Eilidh's Journal

Katherine Imogen Allen (AKA Kate) was born in University College London Hospital, on Thursday 9th July at 7.38am.
She weighed 6lb, and was 51.5cm long.

Welcome to the world, Kate!

Hello - all the best for 2008, I hope it's even better than last year, for everyone! 

Easter makes much more sense to me after Lent. During Lent we (Christians)  hear about the events that led to Jesus going to Jerusalem, the things that happened on that journey. We think about the reasons why it had to happen, separation from God (sin) generally, maybe particular things that have separated us personally from God. Lent should be a time of preparing ourselves to receive God into ourselves at Easter, preparing to renew baptismal vows, or make them for the first time.

So I was a bit disconcerted to find that somehow I had arrived at Palm Sunday feeling I'd missed that whole process. Somehow Lent had just passed me by. I'd got caught up in having and not having work, financial worries, practical stuff; and the spiritual stuff hadn't really happened. I'd attended a Lent Study Group, but missed two meetings and lost the thread. It was at the last meeting that I felt we had the kind of discussion of God I'd been looking for.

So, it was evensong on Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week, when I finally had time to reflect and by then my reflections were tending towards melancholy as I was looking forward to a period of unemployment, as far as I knew at the time. But the service was beautiful, using the words of Evening Prayer from the Book of Common Prayer and, in place of a sermon, Beth (our community vicar) read the story of the Passion - from Jesus's triumphal entry into Jerusalem up to his crucifixion. It took me out of myself for a short time, gave me some protected time with God and time to realise that Easter was nearly here. When I left the service I felt a lot more peaceful about whatever was ahead.

I was unemployed for a whole hour and a half. 

Finished work at Polaris House on Friday afternoon with no job offers for this week. So, on Monday I drove M to work and came home; sat down to watch Prison Break on the Skybox; just after the opening credits the phone rang. It was Claire from Wise Employment offering me two days in a call-centre for £5.50 p.h. - better than nothing at all and I like Claire so I'm inclined to help when she tells me sad stories about people letting her down - so, off I went.

I have a lot of respect for the people who work there and keep a smile in their voices for 7.5 hours a day. That was an adrenaline rush and a half; and it helped me over part of my telephone phobia - maybe next time I'm unemployed I should do a day of telesales...

Anyway, by lunchtime I had heard from Reed Employment with an offer of £8 p.h. to work at the Medical Research Council at North Star House which is just opposite Polaris so, of course, I leapt at it.

This morning it looked as though the MRC job might only be up to the weekend but mid-afternoon they announced that one of the project team (of which I am now part) had accepted a permanent job in HR and so I was invited to step into the breach. 

It's going to be approximately 8 weeks' work. I'm part of an HR project team doing a lot of mundane stuff that prepares the way for a fully electronic recruitment process. We send and receive documents by email, we save documents into folders on the intranet. There's a guy who wrote a singing-and-dancing Excel spreadsheet and an Access database with bells-and-whistles. There's a loony studenty guy who also works at my local Pizza Hut. The manager could be the youngest member of the team but she's worked at the RC's since she left school. There's a guy from the Finance team who sits on the end of our group of desks and no one except me speaks to him. One girl will be going to her permanent job in a fortnight, so I have that long to learn her job. And a Scottish girl I haven't spoken to yet, but she seems to get on with things quietly. They seem to be close, even though they've only been a team for 3 weeks, but I think I'm breaking the ice already.

I had a LJ conversation with fledge recently about the fact that my writing seems to have dried up for the time being but I'm developing my creativity in other areas.

One of those areas is scrap-booking, which a local friend has got me doing, and from that I've deviated into card-making. Specifically, Mother's Day cards. I bought some kit at the little craft shop in town and sat down to make my Mum a card; then I got on a roll and made one each for Mum, Mum-in-law, Grandma (Mum's mum) and Sister-in-law!



I had a fun afternoon making these cards and I feel rather ridiculously pleased with them!!! 

I've added more photos to my galleries which complete the holiday photos. The three new galleries cover the final excursion, a long day taking us to the Colossi of Memnon, the Valley of the Kings, Queen Hatchepsut's Temple, Luxor Temple, and Karnak Temple.

New galleries are:

Colossi of Memnon & Valley of the Kings
Queen Hatchepsut's Temple
Luxor & Karnak Temples


Enjoy!

I've posted most of my holiday photos at last! There are still the ones from Valley of the Kings and Karnak to go up, which I hope to have time for this weekend. The galleries are labelled, but not the individual photos, although I intend to do that a few at a time.

It took me a long while to get to grips with posting photos and managing galleries - I'm sure there must be instructions somewhere on LiveJournal?? It was certainly much easier having downloaded one of the recommended clients. Anyway, I'm sure that practice is all that's needed.

I don't know how you would go about looking at the photos - assuming you're interested! Perhaps from my profile page? Or by the View Pictures option? If you do go take a look, would you let me know how you find them, please.

Home again safely. Despite the efforts of Egyptian camel traders, tourist police escorts and norovirus.

I kept a diary and M took loads of pictures, so will start posting the holiday stories shortly. 

