Monday, February 14, 2011

Did the earth move for you? - Valentine's Day

Magnitude 4.4.

Really, just a short jolt, but enough to make me get up and go outside and check things out. According to the people who know, this was the largest in a series of 4 tremors since yesterday.

There was another tremor just before Christmas (magnitude 3.5) which woke me up. I initially put this one down to a large slab of snow coming off the roof.

The last time I experienced an earthquake, I was thrown across the bathroom and nearly hit my head on the toilet. I had just gotten out of the shower and the only thing my self-obsessed 17 year-old self could think of at the time as the house juddered and shook, was the headline in the paper the next day "Naked Girl found Dead in Rubble".

Monday, February 07, 2011

Modern or Traditional?

Are you are modernist or a traditionalist when it comes to wedding anniversary gifts based on the number of years of marriage?

I used to be a traditionalist and followed the formula pretty closely:
  • Year 1 - Paper - Tickets to a classical music concert (I believe it was a Mahler symphony)
  • Year 2 - Cotton - Table cloth and table runner
  • Year 3 - Leather (ahem, let's not go there)
That is until we got to Year 4 - Fruits and Flowers.

In keeping with my habit of making inappropriate appointments for the day that marks our nuptials, I found myself sitting in the orthopaedic surgeon's office on our wedding anniversary discussing some long-running knee issues with the delightful surgeon. That evening, to cheer me up, my lovely husband took me out for a posh dinner.

So, I've gone thoroughly modern this year and ditched the Fruits and Flowers for knee surgery. Surely it is cheaper and less painful to just buy some diamonds.