"YABBER-LINER" - ALL ABOARD

water's a bit high, but we've got a rowboat to get to the ark

That reminds me of the floods we're having downunder ehBeth. Torrential rains have caused flooding in several States and caused our record wheat harvest to be severely damaged. All this after a 10 year drought, our farmers just can't win, its heartbreaking. We've started summer on time with several days around the 100 degrees (38) mark but then yesterday the skies opened up and dumped all this water on us, very unusual for December.

Hey Crew

Woke up in Narnia this morning - set my alarm last night and got up early - spent the day in awe of a ice crystals, colour and the most incredible lighting - all within a few steps - found some peace within.

Yep JPB - thanku hun, saw my surgeon - all as expected. Left foot will remain red and discoloured all over for a few weeks but he was pleased the infection is seemingly clearing up. He said it was the stiches that were infected and are still a little red and puffy - but not too sore. My foot is flaky - kinda matches the rest of me - I reckon the infection must have burned the skin off it was so hot - it looks like I have sunburn and am peeling! Other foot is k-ish, not too sore but they both get puffy if down for too long. Xrays on the 22nd so will see what happens then. Feels like a bone is crunching in the left foot. Keep wearing boots - but he has given me permission to drive very short distances (automatic car and only need right foot) with the NHS shoe on and to put the boot on before I get out of the car. We are an iced valley right now - went out to turn the car over earlier - took a while for it to start - mind you, it took me longer to get into it, the car is white and frozen solid and it was a struggle to get the door to open. Hoar frost covers the whole car. It was minus -6.5 at 6.30pm... got a cold one tonight.

Feet OK thanku.

JPB - hope all is good with you and it finally stopped snowing. Careful on that leg of yours and send my love to the girls and Mr B. x You take care. x

BEAgle - have been watching the floods in NSW on BBC news - so sad to see and so many folk losing everything in the floods and being evacuated. (((BEAgle))) So glad the weather for you at the moment - keep taking those little walks each day. xxxx

Margo - ah, we got the second test... we'll see what happens in the third! Maybe, just maybe after 24 years....... and YES, it's mighty cold here - quite unbelievable in fact. Not a snowflake in sight - but, ChezIzzie is white!!!!!!!!!!!! You would love the lighting - with the snow and the brilliant blue skies and the way it hits the ice... hmmm... dreamy!

MaMaVerby - glad we spoke last night and you managed to get the things you needed. Hoping that H-boy is now much better today and you are now sleeping well. ((I))

TC - good job MrFix is MrChauffeur too - we like a Jack Of All Trades. Hope the weather doesn't come in serious for you guys. Not sure if you've heard on your news at all about what's going on in East & N Scotland... N.Ireland too and N.England... just so terrible for those folks there - yesterday a blizzard hit and the kids in some of the Scottish schools had to spend the night at school and use curtains as blankets. People have been stuck on the roads for upto 14 hours... and it's got down to minus 22 up there... hard to believe in the UK - 7 deaths too... very sad. Ha -----> arK with K... kk! Thinking Pink for your "C"

POMcT - love the flashmobs - I wanna join in on one of them - Baz is gonna let me know next time he gets word of one. I was doing a bit of reading and spectating today - WOW - who knew! Thanku - very interesting read. <pass the tequila > Hoping the inlaws are coping with the cold - they should get their winter payment through soon - not that it will be much... but every little helps... Hope too that the kitchen is finally dried out and you've managed to get the plinths etc back in place. x

Bethie - thanks for the rowers... yep, simply the breast. Talking of which Charlie got the all clear from the doc today who was happy with everything and she went back to work. We got cut off mid talk (musta been a tunnel) but as far as I know - all is well. Great news - simply the breast!

Baz - hope you didn't haul yourself to the airport before you found out - especially not in this weather... mission possible no doubt sometime.


OK, I gotta go zzzzzzz - knackered and want to get up early again - 1.25am and .. well, I hope I can sleep. Tonight may be the last brutal frost we have... so I wanna make the most of it.

Will bore y'all with pics tomorrow

Missy - hope you are good girlie - love you. x

(((((Babbling))))) - thinking of you

((((Blue)))) - you were everywhere today - blue blue blue all around - stunning it was. xox x

nite crew - you're the very best x

Financial analysis, Irish style

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koY6kXhQDQo

That's good to hear.

Glad too that things are improving as expected. I've been doing the wear the boot, take it off to drive, put it back on before getting out of the car for months now. It's a pain in the ass but it's better than sitting at home for days on end. You'll figure out a way that's not so cumbersome after a while.



All is well here. We've started putting up Christmas decorations and making the house a bit more festive. Talks are underway to figure out who/when/how Grandma will be picked up and brought here for the holidays. Hugs to you and S-boy from all of us to you.

Sending healing thoughts verby's way. I hope H-B is feeling better.

Waves to the rest of the crew. I hope everyone has a happy and healthy Wednesday.

Hey there JPB, Hello Izzie and Crew,

Glad to hear things are slowly progressing. I can't imagine how hard it must be for you Izzie. You amaze me. Be careful...take it easy on those toots.

We are mostly fine. Funnily enough - my week has sucked and yet, I am fairly perky. Car broke down again, house has a poltergeist (lights are flickering - yes, we've called an electrician, Abscess, tooth pulled, J has the flu and I forgot to show up for jury duty.

On the bright side - they didn't put me in jail or fine me for contempt, they just pushed my date to February 14th. Happy Valentines Day......to me.

I hope this is not what normal looks like.

Hugs y'all.

mismi, I am a jury duty magnet, always being called (served once). Happy Valentine's Day!

Oh the weather outside is frightful!


I have heard about the north of England, Izzie. We're getting a walloping here too just now. I got very lucky again today. Crawled in to work (after picking up a colleague) and then Mr Fix-it showed up as all classes were cancelled (he took the bus to the store). He took the car to run some errands and came back to pick up K. and me. So, more chauffeuring -- the roads were awful so I was happy to hand over that chore.

Very happy to hear about FQ. We got an ecstatic e-mail from C. last night. Her lab tests came back clear so she is over the moon.

Mismi, Aside from the car trouble, the poltergeist, the abscess, the flu, and the jury duty, that's exactly what my normal looks like.

Glad you're still smiling.

eh...such is life. In spurts...I hope. Thanks Roberta!

Tai Chi - this will be my THIRD time to be called - I have been on TWO juries. I am hoping that this time they will set me free....I am going to say I love guns, and that I have a brother in law who is a policeman and my brother is a fireman and I work for an insurance company. Surely something in there will knock me out of the running.
[edit upon reflection I think it's my FOURTH called - I got ditched once - or maybe I went into one and got struck and went back the next day so it's really just my THIRD - I forget]

I think I have a piece of a tater tot stuck in the empty socket where I got my tooth pulled. That's gross isn't it? Over share...mebbe.

mismi, I've been called for jury duty at least twice in every city in which I've lived for the last, oh, 20 years so if I'm called in the spring (I already know I'm on the selection list) it'll be the sixth time!

You'll collect all kinds of gunk in that empty socket until it completely heals. A gentle swish with barely salted warm water should help.

It is unbelievably cold here this morning which I'm thrilled about because it means it won't snow! I'm working 'til 9pm tonight and could use an uneventful drive home. (-22 celsius when I got up -- it's warmed up to -16 ) I'll be wearing my cap with the earflaps I think.

Dang - you are a jury magnet.

How does that happen? I know people twice as old as me that have never been called once. So annoying.

Yep - that's cold - it's cold here too - but nothing like that. Our problem is - because we don't deal with it much we don't have the right clothes! I have GOT to get the boys better winter gear.

Stay warm!

Quiet today, here.
The snow's gone for now.

Events in London yesterday? I think we've just seen the end of officially-sanctioned protest marches in London.
Tear gas and baton rounds next.

Did you see the look on the faces of Chuck and his whore when they were introduced to the real world? Priceless!

Do you mean Her Royal Highness (Whom God Preserve) Duchess of Cornwall?

