over 26,000 views! thanks all.. and a mini rant about television.. and spreading the happy

Lordy!  I can’t believe it – there has now been well over 26,000 views of my wee blog.  Who would’ve thought my life would be so interesting!  Thanks all.  Much appreciated and very gratifying to know I’m not talking to myself (again!)..

They’re talking on TV this morning, on ‘The Big Questions’ which is a BBC topical discussion programme, about ‘the morality of plastic surgery’ and they’ve got this woman on there who’s spent over £500,000 to look like a barbie doll.  Yes, she looks fantastic for a 50 year old, but bloody hell!  £500,000?  That’s the cost of a house!  That’s 2 or 3 houses! 

Yes, ageing is horrid, but it happens to all of us.  I believe it’s better to age gracefully (or perhaps , in the case of Keith Richards, disgracefully!) and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with showing your life on your face. 

‘Barbie’ is now saying that we don’t want to see ugly people on television.  Bullcrap.  Honestly, this woman even has a plastic brain!  She’s the worst type of bully – deciding who’s beautiful and who’s not. 

She’s pissing me off too much – got to change the channel..  hang on… Sunday morning cooking show.  much more peaceful.  Was thinking of doing some baking this afternoon, actually.

Anyway – enough rambling – White Rabbits to everyone (which is what you say on the first of a month.) And here’s a little bit of happy for y’all.  I’m all about spreading the happy at the mo – spread the happy…  and make your eyebrows dance!

guidelines for attending work in adverse weather

(Found this in my inbox as I was clearing out before leaving my old job.  Is particularly appropriate given the snowy weather of the last couple of weeks.  Made me laugh.)

 

Quote from the Institute Handbook, “During periods of adverse weather, aAll Employees must make a reasonable effort to attend work..”

A fuller description from one of the scientists…

Q. What is a “reasonable effort” to attend work?

A. This is a grey area. It is perhaps best illustrated by a series of examples. Waking up tomorrow morning, opening the curtains, observing white flakes and getting back under the duvet, is probably not a reasonable effort and will raise the ire of your workmates who sat in 5 mile tailback on the A14 to make it in. On the other hand hiring a team of trained huskies, and trekking over the snow encased Gog/Magogs or the Essex uplands whilst chewing on energy rich dried venison maybe going too far, and will incur ridicule. Strike a balance somewhere in between.

Reasonable
—————-
- if you can make it to Tescos, probably you could have come in the whole way.
- sitting in a tailback for 30 minutes or so.
- scraping ice/snow off the windscreen before starting up on a well salted thoroughfare

Unreasonable
——————-
- flagging down local yummy mummy in SUV on the school run, dragging them from the driver’s seat and commandeering the vehicle to make the journey across the white fields that are the only route not obstructed by abandoned cars.
- sitting in a tailback for three days, only surviving by eating your partners arm and listening to emergency reports on Terry Wogan
- setting our to your car with the words “I’m going outside, I may be sometime”.

Q. On campus green day, is it reasonable to come into work in I will have to burn three times as much fuel as normal getting here?

A. You better had, or you won’t get entered in the raffle. Pick up a few car sharers from the abandoned vehicles on the roadside as you go to guarantee entry.

Q. When would it be “clearly unsafe” to make my journey in?

A. Only you can judge this, but to help you along H&S have prepared a website which will allow you to make your own risk assessment for your individual journey. Remember the Institute has a safety culture. In some cases it will be unclearly unsafe. For instance, if you cannot see the tip of your nose through the snow.

Q. If the snow starts falling later in the morning, I have made it into work and now I can’t get home, will there be any overtime payments?

A. Of course not. We’re being funded by a charity which cannot provide these sorts of benefits. Anyway you should have had the foresight not to come in in the first place.

it’s been so long.. and I’ve been through so much

So – what’s happened since August last year??

Well, my love life is still fantastic.  Pete is brilliant, we’re in love, and moving in together shortly.  It’s all good, really.  He’s my good karma.

About 2 weeks after I met him I went for a PAP smear – a regular bit of nastiness that every woman undergoes because it’s the only way to tell (other than pain) if there’s anything wrong with your insides.  Well, there was something wrong with my insides.  I received a letter a few weeks after the smear from the local hospital saying that I’d been scheduled for a colposcopy to remove a ‘vaginal wart’.  Of course, I went to the appointment!  They cut the wart off, it was approx 9mm x 4mm, and the docs at the time said that it didn’t look unusual, and that it would be sent for testing and I should get the results in about 3 weeks.

2 weeks to the day (incidentally, it was a Friday), I received a letter from the Oncology Dept asking me to come in in 10 days.  Geez, I was in a state that day!  I was ringing everywhere, the hospital, my GP, my medical insurance people, asking for ANY information – why was I being sent to oncology?  Why do I have to wait 10 days to find out what’s wrong?  Why can’t anyone tell me anything!  Lordy, that was a very messy day.  Anyway, I finally got through to the consultant’s PA who was brilliant, compasionate and as helpful as she could be – she gave me an appointment for the following Monday afternoon.  I only had to spend the weekend in distress.  Not brilliant, but better than nothing.

