Worked late. Wanted to get on and interview a suspect we'd found inconveniently late on in the shift.
Came home to find the flat at DefCon1, with some sort of cold war of glaring going on.
Apparently Sherlock climbed on the back of the sofa, the sofa decided that was above and beyond it's call of duty...one large crunch later and Sherlock was on the floor, and the sofa is...well...not exactly sofa-shaped any more.
This is partly because Sherlock is no longer a little waif. He's a strapping young lad. And partly because the sofa is probably older than him.
Up side, we're getting a new sofa... downside, we currently don't have one.
Anyway, Sherlock blamed the sofa, John blamed Sherlock, the sofa remained silent, I blamed...me, probably, and told Sherlock he wouldn't be watching any more programme likes the one last night, if he can't behave the next day. So he decided he blamed me too. And a degu (won't say which one), for 'probably eating some of the sofa and making it weaker'. And Mycroft, for sitting on the sofa...ever.
Now Sherlock is sulkily in bed. And I am attempting to massage the frown creases from John's forehead.
What else... Mycroft is home at the weekend. We may or may not own a sofa by then... more room for everyone, if not? But most of us will have to sit on the floor...
Work is...work. Some good, some bad. I have to go on a firearms refresher, which is...well, inevitable. Given I've barely had to use my skills, it's not too bad, I suppose. It's come in handy, so can't complain.
Good news is, my ankle survived a run...well...slow jog, the other night. As long as I'm careful, it seems fine. And don't do any silly sudden direction changes or anything.
Oh, and Sherlock's volunteered us to clean the pond up...which is kind of him... and get it ready for all the critters to turn up in the spring.
Right...I'm going to....not sit on the sofa.
173 comments:
Well, it wasn't the kitchen, or on the way to school, or in the classroom. And given that the sofa's never done that before, I expect Sherlock wasn't expecting it to start.
I was just contemplating whether or not having a word like "parkour" to replace "messing about" is an advantage or not. I mean, it's more specific, so it's quite clear when someone has crossed a line, but it's more specific, so it's also harder to see the potentially grey areas at the edges. And I suspect it's a bit harder to enforce them as well. At least it was only the sofa that got damaged though.
I'm glad your ankle is better. Is it warm enough for Sherlock to be cleaning ponds?
Indeed it wasn't anywhere he'd already been told not to clamber on.
The sofa wasn't...exactly precious. But it was comfy. I foresee a lot of testing sofas in our future.
And not testing them by trying to front-flip off the back of them...
Is it warm enough for Sherlock to clean ponds? The question really is... is it warm enough for Sherlock to tell me and John to clean a pond? And the answer to that seems to be 'yes'...
Of the things that could've broken, I suppose the sofa isn't too bad.
Well, better than his neck, yes.
Not just that...our bed, any of the kitchen appliances but especially the fridge, the stairs...
well, I'd already told him off for swinging about on the banisters.
I was slightly more worried he might break you, by wrenching your shoulder or something as he tried to use you as some form of launch pad... or somehow knock his brains out by clambering up something outside.
He's definitely not watching anything like that again.
Heh. Once was probably enough.
Reckon Mrs Hudson could salvage some of the fabric, make a couple of cushions out of the sofa?
Probably. For sentimental reasons?
Yeah. It was the first place I...er...slept here.
I remember. Vividly. I'll ask her.
Glad you're going to ask her, because I know she'll make you blush :) She'll know exactly why we want them! Nothing gets past Mrs H.
Hush, I'm much better than I used to be.
She probably would've done it on her own and surprised us anyway. With a gleeful, slightly evil smile.
Aaawwwww.
The Internet is a strange and wonderful place. There are people whose courting I witnessed up close and personally, including extended conversations (sometimes from both sides!) analyzing if it was time to take the next Big Emotional/Physical Leap, and then heard only moderately edited versions of each said leap. And I still know some of the couples decades later. But I have never heard as many beautifully soppy sentimental interchanges between them as I've seen on this blog.
The Internet is a strange and wonderful place.
formerlyAnon
She'll probably sew pockets in them and cram them with... items which could come in useful, in a situation where you may suddenly want a DI .... sleeping ..... on your sofa.
Or secretly sew rude words in the little stitches around the edge.
formerlyAnon - I'm glad we never had conversations (or tried to) about the leaps - we'd still be awkwardly having coffee, if it was down to me!
My sister's kids used to use the back of the sofas in her living room as a bed/balance beam/launch pad when they were a bit older than Sherlock, but much to my sister's regret, the sofas stayed intact. (They came with the house, you see, and she hated them, but they were too sturdy to toss. She eventually replaced them anyway.) Watching them walk and climb on them always made me so nervous, but they were very nonchalant about it!
