Progress so far

As mentioned in previous posts, the purpose of our recent visit to France was to galvanise the builder into action. The building was meant to start in December, then February, then Easter, then in quinze jours! We sent an email to say that we were coming on Saturday and on Thursday this turned up together with a pile of bricks and the drive way was laid. Two holes were dug and then the rain came and the builder discovered rock! The hole filled with water and the builder went home! We met with the builder and discussed when he could finish, we went home! We are arranging another trip shortly having learnt our lesson. Ian had told the builder that he was not under any pressure to finish (big mistake!).

10 things I discovered this weekend

1. Renault Clios are cr*p! We hired one in France. The woman from the car hire told us exitedly that we were going to drive a brand new Renault Clio. We hated it. The brakes are so sensitive that passing your foot near them causes the car to do an emergency stop!

2. Builders in France, like builders in the UK, only work when you have got them tightly by the boll*cks.

3. There are red squirrels near the land (we saw one cross the road in front of us).

4. There are small rodent like creatures with big eyes and stripey tails in the woods near the land. As yet I have not been able to identify them!

5.There are lots of deer near the land (we saw one nibbling grass at the side of the road).

6. At Bergerac airport there is a bird of prey that thinks it is a boeing 737!

7. We only have 1.7 metres of top soil on the land (before we hit granite!). (We need another 1.5 metres for the cellar).

8. 'Priority boarding' with Ryan Air means nothing as everyone who doesn't check in a bag gets priority boarding. We were still at the back of a very long line.

9. France is not cheaper than the UK.

10. I really am looking forward to living there!

Interview with butterflies

This relates to entry 2 days ago and is the interview on the BBC with Seana's family. It requires no further comment.

Builders (and other workmen)

We are going to France this weekend. It isn't particularly glamorous. We are going to 'meet' the builder to see the progress on the house (which I suspect will be quite minimal) and basically to provide the needed prompt to get the building started. He is trying to tempt us with romantic notions of 'laying the first stone' but I am not falling for it! I will try and get some pictures this time!

I suspect that builders and workmen are the same everywhere. I ordered a new back gate from a local timber merchant. He came here and I showed him where the old gate was and we went through what I wanted. Last week he came round to put up the wooden posts to hold the gate. I was at work but when I returned the gate posts were a good six feet away from where we agreed. When I called him and asked him why he said he had just put them where he would have liked them to go! Unbelievable! As my neighbour said, I should pay him what I would like to pay!

Llama cake and Fanny's farm

I quite like my new site feed gizmo thingy as I can see how many people are visiting and how they are getting there. The posts that attract the most traffic and come up in people's searches are the banana llama cake (as I assume people are looking for ideas on how to make a cake like a llama unless it is a euphemism for a drug!) and fanny's farm! I can guess why but 'Fanny' really is a girl's name and Fanny really does own a farm in Reigate where she sells cakes and you can have tea! Honestly! (And if you have got to this page because you were hoping Fanny's farm was something else..serve you right!)

Choose and book (or not!)

I think I am one of the first patients to try the new 'choose and book' system of arranging your out-patient appointment. I saw my GP on Friday and on Saturday a letter arrived with a reference number and a password. Fortunately I have a computer and so could access the on-line booking system so at midnight last night I started my hunt! In reality I have a 'choice' between 4 local hospitals but two of these are totally inaccessible unless you have a car! I looked for availability at all the hospitals. My nearest one had no available appointments although I suspect that was because they have not managed to get their computers to liaise with the 'choose and book' computers! I could have phoned but decided that if they can't get their act together to get their booking system sorted then what will they do with my case notes! In the end I 'chose' a slightly longer wait to go to a hospital where, although the buildings are run down, the standards of medical care are pretty good. Two things amused me. Firstly I got a message saying this appointment is not confirmed until you get a letter from us and secondly the bottom line of the letter from my GP states

The Patient Care Advisory service is your local point of contact for any queries relating to your appointment. Please do not ring the surgery as we are unable to assist you with these matters.

Do you think they are anticipating problems?

(actually I have just looked at the 'choose and book' website. The section on 'technical queries is great and includes the following gem!

Why doesn’t Choose and Book work with my web browser?
The Choose and Book patient application currently supports Internet Explorer version 5.0 and above. Internet Explorer is used by over two thirds of all Internet users in the UK, and whilst we accept this does not make the site accessible to everybody at this time, we are working hard to ensure 100% accessibility as soon as possible. Later this year there will be more enhancements, including access for those patients who prefer to use the Firefox web browsers

Heaven help us! Do you think they have a 'deal' with microsoft!?)

A reminder

I haven't written about my illness much apart from the occasional mention of blood tests, medication and my gratitude that I have been able to return to a full active life. The truth is that although it is always there it is fortunately no longer a big part of my life. However, over the weekend a couple of things happened to remind me of how ill I was and how lucky I have been!

On Friday I visited my GP as I wanted a referral to a specialist for something that has been bothering me for a while (and is unrelated to other illnesses). As he dictated the letter he read out my past medical history. It went something like "interstitial lung disease, disseminating intervascular coagulation, nephrotic syndrome, connective tissue disease, polymyositis...." After hearing this I said 'God, when the consultant reads that he will think I can barely walk.'.(and, I should have added..will probably say that I am imminently unsuitable for further treatment for my other complaint as that may bugger up his success rates). My GP then kindly reminded me that in fact when I was ill I was barely able to walk and he was just pleased to see that I was well and able to laugh at things now. Even now I can't really get my head around how ill I was so sometimes it is good to be reminded as I then treat life a little more preciously.

My second reminder came yesterday. Ian and I cycled into town to watch the London marathon (I was staying at his place). We had a special reason and that was to cheer on his colleague and 3 of her relatives who were running round in yellow with purple wings. They were running in memory of their daughter who died suddenly from Lupus at the age of 26 and were fund raising but also trying to raise awareness of the disease. I have posted about her before and how I was just luckier than her in that my GP did the right tests and eventually got me hospital. However, this was after I had paid for a private consultation with a rheumatologist as I was not convinced I would survive the 2 month wait to be seen!

Ian's colleagues were interviewed by the BBC and it was broadcast in the evening's edited highlights. The most poignant statement was when her father said how last year she had been handing out water at one of the refreshment stations and this year she was dead. He has written a narrative of the event.

Being a professional

A little while ago I turned into the corridor to go to my office to see a woman lying on her back on the floor. Now students often wait in the corridor to see various tutors but usually they stand or at worst sit on the floor. I had never seen one lying on her back before and so I thought I'd better ask her if she was okay and if she was waiting for anyone.

'Oh yes, I'm fine, I'm waiting to go in there' (pointing at the nearest office door..and as if by way of an explanation, added 'I prefer to lie on my back'.

I went into one of the offices where a group of fellow tutors were talking and asked if anyone knew her. It seems others had been concerned and also asked her if they could help but she had declined and somehow had not taken that as a hint that it might be more appropriate to remain upright! We left and fortunately the tutor she was waiting for appeared. I did wonder at this behaviour and our acceptance of it as weird but okay! This student is training to be a health professional, where she will be dealing with the public in all sorts of situations and circumstances and yet she seemed to think that there was nothing wrong in lying on her back in a public corridor because she preferred it! God help the general public!

Bedside manners

I had to go for a routine blood test today. Normally I just take my chances at the local hospital and hope that the queues are not too long (don't time them at the same time as busy outpatient clinics or first thing in the morning). Today I walked in and there was no one waiting so I took my number and went straight in for the first time ever. I expected to find the phlebotomist happy about this as usually they have a string of people, but despite my attempts a sociable conversation she was having none of it! She got on as quickly as she could, she didn't ask me the standard questions that she is meant to to ensure that she is taking blood from the right person and she didn't say 'sharp scratch' before she inserted the needle (not that that is anything like what it feels like..it feels like a needle going in your arm..it doesn't particularly hurt but it definitely isn't a sharp scratch)! I was in and out in under two minutes, dealt with swiftly and brusquely and for the first time ever I have a big bruise on my arm! Just go to show that bedside manners are important sometimes!

