Thursday, May 31, 2007

When nothing else helps, there are still reed boats

todays' reed boat sailed in rain

63 comments:

nmj said...

I remember your reed boats from last year, there is a lovely serenity about them.

The Periodic Englishman said...

I agree, NMJ.

Anna MR, I agree with NMJ.

nmj said...

Wouldn't it be great to shrink yourself and get in a reed boat and just float forever?

Anna MR said...

NMJ - shrinking oneself into reed boats is a national pastime here in the Frozen North, dear heart.

NMJ, Dapper McPoni - I am glad you like my wee boats. You are both welcome to come sailing any time you like (months while sea is not frozen over are preferred, due to easier access to reeds).

xx one each

The Periodic Englishman said...

Too true, NMJ. I just can't help feeling it would induce a sense of deepest calm. Everything about these reed boats pleases me, and you chose a good word when you picked "serenity" to describe what they give off. We must go sailing.

Anna MR - I also agreed with NMJ a couple of posts back when she said your new picture was nice. It's a really gorgeous picture of you. Nice one.

I am looking dapper today, well noticed. I felt it was time I smartened up my image lest people start thinking I'm a Poni Lout who only ever wears a baseball cap and cool Levi's (so very far from the truth). It won't last, though.

Sailing sounds lovely, thank you - and I'll be sure to take NMJ along, too. (She's just been to Italy, you know? It's not like she can't travel)

And I am still eagerly awaiting my first opportunity to find some reeds so that I might follow your excellent instructions on how to make a boat.

Wait a minute. What are you doing here? I thought you were away out for the night? It is surely too early for you to be back, Ice Maiden. Surely.

Anna MR said...

Poni Lout - thank you for the compliment. I am indeed here - some people have less staying power than myself.

If all else fails, let me know and I'll email you some reeds.

xx

nmj said...

anna mr, i think you look like juliette binoche in the thumbnail...i would love to go sailing with you dapper pony lout as long as i don't need to lift anchors or anything..you & anna mr can be the joint captains of the ship & i'll just sunbathe on the deck x

The Periodic Englishman said...

NMJ - I'm not entirely sure that's fair. Whilst I am as good and capable at sailing as the next horse, I do feel that I would prefer to be lounging on the reed deck soaking up the frozen Finnish sun rays.

Yesterday you forced me to look up the word dighted, and today I've had to look up Juliette Binoche. What is it with you? Are you trying to make me look out of touch?

Anyway, I think I can sort of see what you mean about the resemblance of Anna's latest picture to this French woman (born in Paris, 1964, to an actress and a sculptor, Binoche has a sister called Marion).

I am so up to date.


Hei, Unbolt Ice Jet - how are you today? You're very welcome for the compliment. Thank you for saying thank you. It seems that you have impeccable manners, Finlander, a dispiritingly rare thing out here in space, I am beginning to realise.

You may very well be forced to email me some reeds, because I have not been out in a while and see nothing reed-like in the garden or surrounding areas. I am very keen to get my boat made and show you pictures of it (just as long as it works out as well as the ones you make).

But how come you are calling me Poni Lout (and you, NMJ)? The whole thing with my smart appearance was to stop people thinking I was a poni lout.

Anyway, I've recently lost a joint response I was writing to you, Miranda and Signs. This was as a direct result of my unthinking stupidity - I went to look at a film clip and all my windows shut down as a result - so I am reeling with irritated despair. I had been plootering about with the thing since last night. Why are these things so horribly annoying?

I'm going to lie down here, Anna Mr, on your floor, because I barely have the strength to move. I may be here a while (but I promise to stay very quiet).

Poni Lout

(it's a Juliette Binoche anagram, in case you were frightened and confused)

nmj said...

louty horse, did you really have to look up juliette binoche? you are more sheltered than i thought x

The Periodic Englishman said...

I did have to look her up, I'm afraid to say. I recognised the name, of course, and had a vague idea that she was either an actress or a singer, but I had absolutely no idea what she looked like, NMJ.

I'm not sure I've ever seen her in a film, either. Her face certainly doesn't look familiar. I need to get out more.

Lovely to see you, NMJ. Your company is always very, very welcome. x

nmj said...

Peeved Pony, I first saw her in the Unbearable Lightness of Being, one of my favourite films. Daniel Day Lewis is great too. You should rent it x

Anna MR said...

My Fellow Reed Sailors - you can both lounge on deck - it is not my thing anyway, I prefer doing the doing. Thank you for the Juliette Binoche suggestion, NMJ, although it is complete nonsense, as is evident to all my readers who have actually met me and who are currently rolling on their respective floors in uncontrollable mirth. She was in one of the films I list as faves, too - Three Colours: Blue.

