But every word, Seems so absurd my love

So, spring has definitely sprung in these parts.

Obviously I'd rather not be fishing body parts out of the water - but you know, that's the job I signed up for.

Sometimes crime scenes have their up sides though - they tend to be out-of-the-way corners of the world. Even in the heart of the city there are a few little places that nature still rules.

So these were my recent companions on a crime scene:

Not too close together, I hasten to add, in case you thought the cub was going to have a hearty meal! And the goslings parents were close by, keeping a watch on us as the babies had a sunbathe. 

I showed John, and the first thing he said was 'I bet Maf would have liked to chase those ducklings' (I corrected him to goslings, don't worry). What sort of a monster has my husband become??

Sherlock's eye is looking a lot better. I'm sure in his head he now truly believes the stories he's been telling everyone about how he got it...

And Mycroft and I have tickets to Lords! Obviously we did offer that everyone should come, but Sherlock looked like he was in physical pain at the prospect of sitting still (we've got seats behind the bowler's arm if it's a lefty) and John pulled a face that suggested he'd rather watch paint dry. So Mycroft and I are going - to the test, Eng vs. NZ., third day. Fantastic! I've never been to Lords before, which is ridiculous - it's literally just up the road. We can take some food and a few tins, or a bottle of wine, and enjoy ourselves. Weather permitting, of course. Harrow actually play there -against Eton - every year.

I can imagine Mycroft being a member in years to come, running the country while watching a few overs from the Member's Room ;) (I'm sure he'll tell me not to be so silly.)

We've also been given these - guess who loves them the most? When did such mundane things as coasters start being interesting...I don't think I'd ever seen a coaster 'til I joined the force!

Everybody's on the run, Hang in there love, You gotta hold on

Work's been..busy. As you can probably imagine.

Otherwise, life is good! We've dialled our running schedule right back, in preparation for the weekend...Yes, we'll be doing the half marathon this weekend. Terrifyingly.

We are going to be cheered on (well, if they can drag themselves away from ice cream and the excitement of the parks) by Sherlock, Mrs Hudson, Jo, Lisa and Tadgh. Unless it's horribly rainy etc, in which case they might all amuse themselves doing far more fun things, and we shall wearily trudge home at the end with the hope of hot drinks and lots of food...

So here's our route.

John and Sherlock are going to pick up our 'race packs' after school on Wednesday - when we'll get our numbers, and it'll all feel horribly more real than it already does...

Distressingly, I qualify as a 'senior man'. Hrmm.

Then I awake and look around me, at the four grey walls that surround me

Well...football. Silly old game, eh?

I love the recent quote on the pitch England have their first match on (much has been made recently of the fact it doesn't look very good) "It's looking a lot better today, a lot greener...that's because they've painted it." Ah well, as long as it LOOKS okay, what else matters?

Oh, crap...torn now. Want the Dutch to do well, as they're mine in the sweeps! But I wanted it to end 1-1 for our little competition. (okay, with this scoreline, I'm quite enjoying it again!!) And I LOVE the spray for free kicks. We should definitely get that over here.

Today has been a tedious one where I decided I had to clear my paperwork piles of 'non urgent' things, because it couldn't really get any bigger without being a health hazard.

My signature is on a par with a doctor's - just a squiggle, doesn't even resemble anything any more. So I've been squiggling, adding notes, and staring out of the window waiting for home time.

And now I have what feels like the start of a migraine.... will it stop me drinking this nice mojito? Probably not...

For those of you struggling, the last lyrics which formed the post title were Oasis, and some of the video for the song were filmed at Southend, where we were. :)

Where you come from? Do you put the kettle on?

for those of you asking, the cock-up tin at work is where people have to donate money when they...well, clue's in the name, cock-up.

Cocking up involves losing equipment - cuffs, radios, phones, warrant cards, cars, big keys, all sorts. Suspects, sometimes.  Forgetting things - lots of the above, plus warrants. Breaking things - most frequently cars.

It's used to buy us a few rounds of drinks at Christmas, the rest goes to COPS.


And yes, I've made quite a lot of donations over the years.


Anyway, i got the Netherlands in the sweepstake. Not too shabby.

Sal got Iran. Don't talk to her about it.

But definitely sign up for Joolz predictions game!

It's just for fun.


Tomorrow, poor little Maf is going to be...coming back from the vet with less than she went with.

She's sitting on John right now, getting her ears scratched, blissfully unaware. (She may read this later, and terminate us in our sleep. If so, good bye. Nice knowing you.)

