The Lard Arms

The Joy of Twitter - Tweet, Tweet

I must admit that I still remain hugely technically challenged (!) but I try to keep up with the various social media.  Of late, twitter has been on my radar.  I guess it was a combination of Jonathan Ross and latterly Stephen Fry talking about their own Twitter  profiles.  Stephen Fry's lift lock-in even hit the headlines here in the UK.

Dietgirl had waxed lyrical about super tweeter, Shaquille O'Neal, and I suddenly understood that Twitter messages need to be of a particular length - mini-blogs - so require a judicious editing eye.

Anyway, I am still a Twitter-free blogger - for how much longer, I really don't know because this week, I really saw its enormous potential.

My husband has moved from a hotel to one of those 'luxury apartments' (and I came too) but as you'll see from the photos, the vista has a more Eastern Europe feel than...

I found myself looking out of the window to discover that a thrush was resting on the balcony.  A thrush, in a city centre, flying high up (as you'll see the 9th floor is quite high!).

I wondered what on earth she would be eating in this snowy weather so did loads of internet searches and then had bird table anxiety (would we be allowed to put one on the balcony?) and it was at that moment that I wished I had Twitter. I could have posed all these questions and got the city-centre bird situation sorted, quick as a tweet.

As it was, I got some multi-seed bread and left it out.  It remained untouched.  But this morning, she came back and took the bread.  It WAS a teary-eyed moment, I have to say.    Look closely, she is near the steel joint on the balcony...

And then she kept coming back.  Just gorgeous.

Anyway, I hope she continues to return - I will certainly be leaving strict instructions for food to be left, as I won't be here.  I understand that birds have to eat half their body weight in food...every day!!!

If only I had that challenge! 

A wake up call I don't mind

My friend, Mrs Jupiter, lives on the other side of the world. Last year she had a very, very premature baby girl who not only survived but who is positively thriving. My friends had to move to be near the hospital for several months.  She is, of course, a miracle.

Her baby was due on my birthday so I think that's a good thing!

Anyway, with the new laptop, comes one major difference - a built-in webcam.  My vintage machine didn't have one so talking on skype was just like a phone call - but still very exciting to be able to chat for hours...for free!

Well, this morning we had our first video chat.  After several missed emails, she phoned me on my mobile to wake me up!  Our lodger uses skype all the time and connects with her family but this is the first time that I have been able to speak to a loved one of my own AND see them.  

It really was amazing (technology still gets me very excited!) and it's set me up for the day.  One of the things that I am trying very hard to do at the moment is NOT sink into my normal pattern of negative thinking but actively seeking out good events to remember.

Today was definitely one of them - and I saw her baby for the first time.  There were tears - at both ends - but hey, it's great to know that friendship can still endure, even with the massive disruption of life-changing events and without speaking for months and months and months.