle of champagne, and then we were given little cakes because they knew it was our birthdays. On Sunday, we did not, alas, have time to visit a castle (any castle), but instead went to an unexpectedly amazing pub/restaurant in Rotherham (I had a Pim Pom to drink - best drink name EVER) and visited Grandma.

4. I whinge about our kitchen being too small, but that is only because of my PRIVILEGE. Actually, it can cram loads of people in when we have a party and everyone gravitates. We have a radio and two boxes of kitchen tapes (things like Noel Coward plays and 30s popular music and Dorothy L Sayers adaptations and Tom Lehrer and Elaine Paige). I have a shelf for all my recipe books, and there's another shelf for porridge. We have space for two sets of saucepans (non-stick and not), and about four sets of crocks, and fifty tea cups and sixty mugs, and a dozen or so melamine mixing bowls, and my everyday scales and K's antique scales, and two pots of utensils, and two racks of spices. I want a four-slice toaster, but we cope with a two-slice. We have a drawer for tea towels. And this month K's dad is going to build us a cupboard under the microwave and extra shelves and it's going to be ACE.

5. I have re-joined FOCS (had a story in the last mag; will have another one in the next), and started to re-collect the GGBP Chalets. Mostly have, actually, except for the super rare ones which I am hoping will be reprinted. Read Clare Mallory's League of the Smallest, which is adorable and everyone should read it.

6. I have a kindle. It's amazing. Super, super amazing. I will be getting rid of loads of books, so watch this space.

7. To contradict point 6, I have bought more books recently. Here is a picture:



8. Been to the theatre a bit. Saw Anne Boleyn twice again at the Globe; also Doctor Faustus, The God of Soho, All's Well That Ends Well, and The Globe Mysteries. Disappointed we couldn't get tickets for Much Ado. Saw the first half of Emperor and Galilean at the National and honestly couldn't stand to stay for the second half. Also saw Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead at the Haymarket, and A Delicate Balance at the Almeida. Going to see A Woman Killed With Kindness at the National in a couple of weeks, also hopefully the new Stephen Poliakoff play at the Almeida. And Matilda when it comes to the West End (MATILDA!!!!).
chaletian: (tww big bird)
Katie and I are off to see 2D Thor this afternoon, which I am quite excited about, but I have lost our Odeon Premiere card, which means having to actually pay for tickets. Boo swizz. Very annoyed with myself.

In other news, the mater came to visit for the weekend, which was nice. On Saturday we went for breakfast at ye olde Orange Pekoe and then she took us out for lunch at Annie's (always pleasant, and we sat in the back in the garden and the sun shone all over us and we ate ice cream). Also on Saturday, Doctor Who! Oh, Rory! I love Rory. I love them all, but mostly Rory. And then, miraculously, I managed to write my remix, which kind of skirts the definition of remix and heads into sequel territory... I dunno. I'm quite pleased with it, though.

On Sunday, we made a picnic, and went to Polesden Lacey, near Dorking, which was just glorious - perfect weather, and a beautiful NT lark - you can't go wrong. And I bought a bee tea towel. Then we came home and watched Doctor Who again, and then the library episodes again (oh, River). (In re that, I can't see why they can't just get her out of the library computer again.) Then tea. Then Lewis. Then bed. Good times.
chaletian: (p+p mr collins shelves)
1. Today I attended a clinical risk meeting (always lolarious), performed an unannounced site visit at Queen Mary's with Amanda (ditto), and faffed away most of the afternoon once we were allowed back into the portacabin. I also bought two hairslides from the Cath Kidston shop in Wimbledon village, and caught a new bus (the 93, which runs from Cheam - either North or South, can't remember - to Putney Bridge).

2. This year, I am attempting to keep a record of the books I read so I can do a poll like [livejournal.com profile] katie__pillar. I don't know why. We all know it's doomed to failure. Ah well, I might get through January...

3. I have been to various little social outings so far this year. They have all been very jolly. We Winter Wassailed, Katherine and I went to the Ministry of Food exhibition at the Imperial War Museum, and last night was Helen's Twelfth Night Party (notable, from my pov, for getting to wear Lee's awesome hat before falling asleep behind the sofa). Also, we went to see Love & Other Drugs at the kino, which, upon reflection, I have to say I quite enjoyed. We have a heavy cinema schedule planned. Pray for us.

4. Whatnot for 2011: sort out the sodding Sally Denny Library!

5. Dear readers, sit back and let me tell you a little tale. A history, if you will, of the Squeen and Sewing. I learnt to sew etc as a child. Ditto knitting and a spot of crochet. I flutter about at the low end of the arty/crafty spectrum: not entirely devoid of knowledge, interest, skill, or artistic talent, but not exactly overwhelmed with any of those things. At various times I have made stuff. I recall a sort of ribbony needle case when I was 11 (also two aprons, one in Home Ec and one on Grandma's ancient pedal-driven Singer sewing machine). A couple of years later there was an embroidered needle case (which, annoyingly, seems to have gone walkabouts - I might push the boat out and make another). I did the occasional little cross stitch (my mother was hot stuff on cross stitch - she's done some lovely samplers). At 16 I made a dress, of which I was extremely fond. At 20 or so I made a skirt (of which I was also very fond - it was red linen and ace). Since then, I've made a couple of pairs of curtains and knitted about four inches of scarf (inevitably doomed to disaster; I've always hated knitting).

Anyway, my parents got me a sewing machine last Christmas (I made my beautiful new curtains on it - more on that when I've got pictures), and that's sort of (gradually) reignited my mild interest in sewing type stuff. Also, I confess, my love of pretty things which my income cannot accommodate. So I think I need to do more sewing. And the first project of 2011 is to finish this:



Yes, you do see that right.



