Am I allowed to use the S word?

That was our picnic table...

Oh what a surprise! There's still s*** outside. We have about 18" and the world is falling apart! No buses, no trains,schools closed...

It's so quiet outside (not just at this time in the morning). I notice it because there is a bus stop and a cash machine (where cars usually park inconsiderately on the double yellows) virtually outside my house so I am particularly conscious of lack of traffic.

I'm guessing there'll be more blogging as people are stuck at home with not a lot to do. What about when we get the inevitable power cuts? What will kids who have only ever known electronic leisure do with themselves? They might find they have to actually talk to their families face to face or play Scrabble or Ludo or Trivial Pursuit!

We started to build an igloo in our front garden but it's virtually covered by fresh snow. We couldn't face getting frozen again yesterday. I'd forgotten how much my feet hurt when they are really cold! I am wearing two pairs of thermal socks inside my furry slippers, t-shirt, jumper and cardigan the central heating is on. It's this bay window that's the problem, not draughts, just cold emanating from it. Oh look, my spellchecker obviously thinks I should spell it "drafts" - I'm English for Christ's sake!

My son walked into work yesterday and waited outside for an hour and a half but no-one else turned up. No communication at all from the boss. He was frozen by the time he had walked home again (all uphill) and took a long time to thaw out. He has chilblains for the first time, poor thing! No contact at all from his boss ... he's going to go in again today and hope he can get in this time.

I suppose the good thing about this enforced incarceration is that I have no excuse not to get all my paperwork/mending etc etc done. I'm glad we got the new felt on the shed roof before D went off to the States! I'm keeping up to date with the washing, ironing and vacuuming as you never know when the electricity's going to go off! (You'll notice I don't "hoover"; that's another one of my pet hates. "Actually it's an Electrolux, not a Hoover" - I can see a spate of comments coming...)

So much for getting things done...

Hello again

Don't seem to have much to say these days. I've been feeling that I shouldn't be so negative, sarcastic and piss-taking, but then I don't seem to have anything to say...

Well, the Teenager didn't get the grades he'd been hoping for in his AS's (should that apostrophe be there?) so applied for and got (well done him) an apprenticeship in a computer shop, retail and repairs. He works 40 hours for £100 - that's £2.50 an hour! - and to be honest I can't see he's actually getting very much training. He only gets Christmas Day and Boxing Day off (which is really only one day as the shop doesn't open on Sundays anyway). I think he's being exploited. Oh, but he looks so grown up in his shirt and tie!

D's off to the States again just for a couple of weeks to wind up his business there and by the time he comes back it'll be nearly Christmas again. I'm getting more and more cynical about the whole thing. I really don't want to be involved in the crass commercialism that it has become. Family only for prezzies and cards this year, and I'll try to make the cards (I usually run out of time) and I refuse to buy anything which is labelled as a "gift". A gift is just whatever you want to give someone, not what retailers think you should buy. i.e. something that you would otherwise never dream of shelling out money for! (I know, preposition at the end of a sentence...)

Hey, I've got another moan - why can't the spellchecker on Blogger recognise English English? It has just told me I have spelt "cheque", "recognise" and "labelled" wrong. Grrr!

Birthday boy

This is it! As of 45 minutes ago I am now the mother of an ADULT!

Where did those 18 years go?!

WWW.Blah blah blah

I'm pissed off with phoning companies/government departments etc because I want to speak to a REAL PERSON or ask a question to which I can't get an answer on their website to be told "You can find information on our website at www.whatever."... OBVIOUSLY if I could have got the information from the website I wouldn't be ringing you now, would I?!

(Steam coming out of ears...)

And now another month is slipping by ...

AS results tomorrow, and my son will find out whether he is going back to college for the second year ... if not he will have to get a job!

Let me see, what shall I moan about today ... oh yeah, greedy Freecyclers! for example:

"Wanted: TV. Must be at least 26" and flat screen ... Wanted: Tent, sleeping bags, camping stove, etc for our forthcoming camping trip..."

