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Notes from a bemused canuck

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Tag: ducks

Our new bed will be gorgeous, when it gets here

Posted on May 28, 2009 By admin

We ordered a beautiful, stained timber four-poster bed from Kubek, a furniture store in Leicester. We’d been lusting after that bed for years and we’ve always said that when we buy a house, we’ll get The Bed. We bought a house. We bought The Bed. It was supposed to be delivered yesterday. The thing is fricken’ huge and weighs a ton. It was assembled without hitch (the guy even commented on how smoothly it was going). It is beautiful.

It is the wrong size.

We ordered a king sized bed. They delivered a double. It is not a simple problem of having another bed delivered. They’re made to order from Malta. Apparently the guy in Malta (a gentleman called Tony who will shortly receive a bollocking) shipped the wrong bed. When Kubek received their shipment, they checked that all the pieces were there and that it all fit, but they didn’t realize that it was the wrong size. It’s only when the assembly man tried to fit the mattress slats and they wouldn’t fit that something clicked. The bad news is that the next shipment isn’t due until July. They’ll see if they can get cross-members of the right size shipped sooner, but no promises there. They were falling over themselves to apologize and, in essence, we’re still fine to sleep in our old bed in what will be the guest bedroom.

So close, and yet so far.

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Cage 0, Mouse 2.

Posted on April 22, 2009 By admin

Remember Stumpy/Houdini/Pickle? She has sadly buggered off. How she managed it, I don’t know, but she has escaped from a completely enclosed and seemingly secure cage. Twice.

The first time was when we first decided to keep her and Katy went to Scottsdale to buy a cage. After setting everything up on the kitchen table, we put her in and shortly thereafter noticed that she was sitting in our fruit bowl grooming herself while sitting on an apple. After a bit of fun trying to catch her and put BenBen to bed at the same time, we borrowed a glass aquarium and put her in there until she got big enough to stay in the cage without being able to slip through the bars.

Last weekend, we put her in the cage again – mistakenly thinking that since she’d doubled in size, the bars would be able to keep her in. We were wrong. We hadn’t seen her moving around the cage for a few days yesterday so we decided to have a closer look. She was nowhere to be found :( Somehow she managed to squeeze through the bars and climb (or fall) down the wall shelf where the cage was. The cats haven’t been going batshit so she’s either hiding/dead somewhere well out of the way or she’s managed to make it back outside.

Godspeed to you Houdini, wherever you are, and watch out for the cats.

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Duckies!

Posted on February 26, 2009 By admin

Campus is full of ducks again. This makes me happy, in a very Tony Soprano-esque sort of way. Natwest seems to delight in jerking us around regarding our loan application – which so far has taken close to two weeks now. They say they are being “responsible lenders”. I say they don’t want to lend out money while the interest rates are so low and they’re stalling as much as they can. If they say no, I’m taking my business elsewhere. As in, closing all my accounts and giving them the big two-finger salute. Most UK banks are sitting on a cubic butt-load of government money which, in theory, they are supposed to give out to try and re-stimulate the economy. They’re like greedy three year-olds. MINE! MINE! MINE!

I hate banks.

So, in the meantime, I feed the ducks and try not to stress too much.

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Been one of them days

Posted on November 5, 2008 By admin

Sometimes it feels like the universe is conspiring against you.

I got home after work to feed the pussycat when I noticed something on the carpet that, on further investigation, turned out to be a chunk of rodent intestine. Lovely. A quick search didn’t reveal the rest of the corpse, so I’m assuming it was eaten. We’ll find out soon enough if something starts to smell.

The bus to town decided that it was tired and went to bed instead of showing up. The late work shuttle was 15 minutes sooner than I thought it was. I managed to mooch a lift into town with some coworkers and made it to the hospital only 30 minutes later than expected.

On my way back to the bus stop after my visit with Katy, I found that all the cab companies I could use to get a cab from Sawston to Hinxton were booked solid for tonight, so I had to call a cab from Addenbrookes. Katy’s latest hospital stay is proving rather costly. I reckon it’s cost me just under £100 in cab/bus fare since last Tuesday, and it’s not looking like it’s going to get any better soon.