1996. It's been a while. I would have been 15 or 16 when I abandoned this. Actually, there was a reason (as you see, it was very nearly finished). I had run out of the darker blue thread and didn't have anything to match it. The problem was that I always used bits of my mother's thread, and wasn't terribly organised about it.



Which hasn't changed. And actually...



Friendship bracelet, you say? Let's date this little mess to my mid-teens as well, shall we?

Anyway, I have the green and brown thread I need to finish that bit of the border, and I will see if I can find something for the two blues tomorrow. See, that way I get to shop too, and that always makes an activity more entertaining. Anyway, I will keep you posted (don't worry, will probably cut images in future!), and also share the joy of my curtains.

6. This weekend: Hannah's birthday party and IKEA. Excellent.

La la la

Dec. 4th, 2010 11:04 am
chaletian: (and and bee)
So, yes. Life not actually as dismal as previous post would indicate. In fact, pretty fucking awesome (though my laptop keyboard is still pissing me off - does anyone know any tricks for decreasing the sensitivity of a touchpad?).

- Fingers now mostly healed.

- Bed delivered and incredibly amazingly delicious.

- I have a plan for decorating the now huge and empty back wall of my bedroom. It involves Etsy and is going to be beautiful and functional.

- Had festive drinks at Jess's last night - very civilised indeed.

- Kathryn's birthday tea last weekend - also very civilised.

- Have ordered most Christmas presents, and they have started arriving. This is vee gee.

- Am not, in fact, hovering on the brink of destitution. In fact 2011 should be fairly decent. Poor arithmatic was always a failing...

- Katie and I are going to Hamlet, the Globe's Winter Wassail, and a carol service at Westminster Abbey. Thumbs up.

- I saw the GP about my strangulated whatsit on my neck yesterday. He booked for me to come in and have it lopped off with a white-hot knife. This morning, it seems to have fallen off of its own volition. Ha!

- So, I had an awesome weekend towards the end of November. On the Friday, went to see HP7.1 at the O2. It was so much better than I was expecting! I really enjoyed it, and absolutely fell in love with Hermione all over again. Then the next day, [livejournal.com profile] morganmuffle drove me, [livejournal.com profile] katie__pillar, [livejournal.com profile] klo_the_hobbit and [livejournal.com profile] seiyaharris to Stratford to see the RSC's new production of Matilda. OH MY GOD IT WAS SO AMAZING!! I was, tbh, a tiny bit leery, because the combination of Matilda, Tim Minchin and RSC had so, so much to live up to that I was afraid it couldn't possibly, but it truly exceeded my wildest expectations. The children were brilliant, and the musical itself was just magical. I will be going to see it again if it transfers to the West End, and would advise everyone else to do the same. UNLESS YOU HATE AWESOMENESS. Anyway, after that we went for tea at Chloe's parents and watched Strictly, and then came home. It was actually the most amazing 24 hours - just so lovely to do brilliant stuff with chums.

- This weekend will hopefully also be bon. Am still, admittedly, in bed, but I've been awake since about 8, which surely counts for something? Right? Anyway, cet après-midi, am off to Staines to congratulate Darren on the anniversary of his birth, then tomorrow Katie and I are off to Kingston for Christmas business, the day to be concluded by putting up the Christmas tree, watching Muppet Christmas Carol (OMG YAY), and consuming pizza and ribena cava. Good times, say you? Best times, say I.
chaletian: (being human)
Jizzy Chrizzy, I can't believe I subjected you all to such an epic essay on my transport decision-making! Ah well.

So, Saturday, eh? Well, I've been at work for most of today, trying to make sense of some foul research data that just made me want to kill people. And then I had a bit of a methodology crisis which I need to discuss with Prof, which made the whole exercise a bit redundant, so boo swizz, basically. Now I'm trying to copy all my music to my new laptop so I can actually sync my ipod. I am also doing some laundry. You can't say I don't know how to live it up.

In other news:

- FT smells of bacon.
- OMG the fig jam I made is SO TASTY LIEK WOAH. Mixed with yogurt, it's my new favourite pudding.
- Fig man was not in Tooting today. Hopefully he will be back on Monday.
- [livejournal.com profile] balooky: you have one birthday present so far.
- It's time for me to hit the board up for money for hosting. Ugh. Hate it.
- I'm actually quite liking Nikita, but I'm struggling with Shane West as Michael - not because he's bad, but because he really reminds me of Austin Nichols, and the idea of Julian as a super-secret assassin is a bit hilarious.
- A confession: I do actually and really love One Tree Hill. Not even ironically any more. (Though I'm hoping Evil!Dan Scott will return, because that's OTH gold, right there.)
- Supernatural Season 6: not quite completely shit. Frankly, that's an post-apocalyptic angel miracle in itself.
- Went to Brownies, which is always a tiny bit hilarious. News from the front: (a) Elves won the quiz; (b) I now know more about Dutch Brownies than I did before.
- The Dutch equivalent of Brownieland is Bambilie.
- I am going to see My Chemical Romance in a couple of weeks. Actually quite excited about it. Na na na na na na na na na na na na na...
- Board meeting on Monday morning. Hopefully it will be good - plenty of reporting done for them, I've done all my action points from the minutes, we've got a new programme manager who might actually be half way decent, we're coming closer to resolving our prison screening situation; things are looking up.
- On account of board meeting, I have been devising a new transport plan. Oh yes. Usually, of course, I just get the 493 as far as Wimbledon, but this time, with my travelcard, I thought I might change it up a bit. 337 to East Putney then the District line to Wimbledon, anyone? Sexy, don't you think?
- I bought Gizzi Erskine's cookbook a few weeks ago, and have already cooked three things out of it (southern fried chicken, salmon and pea spag thing (tea tonight, nomnomnom), and passion fruit pudding - all very tasty) - this may be a recipe book record for me.
- Also made crumble out of some quince, but I think I might've been better just making jelly out of it. It was a bit too aromatic for normal consumption, and also a bit gritty, so I should probably have prepared it more carefully. Still, fairly tasty and an interesting culinary experience.
- FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGS.
- Also, Merlin tonight! With Arthur and Gwen hugging! Be still my shippy heart!
- Downton Abbey. Oh, Downton Abbey. A tiny bit ridic, but I'm rather loving it anyway.
- I have a voucher thing for tea at the Ritz. Must actually book a table. I love tea.
chaletian: (merlin arthur keep calm)
I know how you all like a little London transport story, and boy have I got a doozy for you. Think of Shackleton, or Scott, or Hillary, and then thrust them aside. The Boysown genre has a new hero of brave and daring exploration. And yes, that hero is me. I have never been one to indulge in false modesty.

