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Mar 30, 2015 - Uncategorized    Comments Off on Problems not faced by Mary Berry

Problems not faced by Mary Berry

Already bored on first day of Maternity Leave, saw Mary Berry making Easter biscuits which are one of my favourites on TV and thought how hard can this be? Not too difficult. Recipe easy to follow, biscuits look a lot more interesting, but a lot less eastery than Mary Berry’s creation. Taste ok though.

Inspired by this, here are 10 problems that Mary Berry probably doesn’t face when baking.

1. Spending 10 minutes looking for the attachments for the hand whisk. Finding them in the washing up. Having no recollection of using them recently.

2. Ingredients in cupboard may or may not be what you want…. do I trust a jar labelled Self raising flour to be this?

3. Only one cooling rack. Recipe really requires at least three. Playing musical biscuits trying to get them to cool.

4. Raisins will substitute for currents wont they? Well yes, unless you want your Easter biscuits to take on the look of the constituent parts trying to escape.

5. Christmas, Mickey Mouse and Gingerbread men cookie cutters will substitute for Bunnies, eggs, and chicks for Easter biscuit shapes.

6. Mixing three types of flour because there is no one jar with enough in. May or may not be the correct flour type (see point 2)

7. Oven of variable temperature. Some biscuits barely cooked. Others with burnt raisins. (This is a recurring theme – baking has varying degrees of success in this oven)

8. Timer running out of power halfway through cooking (downside of using mobile phone). No idea what time has elapsed. Second batch slightly crispy.

9. Floor covered in sultanas/raisins, flour sugar, bits of grease-proof paper. Unable to bend down to clear up due to status of 38 weeks pregnant.

10. Every work surface covered in bowls, whisks, ingredients, rubbish. I suspect Mary has enough work space, more organisation and the ability to tidy as she goes.

But, the biscuits taste nice, I may get the toddler to decorate some tomorrow (if he hasn’t eaten them already)

Jan 27, 2014 - Uncategorized    Comments Off on 2013: A Reflection

2013: A Reflection

2013 was not full of the same changes of 2012, but nonetheless had some special times, but with less changes and more normal life.

There were Firsts: 2013 saw our little man turn 1. We celebrated the fact that we hadn’t made too much of a mess of his first year, despite us not having a clue what we were doing most of the time. Lucky that small people are surprisingly resilient (and don’t notice when you make a tit of yourself). We watched as he wondered at the delights of the aquarium and managed to toddle most of the way around under his own steam (whilst we pushed an empty buggy which doubled as a shopping trolley). It was also the year of our first family holiday. A rainy week in Scotland beckoned and our bicycles remained unused whilst we basked in the hot-tub whilst the small person napped. Family life was pretty special. Not just for the major moments. But all the moments.

 

There were endings: Having worked in the NHS since practically the end of University I found myself at the tail end of yet another fixed term contract without possibility of renewal and had to accept the inevitable and leave the NHS (I wrote about that here before). My last day as a proud NHS employee fell in July and I now work for a private company in support of public sector. Some observations for another time on this I think as there is so much difference and so much the same. But suffice it to say, a good career move and I am definitely glad to see the back of inky printers and ancient machines.

 

There were improvements: I took over a Beaver colony that had dropped to 6 members (and was shortly due to drop to 4) in January. A year of hard work, good programmes, and a few glasses of wine to recover (ok, more than a few) and we are up into double figures. More young people enjoying membership of one of the biggest youth organisations. Its hard work but not impossible. After all, its only 2 hours a week.

 

Here’s looking forward to the experiences that 2014 has to offer

 

And having written this a few days ago and then found a Lloyds Bank Moments that mattered competition to win an iPad and thought I’d tidy this up and actually post for once.

 

One major goal for 2014. Post more of what I write. Less half finished drafts.

Feb 21, 2013 - Uncategorized    Comments Off on Kindle-ing

Kindle-ing

I own quite a few gadgets and being a self confessed geek this is not surprising. Of all my gadgets my absolute favourite is my Kindle. My Kindle is the most amazing bit of kit ever.

I bought my Kindle shortly after my Dad passed away. I fit left a little money and I wanted to but something that really reminded me of him. So I bought a Kindle in tribute to the abiding memories of reading books overlooking the beach after school each day.

I am an avid if sporadic reader. I go through phases of devouring many books in a week but the spells of reading very little. But when I do read I read quite quickly so holidays were always a nightmare with the number if books I’d carry to last the whole time.
And this is the joy of the Kindle. Two years ago I was a leader on a Scout trip to Sweden and Denmark. One of the scouts picked up an ear infection so I ended up spending three days in a Danish youth hostel foyer while the Scout recovered. And I read. First one hook. Then another. Then another. I read the entire Rizzoli and Isles series ove those few days. I’d have never got all those books in my backpack. And the youth hostel selection was mostly in languages that I don’t speak so it would have been a very boring few days. This is after spending 4 days on a remote island in Sweden watching Scouts do activities whilst sunbathing and occasionally taking photos of them. I read a lot that trip. And thanks to my Kindle I wasn’t stick reading and re- reading the same book over and over and over again

Although I suppose it could have been an opportunity to learn another language. Thanks to my Kindle though we will never know.

