I had a very poor nights sleep last night, once again being woken at 0230 hours and unable to sleep further even though I felt dreadful four hours just isn’t enough. No doubt one of those damn cats were slinking across me face and deliberately walking me up.

Well: I’m up at the walking track at lunchtime after getting almost human after a shower and I’m feeling arthritic and moaning inwardly to meself and then a light goes on my head. The old crocks up here on the walking track are a few bent over old ladies who barely appear to be breathing. Two of them are actually using those oxygen tanks that you drag/push around with you.

Time to start feeling lucky!

Blood pressure back to normal this morning, dunno what caused that minor spike last night when it went up to 144/75, was back down to 107/65 this morning: much more like it.

Mind, it didn’t do a great deal for my blood pressure to see this thing wandering across my carpet floor just as the today programme was finishing.

There are, apparently two dodgy spiders in GA the black widow and the brown recluse

http://www.desertusa.com/july97/du_bwindow.html

http://www.desertusa.com/desert-animals/brown_spider.html

This clearly was neither of those: so I trapped it in the glass as you can see above and put it gently outside on the deck.

I don’t quite know why, but I have a horror of bugs of any sort. I just don’t like them, maybe as a result of being very attractive to the biting sort. I have nothing against them, but along with rattlesnakes and alligators and all large predatory species: the only place I want ever to see them is on the television. I just don’t want to share space with ‘em, ya know?

I note the websites above state that extra care with vacuuming will help to keep them away. You can be sure the office will get the hoovering of its LIFE today and hereafter:)

Susan……..did not sleep much last night, which is always a bit scary ‘cos she gets understandably grumpy without enough sleep. She will sleep ten or twelve hours in 24 hours if she can. No help for it and its a waste of time trying to encourage her into or out of it for it is the way she is built and she’s not going to change. I’m a very light sleeper and her wandering around like Lucia Lammermoor at 0230hours will get my attention. I never was much good at sleep, and I rather envy her rip van winkle-ness.

Today is Tax Day, gotta make sure we get all the ducks in a row today. Scary…….ever since I’ve known Susan, we’ve always had this nonsense of scrabbling around on the final day, trying to get a postal date of the final day on the letter. We’re not alone, the post offices are stuffed solid from morning till night.

Completely insane, because in my case, we could get it done in June and still get the supposed advantages of the extension which we apply for automatically through the CPA. Next year I am going to drag her along to the CPA in June. I swear I will:)

Tonight the internet, through comcast slowed right down to below dial up speed, for the second night in a row: can’t open any darn thing.

Photography

I used to be a pretty reasonable film photographer, I particularly enjoyed the use of monochrome with some of that extremely slow 50 mono film. I also loved using Fuji Velvia film: to my eyes, it produced the most adorable rich and vibrant colour of all film.

Of course: we’re almost all digital now, using these monstrously expensive and worthless in three months jobbies which are superb, no doubt. They do require six months reading the technical manual, and endless filters, light meters, flash units, battery packs and who knows what else, but the pics are instantaneous and HUGE.

On our list this week, a new star emerged, who produced the most amazing images of Scotland I’ve ever seen, photographed in beautiful Film Velvia: Go take a look, if you enjoy beauty, go look. The most amazing work.

The Gallery is here:

http://www.pbase.com/hwatt/scotland

The most amazing image is here:

http://www.pbase.com/hwatt/scotland

http://www.pbase.com/hwatt/image/65604279

Damned religion, again.

Religion, again.

It makes people into such idiots, over complete and utter crap.
I hate _all_ religion, not the people involved, but the religion itself. I genuinely believe its a not much more than a way of keeping people enslaved and servants to other people, and being a right old socialist (lite) I hate that for sure.
Now we have the woman who interviewed to be a teacher (in front of a man) without her caboosh on, but now won’t teach the children without the face hider. We also have the woman at one of the London airport check in staff who wants to wear a crucifix, and they’ve told her to take it off: so both are now suspended. Not, thankfully from gibbets, yet.

Its a big issue, and its such crap really. I give some credence to the issue of communication if yer a teacher, but the lass and her crucifix, well what nonsense? Folks just should learn to grow up.

Back home in Atlanta

I arrived back to Atlanta on Tuesday, exhausted from the stress and worries of working in the UK and the upcoming aggravation of putting in our tax forms with the CPA: Grand Tony. In England, on the occasions I had dealings with accountants to try and work out ones “tax planning”, I got the distinct impression that they were more like gatekeepers for the government than someone working for my best benefit.

Here in the states, it is not at all similar, our CPA is a tiger on our behalf seeking to ensure that we pay the least amount of taxes, yet remain within the law and practice of the state. Its quite a difference in emphasis.

This year I was particularly worried, after five years of losing money in the limousine game, I had to make a profit, therefore expenses were not so free: plus, nothing was clear as to which expenses would be allowed and which not. So, it was very confusing. I had also earned a fair bit of dough in the UK, and would have to pay UK taxes and USA taxes on the lot: so it could have been a very big bummer.

As it was, not too bad. Rough, and expensive, but not too bad and a much better idea as to how things will be next year, and you can be assured expenses will be well to the fore:)

This here below is “baby” cat, who is in a world of selfish, self absorbed cats: one seriously self absorbed cat:)

When she came to us, she was one of those abandoned groups of cats whose mothers just walk off and leave them. We looked after the crapping and widdling mobsters till they’d ruined my office completely and peed on everything, and parcelled them out to other carers, but for some reason Baby attached herself to me.

She’s had the best of everything and consequently considers that always it will be so, the queen of all she surveys, she is aloof and expects and generally gets just exactly what she wants. This picture shows exactly how she is, self satisfied and supremely happy.

Baby Cat Herself.