Last night I gave up around 0100 and attempted to sleep. My back was killing me from standing at the ironing board. My feet were swollen and my mood was black.  I don’t think I have ironed anything in the 31 months I have lived here.

An hour later I was back at it. There were nine panels left and I just could not sleep. Listening to Dogs and Goddess by Jennifer Crusie (purchases on sale) I wielded that iron till there were no more curtains languishing on the counter.

I was wired and not sleepy, hauling out some rumpled shirts and making them appear presentable. When I started looking at the towels and underwear, I knew it was time to get a life. Failing that, some sleep since all my good sense had long departed.

Everything I have left in country is packed into the station wagon. I have only to clean up tonight, place my bed linens and computer in the car and I am off. Perhaps it is because I am returning to post in about a week. But I have no feel of loss or closure at at this time.

Perhaps I should just view this move as returning home from a long deployment? But then, this is a huge house to clean out, not a trailer half. Not three duffles and a couple of back-packs of gear but a couple of containers on the moving truck plus a station wagon full of stuff. Neveer mind that a lot of it is craft things of mine that were never used and that I return to Germany with more stash that what I left inspite of all the knitting of the past 2 1/2 years.

It has been a long day. I have washed all the curtains in the house (eight rooms with two windows, 8x2x2=32, 7 windows here and there = 14) which makes for a total of 46 curtain panels. There are two windows that I simply can’t reach on the stairs and another couple in the back hall that I am going to ignore, lets say about 10 more panels, give or take.

Did I mention that all of them have to be ironed as well?

That leaves only the cupboards in the kitchen to empty. Something about locking up everything that I am passing along so that it doesn’t walk while there are various workmen in the house.

The car is almost completely loaded. Just have a few things (computers) on the floor in the bedroom and a couple of small boxes in the living room. I even have all the posters down and rolled up.

I even packed up my knitting.

For a break today, I visited the various water fowl -

Maybe two hours in the morning and I am contemplating getting to the office!

like an open farmer's field

Not that I did not have enough entertainment as it is, but I had my pre-move out inspection yesterday afternoon. They are insane. I have no quarrel with wanting a clean house, nor a tidy bit of ground. But scraping off all the moss? Getting rid of all the leaves? And getting the grass down to normal level?

Now, I am one of those weird foreign officers who believed them when they said that a mower would be provided. When it is in for service, like for the last 10 weeks, I do have a slight problem.

No way can I mow with a hand push mower.

Meet Husquey, my hero.

small but mighty

(must be my age showing. Cars and boats may be “she” but this little tractor mower can only be a guy. Strong, loud and needs frequent infusions of beverage.)

He took it on. Once the driver figured out that you get more success when the blade is engaged.

the position on that lever to the left of the key makes all the difference in the world

circles in the grass... not aliens

90 minutes and under two gallons of gas. And! I don’t have to pay someone else to do the job.

major difference.

Since it was now after 0700, I called the local VW dealership. Yes, they can get keys, but I need to bring in several forms of ID and the vehicle registration information (did I mention that the car was locked?).

I drove the car yesterday when dropping off somethings. So obviously I had the keys. Thinking about it, I distinctly remember having them in my hand and tossing them some place obvious. Not where they belonged or anywhere sensible as I have found to my sorrow.

No help for it, I realized either they were packed into something or they had landed in the trash. Once again I went through the suitcases, backpacks and yarn bags. No joy. Time to start on the trash. At least yesterday’s bags were separate from those filled on Saturday. 30 more minutes, filthy hands and nothing in all of the outside bags.

Desperate, I looked in the kitchen trash and the last couple of bags next to the door. You already know the punch line. In the very last bag (and not because it was the last one in which I looked but because it was the last bag) full of scraps of this and that which I had shoveled off my bed in disgust was a hard lump. One each folded up VW key.

Just as I finished moving the car from the drive, the moving van showed up with a couple of charming young men ready to go to work.

As I write this, it is barely two hours later, the packing is done and they are loading the van.

ready to go

The keys? Clipped to my belt.

After all, it is not exactly a day to celebrate in the UK. One more colony gone off on its own.

Perhaps it is fitting that I am preparing to leave on Independence Day. At least I kept singing that song in my head while I am sorting, tossing and finding homes for various things. The freezer contents, baking supplies and misc condiments went to an American friend. Anita had taken a number of things with her yesterday. One of the officers down the road cheerfully accepted the six bottles of wine left in the house.

