Decided to lock the last entry because it was stupid and ranty and probably ill thought out. I know why I am crabby - I am missing Ian. But I am sure a week will fly by.

Bought the corset yesterday. I hope it comes soon. :)

Off to find some booze. There must be some around - I brew my own wine ffs!

Time to update again. I know I am neglecting you all shockingly, but now I have a bloke, especially one who sends emails of many chapters, I am afraid I keep forgetting about this thing. I feel I am gearing up for a rant or two though so I shall get the update out of the way first. In order of importance:

Ian

Ian visited at the weekend and a splendid time was had. I drank a wee bit too much on Friday night (‘Never!’ I hear you all cry) so Saturday was a bit of a busted flush. We did get to the Japanese Textile Exhibition at York Art Gallery, and we walked part of the City Walls, but my foot hurt, I felt queasy, and there was a comfy sofa at home. I know, I think of the best dates. Sunday was spent racking wines and cooking a very nice (if I say so myself) roast belly of pork with red onion and bramble gravy and all the trimmings. Even the Yorkshire puds worked. My turn to go to his next weekend. We’ll be off to Chester which Ian says is York-Lite, so it should be familiar if nothing else.

Ellie

Ellie still has her boyfriend in Burnley. They were here at the weekend (Yes, while Ian was here. Yes, they are probably scarred for life. Why do you ask?) She didn’t go for the job reported in my last round-up as they wanted her to start immediately, which meant she would have missed her own birthday. However, she has definitely got a Christmas job which will give her some cash for a present for me! Seeing as I bought her Lady Gaga tickets, and will have to cough up to get her to Manchester for an In Flames gig, I think it is the least she could do!

Running (and other fitness stuff)

The running is, for the time being, off the cards. I went to the Podiatry Clinic last Monday to be taken through some exercises and fitted for insoles. When I asked him about running, the guy said that, if the PF started when I started running, it’s a good bet that it was caused by the running. The irony is that, now I have stopped running, the PF is still there. Bugger. Oh well. The insoles are sort of working, and the exercises make a big difference. I am still going to the gym 3 times a week and Pilates once a week. My weekend love life has affected the swimming somewhat but hopefully that will be remedied later this year.

Weightloss

After the weekend I just had I would have been surprised if I had lost any weight at all and sure enough, roast belly pork and spaghetti and meatballs are not diet foods, however much I wish they were. So all my good work had a set back and this week will be mostly losing the weight gained. However, I have still lost two stone in 4 months, which is only slightly behind my goal. And I am still off the fags, which is more important to me. My next goal is to lose a stone and a dress size before the works Christmas do in 6 weeks so I can wear a rather nice dress I have seen.

Mum’s Move

Well, she’s here. Luckily her sister and brother in law got her moved in so by the time I got there it was pretty much done. She has taken it a bit personally that I got myself a boyfriend just as she moved up here so I don’t know if she was assuming that I would be at her beck and call for various things. If so, tough. But me and Ellie popped round for tea on Monday, and I am taking her to the Designer Outlet Village at the weekend. Her house is very nice, and various workmen have been and quoted for some of the work she wants doing, so things are settling into place.

Back to work now. I have chosen not to participate in the Remembrance thingy at work. I have nothing against soldiers – I do work with them, after all. But I don’t agree with war in general and the one in Afghanistan in particular. I am wearing a poppy though.

At the Cenotaph - S Sassoon

I saw the Prince of Darkness, with his Staff,
Standing bare-headed by the Cenotaph:
Unostentatious and respectful, there
He stood, and offered up the following prayer.
“Make them forget, O Lord, what this Memorial
Means; their discredited ideas revive;
Breed new belief that War is purgatorial
Proof of the pride and power of being alive;
Men’s biologic urge to readjust
The Map of Europe, Lord of Hosts, increase;
Lift up their hearts in large destructive lust;
And crown their heads with blind vindictive Peace.”
The Prince of Darkness to the Cenotaph
Bowed. As he walked away I heard him laugh.

