You know you're moving to the country when ...

... the houses you're looking at have Mains Drainage listed as a feature.

Fortunately Badger and I have survived a winter in the treehouse with only the minimum statutory level of whinging about the cold. (We have no central heating and just one wood stove. A bit like almost the entire population did up until really quite recently.)

And goodness me, I've just had a realisation that I'm really quite judgmental and prejudiced about how other people might be judgmental and prejudiced. I shall try to be open minded about whether other people are open minded. *sigh*.

One of the best things about Badger is that she's good at talking to new people. Breaking all aspergers stereotypes, Badger is actually much less shy than I am in a typical social situation. I suspect that it is almost impossible not to like Badger. Where as I know that there are aspects of me that are deeply unlikable ... though usually I manage to keep most of them well hidden on a first meeting.

So, the prospect of moving with Badger is rather less daunting than moving on my own would be. I shall wave Badger off as she goes out to make new Friends down the pub or the WI or whatever the local social hub may be ... and then hope that she'll introduce me or bring people back for tea.

I'm actually a tiny bit serious about joining the WI. The older I get, the more I appreciate people older than me. I have excellent rudimentary jam making skills, and Badger makes a wonderfully crumbly cheese scone ... though I've heard they're more inclined towards topless modeling these days :)

94% pure nerd

Ok, so bobo was right!

I think I would have scored higher, but I fell down on my personal hygiene (for not having any dead rodents or insects in the room in which I am working).

I don't speak vulcan by the way. And I've never played dungeons and dragons. But I do have 4.5GB of ram in my Mac!

Colour tells us what to do, by Stray, age 7

If there is a new house or building near you it will probably have some electrical cables showing out. In those cables there will be two smaller cables one will be red and one will be black. The black one is neutral and the red one is live. Yo should never touch a live of red piece of wire because if someone switched on the electricity you would probably die. The wires lead to a socet a normal plug looks like this. (diag) In a socket you put a plug but in a plug is a little different it has an extra wire which is yellow and green and a fuse a fuse is a safty divice it stops all the electricity going through to the t.v.

My parents sent me this earlier today. I have a feeling the other 7 year old girls in my class might have been somewhat less interested in electrical wiring. Apparently the diagram is completely correct, down to the glass fuse with it's internal wire.

Today I am doing some Very Clever Things with recursion and making a beautiful website out of numbers.

I am still a geek, but these days I am much better paid.

I thoroughly recommend living with a person with Tourette Syndrome ...

... or should I say a Badger with Tourette Syndrome.

I was putting away my washing this morning (oh, the excitement!) whilst Badger was getting ready for school work. It's comforting to hear Badger's little chirps and clucks and squeaks as she makes a cup of tea, though Dr But Why? did recently point out that I have started mistaking Badger's cat Frank for her, such is the quality of his impression of her echoalia ...

Anyway. I am always rather impressed by Badger's noises. She is a fantastic mimic, where I am really rather crap at whistling and squeaking in general, and far too self-conscious to even contemplate attempting to impersonate a peacock.

But something strange is happening. I have started to respond to Badger's noises in kind. It's not deliberate, and it only happens if I am engaged in something else at the time ... but I have found myself squeaking, squawking and clicking back. And this morning I chirruped! And it was really rather a good chirrup at that, and surprisingly enjoyable to do.

I feel liberated. It was like some sort of therapeutic experience that you would normally have to pay for and might involve lots of sitting in a circle earnestly listening to other people whinge share about their insecuritites, before being strong armed into pretending to be a tree / flower ... no, let's not go there.

So, thank you Badger!

A meme to change the world ...

First off ... Happy birthday Dad! 59 today ... wow.

My parents brought us up to have opinions about Stuff. It was a Very Good Thing.

I was recently chatting to Ms Melancholy about the way our hearts sink around people who just don't take an interest in the world. Working in the meedya, you come across an alarming number of people who don't really have any politics - not to say that they are central, moderate or balanced - but that they haven't ever really engaged with the discussions. Of course, you can find people who think that the way the world operates isn't really their problem in every walk of life (probably even politics!) but the combination of apathy and influence really bothers me.

I understand the value of a rigorous opposition ... I would rather someone held a view in opposition to mine than simply shrugged and turned to the sports / fashion pages. (In my world you need to reverse those gender stereotypes by the way - so that would be a female / male response ... ).

So. What to do?

Well, Ms M and I also had an interesting discussion about the mixed feelings that emerge when your underground passion becomes part of the mainstream world, as happened last summer to blogging.

Combining the two ideas in a reckless fashion I have decided that the electoral vote should be promoted to the status of a privilege rather than a right. In order to protect the system from political corruption, people will be selected and excluded on the basis of behaviours (not simply ideas) entirely without political basis. And I believe that bloggers are just the right people to make up the rules because if there is one thing we have in abundance, it's opinions!

So - here is my 'Rules for a new democratic process' meme. Please copy the existing text between the lines, and simply add your own, non-political criteria for the exclusion of people from the electoral roll. If you could include a link back to here, or post in the comments, then I will be able to track the progress of our strategic development and forward it to Gordon Brown / The United Nations forthwith.

Thank you.

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Dear Gordon Brown,

We propose that the current apathetic attitude towards electoral responsibility could be resolved by the removal of a number of citizens from the electoral roll. We believe that this will create a sense of pride in being eligible to vote, just like back in the days when women had to throw themselves under horses in order to prove that they truly wanted to engage in the process. Whilst this practice was clearly effective, we believe the recent cuts in NHS A&E provision have created a climate in which it would be unviable to encourage people to go to such lengths to win their vote.

Instead, we propose that the following non-political behaviours be used as rules for the exclusion of people from the electoral roll. These rules have been gathered via a democratic consultation process that didn't cost any money, involve the hiring of large numbers of consultants, or require painting a special design on a double decker bus.

Many thanks for your time and attention,

Assorted Bloggers (as below)


For the purposes of the trimming of the electoral roll, the following behaviours should be grounds for exclusion:

1. Purchasing a 'Britney Spears on Pan Pipes' CD (or equivalent). - http://dailystraying.blogspot.com

Add your rule and your blog signature here ...

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Wouldn't it be nice if ...

... someone invented an apple-F (ctrl-F to you PC users) for the real world?

That'll teach me ...

Blogging has been good to me.

Through my blog I have met a significant handful of incredibly lovely people who I am privileged to know. I have drawn out parts of myself which were dormant and timid. I've had a thousand moments of being aware of something 'bloggable' for every hundred posts I've actually got around to blogging.

I've laughed.

I've cried.

And if I hadn't been neglecting my blog I might well now be rich beyond my wildest imaginings (which aren't actually very wild).

You see, last Monday night I had A Great Idea. It was something so definitely necessary and produceable and marketable that Dr But Why? and I were stunned to realise it hadn't been done before. And I remember saying "I shall blog that - or at least I shall blog the fact that I've had such a good idea ... ".

And now, six days later, neither of us can remember the faintest detail of The Great Idea.

I do remember that I was standing by the chopping board in the kitchen when I had it. Dr But Why? remembers that she was making a hot chocolate at the time, about to get herself an early night. We stood and stared around the kitchen earlier for a good half hour. Dr But Why? went back to first principles to try to recall, where as I attempted to redraw the exact moment I had it, hoping to reconnect the missing information to my consciousness.

We do remember that it had something to do with the kitchen.

Anyone got any suggestions?

*sigh*