Hogmanay 2008

So here we are at the end of another year. It seems like not too long ago I was sitting at the laptop going through the memories of the year past (and I vividly remember watching Still Game while at it), but I am not doing it this year for the simple reason that I have been absolutely rubbish at keeping this blog up to date. All I have is bits and bobs, snatches of memories, semi-written posts. What I HAVE been doing the past hour though (besides watching too much of the Spiderman DVD I got for Christmas) is looking through a new folder I have just created, onto which I have uploaded just about all my digital memories of 2008. And it has put into technicolour what a rollercoaster year it has been. It has been a year of extreme highs (Egypt, Priya's visit, walking Hadrian's Wall, the Big Broon Trip to Malaysia) and extreme to the point of being surreal, this-is-not-happening, lows (Dusty, Dad) and everything in between (The Proclaimers, zorbing, Fife Coastal Path, Olympics, Billy Ocean). I never imagined my 36th year could be so turbulent, yet, in a strange way, so alive and intense. It was a year that made me laugh madly yet cry hopelessly. It has been exhausting. I just want 2009 to be filled with good memories. Intense, lived to the full but good memories. Please.

Factoids of the Week:
The last minute of this year will be 61 seconds long. Wonder how that works.

I'm Going Slightly Mad...

Book of the Week: The Virgin’s Lover by Philippa Gregory

Not posted for a while though a lot has happened. It’s all been too much to take in, all at once too intense and private and emotionally draining to put into words, and I can only hope and pray, and pray. I don’t seem to be able to concentrate – not being overly dramatic here, but I feel increasingly distracted, and my mind drifts even when I try to concentrate. The last month has come with particularly heavy burdens.

Which might explain why I’m reading fluff at the moment. But right before this I completed The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters, by G W Dahlquist – a rollicking, bodice-ripping, erotically charged adventure, if I remember the reviews correctly. A bit confusing at times and I found it quite hard-going at first trying to see the scenes unfolding (not for want of description – maybe I’m just not imaginative enough). And I read another book before that but I can’t remember what it is now.

Which brings me to today’s topic – mental health. I can’t remember as well as I used to, and I’m terrified I may one day be struck down by Alzheimer’s. As it is I feel I have a brain tumour at times. I used to be able to remember whole chapters verbatim (the only way I passed psychology in second year), these days I can’t even remember what I did last weekend. I seem to have aphasia on an hourly basis. It could be that the days and dates just blur into one, but maybe I have oligodendroglioma or something. So when I saw this, my heart leapt – there is hope! I still can’t do Sudoku, but at least my brain’s getting a workout with the daily occasional crossword clues.

The five tasks a day that could protect your mental wellbeing are…
Connecting with family, friends, colleagues and neighbours;
Being active – sports, hobbies, gardening, dancing or just a daily stroll;
Being curious, noting the beauty of everyday moments as well as the unusual;
Learning something – fixing a bike or playing a musical instrument;
Giving to others you meet around you.

I can do that. Here’s to my sanity. (Apparently, there’s a strong link between mental health and debt – half the people in Britain who are in debt have a mental disorder. So that’s reason to celebrate. I’m very sane by that account.)

Factoids of the Week:
More word fun. Have to learn something every day, what. Cool words, these. Today’s theme is phobias, and there are a few odd ones going around…

Allodoxaphobia – Fear of opinions.

Catagelophobia – Fear of being ridiculed.

Cenophobia or Centophobia – Fear of new things or ideas.

Cynophobia – Fear of dogs. (Now that’s just stupid. Dogs are the best!)

Eleutherophobia – Fear of freedom. (Exclusive to Malaysian government…)

Enissophobia – Fear of criticism. (Ditto.)

Epistemophobia – Fear of knowledge. (See above.)

Hypegiaphobia – Fear of responsibility. (Repeat…)

Ideophobia – Fear of ideas. (And again…)

Melophobia – Fear or hatred of music. (Now for a short intermission…)

Metathesiophobia – Fear of changes. (And we’re back to the Malaysian government!)

Methyphobia – Fear of alcohol. (Rare in Scotland.)

Metrophobia – Fear or hatred of poetry.

Neophobia – Fear of anything new. (See Malaysian government.)

Peccatophobia - Fear of sinning or imaginary crimes.

Philophobia – Fear of falling in love or being in love.

Prosophobia – Fear of progress. (Malaysian government again.)

