I haven't really been in the mood. For...anything, to be honest.
Had a very sad case to deal with, which is all questions and few answers. Had to talk to the family, who are 7000 miles away. They had questions I didn't have answers to. I had questions they didn't have answers to. And working through a translator makes it all the more difficult to understand each other. Cultural differences, too, add to confusion.
I'm trying to help arrange them to have the bodies sent home, but it's difficult, and expensive. But we've managed it before, via charities and governments and all that.
Anyway, off today. Did some work on the bike with John. He's good - surgeon's hands ;)
Had to have a ride too, obviously, can't lube a cold chain. Comment on that as you will.
Then had to go and see Sherlock, and get out the crayons. It's nice, watching the kids all stuck in to their work. Wish I could go more often.
Here's the planet John and I thought we'd found....which isn't a planet, Mycroft informs us, but an eclipsing binary. Well, we got excited for a bit ;)
Um...soo... anyone got any questions? Things they want to talk about? Or have we all got the January blues?
96 comments:
I'm sorry you've been landed with a case like that :-(
I have always enjoyed going into school/nursery to do activities with the kids, it's like a little peek into their world and what they get up to when they're free ;-)
I hope you're feeling more in the mood for stuff soon :-)
Thanks. I'm sure I'll shake it off soon.
It is a fascinating look into how they all get on together. It's really nice that the school do so much we can join in with.
Hope you're managing to get some sleep, somehow!
I hope you get some fun/successful/happy days ahead, L.
More flu-ish (fortunately much scaled-down) than blue-ish over here, alas...
January is always a funny month I find, the calm after the storm I guess.
remarkably I am getting quite a bit more sleep than I was expecting :-) I can still count the hours on the fingers of one hand but its still way more than I thought I'd be getting :-)
I had to use my first aid training for real on Monday, when an old lady and a car came together. At which point you realise how little doing chest compressions on a dummy indoors prepares you for pressing a handkerchief to a head wound (she was sitting up) whilst kneeling in the middle of a cold road. Also how long five minutes feels like when waiting for the ambulance, or in this case the police, who arrived first. Or how useless I was as a witness.
There's nothing like the real thing to make you realise how little the training teaches you about a real situation.
I hope she's okay. And I hope you weren't too shocked by it all.
And don't worry, almost everyone is a terrible witness! It's even worse when you've got loads of terrible witnesses.
SH - I hope she's all right, and that you are too.
L - I'm sure it's a very nice eclipsing binary though.
Thank you. It could have been a lot worse and I just got on and did what I could. She's still in hospital with a number of broken bones, some by her eye, which was where the cut was. Part of me thinks I should have done something, but since the paramedic only put a dressing on I realise that I wouldn't have known.
Danger - I'm sure it is, too. It makes a nice pattern.
SH - I don't think in situations like that there's much you can do apart from stem the bleeding! Especially with help so close at hand. Don't do Danger and Murray out of their jobs ;)
(If it makes you feel any better I have seen responses to emergencies from police officers which have ranged from pressing a detached limb back against the body - after all, we all know surgeons have trained all those years because limbs are push-fit, right? They just get you in the operating theatre and push the limbs on until they click into place and all the nerves/vessels etc just magically join up...
To doing chest compressions on a headless corpse, because he couldn't check for breathing or find a pulse, so he thought he should give it a go... found the head in the next room.
But stress does odd things to your mind, and hindsight is 20/20.)
Yikes, SH, that's an unsettling experience, but it sounds like you did everything exactly right.
Is it inappropriate to have done a massive belly laugh to the 'headless corpse' story.
I may be a terrible person...
It sounds like you did everything you could, SH. Even with training I expect there's a stutter between the recognition that there's a problem, and action. I saw a lady fall on an escalator once, and while several people were trying to help her up, it still took me far too long to realize that the stairs were still moving because no one had pushed the "stop" button yet and go do it.
