LIFE LAUNDRY

You may have noticed in my last posting, that I have the cleaning bug. Yesterday I decided I would tackle the attic, I have quite a big attic, it is choc full of stuff, shstoof, tings, cosas, things!! After several hours of clearing out old Christmas cards (circa. 1987), old suitcases, which don't close and holdalls, which don't hold anything, I realised that my huge wheelie bin (as supplied by Brent Council) was full!!

I really wanted to find some Star Wars stuff that I have hidden away for a rainy day (I'm a poet and I didn't know it!!). I have hidden the Star Wars stuff so well, I can't find it, I wanted to sell it on eBay as my financial situation is reaching critical point!!

The above photo is of a Critical Point, which is where I am at in my life(financially) - I have no idea where in the Universe the above Critical Point is - it just is.

Brent Council emptied my bin today, so I thought I would give the attic a miss and tackle my room. How much rubbish can one person accumulate in a lifetime, well in 20 years anyway?

I have thrown away:

Four battered handbags
Ten pairs of old (and I mean old) shoes
Twenty pairs of laddered tights (pantyhose)
And at least Thirty assorted half used cosmetics, including lipsticks in various colours, blue, green, red, rose, poncho pink and coral orange!!

I still couldn't bring myself to throw away, paintings that my sons had drawn when they were around 5 years old and macaroni Mother's day cards, oh and an unusual story about 'KILLER TOASTERS'!!

I have filled the bin up again, so I think I will have to make a trip to the dump with some of it, otherwise it will be overflowing by next Monday.

The time arrived to eat, I thought I would make some Spaghetti Bolognese for dinner tonight, it's my boy's favourite, unfortunately I didn't have much mince meat left, so I had to supplement this with some chopped up bacon (NOT BAD), I used loads of onion and garlic too, but that's how we like it. A bit stinky, but delicious!!!

I have managed to put a few items on eBay for sale, one of them, a Star Wars graphic novel has already had six bids, no bids for any of the others though. I have everything crossed that I sell at least half of them, that would be so lovely.

Last night,I finished my book '26a' by Diana Evans, I did enjoy it, but it was very sad, I won't say anymore, but I really don't understand what makes people do the things they do, but then I suppose I am quite sane, so it helps. Maybe my madness takes the form of hoarding useless bits of the past, who knows??

Do You?

Jo xx

A WOMAN'S WORK IS NEVER DONE!!

Today I have been cleaning the ‘Pit’ that is my younger son’s room – I don’t normally tidy his room as I try to encourage him to do this himself – FAT CHANCE!!

It has taken me nearly three hours, to sift through:

Mountains of clean and dirty clothes,
Football boots – caked with mud, smelly old trainers,
Reams of old schoolwork – I’m amazed at the amount of work he has actually produced!!
Old copies of Nuts magazine – don’t ask??
DVDs/Videos/Computer Games/CDs – all out of their covers.

I have:

Cleaned the windows,
Washed the floor,
Vacuumed under the bed and behind the furniture,
Folded and neatly put away all his clean clothes
Put all his paperwork in files.

He will arrive home later on this evening around 7pm, after a day’s work at Tesco stores in Brent Park (he works one day per week) – after approximately one hour, I will go into his room and it will probably look like a bomb has hit it – WHY DO I BOTHER??? It does, however, give me no end of satisfaction to know that I have cleaned the room from top to toe, regardless of its state. Yes I am a very strange person.

Whilst I was cleaning my son’s room, I have been listening to the Best of Dire Straits and the Best of David Bowie – good cleaning tunes!!

I have been practising a bit lately with my camera – well I do have a lot of time on my hands – and have been messing about with Photoshop effects, here are a couple of my efforts – bear in mind I am still a novice at this, so no cruel remarks – only positive criticism will be accepted!

This one is a close up of some flowers, which I planted last year and they have come up again this year – I really like the hairy bits!!

This next one is of a miniature pansy, which is next to a green glazed pot also in my garden – it is so delicate.