News from Tibet

I heard from my student Libby again. She sent me some work for me to look at. She told me that things were interesting in Tibet at the moment and that communications are a little erratic. She did not say anymore and I didn't ask as I do not want us to have any kind of communication that may somehow make her position in Tibet difficult. I am just glad that she is okay.

The next day

People are still excited but the snow is melting fast! These were taken from my back window this morning. The blue line on the horizon is the sea!

Whiteout 2

Well, the weather deteriorated from my earlier pictures but most people seemed to see it as a positive thing. It snowed all day. Ian and the neighbours ended up having a major snowball fight and others went up on the downs to go sledging. I walked down to the shops and two grown men were talking about how exited they were about the snow and as I walked back an elderly man came to his door and looked excitedly out at the snow in his garden. By the afternoon it began to melt although there is still a fair bit left that has now frozen into sheet ice. In Hastings they had twice as much as here and in Worthing there was nothing! Here are a series of photos, including Ian in a snowball fight, next doors dog and some poor flowers!

Spring is not quite here!

I take it all back! The blossoms are now under 6 inches of snow and more is falling as I write.

These pictures were taken about an hour and half ago!

Team building!

After the all-day staff meeting a couple of weeks ago it seems that the 'management team' (and I put that in quotes because I have never seen any evidence of management in the 5 years that I have been there) decided that we needed some team building activities! We all got an email last week asking us if we were interested in taking part in a school choir or Tai Chi on the lawn! Now, don't get me wrong; I appreciate the thought and I appreciate the fact that someone is thinking about my well-being, albeit in a somewhat misguided way. However, these would not be my choice of activities! I can appreciate the therapeutic potential of singing and in deed was a member of a very successful community choir for 10 years when I lived in London. I am also aware of the tremendous hard work non-singers need to put in, in order for it not to sound like a bunch of cats wailing and I eventually 'retired' from my singing career when I realised that the kind of hard work I needed to put in would preclude having a full time job! Now Tai Chi might be nice in the mornings. I tried a course a few years ago and it takes about 6 months of regular attendance to master the moves in a way that makes it look a little effortless but never- the-less if we could all get to that point it might be good for us! But on the lawn..first thing in the morning! Today it is April and I am looking out of my window at 6 inches of snow!

I have not expressed an interest!

Spring is here

For a long time it has felt like winter but this morning I noticed that the cherry tree in my garden is in blossom, (not that I have ever got any cherries from it as the birds always beat me to it). This afternoon I had to go over to Brighton and I went with a colleague who drove the scenic route through the villages of Southease and Rodmell. We noticed that the oilseed rape was just beginning to come out, turning the fields bright yellow. I must try to get a picture to put on the blog as it is a lovely sight! Until then following the link here will lead to the page of another blogger where there are some nice pictures. The blog is quite interesting as well!

A herd of llamas

We got an interesting offer today. Someone we had been in contact with in France offered us a ready-made breeding herd of llamas for 20,000 euros. This consists of one stud male and 4 females. Three of the females are pregnant and the fourth is a baby herself (and they are not pregnant by the stud they are being sold with, meaning that any female off-spring could be bred with the stud). This sounds like a lot of money but it is actually a very good price as once the babies are born we could sell each one for between 1000 and 2500 euros each and we have a ready made herd! For an additional 1000 euros we could also have two males, suitable for trekking (one fairly old and the other a youngster). They would come complete with halters, transport to the new location and three days hands on training. The other plus is that they are the brown and white ones, which Ian really likes! Only downside..we are not ready to go over for at least a year, having no house as yet! We have been doing some serious thinking about whether we could find someone with a field and some interest in them to have them for a year (maybe Ian's friend who lives in Burgundy). The downside is that without regular handling and attention by the time we are ready to go over we may have a wild herd to manage! It's a very difficult decision and at the moment we are thinking about it. I guess in the end we have to think about the well-being of the llamas and maybe we would not be the best owners for them. (However, if no one else can be found to buy them we may be better than any other alternative as the sellers are 4 weeks away from selling their farm and moving to Bulgaria- they were let down by the buyers of their farm who could no longer afford to purchase the llamas along with the farm). So, we will make some enquiries and think some more and hopefully make the right decision!

On another note, we have been chasing the builder who says he hopes to start the house in 'quinze jours'. This is french for in a fortnight but is also a bit of a builders euphemism for 'sometime soon'! Consequently we have arranged a trip over in a couple of weeks to meet up with the builder, go through the plans with him and lay the first stone. (He will then probably forget about us until we nag him again!)

The bianchi boys (and girl)

Bianchi make lovely bikes. They are Italian and look great. The traditional colour is a lovely shade of blue called Celeste, but always known to me as Bianchi blue. I coveted one of these bikes for ages and when we saw a good deal on a frame a couple of years ago I bought it and Ian built it up for me into a damn fine bike, tailored to suit me with women-specific bars and saddle. On Sunday I did my first Audax ride in a long time. Ian and his friends challenged themselves to a 115 km ride while I decided to opt for the less strenuous 62 km 'introductory' ride and set out on the beloved and beautiful Bianchi. Ian set off before me and I soon found a group of like minded and similar paced riders to stick with (much easier than riding on your own as you don't have to keep stopping to read the route directions). I never found out any ones names but there were two men (possibly brothers) riding Bianchis. Both were probably the wrong side of 50 and certainly didn't have the slim and toned bodies that the Italians are noted for (in fact, they were from North London!) We talked a lot about the beauty of our steeds and how, if it wasn't for their fine design and gearing, we would not be able to get round the course so well! At the end we all placed our Bianchis side by side as we went to have a drink! (See picture.. I wanted to include a picture of the Bianchi boys themselves with the slogan 'you don't have to be slim, Italian and beautiful to ride a Bianchi'..but I didn't have the nerve to ask them and I was not sure that they would see the funny side!) We got round in just under 4 hours which is respectable (we had to do it in 2.5 -5 hours!). I then waited a further 3 hours for Ian to finish!

The Bianchi family and Bianchis in love!

Talking of 'slim, young, beautiful and Italian' I also chatted to a young woman cycling round on her own who was just that! While I was waiting for Ian we sat having a coffee (turned out she lives 100 metres from my former address in London and is studying to be an art psychotherapist). While we were sitting there she became a magnet for several young, fit and athletic male cyclists who regaled her with tales of their exploits ('we have just finished the 115 km ride... we are going to do the Paris Roubaix this year.. I hope you don't have to wait toooo long for your boyfriend'- last comment was directed to me!)

The post-script of this is today my bottom was so sore and my legs were so stiff that I couldn't sit down. I was also so tired I had to sleep on the floor at work in between seeing students!

Carter the Maremma

This is Carter the Maremma.

He is my brother's dog and was in his element while we on holiday as he likes nothing better than having his flock around him! Carter is gentle indoors and will come and see you to have his neck and head stroked. However, his instinct to protect is well ingrained and if he doesn't like the feel of someone he will make his unease known (including pissing all over an American's shopping when he didn't like the look of them and growling at someone who shouted at us).

He was a challenge to train by all accounts as he has a slightly unpredictable streak and when he gets an idea about something (such as chasing a dog or hunting a rabbit) he will take off with no warning! Last time we were away (and he was younger) he headed off downhill after a small dog with my sister lying on her back on the ice, gripping his lead for dear life and being pulled down the hill! Pain does not deter him. Another year, in the summer, he poked his nose in a rock and got bitten by a viper! His nose swelled to twice the size and he was pretty unwell for a few days but that has not stopped him trying to do it again!

