Scribblings from the Mitchy Side

Friday night, I made a Plan. At ohgodearly on Saturday, I would scamper down to Chigwell, grab commoncomitatus and then tootle at high speed over to my favourite beach in Kent. It mostly worked like a charm :D Had I read the map more carefully or even got directions from a route planner, I might have realised that there wasn't actually an exit on the M11 where I thought there was. Consequently, on the way there, I found myself on the North Circular. Fortunately, I didn't panic, recalled where I needed to be and was able to swiftly correct the mistake, arriving at the pick up point when I said I would. I was impressed :)

The trip to Westbrook didn't take long and we were both pleased to see the blue sky with white clouds become crystal clear blue sky as we headed further into the Kent. The temp soared and it was just blissful to be on the beach. There was snoozing, and roasting and more snoozing and in between, I was able to be a total water baby and swim in the sea. OK, swimming implies exercise, I mostly floated (fat floats!) and enjoyed the sensation of being able to get my entire body out of the heat in the delicious cold water. I discovered that the water at Westbrook is shallow (mostly waist height at the deepest) until you get past the rock pools, although I never went that far out. Perfect for floating in, or looking for wildlife - the water was so calm, you could see the bottom with no bother at all.

We left around 3pm, and the journay back to commoncomitatus was painless. We went through the Dartford Tunnel and boggled at the southbound tailback. Seriously, I hadn't seen it so bad since Christmas. A quick jaunt up the A12 (hey, cookwitch, I went through Harold Hill, I didn't realise I would until I saw the signs. I mentally waved in your direction!) and I dropped commoncomitatus off and headed back the way I came. Or so I thought. I got soooooo lost. I ended up on the North Circular again and finally made it back to the A1(M) from west side of the M25...don't ask. I was not pleased at all. Looking at the map though, I've only got myself to blame and I at least now know the proper route :) One alarming thing I saw though was the warning signs on the Eastbound M25 about the "Long delays" at Dartford and, get this, advising people who wanted to get to Dartford to follow the M25 via Heathrow. Yep, from the north M25 it was apparently easier to go 3 quarters of the way round anticlockwise than to go a quarter of the way around clockwise. I desperately feel for anyone who had to do that yesterday in the heat and traffic.

Got home in plenty of time to watch the 3rd place playoff in the World Cup. Cracking game, was kinda hoping Uruguay would win but Germany were excellent. Was so sleepy, I was in bed before midnight of a Saturday - uheard of! - and I slept like a log until 8am this morning :)

Today I've been out and bought a shiny new washer/dryer for the flat, to replace my old washing machine that currently sounds like it's breaking rocks whenever it goes into the spin cycle. It's old and it's done well but it's time it was replaced. Done some food shopping and now I'm back in for the afternoon. I have to say though, if I'd known it was going to be this warm today, I'd have given serious consideration to go back to the beach.

Hope you're all enjoying your weekend :)

GRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWLLLL.

*gnng*

Nope, that's it, I got nothin'.

Germany 4 England 1 and we were terrible.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

Bwahahahaha!!

What Fabio Capello was saying on the bench....(WARNING! Bad language is used and subtitled)



Poor Stuart Pearce! "Sit down! Did you sit down before? (Yes) Well get up!! *shove*"

Well they gave me several heart attacks in the process but England got through to the next round. Where we'll meet Germany. Oh joy. Oh well at least we got out of the group stages :D

Also many congrats to the USA who also went through today. I'm glad because you were robbed of a goal at least twice that I know of. Also you played every match as if it was your last and if we'd done that, we'd be playing Ghana on Sunday, not Germany. A lesson to be observed there.

I got to see history in the making today. Last night at Wimbledon, the match between Nicolas Mahut (FRA) and John Isner (USA) finished 2 sets all when play was suspended. Today they returned to Court 18 to resolve the final set. They played...and played...and played....and played. At 59 games all, play was suspended again and the two combatants will have to return to tomorrow to try and win it. No, that isn't a typo. FIFTY NINE GAMES ALL in the FIFTH SET. Today's play lasted around 7 hours, the match total is now 10 hours long. It is the longest tennis match in history. Not just Wimbledon history mark you, world tennis history. Holy cow o_0 Also, they've both broken the record for number of aces served in a single match, with Isner rocketing down 98 and Mahut right on his heels with 95 (at least one of those saved a match point, btw). It's mind blowing stuff. And I'll be at work tomorrow, probably, although they're scheduled to be the third match out. If the previous two matches last a decent time, I might yet get in when it's 90 all or something ;D

Anyway, time to catch up on the meme. You'll be pleased to see I'm brief this time around :D

( Cut for those that really couldn't care less )

England's performance on Friday was so dismal and dire that I couldn't even work myself up into a proper fury. thessalian was standing by with the Cushion of Mighty Punching in case it was needed for me to vent on, but the most I could manage was a "Bah!" and a brief flail. If we go out, I hope to goodness the fingers get pointed at the bunch of over-paid players who looked like they didn't want to be there. IT'S THE FREAKIN' WORLD CUP! If you don't want to be there, wearing the colours of your country, you're in the wrong sport! I don't care how tired they are or how out of sorts they feel, they should be digging in and flinging themselves at the games with all their heart and soul. Smaller teams with less chances of advancement are showing us how it's done! Feh. Useless articles, the lot of them.

I haven't squeaked about my shiny new shower! It's shiny! And new! And there is honest-to-god water pressure!!! *flails* The novelty! I can stand under it and actually get wet!!! *swoons* I shall be using the plumber I found again, too. I saw a link in the comments to a flist post a while back to a company run by a retired female plumber who has a network of active female plumbers and will put you in touch with someone locally. Which is how I found Harriet and Thess assures me she was competent and brisk. Excellent! Oh and the price? Fantastic. For the purchase of a new power shower, installation, removal of old gunky shower, installation of isolation valve to cold water pipe to shower (so we don't have to turn the water off at the mains to work on it again in the future) ? Under £200. That was about 2 hours of work, too, including actually going out and buying the shower. Oh yes, 'm using her again. I want a quote for ripping out and replacing the rest of the bathroom. :)

And so, Day 14 of the TV Meme! I'm amazed I've kept going this long but it helps that half of my flist seems to be doing it too :)

( You want me to choose just one?? Can't and shan't! )

For the sake of my blood pressure, I didn't post about England's 1-1 draw with the USA yesterday, for fear I'd have an aneurysm.

I had cider. And chinese food. And watched a sappy movie ("The Cutting Edge" - "Toe pick!!" hee!). So I'm all calm now :D

Still trying to work out a way to watch football at work. Our browser is so old, watching streaming videos is tricky. Hmph. Still at least I can follow along on the BBC live text and stuff :)

( Meme! )

Hee! World Cup started today! Woooooooo HOO! *bounces around like a very happy Mitchy* First England match is tomorrow. If we lose, I recommend all US friends of mine avoid me. I might inadvertantly forget my sportsmanship and kill you :P

It was funny at work today, everyone was standing around the schedule and plotting which afternoons they wanted to take off :D :D Best thing about our office is the number of genuine footy fans. Oh and we've had our World Cup sweepstakes. I got Switzerland. Umm. I love their chocolate, the football team I know little about, although I have actually heard of a couple of their players. We'll see :) I'll be happy if they get through the group stages, frankly.

COME ON ENGLAAAAAAAAAAAAAND!!! *bouncebouncebouncebouncebounce*