I got my leccy bill yesterday and am quite considerably in credit, so I rang them up and am getting some money back next Thursday. The corset I tried on last Saturday is £79. Should I get it? Oh LJ Oracle, what should I do? :D



Poll #1481090 Should I buy this corset?
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 18

Should I buy this corset?

This is why I love XKCD so.



from XKCD

Even though the author is quite happy with hotlinking, it doesn't seem to link to the website properly, so to get a version you can read go to the link and click on the cartoon there. It is worth it, I assure you.

I hope you all had a great Hallowe'en. Happy New Year to all the pagans. :)

Friday night was amusing as Ellie was at a party and got a bit squiffy. She lost her door key on the way home, then was pretty sick. I put her to bed with a bowl and a glass of water. Yesterday we were up at stupid o'clock as we had to catch the 8.20 bus to Whitby to stand any chance of getting there at a reasonable time. The bus journey was pretty long and, as it was thick fog on the moors, pretty boring. I got a text from Beth to say they were running late but as we were, no drama. We met at the greasy spoon next to the station as I was feeding Elie a fried egg butty - my #1 cure for hangovers.

We met Daz at the whalebones and he took us to the various stalls and markets. Very, very shiny (in a muted black sort of way)! Beth bothered me until I tried on a corset at one of the stalls. The girl kept pulling and asking if I could still breathe and my chest kept getting higher. Ellie was also trying one on and it was lucky she had kept her t shirt on underneath as hers was positively indecent! Daz took a pic so I'll have to wait to upload that one.

We then crossed the river to go to the old town for some lunch. The old town was absolutely heaving! We ended up just getting some pasties and sandwiches and eating them on the harbour. Then we went up to the church where various goths were posing around the gravestones, and had a quick look at the Abbey. Then we fought our way through the crowds to get back across the river - the bridge closed to let a boat through and it was a mad crush after that. I don't like crowds very much and, not being 6'7 like Daz or an arsy red-head like my daughter, I got a bit stuck. Oh well, as I am here typing this I obviously got through.

After a swift look round the rest of the shops (all full) we went back to Daz Towers by the Sea for a welcome cup of tea. I will be posting a link to the photos on Flickr once they finally upload. Flickr needs to take a leaf out of Facebook, as it took me about 3 mins to get them on my FB last night. I have been uploading since I started writing this entry and it is still less than 50% complete. Toooo sloooowww.

Today I am supposed to be swimming, shoe shopping, key cutting, and Mum bothering, but it is pissing it down. Not sure I can be arsed. I best go and see my Mum though as she will be still in a post-moving tizz. I do hope this dies down a bit soon!

Bathtime by Matt Dixon

Fire red, summer's dead,
Yet shall it return.
Clear and bright in the night,
Burn, fire, burn!

Dance the ring, luck to bring,
When the year's aturning.
Chant the rhyme at Hallowstime,
When the fire's burning.

Fire glow, vision show
Of the heart's desire,
When the spell's chanted well
Of the witching fire.

Dance the ring, luck to bring,
When the year's aturning.
Chant the rhyme at Hallowstime,
When the fire's burning.

Fire spark, when nights are dark,
Makes our winter's mirth.
Red leaves fall, earth takes all,
Brings them to rebirth.

Dance the ring, luck to bring,
When the year's aturning.
Chant the rhyme at Hallowstime,
When the fire's burning.

Fire fair, earth and air,
And the heaven's rain,
And blessed be, and so may we,
At Hallowstide again.

Dance the ring, luck to bring,
When the year's aturning.
Chant the rhyme at Hallowstime,
When the fire's burning.

(Pinched from The Cauldron)

As I am in Whitby for the Goth Festival all day, I wish my pagan friends s Happy New Year. The rest of you, have an excellent Hallowe'en.

Earlier I watched Dispatches - What's In Your Breakfast? I will admit some concern over the fact that a) some people seem to be under the impression that Frosties and Coco Pops are healthy and b) some parents seem to be powerless in the face of their children's tantrums. Now I will admit I let Ellie eat Coco Pops because she is a teenager and any bloody cereal is better than none. But believing the claims of the food industry that sugar and chocolate are part of a healthy diet? No, don't think so.