Staurophobia – Fear of crosses or the crucifix.

Stygiophobia or stigiophobia – Fear of hell.

Theophobia – Fear of gods or religion other than your own.

Wiccaphobia – Fear of witches and witchcraft.

Summer Solstice Sentiments

Book of the Week: Queen Camilla by Sue Townsend

It has been a very eventful couple of days. Yesterday evening and this morning in particular were especially painful for both of us for extremely personal reasons, but matters were resolved before lunch today and now we look forward to what we hope is a new beginning (and possible future). We will share more of ourselves with each other (which, for me, means an opening up of a deeply private and meaningful part of my life), see how we go from there, and hope (and pray!) we work out. It IS quite scary because things could go so horribly wrong, but we both really want for this to happen and because of that are prepared to work at it – we have so much together, are so good together, want to be together, and could have the rest of our lives together. There’ll be hard choices to make along the way, but we want to give us every chance. We don’t want to lose us.

We had planned to walk the Fife Coastal Path to Aberdour today as our little celebration of the summer solstice, but had to put it aside due to the mental and emotional upheaval of the last 24 hours. It has been something I’ve wanted to do for a long time now and had been looking forward to the walk all week (I just feel I should be outside on the longest day of the year, or it’s just a complete waste of sun), but I can’t say that I’m completely disappointed. As Dad always said, a sign of maturity is the ability to delay gratification. (And the weather was rubbish today, anyway.) What matters is that we’ve got us sorted, and that means so much more. We can always do it another time, and I think the stress should be on “we”. Because we still have a chance to be “we”, and that means everything to me.

Factoids of the Week:
It IS possible to die of a broken heart. The less-than-romantic explanation behind it is that an increased levels of stress hormones in the blood and psychologically induced changes in behaviour brought about by grief can lead to a greater risk of dying from heart attacks, accidents, violence or alcohol-related problems.

There were 29,898 marriages in Scotland in 2006, out of a total of 275,140 in the UK. And with the average wedding now costing £20,000, it makes one wonder if it is even worth getting into all that debt given the following statistics...

Between 2005 and 2006, there were 13,014 divorces in Scotland, out of a total of 148,141 divorces granted in the UK. For all divorces granted, behaviour was the most common fact proven. (On a more positive note: the divorce rate is at its lowest level since 1984.)

In Scotland, there are five grounds upon which to base an action of divorce: adultery, desertion, unreasonable behaviour, separation for two years with the consent of both partners and separation for five years without the consent of the other party.

First Things First

Book of the Week: Queen Camilla by Sue Townsend

This is going to be a quickie because there’s quite a bit to do this weekend, and I want to get something in for May (myself and the month) – just a few hours of it left.

But suffice it to say that there have been quite a few double firsts scored. On April 5 I went for my first car boot sale, where I was also a first-time vendor. It was in the next village on, and we sold about £60 worth of stuff (mostly DVDs Gareth didn’t want any more – the Cambodian scarves and wraps and whatnots I was hoping to sell were probably just too posh for a car boot sale anyway).

On April 10, Gareth and I hosted our first dinner party. OK, so there were only two guests (Andrew and Laura from work), but it was a dinner party nevertheless. I made our favourite party piece, spag bol, the night before, and it was lovely and infused with that lovely slight sourness you get from tomatoes when the time to serve it up came around. Gareth made his gorgeous rice pudding. A good time was had by all, which only makes me think we really should have guests over for dinner more often.

Then on April 12, we dog-sat Kes while Eddie, Barry and Phil went down to Blackpool for a day trip (nearly three hours down and three hours back up again – if it were me I’d want to stay overnight, but then again it is Blackpool, I suppose). Of course, the first thing Kes did in the flat was have a pee – first time I’ve had to clean that off the carpet – and when we took her out for a walk, it was the first time I had to pick up after a dog using a council poop polybag.

But the big kahuna for me was the long-awaited trip to Cairo, from May 16 to 24. It was a first on so many levels. Egypt was probably the first country and civilisation to register on my consciousness, and to finally go there was just mind-blowing. I was having mental boings all week just thinking about it. I had to go in for a morning at work the day we were leaving, and I still have no idea how I managed to sit there and hammer out a story. I don’t even know where to begin. First trip to Egypt (there will definitely be more to come – I was already planning what to do the second time around halfway through the trip), first time in Africa, first time Gareth and I were going on an intercontinental trip together, first glimpse of the Pyramids up close, first ascent/descent into them – it was just an all-round amazing trip which made for a most memorable 36th birthday (honestly, what a way to mark my third zodiac cycle).

