So, what’s the fox urine for?

Snow… Snow… Snow… All I can see is snow.  The worlds covered in a thick blanket of fluffy white snow almost a foot deep. Now this was a beautiful and wondrous thing for the first few days, but now? After over a week of being trapped indoors, unable to go out, its getting a bit annoying.

You see, I live in the middle of the countryside, And even though I drive a foul wheel drive vehicle, the snows been too bad to even get out of my parking place onto my drive, let alone up my steep drive onto the road (Which is never ploughed or gritted) So I’m trapped.  I could walk to the nearest Village about a mile away, only with the deep snow, and freezing cold I’m saving that for emergencies like running out of coffee.

I should take a moment here to explain this posts title. Not everyone is a Major Film Geek (I know I’m not) and may not pick up on subtle reference’s. The Title is a quote from the movie “Cabin Fever

The only human interaction I am getting is over IM/Twitter/Etc. And I’m beginning to worry I may be getting this thing I’ve heard off called Cabin Fever. (Damn, why have i not yet watched that episode of Mythbusters?). OK. No worries, Quick to the GOOGLE!!!!!

Cabin fever is an idiomatic term for a claustrophobic reaction that takes place when a person or group is isolated and/or shut in, in a small space, with nothing to do, for an extended period (as in a simple country vacation cottage during a long rain or snow). Symptoms include restlessness, irritability, forgetfulness, laughter, and excessive sleeping, distrust of anyone they are with, and an urge to go outside even in the (less miserable) rain, snow or dark.

OK, so Cabin Fever can be got by being snowed into a cottage, so I have the environment for getting it. Right Lets check the symptoms.

restlessness, irritability, forgetfulness, laughter, and excessive sleeping, distrust of anyone they are with, and an urge to go outside even in the (less miserable) rain, snow or dark.

Nope, Don’t think I have any of those symptoms yet. Do you?” I asked the Evil looking Goth Gnome that’s sitting next to my keyboard.  He just shrugged, he’s not very helpful.

Well I’ve not really been sleeping much, never do. and the rest of them don’t sound like me… Hummmmmm. OK. I have been playing with a knife and the end of my desk now has lots of small holes in it from where i was stabbing it.” This is probably why the Gnome didn’t say anything, It’s best not to upset the possibly deranged bloke playing with a razor sharp knife.

No. I don’t think I have Cabin Fever.

Well I’ve since dismantled the knife to see if i can re-design it into a faster drawing setup. The Gnomes taken to muttering to himself, I think He’s loosing it being snowbound. I need to keep an eye on him, I cant trust he’s not up to something.

So I’m just popping out for a minute, I may be some time………….

Theres Snow Business Like Snow Business!

Well I finally managed to get into the Office for the first time since I had an early dart Tuesday due to bad weather (and its now Friday). You see Tuesday where I live had 5.4Inches of snow. I know its exactly 5.4 Inches since I pushed a ruler into the snow and measured.

So Wednesday morning I woke up to the snow, and my car which was just a big mound of snow with icicles hanging off it. I looked at the drive (Uphill) which was just a mass of snow, and the road that goes bast my drive which is never ploughed/gritted/etc, and I went back indoors and worked from home for two days.

Now today (Friday) the snow is still there, the council have yet to do anything about the state of my road. So “Why did you go to work?” I hear you ask. Well one of my neighbours has spent the last two days playing with a mini-digger slowly clearing his way to civilisation. And I felt that his sacrifice should not be in vain. So To work I went!

What?

You don’t believe me?

I’m shocked, Shocked and Hurt!……….

OK. Well there may have been the secondary issue of running out of coffee and needing to go out to get some. But I’m sure I’d have gone to work anyway, coffee or no coffee.

It’s all over the front page, you give me road rage

This post should be read to the theme tune  of Road Rage by Catatonia.   roadrage

You could be taking it easy on yourself
You should be making it easy on yourself
Cause you and I know,
It’s all over the front page, you give me road rage

Road Rage by Catatonia

Some mornings I really wish they hurry up inventing the personal teleporter.

So once again the temperature is stupidly hot, with the possibility of outbreaks of “Dave Syndrome“, and its time for the long commute over the welsh mountains to work.  Now having to drive a long distance in this heat is not a nice experience in a car where the only a/c is opening the windows.  So I did not start off with high expectations, and what little I had did not last long.

