DogCalls and a can of Carlsberg

Another DogCall ( and another CatCall ) making me wonder whether the ad has been re listed in a different space right next to dog services or something .Maybe there's a lack of dog services at all ? Maybe no such thing as dog services so they have to ring CatCalls . Who knows ?

Such high winds today I was pedalling as hard as I could on the quay and making no progress whatsoever , even got blown up a steep little incline that usually takes it right out of me . Arrived at the ferry landing though just in time for the arrival of the North/ South Shields Ferry . ( Now that I know about the Four Broken Ribs I dont feel quite so pathetic on the hills , don't think back with anguish to five years ago when I could sail up ( quite )big steep hills near Ambleside ).

The winds have also contributed to Toad Alarm Problem , and D was approached by one of the neighbours to let him know the alarm keeps going off , so having sold the MR2 at lunchtime ( to be collected on Monday ) he headed for MotorWorld and had Toad Alarm investigated . Transpires Toad Alarm has long since burnt out , so he dismantles it and has a CD player fitted instead . There's a logic in there somewhere .Meanwhile I fester in front of the Boxed Set of Six Feet Under , season five , revelling in daytime tv which wasnt allowed in my day , in fact it probably didnt exist except on sundays , when there was a Film .

N arrived back from her friend's at nine and shortly afterwards the doorbell rang and she disappeared outside for long enough to burn the cheese and bean toastie she was manufactering in the kitchen .

Later , much later , during a lull in Six Feet Under when I ask who was at the door she said it was A , upset because someone had called her an anorexic barbie . I've lived in fear for years of someone insulting me like that . I should publish my photo at this point .

Just received a text from L " How odd . . I have just found an unopened can of Carlsberg down by the river.. This morning I am mostly painting "

Life on the farm always seems so much more full of detail somehow .

Today is Belsay Hall day . Debbie has heard the exhibits are fantastic . I tried to get TimeCode at Blockbusters but to no avail , hence Six Feet Under.

D has returned from the plant stall at Tynemouth Station with several more tomato plants , a dwarf bean plant and some perpetuating lettuce ( my request) all for a fiver . He is delighted , not least as the numerous tomato plants alraeady set up outside have a fungal infection of sorts and have waterlogged with all the rain . He is trying to shelter the cucumber plants in the outdoor guinea pig run from the wind....

Dog Calls , threats and stuff

Advertising a cat sitting service elicits all sorts of weird and wonderful phone calls , the funniest last year from a young woman who told me she was Indian and lived in Newcastle and there was a small cat sitting on her window sill and she was scared of him . She asked me if I had any ideas what she could do as she was too scared to walk past him , but on the other hand she was worried about him as he was miaowing and she thought he might be hungry .
We had quite a long conversation whilst I racked my brains and had I not been writing a report to a deadline I would possibly have gone with my instinct to go round and see what was what. Sometimes its hard to separate out what is my business and what's not . We finally decided that she needed to remind herself that the cat was not going to hurt her , that she could perhaps ask a neighbour s advice as to whether the cat looked well cared for , if not she would call the local cat and dog shelter for advice .

I digress , yesterday's call was to request DogCalls rather than CatCalls , and we agreed thinking it would add fun to our weekend to have a labrador and a corgi to take along the fishquay which coincidentally is where they are accustomed to taking their constitional. Next weekend that is .

Yesterday also brought a threatening text about the MR2 citing D as a "time wasting Geordie B*****d" and exhorting him to F*** O** now , which will teach him not to turn down the offer of a daewoo laganza with high mileage . I had no idea advertising cars could be such a colourful business , and was particularly amused by the comment " Your car should be Scraped (sic) " as it was in fact advertised as such , ie as suitable for Spares .

I also enjoyed a useful meeting with a Unison rep yesterday and very enlightening that was . Of which more anon I feel sure .

Todays plans include the usual early morning bike ride ( running late already ) some more MR2 enthusiasts and some research prior to tomorrow s visit to Belsay Hall for the Art
Picture House – Film, Art and Design at Belsay - Artists

The sun is out as well as the wind so the guinea pigs can look forward to an afternoon in the run whilst we clean up their indoor abode .

Holidays

A flurry of e mails and calls about CatCalls . It must be Summer .

A flurry of calls and visits about MR2 s . It must be the Autotrader . Its still out there though .... the man who wanted to swap it for a Daewoo sent his heavily pregnant wife to view it and she came with the welder and wanted to take it there and then , having driven for over an hour . But the Daewoo had a serious lot of miles on the clock ...
Another man way after hours ( way after my hours anyway ) but turned it down when he cottoned on it was an automatic . It did say that in the ad but never mind .

Will see what today brings . The welder was a man not a tool in case anyone is wondering
The bathroom is all ready for decoration now , and I found a honey face pack in the process . What bliss as I sit here covered in soft plaster .

Four Broken Ribs and Jane's kitchen . Oh and a picture of the RS2000

Returned to the house at six to find a letter from the consultant who had sent me for a bone scan a couple of weeks ago . As expected , it said , the results of your recent bone scan show that you have four broken ribs and it describes which ones , two on the left side and two on the right , they have numbers attached , 6 and 8 and 8 and 9 I think , anyway I'm assuming they're near the top where it hurts , and , this would account for the severe pain you have been experiencing .
Tears of relief as I read it , an explanation for the pain , making such a difference to how I felt .
Rang Debbie and told her the good news . Weird to describe it as good news but all connected to Day Job Issues and the helpfulness of being to say that I have an explanation for my chest pain .