And now more firsts await – all the terribly domesticated, middle-class DIY around the house for starters (three blinds went up this weekend). We’re going to have two couples stay with us within the same week next month. Both my best friend and cousin (and their hubbies) will be visiting AND staying with us for the first time. For Priya, it’s an double first – it’s her maiden trip to Europe, never having been in this part of the world before. Can’t wait. It’s going to be fantastic. Bet you a few more firsts are in store.

Factoids of the Week:
The West Lake restaurant in Changsha, China is the biggest Chinese restaurant in the world. It serves 3500 ducks, three tonnes of fish and seats 5000 diners.

Fife Council runs 1800 vehicles which consume five million litres of petrol annually.

The largest residential development in Europe is Duloch Park, in Dunfermline’s Eastern Expansion. That’s right in our backyard.

Fife also has, geographically, Europe’s largest CCTV system, with 100 cameras covering 12 communities.

My Wonderful Easter Weekend

Book of the Week: Shadowlands by Peter Straub (yup, still there)

Yesterday, Number Two and I went out to the scuzziest street in town (it’s always been in the news at some point or other – but more often of late, no thanks to all the problems with asbestos). Nothing sleazy – it was work. There have been calls from a couple of local councillors to just knock the whole street down and we had to talk to people there about what life was like in the armpit of Fife.

It was a most interesting – and surprisingly, not at all intimidating – experience. I got my first whiff of pot / grass / weed (whatever it was, it was absolutely stinking) when one very stoned out resident came to the door – when he opened the door, I swear you could see the flies in the stairwell drop like… well, flies. The cloud of whatever he had been getting high on came out like a backdraft. I’m surprised he managed to answer as coherently as he did (which isn’t really saying much – and they were mostly yes / no questions anyway, not like I wanted to prolong the interview). After he shut the door, I turned around to Number Two who was at the other door and made a “smoking” gesture just to double-check if I had smelled what I thought I did.

Met people who were just desperate to get out – called the street Fife Council’s “dustbin” – and I could see why. One guy on the top floor had mushrooms growing out of the loft. Another woman related how her partner had broken into the homeless flat across from theirs at least twice, once to stop a woman from being strangled. And apparently, there are needles out back. There’s nothing wrong with the flats – it’s the street that’s the problem. Basically, the hardware’s OK, but the software’s shite. There are a lot of decent people living there who, if they could, would transport their flats somewhere else. Nobody wants to live next to druggies, serial offenders, ex-cons (whose exact crimes are unknown), teenage thugs, or deadbeat parents popping out the next generation of ASBO kids faster than a hen can lay eggs.

I came back almost three hours later feeling in need of a mental and physical soaking in Dettol. I felt dirty, but also incredibly thankful and blessed that I’m living in a clean, warm, cozy flat with decent neighbours – and in a warped kind of way, wishing we could do exercises like this more often, not sit in the office and squeeze an article out of someone who was there (as opposed to our actually being there). Really, some of the stories we heard yesterday!

Post-lunch, Gareth, Wilson (our new Couchsurfing friend from Brazil) and I went for a drive and had a lovely, slow afternoon out exploring Culross. It was quite the barrel of laughs – we made jokes about Wilson not hearing anything through his beanie, played on the teeter-totters, took photos of Gareth on his mobile phone while on an elephant (“It’s a trunk call!”) and Gareth fell off the swing and overstretched his tummy muscles. Stopped to say hi to a doggie and his little old lady owner and met Dougie Vipond. We also went to Koi for a scrummy Japanese dinner afterwards. I’ve especially enjoyed hosting Wilson – I do love spending time with Gareth, but it gives a whole new dynamic to the weekend when someone is staying over. After we got home, I got a secret and kinda special card from Gareth, which contained clues to my very own personalised Easter egg hunt. It was so great!