I do like taking pictures of Roses and this one is of a rosebud from some climbing roses, which are against the wall of my garden.

This last one is of the flowering part of a Fennel plant, I grow quite a few herbs in my garden, and they are about the only things I don’t kill!! I took the photo close-up and took out the background using Photoshop, it was a bit fiddly but I quite like the final look.

I did mention that I had started to read Nabokov’s ‘Bend Sinister’ well I have temporarily given up on it and have started to read a book by Diana Evans called ‘26A’. It is a story about a set of twins and their life. It is set in and around 'Neasden/Gladstone Park' which is where I live and Nigeria. I was quite enjoying reading it, when I foolishly read a review, which has kind of spoiled it for me – but I will carry on to the end as I really want to know, how and why things happen – don’t read any reviews if you don’t want to know what happens – blooming spoilsports!!

Well I am off now to watch our new 32inch LCD Flat Screen HD ready to use TV, bought today by my elder son, with some of his hard earned cash – he’s not a bad boy really, although sometimes he can be a bit of a crank, but nobody’s perfect – except me maybe?? No I’m joking, ha ha,(in English) je je (in Spanish)!!

Jo xx

FAMILY LIFE

‘You can never have enough friends’ is something I have heard people say for years, and it is true, it is wonderful to have friends, but a true friend is someone who is there for you, without actually having to be there.

My family are my ready made friends – I don’t have to be with them every day, but sometimes when you need a little lift, you can invite yourself for dinner, you can have a family bbq and air your opinions, you can just sit in each other’s company not saying a word, but still understanding each other - this is not to say that we are always in total agreement – we are all strong characters in my family – thanks to our Mum and Dad.

This photo of Mum and Dad was taken around 20 years ago.

Dad has always taught us to question everything and find out things for ourselves - he taught us to appreciate music, art and literature - he has showed us how to be independent and make our own ways in the world - he is honest and hardworking - he is supportive of us when we have ideas to better ourselves - he can be stubborn at times (a characteristic most of us in our family have) - he is happiest when surrounded by his family - he loves laughter and was always trying to make us laugh as children (jumping about in his Y fronts with a colander on his head!!) - he is the font of all knowledge and he is a wonderful Father and Grandfather to his 7 Children and 13 Grandchildren.

Mum has always been the practical one - a bit of a worrier - always trying to save a penny here and a pound there - she has showed us how to cope with every day life - how to cook and clean - how to make do and not be wasteful - she has a thirst for life and loves nothing better than to sing one of her favourite Conchita Piquer or Maria Dolores Pradera songs, whilst cooking a family favourites such as Paella or Pollo en pepitoria (Chicken in a peanut and peppercorn sauce) – she writes beautiful Spanish poetry, full of her love for her hometown Sueca and her childhood dreams and she is the world’s best person to listen to your problems when you are a bit down.

When I hear about other people’s relationships with their families I am thankful that I have been born into a close and loving family and am sad that some will never know the pleasure and comfort this brings.

The photo above was taken about 20 years ago, when we were all younger and slimmer.

It’s too hot and I have too much time to sit and think about stuff, but my sentiments are genuine.

STOP ALL THE WARS
STOP ALL THE FIGHTING
LOVE AND RESPECT EACH OTHER
TOLERATE EACH OTHER’S DIFFERENCES
ENJOY YOUR LIFE

Peace and Love Jo xx

A Life of Food

What did I say about low cholesterol diet? Well that’s kind of gone out of the window for the time being. I have been eating rubbish since Friday, which was the Staff bbq on the last day of school. Food on offer at the bbq included:

Barbecued Lamb Steaks
Barbecued Chicken Tikka
Vegetable Curry
Ratatouille
Pasta Salad
Potato Salad
Tomato, Onion and Mozzarella Salad
French Bread

I tried a little (honestly) of everything, but still ended up feeling bloated, so much so, that a rush to the lavatory was necessary – no, imperative!! TMI! (Too much information)

The following day wasn’t too bad and as only my younger son and myself was at home I decided to cook something a little healthier. We ate:

Stir fried breast of chicken, marinated in olive oil, garlic, soy sauce and honey, and stir-fried with onions, mushrooms and sugar snap peas and served on a bed of boiled white rice – quite healthy – don’t you think?

