I know I'm not very communicative lately. Short posts and shared photos on Facebook are about my limit these days. No energy, and fibrofog. I get home from work and it's about as much as I can handle to watch some tv and putter about on FB.
Work has been stressful recently - new responsibilities, new registers, "digital transformation" (more on that another time) and some bright management people who think that if you take two short staffed, overworked teams who both have the word "services" in their name, but who actually do very different jobs, "cross train" and merge them, then like mythical loaves and fishes it will multiply the staff available to do double the work.
I've been off on holiday since the end of March. Spent the last week in my favourite place in France - Nice and the Cote d'Azur. Took over a thousand photos, which I've whittled down to around 250 to share.
The first link is for the "Chemin de Nietzesche" - a steep rocky goat path that leads from the medieval city of Eze on top of the hill to the beach at Eze-sur-Mer. It's not well maintained, wild and exhausting. We walked down from the old town to catch the Monaco to Nice bus and it took us well over an hour, because we are not fit. (I am not fit - I suspect DH could have done the hike faster and easier without me)
https://www.flickr.com/gp/wolfette/xpci
The second link is to the rest of the week. Nice, Eze, Vintimille and Aix-en-Provence.
https://flic.kr/s/aHskUK6DuR
Not really looking forward to going back to work on Monday :-(
Work has been stressful recently - new responsibilities, new registers, "digital transformation" (more on that another time) and some bright management people who think that if you take two short staffed, overworked teams who both have the word "services" in their name, but who actually do very different jobs, "cross train" and merge them, then like mythical loaves and fishes it will multiply the staff available to do double the work.
I've been off on holiday since the end of March. Spent the last week in my favourite place in France - Nice and the Cote d'Azur. Took over a thousand photos, which I've whittled down to around 250 to share.
The first link is for the "Chemin de Nietzesche" - a steep rocky goat path that leads from the medieval city of Eze on top of the hill to the beach at Eze-sur-Mer. It's not well maintained, wild and exhausting. We walked down from the old town to catch the Monaco to Nice bus and it took us well over an hour, because we are not fit. (I am not fit - I suspect DH could have done the hike faster and easier without me)
https://www.flickr.com/gp/wolfette/xpci
The second link is to the rest of the week. Nice, Eze, Vintimille and Aix-en-Provence.
https://flic.kr/s/aHskUK6DuR
Not really looking forward to going back to work on Monday :-(
- Current Mood:
calm
If anyone is looking for new double glazed windows, can I please NOT recommend Penicuik Double Glazing?
It's been an absolute shambles from start to finish - and it is not finished yet.
1) the scaffolding that we were not informed would be used. scaffolders turned up late on the first day, meaning that the window fitters couldn't start work. Then, because they hadn't properly checked the site, working purely from a Google map image apparently, they tried to anchor one leg of the scaffold on my neighbour's path (bridge) to which she objected vociferously - and they had no one onsite who could adjust the plans, meaning they had to come back another day.
2) the windows that were fitted were not exactly what we were sold - we had ordered "casement" fitting windows for the kitchen area, and "tilt and turn" in the living room, but we were given "tilt and turn" for all windows ... ostensibly because being an upper floor (2nd UK, 3rd US) 'tilt and turn' are legally required for safety. However the sales person did not tell us this and the price was calculated with the casement style (slightly more expensive) and there has been no offer of a refund.
3) we were sold "light oak effect" surround for the front windows and smooth white finish for the kitchen. what was fitted was the 'oak effect' on all windows - and 'oak effect' turns out to be a plastic fake wood that scratches at the slightest touch. no plant pots on the window ledges - the new window ledges are much narrower than the old window ledges anyway.
4) once the fitters departed we found that (a) several of the large windows could not be opened properly, or if opened, could not be closed again. also, the street noise through the new double glazed windows was higher than through the 30 year old windows they replaced. This was July. at the end of August an engineer came to fix this. In November, when the gales started, we discovered that several of the windows are not airtight and a strong cold breeze blows through when the wind is in the wrong direction - causing the temperature in the house to drop drastically. it took a couple of weeks to get hold of the company who fitted them, and another couple of weeks to get an appointment for an engineer to visit. I took a morning off work for that - but he didn't arrive until late afternoon. DH was home and was told that the windows had been fitted "without enough cams" and that he would have to order the parts. Another few weeks passed, with no contact, till finally in mid December they called and said that the first available date to fit these missing parts was 14 January. it would "only take an hour or so" but they couldn't give a time or even a morning/afternoon estimate, so DH had to arrange a whole day off work to sit around waiting. That was today. No body showed - apparently "there's a flu type bug going about", and the next available date is at the end of the month (when DH is on holiday anyway fortunately). but meanwhile the drafts continue. I currently have a rug around my legs, although the heating is on full. this did not happen with the 30 year old windows.
