Not much of a day for doing things, because our friendly, but not-local handyman Stephen is here till about 3:45pm doing various jobs around the house. But Lois at last has a couple of shelves in the kitchen to put her favourites saucepans and her cookbooks on, which is nice!
friendly, not-so-local-as-he-once-was handyman Stephen
a couple of new shelves in the kitchen, for Lois's favourite
saucepans and her cookbooks - just feel the delight in this picture!
Still, this is first real mistake, we think, since moving in her on October 31st last year. So that's a pretty good record on the whole, we feel, looking on the positive side.
I'm sure I was told when a young kid, that monkeys, dogs, cats, tortoises, bees etc are quite like human beings in make-up as a whole but just less sophisticated here or more or less developed there, the reason being that it's the same general pattern or template being repeated from species to species. But that isn't always the case is it - sometimes there are extraordinary deviations from the norm, even in basic activities such as mating.
Two penises start to protrude, and entwine together, each becoming as long as the rest of its owner's body - my goodness, whatever next!!! Each slug then passes a packet of sperm to the other.
As soon as that's done, however, they "break" abruptly and go their separate ways, without as much as a kind word or a cigarette, which is a bit brutal! And the only evidence of what's been going on is a bit of left-over sticky slime. And the party's over.
our shiny new cabinet for holding sheet music and piano books
- only it's too small. Feel the annoyance here in this picture haha!
We decide to put some stationery items in this cabinet instead, relieving pressure on the bureau, and stash some of our sheet music etc. on the bottom bit, which doesn't have any sides. See? There's always a way round at least some of these setbacks, if you look for it!
And we've also got a mirror in our bedroom now (not shown), so that's another step towards cultivating a better appearance for when we go out, that's for sure and not looking like we've just got out of bed haha!
10:00 Again today I spend an hour or two on the laptop doing battle, via their text-the-helpdesk option, with the South African helpdesks of British Gas, our new suppliers. They still haven't set up our gas account, although they seem to have managed it with our electricity account. How hard can it be haha!!!!
What a madness it all is !!!!
Once again helpdesk team members give me some comforting but vague replies, like "I'm escalating the case to dedicated team for further investigation", which I suspect it is a standard answer that they can text to me at the press of a button. "Dedicated team will resolve the issue shortly" (that's another one - another button press, I'll bet !!!!), or "I have done [sic] the required arrangements for you" (another button-press - aaaarrrrggghhhhh!).
a typical excerpt from today's helpdesk chat session
Well, we'll see in due course whether they have resolved it, or not! I'm not counting on it, and I'm not counting on getting an email to tell me they've resolved it either, until I see it!
I much prefer the texting method, however, to calling them on the phone, because at the end of the chat-session there's an option for them to email the complete transcript of the chat-session to me, so I can use it as evidence against them if necessary.
Plus, all these British Gas helpdesk guys seem to be Asians living in South Africa - that's another madness! I wouldn't mind that normally, only it's just that I have trouble sometimes understanding what they're saying to me - that's perhaps partly my fault, with my "old wrinkly" hearing. So by texting my questions and getting texted answers, I kill two birds with one stone, which is nice!
a typical helpdesk room in South Africa
What a crazy world we live in !!!!
20:00 We go to bed on the second programme in National Treasure David Attenborough's new series "The Wild Isles".
Take the ash-black slug. No go on, please, take it haha!
Lois and I are very into slugs at the moment, fascinated by the latest Danish-language story we've been reading about armies of so-called "killer slugs" invading Danish gardens, or Danish gardener's children turning into giant slugs - you know the kind of plot, it's become a bit of a cliché now, actually, hasn't it haha!
the book of short gardening stories by Danish writer
Sissel Bjergfjord, that our Danish group is reading at the moment
Danish writer Sissel Bjergfjord, in front of the bookcase
that her boyfriend crafted for her
In our Atlantic oakwoods, which are temperate rain-forests on the western sides of Britain and Ireland, we watch a couple of ash-black slugs mating: these can be as much as 12" (30cm) long, and they are the largest land-slugs in the world. They're only found in ancient wet woods, such as you find on Dartmoor, Devon, for example.
the Atlantic oakwoods of Dartmoor, Devon
Unlike people, the ash-black slugs of Dartmoor like nothing better than a damp night if they want to find a partner. If "on the pull", they lay down a slimy trail carrying powerful chemical signals. And after meeting, typically in the tree-tops, they nuzzle a bit just to make sure they're a suitable match, length-wise.
But the weird thing is that, again unlike people, like all slugs, they're hermaphrodites, i.e. with both male and female sex organs. So it's "boy-girl meets boy-girl", or vice versa maybe. And, for preference, the mating couples like an overhanging branch, just to keep them steady while they're doing it - you'll see why in a minute. Then they twist together and hang down as a unit.
Yuck !!!!
What "wild and crazy" isles we live on haha !!!!
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzz!!!!
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