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November 23, 2005
Five Day Forecast
My son recently landed a job with a roofing firm. He's absolutely made up, he loves it, it's the perfect job for him. The guys he's working with don't treat him like an apprentice or a gopher, he's jumped right in from day one, learning the job properly. And, from all accounts, he's doing really well at it.
But, like so many things in this country, it's adversely affected by the weather.
Obviously rain puts a damper on things (excuse the pun) but so too do frost, fog, high winds and snow. You can imagine, there aren't many days left in the year once you've extracted all those.
And, of course, when he doesn't work, he doesn't get paid. It's really difficult to keep him motivated... he has a job he loves, a trade with a future but his income is unreliable, sporadic even. It's a great shame because, when spring comes, he's going to find there aren't enough hours in the day for all the roofing repairs that need doing. Let's just hope he can bear with it until then.
Posted by lilliebet at 07:45 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 22, 2005
Happy Birthday Dad
My dad would have been 66 today. I just wanted to say happy birthday Dad, I still miss you.
Posted by lilliebet at 07:33 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 19, 2005
Waterloo Sunset
Looking out of my kitchen window right at this moment, the Cambrian hills are a purple silhouette against a firey orange sky. In front of them a container ship enters the Mersey huge and dark against the backdrop but alive with diamond lights.
It is a picture to rival any other in the world. It is truly beautiful.
Posted by lilliebet at 04:33 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
For God's sake, put some clothes on
There is a frost so thick covering everything this morning, you could almost mistake it for snow. Last night must have been the coldest of this year by far.
Yet, on my way, to the paper shop last night - a journey of perhaps a mere 30 yards which nevertheless left me frozen to the marrow - I passed a couple of young girls on their way to one, or many, of the bars on South Road wearing only jeans and sleeveless t-shirts.
Ye gods, are they mad?
Now I know what all the orange make-up is for, it's to cover up the blue tinge to the skin.
I know being a teenager is a lot about looking good but can't they look good in a coat? Could Ralph Lauren or Dolce & Gabbana really not manage to design a coat between them.....? Maybe all of us mothers of teenage girls should have a quiet word in their ears.
My own teenage daughter was leaving the house as I returned, wearing a sleeveless t-shirt I grant you but also sporting a very fashionable, very warm COAT. She has her head screwed on that one.
All joking aside, I honestly wonder whether some of these girls make it home the next day. As the night wears on and the temperature drops and their blood is being steadily thinned by alcohol there must be a real danger of hypothermia. I keep hearing people saying it's going to be a cold, cold winter - tonight's forecast in Liverpool predicts temperatures down to minus five - I really wonder whether they'll all make it home.
Posted by lilliebet at 07:51 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 12, 2005
Dad, can I play in the Sandbox
OldGuy and I have been playing around with our blog layouts on and off since we started blogging back in January, often with disastrous results. Right now we're trying to make some radical changes to his layout but neither of us are particularly profficient in HTML or CSS so it's trial and error (more error than trial actually).
Last night, I had a sudden spark of genius and decided to ask Paul at Castlecops to give us both access to my first blog again so that we could practise our "skills" without doing any damage to our existing blogs. I thought it would be fun to blog our progress there too.
Paul and Robin, the owners of Castlecops gave the blogs to the staff as thank you gifts for the work we put in there. Unfortunately, when I left the staff, I also lost access to my blog but my good friend Oldfrog set this one up for me and transferred all the content across. So the original Lillibet blog has lain idle ever since and this seemed like a good idea until we hit a snag - I can't access the control panel.
Paul set me back up as an author and added OldGuy, he can get in but I can't. I've tried password recovery, that didn't work. The password hint - my birthplace - tells me my birthplace is wrong (that may cause an identity crisis!!) and, having read the knowledge base article at MT, it seems there is bugger all I can do to regain access. That seems ridiculous to me but that's what they're telling me.
OldGuy is going to try to edit my permissions today but without my original password, I doubt he'll be able to do it. The odd thing is, I know my original password but still no joy. If there are any MT experts out there who have any clues on how to do this, we'd appreciate your input :-)
Posted by lilliebet at 09:52 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 09, 2005
Turning the tables
A few weeks ago I had a sort of rebirth - that's a bit of a flowery way to put it but I cast off a lot of anger. Alright, a lot of it was directed in totally the wrong place and I'm very sad that that happened but it's a fact now and I have to deal with it.
Letting go of all the resentment I was feeling has had such a positive effect, it's remarkable. I don't get irate in work any more. Shit happens and I just let it, I don't let it get to me. It's not that I don't care, I do very much, I'm just able to step back and look at it from over there instead of right here in the middle of it all.
I was talking to my mum this morning. Her working world has been turned upside down and she and her colleagues are really going through the mill. Last night it spilled over into her social life and, like I did a few weeks ago, she had a hissy fit and directed all her resentment at one person (not entirely undeserved I grant you but she was out of order all the same.)
So this morning I found myself giving my mum some very positive, productive advice. She wasn't entirely receptive at first but I think it eventually dawned on her that here was the person who would usually be having the hissy fit suddenly talking sense; being the voice of reason; and if this normally manic, hyper lunatic is able to take a step back and start looking at her life differently, well then anyone can. By the time we parted company, I hope she had taken my words on board.
Life is stressful enough without us creating more stress for ourselves or others. In a few short weeks I've learned to take a different view of my world and it's been an enlightening experience. I see so much now that I didn't see before, it's like watching the world through a window; being far enough removed from the hassle and aggro that you can weigh it all up and know that you've thought it all through before you act or speak. Knowing too that you can deal with the consequences because they're of your own making. I guess you'd call it taking back control.
Posted by lilliebet at 10:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 02, 2005
Present Arms!
I have to do a presentation!
That just about sums the whole thing up. I have to do a presentation as part of my DMS assignment - Personal and Professional Skills - and I've never done one before.
The horror I felt tonight as we discussed the content etc was so blatantly written upon my face that the guy sitting opposite me couldn't stop laughing.
I cannot speak in public. I'm alarmingly lacking in self confidence and I will go to pieces, I know it. It's 6 weeks away and already my stomach is churning.
I think I'll just go and sit in a corner and rock until it's all over. Excuse me....
Posted by lilliebet at 11:38 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack