Menosloppery; the condition of bits'n'bobs

Have been back in Dunoon one week and of course it has been fairly consistently wet wet wet!!! (Oh yes there is a VERY good reason the band took that name...)

"At the time it was Duran Duran, Talk Talk – double-barrelled names; we just added on another to confuse people. And we would look outside and see the rain coming down. It did seem quite relevant to Glasgow."

—Graeme Clark on how the band chose their name,

Okay.... apologies now, but the temptation was too much (no I am not a 'fan', but who can't help singing along with this one?)

Onyhoo... after a two-week absence there was stuff to do.  You know, dusty-sucky stuffs and all that kinda thing. There was fresh food brought back and a stock in the cupboard, so no need to go shopping out in the wild and wooliness. Also needed to get some posts written up and fed into the ether. There was a pile of post which had to be sorted; junk - 8 items out; wrong address - 2 items; large envelopes of an official nature - 5 items.  

Contents of official envelopes? One was from my sponsor pet (...oh have I told you about Angel? Post coming up!..); one from the electoral office, confirming some changes. The other three all related to the 'Little Ren'.  Having a car brings with it all sorts of stuff.

At least now I am fully covered, registered and all that sort of carry on. (Don't panic - I was before I drove the 100 miles, but this was just the hard copy proof!) 

Poor Little Ren. She got here and hasn't moved since!  There was expectation of a run on Saturday, but the weather-wallahs had told fibs about the state of play in the sky. Although the rain had indeed abated, the clouds hugged the trees and anywhere I may have decided to go would not have given much in the way of viewing.  Combine that with the fact that the 'Nik' (camera) is badly ailing and on Saturday morning threw an absolute wobbly, there was little point in going out.

Perhaps it got wind of YAM researching the costs and specs on newer models... don't really want the expense, given the 'Nik' is but two years old.  It has been pressed into daily service mind you and not just one or two clicks. It has also travelled the world and received quite a few bumps in that short time, so all in all it has served well.

Potential for repair is there - but not particularly cost effective and given photography is a primary interest, its time to move on.  The new one's ordered.

I picked up a book to read during the week too.  A real live paper-leaves-and-hard-cover-print-type book.  Of course I use books all the time for prep on Aatmaavrajanam and personal study; but I am talking a non-Sanskrit or text variety.  Not a novel either, to be fair.  However, it is a compelling read, albeit one I would not have chosen for myself.  It had been on mother's shelf and father handed it over.  Maximum City is written by an ex-pat Indian about Bombay/Mumbai (Suketu Mehta).  He had returned there for a period of time at the turn of this century and found it much changed form his childhood. He explores this through his connections, which it must be said are distinctly on the shade'n'slither side!  Every city has its underbelly.  Seeing a city I love through these 'nothing unseen' eyes has been interesting, but it is very one-sided and slips into complete self indulgence not long after the half way point.  May not finish it.

Holding up books is such a chore though.  I end up sitting on the edge of the bed and using the table. Perhaps I would be better just taking the crochet to do in bed before lights out... I may have broken my library 'vaasana' (habit) it seems!

What else? Oh yes, Bertie's post last week about Suilven and Stac Pollaidh brought back many fond memories of times spent there. I had friends whose parents lived at Achiltibuie, a little South of there. They kept working labradors.  I put these up on TAKE blog earlier, but let me share a bit of menosukhi here again;

I wish I could recall the names... for some reason 'Tilly' rings bells, but that doesn't mean anything in this menosouped head! These prints are 30 years old... sigh...

One final thing.  Joanne over at CupOnTheBus has rekindled her weaving passion. It was she who sent me those delightful red tea-towels a few weeks back. Now things are growing and she has opened one of those online shop venues. There are five items up for sale and no doubt more will follow. You can go directly here. Trust me, the material is L U S H!!!

There you are.  A bitsy-bobsy Monday.