Aaargh Oh Knee and Ian McMillan, the Great Punster

OK, so it’s not a great play on words, but I have been listening to the Great Punster Ian Mc Millan, and if your knee felt like mine has been feeling you’d be pleased you could still laugh. Is that self-pitying enough? Bear with me.

My left knee is my good knee. It has been the dependable one since I bashed my right knee in 1993 and spilt the meniscus, cue lots of pain, gradual onset of arthritis, and a sick note for life saying I must not run. Although of course I have run, usually for the bus, but to vary things, sometimes it has been for the train.

Not at the moment. My left knee started to grumble that it had been doing the lion’s share for nearly twenty-three years and it wasn’t happy. I’ve learned to listen to it, to anticipate when my days are likely to make it cranky and take painkillers in advance. It’s been pretty grumbly recently. Though intermittently. It can be fine one day, then feel like a piece of wood has been wedged in it the next. In my abortive efforts to field MasterB from catching the baby wren, I think I wrenched it, so the last ten days both front and back of my knee have hurt, and I’m getting pains running from ankle to hip. My work means I am on my feet a lot, so there’s not been much chance to rest.

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Duvet Days and Cultural Craic

It's weather that tells you to curl up on a sofa with the papers or a book. Yesterday I *babysat* the puppy while everyone else attended a funeral. There were three funerals locally. Some wanted to show their faces and pay their respects at all of them.

Cousin lit a fire before she left. Yes it was that cold. Pip thought it was a great idea.

The two adult dogs, no doubt correctly reading the attitudes of the humans around them, also decided it was a day for little activity. A duvet day, Cousin called it.

The puppy, aka the Thuglet, was not on the same page. As Pip and Westie Boy snuggled into warm beds, she had just one idea on her mind; to make them play. She really didn't want to take no for an answer. Even when that no was uttered in increasingly impatient and irritated growls.

Mainly About Reading, and Some Work

A quick post tonight to keep up with the challenge. I still have some work to finish, and the washing up will not take care of itself.

We had our poetry group meeting in the library. It could be a play. One of the members is very definitely on the autistic spectrum, and tonight he was on speed dial. Celia was placating and calming with regular interjections of “Right, right” delivered in a firm but calming tone. I think he might have had a caffeine boost or similar this afternoon, but last month he was much more connected.

Viv was mildly subversive, and made me think she was probably quite naughty at school in ways she could get away with.

It was fun. I picked a few Simon Armitage volumes at random from the library shelves. One, Seeing Stars, turned out not to be poetry, but short stories and monologues. The first I looked at began:

During the summer of 1996 I was working as a Tattooist-in-Residence on a reclaimed slagheap in the South Pennines.

Fruit Machine

April is for Cycling

Last Year I accepted the challenge to cycle every day of the month. I failed. The weather last year was wet. Very wet. Not having an exercise bike, I resorted to cycling by proxy, reading Andrew’s entertaining Good Vibrations. He’s off again this summer, so another wet April, I hope to comfort myself by reading the sequel.
This year I signed up for the challenge again, but acknowledged there would be several days when I would not be on two wheels. Some days I’d be afloat, some days the bus would be more practical for what I need to do and where I need to go.
So I am hoping today qualifies as two days. I was on my bike, so I get a nice tick for that. I also took some pictures.
I have posted photos of this wonderful piece of topiary before, but that’s no reason not to celebrate it again. Also, this time there are tulips.

Topiary Bike With Tulips

Jubilee Yarn Bombing

I love this. I tweeted it the other night, but just in case you haven’t seen it. Sit back and enjoy.

uk-england-18242578

This 365 Project Business

Now that Post A Day 2011 has come to an end for fairly obvious reasons, I am really hoping that WordPress is going to continue with the weekly photo challenges. I only joined in when the year was more than half over, and I really enjoyed them.

They introduced me to hitherto unknown bloggers via their entries, and, even more excitingly, to the joys of browsing pix posted with a photography tag, which then made me experiment with putting various words in the search box and seeing if any interesting posts came to light. They did. Fun. My network widened. One of the things I enjoyed with the photography challenges was seeing familiar names week after week. It felt like meeting old friends.

Westminster Photo Quiz

All these statues are quite close to each other. But the pictures are details or oblique shots. Can you identify them? Some are easier than others.
Put your answers in a comment.
Good Luck!

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