Whiteout

Well, we survived the skiing holiday! When we arrived it was sunny and the snow was a little thin in places, but from day two it snowed pretty much continuously, dumping at least a metre of new snow overnight and then topping it up each day with a few more centimetres. The advantage was that the snow was soft and when you fell in it, it didn't hurt! The disadvantage was that it was hard work to ski in and you needed to be fit and the surface was a bit unpredictable, causing me to fall a lot! We all ended up sitting in a lot of snow! We also had one day of total whiteout; where the light conditions and in this case the falling snow, meant that it was impossible to make out the contours of the slopes or the edges of the pistes. You couldn't really tell whether the slope was steep or flat until you were on it! One thing this seemed to do to most of us was to make us feel a bit sick. This feeling also seemed to last a few hours after skiing. Apparently it is a kind of motion sickness that affects one in ten skiers (although in our case it was over half the group!). (And no, it was not due to too much alcohol the night before!

Simnel birthday cake

Today I tried to make two cakes in one! I made a simnel cake for Easter and combined it with a birthday cake for Ian and my sister-in-law. They share the same birthday (day and year) and this year it falls on Easter Sunday. I was quite pleased with the result and will take a picture of it when it has the candles on it (providing I can get it to France in one piece!)

More news from Tibet

I heard from Libby today. She had some comments about her research but I was mostly relieved to hear that so far she is okay. In her first email she commented that


… things are getting really wild and tense out here… communication is not always guaranteed. I try to proceed with my work as planed.

And I will keep you updated.

Have a good start of the week

Libby

Later when I asked her if she was okay she said

May be it is just a beginning…

We are having people from all groups in our team – so far they are all ok.

Trouble in Tibet

I have a student that I supervise as part of a European Masters Degree. She is currently working in Tibet for a charity, looking at therapy services for children with severe disabilities. I heard from her the other day as she wanted some information on the next stage of her work. At the end of her email she added the following.

It is quite a special season out here - today and tomorrow unexpectedly there is no running water... and in the area I am working the situation is quite tense. There have been some battles on the street... between different people groups (see note in field diary). And this with other problems going on, see below... So I hope everything goes well... Greetings and looking forward hearing from you
Libby
XI'NING, March 1 (Xinhua) -- Severe snow disasters have left 1.65 million people snow-blind and frostbitten, 500,000 livestock and wildlife dead and 3.1 million others on verge of starvation inTibetan prefectures of north-western Qinghai Province.

Since October last year, consecutive low temperature had gripped the province. The temperature plunged to minus 36.3 degrees centigrade, the record lowest in January in the province, said the provincial meteorological bureau. In Yushu, Guoluo and Huangnan Tibet Autonomous Prefectures, most of the grassland was covered by snow, usually 16 to 32 cm thick, which had brought great losses to local animal husbandry. In the disaster-stricken prefectures, 130,000 people had run out of fuels, 350,000 people in need of food and 110,000 others short of warm clothes or quilts, said the provincial government. Currently, the province's task was to evacuate 11,000 people of 2,000 herdsmen households for the local conditions were not fit to live any longer.

I emailed her back and so far we have not heard back from her. There are reports now of serious trouble in Tibet and foreigners are being kept out so I really hope she is okay.

Comings and goings

Ian and I are off to France next week; not to the land but to go skiing. It is a family occasion. My brother has a chalet in a small ski resort and we are going over the Easter break. However, we don't seem to have done very well about co-ordinating our arrivals and departures! My sister-in-law is driving over on Monday with her youngest child, Ian and I are driving down on Wednesday, my brother is flying out on Thursday, Margaret (friend of sister-in-law) is flying out Friday, my sister is flying out on Easter Monday morning with my other nephew (to make sure he gets on the plane!), my brother's friend Arthur (inventor of the nickname 'lovely') is flying out Monday afternoon, we are driving back the Wednesday after..........

Llamas and TB

I mentioned in a previous post that some llama breeders in the UK have been hit by bovine TB, resulting in the loss of their herds. An article appeared in the Times a couple of weeks ago, adding to the lobby of those wanting to cull badgers. Apparently the spread into the llama population is blamed on them grazing in fields soaked in infected badger urine. I have no idea how likely or true this is. What did interest me was the reference to the vaccination of badgers and deer to prevent the spread. Surely if you can vaccinate badgers and deer then you can vaccinate llamas? They do not enter the food chain in any way so that is not a problem. I must look into it in more detail.

Dordogneshire!

Apparently this is the name given to the part of France where we are going to live, due to the large percentage of English people living there. A friend of Ian's sent him links to 3 articles in the English national press about the area, as from March 9 new rules come into force allowing non-French citizens to stand in council elections. As one article says

With 200 British families out of 2,600 inhabitants, a British population that swells to 900 in the summer months and a dozen British small businesses, the village of Eymet is at the heart of the trend.

However I liked the view of someone at the University of Sussex, who it seems is researching into the phenomenon of British local councillors in France and also happens to be standing in her village in Normandy. (How does she manage to keep her University job and live in France..I must talk to her!) According to the article in the Guardian she argues that

the new wave of British residents are becoming more active locally, often inspired by protecting their rural idyll from things like wind farms and new building projects, or managing the look of the village. "Like in Britain, where middle-class urban people moved to rural areas for retirement, they would typically try and take over things, like parish councils, village fetes ... changing farming practices or seeking to further their own interests. Not everyone is like that, but it looks as if it's now starting to happen in France."

I wonder whether it will be that much different from living in Sussex!

I thought that the comment by Ian's friend was most telling!

I would like to read a French article on the same subject but I guess they dont see it as anything unusual or worth reporting.

Battoning down the hatches

This is what I did today as we had a storm. It was predicted and although it was quite wet and windy, to me it was no worse here than some of the other wet and windy days that we have had this year. Anything that wasn't secured properly in my house and garden blew away months ago so this current storm did not add to the damage. I did hope to go down to sea front and take some pictures of the waves as the English channel in a storm is quite spectacular, but the greyness damp and cold put me off so instead I turned up the heating and stayed indoors!

The unconcious agenda

We have a meeting coming up next Monday. The meeting will last most of the day and everyone who works in the department is expected to attend. Lunch is provided but this is not really an incentive and I have tried to come up with a reason as to why I can't go without any luck so it looks like I will have to sit through it. To put the meeting in context, I work for a fairly large department within a University. The head of department left last week and the advertisement for her replacement went out on the day she left. The department is currently under 'temporary' leadership and while we await a permanent appointment, the many conflicting agendas and politics within the department have been left to roam wild! Freud's theory of the unconscious mind argued that most of what motivates us is the result of hidden and unconscious desires. He also argued that we unconsciously strive to protect our egos from damage and use a variety of defense mechanisms to protect ourselves. Thus without consciously meaning to, we might 'forget' to do things that are psychologically difficult. Others have argued that these psychological theories can also be applied within organisations. So, have a look at the agenda below and see if you can work out what topic is the one that those organising the meeting want to talk about the least and is the most important!

9-45am Introduction and review of progress
10am Curriculum
10-45am COFFEE
11am Economic and social engagement
12 noon Staff and Student experience -
12-45pm LUNCH
2pm Research
3pm TEA
3-15pm Physical environment
Management and relationships

(Not only does it come at the end of the day (almost as an afterthought); there is no time allocated to talk about it!) On second thoughts the day might be more entertaining than I thought!

I have just been reading about the psychology of leadership. One of my colleagues complained that none of the 'leaders' in our organisation were capable of making a decision about anything and likened it to 'leadership by marshmallow'!

