Cash and Buses

Right now I should have been eating a big whopper with the Mothership in town before going to our favourite cafe for cake and coco. Maybe even a trip to Ikea. But instead I am sitting at home rather frustrated and stuck. Now here’s why; I’m part of the internet generation. I can’t remember a time before computers. My dad was always a bit of a tech geek so we had them relatively early on. I am in no way saying I’m a computer wizard but I can what I need and maybe a bit more. So I am also one of those who’s comfortable with internet shopping. Of course with a hint of does this look legit and do I trust their security. Which brings us to today’s problem. I can pay you in way too many ways online and in plastic card, but I very rarely have cash on me.

Now I live in a small-ish village. When I moved here it was because there was a local shop, a cash point and even an inn walking distance. The buses drove regularly and it was a nice green area with lots of walking options for Susie.
First the inn closed, then the cash point and Sunday the shop closed for good. The village is slowly dying and unless you have cash or a bus pass you can’t leave. This morning I had neither. Luckily the Mothership has taken mercy on me and is coming here with a bus pass otherwise I’d have been stuck here until I learned how to pull cash out of my arse.

The Mothership arrived with lunch and I even got my chromecast today so it wasn’t a complete fail of a day. Ingeborg seems to be doing well. She is very easy but she did for some reason feel like trashing her cage this night. She’d hidden under her newspaper and tried to crawl under her exercise wheel so it had fallen over. I found a big box and made her a shelter so hopefully she won’t feel the need to trash the place like a rockstar. She doesn’t seem to be a huge fan of the tv either. She was curled up and grumpy all evening until I turned it off. Then she was sleeping with a smug little grin, dreaming of hot model hedgehogs feeding her cat treats on a secluded tropical island. Or at least that’s my guess.

Edit

I’m back with a bit of music as it was Wednesday. Today I wanted to do something a bit different. It actually came by a bit randomly. I was watching a nail video thinking what is that background music? I found it using a sneaky app which led me to the song which let me to a thought of it could be fun doing a music post on how music is a fluid thing. One song will create rings in the water and turn into something else.

99 Problems – Jay-Z

I think most of us have heard this song somewhere.

 

99 Problems – Hugo

I’m pretty sure I’ve posted this one before as it’s one of my favourite songs. It’s a bluegrass inspired cover-ish song of awesomeness in my opinion. So different and yet so alike.

 

Problem – Ariana Grande ft Iggy Azalea

This is the one that started my idea

 

 

A new baby

There’s a Danish politician who’s remembered for having said that you have a standpoint until you pick a new one. Pretty much politician speak for next week I may have a completely different opinion on this matter. Now that happened to me this Sunday.

After Igor passed away I decided not to get a new pet until after the big move. The Mothership would send pictures of guinea pigs and geckos and I would tell her “No!”. I was not wearing the yes hat at all. However after a while I started to miss having a little TV buddy so when she Sunday sent a picture of a hedgehog for sale I broke my resolve and said yes. The seller had a 2 year old girl and had plans for breeding babies. I went intending to just look at the girl and sign up for a baby. Now that didn’t go as planned. I held the girl hog and it was love at first sight. So I now have a hog in the house again.

Her name is Ingeborg. I tried calling her Inga as a nickname but she seems to like and respond better to Ingeborg. Now I just have to teach Leggy how to pronounce it. She is the most relaxed hedgehog I’ve met. She’ll sniff around on my chest and at some point she’ll decide it’s nap time and just lay down to sleep. She’s not best friends with Susie but she doesn’t mind her either. Unless Susie pokes her nose in too private places she is cool with her.

I once again have a small TV buddy. We’re now trying to catch up on Criminal Minds.

Edit: Ingeborg is an African Pygmy hedgehog and was bred to be a pet. She’s never been living outside in the wild. Generations back her ancestors would have lived in Africa before entering a life of slavery. I did not pick up a random sweet hedgehog from my garden to keep as a pet. That would be illegal, no matter how cute it is. So I do not drive around in a beat up white van advertising free mealworms.

 

Television

The last time I watched real TV there were five channels and SCART was the new big thing. I looked at TVs recently and it’s all USB and HDMI and fuck off you archaic troll. I have no idea what I’m looking at now.

But there was a hoover. Two, actually. I had two crappy second hand hoovers and finally bought a new one. In Lidl, I got the last one for £35 and it’s a beast. It can suck up water too. It looks like this…

Okay, the top part isn’t original equipment but I had a spare Dalek head lying around as I’m sure everyone does.

