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JANUARY 201031stWhisper this, but I have a perfect connection, everything loading full speed and no problems. Why???? I still do not have the new modem and nothing has changed at all since yesterday. I am going to type my fingers off today just in case a return to what is depressingly the norm occurs. Who knows? If this should continue I could actually finish me novel within the next two weeks. A heady thought indeed. The temperature dipped to minus four last night. Even though the tank is fully lagged the water wich was piping hot last evening had become cold overnight. We are still cold but there is a that bright, stabbing sunshine that you get during this sort of weather and since I am not food enough to look directly at it, it is very pleasant here and I can see better than I have seen for months. NOT with the distance glasses though. Uh-uh. I> don't want to see any dust! I am catching up on CSI New York and updating you of events here and feel actually rather mellow. So there must be a storm coming somewhere, giggle. 30thOne twelfth of the way through the year already and nothing really done. It is certainly true that the older you get the faster time whizzes by. The connection here no longer appears to be the problem but certain servers seem unobtainable, which is slowing things down but the things that can be done are being done. My confirmation of address code for Point Shop came through today and if you are in the UK and want to know what that is about just click the words Point Shop above and you will see. I have a lot of fun on this site and am building up for a nice little reward for my time, too. 29thWell, I have a connection today but some of the sites do not seem to want to be connected so something is happening out there and it seems pretty universal. It was a bit doom and gloom with the Consultant because although you can never say never I should forget about recovery and think about trying not to get any worse. Also remember that all new kitchen items should have nice thickly ridged handles etc because I do not have a safe grip, get the cooker bar on the hob etc etc etc, sigh. I have elected to concentrate on my sites and getting me novel written and published, and hope that when this cold weather passes my joints unfreeze too. They forgot to bring the shopping yesterday so I am out of cat food. Kitten cat doesn't mind since she was forced to eat a tin of tuna fish today. In fact they can forget the shopping tomorrow too if they like, she is purring like a little steam engine! 26thWe had a flurry of snow last night and today the lock on the car is frozen solid, so we are terribly cold but otherwise busy packing and sorting. It is amazing how many Christmas brochures accumulate - 38 of the things! Since we have the internet we generally search on line and these all came through the door. Things are otherwise quiet, the lull before the storm, maybe, but I have a feeling we shall be on the move shortly! About time too really. It is a contest between whether I move first or finish the book first. It would be great to do both by the same date! 25thHappy Burns Night and if you are celebrating this evening have a wee dram for me, but you may keep the Haggis all to yourself. We have a suitably cold and miserable day for this celebration of Haggis, tatties and neaps which together with whiskey do a formidable warm up job. I personally shall probably have fish and chips, giggle. The chocolates from the tasting club arrived this morning and we descended upon them like gannets so they are not lasting very long but they are well tasted. 24thStill on line but had one of me "turns" today, so not on line for long. One thing after another. 2010 is definitely as bad as 2009 and I am still waiting for the new leaf. However so far we have been spared the return of the snow and in fact it is quite warm and comfortable indoors even without the heating turned on, so something must be becoming milder. I spend Sunday housekeeping on the sites and deleting old stuff and trying to put new stuff on, so not much new stuff went on this week. And now Honey has just materialised and she needs the computer . . . C'est la vie . . . 23rdWell I am not sure what has been occurring here because as you can see I have not been able to get on line and then suddenly this afternoon I can get on line. Nothing has changed so it has to be the connection, I guess. Roll on the arrival of the new modem and heaven help them if that does not cure the problem. I have over 10,000 emails, lots of people asking where the heck I have been an not sure where to start! On the plus side I got a lot of sorting out and paper planning done, which is most boring and normally relegated to the bottom of the pile soe a sort of blessing in disguise, I suppose (not!). So if you missed me that is what occurred and if you didn't, bad luck, I am baaaaaaaack!!!! 