(My pronouns seem to have gotten muddled there, sorry!)
ReRe: remembering what my brother and his friends got up to on furniture that never actually broke, I do feel that Sherlock perhaps was unlucky.
But for some of us it takes a few [hundred?] unlucky experiences to learn to think of what *might* happen. ;-)
formerlyAnon
Sherlock was unlucky, and the sofa was old...and had been abused by John, pinning innocent DIs to it. ;)
At least there were no broken bones. (Both Sherlock and innocent DIs)
we'd still be awkwardly having coffee, if it was down to me
Hindsight is 20/20, but I doubt it. You've surmounted a lot of big and small obstacles that would have derailed most, conversation would've happened if required. (Hell. Statistically, how many childless 40-ish men would have gotten to second coffee with someone who lives 24/7 with two boys? Let alone fit right in?) And I doubt the blog world has seen more than the tip of the iceberg on the big bumps.
When people fit, they fit.
formerlyAnon
I would imagine that have a sofa crunch apart under you would be startling (and quite possibly alarming) experience for both climber and sitter. I hope all nerves have been soothed by morning if not by bedtime. :)
Didn't one of you two teach Sherlock the "the floor is lava" game? I seem to remember it needing modification. So you've got no one to blame but yoursleves.
Say live and let diiiiiiie!
Also, my boys busted their bed tonight. But it turns out it was shoddy screws. But having paid about $1000 for the combo bed/desk/bunk makes me a bit irate.
Good luck couch testing! We found one last year that reclines, heats up, and "massages" (which is really just vigorous vibrating). But it's damn comfy.
~EchoOfMe
We had a legless couch in our basement when I was a kid, but I'm not sure which one of my older sisters put paid for them.
Also, trying to figure out whether to get an Oyster card or a travel pass for visiting London is an exercise in frustration. I cannot for the life of me figure out the daily price cap thing (as there are two different caps for peak and off peak) and the whole tapping of the Oyster card on yellow or pink depending on arcane rules from Mars has me thinking a pass would be simpler. But apparently if you accidentally go beyond your zone, you are doomed and fined and made fun of. This appears to be true even if you didn't get off the train in the process. I remember being confused a bit the last time I visited London, but in the interim they appear to have handed the pricing rules over to someone who never actually travels by public transportation.
rsf: following your adventures in tourism interestedly. Had planned to visit London this May, but my travel companion may be getting a knee replacement (old riding injury). So whether or not we go in May, I'm hoping we'll be more mobile than I'd feared and can make good use of public transport.
formerlyAnon
We had to rearrange the entire living room when my middle daughter decided to make a running leap, bounce of the back of the wing chair, and land on the seat. The wing chair that backed up to the double high picture window on the second floor.
I hope you guys are able to make your commemorative pillows, and find a comfy new couch.
Sherlock is unlucky, but it seems that you two are lucky, as if he hadn't broken it, you two might have, and in a much more embarrassing fashion. ;)
Ella
RSF I use my Oyster card whenever I go up to London and never have any trouble with it. But then I tend to stay in the central part. Although I do remember going to Greenwich with it a couple of years ago. So far it's been something that seems to have worked well.
I've seen one pink oyster reader in my life...
I hope peace in the glaring war was achieved by morning. :) Happy sofa hunting!
RSF - do you mean daily travel card? Or...is there some other pass?
RR - there is a truce. And Sherlock was looking for new sofas this morning... I feel this may start another battle!
The first rule of furniture hunting--you have to be able to get it into the building without taking it apart.
(As for style and comfort, you're on your own. :))
I think most sofas come in bits. Otherwise most Flats in London wouldn't have one.
Really? That's definitely not the case here. In fact, there's a whole small industry in New York of people who know how (or say they know how) to take apart furniture--mostly sofas/couches--for people who bought pieces that they couldn't maneuver into their apartments themselves.
(There was an article...found it!: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/31/garden/31sofa.html?pagewanted=print&_r=0 )
Well all the ones I've ever bought have. Arms, back and base as bits. I've never bought a posh one, maybe they don't, and are probably better as a result. But I've never needed much.
None of the three sofas my parents have owned could by any stretch be called posh, but they didn't need assembly, either! The more affordable sofas in the US tend to come from big national chains, and I don't think most of the country wants ready-to-assemble upholstered furniture, so they don't make them.
Of course, now there's Ikea and Pottery Barn--I don't know how their sofas come. (They weren't around over here last time we were looking, or if they were they weren't on our radar yet.)
