Just messing with Picasa …
Month: April 2016
That’ the birthday over …
Well at least for another. The thing that really bugs me is the idea that because it’s your birthday, you must enjoy yourself. There’s time when I just cannot be bothered. Not going to say any more on that one.
This few days has made me think a little more about food. Not the type of food, but basically the amount of food that we eat. I’m overweight. Not hugely, but overweight all the same. I want to get my weigh down a little, but it difficult when people put food in front of you and expect you to eat it all. Then you get the old people telling you about the war years, when you NEVER left anything on your plate. But back in those days, there was not the same amount of food around, so eating everything on your plate was not a problem. Now, there is so much food available that it is simply not feasible to eat everything that gets put on your plate.
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Happy birthday to me !!!!
The ‘Big 60 +1’ today. I’m not really counting birthdays anymore, but everybody expects me to. They are just becoming different numbers rather than days to celebrate. I’ve got the the stage when I don’t really care. I’m reminded of the Tennessee Ernie Ford song Sixteen Tons, with the famous line “Another day older and deeper in debt …” which basically says it all.
No idea what we are doing today, and I don’t think I’m that bothered. Must be getting old.
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Today so far …
A trip to Farndale this morning to see the famous daffodils. I have been before, many years ago, but on that occasion, the daffodils had bloomed early and there was very little to see. More successful today, but they were starting to look past their prime. For me, if you’ve seen one daffodil you’ve seen them all.
After the walk, we visited the Feversham Arms Inn for a spot of lunch and an alcoholic refreshment. My choice of burger was not my best. It sounded good, but was very dry and to be honest, quite tasteless. But everyone elses choice was fine. I will live with it.
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First day …
Well I think I slept okay. I don’t remember too much. I do remember getting up in the middle of the night for my usual visit to the toilet. Totally confused, I completely forgot that we had an en suite and trotted of downstairs. How I remembered there was a toilet downstairs if I had forgotten there was upstairs, I will never know. Still the sun is shining and we shall where today takes us.
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Worrying day … not going too well …
It was never going to be a good start to the day. R*** has had an infected thumb for a couple of days now. K*** was worried that it was getting worse and thought he would need need to see the doctor. Not so bad I hear you say, but here comes the crunch. Today was the day the rendering was to be started and was also the day we were going away for couple of days. Add to that, R*** going on respite for four nights, made for a nightmare of a start.
Still it all now seems to be getting better. R*** got off okay (taxi manage to eventually pick him up). The plasterer started and was getting on quite well. We got off for our break after a not too long delay and found the place we were looking for with no problem.
Posting might be an issue at this cottage. There is wi-fi and it is quite good, but there is no phone signal (like being back in the 1980’s) and I’m missing it already.
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Weekly Photo Challenge – Dinnertime
This cheeky devil was after anothers dinner:
Well more lunch than dinner really:
And with apologies to all Vegan and Vegetarians :
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Worrying day, going well …
I was going to have a go at with the new Writing Prompt app today (might still do later) but things that we were expecting to go bad, didn’t. I shall elaborate.
Mrs H*** decide, some time ago, that she wanted the rendering on the outside walls replacing. It has become damaged somewhat, and the last paint job did not work well at all. The issue has 
been that the paint is flaking off and exposing the ‘bare’ render. It is not a small job and requires that the old render be chipped off and a new render applied. My personal view was 
that it just needed the rest of the paint removing and the render skimming. As ‘Master of The House’ I was, of course out voted and we went for the a full re-application. Whatever we had decided on, it meant that the house needed scaffolding erecting. Today was the day that the scaffolders arrived. We were both worried that the noise would upset R***, as because of his Autism, anything out of the ordinary can cause him a problem. He was brilliant, and it did not seem to worry him in the least. He skipped from room to room looking out of every window, just watching everything that was going on.
