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FULL VICTORY 2012 SPEECH BY PRESIDENT OBAMA right here – Don't Hate, Congratulate!
Yes, the well-known saying says it all: "As many people, so many opinions".
Yet even if "your" favorite candidate for the US Presidential Election 2012 has not made it, you still have to pull yourself together, dear friends. With no reference to my priorities, e v e r y o n e should comprehend this message:
"Don't Hate, Congratulate!"
Congratulations, Mr. President!
You have made many of US gals & pals very proud, now please also consider making the rest speechlessly happy the next four years.
Please find the ENTIRE VICTORY SPEECH 2012 BELOW
Live 2 Love USA, kids. Live to love it.
After several long days of hard work by Conservancy staff, Central Park will be open again tomorrow at 8:00 am. Although some landscapes remain closed for continued work, we welcome the public to enjoy the Park again.
There are over 550 trees destroyed or damaged in the Park due to Hurricane Sandy. Find out more about the damage and see photos of our cleanup work on our website. Get the latest updates on Central Park by following us on Facebook and Twitter.
We're able to care for the Park thanks to the support of our members. Join us today and support your Park!
Please check the new article featuring the info and beautiful pictures of The New FDR Four Freedoms Park, Roosevelt Island.
These pictures have been taken right before the hurricane Sandy has hit NY. Please enjoy the beautiful views and consider visiting the park when the situation will get under control. Our prayers and thoughts go out to the residents of Roosevelt Island. Please stay strong.
About the Park
The Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park is an enduring tribute to the life and work of President Roosevelt.
In the late 1960s, during a period of national urban renewal, New York City Mayor John Lindsay proposed to reinvent Roosevelt Island (then called Welfare Island) into a vibrant, residential community. The New York Times championed renaming the island for President Franklin D. Roosevelt and constructing a memorial to him, remarking: "It has long seemed to us that an ideal place for a memorial to FDR would be on Welfare Island, which…could be easily renamed in his honor… It would face the sea he loved, the Atlantic he bridged, the Europe he helped to save, the United Nations he inspired." The man chosen to give shape to this idea was the architect Louis I. Kahn, one of the masters of 20th century architecture. Governor Nelson Rockefeller and Mayor Lindsay announced the project in 1973 and the appointment of Louis Kahn as its architect. In short order, the Governor became Vice President of the United States, Louis Kahn finished his work and died unexpectedly, and the City of New York approached bankruptcy. It required patience, memory and determination – on March 29, 2010, 38 years after its announcement, construction of Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park began.
Visit the source – OFFICIAL FDR 4 FREEDOMS PARK WEBSITE


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If you are becoming disheartened about your monthly statistics, consider including social media marketing as a method of advertising. Sometimes taking this fresh approach can rejuvenate your business, and help you to reach a new level of success. Marketing with social media is easy and inexpensive, but can dramatically expand your customer base. The following tips will help you get the most from using social media.
It is important to remember to frequently add new and different content to your twitter feed. Send tweets with tips and suggestions that are related to your business. By combining this sort of tweet with promotional tweets, you will keep people interested in what you have to say.
You should have regular interesting blogs. Fresh content will keep visitors coming back. You can see this in magazine and newspaper subscriptions. Be certain to have fresh, lively content to attract new and returning readers.
You should offer discounts and coupon codes to the people who connect with you on social networks. Grab your customers with a unique post. You can run a contest, for example. If this doesn't appeal to you, offer an exclusive item or savings for your social media fans instead. You can also have announcements that are made specifically on social media websites.
Stay humble! If you sound like you're arrogant, you'll end up with a bad reputation and your offensive posts repeated all over the Internet. Do not make yourself seem more prominent than your customers or followers. Without them, you are nothing.
Harness the power of social media to make user-friendly storefronts that appeal to a wider customer base. Your main website is the most important, of course, but it is possible to set up a Facebook store that can be visited from any post on your account. Some people who spend a lot of time on Facebook could end up milling around your products for a bit and buying something without every having to leave the Facebook site. In this, you can get sales from customers that would rather stay on Facebook than leave it for your dedicated ecommerce website.
All social medial profiles should have buttons included, along with RSS feeds of any updates you would like people to see. Make this stand out on your blog, website, emails and also signatures whenever you leave a comment on the internet. You also want to include links to other social networking profiles to help encourage people to locate you on different sites.
Regardless of it's general form and purpose, one facet your social media campaign must include is habitual rapid and professional response to all comments, inquiries and reviews. This very thing can distinguish whether or not your social media marketing is successful. You will want to pay special attention to negative postings from readers and respond to them right away. Every negative comment that you ignore could cause damage to your reputation. If you react to them quickly, it can help burnish your reputation by making you appear more professional.
If you are a Twitter user, it is important to take advantage of options such as automatically twitting your new blog posts, to keep your followers constantly updated. An option for you is to pick a few bloggers that always post professional looking content and link to their posts. The exposure will be appreciated, and the quality content provided will be enjoyed by your followers.
Keep your readers informed of the progress that you are making with your social media marketing. Be gracious and professional with those who support you and your company. Thank your fans for showing an interest in your social media site. Such articles are apt to be shared often.
Update your Twitter regularly so that your followers actually get a chance to see your post before it gets pushed further down their page. Twitter's primary focus is quantity. It is important that you still offer quality content, but it is equally important to contribute frequently. Divide your message about a specific event into multiple tweets in order to get the most mileage out of it.
Share updates of influential users of Twitter or try mentioning them in posts by having their usernames placed after the "@" symbol. This will bring your post to their attention. If you make an interesting point, they may well respond to you or re-tweet your post.
When you do decide you want to upload any YouTube videos, you want to make sure you add a link for your website somewhere in the description, you also want to make sure you add in Twitter and Facebook links as well. When you get users from YouTube on Twitter and Facebook, you also have more of a chance that they'll share any videos you have through these social media sites.
Your LinkedIn page can take advantage of a blog feed application to display your blog posts. When you post an article it makes your LinkedIn appear updated. This will allow you to save time and you'll enjoy more exposure on LinkedIn.
Social Media
Don't be too rigid when determining your posting guidelines. Try to incorporate a lot of posts if you are beginning a new campaign to keep people informed. Customers don't want you to bother them repeatedly if you have don't have anything important to share about your product or service, though.
Don't expect overnight success with social media marketing. It takes time to build a decent social media campaign. It will start out slowly as you begin to reach people through social networking. At the beginning, your focus should be on building a large network. Make sure you mention your social media presence in your other marketing campaigns.
Understand that social networks aren't just another billboard where you passively post content for visitors to look at. Social networking allows you to learn more about your customers. You might also get them interested in your brand. You can discuss your product or service, build your brand's reputation and build customer relations all at once!
Freebies are a very popular strategy to consider for your social media website. By hosting a giveaway you will gain many new followers. Choose a free item that will appeal to your target market, then spread the word about it.
Use social media to host a question & answer session with your followers. This allows people to learn about your special offers and about how your business functions. Social media websites let you interact on a personal level which is good for your business.
Promote your special offers via social networks. On Facebook, people are more likely to discover you if you provide rich content and nice discounts. Use social networks to engage your customers and give them a personal experience with your brand.
If you host blogs for employees on your website then the added traffic they attract can help your bottom line. Customers can take a glimpse inside your business by reading such blogs. The inner workings of your company and the hard work and dedication of your employees can showcase your positive business culture to attract business to your site. If you let customers into your world they will trust you more.
When employing social media marketing strategies, it is important to carefully review all content that is posted on behalf of your business. Mistakes can go viral as easily as good information and quality content. That will gain you some notoriety, but that may not be what you want.
People should feel comfortable about posting comments on your Facebook page or blog. If you don't want to give out other methods of contacting you, such as an email address or telephone number you can be reached it, allowing customers to comment on your blogs is even more important. So open up the opportunity to make comments, however, be sure to keep a close eye on them. Make sure you delete spams and rude or offensive comments quickly.
You should interweave your social media pages to your corporate website. By including widgets on your website, visitor can share your content easily. These buttons should be placed on all main pages, in blogs posts as well as RSS feeds to help get your consumers to share content that you post.
Try the following tip for marketing effectively on social media sites. You could try some popular social media sites like Google+, Facebook, and Twitter. You can tailor your campaigns to your customer base if you focus on the resources they use most. This will help you attract customers and get more sales.
Generate interest in the products and services you provide by offering forums where customers can ask you questions and you can give them honest answers. This allows people to learn about your special offers and about how your business functions. This technique makes you and your business seem more personal and accessible to customers.
You should always think about what kind of content you will be posting on your site. It is very simple to post on Twitter without thinking first, for example. But typos, false details and spelling or grammatical errors can have an immediate and negative impact on the reputation of your business. No matter how friendly and informal these social sites may seem, never let your professional guard down by letting sub-par information out of the gate.
The next time you update your Facebook profile, you should really think about adding something outside of the norm. Go for exciting instead of just fresh. Link up to your favorite YouTube videos, especially those that provide valuable information. You need to find a balance though, you don't want to lose your professional image either.
You can also add a review area to your site and post it to your Facebook profile. By using a tool like this, your followers can write their own reviews about your site and services. You do have the power to edit and remove reviews not to your liking. Entice visitors to participate by making it into a contest.
Get some healthy competition going on your Facebook. A lot of people like participating in competitions. Launch a contest on Facebook and you will see interest grow quickly. You will get a fan base sooner than you thought possible.
Experiment with social media before you officially open your business. Use only techniques that you are comfortable with and know are effective once you set up a website or social media page for your business. Then, run some further tests in other venues until you have tweaked the technique. This will keep you from publishing anything that proves detrimental to your reputation or social image, which could hurt your business.
Ensure you are regularly updating and posting content on your site. If you post daily or more often, your customers will get in the habit of checking your feed regularly. If you rarely post, many customers will stop frequenting your page. Make a posting schedule, or use a company that will post for you in specific time intervals. This ensures your readers always see your posts.
Although you may be new to social media marketing, it is essential that you stick to the basics. A successful business plan should still begin with a press release and should always be backed by relevant market research. Combining traditional strategy with modern technology yields fertile ground for social media marketing results.
Social Media
Use keywords for the text in links leading to your website. The page that the potential buyer is directed to should be a blog, social media site or even a page for a product. Also, be sure to maintain current offers, products, and articles. Ensure all ads directly link to content that relates to your keywords in order to increase your chance of success with your campaigns.
Be mindful of how you speak in social media advertisements. Social media works best for those that communicate in a friendly, casual voice. This is why your voice should be at your readers' level. Use their language in order to have greater results.
Give away something if you want to increase your level of following. If your visitors want to enter they have to 'like' you or 'follow' you on your social media pages. Even if it's a tiny prize, you will boost your followers and many will stay around when the contest ends.
Always include a Facebook "Like" button on your blog site. This will make it so that consumers can like you on Facebook without having to ever leave your website to do so. This makes the process of "liking" your Facebook profile simple, which makes them more likely to click that magic button. Anything providing ease for your reader increases the chances of them coming back to read more of your content.
Use the programs Twellow or Tweepi to find the best Twitter followers. You will then know who is the head of the list and who will pay the most attention. After you find the manager of an influential list, you can relay a message to that person and ask them to put your account on their list.
As you can see, starting a social media marketing campaign is not complicated! After you have begun your marketing campaign, making the effort to become more knowledgeable of the techniques available and staying up to date with current trends will give you great success. Consistent yields are the result of constant effort, so apply the ideas and insights from the preceding paragraphs, and block out whatever hours are needed to provide fresh content to your social media profiles with regularity.
Find other blogs in your niche and regularly comment on news and articles. You can find people who are more interested in what you have to offer if you do this. Make sure that you leave relevant comments that readers can benefit from and not useless fluff or spam. If you remain friendly and informative, things should work out.

