Originally dated 2005 from when Asti & I were living in Basel, Switzerland
Another mostly useless wasted week. Very limited access to my computer so my productivity was close to zero. Got all the papers to apply for the visa but no tiene los dinero - ie. All the nice offers and promises went up in smoke when the time to put up or shut up arrived, Asti's friend Robin even went back on his offer to give me a job interview/expression of interest letter to include with my application.

So add all the endless crap on top of crap and add to that an early winter settling in which a stunning cold spell. It's been in the 30s-40s F. the past few days and I'm feeling ill, cold or flu coming on. There's no heat in the house either! The landlord ddn't bother turning it on when the temps started regularly sinking into the 30's and 40. Oh joy! The rent is almost 3000 SFr a month but no heat so we're huddling wrapped in blankets.

Someone must have complained because we finally started getting heat at 4pm today. Not real heat yet but the ends of the radiators have started to warm. It will take many hours to warm this apt tho because most of the exterior walls are vast expanses of glass. I'm hopeful tho and at least it's one cheery note in a bleek vista.

So, no visa and no money to cover the fee. I'm going to have to find a way because I -must- have that visa. Without it I can't legally work. I can't go thru that nightmare again. Perhaps I'll have to take my sterling silver flatware from Asti and sell it. I was going to just let it be, but whatever.

Oh, and that is the positive side compared to all the other crazy stuff going on.
1. Asti's new house lease/tenancy isn't approved yet - so
2. She can't agree on a delivery date with the movers
3. The movers want payment upfront which is ok because Asti has more than enough in her pension account to cover the move.
4. Except Switzerland's anti-female laws require a signed notarized statement from Nick. Who is in deepest Oxforshire currently.
5. And they want a signed letter from him and a copy of his passport.
6. Both notarized
7. We don't have the paperwork for the 3 cats to travel yet
8. We don't have train reservations for us to go from Basel to London
9. It gets worse, believe me. And I haven't even gone into Alan being depressed because he's so broke lately.

I think a hot shower is needed right now.

And a new storyline! Damn, why isn't there a nice, kindly god who could change it all

Must have HOT shower. Must get warm warm warm ...

A week without cigarettes. Surviving. I'm still reaching for one and still feel it between my fingers as I reach for that first relaxing puff with my coffee. But nothing I could identify as physical. Just memories of the pleasant gesture.
But, it's a week, 7 days and I'm moving on ok.

Day 5 - quitting smoking cold turkey. I had to stop smoking; couldn't afford the cost any more. A depressing choice which provides me no support or comfort in the withdrawal process. Meh - what a misery.

Dentist

Home again, home again, half a jig on...

So today was my 2nd session with the dental surgeon and another wisdom tooth extracted. This was a more complex session than my previous one. The tooth was in the upper jaw and its roots penetrated the sinus as well. There were a few additional bits of legacy roots next to the tooth, left from a long ago extraction, that also needed removing. I won't go into detail except to say that today I was well and truly thankful for my dentist's expertise, gentle technique, and patient style. It was a bit overwhelming and scary at times but no pain and lots of calm assurances which helped a lot. Finally home the whole thing overwhelmed me and I eventually staggered off to bed to slide under the duvet and sleep the rest of the day.

I think I've only 2 more sessions to complete the prep works and then its back to my own dentist for restoration works. Meanwhile I'm trying to move my jaw as little as possible and let it all calm down and heal.

Bubbles

Industrial strength unpoppable bubbles

6 cups water
1 cup corn syrup
2 cups regular strength Joy dish soap

pan and large ring to create giant bubbles

Kitty Cuisine

Rosie has recently refined her dining choices by rejecting the super-premium wet "pouch" cat food she used to like for a mixed regimen of dry Iams kibble and Real People Food. While her fondness for chicken and pulled pork is quite understandable, some of her other choices leave us bemused: hard boiled egg yolk, marmalade, ginger ale, cheesecake.

Rosie and her new toy

Rosie carefully checking out the devious white ball.

Attacking the evil intruder!

Rosie, our semi-long haired cat, demands to be brushed. Endlessly. In fact, she prefers endless attention of almost any sort. She's very verbal and loudly calls us to come out and play if she is feeling bored or neglected.

