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See-also: http://www.wmc.care4free.net/diary/.
Wed 1st
Take D to p'g. Pick up his 'school photo'. Would be nice to have a whole-class one, perhaps.
Coming home with D who is wearing his dufflecoat & looks extra-sweet. Sun but wind chill.
D: push me, chumsy Me: what does chumsy mean? D: nothing. Its just pretend. Its a secret.
Home. And home we stay. A day of 2 halves: hectic at work, peace at home. Pot of coffee then sleep by fire. D playdough: makes me a cake. 4ish: last of sun lights the vines: sky now clear blue. We decide on another fire upstairs. D bounces on bed & sees moon. Watch fire together. Read stories. Make crude jack-in-the-box. Wash nit stuff out of D's hair (not without struggle). More stories then D decides on an early bed. I sit by fire.
M back. Cooks stir-fry. I go to pub for q-p-9: a+s, & later dinan. Good.
Cycle back: winter stars.
Thurs 2nd
Fjp rev with jck. Lunch m in evil dillons. M late which irritates, because we are in e d. However, I do get to read viz & a digital photo issue of a photo mag - v interesting - it thought the 990 not the best.. Brad M talk, & then talk to him, so back home late. Bash toe on way home. Ow.
Soir: plum.
News: flood. Chris Woodhead resigns: yeaah! But curiously enough next morning cw is tolerable (when not actually talking about what he did) & blunkett intol.
Fri 3rd
D wet again: 4 in a row :-(. Nappies again for a while. Perhaps its too cold out?
O'cast, but no rain or wind. At last.
Sat 4th
At last a bright morning. Nice M gets up with D & I find them warm in the sunlight.
To town: arjuna, cb1 (read Grauniad and mail; play Jhamie twice and stuff him both times... still his is 9k); finish cirque; drink coffee.
Home (via RS for fireworks but they have none; nor do woolworths). Stop off at allotment and dig up some shallots that I thought were lost, and some potatoes. Also put out black plastic, as an experiment.
M is by the fire and D is in the kitchen on his potty, playing with the numbers 2's, fnar fnar, which is to say the "s" shaped bits of foam that came with the mortar and pestle.
M is obliged to go into work (poor her). D wants to play his game; I sit and read. Then, we go out into the garden: plant out a row of onion sets, and put compost on top. Then a row of garlic (at the back bed) and more compost: my compost bin finally seems to be working well.
Sun is setting slowly and peacefully. Tidy up front garden somewhat. Take up the last runner beans and keep them. Now its dark.
Inside. D plays again. I tidy.
M still at work. D to bed. He is a little disturbed by early f'works & says he will hide under his duvet. Put him down sans nappy at his req - tho m says y'day he was happy to have one.
Bath with marcel5 - heavy going.
Get umui going as far as submit: but fails on turings.
Bed: 11.30: no m. Oh dear.
Sun 5th
Up quite eary with D. He is v bouncy - like a super-howard.
M sleeps late.
Sweep patio.
About midday M takes D swimming (abbey; p has gala). I sit with a smail coffee (I've run out) in thin sun, then go to allot, cut more tree & dig at front for potatoes. In this I am quite successful and gather 2 bags full (this tells you nothing, since you don't know how big the bags were. But what would you do if you did know how big the bags were?). Anyway, this and the treeing is tiring and I wend my way home. M+D are still out. Put stuff away (as opposed to my normal practice of just dumping stuff down).
Sit inside and relax and feel tired. Early day sun has gone: sky grey.
M+D back quite late: they had a good swim. M cooks for D, then later for us: winter soup. D to bed sans nappy at his request, and on earnest promises.
Soir: just before 10. I seem to have woken up somewhat recently, having been very tired much of the a'noon and evening. I think I rested too much and decided to feel tired: from which I was rescued by the washing up.
Outside the wind howls (albeit muted) and the rain falls. There is flooding on the river wiggle, it seems.
Mon 6th
Work: prepare penin am & meeting pm.
