Speed Fiends

Either I still have Immigran or Syndol in my system , or I am so laid back by the ending of the Day Job for the week . Whichever , I sleep again until the alarm at seven forty five . Well rested , I feel somehow that I have missed some of the day , slept the time away . No matter that given half a chance , or even quarter of a chance I will happily lay down my head wherever I can and sleep an hour or three , afternoons , early evenings , whenever the chance arises . But , in the mornings , it seems something has been wasted .

Still no laptop .


I fret this morning about the car .
The lettter from the Speed Fiends course ( organised by Drive Tech , and properly named a Speed Awareness Course ) makes it clear that those arriving late will not be admitted , indeed those arriving unfit to take participate properly by way of excess alcohol or drug consumption , will likewise be sent away and their file returned to the Police Authority . And the dreaded points added to the licence , no doubt . Thus , my agitation about being held up in trafic , getting lost ( despite checking the route yesterday ) etc etc , is increased last night , when , attempting to do a cat call at seven pm , the car will not start . A follow up to having to call out the AA a couple of weeks ago , pre Edinburgh , when it failed as I was driving . A coil pack , I am told , but no evidence for which one . Keep going till it happens again . And here we are , the night before Speed Fiends and its going to drop dead right when I need it most .
I turn the key enough times to flood the engine , decide to abandon it and push it out of the way so we can take D s car to the CatCall , and , one last turn and it takes off.

And , miracles , it starts first thing this morning , and due to my Lateness Anxiety Issues , I arrive at Speed Freaks with a good fifteen minutes to spare . I have brought a novel to read in the car , but as I approach the parking area , there are two smartly attired men waiting to greet me , and advise me about parking . This is a nice touch as they are polite and welcoming and let me know that once I have parked there is coffee waiting . I decide to forego my fourteen minutes reading and walk on into the waiting room . Shock , Horror ! I am not first there , as usual at such things , but the room is almost full . Of men . Sheepish , embarrased , pink cheeked , smiling and glancing furtively at the latest newcomer . But they are all men .
I can't face coffee . I sit and the man next to me smiles . Hard on my heels another man joins us , and breaks the silence , chuckling " well here we are then , the law breakers" . I try hard not to giggle myself and start to look around . I cannot believe that all of these people have arrived so early , many of them look as if they have been there quite some time .
The two welcoming men introduce themselves and check out our ID all the time smiling warmly and offering drinks . I start to relax though I still wonder , am I the Only Female Speeder in Northumberland . And then oh Joy , in walks another woman , and , would you credit it , someone I know slightly through work , from around thirteen years ago !

We all file up upstairs to computer desks and a special tutorial is arranged for a man who has never used a computer mouse before . Much of the initial part of the course involves an interactive test , the results of which are handed to you and you can see whether you have problems with speed generally , thrill seeking , reaction times to hazards , concentration , tiredness whilst driving etc .

I come out with good results on everything bar concentration and this is accurate . I decided to answer strictly honestly rather than massaging the results , and have to admit that though when aware of speed limits I always do slow right down to the limit , my problems arise when Im daydreaming . On the day I was caught on camera , doing 34 mph in Haydon Bridge ( like many of the others on the course , interestingly ) , I was never even aware of the camera , which caught me leaving the town . And though my road tests where I had to assess the rights speeds and distances etc were fine , I clearly need to concentrate more and drift off less.
I saw from my fellow Fiends that some of them had definite Issues of speeding , generally driving faster than average , closer to other cars , and in the case of some of them, using the car to " deal with emotional issues " . Now there's a thing . ( I scored low on emotion , which apparently is good . probably accurate , I'm not one to swear at other drivers , except D when he is frightening me with his Speeds , but thats another story ) .

The time flashed past , and fascinatingly some of the men started to get a little stroppy by the end , challenging the facilitators on the letters from Drivetech , and critisising the way they had not initially been offered the course rather than points on their licence . These points were all handled admirably and as a trainer I enjoyed seeing how they were manged , with a smile and a confident response .
As we all left , I joked with M about how we would all drive off at a much reduced speed , but in fact it took me several minutes to get any speed at all , thanks to my dodgy coil . Dead as a dodo. How embarrasing ......

