Friday, January 29, 2010

7 Quick Takes



1. All the snow and ice we had in December and at the beginning of the year has left our roads in a sorry state. Our town seems to be particularly pothole prone at the best of times, but now they are everywhere. Anyone else having the same problem? Is it only British roads that fall apart when the weather is bad? And is pothole - meaning a crumbling hole in the road - a peculiarly British word?

2. Cherub has reached the argumentative stage, with an answer for everything. The other day she wanted to know why there wasn't a rainbow when it was both raining and sunny. I pointed out that it wasn't sunny - if it was sunny the sky would be blue and bright, whereas it was actually (very) grey and dull. Cue an argument over whether or not the sky was blue or grey, ending with ...

Me (exasperated): You would argue black was white!
Cherub: No it's not ... black is dark.

3. Why would someone complain that the school heating wasn't working and that it would be freezing at school, then not bother to wear a coat? In near zero (centigrade) temperatures. Is it a teenage thing?

4. My brother and I learned the hard way yesterday that wiring a light fitting is not quite as simple as wiring a plug. He tried, blew the bulb and tripped the circuit breaker. I read the instructions and worked out which wire went where. Sort of. When there are three apparently identical neutral wires, how do you know which is which? We guessed. We tried all possible combinations. Then we realised the bulb had blown. Success with a new bulb - or so we thought, until a few hours later we discovered none of the other upstairs lights were working and Cherub's light wouldn't turn off. Fortunately a knight in shining armour arrived in the shape of Little Friend N's dad, who disentangled the neutral wires for us. We won't be trying to do anything electrical again in a hurry!

5. Despite the hiccup with the light Cherub's bedroom is now redecorated. While she is at playgroup this morning I need to put up her new curtains, sort out her new bedding, finish repainting the dolls house pink (what else?), and generally straighten things up.  Then it will be one bedroom down, threee to go.

6. Star, making plans for her bedroom refit: "Mum, can I have a toaster in my bedroom? Even though I don't like toast, it would be very cool ...".  Um. No.

7. Anyone else coveting an iPad? I love my iPod Touch, but I think I could love an iPad even more.

Read more quick takes at Conversion Diary

7 comments:

Pamela said...

1. Yes, we are most definitely having the same problem in Rhode Island with the potholes - the roads are so bad, you can tell when you cross the RI/Connecticut or RI/Massachusetts border as the ride is instantly bumpier! And, no, I don't think pothole is a peculiarly British word.

3. Oh, yes, MOST definitely it is a teenage thing. 15 degrees here this morning, -4 with the wind chill and out the door Sophia went in a sweatshirt! Fashion obviously takes precedence over common sense.

Melanie Bettinelli said...

We get terrible potholes too. I'm really not looking forward to the mess our street will be this spring since it's already patched after this summer's water main replacement.

Fe said...

Potholes, we get them in Australia (mind you, language-wise, we're definitely a British colony... so that doesn't rule itou it's Britishness:-) Jumpers are knitted things you wear when it's cold, we use torches when it's dark, and we walk on footpaths:-) )

Aerial triangulation in photogrammetry services said...

Nice. Thanks for sharing..
regards
Orthophoto rectification service

Romany said...

Potholes - Bucks is the worst. We could always tell, on returning home to Chesham from having been away, when we'd hit Bucks. The roads were unrepaired.

Oxon is very good at getting to potholes quickly, but Bucks must be REALLY bad right now! I wonder how Beds compares?

2. Those toddler arguments are great aren't they? LOL!

3. Yes it is.

4. You aren't supposed to do home wiring any more! The law has changed. You're not suppsed to touch anything! LOL!

5. Well done! Are you going to post pics?

Anonymous said...

Lol, one of my friends at church got rather excited when I told her about the iPad.

I noticed when it was snowing the girls who go to the local high school not only wore no coat, hat or scarf, but also wore their blazers undone. Mad.

When I was at university in Sunderland, the east wind would be howling off the sea, it would be FREEZING, but the local girls would totter off to the night clubs in nothing but hotpants and tiny tops. Crazy.

Our roads are falling apart too.

Stitchwort said...

Speaking from Nova Scotia, Canada, we get lots of potholes too, and that's what everyone calls them, at least in polite society. Usually here in the Frozen North, they don't become much of a problem until much closer to spring--but we had a warm spell last week and a goodly crop sprouted . . .