Just posted this as a blank entry. Which probably sums up my mental state, but isn't what I intended.
Work... yeah. Nice to be back with my team, but I've got lots to do. Sergeants can't do their own case load reviews, after all.
Tomorrow night I thought I'd make this tomato and almond tart - looks good.
Had a nice night last night - although it was a bit of a surprise to get a visitor. Laura was very nice. Very pleasant, pretty, charming, and I'm glad she dropped in. I hope John was glad, too. Even Sherlock warmed to her. Mycroft was slightly more reserved.
Anyway... no idea what else I was going to say. Just need to fall into bed before my eyes turn to grit and my mind goes blanker than it is already.
147 comments:
That tart looks delicious.
Mm, don't you just. I mean, doesn't it just.
Anything I can do to help with the paperwork agony, apart from forging your signature?
Tomato and almond? But you're right, it does look good.
Ibuprofen for your poor sore hand, and some kind of protective corral so the paperwork doesn't get redistributed by hurricane Sherlock in the morning?
Glad you survived the first day back, though. Goodnight all.
rsf
I think this is only the second time I recognized the song lyric-title straight --most appropriate! :)
I hope enough mountain reduction was done today so that you're not so exhausted tomorrow.
Eeep! Paperwork mountains are not fun (Email landslides are not either.) Good luck with both tomorrow!
I'm happy to hear you survived your first day back and got your chair back. Hopefully, the foothills will go away soon, and leave you with nothing but gently rolling plains. ;)
~A from NW (No, I can't release this report without the Engineering VP's written permission. No, seriously. I'm not kidding. It's in the procedure!)
Was Mycroft reserved because he's normally reserved around people or because he sensed you were nervous? Or was it because he feared there'd be a repeat of your jeans guitarring in yellow shorts and adults can be soooo embarrasing at times?
Good luck with the remnants of the paper mountain today. Anyone fancy going to a wages meeting for me?
Make the tart, make the tart!!! Seriously, that's an Ottolenghi recipe, my family and I are currently OBSESSED with him and the restaurant. We've been cooking through the cookbook and everything in it is this gorgeous complex blend of flavours and textures, a really eclectic mix. It's Middle-Eastern, North-African, with some Asian vegetables, and French pastries, words cannot describe his good it is.
The Islington restaurant does breakfast/brunch/lunch too, unreal.
Sorry for the extreme enthusiasm, I am a proud disciple :)
The tart sounds... interesting. Not quite Marmite levels of interesting, but... definitely not my cup of tea. The other recipes on that page sound rather nice though ;-p
SH - I'll swap you, sure. I have to do the email equivalent of cold-calling a dozen people who've never heard of me to ask for a favour. *shudder*
How's the mountaineering going Greg? I hope the paperwork has a little GL flag on the top by now ;-)
Are you and the boys having fun John? How much summer hols do you have left now?
Yeah, I'm okay. Actually left the office for a few hours earlier.
Mycroft's back to school 4 September, so quite soon now, sadly.
We ended up playing museum roulette and are at the Fan Museum. We were all initially dubious, but it's more interesting than you might think (not to Sherlock particularly, but he is interested in their afternoon tea, which we will be having shortly - L, any chance you could join us?).
That's not long at all I thought he'd have a few more weeks but I guess it will stop the fight of getting Sherlock to school while Mycroft's still at home :-)
I'm glad you're finding the museum interesting and I hope the afternoon tea is good Sherlock :-)
Afternoon tea sound like a good reward for the taming of paperwork mountain Greg I hope you can manage it.
I just had to go look up the Fan Museum and it looks like a nice, digestible museum--the kind where you can see everything you want before your feet start hurting. :) and it looks like they serve a very nice tea!
Yeah, where is it? I can grab a few minutes.
I'll email you the address. If it's too far, maybe we can stop by when we're done?
I think I'm going to have to start playing museum roulette, too. There are quite a few possibilities in the Boston area but I will admit that with 240 museums London has got to be way more of a challenge. You won't run out of new places to go for years! (And my plans on what to do when I visit there have just got so much more complicated...)
rsf (who isn't sure whether to curse her tendency to google anything of interest or to swoon over the possibilities...)
That would work better for me, yeah, sorry.
It's all right, love. You want us to bring you a sandwich or something?
Sandwich would be amazing
Should be there shortly with sandwich and coffee. Sherlock has a fan with a picture of a Greek battle on it.
