The Rach

K and went to a Rachmaninov free concert yesterday, where we were interviewed by someone from the Evening Times. The journalist seemed rather disappointed when I said that I was 30 ... apparently so much so that we weren't actually in the paper, to be substituted by three rather younger couples, and a group of pensioners :-( As K put it, in addition to telling them we were 24, perhaps we should have said something a little more interesting than "well, when I think of Rachmaninov, I think of Shine"; perhaps something along the lines of "I usually think of Rachmaninov as an aphrodisiac, so this concert should be interesting". The lesson has been learned!!

Connected!

It's taken since 6 January, but I am now connected to the Internet again from home, and this time, even the wireless works :-)

Things that make me smile

1. Watching the transitional expressions as someone smiles.
2. Connection and trust in friendship which means that despite its many guises, the word 'love' is never misunderstood.
3. Being cuddled.
4. Noticing that someone understands sensuality.
5. Inspiring people.
6. Reaching the summit.
7. The beauty of sunlight interacting with water, snow, ice, clouds ...
8. The intimacy of personal language shared.
9. Helping give people the confidence to achieve things that they want but don't dare believe in alone.
10. Counter-intuitive results.
11. Teasing and being teased.
12. The quirks of people who know themselves well enough to break conventions.

Chaotic weather forecasters!

When and if the bicycles are ever mended (brakes, tyres, etc.) and on the roof of the car, we're off to Arran. It's Scotland, so it always sounds like a good idea to check out the probable weather patterns.

I start by putting "Brodick" in as my "hometown" here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/5day.shtml. For today, I get a white cloud with a little sun. For tomorrow, a black cloud, a sun and some rain. That's not terribly detailed, so to double check, I try the following page: http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/ukweather/sscotland/. Now, Arran - where Brodick is - is the little island to the left of Ayr on the map. You can play the weather sequence by clicking the arrow button at the bottom of the map. Only this time, the only rain that gets anywhere near Arran is for today, not tomorrow!

Of course, we all know weather patterns are chaotic, especially in places where the prevailing wind blows the air from over the sea directly to meet the mountains. And when the forecasters get it wrong, we curse them and get over it. But even if the weather is chaotic, and it's easy to imagine how two different simulations would have got different answers for the same spot, that's not really an excuse. If neither of the forecasts is expected to be more accurate, they might as well have just put a "?" symbol ...

American geography ...

'Is England up to snuff?' asks the Wall Street Journal, before moving on to state the following:

Similar smoking bans have been introduced in more than a dozen U.S. states, including California and New York, as well as in Canada, Ireland and New Zealand, but the U.K. is the largest country thus far to adopt a national ban. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have recently instituted their own bans.

Presumably they've never heard of France, Italy, Norway, etc. ... and of course the notion that Scotland might be a country ...

Emotional emptiness

The champagne and food last night was beautiful.

Then this morning, I woke up and panicked. I'm Dr Mancy now. What next?

I feel emotionally empty. A sense of relief and tiredness. I want to be looked after, to relax, to have all my decisions made for me. A holiday.

Happy confusion!

I am finally Dr. Mancy!!!!

I'm not quite sure what I feel. Apart from very tired and relieved.

Happy confusion :-)