Incidentally, McPoni the Impeccably Dressed - you can use a largish blade of grass, I have used them and they work, although it is a little fiddlier, admittedly. And the seaworthiness of the resultant vessels is somewhat compromised by their diminutive size and their less water-repellent surface.

The Periodic Englishman said...

Oh my God. I've actually seen that film, I think. Does she sit nude on a chair at one point? I think maybe I saw this film because I liked the book by Milan Kundera so much. I certainly liked the book, anyway, but I do now have a mental image of a woman sitting nakedly and with pleasing eroticism on a chair. Or have I maybe just imagined something inappropriate here?

Or perhaps that was just an image used to promote the film? Bugger. I'll need to ask C, because she knows the films I've seen.

If I haven't seen it, then I certainly will make a point of doing so, NMJ, because the book made a good impression on me. And even if I have already seen it, I clearly can't remember much about it - so I have a new film that I actually want to see. Hurrah.

Nice one. Thanks for that, sweety.

Anna MR said...

PS The anagram was duly noted and appreciated.

xx one each

Anna MR said...

Oho, McPoni - trod on your hooves there. Apologies.

xx

Anna MR said...

Hang on a minute, McPoni - your Flickr house seems to have vanished. What's up?

The Periodic Englishman said...

A large blade of grass sounds altogether too fiddly, Anna MR. I'll certainly give it a try, but have a feeling I will need the broader and more durable surface of a reed to succeed. I tend to get exasperated by things which are teeny tiny fiddly.

Glad you weren't too alarmed by the anagram. It seems like cheating, you know, having to resort to using the name of a French actress - but you leave me little choice. You beat me fair and square in our other anagram wars, so I am left looking for alternatives source material.

Flickr house? I don't know. I'm sure I'll put it back up soon.

Where have you been all day, you loon? I hope you've been having a lovely time, anyway.

(Has NMJ just disappeared?)

The Periodic Englishman said...

Lose the S on the word "alternatives". Bloody typos.

Anna MR said...

I have had a most ordinary but pleasant working day, thank you for asking, followed by a lovely nap and a mad dash to the "Alko" - the Finnish alcohol (state-owned monopoly) store, to get a baby bottle of Veuve Cliquot for my son who finishes compulsory schooling tomorrow. Although don't tell anyone, as it is illegal to buy alcohol for minors. I don't feel too bad about it, though - at least I bought him the best.

And now I'm going to curl up with Bad News. I expect to write a post about it, possibly tonight - it is bliss to have a book one wants to read.

I will have to decline the suggestion I beat you at the anagram wars (flattering as it is). This is abject nonsense - I recall a few absolute beauts created by yourself. And of course, you do have all my nicknames at your disposal (I am not actually a Juliette Binoche look-alike, sad but true.) As regards The Unbearable Lightness of Being, I did read it too - didn't see the film, sorry NMJ - but it's been so long ago I can't remember very much. I did like it though. It had a theme of infidelity, didn't it? With the dude compulsively bonking other women, and washing himself thoroughly afterwards but forgetting his hair. I read The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, too, and liked it, but remember even less.

I seem to recall in Wales the reeds I use for boats actually preferred to grow around rivers and other such freshwater sources - the Baltic is brackish so it may well be the plants that grow on our shores are not best pleased with the saltiness of the Atlantic. Otherwise, it'll have to be eBay or email, I suppose.

x

nmj said...

I think it would've been lena olin sitting naked on the chair, she is in the triangle.

but really juliette binoche is so fab, you should see her in everything you can.

louty horse, i am sullied from watching BB (hush, don't let anna mr hear, i think she would despise us for such filthy viewing, & rightly so), & i now must 'punish' myself with the seriousness of newsnight even tho i can hardly keep my eyes open.

great anna mr, you do the doing & i'll just sunbathe on the reed boat & flirt with the pony lout, i may even bring my polkadot bikini since it is so bloody warm in finland, yes, there is envy in my voice x

Anna MR said...

NMJ, now Lena Olin is pretty fab, too - she is a nice example of aging with a good deal of pazazz and sensuality. I like her. (I like JB, too, although she seems to have gone a bit quiet careerwise lately, or am I just behind my times in film watching? That could well be the case, having been to the pictures exactly once since returning home a year ago.)

You guess right, though - I don't tend to watch reality TV (I had strong words from my superego when I followed American Idol during my Hawai'ian year, and the Finnish one here this year). To be honest, I don't get a great deal out of that stuff except annoyance, and that I can either do without or get in the real world aplenty. But to insinuate I would despise you or The Horse for viewing that stuff is not v. nice. I don't go about despising my friends, NMJ. Shame on you for making me sound like not only a snob, but a prudy spiteful snob (a typo made that a "snog" at first, it would have made a pretty interesting sentence then maybe?).

xx

Reading the Signs said...

dear ms FomP - can I just gatecrash this party a minute (and hello to you too, nmj, to ask what has happened to TPE's blog? Please say it had nothing to do with me turning precipitously from a frog into a prince.