Irritant 1) Animals

I do not know if its the heat affecting them, or if there’s some big conspiracy in the animal kingdom to get me for some past upset, whatever the reason they are not behaving as you would expect them to. I first noticed this “oddness” when leaving my drive and as I pulled onto the road there was a huge fat pigeon standing in the middle of the road blocking it. So being Nice, I slowly drove up to it so it would fly away. Nothing! It just stood there watching me, as I had to maneuver around it since I did not want my car splattered with dead animal (It took ages to clean off the badger entrails).  After the pigeon there was a rabbit, followed a bit later by a squirrel, then a baby rabbit, another squirrel, and finally a cat.

Irritant 2) Cars

Whats going on? Today there are something like one billion extra cars on the road (Give or take a Car). They are everywhere, Why? If it was Friday I’d say there were all taking the day off work to go away for the weekend to enjoy the heat.  Yet here they all are! Junctions I normally just slow down for and get to turn instantly, I’m now stuck parked at for several minutes waiting for a gap in the traffic so i can pull into, Roundabouts are a similar problem.  There’s also the knock on affect of slowness, since the roads are so full.

Irritant 3) Diversions.. (AKA Pointless Diversions)

This is also an irritant over stupidness and pointless red tape.  On my route to work there is a junction I have to take. Its a simple T-Junction with a small filer road to make it easier for traffic to flow onto the road speeding it all up.  Now they are currently doing some road repairs on this filter road, leaving the main junction clear.  Yet, and this really is a good example of red tape. The filter road is closed, With loads of “Road Closed” signs, and “Diversion” signs. Now the turning for the junction is about 10 yards from the turning onto the filter road.  This means the sign saying there is a diversion is next to the sign saying “<=- Diversion“.  Then when you turn you have another 10 yards before you hit the sign saying “Diversion Ends“.  The three of them are so close together you can jump from one to the other to the first in a small triangle.  WHY?

Irritant 4) Road Works

Why? For the love of the Gods, Why? as soon as we get hot weather does every builder on the planet start doing work on roads, or on building close to roads causing traffic lights, or the road to be restricted to one lane? Is there a Memo that goes out? are they in the pay of petrol stations to waste our petrol by making us constantly stuck waiting to pass?

Irritant 5) JCB Diggers

OK.  I don’t really have to say anything about these, it says it all, They are Big Yellow travel at 5 miles an hour and make overtaking on country lanes impossible, and tend to only drive during rush hour commute times…

So on another day where they claim “Its the hottest recorded day!” (I’m sure they only have records going back one week), I’m stuck inside a metal box slowly cooking on my long commute to work, All I need is some idiot to cut me up, or start tailgateing me and we’re having a bit of road rage!!

Some days are good!

In the velvet darkness, of the blackest sky

lightning

All morning the skies above the Insane Asylum have been dark & brooding as we are sat under a Thunder Storm. Now this is not necessary a bad thing,  OK. So my dogs are outside getting drenched, OK I will spend longer driving home at the end of the day, OK parents with their kids off school will be cursing the weather, and other Bad things I can understand.

But there is a light in the darkness of everybody’s life..

What is that positive light I hear you ask. Yes I heard you, thanks to a flashplayer plugin on this site it recorded your statement, and emailed it to me over to my iPhone. No! I will not go do that to myself. Behave!!!

Well to answer your none-rude question, The positive light is ;- I work for an ISP, which means computer, technology, things that need power to work, and since the storm keeps taking out either our electricity or our Internet connection, it means I get to spend the day sitting back, playing on the Internet via my iPhone. ;o)

Life Is Good!

CN.

You know you’re a Geek When…

You are sat in the middle of a powercut in a dark candle lit room, watching dvd’s on a laptop, just because you can!

Well it may be nice weather for ducks. but not for humans…

After struggling home through rivers that used to be roads, passed cars abandoned at the side of the road, fallen trees, closed roads, I arrived home to find No electric, and since it had died at about 3pm, all the battery backup lights had run out, so I had an evening of no heat, light, anything.

And this morning I woke up to more the same. Its bad when you turn up to work several hours early to get heat & coffee (mainly coffee)