Doc, does your delivery service have a distance limit? Say...the eastern seaboard of the US?, hypothetically
I'm sad it would seem unprofessional to take your boyfriend into work just to get cuddles whilst you did paperwork.
DW - I fear you may not want the sandwich by the time I could get it to you. How about biscuits?
L - that is tragic.
Doesn't the Met have a "take your boyfriend to work day"?
I'll suggest it.
Feeling a bit overwhelmed.
Even better, Doc, especially if they're Jammie Dodgers.
Keep eating the elephant, Lestrade. You'll get there eventually!
I hope your on your way home Greg for some relaxation. It's tough going back to a job it's no wonder you're feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all.
It sounds like you're getting the "I've been on vacation" lump of paperwork when you didn't even have the vacation.
rsf
there's just a limit to how many crimes you can read about in 48 hours and still feel like you've got some sanity left.
How long do you have to get caught up?
just fitting it in around other stuff. About minus two days.
Just hope no one murders anyone for a few days.
There was just a programme on about a murderer and Lestrade wouldn't let us watch it but he did make a tomato thing and it was nice.
It was indeed a very nice tomato thing.
it really is unfair to have to do the job they moved you from when you get back to it :-(
When are you off again? you sound like a break would go down well even if it was only one day.
He was a murderer who chose to murder people because he wanted to be a famous serial killer. It's not a nice case, Sherlock.
I'm sure that in the future there will be shows about murders that will be okay for you to watch, Sherlock.
I'm glad the tomato thing turned out to be tasty!
But it wasn't even on after nine and that's when they show stuff not for children and usually we can watch them!
Sherlock - I think that at the moment maybe Lestrade is feeling like he needs a bit of a break from murders when he's home.
I've just looked up that programme. I'm quite glad I missed it; I watched the one a few weeks ago about Fred West, and that was plenty disturbing enough.
Glad everyone enjoyed the tomato thing :-)
Sherlock - you need to try trust Lestrade on this one, OK?
Sherlock, you're right that most of the time they keep adult content to the after nine slot. But sometimes the TV decision-makers decide that some stuff is okay because it doesn't specifically show things, but it's really pretty disturbing, especially to very bright people with decent imaginations who can fill in the gaps of what they don't actually show. (I know I saw some things when I was younger that gave me some very unpleasant nightmares, because they were supposed to be okay for younger people but weren't really.) Since Lestrade knows you, I think he would only stop you watching things that would really not be okay for you.
He's gone to bed. He can look it up sometime when I'm ready for the onslaught of questions. Case I worked on as a young PC. Remember far too well.
Colin Ireland, for anyone who's allowed to look things up without their Nanny's permission.
*looking up*
I'd say there are quite a few really good reasons for not having Sherlock watch that, any one of which would be sufficient. (Sorry you had to be reminded of it, L.)
I'm not bothered by being reminded of it, just wasn't up to Sherlock's questioning. And am generally suspicious of tv programmes about murderers and what spin they'll put on things.
Are you planning to watch some or all of it before letting Sherlock watches it to make sure it's not too far wrong?
I don't think Sherlock needs to watch it at all, really.
yeah, he won't be watching it. I'll tell him the basics if he remembers about it.
I hope this is one of those occasions Sherlock is clever enough to know not to ask again and save himself from being told no. :-)
And L has fallen under the weight of too many case files... I've had to put him to bed with warm milk that he got two sips into before he was asleep.
cute image alert :-)
You off to join him or do you suffer from school holiday wide awake in the evening syndrome?
I'll join him in a bit, just need to clean up the kitchen and check a few things.
A nannies work is never done! ;-)
I hope you both sleep well when you get there :-)
He is now fast asleep.
And--unless you're sleep commenting--you're not. Everything okay?
Too late to say get some sleep. Get coffee instead.
Rsf
What is a case load review? A review of the cases your sergeants are currently working on? Or a review of /how many/ cases they have apiece?
bit of both, DW. Checking how many, where they are with them, if they're being held up by waiting for something, if they need more help, if there's anything we need to do. And checking their own caseload reviews they've done on their DCs.
Ugh. Just the sort of in-depth digging to make the days absolutely fly by Do you have a personal rule of thumb for how many cases a person should take on, or it is based more on the individual sergeant and the types of cases they have? And is DS Donovan the head DS on your team?
You can't really say how many cases an officer should have, no. Depends on the cases and their role within it.
Sal isn't the most senior sgt, no. Although she is one of the more proactive.