I wasn't for a moment implying younger have bought a posh sofa. Just that my view that 'most' came in bits was from my own very limited sofa buying experience.
L, yes I mean the travel card. There's a 7 day version that would make sense I think, if I got the one for zones 1 to 6. (While I'm going to be in Zone 1 for three days, I'm staying in zone 5 and traveling to the ExCel center for five of the days, and I don't think I can always manage to be off-peak.) That's assuming that some of the museums I'm thinking about are outside of zones 1 and 2, though. The stuff about pink card readers is here: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/14870.aspx -- and if it confuses you too, I'm only pleased to hear it!
A lot of the sofas I've seen in stores are the sectional things, but even those won't fit into my old Boston apartment. I've got a teeny little two seater that's not big enough for sleeping on. If I wanted anything bigger I'd have to build it in place.
I think I was trying to say 'you might' up there and it changed to 'younger'
RSF - they're not confusing, but there are so few of them most Londoners will very rarely see a pink reader. Oyster cards are the easiest and cheapest way to travel in the city.
Heh--no insult in thinking my parents might have been buying posh, even if you had meant that! But we're more the warehouse sale type. :)
I was looking at the Ikea sofas, since I got curious, and at least some of them are the ship flat type--nice styles, too. I like the cushy over-stuffed ones, but we've never had that--my mom prefers a more formal look.
My mum liked the stained-and-cigarette burnt look.
Well, it's what she got, having five kids and a drink habit, anyway ;) Can't pretend I did much better for my first few flats...
What are you all thinking of getting this time 'round? Something to match the wallpaper, perhaps? ;)
My furniture is all hand- me- down, so it's a bit worn and faded. But it's comfy which is all that matters to me!
I was thinking I'd never seen a "flat-pack" sofa, but then I realised that ours were cheap from Ikea, and we did have to screw the legs into place. But compared to most of our furniture, the sofas were about the most built-when-bought thing we own.
RSF - I don't think I've ever seen a pink card reader. BTW, in case it's not clear from the website, the travel cards aren't usually separate cards, they're "payment plans" applied to your Oyster card. Being as I don't live in London, I don't know if things have changed, but you used to be able to get a weekly travel card (or monthly/yearly) as well as daily. If you're going to be there a week and you might be in and out of all the zones any day, a weekly card might be a better value option :-)
Yeah, you can get a weekly travel card on an oyster, I think, or on paper.
Being largely on free travel I don't know too much about it.
But an oyster will, on a daily basis, always make your travel the cheapest it can be. I'd have to look at how it compares to weekly.
It is snowing and snowing here, and also icing up, as it's well below freezing (-8C at the moment) and dropping. (You don't need to be jealous, Sherlock. You can't make a snowball or snowman, it's too cold to pack, it's just blowing everywhere.) Anyone on the roads in the area, please don't be if you can help it!
RSF - having checked, I now think you might only be able to get a 7 day travelcard on Oyster anyway! So it's up to you working out how many days you'll need which zones and which works out cheaper!
If you want to check which zones any museums are, just ask, we can tell you!
Good thing about getting a travel card is you can get buses just to sightsee, at no extra cost :)
People often say travel is expensive here - which I agree with - how do you think it compares?
Going to have to show this to Sherlock tomorrow:
http://www.planetary.org/get-involved/messages/bennu/
Whoa! That's a seven-year mission...with a lot of time with nothing to do. But I bet they get TONS of applications!
I'm sure by 7am tomorrow Sherlock's name will be filled in. Sooner, if he sees this earlier.
Not the slightest doubt about it.
Because having your name go may not be the same as going yourself, but it's still cool!
It's the closest he'll get for a long time.
I don't think there's 'applications' as such. I think they put every name submitted on it.
Well, then, I'll just have to submit my name, too.... :)
Wonder what our superpower is?
http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/married-gays-to-tour-drought-hit-countries-2014012082721
Goldfish, I seem to remember.... ;)
I particularly like "the waters of gayness"...
Let's go to bed, and try and get a sub-Sodom level of warmth going on then ;)
(and you can tell me what excitement you have planned for me tomorrow)
My IKEA sofa wasn't flat pack, but yes, I did have to put the little stubby legs on, and yes, it was a pain getting it through even the door of my typical suburban house.
I tend to use busses as sightseeing wherever I travel, and I REALLY love London busses, so I definitely think Oystercard is worthwhile for the tourist. I didn't get one last time I was there, but I think because we weren't going to be there long enough to really be worth it? It was really close to being worth it, and I'll get one next time.
