I feel nauseous with tiredness, so I'm handing over to my Daddy, who has an interesting tale about what he got up to on Saturday (me?  I just debated socks with various people, and went to the theatre, and had a jolly good time):

I started a bonfire to get rid of the rubbish from the felled/fallen trees at about 4.30 p.m. It was slow to start and it was very smokey, because the stuff was mainly green - and wet.

At about 5.30, I said to Mum that we might get rid of it all if the police and the fire brigade stayed away for another half hour - it was VERY smokey. About a quarter of an hour later, we were greeted by two firemen, one of whom was waving a whopping great torch to emphasise that it was smokey! He said that they could see the smoke from Amersham! (Amersham is about two miles away from Chesham). However, good sense (plus my saying that they were about a quarter of an hour early) enabled us to continue to clear the stuff.

Sales of cigarettes are down in Chesham, because of the free smoke - and we have got rid of the rubbish - just as well as it is now raining.

xxx

Remember my boiler? 

Well, boilerman #2 came along, and now it doesn't go out at all.  We resorted to boilerman #2 after boilerman #1 came along, fiddled for 20 minutes, demanded £90 in deposit, and was never seen again, despite myriad phone calls to find out where the hell he was, and myriad assurances that "oh, he's on his way, he's nearly there."  Dad nearly missed seeing Lizzie in the Opera.  We stopped the cheque, and never heard anything again.

Boilerman #2 has just sent a letter threatening to slap a CCJ on Dad, at my address, if we don't cough up £90 in the next week. 

That'll really do great things for my credit rating.  Thank God I already have a mortgage.  Must do useful things about transferring some of my savings into it.

And now, I need a cup of tea.  Dad assures me that no way  will there be a CCJ slapped on my surname.  I am not convinced.

xxx

The office suddenly, randomly, and (thank you God), briefly smelt of feet.

Really smelly, cheesy, male feet.

And I am the only one in here at the moment.

xxx

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How the heck did it get to be past 7pm, and me still here?  Still, I've managed to get some of what I wanted to get done today done, I've got one more thing to do (it's brainless).  It was an interrupty sort of day.

And, when I'm home?  I shall post my finished socks (the latest pair, finished in the wee small hours of this morning - I couldn't resist sewing over the picot tops edging, despite the fact that it was gone midnight) and block them, I shall knit some more of my flamingo socks.  I shall wind the yarn for my Anthropologist's socks, and I shall swatch for Indiana Jones' sweat band.

I shan't go to morris, since I ought to be there at 7.30pm, and it ain't gonna happen.

xxx

It snows.  Probably about 5 cm (in Oxford, my friend measured, and they've got 7.2cm).  I trundled across the park, pretending to be Pooh, getting entirely distracted by taking pictures of the prettiness, and ended up at work at the normal time.  i.e. late.  I even got up within half an hour of the alarum clock going off, rather than my more usual hour.  Then, I dawdled.

It is a dawdly sort of day, and I have meetings this afternoon.  I had meetings for lots of yesterday.  In addition to SQL, I shall be learning MIIS and VB Script.  They all hang together, apparently, in our little world.  Squaddie is also supposed to be learning same, from a different perspective.  He's about to become our Sys Admin.  I am not convinced about this: he's already said that SQL and VB Script are Not His Thing.  However, we need two of us to be able to do this sort of thing in order to act as mutual backup for the simple day-to-day stuff.... I still have no cover for my complex processes, bar the Developers upstairs who could, with the available documentation, cover these if I fell under a bus.  Their boss has realised this, which is Progress: and agrees that Helpdesk cannot be expected to have this sort of knowledge. 

I have no intention of falling under a bus.  But I do want to change jobs in the next 12 months.  In the past two years, I have made very little progress, bar reading lots of books on the 1001 Books you must read before you die list.  And learning how to ski.  And becoming a Brown Owl.  I am appalled with myself.

Meanwhile, I have discovered that the important form for Pack Holiday never made it to the Host Adviser, and that we must try again.  I also discovered that Princess Owl has universally pissed off everyone she's met in the Division so far.  Makes me feel better about being totally annoyed by her.  She's all talk and no trousers...

xxx

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Princess Owl: that is the name she somehow ended up with after the Brownies had finished chosing names for the adult helpers (we also have Little Owl, Smiley Owl, Snowy Owl).  It suits her to a 'T'.  On many levels.

Meanwhile, my monthly review, which was 40 minutes overdue, has just been moved (OK, partly because I want to go to another meeting at 3).  I am furious: because it gets moved pretty much every single month, and this time without a word of apology.  I was ready (previous meeting allowing) on time...

xxx

Well, the water wasn't entirely stoney... I could poke my finger through the ice at the edge of the boating pond perfectly happily, and the water underneath felt reasonably warm.  Either that, or my fingers were frozen, despite being encased in wristwarmers, which go most of the way up, and then a pair of mittens.

I want to knit these.  I know full well that the world and his wife is knitting them, and that I wear mittens around three times a year, but, oh, the gorgeousness.  I particularly like these.  Or rather, since only one is knitted, 'this'. 

There would be pictures of the Park in all its glorious frostiness, but the camera battery died halfway across the park, and just before some really kick-ass icey trees.  You'll have to imagine it.  The birds were singing madly, though, which is just as well, as the iPod had lost most of its juice and was steadily getting quieter.  There will be much battery recharging tonight.  I too need to sleep and recharge.  Besides, we are due snow tomorrow, with all the hysteria which that generates, the country will grind to a halt (electric rails cannot cope and ice over) and our Security Manager thinks that we require some extra warning: "One concern is the rate at which snow could accumulate during tomorrow morning. The impact of this could lead to problems in keeping main routes clear (despite best efforts).  Grid locking would then need to be considered as a major risk. Other impacts include disruption to power supplies due to ice accretion."  Lovely.  Because, we expect between 2cm and 5cm of snow, with maybe 10-15cm in London and The Apocalypse is Upon Us.  Doomed.  We are All Doooooooommmmmmmmed.  The World is Ending. 

I may wear my sexy long underwear.  Which was bought for Switzerland, and always sets up a good feeling.  I might try to find a hat that doesn't leak air.  I could wear my earmuffs.  I really must do some work.

xxx

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