I've just finished reading this book. It's one I've had for a little while as a part of Gollancz's SF Masterworks set. Now, some of the SFM set are truly awful leaving me wondering how stodgy excuses for longwinded 70s sci-fi Jetsons style could ever be considered a masterwork. But others are truly outstanding.
I wouldn't place "Downward to the Earth" into either category, but it is certainly an excellent well-written book which I found easy to read and it held my interest all the way through. It explores some interesting ideas (I'm deliberately being vague here so as not to blow any of the plot details) which are unusual and I haven't seen explored before, and for that point it is innovative. The ending is a little bit of a let down, but for the rest of the book I forgave that. Overal I would rank it as certaily a 7½-8 out of 10.
I'm going to try and post intermittantly my brief thoughts on some of these books as I read them. A lot of them I've already read, so I shall post my thoughts on them too. There are some truly great books, but there are also some right lemons.
Friday 31 July 2009
The rug doctor is in.
I couldn't help but snigger leaving the local outlet of Morrisons today. They had a huge stand advertising a product for cleaning carpets and rugs. In the manufacturer's infinite wisdom they had decided that the product would be best called the "Rug Doctor".
Yeah. Okay. Let's call it a euphamism for lesbian sex shall we? Do the marketting people not check what other meanings words or phrases mean before they use them on a product? *thinks of the rebranding of the Sci-fi channel to the Polish word for syphilis*
*snigger*
Yeah. Okay. Let's call it a euphamism for lesbian sex shall we? Do the marketting people not check what other meanings words or phrases mean before they use them on a product? *thinks of the rebranding of the Sci-fi channel to the Polish word for syphilis*
*snigger*
Thursday 30 July 2009
The more you do, the more there is to do.
What is it about taking on the challenge of rebuilding something old? The more that I repair, the more that I find that needs repairing.
Yesterday was boat building day. I went down to the yard at 1:00pm so as to spend a full afternoon and evening. I started with the newly finished Bosun dinghy. It needed the algae scrubbing off, so a bit of elbow grease later and it looked positively new. I also had to search out its mast and associated fittings. That was interesting as ivy had grown over some of the storage area on top of the shipping containers and I ended up perched on the roof of an iso container with a pair of cutters and a saw trimming bushes that could almost be described as trees. There are something like seven masts up there, so I hope I brought down the right one. I also dug out of the bushes two canoes and a launching trolley which I never knew were up there.
The second Bosun was brought into the yard last week for repairs to begin. It's been lying upside down in bushes for a number of years, and it shows. It's right way up now on a trailer, but with all the rain we have been having there was rather a lot of water in it. No problem - tip it up and let it out of the bung at the back. Except that the bouyancy tanks leak, so what was a sizeable pool of water turned out to be a tsunami when the water reached the back. It's swilled out the bouyancy tanks though, bringing with it some nasties in the form of suspicious clusters of brown oval insect eggs. So I had to clean out the inside thoroughly, which took longer still.
I tried to tackle the second Bosun's rotten gunwhales, but the screw holding the wood were steel not brass. Bad move! That means that the heads were disintegrating as they had turned to rust. I therefore decided discretion was the better part of valour, and went off to tackle the ASC.
The large ASC is my pet project. I alone have done the work so far on this, and I am determined to do something that this boat has never had done to it in some twenty or more years, and rig it for sailing rather than pulling (rowing to you landlubbers!). However the more I do on it, the more I find that needs doing. I discovered some rot in the bottom boards. The tops were fine, but suspiciously the sides were a bit spongy in a couple of places on close inspection, and with a sinking feeling I decided there may be hidden rot underneath. So the boards had to come up - not an easy task by a very long way. Screws were tight because the wood had swelled, and the heads were recessed and the holes had slowly backfilled with layers of paint. Oh, and there were around forty screws for EACH board (with four being present plus a few small pieces to fit the gaps). It took hours and blistered hands to painstakingly clean out each screwhead with a small screwdriver, then carefully ease them out. When I was done, I discovered the problem as being that some of the boards had only been painted after fitting. That meant the undersides were bare wood, and rot had set in. Duh!