Excuse me, but why would you plan a camping trip if you hadn't got these things???

Tempus fugit!

Oh my God! I can't believe it's nearly the end of July already! Any time now the shops will be starting their "back to school" promotions, then as soon as they are back at school it'll be Hallowe'en ... Christmas... mind you the Christmas cards are usually in the shops by mid-August....

I've given up buying Christmas stuff early as I've usually forgotten where I put it, or even that I ever bought it at all by the time Christmas comes!

Busy busy busy

Why is it you can be scratching around for work for weeks then it all comes at once?!

I'm booked up with hosting and teaching students for the next two months with only two single week breaks in between, and the first one of those will be consumed by a decorating job.

I can't complain though, I certainly need to be earning! It's just frustrating when your "free" time (i.e. unemployment) is at the time of year when it costs you to be at home, i.e. heating etc,, not when you could be outside doing useful jobs in the garden or even on the beach!

I know, some people are never satisfied!

"Little ships"

I've found myself very moved by the stories of Operation Dynamo. The thought of so many amateur sailors out in boats never intended to go that far, and the realisation that without them another 338,000 men might never have got home, in addition to those already slaughtered.

On a totally different tack ('scuse the nautical reference - ha ha) does anyone know where we might be able to get second-hand, i.e. cheap or even FREE, those weeny curtain track fittings that you use in campers and caravans?

Murphy's Law

Why is it as soon as you actually start the washing machine all that lovely sunshine you were going to dry your laundry in disappears?

And someone brings dirty plates into the kitchen just as you've tipped the washing up water away?

Speelin/punchuashn

I know it's wrong to snigger at dodgy spellings Freecycle posts but I just can't help myself... :

"still have big tv (tosh) have got down my stairs with all fingers in tack lol, pink head board singel, 2x blue black out blind they where ere when moved in and left them up in boys room they will not fit any of windows in new house there for summer my kids never want to go bed as still light 2ft 9"

"a set of 6 glass bowels I think the have roses on them but not sure"

Ooh, I hope you're not eating out of bowels ...

Doncha love this typical Bank Holiday weather? It's just how I remember it from my childhood: walking along some windy prom, head down, huddled in an anorak (yes!) in the driving rain, looking over a grey sea and sky, then back to the car to eat sandwiches and chicken legs wrapped in foil while watching the rain streaming down the windows and drawing pictures in the condensation ...

I just found another one:

" wanted badly washing machine"

... and people ask why punctuation is necessary...!

... and another:

"hi have ,all singles and pillow cases sherek brats grovey chick scatboard plannets teddt bear hot water bottle cover purple flease blanket [well used] giant winnie poo tiny hole in the foot but repairable"

Southern Railways

Time for another moan - well, it's what I'm here for, isn't it?!

I've been extolling the virtues of Southern's cheapie-cheapie rail fares but I do have a problem with their dissemination of information!

Have been trying for the last few days to book an "advance" (i.e. "cheap") ticket for Saturday but whatever times I put in it just tells me there are "no fares available for your selected journey". I eventually managed to speak to a "real" person (after going through God knows how many recorded messages) who tells me it is because there are engineering works so you need to change at Lewes, get a bus etc.O.K., why couldn't they make that obvious on their website?

Now, another moan: When I telephone a company, isn't it obvious it's because a) I want to have a conversation with a real person, b) I couldn't find the information I required on their website, or c) I don't have access to the internet, so it really pisses me off to get the recorded message telling me I can go their website at www. whatever!

O.k., that's it for now...

New Time

I always think I'm not affected by the clocks going forward or back, but today I didn't wake up till 7.45! I guess the dark, miserable weather didn't help. Good job I wasn't working today! I can't believe I slept for seven and a half hours!

By the way has anyone on here signed the petition to keep the bank open (there's a sheet in the newsagent's next door) and do you think it's likely to do any good?