Then, just we thought that we had cracked it came the the ‘big hit’. One of the guys knocked on the door and explained, that because of the position of our satellite dish and the positioning of the scaffold around it, we would lose the signal. Now whilst (whilst or while … which would you use?) this was a bit inconvenient, me and Mrs H were not too bothered. But R***! He watches (at least it is on all the time) the same programmes every day. From around 8am until 10:30pm it’s ‘Nick Jnr Too’. He then switches to ‘BBC2 NI’ until 8am the next day. This happens all the time he is at home with us. Never changes. So how will he cope with this? He seemed to be okay when he was having his lunch and when he finished, I managed to load up Thomas the Tank Engine DVD. Surprisingly enough, he accepted this without any issue. We were both amazed. He is now on his 4th DVD and has even picked his own choice. This certainly not what we were expecting at all. There is a lot of finger crossing and hoping at the moment, as he could just turn at any time. We will know when it gets to BBC2 NI time!
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Writing prompts – this looks interesting …
For some time now I have struggled to get any kind of inspiration to write. Not just a blog post, but any kind of writing. It’s not writers block as I understand it, it’s just a lack of ideas. I’ve seen many places that will email you random words and/or subjects, but they don’t seem to do anything for me.
Then, while I was waiting to set off this morning, I came across this site: Writing Exercises.co.uk. It is a UK site that offers more that the usual writing prompts. I’ve not had a thorough delve into all its possibilities, but it looks very interesting. It also has an app for Android, but unfortunately no iPhone app.
I’m going to give it a try, and I’ll try and post any resulting pieces of work, that look at least reasonable.
(I don’t think this post will count though ….. )
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Communications …
I’ve come to the conclusion that the work place is not an appropriate scenario for Instant Messaging. As the Council moves away from fixed office bases to a more mobile solution, the need for mobile communication has become greater. The reliance on mobile phone technology as opposed to fixed line, has increased some costs. Some see the way around these extra costs is the Instant Message provision that Microsoft offer. There are enormous benefits to this form of communications, but it also has its downside.
When it first arrived in the office, we were all amazed at the possibilities that email offered. However, it soon became a problem when it was a lot easier to email a colleague than to write a letter/memo and even more convenient than the telephone. Soon we were swamped with masses of email, that we either did not read, or spent most of our time reading rather than working.
Now we have the Instant Message. An email sits the receivers inbox until they read or delete it. Not the case with the Instant Message. The thing about Instant Messaging, is that it only works if both/all communicators are online. But I suppose the biggest downside (well for our scenario) is that, unless your ICT allows to to save your messages, once the conversation is over, all evidence of that conversation is gone. So when your manager says it is okay for you to leave early, there is nothing to back up your claim if your manager denies all knowledge of their agreement.
The other downside is that there is no hiding place. An email can be left until your ready to read it. A telephone can be ignored with the claim that the volume was turned down. An Instant Message is in your face. You cannot miss that persistent flashing icon on your task bar.
I will use the Instant Message tool at work … it’s Corporate. But I will always use email, if I need a record of a communication. It is so much safer.
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Do they really understand …
Autism, along with its related spectrum disorders, has become a bit of a ‘buzzword’ at the moment. We have had World Autism Day, British television programmes such as the drama ‘The A Word’ and the documentary ‘Employable Me’ seek to show the some of the issues surrounding ASD. Even the Lord Mayors Charity, here in Leeds is supporting Specialist Autism Services this year.
Now whilst all this ‘awareness’ is to be praised and very welcome, it can lead to some misconceptions. For example, in The A Word, the child with Autism has an obsession with music and is nearly always seen wearing a pair of headphones. My son R*** like music and does wear headphones. However, these headphones are noise cancelling headphones which wears when external noises become too much for him. I was asked by a colleague, how he was doing these days and I showed them a recent photograph of him at his day services. His was digging in the service allotment, and wearing his headphones as he does. The person I was show the pictures to said that he “looked liked the boy off the TV” and “what does he listen to?” It was very difficulty to get across why he wears them.
So, pleased that I am, that this awareness is now being pushed forward, I think there is still a long way to go before many people can begin to understand ASD.
From the keyboard of Tony 