(From yesterday)
Leaving with a bang not a whimper, I'm now on donkey sized painkillers (no pink elephants yet, but I'm hoping!) and Stephen has promised faithfully to pack his suitcase tonight.
We only leave after lunch tomorrow, where's the rush ? ! ! !
(Now read on dear reader)
So, the toilet paper lasted and the teabags.
The worker managed a tiny bowl of cereal this morning with the last of the milk without having to "borrow" some from the restaurant!
Buying in just enough is a fine art probably learned at the finely tuned purse strings of Mother!
As I relaid my 'tiding over' shopping list to Caroline; 6 rashers of back bacon from the counter, not prepacked; 6 large free range Cheshire Farm eggs; a large Morrison's medium loaf for your Dad and a small medium Hovis for me, she suddenly laughed.
"This is just like a shopping list from Granny!
You're getting old Mum !"
Morphing into Mum is fine by me.
She knew just how far five shillings went!
At last ! I'm becoming a savvy shapper !
Things are looking up Stephen!
As we wait for the one o'clock hooter to metaphorically sound for Stephen's final release (I used to love watching the workers from Fibreglass, straining at the gates, until the lunch time hooter sounded and the gates sprang open and the men and women we're off !) I'm awarding a mental bouquet of thanks.
Thank you for keeping me company over the past three months.
The humour, friendship and nuggets of information have kept me from going round the bend !
It's been as good as a cup of tea, a McVitea's digestive and a natter in the homes of friends and family !
My favourite past time.
Till the next time . . .
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Aaaarrgh ! ! NO PAPER ! ! !
I've been a trifle too efficient and cleared out all the paper.
Yes Stephen you were right!
Apart from betting on the flies on the window, what else am i finding to do ? !
So this piece, that just HAD to be written, is appearing free form !
I am a pessimistic person and throw in a bit of pain; facing the thought of cancelling our scheduled family visits and Stephen pondering upon a job somewhere near Bahrain my spirits had plummeted today.
Looking to inch them up, I went looking for Elaine Page.
She has a great Sunday afternoon programme on radio 2 featuring showtunes and everything Broadway.
Brilliant for driving home to, eh Pol ? !
I was too early but lucky me was just in time to catch Michael Ball and his guest . . .
Gasp . . .
Gareth Malone ! ! ! YAY ! !
I love Gareth Malone ! !
I never did understand Marion Appleton's passion for Elvis.
I didn't really get the Beatles!
I liked them but that was it. A club I wasn't a member of.
Then I found Gareth Malone and became a groupie overnight!
He is that smart looking posh lad who took a boy's secondary school and persuaded some of them, tough knocks many of them, to sing as a choir and enter a choir competion in China of all places !
He also formed a choir wth the community of South Oxley. All of them !
I think their trophy moment was appearing at the Albert Hall singing 'Walking on Sunshine'.
So this was a reality television show (the only one worth watching; I think) about a young chap with virve and vigour for music in all its many forms, tackling an unlikely band of people and producing harmony on a grandish scale.
It worked !
Go check out Youtube. Just type in The Choir.
Today I discovered Gareth is, big gulp. . .
a composer, choir master, singer, pianist and outreach worker, taking music into schools, oap homes etc., with a passion.
He has also picked up two baftas along the way, whilst still in his early thirties !
I think his secret is doing what he loves and believing in people and passing his passion along.
He is a very lucky lad to have so many options to choose from.
The Choir is a brilliant project that should be attempted everywhere !
I was worried that I had flat-lined !
My music mojo is still there !
I've had a good bop around the room to Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen, singing my head off, ouch!, sounding like Jim Royle !
It must be the Mersey sound !
I remember now the fun of singing, the getting it right and cracking it !
The feeling of community with a bunch of people I scarcely know and also of developing another facet to my identity.
He's introduced me to a band called Fleet Foxes and a song White winter Hymnal.
Lovely !
Do yourselves a favour;
GET INVOLVED IN MUSIC !
EXCELLENT ! ! !
Yes Stephen you were right!
Apart from betting on the flies on the window, what else am i finding to do ? !
So this piece, that just HAD to be written, is appearing free form !
I am a pessimistic person and throw in a bit of pain; facing the thought of cancelling our scheduled family visits and Stephen pondering upon a job somewhere near Bahrain my spirits had plummeted today.
Looking to inch them up, I went looking for Elaine Page.
