We had a plumber in today, to fix a leaking pipe in the bathroom and to do some work on the toilet before it parted company with the waste pipe and caused a very unpleasant disaster. We are both incredibly grateful to the guy for coming out and doing the work (he's a friend of a friend and did it in his own time, charging us just for the materials), but it proved trickier than we all thought it would be, and so rather than being without a toilet for 2 or 3 hours, it was more like 8 hours.
I was dying for a cup of coffee, but didn't dare indulge while we didn't have a functioning loo (or even a connected up loo!). But even complete abstinence was almost not enough after 8 hours.
I always considered two toilets a bit of a luxury until now, but I'm rapidly revising that opinion after today!
A nice article by JackP providing what seems to me to be good, common sense advice on creating a local authority website that is useful and interesting, and that people will actually use and come back to. Worth reading if you've got anything to do with managing, designing, developing or writing for a local authority website. Come to that, worth reading if you've got anything to do with managing, designing, developing or writing for any website!
http://www.thepickards.co.uk/Articles/Guidance_for_Local_Authority_websites.cfm
Much startled yesterday lunchtime to see, in the sky over central London, a huge square banner advertising a Qantas sale, being towed by a helicopter which looked tiny in comparison to the size of the banner. Unfortunately I was using my mobile phone at the time, so wasn't able to take a picture of the thing, but if it reappears I'll try to get a photo to post on here.
Well, just a couple of days before my friend, Henny, sets off on her Arctic adventure, aiming to travel 250km by dog sled in 5 days - she leaves the UK on 29 January, coming back on 5 February (assuming she can persuade the huskies to pull the sled at all!). We all reckon she's mad, as she hates the cold, but she's also a loyal and caring friend, and she's doing this to raise money to help buy the specialised equipment that will make life just a little easier for the severely injured young son of one of our colleagues, and make it possible for him to go home for longer than a couple of days at a time.
Initially aiming to raise £3,000, she was completely taken aback by the response to her sponsorship page on the Just Giving website, and the total raise is now over £5,500, which is wonderful. The Bristol Royal Children's Hospital has already been able to start ordering some of that much needed but very expensive equipment as a result of her efforts.
She has started her own blog at http://iheni.wordpress.com where you can read more about the trip, and she is hoping to be able to send in live updates on her progress with the huskies, the sled, the reindeer soup, the cold, etc, etc. She'll also be taking photographs during the trip, and if she isn't able to post them to her blog as she goes, will certainly be posting them when she comes back, so do keep an eye on her blog over the next couple of weeks!
Sponsor Henny online | Read Henny's blog
Technorati: Fundraising | Sponsorship
Last night, Chris and I went to the early evening showing at the cinema so that we could have a nice relaxed meal afterwards. We walked west along Uxbridge Road to the Greek restaurant Retsina & Mousaka.
We decided to have meat mezedes for two (£14.95 per person). The range of dishes was excellent, and the food was delicious. There was also far more than we could eat! But since the restaurant also provides a take away service, they very kindly put the remaining sausages, etc, in a carry out box so we could take them home.
It was extremely quiet when we were there, and so we got talking to the owner - turns out he usually closes down for a week around this time of year (because it's generally very quiet for restaurants, etc, so soon after Christmas and New Year) and heads off to Cyprus (I assume to visit his family). I think he was wishing he'd done the same this year, given how empty the restaurant was, but we were rather selfishly glad he hadn't, as we'd have missed a very enjoyable meal. He very generously offered us a drink on the house to round off the meal with our coffee, which offer we gratefully accepted! :)
All in all a very enjoyable evening, and Retsina & Mousaka is a restaurant we'll definitely be revisiting.
Technorati: Restaurants | Ealing | Reviews
Chris and I went to see this film this evening, in Ealing. A beautiful film, beautifully shot. I felt it could have shown more of the customs and habits of the geisha world and of pre-WW2 Japanese society and culture, to put things more in context, but apart from that, I'd highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys visually beautiful films with an emphasis on the characters rather than action.
To the young black man who, a few minutes ago, I saw take his empty drink bottle with him as he got off the bus, and toss it in the litter bin by the bus stop - thank you. I really appreciate you doing that rather than leaving it on the floor of the bus or dropping it on the ground, for someone to trip on.
To the young white man I saw just a couple of minutes later at the next stop throw a similar empty bottle on the ground despite being just a few yards from a litter bin - shame on you. You show no respect for me? I have none for you.
Here are two photographs - one of my sister, Beth, at 16, and the other of my mother at the age of 3 or 4:
They could be photographs of the same person at different ages. I never realised until now just how much Beth takes after our mother!
Going past the cinema in Southall, I spotted a hand written sign on the door:
"All Tamil show cancel cos of cracker busting incident."
What have they been up to?!
My friend and colleague at RNIB, Henny, originally set herself the target of raising £3,000 to help the paediatric intensive care unit at Bristol Royal Children's Hospital, where the severely injured young son of another RNIB colleague has been incredibly well cared for since he was involved in a car accident 6 months ago. But thanks to the amazing generosity of friends, relatives, colleagues, friends of friends, and those who simply read about her challenge on a blog somewhere, that target was reached just 11 days after she started to publicise what she was attempting to do. So just before Christmas, she raised the target to £4,500. But again, that target has now been passed, so she's increased it again, this time to £6,000.
From 29 January to 6 February, she will attempt to travel 250km in the Arctic by dog sled, handling and caring for the dog team herself. She's paying for the trip herself so that every penny raised through sponsorship can go to the hospital.
If you feel able to contribute, any amount large or small will be so welcome and will help the hospital to buy equipment and resources they might not otherwise be able to, which will ultimately benefit the young children who need the hospital's specialised services. Or if you have a blog or a website where you can mention her challenge, so others can contribute, that would be great too!
You can read more about this challenge, and donate directly online, at Henny's fundraising page on JustGiving.com.
Technorati: Sponsorship | Fundraising
I haven't fixed the problem exactly, but I suddenly remembered that, in addition to "speed-dial" access to voicemail on my mobile phone, it's also possible to access it by dialling 123, and when I tried it, that worked. So at least I'll be able to access voicemail that way until I get the underlying problem fixed. I rather fear that I need to hand my phone in to an Orange Shop or send it off to Orange to have the operating system re-installed - there are a growing number of things that don't quite work the way they should.
But not tonight.
Just trundled slowly through Stamford Brook and now we've stopped for a few minutes. Some sort of delay up ahead. Hope it's not too severe. We're moving again, but slowly.
15.25 : just 1 hour to go. Oh, and as my phone seems to have lost all knowledge of how to access voicemail, best not leave any messages for me there until I get it fixed, as I simply won't be able to pick them up.
Well, it's been unbroken gray skies and low cloud all the way down so far.
On a brighter note though, I've discovered that power sockets are located next to seats at tables, so I've moved and the mobile is having a much needed recharge. All those abortive attempts to send emails had almost completely drained it of power.
14.31 I'm definitely travelling east coast route if possible in the future - I didn't have anything like the same problem getting a decent signal when I travelled up last week - this is getting ridiculous! I'm giving up for now on the other two posts waiting to send, and leapfrogging them to send this one and catch up with myself.