urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:amabat amabat amabat 2009-10-13T07:04:53Z urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:amabat:333029 2009-10-13T07:04:53Z 2009-10-13T07:04:53Z Left work on friday, headed straight down to Reading, filled car with petrol, ate, early night. Up at 3.30, down to Bideford for dawn, decided it was too early, went to morrisons, had breakfast. Returned to park, met parents, put stuff to be loaded onto boat, got onto boat, talked to people, threw up a bit, got off boat, wandered up to island. Bright sunshine, warm, wasn't prepared for this, bought tshirt. Went for walk, climbed old lighthouse to collect letterboxing stuff at the top. Talked self all the way and all the way down. Walked right around the top, didn't sit in deckchairs. Forgot to collect stamp, will go again soon. Took some photos, ringed a Chaffinch. They keep saying I can do another, but one is enough. good food in pub, nice music. Lundy Folk Festival. Caught Some form of stomach bug thingy (it's been going round the island) threw up a lot. stomach hurts. but breakfast has stayed down :) Got lost in mist, found a cliff when I was expecting a wall. Found hay bales while hunting buildings, located self. Was on Lundy. Went to beach, returned, was a long way up. Fitter than I was. Barely halfway through. :) urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:amabat:332632 2009-08-31T14:06:00Z 2009-08-31T14:06:00Z Been to Yorkshire,<br /><br />Left 2.30am on Friday and got to Flamborough Head at about 5.30 to watch the sun rise over the sea. It was a good sunrise, not spectacular, but it's the first I've seen over the sea, and I've wanted to see one for a long time. <br /><br />Returned to Grandfathers for about 7.10. He woke up about 7.40, spent the time sat on the drive chatting to the guinea-pigs and watching the birds that were everywhere, as well as chatting to the sheep and checking what had changed.<br /><br />Went shopping with parents, put tents up, generally sorting things out. <br />Others arrived, had fish and chips.<br /><br />On Saturday, walked to Filey Brigg, was high tide, concluded this meant we were unlikely to get stuck as it was just past turning so scrambled along the rocks to the end. Then played Euchre, had birthday cake for Cali, and ate sausages. <br /><br />On Sunday went to Bempton Cliffs, Flamborough Head (bit busier than at dawn) and then back to grandpas, played extreme drop, then more euchre.<br /><br />Today, packed up, and came home. the Guinea-pigs have gone to kent. I will follow them on friday. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:amabat:332462 2009-07-10T13:32:01Z 2009-07-10T13:32:01Z I like pretty things.<br />Now I have 9 balls of purple noro silk mountain. <br /><br />:)<br /><br />I bought myself 2 as a treat yesterday because they were cheap and being discontinued, and now I have 9 because I couldn't work out what I wanted to do with it and hence don't know that I'll only need 2 balls. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:amabat:332095 2009-07-05T10:54:52Z 2009-07-05T10:54:52Z In the middle of the Atlantic is a divergent tectonic plate boundary. Across the Atlantic are trans atlantic communication cables. Does the first have any affect of the laying of the second, and if so, what? urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:amabat:331792 2009-05-20T15:29:52Z 2009-05-20T15:29:52Z Craving marmite...<br /><br />Not had sex, can't be pregnant. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:amabat:331598 2009-05-13T15:04:41Z 2009-05-13T15:04:41Z I have a crochet needle. Tonight is for playing with crochet or finishing back of top I am currently knitting.<br /><br />I will inevitably try to do both. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:amabat:331230 2009-02-12T22:42:02Z 2009-02-12T22:42:02Z been made redundent, moving back to cov in a few weeks<br /><br />(apparently I never tell anyone the relevent bits) urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:amabat:330898 2009-02-05T09:29:04Z 2009-02-05T09:29:04Z I have no snow<br /><br />It's raining urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:amabat:330515 2009-01-28T08:06:10Z 2009-01-28T08:06:10Z I'm putting most of the stuff I've written ffor the OU course here. This may get long.