*creeps in, utterly shamefaced*

Hullo all. Um. I have no excuse for having been away nearly a year. Except that I suck.

How are you all?

I'm...pretty good. We've been having a fairly tough few months of it, family and work-wise (the usual mix of deaths, divorces (not ours, I hasten to add), stresses, pay-cuts etc etc) but are keeping our heads above water.

Some good things:

I passed my bike test last summer, *finally*, and in October *finally* got my gorgeous little 400 on the road.

( here's a pic for those what are interested )

I went to Berlin and Tampere (in Finland) in September and October respectively to see Negative, and by a series of coincidences and flukes managed to meet all but one of the band (met the two guitarists on the way to check in at Berlin Airport and spent fifteen minutes chatting with them and telling them off for having been up all night drinking, despite the fact that that was exactly what we'd been doing too)...and had a marvellous time. Going back to Tampere in two weeks for Tammerfest (week of gigs, basically) to see lots of bands including Negative and Lovex, and paying a flying visit to Berlin in September to see the thoroughly lovely Private Line. Three cheers for Ryanair and its dirt-cheap airfares, if not its customer service.

Mark is off to Assen in the Netherlands for the motorbike grand prix next weekend with a couple of friends - they're taking the bikes and are all insanely excited about it. *pets them*

Work is trundling along as usual, too much to do and not enough time to do it in, or money to do it with, but never mind.

The cats are thoroughly gorgeous.

Can't think of much else, which is quite shameful. What have you lot been up to?

And Lindsey - omg. I suck so badly. I'm soooo sorry I never replied to your email...I'm a terrible correspondent. Also my memory is lousy, and every time I thought 'oh, I must reply to Lindsey' I was nowhere near the computer, and then when I was, it fell out of my brain again. >.< I will do it, I promise. How's things?

feeling: embarrassed

Apparently Gloucester came within two inches of being evacuated. Two *inches*. Complete evacuation. Jesus.

I knew that the electricity substation that provides us all with our power very nearly flooded - the water came to within two inches of the top of the flood defences earlier in the week, and it was only because of the absolutely heroic efforts of the emergency services and armed forces keeping it pumped out that it wasn't overwhelmed, but I hadn't realised that they were going to evacuate us if it had gone. Apparently, with the other substation out of action from the floods, because we'd have had no power to boil the emergency water that's being distributed, they would've had to get us all out. That's...somewhere in the region of 300,000 people, being taken to rest centres in Bristol and Birmingham, those who didn't have relatives they could go to. I mean...whoa. Guess we can all be thankful it didn't come to that, thanks to those who kept that substation dry. lol, Mark pointed out that it was like Shaun of the Dead up by the shops the other day because everywhere was closed - think how it would've been if we'd all been shipped out completely. Whoa.

It's been raining again today, mind you. Still, I had plastic boxes and tubs and buckets out in the back garden catching the rainfall and got about three bucketfuls, at least, plus what's gone into the water butt, so we have water to flush the loos with for a while. Which is reassuring. Also, we escaped to the in-laws last night as they still have water, so we could have showers and wash our hair and do laundry and washing up - and raid their water butts for rainwater. :D I maintain, we're still a lot luckier than some. I'm still in the position where I can regard it as an Awfully Big Adventure - and I know for a lot of people (including the family of the father and son who died overnight in Tewkesbury after being overcome by fumes from the petrol-powered pump they were using to pump out the local rugby club) it is nothing of the sort. We are very lucky indeed.

(lol. And yay, finally a chance to use my 'wtf?!' icon, featuring the inferior Matt from Game On. Been waiting for an event worthy of that one...)

feeling: shocked
listening to: David Lee Roth - Just Like Paradise

So. You may have seen on the news where you are that the Gloucester area of the UK is under quite a lot of water. I live in Gloucester...fortunately not in the flooded bit, and the waters that delayed my route home on Friday have now receded, but we have no water as the local pumping station got flooded over the weekend. We seem to have the power back now, after heroic efforts by the army and emergency services to keep the electricity substation from flooding, but we are not expecting to have running water for at least seven days, maybe fourteen. We have half a bathful and some pans and bottles, and the developers (we live on a very new estate that's still being built) just dropped round a 19 litre watercooler bottle of spring water, so we're not doing as badly as many people.

