Why the Scots need more things to amuse themselves

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/5105946.stm

I wonder how much it would cost to take out a policy incase the Loch Ness Monster shows up as a stray on my doorstep...

Sounds like home to me...

Last night at rehearsal we had our soloists come along and rehearse a new piece with us. They have a duet to the words of DH Lawrence's Piano. The music and the words are stunning and by the end I was fighting back a flood of tears (note: it's the movement preceding Arise My Love - see Sunday, February 5, 2006's post for my thoughts about that one). Anyways, something about it made me feel rather homesick (not quite sure what though, because although we have a large black piano, winter and my mother does have rather little feet, our family sing-songs usually involved my dad and the guitar instead of my mom and the piano...). At any rate...just wanted to share the words with you (and if this gives you the incentive to come to the concert - I think we may be sold out - sorry!)


Softly, in the dusk, a woman is singing to me;
Taking me back down the vista of years, till I see
A child sitting under the piano, in the boom of the tingling strings
And pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who smiles as she sings.

In spite of myself, the insidious mastery of song
Betrays me back, till the heart of me weeps to belong
To the old Sunday evenings at home, with winter outside
And hymns in the cosy parlour, the tinkling piano our guide.

So now it is vain for the singer to burst into clamour
With the great black piano appassionato.
The glamour of childish days is upon me, my manhood is cast
Down in the flood of remembrance, I weep like a child for the past.

Mug Shot

I glanced at my mugs on my desk the other day and thought "mug shot" and it made me giggle (oh, we of easy amusement)

It was to be the first in my "photo of the day" series on flickr, but then my camera batteries died, so I am going to restart the series tomorrow...

Ride 'em ....whoever...

In one of those conversations that I have since forgotten how it got started, Lisa and I started inventing different types of "rodeos" for different segments of the general population (I do remember me saying something about rodeos, and she said "do they still have those?" and I said "Yes" and after a moment's reflection she said "if the person smells, does it then become a BO-deo?" and ti went from there...here's our list (thus far...it seems to be ever expanding)

A rodeo for drug users - ODeo
A rodeo for amphibians - Toadeo
...for prostitutes (or mall Santas, or amusingly, both...) - Hodeo
...for hobbits - frodeo
...for fashion victims - vogue-eo
...for farmers - rod-e-i-e-i-o
...for Romans - tog-eo
...for Inuit - snowdeo
...for people who feel sorry for themselves - woedeo
...for teletubbies - podeo
...for deceased authors - wrote-eo
...for Pillsbury dough boys - poke-eo

I think the list could go on...but it's addictive and I'd better stop...

Spam!

An example of a spam email I had got at work that clearly went through one too many online translations...

"tried ! gurgle but solvate but presuming try defendant on emery but acquit be psychometry ! convalesce the denominate try diffeomorphic try diaphragm not dilogarithm or hawthorn the khartoum not minibike the rooftree see central but stucco be savage on alan a chinese ! civet not drink in cult it create and emissary on emasculate but cern see ashen be circumference and pyrolysis see nostradamus , concise notKeine email hier , monetarist not backstop andit's coherent and sequoia seemay gentile it excretory ,or stud on ludwig on"

I'm convinced!

(PS Don't worry - I didn't actually open it - I copied it from my viewing pane)

Donald, Where's Your Troosers?

Well, it's been two weeks since we left, but the wild roadtrip to Scotland, England and Wales in a weekend was FANTASTIC! Bumping along Britain's highways often listening to what somehow became our official theme song "Donald Where's Your Troosers" we explored 1129 miles of some of the best scenes and highways that Britain has to offer! The highlights included Drew declaring that "Cheshire smells like poo" (because as we passed the "welcome to Chesire sigh, we were accosted by the smell of manure, that really didn't leave us until we left Chesire), happening upon Hadrian's Wall (although we never quite figured out how a three foot high wall was going to keep the Scots out of England - ha ha), watching the sunrise on Loch Lomond (after getting over the disapointment of discovering that Loch is actually just a fancy-dancy word for Lake), the beautiful town of Luss (where everything is perfectly in place and the man who impatiently poured we whisky amatueurs our whisky in the pub was also the man who cooked our breakfast at the village store the next day. He was probably also the postman, school teacher, police officer and doctor), the amusement of perfecting our Scottish accents all the way to Scotland (only to realise that we always ended in a hybrid of Hungarian and Indian. Eventually we decided that adding "Auch" before everything we said worked well enough to keep us happy, and thus we carried on with our bad accents with a bit of "auch" for authenticity's sake), the shoddily shorn Scottish Sheep (picture to follow), discovering the secret sect of the Ninja Methodists (and listening as Dave and Drew worked out the finer points of their theology, including how one should fight back when fighting a Ninja Methodist), driving through random one-car lanes in Wales looking for a road...any road..., the unforgettable moment of popping over the crest of Snowdon just before the final push to the summit, and the hilarious frustration Drew and I felt of being stuck for an hour in a North Welsh traffic jam on a random country road (who knew they had enough cars).

