How are you today?

[RobB]

I've just got back from 2-day trip to London with my newly 14-year-old son,both totally knackered-seem to have walked miles and miles.

1-day is my usual limit so you did well to survive 2.

Have a nice time in Sheffield.

[blue]

I've been lucky.I've never had flu and I don't personally know anyone who has ever had flu either.
A rotten cold is usually what i get a couple of times a year.

Yeah, I think a lot of people don't realise that proper flu is just a tad bit different to a nasty cold. I'd never had it at all until five years ago - the first bout, I didn't even know what it was because I'd never experienced flu till then. I just thought I was dying.

[blue]

Plus I'm famous for having the WRONG sense of direction (worse than no sense of direction!).
So when WE meet up in April, bagsy not do too much travelling around!

I'm blessed with NO sense of direction, so it should be fun trying to find my way to the venue for the meet-up. I'm notorious for getting lost, it's kind of my signature thing. Just recently I got lost walking to work along a route I've been using for the past several months. It's a twenty minute stroll I've done day in and day out, but I somehow went past the normal turning I take into town and ended up completey, utterly lost and panicked. I had to call work and get them to talk me in.

Seriously, I'm going to need a phone number for someone in the group on the day of the meet-up, for when I inevitably find myself in Devon or somewhere.

[canigonow]

Spent last night with fellow Buddhists gazing at a wall .So just for an hour I stopped stirring the muddy waters and put the stick down.

[RobB]

Spent last night with fellow Buddhists gazing at a wall .

That sounds very relaxing but i'd probably prefer to have been on my own.....less distracting.

[RobB]

Seriously, I'm going to need a phone number for someone in the group on the day of the meet-up, for when I inevitably find myself in Devon or somewhere.

Don't worry,i'll guide you in.

Its funny,i'm the complete opposite when it comes to direction and can usually find my way around quite easily.
In London one night I couldn't be bothered with the underground and so walked from Oxford Street to Liverpool Street Station without any map.I knew the rough direction and off i went. Found it quite easily.

Also,in the past, when driving home from Cornwall,if i see a queue of traffic ahead, i'll take the first available turning and head off across country, picking up the main road again later.

Sometimes with my ex we'd take the car for a spin in the country and try and deliberately lose ourselves but its actually more difficult that you would think.

[blue]

Spent last night with fellow Buddhists gazing at a wall .

That sounds very relaxing but i'd probably preferr to have been on my own.....less distracting.

Yeah, I couldn't cope with wall gazing back either.

[blue]

Don't worry,i'll guide you in.

Thank you.

Its funny,i'm the complete opposite when it comes to direction and can usually find my way around quite easily.
In London one night I couldn't be bothered with the underground and so walked from Oxford Street to Liverpool Street Station without any map.I knew the rough direction and off i went. Found it quite easily.

Also,in the past, when driving home from Cornwall,if i see a queue of traffic ahead, i'll take the first available turning and head off across country, picking up the main road again later.

Sometimes with my ex we'd take the car for a spin in the country and try and deliberately lose ourselves but its actually more difficult that you would think.

Apparently there's some sort of direction-finder located in the brain, but they don't know exactly where, which strikes me as quite funny. I'd imagine that it functions really well in some people and badly in others, just like other bits of the brain. Some people seem to have an innate ability to find their way and others like myself get lost even in places they should know well.

All my life I've been telling people that buildings move, which is one of the reasons I find it hard sometimes to find my way to places I've been before. Things are always in different places. I was talking to my boss about this when I got lost on the way to work, and she pointed out that it's far more likely to be my memory at fault.

[sound world]

All my life I've been telling people that buildings move,

Maybe that's why some people stare at walls....

Just off to Sheffield now. So see you later when I return from West Cornwall.

[RobB]

Apparently there's some sort of direction-finder located in the brain, but they don't know exactly where, which strikes me as quite funny. I'd imagine that it functions really well in some people and badly in others, just like other bits of the brain.

It must be a kind of 'location dyslexia' ?

[blue]

Just off to Sheffield now. So see you later when I return from West Cornwall.

Ha. Have a good time oop narth.

[blue]

It must be a kind of 'location dyslexia' ?

It's funny you should say that Rob, because the term I've used to describe my problems with recognising places and things is 'visual dyslexia'. It doesn't just affect me in terms of directions, it seems to be a general problem with sorting out visual information. One of the funniest examples of this is my notorious inability to do planagrams at work. My boss doesn't ask me to do them anymore.

Planagrams are the layouts for what's on the shelves of the shop - each section has a set planagram that you have to stick to. When I do them, the end result is that all the stuff is in correct order in relation to the other items on a particular shelf, but the whole thing is either upside down or back to front. What should be at the top according to the diagram is at the bottom on the shelf, or what should be at the right is at the left. I have no idea how I do this, but it happens *every* time.

You can imagine what I'm like trying to put together flat-packed furniture. [b)]

[RobB]

You can imagine what I'm like trying to put together flat-packed furniture. [b)]

well,i can imagine the air turning 'blue' while you try.

[picsou]

Just off to Sheffield now. So see you later when I return from West Cornwall.

Ah Sheffield. Spent 3 years there. Not as bad many had us believe. Quite nice actually.

Here in Oz, it is not unlike UK really. But also very american, although many here dislike the US. Many, many overweight people.
Weather very unsettled. 32°C one day, 21°C the next. Very windy. And quite wet really. Food is cheap, rents high, beer is very expensive. Been here over 6 weeks, and our stuff from Switzerland (books, CDs, my 2 bikes, our (wife and I) beds, clothes,...) is not expected for another 3-4 weeks I guess.
Our dog is still at the quarantine centre, and will be there until Nov 20! Bastards! But he is OK.
Just unlocked my iPhone this morning! Swisscom would not unlock it for me before the end of my contract with them, i.e. Oct 2010. One thing is sure, I will not sign anything with them if we ever go back to Switzerland.

So still no new Stina album. What a disappointment. I hate her!

[RobB]

Good to read that you're settling in okay.....at least i think you're settling in okay?