The day began well. I was up with the larks as is usual whenever we are going anywhere, washed, dressed, hair coiffured, daughter wakened, checklist scrutinized, essentials for the trip packed, breakfast eaten, camera’s and mobiles unplugged from chargers, and then out of the door with a ‘locking the door’ reminder said as doing so.

Of youngest son there was no sign, but I wasn’t really surprised. With promises made to myself of what I would do to him when I got my hands on him, we marched down to the Railway Station and arrived in good time at 08.05am.

Although it was quite nippy when we set off the sun was already out, the sky was clear blue and we looked set for a glorious day weather wise as per K’s forecast. At approximately 08.15am, an announcement came over the tannoy.

“We are sorry to announce that the 08.17 service to Wakefield Westgate (our train) has been cancelled. Please wait for further announcements.”

What?!!!!  Oh no?  What now? How to connect with our train at Huddersfield?  So panicking in my usual fashion instead of thinking things through calmly and rationally, I plumped for us leaving the station to catch the bus to Huddersfield in a vain attempt that we might, just might achieve that aim.  So a quick dash up the steps and a sprint across the road to the bus stop nearby.  Big mistake!  We must have just missed one and spent the next agonizing 25 minutes waiting for a bus.

However, this turned out to be very fortunate for long lost prodigal son, who at approximately 08.30am, suddenly appeared walking towards us. Wasn’t he lucky! Had the train turned up he would have missed us!  On joining us he promptly received a few administrations from me about

1. Never keeping to promises made.
2. Never listening to anything said to him about times, etc.
3. Causing me unnecessary worry and concern.

Eventually we arrived at Huddersfield station now too late for our intended connection, so we boarded the next train going to York and fortunately there were plenty of seats available.

We arrived in York station at  10.00am instead of the intended 09.30am, so not too bad considering.  J wanted us to walk along the wall that begins just outside the railway station, so we did this much to the annoyance of K, who as you all are no doubt aware by now, is none too keen on doing any unnecessary walking if she can help it. By this time it was absolutely beautiful and so warm that I took my raincoat off, and spent the rest of the day in just my t-shirt top.  J complained that he didn’t like his photo taken much to my annoyance, so I ended up taking quite a few back shots of him during our visit to York.

From the wall, we made our way to the Castle Museum where we went up to the top of the Tower, accompanied again by much grumbling from K about all the steps that we had to climb.  From the top the views around York were well worth it. Following the descent of the tower, we had a quick ice cream and rest on a nearby bench, and then went into the Castle Museum. I took loads of pictures of the exhibits inside, which conveniently brings me to the second big problem of the day and one which turned out to be entirely my own fault.

The last time that I had used my camera, I had selected to use ‘no flash’ and during our tour of the Castle Museum I never noticed that the flash was not ‘popping out’ as it should have done. Doh!  So all resulting pictures taken indoors ended up  as a mushy none-focused mess!  I was so upset when I arrived home and checked them. Why I hadn’t noticed that the flash was not working I honestly don’t know. (Well actually I do.  Mushy none- focused brain!)

Anyway, after an enjoyable and informative tour around the Museum it was now about 12.30pm, so we decided to consume some lunch at our usual abode MickyD’s.  This was followed by a return visit to the Jorvik Centre which we thoroughly enjoyed again, especially being able to fill J in about all the exhibits. On completion of the ride, I tried vainly to find the information that I had read previously concerning people who are prone to Eczema being descendants of Vikings, but try as I might I couldn’t find it. Hmm.  Strange!  Had I dreamt it?  As previously explained any pictures taken in here ended up a mushy mess.

Then we made our way back towards the Castle Museum and the intended boat ride down the river Ouse. This was the highlight of the day for me and it was a little cooler and fresher on the river, but K and J promptly went to sleep! (Which proves how calming boating down the river can be!)  Following the boat tour, we retraced our steps back to the Railway Station for a saunter around the Railway Museum and of course, the requested t-shirt for K.  J wanted to inspect the Japanese bullet train which we did, then a quick check on the progress of the Flying Scotsman and as the cafe’s inside the museum had now closed, we made our way back to the station for some tea.  Hmm, some more fast food via Burger King!  Good job that it is only for one day, all this filling up with rubbish and crap!

We had just half and hour to wait for our train which gave J plenty of excuse to saunter off outside for a quick smoke before the train arrived. Although he is always complaining about my tendency to get stressed out all the time and be constantly on edge, he has never really helped to alleviate my stress because he has the uncanny knack of being there one minute and then nowhere to be seen the next, and he performed this trick several times during the day, causing me to do my usual panicking.  He has been adept at this ‘disappearing act’ since being a small boy.

We arrived in Huddersfield and luckily a train which went through B was already in. On embarking at B we then caught the bus home arriving tired and with aching feet from all of the walking that we had done.  It had turned out to be a strange day really on recap. Full of things that had gone wrong, but saying that, if the train had not been cancelled then J would have missed us. I was more upset about the blasted camera if anything, as all the pictures that I took indoors would have been really interesting.  Oh well! I suppose it gives us a valid excuse for a return trip if only to retrace my steps and retake them all!