I'm doing three-hour days at work, we have no computers as the central network was shut down when they thought the council's hq was going to flood, so we're doing other stuff that needs doing, but can't stay longer because no water = no toilets = health and safety nightmare. The rest of the time I'm kind of working from home, I've got various bits and bobs that I can do.

But we're okay, that's the main thing. Download was good practice for this! We are escaping for a bit this evening, going up to Worcester to visit the in-laws, who still have water and are kindly letting us shower and do laundry and washing up and food shopping (supermarkets here being very busy with people buying water etc). However, it's still not fun not being able to have a shower every day, especially with this much hair. Am considering cornrows.

Still. We didn't flood. We don't have small kids to worry about, we're not elderly or ill, and the cats are okay. All in all, we're lucky. Just wanted to let you all know we're okay. *hugs all round*

feeling: hopeful

( cut for spoilers of course )

feeling: contemplative

So yesterday evening the lovely blackdogdark and I were supposed to be going up into town to Waterstones to the Harry Potter release party event thing. Dressed up (I was going as Bellatrix Lestrange cos that's just about the only one I can get away with, given the long black hair and all) and everything. We missed the last one because Becki had a better offer at the last minute (REM in Hyde Park, so fair enough), and the one before that because it was my friend's wedding. So, this being the last book, we were really looking forward to it.
( cut for ranting )
So no Harry party for us. Gutted, basically. Please nobody tell me what happens. If anyone wants me today I shall be in Starschmucks, reading. Or on the bus, reading. Or on the sofa, reading. If I ever get into town.

feeling: grumpy

Comment to this post with an offer to write in any fandom that you and I have in common. I will answer with a prompt. Then, you will write me comment-fic, snippets, or whatever comes to mind.
Now go post this in your own journal and demand fic of your very own! Make your flist work!

The fandoms in question, I suppose, being LotR, King Arthur, Harry Potter and X-Men (comic or Evolution). Although if anyone fancies writing me anything Memphis Belle, Kinky Boots, or 10 Things I Hate About You-related, please indicate! :D

feeling: curious

So. Back from Download. Well, we've been back since Monday, but first I was too knackered to write it up and then I got floored by the cold of doom so have been too sick. Am now both too sick and too knackered, but sod it, if I don't do it soon I'll have lost all momentum. I know what I'm like.

So. On with the show.

( Cut for the sake of your friends pages...here it is, Download 2007... )

feeling: sick
listening to: AC/DC: For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)

...a belated but no less heartfelt Happy Birthday to my sisterli eowyns_musings for yesterday - hope you had a lovely day!

And thank you also for the brilliant day we had in London, you, me and undomiel_48 - was lovely to see you again and to meet Domi at last. And to revisit some of my old haunts, particularly Camden. :D Even if I was a good girl and managed not to buy anything much... ;D

Anyway, it was an excellent time, and hopefully I'll see you again soon. There's a medieval fair in Tewkesbury in July if you're interested...

And in other news...there isn't much of it. Saw Spider-Man 3 the other day and...enjoyed it, but not as much as 1, though I wasn't all that blown away by 2 either. Hmmmm.

Mark is preparing frantically for his trip - he leaves on Friday. I'm then having a week off to have the house to myself and chill out, not having had any substantial time off yet this year. Can't wait. It'll be scarily quiet without him, mind...this'll be the longest we've been apart almost since we got together, so it's going to be very strange indeed.

Planning a trip with blackdogdark, as payback for Mark buggering off on his bike with his mates - heading off to some random European city in September with a bit of luck. I was hoping to coincide with someone's (anyone's!) gig schedule in Helsinki or Stockholm but it doesn't look like it's happening. However, Berlin at the end of September is looking promising... ;D

And we're going to Download in a couple of weeks. Can't wait. :D Mmmmmm, Hardcore Superstar, Velvet Revolver and My Chemical Romance...(much to Mark's despair, but then Megadeth, Mötley Crüe and Iron Maiden are playing too...) :D:D:D

feeling: awake

Deargod. Been a while, hasn't it?

