WMC's diary pages, 2001.

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

March 2001

Thurs 1st

And so on to march. Snow flurries am, and some pm, but although I get to p'g'p covered in snow (a bit) it doesn't settle.

Work (and some of evening) revolves around icevp_wmc.upd (yaaib for the cognoscenti).

M still busy at work, and silly "champagne" later, so no lunch with her. Instead cb1 where I make the mistake of showing Jaime ICEVP code... hey ho. Still reading blueheart, which is still good.

D has fun "dancing" on his chair then throwing himself off...

"Coton says NO to A14" comes through the door. Interesting. Must write to chumms.

Fri 2nd

Work, later than usual, because Ma is picking up D from pre-school: had to sign a book to let that happen. So work till 2:30-ish, then into town to mackays to buy a sash-clamp (well actually a speed-clamp) and a sort of diy-sash-clamp, and a socket-box for D's room so we can put a light in. Brief stop in cb1 then back home. Ma and D there.

Do next phase of D's bed: cut the legs to length (ask D: he says (holding out his hand) "this high", which is exactly 18", which is what I wanted but was worried would be too high).

Ma stays to dinner (she brought pudding).

D plays with flour, how cute... Sat 3rd

For some time I have thought that it would be good when D learns that if he is quiet, he can get away with things... However, this didn't work well this morning, when D got up and went downstairs alone (for perhaps the first time) and decided to play with flour. By the time I got up there was about 3 lbs of flour on the kitchen floor, and D was happily, flourily, engrossed in scooping it up with his digger. Hey ho. I was unimpressed so he went back up while I cleared it all up. Such fun.

Swim 27, 27.5, 28, 29. Struggle. Cb1.

Home. Tired. Talk to Rob on phone and lounge by fire. D is "doing the washing up" but when I go to see he has got quite carried away: emptied the washing up liquid into it, and allowed the sink to overflow onto the floor. When asked why said "because I was having fun" but said to M that he didn't want to ask for my help because he was afraid. Which should I believe? Both perhaps.

Bed: cut and fix cross-piece for end near head: stable. Now D can sleep high up, and the new boxes can go under his bed. Splendid.

Sun 4th

Off to grad pad for Trigantius, one round only sadly, and even more sadly lose, to Alan Thornton. Still, good to see people again.

Back home. Intend to take D into town to watch R2,3 perhaps and swim with D. But D unwell, and after initial agreement he collapses back onto his beanbag and then goes to sleep for most of the a'noon. Poor thing. Check his hair for nits - which he objects to - and find none, but do find somethings small and inexplicable (but clearly non-moving) at the base of some hairs.

Sunny, but rather chill. Spring is gently pushing out: crocuses, including those along the line of the wire to the pond I buried. Walk with M around garden while D sleeps and find more of the bulbs she put in. One or two bees earlier: but it is rather cold.

Get new VP running - alas for only 2 timesteps, but still thats something, and a whole lot better than it was. A tribute to the power of sitting down, reading through the code, working out what it wrong, and fixing it (as opposed to randomly changing things in the hope of it coming right).

A few bees out. Warmish... sit out on bench with poc & m&c.

Mon 5th

D up rather early - hungry - unsurprising since ate little yest. But I luxuriate in bed. Sun.

Frustrating day at work - disks & turing.

Tues 6th

M has scanning appt this am so swap am/pm with M. As it was in the old days. Sunny, nice: I remember I used to like tues am with D. Start up some bread to use some off-the-floor flour, & re-start when I realise I've added salt not sugar. Finish D's bed. Rick comes round, briefly, re Ted.

Bread is good. Hang out washing, go see bees: lots out. Remains of ice on pond.

To orchard for lunch c+a+n (soup & rhubarb crumble). Then rush off to p+r to catch bus in to meet M for coffee. Traffic slow.

Espresso with M & D. Pool: 27...28.5. Cb1.

Soir to to gp. Fine there, rain return. Diary 2001/03 #2 (07-15)

This is the photo of me that went into my election leaflet for the Green Party in the County Council election for Girton. Should I have used the tomato one? Wed 7th

Morning: discover 'wonky' rear wheel has in fact broken on the rim. Strangely, not punctured.