TG   

We were rather late setting off this morning down to town for my physiotherapy appointment. I was thinking all the way down to town, ‘I’ll look well turning up late on the correct day when I was on time for the incorrect one!’  Now there is nothing more likely to put K in a bad mood than having to rush, but it was her doing that we were late out of the door. Why she disappears just as you tell her to put her coat and shoes on I have never quite fathomed, and it wasn’t as if she had been busy doing much else beforehand.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous, so by the time we landed in town, we had both worked up quite a sweat. Of course as per usual, we bumped into just about everyone we know, all wanting a chat and making us later and later into the bargain. Anyway on arriving there,  she seems quite pleased with my progress despite the fact that I feel no relief from the back pain.  She has given me some new exercises to do and I have to return in three weeks time. (mental note to add this to my phone!)

As is usual K, who has always wanted to be a masseur, was taking on board all that the Physiotherapist did with great interest, so I can expect some maneuvers of my spine no doubt from her in the future!  After the physiotherapy session, we ventured into Bon Marche where I bought some new jeans and a top, and K rummaged through just about every garment in the shop searching for another ‘track suit’ to complete her collection.

She now has all three colours, black, navy and the latest which is a fawn colour. She also got a matching top to go with said ensemble. I say rummage because they had moved everything to make way for their winter lines, and although she found the bottoms there appeared to be no tops left, but after searching through countless racks we did luckily find the last one.

I was all for walking back home in this gorgeous weather, but K would have none of it, so we bussed it back. Well, actually she would have walked back, but with a proviso that I treat her to a ‘Flying Scotsman’ t-shirt tomorrow just like the one I bought from the Railway Museum, and as I was not in the mood to be bribed, we returned on the bus. She does tend to do this a lot, attaching favours and bribes to any requests that you might make of her.

We plan to wear our new outfits tomorrow for our day out in York, which judging by today’s gorgeous weather, might just turn out to prove Miss clever Weather forecaster (K) to be absolutely right. Again!

TG 

This post is just a test of all the new features in the beta version of Windows Live Writer. It will be sent to both of my blogs on Windows Live Spaces and also to my Live Journal blog.

I will be trying out different things so there is no need for you to comment, though you can do if you wish.

The above is centered, then reflected, and made medium size, then a watermark inserted, and then the transformation black and white applied to it.

I am now centering text as if writing a poem, and it will appear centered

in both of my blogs even though they are actually different widths.

Now I will try the picture above again only with different effects.

Now I will include the same picture and try something different to it.

This time I have left it small but applied a sepia tone, some colour pop and Gaussian Blur to make it look old. I have also rounded off the corners of the picture. Neat eh? There is now much more choice in Windows Live Writer as far as you photo’s and pictures are concerned and this is just a few of the effects you can employ.

TG 

Well, it looks as if we will be making a return journey this Saturday to York after being begged/cajoled and nattered at by you know who to return there.  I was all for paying a visit to Scarborough, but as per usual have been voted down.  We should be accompanied this time by my youngest son, I say ‘should’ as there is some doubt as to whether or not he will arrive at our flat at 07.15am, so having his company on the trip rather hangs in the balance.  I shall not be amused if he doesn’t arrive, as the tickets are ordered and paid for.

We had promised to take him with us the last time, but then he didn’t visit for a while and ended up being deleted from the last trip.  We might take in a boat ride this time because we missed going on one last time.  J has expressed an interest in visiting the Jorvik Centre again, but I have warned him that it will depend on how busy it is.  We might try and take in the Castle Museum as well if we have time.   K is convinced that the weather on Saturday will be glorious, so I have bowed to her weather predicting capabilities as she has been spot on in the past. (Optimism, isn’t it great!)

So we will take lots and lots of pics as usual, and this time I will be taking lots of photos intended to make some Panoramic views which should be interesting, as York lends itself well to this in my opinion.  Apart from that, nothing much happening in our humble abode I am afraid.  I am stuck in today waiting for a parcel (no peeping out the window in anticipation either, I am being firm about my usual ‘delivery van’ watching!)

So that’s my news for now, K is currently in the kitchen listening to her music with her ‘Mickey Mouse ‘ earphones on, which means I can say what I like about her because she can’t hear me!! (chuckles evilly)  Of course she is singing to whatever she is listening to which considering she is tone deaf, is something that you all want to be glad you cannot experience in the flesh believe you me!

As usual she is in her pajamas as we are not planning to leave the flat today so as she so eloquently puts it ‘Why bother getting dressed Mum if we’re not going out?’

I must add that I might be doing some test posts to my Journal/Space later, so don’t wonder what is going on, I will just be putting the Windows Live Writer beta through its paces that’s all.

That’s all for now folks, keep blogging won’t you?  TG

For those of few of you who have been closely following my blog, you will recall the recent post regarding some booklets that were due to appear inside the Guardian and the Observer newspapers this last weekend. You may also be wondering whether or not I actually bothered to acquire one of the said newspapers to see if the blogged about booklets were useful or not.

Well, I didn’t buy the Guardian on Saturday as I didn’t set foot outside the door, but on Sunday, I purchased the Observer just for the booklet.  It cost all of £1.90p which nearly caused me to fall down in a faint, but I had the biggest shock on arriving home and trying to actually get my mitts on the ‘How to Write’ booklet. 

For a start, the whole newspaper (wrapped conveniently in impenetrable cellophane which would only succumb to a pair of scissors)  weighed an absolute ton.  Once I actually managed to penetrate the blasted cellophane I was then faced with the daunting task of trying to find the actual  booklet amongst what consisted of no less than five separate supplements each stacked inside one another and named as follows, Business and Media, Escape (from all this waste paper being produced by you no doubt!) Sport, Review and finally Television, plus three separate magazines which were Food Monthly, Observer Magazine and a fashion magazine by Tank. (whoever they are!)