I've been feeling a bit flu-ish too, RR. Even though I did get my flu shot! But I've had a sore throat since before Christmas. (Not strep, I checked.)
Question for you, though, L. I'm coming to London/England in August and while I'll be staying with a friend for part of the time, I'm going to need accommodations part of the time too, because I want to do some touristing around on my own beforehand. (And see some of the museums you've been talking about.) Any part of London that's better for that sort of thing than others? Less expensive without being so far out on the train lines it's not worth the time to get anywhere?
Ouch, rsf, that's miserable. Feel better soon. (Happily, I got my flu shot, too, which may be why I don't have a full blown case. It's enough!)
It sounds like many of us have had a difficult time of it lately. I'm just getting over pneumonia and middle daughter is fluey. She can't get the shots because of her allergies.
I'm sure the family from far away appreciated your efforts, Lestrade, even if it didn't feel like it was helpful at the time. I hope things look better in the morning, for many of us.
I'm sorry it's been rough, Lestrade, that sounds like a no-win situation. I hope things get a bit better soon.
Small Hobbit, the fact you did anything means a lot. I've seen accidents where there are people just milling around while the person in the car is unconscious and bleeding. Even if you just did something small, I'm sure it meant the world to the woman you helped.
As to what I've been up to, I've been fighting my medication the past week, but it seems to be winning. They upped my dosage and it's been giving me horrible dizzy spells and making me feel icky. But unfortunately, it's one of those necessary evils I have to deal with until I can get the doctor's opinion on whether its worth the side effects or not. Ugh.
Thank you all for your positive comments. I count calling the ambulance as one of my pluses; the driver was very shocked (not surprisingly) so I basically ordered him to phone them. What did surprise me slightly was that I was left with the lady both by the police officer - who had other things to do of course - and the paramedic once he'd checked her and applied a dressing until the ambulance arrived. I shall add that to my pluses too.
Rsf- depends very much on budget and level of comfort required!
SH - the one thing every police officer hopes for is someone who is calm and responsible. You would be amazed at home many people see the blue lights and just bugger off!
Clean sheets, access to public transportation, and a reasonable expectation that I won't spend the whole night listening to people having loud drunken arguments for comfort. Budgetwise I've been saving for two years for this, so I've got some leeway, but I don't see much need to pay for fancy. Last time I was in England (and that was decades ago) I stayed in everything from B&Bs and hotels to simple rooms above restaurants that the restaurant owner kept available for the tourist season overflow. That was November, though, so we could play it by ear. I'll admit that I would probably be tempted at least to pay for something like the unusual places you've stayed! Windmills! Narrowboats! (But I don't think they'd want someone for just a few days.)
SH, if I get in an accident while I'm over there I hope you, or someone like you, is nearby!
RSF - places like Travelodge are all over town, cheap and cheerful - basic business traveller type thing.
You sound like you probably want to keep within zone 1/2, maybe 3 in some directions from the centre! I'll have a look tonight. Obviously August is peak summer... So cheap may not be very cheap.
And just ask us about any locations you spot! You can nhave a variety of opinions sent your way.
Thanks. I'll definitely ask about possibilities. I take it zones have to do with the Underground?
Have you seen this yet? Does Sherlock want to try some lab-grown meat? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rJwZkOzWsQ&list=TLczjMnacSBknX563ayBoTSSoxUfDg8fJ1
ooh, RSF, I want to stow away in your luggage! :D
friends of mine did the canal boats last summer and had a blast, every night a different pub sing or music festival.
It's looking like the trip to Dartmoor I had hoped for this summer with my morris lads isn't going to happen... no planning committee or fundraising yet, so... :(
S
Don't be too sad. Current indication is it will never stop sodding raining again. Hope you and S aren't too wet John.
RSF: yep, we/I stay in Travelodges when up in London, normally booking whichever is cheapest. Basic accommodation, but fine if all you want is somewhere to sleep. Staff usually very helpful. But the sooner you book (and pay) the less it costs.
