Yes, I'm still alive!!

Hello All,

My sincerest apologies for not blogging much of late - I have been exceptionally busy with work commitments, I changed my broadband supplier, my computer died and was reborn (again!) and any number of other excuses for not updating - all of which are true.

A consequence of computer difficulties is this new layout / template which, as you can see has completely deleted all of my additional widgets / add-ons etc - so I'll be checking to see if I can get these back up today... and tomorrow ... and probably for the next week and a half.

Gary

Blogged Out

It might be a useful tool to impart news and evidence our daily activities, but blogging can also turn into a realisation of just how empty your life is. Such has been the case with me over the past two weeks or so.

By 'empty' I certainly mean the exact opposite. By 'empty' I mean entirely crammed with completely and utterly mundane, every-day tasks - not worthy of a mention here. Things like - getting up, feeding self, feeding cat, feeding daughter, feeding wife, getting ready for work, going to meeting after meeting, writing up endless case notes, making endless referrals to external agencies, completing endless applications for funding, reading and reviewing other people's business plans and ideas (and thinking "Why didn't I think of that?") coming home, feeding self, daughter, wife, bathing, watching "Road Wars" or "Booze Britain", retiring. See? Not worthy of a mention here? Utterly mundane and every-day stuff which, for the past two weeks, has formed the bulk of my life.

I could always fall back on the weather - which for some reason has decided to revert back to 'spring-like' despite being almost October - but I did that all through the Summer-that-never-was. I'm sure you must be as bored with weather as I am. I could write about my other hobbies and interests, the bike project, gardening, swimming, writing. Or I could write about the more personal, emotional stuff - my wife's illness, my illness, but when you live with it all day sometimes it's nice to get a break away from it all, rather than sitting and writing about it. Dwelling on it.

So, what I'm saying, in my usual and very round-about way, is that I've been so busy lately, doing absolutely nothing worthy of note, that I haven't had chance to blog, though I've made the occasional visit.

Fear not, fine blogging friends - for I shall return! I just need to do something interesting enough to write about!

Spooked!!!

This morning I spent an hour drafting a post regarding my belief in the afterlife - you know, ghosts, spirits, spiritualists, mediums, hauntings, life after death, near death experiences, past lives etc etc etc - that sort of thing.

I'd padded out the post with personal experiences and recounted family tales of loud bangs on doors in the dead of night when no one was there, only for the occupants to learn of a death in the family the next day - the death occurring at the precise time of the knocking!!

It was really spooky stuff - I almost scared myself writing it!! lol

I clicked "Publish Post", the screen flickered for a brief second, and then.........

"Internet Explorer has encountered a problem and needs to close, we are sorry for any inconvenience....."

Aaaaaarrrggghhhhhh!!! - But wait... Blogger had been autosaving my draft, so there should be no problem, it'll be recoverable. Might need to rewrite the last couple of sentences, no problem. Phew!!

Internet Explorer did as it had promised and closed down. I restarted it and logged straight back in to Blogger - Edit Posts - look for untitled draft.....

Gone. Vanished. Evaporated.

Someone (or something) obviously didn't want you to read my spooky tales......

ABC - Comments lost

For some reason Blogger decided to lose a lot of the comments posted by visitors to my ABC Wednesday post - only five remained after some sort of 'outage' by Blogger on Thursday morning.

So as not to upset folk I have decided to reproduce them from the email notifications I get each time someone leaves a comment. My apologies if you have visited after posting, only to find your post missing!! It's Bloggers fault!! Did anyone else find this???

Here are the comments in full:
magiceye has left a new comment on your post "ABC Wednesday - C is for...": great pic and quotes too!

Kjerstis Hjørne has left a new comment on your post "ABC Wednesday - C is for...": Lovely cat, I am a dog-person but cats are cute..

AphotoAday has left a new comment on your post "ABC Wednesday - C is for...": Well, what a fine looking "tuxedo cat"...Enjoyed reading your post -- really quite interesting -- I think I'll print that out and put it on the wall... I've got a cat, and it looks EXACTLY like yours... She is the love of my life (sorry ladies), and right now she would be sitting on my lap -- making typing for me as difficult as possible -- the I had the cable man here this morning and she is still freaked out from all the excitement... My Kitty has her own little silly blog, and if you look hard enough at my blog you may see a link... Best regards, Don and Kitty

Old Wom Tigley has left a new comment on your post "ABC Wednesday - C is for...": Only become a cat lover in the last year or two... and even then it's only one cat that lives across the street but comes visiting.. it came by today and jumped in through the open window and came to snuggle up on my knee.

photowannabe has left a new comment on your post "ABC Wednesday - C is for...": Great quotes and though I'm not a cat person I enjoyed your thoughts and pictures.

Kim has left a new comment on your post "ABC Wednesday - C is for...": I don't know what i would do without my cat. She loves me like nothing else can, unconditionally. Great quotes, I loved reading them :)

ellen b has left a new comment on your post "ABC Wednesday - C is for...": Cats are so darn entertaining! Enjoy...

Gemma has left a new comment on your post "ABC Wednesday - C is for...": Nice post. I miss my cat!<^..^<
Greyscale Territory has left a new comment on your post "ABC Wednesday - C is for...": A great post! And yes! We are the entertainment for cats as well as the staff!

Bear Naked has left a new comment on your post "ABC Wednesday - C is for...": "A meow massages the heart."- What a beautiful saying.Bear((( )))

me ann my camera has left a new comment on your post "ABC Wednesday - C is for...": Cats are wonderful companions. We always had one up to a few years ago. Lots of food for thought here for cat lovers. Also great looking Cat!

Bibi has left a new comment on your post "ABC Wednesday - C is for...": Agree with Babooshka about being a dog person (after all, see my avatar!)but I appreciate cats more now, thanks to your quotes. Bibi is similar to your Pepper, but she can hear the refrigerator door opened no matter how softly from wherever she is in out apartment...

ArneA has left a new comment on your post "ABC Wednesday - C is for...": I have copied your post to my wife and two daughters. They are more cat people than I.We had a cat before going to Asia with the name Socrates. He was very smart and when the doorbell rang counted the number of us inside before hiding or not.

Tash has left a new comment on your post "ABC Wednesday - C is for...": Cats are people too. Hmmm, maybe they are just cats, on the other hand... but I know that Pepper is precious.

Patty has left a new comment on your post "ABC Wednesday - C is for...": Aww what a pretty baby. I have two cats but didn't think to use them for my C photo

leslie has left a new comment on your post "ABC Wednesday - C is for...": I'm a dog person, too, but there are some great quotes here. These are my favourites:"Dogs come when they're called. Cats take a message and get back to you."- Mary Bly"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea."- Unknown"Dogs have owners, cats have staff."- UnknownGreat post!

babooshka has left a new comment on your post "ABC Wednesday - C is for...": I am a dog person, buts observing cats will never be the same now. Really great quotes.

Denise has left a new comment on your post "ABC Wednesday - C is for...": Gary, great stuff! So profound & researched!

Liz has left a new comment on your post "ABC Wednesday - C is for...": She looks quite haughty - as if to say, really, can't I sit under here without having my photo taken again?Great quotes.

Ackworth Born has left a new comment on your post "ABC Wednesday - C is for...": I don't really like cats but ...

Texas Travelers has left a new comment on your post "ABC Wednesday - C is for...": Great quotes.Now I know all I need to know about our cats.Our "C" is Here.Come visit,Troy and Martha