Kitties

We are a cat household once more. A local cat rescue group dropped off a mama cat and her newborn (1 day old!) kittens last night. Mama cat is gorgeous and loaded with charming personality.

Shared from my daughter Astrid's Facebook post:

Being Green

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.
The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days."

The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."

She was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were truly recycled.

But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags, that we reused for numerous things, most memorable besides household garbage bags, was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our schoolbooks. This was to ensure that public property, (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags.

But too bad we didn't do the green thing back then.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.

But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throwaway kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

But that young lady is right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day.
Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then.
We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But we didn't have the green thing back then.
Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smartass young person.

Today my husband looked around the living room and commented, "We could have had a Christmas tree in here".
Err, yes, I only mentioned it and suggested it a few hundred times since we moved to the new place last February. He admitted he probably wasn't listening to me. Probably.

Lol! Next year we will have a gorgeous tree here. We will start collecting ornaments now.

Not a bad day at all and a rare roast beef dinner to cap it all off.

9/11

9/11 again and the memories roll in and circle, everpresent.
I went into this blog today and discovered that all my posts pre-2003 have disappeared. All my comments about  the day the Earth stood still for me in NYC.  The day I arrived early as usual at work (AboveNet) and the security girl at the front desk said to me - a plane just crashed into the WTC. I said, "What??" and she turned and pointed at the vast window wall of my office - and there it was, one of the WTC towers a towering inferno.
I stood frozen and stared - just slightly south of our building, a couple minutes walk away, the top floors of one of the WTC were a roiling mass of bright orange flame and gray black smoke clouds. I stepped over to my desk by the window wall and stared - not particularly alarmed but fascinated. This sort of thing had happened before. Planes had accidentally hit the Empire State Building in the past, this was just a terrible accident happening again. I assumed it was relatively small plane and accidents happen.  I sipped my coffee and idlely wondered how they'd put it out - I assumed they had the mother of all fire suppressant systems and sprinklers in the WTC. Standing at my desk, looking out the window, I dialled Alan in London for our daily morning call. I told him - plane hit WTC this mornng, I'm watching it as we speak. He scoffed. (I hate when people don't believe me when I'm stating something simple and factual. It just so insulting it wrings me out and leaves a bit of anger at them that never ever goes away.) I told him, turn on your radio - nothing - so I said, get CNN up on your computer.
As I stared out the window, waiting for Alan to pull up the CNN news site, a second plane - large, obviously a commercial jet - wheeled in the air and came straight at the other WTC tower at top speed and smashed! into the building. I remember shouting into the phone - another plane! Just hit the other tower! We're under attack - this might be war. I have to go... and I put the phone down and ran to find Marty (our Facilities Manager) and Alan (our Security Manager).

And the day went on from there. All day and into the night.
All my posts about it and all the photos I posted - all gone.
But my memories will be with me long time.

Years ago I used to dream about a particular house; walking through it noting the details. I could remember it when awake and described it - and then one day driving through Spring Valley, NY I stopped at a red light and ...there was The House and it was for sale. Just did not have any way to buy it, parents thought it was impractical and too expensive for us. But it was The House.

Ikea part 2

Sofa arrived and Alan assembled it remarkably quickly and easily. It looks even better than it did at the store. I really like it now! OK, so I was wrong grumbling about it. However, that only makes it worse because as I predicted it sticks out like a horrible sore thumb.

The contrast between the beauty of the sofa and the ridiculous awkwardness of it sticking out into the room and partially blocking my desk and the general idiocy of having a big bookcase behind it quickly seeped into Alan's conciousness and after a couple of measurements he admitted that he could move the bookcase into a  corner of the bedroom so the sofa can sit directly against the wall. Problem solved. (What a surprise ;)

Alan and I are both amazed at how nice the sofa is. I never expected this from just looking at it at Ikea and sitting on it at the store. It really looks so different, so much better. Yay!

FWIW, we bought the Ektorp 2-seater sofa in white. The living room walls are painted a soft dove gray and the woodwork and shelving is white.

Ikea

We went to Ikea last night after Alan got home from work. Turns out it was the opening day of Ikea's big summer sale. You can just imagine.

