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[M.T.]

The new storm's name is Gladys. Definitely feeling a bit shit. Like we're looking down the barrel of a new dystopia. My son is nearly 14 and being called up to fight in WW3 isn't quite the future I had envisaged for him. Everything feels a bit lacklustre.

[Alicia]

I thought the human race had evolved somewhat. It has not.

In fact, disparities between haves and have-nots are larger every year - and the number of miserable people willing to follow a strongman just because he makes them promises (never intending to keep any of them) grows every year.

Climate change may not even be reversible - I hate the majorly damaged and fast-worsening world we'll be leaving our children.

We just watched Don't Look Up, silly but Oscar nominated, and all we could do during many of the scenes was nod and say, 'Yup.'

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Evening - not sure about a storm, we have had wind, rain, sleet, snow and hail, fascinating that hail can come down so heavy that it looks as white as snow. Doc app was a bit disappointing, while he can do the nail removal, he can't put the chemical on to stop it growing back, so there is a bigger chance of it growing back if they do it, so might have to go through podiatry. Was dry at lunch, nipped to the charity shop and got a treat from coffee shop, just got home before the hail started again, and it was dry enough after work for me to walk round the park after dropping the key off for the cleaner, some of the water has disappeared.

I'm not surprised MT, the thought of World War 3 is scary enough, but on the back of the two years of stress, worry and confusion that Covid has brought, makes the thought of dealing with yet another world wide catastrophe that bit harder to comprehend. I'm not sure what will make us evolve Alicia, people still can't be tolerant of each other regardless of gender, race, sexuality etc.

[M.T.]

I just despair of how easily led some people are. I must read more about the conspiracy theories so I can argue cogently against them. It’s all to do with some book about ‘The Great Reset’. They think our governments are being manipulated by communist China to seize power. I actually think that if anything like that is going on, it’s the conspiracy theorists who are being manipulated into making western nations ungovernable so that the Far Right friends of Putin can seize power. He want’s a nazi* world, after all.

*Except he probably doesn’t call himself a nazi but that is, essentially, what most totalitarians are innit?

I’m hoping that economic drivers will stop this from boiling over completely … fingers crossed. Gulp.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Evening, was woken up at 5.15 by Lucy being sick, then every time I was just about to doze off, she'd start fussing. Luckily an easy day at work, had some slight technical issues in the first meeting though. Food shopping after work, then went to buy some cat litter, but it's out of stock again.

Jim, I've picked non fiction for next month's theme and normally read one of your 'farm' books but don't appear to have any left, am I missing any?

[Michael]

Is there a Covid club in here? I tested positive on Wednesday.

It's been really mild for me, thankfully. Feels similar to a very light cold, but I can tell it's not a cold.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Glad that you only have mild symptoms Michael, hopefully it stays like that and you don't have any long term issues

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Evening, Alexa decided I needed a 7am alarm, at least it was dry, if cold, so finally took my sis and the kids for my nephews belated birthday treat, took some wax melts for my sis and came back with more, then we found a shop that had a sale, so we came back with a large jar and some wax melts each! Also let myself have some of the nice handmade chocs that I normally look at and think are too expensive. At least I didn't come home with any books. Came home to find Lucy's kennel had been put at the top of the street, no idea where it has been for the past week, and despite it blowing off the street past bins and cars, it only has one small crack - shame that I'd got quite used to it not being there, so will be going to the tip after all.

[Jim]

Desley (Cat fosterer) wrote: "Jim, I've picked non fiction for next month's theme and normally read one of your 'farm' books but don't appear to have any left, am I missing any?.."

Which ones have you got?

The latest is

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Thanks Jim, I'd missed that one, has now been bought :-)

[Rosemary (grooving with the Picts)]

I miss the days all I had to worry about was Brexit and Covid.

[Alicia]

I have a head scratcher - wonder if anyone can help.

British crime novelist P.D. James is quoted as the source for “What a child doesn't receive he can seldom later give.”

But I've done quite a bit of googling, and I can't find a proper attribution for that - where and when did she say it, or where does it appear in her written legacy?

I'd appreciate a source for the quote, if someone knows. Thanks!

I can use it anyway - by labeling it as 'attributed to P.D. James,' but I'd rather get it right.

