Radio 2 and the No1 son

Posted on Tue 19 June 2007 at 10:41

Shane telephoned the other day to tell me about his escapades on the radio.  He had won Ken Bruce’s  Popmaster quiz.  This was last Thursday he was on, so if anyone wants to ‘backtrack’ it is about an hour into the programme.  He sounded confident and managed to name 3 tracks by Jimmy Nail to win the digital radio.

Well done son!!

We have moved the PC into the lounge as it is quite cold in the spare room.  It is a bit of a squash but bearable for a few months.  Although I have the heater on in there, it has become a bit isolated in there as the lounge door is shut and it feels like I am in the house on my own sometimes!  The moving has caused any amount of strife though, as the internet connection wouldn’t work in here.  So Steve went out and bought an extra phone cable.  It wasn’t long enough.  So he went out the next day and bought a wireless connection, which for some reason, wouldn’t work.  So he took that back and came home (this is 3 days later mind!) with 20 odd foot of telephone connection.  Then the fun really began.  Steve decided to drill into the loft space to pass the cable up there and back down in the lounge.  But we are both too big to fit right over to the edge as the roof slopes so steeply.  So, the child got volunteered and bundled up the ladder into the attic.  Just as well we don’t have any chimneys as he would probably make her clean them as well!.  Eventually, the cable was passed up, along, through and down, all without loss of limb or eye, which surprised me no end!  So we now have the PC in the lounge and it is back online with a white cable dangling out of the attic space and feeding into the back of it.  I did point out to Steve that if he had drilled a foot this way, the cable would have been hidden behind the enormous photo of our family.  The frosty glare I got for my helpful comment had me very swiftly head down studiously gaming as I stifled my laughter!

The weather is bizarre to the British mindset  –  well, mine anyway!  It gets pretty cold once the sun goes down but it doesn’t get full dark until about 5.30 still.  I put an extra quilt on our bed last night and it was sheer heaven.  I hadn’t realised how cold it was until then.  I try and read with my fingers wrapped up in the top sheet but they always end up sticking out and freezing.  Yes – top sheet!  I don’t know when I last (if ever) used a top sheet but as it was part of the flannelette set I bought, I WILL have my money’s worth!    But it is still warm enough for a t-shirt at midday even though there has been frost in the morning.  The weeping cherry trees at the front of the house went out in a red, orange and yellow blaze of leafy glory and are now naked.  They look a bit spidery with no leaves on them.  It looks strange to see the trees leafless when the sun is shining and the sky is clear.  It just doesn’t seem like winter if the frost lifts by 10am and there is no snow.  I can’t imagine EVER wanting to be in Britain for the winter ever again.  Of course, one of my neighbours tells me that this is the mildest winter for years and last winter was the coldest for 30 years.  There is never any in-between with Kiwis: they are a race of extremists in that respect.  It comes as no surprise to me to find out that Kiwis basically invented extreme sports!

I have spent the last week or so on night shift.  It has passed in a very comfortable haze of hibernation, laid-back shifts and eating.  I made a ‘nest’ on the settee of blankets, sleeping bags, hot-water bottles and pillows, so when I wasn’t in bed, I was dozing on the settee.  I have thoroughly enjoyed my shifts and have another at the end of the month.  I went in for a shift yesterday on my day off as I wanted to attend a Parole Board Hearing.  I went along and it was really interesting.  Thankfully, I went in the company of another nurse as we were asked some questions.  I was able to answer some of them comfortably but the legal, section-type stuff went a bit over my head.  However, this shows me what I still need to know more about so I will count it as a learning experience and hopefully find out what I need to know for the future.  I am glad I went and hope to go again at some point. 

I seem to be cooking all the time recently.  Carrot cake, various scones, lamb shanks, stir-fry duck,  moussaka, calzone pizza, self-crusting quiche…….I guess it is a winter thing but it has to stop before I pop!  I really did intend to go and sign up at the Gym that is just along the road from the Hospital but it was such a lovely day I didn’t quite get that far!  

What I did do today was go along to school and pay for this term’s music tuition. Last term, we are pretty sure we paid for music tuition twice and got billed for it 3 times.  Thankfully, I knew where the receipt  for payment No2 was, so phoned them up and told them so.  But I will not be caught out again, so paid it cash today, stapled the bill and receipt together and put them safely………..somewhere………….er………….where was that again?!.....