Wednesday 31 December 2008

Four chooks a-layin'.........

The Fourth Day of Christmas (Well, near as). There was my True Love, shivering in the cold and clutching 4 eggs !

Yup. All four of our little darlings are now laying, wee ‘Moe’ having succumbed to the Hormone Blitz just a few days before Christmas. So with a rising ‘Egg Mountain’, TH pulled on his swimming trunks and set off to surf the world wide web and seek a recipe to deal with the situation. Result ? ‘Pickled Eggs’ joined the outgoing presents list.

And now, on the Fifth Day of Christmas – Myna seems to have gone broody…………..

.........................Any suggestions of how to help a broody chook get over her impossible dream ?

Oh yes - and have a Happy Hogmanay !

Friday 26 December 2008

MERRY CHRISTMAS !


Bestest Christmas Greetings to you ! So kind of you to visit. Apologies. Things have been a bit quiet here in the electronic kitchen, the soufflĂ© deflated and the hens scoffed the risotto……….

Largely because ChickPea was ironing cassocks and surplices in readiness for the Cathedral Carol Service, trying to do the Seasonal Things and usual chores (failing dismally in achieving the impossible) ………and frantically …… desperately…… sending off job applications………. until, with the end of the Jobseekers Allowance getting ever and ever closer, she decided to change strategy, and just try to get SOME hours doing ANYTHING……..

And…….

AND……… YES ! A great Christmas present was landing 15 hours part time work from 5th January – wheeeeeeee !

So, yup, she’s away to school again ! 3.30pm till 6.30pm, Monday to Friday, wielding a mop or similar and ensuring the educational premises are of A Standard. This will not only ease financial fears but will assist General Fitness, boost the flagging morale and allow return to a more appropriate ‘long term’ jobseeking strategy. All good things at the start of a new year.

So – FANTASTICALLY - a Very Merry Christmas Indeed !

Here’s hoping things are ok with you, that Christmas has been a Fine Time, that Hogmanay and New Year’s Day will be even better, and wishing you good times and great companions throughout 2009.

Thursday 11 December 2008

SUMMING UP


MINUS: Well, the waiting finished today. Neither job landed.


PLUS: ChickPea completed her first ‘European Computer Driving Licence’ module
today;
exam completed and passed. Next two modules ready to start.

EQUALS: No excuse for being bored this Christmas !

Wednesday 10 December 2008

Sunshine

ChickPea was out early with Mr Mutt this morning, determined to give him a decent walk after two days of ‘other demands’. Mr Mutt’d missed out because of ChickPea having two more interviews………. More anon.

Most important - give Mr Mutt some time and space today. It was light, but cold – some frost, some slippy areas. They’d just left TH at his workplace, there was loads of car parking space along the Kelvin Way, so Kelvingrove Park it was. Mr Mutt was very pleased. They’d not been there for over a week. And not seen Mr Heron for over a month – and there, as the sun crept through the nearly-bare bones of the winter trees, was Mr Heron. Up to his knees in the cold river as ChickPea and Mr Mutt strode along the path (well - nearly strode - there was still slipperiness). Breakfast was slow in arriving for Mr Heron this morning. It was good to see him – just about ten feet away, quite unconcerned to be observed (“as long as you’re quiet – please don’t scare the fish…….”). A pal has been watching him higher up the river recently, so we knew he was still around – but it was still good to see him. If only Chickpea had had the camera along this morning ! Mr Heron caught them up again ten minutes later as they went past the frozen duck pond – he’d decided to take a break from the river, and was high up in one of the trees. ChickPea had never seen a heron in a tree before, but he was clearly perfectly satisfied with his vantage point.

Oh yes – the interviews. Well, one was for a post applied for over six weeks ago, which she’d almost lost hope of ever hearing about. The other had been a ‘next day response’ to receiving an agency’s version of her CV (which ChickPea’d not seen before it went in……. CV had become basically inaccurate through their ‘tweaking’, giving rise to ‘personal integrity’ issues…..)

But both interviews were extremely good experiences (assuming ‘good’ and ‘interview’ can ever be linked !). Both very different, but each conducted in a highly professional and most competent manner and very positively handled to get the best they could out of their candidate. So ChickPea feels confident that the end result will be both fair – and the best for the jobs concerned. Successful for ChickPea ? Time will tell. Maybe both will identify a better candidate to fill their requirement. Either way, Chickpea felt kind of ‘honoured’ to observe such interviewing expertise in action, and apart from chattering on like a budgie (not particularly typical for her) and not managing to say much of what she’d prepared and hoped to include….. she was fairly satisfied with her performance (throw her a fish someone !).

Now is the wait…….. Either job would be fun; each very different and requiring very different approaches and activities. One supporting the function of Strathclyde’s Finest; one assisting the community aspects of tower block demolition (!) One easier to get to, probably (she forgot to ask) with more training, much more structure, significantly better prospects overall, and better paid. The other much more demanding on travel, less pay, ‘quirky’ in context and allowing (maybe) more personal interpretation of the role. Both hoping to get the successful candidate launched into the post in January………..

Now is the wait.

You’d think it was Advent, or something……………



Monday 1 December 2008

Livin' an' Lernin'

ChickPea’s havin’ a nite in tonite. All Alone. TH had to go away to a conference. HAD to get by without his Trubble n Strife. (or did he mean ‘had to get away from’…..?) Anyway. Poor Love. Up before 7am, and a long long drive (with his boss). Miles away into the far blue yonder. Back of Beyond. Far far away (St Andrews). Poor thing. He’s having to ‘make do’………… with the hospitality of ‘The Auld Course’……….HUGE bedroom. Many-course supper. And booze. Don’t you just weep for him ? !!!

Anyway……….

Telly’s on. And she’s getting some edukayshun…….. Wot’s this ?

Presented Physiological fact: Female body has…. WOT ! …… LESS water than yon male ? An’ THAT’s why she’s not allowed as many units of alcohol as his nibs, ‘cos HE – being more water, dilutes his intake more efficiently……….

HA ! So much for ‘equality’, eh.

Just as ChickPea thought. All that ‘politically correct’ stuff about ‘gender’ and ‘God’ becomes significantly more suspect….. such a dire and fundamental (here meaning ‘basic’) unfair inequality MUST prove ‘God’ to be male………..