She has a great Sunday afternoon programme on radio 2 featuring showtunes and everything Broadway.
Brilliant for driving home to, eh Pol ? !
I was too early but lucky me was just in time to catch Michael Ball and his guest . . .
Gasp . . .
Gareth Malone ! ! ! YAY ! !
I love Gareth Malone ! !
I never did understand Marion Appleton's passion for Elvis.
I didn't really get the Beatles!
I liked them but that was it. A club I wasn't a member of.
Then I found Gareth Malone and became a groupie overnight!
He is that smart looking posh lad who took a boy's secondary school and persuaded some of them, tough knocks many of them, to sing as a choir and enter a choir competion in China of all places !
He also formed a choir wth the community of South Oxley. All of them !
I think their trophy moment was appearing at the Albert Hall singing 'Walking on Sunshine'.
So this was a reality television show (the only one worth watching; I think) about a young chap with virve and vigour for music in all its many forms, tackling an unlikely band of people and producing harmony on a grandish scale.
It worked !
Go check out Youtube. Just type in The Choir.
Today I discovered Gareth is, big gulp. . .
a composer, choir master, singer, pianist and outreach worker, taking music into schools, oap homes etc., with a passion.
He has also picked up two baftas along the way, whilst still in his early thirties !
I think his secret is doing what he loves and believing in people and passing his passion along.
He is a very lucky lad to have so many options to choose from.
The Choir is a brilliant project that should be attempted everywhere !
I was worried that I had flat-lined !
My music mojo is still there !
I've had a good bop around the room to Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen, singing my head off, ouch!, sounding like Jim Royle !
It must be the Mersey sound !
I remember now the fun of singing, the getting it right and cracking it !
The feeling of community with a bunch of people I scarcely know and also of developing another facet to my identity.
He's introduced me to a band called Fleet Foxes and a song White winter Hymnal.
Lovely !
Do yourselves a favour;
GET INVOLVED IN MUSIC !
EXCELLENT ! ! !
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
My music.
I love my Ipod and also my little mp3 music player which can also give me the Archers and Afternoon Play.
It can also give me Woman's Hour with 'sympathetic voiced' Jenny Murray - but she then gives me hives !
With these pocket sized machines I'm able to hear my music in my head as opposed to in the background of life around me.
It's like switching on Blackpool Iluminations in my eight year old head.
Magic ! as Dave, 'our Denise's' husband would say.
This is what I hear . . .
'Lily the Pink' from The Scaffold makes me smile every time. It's a simple little ditty that lifts my spirits.
'By the sleepy lagoon' is the theme tune to radio 4's Desert Island Discs.
The gentle sound of the waves lapping in and out insantly transport me back to 1963, where it's the weekend, no school and being surrounded by family and feeling satisfied after another of Mum's delicious meals.
It's a safe harbour from the barbs I felt outside.
I've never had much of a thick skin.
'Ride of the Valkyries'. This was my mobile phone ringtone for years.
It denoted me.
I remember hysterically laughing as it suddenly rang forth from my bag on the coat hook in Mum's hospital room, where everything felt like some frightening nightmare.
I did subconsciously feel as if I was riding forth to fight evil.
Intermezzo from 'Cavalleria Rusticana.'
From the first note, peace just floods mind and body.
A good relaxant.
'Elizabethan Serenade'.
Now I am whisked back to 1965, as a schoolgirl in full uniform; tie, shirt, etc.,
My pleated skirt was folded over at the waist for 5 years !
Definite money's worth
Anyway, Miss Ashton, our musc teacher, never did tap me on the knee for entrance to the school choir but I think I snuck in anyway.
I loved this song about the gentle Avon flowing and the casement curtain fluttering and blowing by candlelight (health and safety? pah !)
Answer came there none - a sad and peaceful song.
I can't get enough piano concerto's !
I play along with it, wiggling my fingers over the imaginary keyboard - note perfect - with all the delicacy and force of Paderevsky.
If I could tickle the ivories as effortlessly and enjoyably as my Mum did for the majority of her life, I'd be in 7th heaven.
Sometime in the '80's she began picking up where her music lessons were abruptly left off as a youngster.
She even had organ lessons by an organist at Liverpool's Christ the King cathedral to improve her playing at St.Patrick's church.
The keyboard was a constant source of pleasure throughout her life.
I should be so lucky !
At some point I must sit down and discover the real meaning to all these pieces and get double the pleasure ! !