Now I know that I haven’t purchased a newspaper for quite some time and that when I used to have the Express delivered, the Saturday and Sunday Express tended to be getting way too ‘supplement’ heavy, but honestly I felt that all of the different contents were absolutely ridiculous!   Aren’t we all supposed to be cutting down on waste?  We would go a long way to achieving that goal if someone began by having a strong word with the newspapers!

It must have taken me all of half an hour (well it seemed like half an hour!) to open up each supplement/magazine enclosed therein before I finally reached the ‘How to Write’ booklet!  It reminded me of opening up a set of those Russian dolls, either that or pass the parcel!  Anyway, the second booklet is called ‘How to Write Poetry’ and the following booklet included today will be ‘How to Write Comedy’. I haven’t actually perused the Poetry one (to tired from all that trying to reach it on Sunday I think!)  Besides which I am not really into writing Poetry per se, but they are written by those who actually do write poetry and/or publish it.

So the full series of booklets which began on Saturday are as follows:  How to Write Fiction (damn I missed that one!) Poetry, Comedy, Plays & Screenplays, Memoir & Biography, Journalism and finally Books for Children.  The Memoir and Biography might be useful for bloggers, although that largely depends on what type of blog you tend to write.

Just thought some of you might be interested.  If your not into writing anything or never feel like putting pen to paper, then its of no use or interest whatsoever, sorry!

TG 

Hey, this could well be the answer to my lousy memory problems! No sooner had I published my last blog than this news popped up in my RSS feeds in my e-mail program!

7625260.stm 

TG

For those of you who have been wondering why its all been quiet this weekend in Technogran land, here is the explanation.  For the rest of you who couldn’t really care less, well and

It all began (my off weekend/feeling lousy) on Thursday with my forgetting to take my morning tablets. To explain fully, I take four tablets in a morning and two at night which I try to time as 10.am and 10pm. I honestly could have sworn that I had taken them and it wasn’t until it came to 10pm and I accessed by Medidose box for my night-time tablets, that I realised that I had missed taking the mornings dose. Doh!

As I have previously discussed this eventuality with the Cardiac Nurses (knowing my lousy memory) and had been told that if this occurred, I should and could take the tablets missed, but that I should on no account take the two beta blockers together but should just miss one. (I take one of those in a morning and also one at night.) So of course I took the missed tablets at 10.00pm barring of course one of the beta blockers,  as instructed.

Felt fine on the Friday morning on rising, and K and I set off for my physiotherapy appointment. Boob number two coming up!  Handed my name to the receptionist at the Health Centre, and was told, ‘There is no appointment here for you with L, are you sure?’ Checked my appointment card and, yes, you have guessed it, its for next Friday! Doh!

So, now with me absolutely furious with myself, we decided to carry on to Huddersfield to buy the suitcase we had recently seen in British Home Stores. It was roundabout now that I began to feel a little bit off. I felt sick  dizzy and light headed, but plodded on to get the suitcase, which thankfully K took command of, which was followed by a very quick visit to Sainsbury’s for some Orange Juice that K insisted we needed and then thankfully we made the journey home.

I felt so grotty that I just went for a lay down, and although I did feel a little better afterwards, I still didn’t feel myself really until the following day. This incident has now made me think really seriously that I could do with a ‘tablet alarm’ of some sort which noisily alerts me at tablet taking time, and also sounds an alarm until I disable it!

What about my usual tablet taking alarm, better known as K? Well, all I can state is that on Thursday she slipped up.  Perhaps living with me and my lousy memory is beginning to rub off on her?  She did laugh at me (again) because of the incorrect Physio appointment. Not quite sure why she suddenly finds my lapses so funny! Perhaps she now realises that the person who has been caring for her all this time is now in need of a lot of caring herself, and is not so capable after all!

Well that’s all for now folks, or until I can remember anything else!  TG

After waiting all this time for a calendar to be incorporated into Windows Live Mail, I have now encountered the same old problem that having different Windows Live ID’s can cause and which is giving me a real headache at the moment, so I am having a good old moan this morning directed firmly and squarely at everyone concerned with Live ID’s and how they are implemented in accessing different programs and applications. 

On accessing my calendar via one ID, I noticed that my birthdays were missing.  Where were they?  Well after then accessing the Windows Live Mail calendar with my Hotmail ID, I found them!  So I then made a vain attempt of finding a way to sync both of my calendars and guess what, I couldn't  do it!  I don’t want to have to make my calendars public in order to completely sync the data contained in them, and besides which, why can’t they amalgamate into just one calendar?  After all, I am the same person!  And herein lies the biggest problem that I have with the whole ID set up.  It doesn’t truly ‘link’ all of your ID’s in the way that I interpret the meaning of ‘link’.   If it did, each ID would not contain a different set of contacts, each ID would allow you to edit your Live Space for example (another big moan of mine)  I would be able to access my Connect dashboard using any of my ID’s, and the same goes for another ‘tear my hair out’ moan of mine regarding my Xbox Live gamercard, which I have vainly been trying to alter recently in order for it to be associated with a different ID.