Aaaaand blogger's being stupid and won't let me post them, so I'll have to put some of them on Flickr...

My Flickr Site...

Hi,

If you will turn your eyes to the left, you'll notice I have posted a link to my flickr site. Like this one, it is very much a work-in-progress.

I just wanted to say, please don't be offended if you don't see yourself up there yet. I have made an arbitrary rule that I'm not allowed to go through and post old "back dated" (as it were) photos. The ones I am posting (except for the one of John in the signs section), are ones that are already on my camera, or haven't been taken yet (did that make sense?). I'm also going to try to change my headings. I don't like the "people that matter" because I don't want people who aren't there yet to think they don't matter (or people who are to get swelled heads!)

Happy Anniversary to Meeeeeee

Two years ago about this time Danni and I were hauling my suitcases from Gatwick Airport to her flat.

I remember watching the Piccadilly train pull in when we switched at...probably Green Park (it was all a blur) and thinking "what on earth am I doing?" In the past couple of years I have come to realise that we all wonder that sometimes, and when push comes to shove I'm thankful to have had the opportunity to wonder that on this side of the Pond and to wonder it with so many friends both here and in Canada.

On my anniversary of my first day at work (June 2nd) I will be celebrating by taking the day off and Dave, Drew and I will be driving from Manchster to the bonny, bonny banks of Loch Lomund.

"You take the high road, and I'll take the low..."

I'm so excited!

Pictures, pictures, pictures...

Well, my dears, I did try. In fact, I spent a ridiculous amount of time last night taking pictures of my arse, and by the time I was done, it was sore from having spent so long in a "self-portrait of arse" position. The problem is that the impressive bruising tends to centre around my tailbone and (how to phrase it delicately) crack area, and I just didn't feel that people really wanted to see that. Besides, I hadn't realised until last night how gross it really is, and I thought it might make people feel a bit off. Instead, I am posting a shot (taken with the digital zoom from my office window) of where the incident took place.



It's a bit hard to see here, but Alexandra Palace (Ally Pally, to us locals) is the large structure to the right of the church. Just out of interest, that tall tower is the old BBC tower, and it was the site of the transmisison of the first TV signal.

Anyways, the nurse who did my stitching and I were joking that my p*rn film career would never take off now, but if anyone finds my digital camera, it might be just the break I need!

A stich in time...

...or six in my butt...

Caused by some kid falling when I was ice skating with my friend Ankur, taking me down in the process and having his skate cause a slice and puncture wound in my arse.

And yes, the ambulance guy (yes, they called an ambulance) was quite cute...figures!

My new project

I've started a Flickr account.

I know I probably shouldn't when I'm behind on my blog, but I really want to work on being a better photographer too!

I'll let you know the website as soon as I figure it out myself, and get it started sufficiently enough to not look silly (and offend people who may not be on it yet!)

And I would drive 500 miles...

Sorry about the lack of posting lately...

The same ol' story of having lots of ideas at home, not having a computer there, not having the time at work to blog anymore, and not having the money to buy a computer either!

Anyways, just quickly, I drove up to the Yorkshire Dales with Andrea who's visiting from Canada this weekend. It was tops! Saw Matt in York last night, and he's well, although more hairy these days (no worries...it looks good...although he slightly reminds me of the valiant Georgian sword-wielding, princess saving type)

More later...gotta go!

