Ringtones again

Yesterday was a busy day. I seemed to be chasing my tail all day. Added to that was the knowledge that Keith's seven year old grandson was ill. He had been ill since the previous day and, to cut a long story short, Keith and his daughter ended up taking him to hospital at 10pm, where he was looked after very well by the staff of the Maelor (unlike the laid-back dilatory attitude displayed by Shropdoc, the out of hours G.P. substitute around here.)

However, amid all the worry and concern, there was one lighter moment inadvertently caused by Keith himself. Whilst in the hospital, his mobile phone rang - in all the chaos, he'd forgotten to turn it off. Nothing amusing in itself but his current ringtone is the opening few bars from Thunderbirds - (OK, I know it's not a patch on mine, which is Lulu singing Shout! but he just hasn't got such good taste!) so as the strident tones of "5.....4.....3.....2....1 etc" resounded throughout the A & E department, Keith, instead of switching it off, as anyone normal would do, proceded to charge headlong towards the exit, phone in hand as if he were a bomb disposal expert, almost causing one of the nurses to have a heart attack as he raced past!
He did go back to apologise - which only proves the truth of what I always say:
You can take him anywhere once, and then back again to apologise!

Travelling on and on

Sunday is a day of rest - right? Wrong!
Yesterday morning was taken up with my counselling course. OK no problem there.
At 12.30 Keith picked me up as we were going to Bradford to see elder son and his family. At 12.35 elder daughter rang in a panic asking if we could possibly 'pop in on the way' to pick up a mobile phone that he absolutely had to have for today. No problem there either except that elder daughter lives in Sheffield, so it's not exactly on the doorstep!
Oh the agonies of decision making! Say yes, and Keith had lots of extra driving to do (not that he was complaining, I hasten to add!), which I would feel guilty about, say no and elder daughter would have to make the journey herself after doing an 80 hour week for the NHS, which I would feel guilty about! (There is a pattern emerging here!)
In the end, we went to Sheffield and then to Bradford!

The Camaro in daylight.

Cars, cars and more cars!

The new addition to the family (no, don't get excited, I mean the Camaro!) is reposing contentedly in the back garden and drying out nicely. In fact, I haven't noticed Keith rushing out to check quite so often of late - might have to give the NSPCC a ring! Yesterday came the news that the Triumph Spitfire is currently being resprayed and will also be wanting to come home.
At the moment, we have Keith's Range Rover and my Nissan Almera (both older cars, so still don't get excited!) on the drive and my (also older) Audi at the front of the house. The Almera is up for sale (anyone interested?) so at least that one will soon be out of the way.
But, if the Camaro is on the hardstanding in the back garden, and the back garden is only small and there is no room either on the drive or at the front of the house, where, I hear you ask, is the Spitfire to go? Good question. Now I understand why Keith is so enthusiastic about green concrete in the back garden instead of a lawn! Help!!!!

Microsoft Spaces

For those of you who haven't heard of this new venture, and I hadn't myself until very recently, Microsoft have brought out a Beta version of their new blogging system, called Spaces, so I thought I would have a look at it, mostly because I liked some of the templates they are offering and the 3 column layout, although I would prefer it to be full screen. As it is, it doesn't really look very eye catching. However, it proved reasonably easy to set up and it is quite straighforward to move the modules around to suit your taste and even to rename them, delete some and add others. Glancing through some of the other sites, the overwhelming majority of blog owners seem to be in their teens. (Memories of Xanga, although these do seem to be British rather than American.) However, I did come across a lovely blog of art and writing called Paws for thought which I will definitely return to. There is a constantly updating list of other Spaces sites as one of the modules, so you can check out other people's offerings very easily. Photos are very easy to upload and are automatically presented as a slide show when you access the site which I liked very much. You can also have a music list which runs through Windows Media Player, but it has to be version 10. I haven't looked at this yet so I can't say how easy or otherwise it is to set up.
I have tried to link to my blog from this site but I can only get to the sign-in page, so I think there are a few gremlins to be sorted out yet. Overall impression is that it's all-right - not wonderful and not for someone who likes playing about with html and customising their template. It doesn't feel very homely, but of course, that's a very subjective viewpoint! Put it this way; I won't be rushing over there!

This car!

Well, this Camaro car is coming between Keith and his sleep. Since it arrived in the back garden, he discovered that it was quite damp inside as the roof leaks slightly so the solution was to put an oil filled radiator inside and run the cable through the French windows into the mains socket in the dining room. When he did this, of course, the windows didn't lock or even shut properly, so I'm afraid I had to put my foot down with a firm hand and insist that this arrangement could not stay in place overnight, as he wanted. (There were dark mutterings and even an outrageous suggestion that the French windows had been left unlocked on previous nights after I had let Lucy out for her evening stroll round the garden!) As if!!!
That was duly negotiated and agreed on but then he had to go out and make sure it was all-right before going to bed. There was even a brief musing on whether it was going to feel neglected during the night and whether it would appreciate being sung to.
No, I didn't call for an ambulance and straitjacket, but I am keeping a close eye on him - Keith, that is, not the car! :)

Christmas carols

Christmas is approaching at the rate of knots, households are competing with each other in displaying ever more complex and vibrant decorations and everywhere you go, the sound of Christmas music and carols can be heard, including, maybe, Good King Wenceslas. This one's been around for many years and everyone knows the story...don't they? If you want to know what the modern take on events might have been, check out this alternative version!