The irony is, of course, that so called diet cereals are stuffed full of sugar too. I checked my Morrisons Trim,, which has 12g of sugar per 100g of cereal, and that's not too bad, but some are over 21g! That's nearly one quarter weight = sugar! They showed one guy doing the Special K diet - you eat a bowl for breakfast, substitute a bowl for your lunch, then have a decentish tea. Now I may have food and diets on the brain while I am losing weight, but I know I can have a decent sized bowl of pasta with marinara sauce or a large salad, for less than the 240 cals a bowl of Special K would cost me. And I wouldn't be so grumpy, which is a natural side effect of starving yourself to death. Poor bloke did it for 2 weeks and lost 1kg. I wuld have cried.

This is how the food industry makes money out of us, ladies and gents. They plug Lo-Fat this and Healthy Option that on their packets and we believe them. All we have to do is learn to cook, and the food would taste so much better! Oh well. If people honestly believe that Frosties is good for their children then what hope they could work out that some so called healthy biscuits have more calories than the 'full fat' versions they replace?

Also, you veggies? You're screwed. The omega 3 and 6 plugged into that margarine you buy is derived from plants, and there is no proof that the plant based omega wotsits have the same effect on the brain as animal based. You have to eat the fishy stuff to get the benefit. Sorry. Then again, every vegetarian book I have ever read says to use butter. Margarine may not have trans fatty acids in any longer, but you are essentially eating plastic. Butter may be high fat, but it is natural, and tastes bloody great.

Remember the programmes earlier this year about Heston Blumenthal and Little Chef? I posted about them here and here. Well they are finally doing the follow-up. The programme, Did Heston Change Little Chef?, follows the progress of the company since the makeover, and also reveals plans for the remaining 175 restaurants. Apparently the idiotic chairman, Ian Pegler, managed to gain some custom after the original programmes. It will be amusing and interesting to see what has happened since.

Note to self - do not imitate Harry Enfield doing a scouser accent on the Mersey Rail from Liverpool Lime Street to Birkenhead Central. :)

I had such a good time with Ian at the weekend. We watched lots of dvds, drank lots of booze, did lots of walking (round Liverpool and Birkenhead), did lots of talking and other stuff. ;o) It was a very big wrench leaving Ian to get on the train to go home and, as I said to him, I believe we get on better after every time we see each other. Unfortunately it's a three week break due to prior engagements, but I am going to get a VOIP phone so at least we can chat for free.

Unfortunately not every thing can be hearts, flowers and lovey-dovey stuff. My mother is moving up to York on Thursday and is already driving me nuts (she's not even here!). I have also managed to lose Ellie's National Insurance card, which is a pain in the arse. Did the gym today so I am feeling virtuous. I have also lost another 4lbs. Getting there slowly.

My life is strange sometimes.

face_furniture came round tonight. I knew she was bringing her bike for me to borrow. I guessed she was bringing me a brace of partridge. I didn't guess that they would still be whole, feathers and all. Apparently you don't pluck a partridge as there is precious little meat on one. You peel them, cutting off the breasts and thighs, and discarding the rest. Unless you are particularly fond of eating feathery skin, this is the best method to deal with small bird game, so today I have learned something!

We had a good natter and ate chicken kebabs for tea. Mine was huge so I will also be eating it for tomorrows lunch. Tomorrow I am in Catterick for a meeting. In two days time I will be with ianb1964 in Liverpool, which I am very happy about.

My life is also good. :)

Although I am mooning around like a lovesick teenager and indulging in the type of phonecalls that end with 'you hang up', 'no you hang up' etc, in fact, becoming the type of person that makes you nauseous, I realised I haven't been keeping this up to date with the rest of my life. So a quick update:

Running

On hold, unfortunately. After a weeks rest I ran for a bit and my foot hurt so much I was having problems walking. I went to the doctors and it is plantar fasciitis. In fact she called it a mild attack, so I would hate to feel a medium one. The problem is, while I am waiting for a referral, I can't run, else the attacks will become more and more severe. So I need to replace it with something else. I would love to go swimming more often but the nearest pool is a 20 min bus ride (and £3 bus fare) away, and is due to close down soon anyway. The other alternative is cycling, which I know would be best but coming up to winter is not attractive. On the other hand, if I start up cycling I can get to the pool not on a bus route, so I could kill two birds with one stone. Just need to get hold of a bike, as mine is with the ex at the mo.

