Computer says No

Friends, Romans and Countrymen, I have missed you. I still miss you. My laptop is misbehaving to a level that urges me to lob it out the window. I am unable to blog from home. I can send the odd webmail but not consistently. I can't do attachments or myspace. I have done all the spy bot, defrag, anti viral stuff that friends have taught me over the years. Decision time is looming on whether I should buy a new laptop. Major purchase decisions are not my forte. I can take about 2 months to choose a new pair of shoes. I might have one last attempt and phone the local laptop fixer shop where the tech heads start by asking me questions like, 'Could something be covering the air vent?' (What, like a matress? Only if I'm planning on arson).

My car is also broken. I'm off to the dentist soon. Maybe they'll suggest dentures.

-C

Message in A Bottle

Help! My e-mail is malfunctioning. I feel as if I am shrinking like Alice in Wonderland. I cannot e-mail any of you good people. Even my crummy webmail won't respond my insistent proddings. I have been googling error codes and disabling anti virus software all afternoon to no avail. We shall speak anon.

-C

Constant Gardening

I'm back from niece-visiting in Engerland, excited to have a bath in my own flat and to be reunited with my electric toothbrush. It was good and yet hectic:toddler tantrums and car-alarm cries redeemed by moments of unplanned cuteness. I'm amazed at the levels of energy required for the basic maintenance of children. 'The first year is all gardening,' said my sister. Here's to their constant effort.

Tonight I caught up on reading other blogs and I realise that all blogs are better read as they are posted. Catching up on backlogged blogs doesn't have the same appeal. I still worry about the whole self centered-ness of being a blogger. I have converted a few friends to blogging and they haver about it too...we're a circle of slightly paranoid bloggers.

On my trip I arranged to meet an ME phone friend for the first time in person. We went to a restaurant and shared a cheese platter by candle light. It was uplifting to see her feeling better for the first time in years.

-C

Limited Liberty by the letter L

Well, I had such a great time on Arran, I don't know where to begin. I risk boring you all with my you-should-have-seen-this talk. I'll have to discipline myself to one letter of the alphabet. Like L for lambs, log fires, lovely friends who invited me (thank yees), long beaches, local hospitality, lightning and thunder,

lasagne, laughter and leisurely chat, and most of all a luxurious sense of liberty - while it lasted. I'm wrecked again now, but I have happy mental postcards to leaf through.

I feel uncharacteristically busy as I'm away again tomorrow to visit my nieces for a week. Maddy is two and Nuala is a just few weeks old and cries a lot. To remedy this, Maddy offered to 'hit Nuala with a big stick'. Distraction will be required.

-C

PS I'm changing fonts for a while.