The House Husband

Our garden is a quagmire. I noticed that even Day-z has started picking out the tiny islands of grass to walk on, afraid she’ll vanish in the bog. Of course, Carmen just charges through it, making it worse. I have made a few trips up the back but generally avoided it for fear of being sucked under.

Our mud garden

And so the day has been spent largely inside. I went shopping, of course, and had my coffee in Starbucks.

Actually I was in Starbucks, happily reading The Indian Mutiny – 1857 on my reader when a cheery voice beside me said “Oh, hello!” It was Alex, who used to work there but then worked in Cote. She is working on her final piece for uni and has, therefore, given up work. So she says. She graduates in July but her piece has to be in by May. She’s at the uni here so I’m assuming she’s doing something arty.

I asked her what she was going to do when she’s finished. She thought it over and then said, with utter confidence “Do a Masters.” She thought for a bit more then said “And another Masters. I can just keep doing lots of Masters.” I smiled, unsure if she was being serious. She’s Schumanian and maybe I didn’t get the joke intonation or something. However, I think she was serious.

This then made me wonder what sort of arty Masters you could do and what the dissertation would be about. Make a wedding dress, maybe. Or stuff a doona. Then I thought about Mirinda and her multitude Masters of Arts and figured I’d best stop thinking about it.

I made myself toad in the hole for dinner which, while I loved it, is also a major treat for the dogs. The minute I take the sausages out of the wrapper they are sitting in the kitchen watching and waiting. As they bubble and spit beneath the grill, the dogs sit and watch them, enthralled like kids watching Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs for the first time. When I take the snags out, they get all excited, thinking I’ll just pop them into their mouths like dolphins with fish. They then guard them – well, Day-z does, Carmen feigns a careless disregard by going into the lounge for a sleep – until they are cold enough for me to cut up and drop in their bowls. And they don’t waste any time tasting them! God no. They’re gone in seconds and then the dogs are back in the kitchen looking for the rest.

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed my dinner though possibly not as much as Mirinda did her Moroccan dinner in Bath today.

¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
I spotted this on blip today. It is from someone who lives and works in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was posted the day of the quake. I think it shows the power of blogging that we can get such a human perspective on events happening in the world these days. Broadcast news is always a distant, unattached view; this is a real person. I felt sad but also cheered by the human spirit. It’s well worth a read: New Zealand

What a grey, dull day it was today. It even managed to drizzle later on. One of those days that talking about the weather is just made for. Everyone I said hello to on the way to the shops made a comment about how awful it was. Such an English thing.

During our walk in the park today we stopped and chatted with lots of dogs. The girls were (mostly) well behaved. Mainly because they didn’t see all of them. It was the squirrels, you see. As we strolled along the avenue of trees, the tiny furry things would rush from one side to the other. It was perfectly synchronised. One would take off from the left and another from the right but a few trees further along.

This isn’t that unusual. What was unusual was that any dogs coming towards us immediately veered away from the poodles and after the squirrel. Meanwhile, Carmen & Day-z would do the same in the opposite direction. This meant the dogs never met! Genius. You’d think the squirrels had been trained for it.

When we arrived at the blue door, having inspected the makings of the bonfire for next week, I noticed a disgusting aroma. It was Carmen. She can be amazingly clever at sneaking in a good FSI. So I made her jump up on a bench and took this picture. I then noticed the old couple in the distance.

The puppies smiling because they know they'll be getting a bath!

You probably can’t see them properly in this photo but they are seated on fold up chairs, painting the fallen log and autumn colours. If you want to see them properly, I blipped them. The photo is here. They looked very peaceful. Even from behind.

Back home, the poodles were unceremoniously bundled into the bath and scrubbed unmercifully. I then finished the door for the cupboard. I should say: I’m very happy that I finally finished the cupboard door today. It needed another coat of paint and a small piece of timber in the back because the handle screws were too long. But it’s finished now! Yay.

Here’s the poodles after a jolly good scrubbing.

Wet but clean

¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
After reading Mirinda’s comment yesterday regarding more photo albums of places as well as holidays etc, I had a look around and found some (you can see them here). While looking, I also discovered that all the old photo albums no longer work. The code is lacking something to operate in the later browsers.

