Up The Farway Tree

Let there be light!




Well I am nearing the end of my IV antibiotic course now and am thankfully feeling much better. I even managed a 20 minute walk with Seb yesterday. It was only meant to be 10 minutes (I now time 5 minutes walking, then turn back as otherwise I keep walking until I'm exhausted and then realise I still have to get home). Anyway, around the 4 minute mark this lady was passing me and paused to ask questions about Seb (what kind of dog? How old? What's his name?). She then slowed down and started walking with me in order to continue her conversation, which involved a rather in depth description of her nephews dog allergies. I thought it would look really rude if I suddenly said "Actually I was just about to turn round and walk back the way I have just come, so can't really talk to you right now". So I just kept walking. I was beginning to think I would be walking to the next town at this rate, but thankfully after about 5 minutes Seb became intently interested in a lamppost, giving me an excuse to lag behind. The lady got bored waiting and moved on, and I quickly scurried across the road before she thought of another question. I was very tired when I got home, but was pleased I had managed to walk further than expected and reassured that the IV's have done the trick.

Today we went to B+Q to look for new lampshades. There isn't really anything wrong with the ones we have, other than the fact that with those energy efficient light bulbs you can't see hee-haw. Even if you leave the bulbs to 'warm up' for 5 minutes (by which time you have forgotten what you came into the room for anyway) there is little more than an eery glow. I have been complaining about the lack of illumination in my life for months, and although I know it's not environmentally friendly, I did even ask Andrew to put some normal bulbs back in. Being in his 'green phase' he was horrified by this request, and instead removed the lampshades from the bedrooms. I agree that this was effective, but it did give the rooms a rather unfinished look, and the impression we were either moving out or had just moved in. So, we needed to find light shades that weren't ..err..so shaded. After wandering up and down the aisle in B+Q for 15 minutes debating the 'see through-ness' of several light shades, we settled on ones that were kind of wire effect balls so you could actually see the bulb. What we didn't consider was the fact that the energy efficient light bulbs are both large, and ugly, so being able to see them wouldn't be that desirable. So on spending a not insignificant sum on two new light shades and energy efficient bulbs, we both looked at them for a few minutes, before Andrew turns and says "Ah well, maybe we could just put normal bulbs in them and they would look ok." You have to love the man's logic.

A totally random observation I just have to share from this week involves warnings on packaging. The first one I came across was while studying my shampoo bottle in the bath (I get easily bored). I was amused to read under the list of ingredients, in bold: "WARNING, THIS IS NOT FOOD." Now, I understand the words "wheat grass and kiwi" may be confusing to some, but generally the words "shampoo" and "apply to hair" would resolve any doubt as to the edibility of the product. More amusingly, you just know that this warning probably comes from a law suit at some point, where someone, somewhere has used it as a salad dressing or the likes.

The most bizarre packaging information however was on a takeaway pizza box, where in capital letters is assured me that "We guarantee that this product contains no genetically modified organisms."

Dictionary definition of organism; a form of life considered as an entity; an animal, plant, fungus, protistan, or moneran.

Now, I could either take this to mean that "There may be living things in your pizza, but no need to worry because they aren't genetically modified." Alternatively it could mean "Don't worry, there are no genetically modified living things in your pizza, just dead ones." Ah well either way, thats ok then. I feel so much better knowing that.