Kylie Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 I am back from Canberra, where I had a lovely time visiting art galleries (and the book fair, of course!) and hanging with my BF. I'm straight back into work now that I'm home. I've been so, so tired lately and I can't seem to get enough sleep. I think my hayfever is zapping my energy. Grr! What's up with everyone else? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissy Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 (edited) Tell us about the tandem Kylie! Today I am a lady (pah!) who lunches. My neighbour loves fish 'n' chips, and I used to buy them locally once in a while and join her for lunch. Then the price got bigger while the portions got smaller, so we stopped. My neighbour doesn't get out and about too much as she is 93 and needs a wheelchair to go any distance. I would have taken her out before, but my old car had very sinky-into seats and I thought she would struggle getting in and out. Now I have my shiny new car with it's lovely comfy-firm seats we will be heading out to our local Morrison's supermarket café where we will be partaking of their 'Famous Fish 'n' Chips'. This may become a regular outing. Edited October 1, 2013 by Chrissy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardengirl Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 Chrissy, you are so lucky to have a Morrisons near you, wish that we did. We used to have one near us [bideford North Devon] but since we moved here no such luck.I got particulary addicted to their own baked apple pies.I have a horrid cold at the moment so am stuck inside the house coughing sadly to myself [awwwww!]Not a good way to start October. It will be my daughter's birthday at the weekend so she and her Oh will be coming to us for my world famous [oh alright, my household favourite] lasagne..... hope I feel up to it by then.Cough, sniff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissy Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 Feel better soon gardengirl. I recommend hot drinks, lots of TLC and perhaps a good book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted October 1, 2013 Author Share Posted October 1, 2013 Aw, you're so sweet to take your neighbour for outings, Chrissy. I hope you feel better soon, Gardengirl. Colds are horrible. OK, I'll tell you about the disastrous tandem ride my BF (N) and I attempted. I've never been on a tandem before and we both thought it would be lovely and romantic to hire one and ride around the massive lake in Canberra. There are many art galleries and museums dotted around the lake, so we could stop and browse along the way. Canberra is a very spacious city, but it's also very bike-friendly (unusual for Australia), so there are many cyclists around. We hired a tandem and had it dropped off to our hotel. I hopped on the back and N sat in front of me. But I couldn't see a bloomin' thing because his massive backpack was right in my face! We swapped backpacks (so I was carrying the big heavy one and he had my small light one - humph!) but it really didn't help that much. I could only look to the left and right, so I had to place all my trust in N to steer properly. Result: I was terrified the entire time we rode because I had no idea where obstacles were. N cut it sooo close sometimes. We never crashed (remarkably), but several times I saw poles and dangerous objects whoosh by within millimetres of me. I may have squealed a few times. N also had charge of all the gears. When we came to the first hill just a minute or two into the ride, we could barely pedal because we were in the wrong gear. I was shouting 'Change gear! Change gear!' but he couldn't work them out fast enough. Other cyclists were whizzing past us and laughing as we came to a complete stop. We ended up walking the bike over the bridge. Then we came to an even larger bridge. N wanted to take a photo of me with the bike, which I promptly dropped on my ankle. Around the same time, N managed to kick his toe on a concrete block. I have no lasting damage to my ankle, but poor N's little toe was heavily bruised. We walked the bike over that bridge too. N's communication was rather lacking. Sometimes he didn't tell me when we were about to go around a corner, so I would suddenly feel off-balance, and another time he changed down gears so quickly that my feet flew off the pedals and I had trouble finding them again! About halfway through the day, a very, very strong wind picked up, which made things even more difficult and uncomfortable. Oh, and my handlebars were so low that I had to bend over awkwardly and my wrists were not happy with that. I couldn't change the height though because the handlebars were attached to N's seat, which was already rather high for him. We tried to adjust his seat up so my handlebars were better, but then N could barely reach the pedals. If you can believe it, N then suggested we ride the bike again later (at night time!) to a festival. No way in hell! I had had more than enough. My butt was sore from the seat and my feet were aching from lots of standing and walking around the galleries (not to mention the book fair the day before!) Lesson learnt: Next time, we will hire one bike each! (At least it gave us a good story to tell.