I got a call from my second cousin Mary last night, whom I haven't seen since 1976 when my family had a short holiday in Ireland.
Unfortunately, she was calling to tell me that my Gran's sister, who was a nun in a convent in Cornwall, had passed away Friday (at 90). The nun had wanted me to be the one to tell Gran, so I took the train up to Banbury today to give her the bad news. She took it surprisingly well, but has asked me to go to the funeral on Saturday if I can.
10:15:00 PM
More bad news
My feet are absolutely killing me. The project at work which I've been involved in will go "live" tomorrow and because it's been rushed and not properly resourced, it's not ready. I have done almost everything I can do to alleviate the pain and irritation I know the users will suffer, but I'm sure a few heated, uncomplimentary comments will be directed my way. I stayed two hours late Friday night trying to get some last minute things done, but by 7:30 the heating and lights were shut off and I was afraid the alarms would be set. I left in a distracted rush without changing back into my tennis shoes, so I've had to wear my least comfortable dress shoes walking around Oxford and Banbury all weekend. I also really haven't had a good night's sleep all week, as I keep thinking of things to put on my "to do" list.
10:10:00 PM
Even more bad news
On my way out the door this morning, I got a letter from the travel agent arranging the free flights to the US. Due to "unanticipated heavy demand" they have run out of flights for this spring, and are offering additional dates. I'll have to look at the letter again, but I believe the new dates are Nov. 04-April 05.
I don't know whether that means I'm not flying to DC. I'll have to see what the fares are like and what my finances are like, particularly after my uncle's visit. I need a new pair of dress shoes and trainers, though, and if I throw in a pair of trousers, the money I'd save buying them in the US would almost cover the price of my ticket. The exchange rate is very much in my favour now, too.
10:05:00 PM
Thursday, February 26, 2004
If only I had half a million pounds
A friend of mine from work, CM, invited me over for Sunday lunch last weekend. I took the bus up to Kidlington and met her at a local pet store, and then we drove to her village (Islip) for a short tour before settling in her cottage for the afternoon. It was bitter cold and raw outside, and she had a lovely coal fire going in the sitting room where we retired for a cup of tea and a chat. She has some beautiful watercolors and pen & inks done by local artists, and showed me a few selections from her old book collection.
A little later we had lunch & then a walk in the fields with her deaf border collie, Spot. She's had him since he was almost a year old and signs to him as he can't hear a thing.
The village is very typically english, as most homes are renovated barns or work buildings from the local estate. Wood beam ceilings, small English gardens, one lane roads, low stone walls, etc. etc. Just a lovely place to live, I'm sure, and a very nice day out.
9:35:00 PM
Wednesday, February 25, 2004
Bonus!
My supervisor delivered my pay statement to me yesterday. I don't usually bother to look at it as I do all my banking via the internet and my paycheque is paid into my account each month. For some reason, I had a look, and found that I'd been overpaid this month. Significantly.
I decided to enquire about it, as I didn't want to be penalized in future if it was an error, so I called payroll.
Imagine my surprise and pleasure when I found out it's a form of tax return, as Inland Revenue finally confirmed that I was not employed anywhere else in the UK until August last year, and as a result my tax code/bracket has changed. Hooray, a bonus! Now perhaps I can buy another pair of trousers. Or some socks. Oh, the possibilities!
10:26:00 PM
Did they s-u-s-p-e-c-t something?
Eight weeks to the day, Royal Mail allowed me to collect the last of the five packages I mailed myself from the States over the holidays. It was a mailing tube that I had stuffed with posters, with a view to getting something up on the walls before my uncle arrives for his two-week visit.
Oddly, though I listed the contents directly on the customs form, this was the only one of the five packages that seems to have been opened/examined; the ends of the tube were sealed with a kind of tape different than any my dad has in his house. Odd. I don't know what they were expecting or suspecting.
10:17:00 PM
Tuesday, February 24, 2004
You go gurrl
I hope she won't mind, but I'm too pleased and proud not to mention that my sweetie darling friend Nicky passed her exam this morning and became a Microsoft Certified Professional.
In light of her upcoming return to Ireland, that will certainly be a good mark on her CV.
10:04:00 PM
Monday, February 23, 2004
Milestone
I'd been avoiding looking at the blog for the last few days, as it was getting close to its 10,000th visitor.
