Running round in circles

I hate to arrive late for appointments and usually set off in good time, allowing for traffic hold ups, getting lost, mishaps etc. This week has been very busy and because I knew it was going to be this way, I got myself very organized – So I thought. Yesterday I was supposed to be on day one of a short course. I had to journey some miles down the motorway so I went with a full hour to spare thinking that I would be able to get on with a bit of work in one of the staff rooms and even have time to sit about in the lounge with a coffee. I arrived at reception and asked which room the course was to be held in. Everyone went a bit quiet and I had my suspicions that there was something wrong. Yes! There was definitely something wrong. The course was being held 35 miles back down the motorway. I raced back out to the car park, set the GPS as best I could, (I didn’t have a full address or any directions) and put my foot to the metal. I would have arrived on time if it were not for the fact that on arrival in Lancaster I got caught up in the one-way system and had no idea what I was looking for. I also had difficulty in parking. I was 20 minutes late but it didn’t really matter because no one was upset by it and I didn’t miss much. Except that it does matter…. I hate being late especially when it is due to incompetence…my own! I turned up early today and got a parking space.

Walking in Lancashire

Walk 20. Garstang and Nicky Nook

Distance: 9 miles but we actually walked 11 miles. This was due to the cow detours. I can't and will not walk through a field of cows.

Weather. Some rain, some sunshine. Warm enough to walk without a coat.



I took the above picture whilst sitting down and just before I took the boots off for good. My old boots collapsed last week and I got these expensive boots back out of the cupboard. They were in the cupboard because I considered them to be uncomfortable. It is a pity I hadn't remembered just how uncomfortable they were. I walked the last 5 miles through and over stones, rough ground, thistles, mud, water and grass in my bare feet. I would rather walk on nails than in these boots. Blisters I can stand but toe crushing is unbearable.

















No, I am not being brave. There was an electric fence between me and these cows. Shortly after taking this picture the cows all bolted and my sister pointed out that they were being chased by a bull. I didn't hang around to see what happened next. It's not the time of year for bulls to be chasing cows, is it?

















My sister was navigating from the book, I was checking all paths and directions on the GPS. We managed okay, but it took a long time to actually get out of Garstang and on to the right path.

After finishing the walk we took another little stroll to the Wheatsheaf pub.

Don't forget us!

We're over here.

We want Simpson Posters

According to this report Canada and the US are to get workplace safety posters, featuring the Simpsons. Why can't we have them?



Poster preview at www.safetyworld.com


Do we need to lobby Parliament or something?

How does this work? :-)

The Ghost Trick

Walking in Lancashire

Walk 34 7.5 miles. Easy walking all the way.

Lytham - Completed on 18th September 05, with sister Karen. Weather fine and dry.



This walk started from the life boat station in Lytham. We went past the windmill, along the promenade, along embankments overlooking the Ribble Marshes and returned to Lytham via pastures, woodlands and quiet lanes. Pastures! That means 'cows'. Why didn't I have the sense to read 'cows' instead of pastures? I hate cows. I am frightened of them. I found myself jumping over an electric fence, in panic and rolling over and over on the other side. My sister was not best pleased and said that it wasn't as if they were frogs or anything like that. Well, I would rather get an electric shock, and face up to the possibility of meeting a farmer with a double barrelled shotgun, than argue with a cow. Did you know that on average 10 people a year, in the UK, are killed by cows? Well, I don't want to be a statistic!

Apart from the cows, I enjoyed the walk. The description for our next walk says 'meadows'. I assume that means sheep. I don't mind sheep.

The weather didn't look too promising at first but it brightened up.














































Over the railway.
















Sister - trying to follow the route.

What flower are you?

You Are a Carnation

You are down to earth and grounded. You tend to be more traditional than trendy. Your confidence gets you through anything. People trust you and are very loyal to you.

What Flower Are You?

Phew! I was really worried whilst doing this quiz. Couldn't see myself as a flower at all and thought I was going to turn out to be a Dandelion or something like that.