I don't know my music but I know what I like, it just feels right.
It's like putting the wrong grade oil into an engine.
The wrong type of music just shouldn't be in my head.
There probably is just as much justification for Meathead or Madonna, Elton or Elvis Costeloe (although I do like him but I couldn't think of anyone I didn't like beginning with an E) but it just jars in my head.
So, pop-pickers ! What spins your wheels ?
It can also give me Woman's Hour with 'sympathetic voiced' Jenny Murray - but she then gives me hives !
With these pocket sized machines I'm able to hear my music in my head as opposed to in the background of life around me.
It's like switching on Blackpool Iluminations in my eight year old head.
Magic ! as Dave, 'our Denise's' husband would say.
This is what I hear . . .
'Lily the Pink' from The Scaffold makes me smile every time. It's a simple little ditty that lifts my spirits.
'By the sleepy lagoon' is the theme tune to radio 4's Desert Island Discs.
The gentle sound of the waves lapping in and out insantly transport me back to 1963, where it's the weekend, no school and being surrounded by family and feeling satisfied after another of Mum's delicious meals.
It's a safe harbour from the barbs I felt outside.
I've never had much of a thick skin.
'Ride of the Valkyries'. This was my mobile phone ringtone for years.
It denoted me.
I remember hysterically laughing as it suddenly rang forth from my bag on the coat hook in Mum's hospital room, where everything felt like some frightening nightmare.
I did subconsciously feel as if I was riding forth to fight evil.
Intermezzo from 'Cavalleria Rusticana.'
From the first note, peace just floods mind and body.
A good relaxant.
'Elizabethan Serenade'.
Now I am whisked back to 1965, as a schoolgirl in full uniform; tie, shirt, etc.,
My pleated skirt was folded over at the waist for 5 years !
Definite money's worth
Anyway, Miss Ashton, our musc teacher, never did tap me on the knee for entrance to the school choir but I think I snuck in anyway.
I loved this song about the gentle Avon flowing and the casement curtain fluttering and blowing by candlelight (health and safety? pah !)
Answer came there none - a sad and peaceful song.
I can't get enough piano concerto's !
I play along with it, wiggling my fingers over the imaginary keyboard - note perfect - with all the delicacy and force of Paderevsky.
If I could tickle the ivories as effortlessly and enjoyably as my Mum did for the majority of her life, I'd be in 7th heaven.
Sometime in the '80's she began picking up where her music lessons were abruptly left off as a youngster.
She even had organ lessons by an organist at Liverpool's Christ the King cathedral to improve her playing at St.Patrick's church.
The keyboard was a constant source of pleasure throughout her life.
I should be so lucky !
At some point I must sit down and discover the real meaning to all these pieces and get double the pleasure ! !
I don't know my music but I know what I like, it just feels right.
It's like putting the wrong grade oil into an engine.
The wrong type of music just shouldn't be in my head.
There probably is just as much justification for Meathead or Madonna, Elton or Elvis Costeloe (although I do like him but I couldn't think of anyone I didn't like beginning with an E) but it just jars in my head.
So, pop-pickers ! What spins your wheels ?
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Addendum
How could I forget Stephen's guitar!
Way back in '94 his best birthday present accompanied him to Dubai, then home for a spell and then out to Saudi in '96.
He has always strummed and crooned, playing along to Don Williams' 'Tulsar Time' or Rod Stewarts' 'Hot Legs' amongst others.
Definately going - after all this is a signed model! On my last visit Stephen got me to sign this guitar/
Naff ? Yuk ?
Yes kids but that's Mum and Dad.
Finally, we've packed his frying pan.
I'm sure Lucy for one can relate to Stephen's attachement to the pan that gives him the perfect egg!
Way back in '94 his best birthday present accompanied him to Dubai, then home for a spell and then out to Saudi in '96.
He has always strummed and crooned, playing along to Don Williams' 'Tulsar Time' or Rod Stewarts' 'Hot Legs' amongst others.
Definately going - after all this is a signed model! On my last visit Stephen got me to sign this guitar/
Naff ? Yuk ?
Yes kids but that's Mum and Dad.
Finally, we've packed his frying pan.
I'm sure Lucy for one can relate to Stephen's attachement to the pan that gives him the perfect egg!
Closing down sale - Must everything go ?
We're now in the throws of packing.
Seven boxes and hopefully we've stopped counting.