<br /><br />It rereads as bad to me. However, I'd like a record and may as well put it here as well. <br /><br /><a name="cutid1"></a><br /><br />Louder than his presence<br />Is his absence.<br />A void of thoughts<br />that stops my throat<br />And dwells on things I never thought to ask.<br /><br />Now each door holds him<br />There behind it,<br />Smells and sights<br />that bring him back<br />To tell me only "He is gone" again.<br /><br />And grief goes on,<br />A poem that's,<br />a verse to long.<br />And stops too sharp.<br />To take my breath and make me cry.<br /><br />He must have felt<br />So often, this.<br />A friend from school<br />A child he knew.<br />And each one goes, and takes a portion of the past. <br /><br />*<br /><br />To the policeman,<br />At the station waiting.<br />I am not the one,<br />But I respect you.<br />Though you will not meet my eyes,<br />Your absent gaze, is blank to me,<br />I wonder what I have to hide.<br />And I thank you. <br /><br />*<br /><br />The train is rather full this afternoon,<br />And many of us didn't get a seat.<br />I hope the journey will be over soon.<br /><br />I'm sitting on the floor beside the loo<br />My legs are numb, I cannot feel my feet<br />The train is rather full this afternoon.<br /><br />I cannot get a signal on my phone,<br />I think about the people I'm to meet.<br />I hope the journey will be over soon.<br /><br />Another stop, I'm running out of room.<br />And I suspect that I am running late.<br />The train is rather full this afternoon.<br /><br />The outside light is turning into gloom<br />There's nothing near here that I can eat<br />I hope the journey will be over soon.<br /><br />Train slows but we're not yet back at home,<br />I think that here we're going to have to wait.<br />The train is rather full this afternoon.<br />I hope this journey will be over soon.<br /><br />*<br /><br />The long night gives way to dull, grey light.<br />the trees dripped and spat their way to empty morning.<br />I am walking, an errant sleeper.<br />Up before my dawn.<br /><br />I am the cub<br />Rain wraps me in her sodden love,<br />Holds me in her damp arms.<br />And I am drowned on the road.<br /><br />Day will come,<br />it will be beautiful,<br />and they will not know. <br /><br />*<br /><br />There's no glory for our generation.<br />No chance to fight for our own salvation.<br />When our kids ask what we did in the war,<br />We've already everything worth fighting for.<br /><br />We brought them up fearless, living in peace,<br />Friends with our foes, from off in the east.<br />The chance to have our children, and then,<br />The chance to watch them grow into men.<br /><br /><br /><br />*<br /><br />Still dawn,<br />The mist swamped lines<br />wave branches, drowning.<br />Sunlight stares and night retreats<br />as we are passing.<br /><br />Our world<br />In daytimes mold<br />Is all made up as new,<br />And we are passing,<br />Strangers here,<br />Only passing through.<br /><br />*<br /><br />Will my mum meet me?<br />She stands at the corner,<br />Smiles when she sees me<br />Hurries me home.<br /><br />Will my mum leave me?<br />I will leave her.<br />To stand at the corner<br />Waiting to greet me.<br /><br />*<br /><br />Why do owls call in the dark?<br />Their voices carry through the night<br />And frighten the mice.<br /><br />Why do owls sleep in the day<br />Hungover grumpy. Up far too late<br />Too tired today<br /><br />*<br /><br />Is the pope catholic?<br />My mother used to say,<br />And I would wonder how she knew.<br /><br />It's lucky that he is.<br />He wouldn't be much good at it<br />If he was any other way. <br /><br />*<br /><br />I keep the secrets of whats gone,<br />That none shall know what we have done.<br />I keep the truth from spreading fear<br />and let you live those lies you hear.<br /><br />You've hid too long this fabled truth<br />Those who would know are long since dead<br />They'll hear no tales about the past.<br /><br />We spent so long just playing games<br />we didn't know we'd played before,<br />and played them to their crimson end.<br /><br />I only do what I think good.<br />You would not trust us if you knew.<br />We thought that we did as we should,<br />You had to think our lies were true.<br />And who are you to say I'm wrong?<br />I am still here, and you are gone.<br /><br />*<br /><br />The Nellie, a cruising yawl,<br />Swung to her anchor without a flutter of the sails,<br />and was at rest.