I was there for a wedding, and the ceremony was at St Paul's in Hammersmith, but the reception was at Battersea Arts Centre, so it was a long ride on the 295, which was weirdly fun to do. Saw a lot of cute neighborhoods that way.
And the looks locals gave us going home, when they climbed up to the upper deck expecting quiet and instead found 20 chatty Americans all dressed for a party, was the best fun of all. Those poor people. That is probably my favorite bus ride ever.
AftSO
I love to sightsee from buses, so the travelcard may be my best option. I was going to look at our London book at work today, to make my list of museums, but I forgot. Too many people came in to stock up on books and movies for the cold weather and snowstorm. I seem to remember you talking about things in jars a while back, though and I do like things in jars. Anything with the sciences is more my style than art museums. And the history of things, as opposed to just history broadly. And since it will be summer I'll probably try to visit Kew Gardens -- isn't that where the botanical garden is? The kids have the day off school tomorrow, but so far it looks like I'm going to have to go to work, so I'll check tomorrow. And no, Sherlock, the snow here isn't very packable either. Fluffy and already blowing around, and it's so cold that you're courting frostbite to stay out in it.
One of the advantages of travelling alone is that you can change your plans if you stumble across something fun, but I like have a list of possibilities, and it's so nice to have friendly natives as guides! Thank you for all the help!
I saw this an thought of Sherlock. What an interesting job!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25834206
That's really cool, Becca. Although it does make me want to find a meteorite.
RSF, I highly recommend the Hunterian Museum - the 'things in jars' museum. I went there after reading about it here, and it was fantastic! There's also the Wellcome Collection, across from Euston Tube Station. Around the corner from the tube station is North Gower Street, which has a cafe called Speedy's - I hear their wraps are good.
Of course, on Exhibition Road you've got the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum, and the V&A all in the same place. Damn, I miss London!
Lestrade - re public transport costs - I pay approximately 19 GBP for a weekly pass here in Melbourne. Melbourne has 2 zones (zone 1 = CBD & inner suburbs, zone 2 = middle & outer suburbs), I usually only go within zone 1, and the pass gets me unlimited tram, train and bus travel for 7 days for the cost. I don't know how that compares with your system.
Sorry to hear you are couchless, but choosing a new one should be fun and I love that you are going to immortalise the old one to preserve happy memories. ;)
It was so conscientious of you to go through all that last August to support the drought-ridden countries of the world - I mean, it's not like you did it because you love each other or anything like that, right! ;)
Exciting plans sound good, hope you have a great day whatever they turn out to be. :)
A quick Oyster card note from an American traveler: while I haven't done a detailed comparison, I think it seems like the best way to go. It's good on everything (bus, underground, overground, DLR, even boats), in any zone, and the daily cap ensures that you will never pay more than you'd pay with a travel card. And the individual fares are cheaper, if you don't actually use it enough to meet the limit on some days. It also never expires; I've had mine for several years but only make it to London every 2 years. I just keep it with my passport and other travel stuff (including travel cards for other cities, I guess I sort of collect them?) and bring it back out when I need it. (mine is actually a "travelers" version; I bought it from here before a trip. the downside with that version is you can't register it to top it up online, or set it to automatic payments, but I don't need that so it's fine. again, this was several years ago, I'm not sure if that distinction in types still exists?)
Or, to cut to the chase without the rambling: I find the Oyster card really freeing, and have never been confused trying to use it. I'd recommend it to any traveller.
- A longtime lurking anon who was just in London last month
Ro - zones 1-6, which is basically most of london is £57 I think. 1-9 is £81! so quite a difference
Thanks longtime lurking Anon - I do think it's easy!
We are very vaguely looking at furnishings. In a way that makes sales people nervous that two wet dirty bikers might sit on one of their display couches...
Good lord! 57 Pound! The most we'd pay - cover zones 1 and 2 - is equivalent to 33 Pound! Ouch, that's really gotta hurt. Still, you guys do pay a lot less for food and drink than we do, so that's something. And the Oyster card is dead easy to use. I found I walked a lot more than I thought I would, anyway. Easier to do when on holidays, though! Less of a time factor.
Just seen Murray lose to Federer. I like Feds, but was cheering for Murray. I suppose John is happy, though?
Have fun stirring up the sales people. Perhaps Sherlock should give all the possible couches the jump test?
I'm slightly conflicted - I like Murray too - but happy for the potential Fed/Nadal match. Or is it a sure thing now? I've really lost track of this tournament with all that's been going on.
It is on, yeah - semi between Fed & Nadal. And sorry, reading back I made it sound like you'd be happy to see Murray lose! Not what I intended, just that you'd be happy to have more Federer. It's hard when you like both players!
