Check that horoscope!

Pif


Hey Piffka! Thanks for taking the time to look at my site! Yes, I'm very proud of it, though I have to admit I am only the sleeping partner - a friend and neighbour said she needed some money to buy the school, and we had a bottle of wine .... half an hour later, we were partners and bought it! What I really do is write grammar books and dictionaries for a living, whenever anyone asks me to.

You will be thricetimes welcome to visit us and our little town when you set foot in England again. Not terribly near Lymington I'd say - are you sailing people, is that why Lymington? But plenty of lovely places to visit round here.
The river Dart flows from Dartmoor to the sea at Dartmouth, via Dartington. Dartford, however, is in Kent and completely different!
I am intrigued by Bombay WA - who founded it and why name it Bombay? Is it changing its name to Mumbai like the more famous one!?

Ah-- just a note on my random trip; I have decided that, although spending Christmas Eve in Berlin airport sounds tempting , and bursting through the door with the Christmas presents from some market stall up in the mountains actually is nice, that I'll be setting off on December 27th, spending New Year over there. I think that it would be better to do this, as it would mean that I could spend more time over there, and I wouldn't face the possibility of being stranded on Christmas day. I was talking to my friend last night, and she said that she is going to spend New Year's in Munich, and then is making her way to Budapest and then Prague... so I'm going to go as far as Budapest and then come back by train to Paris!! I'm going to go through Slovenia, Austria, Italy, Switzerland and France, getting the ferry from Boulogne. I'll be making some stops too, but where I stop depends on what route the train takes, but I like the unpredictability of it all. This won't mean my absence from here, though; I'll try to get one of those things that you plug into a mobile phone, and it uses the phone's credit to connect to the internet. The only problem is, I would need an ISP and Mobile network for every country, but I'll wing around it! I think that one says Heiligabend for Christmas eve in German, I'm about 90% sure.

I forgot to mention that your school, and its surroundings, look idyllic, Clary. I should definitely go sometime; anywhere that still accomodates for hitchhikers is a place to which I would go.

Piffka- your honeymoon sounds like the best honeymoon anyone could conceive; how you managed it, I don't know, but it is something that everyone should do. Did you ever go to Nebraska? You really ought to convert the slides (and the map) and put them on the internet, along with your story. Buses are awful over here too. At the last time that I went on a bus, kids were kicking all the seats, and circumstance'd seated me next to this guy (probably pretending to) telephone all his girlfriends, who were naysaying meeting. No-one would want to go on a bus when one can have a car; your petrol is so cheap, too! A riot van is a big van that the police use when a 'situation' arises; there are about fifteen seats, it's huge and usually white. I could just imagine long road trips driving it; it's a pity that you have to pass myriad tests now over here-- some perception test or something like that as well as the theory and practical ones.

Well, just because you didn't then, doesn't mean that you cannot go there now. I agree with you, although I have not yet spent much time there. I'll make sure that I describe everything, and even if I don't, I write everything down. I don't know why; even when I get sick, I have to write.

I am planning on doing one of those intensive language programmes-- when I find the time-- to learn either Russian or Chinese; I haven't decided yet. They are probably the best way of learning a language; the situation forces one to use the language that one is acquiring.

I don't think that anyone could go away from any of those places happy, apart from being happy to go away from them!

Giving yourself a hard time, Russian or Chinese? Make sure you like the culture first, I know many students of the latter who have given up because they just don't get on with the racism of China. How about Korean?

I couldn't deal with that; well, I would, I'd end up rallying the troops against racism, pathetically.

Korean is interesting, and has the advantage of an alphabet system rather than thousands of characters, most of which I probably wouldn't be able to remember. Do you feel that the Koreas are less racist, though? Learning Korean would be interesting...

Oh, dear. I don't think of the Chinese as racists. Are they for or against some race in their own country or against other races of other countries? China is so big.

Drom -- you wrote this..."avoid Leeds! Or Barnsley! Or Salford.. " and now I'm sure that next time I head out traveling, I'm going to have to ask you some very specific questions of route! Leeds and Barnsley are both soccer cities, but hmmm, I guess nearly every city in the UK is a soccer city. You sound like you have a good travel plan set out -- I throughly approve of waiting and soaking up some easy-going cheer that is surely flowing in Birmingham. (Hey, I just checked... Germany came to you!)



Clary -- Thank you for the thricetimes welcome! (Love the word thrice!) As to your question, back then (in 1978) we were on a large sail boat at Berthon Boats. I wonder if that marina is still there? I loved walking around the High Street of Lymington and checking out the tiny shops, staying with Miss Christie, our landlady. We even had library cards. The trains didn't come frequently though, and we were very poor, so we were stuck a lot of the time. We stayed about a month, helping to fit out The Bluebird of Thorne III, owned by a friend's family and built by an English gentleman, whose name I can't think of just now, but he was in steel. We're putt-putt sailors. We helped take the Bluebird to Paris, and let me tell you, it was fun to spend a week in that city, living on a boat! The Bluebird has an interesting history... it is now in drydock near Seattle, but traveled all around the world -- was dismasted near the southern end of South America and lost her beautiful lead keel off California. She behaved herself when we went across the Channel and I saw my first and only Wandering Albatross. The trip chugging up the Seine was great. Wish I hadn't been such a callow youth, more interested in drinking then history.


Has anyone checked their horoscope? Where's MsOlga? Do you think the Secret Madman is agreeing that there is something to horoscopes... or not? I think Secret, that you must be a cryptic Scorpio. I hope you are enjoying your foray into a2k.


