OMG its Cold!

Brrrrrrrr
I wish we'd managed to get the work done on our lower entrance before winter set in...it's bloody cold sitting here with the wind seeping under the french doors and round the 'hole under the stairs' dead space room that will become the new entrance eventually.

OK, so I do happen to be sitting here in a vest top and with wet hair sqidged up on my head while I wait for my colour to take, but hey, the heating is up and it should be toasty in this room.

I spoke to my mum yesterday and she dropped into the conversation the fact that she's taken over from Steve in the chasing up the solicitor department and has been hassling her to get my Grandma's estate sorted pronto.
I mean, its not unreasonable to ask them to get their finger out when they quoted around 3 months to sort it and its been 11 months so far.

Sigh.

Work [ including me] are off to see Jools Holland at the Albert Hall tomorrow, but one of the girls won't be able to come after all as she has had a berevement in the family which means that the whole extended family are not expected to do anything 'enjoyable'.
At least her family didn't have to take all their furniture outside , which is what the immediate family had to do...wonderful in the start of a cold snap...and they can watch tv.



We still don't kmow the exact details of whats going to happen at the Aylesford Depot, though all the signs are saying its definitely closing, but no one's saying when.

Oh, my alarm is telling me my developing time is up, so i'd best go and see if I'm all bright red again.
I might change it next time.........
Or maybe not.
I've been blonde, from honey to platinum, I've been black, brunette, dark purple and mousy.
But this is the longest I've been anything other than the colour I was born with, and it suits my personality, so maybe I'll go on with it for a little longer.
:D

*tootles off humming "I'm gonna wash that man right out of my hair"*
;)

What A week!!!!!!

Where on earth do i start ?

Should i go in strict time order moving from silly games on the eurostar with a load of unknown guys who's knowledge of 50's and 60's pop was far superior to mine, through a foot aching but green eyeball envy inducing visit to the Musee D'Orsay, a wet-yourself gigglefest during re-surfacing at the Bercy Ice rink [ its amazing how funny spongebob square pants and an hour long session in the bathroom becomes under the right circumstances] to the amazing chocolatier on the Boulevard St Michel with the mohican and handlebar moustache who dances and sang his way around selecting chocolates for my girls.

Or should it be by incidence of gradually increasing madness of my partners in crime, ending up with a face off in the Metro turnstiles betweed a rabidly tiny fur clad french Madame intent on inserting herself in front of an equally rabid and tiny fur clad english Madam shouting 'come on girls, link hands, dont let the french through' or earlier 'Oh No, They've taken my daughter, You'll have to body surf back to us dear' [ as the swell of bodies briefly separated them ] plus the amazing sight of a 46 year old woman jumping up and down while screaming at an exasperated assistant 'we don't need to be seated , we were here an hour ago' while the rest of us were legging it down the stairs to get seated because they had started the skating early?

Or maybe I should just stick to the skating....
Mao Asada, a 15 year old from Japan who wiped the floor with the opposition, looking like she could skate forever, as light as a butterfly, going from triple to triple, sticking in a triple, double double combination without breathing hard. Absolutely amazing.
:D
The Kerrs dropping out.
The dance seeming to go from lift to lift with very little of 'dance' between...more show numbers than anything else.
3 days of skating ranging from the indiferent to the gobsmacking, but I wouldn't have missed a second of any of it.

There was loads more, but its all merging together already.

Except Mao Asada..... if you get the chance to watch her skate, take it.
You won't be disappointed.

God my feet hurt.

I just got back home from tramping round the shops picking up the last few things that I need for tomorrow.

For a small ish town i seem to have walked miles, and ok, so it did include 2 trips to the post office because I forgot to pay the gas bill the first time I went and only remembered just before I was about to pay for my car parking, and had to go all the way back, but its amazing just how far you walk when you're looking for random stuff.

I got: 3 pairs of knickers, 5 pairs of socks [all mine were terribly ancient and when you are sharing a room with 2 other women the state of your socks becomes rather more important than normal], 2 jumpers [ suitable for layering because the rink can get suprisingly warm but its normally freezing when you go home on the metro], 2 pairs of jeans [ see note about socks], a necklace, 2 pairs of acrylic plugs, a travel adaptor [ no matter how hard i looked i couldn't find the other 3 i'm sure i have stashed away somewhere], some emergency first aid bits, a big box of chocs and some fortune cookies [for on the train].

Oh, and some cinnamon/clove shampoo , lemony cuticle balm and some smelly [i cant remember off hand what kind, and I'm not unpacking it now just so you lot can have accurate information] soap from lush.

During all of this, Dave was at home clearing our bedroom for the new bed that was supposed to arrive sometime between 4 and 6.

