Wednesday 21 July 2010

Trio

The data I have been working on with Sense has now started to appear on their website and you can find it here at Urgency Report .  All the data are in Excel spreadsheets which you find by clicking on each relevant area within England and overall they show that there will be an increase in the numbers of people who are Deafblind over the next twenty years.  The report itself can be downloaded from the main report page.

Since I last blogged I applied for a job at the Royal Geographical Society (yet to hear anything back) and made lots of chocolate which has gone down well with all those who have tried it.  Thankfully Erica returns from Sweden tomorrow...it's only been a week but it feels like years.

I went to my first Prom in two years on Monday and it was fantastic.  Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2 (famous from Brief Encounter) was lovely and the other pieces were also good, and it was wonderful to hear the organ in full flow.  It just goes right through you, from the walls and the floor and the ceiling.  I will take Erica on Sunday for some Schumann, Dvorak and Strauss.  I'm sure she will enjoy the experience.

Sunday 18 July 2010

The Spellbook

I have decided that it would be easier to share some of my stories and writings with you in a better format than can be read in this blog.  Therefore I have created an account at an online document website and have uploaded my first story to it The Spellbook
This is a story I wrote a couple of months ago, it is a fairy tale / fantasy about a young girl who uses magic to gain revenge upon a nasty teacher.  I hope you enjoy it!

Saturday 17 July 2010

Catching Up

Wow, it's been a while since I blogged, so I guess a bit of catching up needs to be done.  As I write I'm listening to Tired Pony on Spotify.
After my one week of work, which was at the charity Sense, I had a week off.  I was then recalled by Sense as they realised they wanted me to do some more work.  I have entering population data in excel spreadsheets as part of a report which I think is due to come out next week.  I had originally only entered data for one year, however they later decided to have future years too, and I was very grateful to be called back.  They were obviously happy with me.  I am still working there as the data is not yet finished, but with the report coming out soon, things are starting to get hectic.
As I said in my last "real" post my girlfriend was about to arrive, and she did.  For the first week of work she was very much alone all day making me food, doing dishes and making crafts.  But during that time it gave her the chance to set up her online shop for crafts, which is at Erica's Misi Shop.  She has much more to upload than is already on here, but it's all very clever.
But we then had a week together, during which I also had a birthday.  We had a fantastic night on the 2nd, having decided to take a walk along the river.  We took bus 43 down to London Bridge, which had a faulty oyster reader which meant we got a free trip.  We had a lovely walk, stopping every now and again to watch and to hug, and got to Waterloo about 10pm, at which time a modern circus group were about to start.  This was free too, and a great show.  We then picked up the 168 to come back home to find that this bus too had a faulty oyster reader.  Incredible!
My birthday was spent picnicking on Clapham Common, wandering to Wandsworth and then further on to Putney before getting the bus home.  A very relaxing day, but we were both a little allergic from grass pollen by the end of it.  My girlfriend did embroider me a lovely card however.
After more than a week in the uk Erica was missing her knackebrod and fluffy pillows, so we took a trip up to the Edmonton Ikea to pick up both bedroom and food supplies.  It was my first experience of an Ikea (the best bit was the meatballs in the canteen), but I didn't see much difference between it and B&Q to be honest.  The smell was the same after all.
Erica has been a little unlucky with getting started here.  It took three phone calls to the NI office before she could even get an interview for an NI number and when she went to the same work agency as the one I work for they barely let her speak before thrusting a sheet of paper at her and telling her to look online.  Not friendly at all to be honest and very disappointing.  She has seen some work available at her favourite art shop however, so fingers crossed, hold your thumbs.
I have a week to myself now, with Erica going home for her allergy shot, and will endeavour to apply for some jobs, make some chocolate and visit the Proms.  It's been two years since I last went, I never got there last year, and am getting excited.  I listened to last nights broadcast and felt quite emotional about the thought of climbing those steps up to the gallery and the vision that is the interior of the Royal Albert Hall.  It's such a beautiful place (I'm feeling emotional again as I write) and I can't wait to get there again.
That's about it for now.  I've not been doing any writing for a while, for various reasons, one of which is that I can't type on  my girlfriends computer.  Too many weird characters appearing and it's much too big!