S is working again today so we had breakfast together before I dropped her to the 0.F.H. and then made my way back into Southport (and Ferry Rd) to have a coffee at Merlo and catch up on some reading and job applications. I admit to being more than a little surprised to find I had received an email from St this morning. It was about a particular invention!
13 hours earlier: Round 3 of Trivia and our team is having a spirited discussion about The Baffler. We have three clues now - they build by one clue per round. Round 1 - l am normally found indoors - our answer (toilet) is wrong. Round 2 - I was invented in 1842 - elevator - wrong. Round 3 - I can be found in the office or at home. Discussion continues and An and I both want to put keyboard. Down the other end of the table, St is saying Fax Machine. We are arguing - and admittedly not taking him seriously as we think he is kidding. He is a man of few words, and at that point we should have just rubbed out what we had - QWERTY keyboard - and written "Fax Machine" but it took several more minutes and finally S's intervention for us to take him seriously! We changed the answer, in part, and uncharitably, knowing we would get to put ours in the next round (unless one of the other teams got it). Imagine our reaction then when it was announced that there was a Baffler winner ... and it was our team (of doubting Thomases)! Well done St ... who had recently, he thought, read about it. So much for our arguments about the fax needing electricity and for my pigheaded stand that it couldn't be the Fax Machine because I had been to one of the first fax transmissions back in the 1980’s. Sorry (again) St - and thanks for persevering! We're going to miss you and Ni at Trivia while you're away!
I was on time to collect An to take her to Hand Therapy. She had a bad night with it last night, to the point where the splint/support was rubbing against that soft, tender spot (webbing?) between her index finger and thumb - causing it to blister! That was on her list of things to discuss with her therapy person.
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| Scaffolding in place |
The scaffolding has gone up at their place, ready for the painters, but, without going into the full details, it may be that this part of the renos may be delayed by a few days ... which is no surprise to any of us who have been following the proceedings to date. If it could go wrong, it has gone wrong ... but I think I'm the only one who has gone so far as to suggest that now might be a good time for a priest, some holy water and ... what else do they use in spirit removal?
Back to the O.F.H. to collect S. I was early and as I sat having a $3 mug of coffee (yes, that's no mistake ... a $3 mug of coffee) the alarms started going off. First a general alarm, then the "be alert" alarm, and then the "be alarmed" one i.e. the evacuation tone ... and nothing happened except that everyone kept going about their business, even when the recorded voice alarm telling people to evacuate started. A good few minutes later another tone sounded and a real voice came over the PA system telling people to ignore the alarms ... which they had already been doing so it was finally good they had the OK to do that! Then, five minutes later, another real voice proclaiming that it had been an "unsubstantiated alarm". S, having spoken with the residents had some insight! False alarms are so common there (and at other facilities) that they are just ignored; as one O.F. told her: if there ever is a real fire they'll just find my friend and I here with a pile of melted dominoes.
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| Tinka and the tomatoes |
The garden continues to thrive and Tinka has done her bit to show just how much!
There were Mouse leftovers for dinner - and M commented, and I had to agree because I had been thinking the same thing as I munched on a mouthful of Mouses's stew, that while it was wonderful on Sunday night, it had improved dramatically with age! It makes me wonder how much nicer it would be if it had a few more days to sit ... but we all know that's never going to happen!
From St: All is forgiven K - on reflection I think this was my finest trivia hour (next to coming up with the winner of last year's TDF which strangely I've forgotten again). I know I could bring it to mind with a similar concentration effort to the last time but the care factor is no longer there. The positive from all this is that after such a long time of being carried by greater trivial minds than my own I feel that my "right of passage" into the senior ranks of the group has occurred. I am therefore disappointed to be leaving my advancement in the pecking order to spend my time with a bunch of frogs. Let's hope the coming months go quickly!
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