July 22, 2014

Stage

Posted in Gravitas | Tagged , , , ,
4

Pete’s sister has invited Bernard to a cocktail party on August 2nd, leaving us old folks at a bit of a loose end. Not wanting to trek all the way back to the Casa Uborka, we are looking for some ideas.

Now, I’ve long had a hankering to visit The Globe, and Julius Caesar is on at 2pm, so that’s an option. Pete’s dad, on the other hand, has recently been raving about an immersive theatre experience, so that’s tempting too. Pete may have other ideas, of course.

And then we’d need something to eat, and potentially somewhere to stay depending on what time things finish, so does anyone have a good suggestion or two?

Karen
  • Comments: 4
  • When we were last on the South Bank (boozing at Vinopolis - jolly good fun but not what it... - Gammidgy
  • Polpo looks nice. We always end up somewhere like Wagamama, wishing we had managed to find... - Karen
  • Last time we went to that there London, we ate at Polpo on Beak Street and it was really v... - graybo
  • I really enjoyed the globe - well worth a visit. And it's always nice to have a wander dow... - Ms Gammidgy
July 18, 2014

Bar’s Open

Posted in Goo | Tagged , ,
1

Today, as Twitter may have mentioned once or twice, I am in York. York feels like home in many ways. Bernard has never been here before, and I’m looking forward to him and Pete arriving later this evening. I was thinking of offering waxwork or mannequin based cocktails. Perhaps you could order your drink and tell us what model you would like to share it with, if they could come to life in the style of the mannequin in the eponymous Andrew McCarthy film (links may be provided later by Lyle if you are lucky).

I am going for a wander on the city walls, to clear my head after an intense but enjoyable study day. I know it went well because one of my colleagues approached me afterwards to say, “I am very difficult to please, and study days usually make me grumpy, but that was great thank you.” Which is a bonus, because I really enjoyed running it.

image

Karen
  • Comments: 1
  • Umm. I'll have a tumbleweed, please. http://www.drinksmixer.com/drink657.html I'll shar... - graybo
  • Comments: 10
  • Pete, I can file that under "Asked, and answered" #sandwichosity - Sevitz
  • Sevitz, the sandwich question is a tricky one. I think the Nexus 4 and HTC Wildfire have a... - Pete
  • I also got nostalgic about that tiny nokia everyone used to have. You know, when small wa... - swisslet
  • I found my RAZR the other day. That was a great phone design. - swisslet
  • Ye Gods, I had one of those Siemens phones. (And an earlier one with a slide-out keyboard.... - Lyle
July 14, 2014

Handover

Posted in Goo | Tagged , ,
7

I’m going to York on Thursday, working there on Friday, and on Friday night Pete and Bernard will be driving up to join me for a weekend of waxwork-avoidance and perhaps some boating with the TDs.

It’s the last full week of the summer term, and there’s a lot on. Your childhood memories may tell you that this is a week of winding down, chilling on the school field at playtime, taking all your artwork off the walls and home to a perpetually admiring mother, getting a fiver off your grandad for a good report, &c. Actual parents will know that this is a time of trying to be at school concerts and sports days, emptying a year’s worth of crap out of the bottom of the schoolbag, being required to admire indistinct blobs of paint on faded sugar paper, and crossing your fingers before opening the report.

Bernard is excited to be finding out which class he will be in next year, and spending the week in that class with his new teacher. He is hoping to be with his group of friends, and thoroughly ready for the new academic challenges. I doing a lot of work in these last few days, so that I can do less (and earn less) during the holidays. For Pete, nothing much changes, except that he has more leisure in the bathroom on mornings when we don’t have to go to school.

So, the York thing. Being away for a night means I have to do lots of advance planning to ensure the continued smooth running of the family. A playdate after school for Thursday, a pizza in the freezer for Pete, packing for myself and Bernard, and a LIST. The LIST will have subsections; namely: Thursday (whom to collect him from and where, don’t forget it’s bathnight); Friday morning (Bernard needs violin, music stand and music; doesn’t need packed lunch as he’ll have a school dinner; remind him he has a violin lesson as well as the concert; collect him at 3.30; bring snacks for the car journey; don’t – oh my goodness DON’T – forget the audiobooks); and so on.

If I didn’t write a LIST, what is the worst thing that could happen? Pete’s not going to forget to pick him up; if he accidentally makes him a packed lunch that’s not the end of the world; if he forgets the violin C will be disappointed but I’ll have texted about it anyway so that won’t happen. Oh my GOD there are too many semi-colons in this post. I quit.