Anyway, back to the hoover/TV link.

I had two crappy but still working hoovers, too good to throw away but not good enough to sell. I have a mate who works in a charity shop so I thought if they can get them going properly they can make a few quid. I took them round.

At this point there is a chair involved but trust me, it gets back to television later.

Someone had donated an office chair. A very nice black faux leather one with deep padding. The sort of chair you sit in while stroking a cat and saying ‘So, Mr. Bond, this time you are fucked’.

It didn’t have the fire safety tag so they couldn’t sell it to me (damn!) but my friend, as staff, could take it away for a tiny donation.

So he said ‘Are you around when I finish work at 3?’ and I said ‘No, I start work at 3’.

We decided the best option was to put the chair in my car and I’d take it to his house after work.

So that’s what happened.

At his house after 9 pm I delivered the chair in exchange for a coffee and a look at TV. He had his on as always, tuned to the Horror Channel that shows scary films. I had no idea this channel existed.

I have decided to get a TV. Might not be immediate but there is a horror channel…

Responsibility

The Budget, otherwise known as ‘screw you all day’, was today. I don’t care enough to look at it yet. Predictably it was a load of money-grabbing bollocks as usual. Politicians justify their imagined importance by stealing money from people who do real work and who make real things. It has always been thus, and always will be.

On the radio there is much that makes me say ‘Oh just fuck off’. I hear it at work. I did indeed buy a radio for home, it’s been on twice and the first time was to check it worked. One day I might go for a new fangled TV talking picture thing… but it is not this day!

There was a personal trainer hoping to make his fortune on the back of the latest NHS shite about exercise for the over 40s. We’re all flabby and at Death’s door so we need a personal trainer to push us all into cardiac arrest. Think of the money the NHS would save if everyone over 40 was dead!

I bet there are 39 year olds thinking this is a good idea, you know. The stupidity is all pervasive now.

The NHS in Scotland want to check everyone over 40 for dementia. Okay, it can hit early but that’s rare. Very rare. Checking every 40 year old is a 99.9% waste of time and money. It’s a very good way to round up dissidents though.

Wouldn’t it save the NHS so much money if everyone over 40 was dead? Has everyone seen or read ‘Logan’s Run’? Sure it was down to 30 by then but they have to start somewhere.

I have so much more but I’m trying to make it up before it becomes real.

The life of a rock star

I have been in the process of cleaning up the flat. After having been left to it’s own devices for some time the flat was starting to look a bit grubby. So doing a bit of cleaning every day has started to show off.
Now am I the only one who finds vacuum cleaner bags a pain in the arse to get? My local shop used to sell the bags to my trusty Nilfisk but now when I was all out and had an invasion of dust bunnies I couldn’t find them anywhere. I was in several shops before I gave up and did what I should have started out with, I ordered them online.

I got new bedding to the hedgehog. I know it’s the wild life of rock n roll. Yeah Baby! His kind is apparently allergic to ceder and fir tree so it can be a real pain finding bedding to him as a lot of the sawdust packs to pets just has an ingredient list that says : Wood. I mean I’m not a complete idiot. I didn’t think it was made of stone or teddies. I’m just the weirdo who what to know what type of wood is in it. I mean wood is a pretty broad term to use when you’re looking to avoid certain types. Don’t even get me started on his food. In the end I found some that was made out of hemp so that is what he’s walking around in now. Leggy suggested that I give him some rolling paper too.

We did almost get a new family member. No not a baby. My close friend has a gorgeous little Cairn terrier named Anton. He is the happiest dog I’ve ever met and we totally love each other. But my friend’s daughter is more of a cat person so they’ve taken in two kittens from the wild cat that came with the house. So of course the child is over the moon about the kittens and so Anton has been forgotten a bit which made him rather depressed. He was moping around and wouldn’t really leave his bed. So my friend was asking me if maybe I could adopt him seeing as we are so happy together. But all he needed to get his mojo back was a visit and he is now back to his happy self. I’m really glad he’s back to normal and get to stay with his family, but a small part of me is a bit sad I didn’t get to adopt him.
Susie has been a bit frustrated. I bought Sims 4 from some Christmas gift money so my lap has been occupied by the laptop rather a lot. Of course me being me I started out creating Slutty Sim and made it my goal to see how weird I could make their family tree. She ended up getting 9 children with 3 different men and her eldest daughter ended up marrying her step father and having an affair and getting a love child with her step sisters step brother. It was very strange. Yet another reason why I shouldn’t be god. There’d be a lot of webbed fingered banjo players out there before I got bored of that.