Anyway, lovely reed boat photograph, yes, and I will remember this when all else fails.

Anna MR said...

Sweet Signs, you couldn't gatecrash this blog if you wanted/tried to, as you have a permanent VIP card. Glad you like my boat. There's a set with building instructions on my Flickr, if this grabs your fancy and reeds are readily (reedily) available over your way.

Regarding your question - we can all make or not our own assumptions. I, for one, believe it is nothing to do with your frog-to-prince metamorphosis. (I am impressed what a treat my kiss worked. I never knew I had it in me. Hope the crown isn't too uncomfortable.)

Actually, Signs - I would like the opportunity to email you, but due to technical difficulties which are too dull (not to mention embarrassing) to specify, at least here, I can't do so just by clicking your "email Signs" link. If we can do a James Bondy synchronising action at some point, perhaps you could drop in on a comment box on any one of my three blogs - I'll find it soon as I log into my email account - and would then delete the comment.

Sorry if this sounds peculiar. I am actually quite harmless, really, totally. Would have suggested doing it the other way (on your site) but if you're having email difficulties, you would never find me on your old posts, would you now?

xx

The Periodic Englishman said...

Anna MR - good news about your perfectly pleasant and ordinary working day. This means that nothing too alarming has happened - and that's a very good thing.

I shouldn't worry too much about breaking the law and dashing to Alko to buy your son celebratory alcohol. This just seems like a fairly reasonable and nice thing, really. Do please try to stay in my good books, however, or I may be forced to phone Social Services (child welfare division) and grass you up big time.

Agreed about the book thing. It is so magic to find a book that one actually wants to read. I can't remember the last time this happened to me. Unfortunately, I don't know the book you mention and so have nothing sensible to add.

But yes, the other book, the Milan Kundera one, did deal with betrayals and infidelity (amongst other things). I was a lot younger when I read it (in the mid-eighties, I think) but remember it striking a chord with me on a couple of levels. Maybe I would find it embarrassingly angsty now - I don't know - but I certainly enjoyed reading it at the time.

I only read it, incidentally, because I was inhaling stuff about the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia at the time. This just cropped up, bizarrely enough, but in no way reflects the kind of book I would normally read. Glad I read it, though.

Why does your post title say "if nothing else helps...."? What's up, Anna MR? Is everything okay?

NMJ - seriously, stop it. Dighted, Juliette Binoche and now somebody called Lena Olin, too.
I will surely never get anything done if I continue talking with you, because I am increasingly left with no option but to check up on these words and names you bandy about with such wild abandon.

Lena Olin, for your infrmation, speaks Swedish at home with her husband and kids and was born on March the 22nd, 1955. In Stockholm.

She once said that "nudity is just another costume" and appeared alongside Binoche in the film Chocolat (2000), directed by her husband. She has homes in both Sweden and New York.

And that was her on the chair, you say? Okay. I do seem to recall finding this image quite alluring.

NMJ, my treasured wonder-wife, you are not sullied by watching BB - you are enriched. How else would you know how the ghastly people live their lives? It is a broadening experience, an eye onto the world of others, a chance to examine the moral, social and cultural outlooks of the kind of people you are barely likely to meet. It is brilliant, it is necessary, and it is indisputably dirty and sullying. But hang strong, sweetheart, because it will only get worse.

Do bring your polka dot bikini and do flirt with me on the boat. These seem like excellent suggestions. (do continue to watch Newsnight, however, as it cleanses your soul after BB)

Reading The Signs - don't listen to Anna MR. It was exactly because of the fact that you turned from a frog into a prince - never forgetting your spell as a pirate - that I shut my blog space down. I have seen some weird stuff in my time, but really.......

I hope you've recovered from your croaky snuffle bug disorder, incidentally. We can't have you feeling under the weather, Signs. We just can't, okay? So you buck up your ideas, you hear?

Greetings to all from a damp and misty Ireland....

nmj said...

Louty Horse, Why is it that I feel that when you, dearest hooves, google an 'unknown' you then study what you have found out as if you will have to sit an exam later? This fills me with joy that you google so earnestly. I have been venting my sullied BB soul over at Mell D's - I am unbending in the ban on my own blog. I think this is called wanting your cake and eating it x

Anonymous said...

Would just like to point out that what could be perceived as crankiness towards dear NMJ, who is held in the highest possible VIP esteem on this site (as well as many others), is just poorly turned out spiky humour.

Just so as you all know.

Blog Administrator

xxx

Anna MR said...

Quickie note only as I need to be getting going somewhere sooooo...

