The sad demise of the red devil

Today was the last day of work for one of the candidate attorneys I work with and the birthday of another, so I went in to work to have a celebration and farewell tea. I was nearly in my parking space when a horrible thing happened.

First there was an expensive sounding snap, then there was a more expensive and horrifying sqeal, then all forward motion ceased and then the motor died. It turns out that I could start up the bike again but the squealling just goes on and the bike won't drive.

I had to push my bike home because Yamaha cannot pick it up until Monday. Luckily on the way home is a long hill which I could freewell down, also my sister's house is about half a Km closer than mine so it is now safely in her garage and I am walking and catching lifts everywhere.

Now would be a good time for my dad to say "I told you so". (no I won't explain that he knows perfectly well what I am referring to.)

The Loneliness of Insommnia

To be awake late at night, and into the early hours of the morning, brings with it a kind of melancholy loneliness.

When you hav watched all the movies you possibly can and read all the books in your house then having an active and awake brain, becomes a liability.

There is nothing more lonely than an insomniac, all the world is sleeping (or so it seems) and I am the only one awake. If I wanted yo talk to someone I couldn't, I have to wait  for morning when they will wake.

In the meanwhile I lie awake with the thoughts in my head going round and round, wondering what I could have done differently and what I will do differently tomorrow, but the reality is that when sleep finally comes it will bring no change, because tomorrow, tired and wanting to sleep I will fall back into old established habits that will leave me awake and restless in the early hours of the morning each day.

The Arachnoid Conspiracy

In an effort to destabilise the home state of Stella Bowen an Arachnoid Conspiracy has forced her to evacuate, along with her cat Dirk T. Gently and fluffy dog George. Stella has this to say "I arrived home after a particularily long day only to find a large spider lurking on my bedroom ceiling. obviously I couldn't stay. According to come sources every human will swallow 7 spiders in their lifetime, well I was certainly not going to make it easy for this one, so I moved out. Luckily my parents house was available as they are on holiday. Of course if my dad was here he could take the spider out for me. After all that is why we have dads. I had to go back into my house to get something and I noticed that the spider had moved closer to my bed. As I suspected it was a conspiracy"

Sources close to Stella say that all this talk of Conspiracy is due to her reading of The David Icke Guide to the Global Conspiracy and how to stop it. Stella was not available for comment on this at this time. We suspect a cover up.

My day!

Well it is my birthday today and I have had a fantastic day!

I have had many birthday wishes by sms and on facebook which is always nice. My parents totally spoiled me I got two orange lamps for my lounge as well as a frame with pictures of all my nieces and nephews in. Then from Sarah and Ed I got 3 lime green candles and a gorgeous lime green box, to put stuff in, also for my lounge. For those of you who are a bit slow on the uptake my lounge colours are lime green and orange.

I got from De Kock Attorneys (my day job) a R200 Exclusive Books voucher which I have already turned into two Terry Pratchett books, The Wintersmith and Making Money. They are fabulous. I love Terry Pratchett.

Sarah made pancakes for supper, as only she can, beautifully thin and delicious.

All in all it has been a wonderful day.

The Dog!

I had to go out of the office today to get some colour photocopies for work. As I drove into the road my bike stalled, before I could get it going a few hundred dogs charged out of a driveway and started milling around me. (ok there were only 3 or 4). Well since two of them were quite large I thought I'd sit perfectly still and wait for the owner to come call them back. She was at her gate. Anyway one of the dogs just took a bite out of my arm. It was jolly sore, when I said that her dog had bitten me the lady said well If he's bitten you, you had better open a case (ok this was in Afrikaans when she said it). She was basically inviting me to sue her. I thought that was very unsympathetic, she didn't even ask how I was doing.




Well I went to the doctor, deciding that no matter how unsympathetic she was, she was certainly going to pay for my treatment. The bite didn't look too bad to me, in fact I only went to the doctor to get a tetanus injection, (I'm sure that having lockjaw would help for the diet, but you die of it so it's not really that much fun). The doctor decided that I needed 2 stitches, personally (mom thinks this too) I reckon the doctor was just looking to have a bit of fun, something out of the ordinary.



