Kittensonstrings

Fangs! We have fangs! Aaargh! Snow in NY is grubby.

2007-03-12T14:44:00.000Z

MOMA NY

2007-03-12T14:40:00.000Z

More pictures of Venice? Well, if you insist... The first one is the view from the bedroom window

2007-02-13T17:57:00.000Z

Job shenanigans

2007-01-09T15:34:00.000Z

I was told last week that the people I work for had chucked their copyrights and permissions person and please could I take up the slack, lots more hours, increased responsibility, my own projects to work on, yadda yadda. Then yesterday husband-boss told me he had been talking to wife-boss and she persuaded him to apologise to the permissions person and beg them to come back, which she has, which means... although I have done a good job on the stuff they asked me to do, my services will no longer be required. I am working on one project but when that's over they have no more work for me. Bummer, non? So I am back in the job market. Sigh. Oh well, this could be an exciting opportunity to get something really high powered and complicated and interesting and earn lots of money. To be honest it was very boring working for Them because they never gave me anything interesting to do. Plus I'm going to New York at the end of February so yay for me.

Well! How exciting.

2006-12-09T21:19:00.000Z

I just (twenty minutes ago) had someone trying to climb over the fence into the house, looming in at me through the kitchen window as he started to climb over. And when I waved at him he jumped back down so I went outside for a little chat with them, accompanied by Neil. Neil had heard one of them saying "I'm not going to do it", arguing with the other, five minutes before (Neil was smoking a fag in the dark in the garden) and he was coming out to check that they weren't breaking into the car. So I asked the one I saw jumping over the fence why he had done it BUT he was pretending to be on the phone (aah, classic) and the other one got mouthy to Neil. Then the first one got mouthy ("is this your road? I can walk along here if I like" etc etc) and loomed up to Neil, right in his face, with his hands in his pockets (not a good look, as Neil has been stabbed twice by people looming up to him, reaching their hands into their pockets). There was a girl on a bike as well but she didn't get mouthy.
At this point all other houses are being locked up tight as there's a FIGHT in the road (damn right there was, I was pretty grumpy at this point). So I phoned the police as they were threatening to "fuck up" Neil and to do all sorts of nasty things to the dogs. Then I got my camera and took some photos of them and one of them tried to grab the camera out of my hand but just sort of batted it. Thicko. The other apparently kept saying to Neil that he was a gipsy. Good on him. I think the point was that he shouldn't be messed with but HA.
Anyway, we went back inside and then they threw a bike over the wall into the garden. And then the police came and arrested one of them and said that the other wasn't a gipsy (why boast about a fake gipsy heritage?) and the dogs are sleeping on my bed tonight because I'm scared for them and I am all shaky and FULL OF ADRENALIN. Meep. I feel a bit sick. Plus I missed the results for the X Factor. How was your Saturday night?

Hectic time

2006-11-25T13:46:00.000Z

Hi people, I'm sorry I haven't been posting anything recently or replying to your fabulous emails, but I've been having a total nightmare with the flat. The people who moved in prompty sealed the whole place up - no windows open, no ventilation, nothing - and then proceeded to cook masses of food, dry their laundry in the living room, take showers with the bathroom door open, and so on. In short, after ten days mould started to grow all over one wall and the doors started to swell and stick and the curtains started to go mouldy (really), and then after a MONTH the husband mentioned this to me as a sort of PS in an email when I said I was coming round to inspect the place. So I went round with Neil and there was mould all over my beautiful flat which they'd halfheartedly tried to wipe off, leaving brown smears everywhere, and pools of water on all the windowsills. And it was unbelievibly humid, like some sort of tropical slum. So Neil rang Environmental Health and they said it was definitely condensation, and we came back with a dehumidifier and explained to the wife that the windows need to be opened sometimes and that unfortunately as the damage was caused by the tenants they would have to pay for repainting the wall with antifungicidal paint. Then the husband phoned me that evening and stared yelling at me, so I passed the phone over to Neil and he said to Neil that "trust had been broken" and that it was our fault and that he was getting independent legal advice and that we were trying to rip him off and that he wanted to leave and that he wasn't paying and that we'd intimidated his wife and that we would hear from his solicitor. The whole thing is making me feel sick, even just writing about it. Thank god for Neil, he was so calming and reassuring. I don't want people ruining my beautiful home, it is a horrible feeling. I wrote to him offering to pay a third of the paint costs as a goodwill gesture but the whole thing is making me miserable and I have to go over again this evening to inspect the damage and I'm worried he will be unpleasant and aggressive again. So that's been my week. How are you guys?

