juliet | Entries tagged with allotment

Splint came off on Wednesday (a week early due to the physio miscounting, but they said it seems to have healed fine so may as well get on with it). This is VERY PLEASING. It's still a bit achey (especially when I do the painful physio exercises to get the range of motion back), but I can, y'know, move it around and so forth. (Still not v good at holding things, sadly.)

This also means I can CYCLE again, albeit somewhat against advice. (My justification: a) it doesn't hurt, as long as I take it off the bars for potholey bits so it doesn't get jiggled, and the physio said anything that doesn't hurt is fine; b) I'm riding fixed so don't need to brake with that hand, just to balance a bit; c) it says 'sport' is not OK and I do not cycle as a 'sport'; d) yesterday I met someone who broke his leg in 3 places and is still riding fixed in the walking cast, so, um, I am not the least sensible person?). It is *so* good to be back on a bike and not reliant on buses/Tubes/etc, especially as fares are bloody expensive.

I do not think I will be riding long distances just yet, though!

ION: Sidney is currently snoozing under my desk in just the right place for me to warm my toes up on her. Bless.

IOON: the allotment has some weeds in, but happily also some actual veg. Also strawberries.

I am sure I have been doing things other than having a broken thumb and visiting the allotment of late, but apparently I have forgotten all of them. This is what happens when you don't update very often. This weekend I intend to visit the carnival thing that's happening in Southwark Park (no dogs, sadly, so Sid will have to miss out on the dodgems and tango lessons), and go check out the gardens on the barges at Tower Bridge (part of Open Garden Squares Weekend). So I hope it stops raining before then.

I have been meaning to make an actual post but keep totally failing, so here is a round-up of bits & pieces instead.

Sidney & me at the BP AGM last week. In further PUPDATE news, Sid is doing v well, apart from an unfortunate tendency to wake up at 6am (and when Sidney wakes up...). Ignoring her gets her to settle down until 6.30 but no longer than that. Also she chewed the laces & the Velcro off my bike shoes yesterday. She's getting pretty good at coming when called in the park, though, unless she's found something edible elsewhere (e.g. another person with *better* biscuits). She is, of course, generally utterly adorable. (Currently she is bugging me to go for a walk, but has given up and is killing one of her toys instead.) Another Sidney photo.

I have been ludicrously busy of late -- it's That Time Of Year on both allotment & balcony, & with the latter in particular as I am in the process of writing a book about growing stuff in containers I am having to make sure I don't let things slide this year! Having a bit more time to get down the allotment in the week is making things there seem more in control now, though, which is nice. Also the asparagus has started (v tasty although a slight odd bitterness to it; I have no idea why & the internet is unhelpful), as has the rhubarb.

Been visiting or being visited by lots of people (lovelybug, some old friends from school, C and ladyjulian), which has been lovely; and went up to DO RESEARCH (or to BE RESEARCHED ON, rather) by menthe_reglisse last weekend, which was great fun both in terms of the actual workshop & the sitting around chatting to nice people afterwards. Plus it was a seriously gorgeous day, just right for wandering up through the village and sitting out in the garden & later the pub. This weekend I am off to Bangface, so am hoping the good weather will continue.

Informative Things:

Petition to stop Kiana Firouz being deported. She's an Iranian lesbian, who's been refused asylum and now faces being deported to a country where homosexuality is punished by 100 lashes on a first offence and potentially death on a third. Apparently the Home Office believes that it's OK to deport gay and lesbian people in such circumstances, because they can be "discreet". Never mind that, as ladyjulian in a country where women are strongly expected and may even be forced to marry, "discreet" means at best a loveless marriage and at worst regular rape. Good to see the Home Office looking out for the rights of women and minorities, there. See also this short document from UKLGIG (link from ladyjulian) which had me raging.
LJ has started rewriting outbound links to include its own affiliate codes again. (see also here, which includes how to stop this happening to your links. Or if you want a Dreamwidth invite, let me know.

Right, I must away and finish packing.

Just to get rid of open FF tabs again...

Sexism at Newsweek: in 1970 and now; also a comment piece over at Racialicious drawing attention to the very-white-focussed nature of the Newsweek article.
The Economist on the demise of cap-and-trade in the US. Unfortunately this appears to be largely down to public denial in the face of climate change, rather than, e.g., because carbon trading fundamentally sucks.
What to do now the Digital Economy Bill has been rushed through Parliament (aka: it's not quite over yet).
Drugs, maths, hallucinations, and the visual neurons (with thanks to doop). Well worth a read. I particularly like the research scientist who conducted his research by taking peyote. Sadly this was in the 1920s, and his modern equivalents do not do such things; or at least, they don't admit to it.
Apparently this is very good chocolate. I would like to buy some, but the shipping is as much as the chocolate, so I'll wait till I'm next over in Kensington & can visit Rococo, which sadly will take rather longer to happen than it would have done when I was still working in Kensington. OTOH, this way I don't drop nearly a fiver on chocolate, which is quite a lot of money however good the chocolate is.