subset: commoncrawl


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The next best musical sensation just might be a forest dragon lizard! Aditya Permana is a professional photographer based in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Recently, while out exploring the lush forests he came across a rather adorable dragon lizard playing leaf guitar, or at least that's what it looks like. The lizard was actually motionless as he held the leaf, but he still looks like a natural musician.
While some people are bashing Permana for moving the lizard like this, and potentially even harming him in the process, Permana insists this is not true. We most certainly hope it is not, and according to Permana it isn't. He says that he never moves, alters or does anything to force wild animals into any poses, this lizard included.
Permana claims he watched the lizard move into this position all on his own, holding a leaf like a guitar slung across his body. Permana observed the lizard for a solid hour before the lizard moved into his rock star pose, imitating a human playing a guitar.
In an interview with the Dailymail, Permana explained that he never physically interferes with the lizards, instead he allows them to feel comfortable and act naturally, allowing for the best photographs of all. Permana said, "I did not directly photograph the lizard at first, until the lizards feel calm and comfortable around me. I noticed it looked like it was playing a guitar – and it didn't move at all."
The forest dragon lizard lives in the picturesque, lush forests of Indonesia, pictured above.
Permana posted the photo to Facebook with the caption, "Let's Sing a song, Play from A Major Chord…" It quickly gained hundreds of shares and thousands of likes, and it's easy to see why! It's not everyday you come across a lizard playing a leaf guitar.
The Mirror suggested a few songs the forest dragon lizard might play, "'Don't Beleaf a Word' by Thin Lizzy, 'You Can Leaf Your Hat On' by Tom Jones, 'If You Leaf Me Now' by Chicago, 'Karma Chameleon' by Culture Club, and 'Don't Leaf Me This Way' by Thelma Houston."
Clearly this lizard is very comfortable, as he sits kicked back with leaf in hand. It's not easy to make a wild lizard feel calm around you, if you even get near a lizard they usually just run fast in the other direction.
On Bored Panda, readers have accused Permana of drugging or killing the lizard, since this is not the most natural position to find a lizard kicking back in. Permana has responded to these accusations saying, "Come here to Indonesia…. I'll show what he is doing right now…"
Others defend Permana, saying he has other action shots of the lizard that prove he is alive and well. As for the rumors surrounding the validity of this photo, we will let you decide.
Permana has a lot of other wildlife photos, albeit just as cool his photos don't typically include wildlife acting like humans. Another example of his photography is this adorable dude going after a delicious fly!
Editors' Recommendations:
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7 Amazing Things You Won't Believe Actually Exist In Nature
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Why You Should Drink Lemon Water in the Morning
source: Earth Porm


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Category: Uncategorized
Spring break
-At this point I have packaging template. -I have Braille text translation for Czech readers -More than half way of illustrations -Box for exhibition (or think for some other option) - NEXT TUESDAY want to send all the files for print.
Last experimentation stage
So today I created more, and more visual experimentation of cards. And finally found one right visual style which I like. Finally the last one I like the most! Thank good!
2. concept – typo
Based on the facts, Jan Hus was one of the first persons who made a order in modern Czech Language. So I were interested to make card re-design based on the typo. Some of the inspiration: Craft playing cards, where illustrations are linocut and handmade. Or maybe using the Czech typo designer work as a … Continue reading 2. concept – typo
4. concept- national Parks
After research and illustrating the cards, I realised I am not enjoying anymore and I don't like what I do. --------------------------------------- So I changed direction, I choose four National Parks in Czech Republic. Who are still representing something from CZ, as well nature ( which I love), basic info, available for all kind of people … Continue reading 4. concept- national Parks
Its been a while since I updated the blog. First I try to find again the visual style. The last concept is combination with Braille and National Parks. As well the box template : And the wood box: I experimented with the brushes and styles.
1st - drawing I tried different variations of digital, because I felt it does not goes with my style. But in the end I still keep the 0,2 size line stroke because other ones does not fit. The blue with bronze line stroke is the regular one. I kind of like the little calligraphic stroke. … Continue reading Experiment
3. concept development
Digital tryout and watercolour tryout. The watercolour technique gives more personal and craft touch, but does not give new look for the cards. I can say even more complicated look. After realising in my portfolio is missing some digital work. So I thought this could be nice start, so I crystallised few points: clean simple … Continue reading 3. concept development
4. Brief Form
Project Title "Hussite" Client Self initiated project based on friends feedback and my own free will. Introduction I found that when you are in the countryside you tend to do some other activities and one time there were paling cards with old school designs, really old playing cards. In English they call Pony. My … Continue reading 4. Brief Form
FGP – Final Graphic Projects
1. Knack Client The interest person is me and proposed cooperated person, like "Elpida" in Prague, private persons and some small organisations. Introduction "Knack" project was starting point in first BA semester in Prague College. As I found a real potential for this specific platform, I thought it could be great opportunity to develop real prototype … Continue reading FGP – Final Graphic Projects


text: Business owners are becoming more and more aware that their companies are losing productivity when employees shop and social network on company time. To counter this- Web Filtering is becoming a necessity no longer a luxury. It allows for increased productivity with advanced, real-time content filtering and the ability to block access to the websites that drain time and money from businesses large and small. Read more "Inside Securolytics Web Filtering"


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The Lowther Castle & Gardens Trust was established in 2007 as a registered charity to provide public access, enjoyment, regeneration and community benefit through a programme of restoration and discovery.
The Trust is working closely in partnership with the Lowther Estate to develop the castle and gardens for public benefit.
Our plans are ambitious but sensitive to the environment and the local community. We want to involve people in the transformation of Lowther and create a destination of quality that will bring new visitors to the region, provide education and employment and stand as a national benchmark for sustainable tourism.
Bryan Gray CBE DL
Roland Jackson
Andrew Smith
John Turner
Sophie Ambler


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Saturday, August 30, 2014
August Reading Round Up
4 thoughts on the matter:
- The Artful Diva said... {Reply}
never read the book - saw the movie though. have a great holiday weekend!
- August 30, 2014 at 9:33 AM
- Shoshanah said... {Reply}
While I did enjoy the Bridget Jones movies, I've never actually read the books. From everything I've heard though I do think I'd really enjoy them, so hopefully I'm able to make time for them eventually.
- August 30, 2014 at 9:35 AM
- Deanna said... {Reply}
Wow 40 kids, lotsa little minds to teach. My thoughts are with you as you begin this new journey!!
- August 30, 2014 at 2:09 PM
- Nicki said... {Reply}
Fun new year about to begin for you and I have no doubt that you will shine. I have to confess that I have neither read nor seen Bridget Jones. For whatever reason, it didn't speak to my interest at the time of the movie's release and I haven't been especially good about picking up books to read lately. Maybe now that things will be settling down and I'll be finding a new normal routine I can put reading books back into the rotation.
- August 31, 2014 at 9:16 AM