5) when the original fitters were here they borrowed my small folding step ladder. it is fitted with a safety catch so that it doesn't fold up when you're standing on it - but this means when you're moving it, you have to operate the catch to fold the ladder. must have been too much work - once they had gone I found they had broken the catch off the ladder. and when I got up on the ladder to clean up some of the dust and mess left behind I found they had broken one of my fridge magnets - a lovely little one I bought in Hydra in Greece - and hidden the pieces on top of a shelf out of sight (unless you were standing on a ladder)
It's been an absolute shambles from start to finish - and it is not finished yet.
1) the scaffolding that we were not informed would be used. scaffolders turned up late on the first day, meaning that the window fitters couldn't start work. Then, because they hadn't properly checked the site, working purely from a Google map image apparently, they tried to anchor one leg of the scaffold on my neighbour's path (bridge) to which she objected vociferously - and they had no one onsite who could adjust the plans, meaning they had to come back another day.
2) the windows that were fitted were not exactly what we were sold - we had ordered "casement" fitting windows for the kitchen area, and "tilt and turn" in the living room, but we were given "tilt and turn" for all windows ... ostensibly because being an upper floor (2nd UK, 3rd US) 'tilt and turn' are legally required for safety. However the sales person did not tell us this and the price was calculated with the casement style (slightly more expensive) and there has been no offer of a refund.
3) we were sold "light oak effect" surround for the front windows and smooth white finish for the kitchen. what was fitted was the 'oak effect' on all windows - and 'oak effect' turns out to be a plastic fake wood that scratches at the slightest touch. no plant pots on the window ledges - the new window ledges are much narrower than the old window ledges anyway.
4) once the fitters departed we found that (a) several of the large windows could not be opened properly, or if opened, could not be closed again. also, the street noise through the new double glazed windows was higher than through the 30 year old windows they replaced. This was July. at the end of August an engineer came to fix this. In November, when the gales started, we discovered that several of the windows are not airtight and a strong cold breeze blows through when the wind is in the wrong direction - causing the temperature in the house to drop drastically. it took a couple of weeks to get hold of the company who fitted them, and another couple of weeks to get an appointment for an engineer to visit. I took a morning off work for that - but he didn't arrive until late afternoon. DH was home and was told that the windows had been fitted "without enough cams" and that he would have to order the parts. Another few weeks passed, with no contact, till finally in mid December they called and said that the first available date to fit these missing parts was 14 January. it would "only take an hour or so" but they couldn't give a time or even a morning/afternoon estimate, so DH had to arrange a whole day off work to sit around waiting. That was today. No body showed - apparently "there's a flu type bug going about", and the next available date is at the end of the month (when DH is on holiday anyway fortunately). but meanwhile the drafts continue. I currently have a rug around my legs, although the heating is on full. this did not happen with the 30 year old windows.
5) when the original fitters were here they borrowed my small folding step ladder. it is fitted with a safety catch so that it doesn't fold up when you're standing on it - but this means when you're moving it, you have to operate the catch to fold the ladder. must have been too much work - once they had gone I found they had broken the catch off the ladder. and when I got up on the ladder to clean up some of the dust and mess left behind I found they had broken one of my fridge magnets - a lovely little one I bought in Hydra in Greece - and hidden the pieces on top of a shelf out of sight (unless you were standing on a ladder)
- Current Mood:
angry
Still around, still reading, not posting much here - in fact I just realised that since I set up my new laptop I haven't got around to downloading a decent DW/LJ client, so I'm having to do this via the web site.
I had this mad idea to take part in the Radio Forth 1 "Big Bake" in aid of their charity "Cash for Kids" - the money stays in the area and goes to kids in Edinburgh, the Lothians and Fife. I thought it would be just me and maybe I'd bake a couple of gingerbreads and maybe a few muffins. My target was £30.