I'm sure the ridiculous time difference between here and there doesn't help you keep up with the Aus Open, either. I know I sleep through most of Wimbledon!
There was a time when I'd watch no matter when it was on, but that was when the strenuous thing I'd have to do the next day is get shot...now I've got Sherlock. ;)
Shot at! Sorry...that was a bad place for a typo.
Yeah, and save the odd life, ;)
Mycroft just texted us and asked us what our first jobs were... Paperboy for me, when I was 12. You, Danger? Anyone else?
Walking various neighbours' dogs. Also around twelve I think.
Babysitting at age 11. (At night, in the same apartment building I lived in.) First non-babysitting job (technically) was day camp arts and crafts counselor at age 12.
I suppose my first job for which I was compensated was going to the shop to buy Mum cigarettes, for which I was allowed to buy penny sweets as long as I either bought enough for everyone, or ate them before I got home. And hated it when Nicky came with me, because it halved my payment! At about...7?
I used to come with you because you'd rub in that you'd got sweets by finding me and showing me them, half chewed, in your mouth!
Ah, the joys of having an older sibling...
I assure you I saw enough of her half chewed food too!
I think my first job was babysitting, around 11 or 12, but my first real, actually get a paycheck job was as a dishwasher at 15 in a retirement home.
Oh, first paycheck job is different--I think...yes, I think it was teaching guitar to six-year-olds at the local Y for several months when I was 15 or 16. (It was really baby sitting with singing, as you may imagine.) And then filing/typing/office work, from the summer before I started college, and part-time all the way through--work/study jobs in the university first, then at a speakers bureau nearby.
I think the first activity I got paid for was probably pulling weeds and squashing tomato horn worms in my mom's garden. I think it was a penny a weed, and maybe a nickel for the caterpillars. They were big and nasty.
I loved the article about travel to drought-stricken areas. :)
S
My dad was a car mechanic and owned his own service station. So my first "job" was pushing a broom around to keep the place clean-ish. They would put down this gritty stuff to soak up the oil and whatnot and then I'd sweep it up. That would be as soon as I was big enough to hold a broom. Then when I was old enough to legally work - 15? 16? - I was pumping gas and getting minimum wage.
Pulling weeds, clearing fallen branches, etc. in my parents' yard - 25 cents an hour - age 9. I think the rates went up to 50 cents when we were about 12 and a little more effective. Babysitting and serving in an ice cream shop happened about the same time at 15, I think.
formerlyAnon
Part of the mobile arts team for a play scheme and then play scheme leader when I was 21, it was a pretty good job with a surprising amount of overtime taking arts and crafts activities out into the rough estates. Often did more work with the mothers but it was all useful!
Yeah I got my first pay packet worth anything decent when I was working full time, for the gardener/landscaper when I was fifteen. Felt rich!
First job at a library putting back books at 14. Felt real great having my own money!
Aside from some babysitting, my first pay packet job was working in a newsagent when I was 16. I did all day Saturday and Sunday morning and got 17 pounds for it and boy did I feel rich! It's amazing thinking back isn't it. :) So is thinking of you buying cigarettes at age 7, Greg. We had a similar trade at the offy counter of the local pub, but you can't even imagine sending out the kids to buy stuff like that now, can you.
Was a suitable sofa chosen today, or are you waiting to get the opinions of Sherlock and Mycroft too, before you make your decision.
Aside from getting a few pence to buy a soft crink or bar of chocolate for going to the shops for my brothers, first paying job would have been as a chambermaid at local hotels and B&Bs when I was about 14.
Think my first job was as a cashier at the local drugstore. Of course, I used to do a lot of babysitting. One family I was their regular babysitter while they went to bible study. I would dutifully read the kids their bible story, including the discussion questions at the end. Then after they'd fallen asleep (and I always checked!) I would cleanse my palette so to speak, by watching Monty Python and Benny Hill. Never forgot to set the television back to the preset station, either.
Ha! Not sure what I would ever have done in that situation...encouraged them to ask questions ;) I guess
No sofa chosen, we need Mycroft! All he has said so far is 'no' to many of Sherlock's suggestions...
my suggestions are GOOD
Could we see some of them? (Including ones Mycroft didn't say no to, maybe. :))
I'm fairly sure he's said no to all of them so far...
