Hi.

I’m back.

I had a very nice time.

Further reports might follow.

Possibly.

It’s finally Friday, and in 3.5 hours I will be on holiday. I’ve only got a week off, but it will be put to good use. You see, I’ve got a list of plans for what I’m going to do, and it goes something like this:

– do nothing
– lounge around and do nothing much
– lie in the hammock and stare at the blue sky and do nothing
– do some more of nothing
– eat
– lounge in the hammock, doing nothing

And so on. It’s a long list, but I am confident I can manage to get through it.

There’s a hole where the kitchen used to be!

We spent yesterday tearing down the old kitchen units and stuffing the car with woody bits and this morning we dumped it all at the city dump (or, rather, the city recycling station – they make you sort your junk into “treatable” heaps, wood in one skip, metal in another and so on – this is obviously a good thing, though, don’t get me wrong). Well, when I say “we”… Martin, in fact, did most of the actual tearing down whereas I mostly watched and made vaguely helpful noises. I carried the bits and pieces out into the stairwell as Martin got them loose, but that’s about the sum total of my contribution. I mean, when you have a man about the house, you’ve got to use him for this sort of thing, right?

In fact, I would rather have liked to help more, however, that sneaking suspicion I had last week of another cold coming was quite correct. This time it is as much of a cough as a cold in the head, but it nevertheless means I’m pretty useless at anything involving physical activity. I carried some stuff we’ve been storing in the old kitchen units (a couple of old macs, amongst other things) down to the basement while Martin got the car and after four or so trips down there (or, more to the point, back up the stairs again) I was flat out on the couch feeling completely knocked out after a bout of coughing that would have impressed the most dedicated of life-long smokers.

Well, anyway, here’s to hoping the plumber turns up this week as promised so that when the new units arrive after our holiday (off for a week starting this weekend) we will actually be able to fit them fairly promptly (as we have no storage space whatsoever, this is quite essential).

Voices in my head: Abba – Super Trouper

So, I was off sick 21-23 June – and was actually sick from the evening of the 19th. And after that I’ve had this cough that never seems to disappear entirely, but it’s been getting better.

However, now my throat hurts again. Which is not good in any which way whatsoever. It’s not only inconvenient, it’s bloody unfair, that’s what it is.

I’ve just talked to a plumber. They’ve got time to send someone next week to move the pipes for our kitchen sink so that they will fit the new kitchen (which we haven’t even ordered yet). This means we will have to clear out the kitchen and start the deconstruction on Sunday so that he gets to the bits he needs to get to (not to mention that we’ll need to empty the storeroom/closet so that he gets to the pipes in there to turn off the water and such – though I suppose the stuff from the closet can be thrown on the bed while the plumber’s there and put back afterwards… It’s not as if we’ve got spare storage space anywhere else).

So I suppose we’re now officially working on the kitchen. Great.

I just misspelt Robin as Ronin. That amuses me. It must be Friday…

Anyway, via the SEDF, the better personality quiz:

You are a WEDF–Wacky Emotional Destructive Follower. This makes you a menace to society, depending on how you channel your energies. You chew your fingers and have an addictive personality. Properly guided, you can be enormously productive–otherwise you run amok, stir up trouble, and generally have a hell of a good time.

To your friends, you are a source of relentless entertainment. You often get into trouble, but you almost always find a way out. You are strangely popular and feed off others’ energy. You live hard, seize the day, and although your more sober friends would like to see you settled down, you generally have fewer regrets and better memories than they do. Your tenet is that, at the end of the day, one regrets only what one didn’t try. You are right.

You could benefit from outside help in balancing your highs and lows. Or perhaps cutting back on the caffeine.

Which reminds me: I need another cup of coffee.

Voice in my head: Gloria whateverernameis – I Will Survive

“Funny, but sad.”

You know, back in 2000, a Republican friend of mine warned me that, if I voted for Al Gore and he won, the stock market would tank, we’d lose millions of jobs, and our military would be totally overstretched. You know what? I did vote for Al Gore, he did win, and I’ll be damned if all those things didn’t come true.

–JAMES CARVILLE

Would anyone with a right to vote in the US please, please, PLEASE think really long and hard before voting for Bush (and then prefereably decide to NOT vote for Bush)?

Please? I know it’s your election and all, but the result actually affects the rest of us, too…

I’m getting masses of spam every day now – I start each e-mail reading session with deleting or setting filters for at least half of what’s in my mailbox. Today I got three messages from Mathilda (whoever she is when she’s at home) with the subject “Rebelling”. Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m not really all that interested in an e-mail from someone I don’t know about rebelling, let alone three.

Anyway, it seems, today I have finally also won something. Martin’s been getting a few of these and I’ve been envious.

We are pleased to inform you of the announcement today, 24th June 2004, of winners of the promotional SILVER SPOT SWEEPSTAKES LOTTERY NETHERLANDS / INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS held on 30th May 2004 as part of our yearly bonanza. Your company, attached to ticket number 025-1146-1992-750, with serial number 2113-05 drew the lucky numbers 13-15-22-37-39-43, and consequently won the lottery in the 3rd category. You have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay out of US$2,800,000.00 (Two Million, Eight Hundred Thousand Dollars only) in Cash credited to file REF NO.SSL/4554256007/49. This is from total prize money of US$20,600,000.00 shared among the seventeen international winners in this category.

So, let’s see, is that US$20,600,000.00 divided by 17? US$121176 or thereabouts. Well, that’d come in handy, I admit. All I need to do is contact my claim agent by 30th June.

Darn, my schedule’s all booked until 30 June. I don’t have time to contact my claim agent. I guess that means I don’t get the money, huh?

Ah, life’s a bitch.