Now I don't like the royals any more than the next man, but these are indeed troubled time when it comes to this. When the heir to the throne and his squeeze cannot drive unmolested through the streets of the capital, I mean.
Maybe they'll sack Buckingham Palace next and set up a gibbet in Trafalgar Square.
Maybe on the other hand, as seems more likely, all large-scale protests in the capital will be banned and we'll see more blood and snot on the streets.

I wonder how the Clegg family breakfast went this morning.

Clegg and more than half of his cronies are probably looking through the Jobs Vacant lists after doing a 180% turn over the students fees vote.First time voters,the kids that have been captured on newsreel,will make sure of that.The loony minority will always grab the headlines but I have faith in the next generation of voters.When was the last time that such an important issue affected the youth of today?I was glad/proud to see so many "kids" voicing their opinion.

Oops,waves to crew.

I'm afraid I would have to disagree with you Baz

SHAMEFUL

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1337315/TUITION-FEES-VOTE-PROTEST-Thugs-deface-Cenotaph-urinate-Churchill.html

Those weren't kids voicing their opinions.

I simply don't see that anyone could support or encourage the violence in these protests. It is beyond me. I believe in democracy and I believe in peaceful protest and I believe that a majority of these kids were wishing to have a peaceful protest.

The police are in an unenviable position of allowing the democratic right to protest and to also the right to keep the peace.

People who turn up to protest carrying tins of paint aren't there to have a peaceful protest. People turning up with cans of petrol and setting fire to things are not there to protest.

I do not, nor will ever condone, students or anyone, protesting to a point where it comes to throwing a fire extinguisher from the top of a building down onto the police with the intent, where a minority of the protestors feel it is right to destroy property - to attack the Royal family, the police or to put other folks lives in danger. That is not a peaceful protest.

I am a Royalist - this has nothing to do with anything at all - attacking any member of the Royal Family or ANYONE in a car driving through the streets of London, is wrong. The students would not be kettled - so they broke from the permissable route - there is a 'right to protest route' - the point of which is to protect the ordinary Joe Public who are walking in the streets and to allow the rest of London to move.

I don't like the government policies, I don't trust politicians or their cronies any more than the next commoner does - I like it even less as a single parent who earns little who will not be able to afford to pay for youngest son's education if he goes to University. He wishes to be a Children's Rights Lawyer - that means many, many years of education and if he manages to achieve this, he will have debts of tens of £1000's as he starts his working career. However, I hope that as he grows up and when he is a older, if he feels the need to rebel against the government or to protest - that he will NEVER act as this minority have; I sincerely hope that. There was a mob, pockets of thugs as there always are in any protest - the people who do those things are not there to protest - they are there to rile up the crowd, to cause a problem, to incite violence...

There will be a big price to pay - someone will die if this continues...

All kinda ironic really on the day that the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded... whom it was awarded too and why.

We are fortunate to live in a democracy - no matter how much we complain about it at times. We all have the right to our differing opinions and the right to be heard.

TC - really good news about your "C" - an early Crimbo present for her and your family. Fabulous news. Take care in that snow. x

Missy - hope the gap heals quick - mine took about 3 months to sort itself - annoying as heck. Hope you can get out of the jury duty. You'll be gearing up for Christmas now - that should be fun for you. x

((Baz, Boida, TC, Mis, McT, JPB, BEAgle, Bethie, Margo, (Blue) et al ))- thinking of the crew. x

Please excuse me for a while - I need to absent myself.

I feel sure the Daily Mail and the Daily Worker editorials will have a different take on this.

Thinks: what if one of the armed police, who were in the limo behind, had been near enough to take a shot at the cretin who bounced the litter bin off the royal Rolls?

Bad.

Apparently Camilla got poked in the chest by a stick, through the open window of the limousine.
No wonder she looks a bit alarmed. Not what she's used to at all.

Tha Daily Mail made a point that earlier ocurred to me: a month ago, the Cenotaph was the focus of the nations's commemoration of the dead of several wars. These oiks desecrated it. They tried to set fire to the Norwegian Xmas tree- that's a gift expressing gratitude from the Norwegian people. That's not legitimate protest. What point did they think they were making?