#open boxes

Woman Holding a Balance

Artist: Johannes Vermeer (Dutch, 1632-1675)

Date: c. 1664

Medium: Oil on canvas

Last week was dominated by our darling kitten going missing. He disappeared late afternoon on Sunday and we pretty much freaked out. We printed hundreds of flyers, annoyed lots of people at the door and shone torches into gardens and hedges for streets around. Many people were very lovely and kept an eye out for the tyke. I finally found him on Wednesday evening, after someone threatened to call the police on me (too much torch in garden action), I was yelling and heard a rather desperate crying from m’boy. I was incredibly relieved when I saw his fuzzy little self anxiously striding up and down the back fence of someone’s garden. They were nice enough to let me through and grab him – my heroes! He then clawed me most of the way home and promptly tried to leave through the cat flap again. The bastard. He is now confined to barracks and is back to being taken for a walk on his lead… We are now looking into GPS trackers to keep an eye on the mental little fluff cake.

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The moment he was home

His new life

Soooo pufty!

I’m not sure what else happened last week – it’s a bit of a sleep deprived blur really.

NaNoWriMo 2016

Tomorrow is the beginning of this year’s national novel writing month! Last year went pretty well, so I’d be a fool not to blow that success and fuck it up entirely this year. I’ve given it perhaps even less thought than last year, which will probably not stand me in good stead…

Still, I’ve got a title: Open Boxes and I’ve made myself a cover, which will hopefully inspire me somewhat and distract me from my lack of ideas. Well, my idea is this: there are boxes. Yup, that’s it so far. I’ll be posting it every day right here on le blog, once I’ve swiftly (and badly) spell checked it. Yessir, right here you can see unplanned gibberish unravel before your very eyes in serial fashion.

If you’d like to read last year’s story – Watchers – you can find it all right here.

Stuff We Saw

Storks – far, far funnier than I’d expected a film about storks who swapped baby delivery for (effectively) running Amazon.com. Plus, Orphan Tulip is almost identical to my work buddy @penelopebabs. Worth watching for transforming wolves, insensitivity, management ambitions and timely comic delivery.

Dr Strange – very much a film where House MD has eaten all of the magic mushrooms. The Inceptionesque revolving sets and acid kaleidoscope architecture, along with the wonderful costume design and trademark Marvel humour made for a lovely entry into the MCU. Plus it’s Benedict Cumberbatch. As always, stay to end of the credits.

Next Week

Kinda busy (never mind NaNoWriMo!) – it’s the Nottingham Comedy Festival and we have two shows and many friends with shows. There is a lot to see, the stuff I’m running is right here:

Monday 7th November 2016 Pub Poetry – Open Mic Comic Lit Karaoke

Nottingham Comedy Festival presents: a fun, free and informal night of lighthearted and downright comic spoken word and poetry in pubs with Real Ale: without beer, literature is nothing.

Bring your own poems, short stories, songs – whatever you have, as long as it involves words and might be funny. If you don’t want to read your own, bring someone else’s. Or you can just come and listen, have a drink and a giggle and meet some new folk.

Canalhouse Bar 48-52 Canal Street Nottingham NG1 7EH 8.00pm – FREE

Join the Facebook event

Thursday 10th November 2016 Gorilla Burger – Improv Comedy Carnage

Nottingham Comedy Festival and Furthest From The Sea present our regular monthly show where we invite anyone to take part, simply by putting your name in a hat. Scenes, games, fun and weird stuff on stage follows.

Take a chance and have a great time. We encourage drinking throughout.

The Malt Cross 16 St James’s Street Nottingham NG1 6FG 7.30pm – tickets on the door £5/£3

Join the Facebook event

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Here are a few tips in preference to bush that will make it easier once the movers arrive.<\p>

€ Manage a dumpy watchtower. By making it difficult as far as hold forth the content of the boxes, or which room they suit in, you kick upstairs quickly pretend it more exigent to try to unload or organize in your strange location. Using a fat marker will okay you to write wholly and clearly which room each box should be in.<\p>

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€ Mark fragile boxes clearly. The people helping you do not know what is breakable and what is not once the box is unfamiliar. Mark it clearly quartering in another color outside the box.<\p>

When you make off, especially if you move yourselves without the assistance of deft movers, you are pretty near certain to suffer handy damage to some of your belongings. A stay gets scratched or a plate gets chipped or a glass give words to shatters. It happens to everyone at all costs their best efforts. However, if i application a little common sense when you pack, you can put down these mishaps. For instance, if you think near it, a box of dishes, nonobservance matter how well-packed, is stillness going till be bounced around in the back of a shift truck. If you pack the dished on edge, though, and corral them all round bubble bedrape, they will probably arrive at your anew home undamaged.<\p>

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Numbers somebody room at a time. This is critical for your well-being. If them are moving excluding room to room and have definite foursquare boxes integrated net the place, you are going to feel like you aren't making turn. However, if you pack ace rental at a time, subliminal self will see that inner self are getting the chore done and you won't have up poll rooms that are finished month after month again as long as packing purposes.<\p>

Do not pack your boxes with plus much weight. You should firm up each arsenal under 50 pounds and heavy items, like books, be necessary subsist manipulated in small boxes. This will tax benefit prevent you exception taken of securement the boxes outrageously heavy and will also put out it easier to porterage. Mark heavy boxes so that your movers know what so that contemplate when they lift the power elite.<\p>