Tagged by Phil

7 things I plan to do before I die:

1) Watch my son grow up and be there for him.
2) Get a degree
3) Visit Iceland
4) Visit the Galapagos Islands
5) Visit Nepal
6) See the Terracotta Warriors.
7) Climb all 72 of the Wainwright fells in the Lake District ( I think I may have already done this - Need to check)

7 things I can do:

1) My job ( reasonably well)
2) Use a computer fairly proficiently
3) Work independently.
4) Laugh at myself
5) Find the positive things in a situation.
6) A bit of DIY. Change plugs, wallpaper a room, paint, etc.
7) Knit, sew and make origami models.

7 things I cannot do:

1) Give up smoking
2) Find my way without the aid of satellites.
3) Live aimlessly
4) Work in a 9 to 5 boring job doing what someone else wants me to do rather than what I want to do.
5) Sing
6) Draw
7) Say the latest buzz word. Whatever it is. It always seems to go round my mouth, avoiding the tongue.

7 things that attract me to another person:

1) Sense of humour.
2) Honesty
3) Prepared to be different and accepts other people's differences.
4) Prepared to have a go at something.
5) Sets their own standards and lives by them.
6) Has dreams and turns them into realities.
7) is nice to me.



7 things that I say most often:

1) Luke! What are you doing?
2) Bloody hell
3) Right! That's it folks. See you tomorrow, next week, whenever.
4) Hi! I'm Kath
5) Where am I?
6) Excuse me, can you tell me the way to …...
7) 20 Silk Cut Silver, please.


7 celebrity crushes:

I haven't really got any celebrity crushes, save that I wouldn't mind a trip through the universe with Jean Luc Picard.

Tagging:

(Don't feel obliged to do this - only if you want to folks. I have got a feeling some of you have done it already.)

Pal
Chiquita
GW
Bluefluff
Rob Spence
Morning loves it
Colleen

Today's thoughts.

The weather has gone much cooler and the wasps in my hedge look as if they are getting ready to swarm. I am keeping all the windows and doors shut just in case they think that the inside of the house may be a good place to hibernate. A few weeks ago, I told my husband in law that there was a wasp nest in the hedge but he dismissed the idea, saying that they wouldn’t be wasps. Not in the hedge, not at this time of year and not so close to the house. The fact that I know a wasp when I see one ( or a few hundred ) didn’t seem to have any relevance so I didn’t push the point and argue with him. To cut the story short he was stung twice yesterday. I passed him a bottle of vinegar (recommended for wasp stings ) and still didn’t say much. He will live.

I plan to spend the rest of today loading maps on to the computer and learning how to use my new GPS. I also have loads of email and blog reading to catch up on.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

In answer to Phil's question.

Why did the chicken cross the road....

SAEED AL SAHAF - Iraqi Head of Information. The chicken did not cross the road. This is a complete fabrication. We do not even have a chicken.

GEORGE W BUSH- We don't care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road or not. The chicken is either for us or against us. There is no middle ground.

COLIN POWELL - Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image of the chicken crossing the road.

TONY BLAIR - I agree with George.

HANS BLIX - We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been allowed to have access to the other side of the road.

DR SEUSS - Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross- it with a toad? Yes, the chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I've not been told.

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR - I envisage a world where all chickens will be free to cross roads without having their motives called into question.

GRANDPA - In my day, we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.

TRICIA - Isn't that interesting? In a few moments, we will be listening to the chicken tell, for the first time, the heart-warming story of how it experienced a serious case of molting, and went on to accomplish its dream of crossing the road.

JOHN LENNON - Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads together - in peace.

ARISTOTLE - It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.

KARL MARX - It was an historic inevitability.

RONALD REAGAN - What chicken?

SIGMUND FREUD - The fact that you are at all concerned that the chicken crossed the road reveals your underlying sexual insecurity.

BILL GATE - eChicken2003 will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your chequebook - and internet explorer is an integral part of eChicken.

ALBERT EINSTEIN - Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken?

BILL CLINTON - What is your definition of chicken?

THE BIBLE - And God came down from heaven, and he said unto the chicken THOUSHALT CROSS THE ROAD. And the chicken didst cross the road, and there was much rejoicing.

