and tonight it is Graham!!!

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You know what it's like when you are walking hurriedly in search of lunch and you see ahead placcarded people thrusting leaflets to all and sundry.... usually I give a wide berth, avoid eye contact and march onwards... today instead I, inexplicably, reached out and requested a leaflet.... ???? I do not know what on earth made me do this...? Odd indeed... and odder indeed are the contents!

The leaflet describes the possible means to effect global change....! It simply gets people to vote for a political party or politician that pledges to implement the Simultaneous Policy alongside other governments who have also pledged to do so...... The SP policies to be adopted are things such as fair trade/ environmental sustainability /true democracy /an end to weapons of mass destruction and to war itself... all seemingly idealistic pipe-dreams at the moment because all governments are strait-jacketed by market/corporate forces..... this is a means of giving voters a more cohesive base... it is quite a radical idea... but if enough people sign up it could possibly start to effect the behaviour of political parties ..... hmmmmm interesting indeed!!!

and a possible answer is ETA an organisation similar to the AA or RAC but they only support sustainable transport and you can offset your CO 2 emmisions as well!!!

as a supposedly eco-friendly environmentally aware sort of person I am deriving an awful amount of pleasure from the ownership of a car!!!!

oh dear not doing a very good job looking after Gordon, who has since been renamed Bella. Luigi, (who is Steven Hawkin's hardresser!!!!) called him Gordon but now after driving her I feel a sex change is necessary and she is now Bella the beautiful!!! So ... set off nice and early saturday morning, parked around the corner from the train station as I'm too much of a cheap skate to pay for a weekend's worth of parking in a BR car park. Found a nice little car park for a DIY shop so left Bella there, caught the train and met up with people at Holborn tube... went to the start of the march and was handed a blue and orange flag with odd symbols on it, one of them a yin and yang (Mongolia) and stood in line listening to loud radical protest songs and just sort of waiting, happily enough, for the march to start. A while later, and we were definitely on Greenpeace time here... so have no idea of the actual time.... and after hurried instruction about flag waving, from a man I learned later was called John, we set off. The flags were of all the countries that had signed up to the Kyoto Treaty, there were about 140 in all and made a very colourful vibrant spectacle as we walked for 3 miles around London's city centre.





Photo's by Andrew Or on the Campaign against Climate Change website

On arrival at the US embassy flag wavers got to wave their flags enthusiatically while orchestrated by John into waving continent by continent, highlighting the lack of a flag from North America, I was surprised to find that Australia was also missing from the group too!!!! Then there were speeches, then there were drinks, found myself with friends singing Bohemian Rhapsody in a very loud voice on the tube...hmmm now how did that happen??????

Sunday we struggled to get up/move/do anything ....one of the group declared they wanted to keep a pet Jackdaw, an idea which was met with supefaction by some, utter horror by others. I had heard this suggestion before but really hadn't taken it terribly seriously, thinking it more of a whim and not really thought through in any practical way, so I totally took the piss but it appears that D was going as far as getting a Jackdaw box set up in woods so that he could help himself to a chick if a pair chose to nest there. Lets hope the residence proves to be highly undesirable...


... by about 3 o'clock managed to wend our beery way to Trafalgar sq for the Chinese New Year celebrations... to see and hear the very last performance of the day The Red Poppy Drummers!! and splendid they were too!

so I headed back to Cambridge ... to find the DIY shop that Bella was parked in to be closed and big massive gates locking Bella in!!!!!! Had to get a lift from Angel!!Bella is still there.... will have to rescue her after work....

went to my first Cambridge Greenpeace meeting last night and now find myself co-ordinator!! should be interesting. This Greenpeace group was a little different to others I have come across, friendly enough indeed, in fact they seemed a very pleasant bunch, but their minds were focused on disertations and deadlines and they were very intense about all issues, which obviously is not a bad thing, but I wanted them to lighten up a bit too... it was all about agenda's ,minute taking and points of order!!! Compared to Southwark's meeting in the Royal Festival Hall's foyer this was very very ordered!! One gentle chap also suggested that we don't push the fact that we're a Greenpeace group too much as it can be antagonistic!!!! Surely it is much better to talk to people about our aims and goals and get people to understand why the group acts the way it does rather than hide away from the issues...!

the weekend looks good... going on a march tomorrow concerning the Kyoto treaty, meeting up with friends for that and continuing on to Carla's for dinner then sunday celebrating the Year of the Rooster... and seeing as I am a Rooster I feel this is a worthy cause indeed!!