My cab driver had a cold and kept sneezing the whole ride.

I got home, only to get told off by a cat whose cat litter tray was an odoriferous mess that had somehow managed to spill over into his food tray.

Loverly.

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Ducks and coffee, how awsome!

Posted on October 8, 2008October 8, 2008 By admin

Why do I think this strip is somehow prophetic?

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List of traditional and modern anniversary gifts

Posted on September 22, 2008 By admin

I was looking for a list of traditional anniversary gifts when I realized that many sources online have a “modern” list, as well as the trad one.

I’m sorry, but I’m frankly appalled with the modern one. It reeks of crass commercialism. It’s capitalism at its best. Flowers aren’t good enough, you need a dishwasher! I also like the fact that a number of new symbolic anniversaries have been added to the list when they didn’t exist beforehand. It’s good to know that I need to save up to buy some “Improved Real Estate” in 42 years.

People suck.


1st Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts: Paper
Modern Gifts: Clocks

2nd Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts: Cotton
Modern Gifts: China

3rd Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts: Leather
Modern Gifts: Crystal

4th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts: Fruit or Flowers
Modern Gifts: Appliances

5th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts: Wood
Modern Gifts: Silverware

6th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts: Candy or Iron
Modern Gifts: Wood

7th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts: Wool or Copper
Modern Gifts: Desk Sets

8th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts: Bronze or Pottery
Modern Gifts: Linens or Lace

9th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts: Pottery and Willow
Modern Gifts: Leather

10th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts: Tin or Aluminium
Modern Gifts: Diamond Jewellery

11th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts: Steel
Modern Gifts: Fashion Jewellery

12th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts: Silk or Linen
Modern Gifts: Pearls

13th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts: Lace
Modern Gifts: Textiles or Furs

14th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts: Ivory
Modern Gifts: Gold Jewellery

15th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts: Crystal
Modern Gifts: Watches

16th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts:
Modern Gifts: Silver Hollowware

17th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts:
Modern Gifts: Furniture

18th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts:
Modern Gifts: Porcelain

19th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts:
Modern Gifts: Bronze

20th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts: China
Modern Gifts: Platinum

21st Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts:
Modern Gifts: Brass or Nickel

22nd Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts:
Modern Gifts: Copper

23rd Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts:
Modern Gifts: Silver Plate

24th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts:
Modern Gifts: Musical Instruments

25th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts: Silver
Modern Gifts: Silver

26th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts:
Modern Gifts: Original Pictures

27th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts:
Modern Gifts: Sculpture

28th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts:
Modern Gifts: Orchids

29th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts:
Modern Gifts: Furniture

30th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts: Pearl
Modern Gifts: Diamond

31st Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts:
Modern Gifts: Time Pieces

32nd Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts:
Modern Gifts: Conveyances

33rd Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts:
Modern Gifts: Amethyst

34th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts:
Modern Gifts: Opal

35th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts: Coral
Modern Gifts: Jade

36th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts:
Modern Gifts: Bone China

37th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts:
Modern Gifts: Alabaster

38th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts:
Modern Gifts: Beryl or Tourmaline

39th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts:
Modern Gifts: Lace

40th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts: Ruby
Modern Gifts: Ruby

41st Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts:
Modern Gifts: Land

42nd Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts:
Modern Gifts: Improved Real Estate

43rd Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts:
Modern Gifts: Travel

44th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts:
Modern Gifts: Groceries

45th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts: Sapphire
Modern Gifts: Sapphire

46th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts:
Modern Gifts: Original Poetry

47th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts:
Modern Gifts: Books

48th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts:
Modern Gifts: Optical Goods

49th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts:
Modern Gifts: Luxuries

50th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts: Gold
Modern Gifts: Gold

52nd Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts:
Modern Gifts: Ruby

55th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts: Emerald
Modern Gifts: Emerald

60th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts: Yellow Diamond
Modern Gifts: Diamond

65th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts:
Modern Gifts: Star Sapphire, Gray