Sunday started off ok, but we had a family Christening (again!) and after the church service, we all went to the Elgin pub in Elgin Avenue, W9. This used to be one of those old fashioned British pubs full of unsavoury characters. The unsavoury characters can still be found – sitting on the wall opposite the pub, drinking cans of Special Brew – the pub itself is now a type of Gastro pub – catering for families and serving bar snacks all day.

We had:

Huge bowls of Beef Nachos, covered in cheese, salsa, guacamole, sour cream and chillies.

Deep fried Haloumi cheese served with a redcurrant sauce

Houmous and pitta bread

Steak Sandwiches with Horseradish sauce and Chips

Extra bowls of Chips

I am seriously worried about my bodily functions as about an hour after I had eaten, I felt that sudden urge that makes me feel like my womb is falling out – not a pretty picture!!

Today my two sister and I were invited to lunch, by my mum, she made:

Two types of Arroz al horno (rice cooked in the oven)

The first one has morcillas- a type of black Spanish sausage, normal English chipolatas, bacon, slices of potato, chickpeas, slices of tomato and cloves of garlic cooked in the oven with saffron rice.

The second only has chickpeas, potatoes, sultanas and cloves of garlic – with the rice.

Both of them are delicious and are a family favourite.

My sister bought dessert, which was a hot pear and chocolate tart, served with thick double cream.

SCRUMPTIOUS!

About an hour after eating, I suddenly felt the urge to leave, no guesses as to my destination. I am a bit like homing pidgeon, when it comes to my personal habits – there’s no place like home.

I have decided that I will be taking my Dad out for a trip to Woburn Abbey, it’s straight up the M1, which is just up the road from me.

I have never been there before so I am quite looking forward to the trip, but it will have to be after my Dad has had his little op., not quite sure whether it’s for his hernia or for his cataracts, but at least he has something to look forward to.

No photos today, my computer is not playing - I might add them on later.

Success, I added the above photos at 12.35 pm on 26th July.

Happy eating

Jo xx

IF

If I had gone right instead of left.

If I had gone up instead of down.

If I had said 'yes' instead of 'no'.

If we could see into the future, would our choices be the same or different and would making different choices actually make a difference?

These questions and many more have been argued upon since the beginning of time.

In my life - would going to Lyon (France) to be an Au-pair at the age of 18 years have made my life anymore interesting or exciting. It certainly could have been more interesting, but the fact remains, we don’t know.

I met my husband, that was, at the age of 17, whilst still attending school. He wasn’t really my type of guy, being a little rough around the edges – we hit it off just the same.

We married two years later at the age of 19 (both of us) – people told us not to do it – I kind of wished I had listened - I made my decision and I stuck to it.

Two kids and 20 years later we divorced.

The constant drinking and romancing of anything in skirts finally drove me to decide enough was enough!

I still loved him though!!!

Three years later he died of a brain haemorrhage, caused by high-blood pressure and aggravated by his lifestyle. Keeping up with all the young ladies he seemed to attract, was what really took him in the end.

If I had gone to Lyon at 18 - would I have met him?

If I had not married him - would I now have two wonderful sons?

If I had not divorced him - would he still be alive now??

If I knew these answers before they happened, would I have changed anything?

Who knows – not I?

I am content with my life as it is now. I have my family and friends for company, when I need company.

I have two wonderful boys, who could possibly start their own lives apart from me and their own families at any time.

I have a home, where I am warm in the winter and cool in the summer and where I feel safe and happy - what more could I need?

If you concentrate on what you have and not what you have-not and forget all the 'ifs' perhaps it can make life easier to cope with.