My favourite music

I got to my French class a little early today so I sat in the coffee shop and listened to one of my favourite bits of music. It is the adagio from the Concierto de Aranjuez by Rodrigo. I think the reason that I love it so much is that I can associate it so much with Spain; particularly the gardens of the Alhambra in Granada. When I hear the music I immediately feel the warm sunshine on my face, can see the oranges on the trees and smell the heat. There is a piece in the music towards the end where the full orchestra joins the solo guitarist in a powerful crescendo. That bit always makes me shiver!



I had initially put the version by Jon Williams but then I found this one by Narcisco Yepes,which I think is much better. He died in 1997 so this must be quite old

Happy anniversary

I am not one of those women who gets hung-up and romantic about anniversaries. Ian says that in that respect, and a few others, I am more like a man than a woman! Truth is I can't remember the exact day when Ian and I first met and when we started 'going out'. I don't even know how you define 'going out'. Anyway, I think we met about 3 years ago, initially on the Internet through an on-line dating site. We talked a few times and then met up in Rye, didn't see each other for a few weeks and then met up a bit later and I guess from then on we were 'going out' and I remember it because it was just before Ian's birthday which is in three weeks! Now, three years later the way that we met seems quite irrelevant to what has gone on since, that I almost throw it into the sentence without thinking when talking, although I am aware that for some people it might seem a bit strange. When I think back to what happened to us in the first two and a half years I am amazed that we managed to come through it. On our first 'date' in Rye I remember wearing mitts all day and complaining that the circulation in my hands was bad and my joints ached and that all in all I wasn't feeling too well. Despite our blossoming relationship I continued to feel bad and by April my legs were sore, I got out of breath just moving, I got stuck in the bath and I swelled to the size of an elephant (well my legs did at least!). By May I was in hospital. Through all this Ian was having to deal with the painful ending of his previous relationship (the repercussions would take another 18 months to be resolved), being homeless and having to live with his mother, and having to do various contract jobs that meant living in bed and breakfast accommodation all week- a pretty grim time for us! We got through this, I came home and had several months off work to recover, Ian got a better job nearer to home and then around the time of the anniversary of his father's death his mother had a heart attack and ended up in hospital. We spent several weekends visiting and then when she came out of hospital Ian had to be around a fair bit for a while. She recovered quite well and eventually by this time last year things had generally stabilised; Ian bought his flat and we started to make plans for France. I did worry that although we were good at dealing with crises we would not manage so well when things were going more smoothly but that has not been the case and despite the fact that my mother has been unwell and we have had to help her move home, we are trying to maintain two homes 60 miles apart, we spend weekends commuting between houses and we are trying to plan and co-ordinate the house in France (and keep up with demanding jobs, and try to find time to have some fun, and various other minor crises to deal with) this year has seemed the easiest! I guess we have been successful in having fun together even when things have been bad and have both prioritised putting effort into the relationship. I am really looking forward to the time when one of us doesn't have to pack up their things on Sunday night and drive back home in order to go to work the following day!

Fanny's farm

At the time of writing this I am so tired I can barely co-ordinate my fingers on the keyboard. We joined the mountain bike group for a ride around the Reigate hills today. Sounds easy as you may ask 'what hills are there in Reigate?' but in fact there are plenty! I managed to keep up for a while but then as I got more tired the pace stayed the same and my legs and lungs just couldn't stand the pain! Still, I made it until lunchtime and then Ian and I went home shortly after (I think he was tired as well!). Lunch was in one of my favourite places. It is called Fanny's Farm and is not far from Reigate hill, just off the M25. Fanny is an impeccably dressed 'well built' lady of a certain age and class. The farm consists of a few ramshackle buildings, a couple of portable toilets and a kind of garden area. It has no mains power or sewerage so the till is an old fashioned manual one and Fanny adds up the bills on paper. It takes no cheques or credit cards. In the summer and warmer winter days you can sit under the trees in the various bits of the garden and have tea, cakes and light meals. We sat in the tree house garden which is a wonderful little garden with a large tree-house at one end.

(picture from http://www.merstham.co.uk/merstham/Gallery%20Pages/mw44.htm)

You can rent the tree-house for a couple of hours to have your own afternoon tea with friends. The tea is served from a teapot, in china cups and the cakes are homemade. It is served by a bevvy of teenage girls and as it is in Surrey they can at least string a sentence together coherently. You can buy cakes, chutneys, home made jams etc., plants grown on the farm, arts and crafts, teas to take home. The plants are grown in beds (literally; as the raised beds are made out of old bedsteads turned upside down and filled with soil). There are two enormous Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs who ignore all visitors, an inquisitive Jack-Russell terrier who doesn't, chickens (you can buy eggs for 20p each) and other various animals, plants and bric-a-brac. How Fanny manages to meet current health and safety regulations I don't know but in the summer and at many weekends in the winter the place is packed. It looks like it is on the verge of closure but has probably been going for years! (In fact I have just looked on their website and it has been going since 1979)

The house in France

Ian is currently working 3 days a week to allow him some time to make some decisions about the house. As we are building from scratch it is possible to make the most of new technologies and make it as eco-friendly as possible. Sounds simple but to be totally sustainable in terms of energy etc would about triple the price, so we have had to think about compromises where possible. We wanted to find some way of collecting and using rain water for the house but as this is relatively new the options are quite expensive and involve various size concrete tanks and a lot of ground work. However, Ian thinks he has found an answer (see picture).



A few companies are marketing what can best be described as very large polythene bags that sit on a flat base of sand and can be use to store water. The company that makes this one is called citerneo (based in a place called Vallières-les-Grandes ) and mostly they have been used for agriculture (storing irrigation water etc) but with a bit of attention to provide a filtering system we think they may be a good and cheaper alternative.

Norma and her food

This is Norma in her favourite spot; that is next to the food bowl. The only other time she looks at me like that is when she wants a fuss. Otherwise she just looks grumpy!
Actually she can get pretty grumpy even around food! If it is not forthcoming after several seconds of staring like this she follows me around making a sort of whine like miaow and pretends that she is starving. She does this with all the neighbours as well; many of whom succumb to her pleading and threaten to report me to the RSPCA for not feeding my animals. Fortunately her large belly gives the game away!

More on blogging

Today I have had a good day playing with the Blog! I learnt how to put in a gizmo thing that gives you details of the latest weather, how to count the number of people who visit the site (not very impressive at the moment but then I only put it on today) and how to put a reasonably sized photo on my 'header'. The above photo is of the land in France. It will be the view from the bedroom window.

Cyling co-incidences 2

I wrote before how there is a cycling connection throughout various aspects of my life. Yesterday in my French class Keith, one of my fellow pupils, said that he used to race when he was younger and had all the programmes from the Tour de France going back to the 1950s and 60s! He used to race for Barnet cyclists and he raced at Crystal Palace so he probably raced against Ian's father at some point.

Llama facts

I found a few websites today that tell you how to train and handle llamas. I learnt this fascinating fact! When training llamas you must make sure that there is

NO FIDDLING WITH HUMANS' BODIES. That definitely includes playing with shoes and boots -- an action that is a prelude to fighting behavior.

Apparently this is common behaviour in bored young llamas who pass time fiddling with another animate being. This includes ear or neck mouthing, head-ducking, neck-pushing, and usually leads to some sort of wresting match. However, a bored llama may make the human the focus of his fiddling and then you have a problem!

http://home.att.net/~lostcreekllamas/youngllamas.html

for more details!