Hello dearest, most treasured NMJ and equally valued Sharp-Dressed Horse. I wish I would have caught you two whilst you were here, honouring my box with your beloved presence. It seems I missed you both by mere minutes, having (misguidedly) gone for a mooch around an art exhibition and a photo-taking walk. Silly of me, I know, but the sun was/is out. I hope we can all reconvene here at the earliest mutually convenient moment. And someone grab Signs along, too.

McPoni, you should try and look up Edward St A, I think you'd like him. His writing often sounds an awful lot like yours, as it happens. I have hidden a Guardian article about him, for your perusal, in the usual place.

xx one each and x one for the absent Signs (where are you, lady?)

The Periodic Englishman said...

NMJ - the BB ban on your own blog is a harshly sensible solution to something that might simply get out of hand otherwise. Can you just imagine the sort of visitors you would get? Sheesh. Hardly bears thinking about.

Better, surely, for both of us to sneakily go and visit MD and roll in the mud there - this means that she will seem like the bigger and dirtier addict for writing about the stuff, and we'll just be like a couple of intellectuals trying to help her out. Don't tell her I said that.

Googling the unknown is a perilous business, young NMJ. Yesterday, whilst "researching" Juliette Binoche, I somehow ended up on an Italian blog that reviewed films. It was great, although I didn't really understand much of it. Up in the top corner of the the front page of the blog it said hello and welcome etc and "popcorn gratis per tutti". That seemed really nice and made me feel like sticking around.

The Juliette Binoche film that was reviewed seemed like it might be okay, too. I'll certainly look out for her now, as you seem to suggest she is in some good films.

But anyway, I'm not sure why I seem like such a dork when I look this stuff up. It seems pretty great to me, all this information and the places it can lead to. I just can't help hoovering it up greedily and all this new stuff just zips into my head quite pleasingly.

I'm still reeling, however, from the sweary words that accompanied your "dighted" link. REELING.

I'll trot over to MD's and see if I can catch you there. Or maybe you're at home? Anyway, failing that, I'll be resting here on Anna's snow covered floor.

Just you make sure you're happy today, NMJ.


Anna MR of The Frozen Plains - where oh where are you today? I hope you're not out sunbathing, because I might just yelp with jealousy. It is now so damp here that my clothes feel drookit just as soon as I step out into the garden. It doesn't feel like much fun today for some reason.

I do wish happy sunshine upon you, of course, but for the sake of my sanity, just pretend it's raining in Helsinki today, okay?

Happy Saturday to both of you.......


(this will be the Nth time I've tried to post this. I've left it sitting here for half an hour, walked away from it, made coffee, breathed evenly - and am about to try again. Mildly annoying, to say the very least)

The Periodic Englishman said...

Hurrah - there you are, Anna MR.

Boo - you're buggering off again.

I'll check out the link, Snow Muncher, thanks. You sound like you've had a lovely day. I hope the exhibition was a good one. And does your photo-taking walk mean you have new material for Flickrdom? Goody. I hope so.

Anyway, I'm going to see this link you have supplied and will hopefully catch up with you later.

Tally-ho

Anna MR said...

Well bugger bugger bugger, bum willy and tits (my worst swear word), all I seem to manage today is miss my visitors by mere seconds.

I'll be quite quiet about the sunshine we've been having today, gentle McPoni, and only tell you there was a brisk easterly wind which forced me to wear my suede jacket (not the one with furry carpet sleeves and collar, come on, it's June after all). Chez Flickr AnnaMR is full of photos, of which I hope you derive some use and enjoyment - they are all a little samey due to the fact I discovered a macro lens capacity on the camera, a wonder of wonders, gentlest Wonderponi.

Must be off now but shall check in after I've stopped hanging out with the party animals

xx

nmj said...

dearest anna mr & louty one, i came here half an hour ago then got up to do something & completely forgot i was here, a girl could get locked out that way . . . so now i am back, yes, it is so dull here, but not cold, so i shouldn't complain too much...just that the longest day is happening in 19 days so there is a tendency on my part to fret that we will have no sun this summer, but, anna mr, am delighted (through gritted teeth) that you can enjoy some rays up there in helsinki . . .i should go & look at flickr, i don't do that enough, maybe because i don't take photos myself these days, i don't even have a digital camera, i borrow my step-dad's when need be . . . louty hooves, i fear i am becoming too old for BB, i used to be able to chill out & watch it, even enjoy the ghastliness, but now i find a voice constantly saying, why are you wasting your precious hours watching this? . . . but i do still enjoy bitching about the house mates & that's why am pleased mell d has offered us a place to do so. i have no more news this weekend, just resting, & reading a little & the usual domestic chores, will go to flick'r now, btw, pony, i noticed you are giving your blog a good spring cleaning, you have erased all our thousands of comments, & btw(2) - thank you to the lovely blog administrator for assuaging my fears xxx

Reading the Signs said...

croak!, I mean ahoy there, landlubbers. Har! Or whatever princes say. Hellay? I'm going to watch Doctor Who. Down with Big Brother!

nmj said...

