Blue Monday

Cold blue sky, silver jets drifting across on silent lines of vapour. Mist nestling in folds of the hills.

Crouching Striker Hidden Talent

Amazingly Peter Crouch has scored again. Twice. And in a chilly looking Japan, Liverpool easily beat their puny Costa Rican opponents in the World Club Championship semi final.

Have been reading and enjoying a number of Stay At Home Dad blogs lately, mostly American.

Weather milder the last few days.

Heron

Mr BT man back to work today.

Tree lopping gang still in the neighbourhood, but not right outside, so cat less scared than last Friday.

When we got home yesterday afternoon, there was a heron perched on our roof like a graceful gargoyle.

Weather good - sun and blue sky.

The shed wins

Pale watery sunshine this morning as I walked into town. Attended doc's for blood test, and did some errands. Feeling OK.

J. is off school today as he felt unwell this morning.

Wrapped some Christmas presents.

The guy with the shed won the Turner prize. Hurrah.

Brrr

Bitterly cold today, with a frost for the first hour or two this morning.

Feeling OK.

Mr BT man still off work.

Weekend over

Everyone back to work and school, apart from me.

Had a reasonable weekend, apart from Forest loosing excruciatingly to Chester in the FA Cup, thus increasing calls from the Forest blogs and on 606, for Megson to go... still at least they're free to concentrate on the league now.

And another thing

When trawling through blogs, I dislike greatly those ones with lots of baby pictures, and also ones which feature love stuck teenagers from Malaysia, annoying music, and zany designs.

Bad Timing

Tipping it down most of morning. Nearly dark by lunchtime again.

Went into town, and got soaked as umbrella jammed just as heavens opened. Not pleased!

Civilised World

As the leader of the civilised world, America must be very proud of itself today, having carried out its 1,000th execution since capital punishment was reintroduced in 1976.

Kenneth Boyd, a convicted killer, was put to death by lethal injection in North Carolina for the murder of his estranged wife and her father in 1988.

USA.

Just in time.

Strong, blustery wind, suddenly heavy rain, and a gloomy morning almost becoming dark by midday.

Blood test first thing.

Returned from walk, just in time to avoid the rain.

December is here, and the end of the year, a year which hasn't been good for me.

How we laughed

Low skies, mist and drizzle. Did a quick once round the park, and then retired indoors.

Villa knocked out of the Carling Cup last night by Doncaster. How we laughed, or would have done if the Carling Cup had any relevance.

Felt OK this morning, at least the kids thought I seemed so.

Cold Fired Tuesday

Tuesday. Cold. England struggling in Pakistan. It looks like it's going to be a proper winter.

Last night deep snow in Gloucestershire, five inches but very localised, and none here in Wales.

Energy seems to be all over the media today, and I can't believe we are even considering the notion of pursuing the nuclear option.

BT Man

Mr BT Man who parks his van opposite our house, but lives down the road, has been off work for a week or so now, and I think he may have a bad leg, as I noticed he was walking with a stick the other day.

Snow almost gone now, but still bitterly cold.

Did library and Post Office this morning. The latter had bigger queues.

Quite liking The Cribs and The Paddingtons this week.

Snow Use Worrying

There was a couple of inches of snow when we woke up this morning - first time we've had snow in November for years.

No school for the children today. Big hurrahs from them.

Had started melting by lunchtime.



George Best died today.

Fog & Fred

Here in cold old south wales, it is wierd to be sitting watching England against Pakistan, in the heat and dust of Faisalabad, whilst outside, freezing fog swirls. A couple of dodgy lbw decisions not given in England's favour, almost got me animated!

Cold

Temperatures are sliding, and we've had several days of frosty starts, clear skies, and cold winds, which we're not used to. Snow is being predicted for the end of the week.

As for me, not so good last week, but feeling a bit brighter this week.

Forest won at the weekend, and are now one place outside the playoff places.

Blue Skies

Two blue sky and sun days in a row, followed by cold nights and frosty mornings. It must be the onset of winter.

Sun and Air

First day for about three weeks when it didn't rain. A perfect autumn day in fact. Went for a walk and took my glasses off for a bit to take in some sunshine and generate some happy chemicals.

Mystery Bus

There's this mystery bus that parks just along the road that runs round the back of our house. It's there every lunchtime for about an hour, and just sits there with the engine running. It's not even like we're next to the bus station or anything.

