bike day 2.0

Sherlock got most of his bike gear for Christmas...got his helmet...so we arranged a little surprise. L and Mycroft and I set off into the cold and the wet, and eventually met Sherlock and Mrs Hudson near Harrow so Sherlock could have his first ride in real traffic without it being in the middle of London.

And so I could practice with Mycroft on the back of my bike, and in poor weather, in an effort to make L feel a bit less nervous about my abilities. And also obviously because I do need the practice, but he does occasionally give me this concerned look that makes me feel as if I ought to be asking permission before I ride in the rain.

It was cold. It was wet. I may have mention that already, but the cold and wet featured prominently in our day and bear repeating. At one point I thought my fingers might never uncurl, just be frozen permanently in handle bar gripping position.

Not cold enough, of course, because it's still rain and not the S word.

late night tea

We're both unable to sleep at the same time for once. Makes a nice change, having company. Except for knowing we'll both be tired tomorrow instead of just one of us. I was asleep for a bit at least, dreaming about being in a helicopter, going over endless dry dirt, no rivers, no trees, no people or animals. Just dirt and dust and empty trucks stopped dead in the middle of dirt roads. I think I'd rather be awake.

L's doing paperwork and had half a folder spread out over my leg so when I woke up I caused a small paper avalanche. Left him to clean it up while I made tea. So now we're awake in the middle of the night with tea which is, in my opinion, better than without, and with chocolate biscuits, autopsy reports, and crime scene photos. Sherlock would love it.

Sometimes life produces moments that are so unexpectedly nice that I find them almost shocking. I'd never have thought, before I met L, that insomnia and paperwork - even someone else's - could be combine into anything better than mild irritation. But, shared with him (and tea), it turns into something different. Contentment maybe. That's a good word.

I'm still not used to it. Maybe I never will be. 

christmas photos

Happy Christmas, everyone. I hope it was a good one. It certainly was for us. I'm too tired to give a full report, but it had all the usual desired components - good food and people we care for. Lestrade outdid himself with dinner, and Mrs Holmes, Mycroft, and Sherlock created some new version of Cluedo understandable only to them. 

Here's a picture from a while ago (you can tell by the blue sky). Someone had hung one of the trees with these two little baubles. 

And here's a close up of our tree with massive sparkly snowflake. 

Jumper report: Mrs Hudson knit me a very nice jumper. It's mainly cream with red cuffs and collar, and some cabling stuff in the middle and on the sleeves. I think it's lovely, and not too Christmassy. Should be able to wear it all winter if L doesn't make off with it and bury it somewhere... 

And now, everything is cleaned up, Sherlock and Mycroft are asleep, and L is waiting for me in bed while I blog like someone who has nothing better to be doing, when clearly I do, so...good night. 

and a pear in a partridge tree

I said I'd post a picture of my bauble today, since L posted his yesterday and vividly described Sherlock's for you. It's just a little bird. I think I had a bird last year too.

Not like that. I know what you're all thinking, especially you, L.

Mycroft's are in the background. He got a bunch of tiny little pears and berries on wires that you can weave into the branches. Very tasteful. 

The persistent cold and damp hasn't been doing my shoulder any good, but today was mostly an inside day, except for walking the dogs (and Sherlock). Tea, a good book, an endless supply of baked goods from Mrs Hudson's flat, both boys relatively calm... 

Of course, there was the inevitable moment when we got back from the walk and both dogs and Sherlock tried to shake themselves dry at the same time, and Mycroft had to curl over his computer to keep it dry and the resultant you did that on purpose / you were SITTING THERE on purpose. It's convenient that sibling fights don't actually have to make sense. Otherwise you'd run out of things to argue about eventually. 

the world didn't end

We had only minor apocalypses during Sherlock's play, thankfully. He did very well, and we were very proud to watch him, especially the violin piece he played at the beginning. Lestrade also played very well, and we were proud of him as well...especially when he caught the goat.

The kings were following a star, you see, and by star I mean a spotlight with an inexplicably purple gel on it. The gel was positioned wrong, started to smoke...maybe some small flames. I went to turn it off while Mrs N dealt with panicky children. L insists the goat was coming right for me and he manfully wrestled it to the ground, and good thing too, since I was without my goat proof pants.

After a few tears and excited shrieks from the kids, things calmed down a little, and Mrs N got them back on track. They actually finished the play. I was impressed. Sherlock came up to me afterward and said, very proudly, 'None of that was my fault!'

