Re: What's happening in your life?

by cosmictanya Sun Mar 22, 2020 1:56 pm

I've just realized I have about 29p in cash in this entire flat. I should've gone out to a machine while I was suitably suited and booted.

I almost never carry cash but it might be useful to have, to pay off looters and robbers to leave me alone in the days to come.

by Fangirl Three Sun Mar 22, 2020 3:53 pm

Don't worry, if it comes to that, money won't be worth anything. Just weapons, medicine and tinned food.

by **The Call of the Wendigo** Sun Mar 22, 2020 4:21 pm

And my chainsaw.

by **The Call of the Wendigo** Sun Mar 22, 2020 4:22 pm

I've just heard a bee the size of a Jumbo Jet outside my window. I hope it's not looking to build a nest in my domicile. scared

by cosmictanya Sun Mar 22, 2020 5:03 pm

Fangirl Three wrote:Don't worry, if it comes to that, money won't be worth anything. Just weapons, medicine and tinned food.

I actually do have hammers, breadknives, screwdrivers, hockey stick, and baseball bat hidden around the flat at strategic points. I have done since a traumatic burglary - I was in bed at the time, relaxing with a couple of tranqs, and couldn't work out where the sounds of total destruction were coming from. Then the bedroom door opened and a masked man appeared.

I had a lovely cut crystal (like a decanter but flat, and about six feet by three feet) panel in my flat door which was obviously ruined. I went to great pains to have an exact replica, only for a neighbour who was coming up for a drink to trip on the stairs and go hands and head first through it. Now it's that kind of school toilet window glass with the safety mesh inside it.

by Nightjar Sun Mar 22, 2020 5:08 pm

I woke up this morning and, on my way to b-room for w*e w*e, noticed that overnight I'd left my front door open. shifty

by Fangirl Three Sun Mar 22, 2020 5:52 pm

cosmictanya wrote:I actually do have hammers, breadknives, screwdrivers, hockey stick, and baseball bat hidden around the flat at strategic points.

Me too. Lengths of metal pipe, wooden poles, the weight bar from an old set of weights, and a fearsome garden tool called the Neverbend Rootbreaker which - having seen what it can do to vegetation - I sincerely hope I never have to hit someone with.

by **The Call of the Wendigo** Sun Mar 22, 2020 6:01 pm

I have a steel bar.

by Guest Sun Mar 22, 2020 6:02 pm

What is this? Official show us your shank day?

Kenneth

by Fangirl Three Sun Mar 22, 2020 8:08 pm

Forgot to mench, in the before time I always kept the cordless phone handset by my bed at night. I still do, but now next to it there's also a chisel.

by cosmictanya Sun Mar 22, 2020 8:26 pm

Oh no, I don't have any truck with phones in bedrooms. A lamp to read by, and that's your lot as far as modcons go. It's caused a lot of arguments in this residence over the years. I've relented on iPads, but within limits and mainly so I'm not subjected to football matches and other tiresome preferences.

I thought about you earlier - inspired by your highbrow weekend reading habits, I had decided to treat myself to an FT on my way to check on my mother, but I ended up staying in. How are you getting on with the New Yorker?

by Fangirl Three Sun Mar 22, 2020 8:32 pm

cosmictanya wrote:Oh no, I don't have any truck with phones in bedrooms

It was for summoning help on if necessary, not for idle chatter. I don't know anyone who would like being phoned up during my sleeping hours.

I thought about you earlier - inspired by your highbrow weekend reading habits, I had decided to treat myself to an FT on my way to check on my mother, but I ended up staying in. How are you getting on with the New Yorker?

I was reading the online version yesterday night. One thing that annoys me is that sometimes the cover picture is a special animated online version. That's not what I want. I want a simple picture of the printed cover.

I successfully got an FT Weekend yesterday btw. Who knows, it may be my last chance for a while, the current emergency may be what kills off printed newspapers, even the Guardian are talking about going online-only.

by cosmictanya Sun Mar 22, 2020 8:39 pm

I think it would be a tawdry mistake for weekend newspapers. I wouldn't mind them all disappearing during the week, apart from the now free ones that help to make public transport bearable.