Over the course of the day, I managed to finish my bedroom, the living room and the rest of the dining room. Hauling loads of trash and recyclables out, the cans are full.

Wild Life

My back garden has turned into a veritable jungle with partridge snacking on the grain.

but not holding still long enough for me to get the camera

followed by Master Fox making a visit

I almost missed him drifting across the yard

contemplating if there is anything worth stealing

and hiking off in disgust at my failure to provide some kind of tasty treat

I met Anita in my first few months here. She was an instructor in the Communications department over at Sandhurst wanting to know about the role of women in the US military. Since then, she has transferred to an educational department within MOD and teaches leadership, management and skills courses.

We have become solid friends over the last couple of years; making the occasional castle excursion, trading audio books and meeting for supper on the spur of the moment. I hauled her to Germany with me last week since she had never been. The Mole took her on a Heidelberg tour while I did those pesky information courses.

This morning she showed up at my door ready to help me clean, sort and pack. You can’t beat a friend like that. It is not that I could not have managed, but it was just so much easier with someone else to give me encouragement, to haul away the charity shop donations, and fill the garbage cans with refuse.

Even with a supper break, by 10 pm when she left, I could see the end in sight. The top floor is done, Ms Soprano’s room cleaned out, and the kitchen organized. I might just be able to manage the rest!

Yes, they could email me the invoice and would provide the service without the VAT should I be able to give them the correct paperwork.

Since this was saving well more than ₤100, even with the drive to Croughton I would come out ahead.

1100 – leave Camberley
12xx – arrive at Croughton. stop at Post Office. Go to bank to get money.
12xx – go to VAT office.

Today is a post “Family Afternoon” in honor of 4th of July. All the official offices closed at noon. The park is open and the grills are hot. I am standing there with invoice, money, and no where to go.

After stopping at the library to drop off more DvDs and audio books, I decided I had nothing to lose. Trying the VAT office door. It opened and Someone was in the back.

Lovely woman, she listened to my tale of woe (getting the invoice two hours ago, driving 120km, movers coming on Monday, not having TCS orders yet so that I could not get official transportation to pick it up and put it my stuff into temp storage, etc).

She said she would see what she could do. Heading out the door, she found the other two people from the office and got them to come back. Within 20 minutes, they did the paperwork, called Texas to get authorization, cut the check and wished me well.

Kudo’s to the Air Force, I have never been on an Army post that offered that kind of service. I dropped a thank you email to the commander, he needs to know his people go above and beyond.

So, there I was at the end of the day, facing a house full of stuff that needed to be sorted and organized. And exhausted before I even began.

Instead I have been doing a bit of knitting and a lot of organizing for my upcoming relocation and other disasters.

To recap the month of June
Trip with the Mole to the Arctic Circle – 2 weeks
four days at work
Trip to Montreaux for the DH’s office’s annual trip.
Back to the UK (I think that takes me up to the 18th).
Mon and Tues in the UK
Wed – drive to Germany
Thurs-Friday – attend pre-retirement courses
Sat – shovel out the house and go the Heidelberg Striktreff
Sunday (o-dark-thirty) drive back to the UK.
that leaves me at this past Monday and exhausted.

Did I mention that I had to make a Croughton run on Tues and Wednesday met the moving guy (they call them relocaters here in the UK) for an estimate (not doing this one, thank you very much).

I am tired. More than tired, completely and totally wiped out. I am not sure when I am going to get some sleep, soon I hope.

Nile Goslings

mom with followers

peaceful island

otherwise, my day was spent cleaning, sorting and packing.

Or rather, I have been doing things for work all week followed by getting the DH from the airport yesterday.

I still can not make plans for next year but there are two options:

1) Retire – which means I will have to move stuff back to Germany NLT the 4th of July,  then go on Vacation with the previously mentioned DH, spend two more weeks in the UK, finishing around 16Aug, teach ATLS again 17-19 Aug. Head for Melbourne (AussieCon here I come) with the Maus (she is the only one who does not have to be in school prior to the Con’s ending. Get back for Rosh Hashanah, go to Ft Benning, go to Afghanistan, go to Ft Benning, head back to Germany and retire.

