I forgot I had started this post and came back to find it the next day with space Alka-seltzer already in place. Odd.
Alka-seltzer in space:
Alka-seltzer in space:
And a Tea Council advertisement from 1951:
That's not an ad so much as a way of life. And now also my phone wallpaper.
I was doing...something, maybe laundry earlier, and Sherlock fixed me
tea all by himself and brought it to me with no ulterior motives - sorry
for being so suspicious, Sherlock! It was very kind of you, and I
appreciate it.
Sherlock and I went to get tea/coffee/hot chocolate and cakes with L today. He's still missing a suspect, who's evaded a helicopter search, which seems like an impressive accomplishment. Hope he stops being so clever soon and gets caught like he should.
We have also been to the allotment and saw a man standing over a patch of barren ground, actually weeping a bit. Asked what was wrong, he responded, "Oh, it's my garlic. I'm sure it's all dead."
Sherlock has been calling him Gloomy Garlic Man and wants to get some and plant it secretly for him, but you're supposed to plant it in the autumn and I think now it would just go soggy before it had a chance to grow. We can give him some of ours, although perhaps that would just be twisting the knife?
98 comments:
I love the alka-seltzer.
It wasn't just a helicopter search - we had him! We were about to get him! And then...he did something really quite clever and very annoying and escaped.
Well done, Sherlock, for making John tea :)
I suppose 'how' is a stupid question? If you knew how, you would've got him. I really want to know though.
Oh, I know how....but I'm not going to post it on here and tell the whole internet or everyone will do it!
I shall tell you, as long as you only ever try to get away from bad guys, never the I99 :)
It'd be silly for me to try to get away from the police, you know where I live ;)
True. And who your partners in crime are.
Have you cried over any veg yet?
I came close with the chard once or twice. You?
Nearly tears of joy when something actually grew, and we'd done that. Otherwise...no.
So, Sherlock has been trained as your minion, to make you tea? You've done well there :) Think I can train him to make coffee?
He probably knows how already - he's watched you often enough. Getting him to do it on cue would be the tricky part...
mmm. Can you imagine, being woken up by him when he's a bit older - mugs of tea and coffee and a few slices of toast. Instead of being leapt on. Or experimented on.
Trying...no, can't quite imagine it yet. ;) It'd be nice though!
Did I tell you he dipped my hand in water the other morning, to see if it would make me wet myself? When I asked why he said because Mycroft always woke up before he could do it when he tried it before...
This is true.
I trust, however, that as John was not aware of such an experiment, you did not lose control over your bladder?
No, that doesn't work. It's a myth.
Happily - or you would have known all about it.
Mycroft - I do normally wake up! He caught me on a tired morning. Which he probably planned, knowing him...
Undoubtedly.
John, I do hope you didn't think I was claiming the theory was true - it is clearly completely ridiculous. I shall be informing Sherlock that he has gone down in my estimations for trying it.
I was merely confirming that I had previously woken up as he attempted to sneak up on me, armed with cups of water. Partly because his sneaking is akin to a rampaging hippo.
Undoubtedly.
John, I do hope you didn't think I was claiming the theory was true - it is clearly completely ridiculous. I shall be informing Sherlock that he has gone down in my estimations for trying it.
I was merely confirming that I had previously woken up as he attempted to sneak up on me, armed with cups of water. Partly because his sneaking is akin to a rampaging hippo.
No, just saying. A lot of people think it's true.
Then they should be eternally grateful to Lestrade for reporting the findings here for all to see.
Did the sofa arrive today?
It did. As instructed, I did not help carry it upstairs. It looks good!
And it's comfy.
And hasn't yet been covered in glitter, dog hair, degu food, etc. Just a rather lovely FME.
We're enjoying it.
Actually I would think that testing the myth rather than accepting competing arguments about it's validity is a sign of a good scientific mind. Then again, I watch the Mythbusters whenever I'm visiting family who have cable. (Do you get that show over there? I expect Sherlock would like it.)
The Alka Seltzer experiment is great. I'll be showing that to several people, I know it already.
Sounds like Sherlock is ready to expand his culinary repertoire. Cooking is just chemistry plus art, after all, and he's good at both. (I wish for you that he's the unusual child who also masters cleaning up the mess left by food prep.)
Enjoy the new sofa. It sounds quite satisfactory.
(Insert clever joke I can't think of about 'christening it to your satisfaction' here. It's a pity that apparently the masters of innuendo this blog once boasted have taken up sleeping.)
fA
RSF - I think we do sometimes get that show. Or maybe I've seen it on YouTube, not sure.
fA - He hasn't got the hang of spontaneous tidying up quite yet.