For an excellent video as to what you can get llamas to do with patience look at
http://www.llama-training.co.uk/YY%20Pages/WWOscar%20fetching%20January%20Video%20Bacxkground.htm

Marjorie

Bambi's owner is called Marjorie. In the past I have picked up the dog and taken it to the agility class and not really had much chance to talk with Marjorie. Now she comes with me we have a chance to talk in the car. It is not so much of a conversation as a monologue from Marjorie, as her hearing problems prevent her from understanding what you say to her with all the background noise from the road. Never-the-less I got a feel from Marjorie yesterday that her story is very interesting and if I had the time and the patience to listen to it I think there would be a lot that would be of value. She started telling me about how, at a young age she was placed in children's home as her mother couldn't afford to care for her, how she talked her way into an office job in a legal firm and really enjoyed it, how she had no money to buy herself lunch, that she was married at 18 but after 9 months he died.. (She did not tell the story in that order; I had to piece it together!). Unfortunately I didn't get to hear any more as we arrived at the dog class!

What happened to the cat flap?

I noticed last night (while making a cup of tea) that it was really cold in the kitchen; especially around my ankles! I couldn't work out the problem at first until I looked down and saw that the cat flap was missing. It took me a while to figure out what had happened and many theories went through my mind. The first was that someone had been trying to break in and had tried to get in by removing the cat flap, sticking their hand through and somehow unlocking the door! I soon realised that this was unlikely as the door was still locked and nothing was missing. I was confused as I couldn't see the cat flap anywhere. However, after a look outside with the powerful torch I found it half-way up the garden, the door broken beyond repair. Later I noticed that Mandi had a few cuts and scratches and I figured that the most likely explanation was that one of the neighbourhood cats had come in for food, Mandi had tried to fight him off and they had both gone crashing through the cat flap in a hurry. I have ordered a new cat flap but in the meantime it's still cold in the kitchen! Ian says that if he catches any other cats in the kitchen he will take them outside and pee on their heads and that should stop them coming back!

Stigma

I spoke to my next door neighbour at the weekend and asked him if his wife was okay after the incident last week. He said that she had just got pissed and that was why she had been unable to get in. I must admit I didn't smell any alcohol on her and she certainly looked to me like she was sedated rather than pissed. She told me that she was being treated at the local hospital. I think it is quite sad to think that there is still so much stigma about mental illness that it seems more acceptable to explain erratic behaviour as being self-inflicted rather than being due to something that you may not have any control over. Maybe I have misread the situation but somehow I don't think so.

Doggy agility

After a break due to winter, the cold, a bout of kennel cough and being busy I returned to my job of taking Bambi the hearing dog, to agility classes. Bambi's owner is now well enough to join us so we all piled into the front of my old Ford Fiesta and drove off into the freezing cold to the class. The one thing that always strikes me about dog agility classes is the noise. There are usually over 30 dogs, from naughty terriers and poodles to collies and even papillions! The excitement is overwhelming, the dogs are faster than the owners and mostly the handlers and dogs forget where they are going and end up going the wrong way over the fences, missing poles in 'the weave' and opting out of the see-saw! My favourite dog is Barney the bastard, a rescue Jack Russell who in the past has attacked several of the other owners and a few of the other dogs. Given the chance for a minute he would like to do it again but now he is mostly under control and tears around the course in a frenzy. When he has finished he plays 'tug' with a long rope and his owner. He has one of those looks that lets you know that he is so nearly in charge and he knows it! I would love to have a go at it myself but need to find a dog first!

Pas Merde

Well, quelle suprise, I got 64% for my French exam!

More from the neighbours

I don't know what I would find to write about if I didn't have such colourful neighbours. My next door neighbour tapped on the door this evening and asked me whether we shouldn't do something about the young woman who lives in the house the other side of me. Apparently she had been standing on the doorstep for over 2 hours. Millie (next door) had seen her arrive in a taxi about 5.00pm and she had been unable to get in the house. When Millie returned from the gym 2 hours later she was still there. I hadn't noticed her as the front door was in darkness, she was wearing a dark coat and was almost motionless. It's pretty cold tonight so we asked her if she was okay and if she needed help. She said she was okay and didn't need anything but looked very sedated. (This was the neighbour who set fire to the house; see strange dream May 2007). Well, we were worried and didn't know where her husband was or where her family live so initially I reported it to the police as I didn't want to wake up to find a frozen body on the doorstep tomorrow. After a while I decided to take her a cup of tea and I think maybe her medication had worn off a little and she was a bit more communicative. She knew her husband's mobile number so I called him and he came over and let her in. (He then went straight back out again to his brothers). I must say I am quite sympathetic to their situation. He is only 20 and she is even younger, they have a young baby and now she has mental health problems and a forensic history. I don't know the exact problem but it looks like she is on some pretty heavy duty medication and can't be much company for him. I think he probably does the best he can for someone of 20.

Progress on the land

We had this response from the builder the other day (after we emailed him to wish him happy new year and to gently remind him that we are still here!)

Bonsoir Monsieur ,

Je viens de lire votre message et m’empresse d’y répondre. C’est un peu tard mais à mon tour je vous souhaite une bonne et Heureuse année 2008. J’ai pris un peu de retard sur mes chantiers mais je suis en mesure de vous dire dès à présent que j’ai commandé la semie De blocs pour votre chantier et je vais démarrer les travaux avant la fin février.
J’ai bien noté la précision pour l’escalier de la cave. Si vous voulez me joindre pour plus d’informations je vous rappelle mon numéro De portable : 08.80.74.04.70.

Je vous dis à très bientôt. Cordialement.

Jean Soulier

I think it means I am sorry but I am bit late, I am just about to order the bricks for your house and will start building by the end of February!

A good end to the week

Last week at work was busy but culminated yesterday with the winter graduation. My first and only PhD student flew in from Austria with her family to accept her award. The whole thing is a mix between theatre, ceremony and high camp but as I have said in previous posts it is so nice to see students able to finally celebrate all their work. My PhD student puts everyone to shame as she not only finished her studies in record time but also got a second PhD in Austria and managed to fit in having a baby! A colleague was also getting her PhD and another professional doctorate. I had been around when she was trying to decide what to do and had encouraged her to have a go so it was so nice to be there at the end. It is such a privilege to be able to help people go some way to achieving their potential and the thing about my job that I still enjoy!

Street of fire

Early evening I was relaxing on the sofa after a long day. I thought there was a lot of action outside; I could hear the kids laughing and shouting. After a while I got up and noticed blue flashing lights through the curtains. When I peeped out there was a fire engine outside and the house 4 doors away was on fire. Mark and Emma live there. They are a slightly unusual couple. The house looks like it needs a good coat of paint and the garden is overgrown. For ages they never spoke to anyone but after the last lot of trouble in the square they became friendlier. I never could work out what they both did. Mark never seemed to go out much at all but Emma used to disappear for a few days at a time looking quite smart. I got to know them most when Vodafone wanted to put a large phone mast within a few metres of our houses and they led the campaign to stop them. I rang their bell on a couple of occasions to drop off various letters and things for them and Emma would never answer but call out of the bedroom window and say that they were working. Ian and I joked that she ran a telephone sex line from her bedroom (very unkind of us!). Anyway, on occasions they were both pleasant, quite keen on environmental issues and wildlife and things seemed to be improving for them. They have an open fire in the house and burn logs and today the chimney caught fire. Nothing too serious but after the fire brigade had squirted a few gallons of water up the chimney the house was a bit of a mess! Once it was clear that the situation was not life threatening the local kids mobbed the fireman. They stared in wonder at the engines and the water and collected autographs from all of them; in their eyes they were obviously heroes and at least they were real important people (in that they save lives) and not silly celebrities that do nothing for anyone, so I thought it was great and it looked like the firemen were enjoying it as well.

I spoke to Emma and Mark. They said it had been a bad day as this morning they had to have their cat put down, at lunchtime they had estate agents round to value to house and this evening the chimney caught fire. Emma told me that they were separating and that she was going off WWOOFing which apparently means willing workers on organic farms. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWOOF

I am beginning to think that the square may be a bit jinxed. There are 15 houses and in the five years I have lived there, 3 have caught fire. That is 20%! Surely that must be higher than average!