The Miracle of Birth

2006-10-07T12:34:00.000Z

And today I am showing three people round the flat

2006-08-30T13:21:00.000Z

Because I'm going to rent it out. Oh, and I have been offered a job with www.gresham-books.co.uk.

And I don't know if I mentioned it but I went to France too

2006-08-30T13:17:00.000Z

I know, I know

2006-08-30T13:12:00.000Z

I've been rubbish. I'm so sorry Ems that I didn't get to see you before you went! I feel really bad... here are some photos of what I've been up to in the meantime: camping in Cornwall with Rachel!

Jung typology

2006-07-14T14:47:00.000Z

I did this test:http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp
and it says I am an INFJ!http://typelogic.com/infj.html Do you think this sounds like me? I also did an IQ test and got 131, which I was talking to Jess about. We decided that as the median (mean? Average anyway.) is 100, there is an opposite of me out there somewhere with an IQ of 69, and this person is my nemesis. A really crap nemesis. "Quickly, distract her with a handful of shiny pebbles! Aha! Now to put in place my plan for world domination! Nothing will stop me now! Stop throwing pebbles at me, nemesis, that really hurts." What do you think?

Perfect weather, good food, delicious aperitifs...

2006-06-14T20:27:00.000Z

I had a wonderful time in Venice

2006-06-14T20:25:00.000Z

I call this one "The Blood! The Blood!"

2006-05-29T18:52:00.000Z

A nice, quiet, restrained evening to celebrate Emily's homecoming... guess which one is my favourite?

2006-05-25T21:15:00.000Z

In response to popular demand...

2006-05-03T21:17:00.000Z

My fave five from a fun-packed week: The Holocaust memorial, a tank next to the Soviet war memorial, the view from our window, a mural showing the glories of the socialist cccp (ie Russian) space programme, and a statue celebrating the great authors of Germany. In the same square where the Nazi book burnings happened. Like I said, a thought-provoking week.

Do you miss Oxford?

2006-04-21T11:40:00.000Z

We miss you! Looking forward to mid-May. Photos taken early evening just before going to the Turf with Lilly for a pint.

I done painted me a picture for my momma

2006-03-24T23:39:00.000Z

This seems to be turning into a picture blog... but I had to post these pics. How gorgeous?

2006-03-12T14:24:00.000Z

It is Neil's 40th today

2006-03-03T09:25:00.000Z

Happy birthday Neil!

Just a few more...

2006-03-03T09:21:00.000Z

Would you like to see my holiday photos?

2006-03-03T09:14:00.000Z

I won't bore you with all of them, but here is a selection:

This news just in.

2006-02-22T13:16:00.000Z

I might be moving house in June. More on that story later.

Well, it's done.

2006-02-20T10:16:00.000Z

I have spent two days moving large items of furniture out of Stanton St John and into a van and then out of a van and into the Bakehouse. My muscles are aching and I could hardly cycle to work this morning. But all the main bits of furniture are now out of the house and I've said goodbye to it because it's being sold early next week and I'm going to be in Rome then. There were six of us moving everything - me, Neil, Rachel, Hal, Daddy and his new girlfriend Carole. Who is a tiny bit of boho chic hippy floaty French stuff who can't heave up one end of a wardrobe and manouvere it round a spiral staircase (over the handrail, brace, turn it through 180 degrees, hold it steady, watch out for the stairlift, down slowly, etc,) to save her life. She did try, bless her, but she wasn't much use, and she nearly broke her wrist. And Daddy was in a foul temper of course because it was a bit depressing, and by the end of the day she was not very happy. So that was an added complication. But it's done now and I'm off to Rome on Thursday! I am going to buy a hot pink suitcase today.

