Hurricane Katrina

Although Katrina seems to have not been as destructive as predicted, I just hope my brother was safely battened down on his ship out in the Gulf of Mexico - he spends 6 weeks at sea in the Gulf and then 6 weeks back home in western Australia - but he is currently 'working', so will have had to endure the hurricane.

Sour Grapes at 20 paces

Wal Mart have been complaining that Tesco are too dominant in the retail sector in the UK.
"As you get over 30% and higher, I am sure there is a point where government is compelled to intervene, particular in the UK, where you have the planning laws that make it difficult to compete," said Wal-Mart boss Lee Scott. Sounds like a case of pot calling the kettle black and sour grapes at 20 paces!

Wal-Mart calls for Tesco inquiry

Great North Run

Today I collected my race number , timing chip and all the other assorted bumph for the Great North Run. Thanks V for letting me be you for the day!! Even so, am getting cold feet at the thought of having to run for over 13 miles, as I have never run that far before Oh well, if push comes to shove, I can walk it in just over 3 hours!! The biggest hassle at the moment is finding somewhere to stay - I started looking for hotel accommodation in Newcastle in May, and I still can't find any - well, I found one hotel who wanted me to pay £180 per night!! The price didn't even include breakfast - so what the hell are they playing at?-the local one in the chain charges £65 per night tops!!! I know I am getting pretty desperate for somewhere to stay, as 2 nights in the car or a tent [provided I can find a space in a campsite!] are not really conducive to a good run, but I refuse to pay £360 for a run of the mill box without breakfast!

So, tomorrow, I will be out there again trying to run a bit further than last time, and perhaps even get in a quick session at the gym - especially as it's a Monday, and the women get the jacuzzi and steam room! The steam does help me breath better, and the jacuzzi is just wicked - the jets really pound the lactic acid out of your aching legs...

The other slight worry is that I am due back at work after the summer vacation on the day following the GNR - will I be able to get there? Will I be able to drive home after the race, or will I be so stiff I can't move?! Its nearly 200 miles to drive home and I expect it to take a good 4 hours, so having to go in for 9am and start teaching a new cohort of graduates is daunting to say the least. Perhaps I should have a back up plan [i.e. my colleague to stand in for me]...

Oops!

How up are you on student finances? Today, one of the national papers invited people to take a quiz about the cost of university. Shame that they couldn't get a basic fact right!! The cost of an application through UCAS is £15, not £10. So I sent them an email to suggest they should check out basic facts before publishing something like that at this time of year, when lots of people are in the panic of Clearing! I also suggested that I would be happy [for a suitable payment] to check details like this for them!

Flickr

Spent some time putting some of my photos from Pars onto Flickr. I always feel a bit silly putting my poxy little pictures on there, 'cos some of them are so good, but hey, who is going to see them! I thought it would be one way to let my sister in New Zealand see some of them, but she keeps forgetting how to access them... but I will persist, an one day she will fully join the electronic world

New rules for insurance companies

At long last, insurance companies are being forced to stop discriminating against gay men. Currently, insurance application forms ask about an applicants' sexual orientation, but from September, it will change to a question about being exposed to the risk of HIV infection within the last 5 years. I was wanting to take out some insurance last year, but, even as a married woman, I bridled at the question on the application form, and declined to fill in the application, as I thought it was unfair and assumed that all gay men were HIV+ and had a promiscuous life style. I can now think again about taking out insurance.

How's your sex life?

Smart vacuum cleaners

Read in The Guardian that the lions at a safari park in the UK are chasing SMART cars - they were described as 'those cars that look like vacuum cleaners without the stick'. I just have visions of trying to push one of those around my floor to clean up after the dogs!! The lions have taste though, why chase boring cars - at least with a Smart car they stand a chance of being able to roll it over if they pounce - and frighten the occupants to death in the meantime...

Shopping

Today, for a change I left the familar environment of the left bank and went over to the 'posh' shops up on the 'Grands Boulevards'. I needed to buy those trousers - but could I find any - no! WHY is it so hard to find a pair of black 28" trousers? Probably because if they don't fit it will be hard to take them back, and if he doesn't like them - 'cos he is a fussy boy, he knows what he likes - and did I really want to pay over €200? so I got him something else instead, and will take him with me to get some black pants(he still calls them pants after all these years in UK)when I get back. I treated myself to some new undies though - shame nobody will ever see them except me - but I like them, and it will make me feel better about myself when i wear them.

Also went out to La Villette, and had a good afternoon out there in the Science area and walking by the canal. This evening was another trip to the cinema to see 'Serial Noceurs' or 'Wedding Crashers' to most of us. Bizarre sub titling - but I don't think I would like to have to subtitle idiom like that. French always sounds so refined, even when using bad language!! There was a trailer for 'Dark Water', which was so scary I will not be going to see it!! Comes to something when the trailers scare you to death...