Health and well being of older people

Today was the first day of a new module that I am co-ordinating looking at health and well being of older people. We have a small group of 5 students and I started by asking them all to introduce themselves and say why they were interested in the module. The first girl started by saying that she thought that all older people became a bit like children the older they got. There was a sharp intake of breath from some of the others in the room and nods of agreement from one other participant. Both were international students from Africa, where the best thing that you could do to improve the health and wellbeing of older people there is to ensure that more of them live to adulthood and then don't die of some treatable disease before they get to 50 and the notion that you might have to eat a healthy diet and do more exercise is laughable in a place where many people don't get enough to eat. One of them told me that where he comes from if someone has a stroke they think of it as witchcraft or a sign of the devil. I feel horrendously out of my depth as half the group want to look at how you optimise health in a society where we are at liberty to abuse ourselves for as long as we like and then expect to be cared for whilst the other half don't really understand the culture of elderly care as there is limited need for it where they come from. Could be a difficult week!

Reflections on blogging

We encourage our students to reflect on what they do. We ask them to write reflective accounts of things that have gone well, or things that have gone badly and hope that somehow this in-depth refelction will make them better therapists. I don't know whether there is much evidence to suggest that this is the case. Some students can think reflectively with ease whereas others don't really get it and I don't know whether practising helps! Of course reflective practice was unheard of when I trained and apart from a few occasions when I was appyling for various courses and jobs, I have never done it myself. So..as I have been blogging for a year I thought I would reflect on what it has been like. Maybe it will make me a better blogger!

I started not really knowing what I would write but I had been inspired to start by reading the book Blood, Sweat and Tea, based on the blog Random acts of Reality http://randomreality.blogware.com/ and by the thought that one day our collective blogs may be used by social historians to find out what life was really like in the 2000s. I also remembered that at school I used to like writing but now never get the time to write anything other than comments on students' work, dull papers, even duller lectures, quality reports and course documents (I can feel the tension mounting when I just start thinking about them!). So, practice makes perfect and a year ago I thought it would be a good time to start writing for myself! At first I felt very self-concious about writing something that other people might read....although of course I write all the time for other people to read, but this is much more personal and felt strange and a bit exposing for myself but also for other people that I might mention. I also soon realised that writing is quite hard. Although I do and did write many things quite quickly I still had to give some thought to how much sense it all makes, whether I have really expressed what I wanted to say with the sentiment that I intended, whether the grammar and spelling are okay (spell checker seems to be out of action today so no doubt this will be full of errors). I soon learnt writing a blog is not like writing a story as you need to ensure that each entry makes sense in its own right and can sustain interest using the minimal number of words.

So harder than I thought but actually much more enjoyable. During my mothers illness and the clearing out of the family home I found writing the blot positively therapeutic and I think those entries are some of the better ones although I would hate to think that in order to write well I have to be that stressed all the time! I have loved the fact that it has been an alternative way to communicate with friends, especially friends that I don't see very often, and I love the way that you can develop a community of likeminded bloggers. As the year has progressed I have become more brave with the addition of pictures and links and I think I now feel that it doesn't matter if not every entry is interesting or well written as the important thing is to communicate something, intially between me and the blot, and maybe other people will read it or maybe not but either way it doesn't matter. So my plan for next year of the blot is to keep doing it, but to be more adventurous with it.

Funny llama video

Am really using this to test out my skills at uploading video clips although any excuse to include something amusing about llamas!


I should explain that in Spanish the verb llamar means to call and the translation for la llama que llama is 'it calls him that calls' or 'the llama that calls' so it is a bit of a Spanish joke! It was actually an ad for a South American telecom company.

Don't take photos into the sun

Well, they say that you shouldn't point your camera directly into the sun but sometimes it is the best view. This was the scene this afternoon as I drove to Brighton. I am looking out over the downs towards the Belle Tout lighthouse. http://www.timetravel-britain.com/06/Oct/lighthouse.shtml It turned out to be a lovely bright blue day with the sun just about to set. The pictures don't do it justice!

Sunday ride

Last weekend for a few hours the sun came out and everywhere began to look a lot brighter. The evenings have been getting a little lighter and very slowly, it feels like spring might be around the corner. Ian decided that he wanted to do some work in the house but I felt the need to get outside and decided to go out for a ride on the bike. (It could also have been because the last time Ian and I did a ride from his house it was just before Christmas and there was a thick fog everywhere. I tried to convince him that it would soon clear, but an hour into the ride there was no sign of it lifting! In fact, it became freezing fog and by the time we made it home we were both so cold we could barely speak! We saw nothing and our bikes, clothes and faces were covered in a thick sticky coating of salt! Yuk!) Anyway, I didn't let the previous experience put me off and set out on my own. My ride took me over the M25 and along the Rivers Darent and Cray. You wouldn't expect to find a great deal of wildlife and history so close to such a built up area, but in places it is actually quite pretty and hidden among the old council estates are some interesting buildings and places. I stopped off in Farmingham, as it always looks so pretty and out of place as it is only about 100 metres from the A20. This is the view from the bridge looking over the river.








According to Wikepedia
"Farningham is believed to be home to Neolithic history - flint and other tools have been discovered and can be found in the Dartford Museum. The Romans occupied the general area after their invasion in the first century and, along with large evidence of habitation down the road in Lullingstone, there is also evidence of Roman habitation in Farningham. Three farmhouses and three villas have been unearthed. Charles Dickens was a visitor during his time for the trout fishing that the Darent provided."








If you look closely at this picture you will see that Charles Dickens would not have much luck today! The Darent is a tributary of the Thames and is also known as Dartford Creek, which doesn't sound so good! There are lots of old mills along the river, a sign of it past uses. Again, according to Wikepedia


"A mill has been on this site since Domesday. In the fifteenth century the mill was in the possession of the Roper family, Sir Anthony Roper being charged with "pulling down and allowing the watermill to decay and become uninhabited" in 1636. He was ordered to rebuild the mill within two years. The present building built by the Colyers dates to c.1780. The mill was a corn mill; the converted building survives. A curious feature is that the door on the north side of the east face is painted on, to look symmetrical with the real door. The mill was latterly worked by a turbine which drove a saw mill in its final years of operation. The mill last worked for trade in 1900"

I think watermills are great; such a good source of natural energy. It would be wonderful to think that one day these mills would be rebuilt and used again.

Anyway, I had a nice morning riding my bike and finding out all about the local history.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Darent#Farningham_Mill
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Darent

for more details!

Happy Birthday to Lovely's Blot

The first entry in Lovely's Blot was written on the 29th Jan 2007 so in a few hours the blot will be a year old!

Happy birthday to me
Happy birthday to me
Happy birthdsy dear lovely
Happy birthday to me....

Merde deux!

Well the exam truly was merde! Perhaps it was because I haven't done an exam for a while and have lost the touch or perhaps it was because I haven't really done enough homework, maybe my brain has decayed with age or maybe the test was just hard; but after 10 minutes of staring at the paper I realised that I knew very little, nearly had a panic attack and then managed to calm myself enough to do the second part of the test, which was a little easier. After restoring my self esteem I was able to face the first part again and managed to attempt a few guesses at a few questions, but whether that is enough for 40% or not, I am not sure! I then had to go straight to the oral exam, which I did find a little better, but then I did more work for that! Oh well..

Merde!

I have my first French exam tomorrow and needless to say I have not really done enough work (too busy blogging!). Today I went to a conference in London and took my French book on the train with me in an attempt to do some last minute swotting. I was reading a rather dull paragraph about where people were going to go on holiday (a ploy to get the reader to practice the future tense) when a voice next to me said 'if you need any help, let me know, I am a French teacher'. The speaker turned out to be a Belgian man around my age. I told him that I had my exam tomorrow and we talked a bit about learning and teaching French and the importance of being able to communicate! As I got off the train he told me that in French rather than saying 'Bonne Chance' or good luck before an exam you say 'merde'(Shit). So he wished me merde and off I went!