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|Message view
|« Date » · « Thread »
|« Date » · « Thread »
|"Rick Hillegas (Commented) (JIRA)" <j...@apache.org>
|[jira] [Commented] (DERBY-5369) Restricted Table Function support should pass NOT EQUAL restrictions to initScan
|Wed, 21 Mar 2012 18:51:41 GMT
[ https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/DERBY-5369?page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:comment-tabpanel&focusedCommentId=13234852#comment-13234852 ] Rick Hillegas commented on DERBY-5369: -------------------------------------- As I see it, this is an improvement to a feature which makes the feature more usable. The crucial documentation change is in the public api javadoc and that is part of the patch. Thanks. > Restricted Table Function support should pass NOT EQUAL restrictions to initScan > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Key: DERBY-5369 > URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/DERBY-5369 > Project: Derby > Issue Type: Bug > Components: SQL > Affects Versions: 10.5.3.0 > Reporter: Brett Bergquist > Assignee: Mamta A. Satoor > Labels: features > Fix For: 10.7.1.4, 10.8.2.3 > > Attachments: derby-5369-01-aa-inequalityOperator.diff, derby-5369.diff > > > Restricted Table Function support should pass NOT EQUAL restrictions to initScan. Currently any "!=" or "<>" constraints on the SQL used in the WHERE clause of a SELECT on a Restricted Table Funtion are not passed to the initScan method. These can be useful depending on how the Restricted Table Function is implemented. -- This message is automatically generated by JIRA. If you think it was sent incorrectly, please contact your JIRA administrators: https://issues.apache.org/jira/secure/ContactAdministrators!default.jspa For more information on JIRA, see: http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira
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ArtCafe Photography Couture Sessions
After weeks of brainstroming, photographing, editing, sorting through clothing and starting all over again they are finally here - our all new ArtCafe Couture Sessions. This is the first of a brand new line of sessions that we are planning to introduce in 2018. We'll announce more over the next months.
What are ArtCafe Couture Sessions?
These are 30 minute sessions where we are photographing for a certain product only. We offer in studio or outdoor options, depending on what you prefer.
Do I have to bring my own outfit?
No. We have an ever growing collection of beautiful dresses right here in the studio. Sizes range from baby to about 10 years. If you pefer to bring your own outfit that's perfectly fine as well.
What about accessories?
Yes, we have many! Headbands, crowns, necklaces, hats and more - you name it. The only thing we ask you to bring is shoes if you want your child to wear any.
What is included with this special edition package?
These sessions are a bit different from our regular children's sessions, or any of our sessions, in fact. One outfit, 15-30 minutes, three beautiful images, one piece of timeless wall art.
Who are these sessions for?
From our experience over the years we've learned that most families love bigger image galleries for maternity and newborn sessions as well as baby's first year. After baby's first birthday many parents ask for only a couple of photographs to remember the changes and growth of their little ones. So far we only offered our regular sessions with a gallery of 20-30 (many times even more) images. It is very difficult to choose just a few. For that reason we've decided to come up with a solution to make the experience quicker and easier. Our regular sessions with multiple outfit changes, larger image galleries and the full variety of print products are always available, but if you are looking for just the one image, these sessions are for you.
Are these sessions only designed for girls?
Absolutely not! Unfortunately we don't have many boy's outfits in the studio. This is the only reason why you see just pretty dresses in this blog post. Don't think twice about dressing your little man up or down for a Couture Session. He'll look gorgeous, no matter what style you prefer for him!
Categorized In: | artcafe photography couture photo session | ashburn va baby photographer | ashburn va family photos | brambleton va child photographer | loudoun county newborn baby pictures


