Below are the most recent 16 friends' journal entries.

Monday, December 28th, 2009
glenatron	9:27p	Departures Today was a day of goodbyes - this morning the little pony belonging to our yard owner, who was a little older than me and had taught generations of kids to ride, fell hard on the ice outside his stable and landed on his hip. When we arrived he was on three legs and the vet had already been called. Barnaby was a great character, a really good teacher and a classic pony, although he was pretty sure he was seven and 17.2hh rather than thirty four and about 12hh. The other evening he stopped on his way to his stable and stole a bunch of Small's dinner as he was passing, yesterday he took the little girl he was teaching for a ride and was a proper well behaved riding horse and today we said goodbye to him. He'll be sadly missed, but he had done well in a long life and been loved by many small children as he showed them what a good friend a pony could be. This afternoon we took Donk off to a new home- he's been with us for six months or so now and the last month or two have been a lot of work in terms of mucking out and - naturally enough - he eats like a horse. A big horse at that, so it's been expensive to keep weight on him and now Small is coming back into work and daylight hours are few and valuable there hasn't been a lot of benefit for us in having Donk around and really not a lot for Donk either. He's gone over to a dealer friend of his owner to be sold on in spring and I think the full time work will really help him and he'll make for an excellent schoolmaster for somebody. That would be really great- he's such a sweet horse and he really deserves a person of his own to love on him and to appreciate his safe, good natured, schoolmasterly skills. He got quite sweaty in the lorry, but as soon as he arrived and had a haynet, he seemed settled and content and didn't really want to talk to us again, which was good in a way. He was a nice horse but I think part of what we've learned is that we like a bit more spark and a bit more intelligence to work with. Current Mood: sad (5 Comments |Comment on this)
life_of_tom	5:21p	sentimental ramblings. Oh, bugger it, I was going to post something long, self-indulgent and sentimental but LJ just crashed and ate it. Bare bones, then. I went to Yorkshire for Christmas with my folks. I stayed here, it was awesome and there was a LOT of sledge-riding in a beautiful snowy landscape. Just in case anyone doesn't know, I'm engaged, to a very nice American girl called Allison Mclaughlin. We met about a year and a half ago, and have lived together for a while. She still isn't sick of me, so clearly I'm on to a good thing. The wedding's probably in October or some such. It might be in America, as she's got lots of elderly relatives who would have problems traveling, and plus she's staying in Britain so it'd be a nice thing to do for Americans who won't see her as much now she's over here. It's pretty damn cool, but feels a bit odd that some of my favourite people haven't met her yet. People are a long way away, I guess. Plus I'm lazy and a terrible friend. We'd like to come a-visiting folks, when we can. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
shiva_matimbres	1:05p	Screw you Noughties! Yay, nearly the end of a dumb ass decade, which failed to provide flying cars or tinfoil clothing (beyond conspiracy theorists in their tinfoil beanies). I still haven't visited the moon and, though I'm sure it wouldn't really be fun, there was no robot invasion. However, I think if I live until 100 I will tell all the young people that that is exactly what happened and that the last 70 odd years have been a steady technological decline despite all appearances to the contrary. In reality I just clocked up a load of new jobs and a failed marriage. I take some perverse pride in that I am now earning less than I was at 1999/2000 new year, but I am sure I am slightly wiser and I certainly seem to be on the cusp of proper-job-dom. That sounds worse than it was - to be fair their were many highlights, mostly larp-related or times spent with good friends. I have way too high hopes for the 10's (teenies?) - by the end I will be in a job I love and am good at, with the love of my life (the proper one), a reputation as an artist photographer and a published book. I think I'd like to have a garden, too, I like gardens...oh and the darkroom goes without saying :) So here's to a new and better decade, lets get those moustaches ready for slapstick new year! (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, December 27th, 2009
hopkinssj2000	1:01p	Hmm was just about to do my annual board game order, when suddenly realised that 3 stag do's and 5 weddings this year may make things a little tight. Will have to wait a bit longer I think to see what other expenses I have this year first. Looks like we have to buy a new washing machine first and as its an inbuilt one is going to work out expensive... sigh (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, December 26th, 2009
glenatron	11:53p	The Wizard Knight I've just finished reading The Wizard Knight by Gene Wolfe. What a truly extraordinary book. It's a proper, deeply old-school high fantasy. It has knights with pennants on their lances when they joust and giants and dragons and magic swords and castles. It takes cues from the high arthurian stories and from norse mythology and all the roots of most standard fantasy fiction and yet somehow through sheer deftness and storytelling it somehow sneaks between the predictable events and avoids the cliches even as it uses them. It is rooted in the same legends that Tolkien was inspired by, but the story itself is of a different kind, revolving more around the notions of knightly conduct and how people can relate to each other, maybe closer to a medieval romance in that respect, tapestried and bright with the glare of sunshine on burnished armour. However it is not caught in that time, the storytelling is modern, but modern without ever drawing too far from the setting or being distracting to the reader. The development of the central character changes as he grows through his adventures and their writing does too. I mostly bought it because I know Neil Gaiman is a big fan of his work and I can really see why. This is a grand story of honour, glory and adventure. It doesn't read like it's trying to be anything that it's not- you could write a book of this kind and people would read it and think "this is trying to be T.H.White" or Tolkien or whoever else - this book reads like it is it's own thing and it is clearly a classic, from start to finish. It belongs to a canon broader and more illustrious than the fantasy genre, alongside Mallory and Grimm as much as Martin and Le Guin and I recommend it strongly. Reaching the last pages made me sad because I didn't want it to end. Also it really freaked me out by starting with the line "Ben, look at this first." (6 Comments |Comment on this)
