When God gives you lemons…

Posted on May 20, 2010 by lindaharley

I know, the textbook answer is “make lemonade”. Although after a fab weekend with my best friend Sarah, we decided the answer should be “pour gin and tonics!”

I’d gone to London for the h2g2 meet, managing to wave to Prince Charles en route, and get an upgrade to first class on the Stansted Express as I went. Flight uneventful, sitting in my comfy carriage using my newly acquired dongle to keep in touch with the interwebs, Sarah texted and said she was in need of a hug – it was her last day of Law lectures before exams (she used her redundancy money to go back to Uni and convert her degree to a Law diploma). You’re in luck, I said, I’m just pulling into Liverpool Street now!

We met at a little pub round the corner from the station, then schleped in a taxi over to the pub where her fellow students were drinking, then had a cocktail at the posh hotel across the street, me admiring a young Weim passing by, still with its gorgeous blue eyes. then we got a taxi to my hotel to dump my bag, realized how late it was, had fabulous rare steaks in the Argentinean Gaucho restaurant in the basement, before schleping to the pub where we supposed to meet the hootoo lot – only to find they’d gone home!

The hotel proved its worth by managing to procure a bottle of contact lens saline solution at midnight, and having a computer especially for printing off boarding passes (I’d printed mine out on double sided paper so on the outbound flight they tore off the portion I’d need for the return leg – d’oh!)

pc dedicated to printing boarding passes

On the Saturday I met up with my son Harry, who is looking great, and earning plenty of money doing local rigging and sound-man work (including the moving of works at the Tate Mod for it s 10 year anniversary – my next port of call.)

Met up with the hootoo lot at the museum and spent a fun evening in eh pub, where Io, my little netbook, played a blinder! It managed to skype to a non-attendee, and download the half a quiz that had been prepared. I was given the most wonderful gift by one of the Editors – a signed CD of “Better”. Back at the hotel, I settled in to a good sleep…

…and was woken by text from Roger asking if my flight was OK. Why would it not be, I thought, and turned on the tv. Oh no not again – the Haveakerfuffle volcano ash cloud is back! I wandered up to Liverpool Street station, yet again unable to use the first class lounge, and managed to get lost on the way back to the hotel. I phoned Sarah, expressing my frustration at not knowing where to go. “Come to me!” she said. “I have a bed, I have internet” Mmm-hmm, I replied. “I have gin!” she offered – I’m on my way I said! and headed out to Heathrow. If the planes started flying again at least I’d be near an airport. But my hopes weren’t high, having been caught out last month.

At Sarah’s house I started looking for alternative routes home. I wasn’t keen on taking the old National Express coach as last time, and I knew there was a train and ferry link provided by Stenaline. I tried booking online, but because there was less than 7 days before travel I couldn’t do that. I tried phoning their all centre – it was closed on Sundays. I cried.

Despairing, I tried googling for rail links between Belfast and Dublin, and found a brilliant site called raileasy. It allowed me to choose a route and time online, pay with a credit card, and make a reservation there and then. Brilliant!

On Monday morning I headed for Euston, giving myself plenty of time to contend with any later rush hour commuters. I found a helpful Virgin employee who used my credit card to produce the tiny tube-ticket sized card which would take me all the way home. I enquired about reserving a seat, but their computer system was down. I did get some good advice though – head for coach A as soon as the platform was announced. This was the quiet zone coach, and I was glad I’d got there quickly, as the train was very soon full with many passengers standing in the corridors. I gave up on an attempt to reach the buffet car!

I declined to pay Mr Branson £5 for one hour’s worth of his wifi, but was able to reassure friends and fmliy via Twitter of my safe journey through the stunning scenery of that part of northern England and the Scottish borders. Change at Carlisle, and again at Kilmarnock, and I was very swiftly and painlessly esconced on the ferry, thankfully half empty. The HSS has a very chic cafe bar at teh stern, where I was able to access the free boat wifi, enjoy a glass of wine, and admire Ailsa Craig fading into the dusk.

view from the back of the HSS

This is actually not a bad way to pass the day, I thought to myself! Home shortly after 10 pm, I did get a lot of ribbing from work colleagues the next day, who all want to be informed the NEXT time I’m flying anywhere, as I’m obviously being stalked by a volcano.

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In my dreams…

Posted on April 21, 2010 by lindaharley

I’ll apologize in advance for the self-indulgent and wallowing nature of this blogpost.  I know I’m peri-menopausal, and I can feel a bout of depression about to descend.  And I feel myself yearning for things I know I cannot have.

Like

this apartment for instance.

Affordable, certainly, but impractical without any Max-factor.  And yet I so want to view it.

And then there’s
this car.

Again, impractical, but I want it.