Of course, as L says, by the time you get here London may be one large boating pond.
We got wet but we went to the bakery and got cakes and we got you one with cream and John let me build a fort and I'll show you when you get home.
Yes, we're definitely fed up with the rain here too. We could do with some nice fluffy snow to get out and play in (couldn't we, Sherlock!) and to brighten up the spirits a bit as I think everyone is suffering a bit from the January blues at the mo, me included. Sorry for everyone who is poorly too and hope you all feel better soon. My flu jab seems to be keeping the worst of it at bay right now so long may it continue.
We use the Travelodges when we stay in London too, you only really want somewhere as a base to sleep as most of your day is taken up by sightseeing anyway so you can't really go wrong.
Cream cakes for tea sound delicious, lucky you, Sherlock. We've having bangers and mash which I'm also looking forward to.
Have fun playing in the fort all three of you (don't deny you won't have just as much fun, John and Greg, I know I used to love it when my two made them). ;)
Cakes and forts are fun things for a rainy day, for sure! Have you found any planets yet, Sherlock?
Thanks for getting me a cake, Sherlock! And I will definitely check out your fort.
RSF - yes, zones are the Underground, and are concentric rings (well, basically) from the centre out.
Lestrade drew Greg the Florist which is boring and he says I have to take my fort down
I think Greg the florist from the writers perspective would be an interesting thing to see but I can see why you might think it was boring Sherlock.
have you enjoyed building and playing in your fort?
Did he draw Greg the Florist with werewolf ears? That would be less boring!
(Forts have to come down so new forts can be built in future, unfortunately. Like they have to pull down old buildings to build new ones in cities like New York and London.)
No just trees. Most of the old buildings in London are nicer than the new ones except a few but Lestrade said most of the really bad ones are because of the war
Pity. :)
There's also the question of architectural styles--there have been some really awful styles for buildings over the years. New York has a mix of nice and ugly and just ordinary, but of course we don't have any REALLY old buildings, not like London does.
It's all a question of architectural styles - most of the post-war rebuild was horrible 60s blocks. Mind you, some of the recent ones aren't exactly lookers.
The old ones are generally nicer to look at form the outside.
Lots of the older buildings are nicer from the inside, too, if they've been modernized (wiring, plumbing) well--higher ceilings, better proportioned rooms, bigger windows.
You're right, Greg, the 60's have a lot to answer for architecturally. We have some absolute monstrosities in town from the 60's, and the buildings they demolished to make way for them were listed buildings that you rightfully wouldn't be allowed to touch these days - it's just awful. I have to say I'm not really that keen on some of the modern stark skyscrapers either, I like something with a bit of character.
I remember my grandmother looking at a new building in town and calling it "The box the building came in" back in the sixties. And I get bored with glass and steel and no-place-for-a-pigeon buildings. Not to mention the blinding reflections factor.
RR, unfortunately sometimes the renovations only keep the exterior wall of a building and when you get inside it's modern boring.
Yep, that's why I said if they've been modernized well. It's such a pity when they just do a context-inappropriate gut reno. Of course, sometimes things are so bad inside that there's not much left to save.
And there is the odd attractive newer building!
Sadly lots of older buildings look nice from the outside but aren't really fit for purpose any more on the inside. But as RSF said, lots of them are done so badly you may as well not bother.
Our new HQ is currently being gutted and...well, no idea what'll happen to it. Hopefully it'll be better than the current Yard.
RSF - Travelodge, Premier Inn & Ibis are good & practical - I tend to think of them as business travel hotels. However, you might want to also check out www.airbnb.co.uk for something a little different, as well as their neighbourhood guides, which might be useful for giving you a feel for the different areas? https://www.airbnb.co.uk/locations/london (No, I don't work for them! :) )
Yeah, business travel is how I'd describe them too.