Feb 12, 2013 - Uncategorized    Comments Off on What I do

What I do

AlI do is fix computers. I’m lucky. I get paid to so something I really enjoy and I get to do it for the National Health Service.

I get to fix computers for people who do important things. They save lives. Deliver babies. Care for the dying. Male a difference. Matter.

Realistically this is the closest I will get to doing something important with my life. I believe in the NHS. I understand and value it’s principles. And after spending most of my last 6 years service on fixed term contracts I am trying to reconcile that I may not get to do this for as long as I’d like.

I feel quite sad at the thought that I may have to leave the organisation I believe in so much.

But really all I do us fix computers. I can do that anywhere. But the NHS. That will stay with me forever.

Oct 26, 2012 - Uncategorized    Comments Off on A collection of randomness.

A collection of randomness.

I have been musing for months over what to put here. All the stuff you read about blogs says it should stick to a topic.

But my brain doesn’t work to one topic. It’s a collection of randomness. So I think that will be what my blog should be. My own collection of randomness.

Aug 7, 2010 - Uncategorized    Comments Off on an update of sorts…

an update of sorts…

I really didn’t realise that it was nearly two years since I last updated. So much has happened but I do find I miss this exercise. I miss the opportunity to construct proper writings that is now missing from my daily life. My written word is now limited to taking down phone messages and random facts about computers.

I hope to be able to do some more of this in the future.

Oct 25, 2008 - Uncategorized    Comments Off on poor neglected blog…

poor neglected blog…

So, again, my Blog has been left for a while with no updates… oops. Life has been too busy, too hectic, and there has been too much going on for me to remember to do this in a while.

Don’t worry, I still know this blog is here… and hopefully when life is a little more quiet I will be able to catch up with all the things i’ve been meaning to do.

Including this Blog.

May 22, 2007 - Uncategorized    Comments Off on 7264

7264

After three years, 7264 photos and a lot of mistreatment, my beloved camera is finally beyond repair.

The LCD screen is completely beyond use. Which means that most of the features that set a digital camera apart from film cameras are gone. Now essentially I have a camera that can take a lot of photos but doesn’t do much else. It really has done me well. It has taken a lot of photos and punishment but I’ve always considered it a sound investment

So here, for posterity’s sake, the final photo my camera will ever take…

(A quaint little streeet in Devizes)

Thank you for all the memories you’ve captured.
Feb 1, 2007 - Uncategorized    Comments Off on what really matters…

what really matters…

Life is full of people. Some are just acquaintances, some are important. And some really, really matter.

Today, I want to talk about someone who really matters. My Dad.

Born in 1930 in Co. Cork, Eire. Dad lived there until the age of 6 when the family relocated to England and moved to the village of Box, near Bath. He grew up during the war years, and had completed his National Service and was married with 2 children before the swinging 60’s were out. From the stories I have heard, I have a feeling he used to be a bit of a scoundrel. After the breakdown of his first marriage, he married my mum in 1975 (on Valentines Day no less) and I was born nine years later.

A little about my Dads personality – he is most accurately defined as having a quirky sense of humour. It’s that odd that it’s even filtered down through all three of us ‘kids’ and his grandkids. But more than that – he is a sweet man, very loving, and he has always been there when he’s been needed. Very definite political views, a lifetime of experiences and skills – he is quite unique.

I have lots of memories of my Dad. Lots and lots. We’re still making memories, but the ones from when I was little seem more special somehow.

During school holidays we used to go on adventures. Lots of them when I was little, but we still continued right up until I left school – and maybe once or twice through Sixth Form. We used to explore the moors, the little villages, the rivers and streams, the castles and big houses. I also spent many happy days playing around the beach at Watermouth Cove. It was always fun and it was always different. I think in those trips I saw more of Devon and Somerset than I ever will again.

One of my abiding memories (from when I was very, very, young) is of Dad’s vegetable garden. He grew everything from Carrots and Cabbages to Gooseberries and Blackcurrants. I even I had my own vegetable patch with a few seeds thrown into the soil with a lot of hope they would grow. But Dad’s garden was really something. We used to test all the produce before it left he garden – especially ‘purple ice-creams’ (Purple Sprouting). Its all grown over now, it has been for many years. But the memories remain.

During my early school years we had to spend two hours waiting after school for my mum to finish working. We spent the time sat on the seafront in Combe Martin reading the delights of Roger Red Hat and Billy Blue Hat. And that was really how I learnt to read. Not just learning though – I love to read even now. We would then play on the beach, explore the rock pools, and in the summer have an ice cream.

