Dearly Beloved,
That untitled post below is a picture of your truly taken when he was about two years old in 1933.
I was testing out, as one does, the uplifting of photographs to the site when I managed to post it.
If I had worked out how to get rid of it ( which I still haven't done) I would have removed it but it is now out there now. I'm sure that the intervening 73 years have not improved my appearance - my word, wasn't I a bonny lump?
Sunday, 7 January 2007
Thursday, 4 January 2007
Wednesday, 3 January 2007
Dearly beloved,
Today Flo and I visited our Doctor's Surgery so that the Practice Nurse could give us our 'shots'.
These were the recommended inocculations in preparation for the next interesting event in our lives - a family trip to Thailand to witness the final ceremony of Paul's and On's wedding in the early part of February.
Early last year Paul ( Paul Aplin,our eldest Grandson) married On ( pronounced 'Orn' and short for her real name which is four feet long and unprounceable). That ceremony was, largely, civil and now the religious part is to take place at her village. It was agreed that, as many of the family who could, would fly out and there will be 12 of us going.
The plan is to fly to Bangkok, sightsee for three days, travel up-country to Korat and from there, commute as necessary to On's village ( which is a bit too primitive for the 'girls' to stay overnight - no running water, toilet in the nearest bit of jungle, etc). After the ceremony, we all then, plus On's mother and her friend, travel down to near Pattaya for a week to sunbathe, swim, shopping trips for the girls, etc.
This is Paul and On at the original ceremony.
I intend to try making a photographic diary of the trip and will certainly bore you with it when I get back. It will, of course, be compulsory viewing and you will be examined on it in due course!
Today Flo and I visited our Doctor's Surgery so that the Practice Nurse could give us our 'shots'.
These were the recommended inocculations in preparation for the next interesting event in our lives - a family trip to Thailand to witness the final ceremony of Paul's and On's wedding in the early part of February.
Early last year Paul ( Paul Aplin,our eldest Grandson) married On ( pronounced 'Orn' and short for her real name which is four feet long and unprounceable). That ceremony was, largely, civil and now the religious part is to take place at her village. It was agreed that, as many of the family who could, would fly out and there will be 12 of us going.
The plan is to fly to Bangkok, sightsee for three days, travel up-country to Korat and from there, commute as necessary to On's village ( which is a bit too primitive for the 'girls' to stay overnight - no running water, toilet in the nearest bit of jungle, etc). After the ceremony, we all then, plus On's mother and her friend, travel down to near Pattaya for a week to sunbathe, swim, shopping trips for the girls, etc.
This is Paul and On at the original ceremony.
I intend to try making a photographic diary of the trip and will certainly bore you with it when I get back. It will, of course, be compulsory viewing and you will be examined on it in due course!
Monday, 1 January 2007
Oh, hell! - here comes 2007
Dearly beloved,
I have arrived in 2007 carrying in my wake a Pied Piper cohort of the gremlins of 2006 determined to add interest to my life in this new year. You should know that an ancient Chinese curse, retained for use against their worst enemies, was "may you live in interesting times" to grasp the implications of the interest they intend to add.
I have started off, on January 1st, by accidentally overdosing myself with an anti-biotic and it has taken me two hours of feverish ( pun intended) searching using telephone books to locate a pharmacist who could advise on any necessary course of action.
At this point you are, reasonably, asking how does one accidentally overdose on anti-biotics. Take it from me - its easy with the help of gremlins.
On the, probably false, assumption that you care and have the time, settle back and learn.
On the evening of Saturday 23rd, December 2006 ( you have to plan for stupidity well in advance) I developed the headache. achiness, raised temperature, etc., which either heralded that I was falling in love or a viral infection was underway. Given that my wife has put her foot down about the first whilst I'm married to her, it had to be the second - and on the Sunday I was ill, very ill, worse even than 'man-flu'.
Thinking these things must run their course I remained in bed, and to cut a long story a little shorter, there I remained through Xmas Eve, Xmas Day, Boxing Day and beyond whilst all around me people revelled - why do we only 'revel' at Xmas and New Year's Eve whilst for the rest of the year we 'party'?
By now the secondary bacterial infections had settled in and anti-biotics were called into the fray and now also were the gremlins. By a plot born of genius they lured me into the bathroom to rinse my mouth and to clean my teeth - now comes the embarrassing truth - for which process I removed my false lower plate and you never knew it was false, did you? You did! - ah well. This fell from my enfeebled grasp onto the carpeted part of the floor and broke clean in two. Bear in mind this is late on Saturday afternoon on December 29th. when the whole world has broken off early to gird their loins for New Year's Eve including Dental Technicians - not a breed of men you would expect to 'revel' but there we are, perhaps a book could be written on the hidden revels of a Dental Technician and not one of us knew.
The only one who would answer his phone was, at that point exactly, on his way to Sheffield having broken a tooth and was going a see friendly dentist to get it fixed - you could not have made it up! However, recognising another in distress, he agreed to meet me at his lab on the Sunday and fix the plate.
On the Sunday, still feeling extremely bad, I got up and, faced with a longish drive, decided to take Paracetamol to anaesthetise me for the trip. The Paracetamol strip was next to the anti-biotic strip, they don't look dissimilar, I was groggy - it was all too easy.
Two things:
1. The first person to wish me a Happy New Year when I venture out tomorrow will be in jeopardy of his or - because I'm not sexist - her life.
2. A triple dose, 300mg, of Doxycycline Hydrochloride will, apparently, ensure that I will not get leptospirosis over the next 24 hours - you see, you learn something new every day.