Walk back with D. Warm. Crocuses out in profusion & bees loud on them.

Pond croaks: 1st time this year frogs are out (& mating).

To town, since I need a new wheel. Combine with pool hence drive in. New wheel is tricky: is 27 1/4 & this proves hard to dup but mb suceed in end.

Pool for some time. Mid pool shut to lessons but D ventures into main. Pool cafe. Home.

D now making lego guns. But the gun is for putting out fires - D thinks guns shoot water - with a button for fixing things.

Pub. Leave early - D can't sleep.

Thurs 8th

D sleeps late - so do we. M says its unjust - D got her up at 6.

Talk at 4 - frazil ice - so fr by self for lunch. Rain. First indication of f+m affecting me (only not): fr cafe puts 30p on meat sandwiches [this entered in arrears: I think on the right day]

Work an hour after & some at home but finally rewarded with vp success!

Fri 9th

M bribes D with chalks to get lie-in.

Too many model runs: get confused.

Warm. Walk/cycle back with D. He is scared off going too fast. Now watching cement mixer.

Home. Tidy.

M back at 5 while D & I are washing my bike.

Marcus has taught D 'respect' & a thumb-up gesture.

Sat 10th

W'ham: bought workbench & s'saw & now face qn of getting them home sans car. Think of phoning c+a but M has mobile... I am more dep than I thought. No! Have got to dry D under own steam - literally, I am steaming with sweat. Pause in bus shelter in rain. Saw on back outside sac (silly me: brough small one) heavy. Bench on carrier. Owf. Later read notes: saw 22kg, bench 10.

20 mins rest (& failed attempt at re-stow) & off. Home 2. Put on bench & turn on. Quiet hum. Put in bit of wood: shrieks & cuts. Excellent. Play a bit. This is splendid. Now... I need a project!

Sit & lunch a little then off for swim: 27.5, 28, 27.5. Only 30: crowded & want to get to mackays for blades. Do. Cb1. Home 6.30. Sit.

Work (hydra-headed vp alas), then put together work bench then play dovetails with saw.

Sun 11th

Sit awhile then busy: in loft. Patch hole where bird got in. Remove disgusting mess of feathers, straw, shit, dead bird, alive (visibly & audibly) with maggots. Then set to wiring up D's new socket. Guess which loft wires do what. Lead a spur down by door & plaster it in. Lunch.

Off to hedge-planting. Arrive 2.30 ish. Finish 4ish. Rain starts. Charlie a picture of mud. To clive + sarahs for tea. Back through much rain. M home soon after. D sleeps in car still. DJ arrives 6 to talk house.

Mon 12

D has even more strange spots on face, & M has one. F diagnosed impetigo, as does dr, so thats D at home next 2 days. I do pm. Feel gradually unwell & collapse soir.

Tues 13th

Sleep badly (but watching huge moon, orange at its rising, entertains my wakefulness). Obliged to leap up when D shrieks downstairs & pull a minor muscle to make my happiness complete.

At 8.30 go back to bed & sleep with grey outside & inside till 2.

M off to work & I am just capable of handling D. Weather now good.

Soir: collapsed. Lethargic & bad throat.

Wed 14th

Skip work. D's Imp now much improved so he can p'g'p (the power of chemicals...). Ma kindly comes over & picks him up, getting back just before 1 (they had a tree-cutting to watch) by which time I've read the paper in the sun, observed bees, first frogspawn, & one early blue bell, & gone back to bed.

Ma & D out to garden & I totter around a bit to watch. We find lots more bluebells emerging. Sun.

Another spell in bed

Thurs 15th

Struggle to work but 'light duties'.

Swim a bit. Only 20-odd in total & most slow but rather refreshing. Some 2's in 25 & 26 - so I can't be too bad.

Cb1 relax. How impaired am I? Clearly I'm tired, but how well does brain work? I can graffiti as well as ever (nb this written after). Diary 2001/03 #3 (16-23)

Fri 16th

Sleep well o'night. D up far too early but our grumpiness cannot deaden his happiness & bouncyness.

Waiting at p'g. H285CMT parks on the grass.

Work: ok. My illness 95% gone. Where did it come from? Loft?

