infoxicated – Page 29 – Digital infotainment from the life of Rob Foxx

Back off the ladder

Sunday February 20th 2011

It’s almost six years since we bought our house in Liverpool, possibly paying above the odds but content we’d got what we wanted despite being so late to climb onto the property ladder. The feeling of opening the door of your own house for the first time is electric, and it was made all the more special by the card and bottle of wine left for us by the previous owner.

Nice of her to do that, but then she had made £45,000 on it in just four years due to the boom. Being realistic we knew the property market had already levelled out by the time we bought, but figured it would still be a good long term investment. Property always is, they tell you.

house, liverpool, mortgage, postaweek, property

Great chieftain o’ the puddin-race!

Sunday February 13th 2011

Last night marked my second go at addressing the haggis at a local Burns Supper. I’d been called upon by Crazy Uncle John a few weeks back to perform the duty again, after he’d been asked to recite a couple of poems at the Colgrain Bowling Club.

The 12th of February is a little bit late for a Burns Supper, but it did give me few weeks to brush up. I was actually surprised that it only took me an hour or so of going through the poem in my head before I could do it from memory again. Considering it had been a year since I really thought about it I can only marvel at the capacity of the human brain for deep learning through repetition!

Even so, I printed the words out and kept them under my monitor on my desk at work, just to make sure I wasn’t being cavalier in my approach. I did, after all, miss a line out when I addressed the haggis at the Rosslea Hall Hotel last year, so I was mindful that I couldn’t practice enough.

address to a haggis, burns, crazy uncle john, helensburgh, postaweek

Silent witness

Friday February 4th 2011

Yesterday I went to court to appear as a witness to an assault that happened last May. I’d never been before, but was nervously anticipating my time in the dock, because I wanted to do my part in helping to convict the guy.

Arriving about fifteen minutes early at 09:30, I was told by the lady at reception to go up and sit in “waiting room D.” Making my way up the stairs and along the corridors it occurred to me that there were a whole lot of waiting rooms.

I entered room D to see a middle aged man and a police officer sitting on opposite sides . I bid them good morning, but got the impression that chat wasn’t high on the agenda, so I took a seat on the same wall as the door and we sat there in silence as the room filled up with new arrivals.

court, justice, postaweek, witness