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I'd set the alarm on my phone to chime quietly, so I woke up slowly, not at first recognising the room, but gradually, with a smile, remembering I was in Matt's bedroom. I turned over gently, to see Matt still asleep, facing me, on his side, mouth slightly open. I got out of bed as quietly as I could and went into the bathroom to shower. Matt's shower was impressive, with several different pulse settings, and I luxuriated in the hot water.
Maybe it was the vast amount of catch-up sleep I'd managed to get the previous day, but I actually woke up at about seven thirty the next morning. I could hear the shower going, and for a split second I thought I must have left it running last night, and then I remembered what had actually happened last night, and that I'd fallen asleep with Lau in my arms, so it must be her in the shower. And that, quite probably, meant that she was naked, and I so had to see that.
I sat up, swung my legs out of bed, tested their ability to not crumple under me, which seemed pleasingly robust today, took my clothes off and went in search of naked Lau.
I stood in the doorway of the bathroom, not caring about the steam leaking out into the living room, and watched her for a few minutes. My shower was pretty good; it had a pulsing head, really strong stream, and I had a range of deluxe shower foams arranged along a glass shelf. Lau was making full use of it all, and had her eyes shut to stop the shampoo from getting in her eyes.
Oh, I could see her because it was a wet room, hence no shower cubicle. All the better to see you with my dear. I made my way over to her and stood behind her, having a brief debate with myself about what I planned to do next. I knew she freaked at the slightest unexpected touch, but she was irresistible, and I didn't argue it for long. It went something like 'I want to touch her' 'you'll scare her' 'yeah but that'll be funny'. Argument won.
I was just rinsing my hair, eyes closed against the shampoo and water, when a hand snaked around my waist. I screamed and span round. Matt stood there, hands in the air. He had absolutely no clothes on. None at all.
'Sohry Lau. Couldn't bear the thought of yuh in here on yuhr own. Dihnt mean tuh make yuh jump. Bluhdy hilarious tho.'
I spat water and soap bubbles out of my mouth, then sagged against the wall of the shower, as I tried to surreptitiously glance at the fully revealed glory of Matt Scott. And oh boy was it glorious. I mean he. Was he glorious.
Lau sagged against the wall of the shower. Then she noticed I was as naked as her, and yeah, she couldn't resist a downwards glance at my tackle, or a little grin to herself at what she saw.
'You scared me to death. Have you not got by now that I startle easily?'
I really wasn't sorry at all, and neither of us were thinking about me making her jump any more, but it's the thought that counts, at least that's what my mum always says. She probably didn't mean it to apply to this specific situation; maybe I'll ask her one day.
He didn't really look very sorry, but he was completely naked, and so was I. It was the first time I'd seen him with no clothes on, and he didn't disappoint; his body was slender but not skinny, his legs well muscled, and all other bits and pieces looked pretty damn good to me. In fact, I had to have a stern word with myself about my 'only what we can both do' promise to stop myself doing something completely shameless. Although he'd made me squeal and swallow shampoo, it seemed like a bit of a waste to be cross with him, and I hated waste, so I peeled myself off the wall and pulled him into the stream, where the water fell down on us as we kissed good morning.
His body felt so good wet; he was lean and hard, and his bum was particularly squeezable as I pulled him towards me. His hands found my breasts, and he pinched my nipples as I ran my hands up and down his back. As he moved his mouth down to my breasts – something he seemed to really like doing, and no, I'm not complaining – I arched my back and pressed them against his lips, moving my hands down without thinking, below his waist and then lower, stroking my way down to his balls.
I felt her hands move downwards, below my waist, along my cock, and was just about to regretfully remind her of the 'both together' clause, when she cupped my balls and a flood of fizzing surged under her fingers, then my dick twitched and I gasped as I froze.
'Lau, yuh made ih twitch! An ih goh a bih bigger!'
We both looked down, to where it was indeed a little bit larger, and standing out from my body a bit.
'Just ignore it.'
Ignore my first attempt at a hard-on for months?
'Wha? Cahnt ignore my dick.'
'Don't focus on it, let what happens happen, we'll just carry on. It's not important.'
'Ih fucking well is impohtant. Tha's more movement than I've had foh months.'
I knew what she was trying to say, but it was too much of a significant event for me to just pretend it wasn't happening.
'And if you try to force it, you'll chase it away. Just do what you were doing before, and I'll do what I was doing before, and we'll see. You can't rush it, you'll make it worse.'
I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, nodded, and bent down to Lau's breasts again, but all I could feel, all I could think about was Lau's hands on me, cupping my balls, stroking my dick, as the sensation dribbled away. She took her hand away after a while, gently pushed me away from her chest, and kissed me, tenderly.
'I've got to get ready for work. Sorry flower.'
'S'okay. S'all gone now anyway.'
'Seriously, Matt, if it comes back it will be a bit at a time, not all at once. Be patient.'
I nodded, disappointed; I really wasn't very good at being sensible and patient, and although I knew she was right, everything she said was right, I just wanted it all back, right now, none of this farting around with a bit here and a bit there. I wanted a great big hard-on so I could … well, Lau had better watch out once I had a great big hard-on, that's all I was saying. Lau turned the water off, and I pulled her to me for a hug.
'I love seeing yuh naked. Yuhr fucking awesome.'
'So are you. Nice, very nice, bum. Turn round a minute.'
He turned round, and I leaned down and kissed each bum cheek. I was getting to be very very fond of his bum, with it's two perfect round buttocks which were just the right size for grabbing as I pulled him towards me.
I was getting that she liked my arse, and it was flattering, me being a skinny git who didn't really have much at all in the way of muscular attributes. I turned round, and Lau leaned down and kissed each bum cheek. I loved that she always seemed to do exactly what she wanted to with me, and it was often something that took me by surprise.
'Lau, yuhr a bih wanton ahrnt yuh?'
'Just a little something for me to take to work with me.'
She wrapped herself in a towel and wound another one round her head, and I started to dry myself too.
I'd been thinking about some of the things Lau had said, in the time we'd been apart yesterday. I knew she couldn't be my personal nurse, and I was getting that I maybe needed some proper answers to some of the questions I'd asked her. Beth would have been astounded at my next question; it was something she'd been trying to get me to do for months. But Beth wasn't The One, so she'd missed a trick. I tried to make it sound casual, and not like I was breaking the habit of a lifetime.
'Soh, if I was goin tuh, say, call some kind of service fuh some hehp, or some such shih, wha would I duh?'
If Lau realised how much of a break from tradition this was for me, she didn't show it.
I tried not to show my delight and relief; Matt would benefit so much from some input from the team I worked for.
'Have you still got the card I gave you last week at the church hall?'
To be honest, I couldn't remember her giving me a card, but if she had, it would still be in my trousers from Wednesday. Oh bollocks, laundry.
'Er … think I migh have washed ih.'
'OK, well in case you did I'll write the number down before I go. You need to call and – hm, you'll have to give your name. It might be best if you ask for Anna. If Rachel answers, she might not be very nice. She should be professional, but there's not always any telling with her. So ask for Anna – I'll write that down too – and tell her you want to refer yourself, she'll take details and there you'll be, fully signed up for the city's finest MS service.'
'Yuhr sure I cahnt have yuh?'
She'd been pretty clear, but there seemed no harm in double checking, just in case there had been some major change in the rules she'd neglected to inform me about.
'Yeah, I'm sure. I'm not going to be able to talk to them about you at all, even if they want to use my sex expertise.'
'Shih, Lau, ih's all a bit of a minefield, ihnt ih. Anyway, haven't definitely decided tuh call, ih's jus in case.'
No, I didn't want to pin myself down to definitely calling, because there would be all sorts of questions if I didn't, so best to just make it like I might do, I might not, depends.
I kissed him on the cheek – the one on his face this time – and left him to dry himself in the bathroom, as I went in search of a plug for my hairdryer.
While I was drying my hair and dressing for work, I thought about what might actually happen if Matt called the service. It would cause a fair amount of comment, and although I would try to stay out of it as much as possible, all the conjecture and questions would be uncomfortable.
Then I remembered with a start and a groan that I'd forgotten to call Patrick as I'd planned to, to tell him what had gone on with Rachel on Friday. I picked my phone up from the bedside table and put it in my bag. I'd have to call from my car; it would be too awkward to have that conversation about Matt in Matt's home.
I wrapped a towel round my waist and wandered in to watch her. I was still watching when she'd finished drying her hair.
'Yuhr fucking gorgeous, Ih'm lovin yuh in yuhr uniform. Reminds meh of the first time I saw yuh.'
'The first time you saw me, I was giving a very useful talk on sex, which you apparently enjoyed very much, and shouldn't have been noticing my uniform.'
'Ha ha. I only came to talk tuh yuh because I fancied yuh. Hardly listened tuh a word of yuhr talk, too busy watching yuhr tits jiggling in yuhr tunic.'
This was mostly true. I hadn't really been concentrating on the content of Lau's talk, more on the content of the woman giving the talk. Call me shallow, you won't be the first.
'They were not jiggling.'
'They bluhdy were. Every time yuh pressed yuhr button tuh change the slide, jiggle jiggle. Drove meh wild. An all the other blokes there, I 'spect.'
'Really. Well I'll have to remember to wear more supportive underwear next time then. Can I grab some toast?'
'Yeh, course.'
Then I remembered my manners.
'Duh yuh wan meh tuh make scrambled eggs? Or bacon?'
'No, you go back to bed, it's early for you. I'll bring you something in – cup of tea?'
'Hey, I geh breakfast in bed. Life of Riley. Thanks, Lau.'
Oh this was so cool. I hadn't had breakfast made for me since – oh, yesterday, when Dec made me a cup of tea and some toast, but it wasn't quite the same, especially as it had gone cold by the time I woke up. I lay down on the duvet, and just closed my eyes while I listened to Lau rummaging in my cupboards, clinking spoons against mugs and humming to herself. It felt so homely, so natural. I shut my eyes for a minute …
When I got back to the bedroom, Matt was asleep on his side, on top of the duvet. I folded the rest of the duvet over the top of him, kissed him gently on the cheek, left the tea and toast on the bedside table and ate mine in the living room before quickly scribbling the MS service number and Anna's name on a piece of paper, then quietly leaving, pulling the door gently shut behind me.
In my car, I got my phone out and pressed Patrick's name. He might already be at work, could be on his way, or may not have left yet. I should have called him before now, to avoid him being confronted with a situation when he arrived.
'Hello Laura. Everything alright?'
'Hi Patrick. Er, not sure. I meant to call you over the weekend, but things were a bit hectic. I'm not sure if Rachel's called you …'
'No. Is Rachel alright?'
'Well, do you remember in supervision I was talking about a hypothetical situation?'
Patrick sounded concerned, and was probably wondering what I was about to tell him.
'Well, the hypothetical person I was asking about is actually real, I know, big surprise. He's someone Rachel knows from the past who upset her quite badly, and she found out on Friday that I've been seeing him, and I think, well I won't really know until I get in this morning, but I don't think she's speaking to me. It's upset things, she'll want people to take sides, it will make things awkward for us all. I'm sorry. I just wanted you to know.'
I heard Patrick take a deep breath.
'OK, Laura, well, it does sound a bit complicated. You girls have had your fallings out before though, haven't you, you always seem to work it out.'
'Yeah, but this feels a bit more serious. And, just to make things more complicated, Matt might be going to call the service to register with us. Obviously I can't be his named worker, and Rachel wouldn't be the ideal candidate, so that's going to be tricky too.'
'Hmm. Alright. Well, thanks for letting me know, Laura. I'm just about to set off for the office. I think we need to have a talk when I get in, just so we can be clear about the rules, the law and the guidelines, so we all know where we stand.'
'Thanks Patrick. Sorry.'
'OK, Laura, see you in a little while.'
We disconnected and I started the car.
Pulling up in the car park outside the office, I saw Kate, Anna and Patrick were already in, but Rachel's car wasn't there yet. A bit relieved, I walked up to the door and into the office. Kate and Anna looked up, Anna smiling, Kate raising her eyebrows.
'Hello Lau. Thanks for the on-call on Saturday. Lifesaver.'
'No problem. How did the dinner with the girlfriend go?'
'Oh, I was just telling Kate, she's a lovely girl, but took a bit of getting used to. Piercings, tattoos, pink and green hair, a bit intimidating, but we ended up talking about knitting, of all things.'
'Good weekend, Lau?'
'Yes thanks.'
I tried to leave it at that, but Kate was having none of it.
'What, no gory details? You haven't had gory details to spill for ages, out with it.'
'I think maybe this isn't the time or place.'
'Rach isn't coming in today, if that's what you're worried about.'
I actually felt my shoulders lift as if a weight had been taken off them.
'Oh really?'
'No, she's called in sick. Well it is a kind of sick I suppose.'
'Did you talk to her much over the weekend?'
'Yeah, a fair bit. Went through the whole range of mad as hell, sad as hell, resigned as hell, then back to mad, she's just in a bit of a state. I think she's possibly coming round to the idea, but couldn't face it this morning. I'll go and see her after work. A few glasses of wine might help.'
'I'm sorry, Kate, you've been landed with her. Is there anything I can do?'
'Apart from dumping Matt Scott back in the bloody swamp he emerged from? No, Lau. I think your reduced contact policy is the best one really, let her cool off.'
'Do you think she will cool off?'
'Who knows, it's Rach, she's never been predictable. Does Matt even remember her? Have you even talked about her?'
'We've talked about her, I don't think he remembers her.'
'Nice. You're sure he's the one for you, Lau?'
'Yes. He's changed.'
'Yeah, he bloody well has. He's got MS now. Bloody tosser.'
'Steady on, Kate, you're talking about Lau's boyfriend.'
'It's OK, Anna. Kate's entitled to her opinion.'
So much for not getting embroiled, I'd been here three minutes, and I was already in the middle of an uncomfortable conversation, and Rachel wasn't even here.
'Is Patrick in his office?'
'Yes, he was here before us.'
'I'll take him a cup of tea. Anyone else want one?'
I wasted a bit of time fiddling with the kettle and teabags, and then couldn't put it off any longer. I picked up Patrick's mug and tapped on his door.
'Come in – oh hello Laura. Is that for me? Thank you. Have a seat.'
I sat down, holding my own mug with both hands, nervously tapping my thumb on the handle.
'I'm sorry Patrick. It's already causing difficulties.'
'Alright, Laura, I think we need to establish a few things, before we get into what's causing difficulties. Firstly, this man – what's his name? I can't keep referring to him as 'this man'.'
'Oh – oh!'
I saw light dawn on Patrick's face, as he realised exactly who we were talking about. He didn't get that involved in our gossip sessions, but had been around long enough that he had been unable to escape a few Rachellings in his time.
'Ah, I'm beginning to see things a bit more clearly. Alright, it doesn't really change things that much though. When you first met Matt, you knew he had MS, but he wasn't officially registered with the service, and wasn't seeing any of you – I mean therapeutically.'
He gestured out towards the office, encompassing me, Kate, Anna and Rachel.
'Well, I guess so. I've known who he was for ages, seen him around, but I'd never spoken to him before last Wednesday, and I didn't know he had MS until then either, and no, he's not registered with us or seeing any of us professionally yet, although he may call to refer himself. We talked about it this morning.'
'So you haven't begun a relationship with someone you knew was a patient. So, officially, according to law, you haven't done anything wrong. It's almost the same as if you were in a relationship with someone who subsequently developed MS. There's only the one service in the city, he doesn't have any choice if he wants help, so all we need to do is make sure that we give him, should he require it, as professional a service as we would give anyone else. You can't be his named worker, and it sounds like Rachel wouldn't be a good idea either, so Anna or Kate will have to fight for the honours. You can't be involved in any clinical meetings or discussions about him, or look at his notes, or talk to him as a member of the service. Obviously any conversations you have with him in your private time are your own, but they can't be official advice.'
'I understand that. I've told him all that.'
'Good. It sounds like you've got a good understanding of it. The other side of it, the possible upset that it may have caused between you and Rachel, will just have to be resolved between you and Rachel, as if it was any other person without MS who you were in dispute about. I hope it doesn't affect the smooth running of the service, I expect you both to be mature and professional enough to sort out your differences. If anything else crops up, we'll just have to deal with it at the time.'
'Thanks, Patrick.'
I was incredibly grateful. I hadn't given it much time or thought over the weekend, but had been worrying all the way over in the car about the implications for me and my job. I hoped that things now might be a bit smoother, if I kept a low profile and kept out of Rachel's way.
The rest of the morning was filled with visits and preparations for a support group meeting in the afternoon, and Matt wasn't mentioned again.
… and then Lau was naked, running towards me across a field, and I was just staring at her, and my eyes felt like they could swallow her whole, and the next thing I knew, I was waking up, Lau had gone, and my breakfast was cold next to me. I looked at my watch; it was nearly ten o'clock.
I resisted the urge to turn over and go back to sleep; I was sleeping my life away at the moment, and I needed to take control of it. Thinking that made me think of what I needed to do to take that control, who I might need to talk to, and I remembered Lau saying she was going to write down a number for me. I picked up the cold tea and toast and took it into the kitchen while looking to see if she'd left me a note. There it was, on the table:
Hey Beach Boy
Here is a number you might find useful – 555222. If you decide to call, ask for Anna Lovell.
Thanks for dinner last night and the shower this morning. You are multi-talented, and I'm hoping to find more skills to explore in the days to come.
Holding your hand until I see you later. I'll come by after work, hope that's OK.
See you soon
Lau xx
I read and re-read it, smiling to myself about being multi-talented. I hadn't even felt singly-talented for a long time, and it was a boost to my confidence.
I still hadn't decided about phoning the bastard MS service, and to postpone making a decision, I did some online shopping. I never went to the supermarket, even when I wasn't a fucking cripple, and once my energy and mobility deserted me, I realised what a sensible lifestyle choice that was. I could sit in front of my computer, at my leisure, drinking a cup of coffee, adding things as they occurred to me, not getting side-tracked by lots of shit I didn't need, not getting irritated by the length of the queues or other people's screaming kids, not being frustrated by the absence of the one thing I really wanted to get, not getting half way home and remembering three more things I'd meant to put on the list. The only down side I could think of was sometimes having 'out of stock' items replaced, but the way I saw it, that just gave an added frisson of the unexpected to the whole procedure, Russian roulette with yogurt, so to speak. I didn't know why everyone didn't do it, especially as someone else lugged the whole lot of it up two flights of stairs for me. I even got a delivery slot for that afternoon, which meant I would have fully stocked cupboards for the rest of the week.
I took my time selecting my shopping and getting myself together. Beth texted while I was using my laptop; she texted every morning, give or take, and following Lau's advice I'd been answering her instead of ignoring her. Her texts had become less insistent and more chatty, and much as I hated to admit it, it seemed there was an element of concern and worry behind it, rather than a need to boss people about. Or rather than solely a need to boss people about.
'Hi Matty. Hope yr having a gd morning. We had flood in utility room waiting 4 plumber. Massive clean up going on and no water for tea :('
'Oh no. Can I help?'
'No thx, sweetheart. All under control. J was mopping b4 work tho ha ha.'
'If u need cuppa tho, Avondale awaits.'
'Ooh, actually, thx. Choc milk 4 Iz?'
'Always got choc milk 4 blondie.'
'Be there once plumber arrives :)'
I rarely invited Beth over, although she invited herself on many occasions and for many reasons. I was feeling benevolent, but realised I was going to have to stop grinning from ear to ear and be at least a bit grumpy, or she would guess something was up and I would get no peace. At least Iz would be a buffer, and the fact they were invited should stave off most of the nosy questions.
Beth arrived about twelve, and I provided lunch as well as tea. While we ate our sandwiches, the shopping arrived, and Beth couldn't resist commenting.
'That's a lot of groceries, Matty.'
Shit, I'd forgotten that I'd ordered tons as I'd planned on cooking lots of fancy meals for Lau.