Weightloss

After a crap September I weighed myself after swimming two weeks ago and had actually lost 6lbs! So still losing slowly. I am swimming this moirning so will find out if I have lost anything, as it was time of the month last week and I ate like a horse. But I am doing intervals on the cross trainer and exercise bike at the gym which helps a lot (and makes me wheeze like an asthamtic hippo). The other plus with the gym at work is that they have moved the free weights to another room which means I get the aerobics machines and weight machines pretty much to myself. Together with my Pilates class (which is a lot tougher than I thought it would be) my jeans have started falling down. As I am waiting till the final weight-loss before I treat myself to new clothes I have to wear a belt now, but that is now on its tightest hole! I don't like boasting, I really don't, but I do feel really good about that.

Mum move

My mother will be moving to York on the 28th October, so I am taking the day off to let in the movers. She could have picked a better time as I am busy every weekend after that for nearly a month, but I can't really put my life on hold waiting for her to come. She was supposed to be here by now so I could have missed out on last weekend if I had stuck to her schedule! But I will be there for Christmas which will be nice.

Ellie

Mini-me has also got herself a new man! The Finnish guy was not working out so, when she re-met a guy she knew from Manchester and birds suddenly appeared when he was near, she moved on. I know she felt bad about it but, to be honest, I really couldn't see that a relationship with a guy in Finland was going to work out. Like mother like daughter though - practical and romantic. She also got a phonecall from Athena yesterday, the place where she did her work experience. They were short staffed and so did she want a Saturday job? Yippee! She can start earning her keep!

I think that's it for now. Work is still OK, although I may be losing one of my assistants to another job. Off swimming now, then it's a tough Sunday planned mooning over Ian. :D

Those of you on my FB will know this already. For those of you who aren't, or who don't read it, I seem to have got into a relationship! OMGz!!

We are currently on the 'it's complicated' setting. Not that it is - it's pretty easy actually. But we live 90 miles apart and have commitments in our respective hometowns so I can't really call it regular. However, once we get through October I suspect things will settle into a routine. A very nice routine. :)

The gentleman in question visited this weekend after a 'cris de coeur' from me Saturday morning (jeez, I wonder if he knows what a drama llama he's got himself involved in). After I met him off the train we spent a considerable amount of time trying to find a restaurant that would serve us food. Indochine shut at 3pm, even though it says it is open all day Saturday. The Turkish and Thai places near the bus station were shut. In the end we went for Pizza Express, which didn't disappoint. After a few games of Trivial Pursuit at home we got a bit squiffy. :)

Originally I had planned my weekend to be Saturday morning spent walking and Sunday morning at the swimming pool. Ian doesn't swim so, due to the change in plans, we did the walk on Sunday. I made some sarnies and off we went. The walk is actually one of the cycle routes that abound in York, specifically to Naburn. One of the features is a scale model of the Solar System. And it really is - the distances were pretty vast past Mars, and we turned off before we got to Uranus (hurr hurr....sorry). The only thing out of scale was a model of the Cassini probe next to Saturn. It was considerably larger than Saturn, so I suspect it wasn't supposed to be to scale.

After a couple of drinks at a very nice pub we decided to walk back! This was a mistake as all together we did 8 miles, and my feet and Ian's back were complaining by the end. We had pizza for tea, and watched Michael MacIntyre while waiting for Ellie to come home from seeing her new beau. Yes, it's hearts and flowers at Chez Jools at the mo.

I'll post a couple of pics from the walk as it was a pleasant day. Ian stayed til Monday morning when I waved him off before I went to work. A lovely time was had and I can't wait to get to Liverpool next month to see him again.