Later in the day , I feel minded to make Rocky Road , a Nigella cake/ biscuit item which seemed fitting .
And now Im gearing myself up for more acupuncture .

Days like these .... ( with migraine )

Migraine again .
Awake very early again and listening to the wind and reading the Memory Keeper book again and not going back to sleep . Up early and N helping me chose a top to wear for work and all going well and looking forward to work as some interesting meetings today then suddenly as N was talking to me , bang , that feeling of " I cant see anything properly" then the familiar twizzling lights whirring across my vision and making me feel my control on things is fading .
Its time to leave for work but I go to lie down for ten minutes hoping I might be able to magic it away by the power of thought . But no , and a dose of Immigran doesnt do much either so I have to phone in sick and within minutes Im fast asleep , relief , and when I wake ( four phone calls right in my ear ) the lights have all faded but the sickness and headache linger .
It could be worse , though I cant help remembering the last time it was like this , started not too bad then got much worse the following day .
Fingers crossed .
And at least now I have all the medication to dose myself via suppositories , sorry too much information , possibly , thus saving the emergency docs a night time visit .

Our vouchers arrived for the Trowelling on Makeover Event .
My laptop is still Disappeared.
And there is a thin black cat in the garden . His name is Ivan .

Days like This

There are days , not many of them admittedly , but there are days when its wonderful to wake at four forty am . I lie there trying to to guess the time . Its still dark and very very quiet . No heating revving up so its pre that time when its not worth going back to sleep . And as I lie there , the rain starts . A gentle , insistent rain which reminds me of primroses in the woods , snowdrops in clumps around and about on the farm where my grandparents lived . It sounds loud , outside and the bed is warm and soft . The door is closed so no cats nipping the toes or squeaking their greetings as they sense movement . I have to know the time ....
And then my mind fills up , and the rain , still there , can't compete with the noise in my head , and though I try for minutes on end , there is no escape and finally I pick up my book , The Memory Keeper's Daughter . And before I know it half an hour has passed and I am drifting away again .

they trowel on the make up

saturday afternoon , as I sat propped up in bed with hot water bottle , trying to avert tummy disasters , a phone call from somewhere unknown , to tell me that a few weeks ago N had entered me for something . Sounded like she was saying a Mother Appreciation Event . What ? Wasnt I aware that my daughter had done this , she asked . No . Well she did and I had come out of the draw , and as a result if I could book now , myself and N had won a make over and hairstyle in a beauty salon in Newcastle and we would be there three hours and they would dress us in glamorous attire and take our photos and give us one free one and there would be absolutely no pressure on us to buy any of them and we could have that last fact in writing ( alarm bells start to ring ) , and we could bring a glamorous top if we liked but if not they would have silk sheets they could wrap us in and feather boas etc . Well ! It all sounded very exciting . I booked a date and then rang N , whop was in town with her friends . her screams I am sure were audible as far as the beauty salon , wherever it turns out to be .

then I texted my sister and she told me oh yes she had won one once and they give you a great time , trowelling on the make up in order to make you look presentable , then use a lot of clever lights and soft focus things to make upi look glamrous , but in her case they did get very shirty when she professed herself unable or unwilling to shell out the hundreds of pounds they were asking for the photos , whioch having seen projected onto the wall , she was longing to take home . But no , it was not to be and the woman even asked why she had come if she didnt intend to buy . Oh , she said , I thought I had won a make over .

I reserve judgement . For my part , however wonderful the pictures I remain sure I would be able to resist , though less sure perhaps that N s pleas will be so easy to say no to .
We shall see .
I will keep you posted .
Anyone else had this experience ? All advice gratefully received .

tummy bug

I seem to have some horrid tummy bug with attendant temperature and bad dreams , including one of being charged by a large black cow with little meanacing ( throught straight ) horns . I ran away and over a fence and survived .
This didnt stop me making a trip to a suitcase emporium where I acquired an apple green holdall on wheels , and with a handle . I plan to open it up later and start my packing early . Im usually a last minute packer but I have a feeling it may be nice to look forward to the holiday to the sun even more bu being constantly aware of it. Every time I trip over the bag .
Off to the theatre now to see Alan Bennet play .
cats to feed on the way .