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 Chrissy, I hope you have/had a great lunch . Gardengirl, I hope you feel better soon and can enjoy celebrating your daughter's birthday. A cold can be really annoying to have and make you feel down. Get well soon! Kylie, that sounds very scary! Hiring two bikes next time sounds like a better idea. I'm glad you made it through unharmed though other than sore muscles etc (it was an interesting story to read). I hope you had a bit of fun though being outside seeing things. I'm doing allright, though I'm missing my boyfriend. My stress levels have been better than when I was still studying, so I find I can't complain too much about it really, it's already so much better it's feeling as a relief. I'm enjoying spending most of my days doing things I want to do (such as reading and writing a manual log, watching a DVD and being on the forum), with sometimes not having to take a lot of other people into account. I'm still tired, which probably has something to do with my new eating-more-healthy-and-eating-less pattern as well (and very much with my studying and the stress from it). October is a nice month for me because it's my birthday near the end of the month, and that means I get to see my boyfriend. There's also a Dutch book fair at the end of October and beginning of November so I'm looking forward to that too. Until my birthday though I'm trying not to buy many books. I'm looking forward to the read-a-thon which is in a few days. Other than that I don't think there's a lot of 'dated' things going on in October that I'm particularly excited about. I hope to be losing some more weight. Yesterday I had a great talk with my boyfriend (on Skype), talking with him really brightened up my day . We don't talk that often like this, we normally message each other, and usually I send more and longer messages than he does (I always love to get one from him). So it's always great to talk on Skype, I really love that. I'm hoping we can get married in a couple of years, though we'll have to see how things go. It'll be a lot of fun to first finally move in together (in the bakery). My parents have been working on the windows, that's steadily slowly progressing. They usually only have time in the weekend, and not every weekend. It's really nice of them to do this though (it is their house so in the end they'll benefit too). I'm the one that has contributed the least (my boyfriend has done a lot), I really am clueless when it comes to D-I-Y and thorough cleaning (not to mention the input of spending a certain amount of time with several people in one room). The little chicken are all outside now, which is nice for them. They need to stay inside their wooden enclosing though, for a few more days (normally about a week in total). It's nice that they're outside now, but it means slightly more work for me as it's further to walk to and less easy to check up on them and see if they need anything (ie. I don't hear them from inside the house). Before I'd walk to the fridge and then thought, might as well check up on them (they were in the room next to where the fridge is). Now I don't see them everytime I go to the fridge, and when I go outside to check up on them, I kind of have to give all the others a little bit of food too, since they're expecting food when they see me . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muggle not Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 Kylie - that is really hilarious - but probably not for you. You have the right idea though, next time 2 bikes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peacefield Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 That's so nice of you to take your neighbor out, Chrissy! One of the things I remember fondly about my trip to the UK was a big fish and chips dinner in Canterbury . Good healthy feeling-better vibes to you, gardengirl! I would also recommend loads of vitamin C. Kylie, I've often thought that being on a bicycle-built-for-two would be fun, but now that I've heard your story... no way!! Happy birthday-month, Athena! I hope you have a lovely one. How is it already October?! The leaves are starting to change here in the cities, and up at the cabin even moreso and it's beautiful! I'm always of two minds about autumn. It's my favorite and my least favorite season, precisely because of what comes next . My hand is healing well and the bruises are virtually gone! It's a busy time at work, so I'm glad to be able to use both hands without any problems, woo! I hope everyone has a great week ahead of them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissy Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 Hey, I had fish and chips, so my altruism levels remain low! The lunch was delicious, and we took a long route home so that she could show me where she had been born, where she use to play where she once dumped her bike on the way to school when the pedal dropped off. It was lovely driving along our local country lanes, some so underused they had grass and weeds running up the middle. She also