Screw loose

After over three months, Gareth finally got the screw taken out of his leg today. The day didn't start well though with a mix up between two of us in the building ordering taxi's for the same time, but After just a three hour wait, Gareth got his op under local anaesthetic and was ready to go after a couple of hours observation (the op itself only took about 10 mins). That's when the paperwork got involved, or rather didn't. After arriving in hospital at 9:30am, we didn't get home till gone 7pm as the doctor took about five hours to chase up the one section of a form required before the nurses would discharge Gareth - the nurses were great, and were equally irked by the tardy form.
Once home, I realised in the excitement of freedom that I left Gareth's air boot (the inflatable boot that helps him walk) in the reception, so hopefully it'll turn up - although it's a forty min walk there so not looking forward to that! The other downside is that we don't have any hot water. Our boiler was leaking so we got a plumber out who declared the emersion tank was split, drained it of hot water and left, telling us he would call when he could get hold of another tank. Hmmm. What with the fiasco with BT I think we should rename this flat Bermuda Triangle, Basement Right.

Serious munchies

As Draco has been growing (he's over 3' now), his food has had to be increased in size too. He's now pretty much on adult mice.

It looks greedy when you watch him dislocate his jaw, but if you only got fed once a week and someone waved a sandwhich under your face, you'd probably do the same!

Slow on the uptake

I finally got a photo of Willow residing beneath the radiator. I think I mentioned previously that she's only just realised she could sleep under it. Though I think she's sulking here as we refuse to move her bed there. We're just waiting for her to steal the clothes from the clothes-horse for a make-shift bed.

Smug blogger

I don't have anything to blog about; just showing off that I can blog at home!

End of her tether

All I get is their leftover yoghurt pots and scraps.

Wow. We have finally got broadband at the flat! It's a bit odd having internet access at home to be honest. It does mean that I have an endless array of excuses to procrastinate about my Honours project now...

I had to buy Willow a new lead yesterday. We were on the way to the beach when the clip suddenly snapped from the metal part of the lead. Willow stopped, looked back at me with an expression as if to say 'see, I told you you pull too much.' She now has a fetching lead with a barbed wire pattern and a second lead for training, which is less fashionable, but equally dear! She's been quite expensive today as I also got her xmas present (a toy with three stuffed fish threaded through a larger fish, the aim is to remove the smaller fish from the large one. I'm sure it makes sense if you're a dog), and her Cartrophen/arthritis injections are due next month.

Idle chat

Thankfully this period of fireworks is at an end! Willow can now relax a bit before the Christmas and January displays. She's been doped up on dried valarian root the last couple of nights, so she doesn't really mind right now. I wonder if she hallucinates with it too? She does get a manic sort of expression before falling asleep. She's also realised, after 3yrs of being in the same flat, that the gap underneath the heater is actually quite warm and a nice place to lie. Strange animal.

I went to Kung Fu yesterday for a drills session. I do enjoy form, but sometimes its nice doing something different. It was really good, even if I do have the coordination of a drunk spider, I still enjoyed it.

My dissertation is going ok. I've written the rough draft for the materials and method section, and am doing the reading for the introduction. Tomorrow I'm meeting someone who is pretty good with stats so then I can progress a bit more with the data analysis and results section. I showed my supervisor the PCR visualisations, and he thinks they are ok, and no need to redo any lab work - hurray! It looks like I have two definate postives for Borrelia burgdorferi (spirochete that causes Lyme disease), and a further two possibles. Bit of a relief as it gives you more to talk about! Although not great if you live near the sites the ticks were collecte in.