I've found down in the sail stores a nearly complete set of ASC bottom boards which although slatted instead of solid, are in excellent condition. They do not belong to a specific boat; at least not until now. I can use salvaged good timber from the old boards to fill the one missing bit. However, it means taking out some of the ribbing in the bottom of the boat and moving them around slightly for the new bottom boards to fit. That's even more work. *sigh* But I suppose it will be worth it in the end. On the plus side this is looking like being a very thorugh rebuild.
Yesterday was boat building day. I went down to the yard at 1:00pm so as to spend a full afternoon and evening. I started with the newly finished Bosun dinghy. It needed the algae scrubbing off, so a bit of elbow grease later and it looked positively new. I also had to search out its mast and associated fittings. That was interesting as ivy had grown over some of the storage area on top of the shipping containers and I ended up perched on the roof of an iso container with a pair of cutters and a saw trimming bushes that could almost be described as trees. There are something like seven masts up there, so I hope I brought down the right one. I also dug out of the bushes two canoes and a launching trolley which I never knew were up there.
The second Bosun was brought into the yard last week for repairs to begin. It's been lying upside down in bushes for a number of years, and it shows. It's right way up now on a trailer, but with all the rain we have been having there was rather a lot of water in it. No problem - tip it up and let it out of the bung at the back. Except that the bouyancy tanks leak, so what was a sizeable pool of water turned out to be a tsunami when the water reached the back. It's swilled out the bouyancy tanks though, bringing with it some nasties in the form of suspicious clusters of brown oval insect eggs. So I had to clean out the inside thoroughly, which took longer still.
I tried to tackle the second Bosun's rotten gunwhales, but the screw holding the wood were steel not brass. Bad move! That means that the heads were disintegrating as they had turned to rust. I therefore decided discretion was the better part of valour, and went off to tackle the ASC.
The large ASC is my pet project. I alone have done the work so far on this, and I am determined to do something that this boat has never had done to it in some twenty or more years, and rig it for sailing rather than pulling (rowing to you landlubbers!). However the more I do on it, the more I find that needs doing. I discovered some rot in the bottom boards. The tops were fine, but suspiciously the sides were a bit spongy in a couple of places on close inspection, and with a sinking feeling I decided there may be hidden rot underneath. So the boards had to come up - not an easy task by a very long way. Screws were tight because the wood had swelled, and the heads were recessed and the holes had slowly backfilled with layers of paint. Oh, and there were around forty screws for EACH board (with four being present plus a few small pieces to fit the gaps). It took hours and blistered hands to painstakingly clean out each screwhead with a small screwdriver, then carefully ease them out. When I was done, I discovered the problem as being that some of the boards had only been painted after fitting. That meant the undersides were bare wood, and rot had set in. Duh!
I've found down in the sail stores a nearly complete set of ASC bottom boards which although slatted instead of solid, are in excellent condition. They do not belong to a specific boat; at least not until now. I can use salvaged good timber from the old boards to fill the one missing bit. However, it means taking out some of the ribbing in the bottom of the boat and moving them around slightly for the new bottom boards to fit. That's even more work. *sigh* But I suppose it will be worth it in the end. On the plus side this is looking like being a very thorugh rebuild.
A few changes.
Upon Zoë's recommendation, the website has been altered so that the 'blog' page no longer whizzes you straight here, but instead has a page on it with links to here instead. That means that the blog page can be in a different style to the website, and we've taken this oppurtunity to make it all a bit brighter, happier and - above all - easier to read.
Monday 27 July 2009
"Hey Grandma! Turn the choons down, okay?"
I spent a couple of hours chilling out to music I bought and loved at the peak of my interest in music. It's sad to realise that some of these records, bought new in the week of their release, are nudging 15 years old.
I feel old.
I feel old.