AirBnB - I've heard good things about that system. But the cheapest ways to stay would be with someone in their home - which can be great, I'm sure, but personally I prefer to get some down time and be on my own a bit more than I think that would allow. But I know they also do whole flats you can rent and stuff, too.
right, sleep..one more day of work and then freedom for a bit. I can do it!
Good morning gentlemen :-) I hope you all have a productive day and that weekend comes quickly for you :-)
Morning.
Ive eaten too many pistachios and my fingers hurt... Other than that, and the rain, a good day so far :)
Sherlock was very well behaved in his fort yesterday when John got called out for work, so he's up for some treats this weekend.
I hope they find that little boy in Edinburgh soon. Sherlock asked me about it last night. Think he has a better idea now of why John was so worried when he went missing that first Christmas. Every pauseetween songs on the radio you just hope there'll be good news.
Danger, Sherlock, going to be a bit late back. Going for a run near work before gtting geared up and coming home.
All right, love. Hope your day went well.
yeah, well enough. Yours?
I hope you have a good run, L (with no ankle-y problems).
Enjoy your weekend treats, Sherlock!
Unusually quiet. I'm waiting for Sherlock to announce he needs a giraffe or a small tank for school on Monday.
CAN I HAVE A GIRAFFE???
Should've seen that one coming... No, no giraffe.
Can I have a snake?
What kind of snake?
A boa constrictor
Those come in a lot of different sizes...
A big one. When is Lestrade home? Tell him to come home. It can live in Mycroft's room.
Nothing is living in his room but him.
He'll be home after his run. What do you want for dinner? Assuming he doesn't have plans.
a frittata and a pie and bacon and eggs maybe an omelet and sausages and potatoes and some of those crispy vegetables in batter that Lestrade does and prawns and more bacon.
He should have come home and then we could have gone and I could have taken my bike.
That's a lot of bacon...
bacon is nice.
Can we go swimming? And do something fun. Lestrade said I could do something I wanted because I was good. Can we see Mycroft? I don't ever want to do exams they sound boring boring boring and take hours and hours
We can see Mycroft if he has time, yes. And swimming. Something fun like what?
Tests can be a bit boring, Sherlock, but they are also a way to measure your knowledge of a field, and to see how what you know compares to what other people know, so the results can be interesting.
I am curious. Would the degus be safe around a boa constrictor? What do boas eat?
formerlyAnon
I want to go on top of The Shard but only if it's nice weather and I can see lots.
fA - it'd probably eat Sherlock.
I'm on the way home, kiddo, sorry. Just grabbing a very quick shower first.
Degus would definitely not be safe around a boa. We used to have a rose tailed boa named Henry, and he thought of things like degus as lunch. About the only time he really moved fast was when he wanted to snag a mouse.
rsf
I wouldn't keep them in the same place and I would let it eat bad people and then it wouldn't want a degu
Lestrade's back and I can see him outside and he went running with someone not on his own
How can you tell?
he did a stretching thing with his neck and his arm and he does it when he runs with you because he talks to you so he looks at you all the time one way and if he runs on his own he doesn't do the same stretch because he looks forward when he runs
sometimes my life scares me
That's...an impressive observation.
maybe i was in meetings all day, and got a stiff neck then, and then went for a run?
No because you went for a run and then showered and that's silly you could have come home and run and been at home but you didn't so you must have needed to stay at work and run with someone
Are you actually an experiment, by your mum? And if we raise you to adulthood your kind will be implanted in wombs until a network of little yous cover the earth, all eyes and ears?
that would be good but I'm not
Hmm. You are going to get your pyjamas on though, get going, kiddo.
Aaaand...Sherlock's in bed, and even looking quite tired!
Small child put to bed by openly gay couple...don't tell Putin, he won't be able to control his rage. He'll probably have to go a ride a horse topless and pose really angrily by a lake or something.
It's a good thing there's two of us, or he'd be up till midnight half the time.
he won't count that as a good thing...