So after weeks of talking about what sofa -I- wanted for the living room and how it was my choice, we agree on a specific model and color Ikea sofa from the online catalogue. We get to Ikea and trek our way to the sofa section and yes! They have my choice sofa in stock, in the colour I wanted, and on sale....and then.....Alan makes unhappy noises and says I'm not so keen on it and takes me to look at a different sofa that he now claims he prefers. It's quite different and one fast glance at it would tell anyone who knows me that Barb did NOT make that choice. But, hey, that's what being married means - compromise. Phooey!

Anyway we agreed to get the sofa Alan liked so I didn't have to spend the rest of my life with him being a thundercloud every time he looked at it. Please don't think I am a pushover about this issue because I'm not, I'm a quiet, devious passive aggressive on this. The trick here is that the sofa Alan chose is deeper than the one I picked. So when it is delivered today he will discover that in order to get it to fit in the Living Room in the only available space - he will have to remove the bookcase he snuck in there (it was part of my allocated wall space) to hold his CD collection. Ka-ching!

Anyway, we also bought 2 new dining chairs for the kitchen and a new lamp for me. They were all on sale 50% off which was delightful since I had planned on buying them anyway but the sale was an unexpected extra.

Just waiting for the sofa delivery today.

Stuffed Dormouse

While looking through my Recipe folder for a cheesy potato and bacon recipe, I just noticed I had one for "Stuffed Dormouse".

Facepalm moment! Why? Why? Perhaps in my Culture/History folder but in my active Recipe folder?

Sexual harassment in the world of video gaming

News article from the BBC website:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18280000

I have mixed feelings about this. Partly it's the free choice of someone to walk into a game - and if it's a violent aggressive game, what did you really expect? The Politeness Pirates? If on the other hand, it's a (for example) role playing game of a non-violent sort, I totally object to sexual harassment or any sort of abusive behaviour - different deal there.

Some of the examples given are in line with my feelings ie you walk into a strip joint or a rough guys bar, it was your choice so if you don't like it, walk away.

I think the real problem is the shield of anonymity - people act amazingly better when their identity is known and they may have to face the consequences of their behaviour. No need to have IDs hanging on people's necks but verified IDs with a working good email address should be held by the company running the games. If you then choose to go into grey market non-ID games, again, you get what it says on the label.

What's with all the monkeys?

Recently my ex Tom posted (without my permission) a set of misc. old family photos including some from before we'd met. Among those were several of a squirrel monkey. One of the responses to that posting was a query from Tavie asking what's with the monkeys.

It's a long story. Ask me about it next time I am in NYC and I'll tell you the whole story, Tavie.

In the meantime, here's the quick answer - as a teen I did volunteer work for the ASPCA's Education Dept.  They sent me to professional animal care and management classes and sponsored my certification as a Lab Animal Technician. During those years I was often asked to care for/rehabilitate monkeys and other small exotic animals they'd rescued until a suitable placement was made. The monkey in the photos Tom posted was named Peter; he was very well socialised (as much as any wild animal can be.) Originally there were a lot of photos of all the various monkeys and apes I took care of over the years including squirrels, spiders, capuchins, woolly, macaques, orangutans, etc. I also cared for ferrets, kinkajoos, otters, and infant tigers. I guess only the photos of Peter survived.

How sad, how depressing, facing Easter and not a peep to be had.
How can a nation survive without peeps?
Especially stale peeps, just turning slightly crisp and crunchy.
That's what's wrong with the UK, no peeps.

Alan's accepted a job offer today and starts at the new company on Monday. Yay! Looks to be much more interesting, and even exciting, work. The daily commute will be a bit of a change, he'll be driving out of London into the suburbs rather than fighting the mobs on to Tube into Central London.

On the home front, we've finished all the unpacking and life is starting to take on a comfortable, pleasant rhythm at the new flat. We still need to buy kitchen chairs, 1 more bookcase at Ikea, and a sofa for the living room but those are all icing and just make life a bit nicer, not critical to everyday.

I really love the neighborhood - the restaurants, the little shops, the green fields our living room and bedroom overlook - and the relaxed cafe culture of the high street.