Well. Um. So what have I been up to in the *counts* five and a half months since I last updated?

Mostly, I've been working. We are somewhat shortstaffed in my team (we've gone from five full-time equivalent qualified staff to one and a half, me being the one), and the workload just keeps getting bigger. I've also had a project to finish, a whole load of freelance work to do, and we've just launched a very high-profile exhibition marking the 200th anniversary of the British involvement in the transatlantic slave trade, for which I built the web resource (available here if anyone's interested in taking a look). My time management is useless as usual, so I've mostly been running around feeling very flustered and losing track of time. Still, five and a half months is pretty shockingly neglectful. Sorry, all.

On the non-work front, I've been seeing a lot of bands. Since last year I've seen AFI, Doro Pesch, the Backyard Babies (including having a pint kicked over me - accidentally - by the lovely Dregen), Vain, the Wildhearts (twice), Keane (finally, having been stuck in traffic for six hours the first time we tried to go), Placebo, the Eagles of Death Metal ( \m/ ), the Deathstars, and most recently the very very lovely and huggable Kill Hannah. Also been doing a lot of writing, though not much on the books, and have discovered the fun world of rp.

The cats continue to grow up shamefully cute, and the house and garden are coming on, though slowly - plenty of trips to Ikea, and I've just recently planted myself a little formal herb garden with box hedges and everything, which is something I've wanted for a long time. The cats keep digging the plants up, but I'm hoping that if I keep reburying the roots they'll establish...

Oh, and I redid my CBT at the weekend, so I'm legally allowed to ride my little 100cc practice bike again - or I will be when I've got the tax, MOT and insurance sorted. Shouldn't take too much training before I'm ready to take my test, and then I can ride my lovely 400cc sportsbike - once we've got it working, of course. Mark has recently been given an advance on his inheritance in the shape of an utterly gorgeous 2004 Yamaha R1, which is extra incentive to me to get my licence - not that he'll let me ride it, most likely, but it's bloody uncomfortable to ride pillion on...

Think that's all for now. So. How've you all been?

feeling: accomplished
listening to: The Mission - Into the Blue

edwards no 8 destroyed by fire

Fuck.

I wouldn't exactly say spiritual home, but I practically lived in this place when I lived in Birmingham, and it was the only rock club left from those days, the only place we ever went back to. I was there a month or so ago with redwendi and samphirette. And now it's gone.

This keeps happening to the places I love. When I lived in Coventry, the pub we used to go in, with the only decent rock night in town, was burnt out one night. It never opened again as we knew it, only as one of those hideous yellow 'Scream' student pubs. It had a rock night for a bit but it wasn't the same.

And now Edwards. I have to admit I'd wondered how long it'd stay open, given that posh new apartment blocks have been going up all round it and the sort of people who live there probably don't want a scuzzy little rock club in the area (which makes me wonder if this was a pre-emptive strike or an insurance job - but why do it on a Saturday night when there were 500 people inside?). I note that the fire service 'believe' everyone got out. I fucking hope everybody did.

Fuck. I'm rather wishing I hadn't looked at the 'in pictures' story because it's got me in pieces, that beautiful building just a burnt-out shell...all the amazing artwork on the walls, gone, the place I had *so* much fun, made *so* many friends, just...gone. Burnt. Gutted. And fuck, __undertherose, this means I'll never get to take you there. Which means you'll never get to see where Matthew met the Twins. Which means...fuck. Bastards. Just...bastards.

It'll be yuppie flats before a year has passed.

(Sorry I haven't been around, by the way. Work is insane, the rest of my time seems taken up with various things, including work, and I just haven't really felt like updating. Thought this merited it though.)

I'm going to go away again now. See you all...whenever.

feeling: distressed
listening to: Muse - Knights of Cydonia

Deargod, I'm tired. I've just finished my last week of work before two weeks off and have been frantically rushing around trying to get everything done. Failed miserably, of course but whatever didn't get done will have to wait until I get back. The last substantial time off I had was in April when we went to Whitby (which seems *years* ago) - I had three days off in May for housemoving things, and a couple of days in June, one to see sasha_b in London, and one to go to my sister-in-law's wedding. And since then everyone else in my team has had substantial time off because they've all got kids and I haven't, so everything has been landing on me (I'm the only full-time member of the team, also)...including my line manager being off for a month and therefore everything she usually deals with mostly landing on my desk. I'm knackered.

