I Smell Snow

It’s frickin freezing! I have two heaters on around me and it is not making a dent. My toes are icy. Mmmm, lovely lovely tea is helping slightly. As are the minty After Eight style sticks I am munching on that are left over from Xmas. Apparently there has been flake-age in the North and it ‘should’ hit us any time today. Of course, we know what that means, at the merest hint of snow the transport system shuts down or at least moves at a snail’s pace. You’d think we’d have got used to it by now, it is England for goodness sake.

Anyway, I am back at work. Counting the days til the weekend/my next holiday. I spent New Year’s Day battling ‘spirits’ in Zelda land. Knowing I wouldn’t sleep anyway (any excuse), I stayed up til 12.30 am, then realised I’d been sitting in the same position for far too long when I unfolded my body and it creaked in protest. Ouch.

Yesterday I had a day off from slaying in the evening and went back to knitting, determined as I am to be good at this bloody thing. Anyway, I have an order for a scarf now, so I have to focus and make it look damn good. I really want to make a hat (which I will need if it does reach -8 as predicted. Surely not?), but think that’s a little way off yet.

Hmm, the sky looks ominously white…

Ho Ho Ho

I am back in London, my time at home was very relaxing and it’s a bit of a shame to be back in all the hustle and bustle, but while Christmas may be over for some, I had one gift awaiting me when I got back. And it is this:

Oh happy happy joy joy!!! The gift was the DS, I just got the game myself, and figured I’d better write this now or I would be lost to Brain Training forever. Isn’t it pretty? Now I need more games. What are good games? A game I used to love for my PC was Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars. I like ones where you have to solve puzzles and stuff to move on (even if the main character for that was well annoying). Well, I say like. I get very frustrated when I can’t to it and had to download the cheats for that one when I got stuck. Will have a look online at what there is.

Moving on from DS talk, to my knitting. Here is a picture of my first attempt:

It’s a scarf. I would say ‘obviously’, but is it obvious? I don’t know. It’s not quite as pretty as the DS, and there are a couple of dropped stitches and threads I need to tidy, but I am enjoying doing it and I think I’m getting better. I’d like to be able to knit a jumper already but must have patience. Of course now my time is torn between the DS and this. My hands will be busy anyway.

Last night I watched While You Were Sleeping for about the 30th time, though I fell asleep before one of my favourite speeches:

Lucy: The truth was that I fell in love with you.
Ox: You fell in love with me?
Lucy: No, N-o, yes. All of you. I went from being all alone to being a fiancee, a daughter a granddaughter, a sister and a friend.

Luckily I woke up in time for my absolute favourite last line: “Peter once asked me when I fell in love with Jack. And I told him, “It was while you were sleeping.”

Aww. Now I’m afraid I’m going to go play my DS. It has been nice knowing you all.

Things I know today, that yesterday I didn’t

Last night was my bookclub, where we had read A Christmas Carol. I was quite pleasantly surprised actually, having feared all things Dickens for some years and avoided him like the plague. This was very short (yay), and easy to read. Not remotely surprising, in that, once you’ve seen A Muppet Christmas Carol (which I really really want to watch again now) and Scrooged you know it all, but it was still enjoyable anyway.

However, I won’t go on about that, when I could instead tell you what I discovered, and that is, there is a Charles Dickens Theme Park! In Kent! Whose brilliant idea was this? Now, the person who told me about this has been, and said it is incredibly naff and there’s not much there, and having looked on their website and taken the ‘tour’, I can see what he means. There seem to be many more restrooms than there are actual rides. And there’s a Courtyard. How exciting. And Fagin’s Den for the little ones, and a Greengrocer’s. The main rides seem to be the Haunted House, where you can view ghosts from Dickens stories (ooooh), and the Great Expectations boat ride, which must be one hell of a speedboat, seeing as you can’t go on if you’re pregnant or have a bad back. Or maybe that’s something to do with Magwitch. I haven’t read Great Expectations, who is Magwitch and what has he got against pregnant ladies?

Also, the gift shop is called The Old Curiosity Shop. See what they did there?

I kind of want to go. Although not badly enough to spend £12.50 for the pleasure.

On Yer Bike

I should probably preface this rant by saying I know cyclists have a rough ride (no pun intended) in this city, what with there being so few cycle lanes and the abuse they get from motorists, but they don’t half piss me off sometimes.

