GMT - 7

So I got up at 6 to take Shaniah to the airport. Even at that time in the morning, one of the bridges into Vancouver that we could see was solid with traffic going nowhere.
Somewhere, someone should be doing some bloody joined-up thinking on this.
On Thursday morning I get to take Kevin to the airport even earlier, we will see how early this madness starts.

The thick green make-up is making my skin break out. It's not pretty either way, but at least it will be Halloween tomorrow and so after that, programming will be back to normal - well, mostly.

One of my work colleagues lost her dad while she was on holiday in Australia. Not in the careless sense you understand, but in the true sense of loss.
And her pain brings back memories of my own loss seven years ago now. Same time of year, and in my mother's case, I was away too. And as with my friend, although the loss was anticipated, when it happened it was a shock because of the finality of it.
Death separates us from them for ever or until our own death, whichever is in fact or pragmatically true.

We're an extra hour adrift from Europe at the moment. Britain went back to GMT last weekend, we go back to GMT-8 next weekend, since Britain obviously owns Greenwich Mean Time, it must be they who are right.

Whilst I rail at JRM for being unable to cover his Irish accent, the worst Irish accents currently on TV have to be from Katie Carr as Caitlin and Dominic Keating as Will in 'Heroes'. Both Brits. And Keating with a name like Keating too. No frelling excuse.

I was interested in this article in the Guardian by a woman called Margaret Sandra who decided after divorce to ditch using any surname, either that of her father, or her ex-husband's.

She says "...in February 1979 I became Margaret Sandra. "(Please use my name in full)," I would add in correspondence. It says a lot about my confidence at that time that I thought I need only ask for the change for it to be easily accepted."

I know what she means on that score. When I was first married as a young woman, I thought I only had to point out politely (and shouldn't have had to) that I did not share a Christian name with my husband and my wishes would be respected. Far from it. In fact, to the extent that the two of us lost friends over it.

My then husband whined about this, in spite of my feeling that anyone who was rude enough in the first place to address me by a man's name, let alone persist when I had pointed out that I was deeply offended by this practice, wasn't actually a friend.

I admire this lady. Good luck to her.