Ever tried Syd?

I couldn't call George anything but that when I met him - in fact I distinctly recall introducing him to someone as George! 

Ah well, I'm not called Milly either.  I prefer it by far to my own name and Mort thinks I'm much more of a "Milly" than the real name I have - which most of you know anyway.     In fact when Mort and I speak on the phone we call each other Mort and Milly.   

Mary!  Are you really not Mary??  I feel quite traumatised now.

I'm absolutely stunned that Roslynmuse is a male too! 

  Mort calling Milly!  Mort calling Milly!  Come in Mort.....

Ah happy days, when Robin Williams was young and I was even younger. 

Never fear Mr S. Although it is within the ambit of the OWSA it is subject to a Public Interest Exemption under the terms of Section 2 of the Freedom of Information Act so no offence has been committed.


And no mention whatsoever of Emo Phillips, the greatest Emo of them all!

I'm really not, Milly (not Milly). I just like being anonymous-ish. Where else can one be? I rather wish I'd invented a more dramatic name, though - Hortensia Polkinghorne or something. There are reasons for the one I use.

I had caught on about Roslynmuse. There must have been hints at some point.

I'm most traumatised about George. The name suits him, or my image of him, which may or may not be connected with the real....er, George.

  Ooh, the tempation, Hortensia, the temptation!

Day 2 of flat hunting.

After last night's realisation that I should start looking at furnished rather than unfurnished flats I made a load of appointments for tomorrow this morning, but also one for this afternoon.
I cancelled a viewing of an unfurnished flat (too far away from bus routes to work (and too far from work to walk) and too far from town) and headed off to a nearby(ish) unfurnished flat.
The agent was 20 minutes late, and when he arrived he didn't know which flat it was so just tried to put keys in doors until one opened. Eventually one did. But it was opened from the other side by a very unimpressed-looking shift-worker who pointed us in the right direction.
Again, no central heating and while it was passable, it wasn't, well, nice. It's in a good area but, again, off the bus routes. If it had been really nice (and had central heating), I'd have considered it but as it is, it's definitely a 'no'.

Had a lunchtime meeting with my new head of department. It turns out that my second reference has been received by them via email but, for some reason, it won't open on their computers. Until they receive this reference, they can't send me my official offer letter, so my starting date has rolled back another week and there are still question marks over what and how much I'm teaching on various courses. I know it will all be resolved in the end but it's a little frustrating in the meantime.

Went back into town and looked at a furnished flat in the Old Town. Location a bit dubious (strip club at one end of the street and quite a busy area with a lot of traffic, foot and vehicular) but by far the nicest flat I've seen so far (and not just because it had furniture in it!): central heating, separate kitchen, good storage, a bathroom with a bath as well as a shower, and the flat is on the opposite side of the building to the road so it's quite quiet as well. It's very near to bus routes to work, but a little bit of a trek from the train station. Not sure how happy I'd be rolling back after a concert or something. It's on the shortlist, but we'll see.

I've got three places booked in tomorrow afternoon and I'm planning to catch the Blake exhibition in the morning. After all of that, I'll be jumping on a train and heading south. My car's being MOT'd and a rep from an auction house is coming round to value some furniture.