'Yeh, I wahs ruhning low on ehverything. Fahncied sohm dihferent stuff too.'
Oh bloody hell, she was even having a rummage in the bags.
'Heh, kehp yuhr nose ouh.'
'Why do you need three different sorts of oil? Gosh, isn't this truffle oil really expensive?'
'Wehl, dihferent dishes nehd dihferent flavohrs, buh mihnd yuhr own. Yuh'll fihnd the condohms if yuh dig any dehper.'
That stopped her. It was probably the thought of Iz asking 'what's comdoms Mummy' rather than actually coming across any, but it was an effective deterrent, and I moved the bags into the kitchen for later disembowelling and redistribution. I'd inadvertently moved the subject onto somewhere else I didn't really want to go, though.
Beth was looking at me with sympathy. Bugger, what had I said now?
'You didn't really buy condoms, did you Matty?'
Oh shit no. It was like talking about sex with your sister.
'Noh, Beth, I wahs tryin tuh stop yuh prihcing up ahl my shopping.'
I gave her my best 'back off or you'll regret it' stare, but she was unstoppable.
'Has anything … come back … down there?'
She kept her eyes fixed on my face, but her meaning encompassed anything from the waist down. She only knew about my lack of action because it had happened last time, and because I was in the same house, and Jay had to wash me for a while, and, well, I suppose you can't stop a man telling his wife shit.
When the fucking bastard returned this time, Beth had asked about it, as if it was an acceptable topic of conversation, and I had told her in no uncertain terms that I wasn't going to discuss it with her, but she kept on and I ended up getting emotional and yelling, 'Fuh fuck's sahk, no, my dick migh as wehl hahv fucking wehl drohped off fuh all I can tehl ih's thehr. Satisfihd? I nehver wan tuh tahk abouh this again.' and with Iz and Cal in the next room, I guess she must have been satisfied, because she hadn't asked after that. Until now. I wondered if she even remembered me yelling before, because I was getting near the point when I was going to be yelling again, Iz in close proximity or not, if she didn't back off.
However, we were saved by the bell. Beth's phone rang, it was the plumber needing a decision that required Beth's immediate physical presence, and she beat a hasty retreat, promising, or was it threatening, to call me tomorrow.
I sank down on the sofa and considered why Beth pushed so many of my buttons. Maybe I should have been grateful that she was prepared to talk to me about things no one else would. It's not like the world is full of places you can go for advice about sexual dysfunction because of a fucking bastard disease – your mates down the pub would look embarrassed and change the subject to the footy; your work colleagues would look at you like you'd grown two heads and you'd be reported for sexual harassment; your brother – well, your brother didn't do deep and meaningfuls, left that to his interfering wife, and your kind of brother or mate or whatever, well he would have had a go, but was currently in the midst of fathering a brood of mini-mes, and would have been clueless. So if I'd wanted to talk to anyone, Beth would have been my best bet.
Maybe it was because she never gave up, maybe I felt it was like a competition – the more she pushed, the more I dug my heels in, and so when I finally told her something, it felt like I'd lost and she'd won, rather than just a sharing of information, or communication between two family members. So maybe it was more to do with me than with her; she certainly didn't do it out of anything other than concern and caring, and no one else seemed to have the same issues with her that I did.
Does this sound like I'm beginning to cut her some slack, understand her, be more sharing? Ha, fuck off. No way. But thinking about it did make me realise that I needed to talk to someone. Lau wouldn't do it, not in a detached nursey way, and I wondered if that was what I needed; someone who understood, but wasn't emotionally involved. If only there was some kind of, oh I don't know, specialist service for people with fucking bastard diseases, where you could go for a chat with someone who knew their shit – oh, hang on, what's this note in Lau's handwriting, with a number and a name …
Before I could talk myself out of it, I had dialled the number.
Close to lunchtime the phone rang. Kate was nearest to the phone, so she picked it up.
'MS Service, Kate Fuller'
I nearly bottled it, nearly hung up, but I took a deep breath and ploughed on regardless.
'Cahn I spehk tuh, er, Anna Lovell, plehs?'
My heart was pounding. I wondered if Lau was anywhere nearby.
'Er …'
Kate shot a quick look at Anna.
'… can I say who's calling?'
'Maht Scoht.'
She sounded surprised. Well, I guess they all knew about me, though I wasn't sure how many people worked with Lau, or who exactly she had told.
'Can I say what it's about?'
'Wan tuh refehr mysehf.'
Is that what you did? Referred yourself? No idea.
'Well I can do that.'
Oh, no, Lau said this Anna woman.
'Er, behn told tuh ask fuh Anna.'
The voice on the other end sounded a bit pissed off.
'OK, fine, I'll see if she's free.'
The phone went to 'on hold' bleeps for a short time, and I nearly bottled it again, but now they knew who I was, and hanging up would be embarrassing, especially for Lau.
Kate put the phone on hold.
'An, some wanker called Matt Scott wants to refer himself. Apparently I'm not good enough and only you will do.'
I kept my eyes glued to my computer screen, trying not to listen, but it was impossible not to.
'Alright, Kate, I'll take it. Is there a referral form there?'
Anna passed by my chair on the way to the phone and rested her hand briefly on my shoulder.
Just as I had convinced myself that a few moments of embarrassment for Lau would be better than torturing myself by going through my life history with a stranger, another voice came on the line.
'This is Anna, I understand you want to refer yourself.'
And we were off. I had to give details, but not as many as I was fearing, just basics like date of birth, GP, full name. We agreed an appointment, she would come here to meet me, we didn't mention Lau, and it was all over, I was officially a fucking cripple with my name on a computer and everything. It might make it worthwhile if there was a badge and a certificate too.
Neither Kate nor I did any work while Anna was talking to Matt, but neither did we look at each other. She asked all the questions we always asked, but was giving no clue about the replies she was getting, being as non-committal and professional as any of us would have been with anyone else. I was dying to know what he was saying, but I wouldn't ever know unless he told me. When Anna had finished, and made an appointment to see him, Kate immediately jumped in.
'So? What did he say?'
Anna looked at me, aware of what she may or may not be allowed to reveal.
'An can't discuss Matt with me in the room.'
'What? But you must know it all already, Lau. That's bloody ridiculous.'
'Kate, Lau can't be party to any professional discussions about Matt without his express permission.'
'I wasn't asking for a professional discussion, just a bloody good gossip.'
'It's alright, I'll go and get the sandwiches. Talk all you want while I'm gone.'
I was relieved to be away from the office. It would hopefully get better as we all got used to it, but I could see me doing the sandwich run regularly for the foreseeable future, and volunteering for lots of visits and other tasks that would take me out and about. My phone pinged as I was getting into the car.
We disconnected, and I felt both elated and terrified. Lau would be pleased, I was sure. Beth would be ecstatic, but I wasn't necessarily going to tell her, maybe just slip it in the conversation sometime – 'oh yeah, my MS nurse said …', maybe with a few more fuckings and bastards, and see how she reacted.
I texted Lau, to see if she had been there, and to see if the news had flown around the office. OK, maybe I was enjoying a tiny bit of celebrity status.
'I did it. Were you there? Am I causing a stir?'
'Yes I was there. Yes u r centre of attention. Good sleep?'
'Awesome. Dreamed of u naked. Yum ;)'
'What u up 2 2day?'
'Online shopping, then wait 4 delivery, I lead an exciting life.'
'Can I come over after work?'
'Do u need 2 ask? Fuck yeah!'
'Gr8. Just off to get sarnies. Talk l8r. Lau xx'
'Check yr bag. Put sarnies in 4 u.'
'Made them last night, put in this morning.'
'Oh u! Got to get everyone else's tho. Or did u make them for us all? =)'
'Oh bollox. No, just u. Hope u like it anyway.'
'Thanks my beach boy xx'
I got out of the car and checked the bag in the boot. I found an oblong parcel, wrapped in tin foil, with an ice pack attached to it with an elastic band, tucked at the bottom below yesterday's clothes. There was a note tucked under the elastic band:
Hey Lau, hope you like chicken salad. Happy munching. M x
I smiled fondly to myself, reading the note several times, liking Matt's curly writing, then got back in the driver's seat and went to the supermarket.
So now I'd done it, I was on a roll. I phoned my GP and made an appointment to see her later in the week, and while I was at it, I called Adam. I know, right?
'Adam Palmer.'
'Heh. I dohnt knoh if yuh remehmber meh, buh –'
'Hi Matt, yes of course.'
Was he bloody psychic or something?
'Sorry, your name came up on caller ID.'
Oh. Dur, Matt.
'What can I do for you?'
'Cahn I mahk an appoihtmeht tuh see yuh?'
I wasn't going to go into details, but he'd be able to hear from my unintelligible bollocks that I wasn't the same as I'd been last time I'd seen him.
'Of course. When were you thinking?'
He didn't mention it, though, just gave me a list of dates, as if people he'd had one session with months ago rang him up all the time, speaking like they'd been on the Jägerbombs, and asking to see him again. Maybe they did, for all I know, but it helped me to not feel conspicuously mad.
So that was three things I'd done today that I felt self-righteous about, and I thought I deserved a beer. I didn't usually drink in the middle of the day, in fact I didn't drink much alcohol at all at that time, because it just increased my fatigue, and I was already sleeping more than I'd ever slept before, but a beer, cold and hoppy, sliding down my throat, after all that talking to people on the phone had made me hoarse – aah, that hit the spot.
Returning with sandwiches for Anna, Kate and Patrick, it seemed a change was in the air. Kate appeared less confrontational, and although we didn't specifically mention Matt or Rachel or any of the issues that had got between us in the morning, she didn't jump on every opportunity to have a go at me. She went out for a breath of fresh air after eating her sandwich, and Anna turned to me.
'How're you doing, Lau? All this must be a bit hard for you, love.'
'I suppose it is, kind of, but I have to say, An, I'm having such a great time with Matt, it seems worth it.'
'Well that's great. Has he really changed? I've heard some wild things about him.'
'I think he has. I don't think it's just the MS calming him down, he seems really – what's the word – repentant about some of the things he's done, not that they were really, like, evil or anything, but I guess he has been pretty inconsiderate and thoughtless. I think he was trying to change, even before he had his relapse, from what he says. Oh An, I really care about him, it's happened so fast.'
'I can see that, love. There's no point telling you to be careful, you're way beyond that, you're as bad as Harry with Poppy, he's smitten too.'
'Poppy? Oh, the girlfriend. Knitting, eh?'
'Yes, she apparently does bombs or something.'
'Oh I can't remember what it's called, where people cover things with wool and knitted things overnight – buses and lamp posts and things.'
'Oh, yarn-bombing. They had some in the city centre the other week – I wonder if that was her?'
'Well, it seems a bit daft, but more harmless than some of the things she could get up to I suppose. She does flash mobs as well.'
'Ooh get you, An, with your 'down wiv der kids' lingo and knowing about yarn-bombing and flash mobs and stuff.'
'Well, it's kids keep you young, I suppose.'
'Yeah. She didn't persuade you to get a tattoo or a piercing, though?'
'Ha ha, no, but I think I might have talked her into knitting Harry a jumper for Christmas. Yarn bomb him, rather than a tree, seems more useful.'
My phone pinged with a text. I glanced at the phone, which was lying face up on the desk next to me.
'Just made appt w my GP. How many brownie pts do I get?'
I smiled to myself. I suspected Matt didn't usually respond well to being advised what to do, and was feeling a bit self-satisfied with his fairly quick response to my prodding. Anna noticed my smile.
I nodded. 'He made me a sandwich and put it in my bag, with an ice pack attached to it and a note.'
'Oh that's sweet.'
'I know. I would never have thought Matt Scott would be sweet. It's almost like he's a different person to the git I used to get annoyed with at parties and in clubs. He's a good, no, a great cook, he's tidier than me, he's thoughtful, sensitive and kind of vulnerable. He's just so different than I thought he was.'
'You haven't known him long, though, have you. And he's ill at the moment. OK, mum moment, I can't help myself. You will be careful, won't you.'
I nodded, but it didn't mean anything. I was so far beyond careful, my heart was so fully given to Matt, if he chose to, he could stop my pulse. Anna rolled her eyes at me and shook her head.
'OK, back to work. Do you want to share a lift to the support group? I think Gloria's making her fruit cake.'
'No, I'll take my car, I'm going straight off afterwards.'
'Matt-ward bound?'
I shrugged and smiled.
My phone pinged on the way to the support group, and when I arrived I checked the screen.
'So none? 549?'
'Brownie points. U didn't reply.'
'I was busy. Can't always reply straight away. Be patient! 2. Minus 1 for impatience :)'
'Soz, didn't think. Thinking like a foul mouthed layabout not a Baptist working girl xx'
':) Going 2b busy, phone on silent. Don't expect replies. Cu l8r. Lau xx'
I had got complacent about being off work, and used to having people I could reach for chat and contact when I wanted it. None of my family had what you would call conventional jobs – Beth: Housewife and mother. Full time and more, but always available on the end of the phone. Jay: Rugby coach. Full time, lots of weird hours, but often lazing around at home in the afternoons. Mum: Retired. Nothing better to do than make cakes and drink tea, obvs. Dec: Rugby player. Lots of running around and early morning training sessions, but, like Jay, a lot of lazing around at home in the afternoons. It was called 'recovery' or some such shit. Amy: Housewife and mother. Charlie was more than a full-time job, and she had another one on the way, but again, always there for tea and gossip if necessary. Nico and Lis: Always there for a square meal, a laugh, a chat. My work colleagues, who I wasn't in touch with as much as I used to be, were always texting, tweeting, Instagramming, Facebooking, Snapchatting, WhatsApping; we worked in IT, it would have been a disciplinary offence not to.
So it was weird to know someone who couldn't do that, whose job involved doing things where the phone had to be turned off. I mean, yeah, at the start Jules had been all 'I don't do texting', but I soon won her over, and although she never texted from work, we were pretty much in contact the whole time whenever we were apart. I wanted that with Lau, I missed her, but was going to have to get used to the fact that she did a grown up job where ringtones and text pings weren't acceptable. I was even more reliant on our 'holding hands' pact.
When Lau came home (I was already thinking of my home as her home, and I was constantly reminding myself that we'd been together less than a week) that evening, I greeted her as if I hadn't seen her for months. It nearly felt like it.
'Ooh, hello, miss me did you?' she managed between breathtaking kisses.
'Yuh hahv noh idea.'
'I think you might have just given me one. How tired are you?'
I liked her thinking.
'Not tihred at ahl. Wana wear meh ouh?'
'Maybe. What's for tea?'
'Sohted. Cohtage pie in the ohven.'
I was nothing if not a forward planner when it came to getting Lau into bed, or whatever venue she chose for the execution of her idea.
'Oh I like that. So we could, potentially, do a lot more of, say, this –'
She reached behind me and pulled me to her using my arse as leverage, and gave me a cheeky kiss, licking my nose on the way out.
'– maybe somewhere more comfortable …'
'Wha, lihk the behdrohm?'
'Genius! How long till dinner?'
'Ih'll turn ih down a bih, kehp ih warm, couhd beh hours.'
And so a delicious time was had, discovering more about each other, how we kissed, how we touched, what made her sigh, what blew my mind. In-between, we were talking, getting to know each other. It was weird that it wasn't weird, being so close physically to someone you hardly knew. It was just as if I'd always known her, and the things I found out about her didn't feel new, just kind of confirmation of how it had always been.
If you'd asked me six months ago what I thought about the idea of soulmates, I'd have spouted off some condescending shit about how there isn't some kind of grand plan for the universe, that destiny and fate are just bullshit, but now, with Lau, I couldn't deny that I felt that we were designed for each other, that we fitted, that we were 'meant to be'. Even though she really liked Boyzone.
'Seriohsly, Lau? Ronan Kehting?'
'He is a genius, writing songs for those other boys to sing, all those harmonies, don't you think?'
'Noh. Gihv meh a prohper songwriter, who writes prohper muhsic and cahn play an instruhment.'
'Anyohn who ihnt five prehty boys sat on stools. Muse. Sparklehorse. Bears Den.'
'You're a music snob. Oh, just like you're a food snob.'
'Wha? I am not.'
'Yep, you are. You look down on boy bands because they're popular, not because they don't write their own stuff, because some of them do. And Ronan Keating plays the piano, I'll have you know. And you look down on fast food, like burgers and pizza, because lots of people like them, not because it's not tasty.'
'Oh Lau, Lau, Lau. Places lihk Pizza Plahce serve shih tuh the mahses. Ih's tohtal crap, I haht ih cos ih's evil, not cos ih's popular.'
'Hm. Well, alright, then, maybe fast food and music not the same, but you are still a snob.'
'Not abouh everything.'
'Lihk my girhls in unifohm.'
'True. You are a bit of a chav in that respect. Hey, Matt Scott the chav, who'd have thought?'
And so it went on, between kisses and touches, the teasing, the exploring, the getting-to-know-youing. We had time for dinner, even though the cottage pie had dried out a little by the time we got to it, and we cleared up together afterwards as if we'd always done that, loading the dishwasher, wiping the table, as if we were dancing it.
Ha ha, that just shows how soppy I was feeling, that clearing away the dinner things felt like a dance, and a sexy one at that. But soon after, it was back to bed, for more getting-to-know-youing, where I found out that Lau had always lived here, in this city, had done her nurse training here, had learned to drive here, had hardly ever left the county, let alone the country, and had only been abroad on holiday a handful of times, and that was counting a couple of hen weekends in Marbella and Ibiza that she couldn't really remember.
Most of what we talked about that night was the little things – the bands, the films, the TV, the books, the minutiae. There was bigger shit to get off our chests; I'd told her about Jules and Carrie, briefly, but they were large contributors to what made me tick, and I wanted her to know about them, even felt like I could tell her about Carrie, all about her, like I'd never told anyone.
And I knew nothing about Lau's past. I wanted to know about her men, to see how I measured up – oh, of course, it terrified me. Comparing myself to Martin had been a constant thing when I was with Carrie, and Jules had had a whole string of posh rich blokes who had wanted to marry her, and who were still her friends, and now I was a fucking cripple, so I wasn't sure I was going to come out with that many man points in any battle of the exes, but in the same way that Jules and Carrie were a big part of who I was, so I wanted to know Lau's defining moments, who had loved her and who had hurt her. Hopefully I wouldn't be familiar with any of them, so I wouldn't be tempted to go and beat the shit out of them for a) touching her and b) being stupid enough to let her go.
But exes and all that bollocks felt like it was for another day, and tonight was for more touching, more kissing, more holding. I had to check with her that it was OK; I was having the time of my life, malfunctioning man-parts notwithstanding, and I still couldn't quite believe that she felt the same for me as I did for her.
'Lau, ahr yuh suhr?'
'Sure about what?'
'Abouh this. I'm soh intuh yuh, jus cahnt quite beliehv ih's truh.'
'Do you think I just randomly go to bed with men I'm not completely and utterly into?'
Well, I suppose she had a point, maybe it was a bit like calling her a floozy.
'Noh, buh –'
'No. Exactly. I don't understand it either, but yeah, I'm totally into you.'
'Soh Ih'm not sohm random mahn?'
'You're so far from random. You feel very … specific. Is that the opposite of random?'
'Yeh, spohs soh. Yuh dohnt jus fehl sohry fuh meh then?'
She tutted and rolled her eyes. I knew how needy I was being, but couldn't help it.
'Do you think I just randomly go to bed with men I feel sorry for then?'
'Spohs not.'
'Give me some credit, Matt. OK, maybe someone's needing an ego boost. Here's what I'm thinking, just so you're sure, just so you know, and you can ask as many times as you like, the answer will be the same. You know, I feel like you've changed my life. You are so, so gorgeous, I've never known eyes like yours, you're funny, gentle, kind, and have the cutest bum I've ever seen. Maybe your taste in music needs some work, but otherwise, ten out of ten, big tick, see me after class for some extra homework.'
I laughed at the last bit, feeling a bit guilty that I'd needed to hear her say what preceded it.
'Wha kind of hohmwork? Science? I lihk science.'
'I suppose you could consider it science. Biology, definitely. Biology's a bit of a specialism of mine.'
'Yuhr a nuhrse.'
'Yeah, but not that kind of biology. More like … certain areas of anatomy, for example. Physiological reactions, maybe. Here, let me demonstrate.'
And with that, she dived into my boxers and, with a flourish, produced another hefty tingle.
'Whoa, Lau! Holy fuck, if yuh kehp doin tha, Ih'll beh back tuh nohmal in noh tihm.'
I followed her hands with mine, trying to coax the tingle into something more, but it remained elusive.
We carried on chasing tingles, mine and hers, for some time. I had a few more, and I know Lau had several too. Ultimately, though, sleep claimed me, and Lau got another early night. Or did to my knowledge. For all I know, she got up again as soon as I hit the black, and belly danced around the living room until midnight. Although I hope she would have woken me up to see that.