Yes before I get shot down into flames,  I can see how some people welcome this ‘differentiating’ your ID’s, for if they want to keep one ID for their business use and the other one for personal use, then this ‘treating them as completely separate people’ will no doubt be most welcome, as your contacts for your business ID would be entirely different from those associated with your personal ID.

But for someone like me, it just ends up being a complete and utter nightmare!   And I am not by a long stretch of the imagination a new computer user, so Gods’ knows how someone who is a newbie copes with it all!   Why can’ t users be offered the choice on the Account set up page?  The one where you can ‘link’ all of your ID’s?  Link?  Now that’s a laugh.  If you could really link them, I wouldn’t be writing this blog now!  

Okay, so what would I like the ID bods to think about doing?  Well, I want to be able to have different ID’s but each ID to be fully interchangeable with each other, so for example, if I construct my Live Space with my live.co.uk ID, then I want to be able to also fully access it with my Hotmail ID as well, including being able to edit it.  After all, its still me!   I also want to be able to sign into Messenger and Windows Live Mail with any of my ID’s and see exactly the same contacts on any of them, after all I am the same person in both and have exactly the same contacts.  I want my calendar, which now that it is available where it always should have been in my opinion, right there accessible on my desktop, to have all of my data/info/birthdays/appointments, inserted into it from all of my separate ID’s.  After all, if I have an appointment made with one ID, its highly likely that I will have that same appointment with the others!  I am the same person.   If I am a member of Connect and I joined with one of my ID’s, then I want to be able to access my dashboard with any other of my  ID’s as well, not have to make an entirely new Connect for each of them!  After all, I am the same person. 

With my Xbox Live gamercard, I want to be able to delete any that I no longer use, and also be able to associate a different ID with the one that I do use.

So basically I am asking for full integration of a persons different ID’s and full syncing of their data in their calendar and any other applications that make use of a users ID.  Can’t you give an option on the account page so that a user can choose whether or not to fully sync all of their ID’s, then I can have my wish, and those who want completely separate ID’s for business/private or whatever reason, can just choose not to fully sync their ID’s.   Yes, I know exactly what you are going to say!  Well just get rid of the other ID’s and stick to just one.  If I do that, then I have the problem of which one do I get rid of?  My live.co.uk one which would mean losing this Live Space?  My Hotmail one, which would mean I then lose my Connect and all the programs that I have been testing, thereby having to start from scratch?   Not a nice prospect I might add.  Also I would lose the contacts that I have built up over the years in either of them.

Please powers that be, I do hope that you will consider this, because if not, I think that I will have to get rid of my other ID’s which would be a shame, either that or end up completely insane! (And I am not far off that already!)   So I do hope that all the teams will take time to read this blog and at least give it some consideration.

TG  Thanks!  I feel much better now that I have had this rant and have got that out of my system!  Now I am off to put all my birthdays in my other calendar manually! Grrr! 

Today has been a truly beautiful Autumn day and so I have taken full advantage of it by completely  ignoring the ironing and any other pending jobs and have been out armed with camera in order to try my best at capturing nature in all her glory! (Besides which it doesn’t take much for me to find an excuse to leave the ironing!) but seriously we have had so little sunshine this year that it really is a travesty to waste it.

I had taken some pictures this morning of the Park showing how the flower beds have been reworked since my last pictures of them, and I also tried to capture the time of day.  It began with quite a mist early this morning and the grass was full of dew. It was in my opinion a typical September day, and brought back fond memories of when I was a young girl and we used to go off on our annual holiday which we always took at this time of year,  to Cayton Bay holiday camp near Scarborough.  We were often quite lucky with the weather, and I can remember that it always seemed to begin with mist in the early mornings. This morning reminded me of that. 

We had our dinner, and then set off with me determined to try and capture the ‘essence’ of Autumn and the sights that most of us tend to  associate with this time of year. For me its the fruit on the trees, the acorns, the conkers laying on the floor, the emergence of luscious ripe blackberries at the side of the road.  Again bringing back fond memories of my Mum taking my sister and I blackberry picking down in ‘Sunny Bunces’ or Sunny Vale to give it its proper name, where armed with a huge bucket shaped bag that she used to have, we would try to fill it right to the top with the fruits. On our return home, we would then both gather round the sink in order to clean them, and then Mum would make jars and jars of her fantastic Blackberry Jam, and if there were plenty she would usually make a pie with the remainder as well. None and I mean none of the jam makers can make Blackberry jam like my mother used to.

K was doing fairly well with her walking on this trip, as most of the walk was on very uneven ground, and she doesn’t really enjoy walking on anything that is not completely flat.  So we took our time, and ended the walk with an enjoyable encounter with one of the foals in the bottom field.

Although she adores horses, she can be very wary of them, and is often quite reluctant to stroke them or touch them, but because he was so small she was soon stroking his nose. He very nearly had a go at eating my camera whilst I was getting it out of its bag!  They are obviously getting fed lots of titbits from people, and there were signs of this on the wall, e.g, pieces of carrot and other horse treats.

Then back home to write my blog for today.  Most of the pictures are available in my Live Space if you want to view them all, and also my Flickr account at http://www.flickr.com/photos/technogran/sets/72157607361251031/

Its funny how things come back to you isn’t it triggered by such things as early morning mist and blackberries all bringing back very fond memories.  So for me its turned into quite a nostalgic day!

