Tag Archives: Percy Penguin

Monday 9th May 2011 – I WAS CHASED …

… around the bedroom this morning.

And not by Percy Penguin (who doesn’t feature in these pages half as often as she deserves) either, but by a blasted hornet.

And at 07:3 too. Does it have no respect?

Yes, the blasted thing found its way in all right, but could it heck find its way out. And so it decided to awaken me. And by a few of the things that I said to it, you’ll understand the definition of “a rude awakening”.

So having had an early start, I was able to have a good crack at things in here and be out in the garden as early as 11:15. That’s not something that happens every day either.

I managed a really good day in there too and accomplished quite a lot. I even managed to have a little shower too – and it would have been a big one had the water not run out – Brain of Britain having forgotten to fill it the last time.

So a nice, reasonably-clean me headed off to the Anglo-French group.

Back here though, my blog host is down for maintenance. So you age going to have to wait until tomorrow to read this rubbish, aren’t you?

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Thursday 25th March 2010 – God it was hard this morning …

… but that’s enough about Percy Penguin, who doesn’t feature in these pages half as much as she ought to.

It was agony in bed last night with the muscles in my legs tightening up continually. It kept me awake for much of the night, as did the French Air Force, who decided on carrying out night-time manoeuvres … “personoeuvres please” – ed … until gone 02:30. Getting up for a gipsy’s at 06:00 was probably the most painful thing I have ever tried.

Going downstairs for breakfast was interesting too, and I was clearly in no fit state to go out working so I came back up here and did a load of outstanding work on the computer – much of which was the preparation for our radio broadcast next week. I managed a fair bit too – but that’s enough about … “you’ve already done that” – ed … and that’s got me thinking.

When I was in Brussels I used to do my computer work from 11:00 until 14:00 and then work on the apartment in the afternoon and evening. Pretty soon the clocks will go forward and we will have more daytime daylight  so bearing this in mind I could easily work from 10:00 until 12:00 up here on the computer and then work until maybe 19:00 or 19:30 outside. That would be much more useful.

By about 12:00 I felt a little better so I went outside and did another raised bed. That’s 5 in position. But the weather has changed. It was blowing a gale when I went outside, so much so that it’s lifted the cucumber and tomato seeds off the shelf in the greenhouse and spilled them all over the floor so I needed to replant them which was a pain.

Now the weather has really turned and it’s pouring with rain outside. I have mixed feelings about that. I love the hot weather but I’m getting low on water and also the plants that I have sown need the water. This is the sign if a true rural peasant, definitely a distinction from the vacancier.

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Thursday 5th November 2009 – Tonight’s image …

attic completed… features part of the new chez moi complete with bed settee and occasional table (I’m still wondering what it is the rest of the time when it’s not a table).

So after my lie-in (well, it was in fact earlier than usual when I woke up) I assembled the table. That was exciting, I can tell you. It looks quite nice and trendy – totally out of place with me, and assembling it was, well, something of a challenge.

Then it was the bed-settee’s turn. And I’m disappointed with this, given the amount of money I paid. Fair enough, it’s better than the one I have back in Belgium, but it cost 3 times the price so it ought to be. But it’s not all that strong. If I ever get Percy Penguin in here when she’s got a head full of steam, it won’t last five minutes. But neither would I, so I don’t suppose it makes any difference. But I’m keen to see how I feel tomorrow morning after a good sleep on a decent mattress.

But talking of Percy Penguin, I am reminded of the time that she and I went on a skiing holiday back in 1993 (you could say that our relationship went downhill after that). I went to the doctor’s before we went, to see if he could do anything for me.
“What you really need to do is to pray to God, Mr Hall” he said
“Why’s that?” I asked.
“I’m a doctor” he replied. “My job is to heal the sick. It’s his job to raise the dead“.
He did give me some viagra, though, which was kind of him. But I clearly didn’t swallow it quickly enough. I had a stiff neck for the whole week.
And I had a friend who died of an overdose of viagra. It took two weeks for the smile to fade from his face, and four weeks before they could put the lid on the coffin.

I have the gas heater up here now – something of a disappointment as I was hoping for the woodburning stove to work – I’ll look again at this in the near future and follow Krys’ idea from the other day which I think is a likely solution. Struggling up with the heater and the gas bottle was something. later on this evening, struggling up here with a full gas bottle becuase the one that I had just taken up had run out – that was something else.

I’ve reassembled the desk as well and I’ve started to move my other stuff up. I’ll be finishing that off tomorrow. And I’ve noticed that while it’s colder in here than in my little room downstairs, it’s not as uncomfortable by any means. The damp in there was clearly affecting me and you should see how it’s affected some of the stuff that was leaning against the wall.

And as for the quiz last night, raise your hands if you DIDN’t guess “music” or “the hi-fi”. That was as expected the first thing that came up here from downstairs.

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