I told my Team Leader I wanted to do this and she offered to contribute, but said she wouldn't be around on Friday. Thursday morning she came in and dropped off 4 x 2lb gingerbread, 12 x individual gingerbread mini-loaves and a dozen big chocolate cupcakes.
OK, that forced me to up my game. I took the afternoon off work yesterday and started baking just after 1pm. Finally finished (although I had breaks) around 10pm. Iced gingercake, chocolate fudge cake, 2 dozen breakfast muffins (1 dozen craisin, 1 dozen dried cherry), six small cherry Madeira cakes, tablet, marshmallows (lemon & vanilla and rose & raspberry) and 24 Coconut Kisses (which were a last minute 'I have left over condensed milk and this dessicated coconut I've been looking for a recipe for').
When I left this evening there were two muffins left, so I gave them to the cleaner. We counted the cash. £93. More than three times my target!
I call that a WIN for the kids!
I had this mad idea to take part in the Radio Forth 1 "Big Bake" in aid of their charity "Cash for Kids" - the money stays in the area and goes to kids in Edinburgh, the Lothians and Fife. I thought it would be just me and maybe I'd bake a couple of gingerbreads and maybe a few muffins. My target was £30.
I told my Team Leader I wanted to do this and she offered to contribute, but said she wouldn't be around on Friday. Thursday morning she came in and dropped off 4 x 2lb gingerbread, 12 x individual gingerbread mini-loaves and a dozen big chocolate cupcakes.
OK, that forced me to up my game. I took the afternoon off work yesterday and started baking just after 1pm. Finally finished (although I had breaks) around 10pm. Iced gingercake, chocolate fudge cake, 2 dozen breakfast muffins (1 dozen craisin, 1 dozen dried cherry), six small cherry Madeira cakes, tablet, marshmallows (lemon & vanilla and rose & raspberry) and 24 Coconut Kisses (which were a last minute 'I have left over condensed milk and this dessicated coconut I've been looking for a recipe for').
When I left this evening there were two muffins left, so I gave them to the cleaner. We counted the cash. £93. More than three times my target!
I call that a WIN for the kids!
And quite an adventure it was. I had the last week of July booked as annual leave but no plans to go away - and not enough money to go far if I did - so when the RZSS announced that one of the Scottish Wildcats in teh Highland Wildlife Park had kittens (three kittens) and then that a pair of Snow Leopards had been moved there from another European zoo, I thought "why not?" - I have an annual membership for Edinburgh Zoo and this also covers the Park in Kingussie.
At 117 miles up the A9 - a three hour drive up one of the busiest and most dangerous roads in Scotland (beautiful scenery, crap road, most of which is not even dual carriageway) - it's not exactly something I'd call a "quick day outing". To get there for the opening at 10am I'd either have to start out at dawn (a summer dawn at that) or go up the day before and stay somewhere overnight.
So I browsed the "Visit Scotland" (what used to be called "Scottish Tourist Board") accommodation site and found a reasonably priced guest house in Kingussie. Quaint, old fashioned but comfortable - no rooms with en-suite but the shared facilities were lovely - and much cheaper than the hotels in nearby Aviemore, even though it's currently "out of season" for them (a ski resort in middle of summer with no snow and they still want £200 per night for a single room?)
Google maps directions kept me on track all the way until I reached Kingussie (even managing to warn me of live traffic issues - an accident a few miles ahead causing tailbacks and a 10 minute delay) - but lost the data signal in the town and I had to end up navigating the last mile or so to the guest house by by luck, and a stored copy of the map offline.
A good night's sleep to get over the stress of the drive up and I was able to arrive at the park just as they opened the gates. Unfortunately I then had to turn round, go back to the guest house and recover the camera I'd left sitting in the morning room after breakfast! :-/ (but the guest house was 8 miles away, so it wasn't a long round trip)
At 117 miles up the A9 - a three hour drive up one of the busiest and most dangerous roads in Scotland (beautiful scenery, crap road, most of which is not even dual carriageway) - it's not exactly something I'd call a "quick day outing". To get there for the opening at 10am I'd either have to start out at dawn (a summer dawn at that) or go up the day before and stay somewhere overnight.
So I browsed the "Visit Scotland" (what used to be called "Scottish Tourist Board") accommodation site and found a reasonably priced guest house in Kingussie. Quaint, old fashioned but comfortable - no rooms with en-suite but the shared facilities were lovely - and much cheaper than the hotels in nearby Aviemore, even though it's currently "out of season" for them (a ski resort in middle of summer with no snow and they still want £200 per night for a single room?)