It isn't all Anxiety Central though.
Last night was spent watching a family video.
We sat and couch potatoe'd through the extended family get together just after Mum's funeral (not as bizarre as it sounds);
a very expectant Caroline waiting excitedly to become a Mum:
Nathan's first few hours and the dizzyness he must have experienced as he was passed from Dad to Grandparents to Uncle to Aunty, poor lad:
my Dad in his last few years looking lost and tiny inside his many jackets;
our dog Ben as he too, slowed down, my bestest friend as children left and parents died;
Nathan learning to walk, talk and become cock-o'-the walk.
Obviously going.
Stephen's golf trophies?
Golf has been his Saudi past time and judging from the trophy cabinet he must be good at it and enjoyed it.
However with the onset of creaking knees and back the enthusiasm has waned.
His philosophy now is, ''Yes, I've enjoyed the game and the celebrations but I don't really need the prizes anymore''.
(The upside to this has been his being able to donate a cracking coffee machine to the final tournament!)
Not going.
His photos of himself lined up with team mates and enjoying the many celebrations with pals often in fancy dress, are coming home.
Good times!
The Filipinno chaps who work with Stephen get an annual leave home.
They brought him presents back each time; t-shirts, pictures, quirky metal figures but we've narrowed it down to an intriguing two foot wall carving that holds twelve figureheads whose bodies end in either a fork or spoon.
No small thing to cart all this way!
Stephen's myriad of computer and recording equipment is finally being boxed tonight.
The electrical cables alone will fill a box!
A very important box is his manuals and files regarding piping engineering which we fervently hope will be in use again soon after Christmas.
For those who know Stephen, know he has morphed over the years.
We now get more Shack to the buck!
Many clothes - not going.
His beloved 'Green Bessie' went way back in July.
She had faithfully got him from point A to point B with all his favourite music for many years.
He salutes her as he passes her on the supermarket run now.
His garden is now the best on site!
He has nurtured the indiginous trees and shrubs and tended the marigolds and other flowers from seeds brought from home.
His evening watering routine, I think must be the perfect wind down to the day as dusk closes in within the hour and the million birds excitedly and noisily land and take off from tree to tree before finally settling in for the night and one last poop all over the path!
His bench was sited perfectly 'neath the shade of the trees and waited to give him the opportunity to survey his family of blues and greens and purples and oranges.
Sadly, not going.
Once deserted, the villa will have it's garden stripped of flowers to be replaced with gravel or paving and await the next occupiers of the site.
Seven boxes and hopefully we've stopped counting.
It isn't all Anxiety Central though.
Last night was spent watching a family video.
We sat and couch potatoe'd through the extended family get together just after Mum's funeral (not as bizarre as it sounds);
a very expectant Caroline waiting excitedly to become a Mum:
Nathan's first few hours and the dizzyness he must have experienced as he was passed from Dad to Grandparents to Uncle to Aunty, poor lad:
my Dad in his last few years looking lost and tiny inside his many jackets;
our dog Ben as he too, slowed down, my bestest friend as children left and parents died;
Nathan learning to walk, talk and become cock-o'-the walk.
Obviously going.
Stephen's golf trophies?
Golf has been his Saudi past time and judging from the trophy cabinet he must be good at it and enjoyed it.
However with the onset of creaking knees and back the enthusiasm has waned.
His philosophy now is, ''Yes, I've enjoyed the game and the celebrations but I don't really need the prizes anymore''.
(The upside to this has been his being able to donate a cracking coffee machine to the final tournament!)
Not going.
His photos of himself lined up with team mates and enjoying the many celebrations with pals often in fancy dress, are coming home.
Good times!
The Filipinno chaps who work with Stephen get an annual leave home.
They brought him presents back each time; t-shirts, pictures, quirky metal figures but we've narrowed it down to an intriguing two foot wall carving that holds twelve figureheads whose bodies end in either a fork or spoon.
No small thing to cart all this way!
Stephen's myriad of computer and recording equipment is finally being boxed tonight.
The electrical cables alone will fill a box!
A very important box is his manuals and files regarding piping engineering which we fervently hope will be in use again soon after Christmas.
For those who know Stephen, know he has morphed over the years.
We now get more Shack to the buck!
Many clothes - not going.
His beloved 'Green Bessie' went way back in July.
She had faithfully got him from point A to point B with all his favourite music for many years.
He salutes her as he passes her on the supermarket run now.
