It’s three days later, and we’re still virtually snowed in. Not much, mind you, but enough to seriously cramp our style of doing pretty much anything. Duncan hasn’t been out since Thursday – I think. We take turns trekking to the supermarket and braving the crowds there is as scary as negotiating icy pavements. I layer clothes any which way, aiming only at warmth. Style, what style? I’ll be having a haircut in Athens again, next Tuesday, 10 months after the last. Sad, ain’t I?
You Are a Newsboy
You are a quick thinking, forward looking, and even revolutionary person.
You use fashion to project a powerful and chic image.
You like to experiment with new ideas, looks, and even lifestyles.
People may try to label you, but it’s impossible. You draw inspiration from many subcultures.
We’ve been having snow interludes all week. Snowing heavily for 10 minutes, then stopping and going on as before, as if nothing had happened. Fickle so-and-so of a weather.
It pulled out all the stops last night, and today we have our ‘winter wonderland’. Sort of. Walking is courting frostbite, driving precarious at best, and little Duncan has been very vocal in his outrage against confinement in the house. How do you explain to him that he can’t go out and play with the quaint white stuff?
We’ve had to reset the central heating not to go out during the middle of the day because it got cold enough for Duncan not to be able to settle for his afternoon nap. All schools are closed (last day of term, so nobody gave a toss) and Rosie stayed with her mother one extra day. Naturally, the family reunion planned for tomorrow is put off.
There are several reasons why my ex remains my best friend, and the fact that he pointed me towards the Fastbook toolbar is the latest addition to the list.
If Fastbook sounds suspiciously like Facebook, that’s because they are linked. Otherwise, though, Fastbook is an independent app tailored to the tastes of Greek internet users: a toolbar for Firefox (in my case; there’s an IE version too) loaded with goodies:
- Internet search. Tailored to spot Greek pages, by default.
- Links to Greek TV channels. This was the main reason why Chris threw the link my way, knowing my frustration with being cut off from all Greek pop culture here. There’s not much there, granted, but I might just have Mad TV tuned in to hear babbling as much as singing in Greek.
- Links to Greek radio stations. Like above, only many more stations. Although that doesn’t make so much of a difference, as most of my favourites play international music anyway.
- Peeks into magazines. Mostly trashy lifestyle ones, I know, but that might change later.
- Direct button to Facebook. N/A for me, but it’s there for those who want it.
- Games. Another arcade can never hurt.
- Videowall. Most popular vids of all kinds, all in one big collage to pick and watch.
- 30 New York live cameras. Thanks, I prefer live people-watching.
- E-mail notifier. Load up all sorts of web or POP accounts into a single toolbar notifier. I’d do it, but I fear it would buzz every 30 seconds or so.
- Internet tools. Now, here’s the big cheese. There are links to Greek GoogleMaps, translators, Travelocity, a calculator (for those who can’t find the one built into Windows, I suppose), a unit converter, Wikipedia search, internet speed check, sticky notes (pretty, but I don’t quite see the point), YouTube Top 10, Firefox skins, and…
*drum roll*
…a free video converter. Now, this is reason enough for me to keep the toolbar, even if I never use anything else. Grab a video URL, toss it into the app slot and watch it convert into a downloadable MP3 in seconds. I’ve already had a couple of pleasant playing hours with it, and I suspect my music collection is going to start growing exponentially again.
Sorry if the non-Greek-speaking ones among you got envious, but it’s high time there were some big-ass internet tool geared towards us out there.
Both Duncan and I had a rough weekend, spent mostly in bed. He has perked up considerably, although he coughs a lot during the night and that hurts me so much… more than my own cough.
We went to the doctor again, first thing in the morning. The good news is that there’s nothing worse than a cold there. However, the eczema on his face is infected, through contact with snot and whatnot, and requires another course of antibiotics. Plus, the best we can do for the night cough itself is give him a bronchodilator in an inhaler. Yeah, right. Try to get Duncan to breathe into a mask. Ain’t happening… not without much struggle.
And here Terry wants us to go down to Janet’s on Saturday. I wonder how he’s planning to handle the antibiotics doses (and the fact that the mix has to be kept refrigerated) and the ‘exploding nappy syndrome’ the treatment causes.
Your Strength: Sensitivity. Your Weakness: Hypersensitivity.
You are a truly kind and gentle person. You have a lot of compassion and consideration for those around you.
You love easily, and you’re also quick to be inspired. You have a true appreciation of poetry, music, and art.
While it’s enriching to be so receptive to the world, sometimes you can be too sensitive. You often get hurt.
And even when you’re not sad, you tend to feel overstimulated, irritated, or annoyed. You have a very thin skin.
Duncan and I are both sick like dogs right now. Coughing our lungs out, shot appetite, exhausted and grumpy like all get out. Yeah, this is the theme song of a kiddie show, but it was the one thing that put a brief smile on my face today. I’m off to collapse now. Toodles!
Rosie came back from her mother’s with a cold, so it was a matter of time before Duncan caught it too.
It started gently, around Monday evening, with a bit of a cough. By Tuesday night, he was feverish. I went to soothe him when he woke up and cried around our bedtime, and he was boiling hot when I picked him up. After some wrestling with the ear thermometer, I recorded a temperature of 39.7. I took him out of his sleeping bag and gave him some Calpol, then Terry soothed him while I called NHS Direct for advice. With meningitis and swine flu ruled out, we were basically told to take him to the doctor the next day. He proceeded to wake and cry (and get me out of bed for the settling process) around 1, 4, 5 and 6 in the morning.
Needless to say, that left me shattered. Duncan can fall back asleep almost immediately, but I can’t. Usually, by the time I’ve dozed off, he’s ready to wake again. I was pretty much zombified for the duration of the day. At least he slept during most of it. I took him to the doctor early; he was seen by the nurse, who suggested regular doses of Calpol and prescribed an antibiotic on top of it, suspecting an ear infection.
He refused his food, apart from some fruity custard, throughout the day, and at bedtime he refused his milk as well. After a fit of crying around 11, and a hard one to soothe, he slept until morning, when he looked better. His fever has broken, but he has still refused his breakfast, not even finishing his milk, and the cough isn’t any better. And naturally he grumbles, both about the cough and his shot sleep schedule. If this continues, I’m taking him to the doctor again tomorrow.
I just hope he improves before I go down with the same thing as well. The telltale tickle in my throat is already there.
It’s three days later, and we’re still virtually snowed in. Not much, mind you, but enough to seriously cramp our style of doing pretty much anything. Duncan hasn’t been out since Thursday – I think. We take turns trekking to the supermarket and braving the crowds there is as scary as negotiating icy pavements. I layer clothes any which way, aiming only at warmth. Style, what style? I’ll be having a haircut in Athens again, next Tuesday, 10 months after the last. Sad, ain’t I?
