Things I've been up to lately

[undyingking]

Nothing too desperately exciting, but this is no bad thing.

Went to look at a house -- we're not sure if we really want to move, but it would be nice to have a bit more space. This one is a 4-bed Edwardian thing with a 100' garden -- lovely place, and the owners haven't had much luck trying to shift it. We have to decide whether the extra niceness is worth the extra mortgage payments. I suspect inertia will tend towards not...

Friday went to bibliogirl and rotwang 's very good do in London, at which saw lots of friends but didn't have the chance to talk to many of them -- sorry about that, other folks, hope to see you again soon! It's nice to think that even from out here we can be metropolitan sophisticates of an evening every now and then, although the fact that it costs three times as much to get to London from Ipswich as it used to the similar distance from Oxford is a bit wince-making.

Saturday we visited friends here, and then yesterday went to friend Sam (known to some of you)'s new house and helped clear the garden. This involved felling several mature trees, plus various spikey shrubs, brambles and the like, but now they have a decent-sized usable garden. (Well, actually now they have a blasted wasteland. But they will have a usable garden when the grass sets in...) Very therapeutic destruction! (Why is it so much more fun working in other people's gardens than in your own?)

This morning I was up at 5.45 to take T to the station :-( but means that I can get some work done and then watch the cricket with a (fairly) clear conscience. On which note, I think this past couple of weeks I've had to explain aspects of the scoring system, arcane laws, historical background etc to at least half a dozen previously uninterested people. This is good in a way, but you have to wonder how many of them will stick with it come the next lean patch. To my possibly warped mind, half the joy in watching England do well is provided by the memory of all the years they've done badly. And will county cricket see any correspodning rise in interest? (Btw how brilliant it's been to see Essex walking away with the National League title, after years of fairly miserable league failure...)

Comments

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Why is it so much more fun working in other people's gardens than in your own?

Odd, isn't it? I've probably cleaned more in other people's houses when I helped them move than I have in my own...

[wimble.livejournal.com]

My theory is because the act of tidying/cleaning/etc can be quite rewarding: you know you've taken a bad situation and improved it.

The reason it doesn't work in your own house is because you know it's just going to revert to being a mess again. With somebody else's you do your good deed, and then leave, without seeing the rot re-emerge.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

That actually sounds rather plausible.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Surely the answer then is to do a 'clearing exchange' with a friend. You blitz their place, they blitz yours, everyone's happy.

[wimble.livejournal.com]

That'd work. Except my place is a sufficient mess that it needs my supervision to clean...

Of course, the asnwer to that is, rather than doing a complete exchange, I help somebody else clean, and then they help me. Which takes longer, and I run the risk that they'll pull out of the second cleaning (shades of "I'll trade you these 4 cards, and then you trade me three back").

[vicarage.livejournal.com]

I spent the morning enthusing about the delights of gardening to M&G & T. They ignored me, and so we watched cricket and tried to kill Dr Lucky.

[pmcray.livejournal.com]

>>> ...and tried to kill Dr Lucky

Is that some kind of euphemism?

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

No, it's a Cheapass Game. ;o)

[pmcray.livejournal.com]

It's all starting to make sense now!

[vicarage.livejournal.com]

Sadly, its a board game

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

M&G & T

(Who is T?)

[bibliogirl.livejournal.com]

wimble. Not your T ;)

[wimble.livejournal.com]

Damn. There goes my secret identity.

Now I'll have to keep the tights on all the time.

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

On which note, I think this past couple of weeks I've had to explain aspects of the scoring system, arcane laws, historical background etc to at least half a dozen previously uninterested people. This is good in a way, but you have to wonder how many of them will stick with it come the next lean patch.

As just such a person myself (with onebyone as my personal commentator) I have to say I have no intention of "sticking with" anything. For me, it's not the fact England might win that is interesting, it's the fact that the stars have somehow aligned to produce an interesting game of Cricket. Even then, it looks like the result may be significantly influenced by the weather. This is a Bad Thing in my view and does not endear me to the sport.