Today, I went for Easter service. My first church service since I moved over last May. Was never really sure which church the united congregation had chosen to worship in – thought it was St John’s, but of course, as things are wont to turn out when I think something, it was in St Peter’s. It’s really quite a beautiful church. Airy, bright, high ceilings, stained glass windows. Half the time I wasn’t paying attention to the service for gazing at the red and blue lattice pattern behind the altar. The children’s performance (two songs – and repeated!) was a bit toe-curlingly cringeworthy, in that it was obvious they hadn’t rehearsed, didn’t know the words and were obviously not interested in being there. I tuned out and flipped to “Be Thou My Vision”, just to see if I could still remember the words (I can, but just). The purple hymnal was a bit pants, I thought – only treble clef notes, and all single ones at that. It was an Easter service, but it certainly didn’t feel like the Easter services I am familiar with, and fond of. Didn’t have that joyful exuberance that is so evident back home when celebrating the risen Christ.

So, overall, a bit of a mixed bag weekend, but an extremely eye-opening and very fun one. We have a new friend. I got to do something new for work. Went to church. Looking forward to more such weekends in the spring and summer.

Factoids of the Week:
The philtrum is the two wavy lines connecting the bottom of your nose to your top lip.

Posh word for someone who constantly picks boogers: rhinotillexomaniac.

I always thought it was hypochondriac, but there’s another word for people who are extremely concerned about their health: valetudinarian.

Hypocorism is the act or use of giving a pet a name.

The adjective for something which is of or to do with the alphabet is abecedarian.

Winds Of Change?

Book of the Week: Shadowland by Peter Straub

Turned on the laptop during the Scotland-England Six Nations match yesterday, and got an even bigger shock than Scotland leading 9-3 at half-time. It was Election Day back home in Malaysia and I reckoned the eight-hour difference would mean it would be about time the results would have started coming in. It was the first time I would not be voting since I became eligible to do so, and what I saw made me wish all the more that I could have been back home to have been a part of it.

For not only had the first winners been announced, the Opposition was actually keeping pace with Barisan for the first time since 1969. It was nail-biting, and, at the same time, a little too heady to the point of disbelief. All the talk and dissatisfaction that has been brewing in Malaysia, particularly in the last 10 years, has usually amounted to naught when it comes to the ballots. But this time, it really did seem that people were going to do something about racial tensions, rising crime and illegal immigration, corruption, nepotism and Barisan arrogance.

And boy, did they do it with a vengeance. They voted the Opposition into power in five states, including the two richest and most industrialised, in Malaysia: Selangor, Penang, Perak, Kedah and Kelantan. There are more Opposition MPs and state assemblymen in power than there ever have been in the near 40 years. Best of all, Lim Guan Eng is the new Penang chief minister, a moral and political vindication if there ever was one. If you are going to stick two fingers up to the Barisan Government for incarcerating you just because you did the right and proper thing of condemning a former chief minister, and a Barisan crony to boot, for statutory rape, this is exactly how to do it in style!

Post-results, Barisan continues to stick its head in the sand. Oh, the people still love us, they just wanted to teach us a lesson. They voted according to sentiment, not according to the merits of the candidates. Yeah, right! Obviously the people forgot just how qualified Barisan candidates are for the job: remind me again, exactly how did Khairy get appointed national football manager... or get loans from ECM Libra (so where did that RM9.2million go, eh?)... or just about get his own constituency by default... oh yeah, because of his qualifications as the First Son-In-Law. And of course, Bung Mokhtar, that sexist, misogynist low-life from Sarawak is only qualified to make depreciating insinuations between leaks in the Parliament House and female anatomy. What merits? BN candidates leave a lot to be desired.

So today, Malaysia wakes up to a new political dawn. No more 91% majority for BN, despite all their dirty tactics, vote-rigging, phantom voters and character assassination. I would have loved to have seen BN just scrape through, but in the meantime a 63% majority will do very, very well. I seriously hope this is not a one-off. For all my bitching about Malaysia, it does have a special place in my heart and I want to see things right. I came here to get away from the shite, but my loved ones still live there. My hope is that there will be greater transparency and accountability in Malaysia, and above all, that we become an inclusive nation, where we are defined by who we are, not who we know or what race or religion we belong to. The people have voted for change, and I am so very proud to be Malaysian today.

Factoids of the Week:
The collecting of postcard is called deltiology.

A thimble collector is known as a digitabulist.

The fear of needles is known as belonephobia.

A gigantic frog that lived 70 million years ago in Madagascar was the size of a squashed beach ball and weighed up to 4kg. Beezelbufo (a.k.a. Frog From Hell) might even have snacked on baby dinosaurs.

Another frog factoid: the Panamanian golden frog communicates with other frogs using semaphore. It waves to signal rivals and mates above the noise of mountain streams.