Saturday 25 July 2009
Today's radio memories.
Today on my radio programme I was without Zoë for a change due to illness. So I felt a little lazy and just grabbed my seven library disks before I went out rather than sorting the spare bedroom record collection for hand-picked music to play.
I made the library disks back when working for Chorley FM (the real one, not the fake one - look it up). The idea was to have all the great tracks from hundreds of albums all in one convenient place. I spent hours sorting and chosing music for them, and they are quite useful for lazy DJing.
I found myself picking an odd assortment of records, and actually feeling a little bit down whilst I was doing it. I soon realised that part of this was because of the significance of the records I was picking. It turns out that most of them were records with a particular significance to memories I have of an old friend who sadly took her own life last year. We were very close, and back when we were at sixth form together we shared a passion for certain music together. So I found myself playing back to back a lot of these tracks from those days we spent together. Clannad's 'I see Red', Tori Amos's 'Cornflake Girl' and Kate Bush's 'This woman's work' amongst others. I even found time to play 'Careful with that axe Eugene' from Pink Floyd's ill-fated Umagumma LP. That's one you don't often hear on the radio! But it was a track with special significance as we used to sit outside of an evening in Hitchin smoking and listening to it together over and over again.
I have happy memories of her, and sad ones too. Sometimes though I do remember old people from my past, sadly departed. Heck - at least I do spare a thought for these people. It's still depressing at times though just how many people I knew who are dead now. The frailty of human life.
I made the library disks back when working for Chorley FM (the real one, not the fake one - look it up). The idea was to have all the great tracks from hundreds of albums all in one convenient place. I spent hours sorting and chosing music for them, and they are quite useful for lazy DJing.
I found myself picking an odd assortment of records, and actually feeling a little bit down whilst I was doing it. I soon realised that part of this was because of the significance of the records I was picking. It turns out that most of them were records with a particular significance to memories I have of an old friend who sadly took her own life last year. We were very close, and back when we were at sixth form together we shared a passion for certain music together. So I found myself playing back to back a lot of these tracks from those days we spent together. Clannad's 'I see Red', Tori Amos's 'Cornflake Girl' and Kate Bush's 'This woman's work' amongst others. I even found time to play 'Careful with that axe Eugene' from Pink Floyd's ill-fated Umagumma LP. That's one you don't often hear on the radio! But it was a track with special significance as we used to sit outside of an evening in Hitchin smoking and listening to it together over and over again.
I have happy memories of her, and sad ones too. Sometimes though I do remember old people from my past, sadly departed. Heck - at least I do spare a thought for these people. It's still depressing at times though just how many people I knew who are dead now. The frailty of human life.
Tuesday 21 July 2009
Editing, the bane of my life.
I've said before and I'll say again: editing is about the least desirable writing task for me that there is. Well, perhaps apart from the drudgery that is writing synopses. Unfortunately, there are times when a writer must go back over their own work and weed out the surplus words, correct the typos and forge the grammer into something that doesn't make an English teacher whince.
That task is one that has caught up with me. I feel these days that some of my earlier books were not as good as they could have been. This was, in part, down to my hatred of editing. I went back some time ago and re-edited 'Countdown to Extinction' and although I would probably give it another pass with the red pen, it's much better than it was. 'Daytrippers' too underwent a similar edit to its benefit. I still want to give another edit for a new edition to 'The Atlantic Connection' and 'Syndicate Dawn', but in being quite recent works I'm happier that my writing standard is a lot better than it was five or six years ago.
At the moment 'Orb of Arawaan' is the editor's task. And as I am that unlucky editor, I suppose I ought to just get on with it without whinging too much. Actually, aside from the first couple of thousand words, it wasn't as bad as I had feared. Those initial chapters were written originally, after all, way back in 1997 when the book was first conceived. The rest was written in 2004, and I guess I did rework that beginning then too, but obviously not well enough.
