Me ma's in hospital. Good vibes, please.
Stranger Things Have Happened
If somebody could explain to me why I spend an entire day feeling excruciatingly guilty over telling my manager that I'm still ill and, no, I do not know when I'll be back at work, then leave me a comment. I shouldn't feeling guilty for telling the truth but I suspect it's that old authority thing. You know, you see a policeman and you instantly feel like you should be locked up for some crime? Okay, maybe that's just me .. I can't remember where I found this, but it's actually very good: Garfield Without Garfield. Remember that 1980s comic strip about a fat cat and its owner? That comic strip is actually still in circulation back where my parents live. Whenever they send me a parcel, they always wrap things in the local paper* and Garfield's there peeking up at me with some bad pun involving lasagna. Gah. But Garfield Without Garfield is different. There is no fat cat spouting lasagna puns; it's been removed. And the result is a comic strip that's far funnier and stranger than you might expect.
*click only if you are really bored, able to read Danish and have an unhealthy fascination with farming communities.
Yarn Mention Of the Day: I ordered some yarn off teh interwebs thinking it'd be burgundy with a few freckles of pink. It turned out to be chocolate with quite a lot of pink. I feel like I'm knitting with Neapolitan ice cream.. which is bad for my sweet tooth. Mmm, ice cream..
Twitching
Following Friday's unfortunate stroll, I decided I should probably take things easy. What brought it home? It was possibly the fact that when I passed out on Friday, I narrowly escaped having my forehead cut open thanks to broken glass lying on the ground. This time I was lucky and as for next time .. there will not be a next time. I'll be taking things very, very easy from now on. No more marathon computer sessions, no more computer games and I'll try very hard to squeeze as much sleep into my day as I possibly can.
I'm thirty-two, intelligent, out-going and occasionally I'm witty too. And some days I can't even manage the five-minute walk up to the local supermarket. I have no idea what on earth is wrong with me and I am seemingly stuck in a slightly chaotic health care system (apologies to all Britons, but my experience of UK vs Danish heath care definitely gives the Danish heath care system the upper hand - and I've had some pretty dire experiences with Danish doctors in my time). Right now I feel as though my doctor is expecting me to give her a diagnosis - not the other way around. It's quite, quite frustrating.
Also, I am suffering from cabin fever. Know what it's like being stuck in bed with a cold for a week? Try imagining yourself stuck in that situation for a few months. I've begun knitting. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy it but I knit whilst watching Crufts, for heaven's sake. And I wear slippers an awful lot. It is as though my life has decided to skip straight to me being eighty-four.
Good things:
+ A worrying family situation has improved.
+ Other Half has taken up making ice-cream. He is very good at this.
+ Friends and family send me beautiful, beautiful yarn.
+ Doctor Who is back on TV! AND the Ofishul Doctor Who exhibition is coming to Glasgow next year!
+ Elbow's latest album, The Seldom Seen Kid makes me beam.
+ And the daffodils are in bloom, so even if I end up with my face flat on the ground, I can look at pretty things.
Bad Things Not Mentioned Thus Far:
+ I try to knit fingerless gloves for Other Half (using organic Scottish wool - locally sourced too - gosh, I'm such a Guardian reader, am I not?) but I end up hating every thing I knit and frog it mercilessly. Grrr..
Fragments
I have my book! I also have dirt on my forehead from when I blacked-out in the middle of a path and somehow avoided the broken glass bits. And in a minute or so I will have a cup of coffee right next to me. Life is so exciting! Confession: I have a weakness for very silly Ben Stiller films. Dodgeball and Zoolander, particularly tickle my funny bone. So, when I saw the trailer for Tropic Thunder, I felt compelled to spread the news: think Apocalypse Now but with Ben Stiller as an action hero, Steve Coogan as the director and, er, Robert Downey Jr as an Australian Oscar-winning ah-k-tor who takes method acting to extremes .. It'll probably be utterly naff but I like being utterly naff at times. Sue me.
Okay, less naff entertainment: do judge a book by its cover. Aww..
On Parcels Expected And Unexpected
Isn't that just pretty?
My Canadian friend, Fearthainn, wrote to me asking for my snail mail when she realised that a) I had rediscovering crocheting and knitting and b) I had fallen ill.
And she has just sent me the most beautiful handspun yarn I have ever seen in my life. Yes, she is a yarn-spinner and a knitter and I'm a bit in awe. I have no idea what I'll make from these skeins of beauty (the picture does not do them justice - trust me) but I'll be beaming like an utter fool whilst knitting. Thank you, C. It may be a small gesture for you, but it means a lot to me.
In other news, my postman might just be a tiny bit scared of me because these past few days I have been eyeing him somewhat obsessively. I pre-ordered the new Philip Pullman from Amazon on March 23. Now I may have mixed up the dates slightly and have been looking forward to the book arriving as early as Tuesday (it's published today, Thursday), so apologies to the postie .. but it also turns out that a certain net-based bookseller has f'd up and I won't get my book until, er, Monday. Do you think if I scare my postman even more, he might be inclined to find the book parcel for me personally and bring it to me sooner than that?
Yes, I know there are bookshops in Glasgow and they'll have it in stock .. but I'm house-bound right now due to me being slightly too active earlier on this week. Boo. Hiss.
At least I have Radiohead playing live on the Beeb streaming through the speakers and so the world's okay and everything is in its right place. Except my book. Which should be in my hand.
Saving Our Botanics
The Glasgow Botanic Garden is a treasure grove of abandoned Victorian buildings, rose gardens, playing grounds, medicinal plant beds, squirrels chasing squirrels and big glasshouses filled to the brim with exotic plants.
For some unfathomable reason, a property developer has decided that it would be a really fantastic idea to put a nightclub in the middle of this. And for an even more unfathomable reason, the idea has actually made it to the City Council.
Quite apart from the fact that the Botanics provide a wonderful gateway to the River Kelvin, that they are a real haven in the midst of the very busy West End and that you already have numerous nightclubs in the area, the suggested site is the abandoned railway station dating back to the late 19th century.
The railway station lies underground and its platforms are only visible in glimpses - magical, wildly absurd glimpses - and in order to redevelop it, a large portion of the Botanics would need to be disturbed. A protected species of bats live in the rail way tunnels. They will lose their habitat.
So, today we went to the Botanics, were handed small flags staking a claim to the Botanics and planted our flags in the wet, muddy place that might just turn into a nightclub. The organisers had managed to gather a huge crowd, the sun came out just in time for the news cameras and children played among the daffodils. I'm a firm believer in ordinary people being able to use our voice to change things. I hope our voice will be heard.
Save Our Botanics // More than 1,000 people gather in the Botanics // Botanics protest held in West End