20thWe have another very dark day and I am still in la la land so I think one or other of the medications will be stopped because I need to be in this world to actually get anything done, and the packing is like time and tide, it waits for nobody. I have lovely foxy hair today, cut slightly shorter and in the colour I was born with, albeit that now needs a little help out of a bottle so to speak. No matter, I look about fifteen years younger and that suits me just fine. There was no post toay which either means there was no postman or that something has got lost because I alway sget post, even if it is only junk. Who am I kidding, it is almost always junk. I want to change from "you might have won" to envelopes containing bright, crisp cheques, but then so does everyone else who ever enters a contest, I suppose. Kitten Cat managed to show me up whilst I was having my hair cut, stalking the clumps of hair which were falling to the floor and very nearly tripping my hairdresser! Very funny, but it would not be Kitten Cat who lost an ear, would it! Considering that this medication makes my hair fall out it had grown considerably well and there was an enormous pile of hair to be binned so I seem to be lucky so far and am keeping my hair. The Kids are out househunting at the moment and I am hopeful of getting the place to myself again shortly so that I can get packing in earnest. It is funny how nobody wants boxes all around them when they re usign the accommodation but they don't give a fig when they are not, but I do need to get on now. I did a count up today and I have nearly sixty fairies and they alone will be three boxes full, without the dolls and the tea service my Grandfather bought back from China just before 1900! Which reminds me, where did Chaos put the cups and saucers that go with this service . . . 19thI am in la la land today and I gather that there have been widespread internet problems so together with my dodgy modem I suppose I am lucky to be on line at all at all. Chaos and Honey went shopping then I remembered my hairdresser is arriving tomorrow so they had to go back out to get the hair dye. How daft am I, wasting people's time like that! However I really do look better Foxy than badger which is how I look if I don't apply the demon dye, so hopefully it was in a good cause, keeping Foxy Lady looking Foxy. I have my own small branch of Iceland in the kitchen, and whilst it is absolutely love to have such an abundance and choice of food, it was a heck of a battle getting it all into the freezer and once again I had to leave the task to Honey because I just do not have the wrist strength to ram it all into the drawers. I remembered to leave out the chicken which we shall have for our main meal this evening, which is a good thing, because I do not think we would find it again else. There is still no word from the hospital as to the date of the all important Consultation and we expect more snow so I shall ring them tomorrow and try to get seen before the snow fall, because I am walking on marshmallows at the moment, the floor feels sort of spongy and uneven, and that is when I have the falls. 18thWell two days fiffle faffling around and it is evident that the modem is on its way out so la di la here we go again, we are waiting for a new one. At least am online, which is something. We are also apparently awaiting more snow. How much more fun can we request? Apparently the stocks of salt which were ordered do not arrive in the country until 21st so everyone will just have to keep their fingers crossed that the snow does not arrive before then. The mechanic to sort out the mutant ninja washing machine on Thursday and by then I shall have a mountain of laundry. The snow will also be around by then so whether he will actually arrive and sort out the machine is anyone's guess. Don't buy a Hotpoint. Most of them are great but if you get a mutant one such as I have they will not replace it however bad the thing is. 16thI do not know what has gone wrong but a very productive day so far. All paperwork tickety boo and The Plan for Book Finish and Agent Search in place. The weather is cold, damp and dark and I was hoping that my Hotel Chocolate box would appear today but alas, no. I shall have to rely on my own inner resources to cheer myself up. Yup I gonna be a miserable as sin Foxy Lady all day long, giggle. 15thIt just gets better and better in the UK. Half the country is now on flood alert and next week we allegedly get the snow back. Woohoo isn't 2010 just the year of fun. Not. . . I am waiting for someone to come with some boxes and then the glass cases are going to be dismantled. Ugh. Necessary though. They can take a day to assemble or disassemble. Can you imagine doing that on moving day? OK I haven't got a Moving Day yet, but I do have a timetable for Me Novel, and I think having everything packed will save stress. I hope to finish typing the first draft within the next week, and then discs will be with several friends so no matter what happens and no matter what gets lost Me Novel will be ready for final polish and some lucky Agent will have me knocking at their door. Hark! What is this I hear? The hurried packing of suitcases and the slamming of doors followed by rushing feet? Aw c'mon Agents everywhere, it can't be THAT bad . . . 