Doesn't the whole team work together on a case?
rsf
given your not full nights sleep Greg I made you a coffee, I don't have as good a delivery service as the doc though so I'm afraid you'll just have to imagine it ;-)
I hope the day is treating you OK and people have held off killing each other.
Anonybob
I don't think anyone delivers to Lestrade quite like the Doc, Anonybob. ;)
RSF - not always, no.
AnonyBob - thanks. I shall imagine it's lovely, hot and strong... my imagination is used to things like that, given John is a frequent subject...
DW - hope life is treating you a bit better.
Delivery boy cap or frilly apron?
Not particularly, Lestrade, but thanks for the thought.
Nameless, fancy swapping jobs again? - I have a totally tedious meeting to go to this afternoon. Which wouldn't matter quite so much if I didn't seem to have half of L's paper mountain.
Hope things start to improve for you soon DW.
Let us know if we can do anything. Personally I'm just waiting for John to bring me my present from the fan museum - himself, in a loin cloth, with an ostrich-feather fan to keep me cool while I toil.
Fear I could be waiting a long time.
I should think Danger in a loin-cloth would guarantee you wouldn't be thinking about the paperwork at all.
So if I'm understanding it, your team works some cases together, but sometimes each officer is working a case independently? And you have to follow all the threads of all the cases?
rsf
It's rare for just one officer to be working a case, but yeah, we operate in smaller sections within the teams sometimes. Just depends on the case. At the moment we've got three - kidnapping, which is...I can't really say solved, but it's resolved in as much as no one is now missing, and they're gathering evidence for court. A murder, which most of us are working on, and a very serious assault, which, again, we have someone charged with but we're still building the case for court.
Then we have cold case reviews, which sometimes is just two or three officers per case. And yeah, I do have to keep a fair track of what's going on. I've got a whiteboard in my office I keep notes on.
You're all suspiciously quiet. Has their been a zombie apocalypse and I'm the only one left? It is possible my office is zombie proof... more to keep me in than zombies out though.
No Zombies here - or if there are they're sitting quietly somewhere in the sunshine. I've just been eating chocolate to help deal with the day - it's the best I could manage since I don't have a Danger in a loincloth either.
Zombies are afraid to come to New York, they heard it's a very dangerous city. Perhaps they heard the same of your office... :D
Just busy here--and pretty woozy, my back went out Sunday night and I'm on some very nice muscle relaxants. :)
I've spent the morning traversing Dante's levels of hell trying to get my car registered in my new state. Now I'm having lunch so I can fortify myself for another attempt. It's all the joy of a paperwork mountain without any way to know what the right forms are.
I will say this about my new city, all the people I've randomly met while standing in lines, asking for directions, etc have been very friendly. I think I'll like it here once I can settle a bit.
well I've just got a papercut on my tongue.
about the most excitement I've had all day.
I'm about to strangle a major, Lestrade, if it'll help. Not sure it's quite your jurisdiction, though...
L - you'll have to get the Doc to kiss it better later.
DW - we'll all say it was self defence.
Not much fun if you've confessed before even committing the crime.
Instead of strangling very carefully inflate a balloon in his windpipe, then remove it after death. It'll give everyone a puzzle to work on.
(now I've come over all responsible and feel I should, in fact, remind everyone not to murder people, even in interesting ways.)
(At least until you've gotten to the bottom of the paper mountain, anyway!)
Not enough to kill him. Just enough to shut him up. If he adds or returns to the 87 variations on "if you can still see when you get back" he's riffed on so far, I will not be responsible for my actions.
He deserves to be clocked, at the very least!
L - your poll is surprisingly difficult. And also I think I might have to ban you from using that song for your blog titles. I've had it stuck in my head since you posted this.
DW - Sherlock approves of the balloon idea.
DW - sorry to hear you're still having a sucky time of it :-(
Lestrade - a papercut on your tongue? Ouch. I promise I'm no giggling at all. Also, I can't imagine that John standing over you whilst he's wearing nothing but a loincloth would cool you down at all, no matter how enthusiastically he's fanning you.
Time for the second informal Badger poll, i think.
Who suffers more when Lestrade has a papercut on his tongue:
A. John
B. Lestrade
John, answer your bloody phone. I mean, go home, then call me. Are you with the boys? Anthea's on her way to find you, but just go home, and then call, okay? It's urgent. And I'm being serious.
Are you okay, dear? John and the boys have gone to the shops, I think.
