Another climate change

A few of my crocuses and snow drops



We have had a beautiful week most of which I spent in Brighton with the Williams' girls and the Fox. He is fantastic. If they had prizes for the brightest, smiliest baby, he would have to win. You can see pictures of him and even a little video if you look on the 'Diva at Home' blog. I came home on Friday and had a sunny warm weekend. Judith came by on Saturday and was determined to cut a branch off one of my beech trees. It was blocking the light and would do so even more when the leaves come out. It turned out to be a huge job which took a good part of two days. It was just high enough to be awkward to reach so she ended up with a crick in her neck and very sore arms. On the plus side is this picture of the crocuses and snow drops which are out in large swathes. I think they were sitting there waiting for the snow to melt so that they could come to life with a little sun. The next couple of months will be wonderful in my garden. The bulbs and wild flowers are well worth waiting for.

A New Day - A New Climate

I wake up this morning and lie in bed listening to the news. Guess what - flood warning all over the south of England. It began to rain yesterday afternoon and now several communities are flooded. Thank god I never shovelled. I only have a small bit of pavement (sidewalk) in front of my house and it's level so I couldn't be bothered. I saw one neighbour (American) shovelling last week and when I praised her efforts she said that one passerby had told her that she was making things worse! I don't think it's true but I liked it as a general principle and I've definitely taken it on board. My back garden is still covered in snow and looking pretty. Better still, not in need of attention.

I have been to see five films in the past week. We had the Bafta's on Sunday evening and I wanted to be up-to-date. Also the Oscars will be on in about ten days. Unfortunately, with the time difference, they are on here live in the middle of the night. I used to go with my friends Robin and Stacy to watch them when I lived in LA. We would each chip in five dollars and choose which films we thought would win. We had about ten categories. Whoever got the most correct, got the money. Stacy usually won. Anyway, back to my film viewing. I shall rate them with stars, 1 through 5 with 5 being the best.

The Wrestler **** - Mickey Rourke was a 5 (he won best actor in the Bafta's)
Slumdog Millionaire ***
Benjamin Button ****
The Reader *****
Revolutionary Road ****** - I know I'm only supposed to go to 5 but I saw this film last night and it blew me away. It was awesome. I was reluctant to go because I thought that L.C. and K.W. would be reprising their efforts in Titanic which I didn't like.

Enough for now. It is neither raining nor snowing at the moment so I think I shall take a walk (power walk LOL).

A New Week

I was looking forward to having last week over because of the bad weather. Guess what. Snow is forecast for today along with rain and then it is supposed to freeze tonight. I'm desperate to get over to Ikea to invest in some more junk and I'm thwarted. I think the god of weather is in cahoots with my daughters who insist on this crazy idea that I should go up scale when I spend money. I guess you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Because I'm stuck in the house today, I'm going to make a start on sorting out all my banking information. I seem to have several bank accounts that I have acquired over the last two years and my filing system seems to consist of opening drawers and shoving stuff in. I then put a label on the drawer which is useless since I also have a filing cabinet with similar papers and labels. I have books on the subject of how to sort yourself out. If the weather were better I could spend at least half of today going into town to buy more self help books on how to be organized. I just looked at my bookshelf and my copies of Getting Things Done (two copies) is next to On Death and Dying. I wonder if that was a Freudian slip?

More snow

It snowed again last night - two days in a row now. I don't like to drive my car in this weather because the country isn't set up to deal with it. I think there is maybe one snowplow in London, no one has snow tires or antifreeze and, as of yesterday, they have pretty much run out of salt! I have just raised my eyes from the keyboard to look out the window and it is snowing again. On Monday it was magical; on Wednesday it was copable; today it's a nuisance. Probably if I were at work or at school I would be delighted to have the day off. I'm going to dress appropriately now and walk down to Starbucks for a decent cup of coffee. I can watch the snow through their windows as well as mine.

My Academic Career

I have spent the last month thinking hard about whether to continue with the history course or call it a day. Today, I called it a day. I got my last essay back on Saturday and I had a slightly better grade than the first one but not good enough to make me want to go on. The real problem is that I'm not enjoying the course at all, I'm rubbish at essays, and I never seem to be able to do enough reading to feel comfortable. I was going to stick it out until the end of this term but I knew I would definitely leave then so I couldn't see any point in going on. I feel a great sense of relief but I'm glad I tried it because I would never have known that it's not me if I hadn't had a go.

Visit to Brighton

I went to Brighton on Wednesday, partly to help Alison & Sian with a little bit of babysitting and partly to cheer myself up. I've been down in the dumps lately and I needed a boost. There is nothing like a smiling Harry to bring out the best in anyone. That boy was born to smile and I love him. Alison usually has Thursday off but this week she had two hours of meetings so I kept the Fox and had a lovely time. See below




Alison was giving a lecture on Friday and she invited me to come. Of course I took her up on it. It was surreal. I sat at the back of the class and kept my mouth shut but I kept wanting to ask what was the little girl doing in front of a class of 3rd year psychology students. She has come a long way in 30 years and it was an excellent lecture. Having been to a few lately, I'm a good judge. Afterward, we got Harry from the creche and met Sian and John and Pat and went out for a bevvy.

Backing Up

I was doing an ego blog search (looking at one's own blog) and discovered that I had forgotten to tell about my trip to California. I was there for three weeks and had a lovely time. I'm posting a couple of pictures of Olivia to exemplify her gorgeousness. Unfortunately I took very few pictures but here are two of them.





I spent some of my time staying with Darcy and Joe and the rest with Daniel and Michelle and Olivia. I also saw Malcolm a couple of times. It rained a few of the days that I was there but mostly it was California sunshine which was much appreciated by me. I would like a bit of it today.

I'm home

I got back on Monday afternoon in time to have a short nap before my class. I had forgotten how boring this class is. I don't think I am cut out to be a historian. I'm giving it till the end of this term before I make a final decision.

It is wonderful to be home again in spite of the cold. I got up yesterday morning to find that the central heating had stopped working and the temperature outside was about 28F or -3C. The plumber came round and diagnosed a frozen pipe. He got out his trusty blowtorch and fixed the problem in about 5 minutes. I'm plugging away at my essay and have it about 2/3 finished. I have to finish up tomorrow because I am busy on Saturday - I'm meeting Malcolm's girlfriend who is coming to Oxford with him!!! This should be worthy of at least a short story. I will report next week. I'm doing a photography course on Sunday (flowers at Waterperry nursery) and the essay is due on Monday. I should have some pictures next time.

COMING HOME

Tomorrow is flying home day. I've been away three weeks and I'm more than ready to get back to my own house and especially my own bed. I would like to come up from Heathrow and sleep for about 12 hours but, unfortunately, I have a class that evening. It's the first one of the term so I can't miss it. I kidded myself that I would have my essay finished by the time I returned. Ha Ha. I did a little bit of work with emphasis on the little. One good thing - Jane gave me a lesson in essay writing when I was in SLC and I know it is going to stand me in good stead. Once again I say that I will do some writing on the plane!! At least this time I plan to have my computer with me so there will be less excuse.

Party

I have just had my Oxford Christmas drinks party and it was a great success. Everyone came and they had a great time. and so did I which is what really matters. Tomorrow I clean up and then go down to the farm to spend the evening and night with the Gee's. We will watch the X factor final and I will get up early to go to the bus to go to Heathrow for the flight to America. I'm looking forward to seeing Daniel and Jane and families and also Darcy and Joe who are my mainstays. I will also see Malcolm but given our recent interactions that might be tricky. I will see and report.