Now going back to the cleaning I have a trick taught to me by the Mothership that I figured I’d share with you guys. If you drink a lot of tea like me or coffee like Leggy you may know about how the mugs after a while starts looking all brown and grubby inside. Now what you can do is to wet the mug, then take a kitchen sponge moist it and the add about a tea spoon of salt on to it. Then you just scrub inside the mug like you were cleaning it with soap. It may take a bit of pressure and sometimes the scrubby side is best. Then when you’re done you just wash the mug and Bam! it’s as good as new. I’ve even taken pictures of the process TV shop style.

Today’s music is inspired by cd’s I got for my birthday and Christmas. I was very lucky and got all the cd’s that I had put on my wishlist so I was a very happy camper. I may soon have to find a new storage place though as my current shelves are starting to fill up. But that’s a problem for future Steffie.

Florence + The Machine – Ship to wreck

I was sure I’d put this one on before but a quick search didn’t show anything. I got their album How Big How Blue How Beautiful and I absolutely love it. One of my favourites.

Lana Del Rey – Music to watch boys to

I have her debut album on vinyl and I’ve heard it so many times. It is beautiful. So when I got her two new albums on cd I was very happy. I’m not entirely sure what I think of Honeymoon yet. It seems very much the same all the way through. I’m hoping it’s one of those that win you over after a few plays

The Pierces – Secret

Now this is a cd where I’ve heard almost all of the songs loads of times. They always feature on my music streaming service play lists and somehow I just never got around to buying the album. But now I have it and it can live cozy in my collection.

Sara Evans – Suds in the bucket

Now this is pretty much as country as you can get. At least in my head but I am still a fan and was very excited about the 5 cd collection I’ve got.

The Brothers Bright – Blood on my name

Now this is one I haven’t got in my collection. I haven’t been able to find it anywhere but I absolutely love this song and I’ve been playing it like a mad woman. And yes, I totally found it watching The Blacklist. That scene was so awesome!

Godt nytår!

Happy New Year to each and every one of you. May 2016 be a great one. 2015 started out rather crappy but it ended on a good note. Leggy was my kitchen bitch for once after days of returning home to dinner in the oven. I may be spoiling the bugger. Kevin made the grand menu of prawn cocktails with salmon and homemade dressing and for the main he’d made lasagna. He knows my favourites so I was a very happy girl. Then he’d made sure the bar was stocked with raspberry vodka so I ended up a happy and slightly drunk girl. It was the first time Leggy got to see the phenomenon of me being drunk so he leaned back with a whiskey and watched the show. Well until the point where he had to confiscate his phone. Apparently asking the son if he’d be my bridesmaid and wear a pink dress wasn’t within the limits of our budding family bond. Next year….

Leggy got me a pack of penguin chocolate cookies that you can decorate yourself with melted chocolate and sprinkles but the box says you need adult supervision when melting chocolate so we’ve been at a standstill. Can you rent an adult? Would a hooker count as adult supervision?

I’d brought over the birthday money so the Viking was let loose in the city. Or more accurately I ripped things down from shelves in Primark and Poundworld. I got lots of new much needed clothes and a ton of not so needed nail polishes. I should be a tad ashamed but I’m not. The grandfather build me a nail polish rack last year and I’m already in need of a new one. So I have three New Year’s resolutions. The first is the same as the last two years; read more books than I buy. I’m not sure if I managed that last year. I didn’t get past my 25 books in a year goal. I made it to 23 so it wasn’t too bad. The second is to blog more as I’ve been falling a bit off that wagon and the third is to try to use all the new polishes at least once during the new year. I did manage to chop a big dent into a finger when chopping mushrooms for the Christmas dinner so I’ve been on a nail painting break until it grows out. My nails did need a break anyway after making it to day 17 of the Christmas daily nail art challenge. A daily polish removal by acetone isn’t the best for your nails. But it was fun and a great challenge.

Birthday of a viking

Birthday week started out with the invasion of the Scottish Friday night. He came carrying gifts so he was let in. What girl doesn’t like gifts? Saturday was the big family test. It started out with brunch. I’d invited the family and my dear friend to my all time favourite brunch place. There was a big brunch buffet with bacon enough to feed an army and we got a secluded corner all to ourselves. After that it was coffee and cake at parents’ house. Here at birthdays you can get what’s called a Cakeman, which is a big Danish pastry like cake shaped as a man, or in my case a woman, and decorated with marzipan and pieces of sweets. Later in the evening when all the guests had left mum made a pork roast with all the trimmings.

