Straw Felt Yow

Oh no, who’s that knocking at the door at this time of night? Manuel? MANUEL! Completely useless. I don’t know why I bother. MANUEL!! Oh wait a minute – he’s had to go back to Barcelona to register for this stupid Census. Thank you very much Augustus Caesar! Polly’s day off, Sybil’s out at some friend’s again... I’ll have to go myself. Yes, hang on, I’m coming. Honestly, people treat this place like a hotel! Where’s my dressing gown?



Hello? Yes? Oh, you want a room? Was there perhaps something about the sign in the window you didn’t understand? You thought you’d ask anyway as it’s late and you’re desperate. Oh, it’s late is it? I hadn’t realised - I thought there was a solar eclipse. I normally wear pyjamas during the day. Let me explain. The sign says ‘Full’. F-U-L-L. That means WE-HAVE-NO-ROOM. Yes, I can see she’s pregnant. I think that is somewhat obvious. But we do not have any accommodation just at the moment, thank you and good night. .... Oh, hello Sybil. Decided to come back and do some work to recover from a hard night’s gossiping, have you? It’s all right dear, I’m dealing with it. No, I didn’t make her cry. Look, it’s not my fault they didn’t book ahead, is it? Listen, I said I’m dealing with... OW! ......

Harrumph. Maybe now I can get some sleep - if my throbbing head will let me. It’ll serve Sybil right if the Hotel Inspector comes tomorrow. Imagine putting them in the animal shed round the back! ... Oh no, now what? I don’t believe it. There’s only a dirty great CHOIR outside now! Where’s the noise abatement society when you want them? And there’s someone else at the door! Sybil? Where is she? Probably out with those two in the shed. I’ll have to go myself again...

Shepherds. Now I’ve seen everything. What do you want? Yes, yes, round the back. Well, at least wipe your feet first! What have you been treading in? Don’t mind me, I only own the place.

Would somebody please tell me what is going on? Anyone would think that baby was Someone Special.

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X for...?

When I was at school, sometime after I'd become a committed Christian, I wrote an essay in which I argued that there were actually two festive seasons - Christmas, that lasted for 3 days (this was before I was aware of things like Advent), and Xmas that lasted all year. I then proceeded to demonstrate by listing things like when the first holly and tinsel adorned items appeared in the shops, and themed adverts on TV, through buying next year's cards at half-price in the January sales, the pudding that lasted until April, a present arriving from New Zealand in July, and other things I can't remember. I finished by saying maybe Christians should move their festival to June and disentangle it from the other one. The teacher loved it and gave me a commendation (gold star, OBE, extra quill - whatever it was in those days).

If I was updating it I think I'd have to add our neighbour's light show. She has always loved this time of year and really gets into all the trimmings - though more Xmas than Christmas. For years she has been amassing an amazing collection of singing Santas, dancing snowmen, animated trees, you name it, so the inside of her house when they're all switched on (we go for the tour every year) is like a cross between Santa's Grotto and a bizarre mechanised singing competition where all the entrants are singing at once in different keys and tempos! A unique experience, with her long-suffering husband somewhere in the middle trying to watch the football on Sky. Last year she added an outdoor lights display for the first time, and went for it big time! You could read a newspaper at midnight outside her window (the photo was taken with not all of them on!). We've just had the Big Switch On for this year.



Actually, if I was updating my essay, I think about dropping the bit about moving Christmas. Yes Xmas is commercial and tacky, but there's also a lot of it that's just plain good fun - like Sheila's lights (setting aside carbon size 17's just for a bit). Add in a real reason for celebration, a birth that can change everything for ever for anyone who wants it, and, with a bit of judicious navigation, you've got a pretty unbeatable combination.

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Mr Angry

Does anyone remember Mr Angry from the Steve Wright Show years ago? He used to phone in and get really worked up about something every day ("It makes me so angry I'm going to throw the phone down!"). No? Anyone old enough? Oh well, it made me laugh.

Anyway, I can identify with him at the moment. Today my mum began her series of 25 appointments for radio-therapy. She's 77, a bit forgetful, and only two years on from losing her husband and moving house at the same time. And she has breast cancer. To get to the hospital where she lives in Belfast the Northern Ireland NHS Transport Department (what happened to 'Ambulance'?) have asked her to be ready for collection at 12.30pm. Her appointments are at 4pm. The hospital is only a few miles across the city, even in bad traffic half an hour at the most. But maybe they have to pick up lots of other people.