We haven't Christened the sofa, but we have wet it's head ;)
I do hope that's a phrase that translates well, otherwise some of our non-British badgers might wonder quite what you've been up to :-p
I did wonder...but then I thought if it didn't I'd love to know what they thought we might have done! ;)
We are in the park, in the sun, pretending we're healthy and do exercise.
According to the interwebs, it means to celebrate a birth with a drink? (Never heard it before, nope.)
Yeah, a new arrival, in this case :)
We're cleaning the fridge except John is cleaning it and watching Ireland against Scotland at rugby on the TV and sighing when Ireland are winning and Lestrade has got football on his laptop and isn't doing much cleaning at ALL.
You're looking at mould with your microscope!
That's IMPORTANT it might be deadly or maybe cure something and we don't know yet and I should definitely look at it because it's SCIENCE not stupid football or rugby. The only good thing is that Murray said he might come over and watch rugby with John and I like Murray he always brings good things and is fun
We haven't Christened the sofa, but we have wet it's head ;)
As long as appropriate form and ritual was followed! And that the Dr., his D.I., and their Boy are enjoying it.
Whose children ARE spontaneous tidiers? The challenge is to link the tidying up after to the activity. I'm as grown as I'll ever be and still struggle with that one.
Enjoy the day.
fA
Palace are playing far too well. Come on, Arsenal! We need these points.
P.s.: Sherlock, unless there is a public health official at the flat door waiting for the results of your scientific inquiry, beware. Friendships and marriages have failed with the too frequent application of the logic of your statement. What people hear is:
[I'm not doing the boring or tedious task I'm leaving to you because what I'M interested in is] IMPORTANT because it's [WHAT I'M INTERESTED IN] not stupid [WHAT YOU'RE INTERESTED IN.]
People need proper care and consideration, just like the seedlings on the allotment, if they are to thrive. Even when it's tedious.
fA
I was the only one really even doing anything about the fridge at ALL! John was holding some cheese watching the rugby and Lestrade wasn't even doing anything just looking at the football.
He's sort of right...John was 'just holding some cheese' (at exactly that moment, anyway.) And I'm being very distracted by the football - but I shouldn't be, as every time I stop looking we score!
Anyway, it's done now. Nice shiny clean fridge, so lurking horrors or odd sticky stains remain.
And was the mold interesting? (Even if it wasn't a new penicillin or poison.)
It was very furry and it got water drops on it because it was cold from the fridge.
Lestrade kissed John and span him around because his team won.
I want some popcorn.
John would have been better off with the cheese than Scotland's rugby team anyway.
Somewhat interesting mold, then. :)
That's a fine way to show he's happy!
I want popcorn, too.
(I know exactly nothing about rugby. I also know exactly nothing about American football, which has its biggest game today.)
Rugby means you can get really muddy and fall over a lot and jump on people and I think it looks quite fun but Mycroft doesn't like playing it.
That does sound fun--but only if you like getting muddy and falling over and jumping on people! Everyone has their own ideas of what's fun to do, of course. You and Mycroft will probably find lots of things about which your opinions differ--and lots of thing you agree on. That's part of the fun of growing up, finding the ways you're like family and the ways you're unique.
Christ, just seen the news about Philip Seymour Hoffman. Tragic news. He was a fine actor - a true talent.
I'm eating a baked potato and I've got coleslaw and bacon and cheese and butter and Lestrade is sitting on the stairs and talking about a murdered person on the phone.
That is one fully loaded potato!
I hope Lestrade got to eat first.
No he didn't and John is just poking his waiting for Lestrade to come back I told him he could talk here so I could listen too but he didn't want to
I guess it's a nasty one, then--I hope he doesn't have to go out tonight.
Did you have a chance to check out that space project I linked to the other day? Is it interesting?
John got the email and showed me before. I want to find a planet more but I haven't done it so much because I've been busy.
Busy can be good!! (I haven't had a chance to really look at it either.)
Well Sherlock, I'm glad to hear you *were* helping and I just got the wrong impression. And, being a boring adult, am vicariously ridiculously pleased at the description of your cleaned fridge. Mine has no mold, but has more stickiness than I prefer.
That dinner sounds like a delicious one, hope Lestrade gets to eat his and enjoy the rest of the evening.
formerlyAnon
I have eaten. I won't be going out. Just having my brains picked - what little there is.
fA - I think we were all being equally useless with the fridge ;) But it got done! ....slowly... but it got done.
