WMC's diary pages, 2000.

[January] [February] [March] [April] [May] [June] [July] [August] [September] [October] [November] [December]

See-also: http://www.wmc.care4free.net/diary/.

August 2000

Tues 1st

Swim 29.75, 30.75. Cb1. Back via ul for endeavour (discover 1837 trans, not on open, order from rare books, order copy), browse old index of F's work. Pm at home: both of us quiet.

Soir: make river crossing & hack down some veg. Some apples at front are edible. We have one plum & for the first time a hazelnut.

Wed 2nd

pm with D to pool. When we get there D says he does not want to swim. But once he is in... then I have to tear him away when its time to go.

Soir: curry club (JT, hugh c, val+sarah, ian r) at Nirala, 7 Milton rd. Food quite good - definitely above cam average. Very quiet apart from us. Hughs bottom apparently on good form overnight.

Afterwards to Portland Arms which has a netbar! Also expresso machine + olive menu: jt should have come.

Back just before midnight - M reading in bed - has finished hp & dissatified both by it, & by her wasting an evening on it. See 2 fuzzypeg: one on lawn, one by pond.

Thurs 3rd

Fr cafe. Walk through town. Arjuna, cb1, great mills (drain pipe connectors for butt), ul (f trans), home. Fish from stream - take about 10, biggest an inch long, plenty left - put one in butt (fnarr) to eat mosq larvae. Fix up drain pipe & re-level.

Fri 4th

Walking home with D, he likes to stop & sit under the big willow tree. We eat jc's sweeties. M'a now on hols for 2 weeks: thank heavens for g'parents.

D: "come into my house & spit out of the window". But context helps: we were in the swimming pool; the house was a rubber ring upside down & the window was a hole in the baby-straps, & spit was to squirt water out of his mouth, which he has just learnt to do.

Then cb1 & play Richard (newly back from M'c'ter) & lose, but D is a distraction. But he is fairly good.

P+R back: just miss 19:20 & then its a 20 min wait. Ho hum. D plays on the seats.

Sat 5th

We get up before D for once: 8.30.

Swim 29.75, 30.5. Cb1: lose to R again & no D this time :-(

Back by 12. M goes out (to work!) then we pack and leave for Mothers at 4. Dinner (RNL and M+J too) then Pendley (slightly delayed by late babysitter...) for the comedy of errors, which all (including me) seemed to find well done and amusing, though all rather implausible, but I suppose that isn't the point.

Sun 6th

Up early with D - argh. Especially since we had assumed that L would be up first and had jokingly asked RN to keep her quiet...

Xfer video from April-ish to now onto tape. Scenes of paddling pools: it seems warmer then than now (but wasn't). Cut back 2vine" at from for Ma, and clean out her gutters at same time. Also look at the sockets in the kitchen but they are in such a state that I can't get them back again. Electrician time...

Copy photo ('66) of rob+i.

My portable has a bug. Literally. A thrip behind the screen ..

Pick up J+J at 12 for lunch. Henry over too. I finally get them to help me put family tree onto paper. Henry does the base and JJ add corrections and considerable amplifications.

And so... leave around 7ish, leaving D with Ma for the next few days. He seems happy, as does she, so hopefully all will be OK.

Home: Alex has had an Emily, naturally. Good. D and I will see them next thurs.

Strange to go to bed without kissing D: haven't done that since... Pembroke with BMC more than a year ago?

Mon 7th

No yoga so see M for lunch. Work: lots of bits, draining.

Soir: M back late (just before 8).

Backup photos to clik! Get it working again: need to turn off iomega stuff.

Tues 8th

Swim 26.5, 27.5x2, 27, 28.5. Which, combined, is a record. Cb1: M turns up. German toy shop for T & E. Then G cafe, via rs (looking for tripod) for me, & p. office for new tax disc for M. Will we go to Gower?

Wed 9th

To bracknell by car :-( with jt & ssc to talk to dc (& me also dr & cg).

