The post that wasn't.

Well, well, well.

Yesterday I was going to write a really wonderful post about (drum rolls, please)

the county of Hampshire. 

Hampshire in 1829 (the good old days).
Austen and Keats were dead by then and it would be almost 60 years until Conan Doyle introduced the world to Sherlock Holmes. but you get the idea.
Also, the Isle of Wight (the bit at the bottom) is no longer in Hampshire.
Just saying.

My home county and new-old home, Jane Austen's home county, the county in which Arthur Conan Doyle wrote the first Sherlock Holmes story (A Study in Scarlet), where Keats wrote The Eve of St Agnes ("Ah, bitter chill it was!") and was inspired to write the ode To Autumn (you know, "seasons of mist" etc., etc...), and the place where the Burberry mac was first invented.

Impressive, huh? 

I hope you like the way that I put myself at the front of that list. 

Nothing quite like having ideas above one's station or anything.

Ahem.

Where was I?

Oh yes, "the post that never happened" (I've had quite a few of those).

Firstly, 

my application got rejected

for

yet

another

job.

It's becoming quite my thing NOT getting a job.

Er, then I pulled myself together and decided to count my blessings and go and ride my horse

(yes, you're well within your rights to withhold sympathy).

Imagine my horror when I discovered that her leg was covered from the stifle joint to the hoof in dried blood  and wet, oozing blood.

And quite a bit of gore.

Just in case you wanted to brush up your knowledge of equine anatomy.

Not for the fainthearted.

So by that time I felt I had licence to feel exceedingly sad.

Which I did.

I cheered up after a quick (actually, very long) visit from the vet

at after-hours call-out rates, naturally

and the sight of Poll tucking into her hay, trussed up in another neon pink bandage.

Please note that in the picture below she only has 1 bandage, whereas in the picture above she has 2.

That's how bloody and mucky her legs were (even after hosing) - we thought that there had to be 2 injuries because so much blood couldn't have come from just one cut.

(Cue major embarrassment when the vet investigated further and told us that we'd mistaken dislodged blood clots for open wounds. My bad).

A starving horse, very grumpy to've had her supper delayed by the inconvenient visit from the vet.

When I checked on her first thing this morning the bandage was wrinkled 'round her pastern (sort of like the ankle but not) like Nora Batty's stockings, which rather spoiled the effect, but her leg was a lot better and had stopped bleeding.

Phew.

Nora Batty (RIP), complete with wrinkled stockings.
P had a similar look on her face this morning when she discovered she was not allowed out in the field for today.

So basically, this post is an extremely long-winded way of saying...

I haven't really got anything to say. 

Until tomorrow.

Or maybe Friday.

We'll see.

High Five for Friday!

If you don't like cats or horses, this one's probably not for you.

I will judge you, though.

1. There are many plus sides to moving back south and one of the best of these is spending more time with my godson. 

We have a weekly date and he comes to ride 'little' Polly, which makes my heart melt. 

(Actually, the running I have to do so that he can trot makes my heart explode... all in the wrong way. Must work on aerobic fitness).

It's a handy plus-side that G brings along his mum - one of my closest friends - on our dates 

(being 3 he finds it difficult to travel alone, you know, driving and all that) 

and we get to make up for hardly seeing each other for the last 10 years.

G sometimes calls me Auntie Leg (that's not a misspelling) 

but most of the time he just calls me 'that big girl'. 

Nothing quite like kids to put you in your place.

G, his mum and little Polly.
He now owns a pair of jodphurs and teeny, tiny boots so that he's a proper rider.
Melt.

2.

The cat's a Giants fan.

My brother & sister-in-law are very impressed.

3.

F&P have settled in beautifully at their new home.

Big sigh of relief.

4.

Scoop is obsessed with sinks and water.

Great for cute photo opportunities, not so great for hygiene.

5.

Drumroll please...

This is the FIFTH weekend in a row that I will spend with DPB.

And we still have stuff to talk about.

Winner.

That'll be us this time next year at yet another wedding.
Except it's a wedding in California (hurrah!), which you can't really complain about, can you?

Hope you have a WONDERFUL weekend, too!

From My Grey Desk

Moving swiftly on...

Well HELLO there!

Gosh, it's been a while.

I'm so sorry. 

Things have been moving on a bit here in more ways than one

and I just seem to have let the time whizz past without writing about it.

Hey ho, I'm sure you've all just about managed to survive without updates on the excitement that comes from living a life like mine.

Ahem. 

Sooooooo, what, you may ask, have I been doing with my life since the 21st September? 

Here is a list that may or may not include the things I have mostly been doing:

1/ Moving myself, my quadrupeds and all of our earthly belongings from Scotland to Hampshire

(pause while I sob uncontrollably and attempt to regain composure)

Source
It was kind of like this when I left Scotland.
Except for Bond, M and the Aston Martin.
Oh, and I didn't live in the Highlands.
But you get the idea.

2/ Going to some weddings 

(yawn... only joking)

3/ Getting involved in protracted negotiations with the British and US governments to prevent the wonderful Ms Gesci M (and Sloan, Max, Mia and Paul (see Paul, I didn't forget you)) from leaving the UK.

The talks failed.

Sniff.

4/ Wallowing in self-pity at my inability to find a job and wondering at my exceptional talent for always being the second choice. 

5/ Drinking a lot of tea.

Approximate number of cups of tea drunk by me every day.
Source

6. Searching jobs.ac.uk and Guardian Jobs at least twenty times a day in the hope that someone, somewhere might actually have a job that I am qualified to do.

7. Feeling sorry for myself.

Oh, I already said that.

8. De-cluttering. 

As in: I've moved home to live with my parents and I'm suddenly finding that I really don't need to hold on to every single lecture note I've ever taken. Simply because there isn't enough space in the world for all of the clutter I've accumulated since I left home 10 years ago.

And I finally ditched my GCSE Latin books because, strangely enough, they've never come in handy like I thought they might.

So, yeah, as I said, things have been moving on.

The good thing, though, is that I'm back.

I've missed you.