There goes another one!

I've just been to Nat West in the village and they tell me that the branch is closing at the end of May.

I remember when we had a Barclays and a Lloyds up here too. I thought that at least Nat West was keeping its promise not to close any more branches, if we were to believe the telly ads. Some hope!

I hate this dehumanising of everything. I know they want us to do everything on line and do away with human contact altogether and it makes me mad!

No wonder we have so many social problems. If people feel so disconnected from each other they can't develop empathy and understanding and cases like Jamie Bulger, people torturing animals for fun and having no qualms about destroying other people's property are only going to increase.

Rant over.

My poor French student - she was only here for a week and the weather's been crap for most of it! We got soaked in London, frozen at Windsor Castle (bright sunshine but biting wind) but all in all she has enjoyed herself. Pity the sharks weren't at the Aquarium; that was a bit disappointing. I'm getting to know the Battle Abbey commentary off by heart, I've taken so many students there now!

I guess the only advantage is that everywhere is not too crowded in this weather.

Is it worth putting anything up here? I hardly ever get any feedback!

Annoying things

Why do towels have that strip across one end that always shrinks?

Why are clothing/linens labels declaring "100% cotton" not made of said cotton?

Why don't eye-level grill pans pull out far enough that you don't catch your food/utensils on the grill when you turn it over?

Glasses (2)

He would have cracked up if he'd seen us pathetic middle-agers in the restaurant the other day trying to read the menu by passing round the reading glasses in turn like those old women in Greek mythology who shared an eyeball.

Glasses

My dear son (17) has just got glasses. He got his Dad's (short-sighted) eyes rather than mine (long-sighted). Now he can't take the mickey out of me for holding things out at arm's length to read them, and he knows why I take my reading glasses off to drink hot drinks. Neither of us realised how bad his eyes were until he wore them properly for the first time - it's not like just reading the charts in the optician's. He said it's like seeing the world in HD. And as as his girlfriend helped him choose the frames, he looks dead cool too! :-)

Pythonesque

Does anyoneone else think that the name of the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup sounds too like "Jockstrap" to be taken seriously?

I used to have a bank manager called Mr. Money years ago.

Remember when cereal bran was only used for animal fodder, basically a by-product when producing foodstuffs for us delicate humans? Ever since the eat-more-fibre-and-be healthier movement it has got really expensive. Any cereal with bran in is twice as expensive as the sugary, chocolatey muck, and a bag of oat bran costs me £1.20 when the porridge I put it in is only 53p!

And another moan: selfish parking! Why don't people park considerately? There is space for 3 cars outside my house, but one family usually parks their two cars across all three spaces.

O.K. Rant over.

Too ambitious!

Well, I sort of finished it. I gave up on the guitar, (it is only meant to be a "side on " slice). I realise that in the pic there appears to be no definition between body and sleeve, which just makes him look pregnant. Still not happy with the face, although I liked the texture I got for his hair by mixing wholemeal flour (plain was too smooth!) with the paint and I ended up threading a scarf through the actual canvas for a belt. The canvas curled up at the edges and none of the text I put on shows up in the photos. (Song lyrics). I guess that the fact that no-one commented on any of it on here means they haven't anything complimentary to say! (Constructive criticism gladly received, sniggering not!) Apparently it's good enough to get a certificate equivalent to a low G.C.S.E., which is a bit humiliating when I already have A level Art!

Oh well.

P.S. Why doesn't my post ever look the same as it does in the preview?!

Orb

Grown ups.

Cheating packaging

Wordy-wise

I have just spent 5 timewasting minutes refreshing a page so I could snigger at some of the verification words and imagine what they might mean... e.g. "humena" (female human?) , "cluchcer" (hold a mongrel very tightly?), "menesses" (transvestites?), "beapsi" (adjective describing small noisy car?) ... and my favourite "behli" - it's got to be an upset stomach caused by Indian food!

