new windows

I have four new windows at the front now, and another two to go. Also the front door, which will be a bit of a pain as I have to move all the books and shelves so they can get at the frame. Spent ages today filling in and painting and clearing up. Was too tired to go to tap, so sat and read 'A Spot of Bother' by Mark Haddon.
Why is it that when I am off work I always end up more knackered than when I am at work?

Everything loves broccoli

Is there any creature out there (apart from small children) who doesn't like eating broccoli? The plants I grew down on the allotment were devoured by rabbits, so I decided to have another go by sowing some more seeds at home, and only taking them down to the allotment when they were large enough to withstand attack.
The seeds were poking their little heads above the compost the other day. This morning they had vanished. Slugs must be the culprit this time.
Am I ever going to manage to eat any of my home grown broccoli?

I'm on holiday!

Finished work tonight at 7.15pm and drove home in the sunshine, feeling remarkably happy and full of curry that I'd bought earlier in Sainsbury's reduced section. Matt and I always compare our purchases to see who has got the best bargain of the day. Dan is bemused by it.
When I got home I painted over the bits on the kitchen window that had been wrecked by the sudden downpour, then noticed that the light was starting to get that luminous quality of late evening. All the red bricks glow, and the colours of the flowers seem to intensify as the sun slowly sinks.
I sat in the living room, enjoying my empty sky that may soon be blocked (see yesterday's post for details). Felt a bit depressed about the prospect. Of course, all because someone has planning permission doesn't mean it will actually happen. She may not be able to raise the money in the current financial climate. And if and when it does happen, will already have been through all the angst about it and it will probably not be as bad as I'd feared.
Last night I dreamed I was back in Barnet, and walking through the ruins of the Odeon, which was about to be demolished. Let's hope this isn't a premonition. I don't think it is - it's just my subconscious trying to deal with the prospect of change.

Planning Permission

I read in the local newspaper this evening that the hairdresser across the road from my house has been given planning permission to build a whacking great first floor extension.
This will make the building twice the height it is now - higher than the lamp post in the picture. (The pitched roof isn't on the shop - it's the roof of the house behind it. The shop currently has a flat roof.)
Myself and all the neighbours objected several times to the plans, on the grounds that it will cause huge parking problems. There is a free car park in the village only a couple of hundred yards away, but neither the customers nor the staff want to walk that far, and all park in the lane. The customers aren't so much of a problem as they don't generally spend too much time in the salon, but the staff cars are there all day. So parking will definitely get worse.

The height of the extension also means that where I used to enjoy the winter afternoon sun in the house, I will now be stuck in a looming blue shadow.
I always enjoyed the sunlight during those darkest three months of the year, and now it will be taken away from me. It seems as if building in the village is gradually caging me in - first at the end of the garden, now on the other side of the house too.

First Post

It's been a tiring day at work, and very welcome to sit with a glass of wine in front of the computer. Only trouble is, if I dare to move to go and fetch a refill, the cat will steal my chair.
Finished at 7pm, after helping to make up our two prints of 'Hancock'. It makes you laugh how they go to all that effort to send the film under a fake title (printed not just on the transit case label, but on all the individual cans) and when the driver turns up, the first thing he says is, 'Sign here for your prints of Hancock, mate.'
With films coming in this late, there is no time to run them through, so if it's the sort of problem that doesn't show up on the bench, you only discover it when it is already being shown to the paying public.
We received our replacement reel 6 for the second copy of 'Prince Caspian' - it had some kind of discolouration on the film stock in several places that made the picture go greenish and the digital sound track drop out. Still waiting for the replacement reel 5's for both copies of 'Kung Fu Panda', as they have been well and truly scratched by the lab. I wonder how many other prints are affected.
This is the problem when prints get rushed through and sent out at the last minute.
The adverts were a mess today as well. We don't normally get our ads back until Wednesday, but they had obviously been rushed out. Not only were the screens and titles all wrong, but adverts were missing from some reels, while others had ads in that shouldn't have been there. All this was bad enough, but the heat made it worse. Today was the first day of real summer weather, and the air conditioning is still not fixed after some idiot stole the copper pipes.
Good job we don't have digital - if it gets too hot the server will crash.