Keep in touch!  TG   

I have spent some of my time today downloading some new versions of the Windows Live programs that I use most of the time on my computer. They are all still in beta which basically means they aren’t finished yet, so besides putting them through their paces and trying all of the new added features, I shall be giving plenty of feedback about problems that I may encounter or features that I would like to see, to the teams that have produced them all.

So far it is all looking very good, and I am very pleased with the changes that have been made especially to Windows Live Writer which I use everyday in order to compose my blogs on Windows Live Spaces and to my LiveJournal as well.  It has had quite a few changes made to it in this Wave of beta’s, for example, I can now Preview my post and see exactly what it will look like before I send it up to my Live Space  just be clicking on the handy Preview button at the bottom of the compose page.

There is now far more choice offered to the user regarding the pictures/photos that they might want to include inside the actual blog. You can now have your picture rounded, or showing with a reflection, you can position it left, right or centre, and also Rotate the picture, adjust the Contrast, Crop the Picture and tilt it through various degrees either left or right. You can now place a ‘watermark’ (see my pic) in the picture which contains your chosen text in your chosen font and place it in the picture in any position that you like. I tell you, Windows Live Writer is becoming so versatile that there is now no excuse for anyone to publish an unattractive blog if they make full use of this wonderful little program!

I have also been putting Windows Live Mail through its paces as well, as this is another program from the Live suite of programs that I make extensive use of.  At last, the Windows Live Mail team have incorporated a Calendar into Live Mail! Hurrah! We all asked for this to be included way back when it was known as Windows Live Mail Desktop and in beta! And it is a very attractive calendar as well. I haven’t yet entered many appointments as such , but I am pleased to see that it syncs with your other calendars really well. Where else to have a calendar but inside your e-mail program?  Yes, there is one available in Vista, but I never seem to make much use of it, however I will use it a great deal now that it is incorporated inside Windows Live Mail.

I have also been trying out Windows Live Messenger as well. (been busy as you can see!) Again, this has had a big facelift to make it more attractive  and the feature that I absolutely adore in it so far is that you can now see whenever anyone who is your friend on Windows Live Space updates their space!  Right there in the Messenger window! Its great. Up until now I haven’t tended to use messenger all that much, but some of the new features might encourage me to begin to use it far more often in the future!

Windows Live Photo Gallery now has a fantastic new feature added where it can recognise faces in your photos. You just go through your photos and it picks out the features that it recognises as a face, then you inform it who that face is in your contacts, or if the person is not included in your contacts then you can just add their name. I will probably use this feature far more than tagging which although some of my photos are tagged it can be a tedious job if you happen to have a lot of photos to work through that need tagging.

There is a  completely new program in the new Live betas suite called Windows Live Movie Maker. I am eager to try this out, and I promise that I will publish to my space any resulting film, catastrophe or not, as I have never attempted to make a video before, so expect the results to be quite funny.  So, all in all an exciting day, downloading and then trying out all of these programs, most of which are amongst my favourite programs that I have installed and I might add, my most used. 

TG    Do keep blogging won’t you?

Whilst K and I were crossing Leeds station foyer yesterday, a young woman handed us a postcard and free ticket holder which turned out on closer inspection to contain some free vouchers With money off both the Guardian and Observer newspaper. I am really beginning to think someone's giving me a hint here to begin reading newspapers again, what with last weeks local newspaper fiasco (see Memory Loss Day ) and now this!

The postcard contained information about a new series of booklets that apparently will be included with the Guardian on Saturday, September 20th, called The How to Write' series and there will be seven of them in total. I don't actually think that they will be aimed at blogger's in particular, but rather at anyone who wants to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard and then cannot think of anything to write about, or alternatively is just seeking inspiration for their journal or book.  At the back was a lovely little poem that I thought you would all like to read.

Fear not the blank page That scary A4

Fear not writer's block Let it haunt you no more.

Put pen to paper Or fingers to keys

And little black letters start dancing like fleas

They'll twirl and they'll swirl and they'll magically swarm

into words on the page as your ideas take form.

Be they poetry, fiction or scribbling's more factual

Maybe comedy calls or screenplays feel natural.

Our How To Write guides should help you start in

seven styles, seven days, seven ways to begin.

These booklets designed to take writing skills further

Are free this weekend in the Guardian & Observer.

I just thought it was ideal for all blogger's too! Hope you like it as much as I did.

   TG

In direct contrast to Saturdays venture to buy the train tickets for our upcoming journey to visit my eldest son and his family, see  A Wasted Day... again! or the quest for the rail tickets. today was very successful despite the fact that I have returned home with rather more than I bargained for!  I didn't hold out much hope of everything running smoothly though as we really did seem to have a lot of 'must do's' and 'have to's' incorporated into today's outing but everything went according to plan!

Firstly we walked down to the doctors to leave a repeat prescription for my tablets, then we ventured into the Post Office where I returned a parcel via special delivery to Play.com, who had sent me two copies of 'The Spiderwick Chronicles' by mistake, and they have promised to reimburse me for the cost of the return.

Then a swift walk to the station as we didn't have much time before the Leeds train was due, which incidentally was accompanied by lots of grumbling and muttering under her breath from K as we went. (she hates when we have to walk fairly fast, keeps saying her legs are too short)  We arrived at the station just in time to catch the train to Leeds.  Arriving  at our destination, we then proceeded through the ticket stalls to the Travel Centre, joining the queue to book and pay for our tickets.   As it came to our turn, two of the staff promptly closed their positions! (Obviously they had heard all about us!) but we were soon attended to by another member of staff who was obviously of much stronger constitution than her male colleagues!  