Google maps directions kept me on track all the way until I reached Kingussie (even managing to warn me of live traffic issues - an accident a few miles ahead causing tailbacks and a 10 minute delay) - but lost the data signal in the town and I had to end up navigating the last mile or so to the guest house by by luck, and a stored copy of the map offline.
A good night's sleep to get over the stress of the drive up and I was able to arrive at the park just as they opened the gates. Unfortunately I then had to turn round, go back to the guest house and recover the camera I'd left sitting in the morning room after breakfast! :-/ (but the guest house was 8 miles away, so it wasn't a long round trip)
I seem to have taken an awful lot of photos, so working out which ones are worth uploading is difficult (I was doing rapid fire shooting from multiple angles)
This is the Flickr album so far.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/wolfe
I'm really pleased with the night shots of the fountains - definitely worth dragging the tripod with me for those.
This is the Flickr album so far.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/wolfe
I'm really pleased with the night shots of the fountains - definitely worth dragging the tripod with me for those.
- Current Mood:
artistic
I had an urge to bake, a pack of almond paste/marzipan that needed to be used, and a recipe for Simnel cake that I've always wanted to try - but it's not Mothering Sunday or Easter (neither of which I celebrate anyway). However I have a new heart shaped baking pan (spring-form) and a set of 'money' cookie cutters.
Hence the Love of Money Cake. :-)
UPDATE - and it tastes good too!
Dakota kitty is currently not talking to me. There is a reason for this, however - I did a horrible horrible thing to a poor kitty .... I clipped his claws!!!! :-)
That cat really really dislikes manicures. As soon as you start - oh, heck, as soon as he sees the claw trimmer tool - he starts to tell the world how cruel and awful those nasty humans are. Loudly.
But it has to be done, every so often - especially as he gets older, his claws get thicker and grow faster. Lately every time he tries to clamber up on my lap he's been leaving lacerations on my shins, thighs and even my boobs!
That cat really really dislikes manicures. As soon as you start - oh, heck, as soon as he sees the claw trimmer tool - he starts to tell the world how cruel and awful those nasty humans are. Loudly.
But it has to be done, every so often - especially as he gets older, his claws get thicker and grow faster. Lately every time he tries to clamber up on my lap he's been leaving lacerations on my shins, thighs and even my boobs!
- Current Mood:
accomplished
I was looking for some "crop top" style bras for weekends and travelling - no underwires, pull on, no fastenings, comfy, supportive - and found some offered on Amazon (marketplace) from Haines at a very reasonable price, especially considering they were being shipped from the US. Twin packs, two colours in each pack.
I ordered a pack listed as "white/heather". Now I don't know about you, but when I see the word "heather" applied to a colour, I sort of expect a muted mauve/pink, so I was surprised when the pack arrived today and it turns out the manufacturer thinks "heather" is a pale grey marl. I said so in my "seller feedback". (there was no photo of that colour combination)
An hour later my phone rang and a charming young American man called Sonny offered me another pack with the pink/white combination free of charge, to be sent out immediately. If I could change my feedback (not that I gave them a bad review, just that I found the colour name surprising) they'll look into amending the colour description.
I ordered a pack listed as "white/heather". Now I don't know about you, but when I see the word "heather" applied to a colour, I sort of expect a muted mauve/pink, so I was surprised when the pack arrived today and it turns out the manufacturer thinks "heather" is a pale grey marl. I said so in my "seller feedback". (there was no photo of that colour combination)
An hour later my phone rang and a charming young American man called Sonny offered me another pack with the pink/white combination free of charge, to be sent out immediately. If I could change my feedback (not that I gave them a bad review, just that I found the colour name surprising) they'll look into amending the colour description.
- Current Mood: impressed
I really wanted to see Mirror Mirror this weekend, but that doesn't open till Monday 2nd, so Tara and I went to see the new Aardman Pirates: an adventure with scientists last night. It was an excellent choice - a definite "Laugh out Loud" movie. The audience for the showing we were at was suprisingly small - theatre was more than half empty - but everyone was chortling away. There are a ton little visual in-jokes and references that aren't part of the story but will have you snort with surprised laughter - and when they rated it U for Universal it really is for all ages.
- Current Mood: amused
