Ramblings

The week has gone quickly, and on reflection there's quite a lot I haven't shared here. Our neighbourly cat feeding duties came to an end, but the English Women's Bowls Championships continues, making the residents of Archery Road and the Victorias feel like landed gentry with gatekeepers keeping the riff-raff out.

Last week Nuala turned up out of the blue, with the exciting news that she's leaving AbilityNet for Newcastle University. So many of the 'old' TC/TO's seem to be heading to the education sector. It was great to chat over a beer and catch up with her.

Jason and Liz have produced Lily Edwards, who looks perfect. As with all other parents so far, they didn't want to try out my newborn experiment - I've heard that the grip reflex is so strong just after birth that you can hang a baby on a washing line. I expect I'll have to wait until I have a baby of my own before finding out whether it's true or not.

Mr A and I had an intense session with Glenn the accountant, after which the books were a lot less messy, but I've spent a whole day trying to correct some of the mis-filed entries on the computer, and there's more to do. The weather has been so glorious this week after all that rain in July that I'm not prepared to spend days on end in the office instead of outside.

The garden is now showing my enthusiasm with large gaps where shrubs used to be, and my arms are scratched to pieces from the roses that have been my latest target. There's not that much more to do: a fuchsia and another shrub that is still flowering will have to wait, and the remaining long shoots on the rose bush need threading through the trellis, and that's about it unless I choose to tackle the wisteria. But we really like the wisteria, so I'm tempted to let it have it's own way and take over the whole garden if it wants to.

I had a little trip to IKEA too - what an interesting place that is. It's the little bits and pieces that they put in bins around the place that are so tempting - I picked up a couple of vases for flowers and nearly bought new doormats for the back door when the main intention was to get more shelving for future student books in my room. And to report on the state of shoe racks for Lola II. There turned out to be a whole shoe rack department! Who'd have thought? Now I face the significant task of attaching a rather heavy cupboard to the wall in such a way that it is level and doesn't fall down. Ever.

Richard has had laser eye surgery! We had a beer yesterday in the garden, him sitting in his cool sunglasses. I can't believe he did it. Why would anyone mess with their eyes for cosmetic reasons? Especially as glasses are so light compared to 1969 when I got my first pair... They weighed almost as much as I did back then and now I can hardly tell I'm wearing them.

In between all this accountancy and gardening I've been playing with Facebook. To start with I didn't understand what it was for, but now I go back time after time!