Gosh, Joolz, you sparked all sorts of memories of things we were set to do that would horrify parents today! What's funny is the "worst" ones were just chores, nothing you got paid for. I got sent to the drugstore (about a mile away) to buy cigarettes for my dad, from age 10 or so. (And all the change came back with me, too.) From age 8, whenever there was an infestation of Japanese beetles, we'd get sent out with a coffee can half-filled with a godawful smelling pesticide and a popsicle stick and told to knock the bugs off the plants and into the can. At least they made sure we wore gloves and washed our hands, after. But it was no big deal, at all.
formerlyAnon
It's amazing any of us made it out alive, fA, Joolz ;)
Sherlock - most of those are too big. Or too...bright. Or just..... we'll go and sit on some at the weekend. Promise.
I want a bright coloured one!
Can we watch Crimewatch PLEEAASE?
That 2nd one (http://www.furniturevillage.co.uk/Inventory/Upholstery/Ashley-Manor-Harlequin/5-seater-chaise-sofa-RHF.aspx) is a very fine sofa, though I'd prefer it upholstered in a single, boring fabric, Sherlock.
But it looks enormous! Would there be room to walk, or put up a Christmas tree?
formerlyAnon
(Maybe save the bright colors for small pillows? That way you could change them out later if you wanted different colors.)
fA
Sorry I didn't answer earlier, Sherlock, I had to go to the eye doctor.
As Lestrade said, I think the corner ones you linked to are probably too big for a flat, but all of them have nice clean lines--very good taste there! I like the last one best--it looks comfy. And the colors are very pretty--I like pink and orange together a lot. But I think I remember John put up a photo of your wallpaper a good while back, and if I'm remembering it right, a pattern (even stripes) next to that would be pretty overwhelmed, so you'll probably be happiest with a single solid color.
The first and third one of your sofa choices are made at a factory near where I work. Working at that factory is what we threaten kids with if they don't work hard enough!
Those men are really nasty. You should go and catch them.
They are. But the police there are working on it! I'm sure they're doing the best job, and I wouldn't be any help.
I haven't looked at the sofas you posted here... but having seen the way your choices were going, I can assume they're huge and colourful. We really need to go and sit on them before we decide if we like them!
Driving home from work today I saw a wonderful rainbow. First thought "See, UKIP, even God believes in rainbows".
Hey, that wasn't God, that was a rainbow joining a couple of gays having cybersex ;)
Some parts of Crimewatch are being talked over...Sherlock is frowning at the rest.
There was a Detective on and he was a DI and he was LIVE on the TV and talking to everyone about a murder and Lestrade could do that!
This DI is reporting live from the living room (was going to say sitting room, but we lack the sitting part...) on a Sherlock who is going to bed!
...so, despite my job, and John's experiences, I still worry Sherlock might get scared watching things like Crimewatch.
So when I tucked him in, I told him if he was worried about anything he'd seen, he could always come for a hug and talk about it... his response? "Those criminals should worry because they're going to prison."
... I'm not offering them a hug and a chat.
Wouldn't you just love to be able to go back in time and have that certainty of youth again? I know I would, sometimes it feels like every bloody thing is a grey area :)
I'm not sure I ever had it... but his is a joy to see, sometimes.
Mind you, if it was him, when he's my age, investigating the crimes... I'd be worrying if I was one of the criminals!
I cannot imagine 20 more years (or 40) is going to instill enough ability to endure bureaucracy into Sherlock for him to do your job.
(And it's at least partly because you & John worry about things like if Sherlock is upset by a crime show, and offer support, that he's secure enough to take it in stride. Brains don't give one emotional resilience, more's the pity.)
formerlyAnon
formerlyAnon has it right, it's the fact that he has the security you and John give him that means he has that certainty and that's something to be way proud of!
fA - no, it won't. But I don't doubt he'll be able to track them down and make them sorry ;) (And I'm sorry, but I have to say, every time I write your name like this - fA - I want to call you Sweet fA, for which I apologise. Sincerely. Blame John.)
Anon - he has an abundance of certainty. About all sorts of things...
He also has an admirably strong sense of right and wrong.
And I agree with fA and Anon--the emotional support he gets from the two of you is a big factor in Sherlock's sense of security.
Wait, why are we blaming me?
Because...you're normally guilty?
Oh that...
I don't think your choices of couch are all that garish, Sherlock, except perhaps the last one, but I like it best anyway. Couches made up of a bunch of slippy slidy cushions always fall apart on me, or have the cushions move just enough that when I sit back I hit the hard edge of the support instead of anything soft. I do grant you that they're better for building forts, though.
My first job was pulling dandelions at a nickel for a milk cartonfull. That was long enough ago, though that a nickel was good enough for a double dip ice cream cone. The first job that wasn't for family was sweeping and dusting for a little grocery store when I was about 9. The owner took me once with him to buy candy and let me hold a hundred dollar bill. I honestly can't remember what my first regular paycheck job was. I do remember that I bought my mother a cut glass bowl for Christmas with the money, though, and apologized for breaking a similar bowl years before. Much to my surprise she still had the lid of the first bowl. To everyone's surprise, it actually fit.