Soir: punting up to India house from Johns in S's punt. Excellent. M working late so meets us there. Food good but I couldn't fully appreciate - too stuffed. Punting back in darkness fun. Some bats. Home 12.30.

Thurs 10th

To ched to pick up D. Idiot at C st sells me ticket (travelcard?) that won't get me as far as C: fortunately nice man at Euston sells extension. Takes a little under 2 hours station-to-s, & just under 3 door-to-d. Pick some plums from ched orchards on way - they are neglected.

D is happy but matter-of-fact to see me. We have coffee then lunch then pack then Ma drives us to the station. I think she has enjoyed D but 3 early mornings are enough. Similarly D had fun (esp tractor & trailer) but is quite happy to come home, esp by train. Euston. KC.

Walk to D+A where they all look well (even T, with his just-mended tibia, though he drags the foot a little. He is nearly as big as D). Emily is sweet & falls asleep on my lap. D+A astonishingly bouncy though A unsurprisingly slow when we all go to Corams fields. Crowded. Great fun for D - have to drag him away kicking & screaming (literally). Hurry a little to get 6.15 to C. D falls asleep on way back.

Cycle home (I have naughtily forgotten D's helmet) & there is M. I have a bonfire. Pick 2 flowering a'chokes & cook (45 mins boiling water). Good. M tired to bed early.

Fri 11th

I do D am & M pm. We go to shop & otherwise at home. Hot so mostly inside where its cooler. D somewhat fractious: he was up early despite y'day so perhaps tired.

Swim: 28, 28, 27.5, 28.5. Pool crowded: many bozos. Cb1 and nearly finish 9pia. Home, quite slowly, at about 6, when the day has cooled somewhat.

Decide to tidy up the end of the garden a bit, but get distracted by the bit just-beyond near the apple tree and hack and mow that quite a bit. With D start a bonfire and burn some stuff. He is good, and doesn't mind not being allowed to poke the fire. When he goes to bed hack some more, and begin to see ground under the tree rather than nettles and cowparsley and brambles. Also cut path through to the hazel right down at the bottom in amongst the nettles. Water plum tree - possibly leaves a bit droopy & lettuce u'neath certainly are.

Finish in the dusk. Pluck our first (and only) plum of the year and eat half and give half to M: it is delicious. While I've been hacking M has been cooking: chard and stuff with potatoes. Good - sit on beanbags with food and lager and apple/peach juice.

Later: I finish my trans of Joseph F (hurrah!) and spell check it; now only have to sense-check it, then against the 1837 translation. Hey ho. Now its past 11:30: time for beddy-byes methinks.

Moon bright & nearly full.

Sat 12th

Swim 29, 30.5 (30) - my new standard is 50 lengths, either 5x10, 2x20, 10 or somesuch. In cases of ambiguity (as this time) the odd set out is in brackets. Thus 2x30, (31), 30 would be 2 10's, a 20, & a 10. Anyway: cb1: beat richard thus avoiding 3 in a row. Home.

D has broken a beer fest pint glass :-( worse a piece of it cuts my foot. D & I fight for the hammock... or rather, I say 'i'm going to sit in the h', D drops whatever he is doing to get in first, & I sit in a deck chair.

The mighty mangonel is fully ballasted & fires... & breaks apart. Oh dear. Maybe because it was not given free rein.

Leave at 4 for m+j. Via j+j who take me to task over personal details on the family tree page. Via ma to pick up child seat but ma herself is out. On... D falls asleep & doesn't want to be awake when we arrive so is put to bed.

Sun 13th

To Millets farm for maize maze, mostly. In the maze. I have a black flag. Just after woodie the woodmouse is the password: rudolph. Wandering around is fun & it doesn't seem too hard. Try writing it in dinkypad but no.

