Furthermore: June 2006

June 30, 2006

Man Bags

Man bags seem to be in the news at the moment, thanks to Mr Roddick. I’ve been carrying various kinds of courier bag for several years without thinking much about it, but recently Mrs Furthermore pointed out that my standard bag was rather too big if all I needed to carry was say, a novel, notebook, phone and PDA.

So I went looking for bags. Nowadays, I tend to look on AskMe for this sort of recommendation. I liked the sound of the Timbuk2 stuff, so I ended up buying one from Ebags (UK link) as they seem to be able to get Timbuk2 stuff in the UK.

I bought a Metro - described as a “small tote”. Lots of useful inner pockets and cunning features. You can, at a pinch, fit an A4 notebook in, but it’s really designed around A5 kind of sized objects.

When I first got it I was kind of horrified - I really thought it looked a bit handbaggy. So I put it in the cupboard for a couple of days to see whether I’d really made a bad error. When I got it out again, I quite liked it, and now I’m using it all the time (except when I actually need a big bag).

When I showed it to Mrs F, she said it looked like a handbag too, but (as she put it) like a manly handbag. I’m kind of glad I didn’t show it her right away though - I think that comment would have done for me. Now, I kind of like that it’s a handbag - clearly, I just need a handbag, and at least mine is manly.

June 25, 2006

Great Weekend

We have had a really good weekend - yesterday we went to a party at our neighbours over the road. They did a fantastic barbeque, and we let the children stay up later than normal - E was fine, but L slept in till nearly 9 this morning - very unusual for her.

Then today we went to the fair, which L really loved - she went on a big inflatable slide, then the helter-skelter (which would have terrified me at her age), then a kind of tiny rollercoaster thing with a barbie car to ride in, and several others, including a traditional “galloping horses” carousel.

Of course, when we left she complained bitterly that we hadn’t been on a bouncy castle, and sulked all the way home. But apart from that, it was lovely.

June 13, 2006

Cute child related stuff

Feel free to skip this one. E is really starting to talk now - she’s beyond just saying mummy and daddy, and she’s now saying garden (taga), spoon, nose, mouth, bath and quite a number of other things.

She recognises things like “garden” especially, and goes to get her sandals so she can go out. If you were just mentioning that “I need to water the garden later” then she’s most annoyed that she can’t go outside.

L is discovering cheek and basic profanity - when I was putting her to bed last night I pretended to listen to her balloon whispering to me. I told her it told me a secret. So then she had a go - she told me the balloon kept saying that I was a poo-poo. I said she’d better tell it to stop, or Mr Balloon might suffer a nasty accident…

Back on the Road

On Saturday while England were playing, I was busy buying new running shoes from Hobbs (Grays as was). It was very quiet, so the guy was able to spend some time advising me and looking at me walk (he was impressed with how relaxed my hamstrings were but not in a gay way oh no). Anyway, I ended up getting some Saucony Grid shoes, my usual Asics not being up to correcting the pronation enough.

On Monday I had physio so I got her seal of approval on the shoes as well. She seemed to be happy enough for me to start doing some short runs (10-15 minutes), so I shall get out there and give it a go, probably at the weekend. Just have to see how the knee behaves itself.

June 12, 2006

Perfect Sunday

I think Sunday was just one of those days where everything you do goes well - I managed to get the girls up, bathed, and out to the Coleridge playground. The paddling pool had been filled up for the nice weather, so they both had a go in there - although E decided she didn’t like it this time, and L fell over and got completely soaked - next time remember to bring swimming costume.

After lunch I fitted a triple socket in the hall (I found that Homebase do a single to triple converter - you just take off the original plate, wire up the new one, then it fits onto the same screws at the back as the single one). Then since I was on a roll I fitted a double socket in the garage - the one in there has been broken for ages because if you plug something into it, it will get hit with the up and over door and smash into pieces.

Then L wanted to go out on her bike so I walked with her up to the corner and back - she’s got the pedalling pretty well now, and she’s learning how far she can turn the handlebars safely.

After that I had a fantastic idea about how to fit another shelf into the bookcase in the hall (something that we’ve needed for a while). Even with my rudimentary skills, there’s something quite satisfying about making things from wood with saws and drills. And the result even looks quite good. Still need to make another one - and paint the bookcase too I think.

Mrs Furthermore and I got the kids to bed, then we had an enjoyable evening together without them :-)

June 6, 2006

John Crowley news

One of my favourite authors, John Crowley, now has a livejournal. Perusing there the other day, I found this speech that he gave in December 2005. There are some very interesting comments in there about the role of “romances” in literature, but more interesting still to me is that he says that the final part of the Aegypt series is done - there’s even an extended quote from one chapter. In the LJ comments he implies that there will be news sooner rather than later. I’m on tenterhooks - I enjoyed The Translator and Lord Byron’s Novel, but I’ve been waiting since 1990 for the Aegypt series to be completed.