An English Canoeing Adventure

Some of you will have heard about this already but...

Last Saturday Hobbes (aka Danni), Anna and I went on a daytrip to the lovely Suffolk seaside town of Southwold, and lo and behold, across from the pier they had a large pond whereby people could rent boats. So, with the glee of a pair of five year-olds (after illegally climbing the rocks on the beach because somehow we missed the signs saying it was closed because it had become a construction site and then convincing Anna that yes, she did want to sit in the middle of a boat and learn how to paddle) we went and rented our "canoe" for £4.50 and had the run of the whooooooole pond! Our canoe was something to be envied...it was large, purple, plastic, flatbottomed and had a large sticker reading "Mohican" with a picture of a First Nations man (complete with headdress) padding his heart out.

So, after the gentleman kindly showed us which was the front and which was the back of the "canoe" (ha ha, he had no idea what experienced paddlers we really are!) and gave us our waist-high, one-third-the-regulation-sized paddles, we were off! We're quite sure we were the best paddlers that pond has ever seen...we were wildly doing figure eights around the "islands" (that incidentally were covered in nesting Canadian Geese who became really quite stroppy when we'd paddle past) and we even found a little section of inlet in which to dock our canoe and explore the surrouding area (knowing that if we got lost, a contruction site for a new subdivision was only 500 meteres away). We thought about portaging, but thought we might get accused of stealing their wonderful plastic canoe...

In all fairness to the "canoe" it was actually a bit tippier than it looked, but we felt confident we'd survive if we tipped...into the foot-and-a-half deep water...

I have enclosed some photos documenting the day...we were quite excited to discover that from the pictures, it looks quite convincingly like we were on a proper canoe trip...it's all in the camera angle!

Stay tuned for our next adventure...wine tasting in Bordeaux...

Ashley ran a marathon

Ashley ran the London Marathon on Sunday, and did incredibly well! I was soooo proud of her! Mish and I went to the 24 mile mark and spent a couple hours in the rain cheering on random people (who mostly seemed to be named Dave, Chris, Steve (with Steve-o being a popular variation) and Mike. We were at risk of being blocked from seeing the road by rude umbrella lady (who insisted it was pouring even when the rain had stopped) but in the nick-of-time we saw our Ashley go running past...claiming she was going to die. We, being the supporting friends we are said "No you're not. Just keep running". See, years of counselling training have clearly paid off. At any rate, apparently she hit the wall at mile 18, but she still looked pretty good to us! The last time I saw her (Sunday night after a great pub dinner with her parents and a few friends) she was displaying the proud marks of a marathon runner - an agonizing looking hobble, and the "backwards down the stairs" manoevre we've all heard so much about. I'll leave out the details of Monday's report of how her toenails looked, but just to say I have even more respect for her now! I wish I had pictures. I was doing the video and Mish was doing pictures, but she came upon us with such speed that no pictures were taken and the video consists mostly of her back and me saying "Wow - we almost missed her"

Oh yes, and I saw James Cracknell too!

All this has inspired me to get running again...once my knee's better. But I had an appointment this morning and the physiotherapist said he doesn't need to see me for another two weeks now, and he said I should be up and running again in about 3-4 weeks (as long as I keep doing my exercises and tape my knee the first times out again) Yaaaaayyyyyy!!!!!!

One of my friends...

..ran a "find" over my blog and was shocked to see her name was only mentioned four times, considering we speak pretty much every day and hang out regularly. I won't mention any names.

Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley Ashley

I assure all of you that times mentioned is not indicative of the degree you're appreciated... :)

Oh, what a sap I am!

I decided that if I want Annual Leave time this year at Christmas (having worked the last two) I'd better be super keen and get my request in now...

So, booking early for the couple weeks before Christmas was only £441. I haven't booked it yet (better make sure mom and dad want me) but I got "I'll be home for Christmas" going through the brain and I got all teary - oh I can feel it happening again! I'm going to see snow (I hope) and experience proper cold weather (I'm becoming soft over here) and eat mommy's Grandma S's stew recipe...and decorate german biscuits and see the Christmas Tree decorations we all made when we were little and hear mom singing "here comes Santa Clause" and have a Christmas beer with dad and have Sarah and Matt arrive home on perfectly coordinated time schedules into Belleville and go pick them up at some insanely early hour from the train and have Sarah make wondeful Turkey Soup with the leftovers and have Matt bring his Cheapass Board games home and then go up to camp for New Years (well, perhaps...don't mean to invite myself, Zoic) and it will be sooooo nice! I was excited to the point of just having sent an email to my parents, I then sent one to my manager and signed it "Love, J"

But it's only April.