I had taken a printout of the Leeds/Carlisle/Glasgow route with me to show whoever was dealing with us (see, on the ball for once today with brain functioning at near full capacity!) but the girl informed me that although she could book that route if I insisted,  it was much slower and in addition, if we missed our connection in Carlisle we would have ages to wait for the next one as they were fairly infrequent.  So I accepted her superior knowledge on the subject and  we are now going via York both on the journey up and the one coming back.  The total cost came to £70.00 which isn't too bad in my opinion.  Also our seats are reserved on all trains both outbound and return which then guarantees us a seat.

By this time it was about 12.00 or thereabouts and we decided return via Huddersfield and have another search for a larger crossover style bag for me in Marks and Sparks.  A quick lunch in MickyD's (I  must remember to take out some shares in McDonalds as K and I seem to be spending quite a fair amount of time in there lately!)  I had my usual Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad and a tea, and K had a Chicken Legend with potato wedges instead of chips accompanied by her usual Still Fanta Orange with no ice. 

Then onward to Marks and Spencer's to have a look at their crossover bags.  They were very nice but a trifle too small for my liking, nor did they have a lot of separate compartments inside either ( a big plus with me) so we decided to take a look in British Home Stores.  It was here that I found a fairly roomy crossover bag which was just up my street, and also obtained a new addition to our family!   When we went to the desk to pay for the bag, the assistant informed me that I could have one of the cuddly toys that were randomly scattered all around the store for a special price, as I had spent over £10.00, so meet teddy!   He has his own passport (no good ending up living with us two then as we have never been abroad and have no intentions of going anytime in the near future thereby rendering his passport obsolete!)

I can't think of a name for him at the moment, K suggested 'Spike' because his hair is stuck up according to her.  Oh, and she won't want him, she doesn't like cuddly toys full stop!  I have ended up with the tiger that I bought for her because everytime I went into her bedroom, he had been thrown onto the floor and I felt so sorry for him that he now resides on my bed.  So, a new addition to our already overcrowded flat!  He is cute though, they all had different coloured scarves on and I preferred the cream coloured one.  Mind you I have to confess that once outside the shop, he ended up being stuffed roughly into K's backpack with K and myself looking round furtively just to make sure we wouldn't be accosted by the 'Cruelty to Teddy Bears' association.

Then back home on the bus, a couple of hours to catch our breaths, then into track suits and off out again to our exercise class.  K had forgotten most of the exercises and ended up the session by making everyone laugh as she sang to to the music using a weight in her hand as a pretend microphone.  So after a tiring but fruitful day I am just enjoying a nice hot cuppa that K has made for me whilst finishing off this blog.  A most successful quest all in all,  with much accomplished I think.

So that's all for now, keep blogging and reading!  TG 

As we really need to get the tickets booked and paid for our intended visit to my eldest son and his family, we set off yesterday morning to Leeds solely with this purpose in mind. Now do remember dear blog readers, that my mind (CPU) is now reduced to running at approximately 20% capacity, and although it hasn't thankfully suffered a crash yet, it is in very obvious need of a reformat in order to get rid of the dross contained therein and to produce a more efficient retention rate.

Anyway, after K had eventually risen we set off to our local railway station for the journey to Leeds.  It was quite warm so of course we were dressed in our sweat inducing raincoats which we wore 'just in case.' because if you make the mistake  of leaving your raincoat at home, you can more or less guarantee it will pour down!

On arriving at Leeds, we proceeded immediately to the travel centre and were just about to join the queue when addled brain mother (moi) realised that I had forgotten to bring with me K's disabled pass!  Doh!  So we then had to do a rethink.  What now?  This was now a failed quest.  Should we go straight back home on the next train?  Or take advantage of the gorgeous weather and extend our day?  So we decided to go to Forster Square in search of a cross shoulder bag for me and at the same time do a check in Mothercare to see whether or not they now had the dressing gown that we intend buying for Oscar my grand nephew.

The Forster Square train was in, so we hopped on and soon arrived at Forster Square. Then followed a fruitless search for the dressing gown in the Mothercare store, followed by visits to TKmax, Clarks and some other stores for my bag with no success.   As often occurs when we are searching for something for me,  it was K who ended up with a purchase as she found her 'cheeky monkey' pajamas that she wanted and the matching dressing gown, so at least she was happy.  A quick lunch in MickyD's, then we walked up to the Interchange.

We went into the ticket area and seeing as one of the assistants in the travel centre was free, I felt it might be advantageous to ask a few questions that I really needed answering about the journey to Glasgow, especially the fact that the quoted prices given on the Internet that I had obtained informed  you that you could only use the tickets on the stated trains and no other.

"What happens if one of your trains is late and you miss your connection?" I asked.  But she reassured me that as long as it wasn't your fault that you had missed the stated train, you could use the tickets on a subsequent one.  So that's one worry out of the way then!   She asked me about the intended journey and in particular why Leeds as the starting station?  Did we live there?  Then she proceeded to run a check based on setting off from Bradford, well Forster Square actually, just to check if it could be done any cheaper.  And yes!  She came up with an alternative route or as she referred to it 'the scenic route', which starts off at Forster Square, then changes at Shipley followed by Carlisle, then Carlisle to Glasgow, and all for less than the price of the Internet produced journey via York.