My story begins some weeks ago, when [livejournal.com profile] pim2005 sent me a plaintive little email asking if I could I do Brownies this Friday, as she was planning to be gadding around somewhere (in what I suspect is a very unheroic fashion). Kindly, I assented. Some might call me saintly, but I would flap a self-deprecating hand at that; one should not go overboard.

The day of Brownies dawned (today, for those who weren't paying sufficient attention), neither particularly bright nor particularly clear, but heroic souls such as myself disregard such unencouraging omens. I merrily took my new route to work (Barnes-Clapham Junction-Balham-Tooting Broadway), and burst into the office with enthusiasm shining from every inch of my happy little face*. And I knew had a task to look forward to that would challenge me in every way possible: to plot a journey from Tooting Broadway (deepest, darkest south west London) to Lee (deepest, darkest south east London). A journey, more over, that had to take place in rush hour on a Friday, between my leaving work and the start of Brownies at 6, and that could not involve zone 1 (my travelcard being confined to zones 2 and 3).

A challenge indeed.

Reader, it would not be true to say I was undaunted by this prospect. Travel between south west and south east, for those not familiar with London's transport infrastructure, is notoriously difficult. The received wisdom is that it is speediest and most straightforward to go in and then out again, as it were. The recommended route between Tooting and Lee would be to take the Northern line up to either Waterloo or London Bridge and pick up the overground train to Lee. A simple journey; TfL's favoured choice on the Journey Planner. But those more eagle-eyed of you will notice the flaw: both Waterloo and London Bridge are in zone 1.

[An editorial note, again for those not familiar with London transport. Zone 1 is like a ticket of doom when it comes to your transport costs. Zone 1 is the single most expensive zone to travel in, because, natch, it's central London and has all the fun touristy-businessy-travel-through stuff going on for it. Travelling through zone 1 on your way somewhere will double your ticket price, even if you don't stop there. Additionally, if you only have a travelcard for zone 2-3, as I do, travelling through zone 1 (a) means having to pay more money and (b) when that travel involves a train, it apparently becomes stupidly complicated and usually requires queuing for three hours.]

Another route was needed. I consulted Journey Planner again. Unfortunately, Journey Planner is pretty much wedded to the in-and-out-again option. Hmm, I thought. What I need is an option to not go through zone 1. On closer examination, Journey Planner does not provide this function (probably, though I am of course reluctant to impute negative motives to such a fine institution as Tranport for London, because the cocks want everyone to go through zone 1 so they can overcharge them). Bum. I could, of course, exclude the train option altogether, but since Lee isn't on the tube, that would mean a bus journey. In London. In rush hour. With a 6pm deadline.

I needed to think this through, before my voyage was scuppered altogether. I needed to gather together every scrap of experience I'd had travelling round south London, every piece of research I'd done on train times, every half-remembered bus map. How, oh how, could I solve this seemingly unsurmountable problem?

I decided to approach it logically. The easiest method of transport would be the tube from Tooting and the train to Lee. If I couldn't get to London Bridge, how far could I get? Elephant & Castle, as it turns out. Conversely, the first station I could catch the Lee train from was New Cross. Well, then, I simply had to bridge the gap between E&C and New Cross. Couldn't be far, I thought. And it turned out it wasn't that far, and there were two buses that did it. Woo! Victory! I wrote down the details on a little piece of paper, much as I imagine whathisname did when planning his route into the African interior.

But then I was inspecting my proposed route on a little map, and I realised something about New Cross station: it was but a hop, skip and a jump from New Cross Gate station. Hmm, I thought. Interesting, I thought. Because I could tell from the trainlines on the map that New Cross Gate was on the same line as Forest Hill, which is on the same line as Balham and Clapham Junction - it does a big loop between Victoria and London Bridge.

Did you notice? Did you feel that little thrill of discovery? Did you pick up on that key name: Balham. Bal-ham. Gateway to the south (oh yes). Balham, which is on my way to work. Balham, which is but two stops from Tooting Broadway. Feverishly, I returned to Journey Planner, cursing its inefficiency as it tried to exclude trains and tubes again. A

And, readers, there it was. There was my route. Tube to Balham. Train to New Cross Gate. A little wander down the road, then picking up the Lee train from New Cross. It couldn't be simpler. I didn't even have to approach central London. I left work just after 4, and was at the church just before Brownies started.

And in theory, the journey home was to be as simple; the New Cross Gate train back to Balham would travel through to Clapham Junction, where I could catch the train to Barnes. The only problem: Lee changed its timetable recently. If you don't catch the 19.40 train, you're waiting there a fucking lifetime. Brownies finishes at 19.30, but they don't all go immediately. And I had to catch the 19.40, or I'd not get a train from New Cross Gate until about 21.00.

