End of the week (or weak?)

I spent ages this morning trying to work out how yesterday's post had appeared under today's date on my blog. It finally dawned on me that today is Sunday not Saturday. OK, so who pinched Saturday?

It sometimes amused me at GB's watching Brother-who-blogs working away at two computers at the same time. Well, almost the same time. He wasn't actually using one hand on the desktop and the other on his laptop... But they were running at the same time and had different tasks going on them. I know son-in-law-who-cooks also has about ten screens going at the same time. But now I’ve started something similar. I have my desktop computer upstairs and I use that for writing my novel. Downstairs I have my laptop and that is used for e-mails, web browsing and doing work for Jo.

Sadly the laptop keyboard has stopped working so I’m using a plugged in one. It’s one of those that has no wires, the messages from it being sent to a little receiver plugged into the USB port. A similar arrangement applies upstairs. Imagine my amusement when the first time I used it I discovered that what I had typed downstairs was on the open document upstairs. The receivers were obviously on the same wavelength. But even more weird was seeing a word I had purposely mistyped downstairs had been corrected by the spellchecker upstairs.

Wonderful stuff modern technology!

One for GB

I love this one! And so true. Thank you, Carol, for sending it to me.

Thursday's Ramble

I've just been installing Jo's website and in the process decided to install a new FTP program. It said it was easy to install - in fact it could be done in two easy steps:-

Step 1 - Get an MSc in Advanced Micro-electronics.
Step 2 - Get a PhD in Advanced Computer Programming.

Went back to my old FTP program...

So hopefully the Liverpool Empowerment Centre website is now up and running... It's been a lot of hard work but worth it in the long run.

This means I can get back to the year 1874 and some writing. Just as soon as I've organised the Centre's library, tidied the garden after the recent wind damage, done some shopping, taken rubbish to the tip, cleared some old clothes for the charity shop, put a washer on a tap (who am I kidding - that job's been waiting six months already!)...

Golly, the sun has just come out. It seems like weeks since I've seen it. That is what I call welcome.

Happy Monday - OK, so it's Wednesday..

There I was happily working away yesterday (that's actually a lie I was very unhappy at the time because it was all going wrong...) when I got one of those wonderful error messages that are totally incomprehensible.  What is a siocket error - does it mean I've unplugged my computer from the mains?   It reminded me that I have a few others stored on my computer...

 

If only one could reclsaim all those wasted evenings.  I'd increase my life expectancy by years...

A real ramble...

There were some lovely comments on my last post. My first task today is to write another posting but my mind is blank. I think have spent too much time back in 1874 working on my novel. Nearly all my reading had also been from that era - the likes of Mrs Gaskell, George Eliot, Dickens, Mary Elizabeth Braddon and lots of diaries from mid- to late Victorian times. One advantage of so doing is that I have built up quite store of words for my word blog.

She-who-loves-tea is working all the hours that she can (as always) but at least she managed to do her work at home over the weekend which was pleasant for me, having her company, taking time off for the occasional cup of tea and crossword.

Both of us can work with the television on in the background so we had a few cookery programmes on and the occasional football match. I love cookery programmes. Quite often a recipe that one would never dream of trying throws up a tip or piece of information that helps one’s technique for other recipes.

I have often wondered which steak to buy and at last learned a bit about it. It seems that fillet steak is the more tender but rump has the greater flavour. The best therefore is a piece of the best quality rump steak, cooked medium rare. (Make sure you oil the meat not the pan). That way you get the flavour and a relatively tender piece of meat.

If cooking with sea-bass you should ask the fishmonger for line-caught sea bass. Supermarket sea bass is farmed and is much smaller.

Bourbon vanilla pods are the best.

One of the best potatoes for baked potatoes is Red Desirée.

And finally, when cooking meats like bacon leave the fat on and remove it after the meat has been cooked. There is a lot of flavour in the fat and by leaving it on until the meat is cooked the flavour is transferred to the lean part of the meat.

(Apologies to Daughter-who-takes-photos and Friend-who loves-otters. Being vegetarians the meat tips are a waste of time for them!)

To change the subject completely, some of the British football clubs have gone back to wearing striped socks which were originally popular about a hundred years ago. I wonder why that is? And did you know that the reason rugby shirts had horizontal stripes was so as to make the men seem bigger and heavier while soccer shirts had vertical stripes to make the players look lean and swift. Just one of the many useless facts I’ve picked up over the last few days.

That’s about all for now – hope you have a good day,

I'm Alive

After a few weeks of being incredibly busy I am back in the world of the living and hopefully I shall find something to blog about in the near future.