Dad is older now. He’s not too well and not up to doing much at the moment. He’s still got that sense of humour though. He is still my Dad. And I love him.

Here’s to many more memories.

Jan 22, 2007 - Uncategorized    Comments Off on living a second life…

living a second life…



Meet LJ (not her SL name).She is me. At least, in Second Life she is me. She is my avatar; she represents me in the online world known as Second Life. She looks a little like me – except for the weird sideburns and the fact she looks a little Russian. It’s pretty close. But the joy is, she doesn’t have to be. She doesn’t have to be female, in Second Life (SL) she could be a man, woman, alien, animal – it doesn’t matter.

LJ had a pretty uneventful start. She walked into a lot of trees, waded in a few rivers, and walked into a lot of walls during her orientation. Actually, she still walks into a lot of walls. She spent two days on the help island before she took her first brave steps onto the main grid (where most SL residents are). And then she took them again. And again. And again before she realised her graphics card couldn’t cope with very high resolution and she managed to make it into the bustling help area. Which she left again as soon as humanly possible. In her first ten minutes, she was propositioned for sex, saw a big red ball bouncing around the welcome area, hid from a monster, and got totally obscured by an array of bubbles.

Needless to say the whole experience was a little overwhelming. At this point LJ was beginning to wonder what she had gotten herself into with this SL malarkey. Luckily, she remembered a notecard that advertised a place called ‘Spaceport Alpha’ – the International Spaceflight Museum (ISM), and she embarked upon her first adventure.

If anything was going to make or break the experience, this would have been it. LJ is a self confessed nerd, and this is almost as nerdy as it comes. Put it this way, LJ doesn’t have a home in SL, but she does keep going back to the ISM. (A side note from the biographer – if this place existed in RL (Real Life) you wouldn’t need SL). Still struggling to stick to paths, and rambling through many trees, LJ began her exploration – by talking to another SL resident about all the weird things in SL. IT might be an interesting side not to mention that this resident had the appearance of a 2ft black cat.

LJ was very impressed with the museum. Especially the ‘Low Earth Orbit’ exhibit where you can tour the solar system close up, view the International Space Station, and the Hubble Space Telescope. (Biographers side note – Likelihood is I’ll never see these in RL, so SL will have to do) Geeky fact that LJ noticed was that the description of Earth reads ‘mostly harmless’ (a wonderful reference to Douglas Adams). Back on the ground, the Saturn V rocket and the Space Shuttle were most interesting to see, it was even possible to walk all the way up the launch tower alongside the Saturn V – although one wrong step at the top meant a rather fast plummet to the ground. LJ (unhurt) decided that in the future it would be much simpler to fly.

The museum was relatively quiet, but LJ did meet some people – even someone who seemed quite ‘normal’ by SL standards. And this was how the next adventure occurred. LJ was taken on a magic carpet tour of Nantucket (a region in SL) which is a New England-esqe Sim and saw the un-tackiest and most normal place in SL. It was pretty, quiet, and she also picked up some of the jargon and saw a bit of the main grid.

So far LJ has met people from America, Belgium, Ireland, Israel, and the UK. Of course no one in Second Life is who they appear (with the exception of the few big names who have kept their identity in SL). And that is perhaps the charm of SL; anyone can go and be someone completely different. There is no ‘face’ to maintain. No image to live up to. You can be a geeky or as extrovert as you want. There is something for everyone. The only proviso is – if it’s not so mainstream, it may be a more difficult to find (so just like RL).

So with one or two new friends, LJ signed off for a while (it was 2am), happy in the knowledge that she had survived the experience to log back in another day. After all, one of the things she noted before she logged out was the existence of a number of Star Trek museums in SL. And those are definitely worth a return visit.

SL is getting bigger. The big corporations are taking notice. Reuters has an office in SL, major clothing brands are creating virtual stores. SL even has its first millionaire in Anshe Chung, the property tycoon with an online empire. Second Life keeps hitting the press, sometimes for good things, sometimes not so good things. But it’s all publicity. It’s a big machine with a lot to gain (and a lot to lose). As the hype grows, the residents increase. When I came online about a month ago there were usually about 16,000 people online at peak times. As I write there are 26141 residents online. Maybe it’s a fad, maybe its not. It may be the next logical progression in communication. From the days of IRC chat, to message boards and live chatrooms, now it is interactive in a way we could never imagine. One conversation LJ had in SL was about how the SL world is akin to the Holodeck in Star Trek. The Holodeck is a virtual world, an interactive form of entertainment – so is SL – aside from the lack of actual holograms, the SL environment has only one main difference – instead of interacting with virtual characters, you interact with real people.

I think Second Life may stay around for quite a while if its current popularity is anything to go by.

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