Exposition "Chefs-d'oeuvre du musée Ota de Tokyo"

I thought I had seen incredible Japanese prints last year when I saw "Flottands du monde", but some of the paintings and prints I saw today at the Museum of Asian Arts were out of this world. Mind blowing; the rest of the museum was good as well with some amazing stuff on display. The Brits are accused of filling their museums with the spoils of their empire, well, the French certainly plundered south east asia to fill this one! Huge chunks of masonery from Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and lots of stuff from Korea, China and Japan. Not too much from India - but I suppose they were kicked out of there fairly early on!!

Why can't we have exhibitions like these in Bham? I know London has some good ones, but it's always a hassle to get there - the rest of the UK needs culture as well - they should send them on tour.

I like the prints of Katsushika Hokusai - but I certainly didn't expect to SEE two of his most famous ones in real life today - the one of the large tsunami wave and the one of Mt Fuiji. Amazing.

Nearly 5 hours of pure culture today... wonderful. Only one thing would have made it better...

Paris

Sunny Paris. What does one do when you are here on your own? Well, you walk for miles and miles, you visit your favourite museums to check your favourite polar bear is still there(yep, he was still there in the Musee d'Orsay), you go to the cinema and watch films you have missed in the UK, go to exhibitions and you shop. The shopping is dangerous; The sales are on, and walking round the Marais yesterday, I passed my favourite shoeshop; I spent about 15mins drooling over the sandals, but luckily I had left my cards back at the flat...

The local internet cafe has a rival now - and its open 24/7. Still haven't managed to catch P online yet though!! The keyboard is most peculiar - with the keys in strange places and the punctuation is all over the place.

Dinner on Saturday was good - went over to some friends in the 13th - the view from their balcony is stunning 6 in the distance is Sacre Coeur with the Pantheon in the foreground, and the spire of Notre Dame just peeking through. Afterwards, a long walk through the quarter and up to the 5th. It was still warm out at after 11pm, a big contrast to UK. Even though it is August and many Parisiens are away on their annual holiday, there is still enough going on.

The running isn't going too well; before I left UK? P and I walked into Bham and back along the towpath, and I rubbed my foot raw. Well, it has become badly infected, and although I kept cleaning all the muck out it wasn't healing, so I ended up seeing a doctor today who gave it a very painful clean out, some antibiotics and a bill, with instructions to keep it open to the air. It does seem better now, and the swelling is certainly less, so here's hoping it has done the trick.

Cafe life hasn't changed either - one of lifes great pleasures is sitting on the boulevard watching the world go by, and I do that a lot...

Tomorrow, I must try and find some black trousers for P - its hard trying to ask for trousers that are black, low waisted; tight and for somebody else!! The things I do for that boy... I must be crazy, but I keep doing them for him.

You can't kill a cat

The United States has some strange taboos in television - 'The Guardian' reports that a new show [Weeds]based in American suburbia deals with a mother who deals in marijuana to sustain her lifestyle, after her husband drops dead whilst out jogging. One scenario had her shooting a cat - but that isn't allowed - so it was cut. Hey, you can show drug dealing on TV, but you can't be cruel to animals! Weeds, according to the controller of Sky One, "feels like a pretty accurate satire on sterile suburban life, the shiny surface and the interesting things going on below. We will see...

The 'sleaze' of computer games

According to the Guardian, women are put off entering the computer games industry by its 'sleazy' image. But telling young women to work backwards and in high heels isn't going to encourage them to enter the industry. We run a computer games design course at the university where I work, and they are all typical geeky nerds, with not one single female student among them. Perhaps we need to run 'women only' courses, and in the long term try and wean men away from 'shoot and kill' games to a wider, family orientated games market. But then again, boys and their toys...

Paris

Paris beckons. I will be on my own, but intend to run a lot, and build up my distance, otherwise I will be walking the GNR in September not running. It doesn't seem 12 months since I was in Paris with P - not that he was really on the planet at the time - and its a shame he feels he can't come this time due to his lack of finances. Going by eurostar this time.

Robin Cook dies

Robin Cook, the former Foreign Secretary died yesterday whilst out walking in the Scottish highlands. What a way to go - doing something you enjoy in a place that you love. No fuss, no lingering deathbed scenes. When it's my turn, that's how I would want it. I don't want anybody to have to make the decision to turn off a machine...

Exhausted

Have just spent 2 weeks in sunny Stoke on Trent, living in the student Halls, while I taught a 2 week employability skills course. Am glad to be home, and am looking forward to being able to stretch out in bed without hitting my toes on a painted breezeblock wall, and not having to go outside several times a night because somebody thought it funny to set off the fire alarm! When I am home, I think my bathroom is too small and poky, but having had to share showers and toilets for 2 weeks, I appreciate my bathroom again- small though it is.
Teaching the course was hard work - but I managed to get 11 out of 13 starters through to completion, which I think is OK.
Am now off until 19 September - so intend to enjoy it to the full.