What are you doing right now?

[Mrs Pingu]

Watching BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year.
These people are disgustingly talented. 

[lou boutin]

Chundering bitterly about being tired and having taught 9.30 to 5 today, I'm teaching again 1 to 5 tomorrow and 9 to 12 on Wednesday. Then on Thursday I have a full day of back to back meetings.  Not quite sure when I'm going to have time to do the work I need to do this week :-(

[andrewc]

 Back home sipping Glenmorangie.


Saturday I got up & had a large buffet breakfast before walking to the Stephansdom for a look around. After that the rest of the day was spent in the Albertina.  They had a large Monet exhibition, which took up a lot of my time, then onto the permanent collection & staterooms.  Goulash for dinner at a place next to the hotel.


Sunday I forgot to set my alarm so was a bit late getting up.  This meant I was late getting to the Breugel exhibition https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/oct/01/pieter-bruegel-the-elder-review-kunsthistorisches-museum-vienna   My ticket said 10:10 & I arrived at 10:50, this got me a disapproving look.  THe exhibition was superb, but frustrating & annoying.  You had to shuffle around the room trying to get a good look at each painting or print.  Breugel is all about the tiny detail, so its several minutes in front of each.  And the noise, a sprung wooden floor , creaking & groaning like a thousand souls in torment...


After this I spent the rest of the day looking at more superb pictures, inc Durer, Rembrandt & Vermeer.    A plate of ribs at the same restaurant I ate at on Friday , then more music at the Musikverein, the Wiener Brahms Trio, whom for some numbers had 6 players.....


Monday was wet, so I mooched around the central shopping area..  I thought that Vienna is cheaper than most big European cities for food, drink & accommodation , but you could spend a lot of money here. 


So much I didn't see, so I'll have to do another trip,  but highly recommended as a place to visit.


My photos are here [size=78%]https://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewclark/albums/72157702549648541[/size] 


Hotel was https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g190454-d235666-Reviews-Hotel_Austria-Vienna.html

[ElyDave]

Thanks Andrew, I'd like to visit Vienna sometime, done Innsbruck and Salzburg areas, but not that far east.

[Joe.B]

An hour ago I went into a pub in ulversron, sort of place with flag stones on the floor, lots of real ale, no food except pork scratchings and a few locals. Sit in a quiet corner, 5 min later a chap comes in, buys a pint, sits in my quiet corner and starts tuning his mandolin. 5 min later this repeats with another bloke and another mandolin. 5 min later a woman with a penny whistle, then a couple of squeeze boxes, then another mandolin.  I'm now sat amongst a 7 piece folk band, only came in for the one but I'm quite enjoying it.

[Torslanda]

Sitting quietly, waiting for that exquisite sensation of pain as the feeling returns to the upper jaw after having three teeth extracted.

Currently at the stage where the upper lip feels like it's been scrubbed with a brillo pad. At least it's stopped bleeding - for now...

[Ham]

Courtesy of a Grauniad article, wasting time on this site https://www.vrc.crim.cam.ac.uk/vrcresearch/london-medieval-murder-map. Why are murders seven hundred years ago so fascinating?

[T42]

Try this: https://digital.nls.uk/broadsides/highlights.html

Scots broadsides from 19th cent & earlier.  Also a good time-waster.

[Beardy]

Sitting and trying to get comfortable.
I’ve ‘cricked’ my neck and no matter how I hold my head it aches and every time I move it hurts. The addition of a cold means I’ve lots of opportunity for coughing and sneezing to add a certain random excitement to my pain.
I’m feeling very sorry for myself. 

[lou boutin]

I'm sulking 

[Torslanda]

I'm sulking 

Me too. Ibuprofen is helping.

[ElyDave]

I reccomend opiates, doing wonders for me right now

[Gattopardo]

Better living through chemistry?

[T42]

Drinking tea and cogitating. MrsT is off on a 21k run, so I'm pondering the relative merits of buggering off on my bike or staying here till she gets back just in case she comes to grief. Or of course, I come to grief while she's 10k away in the other direction.

Think I'll stay here & make shavings.