showed me where a local marijuana farm had once been discovered ! We will definitely do a similar trip again, although I did say that next time it might be for a tea, as there is a lovely garden centre near the coast that does a lemon drizzle cake of some renown. Kylie, that's awful. Most definitely 2 bikes next time. That sounds great Peacefield, we'll have to think of lots of two-handed activities you should undertake, just cos you can now! Pottery maybe, or jazz piano? Athena, it's definitely nicer when we keep in close touch with our loved ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muggle not Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 Hey, I had fish and chips, so my altruism levels remain low! The lunch was delicious, and we took a long route home so that she could show me where she had been born, where she use to play where she once dumped her bike on the way to school when the pedal dropped off. It was lovely driving along our local country lanes, some so underused they had grass and weeds running up the middle. She also showed me where a local marijuana farm had once been discovered ! We will definitely do a similar trip again, although I did say that next time it might be for a tea, as there is a lovely garden centre near the coast that does a lemon drizzle cake of some renown. Kylie, that's awful. Most definitely 2 bikes next time. That sounds great Peacefield, we'll have to think of lots of two-handed activities you should undertake, just cos you can now! Pottery maybe, or jazz piano? Athena, it's definitely nicer when we keep in close touch with our loved ones. Chrissy - that was very nice of you to take the elderly lady to lunch. Many people forget that the elderly were once young and saw things that we can hardly believe nowadays. Most people don't want to talk with the elderly. Kudos to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 Chrissy, What muggle said ^^^^^^, ditto! Glad you got to Skype with your BF Athena, I know it means a lot. Before my husband and I were married, he was up in New York and we used Skype a lot! Kylie, love the bike story, but ditto on take two next time! Your book fair sounds fantastic! PF, glad the wrist is doing so well, but still, be gentle for a while. GG, hope you feel better very soon! We're hoping the government shut down doesn't affect the annual State Dept Book Fair in WDC.. We have plans for that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissy Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 Chrissy - that was very nice of you to take the elderly lady to lunch. Many people forget that the elderly were once young and saw things that we can hardly believe nowadays. Most people don't want to talk with the elderly. Kudos to you. Chrissy, What muggle said ^^^^^^, ditto! When I married and moved down here 11 years ago, my neighbour was fantastic. She made me feel so welcome, and over the years we have developed a friendship despite our age differences. So today was lunch with a friend, and we nattered and gossiped and laughed. I just wish we could have done it sooner, but between work and an unsuitable car it didn't happen. I have been so lucky to have known a few of my elderly neighbours who have lived their lives within a 3 year radius of where they were born, and can tell such wonderful (and often very naughty ) stories of the people and places nearby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peacefield Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 We're hoping the government shut down doesn't affect the annual State Dept Book Fair in WDC.. We have plans for that! Thanks, Pontalba, I'll be very careful! When is the Book Fair up there? Hopefully this whole shut-down issue will be resolved by then. I almost said hopefully those people in DC will get this figured out soon but then I thought, who am I kidding?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 Thanks, Pontalba, I'll be very careful! When is the Book Fair up there? Hopefully this whole shut-down issue will be resolved by then. I almost said hopefully those people in DC will get this figured out soon but then I thought, who am I kidding?! Hah, you are not kidding there! Here is the link. http://www.aafsw.org/about/art-book-fair/ We went last year, and it's pretty good, a slightly different selection. Plus my husband knows DC well, so it's doubly fun for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardengirl Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 (edited) Thank you all for the kind comments [it's only a cold but yes. they do get you down, the streaming and the sneezing!] October is usually a lovely month here, the trees all 'on the turn' and misty, but the only downside is sweeping up all the fallen leaves at the end of the month.What is the weather like in USA?Depends where you are I suppose, I think the Eastern side is much like UK in Autumn?I have never been but would like to, just such a long flight.Athena, how is your English so very good? Do a lot of Dutch people speak [and write] it so well?Just read a very helpful book called 'The Reason Why I Jump' written by a young Japenese boy who is Autistic. My 9 year old Grandson is