That weekend, because I just had to distract myself, Pete and I went to Salisbury for the weekend.  Stayed in a brilliant hotel, went to the Cathedral & Stonehenge, did some shpping and ate some good food – it was a lovely weekend.

Monday afternoon I met with my consultant, Mr S, who told me that I had Stage 1B1 cervical cancer.  Adenocarcinoma of the cervix. Apparently it was only stage 1B1 by 2mm – the cut off point for stage 1A is 7mm.  Anyway, he said that I was very lucky that the smear test actually picked up the abnormal cells, as the smear test is designed for the more common form of cervical cancer – the one I didn’t have.  Oh.  Lucky.  Yeah.  Lucky.  He said that it was very early stage, that he thought the colposcopy had removed all the cancerous cells and 90% of the pre-cancerous cells, but that the margin between the section removed and the healthy cells wasn’t big enough for his liking, and he’d like to take a bit more off to be sure that it’s all out.  No problem says I.  Understand totally.  Totally agree.  Go to.  He tells me he wants me at Day Surgery to give me an exam under anaesthetic - ok.  a bit scary.  only been under once in my life – wisdom teeth about 15 years ago, and they had trouble waking me up.  Apparently I’m suseptible to drugs.  

Anyway, that was booked for two weeks later, then a two day stay in hospital two weeks after that for a laparoscopic pelvic lymphadenectomy and trachelectomy.  Two days & two nights in hospital, keyhole surgery to remove my cervix altogether and stitch me up, just leaving a small hole for insemination/menstruation.  This was my best option if I want to have kids.  But the kids won’t be born naturally – must be caesarian – and probalby won’t be to term because of the weight pressing down on my non-cervix could rip me.  Nice.  But manageable if I’m aware of it.

So you can imagine the niceties I’ve been through in the last couple of months.  I got the operation on 29 Oct 2008, spent a very uncomfortable couple of weeks whilst my battered stomach muscles healed and the stitches disolved.  The tiredness was the hardest to take – I was exhausted all the time, had no stamina.   But been getting better every day since and got a visual all clear in January, and I’m back to Mr S in April for another smear test to check everything is still alright.  I feel good, but then I felt no pain or discomfort when the ‘wart’ was there – I had no way to tell I was sick except what the docs told me. 

Pete was an angel and stuck with me through all that, and is still with me.  I’ve moved into a new house closer to the new job.  Lovely house for a new lovely life.  I’ve stopped smoking on 1 Jan 2009 and haven’t had once since.  Turthfully haven’t missed them much – haven’t even gone through 50 pieces of nicotine gum in  the 7 weeks.

So it’s all good now.  I’m confident I’ve kicked it.  I’m feeling good, feeling positive in life and love.

All I can say is – girls, it’s a horrible piece of embarrassing nastiness, uncomfortable and a little humiliating, but GET YOUR SMEAR TESTS!  Especially if you’re over 20, because you won’t be getting the Human Pamplona (?) Virus vaccine that they’re giving to all school age girls now, and HPV is the most common cause of cervical cancer.  If it wasn’t for my smear test, I wouldn’t have known about anything, and may have been in a state similar to Jade Goody in a year!  GET YOUR SMEAR TESTS!  Guys, if you care about the women in your life, make them get their smear tests done.    Listen to Auntie Jane.  She knows best. :)

More later – now the update’s done I don’t feel the pressure anymore!  PHEW!  Hope you are all well, wishing you health, happiness and joy. xx

* only the names have been changed

A couple of weeks ago, I met a guy online.  I know, I’ve been there before and got my heart broken, then stomped on by size 13, 12-hole Docs.  But since I don’t go out drinking and picking people up, and there seems to be nowhere else to meet people, online is the easiest option. 

But this just feels different to before, and I really believe this could work.  He’s sweet, lovely to look at with enormous brown eyes, and he evokes this stupid grin that no matter what I do I can’t seem to wipe off my face.  We spend a lot of time laughing, chatting and finding similar tastes with so many things that I have to believe that this could turn out to be something serious.  I’ve got no choice, it feels almost fated.  Honestly.