And then there was cake. And later, mulled wine. It was very nice. Mrs H had some and measured me quite thoroughly for the jumper she's knitting. More thoroughly than I have every been measured before. And more unnecessarily too, since she took my measurements two weeks ago... She also showed us a corner of it. Seems to be mainly cream coloured with cables and some red bits. I don't think even L will be able to object! 

shipping forecast

This will be short because I should be asleep...but I startled myself awake by falling out of bed, hitting the floor...and then trying to hit the floor. It hit me first. So I'm up for a while. Cleaned up a bit more glitter.

And then I remembered a long ago blog conversation about the shipping forecast and wondered if it were on youtube. It is.

tree buying

I'd point out that my BMW is winning the poll, but that seems unkind to Lestrade, who was responsible for a very enjoyable time last night, so I won't.

The room was really impressively nice, with its odd hanging cage bed and comfortable sofa. In my limited experience, room service usually isn't very nice even when they manage to get it up to your room before it's cold. It still seemed preferable to going out, but I was not expecting anything to write home (or blog) about. It was really good though, in particular the dessert, as L said. Calvados pannacotta, blackberries, caramelized apples, and salted caramel ice cream. Wow.

It was incredibly strange not to be awakened by a flying tackle from Sherlock early the next morning, but I think we could get used to it. Slept in until eight, which is about right as far as I'm concerned and criminally late for Lestrade. Nice lunch, home, picked up Sherlock from school...and then the Christmas tree.

We went to a tree farm to cut down our own this year. Sherlock had a check list regarding height, width, colour, needle quality, etc. It took two solid hours, not counting the drive there and back. Got home, got it up and mainly straight, and L had to rush off because he was nearly late to work by then.

I tried to be restrained with the tinsel this year, partially for L and Mycroft's sakes, and partially because the enormous wreath Mrs Hudson and Sherlock did is already so extremely sparkly that any more sparkle in or around our flat might cause some sort of sparkle implosion and result in a black hole that would suck all the glitter out of the world. 

disappearing act

If you've read the comments in L's blog, you'll have seen that Mycroft and Carla gave us the slip today. Not just us, but security as well. They lost us in the crowds of manic Christmas shoppers at Harrods. They let us know they were okay after a while, and then apparently went ice skating and had hot chocolate.

I'm...torn on how to feel about it, and what to do about it. He's a teenager now. He's obviously going to want more freedom than he's had, and it's a reasonable thing to want. I don't know how much he can reasonably have. Need to talk to his mum about that. There's got to be some kind of balance between keeping him safe and letting him grow up. Probably should've done it before now, really.

Apart from that, we all had a nice day, despite the crowds. A bit of shopping (all right, more than a bit), lunch out. L spent at least an hour trying to convince me I wanted an earring after we walked by a piercing place. Nearly gave in, but I'm sure I don't need any more holes in my head than I already have.  Pretty sure.

Sherlock asked, idly, if he could get his tongue pierced. We're going to be in so much trouble when he hits fifteen or sixteen. 

bits and pieces

L's mobile had a small accident today. He brought it home for Mycroft to dissect. Mycroft let Sherlock help him, and it kept both of them occupied for quite a while after dinner, almost right up to Sherlock's bedtime. No idea what he wants with phone innards, but I'm sure he'll do something interesting with them. 

RIP

andromeda project

Hello, this is Mycroft. 

I've just been reading about the Andromeda Project, and I thought some of you might be interested. It lets you help astronomers identify star clusters in the Andromeda galaxy, as well as distant galaxies viewed through it. 

The project aims to identify star clusters in our neighboring galaxy, also known as M31. All it takes to find the clusters in Andromeda is an Internet-enabled computer and a desire to help, said Anil Seth, the team's lead investigator. "No special training is required," he said.

The Andromeda galaxy is the one nearest to our own and also the most distant object you can see in the night sky without a telescope. It was first mentioned in writing in 964 by a Persian astronomer named Abd al-Rahman al Sufi, who described it as a 'little cloud' in his Book of Fixed Stars. 

It's also on a collision course with the Milky Way, destined to arrive in roughly five billion years. Not particularly relevant to us, since our sun will most likely have cooled and expanded by then to a point where it will have swallowed up Mercury, Venus, and possibly our planet, too, so if we're not off Earth by then, Andromeda will be the least of our worries. Still interesting though. 

This is a picture of the Antennae Galaxies colliding. They intersected about 200 to 300 million years ago, and the process is still continuing today.

they cannot look out far, they cannot look in deep

We left this morning to go and visit Nicky and her family and Lestrade's mum. Left the boys at Nicky's house, went to the hospital...had a very quiet visit. Clearly quieter than L expected. Quieter than I expected, to be honest. She barely said a word.