2) Not retire – which means that stuff goes from here and Germany to Monterey. I live out of suitcase from mid June. Take vacation with the DH, come back, orient my replacement, go to Germany and teach ATLS, fly to CA 20 Aug and get in-processed and settled. Go to Ft Benning, go to Afghanistan, go to Ft Benning, go to CA.

Notice that both options have me without “stuff” for a good 30-60 days? Notice the lack of the Australia junket in the second option?

Why can’t I make up my mind? Well, you see, the second option is contingent on Madigan (well, people at Madigan) doing a bunch of paperwork that has to be approved at multiple levels. Doing it might be high on my priority list, but not necessarily on someone elses. It also might just wind up falling in the too hard to do box.

I have decided that, should nothing be at all decided by the time the Mole and I return from our cruise, option 1 will go into effect.

Semper Gumbi I guess!

But, this is a military training post and I am used to hearing booming noises at all hours. Ignoring the sounds, I went on with what ever I was doing when it suddenly dawned that it was Fireworks! and I had a new camera.

(after figuring out that taking photos through the trees was not smart, I beat feet for the edge of the pond)

On a day which was not accompanied by any useful work (read a lot of paperbacks) I decided to check on any local effects of the volcanic ash on the local sunset.

sun sinking in the west

sunset #2

sunset #3

mostly oranges and golds

and the contrast of black and white

Dragon Fruit

Food diversions

I stopped at Sainsbury’s yesterday on the way home. (The new one along A331 between the M3 interchange circle and the Meadows in case anyone really cares).

The Mole wanted pizza, I had thought about Thai soup and then there was the small matter of flour for the bread machine since the weather has warmed up enough to finally bake bread again. (Think about it, exactly how long do you think it takes bread to rise when the kitchen is about 7ºC? Trust me, it is not possible to alter the cycle on the bread machine for that extended a rising. Poor little yeasties just give up, hunker down and wait for a better opportunity to ferment).

Anyway, I had no intentions of going into the fruit section, much less picking up one of these. Of course, I had to cruise the Internet discovering that the dragon fruit has its own web location and various old blog entries. Most of the other sites lacked either grammar or decent pictures.

If you need help on cutting, someone even made a Youtube video on wielding a knife against the poor defenseless fruit.

And we are off to RAF Alconbury as soon as the guy from Modern Housing finishes the repair to the wall in ceiling from Dec.

I wound up here in the UK in Jan 2008. A rather short notice move because of a domino effect involving a number of other people and their short notice re-assignments.

Ok, I am an Army officer. That means I salute the flag pole and move on with my life. Never mind that it means that most days the family is scattered across four countries.

My moving in assumption was that I would be here for 3-> 3 & 1/2 years to put the job back on a summer cycle. Coincidently, it would also match up with being able to hang up the kevlar and move on to new challenges.

Come last summer, my job magically appears on the “open for bid” list. Checking with the branch people, I remind them that I will not have 12 months remaining prior to retirement (criteria for re-assignment) by the time my son graduates so we had all agreed that I would not move summer 2010.

Well, gee, it seems all bets are off. Since then – like Sept – I have been in various negotiations with different of the powers that be about job choices, various possibilities, and what I want to do if I grown up.

That particular thought took only a few minutes – not ready to grow up yet.

Upshot of the whole mess is that it is now April, I leave the UK sometime the end of August and have no idea where I am going next. As of yesterday, I can officially drop my retirement papers.  Since we do not do “garden leave” it means that I would need to move everything back to Germany then go to Ft Benning en route to Afghanistan for six months.

The other option looks like it might be to extend for a couple of years, move to Monterey, drop off my stuff, go to Ft Benning en route to Afghanistan (see above) and return to work there for a couple of years.

Hummmm – no job and seeing the DH on the rare days he is in town? Job where I can toss a couple of offspring in University at in-state tuition and enjoy the California coast?

Decisions, decisions….

It is what leads to stash accumulation, both patterns and yarn.

But sometimes the older and well worn is better.

A hand knit sweater knit from handspun the year the first Lavold book was published. Old, comfortable jeans. And handknit socks knit 15 years ago that still are just the right slouchy fit and color combination for a Saturday spent relaxing.

winning combination

It was a Saturday, 17 years ago, when Ms Maus agreed to come into the world. A bit of attitude then which has altered over the years to her own bit of humor and fun. Contributing to the challenges of all (including the bother who is 2 years and one day older).

