Ageing Ungracefully

HYPOCAMPPOTTYMUS!

2009-11-14T12:42:00.012+01:00

Reciting Pi to 40 places, in an occasional attempt to keep the old hypocampus from shrinking, has always been one of my favourite brain exercises. But whilst on most days the old grey cells will proudly rattle of the sequence - and throw in a rapid 12 times table for desert - on others, there is a black void past the first 4 places. (3.14 15....er...?..thingy...er...?...darn it!).So I can't

MINE'S BIGGER'N YOURS!

2009-10-24T11:29:00.003+02:00

* Doctors are a weird and wonderful bunch aren't they? I remember waking up from having my appendix out on my 18th. birthday and being greeted by a wildly enthusiastic surgeon informing me that the offending dangly object, was the l-o-n-g-e-s-t he had ever seen, let alone removed! Blushing furiously and not quite knowing how to respond, I shyly told him he could keep the thing, if he liked... to

BRAIN DRAIN!

2009-10-04T19:22:00.009+02:00

It's the daily routine that's to blame, I'm convinced of it, because now I've stopped jetting backwards and forwards and thinking outside the box, I'm back to forgetting where I've put things - again!Keys; shoes; bag; knickers; you name it.. nowhere to be found - so yup, life is definitely back to normal!Time for the old brain exercises I'm thinking (well, at least I'm thinking!) and actually,

LEAVING THE PAST BEHIND

2009-09-27T11:25:00.006+02:00

Whilst away in the U.K. recently, helping empty and clean out the old family 'ghost' house, I came across this remarkable example of ancient toy technology - my old 24 inch, plaster walking doll! Very modern for her time; her legs jerking stiffly into place with just the faintest of clicks, as I moved her forwards. Left, right.. left, right... and away we would go. Jerky dolly and little 5 - 6

PASSING ON

2009-09-15T10:41:00.006+02:00

Out of circulation for a while, due to a bereavement in the family.A lot of travelling back and forth between The Neths. and UK..Best wishes to all,Geri.

TECHNO TURMOIL

2009-08-13T10:20:00.005+02:00

Hmm... just logged on to read world news - and found 'Windows Defender' industriously downloading 0% of downloads and refusing to allow me to me click it away - as I usually do - to let it get on with its business in private. Have had to sit through umpteen cups of coffee just staring at those little 'yellow shield' and 'fortress' icons, until WD stopped doing what it was not doing and was

FLU-UCTUATION...

2009-08-08T14:40:00.006+02:00

Happily - it is not Swine Flu.(Although I wasn't tested...)Unhappily - it is the start of another bout of double pneumonia.(A secondary bacterial infection. Though secondary to what, I do not know).But there again, happily - the antibiotics are kicking in and things are slowly improving.(3 cheers...).Unhappily though - am not allowed out in the sun whilst taking the antibiotics.(Groan..)Very

ZWIJNPEST!

2009-08-02T15:22:00.008+02:00

Don't know whether to blame this ridiculous looking pink creature I found lurking around - whilst clearing up the grandkids' toy box last Wednesday - but with mounting trepidation the list of today, includes:Chills; coughing; very sore throat; horrible pain in back of neck; thumping head; aching all over, sore skin and runny nose.Could of course be just a bad cold, but considering what happened

TAKEN SHORT!

2009-07-27T12:15:00.009+02:00

Feeding the ducks in the park yesterday, met a neighbour just back from his holidays. A friendly man and very proud of his idiomatic-type English, which he practices on me – strangely with an ‘American’ accent - whenever he can.Me: 'Howdy neighbour!'Him: (Walking stiffly)…'O.K.. Jes got me a new case of the "galloping whatsits…".'Me: 'Oh dear. That doesn’t sound O.K.. Picked it up on holiday?'Him

BLOWING MY STACK!

2009-07-25T13:07:00.002+02:00

The computer keeps telling me I’m overloading my ‘stack’..?????So I looked it up on Wikipedia:Main article: infinite recursionThe most common cause of stack overflows is excessively deep or infinite recursion. Languages, like Scheme, which implement tail-call optimization allow infinite recursion of a specific sort — tail recursion — to occur without stack overflow. This works because

THE WORLD IS OVERFULL

2009-07-19T18:10:00.010+02:00

The world is overfull. Everyone seems to be in agreement with that. So I have decided to do my own bit for humanity and not visit that Italian IVF doctor famous for inpregnating (barmy)geriatric women.Ideas on solving the problem of over population:Good way? - Bad way?I guess it's a matter of opinion.I don't usually get political on the blog. But it's Sunday and it's raining - and I've finished

SCOTTISH DAY OUT

2009-07-09T09:55:00.007+02:00

"We climbed a big high mountain on a fair and sunny day and when we got to the top, went down the other side and had tea in a walled garden in Applecross".And very nice it was too!

LOST

2009-07-08T15:07:00.005+02:00

Lost in the eerie, dead woods.