Ach, Signs, Dr Who is boring, okay, I should run away & hide fast, cos I am sure you will not agree with that statement . . . How are you? Did you get the kedgeree I emailed you, I hope you have recovered from your postviral awfulness . . . Anna Mr, I just went to your flickr, how wonderful that was...I feel that I was whisked to Helsinki...I want to live in that seagull cafe, you have to take me there one of these days . . . and the reed boats, well, one of the reeds is tipped brown with sunburn & that made me want to weep, it's always the details that get me, & the white nights, & the fog, all quite beautiful & now I must rescue burning garlic & mushrooms, you all know I blog in the kitchen & accidents happen x

The Periodic Englishman said...

NMJ. I swear to God, if you have mistreated any of those ingredients........

You need to look after these things, you lunatic. How can you possibly blog and tend to mushrooms and garlic at the same time? It doesn't make sense. They are crying out for your attention, and they deserve better. So do we, actually. I am startled that you have just insulted Signs and then run away to hide behind the garlic.

Although I do have to say that the insult was a good one. Boooooooo and hissssssssss and down with Dr Who. Dr Who is for bad people, wicked people, murky people of the night. Or something.

It used to really scare me when I was younger. I mean, really scare me. I'm shuddering a wee bit as I think of it.

I know what you mean about BB seeming a bit like a waste of time. I like sitting down, though, and try to do it at least once a day. Sooo.......I sit down when I watch BB. This way I'm actually doing something I both need and want to do as I watch Big Brother. Problem solved.

Anna MR's pictures are quite beautiful, aren't they? I really loved the foggy ones and have enjoyed looking at her more close-uppy photography today.

You should get a Flickry account, NMJ. I think you would enjoy it. Next time you borrow that camera from your stepdad - just kind of forget to give it back, k? I look forward to seeing your Flickr house up and running soon. Sorted.

We tried to force Signs to get one - but she betrayed us all badly and merely put up a wonderful display on her blog. The swine.

Kind regards to one and all xxx


Anna - was your party enjoyable tonight? Hope so. x

nmj said...

pony boy, where are all your photos, you have taken them down? at this rate there will be nothing of your blog left, are you reinventing yourself, sparkly one? i couldn't keep my step-dad's camera, i would only lose it...i do love looking at others' photos, but i myself prefer to capture moments by writing about them, that's what keeps them alive, & i am crap at taking photos anyway. damn, i can't wait up for anna mr, i need to sleep before midnight, like cinderella x

The Periodic Englishman said...

Reinventing myself? No WAY. Never tamper with perfection, NMJ.

You know my Flickr thing? Well, I've never seen it as a place for serious photography because, well, I'm not a serious photographer and I only meant it to be a bit of fun to complement my (moribund) blog. So I'm not really sure that being good at taking pictures is prerequisite to starting one of these thing.

I see what you mean about capturing a moment with words as opposed to pictorially. That's maybe just a question of personal preference, I suppose, and I would normally pick words over pictures myself - but like to think that people can try their hands at both.

My favourite way of capturing any moment is to simply be there and experience it. No words, no cameras, no attempt, in fact, to capture it at all. It's enough to know it's in there somewhere without having to describe or permanently fix the memory on paper.

Jesus. I'm getting all philosophical. Or depressed. Same thing, probably.

Anna MR must be soooooo high on a concoction of top notch drugs and alcohol if she is not back from her party even yet. You do know that those Finnies have the wrong time over there? It's half-past two in Helsinki, NMJ. Half....Past....TWO.

I've never known a blogger to stay out so late. I'm shocked. You are very sensible to go to bed, Cinderella, and I think I may just join you. x



(Anna MR - see you tomorrow, drunky clogs x)

The Periodic Englishman said...

Wait. I didn't mean that I was about to join NMJ in her bed- I can but dream - I meant that I was going to do as she was doing and go to bed myself. Here. In Ireland.

Phew. I just thought I'd better make that clear. If only to myself.

I'm tired.

Anna MR said...

Dear all - the only reason I got home at 4:30 rather than 4:05 was that I had to stop the taxi at the garage so I could replenish my entirely spent stock of fags, and the queue at the garage was so ludicrously long I thought I'd never get out of there.

So here I am, all party-party and you Cinderellas have all gone to bed. Ho-hum - but I suppose it's my fault for having behaved disgracefully for a blogger.

I must be punished. But let it not be by your absence.