autistic and is very similar, so this book written by a child is really helpful to me.It makes me feel guilty for ever having told him off [although sometimes you have to, because he does dangerous things.]He is just at the stage where he wants to know why he is like he is, so we will be reading parts of this to him, to let him know he is not alone. Edited October 1, 2013 by gardengirl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peacefield Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 That fair looks cool, Pontalba! I love DC...so many cultural pursuits there! The shutdown affects my job indirectly, but there are others at my company that are really affected. Not because we are govt employees, but because we provide some services to those who do work for the govt Here in the upper midwest of the US, gardengirl, October is a very pretty month with all the colored trees and grasses. Here are a couple of photos that my friend took when we drove down to the southern part of the state last autumn: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 Gorgeous pictures PF! We don't get much in the way of seasonal changes. It's hot from May(ish) to late October, early November. I've known it to either freeze, or be 80F in November, or December even. Usually January and February and part of March is cold. New Orleans doesn't freeze as much as we do, north of Lake Pontchartrain. The lake protects N.O. from the worst temperatures. I'm about 20 miles north of the 24 mile wide lake, pine tree country. But in N.O. it's more palms and banana trees. Everything grows beautifully there, the ground is so rich. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppy Posted October 2, 2013 Share Posted October 2, 2013 Lovely photos Peace. What is about USA autumn/fall pictures that are so definitively from your country? They just have a certain colour and look that is unique to you. Very beautiful Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bookmonkey Posted October 2, 2013 Share Posted October 2, 2013 I'm with you on the cold gardengirl. I've got one too, and I feel miserable. I hope you feel better soon. Your lunch sounds lovely Chrissy. I love talking to elderly people, they have such interesting stories to tell. Skype's great for keeping in touch with people elsewhere. My kids Skype their relatives sometimes. I hope the shutdown doesn't last too long for those in the US. You're all heading into autumn/winter, while we're warming up and heading for spring/summer. Had some really bad storms in the last few weeks, but today and yesterday has been lovely and warm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted October 2, 2013 Share Posted October 2, 2013 Peacefield, I'm glad your wrist is healing up well. I wish both you and Pontalba (and anyone else who might have trouble) good luck with the government shutdown! It sounds pretty scary, to me. gardengirl, for me it was years of practising English. I was taught English in primary school (a little bit) and in secondary school. I watched a lot of British and American TV shows and films with Dutch subtitles. At some point I went onto the internet and started to read English websites and post on forums in English. I met my boyfriend and talked English with him, as well as with other online friends. I was on IM a lot, I typed English with a lot of people. At some point I wanted to read books that weren't yet translated into Dutch so I bought the English versions. I had a blog, in English. Slowly over the years my English got better and better. I read more and more English books and less and less Dutch-translated ones. I also read English magazines and I've visited the UK many times. I've even been told by people at university that they thought I was from UK! At university most of the study material was in English too (technical, scientific English). I read a lot of scientific books and articles in English. I wrote things too, ie. my two theses, project reports, essays, articles. Talking with my boyfriend helped a lot to improve my speech of English (though at university we had to give some presentations in English and some courses were given in English too). These days I can speak and write English just as good, sometimes even better, than I can speak Dutch. I even "think" in English, often. This might sound strange perhaps, considering I'm originally Dutch. English grammar or certain English words or expressions can be difficult on occasion. Spelling I'm usually pretty good with because of my eidetic/photographic memory. I read so many English books and texts, just like I used to read so many Dutch books, that I just know how many words are spelled. I see it in my head. As a child I'd often find spelling errors in (Dutch) books. Some Dutch people are good at English, most of them know a bit of English but they aren't that good with it. Especially speaking can be difficult for them, because they're not used to doing so. They understand more than that they can speak it. This is the case with some people in my family, they have trouble talking with my boyfriend in English (that said, his Dutch isn't great either so ). My parents' and my brother's English is pretty