I had swiftly** written a quick email to [livejournal.com profile] xanantha, explaining I would have to leave on the dot, to which she was amenable (thank you, darling). Brownies happened. 19.30 came, and I rushed out of that church hall like there were hellhounds on my tail, coat, scarf and bag clutched to my bosom.

And this is where fate intervened. I was nearly at the bus stop by Lee station, when I noticed there was a 202 there. A 202 going to Crystal Palace. Ein minuten bitte (I thought to myself): Crystal Palace is a station between New Cross Gate and Clapham Junction. Taking the word for the deed (or something), I jumped on board, and asked if he was going to Crystal Palace station. He said yes. I asked how long it would take. He said about 40 minutes. I swiped my travelcard and sat down.

Which is the point the man in front of me asked me if I wanted Crystal Palace station. On learning that I did indeed, he informed me that the bus didn't in fact go there. I knew the bus driver had sounded a bit useless. However, in the course of our conversation, I heard the name Sydenham. And Sydenham... well, I imagine you can guess what train line Sydenham station is on!

Actually, the man wasn't sure it quite stopped at the station, and then he got off, and I was left alone in a strange land. Alone, but for my trusty iPhone, because I had a little brainwave. With GPS and a little map, I could see when I came near to a station! Anyway, when it came to it, the 202 did in fact go past Sydenham station, and I caught a train to Clapham Junction, arriving there at a perkily early 20.28. I would easily reach home by nine, which is usually when Katie got home from Brownies when using the in-and-out-again method.

(I didn't: I got off at Clapham to buy plastic white bread for bacon sandwiches and yogurt to mix with my fig jam, and then I got the bus home: still in by 9.15.)

And there you have it. A little transport adventure. Go about your business, and remember this shining tale. As with Robert the Bruce and the spider (whether told in mime or words***), one must try and try and try again if the Journey Planner doens't give one what one wants.






* This is a lie for narrative purposes. It was a Friday morning, I'd had a busy week, with a faffy journey across London and back to look forward to. I was neither merry, enthusiastic or happy.

** This is an in-joke for [livejournal.com profile] katie__pillar. It involves a British spy, a ski resort, a strip club, and an eastern European girl called Anna.

*** This is an in-joke for the Dandelion Bitches.
chaletian: (star trek ants)
My dear chums, so much has happened since last I wrote, but since it all happened under cover of darkness and in the course of my role as MI5's top undercover agent, I can reveal none of it. Alas.

In more mundane news, let me get you up to speed with what I've been doing:

♥ Embracing The Globe liek woah. They've had a fantastic season - I've seen Anne Boleyn (very interesting), Henry VIII (quite ponderous and processional in tone, but I think capturing very well both the grandeur and uncertainty of court life), Comedy of Errors (actually, only the first half, but it was hilarious - lovely to see it presented as the ridiculous farce it is, rather than people trying to Do Shakespeare, which is fatal because it means taking it far too seriously), Merry Wives of Windsor (amazingly funny and awesome - Mistress Page and Mistress Ford are our new heroes - it's going on tour so catch it if you can), and the superlative Henry IV parts 1 and 2 (this is on for another week - please, please go and see it if you can, it's fabulous - Roger Allam is just awesome as Falstaff, and Jamie Parker was brilliant as Prince Hal - in fact, I want them to do Henry V next time, with him, and Joseph Timms and Barbara Marten and Sean Kearns et al reprising their roles). It even inspired me to write Bardfic, which is novel.

♥ Also seeing Welcome to Thebes at the National (oh Olivier, most favoured of all theatres), which was really interesting and a little bit heart-breaking. It was by Moira Buffini, who wrote Dying For It for the Almeida a few years ago. We're going to see Hamlet in the Olivier in December - yay.

♥ Interviewing people for jobs. Hilarious.

♥ Visiting Kathye and the new baby. Baby! So cute. Am off there again tomorrow.

♥ Planning to make fig jam tomorrow. We'll see how that pans out.

♥ Making new recipes! Actual new recipes out of a recipe book! I know, it's like a tiny miracle.

♥ Other stuff.
chaletian: (Default)
Goodness gracious me, I don’t even know where to begin! Much has happened in the life of the Squeen since last you were updated. So much, in fact, that I really can’t remember half of it; fear not, however, for none of it was terribly exciting. I did not, it grieves me to admit, triumph in any act of political significance that would see (or hear, I suppose) my name echo down history. I did not, despite ongoing if desultory attempts, pen a first novel of such virtuosic brilliance that I would shine as bright a constellation in the starry sky of English literature as Shakespeare and Austen and the Brontë gang. Nor have I saved the life of a beautiful child, scaled a mountain, or invented a time machine. Mostly I have sat around and read trashy novels. And made a bit of compote.

I have also, in no particular order, had a tiny jumble sale and forced various chums to buy my crap, seen Inception at the kino (vg), Anne Boleyn at the Globe (vvg, though I thought the very ending was slightly dodge), and Scenes of a Sexual Nature on the tellybox (v amusing, though fundamentally depressing by the end, I thought), spent a couple of days in Cambridge at my previous job, training up my successor for filthy lucre and having dinner with Emma, chosen a laptop to buy when filthy lucre is eventually forthcoming, booked tickets for Henry VIII and Henry IV Part One (also at the Globe), booked tickets to go and visit my parents on the weekend of my birthday, spent some time contemplating my forthcoming birthday, at which event I will be celebrating thirty of our earth years, read Bluestockings by Jane Robinson, about women’s fight for a university education (very highly recommended), and been on holiday in Norfolk with [livejournal.com profile] balooky, [livejournal.com profile] katherinea and [livejournal.com profile] pim2005, which was fabulous and supplied a new tea towel for the collection. Good times.