I poked my head in today and saw that I was number 10,000. Not bad for two years' viewing.
6:12:00 PM
Saturday, February 21, 2004
Out, damned spot! Out, I say!
YOU HAVE PURCHASED
tickets B33, B34, for Macbeth By William Shakespeare
at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-on-Avon
on Thursday 18 March 2004 13:00
3:30:00 PM
Thursday, February 19, 2004
Thanks alot, Mom.
I found out today that I needn't have gone to the trouble of becoming an Irish citizen.
The UK Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 received Royal Assent on 8 November 2002. A late amendment inserted a new "section 4C" into the British Nationality Act 1981, which gives to many people born overseas to British mothers the right to register as British citizens. This came into force on 30th April 2003.
For a person to be registered as a British citizen under the new law, all of the following three conditions will have to be met:
They were born between 8 February 1961 and 31 December 1982.
If the law at the time of the person's birth had permitted the transmission of citizenship of the UK and Colonies from the mother on the same basis as from the father, the person would have inherited citizenship of the UK and Colonies.
If he had inherited citizenship of the UK and Colonies before 1983, he would also have obtained a right of abode in the United Kingdom under the law as it stood prior to 1983
All three are true for me, and as a result as of last April I have/had the opportunity to obtain British citizenship. If I made an application now (as opposed to becoming a naturalized citizen by waiting the five years' residency requirement, I would not be able to pass British citizenship on to my kids (HA!). It also costs about �120 which I can't spare at the moment.
10:45:00 PM
Wednesday, February 18, 2004
Put me in a home now.
The last time I went to Banbury to visit my Gran, it rained. I ducked into the Castle Quay shopping centre on my way from the train station to her house to avoid the worst of it.
In front of the WHSmiths, there was a kid in a high school letterman's jacket. These aren't the custom at english schools, so I knew he was American, probably from one of the Department of Defense schools.
On close inspection, I saw he attends London Central, my alma mater.
On even closer inspection, I realized he will graduate in "06".
That's exactly 20 years after I graduated.
8:17:00 PM
Monday, February 16, 2004
You'd better earn it
Another of the items I bought at Tesco's when my mom helped me move in last year was a vase. I haven't had flowers in my home for over a dozen years, primarily because my ex-cats (Elsie in particular) used to eat them. I tried keeping them away from her by storing them in the bathroom or in the closet, but there wasn't much point, really.
As Spring is just around the corner, I have been noticing more and more cut fresh flower vendors and have been debating whether to buy any; I mean, they are an extravagant waste of money, as they just die and wind up in the dustbin, but I suppose worse could be said for that banana I just ate, so... I bought a bunch from Marks & Spencers on Saturday. There were many different selections, but one bin advertised �3.99 with a pound off, so I thought "why not?"
Of course I was surprised when I got to the till and they rung up (properly) at �9.99, no discount -- someone had misplaced that bunch with the other, �3.99 bunches. Grrr.
These flowers better do more for me than any other bunch of flowers EVER.
(I know this photo is blurry. It's meant to be. You can see a bigger version if you click on it.)
6:54:00 PM
Wednesday, February 11, 2004
Duh
I spent most of the past week or so on the couch in front of the TV, watching all six hours of the Special Edition DVD of Pride and Prejudice and then all six hours of HBO's miniseries Angels in America. Both were amazing productions but they were very different television experiences.
I wish for two things:
I know that these were scripted works, based upon a great novel and a great play respectively, but the dialogue in each was exquisite. I wish that I could speak so effortlessly and with such beauty and concision, and I wish I were surrounded by people with whom I could engage in such discourse. But I can't and I'm not.
Following on from that, I wish that I were able to engage in critical discussion about such works. I've lost that ability, if I ever had it (I used to consider myself above average in intelligence, and took AP English & that's what we did, mainly: analyzed great works of Literature). But I haven't exercised that skill in many years and now that I am long out of college (and don't have friends) I don't have a forum for that activity. Perhaps I should look into book reading clubs or the like here in Oxford.