The big flagship newspapers ought to have a huge, supplement filled edition on a Saturday or a Sunday. They owe it to their own heritage. Look at cassettes - you write it off and it comes back in.

by cosmictanya Sun Mar 22, 2020 8:46 pm

Shame about the covers, I'd feed that back to them. They might take it on board, or they might give you a couple of free months as a gesture. Either way, you can't lose anything by explaining your sense of disappointment that an iconic feature isn't included.

I am myself expecting a reply from ITV this week about my proposal for the sacking or disciplining, on grounds of gross misconduct, of McGiffin and Moore. I'll bet a few additional lives will be lost because innocent viewers took that shameful segment on trust.

by Fangirl Three Sun Mar 22, 2020 8:46 pm

Absolutely yes. I want to buy a paper once a week and have it last all week. There should be a news bit to read on Saturday/Sunday and then general artsy/lifestyle stuff that is still relevant Monday-Thursday.

Which is why I get the FT Weekend when I can.

by cosmictanya Sun Mar 22, 2020 9:11 pm

I meant to say, some decoys to get your burglar excited is also a worthwhile device. Mine happened entirely by accident - I had a large clear plastic package, filled with ground rose petal powder that had been harvested by Berbers, in the moonlight, in the Atlas Mountains.

This guy obviously thought he had struck gold and was looking at a massive stash of cocaine. He'd opened the packet, and left a discarded receipt that had been rolled into a nasal accessory beside it. It was the only thing that gave me any comfort among the wreckage.

by cosmictanya Fri Mar 27, 2020 6:21 pm

It's all a bit strange. According to others I've spoken to or read about, they are finding home education to be a thankless and difficult task.

Apart from maths containing X and Y equations, which I immediately refused to engage with on the grounds that they made my head hurt, and that I was keeping a promise I made to myself in 1996 that I'd never look at them ever again. Other than that it's been fine.

I feel that my supplements to the curriculum have been wide ranging and responsible, and quite easily managed. I'm also not averse to scoring a red line through something that isn't good enough, which some have said they can't do to their own children.

And the school itself has been marvellous at setting work, checking in, keeping everyone connected, and offering all kinds of guidance from the academic to the pastoral.

by cosmictanya Sun Mar 29, 2020 2:39 pm

Following on from the above glowing positivity, I have accidentally become aware just today of an online subgroup of his friends, including one boy I particularly dislike.

Their tasks seem to be neatly divided up, with my sons contributions and reviews being from the 'Latina' category. Others have efficiently delegated amongst themselves the contributing and reviewing of other specialisms.

I rang Sean and he laughed. I rang my sons father and he said it sounded normal. I rang my brother and he said he could understand my concerns but after I'd read out some of the reviews, didn't think they sounded at all disrespectful so I should comfort myself with that, congratulate myself on a job well done, and mind my own business.

I've tried to ring a successful porn director of my acquaintance, to ask for his take, but his mobile is off. My brother and Sean both thought my sitting him down for a chat might be traumatizing for him, when he hasn't actually done anything unusual or wrong. I can see that might be so, and is a perspective with merit.

by cosmictanya Sun Mar 29, 2020 2:48 pm

Btw, ITV sent a reply, saying that as Loose Women was off air they would revisit my concern once things had calmed down in terms of scheduling etc. I think that sounds more than reasonable under the circumstances. To be fair to Moore, she was the lesser of the two at fault, and doesn't glory in proudly uneducated ignorance the way McGiffin* does.

*~~I have, more than once, heard her described as a 'scr*tum in a wig'. Of course I would never be so cruel as to suggest so to anyone else.~~

by cosmictanya Sun Mar 29, 2020 2:59 pm

I think what we'll do over the next few weeks is have a series of informal chats around some set readings about the world of work, specifically people's motivations and circumstances enhancing or reducing their labour choice, and the never to be understated ethics of being a responsible consumer in all production areas.

I actually have a fascinating and sensitive essay, given to me by a lecturer friend, which discusses the incredible impact of Italian pornography on the lives of working class women in Cairo, so that will come in very handy.

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