Wednesdays Air

[eric byrne]

Good Morning Everyone,

What do you mean "Oh no Its him again"

sorry but you cannot discourage a frustrated writer,who has plenty of un-expected time on his hands,or should I say two index fingers.Sorry about yesterday I did go on a bit,I promise to be more miserly with words to-day.

Well its just gone 11.00am,as you may guess Hooray I am still marooned at home,college closed again,the M8 closed completely for twenty miles east of Edingurgh,in Glasgow one lane open sporadically in both directions.Explaination put foreword by the road transport authorities,was that the previous fall of snow had become hard impacted and turned to ice,snowplowing didnt work in shifting it,the gritting didnt work either because it is only effective down to -10 degrees and Scotland was way below that.They have now introduced some kind of machine that vibrates the road surface causing the ice to break up,which can then be cleared,I havent a clue what this machine is maybe Bruce will know,Hi Bruce how do they manage the snow on your roads?

Airdrie station has been given a major makeover and is looking lovely,from being rather run down and poorly lit at night,making particularly female passengers uncomfrotable about using the station at night,the station is just gleaming and light up like a football stadium.The inaugural train journey linking Airdrie to Edinburgh is on the 12th of December,and I hope to be on it,what excitement(what a boring life I have, I hear you say)so its 25mins to Glasgow and 30mins to Edinburgh.

Think its time for me to put up the Christmas decorations,my mother wouldnt allow this to happen yet,this could only be done on the 12th day before Christmas and had to be taken down on the 12th day after Christmas.JudyMI THREE Christmas Trees?what are you up to,are you starting an indoor forest?,crivvens jings and michty me.

Right Eric,stop right there,lets not repeat yesterday,OK,got to go,have a really good day everyone,now where did I put my sledge?,think I will check the garage first.bye.

[eric byrne]

Gosh I must be morphing into being an American,just re-reading my post AFTER sending,and noticed I had spelled snowplough,snowplow isnt that weird?Bye Y'All.

[Libby]

Good morning all it is a whopping 13 F degrees or -10.55 Cels. here.

Eric I am so glad you posted early today. Gives me a chance to post before I go to work and get so busy. I don't take a lunch I eat at my desk so I am busy most of the day. Sorry to hear about your crazy weather. I am so glad no snow here but yet right across the lake Judy in MI has lots of snow. Maybe you will get more snow then Bruce...I went to two choir concerts with my daughter this week. Monday was at high school and Tuesday was at the Church...Hey did you do your interview yet, I was glad to read about the new Cancer Center...

Bud I am glad you got the opportunity to test out your new well on Sunday. I think I sleep better when I exercise. I have not been exercising since it is cold out and I am not sleeping well again...I suppose I could try using that brand new bike I have had for two years!

Judy in KW sorry to hear you did not make the movie Burlesque, guess I will have to go and be the critic, I will keep you updated. I did go with my daughter to see the new Harry Potter movie, it was ok. I also love Elton John and Carly Simon.

Annette. I read your post on Alegebra. Monday my sophomore had a vocal lesson and christmas choir concert. 10 pm at night we are doing Chemistry. Ugggh not my subject. We have a lot of streesfuld nights with Alegbra II and Chemistry. Oh yeah, the Geometry last year, not fun, what is the point!!! As far as that test I am with you I am gonna make believe I am 29 forever. I have been torchured enough..lol.

Ann I am so sorry you are still sick. I know a couple of people that were sick and it took a couple of weeks. Hope you get well soon.

Bruce I read you update on your friend Marisa and will pray for her and her family. Looks like Eric and Judy may get more snow then you.

Hope I did not forget anyone. I had to catch up so I was a speed reader..lol Working and going christmas shopping with my daughter tonight, should be fun

Libby

[jaminkw]

Morning All! Morning Eric and Libby. It is fun, isn't it Libby, to address multiple people on the Air. I have to be really together to do that and haven't been for awhile.

Temp here was expected to go down to 30 degrees last night. It was 41 when I got up and that was cold enough. 55 at the same time in KW. But PSL is expecting a high of 65 and KW only 61. I'm not happy. Hope this isn't a preview of our winter this year.

I'm on count-down to my next scan. It will be Monday and I think this is a record for me not doing a freak-out post by now. It's not that I feel so confident, I don't. I just thought about posting about the Tarceva experience a couple of times now and it exhausted me thinking about it. I can avoid cancer here better when I'm so busy.

Eric, no one would ever accuse you of a boring life! Please, you always have something going on. Libby, I had a job like that once, leaves you exhausted at the end of the day but the day goes by quickly. Oh, and I have a granson concert tonight. Looking forward to it.

