Nothing to write home about.

My sister has bought a flat in London (EC1). It is near the Old Street underground station which is one stop away from the Moorgate underground station which is near where she works.

In fifteen and a half hours my mother arrives for a few weeks visit. This is a good thing. I love my mum. Hopefully we can see The Fellowship of the Ring again.

My yoga course has ended so now I must choose a regular class to attend but I shall defer my choice for a few weeks while my mother is here.

When Buffy walked into the Magic Box and said "I have something very important to say to everyone" Emily stood on the remote control and turned the television off. She has the brain of a cat.

After two months and eight job applications I have received two acknowledgements and a rejection. Perhaps no news is good news; perhaps I am a bit crap.  ¶ 21:14 0 comments

  Sorry, were you using that?

The power went off but it came back on immediately. Twenty minutes later it went off again, but it came back on immediately. I heard someone talking out the back so I guessed someone was checking the fuse box. Then the power went off again so I went to check the fuse box. The guys upstairs had an electrical problem. All their power points worked but none of their lights or air conditioners worked so they had been turning off the power to check the fuses. I asked them to tell me before they turned the power off and they borrowed a screwdriver from me. The power went off six more times at ten to twenty minute intervals, twice they shouted a warning seconds before the switch was thrown. Eventually they fixed the problem so I turned my appliances back on and reset my clocks. An hour and a half later the power went off without warning. It came back on ten minutes later. I suspect the fuse box is now a fire hazard.

Nola had a birthday on Thursday. Many happy returns of the day, Princess.

I was wondering if I should start applying for (significantly) lower paid jobs simply because I can ace the selection criteria and get moved. I could do a thirty hour week on an IT helpdesk in my sleep. But then I tidied away the paperwork which had accumulated on the table over the last fortnight (or pay period) and noted the union fees, car insurance, bike service, storage rent and magazine subscription. I think I'll leave the 20% pay cut until June.

Or May. It depends on how many more times I have to park on the street for the privilege of listening to the bass from someone else's stereo rattle my window panes, accented by randomly distributed heavy footfalls and gradually more frequent hollers of vulgar drunken abuse, until four o'clock in the morning (when the rest of them come home and the fight starts).  ¶ 01:16 0 comments

  Large, hairy, white man inverts himself.

I did a headstand at yoga. It wasn't on my list of things to do but it's on my list of things to do again. I can understand why Ted thought it was remarkable. When I got my balance I couldn't believe how easy it was to hold, so of course I lost my balance. Belief is a funny thing. Having enjoyed it briefly the first time I did it again, and with my belief system sorted out I stayed there for a while the second time.

Things that didn't happen to me today include: having my income stop without warning; being told the wrong day for an appointment, which was booked under a wrong name; running out of petrol; and stubbing my toe. Unfortunately all these things did happen to Mr Flynn, and all before ten o'clock in the morning. I hope his day improves.  ¶ 11:59 0 comments

  More reasons to leave.

Emily spent last night in the garden on her on volition. She is out there again now, it is good that she has a hobby. The grass is quite long because Frank can't get the mower going; curiously, he claims the landlord won't pay to fix it. The pile of garden debris in the car park has grown and a sofa has appeared in its midst. The pile takes up two parking spaces now despite having had a skipload removed. There are so many mosquitos around I have blood stained hands and my clothes smell like Earth Tiger mosquito coils.

Emily has come inside now. Someone from upstairs arrived home and disturbed her enterprise. There are three guys in the upstairs flat, between them they have five cars and a trail bike. Ben is a baker and Matthew works at the rail yards so they keep unusual hours. When I first moved in Lloyd was training as a salesman for Austar and selling dope, he is not employed at the moment but his parents are the landlords so there is probably some deal with the rent going on there. They all like to spin their wheels in the gravel drive when they come home.  ¶ 23:53 0 comments

  Maths is fun.
I saw A Beautiful Mind. Maths is fun; mental illness is not. Learning to play Go has moved a dozen places up my list of things to do. However it is still below the not-until-you-move barrier and my Go set is sitting in a shed on the other side of town. So instead I will refocus that motivation into applying for jobs. One month into the period of applying for really neat jobs I have decided to accelerate my schedule and commence the period of applying for any job. This decision was taken firstly because of the scarcity of really neat jobs; and secondly because of my inability to meet the selection criteria of those few really neat jobs that are going. (I do not have a four year tertiary qualification. I do not have demonstrated team leadership success.) Thirdly it may get me out of here sooner, and really neat jobs are included in the any job category anyway.

Watching The Fellowship of the Ring four times is better than watching it three times.  ¶ 21:40 0 comments