An explanation of the title of this blog...

Monday, May 03, 2004

Dull Sunday - Bossman came to ask for strong thread and a needle so he could mend the Schweppes sun umbrella he found yesterday. Cover is fine, just the mid-spoke stitching gone. I was shortening jacket sleeves and altering dress, so left him to it. Finished sewing, then did the ironing, listening to Steve Wrights Sunday Love Songs. Made coffee, Boss had his downstairs. I read for a while; good book, same author who wrote Chocolat. Similar setting, small town/village in France, but during the war. Blacker story, not so much of fun element as in the other. Finished chapter, then went downstairs to get the table extended for the Craft Club tomorrow. Boss insisted on helping, but muttering under his breath about 'more bloody women, suppose they'll want tea and cake as well.' I pointed out that they did donate a euro each, so he would be able to restock his larder.

I went back upstairs to download the Hallmark May schedule for Peter and Dot. Bit of a longwinded process. Download the pages a week at a time, then open them again in Acrobat to print. Don't like wasting paper, so print both sides, but that means taking each sheet out and turning it over. 10 sides in all, as I didnt bother doing the late-late stuff.

Bossman shouted that lunch was ready, to come and get it before it went cold. Tuna salad! But he had made potato salad, which I like warm, but can't stomach when it is cold from the fridge. Only complaint I could come up with was that he had cut me a slice of bread and butter which I didn't really want. Ate it though. Used it to mop up the rest of the salad sauce.

Boss glued to sport channel all afternoon. I took photo of anemones and used it as basis of new set of teabag-folding designs. Did a trial layout in Quark and printed off a few sheets, then cut and folded for an hour or so. Produced two finished cards with peel-offs for tomorrow to give the girls a kick start.

Charlie Badmash is pacing up and down, whinging for his fish. Bossman complaining that he is biting his leg, which is a lie! More likely raking his claws down it. If I get up to feed the cat, may as well feed the Boss as well, after which I shall go and sit in a comfy chair and read until I get a chance to grab the switcher.

Sunday, May 02, 2004

What a week! I started this blog to chart the boring day to day activities of two old codgers, but haven't had time to keep it up until today. Monday was warm enough for me to consider bowling without sweater and jacket. End result was a sunburnt neck. I drew skip with Peter and Doreen, Bossman drew skip with Roy and Denis. In his usual sarcastic manner Bossman remarked that I had a team of old women. I replied better that than a team of old wankers! The old women beat the old wankers by 5 points.
Picked up some work from the shop at lunchtime and sewed all afternoon.
Tuesday we were up early to work in the garden. Bossman trimmed his olive tree pom-poms and I watered and dead-headed. He had an appointment at the clinic at 11, where thankfully tests showed that his urine infection had cleared up. He had asked me to tell the Doc about his itchy bum, which I did, joking that it was either piles, or worms! He had Bossman on his knees on the couch while he had a look, and agreed that he had piles. While writing a prescription for some cream, he asked if I had an itch as well. I replied in the negative, but with a twinkle in his eye, he said he was giving us a worm pill each as well, just in case! We then went off to see the nurse who took Bossman's BP and said it was very high. She went off to consult the Doc, who told her to give him a Diazepan, he had had a traumatic morning. Nurse then asked Bossman to get on the scales, and was pleased to tell him he had lost 250grammes. As she didn't have any patients waiting, she then said she might as well check me as well. "What have you two been doing this morning?" she said, because my BP was way up as well; 140 over 88 instead of my usual 120 over 80. Cut him, and I bleed!
That evening, followed up links on SussexPlus mailing list to the Times database and on-line directories. What riches! I was hoping to find something relating to Grandfather Charles and struck gold. A search on his 1881 address brought up reports of a robbery at his house in 1877 and the subsequent court case. Interesting that the address was listed as Highbury, not Islington. He was also reported as not being resident there at the time, which leads me to wonder if he already had a property down in Sussex as well. Found the report of his divorce from Elizabeth Stoveldt (note spelling) in 1886 - Elizabeth the Inebriate Woman! Cleared up the mystery of why the Buckingham Street address was used on his 1896 marriage certificate when the family seemed to be resident in Nutbourne: Kelly's directory had it listed as his business address. Maybe he didn't want the locals in Nutbourne to know he wasn't already married to Ada, not with all those little ones running around! On the other hand, the 1891 census lists Ada as his housekeeper, and the two children around at that time as 'natural' bearing her surname. To add a little confusion, in Kelly's, under his entry of Chas. Hy. Goode, Architect and Surveyor, was another for Charles Henry Goode, Australia Merchant, see Durrant and Goode. Followed this up, but this was definitely a different man. Became a very famous business man, based in Adelaide, and the company still exists as part of a bigger conglomerate.
Wednesday morning up early again to take the car for its test at 9 am. Failed because it had two different tyres on the back. Bossman mad as hell because he had asked the garage to check everything. Found out the other Dunlop was on the spare wheel, where the Pirelli should have been, but decided to get two new ones anyway. To add insult to injury, had to pay 18 euros to get re-tested. Had a walk round Carrefour, Lidl and Mercadona, but no money left to spend!
Thursday bowling, this time with lots of sun cream and a collar! Bossman drawn as my skip, with Alan as lead, against Roy, Denis and Do. We were 17-5 up at coffee time, and finally won 24-15. Can't seem to get the hang of bowling the red rink up towards the pool. Called at Dot's on the way home and picked a bag of nisperos. Spent the afternoon making chutney downstairs in the apartment, watching the bike race in between stirs. Very cold down there, so wore a sleeping bag! Thursday evening, Bowling Club Dinner. Anne and Hughie came as last minute guests, so had to rustle up a couple of extra bottles for the raffle. Everyone a winner is our motto. Bossman a bit concerned his name wouldn't come out in time to bag a bottle of Grouse, but he got the last one. By the time my name came out, only gin left. Think maybe next time we should get more whiskey and less gin, as nobody seemed to choose it if there was a choice. The five guests seemed to appreciate their bottle of wine, though Hughie said he would have prefered a barrel of beer!
As today, Saturday 1st of May, is a Bank Holiday, had to shop yesterday. Very small market as most of the traders were at there usual Friday places. Spent the afternoon choosing teabag patterns for the website I have been planning, and converting them to small jpeg files. Also printed out some of the photos I took on Thursday evening, but had put in a new cartridge and should have cleaned the print heads first, as they came out with bands across. Look OK if you don't have your glasses on! After dinner Bossman watching snooker, so started on my website. Got to bed at 12.45.
So what about today? Went for a walk along the beach this morning, and managed to walk slowly enough not to annoy the Boss. On the way home, came across a 4 metre venetian blind abandoned by a bin, so we carried it back, hoping that it would do to keep the rain of the balcony door when it blows in from the north. Figuring out how to re-cord it should keep Bossman occupied for a while, then he can work out how to fix it to the balcony ceiling. It has to look better than the old red and white Coke umbrella we use now. I have spent most of the afternoon fine-tuning my website. Have now got the arrows working to go from one page to the other and back again. Worked out that I had to put in the full web addy of each page. Also added an e-mail link to a yahoo address, and added a page to the Yahoo Directory under craft/origami, as that seemed the most appropriate section. Will I get any response I wonder? Have mailed the girls and asked them for a test and review. Maybe I should also tell the craft club ladies to test it as well. I think I have made up for my laxity, so I shall call it a day and go and feed the cat and put the meatloaf in the oven.