New Year, New Format

Am experimenting with a new template for my blog as this one seems a little easier on the eye! May change back later. Check out 'what time of day are you' below! I got the link from a friend's blog and did it for myself and was quite surprised at how close to home it was!

Flood warning

The wet weather continues and the fields and rivers around here are beginning to flood. Fortunately, being at the top of the hill has some benefits but I was talking to student today who moved into a new house in October and is just beginning to realise some of its short-comings! The cottages at the end of her garden are called Brook Cottages and she said that she thought she should have got a clue from that, although most of the time the 'brook' is just an overgrown ditch. It is now a lively stream and has flooded half of her garden, with water creeping up towards her house rapidly, creating a waterfall effect as comes over the fence. She decided she should get some sandbags and contacted the local council. They told her that they didn't have them and she would have to go to the environment agency. She phoned the environment agency and they said that yes they had them but they issued them to council and she would have to collect them from there. When she explained that the council had directed her to them they told her that she would have to go to the local garden centre and buy some sand and put it in bags herself! She said that they were really nice and empathetic on the phone and we agreed that they must have all been on some training that tells people how to deal with people in a crisis (but fails to mention that as well as being nice you actually have to do something!)

It reminded me of the time I bought a kitchen from IKEA and half of it didn't turn up. I phoned and got a very nice person the other end who said how awful it must be and yes how dreadful it was but when it actually came to sorting out the problem could do absolutely nothing! I was telling my friend who lives in Sweden and she laughed as she had received the same treatment there, so we agreed that it was an international conspiracy!

Bloody rain (and wind)!

It's raining again! It feels like it has been raining non-stop for weeks. A slight exaggeration maybe as there have been a few nice days but on the whole it has pi**ed it down consistently! To make it worse my house is at the top of the hill and the back wall faces south west; directly into the worst of the weather. The storms come straight off the sea and seem to aim straight for my back door! It has also been really windy; at night it blows down the chimney and shakes the walls either side of the chimney breast and during the day it drives the rain against the windows and means that you get soaked just walking a few yards. I have been waiting for a clear day so that I can wash the bikes but so far we have not had one and the forecast for the rest of the week is more rain!

Riding a bike makes you live longer

Blue-leader, otherwise known as Jon (or Captain Mannering to me as there are many similarities) remarked to me the other day that I had been riding with the Weald and Downlander's bike group for 10 years now. I must admit I hadn't thought it was that long but its funny how time goes quickly when you are enjoying yourself. We are an odd group of mountain bikers! Our average age at the moment is probably in the mid to late 40s and ranges from the youngest regular riders who must be around 30 to several riders the wrong side of 60. We have all learnt that increasing age brings its own problems when it comes to riding up and down mountains (it hurts, you are slower, you loose the urge to throw yourself down the steepest and rockiest of slopes, it takes longer to heal, it hurts..) but there are also some advantages. One of them is that people in cafes and pubs are so shocked to see us arriving dripping in mud that they treat us with sympathy and the second is that many of the group can afford the most expensive and latest design mountain bikes and enjoy showing them off to envious twenty somethings at the top of the South Downs (its even better if we have managed to ride all the way up without getting off!). My illness and the life events of last year have meant that I have not been such a regular attended at the fortnightly rides and one of my hopes for 2008 is that I will be better. With that in mind, I an and I made our way to the meeting point on the 30th December for a gentle ride around the Groombridge area. As it turned out the only people there were Blue-Leader and 'Vic-the-elder' who were just about to set out for a gentle hour or two ride. Ian had hurt his back, I wasn't very fit and Vic-the-elder has many things to contend with that slow him down so we ended up doing a fairly flat ride along the old railway line, stopping in a friendly cafe for bacon butties (the Polish waiters and kitchen staff thought we were hilarious) and then riding back. The company was good, the conversation amusing and I realised what I had been missing! Last Sunday the ride was local for us and a few more people turned up! It involved some long slow (for me) uphill climbs to get to the top of the downs and some nice easy off road riding. In the morning the weather was lovely and again the company was good. We stopped for lunch in a pub and I must admit on the way back to the car I regretted the facts that I hadn't done much exercise lately, that I had eaten too much over Christmas and mostly that I had had sausage and chips for lunch! Oh well, back to the gym!

I feel I must add something on Vic the elder here. I have posted a picture of him at the top of this blog. He is probably our oldest regular rider and really is a bit of an inspiration. He has struggled for most of his life with severe asthma and has very poor lung capacity. In addition the cold and the exertion seem to trigger an asthma attack. A couple of years ago he fell out the loft and broke several bones. We thought that would end his biking career but no, he fought back and still joins us on rides. On the flat he is faster than me and he throws himself happily down hills where I get off and walk!

Smug-bastard cyclist

As I have said before I love bikes.. the sort that you pedal that is, not the ones with engines! I love all types; I have an old touring bike that I can't bring myself to get rid of. It sits on rollers in my attic for days when I feel compelled to ride a bike but can't get out the house! I have a steel framed mountain bike (the subject of an earlier blog, that was lovingly resprayed and returned to its retro state with the original steel forks..I still love riding it probably more than any other bike!) I have a full-suspension mountain-bike that I bought second hand from a friend and I have a lovely Bianci road bike that Ian built up for me. I also have a Brompton folding bike that I used to commute to work on when I worked in London. Now I did this 10 years ago for a good 5 years; before low emission zones, cycle routes and before the congestion charge. I felt like an urban warrior shouting at inconsiderate drivers and trying to stay upright and alive. Cycling was 'fringe' and owning a Brompton was even more weird! I was definitely considered eccentric at the very least and mostly thought of as quite mad! Now I could get more for my Brompton second hand that I paid for it new, it would be stolen instantly if I took my eyes off it for a second and there are more cyclists in Central London at times than cars..in fact there is even 'cycling congestion'in some places. Cycling to work is mainstream government policy and most companies pay an allowance to those who use their bicycles for business travel. God, how things change! I can remember having an argument with a particularly obnoxious woman from personnel (now called human resources!) who told me that I certainly couldn't claim for using my bike as it involved no cost to me!

See.. I was a trend setter not a weirdo!

A typical Christmas break

Well, the Christmas and New Year celebrations are over for another year! Mostly it is a bit of a relief as what it really means is 10 days of driving here, there and everywhere, picking up various relatives and dropping them off at others, trying to make sure you remember your presents and give them to the right people and trying not too spend too much money! We drove my mother (and her knees) over to Ian's sister on Christmas day and then in the evening we drove her and Ian's mother back to London, where we spent Boxing day. I then drove my mother back to her house the following day and then drove back to Ian's! The day after that we both went down to Eastbourne and then on Sunday we drove up to Tunbridge Wells to do a bike ride and then back to London. On New Years Eve we drove over to my brothers where we met up with him, his family and my sister and then we went out (and I got very drunk!). Yesterday my brother drove up to pick up my mum and brought her back for dinner and in the evening my sister drove her back and we both drove back to Ian's house! (I was still hung over!)

Our carbon footprint for the period was considerable!

More nonsense from work!

People have been hitting the bottle at work I think. This email was forwarded to me but was originally sent to all university staff. The University has to submit the results of five years of its best research to the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). If the University is judged to do well then it will get enough money to continue next year and if it doesn't then departments will close and jobs will be lost! Quite important then..and you would think the transporting of all this information would have been carefully planned down to last detail. Take a look at this! (The opening comment is from my colleague)

Christ! What an opportunity! Call Ruth Kelly immediately!!!!