Had quite a good week musically, though. Ordered Negative's albums and singles (finally) from cdon.com last Sunday - based in Sweden - and they arrived Wednesday which is pretty stunning. All except the new album which isn't out till the end of the month but that's okay because I've got a non-existent leaked copy *eyedart* thanks to wickedvalo666 :D

Also discovered yesterday that Vain are coming back!!!!!! Squeeeee! They're doing a festival thingie in Nottingham (with the mighty Tigertailz) and a gig at JBs on 18 and 22 November respectively. Can't wait. colfish and pinstrype, fancy going? They're playing Camden Underworld on 21 November too, which might be more useful to you guys of course.

So there you have it. I'm taking two weeks off now, mostly just to write and chill out and recharge my batteries. Really looking forward to it... :)

feeling: exhausted
listening to: Vain - Love Drug

...Marc Bolan, who died 29 years ago today. Much loved and missed.

Also, a belated one for Freddie Mercury who would've been 60 last week. I'm sure he'd have loved all the fuss.

feeling: thoughtful

Title: Home
Word Count: 100
Challenge: 1A (picture prompt)
Characters/Pairings: Gawain (slight implication of Gawain/Galahad)
Author's Notes: O.O Whoa. I honestly thought my KA muses had given up on me (been too distracted by original muses of late), but I clicked on the prompt anyway, saw the pic, and suddenly there was Gawain going "It's so *small*! You know, it used to be a lot bigger than that." And then there was the drabble. So thanks to sasha_b and ka100 for kicking him into action for me!

( Home )

Tags: fic: king arthur
feeling: surprised

Swinging by very quickly before work, just to say:

Happy birthday, niniel_amaya!!!!

Big snuggles to you, sweetie, and I hope you're having a lovely day. *squishes*

feeling: rushed

So. It turns out that the National Archives are putting Domesday Book online from today (here, if anyone is interested), and because it was commissioned in Gloucester, the local media have been wanting to do interviews and stuff. Of course, nobody else wanted to do it, so guess who ended up talking to BBC Radio Gloucestershire at 7.15am this morning in a car park in Churchdown (once a village, now a suburb of Gloucester), and to Central News (local TV) at 4pm this afternoon in front of Gloucester Cathedral. Fame and fortune beckon? Probably not. The spot on Central News was a tiny soundbite in the middle of an article (though I didn't look too bad, having had about zero time to prepare myself), but the Radio Glos thing was a little more expansive. We've managed to snag it from the 'listen again' bit of the BBC's website and Mark is currently editing and tidying it, so if anyone wants to hear me rambling on about the Domesday Book on local radio, drop me a line and I'll sling it on over.

( cut for ramblings on work, kittens, music and a book meme... )

feeling: accomplished
listening to: Rammstein - Benzin (on Scuzz TV)

Happy birthday, sasha_b!!!

Sorry it's late! Yesterday turned extremely hectic...hope you had a brilliant day, and here's hoping for many more. *hugs* :D

feeling: busy

...someone? I'm feeling oddly down today. Too much to do and no idea where to start. Scared of starting. I don't know. Possible big changes are in the air, and it's making me nervous.

*sigh*

So. A plea. Cheer me up, please. I don't mind what with - a ficlet, a picture, a joke, a funny story...anything you think might make me smile. Eternal love and gratefulness for those who feel they can help. :)

In the meantime, I'm off to help build a shed. Maybe that might lift my mood...though I doubt it, somehow.

feeling: melancholy

England are out of the World Cup. Finally. Maybe now the country will go back to some semblance of normality and everyone will stop talking about fucking football all the bloody time. *is not a fan*

Also, maybe now all those idiots with flags on their cars might take them off and stop risking killing bikers when the cheap plastic breaks and the flag flies off at 90mph on the motorway. I don't buy all this 'oh, we're being patriotic' bullshit. If they were being patriotic, they'd fly the flag every day of every year, not just when there's a football tournament on.

