Results and such

Well there will be a brief round up of events last week where the Conservatives only saved one of two Elected mayors, lost some Police & Crime Commissioners and generally had a jolly rotten night last Thursday.

Of course that was added to this week when the Conservative M.P. for Dover walked across the House of Commons floor and joined Labour!

Things were hotting up in other ways here this week so I had a new skirt, technically it's a games skirt but it's  longish on me so you could wear it as a summer wraparound skirt.

It's pleated in the traditional way and doesn't come with a pin although I dare say you could add a suitable on if you're concerned about it flapping in the wind

Just the thing to slip on and if needs be adjust the fastener to fit in this weather.

Chillin' Friday

 Brr It's another cold week here, yew can feel it in your face if not your hands too if you haven't any gloves on with the streets still icy not unsurprisingly given it had been minus three degrees yesterday. 

That put a few restrictions around where I could go as the pavements were slippery with chunks of ice the size of pebbles as well as sections worthy of the accolade "skating rink" but I did dress for the weather and get out, seeing birds and squirrels apart from going on my swing a bit for fresh air and exercise apart from reading the odd comic or two.

That helped keep my mind less anxious not just with all this Covid stuff but the disgraceful scenes at The Capitol on Wednesday which rightly received world-wide censure from people of all political views who respect democracy and the rule of law.

Stormy Staffs Edition

Phew, it's just like being in an oven as I type this, so much so I'll be on umpteenth glass of water just trying to stay hydrated.

Here in the UK, specifically England, we've had abnormally high temperatures brought in from across the Sahara in North Africa via France that even here in the usually temperate West Midlands region have gone to around 34 degrees Celsius  and only a little below 20 degrees overnight.

Those of course are the outdoor temperatures, what happens indoors matters just as much and being in a mainly brick built building that heat is effectively trapped in it which is good for winters but not very helpful with this.

 Pix Credit: BBC Weather Watcher Greg.

The other aspect to all this is we've had lots of thunder and lightning such as that shown in that picture of Stoke on Trent, a part of this, the North Staffordshire conurbation which was very dramatic on Tuesday night lasting from around 10pm through 3 am.

Apparently we were the epicentre of the it and with it came severe rain that caused issues on the Crewe-Derby line at Uttoxeter together with cross country services around Stafford and Rugeley in the south.

After all that typing, I'll take  a rest!

Weekly update from "The Dorm"

I'm writing this in the aftermath of Hurricane Aileen that arrived over Tuesday night and rampaged into Wednesday morning here pulling down trees, causing localized flooding and causing a power out that lasted five and a half hours to which I don't known what is worse: being without the power or sheer cacophony of security alarms ring for hours as you try to get some sleep in.
Anyway, we're back up and running, nothing has blown from a power surge although it confused the main tv into thinking it had no antenna for some strange reason that took a bit of troubleshooting and I think the electric kettle's on its last days.

As you know I've always had a thing for Kawaii, almost an obsession even over the cutest of things having shared it on That Boarding School Girl pretty much from the beginning and indeed at one point I even had a very short-lived side blog devoted to 'cute stuff'.
If you'd of asked me in 2008 I could see my dorm looking just like the room illustrated then I'd have to of said yes cos while the cute bits and bobs are there I was very much into cutified technology replacing standard keyboard and mice and might of replaced the monitor too.
In 2017 it's different because of that technology, I use mainly a small Chromebook which is black and an aging Dell Windows laptop for music downloading and copying to files on and they have less customization as in making pink even if do liberally cover them in cute stickers because not needing separate keyboard and mice, I don't have the excuse to toss the supplied boring one to landfill and add something from the Hello Kitty range instead cos I don't like the look of 'boys toys' although I'm not exactly a technophobe.
I have finished with any luck the redesign of this journalling middles blog in conjunction with my middle/littles blog so they do match and have a less busy, more streamlined feel on the theme side.

Olympic blues

This week here in the UK, we've been getting ready for the upcoming Olympics and what an interest week it has been for some of our companies providing services starting with the missing  or otherwise lost bus drivers who are meant to take the incoming sports stars to their accommodation. Like how does it happen in a Capital that prides itself on driver knowledge for its Taxis can people get so lost for four hours or more? Every modern bus has satellite navigation aids, most of the drivers are experienced and the Olympic lanes are marked on the asphalt.
Then there's the great G4S fowl up who were given the job of providing security both at the stadia and also at the accommodation effectively placing them in lockdown only to find less than a quarter of those selected show up, those who want to haven't been told when they're wanted, the senior execs are very late founding out what is really happening and the Taxpayer pays twice providing the Army and Police to fill the gaps. The Home Secretary knows nothing and her opposite number is more interested in political point scoring when these contracts go back to when they were in office, a period I'm regretting with every month of fresh disclosures. Then there's the small matter of the M4 Highway cracking up that links London Heathrow and the venues that wasn't picked upon regular inspection.
It's such a pity when everything else was carefully checked and rechecked months ago with everyone looking forward to the opening day.

Downpours!

I don't know what happened to "Flaming June" but July sure isn't shaping up into anything better having gotten drenched from visiting my Doctors yesterday. Fortunately most of this district hasn't been subject to flooding although some twenty miles south of here some people have been flooded out of their houses when the rivers overflowed and the back roads here need to be treated with a bit of caution as the fields do flood frequently.
As it was sunny when I got up first thing, I decided to get my long walks in early as the forecast for the afternoon wasn't good at all and nothing but nothing is gonna stop me from exercising! And as my blood pressure is a tidgy bit high it's as well to continue with it as I've lost so far over 1 stone and 2 pounds.