In current affairs, I am still fighting the good fight to get a pay rise, which hopefully will happen at some point before I actually die. My brother has become a homeowner (hilarious). I have not yet come up with any ideas to write for the Chalet School Big Bang. And I just had to go and water the balcony, which slowly succumbing to drought. La.
chaletian: (buffy british summer)
I CANNOT BELIEVE I HAVEN'T LJED IN SO LONG! I am genuinely shocked by my own lacksadaisical approach at telling you about what I've been doing. SHOCKED. GENUINELY. So, in the seven minutes available before the Lego Head Man lets out his traditional plaintive cry that dinner (in today's case, chicken cacciatore à la Nigella - tasty tasty) is ready to be fettled, I shall update you.

This is, of course, hampered by the fact that I can't remember what I've been doing.

♥ WEDDING! Jess got married to Douglas in the darkest depths of Gloucestershire, and I, along with Katie, Pim and Katherine, went to watch. It was really nice, and we saw various people, and Megan and Hannah were bridesmaids and supercute (they went off rollicking on the grass at the reception place and in their white dresses and Megan's hair up like a little C17th girl, they did look like they belonged in a timeslip story). So, wedding was good, speeches were very good (Jess, I love you and your mother forever for both doing one), realising that the Kate and Fliss I'd been talking were in fact [livejournal.com profile] chiasmata (well, Kate was), which fact apparently everyone else knew, was VERY EMBARRASSING but tant pis. Plus Travelodge/Little Chef hilarity, SO MANY TAXIS, and CELIA IMRIE being awesome. A good weekend.

♥ Our balcony garden is not yet dead. I know. We're amazed too. In fact, it's thriving: herbs are merrily growing away, we have tiny green strawberries, and our tomato plants are AS TALL AS THE SKY*. There has been a lot of watering, and also spraying of the mint with washing up liquid, as it has traumatically become infested with greenfly. Boofaces. Still, the washing up liquid is doing its promised job (god save Katie and her arcane childhood knowledge), so all is not lost.

♥ I feel I should let everyone know that, when the apocalypse comes, FT can survive for a month or so on baked beans, orange juice and yogurt. But I cannot share this information without attaching a grave warning: don't, when you find yourselves stumbling along the Strand, dodging zombies and trying to scavenge ginger nut biscuits from the bin (I'm looking at you, Helen: I know your tendancies), attempt to breach the barricade of 22 The bally old W. We will react strongly and sternly, and you will find yourself tumbling back down the stairs with the tiny remnant of a hacksaw sticking out of your eye.

♥ So, about that tiny remnant of a hacksaw. We bought a garden cane to be a curtain pole for the balcony door. So far, so good. But we knew it would be too long, so we bought a little hacksaw to cut it down to size. "Hmm," said Katie dubiously, "a hacksaw won't actually saw through wood." "La," said I, ever the optimist, "it will be fine." Came the day, came the garden cane/hacksaw attempt. Which lasted approximately three seconds, up to the point that the hacksaw blade snapped into three. "Ho hum," said I, and began my attempt to saw through a garden cane using the aforementioned tiny remnant of a hacksaw. It was about two inches long. My progress was not inspiring. After a while, Katie came to see what havoc I was causing. After putting newspaper down in a bid to stop me getting sawdust everywhere, she attached herself to one end of the tiny two-inch hacksaw blade remnant. I maintained my grip on the other end. Together, in a thrilling display of teamwork, we sawed that fucker in half. Oh, how we chuckled - near insensate with mirth, we were, and then I said (hilariously, I think we can all agree), "And then they realised they were punching a baboon!" which led to more laughter. Good times, readers, good times.**

♥ In other news, I cracked open my sewing machine, and hemmed the curtain that is to go on the hacksawed garden cane. I also made a top (rough draft with not-so-great material), which needs some work before I make it with proper material. But it's fun to be sewing again - I haven't really for ages (except for curtains etc when we moved in).

♥ Also, I have done other things with my time. I did the Remix Redux challenge, which was quite exciting because I've never done a proper challenge before. Maybe this will be the year I actually sign up for Yuletide! I wrote a Merlin fic which I quite liked in the end, so I will post that here soon.

♥ In other fanfictional news: Chalet School. Zombies. Coming soon to an LJ near you.

♥ Anyway, returning to the previous point. Other stuff. Katie and I went to see Iron Man 2, which I loved because RDJ is the king of ace. We went to a party at Nellie Dean's new house, which was vee nice. Also nice: the gather, the highlight of which was undoubtedly drinking many cocktails (and stealing bits of Kathryn's kumquat liqueur-themed ones) and trying to sing along to Joseph without Helen changing the playlist. After the gather we went to Ikea, and Katie and I bought things we needed without going crazy (the ultimate Ikea challenge). TRAGICALLY AND INEXPLICABLY the Swedish shop did not provide us with salmon paste. We are confused and desolate, just as if a treasured chum had kicked us in our lady bits.

♥ I have become indoctrinated into Criminal Minds. OH MY GOD I LOVE THIS SHOW. I love everything about it. I love how the nice people at the beginning don't happen upon a grisly corpse, thereby setting in train the events of the episode. Oh no. They are the grisly corpse(s) setting in train the events of the episode. Also, Garcia is so rocking awesome. And Spencer Reid is made of love. And Jane Lynch may be the most superdooper thing ever. And Hotch is so stern and so adorable, and Morgan is just so stalwart. Anyway. Love.

