30 December 2010

BLOOD

© nbs
Trekking out in the snow last week to attend the blood donor session, (especially after having been almost guilt-tripped by them because donations are 'as vital as ever at this time of year'), the irony was not lost when, on turning up, they said that they were closing the session early because of the snow. Anyway, a week later, another appointment and a successful donation.

29 December 2010

EXHIBITIONS

© V&A
There are two really good exhibitions at the moment about photography. One, at the V&A, Shadow Catchers is all about capturing images without a camera and it's fascinating. The other, at the Tate, is the strange and surprising tale about the man who invented the zoetrope and discovered that 'horses could fly'!

28 December 2010

ANATOMY PANTS

So, I promised to tell you about my pants, so - ahem, embarrassed downwards and sideways look - here we are. The truth is, I have never really recovered from the shock of my first anatomy class and even now still feel slightly uncomfortable with the clinical examination aspect of my course. So, in order to make my (and probably others') discomfort less, I have invested in various 'anatomy pants': that is, large, sensible, usually black, cover-all underwear that your grandmother would be proud of. Recently though, I have found some colourful pants which have gone some way to cheering at least me up during these dreaded sessions!

27 December 2010

SATTC

© bbc
The Archers is celebrating its 60th anniversary at new year and Radio 4 listeners will be aware that a 'thrilling shock' is imminent, apparently the storyline will take a dramatic turn, something so seismic that the world will never be the same again. There have been various rumours as to what The Shocker will be. Over the course of the years, we've already had the usual Greek tragedies including: destruction by fire, rape, drugs, adultery, race hatred, suicide, a gay kiss, secret love children, wife beating, so the only real twists left are: murder, incest, transsexual/gender issues, poisoning, something involving the farm animals .. We realise of course that, in the end, it will all turn out to be a terrible damp squib and that what will probably really 'Shake Ambridge To The Core' is Ambridge Organics turning out not to be Organic after all. That, or a terrorist cell which will wipe Ambridge off the face of the Radio 4 earth ..
While I'm on the Radio 4 subject, I would just like to say that I am so very relieved that Jordan is not among the guest editors of the Today programme this week. But BIG hurrah for Diana Athill this morning!

26 December 2010

MEMORY GAME

© wellcome
A bit of light relief here, warning though: it can get a bit addictive!

24 December 2010

CHRISTMAS EVE!

© paris.fr
A nice bottle of red wine, trying to make macarons, listening to carols from Cambridge. One of my very favourite days - Happy Christmas!

23 December 2010

MORE TALES OF SNOW

As you can imagine, there isn't much to do in the garden at the moment and my only excursions out there are to re-fill the bird feeders (the birds - and the squirrels - are still VERY active and hungry). Not even any winter trampolining as it is covered by a blanket of snow at least six inches thick. Nothing for it except to worry about which plants are going to make it through (the boldo having already succumbed) and fret whether the bees are still alive. Actually, I have seen signs of life, for when I brush the snow off their hive, the 'killer guard bees' rush out to see me off!

22 December 2010

H-CUP

© RM92
It has to be said, the H-Cup has not been setting my world on fire this year. I confess my attention, and even me physically at times, have wandered away, so unexciting have the games been. Mirco has, at least, scored one try and grown a beard (the latter not during the course of a game - they are not that static. Yet.) but Racing are still second in their Pool. On a brighter note, Stade are top of their Pool in the Amlin Challenge Cup (the what? indeed).

21 December 2010

SOLSTICE

© bbc
I always like the winter solstice day, and it means that the days are getting longer from now onwards. This one coincided with a lunar eclipse.

20 December 2010

THE SNOW

To judge from December's posts so far, you could almost conclude that I had been housebound for the whole month with nothing at all happening but snow and ice. While this is, in part, true and I have indeed been trapped and delayed and missed work and lectures and parties because of the snow, there have been brief moments of respite where I have been able to go about my business with relative ease: things like lectures and dreaded clinical examination practice (although now resplendent in 'new anatomy pants' (more about these anon)), being welcomed back at work like a long-lost prodigal daughter after my enforced entrapment by snow, even some exhibition visits, and at least the christmas shopping has been fairly peaceful.

06 December 2010

SNOW DAYS

The snow, while it remained, looked very beautiful and gave the world a muffled quality but caused major disruption to everyone's lives. To judge by the main service provider's reactions one would think a serious catastrophe had struck the land, so ab-so-lutely im-poss-ible was it to do anything: no trains, no buses, no post, roads impassable. Only the milkman emerges from this story with any decency, delivering his pints of milk throughout this period with absolute reliability; as a result, he now has hero-status. Anyway, one heavy bout of rainfall and the chaos is over, phew.

postscript: one very sad tale amid the beauty of the snowy blanket though: some of the bees, sensing sunshine, ventured bravely out, only to meet a terrible frozen snow fate :(

01 December 2010

SNOWED IN

It's been snowing for two days and more now: chaos reigns! Welcome December!

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