I'm about 33 pages in, out of a total of 294. Still, that's some progress - it's a long book I hear myself pleading. I'm afraid though that all the excuses under the sun don't hide the fact that I would rather do anything than edit. Still it has to be done, and I am rigidly attempting to avoid all work avoidance schemes. It isn't entirely successful though - I've already been spending a lot of the day conte4mplating model trains, playing with the cat and attempting to fix once and for all the curious smell of damp in one corner of the lounge.
And finally, why did my internal monalogue as I wrote this chose to take on the voice of Stephen Fry? It makes the mind boggle just at the thought.
That task is one that has caught up with me. I feel these days that some of my earlier books were not as good as they could have been. This was, in part, down to my hatred of editing. I went back some time ago and re-edited 'Countdown to Extinction' and although I would probably give it another pass with the red pen, it's much better than it was. 'Daytrippers' too underwent a similar edit to its benefit. I still want to give another edit for a new edition to 'The Atlantic Connection' and 'Syndicate Dawn', but in being quite recent works I'm happier that my writing standard is a lot better than it was five or six years ago.
At the moment 'Orb of Arawaan' is the editor's task. And as I am that unlucky editor, I suppose I ought to just get on with it without whinging too much. Actually, aside from the first couple of thousand words, it wasn't as bad as I had feared. Those initial chapters were written originally, after all, way back in 1997 when the book was first conceived. The rest was written in 2004, and I guess I did rework that beginning then too, but obviously not well enough.
I'm about 33 pages in, out of a total of 294. Still, that's some progress - it's a long book I hear myself pleading. I'm afraid though that all the excuses under the sun don't hide the fact that I would rather do anything than edit. Still it has to be done, and I am rigidly attempting to avoid all work avoidance schemes. It isn't entirely successful though - I've already been spending a lot of the day conte4mplating model trains, playing with the cat and attempting to fix once and for all the curious smell of damp in one corner of the lounge.
And finally, why did my internal monalogue as I wrote this chose to take on the voice of Stephen Fry? It makes the mind boggle just at the thought.
Monday 20 July 2009
Because I can.
Because everyone's looked at the carpet in their office and thought that what it really needed was a circle of toy track and a train squeaking around it.
I thought I would try my ancient state-of-the-ark digital camera and see if it still worked. It's a Fujifilm DX10 from circa 1998 and the dawn of digital photography. It still works, even if the picture quality is as questionable now as it was 11 years ago. Usually I just get Zoë to take pictures with her somewhat better camera.
Reviews and progress in my writing-driven world.
'Bringing home the stars' (see Bibliography page on http://www.jennifer-kirk.com for details) is getting rave reviews from those motivated to comment on it. This seems like the best one yet by a very long way. Fingers crossed!
At the moment my writing work is mainly concentrated on doing a full edit of 'Orb of Arawaan' It's slow going, not least because I hate editing, but it needs doing. Once it is done I should be re-familiarised enough with the charectors and plot to contemplate picking up again on the second book in the trilogy where it was left unfinished in 2004. The working title for this book suggested so far is 'Oracle of Arawaan'.
At the moment my writing work is mainly concentrated on doing a full edit of 'Orb of Arawaan' It's slow going, not least because I hate editing, but it needs doing. Once it is done I should be re-familiarised enough with the charectors and plot to contemplate picking up again on the second book in the trilogy where it was left unfinished in 2004. The working title for this book suggested so far is 'Oracle of Arawaan'.
Thursday 16 July 2009
The long-awaited honeymoon
It's been a long time since the wedding and the honeymoon has been a long time in coming, but Zoë and I finally made it away to North Wales for five days. It was the first holiday together ever that didn't involve being away for a party, social gathering or medical reasons.
The full set can be found here.
My parents were already staying in Harlech with the caravan, so it was an easy drive into North Wales with Zoë pushing up the zeds and missing most of the stunning scenery along the North Wales coast. However we arrived intact in Harlech on Sunday morning. One of the first things we did was to be shown around by my parents who were to leave the same day. The view of the castle from the campsite was quite stunning:
We went on the beach too and generally relaxed until my parents left and then cooked ourselves a fine meal and snuggled in the caravan.