I'm glad Sherlock went to bed ok and I hope you enjoy your quiet time now :-)
Cheers - hope you're getting some quiet time too!
Thanks rsf, for firsthand testimony concerning boa diets. And belated congratulations to pandabob on your new baby.
Hope the post holiday malaise referred to above (and definitely present in my home this week) dissipates this weekend for anyone in the midst of it. I'm going to be making a concerted effort to overcome by knocking out some deferred projects and getting outside.
And I hope the Watson-Lestrade-Holmes household manages to get in a visit with Mycroft. Maybe brainstorm a family vacation for the next long holidays?
Cheers Anon. Hope your January blues lift too!
Sherlock's stock response to holidays is always 'The Amazon'. With occasional forays into 'Space', or somewhere completely random. 'Namibia'.
So sad to hear that the little boy in Edinburgh seems to have been found dead. Don't envy the force trying to pick that one apart, either. Sounds completely tragic whichever way it turns out.
There's a man who does politics and he says the reason everything is flooded and raining and things is because people are gay like John and Lestrade and I think he's stupid and maybe someone should tell him and I would do it.
Wait until there's a drought, Sherlock, we'll all be asked to camp it up ;)
We've been to see Mycroft. He is well, and happy with how his mocks are going.
Sherlock, people who attribute meteorological phenomena to human social interactions have accepted a basis for their opinions that isn't going to be changed by telling them they're stupid. (In general, that's not persuasive with anyone, though it is sometimes tempting.) I don't know how we change that kind of thinking. I think it's important that those of us who disagree make sure we express our disagreement - I find it helps me to disagree simply in a polite statement, arguments go nowhere.
formerlyAnon
It is awful about that poor little boy. As you say, Greg, however it turns out is just tragic.
You're so right, Sherlock. It's just crazy that people can think things like that in this so called enlightened age. It's good that you're willing to try to put things right, someone certainly needs to set the fool straight - *pun intended!*
So have you spent your day, Sherlock, did you get to some fun things as a treat for being good.
Never thought of camping it up as a droughtbreaker.
During one really fierce drought someone held a Droughtbreaker Rally where several hundred motorcyclists travelled many kilometers all promising to not bring any wet gear.
We figured the gods could not resist that, and lo they could not! It did rain!
oh, that is so sad about the little boy. :( clearly there is a lot more to the story, too.
Thanks for the "droughtbreaker" ideas as a bit of a mood lifter... FormerlyAnon, you are such a wise person. I usually can't make anything intelligible come out of my mouth when confronted with that kind of willful ignorance. Best solution I can think of, is to make sure schools have enough funding to be able to teach proper science in the early grades? I dunno.
Here it's snowing a bit, hope it won't amount to much since I have a potluck and house concert to go to tonight, and cousins staying over with me after, which I'm pretty excited about.
S
The Girl Scout Service Unit I was in had certain songs that were forbidden (The Johnny Appleseed grace stands out in my mind) because it seemed always to rain if we sang them.
My preferred magical thinking had to do with it being Outdoor Cooking or Fire Building day.
Yeah, telling people they are stupid usually just leads to a circular "you're stupid" "no you are" sort of situation. Nobody's mind gets changed with that sort of thing. But it's frustrating to hear them say such nonsense.
maybe asking "how exactly does that work?" (if I can remember to try that, in the unuappy event of a next time...)
The local weather magic I'm familiar with, is my morris lads being able to make the sun come out, and the wind blow their hats off. :D
S
Neil Gaiman pointed out recently that the number of people being struck by lightening is at all time low and that, lightning being the almighty's classic method of voicing his displeasure, it means that he must be pretty pleased with us.
Sucks about the little boy, though. :(
Ella
Kestrel, at my Girl Scout camp we used to get the line about not putting your elbows on the table because it would squash the table fairies and then the cloud fairies would look down and cry. All nonsense of course, but there was the year that my sister and the rest decided to test the theory by ALL putting their elbows on the table.
It snowed. In July.
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