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Well Autumn is upon us… I’m reminded by a recipees book I just got in Waitrose.  Anyway some things to evoke the senses:

Cold fresh mornings;

Leaves that float to the ground like a boat rocking from side to side;

Cold clear evenings with watery light;

Wood smoke that makes you think of places you’d rather be;

Warm winter casseroles and pies with lashings of creamy mashed potato;

Short days and long drawn out nights.

Those are some of the things I love about Autumn.  I won’t ruin it by listing things I don’t like about Autumn.

Has anyone got a duster? I think I see a cobweb over in the corner.

Things have been uber quiet around here I’m afraid.  Well it’s not exactly as if anyone really reads this site so it’s hardly as if I’m missed.  You know I could be one of those people who’s body goes un-noticed for years.

Anyway, it’s been quiet because I’ve been lacking some creative ideas to write about.  My life seems to consist of:

• Get up
• Clean up after puppy
• Drive an hour to work
• Do work
• Drive an hour home from work
• Too tired to do anything else.

I’m reasonably sure, life in the country wasn’t how it’s turned out so far.

Anyway, I’m off to Kent for the weekend this weekend and I’m REALLY looking forward to four days off.  I’ve been sleeping badly and it’s making me seriously grumpy.  Hopefully some sea air will do me good.

In other news I’ve started a new writing course and I’ll be hoping to sort out a site just to keep all of my writing on.  With the concerted attempt to write on a more daily basis.

Right… best get back to it.

Sorry it’s been a bit quiet around here recently.  I’ve been back to a hellish commute and it’s kinda drained me somewhat.  Anyway, I now have four days off so I’m hoping to use my time creatively.  Although the dog is going to use my time to eat my legs, like she’s currently doing now.

Anyway, I think I’m going to make some slightly more than mid-way through the year’s resoltuions.  I need to do more writing more than anything.  Well writing that my employers aren’t paying for would be good.

Anyway, there it’s carnival week in the village from Saturday so our entertainment is thrown in for free.  Not to mention the dog provides ample entertainment withough going very far.

I’m thinking that normal blogging will resume when I don’t feel quite so frazzled.  Had my dad and the dog for a week, along with going to work.  Que lots of friction.

Sleeping better now R is back.  Still it’s bleedin’ hot.  Although being out in the country means it does actually cool down at night.  Which is bloody wonderful.

Neighbours have gone on holiday, which makes me want a holiday more and more.  All I’ve done since the end of May is think about the south of France.  Well the Verdon Gorge to be more specific.  The heat down there is overwhelming, but at least you’re near somewhere you can take a cooling dip and you aren’t at home.  It’s a break.  Not going to get either this year.  Four weeks at home isn’t really a break.

Oh well.  Off to do the laundry now.  Then find something to do for the rest of the day.

It’s all gone to pot.  I don’t mean the green smelly stuff either.  I mean urban life as we know it has gone.  Yes that’s right, we’ve moved to the country and got a dog, but now we’re going one step further.  We’re getting an estate.  Not just any estate, a deisel estate.  We have turned into the country set over night.  Oh and before you say anything more, I already own a pair of Hunters Wellies, but absolutely no tweed.

There’s a good reason for wanting the estate, I’m travelling further to work.  As we all know the democratic government in the UK is going the way of a dictatorship, so the rise in fuel costs is not helping my pocket.  R’s, admitidly very nice car, sits on the driveway and does nothing.  Mine is seven years old and falling to pieces.  Add into the mix we have one dog and want another next year, we want to go out walking with her, so it’s only fair we give her a bit more accomodation when she’s in the car.  The choice has been made.

Also given the high cost of, well, everything, we’re going to get a tent, so we can go camping.  I can’t believe I said yes to that, but the thought of being able to go away with the dog, and cheaply is very appealing.  We can throw everything in the car and pretty much go, whereas with a hotel, we’d have to have a dog sitter and hope there was room at the inn so to speak.