9:38:00 PM
A few days after I visited my Gran, I realized that my favourite umbrella was missing. I was cursed, I thought, as I had discovered a very nice umbrella on the train to Banbury but had left it there, thinking its owner might want to claim it. My umbrella had managed to remain in my possession for almost five years, which must be some sort of record. Not quite golf sized, this particular Totes model can comfortably shelter two walking side by side.
Just to bring you up to date, it's rained just about every day here since Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I looked all over the house, to no avail. I thought I'd left it at work but it wasn't on the back of my door and it wasn't in the server room where I let it dry out sometimes.
I found it on the guest bed yesterday. I suppose I should either do laundry more frequently or should shut the east wing during the winter.
9:28:00 PM
Tuesday, February 10, 2004
So what else do I want?
I went to visit my Gran last weekend to make sure she survived the Blizzard of 2004 and to take her some groceries. It was nice to see her and hear the latest so I could revise my list of who's still alive in Banbury.
She gave me my Granddad's penknife. I hadn't asked for it and in fact didn't even know she had it but she said she'd like me to have it. I don't remember him with it when he was alive, but it's nice to have something that belonged to him. Gran said she used to hate it because he'd take it everywhere & would even fish it out of his pocket and toy with it while at Mass.
I have my Uncle's denim jacket and I think his watch also made it over here with me. I'm not sentimental about such objects but it's nice to have a token reminder.
I really have no idea what I'll take when Gran's snuffed it.
11:55:00 PM
Sunday, February 08, 2004
Sleepless
It's 2a.m. After going through some of the my old letters (the real, paper & ink kind) & being inspired to conduct a search, I've stumbled across the web site of someone I used to know quite well but with whom I haven't spoken in ~ five years.
Should I contact him or shouldn't I? Lord knows I don't have much luck communicating with people I spoke to only last week...
2:11:00 AM
Friday, February 06, 2004
What a pain in the ass
Royal Mail is advising customers of new legislation introduced by the United States Government that will affect the sending of manufactured items of food and drink to the US.
After 12th December 2003 anyone wishing to send manufactured foodstuffs to the US must complete new online documentation, prior to it being posted, to pre-advise US Customs of its arrival. Failure to do so could result in packages, which contain items of food or drink, sent by Royal Mail or Parcelforce Worldwide services being returned to sender or even destroyed.
This move is part of new precautionary measures introduced by the US Government to protect its citizens against the possibility of a bio-terrorist attack via foodstuffs
11:03:00 AM
Wednesday, February 04, 2004
Two hundred sixty four thousand nine hundred minutes
I was supposed to have my six month's review at work last week. All's well and I'll be taken off probation. Can you believe it's been that long since I started working at the hospital?
I'm in the middle of a killer project which is (thankfully) not being coordinated by me, and it's a huge mess. It will all be over in a week or ten days, and then I'll be able to move on to some fun stuff.
I was able to order my lady boss a top-of-the-line Mac laptop, so that will be fun to configure. Of course it will have to be thoroughly tested before handing it over. ;-)
9:47:00 PM
I lost the war but won the battle
I leave my house around 8:30 each day, in time to catch the 8:35 bus from Speedwell Street up the hill to Headington. Sometimes I may run a few minutes late & have to settle for the next one, which is usually only 8-10 minutes behind the first.
At the bus shelter, which consists of an open-aired glass wall with a roof and two benches, there is an unwritten agreement. The first person stands at one end, at the pole where the bus time tables are posted, and flags the bus down as it arrives. Everyone else queues patiently after the first person. I am usually the only one waiting at 8:35.
You can imagine my surprise, therefore when several mornings last week someone arrived at the shelter before me. A young woman, well dressed & attractive with long blonde hair ... was standing at the wrong end of the shelter, the end without the pole! I stood patiently at the correct end, ready to flag the bus as it arrived. Imagine my annoyance when she flagged the bus and it stopped at her end! Invariably, every time this happened I noted the driver was a man.
Friday repeated the proceedings, except this time the bus stopped at my end. Guess the sex of the driver?
On Monday, I didn't care. I stood at her end and of course the bus stopped as she directed.
9:46:00 PM
Search me
I've made a slight change to the layout. In the bar on the right you can type a term to search for it within my website. So, for example, if you want to know which posts contain your name, just type in your name and press the search button. Fun? Maybe. Pointless? Probably.
9:46:00 PM