Have a great day everyone.

Judy in KW

[Bud Baker]

Good morning, everyone!

It was 35 degrees as I rode to work this morning. Forecast high is 57.

Wow, that's some seriously cold weather, Libby. Between you and Eric and Bruce, you're making me cold. Even Florida is getting some chilly weather. This is starting to get the look of a cold winter. The long term forecast is predicting a chance of snow on the ground for over half the USA on Christmas Day.

Judy, you do a great job of keeping up and responding to everyone. I usually do my posts on a short morning break at work, so I don't always manage to respond to everyone. No offense is intended, when I do that.

Have a great day, all!

[jaminkw]

We love every contribution to the Air, short or long, general or specific, frequent or occasional. Our individual styles are what helps us get to know one another. I love the fact that it endures after a number of years.

Judy in KW

[Annette]

Good morning - almost afternoon here. It was another chilly morning but the sun is shining - so that makes it a little easier to take the cold.

I hope Eric doesn't stop his story telling - I love the accents and words I "hear" as I read. And then he closed his second today with a Y'all.....my goodness please don't go that American on us.

Bud, I'm not sure when you asked about the 'Sleep Aide' but I meant Ambian - just said it in a joking fashion since I think I was trying to be a funny story teller during that particular post. Not that I'm funny or a story teller.

I do know what Eric means by rambling on - sometimes it's easy to get in a conversation when you are thinking of everyone that might read this - things you want to say to everyone since you look forward to hearing from the same people. I think Judy (KW) is right - everyone has their own style and in that you have so many different friends to hear about - all over the place (Canada - Bruce, Scotland - Eric, Key West - Judy, Michigan - Judy, Katie - Texas, etc.) I am an uprooted Texan (New Braunfels - which is near San Antonio) who came to Virginia when I was in the Navy. I also lived on Little Torch Key so I can relate to Judy and Ann when they post about Florida. I also lived in San Diego for a while and traveled to Canada, Africa, Singapore, Spain, etc.

I think I better go get busy - I don't want to change my name to Eric.

Annette

[jaminkw]

just said it in a joking fashion since I think I was trying to be a funny story teller during that particular post. Not that I'm funny or a story teller.

Annette, you are funny and don't even know it! I laughed outload when I read this. And wow to have lived so many places--including Spain and Little Torch Key lol. I don't think we need to worry about Eric getting too American and a smattering of our lingo here and there in his posts could be very amusing.

Judy in KW

[recce101]

noticed I had spelled snowplough,snowplow

American spelling does save time, wear and tear on the keyboard, and who knows what else. Let's start a list:

snowplough vs. snowplow

colour vs. color

whilst vs. while

tumour vs. tumor (from Mandy's post)

I just finished Tony Blair's autobiography, so I know there are plenty more. Contributions, anyone?

Ned

[ginnyde]

Brrr cold in Eastern PA today but this is expected, it is almost winter. No snow yet, just some flurries. And that is just fine with me.

Bud, usually when you bring home a 'stray' you have to name it. Does your new bike have a name?

Eric, I have a good friend who is from Scotland and still goes back quite often. I need to find out what town she is from.

I am out to dinner tonight for my Woman's Club Christmas meeting. Very little meeting, a whole lot of joviality, hehe.

Ann and Judy, I have a lot of friends that 'winter' in FL so I know about the FL thin blood. In fact, Earl's entire family lives in FL. The first time we went down to visit, it was right after Christmas, we were all dressed in shorts. Along come Earl's sisters in long pants and sweaters. Boy did we get teased as 'tourists'.

[eric byrne]

Hi Ned,

Always a pleasure to see you visiting,yes there are hundreds of differences in our words,Just have to look at Buds spelling Offense in todays post,this is our Offence,expand this a little further,in watching Americans War films as a kid,it really used to amuse me to know Americans didnt know how to spell,because their Army,Navy or Air Force notice boards always had Defense on them where as everyone knows its actually Defence (Tee Hee).Also the use of words Gas where we say Petrol,but my real favourite which always raises a smile when I hear an American pronouncing Aluminium,we say AL-you-mini-um,you say Aloom-in-um.gosh this is fun,must get my thinking cap on for more.Goodnight Ned,thanks for the subject.

[recce101]

my real favourite which always raises a smile when I hear an American pronouncing Aluminium,we say AL-you-mini-um,you say Aloom-in-um

Actually, they're spelled differently. Your version has the second "i" and ours doesn't.

And you just gave another example — favourite vs. favorite. This list could be endless!