Ro, thank you for the suggestions! I'm definitely planning on visiting the first two. I may stop at a bookstore and buy a map of London so I can make better plans.
L, you asked about cost of passes? The most expensive passes for the MBTA commuter rail system cost 345.00 a month, but the outermost zones only have one station apiece and are in southern Rhode Island, the farthest one is 71 miles away. (And only an hour and a bit commute even then.) That pass is good for everything including the ferries. My monthly T pass is only good on the subway and local buses and it can still get me about thirteen miles out in one direction. But our system is a lot less complex than yours.
And I forgot to say my pass is 70 dollars a month. The only weekly passes here don't go out very far, only to our zone 1A, and are 18 dollars.
Those corner groups look like they'd be very comfortable for sitting or lounging or sleeping or flopping. But I'm sure they require a very particular sort of space. I have to say, I liked the one in many colors best. It looks like lying down in a field of wildflowers, but without the dirt and bugs and allergies.
Hiking way back upthread, I am happy to be thought of as sweet fA, if as I believe the "f" represents my lifetime favorite cuss word, abandoned for child rearing years and now creeping back into my vocabulary. (It is so much easier to backslide than to reform. And the f-word has so many satisfying permutations, to my inner ear, anyway.)
And you, Lestrade are re-writing history and apparently convincing John of your revisionist version. I distinctly recall the Internet voting that it was you who were guilty, back before I was reading these blogs.
formerlyAnon
fA - it does indeed stand for f... And John is usually guilty. Trust me, I'm a professional guilty person spotter ;)
Aaaand...i'm not getting a half day tomorrow. Quite the opposite. Sorry Mycroft.
Oh no that doesn't sound good Greg :-(
I hope it's only something logistical and annoying rather than unpleasant...
All of the above?
I shall be in Italy, handcuffed to an alleged serial rapist.
Bad luck for you and the family. Good for international policing? Cold comfort.
Would it help if you convinced NSY that you'd forgotten all your Italian?
formerlyAnon
That...doesn't sound like fun. Back the same day? Or the next?
Same day, barring any horrible pan European snafu. I don't want to miss half of a Mycroft weekend!
Damn unlucky for being bilingual, thank goodness it's a same day deal and not going to spoil the rest of your weekend en familie. The only comfort you can draw (well except for a bad guy being put away of course) is that you can impress John with being a cunning linguist when you get home as you always seem to drop Italian into the conversation more freely when you've have been exposed to it wholesale and I can just imagine a scene like in A Fish Called Wanda when John Cleese is heating things up with his language skills to Jamie Lee Curtis. ;)
Well, wishing good luck for the logistics of it all. And that the alleged serial rapist is depressed, quiet, and cooperative.
formerlyAnon
To be honest, a lot of time will be spent sitting around with another officer, not doing much. But it's an early morning check in, so Sherlock, you're getting brekky a la John tomorrow.
His face...you'd think it was the greatest tragedy of his young life.
Just remember, though, that you are the only one who makes London not boring! (And L, sometimes. :))
you'd think it was the greatest tragedy of his young life
The intensity of childhood (which seems to be an order of magnitude greater with Sherlock, sometimes.) And breakfast is his usual one-on-one time with Lestrade. It's clearly not faaaaaiiirr.
formerlyAnon
IT isn't fair!
Can I come to Italy?
Sadly, Sherlock, much of life isn't fair. Lestrade's job is to go to Italy, your job is to go to school. At least you won't be handcuffed to a stranger who at BEST is in a foul and resentful mood for part of the day.
It's also not fair that Lestrade doesn't get to go pick up Mycroft.
formerlyAnon
At least you won't be handcuffed to a stranger who at BEST is in a foul and resentful mood for part of the day.
I am genuinely not sure if you're referring to me or the prisoner here! Probably both ;)
Sherlock, I will be leaving John strict pancake cooking instructions.
And a fire extinguisher.
See all the unfairness? John has to cook at his very least functional part of the day, and then Lestrade mocks him.
It's a cold, cruel world, it is.
formerlyAnon
To be honest, I think the guy would definitely see the error of his ways if he were to have Sherlock handcuffed to him explaining just why he was bad and nasty and mean for....ohh, 6 or 7 hours. Possibly without pausing for breath, knowing him...
Sherlock Holmes: The secret weapon for prisoner interrogations and to combat the prison recidivism problem.
