Things that make me smile No.20

Early this morning somebody knocked on my front door to ask me if I had any grit. Why on earth would I have grit? Is there some sort of conspiracy theory going round, accusing individuals of hoarding grit in their homes? And if so, why would I be suspected? My own front path is still thick with snow and ice. Surely if I had grit I would have used it. The sheer stupidity of people never fails to make me laugh.

Things that make me smile No.19

I have a bit of a thing for cameos, particularly the traditional Victorian silhouettes. I have a handful of reproduction brooches and necklaces but would love to have an original one day, or even (dream of dreams) one made as a representation of myself. Perhaps when I win the lottery.

Things that make me smile No.18

On the tube on the way home today there was a man in the corner, fast asleep. Not so unusual really, except that I have never in my life heard anyone snore so loudly! He sounded like a truffle hog in a vat of treacle. Everyone in the carriage was enticed into breaking the cardinal rule of tube travel and actually making eye contact. We all giggled away, while one elderly lady was laughing so hard that I could only hope she'd remembered her tena lady.

Snowday (and smile 17)

I made an heroic effort to get into work today; struggling up the hill and spending about 45 minutes waiting for a bus which would take me past the suspended part of the Northern line. The bus never materialised though, and I was forced to call in snowbound. This was fairly annoying as, being a temp, I don't get paid for snow days. I cheered up pretty swiftly though, when my lovely local friend suggested we venture out to play in the winter wonderland. We decided to build a snow-woman and, after a fag and a quick nip from the hipflask, set to work on construction. We started out with a fairly standard snowman shape, but our sense of aesthetic nicety was offended by her bulbous deformity, so we set about whittling her into a more agreeable form. After that it's possible that we got a little over-excited. A rummage through our handbags turned up a hat, a necklace and - perhaps most oddly for a snowman - make-up, all of which were duly applied to our emerging masterpiece. When finished she acquired a poise and regality never before seen in snowkind, and we christened her Ekaterina, our Russian snow princess. Unfortunately her class was not appreciated by the toothless old man who requested to have his photo taken with her, and then proceeded to grope her bosom. Tsk.
We were truly sad to leave her, knowing the damage that can be done to a vulnerable snow princess by passing kids, dogs or chavs. Alas though, twas getting late and the pub beckoned.
Farewell fair Ekaterina! We leave you with a kiss and wish you a slow, torturous death by melting.

Things that make me smile No.16

I just picked up my phone to find a series of missed calls from my mother. We're forecast heavy snow here tomorrow, and it turns out all she wanted was to remind me to put a toothbrush and a clean pair of knickers in my handbag in case I get stranded and can't get home. Apparently it doesn't matter if I end up spending the night in a doorway somewhere, so long as I have fresh undies and clean teeth!

Books - Temeraire

I have a confession to make. As a library worker I really ought to know better but, more often than not, I judge books by their covers. In fact, I wholeheartedly reject the idea that one shouldn't. Millions of pounds are spent in the publishing industry on ensuring that book covers appeal to the target audience of the book. You can almost always tell at least the genre of a book by its appearance, so why not use that as a primary indication of whether it's worth the effort of reading the blurb?

I picked up Temeraire in my library because the bold cover caught my eye, then read the blurb and thought 'Well you can't go wrong with a dragon, can you?'. Actually you probably can, but Novik doesn't. I found myself becoming genuinely attatched to the wise but childlike Temeraire, and loved the fond relationship between him and his rider. I was very miffed when I went back to the shelf for the next installment, which had been sitting right there when I took the first book, only to find that some inconsiderate member of the public had had the cheek to withdraw it. Disgraceful behaviour.

Things that make me smile No.15

I can't imagine why, but every picture in the hotel I stayed in last night was hung at a ninety degree rotation from its proper orientation.

Teaching

In all the thinking I've been doing about the last decade there is one incident, which occured near its beginning, that keeps coming to mind. When I was 15 I got into an argument with two boys in my English class after they shouted out some truly awful remarks about a kid a few years below us, who was disabled. I was removed from the class by the teacher, who proceeded to give me a little talk. She told me that I needed to learn not to take things so personally. There are, she said, some things in this world which we just can't change, so there's no point in upsetting yourself over them. Apparently I would make life a lot easier on myself if I just took a step back. I was given a detention for disrupting the class, while the boys in question weren't even reprimanded. I'd previously had a lot of respect for this teacher, but that day I lost every scrap of it. I couldn't believe that I was being told to sit back and watch bigotry and cruelty take place without even speaking out, let alone trying to stop it. I'm proud to say that I never stopped taking things like that personally. Watching the news still quite often makes me cry at the things that people are prepared to do to other people, and I will always argue with someone who makes a remark of that type. Perhaps I do make my life a little harder by reacting to things so strongly, but I'd rather that than be the kind of person who just doesn't care. That teacher could have done a lot of damage that day, but luckily all she did was make me despise her.

Things that make me smile No.14

I really shouldn't laugh but, after watching the kitten tentatively investigating a lit candle last night, I've just noticed that she's managed to frazzle off her eyebrows. Daft moggy.

Things that make me smile No.13

Looking through my reading list for the new semester today I found that my - admittedly slightly excessive - book collection could actually furnish me with all but one item on the list. I find it frustrating spending money on books that I don't actually want, so this is damn good news.