♥ People should read this fic: Bredon in Narnia - The White Witch tries to tempt a child of Peter and Harriet and fails utterly. As, of course, she would. Also Rain Check - An investigation takes Hotch into Harvelle's Roadhouse. Because it's so just who Hotch and Ellen are.

♥ So, there you are. The last month or so of a squeenly life. I clearly haven't written this is the seven minutes before the Lego Head Man let out his plaintive cry. I have now nearly finished both my dinner and my yellow milk. And so I bid you adieu.

xoxo, Suburban Squeen ***




* Or about two feet tall, depending on how you view the situation.
** Which no one will appreciate, because no one ever does appreciate our hijinks. :-(
*** STILL AMUSING IN MY HEAD.
chaletian: (life dani)
Ouf! I am ker-nackered. I have foolishly invited around a coterie of chums for lunch and tea tomorrow, and have spent all day shopping and domesticking in anticipation. (Also I went to Roehampton Library, whose online catalogue had LIED to me, but which contained an assortment of other books that looked interesting, and bought a top; more anon.) Anyway, living room and hall are now mostly tidied, I have made our starter (vee delish - always a possibility there will be none left by the time folk arrive), our pudding, and prepared veg etc, so all is going well. I have even written a timeline for tomorrow morning, which will probably be abandoned by approximately 8.03, but nevermind.

Anyway, in other news: on Tuesday night Katie and I went to see Steve Carlson and various other people perform at Underbelly in Hoxton, which was jolly nice. Nice venue with some epic sofa/throne action, and just a nice chilled-out evening. (And chilled out is right because the temperature dropped liek woah and it was fucking freezing. And raining.) On Wednesday night, we went with Chloe to see a hideous, hideous dance film at Bad Film Club chez Barbican, which may have ruined me now for life. On Thursday I had the day off (very nice; very unproductive) and buzzed into town to meet Helen and Katherine for dinner off Trafalgar Square, moving onto drinks in a random pub, where Helen made me do her work for her. Harsh, Helen, harsh. However I was bought a lemonade to compensate, so fair enough, really. Katherine and I ended up getting the 9 to Hammersmith, which was hijously slow through traffic, and then I just missed the 33 so had to wait 20 minutes, but not too bad. Friday evening, I am happy to report, I stayed in and did not communicate with anyone. Actually, I can't even remember what I did yesterday. Acquired groceries, mostly, I think. And watched the end of the last series of Doctor Who. (I love John Simm as the Master. And I love Timothy Dalton being a baddie. And I love Wilfred. And I love Ten and his epic lonely dark angst. And I love Jessica Hynes. AND I LOVE MARTHA JONES TILL THE END OF TIME.)

So, that brings us back to today, encompassing, as previously noted, a visit to Roehampton Library, a visit to Kingston to buy possibly the world's prettiest top (even though I am supposed to spend no money this month) and a roasting tin to accommodate the massive leg of lamb currently taking up our entire fridge, a fleeting visit to Sainsburys in Kingston for rosemary (which they did not have) and pancetta (which they did not have), a fleeting visit to Tesco in Richmond for rosemary (which they did not have) and pancetta (which they did not have), and finally a fleeting visit to Waitrose (also in Richmond) for rosemary (which they did not have) and pancetta (which they did not have). Poo. Then I came home and instead of collapsing with exhaustion, as every instinct begged me to do, I instead embarked upon my ambitious plan of works to get Fangirl Towers shipshape and Bristol fashion. Oh, and I laid the table, but failed to iron the tablecloth. Whatevs. And then I watched Doctor Who, which I really enjoyed (and loved young!Amelia Pond).

But I am very tired now, and so to bed.
chaletian: (blackadder lord)
Ah, the dulcet tones of The Antiques Roadshow, so reminiscent of my youthful Sunday television watching... Not, of course, that I was particularly enamoured of antiques as a teenager, but it was very parental viewing. Personally, I love the old dears who are all "Yes... yes... yes... really... yes... yes..."

Anyway, I come to you exhausted from a day spent largely tidying my room. I have decluttered quite a lot, so I am rather proud of myself. Sadly, however, it has meant that I could not take advantage of the National Trust's (rather poorly advertised) free weekend, which is rather a shame, given how beautiful the weather's been today. Tant pis. Tidy room is more important, because (a) it was a shit tip, and (b) now the weather's nicer, I like to be all fresh and clean.

Yesterday, with a collection of chums, I went to Hampton Court, which was lovely. Katie and I went with the Kings four years ago, but it's different with a small child because you can't focus as well on what you're looking at. Looked at the C17th apartments, and the Tudor bits, and generally wandered around and had a nice time. It closes bizarrely early, though, and I was horrified to discover the "Henry Shop" giftshop had closed! Shock horror! As you may or may not know, my chosen memorabilia is always God's honest tea towel (functional and stylish), and I had, after considerable reflection, chosen the Hampton Court tea towel I wanted to buy. However, Hampton Court has several gift shops scattered about the place, and I didn't want to run the risk of missing a potential tea towel choice owing to an ill-advisedly early purchase. But the gift shops were closing! The horror! What was I to do? Actually, Kathryn and I just ran away to the main shop by the ticket place, which, praise the sweet baby Jee, was still open, so I bought my hilarious King Henry tea towel and all was well. After that, we returned Chez King and had mexican lasagna (yum yum yum) and cake.