Hendrix

Progress (or not) on the painting... Any comments? (Yeah I know the face is still wrong and I haven't even started on the guitar yet!)

Can't wait for the new Hendrix album to come out in March! Apparently containing some never-heard-before tracks. Well, I might wait a little while as it's my birthday at the beginning of April...

My lovely son got me a great Hendrix double CD for Christmas, I was really chuffed.

P.S.I wish someone could show me how to move stuff around on here so it ends up where I actually want it!

Reference to earlier post (um, Dec 18th last year!) - can anyone yet enlighten me on the Jeffries Farm Unbeatable Car ad jingle?

Does anyone else out there (well, reading my blog anyway) have teenage boys?

Mine's lovely but is living in a world of his own as far as sending birthday/Christmas cards, thank you letters etc. He's nearly 18, I shouldn't have to be nagging him now, surely. Oh, hang on a minute, didn't I have to do the same for every partner I've ever had?!

"One tip of a flat belly"

Is anyone else as pissed off as I am at this ad (or "one tip of a tiny belly") appearing EVERYWHERE?! I want to scream every time I see it!

Snowmen ... and animals

I saw these snowmen while walking from Ore to St.Leonards on Saturday afternoon.

This chap was outside Azur and the animals in St.Leonards Gardens ("the Blind Park")

I just wish I knew how to put photos where I want them or move them around. They always seem to end up in the wrong place and then I accidentally delete them trying to close the gaps!

... "snow ...again..."

This is annoying; I wanted the second pic first ("yesterday and today") but I can't be bothered to redo it. My son did two paper rounds in half the time it usually takes to do one today - only the Sun and the Times were in. My guess is that a lot of people will switch to reading papers on line during this weather and never return to hard copy.

It must be love!

My teenage son insisted on visiting his girlfriend in Camber come what may yesterday. When he thought there were no buses from Rye to Camber instead of coming home he insisted on walking there in the snow. I was relieved to get a call saying he had arrived safely but then was panicking at the thought of him doing the same thing in the dark coming home - and, typical teenager, (i.e. think they're invincible) he was wearing trainers and no coat, just two t-shirts and a hoodie. Even more relieved to get a text saying he was on the bus coming home!

The summer before last he insisted on walking from Hastings to Rye on the hottest day of the year.

I suppose I would rather he did these sort of things to prove his manhood, so to speak, than get into fights, mug old ladies, burgle houses, smoke or drink himself silly. When I look at the problems some families are encountering I know how lucky I am. But I'm a mum ... and worrying comes with the territory!

I am envious of his ability to ignore the cold. I am wearing three pairs of socks and my feet are still cold. I haven't been able to get over to Bexhill to finish the job I started on Tuesday so am stuck at home burning gas. I have just stuck bubblewrap on one window to try and keep the heat in. I don't care how silly it looks!

Happy New Year

What a great start to the new year: apart from the glorious sunshine and blue sky that makes you feel that it's good to be alive, I've got work lined up for the next couple of weeks - I actually got a phone call on New Years day asking for an estimate!

Now I just need the weather to stay like this so I can actually get to the sites and have some light to work in ... and it would be handy if I could get a parking space near the house for when I load up my ladders and equipment, but maybe I just have to do the double yellow lines, like all the people who use the cash machine. The difference is, I am bound to get a parking ticket and they never do - even when they park on the bus stop!

O.k. rant over...

God, my feet are cold! I have two pairs of thermal socks on under my slippers but the draught through this double glazed (ha ha) window is still making them (and my hands) cold. The frames are the wrong shape for that temporary secondary glazing you can get:-( so I guess I'll just have to buy bigger slippers and more socks!

I originally put this blog up to moan on, but doing so has actually made me realise life is O.K.! I am not feeling that grumpy right now ... of course could be something to do with the wonderful man in my life returning to this country at last... and generally counting my blessings when I see so much unhappiness and injustice around me.

I would like to have warm feet though...