And I’m toying with some faux self-analysis – why do I want these things? Do I only think I want them?  Am I mourning the fact that children and dogs are compromising my choices? Why do I need a wow-factor in my life..sorry..possessions?  Am I that shallow?

I suspect that living alone will precipitate more of these navel gazing type considerations.

But for now, I’m going to go view that apartment. No harm in looking!

Filed under: buildings, Dogs, kids | 6 Comments »

Springwatch

Posted on April 11, 2010 by lindaharley

What a fabulous weekend!  The sunshine makes everyone smile, and I had lotls of lovely little things happen to me, so I was feeling generally very at peace with the world.  I took Max to Drumkeeragh to enjoy the weather.

Bees buzzing around fluffy catkins

And what a might fine morn it was!  The sun was really hot, so I was soon delayered down to a light Tshirt and short trousers.  The birds were singing lustily, and the bees were buzzing…er..bustily.   I stopped and admired a little robin singing his heart out right at teh top of a tree, and then these large fuzzy bees round the catkins on this tree.  Mmmm, spring.

Filed under: Dogs, nature | 1 Comment »

Everything Could Change

Posted on April 9, 2010 by lindaharley

After Thursday, everything could change.

jemima in front of the just dance dome in Edinburgh

Firstly, Jem has her audition with Doreen Bird College.  She quite likes Bird, having attended a course there last Easter and being awarded the certificate for Hardest Working Student. But just getting a place isn’t enough: without a Dance and Drama Award (DADA) there’s no way we could afford it.  Even with a DADA it would be tough – living costs in London are eye-wateringly expensive, and as this would be higher education, not further education, she wouldn’t be able to get a student loan.  So all costs have to be funded real time.  The plus side is that when she qualifies she wouldn’t have a student loan to pay off.

I still feel that at barely 17, which she’d be in September, she’s too young to go off to London on her own. And she’s quite amenable to waiting for another year.  Her bf has 2 more years to do at Uni here, and she could start her Diploma at Belfast Metropolitan College, which has a good reputation for dance, particularly contemporary.

At exactly the same time as her audition, Rog has a hospital appointment to look at his heart.  If you were making a movie of my life, you’d be doing cut-away shots between the both.  I know he’s very anxious about this, and what it might mean.  Though I do think that anyone really worried about their heart should have an incentive to stop smoking. Anyhoo, concerns about his future are making it awkward for us to discuss our  future.  Having lived apart now for nearly 4 months, I prefer it this way, so if I’m going to find somewhere new to live I’d really like to start planning that sooner rather than later.  Though I suppose it could wait till we find out the result of J’s audition.

And it’s no surprise that I’m writing this in  the middle of the  night!

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Spawn-taneous

Posted on April 4, 2010 by lindaharley

After a rather rainy Saturday, Easter Sunday dawned bright and sunny, so I took Max to our favourite walking place, Drumkeeragh Forest.  And we had the place to ourselves, so he could gallop and hurtle to his hearts content.  It was still cold – patches of snow lay unmelted in the shadow of the stone walls, and many of the puddles where the sunlight hadn’t yet hit were still glazed over with ice.  As Max lolloped along the gravel paths, his breath steamed out on either side of his head, and his tail was wagging in an almost circular fashion – he looked like a fire-breathing gyrocopter!

Now, a dog’s sense of hearing and smell is orders of magnitude better than a humans, but their eyesight is worse.  On more than one occasion, Max has leaped on what appeared to be solid ground, only to land with a splash, and emerge with a rather indignant look on his face, shaking off the excess water.  He did this again today, and once I had stopped laughing, I went to explore where he’d jumped, and found a little pond full of frogspawn, a sight I haven’t seen in years!  Spring is definitely on  the way, snow notwithstanding.

Here’s a little montage of today’s signs of spring, along with some photos taken last week with Roger’s new camera. Music is by Clannad.

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Frog blog

Posted on March 14, 2010 by lindaharley

I spotted this little fella yesterday while walking Max in our favourite spot, Drumkeeragh forest.

a tiny brown frog on some stones

Little frog

He seemed quite friendly – Max hardly paid him attention, but I watched him for a few minutes before he hopped off and hid under some grass.

a brown frog hiding under some grass

bye bye froggie

We had a lovely walk: it really is our numero uno walkies destination, and well worth the 20 minute drive it takes to get there.  The weather was glorious: blue skies and wonderful welcome sunshine after all the cold and snow we’ve had.  And I came up with a plan – I’ll draw a map of this place, with our favourite routes, maybe little illustrations of where we found wild raspberries, and where the clearest streams are. Oooh, I love a good plan!

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It’s not untidy!

Posted on March 5, 2010 by lindaharley

A friend had been admiring the pictures of my new flat BEFORE I’d moved in, and had asked if it was still that tidy.  Well here’s how it looks this evening.

A living room with lots of items scattered around it

My lounge, my life.