Us family members began to think... if they're insisting she's ready 3.5 hours before her appointment - the treatment lasts about 30 minutes - how long will she be waiting afterwards? What time could she be getting home? We remembered the fiasco three years ago getting my dad to, and back from, his Parkinson's consultation... surely it can't still be that bad? Maybe between my uncles and sister who live there family could take her in some days. I phoned the hospital yesterday to ask about sharing mum's appointments... it seems the 'Transport People' might decide that if she can get in by alternate means on one day, she can do it every day, and will therefore summarily cancel the whole arrangement. Apparently it wouldn't be the first time. I got the distinct impression the rest of the NHS lives in fear of causing the transport people offence, and tiptoes around them, arranging everything to suit them. I know from 3 years ago just managing to contact them is an achievement deserving of an OBE. So, given the general nervousness, we decided to wait and watch how it went on the first few days.

Day one - today. The minibus arrived at around 1pm. It picked up one other person and mum was at the hospital by 2pm for a long wait. She had her treatment and went back down to reception to be picked up. No-one came. She asked at reception, a phone call was made... the minibus had gone without her! If it hadn't been for a worker in the hospital who happened to overhear and offered to give her a lift home (at some risk apparently - workers are not supposed to do this), she might still be there now. She got home around 6 hours after she left; the getting there and back has caused her far more distress than the treatment... about which she seemed to be quite blasé on the phone just now!

We're getting our rota of family members sorted out and I will be doing my best Mr Angry impersonation first thing in the morning. Yes, resources are tight, yes, pressure on staff, but this was simple incompetence by a service that sounds more and more like the spoiled brat of the NHS in Northern Ireland. Next week I'm going over to Belfast for a few days. If any more cock-ups by 'transport' have happened between now and then... well, watch out!

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The Return of TTYYY...

...Whew - it's a bit dusty in here. First visit since April. It's all coming back to me now... a few weeks before my sabbatical started I began experimenting with the whole 'blogging' thing and used this Scribefire Firefox add-on to learn how to do it and my dispute with Apple at the time as something to write about. Mentioning to Apple tech support that I was blogging my on-going problems with them might have helped persuade them to sort it out - which they did very well once they had admitted fault - but if they knew how many people had been reading they might not have moved so fast..!

Anyway, I'm back from my sabbatical, have made a final entry on my Sabblog, and it's back here for more intermittent ramblings.

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Freeezelog... conclusion and happy ending.

Just to finish off the sago of my sick laptop...







Having convinced Apple there was a hardware fault, I took it in for repair and got the same Tech bloke who'd fixed it last September. When I told him my tale and how it was now exhibiting ALL the faults it had previously, he told me he remembered the previous repair as he had not had the correct sized heat pads to set the logic board on, and had been told to cut some others to size. He reckoned the board had not seated properly, hence etc etc. I wish I'd seen him when I'd taken it in in January. The logic board is the heart of a computer - hence all the wonkiness.



Anyway, it came back working fine, and I wrote to Apple to point out that given the same faults had been re-occurring since October (and I had been pointing this out), a bit of research or extra due care by one of the previous people I'd spoken to, instead of the repeated "it's software" response would have saved me a lot of time and effort re-installing over 4 months.



Happy ending... A phone call from Apple last week. An apology, and I have £100 credit at the Apple Store. Result!

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New dedicated Sabbatical blog

I've decided to set up a separate blog for my sabbatical and make it invitation only. Not that I'm coming up with anything that threatens national security or prophetically gives away the winner of 'Any Dream Will Do', just for focus and to encourage response and comment.



This one will continue in fairly random ramblings mode which, of course could dry up at any time as I have never managed to sustain a dairy past about January 15.

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Sabblog - week one

Sabbatical/Study Leave week one...



A few weeks ago a sabbatical veteran gave me some advice... "If you're spending most of your sabbatical 'on site', as soon as possible after it starts go completely away just for a few days. It makes a break with your previous pace of life and gets other people used to your not being available."



So... c/o some generous friends, I've just got back from spending a few days in their cottage in a little village called Ravenstonedale, about where the Yorkshire Dales blur into the Lake District. No internet connection, no mobile signal. Nice to have 48 hours with no phone calls, emails or callers to get me started into what is intended to be a different pattern for the next six months. Quite a contrast coming just after PeaceWeek etc. Not that I'm shutting myself off entirely, by the way, but space has to be made for the other stuff lined up for this S/SL, including of course some rest.



While away I walked (through wind, rain and MUD!!) to an amazing Victorian Railway viaduct, now disused but restored about 15 years ago by the Northern Viaduct Trust.







While wandering around an unbidden thought popped into my head. (I've known this to be God speaking in the past - though this time it could be a blip from a mind affected by damp and 90 minutes walking). Just like the viaduct links two sides of a valley, so I have been placed between two cultures or groups - local community and local church. And, like the viaduct, mostly disused(!), However, it is important to stay there as a potential crossing point. Does that make any sense??!! The comparison should not be pushed any further thankyou (jokes about age and restoration etc..!)

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