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Apartments North San Antonio For Families
North San Antonio is affordable and there are plenty of things to do there. It is a great place to move with a family as the cost of living is reasonable and there are plenty of good schools to send your kids to. There are lots of affordable activities to enjoy with your kids as well. When you are looking for apartments north San Antonio to move to with kids, you have to think about how the area is going to work for your kids first.
Your kids are going to need a school to attend and they are also going to need parks and playgrounds that are not too far from the house. If you can walk the kids to school, you will save time and give your kids the opportunity to exercise. Exercise is something that most kids don't get enough of, so if you have the opportunity to get your kids to walk to school, you should take it.
The apartment that you choose should also be near shops and other amenities so you don't have to drive too far to the store. It seems like you always have to go to the store more when you have kids. You definitely have to be near the store if you have kids. Your yard is going to be important if you have kids as well. You want to make sure that the yard is going to be big enough for the kids to play, but you also want it to be safe.
Be on the lookout for apartments that are on busy streets, especially if you have very young kids. Inside the apartment, you are going to want to be on the lookout for steep or dangerous stairs that the kids could accidentally fall off when they are young.
Some apartment complexes have playgrounds that are on the grounds and these can be good options for your kids. A safe apartment is going to be very important because you don't want to put your kids in any danger. When you are looking for apartments north San Antonio make sure that the apartment is affordable. You don't want to spend too much of your income on the apartment because the cost of the apartment could eat into your income and make it difficult to provide for the other things that your family is going to need.