14thYet another go nowehre day in the UK and apparently as soon as the thaw has come there will be more snow, but who knows, probably not the Met Offioe judging by their current performance. Not very much going on here either, thankfully, we could all do with a bit of a rest up to get ready for another round of box packing. If there was an olympic sport for that, would win gold, and that is for sure! 13thIf you were awakened this morning by what sounded like the screeching of a banshee, worry not. Tis only me, and I am not haaaappppyyyyy!!!! First off we have more snow, you know, the snow they said had gone and was not expected to return, THAT snow. Then about half an hour ago Kitten Cat shot into here as if the Devil himself were after her and started frantically rolling on the carpet. Terrified inspection revealed that she was wet. I bet regular readers of this blog know WHY she was wet, don't you! Yes, that blankety blank bleep bleep mutant ninja washing machine is at it again. I have a kitchen under three inches of icy cold water. I am also alone. Fortunately Computer Web Pages Dust Bunny and myself have a scheme whereby we place read newspapers outside so that the other can read any that they have missed. If Dust Bunny has missed any now he has missed them good, because I frantically grabbed them and threw them onto the floor to soak up the deluge. I have developed a pathological hatred for that darned machine. Just when you relax because it is actually working it plays up again. It is a bad day to do it, today, because I am trying to keep calm so that my blood pressure is not sky high when I see my Consultant later today. I can't even kick the machine! Rheumatoid Foxies who kick machines end up with multiple toe fractures so who is the silly one then? Exactly. However, if I win the lottery, that machine will have a speedy appointment with a wrecking hammer, and that is a promise! 12thI lost the connection last evening and I sparked out too, falling asleep very early. So I missed all the drama. Honey had been most unwell. She is sleeping now and hopefully will be somewhat better when she awakes. None of us are actually well, and I am sort of on auto pilot but getting there. The snow is gradually clearing and there are no further weather alerts, which is good because I have to see the Consultant tomorrow with regard to this poison medicine and I really do want to keep that appointment. It would help if I am as sick tomorrow as I am today so that he can see for himself and hopefully rebalance the medication. I have a dippy bird today who wants to mate with the cat. No kidding. Just what you need when you feel like death warmed up! 11thWell we are certainly cold as Siberia and we did get a brush of snow but not the foot of snow predicted. A comment in the newspaper made me think. The same people who can not get the weather for the next DAY right are the same ones predicting climate change . . . I got a great freebee - binoculars! All I need now is a visit to a bird sanctuary - when the weather warms up a good few degrees, that is. I am also going to get a bread maker, not exactly a freebee, but a point exchange, and then I shall be able to utilize the other freebee I got - a great recipe book with all different bread recipes. Some of them are really yummy. I particularly fancy an apricot bread recipe. I will be independent then and not have to worry whether anyone is on hand to get me some bread in between shops. It was a total freebee day today because I also got my booklet on the History of Scotland, which is produced in assosiation with the TV series which has been showing over here in the UK. I much rather prefer freebees to bills, but then who doesn't! 10thThe news here is very grim. Most roads are closed. Most public buildings are closed. Food is not getting into the shops. I would not be surprised to lose power at some stage because to be honest I think we have been lucky not to have had any power cuts as of yet. Things are not set to improve any in the foreseeable future. So if I vanish that is why, and I think a lot of other UK based people will have the same problem. Apparently there are also problems in Germany in that all the airports are closed there, so it is pretty widespread. We are expecting up to a foot more snow to land shortly, so pretty pretty landscape but nobody is going anywhere. 9thWe have more snow, so I do not think any of us are going anywhere today. Hopefully it will get better over the next couple of weeks, because the funeral service is in a sweet little place off the beaten track and we will need a snow plough to access it at this rate. Hopefully this will keep the Great Bored inside as they were a thundering nuisance elsewhere on the estate last evening, causing trouble at the local shop. I was forced to venture out to see my local MP, Dr Howard Stoate, and although this site is not a political site, as you know I always let you know when someone is a good egg, and Dr Stoate certainly is. He may not be able to solve your problem but he will write to all the relevant departments and he will support you and you will then have a name in the department to follow things through with. With all the political turmoil surrounding the major political parties in this country it would be very wrong if good politicians were thrown out with the bathwater during an election. If you have a good experience of your local MP and would like to let others know please do mail me at the mail address on the home page and I will spread the word so that good MPs do get the recognition and rise above all the rubbish which is in the media. Every party has good and bad MPs and we desperately need to keep the good ones. On the home front, Kitten Cat has acquired a Bad Habit. She is trying to uplift the carpet so that she can bury her toy on a string under it! Very comical but not very good for the carpet. At