Walk D home. M has arranged new-rear-windscreen man at 2 & he is on time, v competent & courteous. £50 xs, ins pays the not-spec-but-prob £150 balance. D watches from the driveway, I from inside with paper.

Oh Dear. BTW, D doesn't have a hideous diseaase: thats face paint D is entranced as Mr Car Window Fixer does his stuff

Other wise stay in - its grey. Sew up green star-cushion then D wants to sew: with big needle he can make (huge unconnected) stitches.

Ma calls. Rob will be promo to sq leader (good) & sent to Sierra Leone (poor).

Finish v5! Sort of ends nowhere. The notes point out, there are consistency probs into the future.

Sat 17th

Pool. Long q all of whom are doing complex things. Oh dear. Only do 30 (27.5, 28.5, 29.5) in deference to my 'recovering' status.

A few snow flakes. How will f'spawn cope?

Take D to town latish pm. Buy towels (D selects lime green, I get deep bright blue for me & (currently inappropriate) menstrual red for M (which she rejects on tues).

On bus: obliged to tell D that shouting "eil itler" & raising the r arm is v impolite. Wonder where it came from? Sing 'haul away joe' to D in car back: he wants to know who cut king L's head off so phone manfred.

Soir: regress to civ, I just felt the urge.

Sun 18th

D's 3 wishes: a beanbag, & 2 small forgotten things.

Have you finished your cornflakes? Yes. Really? Yes. Õk. Don't come & look or you'll see I haven't.

Day fairly aimless: stay at home. Chase D out round the green briefly but thats it. D wants to play with 3-owls-on-a-stick puzzle but I offer to replicate it instead. One hours sawing does it, then (much later) about 1/2 h painting does 1/2.

Bit more civ soir, but not late.

Mon 19th

Waiting in sun for M to 'deposit' D.

Bring D home. Tell him he's off to J's tomorrow. Hooray! he says.

M has been london being ?mucal scanned? privately for £90 - chance of downs put at 1:2000. Should that be public? Also piccies showing hand, ear, etc, all apparently in sensible places.

I'm getting too old to play civ till 12.30

Tues 20th

Swim 28, 29x2, 29.5. Oh dear. Water feels dense. Dry cleaning for M.

Snow and a Weasel Wed 21st

Snow falling at dawn: settles, wetly. D excited. Melts by night.

Equinox?

Pm pick D up late (xchng with M'a for fri). Cycle p+r, pool, cb1.

Soir: pub.

Thurs 22nd

Off to r+d models in grafton for fine hacksaw blades. Find, but too fine. Sun comes out. Yesterday snow, today pm gorgeous.

Allotment visit: rabbits! Rhubarb sproings.

Bees v busy. Some clustering at base: have they micro-swarmed?

Soir: more Civ I'm afraid. I have essentially won, but grinding down is slow.

Fri 23rd

Pick D up at 12 from playgroup (you can tell this is written on the PC because I didn't write p'g'p) and he cycles home (zooms out of school down ramp and straight across road, risking death; explain his error and note to self to make sure he can't do it again). Then whisk him off to town on bike (via watching bulldozer and dump trucks who are building a second mount just over the M11) to "glaze to amaze" where we paint a mug for M for mothers day. Sadly it will take 3 days to get glazed so she won't get it till tuesday. Ho hum.

Back home, and drive of to C+H's. D and C play quite well, more next-to-and-aware then with each other, but that will do. So H and I get to talk about green stuff a bit.

Again, home, and "cook": boil eggs: and there is frozen kedgeree if desired. But neither of us is hungry.

Soir: finish Civ! Stoato the magnificent, at 12:30. Emperor only, sadly. Dare I start up a Deity? Not yet.

Sat 24th

Up with D, painlessly. Swim 27.5, 29, 29.5, 29: unimpressive. Cb1. Finish Blueheart. Buy vaious foodstuffs for today, then home. Just got back and am hovering when M+J+F arrive, a little earlier than expected. Well, a good excuse to stop hovering. The bag is full, anyway. F as usual laden, and J has brought D face paints, or paint sticks, which he likes (at least for a while), and she paints a mask on him, which he then insists on wiping off. Later I draw a flower on him. The green is very pale though.