Thanks to Mr Wolf for a positive comment too, not that I don't want the negative ones but obviously nicer ones are................... nicer!!!

braved the rust bucket pages, met the inimitable Luigi and now am the proud possessor of a VW golf!!! called Gordon! sweet! sweet! sweet! Gordon will be coming home with me tonight and I will look after him for as long as he lives, which considering his age and rust bucketness might not be too long but he was cheap and that was the major factor on my list! So Gordon and I will hopefully have a long and fruitful relationship, travel many many miles together and enjoy each other's company!!!! Anyone want a visit just let me know when you are free... I want to journey!!!!!

time zipps too much! it's now wednesday and nearly a week since I wrote anything!! So what has happened in the meantime???.... had an internet date that was quite enjoyable!!! That's an unusual occurance indeed! Restores one's faith a bit! So I might even see him again! But not getting too excited about it... quite happy on my own really at the moment....

am enjoying the unusual pleasure of having money in my bank account, I know this one defintely wont last but it's a fleeting pleasure nevertheless... and was quite excited to purchase new saucepans and other stuff for the kitchen, now how exciting a life do I lead???!!! Purchased paint for the kitchen too... now this is where it really does get exciting.... four lushciously vibrant colours were selelcted by J and myself, spent a while on the choice and then some more time on the choice of which colour for which wall... so the major colours for the main walls are a deep purple and a rich turquoise, these are opposite each other and inbetween are a strawberry- almost pillar box red and a marvellously sunshine yellow for the wall with the window........ and oddly it works really really well, I mean surprisingly well! It has made the kitchen warm and vibrant and pleasant to be in, and definitely added a touch of individualism to it! Odd as I have spent the last 20 years painting all walls white and shying away from any colour experience....

went to see Ocean's 12 on saturday with the girls... pleasant film ...pleasant evening...

now attempting to purchase a cheap car...before I spend all my tax rebate on fripperies....where to start?????? without a car I cant go looking at garages that sell them...and buying from the small adds seems fraught with potential rust buckets??? any suggestions?

of course the nice thing once I have actually bought a car is that I will be able to visit old friends again, go off on weekends whenever I want, purchase more than one carrier bag full of shopping at a time and get phone calls in the middle of the night from J or J pleading for a lift!!! Plus might cut down on alcohol consumption... perhaps....

happy happy happy... tax rebates make you happy....

back on the auction site... have found a cooker... loads of money... half price so far... if I keep my cool and wait until 10 seconds before the close I might get it!!!!!! It closes at 5.00 so crossing fingers that no-one else bids in the meantime...

and have had a look at bloggernity again and Delilah is now No. 5 in Most Popular and No. 6 in Top Rated!!! and no it wasn't me that did the other hits!!!!

ah the excitement of the chase... discovered the delights of bidding on an internet auction yesterday .... and the agony!!!

was trundling around looking for a reconditioned cooker as my cooker needs a repair and I wondered if it would be cheaper to get a newish one... and I discovered Comet Clearance auctions!! trawled through the pages and spotted a small freezer with a standing bid of £61 and the auction finished at 5.00! Yes I know I was looking for a cooker but I need a freezer too!!!! and this was potentially cheap... so I made my bid for the next price which was £71... after half an hour of mild interest I was outbid... so I decided to try to outwit my fellow bidder and I waited deciding that 4.58 would be the right time to place my next bid.... after literally clock watching for nearly an hour I clicked on confirm bid.... the page flashed Bidding Closed and my fist punched the air in excitement!! but my inbox was flashing with an incoming mail... I hadn't made the final bid... someone else got there in the closing seconds!!!!!!!

Made the afternoon much more interesting though!!!

Went to Kettles Yard saturday and had a look at the latest exhibition. It has been a while since I have been to the gallery and next time I must make time to visit the house as well. The house is gorgeous in it's white walled, book lined simplicity.