[Michael]

Go the opposite way and attribute it to whoever you like, hardly anyone will know or care if it's true.

Julius Caesar would be my choice.

[Alicia]

Michael Cargill wrote: "Go the opposite way and attribute it to whoever you like, hardly anyone will know or care if it's true.

Julius Caesar would be my choice."

I found it - it's in P. D. James' autobiography, Time to be Earnest. On Kindle and in paperback. The search function doesn't work on the paperback in the Look Inside feature, but the Firefox search function found it in the Kindle version.

I care - that's one of my little problems. As a trained physicist, not attributing things to the right person feels wrong, and just because a whole bunch of people copy each other doesn't make it right.

I've found ones which were wrong - and sometimes the attribution will be to a presentation that was not recorded, so I have to trust the memory of someone who was there.

When I make them up - and I do, a lot - you can tell. After all, it's fiction. With a proper disclaimer. I've created websites and poets galore. Maybe someone will quote me!

[Pam]

Alicia wrote: "Michael Cargill wrote: "Go the opposite way and attribute it to whoever you like, hardly anyone will know or care if it's true.

Julius Caesar would be my choice."

I found it - it's in P. D. James..."

Was just coming to let you know it is apparently here: P. D. James (2011). “Time to Be in Earnest”, p.11, Faber & Faber

[Michael]

I still reckon you should use Julius Caesar.

[Alicia]

Pam wrote: "Was just coming to let you know it is apparently here: P. D. James (2011). “Time to Be in Earnest”, p.11, Faber & Faber"

Thanks, Pam. I really prefer quotations with attributions. She a favorite writer. The internet can get very sloppy.

[Alicia]

Michael Cargill wrote: "I still reckon you should use Julius Caesar."

I really should - sounds like something he might have written. Same problem, though. If I'm going to quote Julius Caesar, I need the real attribution - most of the people who like PC would know if I made that one up.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Evening, lovely weather yesterday but I was too wiped after Sat to do much and feel drained today, although that could be rubbish night sleep. Raining all day, and our database was on a go slow, so didn't get some of the things I wanted to do done, but did finally tick off something that has been on my to do list since last year.

[Jim]

Rosemary (grooving with the Picts) wrote: "I miss the days all I had to worry about was Brexit and Covid."

Somebody pointed out we ought to send Putin an nice letter thanking him for curing covid because nobody is worried about it now :-)

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Evening, day started off well, woke up early before my alarm and felt like I'd had a decent night sleep and I didn't need my light on to work as we had blue sky. Quickly went downhill though, the database issue was worse today, I never knew how many different time out messages it could give. I did take advantage of the nice weather though, went for a walk at lunch with friend, then another one after work, before reading - managed to read till nearly 6 without the light, won't be long till I'll have to change my after work routine for the better! Ratty neighbour asked which energy supplier I was with the other week, she's changed to the same as me and we are both going to get a £50 credit for the referral, what a bonus.

Ironically Jim, the news alert I listened to this morning did end with how many covid deaths we've had, so that radio station still cares.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Evening, day off so of course had a rubbish night sleep and the weather was rubbish. Hair app this morning, then went to friends to watch a film, via the coffee shop to have a drink and cake to watch it with. Then couldn't find one of my votive holders, and I noticed on Sat that the candle shop had a nice one in the sale for £1, so I went round to get it. Have no plans for next week's day off, contemplating changing the day as I've had 3 Wed with rubbish weather, and 2 of those weeks, the day before was really nice weather! While I was out, neighbours lodger was knocking on door, ratty neighbour spoke to him, he'd seen Lucy's kennel next to the bin and wondered if I was getting rid of it, as his sister might be able to use it, told him to feel free, saved me dealing with it, got back from the candle shop to see him and neighbour putting it in her catio! Hopefully he'd asked his sister and she said no, rather than it being a ploy to get it (ironically, she's put one in there before and no one bothered with it)

[Alicia]

As long as it's off your hands when you want it to be - funny how that works out sometimes.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Yes, it has saved me the hassle of dealing with it at least

[Jim]

Desley (Cat fosterer) wrote: "Yes, it has saved me the hassle of dealing with it at least"

win win :-)

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Evening, raining again, but a fun day in the office, even with an hour and a half meeting.

