what you lookin at?

what you lookin at?, originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

On the weekend of my birthday, a bunch of us walked up Magog Down around sunset. I took pictures, of people, sheep and the sunset.

The sheep ones came out best.

Quail eggs

Quail eggs, originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

Cooking for New Year's Eve.

They were tasty.

well, maybe my nose

It's sore. It's streaming. The cold is still here. Grrr. I'm going through tissues at a ridiculous rate and my nose is bright red.

On the other hand. It's not raining. And I have new bike lights and I'm not going out tonight and both my housemates are back.

things fall apart

Not me, I'm fine. Got a bit of a cold, but otherwise I'm enjoying the novelty of having the same job before and after Christmas. It hasn't happened for a while. No, it's my stuff that's falling apart. This weekend saw the demise of my front bike light (age estimated at 15-20 years, so it's not suprising, although they were only in active use for about 5 of those years), my CD player (age 10-12 years? Fortunately it's only the CD bit that's died, the radio still works) and a sewing machine needle (age unknown).

The bike lights and the needle have been replaced. I'm working on the CD player. Stops me buying any more CDs (maybe it objected to my most recent purchase - Alice by Tom Waits, although it was playing Jamie Cullum that killed it.) but it's silly to have CDs and nothing to play them on. Any recommendations? I like my current player because it has a radio, CD player and tape player, and because it has a remote control so I can turn it on and off without getting out of bed. Or does everyone have iPods and all their music on their laptop these days? Anyone?

going home for Christmas

frost and fog, originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

Not long now until Christmas. I'm heading to London and then Cheltenham tomorrow. Probably not much blogging over the next week or so, although I might do a 2006 roundup at some point.

Have a wonderful and blessed Christmas, whatever you get up to.

I'll see you in the New Year.

odd day

The back brake on my bike jammed this morning, so I had to take it to the bike shop and then walk to work. Today has been a bit disjointed so far. Work has been broken up by the delivery of a large quantity of lunch from the caterers we're trying out and an important phone call to ask a question to which I didn't know the answer and will be broken up again by walking to fetch my bike from the repair shop at 4pm.

Currently stuck in my head, Victoria by the Kinks, or more likely the version by The Fall since that's the one I've heard most recently. All the fault of this post about Christmas traditions on 'Tis the Season. Which is far more entertaining than my wittering, so go and read that instead.

pink fog

pink fog, originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

The day stayed cold and frosty and got foggy.
The fog made the trees beautiful and mysterious. As the sun went down, everything turned pink.

mulberry bush morning

frosty web 2, originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

It's cold and frosty, a proper winter day. Outside the back gate, the spider webs are wearing diamonds.

yesterday was a good day

light sticks 002, originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

Christmas services at church, including a carol service in the evening when I sang in the choir. We had a houseful of people round for lunch and spent the afternoon chatting and having fun. Then after church, a bunch of us went to The Snug, where there's a guy with a piano playing jazz-ish stuff on Sunday nights and someone gave us light sticks to play with.

is this thing on?

I've moved to Blogger beta. I think.

See if this works.

Queen of Carthage acheived nothing (4)*

Today's been a good day and a bad day.

Good day: I had a meeting with someone who does a vaguely equivalent job to mine in another organisation and got all inspired about ways I could do my job better and things I could do.

Bad day: Lots of the things I could do involve doing scary things I don't like, like networking and phoning people up and there's only little old me to do them. This is probably why I've achieved nothing since I got back from the meeting and feel all worn out and daunted by the whole thing again.

Other news: This is now the longest lasting job I've had. Which ought to be celebrated in some way.

This is my least favourite time of year because I have to get up in the dark, go home in the dark and generally never see my home in the daylight during the week. It's also a fun time of year because it's nearly Christmas.

I'm going to a party on Saturday and the theme is 'The Twelve Days of Christmas'. Any ideas what I should dress up as? Preferably something easy and non-embarassing. If I had unlimited time, money and bravery I'd make something like Bjork's swan dress (scroll down), but in the real world, that's never going to work. Might manage a swan beak I suppose. Or borrow a recorder, convince lots of other people to find recorders so we can be 10 pipers piping.

*It's a cryptic crossword clue. See if you can answer it in the comments.

sunday morning sky

sunday morning sky 9, originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

I'm back in internet contact.

Here's the amazing Sunday morning sky from a week ago yesterday. I was in Northamptonshire on my church 18-30s group weekend away. I had a brilliant time.

it's raining, it's pouring

I'm at home in Walthamstow while Turk gets his running board fixed. It's raining.

On the bus coming back from the garage this morning, I overheard a lad in a baseball cap talking on his mobile. He had a deep voice and a way of Enunciating. Every. Word. so that whatever he said sounded terribly sinister.

"You. Sat. On. The. Bench.
I Know You.
You. Did. You. Were. On. The. BENCH!

You Stayed. At. Your. MUM'S. Did. You? At. Your MUM's?"

Most odd.

all quiet again

I've got a work off work next week, so blogging may be quiet. I might get to a computer at home I suppose.

See you soon!

you can learn a lot through procrastinating

I've been wandering through the archives of the Proceedings of the Athanasius Kircher Society, a compedium of intriguing and downright bizarre objects, images and stories.

From the society's webpage: "The Athanasius Kircher Society was chartered to perpetuate the spirit and sensibilities of the late Athanasius Kircher, SJ. Our interests extend to the wondrous, the curious, the singular, the esoteric, the arcane, and the sometimes hazy frontier between the plausible and the implausible — anything that Father Kircher might find cool if he were alive today."

Apart from the objects themselves, I'm fascinated by the variation in the comments from readers. For instance, most posts seem to get half a dozen comments or so, if that, like this one abut the largest flower in the world or The Museum of Scientifically Accurate Fabric Brain Art. Yet this post about a cat piano (admittedly a rather cruel idea) had gathered 129 comments when I last looked (some of them offensive, be warned). Worth a look, although some of the exhibits are a little on the macabre side. Perhaps not a website to browse while eating.

own up

Who arrived here looking for a picture of a pig dressed as a reindeer?

I do love site meters.

squish

autumn into winter - berries, originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

These berries are everywhere, all over the carpark and the bike racks, squished onto bikes and the soles of my shoes.

sleepy Friday

I had fun last night. Singing in a concert with my gospel choir, then after performance drinks, then sampled the delights of that Cambridge institution Gardies for the first time (Falafel, delicious, but enormous), then sat around in someone's room in Trinity, eating biscuits and being silly. It was good pretending to be a student again, but not so good when I had to get up for work this morning. Good thing it's nearly the weekend.

gold on brown

autumn into winter - leaves, originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

Not this morning, but a couple of days ago. As I walk from the bike racks into work each morning, the low sun hits the leaves and the gravel just so, making beautiful patterns.

Off to sing soon. Hooray!

Wednesday morning 8am

Wednesday morning 8am, originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

Or thereabouts.

The view from my bedroom window.