I do feel sorry for her, even though I'm sure it's for the best. And she definitely needs the op before the dogs and everyone are back home and it gets manic again. She'll need some time to sit about looking sorry for herself, probably in a cone of shame, being spoiled rotten.


We've had an epic bedtime battle tonight - because Mycroft told Sherlock that, technically, London would not enter night-time again until...July sometime. Sherlock thought this meant he didn't have to go to bed. He still does. But still, interesting to know that we're far enough North that we don't technically enter 'night' for a portion of the year.

Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me.

I'm feeling almost as sick as Sherlock (he says I'm not, that's ridiculous, he's ACTUALLY ill.)

Arsenal will soon be kicking off against Hull at Wembley. I am terrified. We haven't won any silverware since 2005.


Shit...Sherlock has pointed out he wasn't BORN in 2005. (He's next to me, reading this. He says hello and thank you for all hoping he's better soon. He's REALLY ill. And it's boring.)

Anyway, yes, for the next short while I will be on the edge of my seat (no, probably not liter...actually, yes, probably literally.) because...well...the FA Cup. It's actually a new cup this year - the third, I think? ever made.

I feel so ill. I am so nervous.

To be fair Hull have never won anything..ever. So they're probably more nervous than I am.


For those of you not interested in footy, you can ponder upon whether John actually lied to us all, and learnt his Doctoring in the Navy, not the Army. He certainly seems to have taken note of their training...and he often seems to think I'm in need of artificial respiration...

Sherlock says I'm being stupid :)

He's very poorly, he asks me to remind you. He's a heap of blankets and pyjamas at the moment, with a waterbottle and some fruit within reach.

John's out right now, I sent him out, told him to try and take a bit of time to enjoy the weather, in amongst getting a few bits. He'd do well to stay out while I shout at the TV, really....


And I have a dilemma.

I want to take some time off to spend with John. If I do this next week, then I'll be tending to a sick Sherlock, which I also want to do! But...it won't exactly be the time together with my husband I was hoping for. but then I also feel terrible going to work and leaving John as full time doctor to the small spotty one...

Maybe I'll take a couple of days, to give Danger a few days respite...I don't know. I'm sure someone will tell me what to do ;)

Still the fox is growing older, As he calls over his shoulder to the night

We went out for a jog today. bumped into a sponsored run thing for Sport Relief, so we decided all to do it - including Sherlock.

He literally ran rings around us. We thought he'd find three miles a bit far/boring. Now we're not so sure. He was so full of energy, dancing about, running off, coming back to us, running off again. He must have done at least 2 miles. And at the end we all got a medal :)

Now, in other news - anyone know where you can get 4 finger nitrile gloves? There's an officer on another force who had to have a finger amputated, and now needs gloves for crime scenes/searches etc. They're stuck!


Found this, and laughed a lot...our two get terrible confused when they drop things and then can't get under the sofa to retrieve them, or if you pretend to throw a ball but don't let go of it..





My cough is...boring. but I feel a million times better. Which is good, as I've got to do my assessment next week. My eyes passed with flying colours - no worse than last time, just reminded me to wear my glasses more. Hmmm.

Got nights soon, too. At least it's not so cold now. The allotment does actually look like someone cares for it again, and we're hopeful that our beans and peas and spuds will all flourish soon. The soil's still a bit heavy - very clay-y round these parts. But with some sun on it, everything (meaning weeds) seems to be doing ok.

We'll get some tomatoes in once we're ready. Someone gave us some lavender the other day, which we've added to our herb-y corner :)

Now, toad in the hole is almost cooked, with roast spuds and parsnips and veggies! Mmm.

Let me steal this moment from you now

I'm not sure of the exact sequence of events, but I think Mycroft sent this video to Sherlock, who then watched it, began speaking at approximately a billion words a minute, and made John and I watch it while insisting we had to try it RIGHT NOW.

This was all last night, where we weren't even trying to get off the sofa.

Anyway, watch it, and if any of you want to install one in your living room and invite Sherlock round, please do!





Anyway, today he's excited about this new reading corner in his school room, which is nice. Apparently it's got snakes and plants and a parrot and a large panda. And bean bags. I imagine pandas would quite like bean bags. It is lovely hat he's so enthusiastic about everything. Except no frog has deigned to spawn in his pond yet, which he's miffed about.


John is in a distressingly chipper mood, given our run yesterday. And announcing things about running up mountains. Yesterday we ran/jogged/walked along a canal. You literally can't get flatter than a run on a towpath...and today he's on about mountains! I couldn't even manage the stairs at work today...and not even little UK mountains. Massive French mountains.


