Wow, time flies...
DIY tip for the month - drilling a hole in your central heating pipe is an excellent cure for boredom. That was, of course, the latest episode in the saga of the study flooring, which had expanded so much it was crimping the pipe and making the radiator leak. The ensuing application of the drill to the offending floorboard was by and large counter productive.
Looking on the bright side, while the plumber was here he pointed out the noisy new boiler wasn't meant to be that noisy, so it's had a new fuel pump fitted. Now it's so quiet you can hear the cat snore.
No 1 daughter is settling in at uni, my new OU course started this weekend and great progress has been made in decorating the house. And one of the preceding statements is untrue.
We've been waging a war of attrition against the slugs which seem to spend most nights trailing around the conservatory and dining room. On average we've been catching one or two a week. Then a couple of nights ago - when it was really, really rainy - four of them launched themselves at the salt barricade across the point where they emerge from beneath the skirting board. I think the plan must have been a sort of team Slug Walter Raleigh effort. Or they may just have been really hungry after being cooped up behind the skirting for a fortnight. Either way, they didn't make it.
I'm just worried now how many grieving sluggy relatives are behind the skirting boards, pumping iron and making ready for the next mission...
Monday, 6 October 2008
Friday, 5 September 2008
Summer's over
10/10 for writerly observation. Finished that damned short story last night and have entered it in the BSFA short story competition, where I have little doubt it will sink without trace. But, hey, I finished it...
And now I have finished it I realise the main problem was the choice of central character: it simply wasn't plausible to have her on the spot for the later developments I had planned. Which means:
And now I have finished it I realise the main problem was the choice of central character: it simply wasn't plausible to have her on the spot for the later developments I had planned. Which means:
- it's shorter than intended but finished before the deadline, and
- in spite of calls for more optimistic SF - if I rediscover the blog where I read about that I'll stick the link here, but don't bank on it - it has a wallow-in-misery downbeat ending. Unless, of course, you're rooting for the alien.
Monday, 18 August 2008
Doomed
Oh well...
The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Sixth Level of Hell - The City of Dis!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:
Take the Dante's Inferno Hell Test
Suppose in the meantime I'd better get on with that archaeology essay due on Friday. Then I can get back to the short story that's been refusing to toe the production line all month.
The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Sixth Level of Hell - The City of Dis!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:
| Level | Score |
|---|---|
| Purgatory (Repenting Believers) | Very Low |
| Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers) | Moderate |
| Level 2 (Lustful) | Low |
| Level 3 (Gluttonous) | High |
| Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious) | Moderate |
| Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy) | Very High |
| Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics) | Very High |
| Level 7 (Violent) | Moderate |
| Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers) | Moderate |
| Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous) | High |
Take the Dante's Inferno Hell Test
Suppose in the meantime I'd better get on with that archaeology essay due on Friday. Then I can get back to the short story that's been refusing to toe the production line all month.
Saturday, 12 July 2008
Vertigo
No, not the Hitchcock thriller, but the head-spinning, room-reeling, can't-walk-along-the-landing-without-bumping-into-the-walls, disruptive kind. It's been a useless week. There was some good news: it wasn't so bad I couldn't get dressed and downstairs before motion sickness kicked in; the in-laws rallied round so daughter could get to her driving theory test on Tuesday*; and spending two days prostrate on the couch meant I could watch the entire first series of Life on Mars.** Great music, shame about the avocado wallpaper.***
So not a big week for progress, instead of decorating the living room I've been shuffling around the house like an old crone. But the floor looks bogging smart.
* she failed again, but only by two points this time
** surreal experience, lying on the couch watching Gene Hunt et al getting boozed up while the room oscillated about me
*** and we were so pleased with our new avocado bathroom suite in 1973...
So not a big week for progress, instead of decorating the living room I've been shuffling around the house like an old crone. But the floor looks bogging smart.
* she failed again, but only by two points this time
** surreal experience, lying on the couch watching Gene Hunt et al getting boozed up while the room oscillated about me
*** and we were so pleased with our new avocado bathroom suite in 1973...
Monday, 7 July 2008
Guess what redux
They're done, gone, left the building!
Then the electrician turned up and fitted the cloakroom* light, moved the switch in the office and finished up almost all the odds and ends he needed to do. That elusive finishing line has inched a fraction closer. Then there's the small matter of redecorating most of the house. We've launched the campaign in the living room, fitting the oak flooring ourselves** - leaving the recommended 15mm expansion gap round the edges, unlike the joiners - we ran out of glue and weekend at the same time, otherwise my sore neck, back and fingers would feel even worse than they do today.
On the studying front, I've failed to do any advance work so far on the Level 3 Classical Greek course starting next year and am having one of those phases where I think completing my degree at the end of the year after next is too far distant.
Writing-wise, the short SF story I've been working on seems determined to become a turkey, so I'll shelve it for a few days.
* Yeah, we normally call it the downstairs loo, too...
** For those of you concerned about the fate of the faded swirly blue carpet, it is destined to become weed control mulch around the new trees we hope to plant this autumn.
Then the electrician turned up and fitted the cloakroom* light, moved the switch in the office and finished up almost all the odds and ends he needed to do. That elusive finishing line has inched a fraction closer. Then there's the small matter of redecorating most of the house. We've launched the campaign in the living room, fitting the oak flooring ourselves** - leaving the recommended 15mm expansion gap round the edges, unlike the joiners - we ran out of glue and weekend at the same time, otherwise my sore neck, back and fingers would feel even worse than they do today.
On the studying front, I've failed to do any advance work so far on the Level 3 Classical Greek course starting next year and am having one of those phases where I think completing my degree at the end of the year after next is too far distant.
Writing-wise, the short SF story I've been working on seems determined to become a turkey, so I'll shelve it for a few days.
* Yeah, we normally call it the downstairs loo, too...
** For those of you concerned about the fate of the faded swirly blue carpet, it is destined to become weed control mulch around the new trees we hope to plant this autumn.
Wednesday, 25 June 2008
Guess what...
The joiners are due back tomorrow. One of them arrived last week to finish off the remaining odds and ends and to fix the bowing study floor. Unfortunately he rounded off the morning by sawing through his thumb, which had an adverse impact on productivity, as you can imagine.
The builders have replaced the patio door with two new windows, repointed the front of the house and have GONE. Finished (that word again). Really. I kid you not. I'm grappling with the radical concept that soon all the work on the house might be complete (ringing the changes here). If the joiners actually manage to do their bit by the end of this week (keeping expectations suitably low key here) that just leaves the electrician to work his magic with a couple of light fittings and switches and electric to the barns outside. Then I can carry on decorating.
We almost have a fully functional house with lights, sockets and bookshelves where they're needed, warm water inside where it's meant to be and rainwater outside where it's meant to be. All right, the holes in the yard aren't concreted and we haven't sown the new lawns yet, but this has to be progress of some kind. We'll have been here two years in October.
The builders have replaced the patio door with two new windows, repointed the front of the house and have GONE. Finished (that word again). Really. I kid you not. I'm grappling with the radical concept that soon all the work on the house might be complete (ringing the changes here). If the joiners actually manage to do their bit by the end of this week (keeping expectations suitably low key here) that just leaves the electrician to work his magic with a couple of light fittings and switches and electric to the barns outside. Then I can carry on decorating.
We almost have a fully functional house with lights, sockets and bookshelves where they're needed, warm water inside where it's meant to be and rainwater outside where it's meant to be. All right, the holes in the yard aren't concreted and we haven't sown the new lawns yet, but this has to be progress of some kind. We'll have been here two years in October.
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