Rather than recode them all, I decided I’d need to recreate them in the newer style. This takes a long time! Though possibly no longer than recoding. I have by no means finished but at least Tuscany, Flag Fen and Fishbourne are now working again.

Mirinda also mentioned that the park is looking rather autumnal. It being autumn, this is perhaps not surprising. Actually our street, as usual, is ablaze with colour. Sadly the light wasn’t very good today…this is the best I could do.

Autumn in our street

From a lovely sunny day, to a wet night. We had clouds scuddering all day but generally the sky was bright and happy. Not so Carmen. She was fine early on. I put the lead on them to go for a walk and they bounced and carried on as usual. There was a bit of confusion when the phone rang, just as we were on our way out the door and I answered it to chat to Mirinda. It was lead off, collars back on and a wait for them both. They were very confused…to say the least.

Anyway, after the false start, we headed out for a second time. We stood at the beginning of the Avenue of Trees for the unleashing and they waited obediently for me to say “relax”, before racing off into the little wood, where they always race off.

Generally speaking, Carmen comes dashing out first and I have to call Day-z but not today. Day-z came bounding out but Carmen was dawdling behind, sort of limping on a back leg. She does this sometimes, obviously trodden on a thorn or some such. I gave her foot the once over and everything seemed fine but it didn’t stop her sort of limping.

I say sort of because it wasn’t a pronounced limp, just a sort of favouring of one side. Then the oddest thing happened. She walked slowly the rest of the walk. Slower than me. It was like walking with a very old dog with very old dog things wrong with her. She didn’t look too cheerful either although her tail was up – generally a very good indicator of her mood.

We stopped on a bench for bit to give her a rest in case she’d just sprained something. This seemed to work and she was fine for the final trot back. Day-z, I should stress, was her usual self.

Back at home Carmen has done nothing. Even when I went outside to work up near the shed she stayed inside – unheard of. Her nose is warm and she looks decidedly morose. Maybe she ate something that has disagreed with her. Hopefully she’ll be fine in the morning. Day-z continues unconcerned.

While walking we did see something quite funny which the girls avoided. Two women, one pushing a pram and two dogs, one of which was holding a big stick in it’s mouth.

They were both small dogs – one a terrier the other a Jack Russell. The terrier had the stick and was teasing the Jack Russell, who wanted it…BADLY! The Jack Russell was yapping and bouncing and trying to take the stick but the terrier just wandered around, avoiding the snapping jaws and generally annoying the Jack Russell. It was very funny and the two women were in fits.

It’s funny how dogs get so obsessed. I mean the park is full of sticks but the Jack Russell just had to have the one the terrier had.

Here’s a photo of Carmen looking quite cheeky on the bench where we rested.

Puppies in the park - Carmen looking very cheeky!

My thoughts are with you tonight, Claire. xxx

It all started sedate enough. The usual 7:30 wake up call to Mirinda, breakfast then a lovely walk in the park for the puppies and me. We saw lots of dogs out and about but none the poodles were interested in. There was one little fluff ball of a puppy who just wanted to play with Carmen but she went all shy and ran away. The puppy was called Lilian – Lilly for short.

It’s pretty typical of Carmen. She clearly doesn’t remember what it was to be young and boisterous. And she needs to run around a lot. At her last weigh in the vet said she needed to get more exercise and eat less food. Neither of these options appeal to her. In fact, her idea of exercise is dreaming about running in the park. Her feet go like Billy-O!

Not so Day-z. Slim, manic, Day-z. Though she tends to run away from anything and everything, so maybe that’s why she’s not overweight!

Anyway, having walked them and taken possession of our newest possession (a Garmin SatNav – I was totally convinced about the wonder of these in France with both John and Darren having them in their cars) I quickly showered then left for my usual lunch date with Mirinda.

I sat in the reception area, sipping my Starbucks, watching her take control of a meeting she was having in a corridor in front of me. I love the way she stands up. The other people are completely put off. Keeps them on edge. A wonderful tactic, skilfully employed.