Lunch. Straining out fold-out tables size. Tea. Make gingerbread (or D+F+J do). M off to town. M and I take D out for a cycle, his first outing of the day, round the green then along the other way to the end. Rain impends.

Gingerbread, a touch over cooked. D has made one vastly-overendowed.

Then, M+J+F off to town to meet up with M and Si+B, to go see Jo+Josh's lecture on personal archaeology, which I am missing due to lack of a babysitter, which I now regret. Wonder what M is making of it?

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Soir: writing up diary and listening again to the brilliant "signs of life": ny mining disaster; sir patrick spens; the wife of ushers well; etc etc.

M back late (I'm in bed). Lecture was fun, she says.

Sun 25th

Tricked up early! Clever clock auto-swaps to summer time. A grey morn to welcome in summer.

So: in house this & that. D feels homey. I make a little box/drawer for fun.

3 ish persuade D out & M gets a rest (she already had one playing 'bedtime' with D where she went to bed with crow & D read her a story). Pool briefly, pool cafe, cb1 (D complains of tummy & looks tired), home.

Jo brings paper & we talk.

Mon 28th

Cycle to Dr P (& again soir for prescription). Work. D. Soir: civ & gp web.

D and Genevive have Tea and Fun Tues 27th

Swim 28, 29x2, 30. Oh dear. Cb1. Arjuna & order beer etc. GtA for M's mug. Back to Mill Rd for forgotten dry cleaning for M. W's on a whim, for fr bowl coffee & almond croiss & some 'the commodore'.

Home. Genevive at 2.30-4.30 & she & D have great fun - hide+seek, etc - much shrieking & running & only a few tears. But no rest for me. Make bread. Then D sleeps 5-on, quite tired out. I waste the time on civ.

Wed 28th

Get stuff off to dgv via furious hacking. Pick up D (who has told Colin and is happy).

Cycle town. Library: get my card enabled. Borrow TtTE & some font cd's. Swim. Pool cafe & cb1. Home.

Soir: pub. Just a+s+moi.

Thurs 29th

Blood donoring slow as ever so not a lot of work done. Hey ho. W/s, where I meet CM. Now awaiting 'lunch' with M but am a little early so sit outside in rare sun. When home *must* see to my signatures.

Ok: have M; get M'a & C; go see F's at long last & get them. 5 down & to go. To Girton for JB, & rather carelessly neglect to make her seconder. Rats. On way back, pass by Madingley Toad Patrol who must be (if apolitically) green. Indeed they are, but not from the right wards, or registered, or... except one. But Chris is ok, & G, so now I'm only one short. Hurrah!

Home. Civ: too much. Aztec trouble.

Fri 30th

Realise that my toad sig from Bar Hill is invalid: wrong ward. Argh. Get sig from JC, then (frustration) miss Dot, but get Sally at p'g'p so I'm done. Work. Add multi-col to metlog (& numerous other useful stuff). Pick up D in car. To Burwash to buy mouse for Rob. Then H's. She has others, so leave D & go leafleting the St Neots rd in H'k for an hour: widely spaced houses with long drives. Back to D, give H my form, back home, 1/2 h pack & off just past 4. Not bad. Drive up ok, get f+m sprayed for fun, wind through the woods, & there we are. Others here. Dinner is just served. Unload. R shows where to dump car & I hire bike & trailer. Meet D & L coming back & give them a ride: they love it & keep saying 'this is fun!'.

Sat 31st

Don't wake bright & early: D is sleeping in Ma's villa (we are: rnlt+wm; ma,d,jabd; ann, cdma). Go deliver paper to let A in & find him just in. Slow b'fast, & slow progress (D + L in trailer: fun) towards 'subtrop swim paradise' but eventually we are all there, D in his trousers due to key mix-up. Changing is cramped & food q slow but pool good (though no lanes). Discover rapids: fun & outside. Kids float between various adults. Waves good.

Home late lunch. Walk with Ann, ma, c & dogs around most of perimeter. Pine woods, mostly. Find D, M etc in play ground. Play on beach then pancakes. Home. Sit around. Follow dlsma to bridge over slow stream.

Soir: slow sit around read/talk.


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