Journal Entries
Classic BI comment
Posted Jan 18, 2009
Last week:
Fb to BI >I'm getting Sky installed this weekend. I can't wait: clear pictures and decent programmes<
BI to Fb >Oh. So you're taking the Lower Path are you?<
Fb 
Seven days later:
BI to Fb >I've just heard I'm getting a Digibox installed. I'm really looking forward to all those extra channels<
Fb >How lovely for you Mum. I'm sure you'll enjoy it<
Moral? I am an 
Discuss this Journal entry [10]
Latest reply: Jan 18, 2009
Goodbye my friend
Posted Jan 10, 2009
Earlier this weekend, my old friend G - for whom many of you provided post-operative jokes 18 months ago - has died.
At last his struggle is over and it seems to have been a good death given the circumstances. But no matter how glad I am that he has found a way to end his living hell, I am heartbroken that he is dead.
My fine, laughter-filled, gentle friend is irrevocably gone. There is a time for everything and it was his time to die. For those of us who continue to live without his company, the sunshine just got a little less bright.
Discuss this Journal entry [27]
Latest reply: Jan 10, 2009
Stephen Fry
Posted Jan 1, 2009
He is here in NZ filming an update of DNA's "Last Chance To See". He's looking at kakapos again - a small success story with the population having increased from 40 when DNA and Mark Carwardine were here, to 90 now 
Fry is also looking at other NZ species such as wekas, wetas and a plant or two.
He's picked the right week for the weather 
The footage should be spectacular.
Discuss this Journal entry [9]
Latest reply: Jan 1, 2009
A sunny holiday - and a paid one to boot!
Posted Dec 29, 2008
This is the first paid holiday I've had for four years and it is amazing how much more relaxed I feel No worries about missed deadlines; what emails might have arrived with offers of work; when the next invoice will be paid into my bank; how on earth I'm going to pay for petrol next week....
Not until now did I realise quite how much background stress I put myself under as a consultant. As a fulltime employee I don't have to think about w*rk at all Instead I've been thinking about the garden And long walks 
And fishing (only thinking about that so far). And painting 
And writing 
And cooking 
On Saturday I had a walk in the foothills of the S Alps (
) where we found trees dripping with ripe cherries. The next day we returned armed with containers and picked 4kg 
I do love free food. The walk took us up through recently planted pine trees, into a huge gully of natural beech forest. It was a real education for me to see what NZ once looked like... a high canopy with tiny leaves, through which the sun easily shines onto the lower storeys of coprosmas and saplings, ferns and mosses. There was a big-bouldered stream tumbling down through the gully: crystal clear water and deep pools which invited you to dip 
We didn't 
If 2009 is as good as the end of 2008, it'll be a good one at Bean Acres
I hope that all of you have a good one too.
Fb
Discuss this Journal entry [20]
Latest reply: Dec 29, 2008
Hurrah! Veggie gardening!
Posted Dec 22, 2008
I spent three hours yesterday evening in the veg patch 
Digging, composting, feeding, planting, watering, slug-pelleting, admiring
Sowed: carrots, leeks, lettuce, borlotti beans
Planted (seedlings from friends and garden centre): cabbage, cauli, runners, pumpkin, courgettes, onions, peppers, tomatoes.
I am a happy Frenchbean again Whilst there are a few things missing from my ideal garden list (parsnips, beetroot, broadbeans, frenchbeans, cucumbers) it'll do just fine for year one.
Now I need a long warm summer so that all these late crops will have a chance to give me decent harvests.
Fb
Discuss this Journal entry [8]
Latest reply: Dec 22, 2008
frenchbean
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