Blipverts

My friends returned last night, bearing with them Maltese honey liquer as a gift. Yum. For some reason, people either give me stuffed toys or alcohol as souvenirs. The former confuses me as I am one of the most definitively non stuffed toy people you could ever meet. The latter is always appreciated however.

I cooked them a roast dinner and we had a good chat about the joys of organising a wedding ceremony in a strict Catholic country with a bureaucracy left over from a Communist regime. One or other of the two would be enough to cope with, but both? I admire their fortitude.

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I went and had a look at my flat on Saturday. Both to gloat and to work out what needs to be done. The floors, obviously. But I've added new front & back doors and locks to the 'To do' list, along with the damp-proofing and double-glazing. I think a new combination gas boiler is on the cards also. I'll go over this coming Saturday and clean (which includes getting rid of the furniture the seller said he'd disposed of but hadn't - lying dog), and pull the carpet up.

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Moving to another of my friends' places to stay for a few days tomorrow night. I'm hoping to have the gas and electricity on after this weekend, which means I can borrow an airmattress and some bedding, buy a couple of lamps, and crash at my place. I'm not going to move my stuff in until the floors are done so I'll essentially be camping out. Urk. I'm very happy I have friends upstairs.


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Wednesday is my first meeting about my position as Temporary Royal Slave Sidekick for my medieval group. From phone conversations, I already have three A4 sheets of notes - and the darn Coronation isn't even 'til January! I can see that this job and setting up house are going to keep me overly busy for the next eight months.

Hmm, I wonder if I can get away with "IOU"s for Xmas and Twelfth Night?

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One of the most entertaining things I've seen for a while: a multi-chapter haiku (or possibly renku) about Draco learning to fly by florahart.

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And here's an appropriately seasonal classic from Sogi:


Ah, for coolness,
it rivals the water's depth -
this autumn sky.


Although this one from Chiyo-ni is somewhat more apt for me at the moment:


The passing year --
irritating things
are also flowing water.