N out at her friends and D off to pick up a car in Carlisle ( after a day driving to Sheffield for reviews ) so rang Jane and went round there with Jenny s belated birthday present . Not that for once we didn't have it ready on time , but they were away on the birthday , then I rang to arrange to go on Monday but they had mislaid the phone in the upheaval that is their new kitchen , which was another reason I wanted to go round , to see the knocked down walls and the new everything , as you do .
A lovely way to spend an hour or so , fielding the year old collie pup Jem which wanted to climb onto my chair with me . Might have been OK but it was pouring outside and she smelled distinctly of Wet Steaming Dog and besides was really quite damp , and anyway isn't even allowed in that room we were in never mind on the chairs . But the rules about rooms and chairs and permissions had all been relaxed . In the face of no proper kitchen and a temporary one set up in one of the sitting rooms its hard to stick to your guns about furniture . I looked at Jenny's birthday presents and she liked the bag we had got for her and I remembered back to when N was 9 , or even 11 and used to be polite and friendly and ......Though I suppose N is polite and friendly to everyone really , just some of the time not me . But she is lovely with it , even when she is sounding off and telling me how to run my life . Elly is twelve and not thirteen and it shows . She and Jenny both stayed with us whilst we talked about this and that , joining in about school trips , kitchens , ribs and our trip to Center Parcs when I made them laugh with my bravery on the rapids and the attendant loss of my swimsuit and dignity ( probably ) . Did I mention that previously on here , perhaps not ?

This is the RS2000 though not yet clear how long he will keep this one as he has admitted it doesn't quite feel like him . I haven't driven it yet , but I'm not keen on the way the Toad alarm ( sorry the Class One Toad Alarm ) goes off several times every night , causing minor panics at each event , much tripping over mobiles and chargers and fumbling for keys in the dark.
Anyway an ad on several MR2 owners clubs and one in the Autotrader has resulted in several calls about it and a man is coming by later to propose an exchange with a daewoo something or other which not being a Subaru is unlikely to cut the mustard either . Oh well . This won't get the bathroom window sills cleaned . then again with four broken ribs should I perhaps be Resting Quietly

Oh , now the links are published , they do work!

Caitlin

My new code for a relaxing life: don’t bother-Comment-Columnists-Caitlin Moran-TimesOnline

This article in the Times on Sunday was so my sister that I became convinced she had written it . I spoke to her online , my sister that is , and she feigned lack of knowledge and an interest in reading the article , so sent her the link . Today , Tuesday, out of the blue, received a text from her ( again my sister , not Caitlin ) pointing out that Not Bothering is the ideal solution really , all the delights of the planning and the anticipating without ever needing to get off one's arse ( is arse an acceptable word in a blog ? Ass might be better , but so American ?). Oh , the link didn't work , try this one .....

caitlin How come these links arent working here but they work fine in my favourites list ? Another of the mysteries of the world .

Due to the recent demise of the MR2 ( was that its name ? Sudden mental block , anyway the Blue Car ) D has been frantically scraping around for another Car with Character , ebay being the second port of call , where to my horror he was again focusing entirely on Loud Subarus which go Far Too Fast and make a loud banging noise at the back end to boot .

Having failed in a bid war whilst I was watching Casualty , things were getting desparate as he needed to drive to Sheffield today and still no wheels on sunday night . Undeterred , he found an RS2000 not too far away in a magazine and went to collect it yesterday . The journey involved getting the metro to Newcastle , followed by the train to Durham ( fifteen minutes ), then a bus to the Durham village where it was living . Suffice to say D is not used to public transport.

Whilst he pored over train timetables and bus routes I had a clear picture of him on one of the few trains heading for London which fails to stop in Durham ..... so tried to say to him " make sure you get a train that does actually stop in Durham blah blah " . I knew he wasnt listening , wondered , shall I say that again , but not wanting to come across like someone's Mother , I kept my counsel .

Next day , he texted me to say " Guess what , Im now heading for Darlington. Caught the one train today that doesnt stop in Darlington" .

The car looks great , but I have a funny feeling about it too . Probably just the loud noise from the back end ( a something bore exhaust ?) , which makes me very nervous in the passenger seat . Only one solution to that .

Watch this space .

sunday

No CatCalls today again so the chance to sleep later and recover from the 5am awakening and attendant Issues ( Teenage Business again ). Mist and drizzle from the window so back to bed until 8 with half an hour of Carol Shields to get me back to sleep .

felt like a day to celebrate no work , so cooked mushrooms and bacon and toast as well as the usual Rachel's coconut yoghurt ( from Hexham , we can't get it round here ) and strong black coffee from the new machine . The cats swarm as usual and the guinea pigs squeal with glee as the fridge is opened . Kitty , our tortoiseshell ThunderThighs is furious as Waitrose food is on offer , forgetting that she rejected Pearl Gourmet last week . She barges at bare legs and throws backward hisses over her shoulder but it cuts no ice .

At nine we brave the chill outside and do the usual Fish Quay run , this time with the camera in tow and are rewarded by the arrival of two imposing ferries right in front of us as we ride along the edge with no barrier .

A few minutes later we are in front of the Priory , castle ruins and I stop for a breather ( steep hill ) on pretext of taking some pictures . I hate the fact I struggle with those tiny hills just now , hopefully not for long . The picture of the castle was meant to be here but there you go