Yawning now. See you in the morning, since you all seem to be in your nighties by now.

xxx one each

Reading the Signs said...

hello, dear adorable peeps - but look here, nmj, you cannot, nay must not, say that the Doctor is boring. I love him, ok? Even Mr. Signs accepts this - and is very keen on him too, as it happens, but in a manly sort of way. In fact, because of what you have just said, I now feel it encumbent upon me to put up a blog post all about how wonderful he is - there goes my lazy Sunday mooching about with Mariella Frostrup and Nigel Slater. I'm sorry, dear anna, for ranting about him on your beautiful blog (but I suppose it's marginally better than doing it on mine where I'm well and truly visible) - hope my email arrived, btw.

Mr. Gianluca - yes, you sir - are you planning to "disappear" your blog completely so as to be free spirit entirely or are you just determined to be very, very eccentric? Well never mind, but just remember that Big Brother may not be watching you (and I sincerely hope you are not watching it, just pretending to) but the rest of us are watching and noticing - just so you know.

Party party, anna? Stock of fags? Up in the small hours for pleasure? Can I be you for 24 hours, please? I could do with a break.

The Periodic Englishman said...

FREEZE! Don't do that thing Signs. Put....the Doctor Who post.....DOWN. Come out with your hands above your head, Lady....nobody needs to get hurt here.

I think that Anna MR is probably still in bed, RTS. She was up very late for a blogger, and is probably paying a high price for it now. I'm not saying that she brought these sufferings upon herself, merely that no-one else did it for her.

I'm glad that Mr Signs seems able to appreciate the good Doctor in an altogether rugged and manly way. This seems like a sensible compromise.

I used to like Mariella Frostrup in a very rugged and manly way. I think she now writes a column somewhere, and I have a feeling it is dreadful. I may be wrong - just a remembered hunch.

Of course I'm not pretending to watch Big Brother, you terrible pirate, you. That would be eccentric.

Do please let me know when you become Anna MR for 24 hours. There may be trouble ahead.

Fierce affection all over your feet, Signs, from a fan.

TPE


(ANNA! Wake up, darling sleepyhead. Signs is trying to take over your life.)

Anna MR said...

Evening all - and no, I haven't been sleeping all day, I have been a busy bee photographer saunahullu mökki person, the proof of which will appear in my Flickr house quite soon - it is nice to see you even if it is rather after the event, i.e. you've all given up on me and gone home, or somewhere else. You unfaithfuls.

Anyhow, what have you been talking about? Dr. Who. I knew it was a big British phenomenon but never saw it or got into it whilst there, but someone did send us a burnt dvd of the Christopher Eccleston series to Hawai'i, which did turn me onto the good Dr quite a lot (sorry, McPoni and NMJ - but you have to be wrong sometimes in order to remain human, and this where you were wrong). Although this may have had something to do with Christopher Eccleston's manly ruggedness turning me on quite a lot. Who knows? Dr Who knows.

Oh that was terrible, I'll need to go and die now. But seriously, Signs and everyone else, these comments boxes are for ranting or talking or moaning or being wistful or funny or moody or philosophical or even depressed (although I'd rather see you all sparkly and happy, McPoni Lout, but that's purely because of my lusty love for you, k?) without any limitations of topic or participant - the only thing I'm not keen on is spam, and that's why I have word ver, annoying as it is.

Anything else? Signsypoo the Pirate, you can certainly be me for 24 hours. We can arrange for a mutually convenient date when I can, in return, become a talented intellectual and you (poor sod) can be raving loonatic in a northern location. Just for your sake let's choose a day when I'm not feeling like my guts are rolled up into a glistening ball of anxiety somewhere around my throat area, those days tend to suck. (No, your email didn't arrive. Is this possibly because of Tiscali problems? I'll need to go and take my address down soon because I'm paranoid about spastic spamsters attacking my inbox...oh what shall we do?)

Right. I'm off to deal with my new photographs now. I shall have an eye on this box, though, so should anyone feel like talking nonsense this fine evening, I'm game. Or even if you want to talk sense.

xxx

nmj said...

Dearest Anna MR, you may never get Signs's email as Tiscali is still volatile & unreliable . . . Christopher Eccleston is sweet & a great actor, but he is sadly no longer the Doctor, it is now David Tennant, a Scottish actor, who is also quite sweet. BTW I want a mökki x

Anna MR said...

Hei NMJ, Guardian of the Velociraptor Legs (sorry but this came to me the other day, and it made me squeal with childish delight, besides it's about time you got called silly things like the rest of us), evening and great to see you. I will probably have to start taking to very serious measures with those Tiscali incompetents. Kidnapping their kittens and dead grandmothers sounds like a reasonable first step. (I hope they're listening and learn their lesson straightaway). Does this mean that your email is up shit creek too, again? Poor show, Tiscali, poor show. Are you listening? You know what'll happen...