the moment it does not much matter since the carpet has seen its best days and is due for the skip coming Moving Day, but the next carpet will be a noo carpet and I really would like it to last for a few years. I think that my dream of a fluffy deep piled cream carpet may have gone out of the window though, sigh. I slipped indoors yesterday and managed to whack my head on the corner of a cupboard. I really shall have to get rounded corners on the next cupboards because this knock was extremely painful and a rounded corner does not hurt half so much. Tried and tested, but don't try this at home! 8thThe Great Bored assaulted Chaos last evening as he went out to collect something from the car and we had police and paramedics here until 2am. This morning I received a phone call telling me that my Aunt has died and I have to go to my family. So you will not be hearing much more from me today, but hopefully there will be a more cheerful posting tomorrow. 7thMinus 18 last night. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Many homes in Kent and Sussex are without power. That must be very unpleasant, since lifestyles and Government policies have all but eliminated coal fires, so unless they have gas too these people are going to be very cold. The children are not at school because the schools are closed and they amused themselves by making a huge snowball, such as you normally see only on televisions, then they had problems rolling it to the side of the road since it kept sticking to the ice! At end of play a man came out and broke the snowball up, thus removing the hazard, but they did have fun! Newsreaders have been gleefully reminding everyone that the last time we had snow like this, long ago in 1963 (depressing since I was THERE) the snow lasted from December to March. Lord, spread a little cheerfullness why don't they! They can not keep the schools closed for three months so I wonder just how they will cope if the extreme weather really does persist. Hmmmm. 6thWell, we have just enough snow to be a thundering nuisance but some of the country is in dire straights, with roads blocked, and motorists have had to be rescued by the army! There has been comparison to the Great Freeze which ocurred in the UK in 1963, with many disparaging comments that people were hardier then and managed to get to work etc, - I lived though that freeze and can remember the snow being up past the ground floor windows! The reason that there was less disruption at that time is that very few people owned cars and most people worked and went to school within walking distance of home. The community worked together to clear roads so that the children could walk to school (huh!) and people could get around generally. Air travel was for the rich, something hardly ever even thought about by most people, and very few people crossed the Channel, possibly because the time span was closer to the War and people did not wish to relive France in any way. Thus the men got the shovels out and shovelled, the women kept them stoked up with hot tea and sandwiches and the children helped where they could and got whacked for snowballilng the adults. All good fun, really. During the sixties we expected winter to be an endurance trial and prepared accordingly. Salt was kept to keep sinks unblocked and paths clear, warm clothing and suitable boots were hauled out at the first falling leaf. I detested my boots but at least they kept my feet warm. Grandmothers came into their own with lurid collections of scarves, hats and gloves knited from multicoloured oddments of wool and we wore them and were glad of them. Fashion had not attacked then. We looked after each other too. Our family adopted an interesting man who had served in the First World War. Following his recovery from being shot he became a gardener, living in in the grounds of a large house and he had some stories to tell! He was widowed and more or less without family so in times of extreme weather I would totter over with a flask of home made soup and some bread and generally check he was OK, and many families in our village had a similar "adopted extra". Nah! Life was not better then, it was what we made it, just like it is today. I have to admit that I had become spoiled by the lovely warm winters we have had over the last decade or so and I am thoroughly disgusted when the snow falls and settles. My excuse is that I can't keep my feet on ordinary ground let alone on the ice! Today is 12th Night so the tree will come down today and I have experienced my very own minor miracle in that Kitten Cat left it alone! Howzat for amazing! 