Thursday, January 29, 2009

Bob bless Top Gear

... and Dave for running endless repeats thereof. Watching the "Italian supercar for under £10,000" episode and it's making me feel so much better about Hobbes.

:D

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

random ramblings

No specific theme today, just some musings.

I bought a bog brush today - first I've ever bought in my 31 years, all my other bathrooms came with one one way or another, and while I view them as essential items, I kinda resent having to spend money on something to stick down the toilet, so wouldn't buy one just to have a nicer one. I certainly wouldn't buy this one and am staggered that anyone would!* I bought a perfectly nice (ceramic and chrome) one from M&S for a tenner which is as much as I think anyone should spend on one. Personally...

... dammit! I should have posted a card today. I'm bad at birthdays :( I bought the dratted thing weeks ago too...

... ooh and sneaky BBC making The Announcement on the weekend when I was all busy moving house. Seems like a nice enough chap, and hopefully we'll get to see lots more of mister Moffat's genius when he takes the reins...

... oop, my spaghetti is ready!

* sorry to everyone I've already told about that for going on about it but OMG! Who?! Who spends that on that

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

smoke and misery

Well that's overstating it (considerably) but I can't resist a good bit of word play. I'm sad but not miserable by any stretch.

Hobbes is still unwell after two months away at the garage having his turbo problem diagnosed and addressed (new turbo fitted). I've decided that I should have learned my lesson about complex, non-standard turbocharged engines with Frank* and that I have to bite the bullet and travel to get Hobbes looked after by a specialist. I was lucky with the SAAB that there was a great specialist in Edinburgh. With the Coupe I'll either be travelling to Essex or Oxford.

*sigh*

Not this month. For the time being Hobbes and his smoky engine can sleep in a cosy garage while I wait for my bank balance to recover and the weather to get warm enough to merit having a car to go and play in the countryside in.

* after an incident I could have sworn I blogged but don't seem to have. Short version: a well meaning, perfectly competent garage cost me an expensive repair by not understanding the specific needs of a 9000's quirky engine and servicing it wrong. I don't know that the garage who've been servicing Hobbes have done a similar trick, they're certainly competent as generalists... but they've repeatedly failed to sort this and are baffled by it. Time to call in the experts and probably stick with them.

Thursday, January 08, 2009

Smashing.

No brain-wattage for new posts. Am tired from all the moving house.

Look at this though

Monday, January 05, 2009

Moved!

Most of my belongings are still in bags and boxes but all of them* are now in my new flat. Huge thanks to Justin, Karen, Liz and Craig for helping out on Saturday - it was hard work but you guys made it both possible and fun. Thank you again.

I love my new flat, it's gigantic, like big enough that we've started referring to parts of it as the North and South wings, but without irony, and (even better) has no screaming babies through the walls anywhere (we've checked thoroughly). In fact there's almost no noise of any sort from the outside world, very occasionally if you listen very carefully (or aren't asleep in the dead of night because you're all giddy about having moved) there's a distant swoosh of a car passing on a nearby road, but otherwise you wouldn't think you could possibly be less than ten minutes' walk from the city centre. I love it!

Sadly (for everyone who's been enjoying the fact it was a distinct possibility) my sofa is not permanently wedged in the stairwell Dirk Gently style. Sadly (for me) it didn't fit up the stairs so isn't in the livingroom where I usually like to keep my sofa. It's in the (ENORMOUS) garage instead. Haven't decided yet whether to sell it or keep it there and make a little den. Either way though it means I'm now buying two sofas for upstairs instead of one. Meh.

I'm not posting my new address on the blog but if you haven't got it and think you should, let me know. Also I'll be slow responding to splateagle.com emails until we get the new flat all broadbanded up. Also there have been requests for pictures from various quarters. It'll be a while folks: I'm not taking pictures until I've unpacked/furnished rooms and then I won't be able to send them until the broadband fairies have worked their magic at the exchange (which is an inscrutable arcane process and "takes as long as it takes") but I will sort something out once those things are done.

* Except my vacuum cleaner and a load of cleaning stuff which are all at the old place waiting for me to go back and clean it before handing the keys back... *sigh* that'll be a fun evening.

Thursday, January 01, 2009

"up to no good...

... with no place to go but down"

The thing I like... well one of the things I like about the holidays is all the catching up with people that goes on. Of course there's always a bunch you don't get to too. (if that's you, I'll most likely be in touch soon about catching up in the New Year)

New! A shiny brand new year stretches ahead... fun n'est pas?

No there wasn't a point to this post

:)