Meaningless, meaningless

Got home from work at 4 today after managing to lose my ID pass somewhere between the office and an external meeting.  I am an idiot.  I know exactly which strip of concrete I must have lost it on and I've walked back and forth along it about 5 times, but it's not to be found.  Grr!

 

Not much news here.  I think I may be working quite hard.  Not even as much rain as "down South".  Are you lot all nicely submerged now?  It's good preparation for when the ice caps melt, I guess.

 

Tom and I saw Steve Jones give a talk at Edinburgh Uni on Friday.  Even though the tickets were free I felt shortchanged because he gave almost exactly the same talk as at the Hay Festival last year!  Bloody famous people, think they're too good to have to prepare something new.

 

Anyways, he was going on about how the genes for HIV resistance are already much more common in Africans than Europeans and it made me wonder what that holds for the future,  Might it get to the stage where HIV affects African people like flu but is still deadly to Europeans?  Should we all try to interbreed a bit more to spread the resistance around? 

 

Elly's baby arrived.  9lbs 2.  Nine pounds two!!  Haven't spoken to her yet but she left me a voicemail saying she'd ring me up and tell me about how painful it was soon.  I sent them flowers and asked for "Hope her head wasn't too big" to be written on the card, and the lady in the flower shop gave an alarmed, "Oh!"  Heheheh.

I just had the perfect weekend and I totally wasn't expecting it.  Nothing out of the ordinary, just everything - everything! - we did was fun.

• Tom's flatmates had a party.  It wasn't good at all and I had to drink Tennants but somehow I still enjoyed it.
• We stayed in bed all Saturday morning eating cheesecake and giggling.
• We played Mahjong in a cafe and then bought a DVD in a charity shop.
• I cooked a brilliant curry from a recipe someone at work gave me.
• We watched the DVD (25th hour with Edward Norton) and got all soppy when it finished.
• We went on a cycle ride and stumbled across a walled garden that was having an open day.  It was full of middle aged hippies but there was a pond with tadpoles and a proper mud hut, and we had a picnic.
• Tom went home and gave me time to bond with my PC.

I rang Elly last night and she was just about to get her birthing pool set up.  My friends are breeding!

 

Oh, so Facebook does actually have a blog, they just call it "notes" instead.  How am I supposed to know that?  Anyway, I'm here now, and I'm going to tell you about my new life, so there.

 

For those who missed it, I am now in the wondrous town of Edinburgh, just oustide the Old Town, which is all windy roads and houses stacked on top of each other, and FUCKING COBBLES, which are playing merry hell with my precious road bike.  Grr.

 

Work is about a million times better than in Sheffield... although despite myself I am missing the people a bit.  There aren't as many eccentrics here.  But the Scottish Exec has a POOL!  And a SAUNA!  And a big basket full of flippers!  And an aerobics studio.  I did Pilates this morning.  Alan would be proud. :-D

 

My flatmate is a police officer.  She has handcuffs and a stab-proof vest and everything.  And she is a fitness freak and lives entirely on raw fruit and vegetables (almost).

 

I tried fencing a couple of times, but I gave it up.  Now I'm playing mixed football, which is well good.  I get RESPECT off the blokes because most of the girls aren't that good.  It makes me happy.

 

There's a place about half a mile from me where you can take your bike and for £3 an hour you can use all their tools and they help you fix it yourself.  Tom and I went there yesterday and I changed my brake pads, which strangely is something I've never done before.  And when you finish up and your hands are all covered in black greasy dirt there's a magic paste that looks like hummus you can use to wash your hands.  It's a world of adventure.

 

Time for me to shut up.  Will write more soon if people leave me comments.

 

*mwah*

 

Rosie