After all what is life – but ‘le if’

Philosophy lecture over, normal service will be resumed at next posting.

Jo xx

Asi es la vida!! That's Life!!

Only two more days to go and I will be finishing work for the Summer – Yippee!!

In Alice Cooper’s immortal words “School’s out for Summer”.

Since I am a bit boracic (skint) at the moment and I have a holiday planned to New York in October, I have to find some way of getting some money, dosh, spondulix together.

There are several options:

1. My mother’s beloved car boot sales

2. Ebay selling

3. Selling my ageing and sagging body (not really an option)!!

I do have quite a few good things to sell on ebay:

1. Star Wars Vintage figures – I have around 60

2. A stack of comics – collectible I am told

3. Some antique items, including a Victorian Solid Silver Chatelaine (housewife’s belt)

4. Approximately 1000 Science fiction/fantasy paperbacks

That should be a good start or hopefully a good end if I sell everything for the price I want. All this should pay for:

The Radio City apartment, which has already been booked, but not paid for.


1. Some of my Credit Card debt.

2. Some of my debt to my mother.

3. Some of my debt to my son

4. Some spending money for New York

5. A booze cruise (day trip to Boulogne,France) in September


I am eternally optimistic and will turn my hand to anything to earn a bit of cash, so this summer should be quite busy.

I have finished reading ‘Beloved’ by Toni Morrison – a beautifully written book, strange to our modern eyes, but ordinary to the people that lived those lives. It’s not an easy read as it is quite poetic in parts and needs to be read over in parts to make sure you have read correctly. I can understand why it received the 1993 Nobel Prize for Literature.

I have just picked up ‘Bend sinister’ by Vladimir Nabokov, don’t ask me what it’s about yet, coz I don’t know!! It was written in 1945/46 and was his first novel written in America – Russia being his homeland. His most well known work and possibly his most controversial is ‘Lolita’ which I am sure most of you well read people have heard of???

I have picked up a pile of books from my school library to try and read over the Summer holidays – will keep you posted on my progress.

Since my Dad was critically ill last year in Spain, he has decided that he never wants to leaved England’s shores again!! He would, however, enjoy trips out to Stately homes, Castles and other places of Historic, Botanic and any other ics you can think of. To this end he has already been taken out to Warwick Castle, by my sister Anna and her Husband Tim and to Waddesdon Manor by my brother Joseph and his wife Cathy.

I think I might take him to the newly re-furbished Kew Palace in the grounds of Kew Gardens or possibly Canterbury – don’t really know yet.

Well I have gabbed on enough, I’m off to make our evening meal of grilled steak and salad and a baked potato with lashings of butter for my youngest (chubby) son.

35 degrees today here in London, the roads are melting, there is still a hosepipe ban, my Mum & Dad haven’t had a water supply for the past 24 hours as there is a burst water main in their road. This is civilisation!!

All hail to progress??

Jo xx

HOME SWEET HOME

I realise how much I miss home, when I return. It’s not so much the big things, but the little things in life, that certainly make a difference.

My pillow

My bath

My couch

My kitchen. I especially miss my kitchen!

I have spent all week eating mostly bread and chips, or frites as the Belgians call them. I am feeling incredibly bloated and I have missed my own – Toilet!!

After 8 and a half hours on the coach we arrived from Namur in Belgium yesterday afternoon at 5.40pm, two hours later than we should have. The traffic jams on the M25 were horrendous and the London traffic was no better – why are there so many cars on the roads??

We returned on two coaches, which included:

92 Children

10 Staff

2 Coach drivers

I hope we will never take so many away again, the logistics for moving this amount of students everyday was a nightmare!

We stayed in a youth hostel, situated next to the River Meuse in Namur. It took nearly two hours to sort out who would be sleeping in which room. It was really too small for the amount of people and some of the students had to sleep on mattresses in very cramped rooms. The dining room was too small for all of us, so we had to have two sittings for every meal, which was a nightmare, since we had to do all the serving, washing-up and making-up of daily packed lunches – something I knew nothing about in advance. The nights were very noisy – the first night students were still running up and down the corridors at 4 in the morning!! God I needed my sleep!!!

