Today I have done very little.

And been told I have to get a new doctor. I live outside their catchment area now. If they have catchments like schools why can't I choose to go to a doctor outside the catchment I live in, like parents can choose to send their children to any school they want. (Well almost).

Back to the very little I have done. I've faffed and procrastinated for Britain. This mainly invovled making a long list of people I need to phone up to find out information but not actually phoning them. No, instead I have found out every single method of contacting these people. But haven't used any of them.

I've also been reading some one else's Conservation Management Plan in order to improve my own. That's the theory at least.

Tonight we are going to Ikea. And we will purchase a shiny new (cheap) coffee table so we (I) don't keep spilling things all over.

I did eventually get to burn everything. It didn't rain on Sunday. So my sister and I burned all my old art stuff from A Level back to First Year. Plus assorted other junk.

Then I went shopping. Ah, the capitalist metropolis that is Southport. Even Mark's is open Sundays there. I was very naughty and spent money that I should be saving because the Council have fouled up the Council Tax and going to take two lots in October. But I do have some shiny new things. Including a pair of Adidas Campus trainers. Finally, I found a pair at a price I was willing to pay. £10. JJB sale.

At the moment I'm trying to write a stern letter to the Peak Park planner who won't give me decision. Four weeks late. I'm trying to be stern but not stroppy but it's coming out more like whinging child.

Must go, I need to get this letter finished in the next 10 mins.

Ha.

The big bonfire of my childhood didn't quite go as planned. Very little sentimental hording, but it's rained since thirty seconds after I carried all the rubbish to bottom of the garden. As soon as I turned around to go and get the matches. So I've spent the evening burning (some of) it on the living room fire. And myself. Lesson One : Do Not Touch Hot Things Like Stoves. It Hurts. Even IF You Didn't Mean To. And it hurts just as much the second time.




See where my books are running at BookCrossing.com

I released the book on Thursday in Safeway's Cafe in Belper. I suppose it's been taken by someone or binned by one of the Oh so friendly staff. Really, one them had such a face on her. And it wasn't just an accident of birth.

We popped into Safeway to get some hot food while out surveying at St Peter's. It was actually quite cold - and we had to make ourselves scarce while there was a funeral on. The churchyard was full of Common Lime trees and they've made everything really sticky. The tape and staff and stuff will need washing, unless it was done on friday.

Yesterday I woke up at the time the bus went. Having already booked the afternoon off I got some stuff emailed to me. So I've got a quinquennial inspection to cut and paste.

Got a lift back to my dad's with Sean. The traffic was awful pretty much the whole way up the M1, across the M62, up the M6. It only stopped once we got on the M58. Looks like nobody wants to go to Skem. I tried to explain the way to the A59 to Sean so he could get off up to Preston, I suppose he would have phoned if he was lost. My saying "you turn off at the Morris and go past Heaton's Bridge to Burscough - dead easy" means pretty much nothing to him.

Well last night I started the Great Clearout. And so far I haven't found that much stuff that I really want to keep. Mostly just rubbish. Old school notes, model aeroplanes, manky tennis balls, small china thingies. That sort of thing. And hundreds and hundreds of old orienteering maps. 1:10000 maps of all the regular runs in the NW and a few around the rest of the country. They've got to go. Even if I do start orienteering again it'll be in a different part of the country. I also found my shoes. Still muddy from my last run. Which would have been 1997.

I knew it all along...


You are a Hermione at heart! You are obviously
smart and sophisticated...but you tend to get a
little annoying at times. I would put down the
books for a little while and get out more!


!!! The Ultimate Harry Potter Character Quiz !!!
brought to you by Quizilla

So very tired. Wish I was in my bed...

Still haven't decided where to release the book. I thought about several places but I'm trying to think of somewhere someone will find it who'll be likely to register that they found it, rather than set it on fire or something.

I've just registered on Bookcrossing.com. Now I have to plot where to release my first book...

The book I ordered from Amazon finally arrived. Mind you they did say it might take six weeks, which would have been October. Any way, it's called The Ghosts of Berlin and it's about history and urban design and conservation. I used it for an assignment at uni and thought it was quite interesting so now I'll read it properly rather than just picking out the pertinent parts. The subtitle spells out what the book's about - "Confronting German history in the urban landscape"

This weekend I did...nothing much really. I attacked the rose bushes in the garden. The previous owner left them falling all over the lawn. I'm slowly reclaiming nearly 3 feet of garden from them. I have the thorns embedded in my fingers to prove it. Always remember to put your gardening gloves on BEFORE starting a job, not when it starts to hurt.

Sunday...Sean's friend Sam came up and we went out to Gardom's Edge to climb. Or at least they climbed and I made one somewhat pathetic attempt, cricked my neck and gave up. I stayed at home after lunch and did the washing while they went off to Millstone Edge.

Watched the final of Restoration last night. Out of the ten choices I think it's a Good Thing that the Victoria Baths won. Hopefully the reopening of the Turkish Baths will create an income for building and allow them to do the rest of it. And to keep it going financially. Which is the important thing in securing its future. I think there were too many Gallery plans - Galleries don't make much money. If the future of the building hangs on the profits from its use then the use is best being as profitable as possible. Within the constraints of the building of course.

I'm still not sure whether I think it's quite right for the HLF to give them £3 million though. Normally the application process is rigorous and drawn out. I wonder whether they've all had to submit the required information anyway...

No one will ever be bothered to read this if I go on and on forever, so I'll stop.

I just bought Camino Palmero by The Calling. Seems to a good purchase. The dancing sheep on the Real Player seems to like it too. Boogying away in its window.

Matlock appears to have a strange phenomenon in its bakery world. Every so often I'll purchase an Eccles Cake with my lunch. Now, these are not Eccles Cakes to my mind. At 4 inches in diameter and nearly an inch thick I'd say they're Chorley Cakes. And would the very good local baker's stall on Leyland Market. In fact one of the Matlock shops sells these giant Eccles Cakes with a filling more akin to a Bakewell Pudding. Derbyshire is a strange and unusual place...

Hello World!

This is my first post in my first ever blog. Just feeling a little under pressure to make it good. Just like the first lines of a book need to capture the reader and draw them in, I suppose the first posts in a new blog must too. Always assuming someone will read this.

Well, please don't expect miracles - I haven't written anything other than essays since I dropped A Level English in 1996.

So, this is who I am. Just so you know, put things in context.

I moved to Chesterfield with my boyfriend last month. (That's Chesterfield, Derbyshire UK - I know there are lots of places called Chesterfield in the world. I Googled it one day.) I work for an architect doing conservation work. What else? I'm a member of West Lancashire Scout Network Ormskirk District. Yay my first link. I would join Derbyshire Network if there appeared to be one. Boyfriend (who remains anon. until I've asked if he minds being named) likes climbing and I've been going too and getting to quite like it. But I have a large fear of falling off.

There, I think that will do for now. Or at least it has to as I'm writing this at work and there is work to be done. Sigh.

Bye for now.