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Ebola stricken Cuban doctor to be treated in Europe
- Written by Sergio Paneque
- Published in Cuba
- 0 comments
Felix Baez Sarria first presented symptoms of infection on November 16, and tested positive for the virus one day later. The Cuban Health Ministry said he was in stable condition.
Baez is being treated by British doctors until he is transported to a treatment clinic in Geneva, Switzerland, on the recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO).
He was a member of a 165-person medical team sent to Sierra Leone from Cuba in October. Cuba has 256 medical personnel in the three countries most affected by Ebola.
Cuban authorities, as well as WHO officials in Havana, have said that if a member of the medical team were to be infected they would not be treated on the Caribbean island.
According to WHO data, the outbreak has killed 5,177 people. There are at least 14,413 confirmed or suspected cases.


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Flights from Flabob to Auburn Municipal
Direct flights from Flabob Airport (RIR) in Riverside/Rubidoux, CA to Auburn Municipal Airport (AUN) in Auburn, CA via air taxi
Total airfare between Flabob Airport and Auburn Municipal Airport ranges from $4462 to $10129 for the specified travel dates. The total fare is the price for the entire plane (price per person is based on the number of passengers entered above). Flight duration ranges from 1 hour 44 minutes to 2 hours 48 minutes, depending on the aircraft.
Cessna T182T Skylane or similar
Cessna 310 or similar
Cirrus SR-22 or similar
Cessna 421 or similar
Beechcraft King Air B200 or similar
Call 877-2-LINEAR for assistance
Call 877-2-LINEAR for assistance
Popular Direct Flights from Flabob
- Flabob (RIR) to Napa, CA (APC)
- Flabob (RIR) to Apple Valley, CA (APV)
- Flabob (RIR) to Austin, NV (ASQ)
- Flabob (RIR) to Auburn, CA (AUN)
- Flabob (RIR) to Tucson, AZ (AVW)
Popular Direct Flights to Auburn Municipal
- Arcata, CA (ACV) to Auburn Municipal (AUN)
- Ashland, OR (AHM) to Auburn Municipal (AUN)
- Napa, CA (APC) to Auburn Municipal (AUN)
- Apple Valley, CA (APV) to Auburn Municipal (AUN)
- Austin, NV (ASQ) to Auburn Municipal (AUN)
The flight distance from Riverside/Rubidoux to Auburn is 347 miles and average flight time is 2 hours 48 minutes. If you were to drive from Riverside/Rubidoux to Auburn, it would take 8 hours 19 minutes to drive 416 miles.
More information about Riverside/Rubidoux (RIR)
More information about Auburn (AUN)
"The best of the best! So lucky to have you = )"
Other Airports Near Flabob
- Riverside Municipal Airport (RAL) in Riverside, 3 miles away
- March Arb Airport (RIV) in Riverside, 10 miles away
- Ontario International Airport (ONT) in Ontario, 10 miles away
Other Airports Near Auburn Municipal
- Placerville Airport (PVF) in Placerville, 21 miles away
- Mc Clellan Airport (MCC) in Sacramento, 23 miles away
- Yuba County Airport (MYV) in Marysville, 24 miles away


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Here's another terrific photograph from the team at Waka Taiamai Heritage Tours that I wrote about on Saturday – a post you can see if you scroll down a couple of postings. This is their waka – called Tupi after one of their local Bay of Islands kaumatua (elders), Tupi Puriri. The waka is central to their Kaikohe/Paihia-based tourism operation. It took a month to build using composite and traditional materials and it adheres to traditional Maori waka design principles, which means it's very stable and safe to paddle. It can be paddled by a minimum of ten people and can carry a maximum load of sixteen people. Speed of course depends on the type of crew and strength behind the paddles – naturally, with tourists on board it's usually a slower passage, which suits the story-telling occasion.
Both images supplied by Taiamai Tours, Northland.
Waka Taiamai is a Maori family-owned and operated tourism business with very strong hapu (sub-tribe) and iwi (tribe) values. It was established by Hone Mihaka (Ngapuhi) of Ohaeawai, Kaikohe in 2000. The Mihaka whanau (family) have lived in the Te Tai Tokerau (Birthplace of a Nation; Northland) region for over 900 years and are part of New Zealand's largest Maori tribe, Ngapuhi; and if you take part in their tours you get to visit their tribal marae, Parawhenua. www.taiamaitours.co.nz www.ngapuhi.iwi.nz


