Freedom From The Mundane - A Writer's Blog

Sunday, April 03, 2005

Packing For The Move

I suffered another bout of insomnia last night. I ended up getting up several times and working on the conclusion of Hunting Jack; ensuring all loopholes are closed and the piece has logic to it.

Thankfully, Gail took Laura out for the best part of the morning and I got to make up for the loss of sleep. When she returned I had risen and was looking forward (?) to another day of packing the necessary and binning the unrequired.

I was invited to join another writing forum more inclined with the world of freelancing. I had a look about and posted a few notices and was impressed by the various sections it aims to cover. I'm hoping it takes off, as there are areas outlined in it I want to learn more about, such as photography.

Regular readers may remember me speaking last autumn of a photograph that I took many years ago of a wintry scene from the rear of the house I grew up in. The subject in the photo was a small blackbird who returned every year to the same area and I caught it in a moment of reflection. I was unable to show you the picture because I lost it among the many boxes of gunk I brought with me when I moved in with Gail five years ago.

Today, I found the photograph! I'll get it scanned in on Tuesday while I am off and display it here on the blog. How exciting!

We spent a chunk of the afternoon at Kinnaird Retail Park looking at washing machines, dishwashers and fridge/freezers. A first for me obviously, but even Gail was startled at the washing machine at over £1000 which, apparently irons and folds your clothes as well!

I took the opportunity to nip into Borders and get this month's Writing Magazine and also PC World. I need to carry out a couple of upgrades on my PC to get it configured better for website work and for broadband when it comes along in a couple of weeks. I need to upgrade the RAM, which is proving more difficult than I thought - because I've packed away my specification guide and am not sure which card to buy. I'm also looking at routers and more hard disk space. RAM is the essential component.

By the time evening came round and Laura was down we sat down knackered for a lasagne meal. We got through a lot during the day, but the house is still a tip and as a result, makes it very demoralising to have done so much packing, with so little apparent result. It'll probably be the last couple of days when we move before we really see the house emptying, instead of filling up with more rubbish and bags.

I got the laptop out after dinner with the intent of battering on with a short story I have worked out for the March Writing Magazine competition. Unfortunately, a programme detailing the top 50 UK comedy sketches was on from 9 till 12 and it constantly diverted my attention. Everyone from Kenny Everett to Fry & Laurie, Smith & Jones to Morecambe & Wise and The Two Ronnies to Les Dawson reduced me to tears of laughter.

I got little done but laughter truly is, the greatest tonic!

I did manage the first draft on another two Edinburgh-related poems; one about the Castle and the other of the Royal Yacht berthed in Leith.

It's going to be another good month.
Colin 11:16 am

2 Comments:

I enjoyed the Fifty Greatest Comedy Sketches of All Time, too. However, I thought it was criminal that "Absolutely" only made it to number 30. Should have been top ten!
Packing is always a crazy time. Hopefully all will go smoothly for you!
:-)

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