The following day the plan was to go to Portmeirion. We caught the train from Harlech to Minffordd where we then walked the rest of the way to the village. The weather was superb; it was as if the climate of North Wales knew we were on honeymoon! The weather continued to be pretty good all the time we were there.
Zoë was immediately impressed by the architechture and started clicking away like a happy Japanese tourist. It was so wonderful to see her smile!
The village is one of the most incredible places to go and visit. It was used as the set for the famous sixties TV series, The Prisoner, and appears to be a slice of Italian-inspired architechture tucked away on the Welsh coast.
The last picture features a building with a painted on window. This seemed to also be a feature of Portmeirion, along with statues in little follies and ceilings painted to look not out of place in the Sistine chapel.
There was also a concrete boat actually just built at the jetty:
We have a suspicion the architect was a little mad.
After Portmeirion we decided to walk to Porthmadog across the cob, a long man made embankment that carries the road, a cycle path and the FFestiniog railway (more of that later) which, bizaarely, there is a footpath that shares the same route with no fence in between. I guess common sense works quite well in these parts.
We spent a little time looking around Porthmadog and got some chips, because everyone (us included) cannot resist the wafting smell of a chipshop on a hot day. I also took time to check out Cob records and I bought a copy of the last Coldplay LP on, well, LP silly. We miscalculated train times (the Cambrian coast trains seem to run only once every two hours in each direction) so had nearly two hours to kill at Porthmadog town station, which we did indeed do so in a rather fine pub that occupies the old railway building. Whilst we were in there the sky darkened and the heavens opened with rain that blotted out the hills. Still, we were fine with our pints and eventually staggered onto the return train. By the time we reached Harlech the rain had eased.
On Monday we came back by train to do the Ffestinion railway. Zoë was a little sceptical with her "Jenny wants to do her train thing" air, but soon became enthused when she saw the views from the train.
We even found time for a shot of the Honeymooning couple:
At Blaenau Ffestiniog Zoë took the opportunity of a few more photos whilst we waited for the locomotive to run around the train. I too used the opportunity to camera-whore like I usually do.
Our heroine camera-whoring by the locomotive.
On the way back, Zoë filmed the train running around the unique in the UK spiral that allows trains onto the new deviation at DDuallt - it took us a while to work out the correct pronunciation too!
Upon our return to Harlech we went swimming in the sea. Despite the desolate and deserted beach, the water was actually lovely! We had the whole coast to ourselves it seemed. It was Zoë's first time swimming in over a decade, and the look on her face of sheer joy was a pleasure to see! There are no pictures of the swimming, on account of cameras not liking to be around water, so we didn't take it with us. We kept swimming until the threat of rain came, and we got back to snuggle in the caravan just in time.
On the last day we stayed in Harlech and did the castle. It's an imposing place, and it would be nice if they ever restored the place. We took lots of pictures too - we could not believe how much good weather we were getting!
The view from the tops of the towers:
And of course, our camera-whoring heroine again:
We went shopping in the town and Zoë prepared a lovely lunch of sliced vine tomatoes and mozzerella cheese which is a dish we sometimes get from our favourite local Italian restaurant as a starter. We snoozed the afternoon (it was very hot) and then spent the whole evening swimming in the sea again.
Alas, the following day it was time to return home with a caravan in tow, but we had thoroughly enjoyed the belated honeymoon we had been promising ourselves since March! The old Swedish tank performed well with a towing load, and actually did better than my parents' Honda.
It's always good to be back home, but at the same time I wish we might have had longer on our honeymoon. Oh well - there's always next time!
The full set can be found here.