Exactly the sort of house you could imagine living in happily forever. It is protected by a team of silverhaired ladies and on arrival you have to ring the bell to have a little pleasant smiling face peer around the door and invite you in. It's a rather lovely experience in itself.

Anyway the exhibition was by Mary Martin and entitled 'The end is always to achieve simplicity' which seems entirely appropriate for Kettles Yard.



But it didn't really do much for me, it was sort of mainly blocky bits of wood and perspex arranged geometrically and yes the arrangement was well executed but that was it really...

Yesterday after spending four months working opposite the building and staring through the window at a large Henry Moore I went to have a quick lunchtime look at the Fitzwilliam museum. This is a complete contrast.. the outside of the building has vast columns, and inside is decorated in a gaudy complicated overabundant swishy style!!!! But tucked away are a couple of Picasso's, a lovely Braque and a very simple Giacometti bust which were all very pleasing to the eye.... wandered further and as it is chronologically organised lost interest the older the paintings became....

Thank you to the someone who checked out Delilah in the Blog Search directory and gave me a rating!!! It is number 8 in the top rated list... what is funny though is that it has only taken two votes to get to that elevated position!!!!!

January seems to be a time for reflection and detox!! Doing well on the detox... no alcohol since Jan 1st, no cakes, no meat and only a biscuit or two... loads of coffee though but there are limits to self denial!!!! But reflection, well had a bit of a ponder yesterday... I started writing Delilah in Sept 2002 when I was working for Reproduction and Human Fertility- two scientific journals that apparently now have closed!!!! I was living quietly in Cambridge and sort of waiting for something to happen... Then, the move to London where I have definitely learnt one major life lesson... I will never ever ever again move in with someone without actually getting to know them first... the whole awful slow discovery that there was a total mismatch of characters was a really dificult process to go through and left me in a difficult situation to extricate myself from.. But ..... and there's always a but.... I have gathered along the way some really good new friends and once the decision was made to move out I had some excellent adventures indeed!!!!!!! Involvement with Greenpeace gave me more new and lovely friends and more adventure... Glastonbury was a major turning point as it was there that I realised I had to get back to working with children and working outside!!! Plus the total incongruity that I felt when asked what I did, I can remember saying 'I work as a PA for a fashion company in central London' and it just didn't seem like those words could ever have actually found their way out of my mouth but they did and more weirdly they were true!! I returned to Drake's full of disastifaction!!!! So now back in Cambridge but heading off for a summer outdoors!!! Have a sailing course coming up and well just look at the picture... the high ropes section looks .... really .... high!!!!! Could write trite stuff about how content I am feeling at them moment... but will resist.... I'm off to find Jake for a coffee, Josh is around at the moment and I'm being calm about the flat and tomorrow I will go in search of a veggie sundy lunch........ ahhhhhhh! Bliss!!

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! lost sense of it all and now it's all pink!! Computer crashed and not saving stuff......... will see if this is saved?

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had letter confirming job! oh joy all summer outside!!!

and I sooooooooooooooo miss being in London! It's like being sentenced to spend time in solitary confinement....yes watching good quality films is a pleasant way to spend time and yes I have tons of DIY to do but I miss all the social contact that London was starting to offer... have ended up organising an internet date again ... though not with anyone in Cambridge .... this chappie lives in Brixton!! so will choose one of my favourite bars in Hoxton and try to kid myself that I have only left London temporarily... that I will be back!

oh yes ... about the blog search directory thingy in the left column ... they sent me an email asking if I wanted to be in their listings.. so of course I have added Delilah... had a quick look at it and couldn't resist the temptation to vote for my own blog!! So Delilah has one vote now and I'm wondering if this self publicity will work to the extent that I could vote myself into their top ten... hmmmmmm this certainly is proof that I have too much time!!! anyway if you too have a moment to spare and you are one of the many regular (but quiet) readers of Delilah, howabout you have a look at the site too.. and if you have a blog there howabout an exchange of votes??? a sort of blogging back-scratching thing.....?

