I Hate Bank Holidays

Today, in the UK, is Spring Bank Holiday and, as per usual, it is raining. I am unaware of how the weather knows it is a Bank Holiday but it always seems to, and almost always without fail decides to make the day a washout.
The fact that it rains is not the only reason I dislike Bank holidays, I also hate the fact that it is like having 2 Sundays in the week.
I could have spent the extra day doing some more work on building the garden, which frankly needs as much time as possible, but instead am forced to watch the garden fill up with puddles.
At the beginning of the weekend we had built the rising walls that will eventually become the steps leading to the back (top) of the garden. I added the word top as the back of the garden is level with the first (second if you’re American) floor of the house.
When we bought the house (Jan 2005) the garden wasn’t a very nice, or even usable space. Just 2 steeply sloping patches of grass which were held back by breeze block walls with a thin path up the middle leading to a badly crazy paved patio area at the top and a pond with water that was almost black.
So far, we have replaced the walls with brick and have built a new pond nearer to the house and created a terraced garden with areas for sitting and beds for plants.
The patio at the top has been replaced by a greenhouse, which is currently full of tomato plants. The new patio will be situated at the bottom, closer to the house and a damn site more private.
But all this has to wait because the weather is so bad. I am a very keen gardener but I draw the line at doing it in the rain.

Back in the UK

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Golden Gate Bridge, originally uploaded by Mark & The Zebra.

Have been back from holiday now for a week & haven’t really felt like making an entry here. Partly because I got a battering by jet lag. I’d never experienced it before even though I have flown across the Atlantic many times.
On the flight back from San Francisco I took a couple of sleeping tablets which, devastatingly for me, only provided me with an hour & a half of sleep. Not good when you look at the map & find you are still flying somewhere over the middle of Canada.
Thankfully Virgin do provide a vast amount of entertainment in the seat headrests.
I ended up watching The Queen & Little Miss Sunshine, A couple of episodes of Peep Show & listening to Amy Winehouse for the remainder of the journey.

So for the past week I have had to suffer aching tiredness of the strange feeling that I am still moving. All made worse by the fact that one of my ears is completely blocked with wax. Most likely compacted by the pressure on the plane.
I had spent the last few days with either Earex or Otex dribbling down my cheek to no effect.
Yesterday, with a heavy heart I had to give in & phone the doctor’s surgery to make an appointment to have my ears syringed. Which is not a decision I took lightly, but if I am ever to take part in conversation without every other words being ‘What?’ then I guess it’s gotta be done.

Anyhoo, if you want to see the photos I took while in the states, take a look at my Flickr page.

11 Days & Counting

The flight tickets arrived yesterday and so I have really started to get excited. I have even gone so far as to install another Yahoo Widget to show the current weather forecasts for Los Angeles & San Francisco. I don’t think it’s going to be as warm as previous January’s spent in Palm Springs but it’s still gonna be warmer than here.
Had to go to Virgin Atlantic’s website to fill in all the ‘Advanced Passenger Information‘ that the paranoid American government now requires. Also choose the seats for both outbound & return flights. Not much to choose from on the outbound as it’s so close to the date but managed to bags a window seat for the return.
Just hope we don’t get lumbered with a screaming brat sat anywhere near.

Hooray for the holidays!!

Have cheered up no end since the confirmation letter arrived from the travel agent.
Hee Hee.
Every January, Peter has to go to a music convention in Anaheim, California and on past years I have flown over afterwards and we have driven to Palm Springs for a weeks holiday. Last year I didn’t go, for reasons I can’t recall, and the year before we had only just moved into our current home. So this year, well next year, I’m having a winter break.
Instead of flying out alone to meet up with P I’m going to Los Angeles on the same flight and while he is working I can spend some time in LA, which I’ve seen through a car window a few times but never actually set foot in. We arrive on a Wednesday and the convention is from Thursday to Sunday. One day out of which P wants me to come with him as apparently there are quite a few of the people he deals with who are eager to meet me. Which is a little on a the scary side, but what the heck!
As a bonus I will get to meet Brian, P’s boss, in whom P has instilled a fear of me. How anyone could possibly be scared of me I little old me is quite beyond me. Although I think it’s more to do with the fact that I can’t stand it when people talk bollocks and almost every idea that comes out of Brian’s mouth is either total bollocks or a blatantly nicked idea. He is basically Mr Rumbold from Are You Being Served. I have never been shy of telling someone that they are talking a load of old guff. So that should be fun.
It also gives my body clock a chance to adjust itself in comfort rather than the 11 hour flight followed by a 5 hour drive with P constantly jamming his finger into my ribs to keep me awake that has happened in the past.

This time, instead of Palm Springs, we are going to drive up to San Francisco on the Monday and are staying in Mill Valley, which is about 3 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge and in the shadows of Mount Tamalpais and close to a bird sanctuary.
We will be staying there until Sunday when we fly back to the UK from San Francisco.
Until then I will be compiling a list of all the sites I would like to see and things I would like to photograph. Any ideas are most welcome.