Hello from Cornwall! It's Sunday afternoon here, and after a
delightfully sunny day yesterday it's resolved back to the coda of
rainy and damp. Alas! but I am full of devilled chicken livers and
moules marinières, and I get to upgrade to first class on the train
for only £10 on the way back this evening. Hurrah! In celebration,
please enjoy this MP3 from Vivaldi's Gloria (RV 589, for those
of you who speak music geek -- although I do have to say that I much
prefer the 588 for "not horribly overplayed" values).
I've had a lovely few days down here, actually. I came down on the
Wednesday night sleeper, which is actually really good fun, and
arrived home at just gone 7.30am on Thursday. One of the great things
about working as a consultant is that we can VPN our way into the home
network from anywhere that has a broadband connection -- and,
thankfully, Cornwall is one such place! I mean, I love where I work,
and I love the Pret a Manger that's my habitual lunchtime haunt, but
there's something about coming out of the donkey-house (AKA study),
where a cat has been nuzzling me for most of the morning, and sitting
down to clam chowder and a locally grown salad, you know?
I made flapjacks in the Aga as well. *grin* I made two batches, one
with half a mug of blueberries left over from breakfast, and half just
plain, and although the blueberry ones came out a bit moister than
they should have, they taste wonderful. Hmm, I wonder if simmering
them in nearly half a pound of butter, a good half a cup of brown
sugar and a couple of teaspoons of golden syrup had anything to do
with that...
I have a new phone! Those of you who are observant about such things
will have noticed the increase from 3MP to 5MP as I upgraded my Nokia
N73 to a Nokia N95. I say "upgraded", but I actually bought my way out
of my contract with 3 (who are, may I say, utterly utterly useless,
and don't use them ever), got a new contract with Vodafone (who have
been brilliant so far), and did I mention the 5MP camera in my N95?
No? Okay then.
I have a giant Getting Things Done post, too, because I spent a good
portion of last week reading up on the GTD methodologies, scanning
through a bunch of blogs, and reading various white papers, and then
finally picked up the book itself on Wednesday before lunch with H. I
have to say, the various blog posts are a lot more approachable and
digestible than the book itself. I've also managed what I think is a
pretty nifty implementation of it with my FranklinCovey planner and a
pile of postit notes. Anyway, yes, need to take a series of pictures
and construct a blog post. And perhaps a productivity blog. (The irony
of taking time to make a productivity blog has not escaped me. Perhaps
I should just use Vox. Or get a TypePad account.)
Right! I have a bunch of pictures to come (and, since I'm going to be
on a train for most of the afternoon, don't think you've escaped a big
pile of moblogging from the station and the train). Have a good one!
And this is just one of a good dozen. So, so lovely.
For the first time in what seems like forever, the sun is out, we're hanging out on the terrace, and how wonderful is the sunshine? Not to mention the garden, which is full of sweet peas that Dad grew from seed, and hanging baskets that Mum has made just bursting with flowers. It's a lovely day.
Portscatho full of bloody emmets. Nare Head still as pretty as ever, though!
So, I went out for sushi with H today, and on the way I passed Australia House, with this particularly amusing sculpture. Pauline Hanson, is that you?
This is the remarkably California Mission style Osborne House, near East Cowes on the Isle of Wight. Isn't it lovely? It does rather remind me of things that start with 'San', though.
On the ferry back from the Isle of Wight yesterday, we were treated to on fewer than three cruise liners passing us to port. The first, and the most majestic, was the QEII. There's something about the old lady's lines that make her appear to just cut through the water, especially compared with the unwieldy looming of the P&O liners Oriana and Oceana, which followed her out of Southampton. It was something special, indeed.
Happy Friday! London is still weird, weather-wise. Seriously, this was lunch with the Aud on Wednesday, and I'm running over the bridge, getting soaked, and then the rain just stops, the cloud disappears, and voilà! Sunshine and a weather front.
Oh London, why must your weather be so crazy? I'm so expecting brimstone next. Perhaps it's Cassie's fault.
This morning's Metro actually made me give a little eek as I picked it up. This Blair-Brown hybrid is frightening, but I for one welcome our new robot overlords.