If putting together flat pack furniture from Ikea could be conisdered a degree subject, I would now have past with a 1st and top of my class.

I successfully achieved the “2 Wardrobe frames” by myself, with only one cockup.  The bed was not a single handed subject.  It’s a divan, so I was expecting it to come already put together.  No.  It was flat packed.  It was also a frame that allows you to lift up the slats at the bottom for storage, so it was extra confussing.  Two hours I think it took to put it together.

My hands are sore, my knees are sore (from kneeling down), my back is sore.  I now have to go back to Ikea because they didn’t deliver the mattress.  That will come in the form of a rant about their somewhat useless customer service at a later stange.  I will top it off with the most helpful “You could go to the local store and get one”… do you think if I had transportation for four items that are two meters long, I would have bloody gone and got it.

Right… best get going.  Suspect the transport for delivering said mattress is on his way to Ikea, at dad speeds.  I bet he’ll get there and will phone me and ask me where I am.  Store doesn’t open until 11:30.  But need to go in and wrestle the mattress off the shelf.

Well Goodwood Festival of Speed this year was both good, and not so good.  For starters, it didn’t really rain, which was lovely.  It was seriously windy at times though.  I also managed to spend absolutely nothing, beyond the tickets in the first place.  Of this, I am rather pleased with myself.

The catering has greatly improved as well.  Gone are the over priced, poor quality food stands that you find at cheap motorsports events.  These were replaced with more up-market, quality, over-priced food stands.  Some of which appear to have a home at Donnington, so it was easy to see why F1 is going there.

I was incredibly miffed to find the Grand Stand that we normally go an sit in was not there this year.  Replaced with a bloody sponsors enclosure.  How pissed were we?  There was no Grandstands for those who have payed, on the first corner.  The best corner by far.  It’s wide and people spin out and do donuts.  I payed over £100 for the tickets and there are fewer Grandstands.  Why?

Another thing that let it down, unuasually they picked the same weekend to hold the event as the MotoGP, WTCC and BTCC amongst other things.  On top of that, the F1 teams sent the stand-ins for their test drivers for most of the days.  Seriously, if you pay over £100 for a ticket, you want to see some decent people go up the Hill Climb, not Vicky Broad-Bean Harvester.  I think they had Damon Hill, Tiff Needell and Vicky Broad-Bean Harvester, so basically 5th Gear turned up.  To add insult to injury, hardly any of the cars in each class went up the Hill.

The only people to turn up, with a serious contingent, were the WRC boys.  They put on the best show of everyone.  We even saw Malcolm Wilson in the Paddock giving an interview.  As we’d ensconsed ourselves on the last Grandstand of the climb, just before the flint wall, we got to see Marko Martin step out on the grass and go sideways round the bend.  That was pretty good.  They put on a really good show for the crowds, something the other participants should take note of.

Anyway, we aren’t sure if we’ll go next year.  There’s too much to see and do, but it’s pretty much the same as we’ve seen in years previous.  However, if you want to go to the Festival of Speed, and have never been before, here is a surviors guide:

1. Wear good shoes, you’ll be walking around all day, in less you have Grandstand seats or are a VIP
2. Wear decent clothes & take sun block.  Goodwood is prone to wind and rain.  You’ll either get wet, blown to bits or sunburnt… go prepared.
3. Don’t bother with a picnic, in less you fancy a long walk back to your car or you don’t mind carrying it around all day.
4. The groups of cars that go up the hill will do so twice a day.  So either camp out by the circuit to watch them first thing, then go and wander around the paddocks, or vice versa.
5. The F1 paddock will be heaving.  There isn’t a good time to go, in less you get there as soon as the event opens.
6. If you go on a Friday, not only is it cheaper to get in, there are fewer crowds and if you buy a Grandstand ticket, it will get you into any of the Grandstands along the climb.
7. Get there early.  I cannot stress this enough, leave as early as you can manage.  We’ve left at 8 before and sat in traffic for over an hour.
8. If you want autographs, have a pen and (if you dare buy it) a programme to hand all the time.  You might be lucky and bump into a driver as they’re walking around.  You will get close to the drivers (in less that driver is a certain Lewis Hamilton).
9. Grab one of the Goodwood umbrella’s if you can afford one (they’re not cheap any more), they’ve got a black and white print of historic Goodwood racing circuit on it.
10. Remember to drink lots of water.  You can easily dehydrate yourself wandering around.

