So, I had a nice Christmas. Quite a quiet one, but really lovely with nice food (not too much), mulled wine (not enough) and presents that were useful, practical, and indulgent by turns - but all very much appreciated :D

I missed Doctor Who. I was doing a 1000 piece jigsaw with my family, and completely forgot to watch it! This is a definite reversal of using TV to escape from family squabbles, when I was younger. I may sometimes still feel every bit the teenager when around my parents, but not always; this Christmas was just... convivial and civilised and relaxed. Wow.

The loft is now insulated! And bowline71 is a saint.

Stella has a serious lack of appetite supression. She refuses to believe she could ever be full, and so is constantly scavenging. I found her digging into the big bag of kibbles today, so everything has now been stashed away. It's not as though she'll ever have that "OMG" moment and descend into a shame spiral of contrition and self-loathing and eventual acceptance of her problem, because she is a cat. It's gotta stop, or she'll end up like Winnie the Pooh, stuck in the cat-flap and having to fast before she can come loose. Beba, meanwhile, is losing weight, which is good.

That's about it, really. Tomorrow, musicspam will be forthcoming. Meanwhile, have a picture of my Christmas tree!

( Lookit! )

Back from sea :D There was a northerly gale 8 forecast, so we scampered back in a day early.

mincot? I didn't quite manage to post before I left, but I received the beads a couple of days ago, and they are every bit as gorgeous as they appeared to be when I bought them! I'm going to put them to good use in some lovely jewellery, I hope, when I get some time to make it :D (I'll let you know what they finish up as) *hugs*


( Cat chat - cut for those not particularly interested in kitties ;) )

I did a bit of a double-take the other day, when I received an email from "Neil Gaiman"! But it was only sort of from him, actually via NaNoWriMo, as part of several motivational emails they've solicited from cool authors. Still, it was rather fun :D

Now I just need to follow his advice, but I fear it may be too late to salvage this year's effort! Perhaps I wasn't as ready as I thought I was; a shame, but I can always give it another go next year. Or next month, of course...

Sorry. That's an awful title! I just couldn't resist ;)

( Cat picspam behind the cut )

And Many Happy Returns of the day to ignipes - hope it's a good one :D

I spent the day training a colleague how to measure and sex lobsters and crabs. I can't believe it's been nearly two years since I was being trained to do the same thing... My speed has definitely improved, but I still find crabs a bugger to hold with one hand. They're hella strong, and I've got fairly small hands, so trying to grab both claws (whilst avoiding being speared by their legs, which are really pointy) is tricky.

When I got back home, the various marriage and birth certificates I ordered for family-tree-climbing had arrived, so I've spent most of this evening trying to squeeze as much meaning from them as possible. No gentry or famous names - most of them were paupers; the birth certificate was for a great-great-something-grandad born in a workhouse - but lots of decent clues, and a bit of a breakthrough on some maiden names. As a result of being buried in my own family history, however, I completely forgot to watch Who Do You Think You Are?, and find out about Griff Rhys Jones'.

The cat seems to have forgiven me now for what I'm calling "The Jeff Incident". The cat flap is one of those four-way locking ones; you can have it so it's open/shut both ways, or open to go out but shut to come in and vice versa. I normally shut it at night to keep the cat from getting run over or shot or something; the other night she'd not yet come in so I set the flap to allow her in when she was ready, but then not out again.

I was woken up the next morning by a tinkly-bell sound, and then a little ginger cat jumping on my bed. Jeff is a lovely, friendly cat I'd said hello to before, outside. It was still a bit of a shock to find him inside, and I'm surprised I wasn't woken up sooner by angry cat sounds, because Beba was not impressed that I'd let an interloper in the house (or that he'd got in, but not been able to get back out), and she was skittish and nervy even when I'd released Jeff back into the wilds of the estate.

Before signing off, I'd like to wish a very Happy Birthday to copperbadge (today), and to the lovely atropos87 and rian219 (both tomorrow). I hope you all have a cracking day, however you celebrate it :D

I'm quite chuffed that summer has finally got it's arse in gear and shuffled into town. My nuch-appreciated, long-suffering dad has finished laying my patio and this evening I've been sitting out in the garden with cider and sudoku.

This past week has been a bit crazy - I was working 15-18 hour days for the most part, because the crazy cockle fishery is now open and we have lots of enforcement to do. On the last evening that the fishery was open, we were given the run-around by some of the fishermen (buggers!), leading to a high-speed chase around the fishing grounds. I knew the skipper had jinxed our jaunt away from the mothership* when he said "Be careful out there..."

I've spent the weekend in a zombie state, gradually recovering until this evening - when I'm about to go back to work. And so it continues! Hopefully for no more than another couple of weeks, although it'll depend on how quickly the quota is used up.

Today the Cats Protection lady came over, and had a chat about adopting, and okayed me (and the house). I pick up kitty on Friday :D


* We do our boarding from a RIB which "lives" and is launched from the patrol boat; the stern come up and over like a garage door, and the RIB slides down the ramp and zooms off. (In theory: we actually got stuck in the ramp midweek, as the warm weather had made the air in the sponsons expand...)

I'm not sure if this is something I've imagined or a trend other cat owners out there have experienced: cats getting more vociferous as they get older. It seems like - once past the kitten phase - the cats I've known have all been fairly quiet until their senior years, when they start getting cranky, demanding and playing up all the time.

Of course, maybe I'm just anthropomorphosising ;)

(No, this is not a glorified GIP!)

I had the day off work today as the lobster boats weren't out. Took full advantage of this fact by going shopping and registering at a dentist's which is long overdue. He's NHS! It's a small miracle, and apparently he's also very good (which is a secondary requirement, but something a dentist really ought to be if at all possible).

The wind's picking up even more, so I'm not likely to go to sea tomorrow either. I'm going to go into the office, I think, and try to clear some of my Stuff so I can have a blameless three weeks' holiday. I'd almost prefer to take my chances with the sea, but not quite...