Sunday was the day of films and rest. Monday I dragged Leggy with me to town for a bit of shopping and lunch. He got tobacco and I of course found some nail polish I just had to own. Then we went to my favorite burger place, The American Diner. I seldom go there as I always end up eating like a pig but will be fed for the rest of the day. Tuesday was the end of the invasion and the day of “are you sure you have enough to eat?” or the day I sounded like my mother.
Wednesday the Mothership and I met up for a few hours of more shopping and then we went to this steak place for birthday dinner.

Gift vise I was a very lucky girl.The left picture is the gifts from Leggy along with the Tropical nail stamping plates on the right picture. Besides what’s seen in the pictures I also got a Dr Who t-shirt, a beauty advent calendar and money. I was very amazed and happy. The gifts were much more than I’d ever dreamed about and it was some absolutely amazing days spent with Leggy and family.

So this week’s music is a bit random. Or very random. I’ve been thinking for a while about doing this on the blog and I figured the birthday post would be the perfect opportunity to give you guys a sneaky unfiltered peek into my personal play list. So the “game” was simple. I took my playlist on my music app, put it on shuffle and let it choose five songs. Only rules were no skips, unless it had already been on the blog or an artist showed up more than once. Ain’t nobody got time for 3 Taylor Swift songs. I thought it was a very fun idea until I saw my selection. So here are 5 songs I listen to.

Mark Ronson ft Bruno Mars – Uptown funk

Goldfrapp – Ooh La La

Taylor Swift – Love Song

Avicii – Wake Me Up

The La’s – There She Goes

Which songs will you guys get?

Little things

I work in pretty much any scale. Lately I have been engaged in big models.

These are most of the remaining 1/24th scale trucks. I sold some, especially trailers, to raise cash. Hillman’s Transfer is a real company in Nova Scotia. Just so you know it’s not a vanity thing.

The silver/blue Scania was my first ever attempt at this scale and it needs some repair. The flatbed trailer isn’t finished, it’s still in grey primer. Nightwing is a one-off made from a Daf cab unit and it and the Opel fire truck have both been converted to right hand drive. I might sell those.

Really though, my interest is in the tiny stuff. I didn’t think I could do it any more. I thought my eyes had gone. Recently though, I started on a 6m cm long N gauge bus and it’s coming along nicely. It’s in the background of the sparkly truck you’ll hear more of later.

But I went further. I went back to when I was painting eyes on Dungeons and Dragons figurines and putting ear wax in 1/35th scale soldiers. I have an Austin van made of whitemetal for N gauge. It is just under 2 cm long. It currently looks like this – I can’t get a good photo but W. M. Blood and Family Butcher are legible . Next I will glaze the windows. I have a trick that will do it. And yes, I did paint the door handles.

This model isn’t finished (are they ever?) but will go on eBay soon. I don’t intend to keep it, I have others to make.

I have new tiny model tricks to share that have come from our resident nail art genius. I’m in a new world of tiny models again.

Yet I must still sell off the N gauge trains. Getting those buggers back on the tracks drives me nuts.

 

 

Kitbuilding

I have three bottles of nail polish and it is the start of a collection.

No, I have not gone all strange and despite the funny looks I get browsing the cosmetic section in Poundland, I have plain ordinary nails with no adornments.

I’m no stranger to the cosmetic counter. The big fluffy brushes are ideal for applying Carr’s weathering powders and those little abrasive sticks are perfect for taking off the bits left after removing a piece from a sprue. It’s where I found tweezers with a light in them and I’ve idly browsed there for many years. Yet there is so much more there and I have been introduced to it now.

You can buy brilliants (little glass gems) for headlights for models but you’ll pay about a pound for five or six. Nail art suppliers on eBay will sell you about 3000 for £2. They do just the same thing – nothing – they are just sparkly glass.

Nail art brushes are available in a big set for bugger all money on eBay and they are ideal for small models. Yer actual model brushes are seriously expensive for the tiny ones, but these are so cheap you could use them once and throw them away. Naturally, all this time spent among the Scots means I won’t do that. Even so, I won’t be upset when one wears out.