Karen
  • Comments: 7
  • Oh, he needs that every night. - Karen
  • And what about a bath? - Lyle
  • Pete doesn't need one until Friday. - Karen
  • Is the bath night for Pete or Bernard? - Lyle
  • Whenever we have these sorts of situations in our house, H fusses, I grunt indistinctly, t... - graybo
July 13, 2014

Orchid

Posted in Garden | Tagged , ,
5

image

A former client gave me an orchid as a thank you (she really needn’t have; she paid me for my services). Happily, I looked after her more successfully than I looked after the orchid, which is by now very sad and droopy. Some of the flowers have fallen off. I am wondering if it is beyond rescuing, or whether I can learn to doula an orchid back to health.

Karen
  • Comments: 5
  • Ours are on a west-facing conservatory windowsill and , whilst the foliage is not as good ... - graybo
  • Do you think it will be happier living in the conservatory, or on a shady kitchen windowsi... - Karen
  • Must say that your foliage is looking very healthy. (That's not a chat up line, by the way... - graybo
  • The spent flowers will fall off (they will come off easily with gentle assitance). The ste... - graybo
  • Pour a pint of rainwater through it; cut off dead flower stems. Repeat weekly. - Lisa
July 11, 2014

Bar’s Open

Posted in Goo | Tagged ,
5

It’s school report day. What did yours say then? What would it say now? And what would you like to drink?

Karen
  • Comments: 5
  • Sorry, forgot to say "please and thank you". My report now would say "is sometimes forg... - graybo
  • I was school swot for most of my school time but in later years became complacent when I s... - graybo
  • Gin please. Buckets of the stuff. I was described at work today as being sensible and ... - Clair
  • My school reports were unremarkable. They invariably described me as "quiet," and sometime... - Karen
  • I was that weird kid who looked forward to report cards. I was fantastic at taking tests. ... - asta
July 10, 2014

Uborka! Running Club magic mile

Posted in Going | Tagged ,
Reply

Run one single mile as fast as you can!

Uborka! is running a virtual magic mile event on 30th July 2014. You can run wherever you want, at any time of day, and then log your time on Marathon Talk. There are no prizes other than the joy of taking part in a crazy race against yourself.

Here are the rules:

  • You must be a member of the Marathon Talk running community. Sign up at Magic Mile event (It’s free, it only takes two minutes and they don’t ask for loads of personal details).
  • Be fair – your mile should be accurate and downhill miles are not allowed!
  • You can run a mile as many times as you like on the date, and repeatedly log your time but only your fastest will count.
  • You must log your final Magic Mile time here before 8am (UK time) on Tuesday the 12th of August 2014.
  • You can walk your magic mile, but you can’t cycle it.

Sign up HERE for the uborka! magic mile.

Karen
July 9, 2014

I *HATE* mannekwins

Posted in Going | Tagged , , , , , ,
5

Under some obscure legislation, it is now mandatory for every museum in Britain to include the following:-

  • Dinosaurs
  • Lego models (often of dinosaurs)
  • A thing where you have to build a bridge out of wooden blocks
  • A treasure hunt whereby you have to find pictures of something (usually dinosaurs) blu-tacked to the exhibits
  • Interactive screen-based exhibits that don’t work
  • A quiz with a really crap prize, such as a plastic dinosaur
  • Waxwork models.

Unfortunately Bernard has taken against waxwork models. I’m not sure whence this originated, but it might have been the annoyed-looking waxwork man in the privy at the Milestones Museum in Basingstoke. HMS Belfast has waxworks undergoing dentistry. The Smugglers Adventure in Hastings has waxworks in dungeons, which are definitely the worst kind of waxworks. Waxworks, in dungeons, with a soundtrack of groans and rattling chains. This is probably why the child is such a big fan of science museums, which generally put more emphasis on the wooden bridge building, and less on the lifesize model of Darwin stroking his chin.

His automatonophobia means we will not be visiting the York Dungeon or the Jorvik Centre next week. (I’m glad, he says, leaning over my shoulder as I type).

Why don’t you like them? I ask. I dunno (this is his answer to most of my questions). They just make me feel scared. I hope he will grow out of it, because like any good middle-class parents, we feel obliged to drag him round educational tourist attractions at every opportunity, and you never know when a creepy face is going to be lurking around the next corner, causing him to screech, cling to my thigh, and demand to go home.

Karen
  • Comments: 5
  • In November 2003, H and I visited Copenhagen and went to the big winter garden displays at... - graybo
  • I hate them too. I still have to scan each room in a museum very carefully from the doorwa... - Pigwotflies
  • Life is hard when you're 8. I believe it's because most well brought up 8-year olds haven'... - Gammidgy
  • I have a similar issue with stuffed animals. The taxidermy kind rather then the cuddly toy... - Ms Gammidgy
  • Even the pencil museum in Keswick, of all things, had a mannekwin. - Pete