!!
I hope everyone's safe & whole.
The Boss is whole. Pacing in his office, talking on the phone, gesturing a lot and looking angry.
Hope you and the boys are okay, John?
What Nameless said.
Thanks, Sally.
JOHN WHERE ARE YOU? Jesus, just let me know you're okay?
I'm fine! We're fine, sorry. We were getting something for dinner, didn't hear my phone. What's happened? Are you all right?
Yeah, I mean, no, someone sent pictures to me at work. I just opened the post and they're photos from the weekend of us. I got hold of Nicky and Rach isn't answering
That's...rather disturbing. Was there a note with the photos? Anything?
no, just photos printed out of all of us on the bouncy STonehenge, you me, the boys, all of us. I've got socco coming to fetch them. The envelope was just addressed to me at the yard. didnt get to me until now because they go through scanners and stuff, just in case, these days.
I'm so glad you're okay. Is Anthea there with you yet?
Yeah, she met us halfway home. Have you got hold of Rachel yet?
Oh good god.
I hope Rach and family are OK.
Sally - thanks.
Good, and no.
I got hold of Mrs Holmes. She...implied that she'd make sure they were okay.
The boys okay? I mean, I dunno what I mean, I probably managed to make that sound more alarming than I should have. I was just scared.
I'd say being scared was the appropriate reaction to the situation.
I'm glad the rest of you are okay, and that you get word from Rachel soon.
They haven't seen the blog yet. I've explain what's happened. They're...mostly okay? I think Mycroft understands the possible implications better than Sherlock does.
Are you all right?
Think I'm on a massive adrenalin crash now I know you're oaky.
You' just been so quiet today I suddenly thought maybe something had happened, I didn'e even see you'd commented a bit earlier.
Oh God :-( I hope you're all OK and Rach and co answer their phone soon.
Yeah, I'm sure I'd have felt the same. Are you coming home soon?
Anthea says one of Mrs Holmes' people has seen Rachel and her family, and they're all right.
Adrenalin crash means he's sitting on the floor of his office. I'll take him a coffee.
Glad you're okay, John. If there's anything you need, there's a whole team here who'd be happy to help out.
Thank you, Sally. Can I come and get him, or does he need to be there still?
I'm leaving now. Rach called. Don't think she entirely understands. Not sure I really explained it that well.
Don't leave the boys. And I'd rather get home on the bike. Less chance of being followed.
All right, love. Please be careful.
Will do. I love you.
I love you too.
God you two sound like in a film or something when one isn't going to come back. I'm sure Greg will be ok getting home John.
I'm glad you were able to talk to the boys, John. And please pass our thanks on to their Mum. Orio said she's making sure that someone's keeping an eye on us, and I know Orio's called our local police and asked them to as well.
I hope you can find out who it was. It's so creepy to think someone was watching us all, when it was such a lovely day.
I think Carla wants to ring Mycroft and talk to him, if you don't mind. I think it might be good for her - he's such a level headed young man. She might be able to relax a bit if he doesn't mind.
Stay safe, all of you.
Nicky - I'm glad you're all okay. L's home now, by the way. Shaken up, but mostly all right. I think it would do Mycroft good to talk to Carla too.
Glad to hear you're home OK, Lestrade. I'm guessing there's hugging going on?
Nicky - glad you're all OK; I hope Carla's not too upset.
Ttid - I think the guys are entitled to feel worried about each other, under the circumstances.
Gotta agree with you, Nameless.
I hope everyone is able to settle down tonight--that really is a very disturbing thing to have happen.
Yeah, fair bit of hugging. Think John and I need to have a chat tonight.
Mycroft's talking to Carla on Skype.
But for now Sherlock's re-inventing his previously invented booby traps for the flat. Most are being vetoed because we're more likely to be their victim than the intended intruders.
I'm glad everyone is where they should be and safe as they can be :-)
Look after yourselves.
Oh, jeez, now I feel guilty for encouraging you to go somewhere so identifiable to anyone who reads the blogs. Security did go with you that day, right?
rsf
RSF - yeah, they were there. Likely they saw whoever it was, but there were so many people taking pictures, of everyone and everything.
I rather like Sherlock's approach--very practical!
RSF - We've often said where we are/where we're going, it's never been an issue. And yeah, security were there, but it was busy, and it's not like there's any CCTV around there that could help now.
I wonder if any of those pictures have landed on the web -- maybe if someone caught the person who sent Lestrade the pictures they'd be someone one of you (or one of Mrs. H's people) knows.
