The Crepey Cube

[cremolafoam]

Absolutely, Herbs!

I think what some people do to find their voice (particularly hard if you have been paid to write or edit I think as you are so used to tuning into others) is set up an anonymous blog - it doesn't matter if people find and read it at first, it is the process that matters, and the discipline. (NB I have not done this - but I thought it sounded like good advice)

Herbs, yes, I know exactly what you mean. People used to tell me that I should write for that reason. This turned my writing into something that was about as amusing as sitting on broken glass.

Maybe I should have a Word document just open at all times, and when I feel a bon mot coming on, bung it in there. Anything half-way decent could then be used for blog/book etc for making of fortune.

The voice finding is particularly hard, I think.

Not that any expletive deleted agent actually appears to want my book, of course.

I think so too, MI. KBO with the book.

Almost as hard as understanding what the devil curling is all about. It seems to be elite floor scrubbing crossed with boules - is that right?

I second (third?) the anonymous blog.....

Sort of 30 day challenge thingy. You set the goal, you do it, but you don't worry too much about the outcome......

Lalsy :) re curling. I lay in the dentists chair and watched 'luge' - now what the devil is that about and why would you want to?!

Am setting self daily challenge with the short story. If it doesn't kill me first. It's one of the ones I outlined on FB that only my sister liked

Exactly, BD, about the 30 day challenge.

Is luging the thing where they sit in a little cart and whoosh down a slide, in extreme Chessington fashion?

The winter olympics have somehow passed me by. I might gorge on them tonight, as DP is away.

Talking of gorging, if you have a Lindor, but some grapes too, the grapes cancel out the Lindor, right?

Chocolate is actually good for you, Herbs: there is evidence that a (regrettably small but let's pass quickly over that) small amount a day lowers your risk of heart disease. Also the countries with the highest chocolate consumption have the highest number of Nobel Prize winners.

I'd read that, too. It's the cheap fat and sugar that it's bulked out with that's the problem.

So, does it figure that if I neck a bar of G&B's 80% loveliness every day, I'll live to 150 and win a number of Nobel Prizes?

Totally.

Wine is fruit too, obvs. Red wine particularly marvellous for you.

Blimey, those talking therapy bods are very quick off the mark. I had a phone call this morning offering me an assessment appmt tomorrow morning. Am now feeling infinitely more sensible that I was a week ago (thanks of course to the meds), but as I now know all that doomy guff is just lurking below the surface ready to burst out, I shall go and see what CBT or similar can do.

Yes! Go Stropps! Seize that day. Take the nettle by the horns, and all that.

@ wine is fruit!

Luge is terrrrriiiffffyyyiiiiinnnngggg! Mind you, I find normal downhill skiing pretty terrifying, much to my family's dismay - they will all be bombing down the black runs next week whilst I tootle down gentle blue runs from cafe to cafe!

And take printouts. Do printouts now, in fact, and place in your bag for convenient removal during the meeting.

I've just realised I'll have to do a fair amount of work over Easter. Perversely reassuring as cannot yield to urge to do bog-all and then look at bank balance.

Excellent, Stropps. Even if there is a wait for the next bit, at least you can take the meds, and stay OK, knowing that there may be an alternative in the future?

I've never skied. What is not downhill skiing? Is it less downhill or is it uphill or on the flat? Did anyone hear the interview this am on R4 about why women might be able to compete on equal terms with men in some ski jumpy thing - because they fly better

Apparently we are less dense.

I have already got printouts. And they are now in my bag. :)

I am of anyone leaving the country in the next few days. The weather. Yes, I know, it's not exactly news, but really ... it is just sooo extraordinarily grim. Everywhere is so waterlogged. I'm just mighty glad that the dog and I went out early this morning. It was dry and it is now very much not.

We have ds's very delayed b-day party this w/e. Trip with some friends to the cinema to see the Lego movie and then pizza etc at home followed by 3 friends staying for a "sleep"-over. I have slight probs with the logistics of getting everyone to the cinema and back, as the weather will be filthy, natch, and we can't get everyone in the car at once. There will have to be some complicated relay system. Frustrating, because it's really not that far and if the weather were "normal", we could perfectly well walk. As work has now gone quiet again, I must busy myself finding out if our double inflatable mattresses still actually inflate and stay that way...

I have had some raised eyebrows from other parents because I had the temerity to make ds wait several weeks for his b-day treat (nearly 4 weeks, in fact). I mean, he had a cake and presents on the day, he wasn't exactly deprived, but apparently I am a mucho horrible old bag. He didn't complain (much) and I refuse to believe that this is actually unkind, I'm afraid. Meh.

Lalsy, x-country skiing. Which is done on much skinnier little skis and involves fast slippy trudging on tracks on the flat/up hills and then wobbly swooshes down little hills. It's the only sort of skiing I like, as I find downhill wayyy too scary.

When I lived in Germany near the Black Forest, I used to get the train to a station in the Forest. There were special carriages which were just guards' vans and you strapped your skis on in the train and then the guard opened the doors and you just jumped out and swooshed away into the forest. There was no platform. I was always completely rubbish at skiing and was frequently nearly mown down by redoutable German grannies, who would whizz up behind you and shout "Achtung!" and expect you to jump into the nearest snowdrift to enable them to get past.

Ah yes, and I always fell over on the jumping out of the carriage bit and I learnt to make sure I jump out last, as otherwise lots of cross Germans used to land on top of me.

Gah, my typing is all over the shop today.

Very good news about the quick referral, Stropps. Strike while the iron is hot (or just cooling down). The print outs are great as they can give you a real timeline to give whoever you see.

My ds always delays his party for a couple of months to wait for better weather so he can do something outside. Also means that he gets two celebrations - quiet family meal out and then party with mates. He's sussed that he can invite more people if we do something outdoors...

Just like to mention I was up at 3.45am this morning to drop dd1 to get her plane for her school trip. Fantastic thunderstorm all the way up the motorway. My dog walk was a zombie mud sludge, so I'm currently contemplating a nap!

Loving the image of carriage launching and being squished by irate German skiers!