Okay. Rant over. I just kinda needed to get that off my chest.

In much cheerier news, we have two new kittens!! Mark volunteers for Cats Protection and knows a lady who fosters cats and kittens, and she had these darling wee kitties that had been born under a shed and are still semi-feral...would we like to tame two of them up? Would we ever?! So we went to pick them up today and are now the proud guardians of a little black male called Jamie, and a little black-and-white female who is awaiting a suitable name. They're still very wary and tend to hiss when we go to pick them up, but they came and sat with us while we watched Underworld Evolution earlier (not that we were paying much attention, didn't think it was that good), and wee Jamie pretty much fell asleep on my lap, which is a breakthrough as he's very nervous and prone to hiding; and his sister spent much of her time running around and hiding under the bed and in the litter tray. Bless. We're keeping them separate from our other two for a few days and then introducing them gradually - Magick and Faerie are young enough to adapt fairly well to kittens apparently, so that should be okay. They really are incredibly cute...*happy sigh*

And it's hot. Very hot. Glad it wasn't quite this hot last weekend and during the week when we were frantically cleaning and clearing the old house ready to hand the keys back on Thursday evening. blackdogdark very kindly came over last Saturday and helped me clean upstairs, and we've spent the rest of the week cleaning the kitchen, clearing the garden, shifting rather a lot of soil (clearing an old compost heap mostly consisting of the turf I moved to create the flowerbeds four years ago), hoovering anything that stayed still long enough, and generally wearing ourselves out. And then it was Mark's sister's wedding yesterday, which was very lovely, if a little dull for us because we didn't know many people there. Still, we got to see some family we don't see very often, which was nice, Tracey looked gorgeous, and it was about fucking time they did it, too, so three cheers for Tracey and Jon.

Right. I'm off to bed, I think. It's been a long week. See y'all soon.

feeling: relieved

*sigh* Bloody hayfever. I've taken three tablets this evening (three times the recommended dose) and I'm still bloody sneezing.

However. In other news. We are nearly all moved in; tomorrow and Sunday are set aside for clearing and cleaning the old house and clearing the garden; blackdogdark is very kindly coming over to help and hopefully we'll get it all sorted, as we have to give the keys back next Friday.

The new house, meanwhile, is lovely, if full of boxes. Need a few more bookshelves (hello Ikea) but the third excuse-for-a-bedroom has bookcases on one side and CD shelves on the other and is beginning to look rather like a library (inasmuch as a six-foot-by-six-foot-nine room can look like anything approaching a library...), which was the intention. :) The cats are settling in, the internet is working, and it's all beginning to feel like home.

In other other news...this month I have mostly been listening to Negative and AFI. And heaven help me, Davey AFI's new haircut is growing on me. I was all devastated at first cos he had *such* lovely long hair, but that whole asymmetric thing...does rather suit him. I'm also rather intrigued by the very long-haired-and-muso-esque Dragonforce...we've got Sky now rather than Telewest, so we get the fabulous Scuzz, which appears to be like Kerrang!TV but better. And we went to see Mesh last Friday night with Ciaran and Cat and blackdogdark and redwendi (who was en route to a film set, having signed up to be an extra in Sean Bean's new movie...which frustratingly has been being filmed around here and I had no idea about it until afterwards...), and they were bloody wonderful *happy sigh*. Meanwhile, am contemplating a little email campaign about Negative, cos I suspect they'd go over a storm with the classic rock community over here. Reckon Arrow, Planet Rock, Scuzz and Classic Rock ought to be nudged and informed about them, at least, not to mention possible gig venues. Because they really need to get their skinny Finnish asses over here and tour. :D

Anyway. I'm off to wait up for Placebo on the Friday Night Project on Channel 4. Hopefully the sneezing will abate eventually. *sigh*

feeling: irritated
listening to: all sorts of stuff on Scuzz

A flying visit to the house with the internet connection, just to say...

Happy Birthday, undomiel_48!!!

Have a lovely day, and hopefully I'll speak to you soon! *hugses* ♥

feeling: rushed