Why are the Musketeers on the television called musketeers even though they don't even ever have muskets just swords and never ever muskets ever it's stupid.
Do you know I've been wondering that for better than forty years, Sherlock, but the musketeers always fight with swords, for no good reason.
Sherlock, I wondered if the Mythbusters had done anything with fungus, so I googled and found a link on their facebook page that led me to a story about a fungus that is .15 kilometers huge. (It sounds more impressive as 38 acres, doesn't it?)
I also found the blog of person who has just begun doing garden experiments. Maybe you could do some of them at the allotment.
Kudos to all of you on actually having a clean fridge. I am reminded that mine has gone a bit sticky too.
If I remember right, the Musketeers in the story belonged to a regiment called Musketeers. If they'd been called into a formal battle, they would have used guns, but guns were expensive (and not always very accurate or reliable) so swords were still preferred for everyday.
That is a very good question, Sherlock, so I looked it up. This is what I found:
"A mousquetaire was a gentleman in one of the two companies of the royal household cavalry in pre-revolutionary France. The companies were distinguished by the colour of the horses they rode - either grey or black. Thus there were mousquetaires gris and mousquetaires noirs. Cavalry have no use for clumsy muskets, which are difficult to reload at the best of times. The problem we have is an over-literal translation of the French which loses the context. "
It sounds like the name came from the original job of the musketeers, but didn't change when their position did.
Still, I love that book. Have you read it yet?
You might ask John if the name of his regiment (Northumberland Fusiliers??) describes anything related to his unit's job. Military (or other) organizations can have names that have historical or emotional meaning, and are kept in pride for service given (or through the inertia of bureaucracy) even if they are no longer accurate.
fA
I...will have to let John answer that. But a lot (most?) of the British army has been amalgamated now. Lots of very famous regiments merged with others. I know lots of them lost their names.
I was also sad to hear about Phillip Seymour Hoffman. :(
It's Super Bowl day today, and Denver is one of the teams in it, so everyone around town is...slightly off-kilter. And kick off it's even for another hour.
Ella
Channel 4 here is promoting 'superbowl sickies'... any of my team don't turn in tomorrow because they've spent hours watching men in plastic armour do almost nothing, there will be trouble...
LoL, that's the best description of American football I think I've ever seen.
But you have to drink a lot while watching football, lestrade, because otherwise it's really really boring. ;)
Ella
I've never watched much American Football - but it does seem to be mainly standing around, with occasional bouts of crashing into each other. Give me Rugby any day.
it does seem to be mainly standing around, with occasional bouts of crashing into each other.*
A number of years ago, I was spending the weekend with a friend, and a group of us were supposed to go out Saturday night, but her husband put on the TV just to catch the end of a football game--"Look," he said, "There's only 1-and-a-half minutes left on the clock, and then we'll go."
Two hours later, there was still 30 seconds left on the clock.
[*Always bearing in mind that the crashing is violent enough to cause serious brain damage in the players in later years.]
Personally as a huge fan of American football I'd just like to say it is a game of strength, speed, and agility, in addition to the crashing. Also a fair amount of strategy. All if you understand what you're looking at, of course.
Well done for those who supported Arsenal, Ireland and Seattle and unlucky to Palace, Scotland and Denver supporters and, of course, fans of all the other sporting events that took place this weekend. I know it's the taking part that counts, but it's harder to remember when you're coming off a loss. Did Murray come over and join you all after or did you suffer in silence, John. :)
Glad your new sofa has arrived, I wonder if we can take bets on how long it will stay 'glitter, dog hair, degu food etc' free - I'm guessing in your household it's not very long. The FME decoration definitely sounds like one to keep though. ;)
Have a great day everyone.
I was gutted to hear about Philip Seymour Hoffman - a truly great actor. Then I was completely incensed and outraged to see that the Sydney Telegraph ran a photo of him and his kids on their website with the headline, "Kids Grieve For Junkie Actor Dad". I know I shouldn't expect more from the Murdoch press, but my god, how lacking in compassion and decency!
Sherlock, I'd love to study some mould under a microscope! Mould is cool! (Much cooler than cleaning of any sort, that's for sure!)
Liz - thanks for standing in defence of the football! As you can gather, I've no idea what I'm looking at. And it was getting a bit one sided there. (And welcome, if you haven't commented before).
Denver losing isn't so bad, but THAT SCORE...*hides head under the table*
And then I got word that my dad got arrested last night. Yay?
Ella
Ella--If it makes you safer--if it makes you feel safer--then yes, yay. You okay with it?
It is snowing and snowing here! Anyone who came to the area for the Super Bowl is gonna be good and stuck.