My parents were already staying in Harlech with the caravan, so it was an easy drive into North Wales with Zoë pushing up the zeds and missing most of the stunning scenery along the North Wales coast. However we arrived intact in Harlech on Sunday morning. One of the first things we did was to be shown around by my parents who were to leave the same day. The view of the castle from the campsite was quite stunning:
The following day the plan was to go to Portmeirion. We caught the train from Harlech to Minffordd where we then walked the rest of the way to the village. The weather was superb; it was as if the climate of North Wales knew we were on honeymoon! The weather continued to be pretty good all the time we were there.
Zoë was immediately impressed by the architechture and started clicking away like a happy Japanese tourist. It was so wonderful to see her smile!
The village is one of the most incredible places to go and visit. It was used as the set for the famous sixties TV series, The Prisoner, and appears to be a slice of Italian-inspired architechture tucked away on the Welsh coast.
The last picture features a building with a painted on window. This seemed to also be a feature of Portmeirion, along with statues in little follies and ceilings painted to look not out of place in the Sistine chapel.
There was also a concrete boat actually just built at the jetty:
We have a suspicion the architect was a little mad.
After Portmeirion we decided to walk to Porthmadog across the cob, a long man made embankment that carries the road, a cycle path and the FFestiniog railway (more of that later) which, bizaarely, there is a footpath that shares the same route with no fence in between. I guess common sense works quite well in these parts.
We spent a little time looking around Porthmadog and got some chips, because everyone (us included) cannot resist the wafting smell of a chipshop on a hot day. I also took time to check out Cob records and I bought a copy of the last Coldplay LP on, well, LP silly. We miscalculated train times (the Cambrian coast trains seem to run only once every two hours in each direction) so had nearly two hours to kill at Porthmadog town station, which we did indeed do so in a rather fine pub that occupies the old railway building. Whilst we were in there the sky darkened and the heavens opened with rain that blotted out the hills. Still, we were fine with our pints and eventually staggered onto the return train. By the time we reached Harlech the rain had eased.
On Monday we came back by train to do the Ffestinion railway. Zoë was a little sceptical with her "Jenny wants to do her train thing" air, but soon became enthused when she saw the views from the train.
We even found time for a shot of the Honeymooning couple:
At Blaenau Ffestiniog Zoë took the opportunity of a few more photos whilst we waited for the locomotive to run around the train. I too used the opportunity to camera-whore like I usually do.
Our heroine camera-whoring by the locomotive.
On the way back, Zoë filmed the train running around the unique in the UK spiral that allows trains onto the new deviation at DDuallt - it took us a while to work out the correct pronunciation too!
Upon our return to Harlech we went swimming in the sea. Despite the desolate and deserted beach, the water was actually lovely! We had the whole coast to ourselves it seemed. It was Zoë's first time swimming in over a decade, and the look on her face of sheer joy was a pleasure to see! There are no pictures of the swimming, on account of cameras not liking to be around water, so we didn't take it with us. We kept swimming until the threat of rain came, and we got back to snuggle in the caravan just in time.
On the last day we stayed in Harlech and did the castle. It's an imposing place, and it would be nice if they ever restored the place. We took lots of pictures too - we could not believe how much good weather we were getting!
The view from the tops of the towers:
And of course, our camera-whoring heroine again:
We went shopping in the town and Zoë prepared a lovely lunch of sliced vine tomatoes and mozzerella cheese which is a dish we sometimes get from our favourite local Italian restaurant as a starter. We snoozed the afternoon (it was very hot) and then spent the whole evening swimming in the sea again.
Alas, the following day it was time to return home with a caravan in tow, but we had thoroughly enjoyed the belated honeymoon we had been promising ourselves since March! The old Swedish tank performed well with a towing load, and actually did better than my parents' Honda.
It's always good to be back home, but at the same time I wish we might have had longer on our honeymoon. Oh well - there's always next time!
Saturday 11 July 2009
Black and white never looked so chic.
Zoë has produced one of the most fab film noir paradies I've ever seen in our regular webcomic, the life of Nob T. Mouse. Please have a look!
Clicky for the comic strip
Clicky for the comic strip
Ready for the belated honeymoon.