Home through rain. D bouncy. M back late.
Tues 7th
Swim 27.5, 28.5, 29.5x2, 30. Cb1 (see Janet). Germ toy for Niamh. Arj. Home. M+D out at Waitrose, & weather is passable, so gird up loins &...
do bees!
Ie remove apistan strips (just on 8 weeks too) & give them 2 lbs extra honey for luck. They weren't too happy with me: I really should have got smoker going.Rain starts as soon as I fin. M+D back.
pm with D: read bawb the builder mag several times. Out: to see Rick+E. Also leave them our childgates. Then (via getting lost) Andrea+N (who we glimpse: shouldn't really have gone in). Get camera back. Then b+q for plywood + D's treat of playing with all the showers/toilets.
Home. Soir: build 2.2.14 kernel with clik! Hurray!
Wed 8th
pm: home with D: grey weather discourages outside. Start to build a dolls house (or rather, a b-t-b house) for D. Incorporate some of his wooden blocks & make it modular.
Soir: no pub. At home, somewhat tired.
Thurs 9th
Wrench left-side-back muscle somewhere somewhen. Probably by incautiously picking up D.
Lunch fr, but briefly: M has a conf call, I have a talk. But briefly arjuna (yoghurt & white poppies), cb1, & I'm only a few mins late.
Then home & sit in b'room by fire.
D is nowadays finickity about food: he will almost automatically reject a new thing. But why?
Fri 10th
Work. Pick up D who plays his characteristic game of hide-in-the-bus-shelter. I have to wait while he goes there & he keeps stopping to check I haven't moved. Old woman in shelter is delighted to talk to him.
Soir rushed: I have a green meeting in theory at 7. M promises home early but is a bit late so I rush off. But speaker is late on train. So rush off to work for lost palm. But its not there (its at home). Back to meeting: fair enough (jl, mep) but inward. Have to leave early, rush home, & we (or, fortunately, m) drive to m+j arriving at 11.20.
Sat 11th
In borders in Ox. D is with M+J. Up late today: lazy/tired. But fri soir was tiring. Lay in bed listening to squeals of happiness from D downstairs.
Borders has endless mags: I read 'the router' & dream. Also look for beowulf-type stuff.
The rain it raineth every day, it seems. So I'm in the lamb+flag (but not playing vid games) with a half.
Thence back towards town along SPR, and on a whim go into the university museum: good fun. Take lots of piccies of skeletons. Should take D sometime.
Meet M at Blackwells. Crowded.
Home on bus. All seems well. Quiet evening by fire, after a bath for me.
Sun 12th
Now at home, alone (well D is upstairs asleep). M stays with M+J since she has torrow off and is going to London.
Quiet day: again wake late, not quite so as y'day. B'fast. Take D out at one point to rake leaves at the front. With that and some at the back later, fill 3 bin liners (could have done twice over: they have a lot of leaves) and bring them home, as M+J don't want them, and I can put them on the copost heap after a year.
Sunny day: sit outside with "Mr Midshipman Easy" and a cup of coffee and be warm for a while.
Tea, then leave at 5. Make various attepts to phone Ma, but as it turns out she is ooop north. Except they don't speak like that in Cumbria.
D makes a "nest" in his bedroom and then insists that M+J come into it and be mummy and daddy. But he won't eat pretend worms: he wants pretend coke.
Small note: they have P in Fr. V5 then becomes "La prisonniere; Albertine Disparu" which in a sense removes some of the interesting ambiguity from "The Captive", which could as well be him; and one cannot tell in advance from "The Fuguitve" who will flee.
Drive home: takes 2 hours. All the way we have the moon, slowly rising, full (a circle moon, as D says) ahead of us.
Mon 13th
Frost hard: end of dahlias. Must take them up...
Up with D. Work. Pick him up again & we have an hour together. M arrives just in time for his story.
Tues 14th
Lovely morning: waste it lying in bed late (M swaps me for monday). Finish Mr Midshipman Easy which I dislike.