Nice lunch with everyone afterward, and then the drive home. Sherlock entertained everyone for a while with various videos he found on youtube and then fell asleep. Mycroft told us a bit about his and Carla's plans for next weekend. He said we can fit it all in if everyone keeps to the schedule. L asked him what he thought the chances of that were. He said about 17%. I'm pretty sure there'll be ice skating though, at least.

We played Cluedo this evening, which ended as well as you might expect, with the board overturned and pieces all over the room. Sherlock insisted his character didn't do it and that we had no evidence...

And then Lestrade casually mentioned that next Sunday is...well, a sort of anniversary for us. I'm really bad at remembering dates. Even when the event in question was extremely memorable. I love him every day, sometimes so much it's almost frightening to me. Certainly more than I ever thought I was capable of. I hope that makes up for it. We've got a date for next Sunday if Mrs Hudson can look after Sherlock. Which, given her willingness to aid and abet on previous dates, seems extremely likely. I'll ask her in the morning, which is coming all too soon. 

friday

Lestrade and I dropped Sherlock off at school this morning, completely failed to run afterward, went home and had coffee until it was time to go and get Mycroft. It's always such a mess when it's time for them to go home - boys, bags, parents, and cars all over the place. The dogs generally clear some space around us, but even so, it's quite an experience. 

L got cornered by a boy a couple of years older than Mycroft who wanted to know every single thing about his bike's engine. I wouldn't have thought there was that much to say (it's a small engine!), but they were talking the entire time we were packing up luggage and dogs. Just before we left, the kid said my bike was nice too, but that he thought Triumph made a 'superior product'... 

Oh, and if you missed the comment, Anthea said she might ride with one of us next time. Nice to be preferred to two large, slobbery dogs. ;)

It's lovely to have Mycroft home again. Sherlock is, of course, once again outraged that he's still in school while Mycroft's not, but the Christmas show is distracting him. Mycroft wants to see the Churchill War Rooms, so we'll probably do that sometime in the week when Sherlock's at school. He's reading Churchill's history of the second world war right now, and I may be reading it too, soon. The parts he's shown me are interesting. 

He showed me this, too: bombsight.org, which marks where the bombs fell in London during the Blitz. When you zoom out, it looks like a solid red splotch and seems a miracle the city wasn't entirely wiped off the map.

And now, as they say, for something completely different:

"When a magnitude 6.8 earthquake shook Olympia, Wash., in 2001, shopowner Jason Ward discovered that a sand-tracing pendulum had recorded the vibrations in the image above."

going fast, slowly

Sherlock's mum picked him up from school today and took him to get cake. I gather she was regaled with every last detail regarding the Christmas show, including the colour of lights he wants on his halo. He also got her to sign a contract saying she'd be there. It covers a number of contingencies, including alien invasion, zombie apocalypse, and nuclear war. In all cases, she is expected to attend the show, even if some of Sherlock's classmates attempt to eat her brain.

With all this time on my hands, I helped Mrs Hudson bake:

Went for a run. Thought about some things, which didn't turn out as badly for me as it usually does. Cleaned the kitchen, waded around in Sherlock's room to make sure  there was nothing growing in there that shouldn't be. And had the following exchange of texts with Anthea:

Me: are you coming to christmas dinner?

A: what's in it for me

Me: the opportunity to wash a lot of dishes after

A: you mean make my minions wash a lot of dishes

Me: thought you said they weren't your minions

A: reconsidering. may need to start life of supervillany, in which case minions necessary 

I think Harrow may be getting to her. 

And lastly, here is a cheetah running very fast...very slowly.

back to the future

Delorean taxi

The linked article says it's not real, sadly - I mean that it doesn't exist as a taxi, not just that it doesn't really take you back in time.

Sherlock's class had auditions for the Christmas show today. Sherlock wants to be an angel with a light up halo. A dancing angel. Possibly breakdancing. Probably not on the head of a pin, but nothing would surprise me. He's also got a violin piece to play at the start of the show, along with two of his classmates, who I believe are playing cello and harp.

On the way home, he said he wants to invite Molly and Sally to come to the show  as well - but only if he gets the part. Heh. I need to ask Mrs N how many guests we're allowed to bring. There are quite a few of us already.

And I need to start Christmas shopping in a very serious way. What are you all getting your mums this year? Any ideas I can steal?

-

I'm not going to continue the poetry indefinitely, but I realised I didn't do any haiku at all. So here's this, by Issa.


In this world
we walk on the roof of hell
gazing at flowers.