I've absolutely no idea what's going on (as usual), but Sherlock announced earlier that he knows what's happening on Saturday... anyone else know what's happening on Saturday??

As holly pricks and ivy clings, your fate is none too clear

After dropping Sherlock off at school this morning John and I went for a jog. Was the sort of morning where your whole body hurts - fingers and feet are cold, skin is chilled by the wind, lungs ache because the air is so cold...

So naturally we had to find a large warming breakfast and hot coffee/tea!

I think I need to invest in some new thermal layers anyway. The bike trip yesterday was pretty freezing too. The wind chill is phenomenal. SO I should get something good for running as well as biking.


Sherlock is desperate to get decorations up for Christmas - which will most certainly wait until Mycroft is home. But we might encourage some home-made paper chains or something. And there's still bee-innards to be made. So even if it's freezing cold tomorrow, there's plenty to do.

November feels like it's lasted forever. But I can't believe it's only just over 3 weeks until Christmas. That just feels...stupid. Unbelievable. And having spent last year at Christmas with John and the boys...I can't believe we've got another one! We have traditions... it's great.

I am completely dreading the fact that next year it really really will be my turn to work Christmas Day.

Oh I know your face, I've seen it a thousand times

First, good news.

The murder/manslaughter rate in England and Wales is at an almost-thirty-year low. Mainly due to a fall in rates of domestic violence. I can't tell you how happy that makes me. I'd be very content to be out of a job if that were ever the reason.

Second - people keep asking me about Olympic traffic lanes and how they work - I know as little as the rest of you. I think the entire idea will cause total havoc.

Back to nature...

In more ways than one.

Had a lovely day today. By which, inevitably, I mean I didn't do half the things I'd meant to.

Took Sherlock and John to school and work, relaxed with the newspaper in a cafe and wanted a cigarette really badly.

Marco Simoncelli

Just taking a break from pond-digging and saw that Marco Simoncelli has died at the MotoGP in Sepang. What a tragedy. My heart goes out to his friends and family, and especially to Valentino and Colin, who both must be devastated.

The BBC report.

Battered, knackered, but victorious!!

The game yesterday was...well, good, because we won! But generally a little brutal and slightly bad tempered (as expected).

Sherlock managed to refrain from asking anyone to kiss. I managed to refrain from kissing Danger (behind the changing rooms at half time doesn't count. It wasn't my fault. He was utterly irresitible, all sweaty and muddy and in his tight rugby shorts.)

The match ended 31-24, with one broken wrist, a broken nose, suspected cracked ribs, possible broken foot and a steady stream of visitors to the blood bin.

Danger's got a cut on his leg, and numerous bruises, I've got some nice stripes on my back where someone skidded on me with their studs, and more various bruises. If anyone saw the two of us at the moment they'd think we were into some sort of S&M relationship.

Molly and Sherlock spent the time plotting to bring down civilisation - well, they were both smiling a lot, so that's what I presume. And Mycroft talked to both Molly and Sally for a while, and generally kept an eye on Sherlock.

Sherlock did insist on coming on our victory lap, on my shoulders. A few people commented that there wasn't much family resemblance. And in the pub afterward there was a definite split between people who could get over the fact we were gay and looked after kids and people who couldn't cope with this and just managed to occasionally stare.

Then Sherlock had a meltdown last night. The sooner we go camping the better, I think, at least John and I can share the load.

Still, work today, court then work tomorrow, and then Wednesday we're off!

We're gonna have a good time...

well, yes. Much to Sherlock's disbelief, I did sort of forget it was my birthday. I mean, if you'd asked me my date of birth, I still know it, but it hadn't really hit me we were even in August, I've been so busy.

So my birthday surprise(s) came as more of a surprise than ever...

Last night, I got home, expecting some takeaway...and John had cooked. Cooked a bloody amazing dinner. (details here) It was really, really nice. And really touching that John even thought about it.

I'm not very good at doing clever things on here...

here's a song I like. I'm not very good at finding things on YouTube. It's the first one he sings. I'm teaching myself to play it on the guitar. YouTube is brilliant for that - being able to listen, over and over, picking out the sounds. I can't really read music very well, I've always done it this way. Far easier than having to put the needle back on the vinyl over and over, I tell you. Plus I can change the words to 'Pretty amazing Danger'.

Thunder, Lightening, a little bit...exciting?

Excellent things about today:

• John.

• Proper thunder/lightening/rain storms.

For the riding...it's amazing.