[lou boutin]

I'm sulking 

Me too. Ibuprofen is helping.

I'm still sulking, I might try ibuprofen and an early night to see if that helps.

[Torslanda]

The day after and the ibuprofen is helping. Sort of.

Methinks the dentist might make a good gardener. Three roots extracted all three sockets torn.

Now gargling with J&B Rare.*






*May contain traces of 'lie'

[lou boutin]

Ouch!!

[Paul]

I’m having a great sick day. I really am sick. Woke in the small hours with a splitting headache and a churning in my intestines.

Things came to a head at around 7am with much D followed by* equal amounts of V. By 9am the fireworks were over and - feeling like chewed string - I got a bit of sleep.

(*happily. The simultaneous stuff is a logistical nightmare!)

I’m knackered, but pain-free. I’ve had tea and toast and am spending some quality time on here in a way that I rarely get to do these days. What a great forum this still is.

[Paul]

An hour ago I went into a pub in ulversron, sort of place with flag stones on the floor, lots of real ale, no food except pork scratchings and a few locals. Sit in a quiet corner, 5 min later a chap comes in, buys a pint, sits in my quiet corner and starts tuning his mandolin. 5 min later this repeats with another bloke and another mandolin. 5 min later a woman with a penny whistle, then a couple of squeeze boxes, then another mandolin.  I'm now sat amongst a 7 piece folk band, only came in for the one but I'm quite enjoying it.

That sounds wonderful. Were they good? Did they pass you a tambourine?

[T42]

Gagging in a yellow cloud of dog fart, me. Rot inwardly and foul contagion spread, etc. Milton had Labradors?

[andytheflyer]

Gagging in a yellow cloud of dog fart, me. Rot inwardly and foul contagion spread, etc. Milton had Labradors?

Ah, sorry about that.  Wondered where he'd gone.  Could you send him back to me pls?

[Ham]

[T42]

Yeah. Judging by the old adage "food in, fart out" ours never stop eating. Our two spend a lot of time in the jungle garden, and since the things you find in a real country garden aren't limited to daffodils, heart's ease and flox I reckon that's probably right. Labs' appetites have no off-switch.

[lou boutin]

I’m having a great sick day. I really am sick. Woke in the small hours with a splitting headache and a churning in my intestines.

Things came to a head at around 7am with much D followed by* equal amounts of V. By 9am the fireworks were over and - feeling like chewed string - I got a bit of sleep.

(*happily. The simultaneous stuff is a logistical nightmare!)

I’m knackered, but pain-free. I’ve had tea and toast and am spending some quality time on here in a way that I rarely get to do these days. What a great forum this still is.

I hope you feel better now Paul.


I'm down with the sniffles, which I hope will not develop into anything else.  The last time I had a cold, it turned into a chest infection which in turn became sepsis.  I do not have time for being ill over the next couple of weeks as I have three full days of teaching, several University committees, a University Christmas Lecture (panto/lecture mashup) which we do two performances of, one of my students have their mock viva (she a fab student, so just need to run through potential questions and do some confidence boosting) and a Ph.D. Viva Voce to chair.  So today is about lots of fluids, vit. C, some cold care medication and a bit of work and a lot of rest.

[ian]

Remembering I have the day off (and the rest of the week, I have to dispose of some days as I can only carry over five), but I should do some preparation for an interview next week. Which sounds like work to me. Oh and Christmas presents – I need to make something for my wife (this bit of cheapskatery ends up taking far more time and effort). Plus, tackle the woeful state of my remote command center, which has filled with boxes (when I buy something, I just can't throw the boxes away, I think it's a psychological problem – what if I need to rebox my wireless speakers, or my walking boots, or... or...) and the growing scramble of electronica that either needs to be disposed off or moved up the attic (because like boxes, I can't throw away electronic items that are clearly deprecated but still work, I mean, what if... if...). On the plus side, if I cleared up my office, I would once more be able to access my command centre sofa.

It's all, as I am sure you now understand, shaping up to be a very exciting day off.

Tomorrow I go visit my parents, which I may need to steel myself for. I should probably book some train tickets too. There's bound to be a rant in that.