After four reschedules do to bad weather and their lousy scheduling, the plumber showed up this morning. Ready (are you ready for this?) to replace the float.

I kid you not. I showed him the problem, he remembered the issue from when he had come out to shut the water off. He called in and argued with the people for fifteen minutes before they finally agreed that, yes, he should take out the toilet, just like the surveyor asked.

We have no clue about the float – I have called five times about the mistake. I keep being told they will fix it. Never mind, do not underestimate the ability of a bureaucracy to perpetuate an error.

finally - bare boards

leaving the throne on its own outside since I vetoed it resting next to the tub..

behind the house

The joiners arrived just before 1400. Their work order said (and I quote)

replace a floor board

They looked, pulled up the linoleum and two hours later were here -

not just "a" floor board

Obviously it was too late for them to finish. Having it open to dry out for a few days is also a good idea. Perhaps the three sorts of molds and fungus which had been gracing the floor and air will not be happy.

They will be back Tuesday week.

I think knitting is much better for me than worrying about the next disaster

About five of them so far today. Same project, third yarn, second set of needles. Not counting a change on the way I am doing the edges.

Then, I took a good look at my yarn and changed pattern which was perfectly fine since the stitch count a few rows in matched a couple of other lovely choices in, Wrapped in Comfort.  You know Alison, right?  SpinDyeKnit Alison?

Any way – now headed to BigFoot

a few rows, more than a few stitches

Video

Borrowed Season 1 of Monk from the library.

Meanwhile

The Mole is back at school in Rochester for the duration of the week and all of next while I am out of country. He is not thrilled, but looks to have it under control for the moment. Meanwhile, he has started to study US History and US Government on his own since the GED exam is one option out of the current stalemate. If anyone knows what their local High School is specifically using for 11-12th Grade textbooks, I would really appreciate recommendations.

I counted it up: grades 1-2 in Wuerzburg, 3-4 in Muenchen, 5 (three schools in Heidelberg with the last also being the location for grades 6-8). 9-10 in Stuttgart. 11 in DSL with a switch to Rochester mid year, last.

Makes it 8 schools for 13 years of education (yes, it adds up. grade 5 x 2). Not exactly continuity of education.

Week at a time, I guess.

Ms Soprano went to 7 different schools and Ms Maus only 5.

Butl, cleaning the bedroom is boring and requires me to decide what to do with all the miscellaneous stuff as well as admitting that things are out of control.  Tackling the living room falls into the same category – right now it looks fine on the surface…

Laundry was a possibility, blocking the two shawls I uncovered would have been a great idea, not burning my dinner under the broiler because I forgot about the hash brown patties…

I have to be completely honest here. I have an infinite ability to start things. Whether it is knitting, sewing, reading books, or initiating a clean-up campaign, I (mostly) do not find it difficult to start. But seeing it all the way to the end? Now that is another story.  I find endings not always pleasant.

On a better day, I can use the excuse of having “stuff.” After all, as should be obvious to all right thinking adults, having a place for everything and things in those places means it is hard to make progress on anything.

Out of sight means out of mind.

If projects, books, papers, are visible then it becomes easier to prioritize which should lead to finishing of those items under work.

It is a great theory. Unfortunately it conflicts with the known phenomena of becoming overwhelmed when there is too much to do.  Assuming, of course, that I am going to enjoy finishing things; and there in lies the rub.

The solutions to this problem are many fold; the hardest of which is to just go ahead and complete up all those books, projects, papers, phone calls, vouchers, claim forms……

Another option, which seems to be the one favoured by many knitters, is to start something new when everything under way just does not seem right.

All of which lead to the decision to plan a new vest for the Vest-uary Group on Ravelry.  Drops pattern 115-24 knit from double stranded worsted weight yarn I already have on hand.  It should go rapidly on size 9.00 mm needles, ignoring the sweater for Ms Maus lacking only the front, the quick steek needed on a cardigan, a couple of items meant for the frog pond and a real desire to knit another shawl.

Tomorrow I will go to work, be good, make a list of due-outs, and work down that list. Leaving aside dropping off the car for service, taking the Mole back to school and attending about three meetings…..

I can tell you that the Mole is brilliant; other people tell me that he is bright, polite, well spoken and charming to have around. He goes out of his way to help others; I wish he would help himself a bit more.