We're All Going On A Winter Holiday

Book of the Week: Still not reading...

Last day of work! Whoo-hoo! Just three days more before I leave for Malaysia! Can’t wait to see the dogs and folks and family again. I’ve been thinking a lot about my parents, especially Mummy, in the last few days – just going over all my years growing up, the debt of gratitude I owe them, and how very much I love them. I’m going to make myself an early Chinese New Year (and third zodiac cycle) resolution to tell them more, show them more and just generally make sure they know it.

Also looking forward to seeing my old friends from school again – can’t believe next year I’ll have known quite a few of them for 30 years. Just wish they’d get in touch more often rather than just at Chinese New Year. Ah well. At least a handful of us have a lunch date fixed for next Saturday in Kuantan, and, fingers crossed, there’ll be a better attended high tea in the works in KL some time over the next couple of weeks. Can’t wait to do the Malaysian thing – eat lots and talk rubbish!

Factoids of the Week:
The pika looks like a hamster but is more closely related to rabbits.

Wild yaks are the only herd of grazing animals to inhabit the Tibetan plateau, the highest in the world.

The emperor penguin, the tallest and heaviest of all penguin species, has an average lifespan of about 20 years.

The Weekend

Book of the Week: Looking for something new to read after finishing The Narrows by Michael Connelly two weeks ago.

Gareth and I had a wonderful romantic weekend away from January 11-13. It had been something we’d been planning for a while, but it just always seemed to fall through. But e-mail at work, out of the blue, asking if I wanted to go away to Edinburgh for a couple of nights… because he’d checked out hotel prices and The Point were doing B&B for £144 for two nights, was I interested? After my squeals of excitement and enthusiastic yeses – and a quick explanation to colleagues that no, I very much doubted if the boyfriend was going to propose – it was quickly booked.

I couldn’t think of anything else the whole afternoon and was just counting the minutes until it was time to go home. Is there anything more exciting than packing on a Friday after work for a last-minute break? We wolfed down our fish suppers, then drove into Leith. We parked by the bins near our old place, and took the 22 up. It was absolutely freezing but – sappy though it may sound – we felt warm and fuzzy from the whole thought of “time together”. Our short walk up the icy Castle Terrace made us think of our short holiday in Florence, what with falling into our holiday routine of checking out restaurant menus to see if they were good places to eat, and my oohing and ahhing over the views of Edinburgh Castle from the side streets. If I were a tourist, I would have gone snap-happy.

Our room at The Point was cool. No 414. A bit spartan and squint (because it is a converted building), and the bathroom was starting to show signs of wear and tear, but hey – Castle, city and Forth views. Gareth nipped out to get some Coop chocolate chip biccies and hot chocolate, then we turned on the telly and watched Jamie’s Fowl Dinners. It was enough to turn you vegan, but we both like our meat too much so have decided that we are ONLY going to eat free-range chickens and eggs.

We spent the Saturday indulging ourselves. Did the tourist thing and started by walking down to the farmers’ market. It was still very cold, with iced-over puddles and even snow on Johnston Terrace. If we hadn’t already had a scrummy fry-up brunch (the crispy bacon and porridge with honey were to die for), I think I would have gone mad for the lamb burgers. It was just the sort of lazy, luxurious day for them. The smell of the lamb patties and onions on the grill always sends my salivary glands into overdrive – I can only imagine what the doggies there feel. We walked up to Castlehill and checked out the cashmere scarves and sterling silver rings on the High Street (preparation for Egypt), then spent a long, languorous afternoon in Waterstones and HMV. And a mushroom roll and a Bombay Bad Boy for tea, mmm!

For dinner that night, we went to Izzy’s on Lothian Road – our second visit and I’m pleased to say that our opinion of it has improved significantly. I took Gareth there on May 26 last year after I got my first ang moh paycheque, and, while it could be because we had had so much excellent Japanese food in New Zealand, we thought Izzy’s sushi kinda sucked. But their dinner service is simply immaculate – my bowl of fragrant steaming rice and tempura was fantastic. It was a bit of a rushed meal, though, as I wanted to get back in time for the season opener of CSI:NY. (A right cracking episode it was too – Lady Liberty splashed with blood!)