Dr. Melvin Fracas
Senior Lecturer In Psychology ______________________________________________
From: Melthick Julie Sent: 20 December 2007 10:09 To: uni info
Subject: Wanted - person with van to drive to Bristol on 16th Jan

Does anyone have (or know anyone who has) a transit van or equivalent and would be prepared to drive it down to Bristol and back on Wednesday 16th January? We need to transport the University's boxes of RAE evidence down to the RAE Depot that day and need someone with a van who could help us.
If you can help please reply to this email or phone me on xxxx
Thanks, Julie

Julie Melthick Academic Research Officer Registry

I replied saying that it would depend how much they were willing to pay as I knew someone (ie. me in Ian's van on a days annual leave) but it wouldn't be for free! I have not heard back!

The Spirit of Christmas

I guess some people don't have much of it! This was an email sent yesterday from the Head of School! Note the pleasant Christmas greetings!

From: Prune Gillian
Sent: 18 December 2007 15:13
To: h health professions staff
Subject: RE: Christmas closure

To add to the information given by Jane, to the best of my knowledge, the University is open until 4.00pm on Friday 21st December. I gather some people were saying that they would stop work at mid day on Friday because this is what we normally do on the last day before Christmas. This is incorrect and instead of asking you to work until lunch time on Monday 24th, the University is giving you the whole of Christmas Eve off, but it is not giving you half of Friday as well. If you want to take Friday pm as annual leave, please feel free to do so, but ensure this is recorded.

Gillian

Banana llama cake

It was my birthday last Friday so I made some cakes for work and tried to make them look like llamas! The end result was quirky and a bit odd and next time I will do better but they were fun to make. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture! The cake was a banana cake so I called it a banana-llama cake! (I laughed!)

Llama walking

I had another go at llama walking last weekend. Due to the foot and mouth outbreak earlier in the year all llama walking (and the movement of most other animals) was suspended over the summer in the South of England. This came at the busiest time of year and has caused real hardship amongst the community. (The owner of the company told us he had been forced to go back to full time work for a while and was hating it!) The walking finally resumed at the beginning of November so I combined some market research with catching up with a friend and we went on a Sunday morning trek followed by a pub lunch. It turned out to be just the two of us, two llamas (Pandu and Mungo) and the owner. It was very pleasant. The llamas were good company and seemed to enjoy the chance to get out. They took every opportunity to eat as much bracken, nettles, trees etc as they could, rolled over in the sand a few times, scratched their bellies on the heather and surveyed the landscape from above (see picture).

I heard a llama hum for the first time (a sort of gentle guttural sound almost like a purr) and I saw a llama kick a dog that got too close (a remarkably quick move for such a large animal). I found out more things about llamas and felt quite comfortable with such awkward looking but elegant and dignified creatures. I learnt that they form close bonds with each other to the extent that if their best friend in the herd dies they can just give up, sit down and never get up again, dying of a broken heart. This had happened to two of the llamas from the herd we were with. One had collapsed and died of a heart attack and his best friend had just given up. I also found out that they are susceptible to bovine TB and two if the biggest breeders in the UK have lost most of their herds.

Ian and I are looking into the costs of importing some llamas from Peru (on the grounds that the cost of transporting them may be not much more than buying them in France). The problem in France is that the national herd is quite small and many of the llamas are related to each in some way! We reckon if we got a genetically different stud male he may pay his way quite quickly!

Lovely's Christmas letter

Thanks so much for being interested enough to get this far! This new method of greeting people at Christmas will certainly sort out those of you who have enjoyed reading my letters from those of you who think 'oh God, another one of those boring Christmas notes!' In an attempt to save on postage and the environmental effects of posting wads of paper all over the world I have tried to summarise my news and publish it on-line so that only those who are really interested have to read it! As you can see if you look at the rest of the blog, this year I have kept a kind of on-line diary. However, I decided to spare you the pain of reading through the whole lot and write a summary here! If you should feel inclined to venture further into the blog at a later date don't be concerned by the characters with the strange names. I have not got a new partner, neighbours, friends and family but have loosely disguised them in case the tax department is after them!

So.. this year has seen several events and decisions made but at the end of it I am still in the same job and living in the same house! My health has fortunately continued to be good and I am now really pretty much back to normal. In April we went to Gran Canaria for a week to do some cycling. The weather was exceptionally hot but we managed to cycle most days. That's me in the picture and the long sleeves are not because it was cold but because it was so hot you needed protection from the sun! I felt like I was really back to my 'old self' after 6 days of cycling up and downhill with no ill effects other than the need to go to bed at 9.00 every night!.

Ian (sic) bought a flat last Christmas and we have spent the best part of the beginning of the year decorating as well as trying to get things sorted in my place. The pattern for the year has meant alternate weekends in London and here, which has been okay but perhaps not a long term option if we want to stay sane! Ian also had to make a decision about the land that he owns in France as the planning permission for the house runs out at the end of December and it would never be granted again. He went over at Easter to review the situation and we both did some thinking and basically decided to have a go at it! Consequently we spent two weeks in August looking for a builder and trying to get things started with the house. It was quite a hard two weeks but ultimately proved successful as the builder started last week and has marked out the house and erected a sign. He tells us that the foundations, walls and roof will be finished by next summer. It is all pretty exiting but quite scary if you think too much about it!


As the land is agricultural we must run a legitimate 'farming' business from it and after a few thoughts I decided that I would really like to breed llamas! Strange I know, and when people ask me how I came to decide on that I honestly can't remember as now 9 months later I have read and researched as much as I can, come face to face with several llamas and met several llama owners and breeders and now I can't imagine a time when I didn't want to have them! The photo is of Ian with a llama at Ashdown Forest LLama Park. So, the date to move to France is probably at least 2 years away, but that will go fast! In order to prepare I have also started French classes again and now when we buy things for our respective homes we say 'is this just temporary or is it something we will take to France!

Although my health has been good the same cannot be said for the rest of the family! My sister-in-law's mother died early in the year which was pretty sad for all concerned as she was quite a lively and positive woman and later in year my sister-in-law was seriously ill with acute appendicitis while on holiday in France. Fortunately she is okay now. My mother has also not been too well this year. It seems in the end that most of her problems were due to an under-active thyroid gland causing her get depressed, slow, to have painful joints and aches and to loose most of her independence. It took a while for it to be diagnosed and she ended up in hospital for two weeks; which just happened to co-incide with the weekend that we were packing up her house and helping her to move to a new flat in Windsor. All rather difficult and stressful for all of us but fortunately she is now recovering and is definitely settled into her new home and I think quite glad she made the move. She continues to improve, albeit it slowly and the the move to a new place where there are people around to stimulate her and to keep an eye on her has really been the best decision she could have made, even though it was very stressful at the time for all concerned.

Work is much the same. It was interesting to make a decision to plan to change careers and leave something that has pretty much been most of my life for 35 years now, but I really think the time is right to try another path. I like aspects of my work even now but it would be so nice to think that there are other things that I can do with my life before I get too old! Making the decision to look to move on has been liberating in some ways as it has enabled me to focus on the things at work that I really enjoy and not the things that are supposed to be important and that has been a good lesson.

So, at the end of the year I am looking forward to a rest! We have various family obligations at Christmas and then will just use the time to get things done at home and maybe go out on the bikes if the weather permits. Next year we will go over to France a few times to keep an eye on the building and probably will need to make some plans over the summer with regard to the next stage. This bit is really the exiting bit as we are doing lots of thinking and planning but haven't actually had to make too many changes! I'm sure it will get harder but we will take each stage at a time and see where we get!

So, here's wishing you all the best for Christmas and hoping that 2008 is good for you!

Thank you again for reading this far!

Best wishes

Lovely (sic)