Anyway, we had our usual wander around London streets and lunch at Eat, before I dropped her back at the office. But, unlike most Wednesdays, my day was far from over.

My next stop was Malpins, the electronics store. Mirinda’s DVD in the flat is being very temperamental and she needs a replacement. I checked online and found a very reasonable mini jobbie at Malpins, so that’s where I went. The fact that Malpins is a massive store full of all things that make boys shiver with anticipation, had nothing to do with it.

Actually, there was little time for shivering (sad face) as I took a box from the shelf, paid for it then left. Interestingly a postcode was not required this time although I was ready for them. This is just the sort of double standard that drives me crazy! Still, I took the box and walked quickly over to Liverpool Street station to board a very bumpy bus to Docklands.

I was in and out of the flat in around 15 minutes. In that time I managed to collect the mail (it is all addressed to me after all, and Mirinda never collects it anyway), unpack and install the DVD player and threw the old one and packaging away. I had to write the code for the garbage room on my hand because no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t memorise the 7 characters involved.

Still, I was back on the road to South Quay DLR station like the Flash, just missing a train. Not that this matters much. Apart from the fact that trains arrive every five minutes, the view over the docks and towards the Thames is lovely. Surprisingly the train was packed (the one I’d missed looked almost empty) and I stood all the way to Bank.

The change from the DLR to the Circle Line at Bank involves a walk of about 15 miles because you are actually going to Monument Station but all underground and as a continuation of your journey. Unlike Carmen, however, I don’t mind a bit of brisk walking and I arrived at the station just in time to miss the train. Four District Line trains followed in quick succession. Oddly, two of them went to Upminster and followed each other just two minutes apart. I’m not at all sure why. Anyway, it was only five minutes before I was on a Circle train to Barbican.

We had a brief wait at Aldgate because the train was early (a Tube train that was early? What’s that about!) and a chap stepped on and vaguely asked the carriage if it was a District Line train. Three of us said, no, it was a Circle train and he wandered off, back onto the platform. After a while, the chap next to me said “He’s not even at the right station. The District line doesn’t stop at Aldgate.” I chuckled, cruelly and replied “He’ll have a long wait then.”

At Barbican, I popped into the Tesco on the corner for some coffee, sugar and milk and then went to the flat at Florin Court, where I worked on my dissertation for a few hours while I waited.

I was waiting for two people. A Schumanian from the realo, who wanted to look at the flat and for Dan. I had placed the bed and the two chests of drawers on Freecycle on the weekend and Dan had said he wanted them. He was arriving at about 6:30 in a rental van to take them away. And he did.

Dan was a lovely guy. He works at Deloittes. I know because he said he was sitting in his office a block from the flat but had to go home, change, pick up the van then drive back to the flat. Anyway, I helped him load the booty and he drove off happy as the proverbial.

Back in the flat I did a quick furniture rearranging then wandered across the road to catch the old number 4 bus to Waterloo. I’m going to miss the old number 4 when I’ve finished with the flat for there’ll be little reason to get it again. Except, maybe for my graduation. When I’ve finished this damn dissertation, that is.

Which I must now get back to as I sit on the crowded 8pm train home.

I picked the poodles up from Frensham Kennels today. I caught the bus out to the ponds, walked to the kennels and then we started the long trek home. It took us over 3 hours! After a short wander around, to make sure everything was as it should be, they both crashed and refuse to move while I ate my lunch.

It was a lovely walk. We went along the edge of Frensham Little Pond and then through to Tilford where we stopped for a beer at the Barley Mow. How idealic. Sitting in the beer garden, overlooking fields, poodles treading all over me as I sipped a pint of Old Hookey. The sun was out but every now and then would have clouds scuttering across it, cooling everything down.

We walked along the Moor Park Nature Reserve which was lovely. The path is part of the Greensand Way, which starts in Haslemere and is woodland on one side and open fields full of wildlife on the other.