67th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts:
Modern Gifts: Star Sapphire, Purple

75th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts: Diamonds, Diamond Like Stones, Gold
Modern Gifts: Diamond, Gold

80th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts:
Modern Gifts: Diamond, Pearl

85th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts:
Modern Gifts: Diamond, Sapphire

90th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts:
Modern Gifts: Diamond, Emerald

95th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts:
Modern Gifts: Diamond, Ruby

100th Wedding Anniversary

Traditional Gifts:
Modern Gifts: 10K Diamond

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Free at last

Posted on September 20, 2008 By admin

Katy was discharged from the hospital Thursday evening and we spent Friday doing mostly fuck all, though I did manage to get some house work done. The docs are happy that her blood pressure meds seem to be working adequately, though we had to go to Addenbrookes again this morning before heading to Leicester. Her blood pressure is happily stable. She’s going to need to have it checked weekly for now, though the midwifes have warned her that they will most probably need to fiddle with the dosages in the future because her blood pressure is most likely going to increase again, which will mean she’ll need to be re-admitted for more observation when that happens.

On the diet-side, we’re still figuring out what we can and can’t eat. Shreddies and salads good, jacket potatoes ok, bread bad. Anything with too much flour – even whole wheat – will increase her blood glucose to annoyingly elevated levels. Our diet is good. We’re eating all the things we should be. We’ll wait and see what the diabetes nurses have to say.

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This limits my options for a mid-life crisis

Posted on September 20, 2008 By admin

Most men, when they reach the point of a mid-life crisis, will either get a motorcycle, a bright red sports car or a mistress.

As we were driving up to Leicester this morning, I was once again reminded just how shockingly bad my eyesight is. Unless medical science can pull off some sort of miracle, there is no way in hell I will be able to get a driver’s license. This therefore means that I have only one option for a mid-life crisis, but I have been told (by Katy) that I am not allowed to get a mistress.

What is a man to do?

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I can’t brain today

Posted on June 11, 2008June 11, 2008 By admin

My head feels like it’s a giant cotton bud. Everything seems hella complicated and I honestly can’t be arsed today. I didn’t particularly sleep well last night. Reenie was in uber-whore mode last night. She jumped up on the bed at 1:30am and demanded attention. She ended up sleeping on my body pillow for about 30 minutes before buggering off. I needed to go to the bathroom and, on my way back, discovered that one of the cats had gifted us with a dead field mouse in the bedroom by the simple and effective method of stepping on it. I then had to dispose of said present and go wash my feet in the sink. At 2am. This did not please me. After that, I couldn’t get back to sleep for the longest time and, when I finally did get to sleep, kept having the weirdest dreams ever.

Because of this, I will be completely useless today. So I’m giving up and not even trying any more.

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Weekend update

Posted on May 12, 2008 By admin

Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiired.

We went to Leics this weekend to see Katy’s parents. Donna and Will came up on Saturday to collect the fish from Mel’s pond (he wanted to get rid of it and they bagged all the fish, plants and rocks for their own pond). Katy had a nice chat with Rita and we all enjoyed Pam’s curries on Saturday night (though we suffered the following days – gotta love those chillies).

We came back to Cambs Sunday evening after depriving Mel of even more fish – the aquarium ones this time. We got half a dozen plants and about a dozen fish for ours, which finally make it seem nice and populated now. Best news is that none of them were floating upside-down this morning. See how the next few days go.

The weather is really starting to heat up hereabouts. They’re forecasting 24 today. I already miss winter.

Plans are going forward for our trip to Canada at the end of the month. We have the hotels booked for Montreal and Quebec. We only need to book the Hilton and arrange transportation across all the cities. This should get done this week.

We need to get the tires looked at on the car. It would seem that the alignment or the tracking is off because the wear pattern is off and they seem to be balding on one side more than the other. This is going to prove fun to do because of English law – if the tires are deemed unsafe, we can’t drive it off the lot but at the same time this is our only car and Katy needs it to drive to work. Fun.

Did I mention that we’re both tired?

We are.

I can only hope that the coming weeks don’t kill us for the vacation and that the time we spend in Canada is fun and uneventful.

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