ION: have had a lovely fortnight's holiday in, variously, Northern Ireland, and Boston (Lincolnshire, not the other one); of that latter, more anon. Now I am back in London & surprisingly busy for someone whose work is only full-time in the loosest possible sense (i.e. that sense in which it is the only thing that I am doing in the paid work line, rather than any sense in which I actually work an approximation to what this society considers to be full-time hours. I like it very much this way.). The dog continues to be adorable, time-consuming, and an agent of chaos. And it is spring properly today ftb I wore my sandals to the park. Down with proper shoes! Also the first tiny asparagus shoots are appearing in the allotment.

Things I have been doing this week:

Harvesting weeds and experimenting with herbal teas from actual herbs (thyme with a little honey is good for sniffly blocked-up-ness, it seems).
Hanging out with Finlay, who continues to work hard on his "lying down and snoozing" skills. He's also getting much better at down-stay, & will now stay put for long enough for me to go upstairs & fetch things, as long as I do it quickly. (This is good as the stairs aren't great for his hips, really.) His ear infection is back, so ho! for the vets where he behaved very very well until he tried to bite the vet :/ whilst having Ear 2 examined, after which he behaved very very well again. I am a little concerned but hoping it was a one-off and will spend time prodding at his ears to teach him not to react. This evening we have found out that he likes chestnuts.
Visiting lovelybug and bathtubgin -- lovely to see both of them! Finlay came too, and we went for a nice walk around the common.
Starting New Job! Except I'm not properly working yet because I need to observe lessons before I can teach them. First observation is tomorrow afternoon.
Fixing sysadmin-y things for the Organisation for Transformative Works.
Starting in on the Russian-learning again from the free online version of the Princeton Russian Course, which (so far) is very good. I am moving very slowly through it. привет!
Dealing with the Continuing Sciatica Saga. Vascular surgeon confirms that it is sciatica rather than Exploding Leg Disease. Nice sports/remedial massage person charged me a really quite reasonable sum of money to cause me significant pain in a hopefully-therapeutic fashion (it does feel better today, after aching like hell post-massage. GP has promised to refer me to physio. Progress!
Going climbing! Which is probably not good for the leg but hey, I FAIL TO CARE, because if I let my various joint issues stop me from doing stuff then I would have been stapled to the sofa for the last several years. (Except sitting on the sofa hurts atm too, so, um.) Anyway. I am improving! Also I fall off at intervals. Both of these are good things. (Falling off because that implies I'm trying to climb beyond my abilities, which is how you improve, right?)
Baking biscuits. Mmm tasty biscuits.
Contemplating NaNoWriMo.
Buying books at the Anarchist Bookfair. Which was top fun.

Right, that will do.

I have half a carrier bag full of strawberry runners (extracted from the rhubarb patch in the allotment, which they were doing their very best to colonise, last week). Anyone want 'em? Can't guarantee that they'll thrive, especially since they've been in a carrier bag for a week, but stick them in compost, water, & find out. They were certainly thriving pretty bloody well in the allotment. Possible free strawberries!

(I already have 2 pots full...)

Current Mood: busy

Current Mood: busy

Yesterday I was blonde. (well, sort of)

Today I am green. Hurrah. Not sure if I will stick with it post-Glasto or go back to blue; we'll see how well it lasts (I suspect less well than the blue).

Other weekend activity included: watching the Glastonbury film at the Scoop with

dogrando,

marnameow, &

uon & drinking *way* too much red wine (the film was ace though!); being hungover (whoops); failing to go boshing due to being knackered; lots of allotmenting (weeding & planting things & harvesting more lovely raspberries & the first blackberries); eating pizza; watching DR WHO OMGELEVEN; 2 visits to the greasy spoon; assorted exciting household chores; checking the tent for Glastonbury (it is intact, good).

Current Mood: green
Current Music: DI.fm

dogrando,

marnameow, &

Current Mood: green
Current Music: DI.fm

I have ALL THE RASPBERRIES IN THE WORLD (OK, a margarine tub full) fresh from the allotment (extra bonus: B12 content in tiny bugs that will also doubtless be accidentally consumed). Also one Alpine strawberry & 2 blueberries.

It rained overnight so I didn't have to actually water the allotment as intended. I did tidy up some piles of weeds, though.

It is Friday!

It is Glastonbury next week. Indeed this time next week I will be waking up in a tent & hopefully someone will be about to put the storm kettle on. Aw man.

I am *finally* dying my hair over the weekend so it will no longer be pink/blonde with 2" dark roots. Instead it will be GREEN.

ETA: Another good thing: I thought I'd lost my 21st-birthday ring, but in fact I managed to leave it at home & P has just found it. Hurrah.

Public service reminder: it is Fathers' Day on Sunday, for those of you who observe this.

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Music: DI.fm psytrance