However, the most exciting part of yesterday was our bus travel. At lunch time we caught the R68 from Richmond, which was jolly nice, out over the bridge, through Twickenham and Teddington and finally Hampton. And then, oh then, we found we could get the bus home from Kathye's! How exciting is that?! We went to the bus stop just at the end of Kathye's road, caught the bus to Twickenham, and picked up the 33 back to our house! We were home just less than hour after we caught the bus, which, door to door, is about the time it takes on the train! Yay buses! We talked about how exciting this was all the way home. It was hilarious.
chaletian: (bard much ado getting a divorce)
It's Friday evening, so I'm sure I can be forgiven for bullet-pointing!

♥ I made an actual, honest-to-god new recipe for our dinner! I am always in a rut cooking-wise, and though I do occasionally add new dishes, it's at a very slow rate. (In the past year we've had chicken korma, PCP, kedgeree and... yeah, that's about it.) Anyway, this was one off a Waitrose recipe card - sausage, potato and pea casserole. Tasty, tasty. We will have the leftovers for dinner on Sunday, possibly with, as Katie phrased it, a hunk of rustic bread to mop up the juices.

♥ We went to see Crazy Heart at the kino on Wednesday, which I enjoyed. Entirely concur with Katie that Colin Farrell's role should have been played by Christian Kane, but that's the lunacy of Hollywood for you. Not as stylised as recent outings, but I still liked the cinematography, and enjoyed Bad Blake's character progression.

♥ Continuing my earlier outrage, I was further incensed to see yesterday that Ed Balls had waded into the Jamie Bulger thing to say that Atkinson's comments had been "unwise". Fuck off Ed Balls, and grow a pair.

♥ Etsy. Oh, Etsy, Etsy, Etsy. I love you and all your beautiful, beautiful things. I want my pay rise chiefly so I can buy necklaces from you. But not even for you will I contemplate a vagina plaque. I do not think it would suit our decor.

♥ We are off to Hampton Court tomorrow. I am quite excited - I do like a bit of historic house visiting. Hopefully the weather will be nice, but who knows? Actually, let's see if BBC Weather knows. Ein minuten bitte... Boo. Rain all day. Ah well, an outing isn't British if it isn't tipping it down at regular intervals. I shall, however, be taking my cag. Also a tiny picnic, as I will be meeting Katie en route from her morning chores. Egg mayonnaise sandwiches, je pense, with a bit of bugel crisp action and maybe some oreos. A meal for kings. (Not the Kings, natch, they will be at home... oh lol.) And on Sunday I must, must, must tidy the radioactive fallout zone that is my bedroom because it's just shameful. I have tunnels. They don't quite have roofs, but it's not far off. I fear for my future.

♥ Work continues to be engaging, though apparently not so much for the new prog man who has disappeared off again. Strange times. Tragically, my afternoon was spent in mandatory training for the new patient management system (which I will not be using personally), along with a dozen or so IT-illiterates, including a slightly deaf, surely-near-retirement-age lady, who asked coquettishly stupid questions all the way through and maintained a near-perfect record of clicking the wrong thing. One aged volunteer was incapable of double-clicking ("Click it, and click it again. No, more quickly. Try again."), and the trainer had obviously had more than he could bear of the whole thing (ours was the last training session for the whole hospital before the system goes live). Painful. I left as soon as possible.

♥ I have now bought all of Katie's birthday present, and want it to be her birthday NOW so I can give it to her. Why isn't it April yet? Why? IT'S SO FAR AWAY!!
chaletian: (alice)
Katie and I just ate a mammoth aubergine and mozzarella pasta thing. Yum. Also pop. Also, we're watching Singin' in the Rain. I ♥ Cosmo Brown. We have an army's worth of roasted vegetables to be added to couscous and feta for lunch, and we are achieving domestic goddess levels of kitchen organisation. Go us.

In other news, we went to Katherine's on Saturday for supernice lunch with Helen, Kathryn and the Kings (and Lee, natch), which was vee nice, only then Megan made us watch High School Musical 3 and I slept through the one song I actually like. Boo. :( We also got quite excited about our proposed holiday. Norfolk, woo, except no white car of peril. We're going to Hampton Court on Saturday with bods, which should be ace.

In other news, there has been no visiting of my grandmother lately. This is terrible.

We went to see Alice in Wonderland last week. It was ace, as was A Single Man the week before. I do love me a stylish film. Love liek woah. Speaking of, I should get Inglourious Basterds on DVD at some point. That film was fucking awesome.

And to wrap up: Well, I can't make love to a BUSH!
chaletian: (wicked western sky)
Well, it looks to be a beautiful day out there, today! It's so exciting that spring finally seems to have peeked out of its burrow etc etc. For a couple of days last week, I didn't wear a coat when I went out! (I did it a third day, but nearly froze to death whilst being forced to wait forty minutes for a 493, so I can't really count it.) Anyway, I'm still so physically and mentally exhausted by having job that forces me to work constantly while there (ah, I chuckle but it's SO TRUE), that I am, once again, reduced to bullet-pointing my life.

♥ Megan's party yesterday was hilarious, but so much better was chatting with the grown-ups afterwards. Also, delicious chocolate cake with orange icing. Mmm. And Hannah in the ball pit never gets old.

♥ Grandpa's in hospital with his prostate cancer being crap. Boo. :( (However, slightly shaming to admit, but please don't imagine me being super-sad in a corner etc, as I don't see him a lot.)

♥ PCT board meeting tomorrow. Bound to be frustrating. Have a load of print-outs that I need to go through.

♥ Two interesting posts about women things: one here from [livejournal.com profile] liz_marcs and one here from the ineffable [livejournal.com profile] r_scribbles. Also, I have once again made tentative inroads into my Women I Like On TV At The Moment picspam, which may or may not one day reach fruition.

