Revolutionary Rants

Ferris is now a proper dog! Well, he’s always been a proper dog as such, but now he can walk out on the road! We took him out this morning before Chicken went to work, which we think may become a daily thing, as ti was so beautiful today. Crisp, cold and really woke us up! I’ve just taken him out again down “dog walk lane” as we all call this particular country road and he loved it down there. He also met Brillo, a lovely little JRT who was one inspiration to me (along with a family friend’s dog, Holly) when choosing a Russell.

Oh well, work calls. Chicken has a long weekend this week, with Friday and Monday off. We’re going to take Ferris out and about in North Devon and do nothing in particular. Oh, and celebrate Dad’s birthday on Saturday. Lush.

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Also, having spent some of my yoof in Eire, I feel I must draw your attention to this story. You thinks that’s bad, no doubt, but Dustin used to regularly release material whislt we lived in the Emerald isle, including a reprise of Rat Trap with Geldof and a twisted Chirstmas version of a one-hit wonder called Lemon Tree… Oh the hell of it. He was also a fowl-mouthed (pun intended), right-wing, Bertie-supporting supposed Dublin builder of a character. On kids TV… Now the Eurovision awaits… Still, can’t be a shite as Riverdance, can it?

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The weekend felt far too short this week. I worked early on Saturday and Chicken stayed in bed for a little lie-in. When I got back we had to head out to the evil capitalist shop for provisions for the week. The rest of the day was passed cursing Taylor and his horrific tackle , playing with Ferris, watching rugby and being generally dozy.

Yesterday the weather had decided to be grumpy and as we plan to take Ferris out a good bit next weekend for some of his first proper walks, we had a quiet one. We removed a bookcase from upstairs, tidied generally, cooked and played on our computers. The daffodiles are amazing in the garden, so Ferris and I picked some for us and Mum. I also watched Lewis, which is back for a new series. It was a little bit grating this time, too much trying to be Inspector Morse and not enough self-identity.

We were thinking of our holidays over the weekend and think we’ll try to be carbon friendly this year – and dog friendly. We plan a camping trip to Cornwall, a visit to North Yorkshire and Herriot country (both with Fer), Paris of course (which we are doign as per by Eurostar not plane) and a visit to Amsterdam (again by train not flight). Plus of course, we’ll have plenty of time at home in our own beautiful county.

One exciting thing (well, for us!) is that Mr C managed to teach Ferris how to “lie down”. I hadn’t managed so far so that was excellent!

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Ferris had his second jab yesterday, so in just one week (well, now six days) he can go out in to the world for walks and the like. Hooray, very exciting. He has put on nearly a kilo since arriving and is growing fast. He is still the chew king, but things are improving with consistency, as they do with dogs.

I have had a quiet start to the week, with one day off on toil (time I’ve already worked over the previous months) and two days changed hours, as I am working the next three days instead of my usual Monday through to Thursday.

Otherwise things are quiet, the weather is dry but today it is also grey.

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According to a new study – Politics, Policy and the Internet by Robert Colvile – the BNP’s website is the most popular in politics. It is twice as popular as the Tories site, and also beats the Lib Dems and New Labour, by gaining 51% of all web traffic to party sites last year.

I’ve been there, whilst researching my previously mentioned article. It has that feeling of being a dangerous search term, a bit like looking for how to build a bomb, a bit like being cheeky and having a look at some porn. It is a similar taboo, a similar searrch for clarification on what the site is really like. Can they really be saying that, thinking that? Yes, they can and they do. I think that is basically why they manage to get so many visitors, after all we all know what New Labour is saying daily, we hear a lot about the Tories and Liberals, also. Even smaller mainstream parties like the Greens hold no mystery for us, we know, albeit roughly, what they say and it is all fairly palletable. Not so the word of the BNP, meaning their site gives us an easy way to see what they actually say (not a media representation) without actually having to face the reality of it all. With the web we have instant access and we can leave as instantly; shut it off, cut it out forget they are out there.

Hardly surprising then that they get so many popping in…

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I am not going to say anything about the football, not least because my team didn’t actually seem to play any football last night. The shower of sh*te that they are… 4-0, jeez…

Ferris is doing well. He has discovered the garden (a high a precarious sort of green patch on the hill side above the house) and also the velcro straps on my shoes. Both discoveries have asssited him in his latest rounds of naughtiness. He is chewing everything in sight – as puppies do -and gets particularly excited when down at the parental home. This is probably due to the fact that Dexter, our now ancient sheep-dog/German shepard sort of cross pooch, lives down there. He seems quite good training-wise, liking “sit” best and “drop” least… He is growing fast, as well.

It has been beautiful weather so far this weekend, although cold with it. Dad has retovated our allotment and it wasn’t too damp, so that’s good.

Yesterday was spent lazily and not sure how today will pan out, but the black dog seems to have gone up to the garden with Ferris and got lost somewhere up there, and that’s even with the fact that for somke reason I support Arsenal.

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With my navel-gazing today I forgot to say:

Come on you Gunners!

Hee hee. See, definitely not all bad in life!

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The day I handed in my Masters dissertation in York it was pouring with rain, non-stop. The opposite of today, here and now it is beautiful crisp sunshine, then our feet were soaked wet and I had to buy a new winter coat so cold had it become since we left Huddersfield that morning by train.

It all seemed to reflect my mood, as I cried, confused and highly anxious in the upstairs of Cafe Nero. It was so different from the hope and excited twisting in my stomach that I had felt on handing in my BA dissertation. I knew that was good, I knew I had loved writing it, researching it and felt passionate about every word. My whole MA felt flat in comparison and my dissertation was the first piece of academic work I had to force myself through since I was studying for my Junior Cert.

I wasn’t sure why I was so upset back then in Nero. I was tired and it all felt like an utter anticlimax, of course, and I had just gone through a year in Reading a place I didn’t like and where I hadn’t landed in a fabulous job as I had hoped with my fabulous degree to help me. Now, I think I was crying because I was saying goodbye to the person I had been since I set out from Knockbeha in 2001, I cried over the passing of ‘Jess the student’. There was no PhD funding around so now I had to face a life time of being a grown-up. Scary stuff.

So here I am: an adult. It has not been a good week, the black dog lurks somewhere around, scarily close to my lovely Jack Russell. But on the other hand I heard that I would (probably, almost certainly) be getting a permanent job. I have a house, a dog, a car, a supportive family and someone who i live with who loves me very much (poor sod – he knew ‘Jess the student’ and I am sure she was more exciting), so it can’t all be bad, can it?

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Why do men people put ‘Baby on Board’ stickers in their supposedly-knob-enhancing cars back windows and then drive at 80 mph gesturing at those who do not? Who is more of a threat to your baby? Me, driving along at the speed limit in my small car or you driving in a big idiot murder wagon at huge speed and with your hands and eyes off the road???

I wonder…

And another thing – why use those bloody stickers at all, it is not like I am any more likely to go ‘shit, mustn’t crash in to that car and kill all the occupants, there is a baby on board‘ is it?

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Just a visual post today. We took Ferris to Arlington Court – our local National Trust stately home – for a ‘carried walk’ (as the guy at the entrance said “who is taking who for a walk?!”) to keep up his seeing new things. Here he is with Chicken with a statue of a terrier (by the look of it) called Memory.

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