Lilly

2006-02-13T16:29:00.001Z

Interested?

Shopping

2006-02-10T13:11:00.000Z

I went shopping yesterday lunchtime at the fag-end of the January sales. Everything is so cheap! I bought a black top, three quarter length, buttons on the sleeves. And some boots, knee high, brown leather, small heel. And a jacket, brown, tailored, waist-length. And a pair of black leather gloves. And some makeup (face powder). And an ankle length brown cordouroy skirt. And some octopus.

Why, yes, actually. I did have a little haircut.

2006-02-05T12:00:00.000Z

How kind of you to notice!

I babysat for Leo last night

2006-01-18T21:30:00.000Z

She is the snuggliset bunny in the whole world. We played 'rip rip tear the paper', and then we played 'don't want no dam' baby rice' (the trick is not to feed her ear by mistake when she turns her head at the last minute), and then we had a little jamming session, me on guitar and her on Fimbles electronics gizmo. Jess was really worried that she might cry when she left her but she was perfectly happy, which makes me feel exquisitely smug.

Ooh it works! Lots of random loveliness including a pseudoarty photo of Iffley

2006-01-13T23:06:00.000Z

Back from my holidays

2006-01-11T16:32:00.000Z

and raring to post again. I have a new digital camera Ems so you will soon be able to see pics of Leo if I can figure out how to post them, and also arty pictures of Iffley Lock on New Year's day. Won't that be fun!

La la la I have bought plane tickets and am going off to all sorts of exciting places this year. Rome at the end of February? Oh yes. berlin in April? Why not. And perhaps I will spend June in Venice and round it off with a little trip to Prague in September. What larks!

A quick game of Conflicting Signifiers this morning

2005-11-25T10:18:00.000Z

I am wearing Neil's high vis jacket to cycle to work lately because it is warm and cuts down on my chances of becoming roadkill. It's fun to cycle past workmen and watch their faces as they think, 'Woman. Cor. But wait! Yellow jacket means workman. Leering wrong. Not poof or workman-fancier. But wait! Woman. Leer. No! Erk.'
Perhaps I am being too mean.

Mr Johnson is delectable

2005-11-15T15:14:00.000Z

Lovely lovely Boris

I am a good person

2005-11-13T12:20:00.000Z

I have not been drinking during the week, which has left me all bright eyed and whatnot. I may well go for a healthy cycle ride later. La via e bella! (Yes, I'm in the manic phase of my cycle.) Emily, when do you want me and Lilly to come and visit you? Otherwise we will spend all our money on weekends in Prague.

I am getting really stressed and upset

2005-11-01T12:43:00.000Z

Rachel has a friend that she's known all of two months or so, from work, who is going to have a kid. So Rachel said to this friend that she could go through my Grandmother's house and pick out any stuff she wanted. Is it just me or would that be really upsetting to you too? I don't want some stranger poking through my grandmother's attic and taking all my family's children's books and toys. I am really wound up about this. Plus the house is now on the market Stanton and apparently there's been lots of interest. I have to go over there this weekend and pack up all her books.

Houses. Again.

2005-10-29T09:26:00.000Z

Hay guys. I know it's really sad to get excited about a kitchen but... well, look at this.
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-4571941.rsp?pa_n=false&tr_t=buy&ep=via_sl#skip

Mmm, sloping windows.

Book launch

2005-10-24T11:44:00.000Z

Frday's book launch was successful - we all went back to Bardwell Road afterwards for supper and your parents were there Emily. Lilly, do you want to go to see Serenity at some point? Cheapo supper at Fishers and then a film? Let me know - I know you're busy most of this week but maybe after work one day next week?

Spain was...