While I was at the doctor, and making copies for work, the family (Dad, mom, Sarah and Yelaina) went to the dog lady's house. As they got there she was about to send her daughter across the road to give the security guard her number for me so that I could contact her. She also apologised for the way in which she had reacted, she said she had just gotten a fright. She got a fright! I was the one with the great big chunk out of my arm. (I exaggerate once more for effect)



Well the long and the short of it is that she will gladly pay my medical bills, in fact she said to dad that she will pay by EFT this evening and forward proof of payment to him. She also apologised to me about the way in which she had reacted, all in all she was quite nice about it.



She reckons that the reason her dog bit me was because it doesn't like scooters. However I know that dogs are influenced highly by the reactions of their owners. The lady was a bit flustered because her gate wouldn't close, then her dogs ran out and when she called them back I could hear in her voice that she was anxious. I think that her dog reacted to the anxiety in her voice and then just bit. He could have really hurt me if he wanted, it was just a bite.



The really annoying thing, apart from it being on my right arm, is that it is just in the place where it touches a surface that I rest my arm on. It makes thing tricky, because I can't put my arm down on my desk at work.

Oh well ce la vie!

Sometimes I'd like to just give up

Do you ever have the feeling that life is just too much. Some days I'd like to crawl into my bed, pull the covers over my head and just disappear for a while.

However it is just not that simple, apart from the usual life commitments like work etc families also won't let you just escape. I need a holiday far away from anyone I know

"In my room , making no noise and pretending I don't exist"

It has been a very long week, at one point I was so tired that I thought I'd never make it to the end. Anyway I have made it, but I am still tired and not really feeling up to much of anything.

The title of this piece might be familiar to ayone who has read Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (a book I highly reccommend, in fact the whole series is fantastic). Anyway the reason for the title is because that is exactly what I intend doing tommorow. I shall spend the day in my room, making no noise and pretending that I don't exist. I have a hectic week ahead, so I need the recharge.

The old and the new

So here I sit in my bedroom ,typing this blog on my beloved laptop computer (a very generous 30th birthday present from my parents), instead of electric lights my room is lit with several candles. Of course I do have electris lights and I use them most of the time, especially when I cross-stitch, but there is something about the soft muted tones of candlelight that I love. I no longer have a bedside lamp, instead I use candles, they give my room a wonderful, warm rich feeling.

Friends

I had a coversation with someone earlier and it got me thinking about friends.

I'm sure I'm not alone in this, but through my life I have have many different kinds of friends. The kind of friends that come into my life, hang around for a while and leave, leaving me all the richer for having known them. The kind of friends who never leave, (more power to them) and the kind of friends who turn out not to be friends at all.

Over time I have come to know all these sorts, and I have identifed different types:

The Flower Friend: This friendship blossoms quickly and fades away just as quickly leaving behind beautiful memories and a sweet lingering scent.

The Tree Friend: This kind of friendship takes time to grow, but once it has it is lasting and enduring.

The Butterfly Friend: This is the kind of friend that flits in and out of your life, time between contact makes no difference, this kind of friend is always accepting of the changes that come with living.

The Venus Flytrap: This kind of friend, sucks you in, absorbs your whole life and should you decide you need a little space, they spit you out chewed up and drained. (stay away from people like this, their chronic insecurity leads them to drag others down so they can feel good about themselves, they will bring out and encourage the worst in you)

The Blackjack: This is the very best kind of friend, they stick to you no matter what, but they are a bit prickly so they won't let you get away with being less than you really are. (keep this one close)

Hello all

Well it seems the thing to do, of course it was the thing to do about 5 years ago, like always, I'm a little behind on technology.

I have always like writing and have kept a journal for many years, so I guess this is a good place as any to keep writing.