We get to the heart, which is also the exit. We call up "r'ph" & four popsicles zoom down a tube from the tower. Disaster looms as D is stung by a wasp but he recovers very quickly & bravely. There is a "trap" there - a door to open revealing a wooden mole, which makes a flower squirt water. D loves this when he understands.

To "munchery" for lunch which sounds horrendous but is excellent, home-cooked cakes & pastries. After to g center in search of floating fountain but buy water lily instead.

Sun 13th cont

Leave about 5. Stop at 3 horseshoes for a light meal. 15 mins to kill before 7 so walk & discuss m/f management styles. Food as ever excellent but as ever its not quite my place.

Home. Tidy. Veg. Re-try mangonel: sucess!

Mon 14th

Up & off late. Work mostly seaice - ucurrent. After to grapes then star (average) with M's work. Ho hum. She stays on for extra 1/2 & I home. Full moon to cycle by.

Tues 15th

Swim 27.5, 28, 3x28.5. 2 much faster people there to show how it should be done. Cb1. Meet M. Eyelink to get glasses adjusted. Buy how-to-make toys book & set of balls in sally army. G toyshop for bulldozer for L. Maplin to try to find dc water pump. Fail. G cafe.

RS for padding for portable box. Eventually settle on felt. Oxfam bookshop. Garden shop for grass seed: fail. Work, briefly. Jt admires palm sleekness again: will he succumb? Orchard looking for pumps: fail. But buy apple juice & grass seed. Home. Coffee & finish p v4.

Put lawnmower in old wheelbarrow to allot. Mow. Move earth walls (hence w'b'w which I leave there). Disturb ?mouse? nest: kill one :-( & see 2 others. Eyes not yet open. Leave in peace & hope. Leave them 2 blackberries as attempt at compensation. Hack back elderberry. More mowing. Get to far end, scythe too, & get to greengage tree. Delicious. Time to go: cut some cardoon heads. Stop at plough for pint o' cider. Ahh. Home.

M has made soup. Cook cardoons & they taste as good as a'chokes: and they grow more easily! Tired.

Wed 16th

Pissed off at work/tired: umui 4.5 all pm: fails to install.

Home. Haven't seen newt in ages & now see micro-newt.

Phone M+J & agree to pick D up on fri. Try to talk to D but little luck :-(

Take mangonel out into garden & throw marbles. Need to finish it off.

Pub. Feel crappy on cycle in but gradually recover: feel quite good by end. Usually other way round!

Thurs 17th

Get umui to install ok by starting afresh. Hey ho for yesterday.

Ipms pay meeting. Then Eric Rignot on sar-in on pine island glacier.

Home. Mr box has been. Do bees (second time this year! State: super heavy; 1/2 full. Brood: took out the one apistan strip I found. Looked at one frame: lots of little grubs, all seems well. Bees well behaved.

Garden: hack back more around apple tree, nearly finished, you can walk under it now. Only bit undone is towards the house...

Fri 18th

In 'family carriage' of great western to Didcot to pick up D. Rain. M arrives with D just as I get to st. To Marcham. I sit in the back with D & we are non-verbally pleased to see each other. Lunch. J off to cab. Pack. D+J have painted a tee-shirt. M kindly drives us to Didcot (alternative is tedious bus to ox) & we just catch the train, which despite being a thames train, is precisely on time. Indeed I have to stand in the door while D runs up the stairs.

Across L & get the 3:45 which is not too crowded. D tired but not very - lies on me a bit then gets up, etc. At C, light rain, so go to cb1. Home.

Soir: finish checking f against eb.

Good to have D back - restores routine. Last week has been a bit ill-disciplined.

Sat 19th

D gets me up at 7.30: still its good for me.

Swim: 30, 30.5, (30). Cb1. Buy 3-6-9v solar panel from Maplin - only 9.99. But only 100 mA (at 3v).

You can go forever in C & see no-one you know: today I meet Marcus Walden & Tom V.

W'stones: second session of Iain M Banks "look to windward".