I was really sorry to leave on Sunday, but with the hotel being just across the road from Erogenous Zone, I at least got to check out a sex shop for the first time in my life. (Ann Summers doesn’t count.) Didn’t know what to make of it (perhaps because I’m a bit more grown-up now and less of a sheltered Malaysian schoolgirl), but it didn’t feel as sleazy as I thought it’d be – though I ABSOLUTELY DID NOT touch anything, you know, just in case. Didn’t want to come away with some gloop on my fingers. I suppose some of the stuff in there is, well, kinda sexy if you have certain fantasies or want some adventure-slash-excitement in bed, but for the most part I just found myself laughing. Blow-up sheep. Classic.

Then it was off to Clackmannan for yet another one of June’s always yummy dinners. A lovely weekend on all counts.

In comparison, today was crap. Up at 6.15am, a loooong train journey into Glasgow (£20.30), some last-minute shorthand practice – but I think I’m going to fail anyway. Nerves got the better of me and I struggled to take dictation at 100wpm. I hate it when this happens. I know I can do it, I’m actually quite good at shorthand. I’ve been doing 120wpm the last couple of weeks, but today my hand shook too much and I was way too nervous. Only have myself to blame. So now it’s another month of swotting away at shorthand before I have to go through the stress (and possibly FAILURE) all over again. Bah. At least I have an Indian dinner to look forward to tonight.

Factoids of the Week:
Cairo has more cops per 1000 citizens than any other capital in the world. Wonder why that is?

The Amazon has a greater volume of water than the next 10 largest rivers in the world flowing into the ocean put together.

At its widest point, the Amazon is about 11km wide during the dry season, but during the rainy season, it can be 45km wide as it floods the surrounding plains.

The Amazon river dolphin (or pink river dolphin) is the largest of the world’s five freshwater dolphins. Can you tell we’ve been watching a particular episode of Planet Earth?

We're In Denial!

Book of the Week: Making slow progress with The Narrows by Michael Connelly.

We booked our tickets to Egypt at 11.21am today. It’s absolutely, positively, undoubtedly the most exciting thing I’ve done in a long time and the anticipation is already killing me. This is certainly the most fired up I’ve been about a trip I’ve been for ages and I simply can’t wait. It would be the fulfilment of a life-long dream, the final piece to complete the archaeological jigsaw I’ve had in my head since I was six.

Athens, Rome, Istanbul and, in four months’ time, Cairo. What a 36th birthday this is going to be. I thought sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge for my 32nd would be hard to top, but I can already see the morning of May 17 2008 in my mind’s eye: sunrise over the pyramids at Giza. Sure, we’re only going to be there for a week, but this trip is going to be the Mother of all Birthday Experiences. Mental orgasms and eye candy galore time. Not an exaggeration. It’s trips like these that really give my life meaning.

The trip will involve a few ungodly hours – our flight in arrives at 2am and the flight out leaves at 3.55am – but who cares? It’s Egypt! A trip doesn’t get any more important and/or significant than this. And to psyche ourselves up even more, the both of us get to prepare with a couple of very enjoyable rituals we haven’t done for a while: 1) start a countdown to May 15 (take-off date) and 2) say CANNAE WAIT! every time we think of it (and really mean it!). Yup, I really cannae wait to toot and come in and be in denial.

Oh, and yesterday we saw The Kite Runner. It is an absolutely gorgeous movie. Made me cry. Go see it.

Factoids of the Week:
The Opera House in Cairo, which burnt down in 1971, was completed in five months in 1868 for the inaugural celebrations marking the opening of the Suez Canal. Shame nothing works as fast in Egypt these days... except maybe the touts seeking a quick buck.

Sufi comes from the word “suf”, the Arabic for wool, which is what these semi-mystical whirling dervish types originally wore. One thing that has always puzzled me about these self-denying, suffering-is-good sorts: surely meditation and union with God is easier achieved when your mind is at peace rather than thinking which part of your body you should scratch next...?

Happy Anniversary

Book of the Week: The Narrows by Michael Connelly

Time flies when you’re having fun and when you look back at the years, you can’t believe you’ve come this far, this soon.

Mum and Dad celebrate 39 years of marriage today. I love you so very much, guys. It doesn’t feel that long ago that we were marking your 25th, and before we know it, it’ll be your 40th. I’ll be home for that. It’s going to be special! Must do big do.

My blog is a year old today. Seems like just yesterday that I started it – you know you’re getting old when a year seems to go in a blink of an eye. I hope I write a lot more this year than I did last year. I certainly plan to. I must.