Friday on my mind

End of the week, and yes it's been raining again this morning, although isn't as I write. The river is very high, and there has been flooding further west. More gales are forecast for later today.

Have had a bit of an up and down week, with procrastination a real problem for me.

Sun

Outside, the cloud is low and grey, the rain a steady drizzle.

Yesterday was mainly sunny, but rained towards the end of the day.

Surprise surprise

Just started raining. Quickly heavy, a small river gushes down the gutter, leaves carried like they were white water rafting.

Dark

Not so good this morning. An effort to get out of the house. Did some errands in town. So dark that the streetlights came back on. Everyone in town moaning about how dark it was. Pathetic fallacy.

Listened to some new music on BBC Collective when I got back: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/collective/A4983140

There seem to be so many new groups at the moment ...

The river is still very high from yesterday. Not raining yet but it can't be very long.

Still raining

Say no more

More Precipitation

It's still raining. I know it's Wales, but this is getting ridiculous. The rain gauge will be overflowing...

Have you heard the Manic Street Preachers version of Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head? It's fab.

Sigh

Still raining

Wind and Leaves

Wild and windy morning. Up and out early for blood test @ docs. Seems to have been raining for days, a feeling confirmed by my excellent blood nurse. Feeling OK.

Back home, men are sucking up leaves with big vacuum cleaner thing, even though the wind is blowing more down as they do.

Sorry Wrong Number

Three phone-calls already today from call centres in the Indian subcontinent, trying to get me to change my phone provider, and another couple from the wrong number old lady. Most exciting!

November Arrives

Another wet night gave way to sun, blue sky, and one of those short sharp showers that come when the weather is clear and cold, leave a rainbow and go...

Out early for errands and a walk. Feeling a bit better than yesterday.

Listened via internet to programme about Canadian music, which was interesting, but presented by Bob Harris - forever fixed in my mind as an enemy of punk having presented the perennially uncool Old Grey Whistle Test, which initially didn't play any punk bands, because they didn't have albums out...

Light Fades

Have not felt so good the last few days. Anxious, awkward and uncomfortable.

The clocks went back yesterday, and today from early afternoon, the light started to fade.

Need to get back into my routine now half term is over.

This morning, I did Somerfield, chemist, library, and a walk.

Rain Rain Go Away

If it's raining, it must be Tuesday.

The streets outside are recovering from a night of torrential rain, slowly picking themselves up, while the remains of the wind flaps the leaves about.

Am feeling OK, getting stuff done, not feeling too bad in the mornings.

Went for appointment at JobCentre Plus yesterday, in connection with my receiving Incapacity Benefit, and it was OK. It was tipping it down yesterday too. Managed to talk reasonably coherently for half an hour with Matthew, my personal adviser.

Blood

Blood test for lithium levels yesterday. Am used to all this now. Waiting room full of old people. Guy who took my blood looked like roadie - ponytail, dressed in black, slightly large - he's getting better at the blood thing too.

Raining.

I don't mind Mondays

The beginning of a second week of feeling a bit brighter, without really being sure why. Am walking more, but don't really know if this is a factor, or just a result of feeling better. Today brought a mixture of watery sunshine and watery drizzle.

While waiting for monster queue at docs to dwindle, sat by river watching ducks and reading paper, quite enjoying the chaos in the surgery carpark. Parking situation compounded by arrival of an ambulance which blocked off three parking spaces.

News: North Dakota Tests Residents

Apparently it's snowing already in North Dakota:

Carquinez News: North Dakota Tests Residents

Woke up this morning

Felt a bit brighter last night, and OK this morning. Went early for blood test, ( have to take warfarin to prevent blood clots) then ran some errands in town. Going to work time, and not many people about. Bought some bananas.

Back home, under cold skies and grey light, it felt like it was getting dark before midday. Gloomy. But, don't seem to be unduly affacted by the influence of pathetic fallacy. Which is good.

More jobs at home, then some time on the computer.

Depression in the forties

America had it bad in the thirties, and needed a New Deal and a war to recover; my depression arrived in my forties, and they weren't roaring, or much of a success, health-wise. In my lighter moments, I like to think of it as a 21st century depression, caused by pre-millenial stress. Or something.