I think I taught myself to look at untidiness a different way when the kids were younger – instead of seeing mess, I chose to see evidence of painting, homeworks, reading, music making etc.

So this isn’t untidy.  In it I can see:

1. Lovely tasty lemony olives as snacking material while I cook.

2. A Stig soap on a rope – bargain at the supermarket, early birthday present for Harry.  Stig themed presents are a long standing joke.

3. Dance Direct catalogue – for Jem and I to pore over all the lovely leotards. Next audition for Bird College in April.  Booked cheapo Ryanair flights today – under £90 for 3 of us.

4. Champagne – to take to my sister’s tomorrow for my niece’s birthday, where my parents will also be.  Sis is now a short bus ride away.

5. Cardboard boxes for when I move on again!  This place is a 6 month rent. which gives me time to sort out what the future holds, and do some unhurried property hunting.

6. Chief, our cuddly dog.  One of Matty’s presents to Jem – soppy gits the pair of them!  It’s no substitute for Max, but he’s quite nice to cuddle up to of an evening. Without a TV we watch quite a few DVDs together, which is so lovely, even if its only on a teeny pink portable set.

7. A fruitbowl containing both plastic and real fruit.  The plastic fruit was acquired from eBay to make a Carmen Miranda style hat for Jem doing a Caribbean number, where she sings “At the Copa, Copacabana, the hottest spot north of Fermanagh”.  Ah how we laughed!  And I’m always encouraging the children to eat more real fruit…

8. The balcony.  Well, it’s what estate agents call a “Juliet balcony”, meaning it’s patio doors with railings, but no actual outdoor space.  Having said that, I did open the doors this evening to enjoy the dusk falling through the trees, while I enjoyed a chilled white wine leaning on the blacony rails.

We’ve been here a month now, and it’s just so stress-free.  Jem, Matty and I all get on really well together, and no-body’s overly bothered by the odd bit of mess.  I’m re-learning how to cook for myself, so shopping trips aren’t totally smooth yet, but we’re getting there.  Jem seems to live on cheese, bread, ham, bacon, potato waffles, pasta and tomato sauce.  Could be worse, I guess!

Have just asked them what they think.

Jem: ” I love it – it’s just so calm”

Matty: “Amazing!”

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The Gambia

Posted on March 2, 2010 by lindaharley
a beach with palm trees

the view from our hotel

Gosh I’ve been back from the Gambia nearly 3 weeks now, but what with moving house, involving loss of internet access, I haven’t had much of a chance to get caught up on blogging. Those of you familiar with h2g2 will have been able to follow the journey of the 7 bikers in the Rear View series in The Post,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/A63617682

and what a real adventure it turned out to be, incorporating minus 10 temperatures across France, broken ankles in Spain, delays due to tyre changes, and ferries, and visa applications. Roger aka Thunder has done a detailed report on
http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=218794

I’d agreed to be one of the WAGs flying out to meet the guys – in the end there were only 2 of us, myself and Katherine, and we were on the same flight to Banjul from Manchester.  We’d booked on a cheapish package, as that was the best way to get flights, and were coached to our 2 star hotel, which lived up to its billing.  The rooms were basic, but it did have a lovely pool and a poolside bar.  We also found, braving the bumsters outsdie, that the view of the setting sun from Solomon’s Beach Bar down the road was wonderful, and that the mezze served by Shiraz, the resraurant opposite, was delicious.

We were picked up at 6 am the next morning by Musa Bah, so famous he even gets a mention in the Lonely Planet guidebook.  He parked at the eerily scray ferry terminal and left us while he went off to sort tickets (ie pay some bribes so that we could have a place in the queue).  It was a ferry journey like no other:  almost 3 hours we’d spent in teh queue, eventually being squeezed onto the boat with no room to open teh door to get out.  I was glad I’d bought some peanut brittle last night in teh shop, and I shared it with the others as a sort of apology for breakfast.  Barra, on the northern shore, was even dustier and more bustling, and we failed miserably in our attempts to buy some beer to take to the guys.  We stopped for lunch in Farrafenni, a border crossing which was just so unlike anywhere else I’d ever visited in my life that it rendered me speechless. Katherine and I took one look at the flies buzzing round the meat in the chop shop, where one knife and one chopping board was being used for everything, and ordered omelettes.

We continued down the dusty wide road, African scrub to either side of us, goats and cows crossing in front of us, and very frequent police checkpoints.  A few hours later Musa turned off the main road, and announced that the next part of our journey would be by boat.

a little boat on the River Gambia

N'fally's boat

N’fally was a sharp-eyed captain, and enjoyed pointing out local wildlife like pythons and chameleons, while we soaked up the sparkle on the river, and felt like we were in The African Queen.  On the far shore, we waited to see what our next form of transport would be – and Roger arrived on the back of a little 125, accompanied by a horse and cart!  Katherine took the pillion position and Rog and I and all the luggage piled onto the cart.  We trotted off to Sambel Kunda, waving and smiling to the many children who greeted us as we passed.  SK is home to the Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust, which is the charity co-ordinating the fund raising for the new Calum’s Road, but which also carries out veterinary and educational work in the area.  The 7 bikes were parked up outside the buidling, which had no electricity, a little bit of running water, but plenty of cold beer and warm welcomes.