All the moves we have made due to jobs over the years have not been kind to him. Unlike the social butterflyness of the girls, he takes longer to fit in, find friends and his place in that difficult location called a peer group.

This is his last year of secondary school and he is not a happy camper. Neither of us have a good clue as to what is next on his horizon. He tells me that he wants medicine - Paediatrics in specific.  Switching from European schools systems’ of educating to the US multiple choice test is difficult at best and extremely challenging.

As a parent, I think we always want the best for our children. Unfortunately, it is not possible to take away all the bumps and bruises of growing and learning. That is probably as it should. But on many days communications can be a real challenge.

Should I just settle for a moderately clean room?

From my office window

bowing down with the weight of snow

Now, being originally from Minnesota, I really don’t understand why this has been viewed as such a big deal. Shovel a bit, put on appropriate clothing and go to work.

Those who routinely wear utility uniforms do not seem to have a problem with the concept. On the other hand, the idea seems to be a bit foreign to the group that I think of as the “skirt and pantyhose brigade.”

The number of ducks and geese seems to be reduced from what I remember last year. It might be the foxes, or just the burst of cold weather that has put ice on the pond.

More of the hats and scarves

and Ms Maus and I are watching NCIS.

all alight

I found food for thought provided in dialog about the difference between spirituality and religion. Although this particular discussion is Judaic in its grounding, I think it may well resonate in several other faiths. It hinges around what is for self and what is for others: self-interest vs obligation. See what you think.

Probably more importantly Ms Soprano

(lifted from her blog)

turns 21 today. A milestone she celebrated at school last night (along with a sleep in this morning). If you feel like adding greeting to her inbox – you can find her at ninadoyneATt-onlineDOTde. She might not have a clue as to who you are, but she does have a good sense of humor. I get to rescue her from Heathrow on Sunday morning, provide BA does not go on strike or the airport close.

The Mole is home from school. Kent received the brunt of the latest UK Snow storm. The boarding school sent them all out the door three hours early to make sure that they were on their way before the trains stopped running. My phone had completely gone on the fritz, so we were unable to reach each other. As a competent soon to be adult, he managed to get himself home from the train station. Being a guy, he doesn’t seem to need all that much.

ice, trees

and lightly coated

Minimal knitting progress today, but more planned this evening on the baby cardigan. Yet another day has passed without the little Ms putting in her appearance so it leaves me a bit closer to being finished. Cat, I think does have the right of it. New little ones need their hind-paws as well as their heads kept warm. I have also been admiring the lovely baby things just knit by Lankakomero – see those socks at the end of the post? All those bright Finnish knitters can’t be wrong. Of course, since my ability to figure out a Finnish pattern is almost non-existent, I am grateful for all the wonderful photos. I can figure out the pattern from the photos…

Beautiful to see, even displaying its art on my car windshield

and on the sides, rear windows and body of the car

Yes, it was cold. Below freezing for more than a few minutes with patches of ice  on the drive, black ice on the road and a few bruises on me for not paying attention.

Seventh Night

at home, finally after a conference call kept me till close to 2000.

The advantage to conference calls over, let us say, video conferences, should be obvious. Multi-tasking should be possible and progress can be made on baby sweaters. The little dear has not yet arrived, so I might just have a few days.

more than half way

I weighed the remaining yarn and have more than enough to finish and make a matching hat. I suppose socks should be in order too?

The actual heating man and his apprentice appeared less than an hour later. Obviously competent, they drained the system, stripped out the old boiler, replaced what pipes needed replacing, refilled the system, tested and bleed all the radiators and were done by 1400.

I have heat in the house.

It meant that I could turn off the electric fire. relax with out shivering and take out knitting again.

One attempt to start a baby sweater ended like this

a bit frustrating

I decided that the colors were fine and cheerful for the young lady who is due to be born later this month, but a pattern change was in order

much more successfull

Of course, I will not mention that I joined a couple of friends on an excursion to Basingstoke. Nor the computer games I found extremely cheaply at one of the stores.

End result was that I listened to some podcasts, watched a few episodes of various TV programs and knit.

Being a basically nice person, I could not see wasting time and effort on fixing something that was just going to have to be ripped out.

The engineer didn’t show up this morning either. I sat waiting, wrapped up in two blankets in front of the electric fire with my laptop.