good, because they need it for their occupation and/or because of talking a lot with my boyfriend. In the case of my brother, he played World of Warcraft, where a lot of people speak English to each other; he also watches English films (as do my parents but less so). Most Dutch people have a Dutch accent when they speak Dutch (ie. Dutch politicians on TV). I don't have this anymore, I have a slight British accent instead. Some Dutch people translate Dutch expressions wrongly into English. One of my brother's teachers at university, he's really bad with it. He'll take a Dutch expression and translate it word for word, making it sound terribly wrong in English. Good luck with your grandson. I also went through an age where I wanted to know things about myself, though I was older than your grandson (I did first go through a phase where I wanted to know everything about the world, but at that time we didn't know my diagnosis). It may be difficult for him to understand at first, that most other people perceive the world differently than he does. I hope the book helps . Bookmonkey, I hope you feel better soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardengirl Posted October 2, 2013 Share Posted October 2, 2013 Athena that is a very definite and full reply to my question of 'how come you speak English so well.'I am impressed.We are so lazy here about learning other languages, simply because we don't really need to.If I visit another country I always want to know in advance how to say certain things in case of language difficulties, but others merely shout louder and hope for the best. Bookmonkey hope you feel better soon, I feel like death warmed up, but know all it takes is a few days of rest! Peacefield nice photos of Fall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted October 3, 2013 Share Posted October 3, 2013 Athena that is a very definite and full reply to my question of 'how come you speak English so well.'I am impressed.We are so lazy here about learning other languages, simply because we don't really need to.If I visit another country I always want to know in advance how to say certain things in case of language difficulties, but others merely shout louder and hope for the best. x Thanks . I always try to be thorough and precise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talisman Posted October 3, 2013 Share Posted October 3, 2013 I have no more work now for 9 whole days and I cannot say in all honesty than I am the least bit sorry. I have been thinking of moving on for a while, and the events of last week have only hastened to confirm that decision. Last Tuesday I was hauled into the office for what I consider to be a minor misdemeanour and threatened with all sorts of dire consequences - basically that if what they said I had done (and others there have done far worse) escalated to a "safeguarding" issue I might lose my job and never work in social care again. I was naturally really upset about this, but when I challenged them on this the following day, they turned round and said that it was only said to scare me. This to me is bullying and intimidation. I phoned the union on that one, but since I have been here less than 2 years there is little they said I can do other than start writing things down. This is just the latest in a long line of events which started a mere 3 days after I started this job when they told me off for carrying a bottle of water around the home and dusting the same area twice (no, I am not making this up). I chose to ignore them as I left my last job because of this sort of thing and did not want to admit that it was happening again. I cannot though continue to do this, as I know if I leave it, I will get to the same point where I was 12 months ago - without the resources to do anything about it. I have the weekend off, and then I am off to Iceland on Monday for five days. I will have a lot to think about while I am gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted October 4, 2013 Share Posted October 4, 2013 Having the time away, really away, will be therapeutic. Should get some good thinking done there Talisman. I'm sorry this place is turning out to be just as bad as the other one. Sometimes it's just as though there is no winning. But you are right in already understanding that you can't continue like that. They sound like a bullying, sorry lot! Pox on them. Your course will become clearer and clearer. Have a wonderful time in Iceland! /envious sigh/ Today was our second anniversary, so yesterday we drove down to N.O., and saw a wonderful film, and had a delicious dinner in the French Quarter. And, today we drove down again and did a bit of shopping and another off diet dinner. Two lovely, long days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian. Posted October 4, 2013 Share Posted October 4, 2013 I started an engineering degree this week and as a result I haven't had a chance to do any pleasure reading. I've almost finished the work required for this week so hopefully I'll be able to spend a chunk of the weekend with my head in a book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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