Bikes in Sambel Kunda

More later….

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Trapped!

Posted on January 30, 2010 by lindaharley

The door of an underground car-park, stuck 2/3 way down

I’d just been congratulating myself on being such an efficient Little Red Hen: having to move all my stuff from the big house to my new apartment, and pack every box myself, carry it down 3 flights of stairs, load it into my tiny car, and then carry it up 3 flights of stairs in the new place…

To be fair, Jem and Matty have been wonderful, M especially as he can carry the heavy boxes, and also being 6 foot 5 is great for fixing lightshades etc 😉

Anyhoo, went over today after lunch with the penultimate (I hope!) lot of kitchen jars, all the bits and bobs off my desk, and my concertina file of documents. (And my Scrabble dictionary, so all my opponents should make the most of this opportunity!)

The underground car park door opened OK with my remote, I unloaded all the boxes, a passing resident asked if I needed help, I smiled sweetly and accepted his offer with the heavy stuff, and he introduced himself as Tommy, from a flat 2 floors down.

All the boxes safely inside, I set about unpacking and re-arranging. Jem, as I said, has been an absolute star, and donated her iPod base unit to the communal living area, so I slotted in my newly re-found big iPod (the Shuffle lives in my handbag) and the first song it chose was “Don’t You Worry Bout a Thing”.

I sang along as I hammered the feet into Jem’s computer desk, and re-arranged the position of the shoe rack in my bedroom, thanking my lucky stars yet again fro finding such a beautiful and LARGE apartment.

Still singing, I stacked some empty boxes to take back with me, and went back down to teh car park.  The roller door was stuck about 2/3 way down.  I pressed the remote button.  Nothing.  I got out and pressed all the buttons by the side of the door – no response.  Luckliy, I’d recently imported all my contacts into my new iPhone, so I called the owner of the apartment (no reply), and then the letting agent.  They in turn got the maintenance people to ring me, who asked if I’d pressed all the buttons.  Ok, they’d send someone out but it might be an hour before they got to me.

Time passed.

I listened to the radio – Dermot O’Leary was on.  I thought I’d send him a text about my predicament just to pass the time.  He played me a dedication! Paulo Nutini, too <wow>

Time passed.

Tommy re-appeared, leaving out some rubbish.  He tried pressing all the buttons, too, and nothing happened, though we had a nice little chat.

Time passed.

Another resident appeared, and started putting a suitcase into his BMW. I explained that the door was stuck, but he said “Oh it’s done this before, I managed to get it to open” and he proceeded to press all the buttons…and to my amazement, the door opened!  He wasn’t able to tell me what the magic sequence was, sadly, but Freedom!

I’d been planning on taking Max for a last walk together.  It is undoubtedly strange being in this position: tonight is quite possibly the last night I’ll spend in the big house.  And while I’m pretty sure I’ll see Max again, and take him for walkies, we don’t really know what shape the future will be.

Jem is sooo looking forward to leaving the big house, and absolutely adores the new place.  I feel sad that she feels no regrets at leaving the big house – doesn’t want any reason to come back her and doesn’t want to see Roger again. But am so impressed at her positive attitude to moving, fresh start, her helpfulness and cheerfulness.

The owner’s just phoned me as I’m typing this, very apologetic about the inconvenience.  He’d just been round himself and apparently the door is stuck again, so maybe he can put some pressure on to the maintenance crowd to get it sorted.

Meanwhile, I’m off to The Gambia tomorrow, where it’s currently 40 degrees!!!

Still singing “Don’t You Worry Bout a Thing”….

Filed under: buildings, kids, Lisburn | 2 Comments »

Scary Musical

Posted on January 23, 2010 by lindaharley

Jem’s latest production was Scary Musical, an innuendo-laden spoof of High School Musical, with some hilarious pastiches of Fame, Grease, and Saturday Night Fever thrown in along the way.
a flier for scary musical

The lyrics are very clever – I particularly liked “It doesn’t have to be hard if we come together – if we all lend a hand, job done, we can pull it off….”

I’ll leave the choreography and …erm…actions to your imagination!

A very talented cast – I recgonised most of them from other MT4UTH and McMaster shows, and I thought to myself “Ah yes, the usual suspects”. And then I thought, yup, those are NI’s stars of tomorrow. And what a great bunch they all are. Remember my name!

Filed under: Dance, kids, Musicals | 2 Comments »

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