EERIE DEAD TREES

2009-07-08T14:35:00.007+02:00

Been a while since I popped in here... which means I’ve forgotten how to post a photo’(!) Been trying for half an hour…. Hang on.No, still not working.All right then, I’ll describe the photograph in question:‘A WOODED SCENE OF DEAD TREES’.Looks a bit like the entrance to one of those ‘Dark Forests of Death’ fairy tales, so popular in children’s stories (and guaranteed to instil night terrors and

INVIGORATED!

2009-05-26T11:58:00.005+02:00

Well it’s three months later now and winter more or less gone, although you never can be sure, as it’s wet and chilly again today in my part of the Neths. - but never mind that, take a peek at the photo …Those pesky seagulls even followed me to Menorca ! Of course, they could have already been there…(radical thought). This one was particularly persistent in its attempts to dive-bomb my grandson’s

WINTER SLEEP

2009-02-18T11:40:00.004+01:00

Woke briefly from winter hibernation this morning and poked my sleep grizzled head out of the Geri Atric cave… A watery sun struggled through the clouds to briefly touch my tongue. Other folk hold up their finger to test the wind. I stick out my tongue to test the sun. Don’t ask.Not a soul to be seen, except for a row of seagulls, perched motionlessly on the roof of the building opposite. They

CAMERA TRICKS

2009-01-07T12:11:00.006+01:00

There should be a breathtaking, winter wonderland photograph of my latest walk in the park, set right here, in the middle of this page…. however, there obviously isn’t… mutter.Instead, my recently acquired, first ever digital camera, kindly given to me by my son-in-law, is informing me that it is full to bursting (with Christmas pics) which means that all the lovely New Years photo’s I took,

DOCTOR WHO, WHAT, WHERE?

2008-12-18T09:31:00.006+01:00

What is going on across the road I wonder…?Awoken abruptly from restless slumber at 7.30 a.m., to the jarring thunder of heavy trucks beeping backwards and forwards just meters from my windows – and then just as suddenly they were gone again - and there it is.What is it?But as the sky lightens, all is revealed. It is the Time Lord himself, in his flying loo! Quite obviously the Tardis is in for a

CRACKERS!

2008-12-14T02:50:00.006+01:00

Well now everyone in the family is on the mend - it’s my turn!That’s right folks, this is me, felled like a snapping twig and confined to bed from last Thursday, with pneumonia and three broken ribs! Caused, believe it or not - by coughing!!!!!!!Have heard of ‘splitting your sides laughing’, but breaking your ribs coughing...? That's a new one on me. Mind you, it was and still is, a mighty

CRANKY GRANNY

2008-11-01T13:51:00.005+01:00

Phew..! That was scary – just met myself coming back on the train! Must have been me. I have been dashing and sleep walking hither and thither for the last few weeks (since returning from my Scottish holiday) lending a helping hand in a family (sickness) crisis. Have been returning home every 5 days or so, to check my mail and get a bit of sleep..zz.. before rushing off again.As I mentioned to

HIGHLAND FLING!

2008-08-27T11:44:00.005+02:00

Ah…less than 48 hours to go and the holiday feeling is almost upon me! Suitcase packed; passport and e-ticket in order; house tidy; spare key ready to bring to neighbour (for plant watering); contact details next to phone; etc.. etc..O.K. and now like Geri’s esteemed ancestors, who pre-enacted their hunting strategies in red ochre on the walls of their caves, I plot my route methodically by

CHIP AHOY!

2008-08-23T01:28:00.003+02:00

Wealthy Mexicans who are terrified of being kidnapped, are having themselves implanted with GPS chips…Well I think it is a brilliant idea! We should all do it. After all, we get it done to our pets, so why not to ourselves? Not that most of us will ever get kidnapped – but there are other dangers, like walking under a ladder and getting a bucket on your head and forgetting who you are… Or getting

HOUSE GHOST

2008-08-08T02:05:00.011+02:00

Practically everyone in our family seems to have a ‘house ghost’ of the common-or-garden variety: i.e., opening doors and blowing draughts down your neck - just when you’ve got comfy in front of the telly; hiding your specs, shoes, door keys; souring the milk and causing the tap to drip in the middle of the night…etc. But all of this is minor stuff compared to the antics of my auntie’s house

A, E, I, O, U

2008-08-05T14:31:00.005+02:00

Fnlly gt th cmpter fxd - nd nw th kybrd's 'n th blnk!S**m t hv lst th vwls..... Hd thm lst wk, bt tht ws bfr tkng th lttrs 'ff t' cln th d*rn thng...Frst th m**s* f'll t bts - 'nd ' cldn't pt 't bck tgthr gn. Ws 2 wks wtht hlp, bt hpply, Sn-n-lw fnlly fxd 't... bt nw ths.......Whr.. r.. my..vwls?!!

TURNCOAT ANTI-VIRUS

2008-07-17T14:28:00.012+02:00

The Anti-Virus program on this computer is behaving more like the viruses it is supposed to be protecting me from! Not content with suddenly flashing red warnings every time I try downloading a new website - and then 'stopping the computer till I solve the problem' - it is now chucking me off the web each time I try downloading anything from the ‘favourites’ folder!The last (and third) time I