Home. M and D out. Have (it turns out) an hour alone. Coffee etc in hammock. Set up solar panel and make it power a lego motor. Fun.

M and D back: they had been to orchard. M goes off. D and I play mostly outside, he in his sandpit, then cutting hollyhocks brown leaves off. I get up to join him them and do some stuff in the front, slowly. Then we (I) build an inverse water-wheel using the solar panel and lego and just about get it going, but the buckets keep coming unglued. Hey ho. Inside, D does "washing up" and I mash up blackcurrants from allotment. Make an ice-trays worth of stuff, and make a bowl of blackcurrant yoghurt for D and me. D eats some...

M back after D to bed. We have an argument, mostly about time (its waiting in the wings, it speaks of senseless things, its script is you and me...).

M cooks courgette topped with feta/yoghurt. I have done artichokes (well, OK, cardoons) and (separately) rhubarb.

Sun 20th

To rnl for L's 2nd b'day. Good day. They have redone their garden, nicely.

On way home: rain: persistent double rainbow.

Left: D pours "tea" for Lara, who appears unimpressed.

Right: D sleeps on the way back, nearly home. He wears the T-shirt he painted himself, under Jessicas direction.


Mon 21st

Work.

Soir: M'a says D has nits & gives me one wrapped in sellotape. I comb him at home & find more. Photo one with nikon: there can be no doubt. M & I have them too. Derbac for us all.

D with ice cream by the Cam, just above the Jesus Green lock.
Tues 22nd

Up early with D & hoover & put some washing on.

Swim: 27, 28x2, 28.5, 29 (bit unsure about the last). Cb1, arjuna, habitat (box), andys records (carthy, landfall), tohiti (looking for drawers for D), w'stones: ltw. M & D arrive 2, M leaves & we stay till 3. To fired earth & buy some stones.

With D by river to get i'cream. He wants me to ask, since he is 'not important', & when pressed says 'not to the man' & when asked 'who told you that' says 'mummy'. Odd.

We have i'cream: toffee & I have pistachio. His is better. Interesting note: a tiny drop of i'c'm behaves oddly in water: spreads on the sfc until invisibly thin. But (& this could be useful for photos) it drives all the sfc scum ahead of it.

D now watching the tennis, played with a lack of skill matched only by lack of energy. A'noons by the river with D are relaxing.

To p+r stop at 10-to-6. A long quiet a'noon. Hmm: bus arrives at 6 but is filled by 1/2 the q. Go play in the grass/wall on the other side. Another at 5 past.

Wed 23rd

pm at home with D: w'wheel (works in pond) & misc.

Soir: no pub, M tired. Apologies to AH.

Thurs 24th

Mist burns off to hot sun. Yoga backbends (perhaps I should say: unless otherwise, yoga each mon/thurs). Lunch fr cafe. Rs with M for c of d. Cb1.

To gm for copper tubing (8mm; 10m; £13) then home long way, via g'chester - but not much more time since cycle faster.

M+D come back just as I arrive. Play with w'wheel (first tidy pond: hack out lots of grass from between central stone & side) & make it work! Photo it. D comes for a look.

Water garden. Pick one pear: note quite ripe but edible, & mine! Also first ripe tomato: a 'moneymaker'. Also 1st runner.

Soir: m yoga.

Fri 25th

Hot pm. D somewhat tiresome. To gm for wood for D's cupboard. But gm have become crap: no pineboards. So to b+q. D too tired to behave well & it becomes a trial. Ho hum.

Home. Wwheel: add 2nd bucket: get cts flow with 3" head!

M astonishes me by announcing they have a rep for her as tech pm: fred. Excellent.

Sat 26th

Swim: 27, 4x29. Cb1. Arjuna. W'stones (ltw). Home: D & I stay in all pm. Do a bit more of his cupboard. Cb1. Arjuna. W'stones (ltw). Home: D & I stay in all pm. Do a bit more of his cupboard.