Swim (belatedly): 27, 29, 30, 31 (oh dear). Cb1. Meet for lunch w/s.
Take D along river to j green playground. River high. Watch an eight. Go under bridge where water laps on the path. D half-falls at a cattle grid so needs new trousers. Bus. Home.
Home with D. Play with his metallic letters. Solve something that has puzzled me for a while: why does D mistake e for m? Answer: he tends to do capitals, so its E for M. And m rotated 90 degrees looks like e. But I never think of turning letters round.
Soir: wine. Runs wordpad but not ie. Half runs wp then crashes.
Wed 15th
Heavy frost + mist. D seems slow/tired. Can just see disk of sun. Waiting at school for M. Noise of kids practising trumpet.
Pm: stay in with D. Dolls house.
Soir: download palm rogue! A splendid waste of time.
Thurs 16th
Met M for lunch Fr. Day now clear. GP agm soir so have slow pm in town: Heffers (get 'building linux clusters'), w/s coffee, cb1 (sort photos).
Chips from Fagitos: excellent + greasy. GP agm: finally get to wesley on king st.
After to Radegund with S+H. A good pub.
Fri 17th
Pm: m has car: stay in. Cold (outside). Second floor for dolls house.
Soir: burn cd compilation.
Sat 18th
Cb1. G toy. Arjuna. Craft mkt. Home.
To coton bazar. Get a coffee cake, a g'bread man, and a cooking/jam thermo. Restrain self from a portable printer.
D is now singing 'ersham boys'.
Soir: to A+S for pizza and drink and talk... A says D looks "angelic as ever".
Sun 19th
Rather a grey day why seems to have affected my mood. Also M and I both somewhat tired.
Got out twice: once to dig up some dahlias: do 3 (in the back) before the rain becomes absurd and I come in; second time with D in the afternoon, for a little bike ride into Silverdale Close where we look at the stream and stuff. But is rather grey.
D really needed a longer run: he was rather bouncy inside. But he did play his new game rather a lot: Henrys Birthday. He now has 3 of these: all bought, by some strange chance, by M.
Fix bike puncture.
Phone Ma and Nina re Christmas presents.
Mon 20th
Cold day. Feel slow. Resto is out of coffee: fools. Slow in yoga. Practically fall asleep after lunch.
M home late but her release is finished.
Tues 21st
Swim 30, 30.75, (29?). Slow. Cb1. Read some gaiman: angels visitations. Feeling better.
Home. M+D have been out: staples + orchard. D didn't want to play in p'g'd. Me: 'why not?' D (after several repeats:) 'THATS JUST THE WAY OF THINGS!'.
Wed 22nd
My morning off. An odd but pleasant feeling. Lie in bed in sunshine till 9 - m+d come to kiss me before off. I don't get to laze in bed often. Hopefully if I had much more chances I wouldn't take them.
Sit downstairs in sun watching wind & reading ophiuchi hotline. After 1st coffee get up & put in towel ring upstairs. I/we get too little time in this live for basic maintenance. After 2nd do some work on may '98 .cam pics... so long ago.
Listening to my compilation. Going underground rings as true as ever.
At 2, hols are over: pick up D. He has refused his sandwiches + been fed sphaghetti.
D will make up nonsense rhymes: 'home we come, tiddely-tum' in imitation of us but he knows to make them rhyme. Breaks into a run at the thought of Henrys Party.
Also his cough is nearly gone: has been for a week or so.
Start the great picture-rail project. Or rather, start cutting, having bought the wood several weeks ago. Clamp it to the kitchen worksurface and do it there while D watches and likes the woodshavings. He collects them in a box.
Soir: kirsty to babysit. M to WS b'day. Me to gp meeting. Cycle: about 1/2 hour. Coming back sky is clear: cycling towards Orion.
Thurs 23rd
Written soir on portable hence wordiness. I can type *much* faster than grafitti, but miskeys are more likely. Plus the "m" on the keyboard appears to be fading.