Rere--it does a bit. Though I think it was public drunkenness related, so he won't be in very long. Maybe I can bribe a police officer into putting a tracking collar on him.
It's a good thing you bought a couch when you did, lestrade and John. I think seattle's running a bit low now, and are going to drive up worldwide demand.
Stay warm, new englanders!
Ella
Sorry about your dad in as much as I'm sorry he's still a feature in your life.
Sadly he probably doesn't fit the profile of either of the suspects I'm currently after, or I could try for extradition ;)
Maybe Sherlock could frame him for something. I'm sure Mycroft knows how to change flight manifests so that it looks like my dad's been to the UK?
Ella
I was also sad to hear about PSH, what a shame. The news clip I saw said he'd stayed clean for 20 years before some kind of relapse... kind of makes me wonder what or who triggered that... Any way, a great loss to all of us. Kind of feels like losing Heath Ledger all over again too, in that he was too young to die, had so much talent, so much ahead of him that we could have all looked forward to, not to mention his family. :(
Snowing a little bit here, supposedly we're just getting a dusting on the northern edge of this one, but bracing for Weds. when it should be a lot worse.
S
Oh Ella, hope your situation with your dad improves. Meaning he is in one way or another removed from the scene. But you made me laugh. It really is a good thing that Mycroft and Sherlock are being raised by moral, principled people who have a respect for the law. As well as a realistic view of its failings. With different influences they could probably set up as criminal masterminds.
formerlyAnon
PSH's death makes me very sad, not just because I enjoyed watching him act, but because he was so clearly ensconced in a stable family life and the dance addiction leads is such hell on those bonds. The more you love, the harder it is. Nobody outside can ever see what really goes on beyond closed doors in any family/relationship, but I've watched people realize that their love, affection and trust was slowly being killed and almost worse, watched people who wished they could quit loving.
fA
Danger, Danger, Danger. Tell me you are not working Saturday 15th.
I am not. Why?
Well OBVIOUSLY. ;)
Ella
I might be planning something ;)
:)
Like whaaaat? (I know you're not going to tell me, I just have to ask.)
I just thought it'd be nice to get away. I spoke to Mycroft. He was incredibly gracious and offered to babysit - I mean, Sherlock-mind. But I thought it might be quite nice if we all went. Only for one night. Seems a bit unfair to get Mycroft back from school and immediately leave him again.
Sounds lovely. Do you have anywhere in mind?
I...might already have booked it?
Ha, all right. Going to tell me where then, or is it a surprise?
Well...I might've kept it a surprise, except Mycroft already knows, and Sherlock will probably tear me limb from limb if I don't tell him, right?
Seems likely.
It's a little blast from the past...except this time it's for St Val's, and I haven't also bought you a Robin Sparkles jacket...
Brighton? Very nice!
There's a restaurant we're booked in for lunch at, which I think you will all appreciate - but perhaps Mycroft the most. I think it'll be his sort of cooking. ANyway, crap, I am coming home! Hadn't realised the time.
If, by the time I get there, you've caught either or both of my still-outstanding suspects, that'd be nice.
I'll work on it. I'm sure Sherlock will be more than happy to help.
Love you :)
Did they both kill someone? Was it the same person? What did they do? Are they clever? What do they look like? You should bring home your files and I bet we can catch them!
I want to go to Brighton again I'm much bigger now I was just little before are we staying in the same hotel that doesn't like dogs?
What are Brighton's charms when it's too cold to get wet?
fA
The might both have killed different people, I can't tell you anything else. I can't bring my files home.
We're not staying in the same hotel. (We're staying in one which happens to be attached to one of the best coffee bars in the country. Don't know how that happened...)
fA - pubs? Museums? Royal Pavilion? We shall hope it's not too bad, and we at least get a walk along the coast.
I'll be interested to hear what you enjoy - besides the coffee - because I'm always interested in what people actually do & enjoy vs. what the tourist info touts.
fA
I used to go down there when I was younger - but...didn't do any very family friendly activities ;)
That sounds like great fun, what a fab surprise for everyone, Greg. I'm sure you'll have a brilliant time all of you being away together.
Last time we were down there we tried to find places that were used in Carry On At Your Convenience - lots of bits were recognisable on the pier still.
"but...didn't do any very family friendly activities ;)"
Ah youth: the fun side of the stupid years. Drinking (or ahem) and dancing, flirting and f-ahem-ing. We did go in for some hiking and the very occasional art museum, but on the whole "vacation" looked a lot like any pretty good Saturday.
fA
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