God, it must be terrible trying to balance giving Sherlock and Mycroft a chance to grow without wrapping them into a bubble for safety's sake.
rsf
I mean the pictures other people were taking, not the ones that got sent to you, L.
rsf
I'm sure with all the resources on our side we'll get somewhere with it. And yeah, it is a hard balance.
I just...I hope the fact they sent the pictures to work means they don't know where we live. And I'll be about a hundred times more careful about coming home from work.
Since it would have been far more disturbing to receive those at home, it seems a reasonable assumption, L.
That sounds like a correct assupmtion Greg.
I know there is nowt that can be done by any of us but we all would if we could :-)
Cheers, AnonyBob. Certainly shook me. Think I'd... I dunno, we know there's a risk, but you never think anything'll happen, do you?
I can understand that, it's one thing living with the possiblity but it's quite another when something like this happens.
Are the boys OK? Mycroft good after talking to Carla? (seriously don't answer any questions if it's better not to or you don't want to OK)
You and John are amazing you know, both of you :-)
I know relaxing is a daft thing to suggest right now but do you have something other than this to focus on together for a bit?
Maybe taking those karate lessons will help Sherlock feel like he doesn't need quite so many booby traps.
Even though I admit I would probably get a kick out of his designs. I suspect that his burglar catcher might look a lot like something from a Rube Goldberg cartoon
rsf
I thnk it helped Mycroft a bit, it definitely helped Carla. I don't know, he's hard to read sometimes. So's John.
Sherlock's more vocal, but...well, it's hard to know.
I think they're both as all right as they can be under the circumstances.
Take good care of each other, guys, and let us know if you need a distraxrion or anything.
With Sherlock I would say (with only experience and no expert knowledge) that the more he talks the better eventhough it will get on other people's nerves at times, it always seems to help arrange things in kids heads as if saying things out loud makes them somehow under your control.
I'm glad Mycroft is (probably)feeling a bit better and certainly glad that Carla is feeling better :-)
Are you talking to John? or are you both trying to read each other without putting any words out there yourself?
Cheers, DW.
AnonyBob - yeah, I'm sort of glad he approaches it all quite practically, gives him an outlet of his feelings, sort of.
And...yeah. I sort of... you know it's easy to get angry with the wrong people when you try and talk about things like this.
Getting angry is a perfectly normal reaction and not one you will be alone in therefore no one is really going to take it to heart are they?
Don't you get more angry at not knowing what people are thinking? I know I do.
John - I hope you're feeling as ok as you can :-)
The wrong people?
You, Anthea, Mrs H, easy to get angry when talking about it because it's not like there's anywhere else to focus that anger when it's something like this. And I've seen that sort of thing escalate into stupid fights too many times.
Ah. All right.
sorry. I mean, I'm happy to talk if you want to. I'm just not always very good at it when I'm angry. Too used to fighting or running away.
I'm like that too, Lestrade. When I'm upset I sometimes take it out on the person nearest instead of who I need to be upset with.
rsf
I think I understand L: a combination of worry and frustration at not being able to do anything yourself means you/I just verbally strike out at anything within sight. And when it's me, I know I'm doing it which makes it worse, and the last thing I want is the other person/people being sensible about the situation, because that makes my reaction more extreme. But that's me.
L - it's okay. I just wasn't sure what you meant.
If you need an indoor distraction for Sherlock tomorrow, this might give him ideas.
rsf (who wishes she had something more constructive to offer)
I'd guess that Sherlock will be wanting to perfect his booby traps and possibly put together emergency kits for everyone. :) (I know having contingency plans makes me feel considerably more in control, whether or not I actually am.)
Hopefully once you're able to start doing some digging you'll be able to identify your photographer quickly, L.
RSF - We have a guy called Heath Robinson who's famous for similar designs.
*googles* Oooh, shiny! I think I've seen him mentioned in books before, but I didn't get the reference. Yay for the internet! Those cartoons are neat.
I especially like the pancake making machine and I note that they must be British pancakes by the squirt of lemon...
rsf
Oh, goodness, I check the blog to find so has happened. I'm glad everyone is safe and accounted for. I know how scared I would be if someone had sent such pictures to me.
Hopefully everything's quiet now and the rest of the evening was better. Hope you all have a good day tomorrow, despite not knowing who sent those pictures. Take care of each other, and we're all here if you need us.
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