Tomorrow we're off on holiday nice and bright and early. This will be the first proper holiday (as opposed to being away to do stuff) that I've had since 1996. As you can probably guess, I'm not really the kind of person who does a lot of holidaying!
It will also double as the honeymoon for our recent civil partnership in March this year. Now that will be fun! I keep teasing Zoë that I'm going to pack all my bridal lingerie and night attire and that she has to carry me over the doorstep of the caravan. Or something like that.
Luckily the caravan was towed out to the site last week by my parents who were staying there before us. We take over the pitch from them tomorrow. At least it means that I only have to tow the caravan one way, which is a bonus.
I'm looking forward to time away taking in the sites of North Wales. Just as long as the weather is nice! I'm wondering what fuel economy my car will manage both with and without a caravan behind it. I managed to average 41.35mpg on the way to and from Durham last week, which is an all time record and better even than the manual for the car suggests should be expected. All hail the restraint shown by my right foot! Fixing the sticky thermostatic valve with a dose of Barrs seems to have worked well, keeping the engine at a more even temperature instead of overcooling it when not under load.
It will also double as the honeymoon for our recent civil partnership in March this year. Now that will be fun! I keep teasing Zoë that I'm going to pack all my bridal lingerie and night attire and that she has to carry me over the doorstep of the caravan. Or something like that.
Luckily the caravan was towed out to the site last week by my parents who were staying there before us. We take over the pitch from them tomorrow. At least it means that I only have to tow the caravan one way, which is a bonus.
I'm looking forward to time away taking in the sites of North Wales. Just as long as the weather is nice! I'm wondering what fuel economy my car will manage both with and without a caravan behind it. I managed to average 41.35mpg on the way to and from Durham last week, which is an all time record and better even than the manual for the car suggests should be expected. All hail the restraint shown by my right foot! Fixing the sticky thermostatic valve with a dose of Barrs seems to have worked well, keeping the engine at a more even temperature instead of overcooling it when not under load.
Wednesday 8 July 2009
Super fit? That will be the sausages then.
My Wii fit age reached a record of 24 today. Tht's -6 years from my real age, so not bad! Despite all my girly worries about weight and my health, I seem to be in pretty good shape after all. I shall pork on sausages to celebrate.
Monday 6 July 2009
What was so insulting about sexuality?
Whilst watching Zoë playing Quake Live, I was reminded by the insults flying that aparently no truly cutting insult is complete without questioning the insulted person's sexuality.
It left me wondering, why are people so tetchy about their sexuality or perceived sexuality? Is it just straight people who get tetchy? Would it be insulting to say to a gay person "you heterosexual, you!"?
I'm bisexual, so I guess it's just impossible for the inhabitants of parents' basements the world over to insult me in the only ways they appear to know how.
It left me wondering, why are people so tetchy about their sexuality or perceived sexuality? Is it just straight people who get tetchy? Would it be insulting to say to a gay person "you heterosexual, you!"?
I'm bisexual, so I guess it's just impossible for the inhabitants of parents' basements the world over to insult me in the only ways they appear to know how.
Thursday 2 July 2009
Too hot! Books and boats.
Yesterday was a busy day, and far too hot too. The trouble with this country is that it is a wet country. That means that sunshine makes that dampness evaporate, and in turn become horrible sticky humidity. We've tried all sorts here from fans to dehumidifiers to opening windows, but none are totally effective. Today looks to be more heat too. Still, it is helping dry out and keep dry the boats I've been working on.