Happy New Year
Brian
I have arrived in 2007 carrying in my wake a Pied Piper cohort of the gremlins of 2006 determined to add interest to my life in this new year. You should know that an ancient Chinese curse, retained for use against their worst enemies, was "may you live in interesting times" to grasp the implications of the interest they intend to add.
I have started off, on January 1st, by accidentally overdosing myself with an anti-biotic and it has taken me two hours of feverish ( pun intended) searching using telephone books to locate a pharmacist who could advise on any necessary course of action.
At this point you are, reasonably, asking how does one accidentally overdose on anti-biotics. Take it from me - its easy with the help of gremlins.
On the, probably false, assumption that you care and have the time, settle back and learn.
On the evening of Saturday 23rd, December 2006 ( you have to plan for stupidity well in advance) I developed the headache. achiness, raised temperature, etc., which either heralded that I was falling in love or a viral infection was underway. Given that my wife has put her foot down about the first whilst I'm married to her, it had to be the second - and on the Sunday I was ill, very ill, worse even than 'man-flu'.
Thinking these things must run their course I remained in bed, and to cut a long story a little shorter, there I remained through Xmas Eve, Xmas Day, Boxing Day and beyond whilst all around me people revelled - why do we only 'revel' at Xmas and New Year's Eve whilst for the rest of the year we 'party'?
By now the secondary bacterial infections had settled in and anti-biotics were called into the fray and now also were the gremlins. By a plot born of genius they lured me into the bathroom to rinse my mouth and to clean my teeth - now comes the embarrassing truth - for which process I removed my false lower plate and you never knew it was false, did you? You did! - ah well. This fell from my enfeebled grasp onto the carpeted part of the floor and broke clean in two. Bear in mind this is late on Saturday afternoon on December 29th. when the whole world has broken off early to gird their loins for New Year's Eve including Dental Technicians - not a breed of men you would expect to 'revel' but there we are, perhaps a book could be written on the hidden revels of a Dental Technician and not one of us knew.
The only one who would answer his phone was, at that point exactly, on his way to Sheffield having broken a tooth and was going a see friendly dentist to get it fixed - you could not have made it up! However, recognising another in distress, he agreed to meet me at his lab on the Sunday and fix the plate.
On the Sunday, still feeling extremely bad, I got up and, faced with a longish drive, decided to take Paracetamol to anaesthetise me for the trip. The Paracetamol strip was next to the anti-biotic strip, they don't look dissimilar, I was groggy - it was all too easy.
Two things:
1. The first person to wish me a Happy New Year when I venture out tomorrow will be in jeopardy of his or - because I'm not sexist - her life.
2. A triple dose, 300mg, of Doxycycline Hydrochloride will, apparently, ensure that I will not get leptospirosis over the next 24 hours - you see, you learn something new every day.
Happy New Year
Brian
Sunday, 31 December 2006
Dearly beloved ( pace Rudyard)
A sort of introduction.
Why set up a blog I have been asked. What I didn't do was to ask whether they meant me personnally, with the inference that my life and views were of no interest to anyone else or, more generally, why would anyone?
Well, I can answer for myself and I have a sneaking feeling that my reasons are the same of many others.
I know, and I suspect you know, its simply an outrageously gorgeous way of massaging my ego, of yelling out loud that I'm here like it or not, and that my affairs and views are extremely important even if you don't believe it.
I'm simply following a trend that started with homo erectus painting himself with red ochre and dancing naked round the fire. You may be sure he wasn't doing that to show what a modest, shy, and retiring fellow he was. Bet you never thought a personal blog was 2007s version of that activity. ( the little monkey on my shoulder has just whispered " it all comes down to sex anyway").
Of course I've done the bit about 'keeping the distant family and friends up-to-date with our activities' and what miffs me off about that is that I am going to have to post some stuff from time-to-time to to prove it! I've even done the bit about 'sharing knowledge' and having 'meaningful exchanges with other intellectual beings out there' - O yeah! since when did I need anybody to tell me I'm wrong about anything?
Why do I want a blog? Because I obviously fit the specification of a blogger. Self-opiniated, idiosyncratic, sure I know the answers to all man's ills and knowing that, if I don't want you to contradict me I don't have listen - and that don't happen in this house!!
Brian
A sort of introduction.
Why set up a blog I have been asked. What I didn't do was to ask whether they meant me personnally, with the inference that my life and views were of no interest to anyone else or, more generally, why would anyone?
Well, I can answer for myself and I have a sneaking feeling that my reasons are the same of many others.
I know, and I suspect you know, its simply an outrageously gorgeous way of massaging my ego, of yelling out loud that I'm here like it or not, and that my affairs and views are extremely important even if you don't believe it.
I'm simply following a trend that started with homo erectus painting himself with red ochre and dancing naked round the fire. You may be sure he wasn't doing that to show what a modest, shy, and retiring fellow he was. Bet you never thought a personal blog was 2007s version of that activity. ( the little monkey on my shoulder has just whispered " it all comes down to sex anyway").
Of course I've done the bit about 'keeping the distant family and friends up-to-date with our activities' and what miffs me off about that is that I am going to have to post some stuff from time-to-time to to prove it! I've even done the bit about 'sharing knowledge' and having 'meaningful exchanges with other intellectual beings out there' - O yeah! since when did I need anybody to tell me I'm wrong about anything?
Why do I want a blog? Because I obviously fit the specification of a blogger. Self-opiniated, idiosyncratic, sure I know the answers to all man's ills and knowing that, if I don't want you to contradict me I don't have listen - and that don't happen in this house!!
Brian
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