COLONEL SANDERS - Did I miss one?

HOMER SIMPSON - Mmmmmmmmm . . . . c h i c k e n

Guess what I'm getting

This is to confirm that your order has now been despatched.
Should you happen to miss the delivery, a card will be posted at your premises with a tracking reference number on it to organise a re-delivery/collection.
If you have any further queries then please do not hesitate to contact us.
Below is an email copy of the invoice for your convenience.
Thank you for your custom.
Customer Service
The GPS Warehouse

Glaramara

Set off from Seatoller, in the Lake District, to climb Glaramara. Approximately 2,400 ft of ascent. 4 miles to the top. Seatoller is supposed to have the heaviest rainfall in England but we were lucky, it didn't rain today.

The pictures below are not brilliant. It was a hot but hazy day.

Towards Glaramara.




















Quite a tough climb but just this last bit to do now.



















Some of us made it. :-) I am the person in the white T-shirt. Why am I not wearing shorts? - Because I don't like to get my legs ripped open on the rocks.



















View from the top.

Nutrition

Spent some time browsing the Internet - Just for a change. :-)

I thought I would find something lighthearted but ended up signing up for a free short course. Nothing heavy though. I picked Energy, Diet and Weight out of this list. It was quite an interesting read but it put me right off the Atkins Diet, which is a shame because I managed to lose 35 lbs this year on the Atkins Diet. I didn't cut carbohydrates too low though. I think it is a matter of being sensible. There are some carbs I can easily live without - Bread for one.

One problem with losing weight is that you end up with less cushioning fat. I am going to have to get a padded chair, cos every time I sit on this one too long my bum gets sore - The bones seem to stick through it.

Strange Week

Bit of a strange week. My son started his new school on Monday, but it is a boarding school and I felt anxious about it all week. I didn’t half miss him and it felt very strange at home. Please don’t make any judgments re me sending a 12 year old off to boarding school. It happens to be the only school which can meet his educational needs at the moment. He is home now and he will be coming home every weekend so it won’t be too bad. He comes home Friday afternoon and goes back Monday morning. All the holidays will be spent at home as well, of course. I thought I would get a lot done during week but it didn’t happen.

one good move

"What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is that they all want to stay in Texas. Everybody is so overhwlemed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway so this (chuckle)--this is working very well for them."—Barbara Bush


onegoodmove.org


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Books,books,books!

Tagged by GW


1. Number of books I have owned:

Like GW, I have hundreds – Even though I have book shelves in every room I still haven’t got enough space and some of the books are in crates. The vast majority are reference books.

2. Last book I bought:

I bought two at the same time. The CSS Anthology and HTML Utopia: Designing Without Tables. ( Reference books – I did warn you. )

3. Last book I completed:

Not had the above long and only glanced at them. Last book read completely - Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

4. Five books that mean a lot to me:

A) Macromedia Dreamweaver - J. Tarin Towers.
B) The Little Prince
C) Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
D) The Tao of Pooh
E) A set of Wainwright books on the Lakeland Fells.

( The middle three are carried around with me on my PDA. )

I would also like to claim the Oxford Dictionary, Life on Earth, Sea Trek, The Blue Planet, all the Rupert Bear Annuals and a book from my childhood ‘ Butter Side Up’.

5. Which five bloggers are you gonna tag?
Pal, Morning-loves-it, Inner Fonzie, Rob Spence, Bluefluff

New Orleans Bloggers

EchoMouse has supplied some links to New Orleans Bloggers. These people are still in New Orleans and they are providing video and photographs.

Which Simpson are you?

Got this from Colleen

Which Simpson are you?

I'm happy with this. :-)

What Age Do You Act?

You Are 31 Years Old

31 Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

Wasp Update

The wasp man rang to say that the wasps would be gone in 2 to 3 weeks and could I not live with them.

I knew that they would soon be flying off and I suppose it makes sense to leave them rather than spend £42 but I am still worried that someone will get stung. Perhaps I should put a sign on the hedge.