Goodness, how "Surrey" I sound today - in spite of having what seems like pins and needles lodged inside my nose and throat. I have lunched at Wisley with Jane H, Ang, Michelle and assorted children (well, there were two of them, so that's an assortment to me). This is what Ladies Who Lunch do here in the Shires when we're avoiding Foot & Mouth and the dreaded Bluetongue - we all go to Wisley and wander around the gardens and admire the new Greenhouse, and all very relaxing it was too. And I must say how brave the Gals were in actually walking along the same paths as me when I was wrapped up in a fleece, scarf, fingerless gloves and a woolly hat. Never say that I am not the epitome of Surrey style. (Brief pause here to check "epitome", but yes it is right ...). Not to mention the snorting. Did I mention the snorting? However, Jane H has very sweetly bought me a Sudafed breatheasy plug which will help me sleep at night apparently - thank you, Jane! I never even knew such things existed, but then again I don't get out very much. I don't want the Police knowing where I am ...

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I am blogging from my sukkah.It has WiFi. ....

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Well, I breezed into the new/old job and felt as if I’d come home; there were all these people still there, and they remembered me. I just slotted right in and felt soooo comfortable, it was wonderful…as though my space was waiting for me to come back.



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I love poetry and yesterday woke up with a half composed poem rattling around my head. Below is the finished result. Hope you like it.


Derbyshire


I love to stand on rugged tor

And stride across the empty moor

With wind in hair, and sun on face

For me there is no lovelier place.

Where dry stone walls tumble down

Wooded hills towards market towns

Broad valleys swathed with velvet grasses

Inch towards the hilly passes.

From peaceful Hope to sparkling Dove

The broad sweep of the land I love

The peace and tranquil embrace

Of each and every lovely place

Stays with me when home I go

With images of rain and snow

And scenes that delight the heart

When the sun cleaves the clouds apart.

Lingering in my minds eye

With a beauty that can make me cry.

Today I am still going for the Olympic medal for Snorting like an Old Horse – well, we have to win something at the Great Games, don’t we? And I am also minuting for Britain, so what the heck, maybe I’ll go for that one too. You never know your luck.

Still, at least after last week’s fiasco, I’ve managed to fit in a calming morale-boosting chat with the boss, who is always so good at this kind of stuff. So am now feeling more like a normal human being. Don’t know how long that will last then … To the end of the day might be good!...

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Thought I'd add a touch of spring to our lives seeing as winter is blundering swiftly towards us; it's been raining on and off here for the last couple of days. I took my coat on Saturday and ended up taking it off and having to drag it around town with me - the sun arrived and stayed all day! My other excuse for using images instead of words is that my finger nails are clicking on the keyboard...and I'm in procrastination mode too.



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Hey, I’ve discovered a way to keep breathing when attempting to sleep whilst ill – if I get a bundle of spare pillows and pile them all up underneath, I don’t feel sick when I lie down as I’m so propped up that I might as well be sitting up anyway. Result! Which gives me one fairly good night’s sleep, better breathing and – sadly – a cricked neck. Ah well, there’s always a downside, eh … But never mind – it did the trick, so I don’t care. And I’m definitely doing that again the next time one of these nasty bouts rears its ugly head.

Scary moment on the way to work today – a couple of cars on the A3 had obviously bumped each other so were parked in the slow lane and exchanging details. Insults too – as I passed, the man standing up slammed his hands against the window of the other driver (still in his vehicle) and swore virulently at him. Lord but I hate these road rage moments – they’re soooo frightening. Yes, I know I should maybe have stopped but I’m way too much of a coward – and I was at least reassured by the fact that Angry Man was walking back to his own vehicle when I looked in my rear-view mirror. So at least he hadn’t murdered anyone. Yet. Ways to keep breathing for us all then …

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A gorgeous short story publication landed in my mailbox this morning. Called Minishots, they are produced by Vignette Press, a twelve-year-old "indie publishing outfit", as they describe themselves, operating out of Melbourne, Australia. So far they have produced 7 Minishots, which are stunning-looking small magazines each containing one story. Here is a selection of the front covers....

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Ho hum, it's back to the doctor's for me, I think. Had something of a rough night last night - though thankfully not as rough as it's been in the past. And, hey, I did get a lot of sudokus done, so it's not all bad news. But I still think I need something stronger from the medical powers that be to kick my ear/nose/throat problems into touch. Or at least more into touch than they are currently! Also, looking back in my diary, I can see I had the selfsame thing exactly one month ago - so nobody can accuse me of not being regular. On such stalwart reliability was the Empire won ... And lost indeed ...

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Just back from spain started night school.
I thought I was going to improve my punctuation and grammer.
First things first introductions to fellow pupils followed by spelling test. One of the first words in the spelling test Diarrhoea. Honest! I thought what have I let myself in for. Still maybe it will get better at least I hope it will.
Joe