After a run to the office this afternoon, I figured the day at close to a total loss.

Comes 1700 and there is a knock on the door. I am figuring one of my friends who drops by quite regularly.

No, it is the engineer. He looks at the toilet room. He looks at the flooring that gives when he bounces. Notes the fungus growing up between the cracks in the rippling linoleum. Down stairs in the utility room, he makes note of the obvious wet places in the ceiling.

Guess what? The toilet is going to need to come out, the floor completely repairs and the linoleum relaid. Only at that point will the toilet be repaired. Please note, the plumber playing with the float (which, by the way functioned just fine, the leak was at the base….) would not have solved anything. Collapsing floors are a really bad idea.

I am to call on Monday and start nagging about timing for the repairs…..

I’d rather be knitting.

For those who celebrate the Christmas Holidays and like to decorate – Garn Studios (those wonderful people who make the Drops yarn and put all of their patterns on the web for free) has put up a Julekalendar with a new pattern every day.  The link is also part way down the home page.  Not normally watching such things, I saw a note by Maria who is already started on some really cute and speedy projects.

(many hours later) – I now have lights again in my kitchen and a scheduled time for the plumber tomorrow (I think) as well as all day next week Thursday for the heating system to be fixed.

End result is that I discovered something else today that was not to my benefit. BigFishGames have now organized their MAC games, making it extremely easy to download and try new games. Unfortunately for me, there were a couple of new games I just had to try. Knitting time was impinged.

Books

Grave Secret – Charlaine Harris. Simple. Neither complicated in plot or characters, it is a nice change from her other paranormal series. Most of the ugliness is in the past, and a major mystery is solved in this book. All the same, it is probably about time she ends this one.
Missing in Death – J D Robb, read by Susan Erickson. Novella taken from a new story collection (this is the only one of the four stories available in audio so far – I think they are missing a trick or three). Slightly under 4 hours, it is quick, tightly plotted and wastes only a couple of minutes on sex scenes. Writing is more consistent than Kindred in Death (new out in Oct) which was quite uneven. Honestly? I would believe she changed ghost writers about an hour into the story.

My excuse was that the young man is off at school, not returning home till the weekend.

While I was at it, I invited a British friend, and a couple of American ex-pats with their partners.

Ignoring my detours to the VW Service Center (I was sick of the buzzer at every start up reminding me that it was due for service), additional work to the tune of several hundred quid and the fact that I still don’t have heat; I was ready for company.

We had turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, baked potatoes, vegetable bake, cranberry sauce, salad, pumpkin pie, and brownies.

I think that was the whole list and I don’t want to even think about how long it is going to be before the left overs are all gone.

Knitting

Patience is rewarded, and I have been knitting. Having finished the second square this afternoon, it seemed time to add the shoulder extensions. Then there is the question of “follow the pattern….” or not. I have never been clear on good reasons to bind off shoulders before turning around and sewing them together, preferring three needle bind-offs even when it seems a bit confusing.

front and back squares

Confusing enough to have to do one shoulder twice when I realized that I had knit one on the top while the second one had grown out the side where one normally finds an armhole. Taken without a flash, this self-patterning sockyarn is a bit lighter grey in color than seems apparent here.

You probably don’t remember, but I sponsored a Thanksgiving Day lunch last year, providing the fixings while the chefs prepared the meal. It had a good reception so I had planned on a repeat.  Cheryl, the Dental Exchange Officer made a contribution as well (making my pocket book a bit more cheerful).

Perhaps there are those who find some major significance in the holiday, making long speeches or looking at long cultural traditions.

For me, it is a holiday devoid of heavy religious implications or obligations. Instead, it is the one holiday a year that revolves around celebrating with family and friends.

Thanksgiving at a British Officers’ Mess is not exactly sitting down with my family (daughter at University in the US, husband in transit somewhere in Europe, daughter in school in Germany, son at school in Kent, daughter at work in Germany), nor was it similar to having Thanksgiving with several thousand of your best friends deployed in a sandbox but still.

I was surround by people enjoying their meal, taking time to visit and relax with friends. There was enough left over that the entire serving staff was able to eat as well.

Even more impressive was that there were those who apparently did an imitation of the tradition full stomach sleep in front of the TV for the afternoon. Of course, they happened to be attending the Public Health Forum with a speaker who turned out the lights after lunch.