Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Keep buggering on

I find out this week whether I’m going to be made redundant or not. The fact that I can’t stand my job is neither here nor there, especially as one of the problems with my job is the person that happens to be engineering my potential redundancy…

Despite this hanging over us, we are as Winston Churchill advised, buggering on. We went to the Canada Rocks concert in Trafalgar Square on Monday and saw some great bands (I particularly enjoyed the McDades and the Trews). It was a bit of a pain not to be able to enjoy a beer after a very long day at work but I did manage to enjoy a bison burger! And having the car, meant we were able to drop some friends’ home later on, which they appreciated.

Tonight I have to seriously think about going to bed around 8 or so. I am SO tired. Part of it is stress but part of it is staying out late on a school night – I just can’t do it anymore!

Martha is much better. We suspect she was egg bound as this morning we discovered a very pale egg and she’s already looking happier. And talking of animals, we are making positive steps toward getting another dog. Nothing is certain I should add and we may decide for one reason or another to wait until we actually move, but hopefully we will be going to see a Staffie called Bess soon. She is a gentle soul, six-years-old, who had a shitty start in life and would now like to be loved and looked after thank you very much. And frankly, we think we could be the people for the job!

Reading some of the stories about the dogs broke my heart, it actually made me cry. One organisation had recently rescued a young female mixed-breed who if you moved too quickly toward her would lay down and cover her head with her paws and shake because she was so frightened of being beaten again. She is currently being fostered and has only now stopped screaming (their words not mine) when you touch her collar. Another dog, the owner had sliced off their ears and tried to dock the tail themselves. Others were so starved they were deformed. It makes you despair and it frightens you that we live in a world where people do that – and not just to dogs but humans too. I do think that in those circumstances jail is too good for these people. That maybe there is something to be said for an eye for an eye…

There's another Churchill quote that I like and which I have particularly related to at various times in my life, "when you're going through hell, keep going". That's exactly what these animals did, lets hope there's a happy ending for all of them.

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Monday, June 30, 2008

Canada Rocks!

Do you ever worry that you’re going to forget all the concerts you’ve been too? This was what was preoccupying me this morning on my commute so for me more than you; this is the list of people I’ve seen in no particular order:

Madonna (Blond Ambition)
Neil Diamond
Manic Street Preachers
Steps (don’t even go there…)
Erasure
Soul II Soul
Dolly Parton (this Friday)
KT Tunstall
Capercallie
Kate Rusby
Mel C (surprisingly good even if some of her lyrics are a bit strange. Who can forget – and I paraphrase – ‘you don’t have a home and I can’t even do without my phone’. A searing insight into the life of a homeless person.)
Paul van Dyk
Dulwich Ukulele Club
Brother Beyond (I was only 13 at the time…)
London Lasses
Public Enemy

Wouldn’t it be great to go to a festival where all those people were playing? No? Just me then… Anyway, that’s not an exhaustive list by any means and I will be adding to it over the next couple of days.

We’re off to the concert Canada Rocks tonight at Trafalgar Square in aid of Canada Day tomorrow for those of you not in the loop. (Which could explain why I’m ticking off all the concerts I’ve seen.) I’m looking forward to being Canadian for an evening. Just one evening – I’m not sure they’d want me any longer than that…

We’re worried about Martha. She’s listless and clearly not on good chicken form. We’re keeping a close eye and making sure she eats and drinks but I’m just about to phone the vet and ask whether they deal with chickens – being London, they’re more used to dogs, cats, rabbits etc.

I went on to a forum for all things poultry but ended up thinking she had half a dozen illnesses and was left feeling upset and confused. Maybe she’s just having an off day? And maybe I’m just being optimistic…

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