Work; Yoga. Rain. Fr cafe with M, briefly: I am late and she must leave early. I must get in habit of being on time on thurs. After: rymans for a cutter (having failed before in Heffers arts), then arjuna, gr toyshop (D's c'mas still not in), then cb1 for coffee and email (smile account has come through), and start "sarantoga barrier". You know who its by. I've known of it for ages and never got round to reading it.
Leave not-too-late, and arrive in time for Mr Box (and so does M, since I delayed him). Hello D. Work on EGP site and mail selected bods.
Fri 24th
D is learning competition: he gets to the pavement first so is the winner.
Pm: to town by p+r to s'pool where we have fun. Cb1. Then its past 6 & time to go home.
Stop by Maplins: d is entanced by the disco lights. Miss a bus by 1 min. Then miss another by getting on wrong direction. Walk through town to wait for next, which is 10 mins late. So, all in all we spend more time waiting (let alone walking to stop, or on bus, or driving back) than it would have taken to cycle.
Hey ho. M is at home waiting + soon heads off with D.
Sat 25th
Up 9 since I can. To yoga Glisson road a bit late. Good, though I wimp out a bit.
Cb1 for lunch + check address of resto.
To chumms study. Astonished by amount on nt land around coton.
Then to train in, which is unpredictable just now.
London. Phone d+a: they are out. I have an hour. Walk leicester sq to cov g (via muji: get little card box for pcmcia) where find circle puzzle. Then find sofra + the others (except peter, who is driving around somewhere). Hello M. Food good.
Mikado. Surreal. M quite enthused by all the good tunes she recoqnised. I have to strain to hear words: should have read libretto beforehand.
Back to F: take bus from ?whitehall? More fun than tube.
Sun 26th
Up late (again! Luxury). Slow b'fast. Now taking tram to new addington + back with D while M whitgifts & m+j lunch with s+b in town.
Mon 27th
Work: great meaning disaster.
M yoga soir (me lunchtime).
Tues 28th
D up somewhat late & is cute. To work briefly to sort out GMD.
Swim: 28, 29.5, 2x29. Oh dear. Once a week is not enough. Cb1, late. Finish photocopying playgroup leaflets at Kallkwik: tip: don't use them if you can avoid it: their charges are absurd: about £6 for 50 sheets, whereas the mill road chemist would do them for 5p a sheet (but didn't have a4 the right way round, sadly). There, I have my revenge on KK: you have read this all you teeming hordes) and will go elsewhere and they will be sorry.
Back. M and D have made bread: good. Have coffee and some food while D plays. Cut out another side for his dolls house: at this rate it might just be finished by christmas. Ha ha. Cut up the leaflets into a6 with the nice new cutter and D is very taken with this and wants to do more himself and is rather sad when prevented.
4:30: off to Charlies party, Charlie being a friend from playgroup who lives at number 36. 38? Anyway. I don't know anyone buts thats OK: D is happy playing and I get some beer (lager). Tear D away at 6ish because I have to cook for M: sausages and potatoes and etc.
Wed 29th
Home with D pm. Make the word 'daniel' with magnetic letters. D thinks it should include the number 3 because he is 3. I explain his error.
Trying to teach D spelling, because he will let me. Spell out daniel, & mother in capitals & ... ah, little letters. Then daddy. What is half daddy? 'dad', & half dad? 'da'. Yes, good. What is half daniel? 'dan', & half dan? 'da'. Good... so the first letter of daddy is? But it doesn't work.
Playing insey-winsey spider. D can do the numbers on the dice (which he knows is a die) but he has to count. But, in an odd reversal, he always wants to get 'rain' & get washed back.
Soir: to c+a for n's headwetting.
Thurs 30th
More model hacking. L S-C's visit thus no pm off but worth it. Beowulf beckons.
Soir: some maintenance: in tray. Paper bill. Fund smile a/c. Fail to register with lineone: they invite me to pay 50p/min to find out why!
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