In other news, Easter this past weekend was amazing! My dear friend Patrik came to visit from Sweden. It was grand to see him again! We chatted and wandered and sang (My favourite is when he sings me "Give me Hope Johanna"...never mind that it's actually an anti-apartheid song!) and I was introduced to the world of Quorn, and he was introduced to the world of Borough Market (and even the "feathers and fur" section, bless him). Ashley and Anna came around for Easter Lunch (and Patrik and I turned about 20 minutes of conversation into a musical and I think poor Ashley was about to kill us...but we all know how I wish life could be a musical...we made it rhyme and everything!), I added more Swedish to my vocabulary: "here", "there", "What?" "Is my Swedish really that bad" and "Six salmon in a salmon box" and we sang Beatles songs (with a brief tribute to Simon and Garfunkle) all the way to the airport on Monday. I wish I could post videos (I must figure that out) so that you all could witness a performance of Give me Hope... but these photos below will have to do for now... (and Ashley, I'm sorry I don't have a picture of you to post here, but you featured in the videos instead!)



Lunch at the National Gallery


A night out with the Flatmate and Sigrid



A Whiz with the guitar...

How does one recover?

I've just heard the unimaginable...

I was plugging away at my end of year report listening to CBC2 (which is the same type of station as BBC3, to put it into context for some of you) and somehow, Andrea Ritouski (the announcer) got her words all mixed up and out popped the bad word to end all bad words...the one you'd never hear on CBC, or BBC...or anywhere else really. I was shocked and wondering how she'd recover, but in calm CBC style she said "I'm sorry - I meant 'The final cut of the ninth'"

There's CBC elegance for you.

The Big Update

Sorry to all of you who have been emailing me asking where my updates are. They're all in my brain, I'm afraid. Had I internet access they'd be here, but as per Feb 14th's post, the internet is something I have to wait patiently for.

The past few weeks have been busy. In life, at work, etc, etc, etc. As the writers among you will know, business and (dare I say, for fear that the Parental Unit will worry) stress leads to non-updates. No worries though - the stress will subside once we are back to being full staffed at work, and my reports are in and funding is applied for (and even better still, obtained!) Hey, I'd still think I'd prefer this to trading fruit and vegetables!

The NLC concert on Saturday was great (according to my little group of loyal fans who came - bless them!) and next week we're full-on into Mozart's Requiem - I'm really excited by this one! My dear little Swedish Brother is coming down for Easter Weekend (note Patrik: with Bilar, if you please!) and I'm really looking forward to the weekend with him. My Swedish is rusty though, so I'd better practice up a bit! Danni and I are (hopefully) off to France for a day so that I can try out my Residents Permit in my passport and that's about it really...

What else can I say? I had a profound thought about one of the tracks on a Massive Attack Album, but I've since forgot what it was, and I'm saving up for my splurge of the month - the new Zutons is coming out soon. Hooray!

So, that's it. I promise to write all witty thoughts etc in my Moleskine for ease of transfer in the future....

How anticlimactic was this one, eh chaps?

Until later...

Joanna

PS I know someone who has a Moleskine but doesn't use it because he can't find anything important enough to put into it. I thought that was tragic...

Rite of Spring

No, I won't sing Stravinsky at you all!

I needed a bit of a pick-up over the weekend, so I went out and took pictures of spring. Here are a few (I'll add more when I have the time and/or inclination)












Spring is so wonderful in this country!

Almost Famous!

Tomorrow photographers from the Guardian are coming to take pictures of our Centre and our carers for a feature they're doing in a couple months. Guess who has the day off though.

AAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!!!! I can't believe I'll miss it!

Oh well, a lie-in and nice breakfast are more valuable to me at this time than my face splashed all over the National Press - hee hee!