It'll have to wait, all those pesky child labor laws.
formerlyAnon
Sal is turning the air blue. She's just found out her tube line is suspended because someone accidentally set all the signalling controls in concrete... I'm trying not to laugh...
...How do you do something like that accidentally?!?
I think it got through a wall or something...
on the way home, Danger, kiddo.
So if your tube line isn't running, how do you get home? Bus?
Yes. Bus. With a million other people who also aren't on their tube.
Of course, if your boss still had a car, you'd get a nice warm dry lift home. But no, he's got a bloody motorbike, so he pisses off home and leaves you shivering at a bus stop.
Ha! Sorry Sal. I'll bring you some torrone back from Milano.
I'm sure if he'd been a nice, kind boss he could have found a spare helmet from the traffic cops lying around and still given you a lift, Sally. But then again, a nice, kind boss wouldn't have laughed at your predicament either. ;)
Hope it doesn't take too long and spoil your evening.
Stealing police property? Never... Anyway, there wouldn't be one to fit her big head ;)
I...can't find my passport. Might not go after all!
Have you asked Sherlock about it? I just...have a feeling.
He pulled that face he does like a piranha and shook his head. But didn't actually say anything, come to think of it...so your feeling may be right...
not having a passport is the perfect excuse Greg ;-)
Fun parenting moments. Or . . . not.
fA
Laughing at your poor DS and now insulting her too, you're going to be in so much trouble! ;) I think this is all going to cost you a massive gift from the airport on your way home... if you ever get there that is... if certain people haven't hidden your passport to save themselves from the dire fate of not having you there to cook their breakfast. ;) Good luck finding it.
In a moment, I'm going to put my suit on, sit him down at the kitchen table and start an interrogation.
It's so difficult when you are only 90% sure that they did something, understand 100% why they did it, if so, but being the grown up means you have to be the heavy in hopes that they'll someday be responsible grown ups so THEY can do the not fun things. . .
fA
RSF, and indeed anyone else who knows or wishes to visit London. Someone has ranked the London transport system (or at least most of the part which runs on rails.)
http://www.buzzfeed.com/tomphillips/the-definitive-ranking-of-london-tube-lines
Lestrade, I hope your passport is found. Please don't worry about tomorrow. I hope your journey goes well and you are back at a decent hour.
I don't look like a piranha
Which is not quite the same thing as saying you don't know where Lestrade's passport is... ;)
Cheers Mycroft :) I'm hoping to be back in plenty of time.
Passport discovered - in Sherlock's pillow. His bottom lip is sticking out so far he could catch a pancake on it.
Hope tranquility or a reasonable facsimile is restored soon enough for everyone to get as good a night's sleep as the early morning wake ups allow.
fA
....it's a little mean that I'm waiting for the inevitable mocking that will happen when Lestrade comes home accidentally speaking Italian, right? ;)
Ella
Passport discovered - in Sherlock's pillow.
It's nice to be wanted!
Is that what Sherlock is going to have to do when John starts tossing in the morning... ;)
Is anyone making book on when the page views are going to turn over to three quarters of a million? I'm sure Mycroft could come up with a predictive algorithm based on past site traffic quite easily, but it could be a guessing game for the rest of us.
fA
He is at least in bed, hopefully asleep...
fA - depends if we do anything interesting between now and then... or anything controversial! :)
Joolz - I can't possibly comment on anything involving John tossing, because...it just wouldn't be right, in that context!
Sorry if my double entendre was a step too far, I was only thinking of the opportunity of using the phrase of John tossing after you mentioned catching pancakes not the fact that Sherlock was involved.
no, I just couldn't think of a suitable rejoinder that wouldn't get me in to trouble :)
And how did it get that late?? I'm definitely going to be sleeping on the plane. And after check in... I've got to be up in under 4 hours...
(My passport AND bag are sleeping with me, in case of sabotage attempts by the small one!) (Sherlock, not John.) (Well, both Sherlock and John, really.)
John is so kind to you in these pages (mostly), and you tease him so. And, apparently, he also has to sleep in a bed lumpy with luggage. One hopes your presence makes up for it. ;-)
fA
Speaking of pancakes...i'm going to make some right now, in the middle of the afternoon. (Sorry, Sherlock! But it's one of the nice things about adulthood.)
Ella
Any Brits who are awake? I'm looking for a name to call somebody that is roughly on par with "dickhead," but would like it more Britishy sounding, please?
Ella
Thanks for the link, Mycroft. It has now made me want to tour the various Underground lines as well as museums. I'm not sure why I bothered looking for a room. Clearly I don't intend to sleep while I'm in London. :D
Have a good, safe, short trip, Lestrade!
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