I know David Tennent's the new Dr. I haven't seen the series, just the transfer episode and some Christmas teaser. Trouble is I got very attached to Chris Eccleston playing the Dr (I am lead to believe everybody has "their" Dr, so I guess he's mine), and although David Tennent (didn't we discuss his penis somewhere, or have I hallucinated that thread?) could potentially be quite nice, I can't get over the feeling there's something the matter with his teeth - there seems to be too many for his mouth, or they're overly self-luminously white, or something.

Mökkis rule, NMJ petkins, there's no two ways about this. You can share mine, although you have to have it in you to put up with very primitive conditions, and "renovations" done by my dad...

x

nmj said...

no, dearest, you didn't hallucinate david tennant's penis, that was on a thread long ago . . . yes, maybe too many teeth though. . . ach, i don't care how primitive the mökki is, it has zen written all over it & i could do with some (zen)...yes, tiscali is pretty much a lottery at moment, you win some, you lose some, never really knowing who has got your emails x

Anna MR said...

You're right, my love, zen is the word.

It has taken me ages to diddle about with today's photos, but they're about to go up now...

xx

The Periodic Englishman said...

Some of those pictures are bloody beautiful, Anna MR. I'm just returned from your Flickrdom - you seem to have actually been in the process of putting pictures up whilst I was there - which was actually pretty exciting and made me feel like I was, at last, properly spying on you. I'm not sure you're finished yet, so I'll need to go back and check.

(I've just been to check - you're still at it. Hurrah. Galaxies of pollen? Oh yes please. Love it)

Anyway, Dr Who is rubbish. But......just for the record, my favourite doctor was Tom Baker. In fact, I think he was the doccy the last time I ever watched the programme. So I'm not entirely au fait with recent developments in these matters.

Anna MR said...

Oh hello there, SpyHorse. I have finished with Flickr now and couldn't find people anywhere - NMJ was but went away - Signs has left me for good, she hasn't been here for 10 hours - so am even more inordinately pleased to see you than usually. How are you this fine evening? V. well I hope.

(Thank you for complimenting for my photos. Did you actually see them appear? It's a freaky thing, I have happened on (your) site once when you were posting, it is strange the way they come out of nowhere.)

xx

Anna MR said...

PS There's an extra "for" in my previous comment. Serves me right for trying to improve things and then not previewing again. Oh, the horror, the horror.

nmj said...

No, I am here, both, but it is late, I panic if I am up after midnight just now, so I must not linger - those photos are so lovely, I can feel the warmth of the Finnish sun, but the one that grabs me is you with the champagne & crystal penis (is it a lucky charm?)...night night x

nmj said...

BTW, louty hooves, Tom Baker is my fav Dr Who too, but I saw him at Stansted airport a few years ago & he had lost his charm. Jesus, these word verifications are getting so bloody hard! You would need special lenses to decipher them x

Anna MR said...

NMJ - brilliant, you're here.

Yes, it is my very special necklace. I am glad you like it, it has the dorkiest back story...a few years ago when my sons were small (a good few years ago, come to think of it), Finnish kids were really into collecting these weirdly distorted little plastic men (of sorts) called Gogos (or crazybones, I think it said on the packaging), they'd play various games with them and swap them with each other and so on. One day, B the older son came home all full of himself going mum, mum, I've swapped the best Gogo ever...and it was this crystal penis thing. God knows how the kid B got it from came about it - his parents maybe collected penile art objects and he had pinched this one? - but I instantly offered B 5 marks for it (it was before the euro era). I then gave the thing to my friend Linda who makes jewellery, and once she had stopped laughing (about a fortnight later), she said "there's exactly one person in the world who'd have a necklace with a crystal penis", and agreed to, um, hang it for me.

The Periodic Englishman said...

Oh my God, Anna MR, that's disgusting. I am a prude, as you know, and this matter of the necklace simply leaves me blushing.

Incidentally, going back a bit - but a "prudey spiteful snog" sounds disastrously interesting as a concept. The more I think of this, the more I like the sound of it. Just so you know.

NMJ - good news that we share a favourite doctor. Bad news that this doctor of ours seems to have lost his charm. I remember seeing him looking rather puffy and fierce as a guest on some chat show. That wasn't the problem, though. No. It was the sense that he was not exactly filled to brimming with the milk of human kindness, to put it as mildly as possible.

I was just at your house, NMJ - sorry if I've missed you for the night. x

Anna MR - heading back to Flickr shortly. I'm afraid to say that I rather liked your disgraceful messing with NMJ's name. With only three letters, she doesn't exactly give us much anagrammy scope, does she?