Clary, aren't you glad that Drom is going to pack us along? I am! I am also glad that Drom is a writer who shares!





(*Well, duh. It is the holidays!)

Holiday cheer to all!

Piffka, you wrote
December 20th -- It may be hard for you to make a decision today about anything, Piffka. Things may seem a bit wishy-washy and unclear, but don't worry about it. There is plenty of air to fuel your fire. Be aware that people may be popping up from the past and that unexpected events may be disrupting the flow throughout the day.* Well-laid plans are apt to be broken. Don't' sweat it. Just go with it.

Where did that come from? It reminds me of the style of horoscopes I used to get from excite, and now can't remember how to get them - seems good. I have my airy husband and sons here to fuel the fire, and my flow has definitely been disrupted by their very existence!

Sounds fun, your time in Lymington. This time, get a car and see more of the country.

Yes, I'm afraid the Chinese are about the most racist people on earth - they don't even see what's wrong with it. I lived in Hong Kong for 18 years and despite trying hard, have only one or two friends in the Chinese community. Don't get me wrong, I'm not racist, because I know that if they live in a different community they change! Aussie and NZ Chinese, and I expect American ones too are a whole different kettle of fish. I'm writing a cultural guidebook to HK at the moment, but have to be less than frank.

Korean I learnt the alphabet in our 5-day trip in a hired car, mostly because there were no maps in English script! The people seemed open and friendly, and their tradition is interesting. Mind you, how are you with Korean food - personally kimchi leaves me extremely cold.

Glad you're taking us along on your trip, Deommy, can't remember when I last just went somewhere, the problem with family life - necessitates interaction with other people and planning in advance. But within holidays I have been quite spontaneous, once on my own. Best recent holiday was doing a fast in Koh Samui!

Clary -- Koh Sumai? Where is that??

Yes, next time, we'll rent a car for longer. We'd rented one for just a weekend which was how we happened to drive by Totnes (we'd been down as far as Tintagel and all about.) The countryside was gorgeous.

The horoscope was from the Astrocenter. At the bottom on the left of that page is a listing for email services... click on free horoscope. Sometimes they send me "The Sky Today" but it's a gif, so I can't post it.

Hi there Piffka
Koh Samui is a beautiful tropical island off the east coast of Thailand. It has been quite downmarket, small hotels with not very grand facilities, which is lovely, but the government are aiming to make it a 5-star venue with posh resorts. A pity. The Spa is run by an American chap with his Thai wife, and is a great place to fast, to do healthy things, to chill out, and to meet interesting people from all over the world.
http://www.spasamui.com/

Thanks for the astrolink!

It sounds wonderful and incredibly exotic!

Here's a 3% moon for you...

Thanks for the 3% moon, may I wish you a Merrie Solstice, and ask how your eyes are bad, mine are bad too....17th December must be Bad Eye Day as well as near St Lucy's Night,

Hey Piffka and Clary:

I will make sure that I keep you posted on everything; the Ups and Downs of random holidays. I hope that your Christmas breaks are going well; do you have many plans of things to do before Christmas day?

Are you coming to England through the North West, Piffka? When coming back into the country, I usually avoid the chaos of London's airports and go through Edinburgh- then it's just a wonderfully scenic trip down.

I have checked up on the Koh Samui of old and it seems idyllic, Clary; I hate built up resorts. The best places to which I have been are also the ones that are the least apt for the package holiday sort of tourist...

Merrie Solstice to you! According to some folks, we should have started celebrating yesterday and continue through tomorrow... I'm trying, I'm trying!

Did you choose St. Lucy for your patron saint, Clary, or do you have such things? I even have a very special niece named Lucy, a darling girl. I'm glad that the operation worked for your eyes. Apparently, my problem can't really be corrected that way.

Here are the planets' positions for this week:


Drom -- I'm so looking forward to "our" trip with you (in your laptop)!!

I'm sorry to say, I don't have any plans right now to visit the UK again. Here's a pic of where we going next (I've been cruising the 'net, looking for stuff to do there besides lie around on the beach ) ...


British Air has the only handy, non-stop flight from Seattle to the UK. You can book to E'burgh for the same price, but there is a change of planes at Heathrow. When we flew over in September, we booked to London, then took another flight to E'burgh and came back on the Caledonian Express (which was terrific... except large parts of the trip were in the dark. I've heard that some people take NW Airlines (I think) to Ireland from Seattle to escape the London chaos, but I don't know how well that works and I think there is a change of planes. I do want to visit Ireland next time... and the Orkneys... and Totnes (now!)... and I have to go back to Leanachan. You two are so lucky to live there. I love your country.

Nice cluster of planets round Aquarius I note, my ascendant. but a sight too much Capricorn for a happy Christmas!

I only went to Seattle busstation not very nice

No, the Seattle bus-station is pretty awful now and used to be even worse.

Here's a nice shot of Seattle:

Have a great Christmas break, Piffka, Clary & dròm_et_rêve! And may the stars treat us all favorably in this coming new year!

Thank you so much, Olga, and may the warmth of the Victorian sun keep you happy until 2004 which will be a great year for you - I feel it in my bones!

Nice thoughts, Clary. Thank you. I might even do the Albert Park walk for you during January!

Why thanks! I must visit Melbourne in the summer sometime, I have only been there in cold and rainy weather. And it is so beautiful now, better than it was 20 years ago.

Same to you, MsOlga! Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for a Prosperous and Healthy New Year! You're having your longest days now, how wonderful! Our sun set at 4:22 this afternoon. It's a good thing we've got lots of decorative lights!