Arcticterntalk.org

The blog of a travelling psychiatrist and football lover. Who happens to be a halfway decent photographer. Takes a cynical view of the world

Archive for the tag “houdini”

21 Dec 2011

The Animals of New Malden

New Malden is becoming more like a zoo each day with the various animals living here or thinking that they do. In an average day we would see a fox or two in the garden seeking sustenance from the waste bins , far too many evil minded squirrels , various cats, and now we are blessed with a hedgehog and a hamster. The Hedgehog was initially on a sort of holiday visit, but is now a permanent fixture. The Hamster, called Houdini, as he always manages to escape, must be almost 2 years old. Enjoy, meeting these charasmatic animals.

houdini the hamster

Hedgehog emerges

Posted in Uncategorized and tagged hamster, hedgehog, hedgepig, houdini, new malden | Leave a comment

16 Aug 2011

Exeter 1 Brentford 2

In the end I decided not to go as far too tired with these regular 6.30 starts. But am regretting it now. By all acounts an unconvincing performance from Bees, but 3 points. Bees went 2-0 up and then Leon Legge gave away a penalty. Talking point was that Charlie Macdonald was not even in the 16 man squad. Not sure what that means.
Nothing much happening in the news. The riots are all over, the country remains horrified that people can loot and steal from people simply for greed. They are all getting held in remand and 6 month jail sentences and the general feeling is “good”.
Houdini escaped again today in a mystifying way. Against good advice I let him out for a run in the bathroom as no time to get another ball from that awful PAH…… we watched him sniffing etc, then he suddenly disappeared…..yasmin thought we were joking but he was gone. No hamster in the bathroom. After 5 minutes he suddenly reappeared, and can only presume he got up behind the radiator into some little nook.
Elena is not best pleased today. They gave out the parts for the West end Stage show on sunday, they are doing Wizard of Oz. She was hoping for Dorothy, but has got Aunty Em (never heard of her but I assured her it was a big part…). The reality is that they all get around 4-8 lines each in this 15 minute production and then launch into singing and stage combat. She has been regaling us with stories about how they learn stage combat, fighting and hair pulling and punching.

Posted in Uncategorized and tagged brentford, houdini | Leave a comment

15 Aug 2011

1 Comment

Stage and Drama

this is the week that elena is up at her West end Stage training. So, dutifully a 6.30 am alarm call, packed lunch made and hopped onto the 7.46 train to Waterloo. All went well but it reminded me how awful it is to commute. the underground trains were packed solid. All went well it seems, other than the singing teacher is not liked ” dont think he likes kids”…..apparently the Guildhall stage and drama have the best muffins in the world…..and as they charge the same as Costa would 1.40£ each, I imagine they must be. but actually the whole thing was very impressive. The organisation was spot on and all the folks I met were decent people.
Houdini escaped again tonight. His ball is going to be re-cycled tomorrow and I shall have words with that Pets at Home shop. These balls are not “nibble-proof” for Hamsters. We had no idea where he had gone but luckily the door was shut limiting his activity a little.

Posted in Uncategorized and tagged houdini, muffins, west end stage

30 Jul 2011

Saturdays are back to normal

Football has returned. Went to a Brentford friendly today away at Aldershot. Crowd not bad for a friendly about 1300 with 250 Bees fans there. I like Aldershot as they dont try and stop me taking my photographs. Brentford look like a decent team this season, and in fact the existing players, O’connor, Bean etc are the ones that look poor. We have a loanee from Celtic with thousands of followers on Twitter, we are assessing some French player from FC Lens, we have a great centre back from some German side……… and so on. Bees won the game 2-1. Maybe the most one sided game I have ever seen. Have posted a few photos to keep you amused but try looking at the penalty photo with Richard Lee going the wrong way!
Other than that weather lovely here in UK, back to T shirts. Hedgepig is starting to be more friendly, houdini is on form, but some horrid animal in the night knocked down and broke a Sunflower I have been growing. It has been a good year though for Sunflowers and we have 3 heads harvested with seeds already……..so have planted another.
Elena was delighted as our potatoes have grown, not many ( and have cost a fortune, could have bought about 40kg from Co-Op for what our little tubers cost.
I did realise something sad today though…….. the NHS will try and pay me my pension in less than 2 more years……must be getting old. But looking forward to eating the food harvested from the garden tomorrow, when Charles comes over. Potatoes,Strawberries and Rocket…..
On the down isde, the young foxes are causing havoc, stealing all sorts of things in the garden like trowels etc and so noisy.