bitful

Indurated clay.

I recently abandoned my old NHS dentist (near my old address, therefore impractical) for a private practice (in the next building from my office, therefore just perfect).

Old dentist:

Tatty lino floor
Unexpected step at the front door. Mind the step sign should also say 'Mind your head if over 5ft 11in tall' - the most idiotic front [...]

To cover or smear with a soft adhesive substance such as plaster, grease, or mud. To apply paint or colouring with crude, unskilful strokes.

"If you saw a man drowning and you could either save his life or photograph the event… how would you tag it in Flickr?"
Kathy Sierra at SXSW Interactive, via Christine.net.

Just one of those things that friends email me at regular intervals and never cease to amaze me.
Please read these aloud and see if you can get them right the first time:

The bandage was wound around the wound.
The farm was used to produce produce.
The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
We [...]

A tough supple twig, especially of willow, used for binding things together; a withy.

I love cheese. I adore bread. I go gaga for a sharp taste.
This is why the most common meal round here is some combination of these three elements.
Ciabatta, ham and a squirt of Daddy sauce.
In France I used to have the classic baguette, gruyère and gherkins sandwich.
Cheddar and sliced tomatoes on doorstop white bread.
But, more [...]

Back-seat screwdriver: a person giving advice to someone assembling furniture.
Origin: Dr B., the other day, as he politely discarded my unsolicited advice while he was painstakingly putting together three new tall Ikea chests of drawers for our bedroom.

A window set vertically into a small gable projecting from a sloping roof.

The common UK stamps (queeny profile, single colour) are called 'machins'. They were designed by Arnold Machin and first introduced on 5 June 1967.
The soundtrack to the TV series Heroes was composed by mid-eighties Prince proteges Wendy and Lisa.
Windows Media Player automatically disables plugins every time it crashes. So all of last week I really [...]

Six years ago to the day, I published my first post via Blogger. Bitful was but a twinkle in my eye, and this had a different title, a lurid muted green and maroon colour scheme (I called it 'Gucci'), way too many personal details and pictures. It was also kept an absolute secret from everyone [...]

Any of several annual weeds of the genus Xanthium in the composite family, having small seedlike fruits enclosed within a prickly bur that clings readily to clothing or animal fur.

I have not read it myself, but according to an article in the Guardian on The Truth About Diamonds, Nicole Richie's novel is the story of

'a fashion-obsessed young girl, Chloe, adopted by a pop star who was big in the 1980s, who grows up in LA with a fast group of friends, develops a heroin [...]

For a few days now I have been thinking of a gay establishment of yore, and I can't remember what it was called for the life of me.
It used to be in St Martin's Lane in London, a few doors down from Brief Encounter (which by the way is still there, but seems to be [...]

A short nail with a thick head used to protect the soles of shoes or boots.

A long time ago, on a long winter night with nothing on the telly, Dr B. and I engaged in a moderately heated argument about why one says: "the United States is" and not "the United States are.
I insisted that grammatically it should take the plural, but the singular is used only because they can [...]

Ever since I moved back to the UK in May 2002 to settle down for good, it was my strong intention to apply for naturalisation. Ever since then, I have a filled naturalisation application form from the Home Office ready in a folder, waiting for the day when I can finally apply.
However, between then and [...]

The head of government of the Republic of Ireland and the leader of the Irish cabinet, the rough equivalent of a prime minister.

I have given up eating between 11pm and 7am for Lent.
So now it has been two weeks since I vowed to break my life-long habit of eating during the night.
In two weeks, only once did I eat something between the times of 11pm and 7am, and that was an apple, and that night I could [...]

Week after week, my musical taste is subjected to harsh criticism by Dr B.'s delicate aural sense, and I always find it disconcerting.
I played Mika. I was told to switch that annoying falsetto off. During my early and short-lived infatuation with Life In Cartoon Motion, I was outraged. In the long run, I cannot but [...]

Intoxicated; drunk.

A couple of weeks ago I was browsing through the Clinique counter at John Lewis, knowing very well that I could not really afford anything. But you see, the thing is that since I turned forty, I started feeling I should take care of myself a little more.
Bubbly American Julissa sensed it and approached me [...]

Lakisha Jones, American Idol finalist;
Laquisha Jonz, 'queen of the chavs'.

A circular, domed, portable tent used by nomadic peoples of central Asia.

Any of various gnatlike flies of the family Chironomidae, found worldwide and frequently occurring in swarms near ponds and lakes. A little person.

This was one of Jamie Oliver's ads for Sainsbury's in which he effortlessly throws a couple of unusual ingredients together, it looks scrumptuous and it ends with him repeating the campaign's slogan 'Try something new'.
We tried. And liked. So much so in fact that we had this every single week (on Monday night, which is [...]

Past tense and a past participle of shoe: to furnish or fit with a shoe or shoes; to cover with a wooden or metal guard to protect against wear.

Actor Mark Gatiss (The League of Gentlemen, Nighty Night, Fear of Fanny) wrote two of my favourite Doctor Who episodes (The Idiot's Lantern and The Unquiet Dead)
The hymn Amazing Grace was written by a reformed slave trader.
All major operating systems ship with the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard in addition to the standard QWERTY layout.
Peter Jackson is [...]

To castrate (a horse, for example). To deprive of strength or vigor; weaken.

As I coughed the best part of my small intestines up through mucopurulent lungs this afternoon at work, I spared a not-so-compassionate thought for smokers who have a cold.
That's when it hit me: I stopped smoking four years and four days ago, and the anniversary of one of the best decisions in my life went [...]