Ned

[Ann]

Yes, Ginny...that thin blood thing is for real...lol! I used to think it was merely a myth but now I know differently! The other thing that cold weather seems to do to us Floridians is to make our bones ache. Normally, I don't have a lot of aches and pains but when it gets cold, I'm a wreck! But, I do love a nice chilly day! When I let a meeting last night at about 9:15, the temperature was 38 and it felt really cold. I had on a sweater and a jacket but I was still cold. I keep a huge beach towel in the back seat to keep golden retriever hair off when Tanner rides in the car. You should have seen me grabbing that towel and wrapping up in it in an effort to warm up.

The Christmas rush hit me head on this morning and I realized that shopping is getting to that frantic stage....at least in Toys R Us. Do any of you remember the Lite Brite toys? They were popular years ago and this year there seems to have been a demand for the Lite Brite Cube. Just my luck that my Ella had this at the top of her list. I had tried to find one online but everyone said none were in stock. When I checked online this morning, Toys R Us said there were some in the Melbourne store. I shot out of the office in a flash, got the last one and then stood in line for over a half hour. The lines were so long and it seemed that every single cashier had her light flashing, waiting for a price check. But....Ella will be happy on Christmas morning, so this Nana is thrilled and considers all the headache well worth it.

It's been so great to see the Air so active! I look forward to making a daily visit. Hope everyone has a great night.

[Bruce u]

Hey everyone

Well it is only -11 here today so almost as warm as Libby's area. unfortunately it has been snowing since last night. Must be at least 6 inches down and I think it is falling faster now.

Eric I have no idea on the type of machine that you are referring to. It does get too cold in the north for using salt to melt the ice/snow. So we use what they call street sand. I always called it crushed gravel because where I came from sand is not 3/4" in diameter !!! Needless to say that it is difficult to find a vehicle that doesn't have a cracked windshield. When the temperature just dips below freezing, this street sand just flies off the road as vehicles pass by. As the temperature gets colder the sand gets pounded into the snow and is alot better for driving.

First when I moved to the north Eric they would only plow the roads in the spring. During the winter you just had a couple ruts for roads. Now they haul away the snow off the roads a couple times during the winter. But you also have to remember that we do not get snow in the winter because it is too cold. Only snow's during November, early December and then again in March/April.

With all your travels Annette you will have to treat us to some stories from the different places.

Take care everyone.

[Joppette]

Oh my goodness! How's a girl to keep up with all of these awesome posts. I had so much fun reading all of them.

Bruce, we have the same issue here with the bitter cold, and the sand/gravel. But our main city, 20 miles from me is fairly large, with about a million people in the city and surrounding suburbs. So the roads have to be scrapped and cleaned. However, like you, when it gets below say 15 degrees, it no longer snows. But with our big great lake, we get hammered with snow when we are in the 22 to 28 degree range. And we are in this range alot. January tends to be the bitter coldest here.

I'd love to participate in the spelling game, but am just racing to get ready to head to California, so can't. But great fun reading the posts about it.

I agree Ann, I love it when the Air is so busy like this. It's so enjoyable to read everyone's different lives. I totally love that.

Ginny, hope you and the "girls" have a blast tonight!

Yeah, KW Judy I was a bit surprised when I saw the Ya'll from ERic. Eric we love your Scotland words and I can just hear your accent. I'm sure you can imagine ours as well. We love you Eric. Your posts are NEVER boring. Your life is fascinating, and I love reading about it. Your positive attitude is inspiring, and I for one get great motivation from you.

Sorry, but it can't be helped ERic, you are a very special person.

It was about 22 here today. But tomorrow when we head to the airport it will be about 10. Bitter cold is expected, so no snow, but right behind it is another front to cross the lake and dump on us again. I just hope that things are done before we fly home on Monday. WE're flying late, and layovers in the middle of the night just plain stink!

Libby I know what you mean about speed reading! LOL! I came on after a busy day of running errands, and getting ready for the trip, thought I'd log in real quick and holy crap! This air is HUGE. I love it.

Lastly, Eric. what the heck is "crivvens jings and michty me." LOL! I love your sayings. I have a large home. I put a small tree upstairs, and a large tree in the great room downstairs. I have another small tree that I put in a back room downstairs. We have several different Christmas gatherings at our home, so I like to make it very festive!

Okay, so I am heading out at 5:00AM tomorrow, and won't be back home until 12:00 midnight on Tuesday morning. I don't know if I'll have time to check the Air at all, so I'm going to post a Hall Pass. Know that you guys will be in my thoughts and heart as I travel for this wedding.

I talked to my new friend that I'm mentoring for Gilda's Club. I encouraged her to join here, and think she would like it a lot. I'll write more when I get back about this lovely woman.

Take care,

Judy in MI heading to CA.