So, I'm no good with all this sort of stuff, and Mycroft's in bed.

But if you're in the UK and you want to follow the TT (The greatest bike racing on earth) then you need to check some links out. I've been recording the shows and trying to watch each night. Danger says we can go one year - I would love to. Mad Sunday (you can ride the course, no speed limits...) is my dream.

The ITV site, with the live coverage and the replays

Here's an onboard camera doing part of the lap (each lap is 37.75 miles long.) This shows the different bits of the course - and how a lot of it you're out on your own, over the mountains, and gives a bit of an idea of the speed. It is all run on public roads - through villages, fields, etc.

And a compilation of some of last years' action.

And of course The Official Website.

Feel free to ask me any questions about it. I am fairly well informed. 'Geeky', John says. (But I'll still let him ask questions, too, despite him being rude.)

Oh, and before any of you lot make the connection, yes, this is tantamount to porn for me. You can keep your terrible writing, I'll keep watching the bikes.

Sick of being sick

Yesterday was fantastic. We all managed to get oragnised enough to leave the house fairly early, got over to London Field (Sherlock was so excited he almost bounced out of the taxi) and got to the Lido at a good time. It was busy, but not packed. Sherlock had a minor grump about being the only one who needed armbands, but once John gave him the simple choice of 'swim with armbands' or 'don't swim at all' his mind was made up pretty quickly. Mycroft, ever the diplomat, it seems, did also point out that all Sherlock had to do was prove he could swim well enough without, and he'd be able to take them off. So Sherlock set about trying to learn to swim in under sixty seconds.

Well, he didn't quite manage it, but next time we go we might let him out of them.

Mycroft swam a a few lengths with John, then a few with me, except I rapidly discovered 50 metres is a long way, when a couple of days ago I could barely walk that far. So the boys were ravenous when we finished, and I was knackered. Danger just about managed not to say 'I told you so'.

Today i've been back to my flat, to retrieve clean clothes, suits for work, etc. John's discovered Sherlock lied about having done all his homework, and Mycroft has been studying quietly for his schoolwork, and not-quite-so-quietly practicing for his first piano exam, which is soon.

Work tomorrow. Even though Danger's giving me sceptical looks about my ability to survive a day. I will admit I don't think I'll exactly be dancing around by the end of it, but I've got to get back, tonnes to do, court to appear in etc.

Going rowing...

GO OXFORD!!!

Well done the dark blues - been a few years since I've been to watch the boat race live, although I always try to catch it on the telly if I'm not able to get to the river. And I always cheer for Oxford - and this year they won by FOUR boat lengths. Fantastic.

Sherlock rooted for a sinking, Mycroft didn't seem to care who won, but was more interested in the technical aspects of the sport, and why Oxford rowed with a tandem rig this year. John was doing a fantastic job of remaining neutral and explaining winning wasn't everything...somehow I doubt these two boys have ever come second best at anything, but I guess it's a lesson they'll learn sooner or later. Hope John's around when that happens.

I tried to explain to Sherlock that the Thames really isn't much fun to be in...he seemed unconvinced. But I've been in it a few times (generally not through my own choice) and it's...nasty.

It's good for you! Bollocks.

Rather rashly, in a moment of feeling like I shouldn't eat as many take aways and, now I've almost entirely given up smoking, deciding I could be healthier, I decided yesterday I'd run to work this morning. Left work gear here yesterday, took my running stuff to John's.

And yeah. Ran. Jogged. Well, most of it was faster than walking pace. Just about.

But I got here, still breathing and in no need of emergency medical treatment. I may have taken the lift when I got here though. Legs weren't quite up to the stairs.

And since then I've been stuck in a seminar on dealing with the press, a liason meeting about a serial rapist with the Sapphire team and a meeting with my team about a murder. And through every second I can feel my body getting older and stiffer (not like that, Danger.).

I think I need a doctor. One with healing hands.

(see how I've optimistically tagged this 'sport'?)

I'm not bitter...

Okay, I admit it to you all, I'm a Gooner. (That means I support Arsenal Football team to the non natives reading this). Not a good thing to be today. (we rather embarrassingly lost the cup final yesterday) But I'm not one of those mad fans that consider winning and losing to be the only thing in life. I've got way more important things to care about. So I'm really not bitter. Slightly disappointed, admittedly, but I do think Birmingham just wanted the win more than we did, and outplayed us.

All that said, the next person who mentions it with that smug smile of one who never cares about footy until they know your team has lost...well, they'll find themselves down for the night shift for the next year. Right?