Pearlie on the pop

Click to enlarge , its worth it to see the look on her face ....


D sent this to me when I was away , Pearl ( missing me possibly ? I like to think ....) situated on top of the wine rack , right next to the guinea pigs where she can keep an eye on things .

Herriot Watt uni .... staying in halls made me think about what it would be like to be a first time away from home student . My room was fine but one of my colleagues was "down the grim end " of the block where some wit had been making large with a sharp instrument . The walls were graffiti d and when she looked closer at the etchings in the varnish on her room door , she was less than amused to read " Knock Here for Sex " . Later when recounting the story she saw the funny side . Just as well as I was near hysterical by that point ....

The conference was as conferences are . My presentation was scheduled for the Thursday afternoon which meant I had all week , potentially to fret about it . I managed to push it from my mind and enjoyed the first two days , though for someone who prefers a more solitary existence its hard work being surrounded by people all day every day . Some people thrive on that and I enjoy it up to a point , then ... suddenly the thought of home and my own space becomes very tempting .
I escaped after my thing yesterday and drove home in stunning sunshine , some rain showers and a brilliant double rainbow , and was home by seven . To walk back into the house and snuggle under a duvet on the sofa with N , who was feeling under the weather , was sheer bliss .
The cats swarmed round me , the pigs squealed even as I opened the front door . What a welcome .

Still no laptop . Im not really back in my stride blog wise and fear I won't be until I get that phone call from John Lewis. Dont give up on me ?

Without my laptop...

So hard saying goodbye to my laptop yesterday . Has been my constant companion for well over a year , but yesterday it all got too much . the lid hinge was getting looser and looser and almost impossible to get the screen to focus . Typing was a one finger only business , with the left hand used to hold the lid tightly on , pressing at an angle to get a connection . Using the mouse whilst doing this was nigh on impossible . I never knew I knew so many swear words , juts as you were about to perform some delicate operation the image on the screen would start vagueing out and then woosh , disappear in a puff of smoke .

So back to the " service desk " at John Lewis , as instructed by Judith , on the phone on Saturday afternoon , in one of those its now or never moments . What Judith didnt tell me was that no one on ground floor would have heard of the "service desk " nor indeed that they would snigger somewhat nastily when I asked where it was , then set off to find another employee who would flounce back doing the " which lady wants the "service desk" " whilst loooking me up and down like some kind of idiot .
However Judith was right and there was indeed a service desk , lurking in the corner of audio whatsits , ( maybe everyone has to bring their laptop back ??? ) and , oh , the heart sinks , there is a whole queue of people waiting there with their broken thingies . Its not as if I can just throw my beloved laptop at her and run . No , I have to wait whilst a family divest themselves of their little ipod , all the while feeling more and more panicked at the thought of no laptop , no blogging .

I cant write about the deed , but afterwards I said to Nat " I felt like giving my laptop a goodbye kiss " and she just looked at me . Though to her credit she didnt ring the store psychiatric facility .

We had lunch in pret a manger to ease the day onwards then took off to Laura s ( see the house above ) , where we overate dangerously and played Scrabble . Some tense moments indeed when the Supreme Champion ( on the throne since the demise of Grandma Batey) looked like and then , horrors , was beaten by her thirteen year old neice ( my daughter ). Go for it Nat, not a battle I would have dared to win . Nor had the skills I hasten to add . I always come last .
To be fair Laura coped magnanimously , and after a few moments alone in the bathroom all was well .

And now Ive discovered that D is quite happy to let me Blog from his pc .
I'm off to Edinburgh tomorrow to a conference . Wish me luck for my presentation on Thursday afternoon , and I will be back on Friday . And who knows maybe the laptop will not be much longer away .