His garden is now the best on site!
He has nurtured the indiginous trees and shrubs and tended the marigolds and other flowers from seeds brought from home.
His evening watering routine, I think must be the perfect wind down to the day as dusk closes in within the hour and the million birds excitedly and noisily land and take off from tree to tree before finally settling in for the night and one last poop all over the path!
His bench was sited perfectly 'neath the shade of the trees and waited to give him the opportunity to survey his family of blues and greens and purples and oranges.
Sadly, not going.
Once deserted, the villa will have it's garden stripped of flowers to be replaced with gravel or paving and await the next occupiers of the site.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Bit of a lazy blog.
So I was strolling through the ethernet tonight and came across www/almostfrugal.com
A pretty interesting blog and one thing led to another, which seems to be the way of navigation around here and I came up with these sites to save money at.
VoucherCodes.co.uk
Time Out restaurant guide
Lovetheatre promotional code - look for VoucherCodes.co.uk
Pizza Hut vouchers
Money Saving Expert - Martin Lewis searches for good deals.
Another good tip is to have a hot flush ! It saves on the heating !
A pretty interesting blog and one thing led to another, which seems to be the way of navigation around here and I came up with these sites to save money at.
VoucherCodes.co.uk
Time Out restaurant guide
Lovetheatre promotional code - look for VoucherCodes.co.uk
Pizza Hut vouchers
Money Saving Expert - Martin Lewis searches for good deals.
Another good tip is to have a hot flush ! It saves on the heating !
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
In my wildest dreams.
Tuesday. Jun's day. Yes, Stephen, busting out all over ! Sigh !
I usually clear the decks for Jun, prior to his coming. I figure if I tidy away, that makes his job more efficient, or something like that.
Anyhoo, yes, you know what's coming. The neck. Eratic sleeping pattern left me slightly frayed around the edges and not very bright this morning. So I forgot some of my tidying routine.
I've just got back now and I love walking through the house, opening doors on clean and tidy rooms and smelling the lemon stuff he uses. We haven't really spread out much here and what with the tiled floors it's fairly straight forward to zip through.
I sleep with a few personal items under my pillow.
I have a pair of Matthew's underpants next to a green/grey babygrow of Thomas's and a really cleverly designed red fleece scarf that has white maple leaves printed all over and the two ends are hands with fingers! I can wrap it around myself and give me a hug ! How clever is that?! One of the bestest pressies ever, Jenn !
So I have my long distance family all there each night to be close to. I'm probably going to need to space it out more to under Stephen's pillow when Jezebel arrives!
Yep! Today I forgot to remove them. I usually put them in the wardrobe first thing Tuesday morning, figuring no one else will understand. By the way, the undies and babygrow were items I managed to squirrel away when M, J, and T left our house last August after our holiday.
As I opened the bedroom door just, I spotted them carefully folded on the dressing table, bed changed and ready to jump into.
What on earth must he think?
Daft English?!
So does anyone else have something very important in their beds?!
Remember, this goes out before the watershed !
I usually clear the decks for Jun, prior to his coming. I figure if I tidy away, that makes his job more efficient, or something like that.
Anyhoo, yes, you know what's coming. The neck. Eratic sleeping pattern left me slightly frayed around the edges and not very bright this morning. So I forgot some of my tidying routine.
I've just got back now and I love walking through the house, opening doors on clean and tidy rooms and smelling the lemon stuff he uses. We haven't really spread out much here and what with the tiled floors it's fairly straight forward to zip through.
I sleep with a few personal items under my pillow.
I have a pair of Matthew's underpants next to a green/grey babygrow of Thomas's and a really cleverly designed red fleece scarf that has white maple leaves printed all over and the two ends are hands with fingers! I can wrap it around myself and give me a hug ! How clever is that?! One of the bestest pressies ever, Jenn !
So I have my long distance family all there each night to be close to. I'm probably going to need to space it out more to under Stephen's pillow when Jezebel arrives!
Yep! Today I forgot to remove them. I usually put them in the wardrobe first thing Tuesday morning, figuring no one else will understand. By the way, the undies and babygrow were items I managed to squirrel away when M, J, and T left our house last August after our holiday.
As I opened the bedroom door just, I spotted them carefully folded on the dressing table, bed changed and ready to jump into.
What on earth must he think?
Daft English?!
So does anyone else have something very important in their beds?!
Remember, this goes out before the watershed !
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