Mind you, I have since tried to price this suggested journey up on the Internet and it quotes £100.00 which is quite a long way off her quote of £58.80!  meaning that I will have to check all this out on Monday.  So we have had to postpone buying the tickets until then and K states that she will remind me NOT to forget to take her disabled train pass with me this time.  When things like this happen I tend to get that sneaky feeling that maybe we are not meant to go.  Why not pay for the tickets online I hear you cry.  Well yes, I suppose that I could do this, but I prefer to actually pay for them 'in reality' so to speak so that I can then address any queries that I might have about the journey.

We eventually ended up in Halifax where at last I found a bag.  Its obviously not as big and roomy as my usual shoulder bags, so I won't be able to stuff  everything but the kitchen sink inside, in fact I haven't yet checked to see if my purse will fit in it (I am very particular about my purses and despite never having much money, they must be very large, contain lots of slots for cards, have some method or way of allowing me to attach my keys so that I don't lose them, plus a zip part for small change!)

We then completed our failed quest on the bus.  By the time we arrived home, I was exhausted and tired.  K busied herself taking pictures of her new jamas and dressing gown, which she tends to do everytime she buys anything new, leaving all the tags on the kitchen worktop in the process.  Sister called later for a natter and then I rounded off a frustrating day with an early night.

So a repeat performance on Monday and all because of my stupid brain function!  When oh when will they begin doing brain transplants?  I will no doubt be beggared before I reach the exercise class in the evening and do remember that in between all of this wandering around West Yorkshire, I have to somehow cram in my new exercises as well.  You would think that with all this activity, I would sleep like a log wouldn't you?  Wrong!  I was awake this morning at 4.30am, so I have used the time to compose this post.  I just hope its not too boring for you,

See you soon, and keep blogging!  TG  

Here is the latest video via the BBC which goes someway to explain why the experiment is taking place, although I confess I am glad that I am not paying the electricity bill!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7609144.stm

Hope you can view it okay.  TG

Ofcom response to Sky's statement on its "Picnic" proposal

As Ofcom announced in May 2008, we are currently considering BSkyB’s Picnic proposal in conjunction with the PayTV Market Investigation.

The Picnic proposal raises complex issues, and is likely to have a significant effect on the future development of the PayTV market as a whole. As all parties are aware, Ofcom will very shortly issue a further consultation document. Any decision to suspend the project is entirely a business matter for BSkyB.
Ofcom rejects the implications of BSkyB’s comments today and would highlight the following facts:

1. Having announced Picnic in a press statement in February 2007, BSkyB took two months to submit the necessary application and a further two months to provide sufficient information to enable Ofcom to publish a consultation document on the matter. 

2. When Ofcom consulted on both the Picnic proposal and the PayTV Market Investigation, several stakeholders, including BSkyB, responded late to these submissions. BSkyB submitted its response on the PayTV Market Investigation over six weeks after the 26 February 2008 deadline.

3. We have received a number of supplementary submissions from stakeholders after deadline dates which we are bound to consider. The most recent one from BSkyB arrived as late as 13 August 2008.

4. BSkyB has raised a series of procedural points throughout this period, including a repeated concern that we are spending insufficient time considering its arguments.   

Ofcom’s objective is to conclude this work as efficiently as possible while carrying out our duties to promote competition in the interests of consumers and citizens. 

 

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Ofcom is the independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industries, with responsibilities across television, radio, telecommunications and wireless communications services.
For further details and to register for automatic updates from Ofcom on key publications and other developments, please visit www.ofcom.org.uk
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Ooh, naughty Sky!  Who have now taken their bat and ball home and pulled their Picnic plans.  Hurrah! That's my response!  Keep your hands off our Freeview!

TG 

Windows Live Tags: “BSkyB, “Picnic, “Ofcom, “PayTV

I have just returned from the physiotherapists.  I have been waiting for this appointment for the last two months as I have been suffering with some back problems which funnily enough began after my heart attack.  It is like toothache and is worse whenever I am stood cooking the dinner or ironing, but also begins when walking around (as in our recent trip to York where it ended up shortening our day there.)

On inspection by the physiotherapist, it seems that I had my right shoulder higher than my left, so she had me relax it. (Actually I think that the cause of this is my shoulder bag!  Unfortunately I have been blessed with slopey shoulders which cause shoulder bags to be constantly slipping off much to my annoyance, and so I must have been unconsciously highering my right shoulder in order to stop my bag from falling off! :))

Then I am very tense in the neck and shoulder area.  Hmm, well I do know I have problems relaxing so that doesn't really surprise me in the least, but it can be easier said than done to actually relax all those muscles.

My seventh vertebrae down seems to be very tight and tense, and so she did some manipulation on it to give some relief, and then gave me some exercises to do.  Also apparently I am not breathing correctly. when I take a deep breath its only in the top half of my chest, and not the lower diaphragm area, so I have been given an exercise for that.