Twice in this week alone I have seen cyclists not stop at zebra crossings – for children. Both times I was on the bus. The first time it was a young woman who seemed completely oblivious to all around her. She was also cycling in the middle of the road and not to the side, causing the bus to slow (which always really annoys me I must say). Coming up was a zebra crossing with a group of children waiting. The bus slowed, preparing to stop. The woman continued on her merry way, not even registering them. By this time she had gone back closer to the curb, and if one of them had stepped out she would have hit them with some force. She could easily have injured them.

The second time it was a young man. A family was crossing but one child was lagging behind. She stepped off the curb as the cyclist approached but he did not stop and she jumped back onto the pavement, obviously startled. He finally did then come to a full stop and allow her to cross.

I find this disgusting. There are rules when it comes to pedestrians that should be followed. I don’t much care if cyclists go through junctions at red lights; in a battle between a car/bus/lorry and a bike I can imagine who will come out on top (especially seeing as most cyclists I see don’t wear helmets). If they wish to do so to’ get in front of traffic’, fair enough, it’s your life you’re risking. But I’m sick of being at a pedestrian crossing, seeing the green man and setting off, only to have some idiot on a bike screech past me ringing their bell. Ringing your damn bell does not give you the right to do as you please. Thanks so much for alerting me to your presence. Sometimes you get a ‘sorry’ as they whiz past. Mostly you get abuse for daring to be in the road when they are.

So yes, I’d much prefer it if they could be kinder and more thoughtful to pedestrians, or at least look where they are going. Following the Highway Code would be nice too. It is tempting sometimes to try and cause these idiots a slight injury, to see if they could learn their lesson. I doubt it though. And if I did happen to be unfortunate enough to step out in front of them and not be quick enough to do a commando roll out of the way, I’m sure I’d come off worst.

And it’d all be my fault of course.

August Rush

Yesterday I had to trek back to Debenhams to exchange some of the make up because I had been given the wrong shade (grr, I knew she wasn’t listening to me), and since that was so traumatic (hello, Oxford Street on a Saturday!) I treated myself to the cinema. Yes I went alone, no one feel sorry for me, it’s very liberating don’t you know. I decided to see August Rush even though I didn’t really know what it was about, other than a kid and music. It was ok, trying really hard to be a tear jerker, but I just couldn’t get there. I was jolted out of the film by too many things (ie, is Jonathan Rhys Meyers really singing?) It was sweet, but possibly more a film to watch of a Sunday afternoon when there’s nothing else on.

A fuller review with spoilers follows.

Ice Ice Baby

I didn’t go to the cinema on Friday night as I had felt very ill all day, sort of headachey and faint and weak, kind of like I do in the aftermath of a migraine, only I hadn’t had a migraine. So I went home to bed instead. Humph. I have been feeling a lot better and like I am (touch wood) now over my stupid cold. Thank God. That has to be the longest cold I have ever had. Although I do still have lovely growths on my tonsils that are annoying but not causing me pain. I’m hoping they will go away soon too.

Today I went ice skating at the O2. It’s an Ice Disco. Oooh. I got all kitted up with my gloves and scarf and extra thick socks. (Though it was really hot and I ended up stripping off all the extra layers anyway.) And you know what? I didn’t fall down once! Not once! (I might have considered it had any of the Ice Marshalls been cute, but sadly no.) I mean, I had a couple of close calls, mostly because kids would veer in front of me with no warning and I’d have to change course. I did still end up being in pain though. It is most likely because I never wear heels and so my feet are very flat and not at all used to having to be forced into an arch for extended periods of time. Oh. My. God. It was so bloody painful. It was like having continuous cramp in my arches. I had to keep stopping because I just could not go on (so dramatic). Sigh. But it was grand and I didn’t spend all my time clutching the side with all my might. I went in the middle. Yay me.

There was also the usual kid (rather rotund) who decided he MUST skate in the middle, even though he could barely stand. So he fell so much that the Ice Marshall was basically following him around and the last time I saw him he was being led off the ice in tears.

Afterwards we went to Frankie & Benny’s for something to eat and I stuffed my face on Brownies and ice-cream. Yummy. And now I am at home and quite tired so I am going to watch The Long Way Down (Mmmm Ewan) and have a cup of tea and pretend I don’t have to get up and go to work in the morning.