Some years back I made and sold a model of smokers in a Jaguar to raise money to help out Amusing Bunni. I had started on another but sadly she passed away before I finished. I put the model aside. Later, things happened that made me lose interest in models altogether. I lost interest in my garden, in writing, in pretty much everything. I became a machine who worked to pay the bills and not much more.

Now it’s all coming back. Apart from the garden, because you don’t get those in an upstairs flat. The model making is back big time. The writing is coming too, there will be a story here for Halloween.

I have been working my way back into model making starting with an N gauge bus. At 6 cm long, it’s an exercise in patience and determination but it’s getting there. Some tiny vehicles to get me in the mood.

And the nail polish? It’s a modeller’s dream. You can do so much with this that you cannot do with modern acrylics. It’s as if a whole new range of paint options just opened up.

I have revived some part-done models (I’ll get to the sub, it’ll happen) and picked up where I left off with others. The model building station is smack in the middle of my living room, where it should be. It looks like this, clipped to hide the shambles I naturally live amongst.

In the background are some other things I’m working on again but the truck is the main thing here. It’s a 1/72 scale fire truck but it won’t be that when it’s done. I have not yet decided on flatbed, dropside or box van. Box would be best, I think.

Clicking the pic should get you a better look. It’s painted with acrylics then dabbed with a sponge coated with sparkly nail polish as tipped by our resident nail art genius. You can get nail art sponges but I used bits ripped off a kitchen sponge, then hit with a sticky lint roller to avoid getting spongy bits in the paint.

Splatter the nail polish on the sponge, one dab on a bit of spare plastic gets most of the big sparkles off and then dab the model until it’s as sparkly as you want. Careful, overdoing it will take off the acrylic paint.

The window glazing is just a clear box display window cut to fit and stuck in with clear nail polish (they call it top and base coat). That clear polish is thick and glossy and at £1 for 10 ml it’s cheaper than acrylic clear varnish too. One tip – as soon as you feel the brush start to pull, stop and reload the brush. Otherwise it will take off all the work you’ve done.

I know, I should be ranting about antismokers and antidrinkers and anti all the rest and I will be, but for now I’m kitbuilding.

You know, that little bus needs an advert on the side. I can print decals so it can be anything. Smoking is cool. Booze is good for you. Fruit gives you piles.

I think I’ll put it up for sale when it’s done, with the choice of side advert entirely up to the buyer. Could earn me a few pennies.

Could even be the start of a new career…

Damn that television

I know, some of you think I died or ran away to an internet-free zone or something. I’m fine. Working a seven day week while dealing with the complexities of moving house and other stuff put a damper on blogging. I have time off again.

We have a new Secret Ninja Cleaner to replace Mopzilla. And a new allegedly fierce manager whose evening shifts will be Monday and Tuesday. I won’t be too surprised to be not working Monday and Tuesday in the future. I have a feeling there was a conversation that ended ‘Keep him out of the way’.

Anyway, television. I don’t have one. Well I do, it’s a flatscreen but it’s analogue so it’s only good for playing DVD and VHS. I cannot receive live transmissions at the moment, I don’t even have a radio.

There was once, and maybe still is, an American band called ‘Television‘. I saw them on the Old Grey Whistle Test one long-ago student night. Those of my age will remember Whispering Bob. But I digress.

I have lived in this flat for just over a month. Changing the council tax was surprisingly easy. I filled in an online form and I have a 25% ‘sad loner’ discount. They phoned me to arrange it all. Easy.

Electricity was not so easy. It’s turned so complex it’ll be another post one day.

Today it’s television, the one I don’t have. What I do have is four unopened letters from the licence Nazis and a note saying they tried to call at 4 pm one idiotic day when nobody is likely to be home no matter what they work. They say they have rescheduled the visit but won’t say when so I won’t be home then either.

Their little threatening letter demanded to know why I had not responded to their letters. Simple. I haven’t opened any of them yet. TV licensing is not a priority when you have no TV. There is a Sky dish and aerial on the outside of the flat but neither are connected to anything inside.

So I tried phoning the number to tell them I have no TV, and after getting through the viciously friendly recorded menu I found they had nobody available to talk to me. I expect there will be more letters I won’t open because there is no point. I have no TV and they aren’t interested in hearing about it.

Well here’s one for the TV licencing idiots. A song that impresses me with its guitar persistence. It is in general a pretty song anyway, and considering the shite that passes for most TV now, really quite accurate.