<br /><br />The harbour, as light grows<br />Shimmering with men and the dew scent mixed<br />with fresh fish.<br /><br />High over them all<br />I watched, so small<br />yet the tallest alive.<br /><br />Gulls cry,<br />calling morning.<br />And fish splash<br />some still alive.<br /><br />*<br /><br />CHild once, who hid and watched at dawn<br />As men made life from death while day was born.<br />He grows, as boys are known to do.<br />And dawn now sees him in the harbour too.<br /><br />At night, they leave upon the sea.<br />Wind blows, and from land blows them free<br />Calm seas that no man needs to fear<br />Calm seas, they do not have them here.<br /><br />He stands at the prow of his papery tub<br />Home in his heart, and fearing the dead.<br />Those who are snatched by the water with love<br />Came out of the dark,and away he was led.<br /><br />Hauling the catch til the boat's floating low<br />Dawn has now passed and it's too dark to see<br />Wave caught, with an underhand blow<br />Lost in the black on the sea.<br /><br />Plucked by the fingers of merciless god<br />Calling for home like it might make a difference,<br />He was soon bourne away by the waves,<br />and lost in the darkness and distance.<br /><br />*<br /><br />I ask you, gently,<br />Will you read it?<br />And, nervous<br />Hand my lines to you.<br /><br />The waiting<br />To read your silence,<br />Gauge your thinking,<br />See your mind open.<br /><br />Re-reading,<br />Could be better, yet,<br />I think<br />You seem to like it.<br /><br />*<br /><br />I will remember you<br />One day in an empty lane,<br />Where you walk with your usual gait<br />And, turning, smile again.<br /><br />I will think for just a moment<br />That you were never gone,<br />That I am still a child,<br />That the world has not moved on.<br /><br />I am waiting for that moment,<br />Though I know it can never be true,<br />As it's all that is left in the world now,<br />All that I'm left of you.<br /><br />*<br /><br />Wet road, white beneath the winter sun.<br />And life is harsh, so black against the glare.<br />The colours all have washed away, and run<br />Beneath the frozen eye of sunshines stare.<br /><br />I stand, the life I planned around me now.<br />I never knew I'd get it quite so soon.<br />It's not the way I pictured it, but who<br />could know I would be here this afternoon?<br /><br />And everything they taught me has come true,<br />I'm still not sure that this is what they meant.<br />Forever standing here, and only passing through.<br />My time is only mine, and only lent.<br /><br />Wet road, white beneath the winter sun.<br />Wet world worn, and with your colours run. <br /><br />*<br /><br />man with guitar<br /><br />Your hat's too small.<br />You've perched it on the copper mass upon your head,<br />and sit there yawning,<br />All around the sky turns red.<br /><br />We move on,<br />Leaving you to sit behind.<br />Your hat's too small,<br />and you don't really seem to mind.<br /> urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:amabat:330276 2009-01-24T21:06:21Z 2009-01-24T21:06:21Z <img src="http://pics.livejournal.com/amabat/pic/0002pk6y/s640x480" /><br /><br />Guinea-pigs! :)<br /><br />They don't like sitting still. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:amabat:330021 2009-01-22T10:00:38Z 2009-01-22T10:00:38Z Just found the cucumber I chopped up for the guinea-pigs last night. It was in todays lunch. <br /><br />OOps.<br /><br />One of them has started chirping. It's very cute. Although I suspect if they keep doing it at 4am it'll stop being cute soon.<br /><br />I'll probably learn to sleep through it.<br /><br />Yesterday I woke up and was sure I could hear them under my bed, but they were both in their cage, and one was making the right noises, but from the wrong place. I also caught them early this morning sounding like they were eating paper, but on turning the light on I got two innocent looking guinea-pigs and nothing papery in their cage, and no noises. Light goes off, and paper eating noises come from guinea-pigs. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:amabat:329587 2009-01-04T20:58:41Z 2009-01-04T20:58:41Z grey annd brown are not considered suitable names for guinea pigs.<br /><br />grey is now Grecian, short for Grecian 2000, because his hair is a bit grey.<br /><br />Brown is now hairdo, because his is apparently awesome. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:amabat:329422 2009-01-03T20:09:41Z 2009-01-03T20:09:41Z I got guinea-pigs.<br /><br />Two boys, called Brown Guinea Pig and Grey Guinea Pig. <br /><br />:) urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:amabat:328984 2008-12-18T18:03:00Z 2008-12-18T18:03:00Z So for the last three months I've been pretty antisocial.<br /><br />sorry.<br /><br />Might continue for a few months more.<br /><br />Is nothing against you, I just took on a stupid commute and for some reason it made my life go a little not really existing.<br /><br />Ill fix it, maybe not until March, but then I'll either drop out of society entirely and go and live in the antartic (because thats the obvious answer to no social life) or fix it. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:amabat:328728 2008-12-15T09:55:36Z 2008-12-15T09:55:36Z Last night I was forcebly en-pubbed.<br /><br />Which was nice<br /><br />And although I suck at trivial pursuit, so do the rest of my family. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:amabat:328636 2008-12-10T07:55:40Z 2008-12-10T07:55:40Z Is not quite sunrise. This is a bit of a trick of the landscape, but I'm still beyond rochester and it's not yet sunrise.<br /><br />Ah well. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:amabat:328264 2008-12-07T13:43:30Z 2008-12-07T13:43:30Z Every now and then there are policemen on the train. <br /><br />Then when I get off at Canterbury there're more police (9-10 ussually, the ticket office is full of them) 1-2 dogs and a metal detector.<br /><br />It's a little unnerving. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:amabat:328166 2008-12-07T10:47:43Z 2008-12-07T10:47:43Z Lounging, watching pans labyrinth. There is steak, black pudding bacon, aubergine and cheese in the kitchen. I need to tidy up room and make things sorted.<br /><br />Christmas shopping is done with the exception of giving my little brother some money for ssome stuff for parents, waiting for something to arrive from amazon and my siblings want to know what I want. I might find them a list of dvds t pick from. <br /><br />Life is good. <br /><br />Getting a bit meh because of lack of social life, but that's my own doing and not insurmountable. <br /><br />Stuff is good, someone cook my steak for me. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:amabat:327699 2008-12-06T10:05:38Z 2008-12-06T10:05:38Z Can't get the car out.<br /><br />:(<br /><br /><br />Wonder where my siblings are. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:amabat:327546 2008-10-30T09:11:14Z 2008-10-30T09:11:14Z I'm begining to feel that leaving victims suffering serious brain damage or other serious injuries should be murder. It's a little too close for the current major distinction. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:amabat:327288 2008-10-20T10:36:16Z 2008-10-20T10:36:16Z Fed up of June 13th, might move birthday, apparently not allowed 13th Feb (to close to Valentines day) and September isn't appealling. Any other ideas? urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:amabat:327029 2008-10-18T19:23:18Z 2008-10-18T19:23:18Z We may have had a rubbish summer, but the autumn is being stunning. <br />today was good, now I'm tired. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:amabat:326896 2008-10-10T08:20:45Z 2008-10-10T08:20:45Z Life is good. Days are long, bit quiet in places.<br /><br />This morning has sunshine and pretty.<br /><br />Everything aches. This is mildly irritating because it has no valid reason to ache. <br />Unless it's some kind of delayed reaction to falling down stairs yesterday, however I suspect not, cuz that didn't hurt at all at the time.<br /><br />Tommorrow is for playing with camera. at stupid am. <br /><br />Sleeping is also tempting, but autumn dawn stuff won't wait for sleeping. Need to be in place at 6.30am to get the photos I want, and possibly on sunday as well.<br /><br />Nothing else planned other than a return trip via a bacon shop. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:amabat:326533 2008-10-01T09:15:26Z 2008-10-01T09:15:26Z Playing spore a bit.<br /><br />I have gliding killer attack monkey squad :) urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:amabat:326291 2008-09-14T15:31:56Z 2008-09-14T15:31:56Z Back in Canterbury, up in London from tommorrow. Laptop is tiny.