Red sky... you know the drill

A slightly better attempt at capturing this morning's sky, which to be honest was even more stunning than the one below. I expect this is a harbinger of the awful weather heading our way later in the weekend from the Continent (have they ever sent us anything GOOD?? - Well, pizza maybe. And spaghetti carbonara. They can keep that bloody Euro to themselves thoughbut) but it's worth it for that fleeting moment of beauty. As long as I don't have to drive anywhere.

So with the riches of an entire weekend stretched out in front of us, what's on the agenda?

Depends on the weather, really. If it stays dry we want to spend some time in the garden. Digging up those damned ferns before they start sprouting again, draining and removing the pond we no longer want before the frogs start spawning again, and generally having a tidy up. The garage needs taking down but that requires some planning effort as it's a cement asbestos construction, so we have to give advanced warning to the council before they'll accept the bits at the tip. Plus I don't really want to cart it there in the car, so we'll need to hire a flat-bed truck once it's down. No, that's definitely a job for warmer weather. Digging though... that's fine for a cold, dry day.

The study could do with a tidy. All that filing I did the other week, that ended up in lots of little piles, somehow stalled with half the piles still lying around on the carpet. So they're pleading to be put away, along with the stacks of books we intended to get rid of on eBay before we discovered how much it would cost to list them, and how many other people had had exactly the same idea with exactly the same list of titles! Maybe we'll hang on to them a bit longer, but not in the middle of the study floor.

At some stage I have to pick up my paintbrush again and continue with the door-painting project. The two that I've finished look spiffy, but that leaves five - possibly six - that are yet to be started, and the whole hall-and-landing set up has a rather unbalanced aspect with two white doors and five (possibly six) stripped ones.

There's a lot more to do that that, naturally. Maybe I need to make a list. Yes, that's the ticket. When in doubt, make a list. I find it always gives me a sense of control, no matter how far-fetched. I'm sure if I looked hard enough (possibly under the piles of filing, or books) I'd find a partially-ticked-off list from the last time I felt organised. At least one, probably.

One of those meme things

So one of the things that tempted me back to the old blogstead was this meme that appeared on Di's blog yesterday. Never could resist a list. They always used to tell me I was a plant, but I think I'm more of a completer/finisher.

Rules: Copy, erase my answers, enter yours.

Use the first letter of your name to answer each of the following questions. They have to be real... nothing made up!

If the person before you had the same first initial, you must use different answers. You cannot use any word twice and you can't use your name for the boy/girl name.

1. What is your name: John

2. A four Letter Word: Junk

3. A boy's Name: Jeff

4. A girl's Name: Jemima

5. An occupation: Joiner

6. A colour: Jet

7. Something you wear: Jodhpurs

8. A food: Jalapeno

9. Something found in the bathroom: Jacuzzi

10. A place: Jodrell Bank

11. A reason for being late: Just couldn't run fast enough to catch the bus

12. Something you shout: Jerk

13. A film title: Jaws

14. Something you drink: Juice

15. A musical act: John Lennon

16. An animal: Jaguar

17. A street name: Jubilee Place

18. A type of car: Jalopy

19. The title of a song: Jean Genie

20. A verb: Jumping

Running

I ran out of excuses for not blogging last Saturday, when I finally worked out how I wanted to end the radio play I've been writing.

I don't usually write to a deadline. Not for pleasure anyway. But the competition closing date is Feb 27, and rather than leave it 'til the last minute (like I do at work), I wanted to give myself plenty of time to get it right. Because... well... this is far more important than work. It's what I'd rather be doing with my life. So, in a way, it is life. And, in the case of this particular competition anyway, it's a chance that only comes around once every two years.

So anyway, it's done. Written, read, re-read, re-written, and re-written again. Now it waits for next week, when a select group of friends from Chorlton Players will do a read-through so I can hear how the dialogue sounds when spoken and correct any lumpy bits. With that out of the way, what's been keeping me from here? Truth is, I found that I just didn't have anything to say. Maybe I'd lost the impetus, or something. Got out of the habit. Like going to the gym. Can you believe I used to go to the gym? Yeah. Twice a week for two years. But then something happened that meant I couldn't shower for a few weeks and I got out of the habit. Never went back. So think yourselves lucky. At least I was only gone for a month, not a decade.

And I still don't have anything to say.

Red sky in the morning

Not that this photo really does it justice, even after frigging around with the settings on my camera AND again later in PSP. And I'm not sure why I chose that as a subject either. Except it's supposed to be a harbinger of bad weather to come, and emotionally this is traditionally a time of "bad weather."

Christmas has been and gone (it was fab, thanks for asking); New Year has been and gone (it was fab, thanks for asking); and reality has once again bitten down hard and nasty. The back to work reality that we all (most of us) faced on Monday. The reality of another year stretching ahead doing something we really don't want to be doing, and trying to find the time and energy in between whiles to do the things we DO want to be doing. So, recognising that that is the same reality for 99.99% of people on the planet, and before this turns into a total whinge, I'll just say that that is the (main) reason for my long absence from here. Trying to find the time and energy to do the important stuff that's NOT work, and not having enough of either to blog.

Why?

Well the main reason is my forthcoming entry to the Alfred Bradley Bursary Award. I have until February 27 to write a 44-minute radio play to enter into this biennial contest, which then stands a fair chance of being produced in the Afternoon Play slot on Radio 4. More about that as and when. The first draft is about half finished at the moment, but after I have the bare bones down on paper, it will need a lot more work to really bring the characters alive. Quite a challenge when there are no visuals, I'm finding.

And on the agenda for the rest of the day, after I've knocked out a bit more of that play? Another pot of coffee, that's the first thing. Completing the upward journey of the Christmas decorations. Their sad little crates only reached the landing last week; they have still to make the final leap into the attic. While I'm up there I'll probably have a bit of a sort out, too. Maybe we will - finally! - list some of the crap that's up there on eBay, as we threaten to do every year. Oh, yes, and my tax return. I've never left it this late before, but it has to be in by the end of this month.

I'm sure there was something else. Let me know if I remember it, will you?