Irony is, if neighbour had really wanted the kennel, she could have had it last year, but every time I mentioned getting rid of it she told me I needed to give Lucy longer to get used to it (although that is probably as she found it for me!)

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Evening, started the day with a rather boring 1.5 hour meeting, although at least 2 people complimented my haircut! I'm struggling to get to the next dose of my eye drops, I manage 2 days on 4 drops before my eye goes red and uncomfortable again, so keep going back to 5, wasn't sure how long the bottle would last so rang yesterday for another one, she needed to get approval, rang as I finished work today, and they'd done it, so went and collected it - the instructions are to use it twice a day for 14 days, I just nodded at the pharmacist, and will stick with 5. Decided to call in B & M as I was driving past, with all these shortages, I've decided to just go once at the beginning of the month and get stuff that I know we use during the month, got some stuff I hadn't been able to get at the smaller one, although I did forget one thing, but I can get that locally. Had a lovely rainbow as I was leaving, was puzzled till it started bouncing down with rain, but had stopped by the time I got home

[Jim]

You do seem to be having trouble with doctors and your eyes!

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Evening, nice sunny day today, had a new office chair being delivered this morning (who knew they came in purple!), then decided to go into town to the food fayre, rather than a walk (parked as far away as possible to get extra steps!), had a little mooch round shops and then discovered the fayre wasn't on, luckily I was only going for fudge and wax melts, and I'd done an online order from the woman who should have been there. Decided to nip into home bargains for the one thing I didn't get from B & M, might be going there for the cats lik-e-lix, they had a flavour I've never seen and still £1 (Asda and Morrisons have gone up to £1.15). Went to take my plastic recycling to Co-op when I got back at 3, it was a lot cooler then. Now a rock and roll Saturday night, back to back gameshows, had some decaf tea for the first few, now about to crack open the alcohol free gin and lemonade!!

[Alicia]

Sounds like a lot of fun.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Evening, didn't want to get up this morning, Lucy kindly left it till 7.15 before fussing. As it was another nice day, I made myself get up at 9, but finding the inclination to do the housework before going for a walk was another matter! Had a nice walk, went to the nature reserve to read my book, made friends with a French Bulldog who likes to sit on people's feet - he was polite enough to stare at me till I said hello, then came and sat on my feet! When I got back I found enough inclination to do things that weren't even on my to do list. Now waiting for tea to cook, then having a soak in the bath

[Jim]

Sounds like you had a nice chilled weekend

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Evening, started the day with a frustrating 8.30 meeting that just put me out till about 3pm! Nice sunny day so got out for a walk after work, park has finally got rid of all the excess water, but very muddy. Parked up to find that neighbour has taken Lucy's kennel back out of the catio, I have to say the cats have been out in it a lot this weekend and didn't look very impressed with it! Just hope it doesn't end up back on this side of the street!

Yes, it was an enjoyable weekend thanks Jim. Glad I'm more relaxed about housework these days too!

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Evening, a nice bright, if cold, day, I took advantage and went for a walk at lunch, bumped into ratty neighbour as I was leaving the street, she asked if she could come with, so I said yes, meant I could do a route I won't do by myself. Didn't quite get through enough work though.

[Jim]

Ah well even ratty neighbour has her uses :-)

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Evening, this is the first Wed I've had off that has been dry, it was nice putting nicer clothes on and not having to wear a rain coat! Went to a quaint little village, one of the boards said some of the buildings are unchanged since the 1900's had breakfast at the Chocolate Cafe, then a mooch round the shops. I suggested to friend that for my new holiday year, I take a day off a month for us to do day trips, rather than squeeze them in at the end, she's up for that, although not sure how it will work during the summer holidays. Then when we got back, I put my office chair together, did need a bit of help, but was proud of how much I did by myself, then we went to the co-op. Was chatting to the friend I'm going out with on Sat, she feels like she needs to start doing something with her Sat's as her hubby works till 2pm and the kids are now grown up, so I said I'm happy to help, we are going to come up with some places and put them in the diary, so we have something to look forward to. Who needs neighbour??

She does, I might be using her washing line hooks rather than neighbours!