I turned up at midday after dropping Zoë for an interview on the south side of Manchester. The main aim was to get a new gunwale (pronounced as 'gunnel' to rhyme with 'tunnel') on a dinghy where the old one had rotted. We managed to get that done through ingenuity and brute force and all that is left is finishing and painting that now. I also finnished putting the clips to secure the new tarpaulin cover for the finished ASC boat that I've renovated. This will mean it can be perminantly covered on its morring so hopefully won't deteriorate and need repainting every year. Trust me - doing the insides is a laborious and thankless task! I also began work on a second ASC that has lain abandoned under a tent cover for at least four years. It's actually been there so long that the tent is rotting away - I'm told it is the second tent to cover it. I found the hull being used as a skip for junk, so I cleared it out and started preparing and painting all the wood. It looks a huge amount better now, and hopefully its new state will disuade people from skipping junk in it and maybe even encourage them to help do the repairs (though the person in charge laughed and said I was being optimistic given how he had struggled to get help over the years from people).
It was a tiring day, but I got so much done. There are years and years of maintenance backlog at this place, with boat hulls just rotting in the open. My aim when I started was to get five boats back on the water in good refurbished condition. We've done the two easiest with one already being used at the lake (the motor boat) and another finished and shiny to be launched this Sunday. We've also nearly finished one of the harder ones that gives us practice for the second sailing dinghy which needs two new gunwales and possibly a prow post too. The second ASC should also get done which would be a real coup given that it had largely been given up on for the last few years. After they are done there are more boats that can be looked at, but in honesty boat number six looks like it is fit only for the bonfire. Boat number seven looks more promising as it has been well sheeted up this last decade or so and I'm told it just has rotten bottom boards that need replacing.
I'm really enjoying this boat work. It gets me out of the house and makes me feel that I am acheiving much for the charity I'm doing the work for (the Sea Cadets). It's hard work in the humid heat, especially doing all the sanding by hand. On the plus side it must be giving my arse a good toning work out!
And finally, the proof copies of 'Bringing home the stars' arrived yesterday. They look exceptionally good. I think the cover might need lightening a little, but Zoë disagrees with me. She's likely to get the casting vote though. Such is married life!
I turned up at midday after dropping Zoë for an interview on the south side of Manchester. The main aim was to get a new gunwale (pronounced as 'gunnel' to rhyme with 'tunnel') on a dinghy where the old one had rotted. We managed to get that done through ingenuity and brute force and all that is left is finishing and painting that now. I also finnished putting the clips to secure the new tarpaulin cover for the finished ASC boat that I've renovated. This will mean it can be perminantly covered on its morring so hopefully won't deteriorate and need repainting every year. Trust me - doing the insides is a laborious and thankless task! I also began work on a second ASC that has lain abandoned under a tent cover for at least four years. It's actually been there so long that the tent is rotting away - I'm told it is the second tent to cover it. I found the hull being used as a skip for junk, so I cleared it out and started preparing and painting all the wood. It looks a huge amount better now, and hopefully its new state will disuade people from skipping junk in it and maybe even encourage them to help do the repairs (though the person in charge laughed and said I was being optimistic given how he had struggled to get help over the years from people).
It was a tiring day, but I got so much done. There are years and years of maintenance backlog at this place, with boat hulls just rotting in the open. My aim when I started was to get five boats back on the water in good refurbished condition. We've done the two easiest with one already being used at the lake (the motor boat) and another finished and shiny to be launched this Sunday. We've also nearly finished one of the harder ones that gives us practice for the second sailing dinghy which needs two new gunwales and possibly a prow post too. The second ASC should also get done which would be a real coup given that it had largely been given up on for the last few years. After they are done there are more boats that can be looked at, but in honesty boat number six looks like it is fit only for the bonfire. Boat number seven looks more promising as it has been well sheeted up this last decade or so and I'm told it just has rotten bottom boards that need replacing.
I'm really enjoying this boat work. It gets me out of the house and makes me feel that I am acheiving much for the charity I'm doing the work for (the Sea Cadets). It's hard work in the humid heat, especially doing all the sanding by hand. On the plus side it must be giving my arse a good toning work out!
And finally, the proof copies of 'Bringing home the stars' arrived yesterday. They look exceptionally good. I think the cover might need lightening a little, but Zoë disagrees with me. She's likely to get the casting vote though. Such is married life!
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