We stopped and checked out Mother Ludlam’s Cave. Well, as far as you can. There’s a massive great locked iron gate in the front of it. She was, apparently, a witch who lived in the cave and doled out herbs and potions. She was a white witch but, clearly, mad. There are many legends associated with her. Interestingly, the name, Ludlam, could have a number of sources but the most common is that it is of Celtic origin. Either after Ludd, the founder of London, Lud a healing god or Ludwell which means ‘bubbling spring’. Whatever the history, the spring is still there, bubbling out of the cave. The poodles had a big drink from it. Anyway, here’s the cave as it looks now.

Mother Ludlam's Cave, Moor Park

Apparently in earlier, Victorian days, it was a big tourist spot. It had a little picket fence around it and was furnished. Going back to Mother Ludlam, one legend claims she would loan out cooking utensils (don’t ask me why) and one day she lent someone her biggest and bestest brass cauldron. It was never returned and eventually ended up in Frensham church. You can see it there today, though the church people claim it was a bowl used for brewing church ale.

The oddest part of our walk (ignoring the pig that looked dead) was when we reached the Shepherd and Flock roundabout. There are claims that it is the biggest settled roundabout in Europe. It has a big pub and a number of houses on it as well as a heavily wooded area. It’s like a little village. Well, the path I was following went under the road and straight into a little lane of, what looked like worker’s cottages (Victorian and possibly used by the original railway workers) and a Tudor farm house. The lane is quite low so any casual walker would have no idea they had suddenly set foot on a busy roundabout – if they were deaf. As you walk up the lane and the pub hoves into view, the traffic becomes visible and you realise, with horror, there are cars constantly whizzing by.

We finally reached the house and I made myself a late lunch and much needed coffee. I figured the poodles would just stay, flaked out on the floor. Silly me! They had a brief rest with me then ran around like idiots, playing with Day-z’s toys. They have a hell of a lot more energy than me! I stayed collapsed.

An odd day today. First of all I had to take the puppies to Frensham Kennels. It had occurred to me to walk there. It’s only 5.5 miles but the first 2 miles is along busy roads which I wasn’t that keen on. So, instead, I ordered a taxi to take us all to Frensham Little Pond. The taxi driver told me how he’s been given leave to live and work in Australia but is waiting for the dollar to pound exchange rate to improve. His dog died in January but it had lived to 16 and had a lovely life running all over Frensham.

It was lovely today. The sky so blue, the temperature warm. The puppies loved it. It’s the first time I’ve been there alone as Mirinda usually drives. I walked around the pond and up to the bronze age burial mounds. Took some photos then kept walking along the ridge.

Frensham Kennels is by the big pond so I was heading, roughly, in that direction. Halfway down the hill I found a memorial I’d never seen before. It’s sat alone on the hill side, over looking the big pond. It reads:

“Frensham Common was bequeathed to the National Trust by WA Robertson in memory of his brothers Norman Cairns Robertson, Cptn, 2nd Batt, Hampshire Regiment who died 20th June 1917 at Hanover, Germany and of Laurance Grant Robertson, 2nd Lieut, 2nd Battalion, King’s Own Scottish Borderers, who was killed in action in France during the battle of the Somme, in or near Delville Wood on 30th July 1916.”

I didn’t know that. I thought Frensham Ponds was always owned by the Bishop of Winchester. Maybe it was sold off by the crown after the dissolution. Anyway, it’s a striking monument, all lychen covered and stark.

From the memorial, it’s just a short stroll down to the main road, across it and along the rim of the big pond. I arrived at the kennel and the puppies were not happy about being fooled. They enjoyed the walk so much, I don’t think they knew where we were going until it was too late. Day-z was happy enough to go but Carmen kept looking at me as if to say “Don’t leave me here. Please?”

Too bad, Carmy, I said, and left. I had decided to get a bus back so I walked back to the middle of the road between the ponds and waited. And waited. And waited. Eventually a bus appeared and I made my way back into Farnham.

I forgot to mention that the other day I was in Starbucks and one of the Baristas knew my name. I don’t know how. She said, as she started to prepare my usual “Are you drinking in today, Gary?” I just said yes, automatically. A little later it struck me that she knew my name. Freaky.

And finally back to a very quiet house. It’s odd when the puppies aren’t here. I keep expecting them to bark or jump on me or lick me and it never happens. I miss them. Though I did get to have all the roast beef on my rolls for lunch rather than sharing with them.