Sun 27th

Looking for a cable release for the 950 on the web (having failed in cam) I discover they don't exist: this is an acknowledged flaw. Find one page with a piccy of a home made one but no how-to. Cast around at how. Fiud washing machine hose support (part frw 423 0709 aa7 2) which is just perfect with the end cut off.

A little after noon take D to lammas land while M stays home quietly. Fun. Meet M fr cafe for lunch. Then she takes D by river & I go to w's for ltw but feel dissatisfied. Home. Cut grass (or what passes for grass). M+D back. Decide to re-lay slabs near pond (inspired by Rnl) properly, ie mortar etc. This takes some time. Phone R soir to check quantity of water - he says it just runs off it you have too much. Bonfire: 2/3 cleared apple junk heap.

Late: m yoga, I usenet: L '88 still.

Mon 28th

Strange day but a good one. At home all day (bar briefly taking D to work to pick up icevp source: he liked the ship models). M had D most of day. I tidied garden, weeded & swept patio, put a few more bricks onto pond-bit, dug a bit of veg bed, & put some work into D's cupboard; & all this in approx 1/2 hour bits in between ambling through a pob, generally with a cup of coffee, sitting outside.

M cooks 'properly': potato layered olives/tomatoes. Good but D won't even try.

Soir: M yoga, I icevp: frustration.

Tues 29th

Feels like autumn: cool sunny dew morning. Snooze in slanting light in l'room while D plays.

Plan for today is seaside (old hunstanton) by train. C to Kings L is at :32 & takes a little less than 50 mins. Now outside station awaiting the 12:30 bus (or the late 12, not quite sure) for the next stage. Sun. D drinks appletise & eats crisps.

Bus arrives. £4.50 (train was 7.50). Takes another 50 mins due to diversions: hospital, Heacham (should we have got off?), etc.

Cafe: of Princess theatre. Acceptable.

Rain, light but dispiriting. To beach anyway, we are english. Brightens. Fun. Spiral ball castle with tunnel. At last, to sea - shallow comes in fast. Watch w'surfer set up & stow away wheels. Back from sea to rescue bag.

Nearly time to go. D plays with a girls sandcastle & they nearly-talk. Off we go. Get to bus in time. Sit in back: D sleeps. Train ok: eat sandwichs. Cycle back to M who has cooked.

A good day.

Notes on Hunstanton: not nearly as nice as old H. Cheap, tacky-looking. But, fine as a beach for D and me, if thats all you want. Bus goes past/through Heacham, and I was thinking of getting off there, but didn't see the beaches from the bus and then it was too late. On the way back the bus went past Sandringham.

Bus/Train timetable for future ref (valid Mon-Fri till 24/09/2000):

There
Ca: x:32 -> KL x:19
KL: x:00 -> Hu x:57
KL: x:30 -> Hu x:22

Back
Hu: x:00 -> KL: x:43
KL: x:56 -> Ca: x:44
(only 1/hour back, except Hu 16:35 -> KL 17:22, 17:38 -> Ca 18:24).

Wed 30th

Work: find the (the? perhaps a) bug in vp.

Pm: fit hinge to D's cupboard & put slate into pond with cement.

To dr's at 5 for D: cough & nose. Dr says: prob just from cold, & spider vaesue.

Add inner shelf to cupboard.

Thu 31st

work: yes vp now works with prog. Hurrah!

Lunch w/s. Have forgotten keys *again* so buy new lock (combination! 8265).

pm: gcae meeting. I'm a bit late so have to sit at front. Mostly stuff I know anyway, but I wouldn't have known that if I hadn't gone ;-). Interesting to see people interact.

Home. While waiting for M look round the pond and garden; spread a little 6x to finish the bag.

D gets too tired by bedtime and will brook no obstacle, which leads inevitably to tears. But this is exceptional.

Soir: M to pub for departing Americans. Threatened rain arrives.


Main | Diary | Email: wmc@bas.ac.uk