[Alicia]

Nice. Arranging your life proactively to do what you want.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Yes, I wonder if she was expecting me to try and crawl back as I was unhappy without her, but instead I'm going to places I want to, and couldn't with her. And also I'm speaking to friends more, and rather than being a bit dismissive as she could be, they are supportive (even if one shakes her head at some of what I buy!), and I'm happy doing what I want without people like her to put them down as it isn't what they like doing with their time.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Evening, another nice day, so went for a walk at lunch, have hit my step count 7 consecutive days, which my app tells me is a personal best! Boss likes my plan for my holidays (she said she'd love me to take some in the summer!) and said I can take the summer ones with 1/2 weeks notice, to try and get the best days. Then went to Lidl after work with ratty neighbour, got some (hopefully) nice greek food. We were randomly talking about scarves, and I said that I have a couple I don't like, she reminded me I don't need to keep ones I don't like when I don't speak to the people who bought me them. I got home and took them off the scarf holder and put them in the charity pile - will be a nice excuse to buy a scarf I actually like!

[Jim]

I think you're getting the balance back in your life :-)

I suspect if you looked back at your posts over the past, say, year or so, you'd see it

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Definitely Jim! I was aware of it last year (I think you were one of the people who pointed things out to me), but I just didn't know how to deal with it. I think it ended up working out the best way possible though, the only real issue is not having a catsitter. Without her as a crutch, it's making me think about what I actually like to do, and reaching out to friends who want to do similar things, which is making me much happier - plus being able to do bits of housework (and I'm more relaxed about that, doing things with friends is more important) on my WFH days is giving me more time at weekends.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Evening, bit of a frustrating day at work, lost a bit of time with IT trying to fix something on my PC as well. I was going to go for a walk at lunch as it was going to rain in the afternoon, but IT were still on my PC, so didn't think I should leave the building, so that's my streak ended.

[Kath]

Eh up! She's back. Nice to catch up with you all.
I've found the pandemic very distracting and haven't written much until recently. And now the tragedy in Ukraine has taken over. However, I've knuckled down and got one book finished and I'm hoping I can concentrate my mind on the next. I started it but sort of butterflied away to do other things. One of which has been knitting hats. I began by using up left-overs from making teddy bears for the fire brigade, and since I managed to use the remains, I've been out several times for more. I can no longer call it stash-busting!
Village life continues. Last Saturday we raised £1,500 for the Red Cross Ukraine appeal. Since then at least another hundred has been donated.
Off to sow some tomato seeds. At least that feels like normal service has been resumed.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

So lovely to see you back Kath, it's certainly been trying times. Glad you have been doing bits for charity and hope you can get back to writing now.

[M.T.]

Yay! Hello Kath. Hope everyone is dandy today. Not bad weather. I was hoping to write a blog post today but I'm not sure I'll be able to. I keep on getting small emergencies with Mum and they take up writing time, so I write in other time and the blog falls off the end.

Desley, I think Jim is right, you do seem to be so much more relaxed and happy. I think the neighbour was playing power games with you and dragging you down a bit. :-)

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Sorry that you keep having emergencies that affect the blog writing.

Yes, amazing what a difference not having someone try and control what you do with your life can make! One friend described it as coercive, one described it as gaslighting, they sound very similar to me, but it was definitely getting toxic, and made me feel I couldn't do certain things, probably to try and keep me dependent on her

[M.T.]

Desley (Cat fosterer) wrote: "Sorry that you keep having emergencies that affect the blog writing.

Yes, amazing what a difference not having someone try and control what you do with your life can make! One friend described it..."

Could be. Glad you're out of it now though. :-) Enjoy.

[Paula]

Hi there! I'm a new group member and thought I'd say hello. Although I've been a member of Goodreads for a few years, I've only just found the groups, if you can believe it. I'm looking forward to discovering new books and people. So nice to see the spring flowers emerging. What's it like where you live?

[M.T.]

Paula wrote: "Hi there! I'm a new group member and thought I'd say hello. Although I've been a member of Goodreads for a few years, I've only just found the groups, if you can believe it. I'm looking forward to ..."

Hi Paula

Welcome to the group! Nice to have you with us. :-) It's a bit blustery here with a mix of cloud and sun. Good day for drying the towels! :-)

[Paula]

Thank you! Ah, I would agree with you if my washing machine hadn't just broken down! I was planning on doing the sheets, today, too!