Have just spotted a 'deliberate mistake' though: I can't seem to post pictures directly with a free account. So, I will either post the photos to my website and link to them, or upgrade my account to the version with advertising. Watch this space.

First, I will confess, I was one of the 9-year-olds who knew all the moves and the words to Prince Charming and performed it in the school playground with my friends. But, for all the interviews I read at the time, I really knew almost nothing about Adam Ant. I was oblivious, at the time, to girlfriends and stalkers and scandal.

Adam's story is fascinating in a number of ways:

Cultural history of North London: He was born in North London in 1954 and lived in poverty I can barely imagine for the first ten years of his life. A family of three in a two room flat with no central heating and a shared toilet at the end of the hall! He grew up around Camden. Kept naming places I knew from working in that part of London. Named the Psychiatric Outpatients Department at the Royal Free Hospital!

Which brings me to my next point: Adam's story is also the story of the development of undiagnosed bi-polar disorder. From stress induced sleep-walking hallucinations as a child, through workaholism, through broken relationships, to horribly public breakdown. And the impact his behaviour and illness had on friends and family.

And, of course, he was involved in a really exciting time in British pop music: he was a punk (of the art school drop-out variety) before he was a pop star. The book is full of name-dropping of all the many famous people he's worked with or dated. And he worked with now famous record producers, video directors, actors, to create those fantastic pop videos too and later had a reasonably successful acting career in the States.

The writing style is endearingly self-conscious. At times overly formal - essay style - but totally him, no ghost writers on this project. Always full of energy. And the closing sentence epitomises his totally positive outlook: "It's a kind of fairy-tale ending - I fully intend to live happily ever after." I really hope he does.

I took the cats on their last walk on the harness this afternoon. I took them one at a time because M was ill and couldn't help this time.

Arran's walk covered ground familiar from the previous walk. Back garden; alley; car park; then I encouraged him up the drive and along the front of the houses in our block, where he found our front door fairly quickly and didn't want to go out of it again! 

Lewis's walk was rather more eventful. He didn't want to walk up the drive at all at first. Then he panicked when he saw one of our neighbours walking down the drive and jumped, got tangled in the harness, flipped over a couple of times. Very entertaining for our neighbour! I eventually, with a lot of encouragement, got Lewis to walk round the block to the front door, which he seemed to recognise without problems. He refused to walk back out of the front door too.

Five minutes after getting inside they were both hovering around the back door again! So, it was time to bite the bullet. No more excuses. Time to go out on their own.

True to form, Lewis, after being the more timid on the leash, was the first to jump over the fence once let loose on his own. Arran didn't wait around long either. A heart-in-mouth moment when I realised they were gone but, thankfully, not for long this time.

And how did we reward them for the success of their first adventure? Flea-drops. Oh dear, haven't quite got the hang of the carrot-and-stick business, have we???

For my LiveJournal anyway.

I've gone for this blue theme that goes with the colours in my userpic. The white text is not always easy to read though; it seems to depend on the size of the screen it's viewed on. So I might change to grey with black text later. The banner across the top looks like water, I think. And I decided the little bouncing star is close enough to a starfish. 

So it all looks very oceanic. Fit for a mermaid.

http://www.hsj.co.uk/healthservicejournal/pages/Ool070111james

Brian James, Chief Executive of Rotherham General Hospital, gives his opinion of Gerry Robinson's documentary series. Of course, he's ambivalent because he didn't appear in a positive light. But I'm interested in his point about Gerry not exploring some interesting issues because they fall outside his own comfort zone - and, of course, because they don't make such interesting television. 

Brian also suggests that Gerry may not have prospered so well in a business where he didn't control staff pay awards, which is a fair point. When you can't throw money at a situation you will have to be a lot more creative in your problem solving and also in your reward systems.

I find it quite amusing that Brian seems a little begrudging when he admits to dramatic drops in waiting times while Gerry was working with them. He's very keen to point out that waiting times were coming down before Gerry's visit, during and after; through the hard work of his own staff. Not exactly the picture painted by the documentary, but the production values would affect that I suppose.

I feel I've learnt something useful by watching the programme and reading the retort. I hope I get the chance to use it...

I came across this fantastic documentary by accident this evening, but I shall be watching it deliberately next week.

Gerry Robinson, management guru, went into Rotherham General Hospital to help them fix their waiting lists and the BBC filmed it!!! 

It reminded me so much of my relatively short time with a London trust. He sat in meetings over a six month period to achieve a result which could have been achieved in a fortnight - if all the relevant information had been brought to the table at the start, and if everyone had come to the table with the positive intention of achieving something. And just after it got off the ground the plan was vetoed by infection control. Soul destroying!

The consultants felt management didn't listen; managers felt consultants were spoilt brats; the Chief Exec was scared to manage any of them

And then, when all's said and done, they all turn on Gerry because he's the outsider.

What a soap opera! I love it!

After plugging in the Feliway diffuser we remembered that we also had a spray bottle of Get Off - something designed to discourage cats from scratching furniture. I sprayed the three sides of the divan with it. And lo! I had my first full night's sleep since before Christmas.