glenatron	12:32a	good news/bad news Good news: We got up and out in plenty of time for doing the ponies. Bad news: I broke the front door lock and locked us out all in one go with a lock broken so that the key won't even go into it and every other door to the house bolted from the inside. The lock has broken that way before and the fix is to hit the opening lever on the inside with a hammer. Good News: After some time I managed to work out a point-and-click adventure style complicated method to break into the house and fix the front door. Bad News: Most of my presents were courtesy of Amazon, who had done the discourtesy of not bothering to deliver them ahead of Christmas. Not that big of a deal really because I have the most fun finding presents for other people, but still. Also, what kind of small software house sells stuff without offering a download option? That was my biggest fail in terms of gifts for other people... Good News: sleepsy_mouse found me a tiny little voice-activated video camera, ideal for videoing rides without having to hold a camera. Neat piece of kit. Bad News: I thought to test it on our pre-lunch walk. It was clipped on to my coat when we left, not when we got back. Three of us retracing the route in different directions didn't find it, so I guess that counts as best gift idea most rapidly squandered on my part. D: Good News: We had tasty leftovers tea including roast beef from last night. Bad News: While cutting said roast beef, sleepsy_mouse managed to slice deeply into her finger. All in all, more dismay than jubilation this time around. So it goes. It's only things. (14 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, December 25th, 2009
glenatron	12:18a	Random thoughts Is it just me or are Bob Dylan songs getting easier? He used to be asking "How many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man?" Now it's "Who's got a beard thats long and white?" And then he gives you the answer almost immediately! Also mr stu_the_elder pointed out this damn fine festive story, in which we encounter the fearsome hunter and his lethal pray that we know in an entirely more jolly guise... (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, December 24th, 2009
glenatron	12:52a	Christmas card Well, this was harder to produce than some years... Who knew it was so hard to attach legs to a humbug? Happy Christmas everyone! Current Mood: festive (11 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009
hopkinssj2000	8:56p	Snow Only just got car all the way home today, a bit touch and go on the hill up to my house. But on the plus side, even though it took about an hour to get home, we were let out early so got home about an hour earlier than expected. Made a pretty scrummy shepherds pie and have a relaxed evening with a couple of glasses of wine and some company for wife and Cat for a while. Looking forward to Christmas now, just hope my presents go down well!! (1 Comment |Comment on this)
mr_jam	2:40p	Am bored. Have resored to spending works money. I wonder if I can get someone to sell me guitars and invoice them as industrial parts??? (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, December 21st, 2009
life_of_tom	12:22p	urgh. I really hate the build-up to Christmas. As I always do at this point in December, I find myself tired, stressed, concerned about whether or not I've bought the right presents for the right people, wishing my holiday had started, and just wanting to get some more sleep. There's lots of good things, and the actual day itself I love. But my god, if I could just hibernate, that would be fine. Snow is good, everything looks pretty, I'm lucky to have what I have, etc etc etc. I'm not ungrateful for the good things I have. Still, I hate this time of year. I deal with it so badly. But at least Rage Against the Machine are Christmas number one. (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, December 20th, 2009
glenatron	11:38p	Snowy week There has been snow, which is almost unheard of here in December as far as I recall. Whether it will last until Christmas is as yet unclear, but it's given the British people ample time to illustrate that we don't know how to drive on snow. It's also given me ample time to appreciate the way my little Rusty Justy is 4WD. That's pretty handy at the moment. Of course, there is another advantage of seldom-seen snow, which probably calls for an ( illustrated version... ) Unfortunately we didn't really get to ride because although the ponies would be fine on the trails in the snow, getting them up or down the icy road is not something we felt would be safe either in terms of them keeping their feet or in terms of other road users and as the school was as hard as iron they've gone rather short on the working front this weekend. On the upside, some festive things have been achieved, we've figured out how to make the stove put out a decent amount of heat and it's not so far off Christmas. Now, if we weren't both totally broke, that would be convenient... (16 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, December 19th, 2009
hopkinssj2000	3:54p	Have now done most of Christmas shopping for family and Julie after spending about 4 hours in town. Yay.. (Comment on this)
mr_jam	10:08a	It was a simple plan, thats where I went wrong. Next time will involve sharks, lasers and a volcano. Current Mood: annoyed (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, December 16th, 2009
ramalam	12:54p	'Come join, come join our hopeless cause' Future of the Left 'The hope that House Built' Some observations from recent weeks: I am now reviewing for www.remotegoat.co.uk. Expect to be asked to be a plus one in the future. I finished my Nanowrimo novel, but the story remains incomplete. I will finish the story over the holidays and then review and perhaps ask some trusted friends to review. (b_k_f I am looking in your direction). I have left all my Christmas shopping to the last minute. I have failed to see as many friends as I had hoped over the last year, I have also not made as much progress in the work directions as I would have liked. But progress was made. Notice how climate change deniers have no alternate theory as to what is happening to the world. That is because they cannot argue with the science. So they argue that it is a consipracy, that scientists have alternate agendas and that Al Gore and the like stand to make a great deal of money from these things and destroy quality of life. One can argue against agenda but untimately the science shows this is happening. R. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
hopkinssj2000	7:26a	Aarrgh Too much stuff to do and now have suddenly developed some lurgy type thing. Worringly I think I have caught it from being covered in horrible spores from the air conditioning when it fell down by my desk at work. I am sure this is the type of post people find when investigating in some sort of horror film where they are trying to find the first person who developed the contagion/mutation/superpower, so thought I had better post this just in case. (9 Comments |Comment on this)