November 2020
Tuesday, 8 December 2020 11:22![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iguana
November was quite a stressful month but it picked up towards the end. On the first Monday I was made redundant with a month's notice. I was overwhelmed at how lovely everyone was when I mentioned it. A whole bunch of people forwarded me job ads and I applied for a bunch of them. One of them came through, and after four interviews with them during the next couple of weeks, I was offered the job! I start in January.November garden harvest
I got three small cauliflowers and a couple of dozen chickpeas from the garden, and that's definitely all for this year (though one of the failed carrots finally put up a shoot just before the first frost...)
I got three small cauliflowers and a couple of dozen chickpeas from the garden, and that's definitely all for this year (though one of the failed carrots finally put up a shoot just before the first frost...)
Repaired bike
I dug out the bicycle I originally bought in Canterbury during uni, which had barely been used since then, because I lived at the top of a hill in Dartford and Bromley, and the bottom of a valley in Devon (and by that time it was not happy anyway). In Nottingham I've been using public transport, but last month the tram was so busy while the covid rates were so high (Nottingham peaked over 1000 per 100,000 in a seven day period at one point, meaning over 1% of the population had tested positive).
I resolved to buy a new bike (I'd have quite liked one with a traditionally female frame rather than the mountain bike frame), but the bike shop was sold out of bikes, until February apparently! Instead, I brought in my old one, and they said it was in pretty good shape, so I got that repaired. I bought a new helmet and set of lights, and discovered that the route to Nottingham is almost entirely along a shared used canal- and riverside path! So I've been enjoying that. It's stressing me out a little to cycle past people on the narrow path, but overall it feels a lot less risky than using the tram.
I dug out the bicycle I originally bought in Canterbury during uni, which had barely been used since then, because I lived at the top of a hill in Dartford and Bromley, and the bottom of a valley in Devon (and by that time it was not happy anyway). In Nottingham I've been using public transport, but last month the tram was so busy while the covid rates were so high (Nottingham peaked over 1000 per 100,000 in a seven day period at one point, meaning over 1% of the population had tested positive).
I resolved to buy a new bike (I'd have quite liked one with a traditionally female frame rather than the mountain bike frame), but the bike shop was sold out of bikes, until February apparently! Instead, I brought in my old one, and they said it was in pretty good shape, so I got that repaired. I bought a new helmet and set of lights, and discovered that the route to Nottingham is almost entirely along a shared used canal- and riverside path! So I've been enjoying that. It's stressing me out a little to cycle past people on the narrow path, but overall it feels a lot less risky than using the tram.
AMPDG: blanket fort
For AMPDG I made an elaborate blanket fort and slept in it overnight. This is definitely the most elaborate one I've made!
It was nice to wake up with the light filtering in through the coloured sheets.
For AMPDG I made an elaborate blanket fort and slept in it overnight. This is definitely the most elaborate one I've made!
It was nice to wake up with the light filtering in through the coloured sheets.
Christmask
I made a second face mask, using the more Christmassy fabric I bought at the same time as the last one, so it's now called the Christmask.
For this one I put some of those plastic-covered strips of metal used for cable ties into the top, which means it holds its shape a lot better than the first one. I may try to add some to the first one too. (Or make a third! I have enough fabric left...)
I made a second face mask, using the more Christmassy fabric I bought at the same time as the last one, so it's now called the Christmask.
For this one I put some of those plastic-covered strips of metal used for cable ties into the top, which means it holds its shape a lot better than the first one. I may try to add some to the first one too. (Or make a third! I have enough fabric left...)
The Flight of Dragons
I re-watched my favourite childhood film, The Flight of Dragons one weekend and as usual the fact that it was based on a book by Peter Dickinson piqued my interest.
This time when I looked on eBay there was actually a copy for sale! It was about £30 (it's long out of print, published in 1979) but I decided to treat myself. It arrived a few days later and it was in fantastic condition, I was so happy! I squeed a bit on Twitter at the time.