♥ I need to have a shower, and go to Richmond to take a top back to Monsoon. Also to buy hot cross bun goodness in Marks.

♥ I bought more PJ bottoms in Primark. As I wittily tweeted, the combination of Primark and pyjamas (and their proximity to where I work) will be my financial ruin. However, this is, of course, mere hyperbole. My own nature is my downfall. That's the root of some classic literature, right there.

♥ Following on neatly from the above point, once more I am selling things on eBay, if anyone's interested in acquiring GGBP books (and a few random other things).
chaletian: (life dani)
Given that I have only so far posted once this month, I thought I might make the effort and double it. Wowzers. So, words, eh?

♥ Oh em gee, Being Human. Awesome show. Love it so much.

♥ Dancing On Ice continues to dominate our Sundays. Danniella in the skate-off, though - wtf, people? I am now resolved to stop my habit of pity-voting, it is clearly IMMORAL. Also, ITV should hire me and Katie as commentators because we rock. Also, STFU people when Jason gives people perfectly valid criticism.

♥ I had soup for lunch and soup for dinner today. Huh. Also, two slices of M&S giant hot cross bun in a loaf.

♥ Day off tomorrow - GP then off to Staines to buy ridiculous cheap scarves in the market bit (actually, assuming there is a market bit on weekdays) and t-shirts and cardigans from Matalan. I will also, natch, be visiting the old BFF.

♥ Apparently Wil Wheaton is in The Big Bang Theory again. I am very excited by this. WHEEEAAAAAAAATON!!!!!

♥ Work is still awesome in itself, though we are now having a few staffing difficulties which makes things uncomfortable. Also, mental copy-and-paste girl at the last job seems to have gone off on one again. LOL apparently it's all very haircutgate over in St John's Wood at the moment.

♥ Speaking of, it was Cath's last day last week, so I went out with them all to see Sister Act (slightly hilarious "And I don't even think it's real fake tigerskin!" with a really good set - loved it) and have dinner etc. Nice to catch up, and see everyone (especially Emma and Ben, natch). Still need to organise my leaving do. Will not be inviting Rachael.

♥ Have been reading lots of trashy romances recently and not much else. Boo.

♥ I bought a necklace on Etsy and am quite excited. It looks beautiful.

♥ In glorious news, ITV3 have started showing Heartbeat from the beginning. Oh, Nick Rowan, I'd forgotten how much I loved you!! What with that, and the X-Files and Voyager, my early evenings bear an eerie resemblance to my teenage years.

♥ ^^^ CLAUDE JEREMIAH GREENGRASS LOL

♥ Are we having a general election soon or what? I'm fed up with all the campaign post we're getting at the moment.

♥ In other televisual news, we have rediscovered the joy of Roswell. Well, I say the joy of Roswell. It's not really that, let's be honest. It's the joy of Michael and Maria. I have been reading fic. (Also White Collar fic, when I can find stuff with Neal being a woobie and Peter having to be the FRIEND WHOM NEAL TRUSTS MOST IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD etc.)

♥ Katie introduced me to Katzenjammer. They totally rock. I have listened to their album approximately fifty thousand times. I feel like everyone else should do the same.

♥ Amanda and I keep bursting into song in the office camper van. It's hilarious, but tragically we are the only ones who think so. Nobody understands our genius. WE KNEW ALL THE WORDS TO AMERICAN PIE, PEOPLE!

♥ I don't know how to bowl.

♥ I ordered vol 13 of Fables and am really quite excited about reading it. Also, I got the first issue of the spin-off thing about Cinderella, which I reckon must be finished by now, so surely that'll be out in a trade soon, right? I love her character.

♥ I keep meaning to do a post of women in TV that I love at the moment. One day, people. One day.

♥ I have a diary full of meetings now. It's slightly comical.

♥ Apparently, according to my grandmother, people are related to monkeys. Who knew?

♥ ITV had an ad for a new show with Piers Morgan. Is it wrong that I want to punch his annoying face in?
chaletian: (Default)
Oh, Dr Hilary, I think your feeble attempts at skating will be insufficient to win the day.

Anyway, sit down, everyone, there's a sorry story to tell. I made bol tonight and (ein minuten, let me have a little shudder) I forgot to add a bay leaf. Truly, Katie is sadly neglected. Plus she did all the cleaning and I sat and read a trashy romance. *shrugs*

Work's still joyful. New programme manager, which is... interesting. Time will tell and all that. I did a load of data cleansing on Saturday, which was actually quite satisfying, then went on to Pim's for a partay, at which I consumed more gin than was advisable. Katie and I then got several buses home across south London, which is always quite entertaining.

Also, last week, we went to see Cobra Starship! Woo! Hilariously awesome yet again, and got to have chatty fandom

(Interrupted to swear at the annoying face of Piers Morgan on the tellybox)

joy with [livejournal.com profile] yan_tan_tether, [livejournal.com profile] _emeraldgreen and [livejournal.com profile] wildestranger, and was reminded of my Holmes/Watson joy and sort of maybe pimped into the world of Adam Lambert (there were pimping posts which were a tiny bit intriguing - music pleeeeeeease!) and thus had to spend part of today on YouTube. No judging.

Hmm, what other news? Well, none, really. Katie and I are continuing our plans for a house with a bit of a garden and a giant kitchen and maybe a conservatory and living in Wandsworth where the council tax is less than half what we pay in the goddamn fucking London borough of Richmond. (I think we should have a space for growing rhubarb, Englebert. Also, as previously mentioned, an apple tree, raspberry canes, and a giant rosemary bush. Also maybe lavender, if that is acceptable.)

In other news, [livejournal.com profile] pim2005 makes me lol, and I ♥ her.

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