Monday morning. back shuffling papers around on my desk... makes me look busy! So looking forward to getting out of here and doing something entirely different... will March the 21st ever get here?

Watched a couple of good films this weekend... had a very solitary time, but as both Josh and Jake are returning from Plymouth today I tried to relish the silence and peace and tidiness!! Knowing full well that by about thursday I will have turned into a nagging haridan! Why is it they really haven't developed the ability to place used crockery inside the dishwasher rather than relying on osmosis to make plates etc pass through the semi-permeable membrane that is the kitchen surface and the top of the dishwasher??? I struggle to understand?? see I'm getting worked up about it already and they are not even back yet!!!

so the films watched were Goodbye Lenin and Cinema Paradiso

I actually got Goodbye Lenin out on friday but ended up watching it saturday morning and found it a delightful study of the changes that occurred to East Germans during the time of unification in 1989... it brought back reminders of all those magazines that my father used to get from the DDR with shiny pictures of smiling Young Pioneers... flag waving, glossy, heroic images that belied the more sombre queing for food and drabness that really defined the era. I visited Leningrad in 1972 and remember thinking it was more like visiting an entirely different decade, as if I was actually time travelling and going back to a more austere post-war period than simply another country... the film, though, also showed that not all the changes were positive and many in East Germany were left with a bitter taste of capitalism. Many of the older people had lost all that they had ever held to be ideologically true and this was the same for my father at that time too. As a longtime member of the communist party in the uk his world-view was shattered by these events..

Major catastrophe!! Half my template disappeared yesterday... this is what Graham from Blogger said about it....

I'm afraid you've fallen victim to a bug in our system which occasionally
loses template data. Your posts are still safe, but unfortunately we were
not able to recover your template for you.

luckily I copied the template last year and managed to find the floppy last night and was therefore able to retrieve most... but very scary, though feel in need of a change and maybe it's time for a few colour changes and stuff.....

otherwise still working at the university... realise the hierarchical nature of the place seems to produce a very unhappy work force...nobody is helpful... they all seem to be focused on maintaining their own positions without a care for anything else... holding some very entrenched views whilst doing this.... was very surprised or should I say shocked when I heard someone comment that they thought three minutes silence for the recent Tsunami victims was a little too long and that one minutes silence was the norm!

Yesterday was a wonderful day........ took the Landrover out for it's final trip with me and we have become very close over the last two weeks....it did handsomely well taking Josh and Hayley plus washing machine back to Devon, and it managed to contain all of my sister's family with J& J and Hayley on a little jaunt around Cambridgeshire in search of zoo's and parks, it is also a cure for depression as on Boxing day after discovering a burnt out shower and no electrics on my return home after a ghastly Christmas I was smiling again by the time I reached B& Q as it was such a pleasure to just drive the beast!

so yesterday found me driving into the deepest darkest fen... it was bleak and fairly windy, the skyscape expansive and dramatic and I had to chug along behind agricultural traffic at a ponderous 30 to 40 mile an hour knowing I could not afford to be late for my interview! Slightly stressful! Plus not really knowing what I had volunteered myself to do. The interview was to consist of an introductory session and would include 'activities'! The letter reassured me that the activities would not require a wetsuit but apart from that it was a bit of an unknown quantity.

I arrived to find an almost empty car park and taking a deep breath walked in to the outdoor centre.... to a friendly greeting and the discovery that I was the first to arrive... the centre is easy to to spot as it has a rather large tent-like appearance to the main building, it's a bit of a miniture Millenium dome like structure ... so I was shown around the centre... the lake is really clear and there is quite a bit of woodland so once there are leaves on the trees it should be quite an attractive site... there is an indoor climbing wall and also a high ropes section which looks like lots of fun... a 35 ft high structure with a high trapeze, minute standing platforms, a free fall bit... looks excellent! all of it is top roped so it's all remarkably safe too!

so the first indication that things had gone well was when Rob asked if I could go on a 4 day archery course, then he mentioned a sailing course, then something about a climbing wall supervisors course... after lunch more details were discussed and i was asked if I could start on 21st March!!!!! So this summer I will be back working in an outdoor centre doing an activity I love!!! Magnificent!!!