Took advantage of the unexpected gap between bouts of torrential rain today to go for a walk around Ockham Common. Very nice it was too, although the noise levels from the M25 are pretty dire. Such a shame. Due to the wind, we didn't see too many birds either, though we did spot a kestrel (hurrah!), robins, chaffinches and something that Lord H said might have been a female blackcap (they're red on top, confusingly) - though I must admit I failed to notice that one. I also had a moment's sheer panic when my Wellington boots got stuck in what appeared to be a swamp, but Lord H nobly rescued me before the mud came up beyond my neck. Swoon! What a hero. I hadn't even realised we had swamps in Surrey.
For the rest of the day, I have been grappling womanfully with changing the old Goldenford website beyond all recognition. Lordy, but I wish I hadn't chosen a template which uses side PDF-to-GIF images instead of text, double dammit! Still, with Lord H's help, I have beaten the buggers into submission and am thoroughly GIFfed-out. My main worries now are the logos, the book pictures and the nightmare of PAYPAL, plus fiddling around with showing more links from the Books page, but frankly my dears, that's the icing on the cake, and I'm just glad I'm still standing! Have to say I do enjoy it though - I'm just a Website Whore really.
Tonight, there's sod all on TV, so Lord knows what we're going to do. Might watch a video, or even do the odd line or two to The Bones of Summer, but I'm not sweating it. As they say.
Oh, and I must say that the downstairs neighbour has had a rather amusing Bin Crisis, poor love, and has been telling me all about it. Here at the scary end of Godalming, we take great pride in keeping our bins clean (yes, I know - we probably do need to get out more ...), and it's the downstairs neighbour's turn at the moment. The binmen collected on Tuesday, and Henry was telling me that he'd been shocked beyond measure to see the state our bin had somehow got itself in. And, bearing in mind that Henry survived the Russian Front in World War II, you can imagine what a state it must have been in. Well, he then spent about thirty minutes tackling it with a scrubbing brush and hot soapy water and unpeeling the Gloop of Ages from the bottom before realising that ... um ... it wasn't actually our bin. Ah well. Next door must be thrilled with their new gleaming rubbish depository and, in the meantime, I've suggested Henry send them an invoice. Could be the start of a whole new career, you know.
I've just finished Nii Ayikwei Parkes' poetry pamphlet, Eyes of a Boy, Lips of a Man. Must admit that some of it left me utterly cold and felt as if it was struggling too hard. But wonderful poems like "The Bite", "Tin Roof" and "Rendezvous with Death" make up for it all, and justify the cost of the book. Certainly an interesting poet, in his best work at least.
Today's nice things:
1. Walking around Ockham Common
2. Working on the old Goldenford website
3. Thinking about poetry.
Anne Brooke
Anne's website
Old Goldenford site
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