I will try to keep to my regular schedule of bile, rants and complaints but my heart may not be in it for a while. I got meself a man you see, so things are looking good.

Funnily enough, yes. I am just about to leave the house to meet Ian again, who contacted me last month after 17 years (and that was 3 or 4 years after we had first met). We shall see how that pans out.

But mainly I avoid people from way back then like the plague. I have no desire to see 99% of people I went to school with. They were dicks and so was I. There are one or two people I have been OK with adding to my Facebook but I don't really want to meet up with them IRL. When I was on Friends Reunited me and my sister kept geting invited to school reunions. I think our mutual response was 'you must be joking'.

There have been a few people who I regretted meeting up with again, but it wasn't the end of the world. I just vilify them on here, stab their poppets full of holes, salt the ground where they have walked, and move on. Me? Hold a grudge? Never! :D

Only if part of their political views became a larger part of their life.

To elaborate, I don't give a crap what political persuasion you are as long as you don't go on about it. I had a drinking buddy who would spend every evening we met up ranting about how shit Labour were, how the Tories would be better (oh yeah?) and how, as a single white male, he was an oppressed minority. He berated me pretty much non stop for claiming Working Families Tax Credit. It drove him crazy that I was getting money for nothing. But what destroyed the friendship wasn't that. It was when he stated to me that women were inferior, shouldn't be allowed to vote because they were too emotional, and that I should consider staying with my ex so I didn't have to work.

I have never had a Liberal or Labour supporter say anything like that to me. It could be that he was just a colossal cock though.

Things with Ian have improved. Thanks to those of you who sent me nice texts and messages but you should all know by now my love/sex life is a feckin' soap opera. Fingers crossed!

I have a bit of a phobia about mouldy food. I try not to throw stuff away if it is just a little bruise or spot of mould, but badly bruised or mouldy stuff will just be chucked into the compost bin. So when I contemplated the pound or so of bananas going brown I thought it would be a waste. Then I found a recipe for banana bread which needed a pound of squashy bananas and a new love affair was born. I made it last night and have to say it really is delicious. And those of you wondering about my waistline, Ellie likes it so I probably won't get to eat much of it anyway.

I have also started off a batch of sloe gin and sloe vodka, and will do the blackberry liqueur tonight. I am also going to give running a go again after a week off for my foot. I have got a doctors appt about my foot anyway as I suspect I need an in-sole whatever, but I can't give up the fitness drive now. Especially if I am going to keep baking banana bread! :)

Ima post some pictures.

( Cut for image heftiness. )

Bugger! :*(

I picked up a passenger this morning. When I walk to work I usually pass between two holly trees which haven't been trimmed for a while, so it's always touch and go whether some spider has spun a web between them. This morning one had, and unfortunately the spider stuck around to have a word! I had to stop to tie my laces and noticed one similar to this bugger crawling around. When I moved my foot it became patently obvious that it was attached to my leg!

( Cut to protect wimps like me! )

These spiders spin webs like nylon netting so, if you can picture someone stood by the road, spinning like a top trying to step on the web attaching the spider to their leg without stepping on the spider, all the while making a noise only audible to dogs and Superman, you know how my morning started. Brrrr!

From the ridiculous to the sublime, Charlie Brooker nails it again with this!

I don't care if Mac stuff is cool. I don't care if every Mac product comes equipped a magic button on the side that causes it to piddle gold coins and resurrect the dead and make holographic unicorns dance inside your head. I'm not buying one, so shut up and go home.

It's true. I don't know many Mac Hags because my friends usually earn a middling amount of money and spend any disposable income on important stuff, instead of shelling out pots of cash on something that will be obselete in 5 years, but the ones I have met are fucking crazy about this stuff. I don't care if your iPhone can massage your prostate gland while singing Ave Maria and calculating the compound interest on your ISA , I'm not buying one. Fuck off!

I will go so far as to say Firefox users can be as irritatingly smug. Not all of them, because Firefox has been the reason why a fair few computers have had virus attacks, but whenever someone sees I am still using IE I always get 'you should use Firefox.' remark. Why? IE has never caused me harm. I will admit to wanting adblock, but after a while I don't notice ads anyway.

