saturday morning

last night involved a boozy bbq with our lovely neighbours, lighting a fire, burning last year's hops, and making make-shift lanterns out of plastic containers and tea-lights (the sun knows autumn is here despite our denial and it was dark by eight).

this weekend, kent is basking in a weekend of late-summer sunshine and warm temperatures. a lie-in this morning, a walk with sir humph, fresh bread from the bakery and three (three! not a morning for restraint) saturday papers and the morning is just about perfect. no need yet to dig the bicycles out - just another cup of coffee and two days of sunny potential stretching on ahead.

top tip

so if you top up your mobile phone twice in quick succession, say because vodafone seems to think you could actually spend a pound of phone credit between topping up and buying their incredibly mis-named "freedom-freebie" package, thus necessitating you to groan, go through the topping up again, realise you can't top up by less than five pounds even though you are only a pound short, and then do so through gritted teeth, then your undoubtedly well-meaning bank will put a flag on your debit card. it will send you cryptic, slightly spooky automated phone messages to tell you this, which your partner will just assume is spam and erase and you will have no idea that this has happened until you are standing in the local pharmacy, trying to pay for a prescription for eye antibiotics, while the cashier phones the number flagged on her machine, and, through mounting mutual embarrassment, proceeds to ask increasingly personal questions prompted by a voice that puts her on hold for what seems like hours, while you completely freak out that you have been hacked and all of your (nonexistent) life savings are gone gone gone. not to mention that seven people also waiting in the pharmacy now know how much you pay in rent and when your gas debit is collected etc etc.

so don't do that.

bloody vodafone.

maybe every other day

today i am writing on a snazzy new thinkpad - we all got new laptops at work. obviously this isn't exactly work-related, but hey. beggers can't be choosers.

it was my first day back in the office after a break of 11 glorious days. i really needed the break - i didn't realise how much. the sun is still shining, and the weather for the weekend looks amazing, and it's already wednesday! things are good.

n says humph didn't miss me at all today after all our time together. n says he just slept all day. maybe he dreamt about me. or maybe he just dreams of rabbits. salmon flavoured rabbits. unsuspecting looking-the-other-way rabbits.

so as it turns out

it really helps to have access to a computer if you are trying to post daily.

my laptop died a few weeks ago - i knew it was coming - it required perfect conditions to start up during its last weeks - incantations and crossed fingers and silent heartfelt pleas and a promise that this time - absolutely this time i would back up all my files if only you will just start one more time. i did back up almost everything - all the important stuff - emails from my dad, pictures.

i miss it terribly - it's probably immoral to miss a piece of equipment this much. but we went through two degrees together, wrote two dissertations, traversed a few oceans and plains and had all manor of adventures. it is missing a hinge, has some frightening gaps where there was probably something important at one time, has one side completely cracked and a few dents, but it still kept on plugging. until now.

n has put one of his old pcs upstairs for me - which was very nice of him, but no replacement. it refuses point blank to talk to blogger, or open any facebook link, and it views photos with open hostility. we are not getting on all that well.

so i sneak in on n's pc downstairs - the good one - but i have to creep behind photo software and downloads and some terrifying ww2 game that shouts every 5 minutes "the only good soldier is a dead one". it's not ideal.

i will persevere, but i may actually have to learn to use my smart phone at this rate. i should be able to buy a replacement before christmas (hopefully) and i am eying up a delightfully cheeky little tablet/keyboard dock number (is this betrayal?) but funds do not yet stretch.

all this to say i may have been a little hasty in my last promises.

september

yeah i know - i'm not sure how that happened either.

september.

probably because we've spent most of the summer waiting for summer.

anyways.

i have a new plan.

i'm going to write something, every day, all month. to get back into the swing, so to speak.

i had great plans for this first (ish) post but i am knackered, slightly drunk, and have a raging headache. yay hop festival. pics tomorrow - promise.

bed now.