We met in person for the first time last weekend, and needless to say I was nervous as all hell.  But we immediately hit it off.  No uncomfortable silences, no awkward moments at all.  The waitress had to come back twice to take our order because we were chatting too much to conentrate on the menu.  A 12:30 lunch date was still going at 19:30, and finally finished about 2am.  Then continued on Sunday when we lazed about mine watching and bagging out the olympics closing ceremony, and then went to see Hellboy 2 (really cool film, btw, Guillermo del Toro is a fantastical genius).  On Monday we had a wonderful day walking around London chatting and giggling like idiots.  I really like this guy.  I mean, I really like this guy.  And even better, he seems to feel the same way!  :)))

You know how it is when you just click with someone?  When everything seems easy and confortable?  When there’s enormous respect, huge attraction, and you feel that giddiness in your chest?  That’s how I’ve been all week.  I haven’t been able to wipe the smile off my face or stop the butterflies in my chest.  I seem to spend a ridiculous amout of time thinking about him.  And it’s been so long since I felt like this that I have to admit to being a little terrified.  There are moments (usually when he hasn’t been next to me) when I’ve felt utter panic and ‘what the hell am I doing?’. It all seems ridiculously fast, like being on the proverbial roller-coaster.  But something about it just feels right, and good, and all those wonderful things.  Honestly, it’s just like a 50’s romantic movie!  All of which makes me a little more suspicious – like I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. 

But we’re seeing each other again tonight, and I truthfully can’t wait.  I want to see where this goes.  I want to give it every chance – cause I haven’t been this happy in so long that I bloody well deserve it! 

So, just for a bit until I figure out what this is, don’t lob questions at me, don’t tell me to slow the hell down.  Just let me enjoy my secret guy for a bit longer…  And I really am enjoying myself, and whatever the hell this is.

It’s fantastic and wonderful and I’m immensely happy.  Hope you are too.

xx

Captain Cook’s boomerang for sale in London

In 1770, Capt James Cook parked his boat in Kurnell, Botany Bay, Australia and met some local people – as you do.  These locals, as a gift of friendship after noticing Cook didn’t have any, gave him a boomerang and a couple of clubs so he could hunt.  These items, a significant part of Australian history, are for sale in Christies in London and are expected to fetch more than £60,000 – reports the Brisbane Times.

Now, this is terrible for a number of reasons.  Firstly, that these items are such an incredibly significant part of modern Australian history – almost surely the first items from Australia ever exported.  Also, incredibly culturally significant to the Aboriginal people – how often to they actually get to view something their ancestors made, hold it in their hands.  To Australian historians this must represent the oldest piece of wood found from Australia, ever..  not to mention the archaeological value of such items in learning about Aboriginal culture and crafting techniques, of which so little remain.  And to the Australian people this is almost, when you really think about it, the item representing the birth of Australia as a country recognised to the world.

Image: Christies, London

To the rest of the world, it may just be a curved stick.  To Australians, it’s so much more.

There’s been a cry for the Aussie govt to get the UK govt to buy it and gift it back to us, where it can be displayed in Botany Bay for all to see.  I think Australia’s rich should band together and buy this, as a gift to the country that has provided then so much.  Why don’t we just form a conglomerate, every family inthe country donates a dollar, and we’ll be sorted!  It belongs back home in Australia, where it will get the respect it deserves, not rotting away in a cupboard somewhere in a private collection or buried in the bowels of the Natural History Museum in London.

Please, Aussie, make a noise about this.  This one’s important.  And not just to the descendants of the giver.  If I had the cash, I’d buy it and gift it myself. If a conglomerate forms, let me know the details…

happy blogiversary to me!

yep – two years down.. Adrift is two years old!  Bloody hell, what an adventure!  And it’s just getting better and better…

And I almost missed it! :)

Many thanks to my readers – and many thanks to everyone I’ve met and spent time with in the last two years, the people I’ve reconnected with, the new people I’m yet to meet.  You make it all worthwhile, and bloody hilarious at times too!

cheers everyone – big love to you all

xxx

the world’s most unwanted man

Garry Glitter, former Glam rocker (though I use the word rocker incredibly loosely – more just to give you an idea of what he aspired to be, not what he actually was) is now into kiddies.  He’s been done in the UK for downloading child porn, so he headed off to SE Asia, cause that’s what paedophiles do.  He got done in Vietnam for abusing two girls and sentenced to 6 years in prison.  Now released after 2 years on some sort of govt pardon, he’s been ejected from Vietnam.  As the Vietnamese are well within their rights to do.

At the moment he’s sitting in a back room of Bangkok airport, because the Thai won’t allow him into their country – and I don’t blame them in the slightest.  He’s already tried to go to Hong Kong, no go.  They don’t want him either and put him straight back on the plane to Bangkok.  He’s vowed he won’t return to the UK, since they’ve stepped up the restrictions on sex offenders and his life wouldn’t be what it was.  But is problem now is – where to go?

19 countries have said they don’t want him.  19.  That’s a lot of countries!  That’s very probably most of SE Asia.  He’s sitting in an airport in Bangkok with nowhere to go, and the Thai have said they’ll put him in a detention centre if he doesn’t leave the country.

Ah – what to do?  Poor poor Gary – see what kiddie porn gets you?  No country, no home, no prospects whatsoever.  And no sympathy from anyone.