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Not that it means anything to rabid fans that are true to their teams no matter what, but the Kentucky Wildcats are favored by 2.5 points to beat the Connecticut Huskies and win the NCAA basketball championship Monday night in Dallas. If you'd like to bet Kentucky straight up, without having to give up the points, the money-line in Las Vegas is $1.50, which means that you'll have to bet $150 to win $100 on the Wildcats.
Jimmy Vaccaro, line-maker for the South Pointe Hotel, Casino & Spa in Las Vegas, says both teams have been bet quite evenly since the line was put up on Saturday night, although betting has been a little heavy on "over" the total of 136. "This is not going to be a huge decision either way" says Vaccaro, meaning that the bookmakers put up a strong line on Saturday to begin with. In other words, the Nevada Sports Books will win money no matter who wins Monday night.
As far as "future bets" are concerned, Vaccaro says "Here at the South Pointe we're in excellent shape no matter who wins as far as the future book." Future bets are odds on each team going all the way to win the tournament before the tip-off of the first game. A future bet on Kentucky was as high as 50-1, while UConn was up to 100-1 to win the finals of the NCAA basketball tournament depending on where you made your wager. Vaccaro says with the two most heavily-bet teams in "futures" wagering, Michigan State and Wichita State, out of the running, none of the sports books are in position to be hurt too badly. The oddsmaker went on to say that "Kentucky would have been lower odds and picked up more action, but remember they were pretty flat toward the middle and the end of the season. Connecticut, nobody really gave them much of a chance, including me." Vaccaro went on to point out the Huskies "were down three points to St. Josephs with a minute to go and St. Joes had the ball." UConn went on to win the game in overtime, and Vaccaro says that illustrates the topsy-turvy nature of the NCAA tournament.
In Nevada wagering, there is often times a side where the "smart" money goes (wagers from professional handicappers) and a side on which the public bets, but Vaccaro says he sees no such delineation for Monday's game. He says when you reach games of this magnitude, where the betting handle is as large as it is, "the smart money is there, it does show, but it does not affect the point spread nearly as much as it would a small-college football game."
How big will the 2014 March Madness be for Nevada Sports Books? Vaccaro puts it this way: "The Super Bowl usually mirrors, to some degree, what we're going to do with March Madness, and as we all know we did $20 million more for the Super Bowl handle this year than we ever, ever did before." He said he expects," when all the beans are counted, they will have done more on this year's tournament than they have ever done." When it comes to yearly events and money-makers in Nevada, Vaccaro says the NCAA Tournament ranks right up there: "There's no doubt in my mind that New Year's weekend, Super Bowl weekend, and the first four days of March Madness are all very close" in revenue for the casinos.
Commentary by Chuck Podhaisky
South Pointe


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Bathrooms: 2
Sq Feet: 2,632
City: Scottsdale
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Sub Division: Sands Scottsdale Master
To start a new search please click: Start New Search
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Fully updated home in the heart of McCormick Ranch, situated on a corner lot in a cul de sac with desired North/South exposure providing back yard shade in summer. New CoreTec Vinyl flooring in bedrooms, family room, living room & dining room with polished travertine tile in the balance of home. Natural stone showers & countertops in bathrooms with upgraded faucets. Walk in closets in Master & third bedroom. Remodeled kitchen with granite counters, upgraded cabinets & stainless steel appliances, plus a pass through to the large Arizona room providing a grand view of the spacious backyard with synthetic grass, majestic palms trees & sparkling diving pool with newer variable speed pump. Extra deep garage provides ample space for storage & room for a full size quad cab pickup truck.


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Alphonse Mucha
Alphonse Mucha (Czechoslovakian, 1860-1939) Étude de femme, 1900 Pencil on paper 24-1/2 x 14-1/2 inches (62.2 x 36.8 ...
Auction amount: $32,500.00
Sold: May 24, 2017
Alphonse Mucha
Nationality: Czech
Birth Place: Ivancice (Jihomoravský, Czech Republic)
Born in Ivancice, Moravia, Alphonse Mucha was determined to become a painter when he graduated high school, despite his father's disapproval, and left to study at the Academie Julian in Paris in 1887 through the generosity of a patron in Moravia. After several years of painting murals for his benefactor, Mucha's funding ceased, and he was left a struggling artist in Paris, eventually falling deathly ill as a result of his poor diet.
Upon recovery, he shared a studio space with fellow artist Paul Gauguin, and the two spent much of their time together traveling and exchanging creative feedback. This collaboration helped fortify Mucha's vision, and his compositions began to exhibit more and more of an ornamental quality, with byzantine inspired mosaic backgrounds and a balance of realistic and stylized elements.
Using natural color palettes to complement his highly decorative drawing technique, Mucha defined his own concept of the Woman as a motif—in theme as well as in form. His revolutionary taste for sensuous, organic curves and forms intertwined with lush flora eventually caught the attention of actress Sarah Bernhardt in 1895, who signed him on a six year contract to produce stage and costume designs, as well as posters for her shows. With this commission, Mucha's reputation as a graphic artist was established and the exposure of his talents to a wider audience brought him rapid fame.
Nevertheless, Mucha remained a virtuoso of many trades throughout his career, also spending time creating intricate jewelry, furniture, wallpaper and interiors in addition to the posters, drawings and paintings that made him a household name. Accordingly, despite his own personal rejection of the connection, Mucha's proclivity to transform everyday materials into works of art would forever affiliate his name with the Art Nouveau movement.
Alphonse Mucha Original Art Values Sold at Auction
Alphonse Mucha (Czechoslovakian, 1860-1939) Étude de femme, 1900 Pencil on paper 24-1/2 x 14-1/2 inches (62.2 x 36.8 ...
Lot 66066
Auction 5287
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
Alphonse Mucha (Czechoslovakian, 1860-1939) Deutsches Schauspiel-Haus Theater Program, 1908 Watercolor, pencil, a...
Lot 79139
Auction 5276
Friday, November 18, 2016
ALPHONSE MUCHA (Czechoslovakian, 1860-1939) Les Fleurs (Rennert, Weill, 49, Var 1), circa 1898 Color lithographs 40 x... (Total: 4 Items)
Lot 66104
Auction 5139
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Alphonse Mucha (Czechoslovakian, 1860-1939) Sarah Bernhardt/ American Tour, 1896 Lithograph in colors on paper 76 x 2...
Lot 79270
Auction 5383
Thursday, November 15, 2018
Alphonse Mucha (Czechoslovakian, 1860-1939) Biscuits Lefevre-Utile, 1897 Lithograph in colors on paper 23-3/4 x 17-1/...
Lot 79268
Auction 5383
Thursday, November 15, 2018
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text:
- Tops Type: Polos
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- Style: Classic
- Pattern Type: Solid
- Brand Name: VASHEJIANG
- Type: Regular
- Material: Cotton
- Color Style: Contrast Color
- Decoration: Button
- Sleeve Length: Short
- Feature: Breathable
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The massive €18.7bn (£15.76bn) surplus was almost entirely driven by falling domestic demand for foreign goods, as exports stagnated and imports fell by 10 per cent on the year. The extent to which the surplus increased was not foreseen by the markets, where a smaller rise to €13bn was expected.
Howard Archer, European chief economist for IHS Global Insight, said trade figures must improve if the euro area as a whole is to finally begin some form of recovery. "It is vitally important for the Eurozone that global growth improves as 2013 proceeds, thereby boosting exports and facilitating the single currency area's exit from recession that has now lasted a record six quarters".
The consumer price index in the euro area was also announced yesterday, plunging to a 38-month low of 1.2 per cent, falling well short of the European Central Bank's aspiration for price increases at slightly below two per cent.
Between individual countries, inflation varied considerably. While Greece and Latvia saw overall deflation, prices in the Netherlands rose by 2.8 per cent.
In a speech last month, German Chancellor Angela Merkel suggested that European monetary policy might be too loose for her country's economy, while appearing to be too tight for some countries on the struggling periphery.


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Right then lets bring everyone up to speed with this years academy so far. The first event of the season was hosted by the small circuit of aintree just north of liverpool. Only part of the simple but historic circuit was used however, as the cars went one at a time against the clock. Having followed the blogs of a couple of the guys over the winter i was actually quite looking forward to seeing how they got on and who the quick guys were.
it was nice to read about few of the guys pitching a tent and sleeping next to their cars the night before, having been on my fair share of surf trips i know what it feels like to rough it for a while in search of cheap thrills.
Every body gets a couple of practice runs followed by three timed runs, the quickest of which counts as your time for the day. So quite alot of pressure, when all three timed runs take less than three minutes, its not like you get 20 minutes as you would in a race to thrash out a winner or make up for mistakes.
Its hard to find results lower than 3rd for either group 1 or two so i'm limited to
that I'm afraid.
3rd in Group 1 @ 54.71 secs Was Merlin Edwards, comfortably the guy with the coolest name in the Pack, and an equally cool orange car. 2nd was Wes Fox, I've followed Wes' blog over the winter and had a feeling he'd be pretty Quick, lots of cart experience really looks to have helped him post a very solid time only 1 10tenth ahead of Merlin @54.61. Winner of group 1, Just 2 hundredths ahead of Wes Fox with 54.59 was Mike Hart, Another very experienced cart driver putting his track time to good use.
the group two podium saw Matt 'Riggers' Rigby of Pistonheads.com take third place with a time of 55.20, Just behind David Menzies' time of 55.02. The real story of the day though was group 1 winner Kurt Brady, Who posted a 54.18! to take fastest time of the day.
The next outing for this lot is another sprint at curborough on the 15th of this month, Can Kurt brady Dominate for a second time or will mike Hart, Wes Fox, and Merlin Edwards give him some payback.
Ill leave you with Kurt brady's winning run of 54.18