Here are my exercises,

1. Sitting in a chair or standing with hands behind my neck I have to bend my neck and shoulders backward until a stretch is felt.  (will obviously need K's assistance with this one or I shall no doubt fall over!)   Hold this for 5 seconds and then repeat 10 times, 3 times a day. (So no time to blog then folks!  Sorry!) ;)
2. Sit in a chair with good posture (don't know whether it means the chair or me!)  Look over your shoulder and position your arms on the back of the chair. (This could be difficult as most of our chairs have high backs, and unfortunately my arms are not detachable.)  Use your arms on the back of the chair to provide an extra stretch. (???) Hold for 5 seconds. (don't know if this means hold my arms or what?)  10 repetitions 3 times a day. :)
3. Wrap a towel around the lower part of your ribcage, and then take some deep breaths, your aim is to push the towel outwards.
4. Watch you right shoulder regularly. (I have to keep my beady eye on it!)

So with regular glances at my right shoulder, I am now busy typing this blog!  I dunno, what with all my exercises post heart attack and now these, I shan't have time to do anything else.  Oh, the joys of growing old!

TG 

I had one of those days yesterday where it was vividly obvious just how much I tend to rely on K as my aide memoir. 

Firstly I had written a list for shopping which I promptly left on the kitchen worktop, leaving me wandering aimlessly around Sainsbury's going up every aisle and looking on every shelf in a vain attempt at prodding my memory as to the contents of said list.  Of course I forgot the Options hot chocolate which was one of the main 'don't forget' items.   K would have not only remembered the list but also placed it in my bag for me.

Next I reached the point of no return in my walk down into town, only to be racked with the usual 'Did I lock the door?' question which then bugged me all through the rest of my shopping trip.  K would have remembered this (or as she sometimes does in order to stop my worrying, reassured me with a lie) 'Yes you locked it Mum.'

Then about 4.00pm in the afternoon, the doorbell rang.  Now I am always telling K to ignore anyone ringing the doorbell as it usually turns out to be some sales person or Jehovah's Witnesses, but on this occasion, silly me went and answered it only to be greeted by someone purporting to be from one of the local papers with a special offer.  What really made the whole incident worse is I don't read newspapers, I haven't done for quite some time, so why on earth I didn't  just say I wasn't interested I can't quite fathom.  I tend to find them surplus to requirements now that I have the Internet as I receive all of the  news that I am interested in via that medium , and I  only purchase our local newspaper if there is something relevant or important actually occurring.  Anyway they are both accessible online, so buying the printed version is really a little bit unnecessary.

Although he did seem bona fide, as soon as he had gone, I was filled with sudden self doubt about his credentials, mainly because he had asked for my signature which I had supplied willingly and without my usual grilling that I tend to do to anyone who asks for it.  So I then spent the entire rest of the evening worrying about it.  He had my name, my address and also my signature!  What was I thinking?   Why is my brain so addled when K is not around? (and most of the time when she is!)   Why can't I seem to think straight anymore or make a rational decision about things?   

Anyway needless to say I have rung the paper up this morning just to be sure and to check that they had someone 'doing the rounds' and thank goodness it turns out he was bona fide, but I have asked them that in future they provide their people with an official badge to wear. He hadn't really explained why he needed my signature, that was the main problem, but in future when K is not here I definitely will ignore that doorbell!

Am I becoming too dependant on K?  That is the big question I am being forced to ponder at the moment,  seeing as her social worker has paid me a visit this week to discuss K going into a shared house with some other Down's women.  If and when this every happens, then it looks very much as if I will go to pot!  Gulp!

TG  

It's now 8.46 am, and as you can plainly see I am certainly still around and have not been sucked into a large black hole courtesy of the CERN large Hadron Collider experiment. (Why do I keep thinking of this as a huge collinder contraption full of holes?) Are you still here? Still in one piece? Is there still an outdoors visible from your window, or just a black ever growing and enveloping mass?

Funnily enough it seems to have had one beneficial effect, its no longer raining and the sun is shining! Yippee! If this is a genuine side effect, they can carry on running it for as long as they like!

TG 

Read this article this morning on my one of my BBC news feeds. Hmm, some joke if it happens.

TG

In common with quite a few other fans, I am currently waiting patiently for the arrival on my doorstep of Fable2, the follow up of Fable released some four years ago.  As it isn't released until October 24th, I still have just over a month to wait!

And now, as if to rub salt into the wound and wetting our appetites still further into the bargain, Lionhead have recently released some pictures showing the many different looks that can be achieved by you the Hero whilst constructing your character in Fable2.  The many different clothes made available, whether or not to sport tattoos, the different hairstyles, f and last but not least, whether to play as a man or a woman (who can get pregnant and have a child in the game by the way!)

I think that Lionhead must be revelling in this 'tease the gamers waiting anxiously for this game' phase, as they publish all of these pictures.  And we impatient Fable fans eagerly snap them up like crumbs at the breakfast table!  (well I do anyway!)

I shall definitely play as a female and strive to make her look as similar to my earthly counterpart as I possibly can, given that I understand there will be far more choice this time around than was made available in the previous Fable, therefore making it possible for every single players character to look and be unique.  You can wear hats, masks and clothing which apparently can be dyed in different colours, have different skin tones, be fat or thin or anything in between, and wear different jewellery or have facial hair and sport tattoos.  Lots of different hairstyles will be available as well. (Hurrah! I hope they have a short ladies style for me!)

I can't tell you how impatient I am waiting for this game.  The pub games have only served to wet my appetite even more, and now these pictures arriving all the time!  Honestly Lionhead!  Stop teasing us and release the game now!

TG