IsobelandCat's Blog

A Wet Cold Afternoon in London

IsobelandCat — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 20:40:23 +0000

I’ve not been writing much here or on other blogs for a few days for a couple of reasons. Firstly, work seems to have gone into hyper mode since my little Irish break, and secondly because I have been experiencing excruciating shooting pains in my right arm.

I saw the doctor tonight. She reassured me that my foot is on the mend, and the hot feeling I am getting in it from time to time is nothing to worry about. As to my arm, the Ibuprofen I am taking for my foot should also help, and I should refrain from typing (!) as far as possible. Both conditions will sort themselves out in the fulness of time, especially with rest. Which means I am not going to be writing much here or anywhere else for a little while.

However, to celebrate the news that I am not about to have to face up to a life of immobility, a little post with words tonight.
I had a few minutes to kill in the City today. It was raining, but I wanted some air, so I sat under a tree in St Dunstan’s, ate an excellent sandwich from Cooper’s on Eastcheap and took a couple of pix before rain stopped play.

Notice the pigeons sheltering in the first pic.

I’m sure this morning’s forecast was for another mild day. It was damn cold. I left St Dunstan’s for St Margaret Pattens. City churches names tend to be double-barrelled as there are so many with the same dedication. Pattens were things people used to wear to lift them up from the filth and mire of the street. They were made nearby. There used to be a sign in the church asking members of the congregation to remove them before going in. I couldn’t see it, but they did have some pattens on display.

The basket makers are connected with St Margaret Pattens, so that’s why there are baskets displayed too. It was dark in the church, and as no one else was there, I took a picture of one of the swordrests.

But I peered in vain for the initials CW in the box pew at the rear of the church. Hopeful people say they stand for Christopher Wren, architect of this post Great Fire church, as well as many others and St Paul’s cathedral, but more prosaically they stand for church warden.

I like this sign.

AAnd the way the City bollard outside bears the church’s name.

As I left, I noticed signs for yoga classes at the church. They used to have aerobics classes there, in a side room, not the nave, and the noise would be very distracting for anyone who came in for some quiet meditation. Yoga sounds a much better idea.

Filed under: London, Photography Tagged: Christopher Wren, City of London, Eastcheap, St Dunstan-in-the-East, St Margaret Pattens, yoga

Weekly Photo Challenge: Down Take Two

IsobelandCat — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 17:05:57 +0000

It’s a busy week, but i took these today, and I hope to have some time to spend here soon.

Filed under: cat, home, Photography Tagged: down, weekly photo challenge 2012

Weekly Photo Challenge: Down

IsobelandCat — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 18:50:45 +0000

Yellow Tulips

On Friday, they were like sentinels, but that didn’t last long.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2012/02/17/weekly-photo-challenge-down/

Filed under: home, nature, Photography Tagged: down, Postaweek 2012, tulips, weekly photo challenge

Black and White

IsobelandCat — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 17:30:01 +0000

No visit to Cousin’s would be complete without a photo of the Big Cat. Black and white, she provides the theme for this post. Here she is, comfortable behind the towels in the bathroom.

Comfortable

Her canine tormentor, again.

What's Happening?

The traditional cottage where a friend of Cousin’s lives, from an oblique angle as there were cars outside.

Cottage

The plaque that tells when it was built.

1743

A horseshoe that hangs on a wall nearby.

Horseshoe

And one of the vases that a local ceramicist is selling at knock-down prices before she up ticks and relocates to Cyprus.

Vase £20

Filed under: cat, family, holiday, London, pets, Photography Tagged: black and white, ceramics, cottage

Heat Wave

IsobelandCat — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 13:50:28 +0000

Ooh that Penelope Lively, she’s good. I just lost an hour or more to reading Heat Wave. Spare descriptions; clear prose; an ear for dialogue and the importance of things said and unsaid; an eye. I feel I have travelled the whole journey from spring to late summer, watching Luke and the wheat grow, seeing Teresa suffer and Pauline relive her memories while hoping for better for her daughter. I have met Maurice and Carol and found them wanting. Harry was never all he cracked himself up to be, while Hugh is considerably more than he seems, and James does not deserve to be treated so badly.
I am still at World’s End, outside the now closed doors, looking across the twenty acre field with its straw bales still and waiting. Such is the power of good writing to transport a reader, to build and maintain a world that seems so real, it is hard to understand that the last page is really the last, that Mr Chaundy will not be casting a dismissive eye over the next people to own this house, and that the weather forecasting postman does not exist outside the pages of this novel.

Filed under: books, writing Tagged: good literature, Heat Wave, Penelope Lively

Moving the Goalposts

IsobelandCat — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:17:09 +0000

I wanted to retire at thirty-five. It didn’t happen. A few years later, I became restless, wanting to try something new, and swapped my permanent, full-time job for a mix of short-term, part-time contracts and study.
The move left me financially less well off, but with a much greater sense of freedom. It also screwed up my work pension, particularly as part-timers were opted out unless they said they wanted otherwise, and I didn’t realise.
However, my state pension was due when I turned sixty. Then the goalposts were moved. First I learned that I should have to work until sixty-five, now it’s sixty-six, and before long it’ll probably be sixty-seven. It may go on increasing. someone from the DWP told me it will probably move to seventy as soon as the government can manage.
Seventy! My mother got a new lease of life when she retired at sixty. She was active, fit and energetic. Ten years on, she had slowed down appreciably.
I find it really demotivating. And I have no idea how I am supposed to plan for a future that might change again and again.
Meanwhile, I am definitely looking forward to the day when I can put my energies into other things, develop interests work leaves no time for, but I do wonder how fit and able I shall be when the day comes that I can retire. Or will I be thrown on the scrap heap before then?
How keen are people going to be to employ me as my age rises and there are young, energetic professionals keen to step into my shoes?

Filed under: general Tagged: goalpost, Pensions, retirement, workface

Sofa So Good

IsobelandCat — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:57:07 +0000

Filed under: cat, home, pets, Photography Tagged: home, iPad photo, relaxed

Reunited

IsobelandCat — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 07:39:05 +0000

I’ve had a great break at my cousin’s and it is nice to be home again. In an hour I’ll be able to collect the ginger ninja from the cattery. I’ve bought him a new biscuit ball and play tunnel, but having a cuddle is going to be the best bit. I expect he’ll want to go climbing outside and have some energetic play.
Can’t wait…

Filed under: cat, family, holiday, pets Tagged: cattery, home, reunited

Like a Lion in the Serengeti

IsobelandCat — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 23:46:34 +0000

Filed under: pets, Photography Tagged: giraffe, iPad photo, Westie boy

The Wee Cat and Her Not So Wee Kitten

IsobelandCat — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 20:44:16 +0000

Given the Not So Wee Kitten’s shyness of me, I had to take these pictures through the window. She is on the left, her mother, the Wee Cat, on the right.

Here, Miss Not So Wee is on her own.

Westie Boy assisted me.

Filed under: cat, family, Photography Tagged: Fat kitten, through the window