Factoids of the Week:
The 40th year of marriage is known as the ruby anniversary.

Anniversary comes from the Latin anniversarius, from the words for “year” and “to turn” – meaning returning yearly.

Feeling Broody

Book of the Week: The Narrows by Michael Connelly

Lovely fun half-day at work, and the best part is that I’ll get two days off in lieu of it. Dashed off a quickie on Philip Riddle getting an OBE, though after sending it in discovered that I needn’t have gone to the trouble of trying to get a quote from VisitScotland because it won’t be used in tomorrow’s paper anyway. And then it was away to Forth Park in Kirkcaldy to speak to two mums from Dunfermline about their little girls who were born yesterday. The babies looked so cute and cuddly, my biological clock almost detonated like a time bomb. Don’t know if it’s just my hormones going crazy (tail end of the wrong time of the month) or because babies are adorable and generally have that effect on people, but I just went all mumsy-like. And then I got a call from Hoon, and, after I calmed down from freaking me out (because she hardly ever calls me over here), got talking about kids. This has so far been a very pro-kid day. I need a mental contraceptive.

On a less scary note, I’ve decided that I want to go to Egypt for my anticipated mid-life crisis birthday this year. Should tick all the boxes to help me get over turning 36: it was probably the first country (civilisation?) to register on my consciousness (I knew more about ancient Egypt at five than I did of Malaysia), it’s got all the stuff I’m interested in, it’s a country I’ve never been to, and part of a continent I’ve yet to set foot on. So yeah. Definitely Egypt. Achievement of a lifelong dream and a hell of a lot more of life lived. As I can’t see myself getting too much time off, a week in Cairo will have to suffice – I’d much rather try to do one place in depth rather than run around like a headless chicken trying to see everything (don’t get me wrong though, I do WANT to see EVERYTHING in Egypt).

This must be some kind of record for me – three posts in as many days. I must be on a roll. The new year period really does fill one with renewed zeal and resolve. Watch me degenerate from this point.

Factoids of the Week:
Egypt has a literacy rate of only 58%.

Only 4% of the country is arable farmland. But the annual flooding of the Nile deposits some 40 million tons of silt, replenishing the topsoil.

Antony and Cleopatra were ugly. Researchers from the University of Newcastle examined a 2000-year-old Roman coin with the images of the famous lovers and found that Cleopatra had a pointed chin, thin lips and sharp nose, whilst Antony had bulging eyes, a thick neck and a hook nose. The researchers say the ancient Roman writers back their claims: while Roman writers describe Cleopatra as intelligent and charismatic, with a seductive voice, tellingly, they do not mention her beauty.

The earliest known surgery was performed in Egypt around 2750 BC – although there are remains from the early Harappan periods which show evidence of teeth having been drilled dating back 9000 years.

Ramesses II (“the Great” – a.k.a. the Moses pharaoh) lived to the age of 90 – the oldest pharaoh in history.

Not A Good Start...

Book of the Week: Just starting on The Narrows by Michael Connelly

The first 24 hours of 2008 haven’t exactly been very good. First there was a minor spat this morning – it was assumed I was in a bad mood when I really wasn’t – which, naturally, got me pissed off AND in a bad mood, not least because I didn’t want to start the New Year on such a crap note, and having a wee argument isn’t the first thing you want to do after waking up. (I can’t help it! I have a grumpy face! Either that or I think I need to lighten up.)

And then, on the way back from Clackmannan after dinner, I realised that not only am I going to be in a new marketing questionnaire age category this year – I’ll no longer be in the target 18-35 group but be one of the 36-45s. AUUUUGH! And not just that… I’m also getting scarily close to 40. Only four more years! It’s not like it’s just dawned on me that I’ll be 40 – I’ve been aware of it even since I turned 30 – but that it’s so close now just freaks me out. Doesn’t help that the last six years have just zipped past. I foresee a mid-life crisis every birthday for the next four years.

God. I’m depressed.

Factoids of the Week:
Only 53% of the population of China speaks Mandarin (or to be precise “can effectively communicate” in the language).

The average duvet is home to 20,000 dust mites. This is turning out to be a great New Year, isn’t it? I’m going to sleep really well tonight...

Books used to be bound in human skin. And the condition of being born without an ear is called microtia.

Dogs can have two noses. Still cute and cool, though they do look a bit like the love children of Miss Piggy and something out of science fiction.