I have a feeling I'm forgetting to say something - but can't think what, exactly. (have I failed to answer a question of yours somewhere, maybe?) Very frustrating. Racing off now though......

See you soon. x

Anna MR said...

Looking forward to it, Racehorse...

Reading the Signs said...

well that settled then - we'll sort out a switch. But supposing I like it so much I don't want to switch back? Well, we'll cross that bridge -. The email thing is baffling because I sent mine from googlemail. There seem to be some google addresses I can contact and some I can't. Anyway, 'twas nothing of import - but annoying.

Well I've gone and put up a whole post on the dear Doctor - so it's out and so am I. I think people have come and had a look, then crept away in baffled embarassment.

Off I creep to have a look at the flickr photos.

Reading the Signs said...

Actually, dear champagne partygirl, I don't think you'd want to be me right now - have just discovered I've got shingles! So it wouldn't be fair.

Why can't I just have a tardis - why?

nmj? In the circumstances, I might have to change my position on BB. But please don't tell, as I have image to keep up.

nmj said...

hey signs, i would love a tardis too...i saw your post on dr who & i just didn't know what to say, you are a little in love with him i think & none of us would wish to change that. . . but please change your mind about BB & add a touch of class to the already pretty classy discussions over at mell d's.

hey anna mr, i love that linda strung & hung the penis for you x

Anna MR said...

Dear poor Signs - v. sorry to hear about the shingles - wishing you a swift recovery. Maybe we can consider shingles a similar impediment to my stoopid anxiety attacks, and try and time the swapsie so neither impediment is presenting. I doubt you'd care for being me enough to wish to remain me (remember, I am nearly forty and living with my parents for the third summer running - a bit of champagne here or there is hardly going to mend everything, is it now).

I saw your Dr post as well, and although I didn't really creep away in embarrassment (I thought you were rather erudite and thoughtful with the subject matter), I didn't have much to say that I wouldn't have already said here - don't know that much of it but liked Chris Eccleston - hardly the stuff great commentary is made from.

But, ladies (hullo also, sweet NMJ) - a tardis would be interesting. We could have one each and visit not only each other but also all these various places we feel Sehnsucht, Heimweh, hiraeth, or other kaiho for. Not a bad way to solve the problem.

(Signsykins, do try to send again. I have never had email failing to arrive like that before - I shouldn't be on google's bad books, I utilise them enough.)

xx

Anna MR said...

"See you soon", he said at 2:47 AM on a day much like any other day (well, morning, but it was daylight by then, because it was during the High Summer of the Northern Lands), except he never came back.

Racehorse, Racehorse - where are you? I've been waiting for you ever since.

xx

The Periodic Englishman said...

God Almighty. Give me a minute. I'm a busy little horse, you know. Plus....double plus, in fact, when I said I'd see you soon, I was referring to seeing you in Flickr, I think. Hmm? I think you'll find I saw you there soon enough. I am too noble, too reliable, too kind altogether.

You should be in bed, it's late. x


(incidentally, it took me ages to read through this again. It just did.)

Anna MR said...

Jipii, as the cow girl said - The Racehorse Returns, his spurs gleaming in the moonlight. But what are the tidings he comes bearing? Late? Bed? At one? Honey Hottest of All Horses, I didn't go to bed at one when I was a tiny baby ice cube icicle of an Ice Maiden. I can't remember what year it was I last went to bed at one. It's not late.

Oh, I can barely contain my waffle-blether gene for sheer joy of seeing you here, racey Racehorse. Kisses all over your equine person.

xx

(And PS yes of course I know you arrived at Flickr promptly, and your nobility, your reliability, your kindness are cherished by yours truly)

Anna MR said...

No but hey surely, racehorses don't wear spurs. Silly of me. It must have been the glint of his beautiful eyes that I saw.

x

The Periodic Englishman said...

And I've recently been back to Flickr, as well. I had a look for you - searching high and high - and felt your Finnish presence close by. I definitely did.

I do wear spurs, don't worry, but then I'm a very peculiar racehorse. Is that really true, by the way, that you never go to bed early? I'm shocked, as you can probably imagine.

Incidentally, because you don't show the dates your comments arrive here, future bloggy historians will have no idea that there was a massive gap between this moment and my last visit here. Weeks, if not months. I can't work out if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but then I like both of those things, anyway, so I'm not too fussed.

Kissing you wrongly back, in a kind of fever x

Anna MR said...

Sweetest Horse of Heat and Spurs, my Finnish presence can indeed be detected in Flickr. Search, search. I'll search for your presence there, too, methinks. No time like the present. (I've left you there a present. Now wondering whether you found it.)

I have thought of fixing the time stamping on my bloggy, now that I'm a bit more adept at such things, but I think the lack of dates just adds to the wrongness of it all. I think we should agree to liking it.

xx