UPDATE: R’s Photos are now online of Friday’s Festival of Speed… go check ‘em out: Delicious Caek’s Photostream

Well I’m amazed.  I went to Ikea and I only spent £25.  I also bought only the items I wanted to get.  Go me.  Still I wouldn’t have gone to Ikea if they’d been able to include the hanging rails in the order for the wardrobe.  How stupid is that?  You buy a wardrobe online but you can’t buy the hanging rails with it?  Perhaps they should have an intelligent ordering system, whereby you order something like a wardrobe, and it suggests the parts you would want to have with it, pre-selected to the correct size.  Meh… It’s frustrating when you know you could do better.

Anyway, I bought an extension pack for the shelves in the pantry.  So now my pantry looks pretty darn good. I’ve got all the food on a double wide metal shelving unit inside the door, all the cooking utensils, dog bowls, storage items etc on the three units that are smaller in size.  My pantry now rocks.  Also as a result the kitchen looks spotless.  Later on I’ll be working a similar kind of magic with the spare room, as the wardrobes and spare bed turn up on Wednesday.  So all in all, the house is looking more and more tidy.  A feat that’s doubly impressive because the dog weaves a path of destruction wherever she goes.

The fact that it took me 2 hours to un-pack all the shopping as a result of putting the extra shelves up shall be considered a moot point.  Still it was worth it.  I have a place for everything now, and I won’t kill my back every time I want a can of beans off the shelves.

More on her second, even louder belch at the dog training school later. Also possibly a post about Goodwood Festival of Speed… perhaps a survivors guide to attending, and a note on how the catering was about a thousand times better than in previous years!

So I had to go into London yesterday… which was interesting.  Firstly I almost missed the train thanks to stupid traffic lights and stupid parking meters with no indicaiton of payment fees.  Bit annoyed at that.

Still, it was strange being back in my old stomping grounds.  Stopping for a drink in Leon on the Strand then going over to Bank to mee the wonderfull JJ for lunch.  It’s amazing how much of a tonic a good friend can offer.  I miss my daily conversations with JJ.  She made me realise everything I’ve been stressing over wasn’t exactly my fault and that other people should be held accountable for their behavior.  Soothing if nothing else.

Got back and my back ached, my legs ached, my feet ached and my head ached.  I woke up this morning feeling rather icky.  Still a walk with pupzilla (all be it a short one) was very restorative.  I felt a lot better following it.

Being in the country changes you.  Your mind set is different and things that were important before are no longer so.  You realise that quality of life is more important than other things.  The balance changes and it soothes you.  Well it soothes me.  I’m not a city person.  I go back and I see tourists, I see people as potential terrorists and I see people who are work obsessed.

The terrorist thing was interesting.  I got on the Central line at Bank and sat opposite someone and my hackles went up.  They never went like that before.  I never looked at someone and thought “are you going to blow this train up, or are you thinking about doing it?” I just got on with it.  Now I feel a little safer being out of London and not a constant target for someone who wants to do something silly.

As I said… being in the country changes a person.

Whatever I said that was good about my hosting company… forget it.  They are persona non grata at the moment.  Complete n00bs.  Anyway, I’ve had to re-build this site as a result.  Hence it looks a mess again.  I managed to back up most things, but I’m having to re-do all the settings.  Don’t worry Bedshaped, I’ll send you a new login.  Anyway… please excuse the mess while I tidy up.  I should have it sorted by the end of tomorrow.  Well I hope I will.