But, sprayed the bed again last night and got another peaceful night. Lewis slept in the spare room! Then he joined us again in the morning, but didn't want to sit on the bed at all. Arran seems relatively unaffected; he's climbed on the bed both nights and still plays with my hair like it's a toy!

Lewis does seem far more relaxed today. He's not jumping at every sudden noise or movement, he's not so clingy as he has been.

There seems to be less fighting between the two of them as well, although that seems to come and go anyway, so may not be related.

Anyway, I'm relieved and happy to have somewhat more relaxed kitties.

The next step will be getting them outside. They really want to get outside, but we're taking things slowly.

You scored as Mermaid. Mermaid: Mermaids are also known as Sirens. These creatures were beautiful women who tricked sailors into becoming completely entranced by their haunting voices and found death soon after. Not all stories of Mermaids are about gentle loving sea people. They are mystical, magical, and extremely dangerous. They have a way about them that brings anyone they are around to seem enchanted. They are very mysterious creatures and to meet one... Would mean certain Death. Let the song of the Sea fill your soul, for you are a Mermaid. </td> Mermaid 92% Angel 83% Faerie 67% WereWolf 42% Dragon 33% Demon 8% What Mythological Creature are you? (Cool Pics!) created with QuizFarm.com

Our two moggies have been through quite a lot recently. 

They've moved house with us, and settled in well. They've been locked indoors since mid-November, when really they are outdoor cats, but they've dealt with capivity with great equanimity. But Christmas and New Year have just sent them over the edge.

They've always had a tendency to be awake when we'd prefer them to sleep (so we can also sleep), but that's just cats, nocturnal hunters, of course they'll run around like loons at night. But just recently they've started scratching at our bed, which they never did before; and scratching at doorways (our en suite and the spare bedroom); and chasing each other round the entire house, over and under furniture, over the bed - with us in it.

So, they had a routine health check with our new vet on Saturday and she suggested Feliway. As soon as she said it I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of it already. It was like a lightbulb going on. In case you haven't come across Feliway before, it is chemical which mimics cats' facial pheromones - with which they scent-mark people and things as their own, and thereby create an atmosphere of calm and security for themselves. 

Of course, our poor boys have been dragged off as prisoners to a strange land and then, when they thought they were settling down, they were invaded by rowdy hoards!  

We now have a diffuser plugged into a wall socket upstairs and I hope it helps. 

We took them round the back garden again this afternoon, on harnesses. They don't like the harnesses - who would?! well, ok, maybe some, but not them. This time we took them out the back gate, through the alley and into the car park. They got spooked, perhaps over the clatterings and squeakings of hinges, gates and other abandoned building site noises. Both ran for the house and got their directions right first time! We think we'll be able to let them out on their own now but, to begin with, only when we're home. They're used to a cat flap, which we don't have at the moment.

I'm hoping the excitement will encourage them to sleep tonight. What are the chances? Slim, I suspect.

Yay!

Santa got together with BT and Sky and brought us BROADBAND for Christmas!

Yippee!

So, now I will try to catch up on my Friend's List and update my journal for the last... two months?!

I will do all that but, just not tonight - off to midnight mass in ten minutes. Then back to open presents with M. We're away for the next two days so no more posting until we get home. What an anti-climax...

Well, in the words of Tiny Tim: "God bless you, every one!" and have a great Christmas.

I read an article in the Mail (I think) on Wednesday about a Christian lady who's been suspended without pay by BA for wearing a cross over the top of her uniform shirt and tie and thereby breaking the uniform code.

BA say they have a uniform code for health and safety reasons and wearing her cross over the top of the uniform breaks it.

The lady says why should I take off my cross, a visible sign of my faith, when a muslim employee can wear a veil which is a visible sign of her faith.

I'm curious to know your opinion...

Copied from

spencerpine 's journal, and like the man says... Help the girl out if you can... Once again, folks, I could use your help. I’m trying to finish up a research study on storytelling in various media for a conference in December, and I find I still need a few subjects. I’m using a non-random sampling method, which, among other things, means I get to ask people I know for suggestions and it’s totally legit. (I love it!) So I thought I would post and ask you guys whether you could help me out by suggesting your friends, friends of friends, etc. Here’s what I need. I’m looking for writers, this time around - some who write primarily fan-fiction, some who write primarily original fiction. They should be unpublished, except online, and participate in online communities surrounding their activity. I’ll be asking them to participate in a 90-minute interview via IM about their writing and storytelling practices. Since the interview is online, it can be scheduled more or less at their convenience, and hopefully it will be fun as well. (I know I enjoy conducting them!) They will also have to agree to have their information used in presentations or publications, though I will see that everyone I reference is anonymous. There’s no such thing as having too many participants - at worst, I’ll have to ask some people to wait until next semester! So if you, or someone you know, is willing to participate, please email me at jh2354 (removing the IHATESPAM of course). As usual, folks, thank you so much!    

How could I forget the chocolate brownies?!

They went really well with the organic vanilla ice-cream, strawberries AND raspberries.

I feel ever so decadent :)