*mwah*

(got) better

well my bed plan didn't really work out. it's surprisingly difficult to stay in bed for a whole day. you need collaborators in order to achieve that kind of longevity. i have a dog who whined every time i turned over (only after the time i'm normally up - he doesn't do that all night!) and a partner who just looked bemused when i asked for provisions. "are you going to stay in there all day?" he asked, and not in a good way. and to be honest, after a book and a half, i started to get a bit bored. it was great while it lasted though.

i'm feeling better now. and productive. i've worked at home today - got loads (of actual work work done, hemmed my new trousers, patched old blue jeans, started a 2 gallon batch of gooseberry wine, and even emailed my oma. yay. doubtless after this spectacular high water mark i will flop into a miasma of unfulfillment for the rest of the week in order to balance it all out.

hope your days have been good to you too -

attacked

1030 pm last night: slight, but ominous scratch at back of throat.
1230 am this morning: woken by apparent desire of throat to exit body through whatever means (all painful) necessary. Subdued by copious amounts of ibuprofin and swearing.
830 am this morning: sip coffee, eyes well up in pain. look out window where rain is lashing down again (still?) and seriously consider remaining in bed. possibly forever.
930 am post arrives. previously ordered book in post. plan bed confirmed.

one day of summer

london did one of her spin-on-a-ten-pence maneuvers today, and - after what feels like about 6 weeks of wind and rain - shot up 15 degrees and nearly roasted us to death in what had to be nearly 100% humidity and 28 degree sun. i had a day of library surveys and spent most of it baking like some sorry forgotten hound in the back of a camden it van. i erroneously wore jeans. in about 10 minutes they were suspiciously soggy and, in a rather bizarre combination, in places scarily baggy and in other places slicked to my skin. none of this was in any way flattering.

humph is back to normal and has much much better breath, always a plus as he is an enthusiastic kisser.

tomorrow is n's birthday - and thus we careen into summer.

toofers

humphrey had to go to the vet today for dental work - he ended up having 7 teeth pulled. bad teeth are a problem for many greyhounds, usually due to mushy food at the tracks - designed for better racing results rather than good dental health. he had to be anesthetized, and was given morphine as well. we picked him up this evening.

he's fine, but now the morphine is wearing off and he is crying quietly. it's heartbreaking. i know he will be ok and i know the work had to be done, but i can't explain to him why he feels like this. poor love.

it brings back scary memories of when he broke his leg, many years ago. that was much much worse, but it's surprising how much of that feeling rushes back. it also, strangely, reminds me a bit of the feeling i had with dad in the hospital - that deep primal fear that comes from not being able to do anything to make it better.

i'm working from home tomorrow, so he will be getting round the clock care from both of us, and i dare say he will be rather spoiled.

the doggy tooth-fairy will be busy tonight!

it's my birthday today. these little markers through the year are interesting, aren't they? they come and they go, and time slows down for a minute before leaping back into action.

it's raining, which is nice as it pretty much removes any residual guilt that might be tempted to muscle in because i am doing bugger-all today. humph is sleeping at my feet and i have just shaken myself out of a two hour ravelry revelry where, in my imagination, i have knit about 4 jumpers and am now a master of stranded colour work. i have been drooling over yarn sites, bought this amazing yarn (!!) and planned happily away. bliss.

i just finished a great book (state of wonder by ann patchett if you are wondering) and am half way through zoe ferraris's new book, kingdom of strangers. it's completely gripping.

we made bagels this morning, and we have a very handsome topside of beef to roast for dinner. n has just handed me a glass of cold crisp white wine. the first apricots from italy are in the farm shop and the english strawberries are perfect to munch on with the wine.

i think we had always taken these quiet days for granted, before everything all went crazy about 6 months ago - first with dad's illness and death (bad crazy) then the wedding (good crazy). but crazy's still crazy, and i don't think i'm going to miss it. i hope i get the chance to not miss it anyways.

i'll leave you with a picture of humphrey, taken a few weeks ago, in the one warm weekend of sun we've had in all these weeks of rain. this is one creature who certainly knows how to relax...