Journal Entries
Get yer luvverly Pumpins 'ere
Posted Oct 21, 2005
The neighbourhood was impressed by my pumpkin efforts last year:
http://www.flamingpie.memebot.com/Pumpkins.htm
(be patient while it loads - I forgot to optimise the jpegs)
This year we're offering to carve other peoples' pumpkins for them, in exchange for a donation to Pakistani and Indian Earthquake Victims. My kids have distributed leaflets to the local families. We'll be taking the proceeds to an Islamic Relief shop.
When I was young, pumpkins were unheard of, and we carved swedes. They were a bugger to hollow out and stank to high heaven when you lit the candle.
Trick and Treat is a relatively modern phenomenon in England, assimilated from watching likes of ET. But Scotland has always had a tradition of 'Guising'. Door-to-door sweetie beggars are expected to say a rhyme or sing a song or tell a joke before they get their booty.
What we did have in England was something caled Mischief Night. A week before Halloween, kids would play random tricks such as wrapping a dog turd in newspaper, setting it on someone's step, lighting the paper, ringing the bell and running away. This was folk tradition of the purest kind because it took place without the encouragement or even acknowledgement of adults.
Beats faffing around with these pesky Gnaarams any day!
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Latest reply: Oct 21, 2005
How to flunk an interview
Posted Oct 12, 2005
I need some advice.
On Friday, I'm being interviewed by phone by a potential customer. It's for some consultancy work which my employer is quite keen to get, and which I'd be well qualified for and good at.
The problem is that it would involve being away from home five days per week for six months. This would be harmful for both my family and my own health. (Done it before. Still bear the scars.)
So...what's the best way for me to flunk the interview while still seeming technically competent and keen?
Discuss this Journal entry [58]
Latest reply: Oct 12, 2005
Dull it was in that dawn to be alive
Posted Sep 12, 2005
And to be young was very boring
(Apologies to Billy Wordsworth)
I used to say that if an 80's Revival ever started, I'd know it was time for me to curl up and die. Well...this weekend I passed an 80's theme bar. (So now I'm embracing the old hippy logan: 'Never trust anyone over 25...30...35...40...'
)
It got me thinking...there are a small number of iconic decades: The Twenties; The Sixties which represent times of great social and cultural change. Even with the less iconic ones, we associate certain things with them.
So...what do we associate with the 80's?
I'm presuming said bar will be playing Wham and Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet, rather than the lo-fi indie dirges that I was listening to at the time.
Discuss this Journal entry [32]
Latest reply: Sep 12, 2005
The knives were out
Posted Aug 16, 2005
Well, as I've already told some of you, my carpal tunnels are now sorted. It was a marvellously trauma-free procedure, and I've certainly had scalpels stuck in worse places (places that resulted in my having to sit on a bag of frozen peas ). While I was getting my local anaesthetic - the only painful part - I expressed an interest in being talked through what was being done to me. The surgeon interpreted this as wanting to have my hand held up periodically so that I could gaze into the 1.5 in incicision he'd made in my wrist and retracted. So I now know that my subcutaneous fat looks remarkably similar to that on a lamb chop and that my nerves are a pleasant shade of blue. There was no blood involved because they pumped up a tourniquet for the duration. Afterwards I spent 48h in a bandage like a boxing glove and a sling. Now I'm down to a rather neat hi-tech plaster that does a remarkable job of remaining stuck to my palm. There's been hardly any pain - just a bit of stinging which was sorted out by paracetamol - it only hurts when I do foolish things like typing. The next stage is having the stitches taken out by a small, mythical creature. (You know...the sutures elf...
)
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Latest reply: Aug 16, 2005
Credit Card Poised
Posted Jul 28, 2005
Via the miracle of Google Alerts, I've just discovered that tickets for The White Stripes in Glasgow go on sale tomorrow. Great news for fans of very noisy music. Isn't Sister Meg just soooo cool?
Discuss this Journal entry [4]
Latest reply: Jul 28, 2005
Edward the Bonobo - Gone.
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