After lunch, I mowed the lawn…again. Damned thing. Just keeps growing. It’s always that first mow. Once you start…

I had an email from mum this morning asking if I could strip the sound off a video she’d sent me of dad (and others) singing and burn it onto a CD. It took me most of the afternoon and evening but I managed it. I amaze myself sometimes.

I haven’t heard from my dear wife today so I have to assume she’s having too good a time without me. I’ll see her tomorrow and give her a piece of my mind!

Actually, it’s really three. My assignment for Information Retrieval was in two parts. I just finished and submitted them. This is a good thing because they are due tomorrow morning by 10am.

I managed to fit in a few breaks today. Naturally, I took the puppies up to the park. It looked so lovely, I took a photo of them sitting in the avenue of trees.

The poodles sitting obediently in the Avenue of Trees, Farnham Park

For another break I mowed the lawn for the second time this year. And during the day I managed to work my way through the washing.

Anyway, I decided to celebrate finishing my essay(s) by putting the Globe photos on the website. You can see them here.

Tomorrow I have a big day. It’s my second session at the Science Museum. I have a huge mound of clean clothes to put away and then I’m off to bed.

I managed to drag myself out of bed this morning and accompany Mirinda up to the station and then it was basically a day of study.

I had a couple of breaks. One to walk the poodles who both managed to have an FSI. The upside of this is that they are both now very soft and smell nice.

That’s it for now, though. I have been staring at this screen for far too long! To bed!

Is this the pillow I see before me? Oh, I sincerely hope so.

But just before I go…here’s todays flowers. Part of my fairy circle around the tree.

Frescias in the garden looking like fried eggs.

Ever since we changed the clocks, the rain has hardly stopped. Mirinda and the puppies have spent the last two days inside. I went shopping but otherwise spent the day inside, studying.

And then, just before 7pm, Mirinda suggested we walk to the castle. The rain had stopped and she was going a bit stir crazy. Naturally I laughed. I mean, how could I possibly go before 7:15? I told her as much. She thinks I’m a bit obsessed about The Archers.

And so, at 7:15, we left the house. As we reached the Avenue of Trees, a sea of mud spread out before us. The poodles were a bit sceptical about walking across it. We managed to get through the first bit, reaching the relatively solid grass.

All was fine except for the chill wind, until the hail started. It was lashing us, almost horizontal with the wind. We struggled to walk into it, the puppies’ ears stretched out alongside their heads, forced backwards. Carmen wanted to turn and give us a querulous glance but she was frightened her head would come off.

We didn’t make it as far as the castle. Mirinda shouted something impossible to hear. She turned, so I assumed she had suggested we return home. As soon as we started walking, the weather improved. That was mostly because the wind was now blowing from behind us.

We safely arrived home and the lovely short coated puppies took very little time to dry.

Today is/was Ada Lovelace Day. For those that do not know, Ada was Lord Byron’s daughter who married a man called Lovelace and lived in East Horsley, where we lived happily for a time. She is pretty much universally accepted as the first computer programmer. She worked closely with Charles Babbage on his mathematical machine which was the first computer. Interestingly, the machine is featured in a book put out by the Science Museum but the entry, while raving about Babbage, does not mention Ada. This is not so amazing as she wasn’t credited for a long time but, eventually, her name was honoured by having a software programme named after her. It is the one used for air traffic control systems.

She was an amazing woman but died relatively young. I wonder what she could have achieved had she lived to a grand old age.

Anyway, the thing about Ada Day is that people are supposed to blog about a woman scientist who has inspired (or inspires) you. I’m going to choose Mary Beard, Head of Classics at Cambridge.

I saw her speak at the archaeology conference and have read a lot of her work. I admire her greatly. She makes the ancient world seem very real. She is an excellent speaker and writer. I read her blog every time she makes an entry.

So…happy Ada Day and salutations to Professor Beard.

¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬

The poodles finally had their winter coats removed today. When they returned from Kate’s they had been halved in size! They are so cute.

Here’s what they looked like before they went:

A wee bit like sheep

and here they are after:

Now more like lambs