Yes, you read that right.....SUPPOSED to arrive.
:(
As of now 6.42pm it is still not here, and according to the delivery driver will be very late if it does get here.
Basically i think they were trying to pull a fast one cos they rang us about 4.30 to say they had broken down earlier and that they wouldn't be able to deliver.
Since our old bed is currently in the garden in bits awaiting collection by the council tomorrow, a certain amount of vvery pissed off shouting then took place, resulting in the driver first saying he had to go to margte before he came here [ he also said he was in Gillingham as he rang and thats way out of his way....he would have to pass us almost on his way], than that he couldnt deliver to us first because of the way the van was loaded, then finally that the bed was still in the shop in maidstone and he hadn't picked it up yet!!!!!!!!

so we rang the shop.

Who didn't know anything about a break down and were twiddling their fingers waiting for him to come and pick it up.

They were not happy bunnies.

So, the end result is that we are supposed to get our bed, but we really don't hold out much hope.

And I will probably be sleeping on the sofa, with Dave on the floor.

Happy Happy day.

However, tomorrow I will be wending my way to Paris, and the Eric Bompard [Cashmere] Trophy to watch some glorious Ice skating and do some glorious shopping.
*bounces in anticipation*
:D

So big Mwahs to all my sweetie friends while I'm gone.
Don't get in too much trouble while I'm not here to give you my sage and deeply cogitated advice.
;D

I'll miss you all you big dafties.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

DID I REALLY SPEND THAT MUCH!!!!!

*EEK*
*EEEEEEK*
and yet more *EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK*

I just spent £140 on 2 PILLOWS!!!!!
Yes!!!!
I said PILLOWS!!!!!!

*wanders around in a dazed stupor*

Ok, so I bought a bed too, for rather more than that, but thats not the point.
I mean , Beds are MEANT to be expensive.
They are a neccessity.
You get back ache and bum ache and hip ache and neck ache from a bad bed.
What do you get from bad pillows???
Eh, Eh, Eh?
Answer me that!

What WAS I thinking??????

Well, actually I was thinking 'Wow! these pillows are comfortable'
And ' I bet i look daft lying on this mattress trying to pretend I'm in the position I sleep in'
plus 'I hope I haven't got anything nasty on my shoes'
But mainly it was about how nice the pillows felt.

So I bought 2.

Even though i rang Dave just to make sure I wasn't being brainwashed or anything , but he was a fat lot of good, and only said' get them if they feel good'
I mean, what sort of help is that?

I showed them to Emma when I got home, and she got all excited over them too, and a little upset that I hadn't got one for her too, but I don't think i could have made myself spend another £69 ....i mean that would have made it over £200!!!!!!!

Arggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

i feel sooooo totally extravagant.
:S

Being there.

I've been thinking today.
Yeah,yeah, get the cracks over with....you know you're just dying to make them.
:D

But anyway, as I said, I've been thinking.
Thinking about Being There.

Not the book [ which i found thought provoking but somewhat unbelievable and about which I spent a completely unproductive couple of days discussing with some much younger bods who seemed to think(amongst other things) that sex wasn't discussed between people before the 90's and that my arguments were just about rubbishing the book, but thats another post], but the reality.

I have always had someone there for me.

I can't think of a time when there hasn't been someone who I can call , someone who will talk me through it, or let me rant and hand me the tissues or the coffee.
Someone who has been able to help me emotionally and financially when I've needed it.

I have been VERY lucky.

I could look at the facts of my life and wonder at this.
Oh..perhaps it would help to clarify?
Ok, bullet point style i think.

1/.Born to an unmarried mother in the 60's when it was still very much frowned on.
2/.Left to be brought up by greatgrandmother when about 2 or 3 while mother moves to 3/.London to train to be a telephonist then a nurse.
4/.Great grandmother [ who I think of very much as my mother ] dies of cancer of the bowel and I go to live with my grandmother.

Hmmmmmm....i have lots of issues about this [4/.], given my mothers own history, and at this moment I have no wish to share them with you, but its only recently that I have come to terms with my mothers decision to let me live with them.

5/. my mum marries [ lots of issues with my dad now too]and I go to live with them in London since they can now afford a house as I've just won £1000 on the premium bonds and its enough for a deposit.
[ i had issues about that for ages as a teenager too, but given how different my life would have been had they not, i think I would have made the same decision if i had been in their shoes ]
6/.Various mild bullying stuff due to my boobs/accent/stroppiness.
7/. Married my first boyfriend.SERIOUS mistake.
8/.Erm......Oh heck lots of trivial stuff.

However, throughout the upheaval i never felt alone.

And although i didn't get on all that well with my dads family , they were also always there for me.

And the point of this?

Its important to me to be there for my family too if they should need it.

I hope I always can.