It's a speculative natural history book that attempts to "prove" dragons existed, and seems to have references to various other (real, but fictional) works in it. Additionally, it is full of some absolutely beautiful colour illustrations by Wayne Anderson, the style of which was approximated for the animated film.
I haven't actually started reading it yet, as I also bought another book from eBay at the same time called The Dragon and the George by Gordon R. Dickson, a 1976 fantasy novel also long out of print, also cited in Flight if I remember correctly from flicking through. (Unfortunately it turned up in terrible condition, so I got an ebook copy of it to read on my Kindle instead.)
The film The Flight of Dragons, it turns out, is an amalgamation of these two books. The film takes the "man accidentally ensorcelled into a dragon's body" aspect and a good deal of the characters and plot of Dragon and the George, and remixes it with the style and speculative science of Flight of Dragons, such that the film's protagonist becomes Peter Dickinson, the actual author of The Flight of Dragons, who is in the process of writing the book itself, and thus gets direct experience of being a dragon.
Anyway, I started reading The Dragon and the George instead, it being published first and referenced in Flight. At the time of writing I'm about half way through it, and it's fascinating to see how the film remixed aspects of it, added some of its own, and ignored what feels like a fair bit of filler in the middle of the book.
In short: I'm a happy Kathy. I will read the picture book as a Christmas treat.
I re-watched my favourite childhood film, The Flight of Dragons one weekend and as usual the fact that it was based on a book by Peter Dickinson piqued my interest.
This time when I looked on eBay there was actually a copy for sale! It was about £30 (it's long out of print, published in 1979) but I decided to treat myself. It arrived a few days later and it was in fantastic condition, I was so happy! I squeed a bit on Twitter at the time.
It's a speculative natural history book that attempts to "prove" dragons existed, and seems to have references to various other (real, but fictional) works in it. Additionally, it is full of some absolutely beautiful colour illustrations by Wayne Anderson, the style of which was approximated for the animated film.
I haven't actually started reading it yet, as I also bought another book from eBay at the same time called The Dragon and the George by Gordon R. Dickson, a 1976 fantasy novel also long out of print, also cited in Flight if I remember correctly from flicking through. (Unfortunately it turned up in terrible condition, so I got an ebook copy of it to read on my Kindle instead.)
The film The Flight of Dragons, it turns out, is an amalgamation of these two books. The film takes the "man accidentally ensorcelled into a dragon's body" aspect and a good deal of the characters and plot of Dragon and the George, and remixes it with the style and speculative science of Flight of Dragons, such that the film's protagonist becomes Peter Dickinson, the actual author of The Flight of Dragons, who is in the process of writing the book itself, and thus gets direct experience of being a dragon.
Anyway, I started reading The Dragon and the George instead, it being published first and referenced in Flight. At the time of writing I'm about half way through it, and it's fascinating to see how the film remixed aspects of it, added some of its own, and ignored what feels like a fair bit of filler in the middle of the book.
In short: I'm a happy Kathy. I will read the picture book as a Christmas treat.
Bookcase and decorations
I finally got around to ordering a Billy Bookcase from Ikea for the DVDs, after finding out the shelves were adjustable height, so wouldn't be oddly spaced for DVDs.
I ordered some extra shelves as well, but having put up the bookcase and finding a home for the candle lamp I bought in York a long while ago, I'm not sure I want to use them after all.
I'm quite pleased with the hole I cut out in the back so I could still get to the power sockets on the wall behind. It's only slightly out of position!
I also put up the Christmas tree in the last weekend of November. This is the first time I've done so before December, but I think we can make an exception for 2020.
I finally got around to ordering a Billy Bookcase from Ikea for the DVDs, after finding out the shelves were adjustable height, so wouldn't be oddly spaced for DVDs.
I ordered some extra shelves as well, but having put up the bookcase and finding a home for the candle lamp I bought in York a long while ago, I'm not sure I want to use them after all.
I'm quite pleased with the hole I cut out in the back so I could still get to the power sockets on the wall behind. It's only slightly out of position!
I also put up the Christmas tree in the last weekend of November. This is the first time I've done so before December, but I think we can make an exception for 2020.
