Wiggins

Without commenting on anyone's actual blog, I often wonder whether the difference between how people seem on a blog/forum and then in real life is in some way to do with how little we write these days? No longer living in a world of constant letter writing to other real people who will respond or come & talk to you if the letter is not nice, we are not used to expressing personal ideas or feelings in writing to others. When I write comments, I am often worried afterwards that what I wrote was not as clear as it should have been & that being read by strangers who dont know me & the way I think or express myself may consider it rude or snobbish or something... While most people say they write their blogs for themselves, they still make it online & public, so other people may read it (yes, at their own risk). But people get het up & hurt by all sorts of things that others cannot see or understand, and reading someone's writing, especially if that person treats it as for themselves, if not precisely personal, can be less clear than if you talked to them. I'll go away & worry about this now.

Speaking as someone who attends a cancer unit for non smoking based cancer, I find the stink outside from the smokers makes a horrible visit worse. I also get furious at people who could do something to help their health (if they are not terminal) & who fail to do, when I can't.

Thank you for the funny! I always find the term hosepipe ban one of those funny foreign terms - we go for water restrictions, and should have more...

My experience is that besides some academic types fostering unpractical type behaviour bc they think it adorable or summat (the number Ive come across at times who claim not to be able to cook or the like), is that they seem to get away with it: when he was doing his doctorate, Dr Wiggins would call me saying he'd once again forgotten his keys or lunch or the like, and my boss would say O how cute & academic & I would say how stupid & useless (t be fair, Dr Wiggins agreed with me) - it's part of the role, so people let them get away with it, whereas a plumber who got so engrossed in what she was reading during lunch break that the toilet was assembled wrong would just loose too much money...

Is there a way one could substitute a fish tank for the cistern? - some people may find them more aesthetically acceptable.

When living away from Australia, what I missed most was the light - it is interesting what you find is the special thing for you...

You missed Midsummer in Australia? It's repeated forever and a day here now...

While not on a boat, we have cardboard flat-packable speakers that dont need power & plug straight into the ipods - from Muji, although not sure if they make them anymore. The sound is far better than you'd think, and they're useful for hospital stays & the like...

I had read somewhere about using clove oil on mould & as an inhibitor - we used it once & it seemed to work a bit, but the main benefit, according to Dr Wiggins (who got to do the work as it was too high for me) was that the bathroom smelt of burbon (sp?) for some time...

Or teach them to fix the engine for you...

The main benefit of having a cat is to your ego - you get to know your place very quickly & dont go around thinking highly of yourself for anything other than tin opening abilities. Our cat Widmerpool is too clean to sit in his litter - he balances on the edge of the container, which means we have a paver in it to stop it tipping everywhere...he found a rat outside yesterday, but gave up when it was time to come in for lunch.