2005-10-19T12:19:00.000Z

28 degrees everyday. There was sun and sand and if you say "Buenos tardes! Una copa de vino rosado de la casa per favor!" they bring you lifegiving booze! The house was in an English enclave with several Indian restaurants and a pub called the Royal Oak, which was funny. I came back with a suntan - in the middle of October!

I have booked plane tickets to Murcia

2005-10-04T12:34:00.000Z

and opera tickets too, so if you want to come to the opera Lilly let me know. Barber of Seville or the Merry Widow, both Welsh National. And then next summer I have booked Tosca and Don Giovanni. Hurrah!
I am going to go and view this house soon I hope:
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-4699861.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=buy
I decided I was not doing enough things, so I have made a conscious decision to Do Stuff. I am going to see Curse of the WereRabbit when I get back from Spain, and I am going to book myself a back massage as a treat for my birthday. Splurge!

Sunday morning

2005-10-02T09:05:00.000Z

and I am googling for cheap flights to Murcia. Neil's brother has lent us his place in Spain and we are off for an off season break next week. Neil really listened to me saying I wanted to do a bit of travelling. I know it's not the Amazon, but we will get a car and explore, and I have never been to Spain (well, once, but only for a couple of hours). Ole, ole ole ole! A la la la la la bamba! Torremolinos! etc.

Someonegot into the lift with me the other night

2005-09-29T07:18:00.000Z

and started coughing and spluttering and hacking and wheezing without their hand over their mouth, filling the whole lift with EVIL MICROBES. And now I have a horrible cold. Why aren't people taught to put their hand over their mouth when they cough? I am serious. It is really revolting. I ache. I can't take another day off work. Gah. Whiny whine whine. Apologies, I'm feeling all sorry for myself.

Three beers last night...

2005-09-26T10:30:00.000Z

And then home sensibly early. Am I good or what? Lilly and I went to say goodbye to Nishma yesterday, she is off to Italy for nine months. Jess came too, briefly, with Leo. Lilly, I hope you got home OK!

I just had lunch in the Uni Parks with Jess and Leo

2005-09-22T16:32:00.000Z

Leo is the best baby ever. She tumbled over but was all brave, and then she went straight for my diamond necklace (good taste, that girl), and if you say "a-da' to her she replies "a-da"! Not scintillating conversation yet I admit, but very sweet.

Neil downloaded Skype onto our home computer last night

2005-09-20T08:16:00.000Z

I don't think we have a microphone though. Maybe I ought to get one of those and a web cam too.

Picture of health

2005-09-16T09:46:00.000Z

No booze for me last night! I read my book and had a reasonably early night and this morning I changed the bed and did a load of laundry and did the washing up and tidied the kitchen and had some breakfast and showered and dressed and cycled to work all before ten. All bright and chirpy.

I am somewhat hungover

2005-09-15T14:29:00.000Z

Lilly you are a bad influence on me and it is not the other way around, Oh no. Poor Neil had to put up with me coming home late and squifffy last night and trying to make a morrocan themed supper. The kitchen looks like a couscous bomb has hit it.

I am so jealous

2005-09-14T09:57:00.000Z

Rachel is going to Vancouver on business. So jealous. Very happy for her obviously but mainly hugely jealous. I have got the travelling urge.

Nobody knows that I am here.

2005-09-13T12:56:00.000Z

This amuses me strangely.

Ooh it's so clever

2005-09-09T17:35:00.000Z

Lilly is not the only preson who can do linky linky

http://www.alice.dryden.co.uk/ho_for_hoggwarts.htm

Still here

2005-06-15T15:04:00.000Z

I fully intend to do this blog thing properly in the near future, once I have sorted out finishing my job and starting a new one, freelance, and also possibly buying a new house. IT WILL HAPPEN. Oh yes. I need to buy a proper computer as well.

Look at me!

2004-10-01T14:49:00.000Z

I'm blogging! Whee! Floating through cyberspace with only my mittens to keep me warm.