But yes, the fact that Mac and Firefox users are still in the minority means we will have to put up with their bleating for a while longer. I have a spoof iPhone ad on my home PC which I would post here if I could Google the blighter but I can't find it. Safe to say, adding an 'i' in front of things doesn't necessarily means it works better. Just means it will cost £100 more!

I will give Charlie the last word:

At least the grinning dildos in the Windows video are fictional, whereas eerie replicant Mac monks really are everywhere, standing over your shoulder in their charcoal pullovers, smirking with amusement at your hopelessly inferior OS, knowing they're better than you because they use Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard.

Snow Leopard. SNOW LEOPARD.

I don't care if you're right. I just want you to die.

Yeah!

The weekend is nearly over, my guest has gone home, and I am now feeling a bit flat. :/

It was great to see Ian again. Although it has been many years since I last saw him there was no awkwardness at all, and his cutting sense of humour was as good as ever. We went to Happy Valley for tea on Friday then popped to Pivo for a drink. Saturday was spent wandering round York, drinking in pubs, and rustling round market stalls and charity shops. Ian bought me Trivial Pursuit from Cats Protection League for £3.50 (bargain) and we played when we got back. I won! \o/ This morning he helped me pick 6lbs of sloes so I have an expensive shop at Aldi tomorrow to get some gin and vodka. I also need to get the bramble liqueur started. We had a pizza for lunch then, after ripping the latest Porcupine Tree album it was time to go to the station.

It was a good time and I will be visiting him in Tranmere soon. Very soon. :)

My feeds on LJ are being a bit weird. It will be nothing, nothing, nothing then bam! Four posts from each in a row, some of them from a month or two ago. Thank the Gods I removed the Witchvox feed else I would be inundated by now.

It does mean that I get nice nuggets to read late at night though, and I think Charlie Brooker is pretty much still hugely entertaining when he posts quotes like this:

The doctors casually performed the sort of everyday miracle that would've seen them worshipped as gods or drowned in the village pond if they'd done it in medieval times. But then, medieval peasants would run screaming from anything more complex than a turnip.

Read more here. I'm off to bed now as my Ad Aware is doing a scan and my AVG is about to do a scan and I strongly suspect no web page in the land will load when that happens.

Oh, and I started a gallon of sloe wine. It smells lovely!

First of all, the thing with the old male friend seems to be going well. Wave at the lurker ladies and gents, cos I know he's reading this. *smooches* :) Seriously though, he is coming to visit at the weekend and I am looking forward to it very much.

Me and Ellie went swimming today. I was halfway through my usual km when a large couple got in and proceeded to thrash up and down the lanes in a most un-seal like fashion. I was just finishing a lap when I noticed a man talking to my daughter about them so the old 'who's talking to my kid' defence kicks in and just as I get there he turns and says 'oh hello there, how are you?' Turns out he was a guy I knew from my mis-spent youth at the Grobs (biker pub) in the late 80s. This is getting uncanny - first Ian now this guy. One thing I did notice - it's weird talking to someone you sort of know in the swimming pool because for all intents and purposes you are half naked! But it was good to chat with him for a while. By then the two thrashers had moved on and I could finish my km.

The Beer festival was super good! I am so glad me and Daz went on Friday. We got most of the beers (the guy in front of me got the last of the Triple Chocolate. Bastard!) and it wasn't that busy. I have a yummy hog roast and a lovely pork pie. What a pig! But I got to try the chilli beer at last which was really nice. Apparently on Saturday the tent was rammed, there was no cider or perry left, and half the beers were off. Weekday attendance FTW! The next one is on Wakefield in November so that's something to look forward to.

One of the reasons I didn't mind so much about missing the Triple Chocolate beer is because me and Daz found Pivo, the world beer bar on Patrick Pool, and had chocolate beer in there. So that's another venue to show my special guests round, after Indochine, Happy Valley, Evil Eye, and the booze shop on Stonegate. York is getting to be a fun place to live!