Having been putting together a website for She-who-drinks-tea, I am amazed at how I ever managed my life years ago before I retired.

In those days I would work a longer than average week for my employer, help look after children, do far more DYI jobs and gardening, all the shopping, a lot of the housework, and still have time for hobbies. Were there more hours in the day then? Is there some sort of conspiracy to reduce the length of each hour so that sixty minutes in the 1970s was worth a mere 20 minutes at today's rate? Personally, I blame the government!

Happy Monday - Signs

When officials abroad do English notices they really should use a proper translator, not Google: -

Cocktail lounge, Norway:
LADIES ARE REQUESTED NOT TO HAVE CHILDREN IN THE BAR.

Dry cleaners, Bangkok:
DROP YOUR TROUSERS HERE FOR THE BEST RESULTS.

In a Nairobi restaurant:
CUSTOMERS WHO FIND OUR WAITRESSES RUDE OUGHT TO SEE THE MANAGER.

On the main road to Mombasa, leaving Nairobi:
TAKE NOTICE: WHEN THIS SIGN IS UNDER WATER, THIS ROAD IS IMPASSABLE.

On a poster at Kencom:
ARE YOU AN ADULT THAT CANNOT READ? IF SO WE CAN HELP.

In a City restaurant:
OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK AND WEEKENDS.

In a cemetery:
PERSONS ARE PROHIBITED FROM PICKING FLOWERS FROM ANY BUT THEIR OWN GRAVES.

Tokyo hotel's rules and regulations:
GUESTS ARE REQUESTED NOT TO SMOKE OR DO OTHER DISGUSTING BEHAVIOURS IN BED.
(Don't see what's wrong with that - sounds reasonable to me!)

On the menu of a Swiss restaurant:
OUR WINES LEAVE YOU NOTHING TO HOPE FOR.

Hotel, Yugoslavia:
THE FLATTENING OF UNDERWEAR WITH PLEASURE IS THE JOB OF THE CHAMBERMAID.

Hotel, Japan:
YOU ARE INVITED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE CHAMBERMAID.

In the lobby of a Moscow hotel across from a Russian Orthodox monastery:
YOU ARE WELCOME TO VISIT THE CEMETERY WHERE FAMOUS RUSSIAN AND SOVIET COMPOSERS, ARTISTS AND WRITERS ARE BURIED DAILY EXCEPT THURSDAY.

A sign posted in Germany's Black Forest:
IT IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN ON OUR BLACK FOREST CAMPING SITE THAT PEOPLE OF DIFFERENT SEX, FOR INSTANCE, MEN AND WOMEN, LIVE TOGETHER IN ONE TENT UNLESS THEY ARE MARRIED WITH EACH OTHER FOR THIS PURPOSE.

Hotel, Zurich:
BECAUSE OF THE IMPROPRIETY OF ENTERTAINING GUESTS OF THE OPPOSITE SEX IN THE BEDROOM, IT IS SUGGESTED THAT THE LOBBY BE USED FOR THIS PURPOSE.

Jo's favourite -
A laundry in Rome:
LADIES, LEAVE YOUR CLOTHES HERE AND SPEND THE AFTERNOON HAVING A GOOD TIME.

This is bound to be GB's favourite -
Airline ticket office, Copenhagen:
WE TAKE YOUR BAGS AND SEND THEM IN ALL DIRECTIONS.

And my favpurite -
In a Bangkok temple:
IT IS FORBIDDEN TO ENTER A WOMAN, EVEN A FOREIGNER, IF DRESSED AS A MAN.

I spent a moment wondering what gems we produce in this country and then realised we are so insular and arropgant we don't bother with translations - we expect everyone to read English!

Failed!

St Werburgh

At one time Chester Cathedral was dedicated to St Werburgh. St Werburgh died on 3rd February 706 and in 875 her remains, then held in Staffordshire, were threatened by an invading Danish army so Queen Ethelfleda (daughter of Alfred the Great) brought them to Chester for safety. The Queen refortified the city walls and founded a monastery, rededicating the existing church in St Werburgh's honour.

St Werburgh in the cloister windows
 

St Werburgh in the 1961 great West window.

An elaborate shrine had been constructed in around 1340 but did not survive the reign of Henry VIII. In 1538 when the abbey was dissolved, the shrine was broken up and the remains of the saint scattered. The various remains of the shrine that survived were collected together in 1876, reassembled, and now remain on display to this day at the Lady Chapel of the cathedral.