5thWhat a palaver! I upgraded on Sky and the technican was a very, very nice man but he had terrible eye sight. He thought I was the Mother of Chaos! He is in fact only six weeks younger than I am. If I looked old before I must look ancient now! Anyways, as ever, there was a heck of a lot of shifting around to enable access to drag upgraded cable etc etc and then - I should have guessed - after visually challenged technician had left I could not get on line at all. Now, upgrading the box does not affect the internet. Hmmm In the event the plug on the modem scart had snapped coincidentally and it has taken all day to track down a replacement lead. I was spitting mad at the luck but it could have been worse. TWELVE inches of snow has fallen locally and is expected to land here soon also. I don't think many shops will be open tomorrow and had it happened then I should have been well and truly stuck. Kitten Cat has had high old time reneweing her acquaintance with boxes stored behind the cabinet and she managed so somehow split the side of one box and allow all the papers therin to escape - not the most popular of moves! We have put oil into the new chip fryer and I think it will be an egg and chip tea night tonight so that I can catch up with my on line activities. It is like being back at the shop though, since I have a box beside me and every time the connection goes slow I process a couple of items from the box. Oh yes, and I have had a disaster too. One ear ring has escaped. Again. I do hope I manage to find it. I do not want a return to odd ear rings. OK the look insane even though both are studs, but they do keep the lobe hole open until I can get into town and buy another pair. Another day without cornflakes for Father Time then . . . 4thWe have frost this morning, yuk. It is now past ten o'clock in the morning but it is still there and I bet the roads are like skating rinks. I think it is colder than it was when we had the snow but we since I am not out in it at least I am not freezing. We seem to have two speeds here in Foxy Land. Manic or stop. No happy medium. We are still in stop mode and recharging our batteries and actually it is rather nice. I think barring illness it is the longest period of calm we have had for more than ten years. Maybe we should have snow every year. Certainly seems to repel all boarders, giggle. 3rdFinally I can get into all my sites. The cpanel had decided that it did not like the browser and it took up a lot of time with me, the Host and anyone else I could rope in but I think it is sorted now. Definitely no corn flakes for Father Time! Things are still very quiet around here and I am making the mos of it because as you know when things get going again life can be chaotic in the extreme. So far we have escaped the snow which is threatened and we are doing something very unusual in the Hotel California. We are relaxing!!!!!! 2ndAlready no cornflakes for Father Time, the little horror. No sooner had I changed the banners to "Happy New Year" than the server went down and I could not get into any of the sites. Grrrrrrr. Not HP does not even begin to go there! I am still pretty sick with this viral infection on top of the ordinary illness so it sort of helped that I just slomped around all day but I would much rather have been able to get on. On the rejoice side the New Years' Day Meal was absolutely wonderful. I was too ill to bother with making roasties and Yorkshire pudding but we had roast pork, mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables, oh and the indespensible Oxo gravy, and it was sublime! Those new roasting bag thingywhatsits are really good for producing wonderful moist, melt in the mouth roasted meat! I wish I had discovered them years ago. I am a Soap addict and there was a Wedding in East Enders on New Years' Day, and as you know in Soapland nothing ever goes straightforward; I was on the edge of my seat wondering whether or not the wedding would go ahead! I have two more equally unpredictable "weddings" to look forward to this year. Cain and Charity in Emmerdale - now THERE is a situation with so many possible outcomes it must be a real writers' treat - and the wonderful reunion of Ricky and Bianca in EastEnders. Both of these are great double acts of comic timing and the paired actors are superb so lots of fun there. Coronation Street unfortunately have decided to widow one character as soon as she is married, but hey, you can't have everything in Soapland! Oh well, since I can get into the cpanels today I suppose I had better toodle off and do some work. Happy New Year! Happy New Year. We made it! I personally booted Old Father Time out of the back door and felt rather empowered for having done this. I have chained New Father Time into the corner and shall be keeping a waring eye on the little so and so. A nice shiny 2010 and I want it to stay that way, pretty please, or you don't get any cornflakes! Apart from some but noisy and not very pretty fireworks New Year was much quieter this year. I am not sure whether this is due to the recession or the fact that Friday and Saturday are the main pub and club nights around here and today is Friday! 2010!!!! I watched a programme called the "Hootenay" and it was much more enjoyable this year. I was lucky in that most of the musical acts were to my taste and there were even Foxy Lady sing along numbers which did not go down well with Kitten Cat, but you can't have everything can you, giggle. I have made some Resolutions but not telling at the moment, since many friends and family read these pages, and as you may know, the surest way to muck up Resolutions is to have an army of well intentioned people just waiting to pounce when you appear to be weakening. Take this Foxy Lady tip. Keep your resolutions to yourself and you will keep them for longer! Wishing you a wonderful and bright 2010! The weather conditions here are deteriorating and this may affect the internet connection, so if I apper to vanish, that will be why.
 WHITE RABBITS AND WELCOME TO 2010, READY OR NOT!!!Links to previous months January
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