On a positive note, we did visit some very interesting places, such as some Limestone caves, in Han-sur-Lesse.

We also had a day visit to the European Space Centre, where we were able to try out some of the equipment the Astronauts use to train for space –

A Gyroscope, a bouncing chair, which demonstrates how you would walk on the Moon and a spinning chair (I can’t remember what this one was for). We also made our own mini rockets and launched them at the end of the day – most of them shot up around 300 metres into the sky – there were a couple of dud ones though.

We had a day visit into Brussels, where we saw many things including the Mannequin Pis, the Grand Place and the Atomium.

I took a picture of our group of kids by the Atomium – as you can see the sky was very blue and it was 35 degrees Centigrade(95 Fahrenheit)!!

Back at home now; I am sitting here with shockingly swollen ankles and at least five very itchy mosquito bites. I have put back on some the weight, which I lost, but I am sure with my healthy eating regime I will lose the pounds again.

I have finished my book ‘The five people you meet in Heaven’ by Mitch Albom. It’s not a long book, but a good read nonetheless - very philosophical and it shows well how every action has a consequence, which can sometimes tragically alter someone’s life.



I have just started on ‘Beloved’ by Toni Morrison, which I am really enjoying. It’s almost like reading poetry, but not enough like poetry to put off the poetry haters amongst you. I’ll let you know how I get on with it.

Time for me to get on with stuff at home, my home.

Comfortably yours Jo xx

We're having a heatwave, a tropical heatwave

"Into each Life some rain must fall"

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Well folks, it's now official ' I am hot!!' and I don't mean in the good looking sense, far from it. In my sweaty state I can definitely say that not only do I not feel good looking, but also I don't look good. I have a permanent sheen of perspiration over my whole body and you really don't want to know what's going on between the sweaty thighs. Well perhaps you might, but you're probably just a pervert!!

The past few days in London have been horrendously humid - London is not known for hot weather - but it is known for rain and we have had plenty of that as well. You would have thought that the rain would make things easier, but all it did was raise the humidity levels even higher. For all you ladies out there who are fighting the frizz 'You know what I'm talking about'.

Londoners are not used to coping with hot weather and neither is our transport system. It seem that every day on the news we hear stories about passengers being stuck in the tube(underground) for several hours, where the temperature is almost twice the surface temperature - you could possibly crack an egg on a bald man's head and watch it cook!!

Work in my library has progressed slowly as we take it in turns to stand in front of the office fan, before moving on to the next task. This week is the first week for our Year 10's to do work experience and some of our special needs kids were not able to get placements for whatever reason, so some of these end up working with us. The young lad we have working with us at the moment has speech problems and can find it a bit difficult to carry on a conversation - there is certainly nothing wrong with his brain!! He has carried out all duties more than well and needs only to see a job done once and he remembers it. I am sure he will do well out in the big wide world.

Another lad who started work experience on Monday, has already been sacked!! He started work on the first day, late, he carried on conversations on his mobile(cell) phone, whilst he was supposed to be looking after the children and shouted at them to shut-up, because he wanted to chat - they were four year old children!! Needless to say, the nursery decided he wasn't the child-caring type and sacked him!! He is now working with us in the Library and has spent the whole day scanning documents and is bored to tears - perhaps next time he will learn how to behave??

Haven't had much time to read lately, but I have started to read a book called 'The five people you meet in Heaven' by Mitch Albom. It is a story about an old man who dies in an accident, whilst trying to save the life of a child - he dies and when he wakes up, in the afterlife, goes through a strange journey of discovery with five people who were in his life. I don't really know how everything happens yet but will keep you posted when I finish it.

I don’t know where my children have gone this evening as they are both running late and are normally home by this time. I’m not really in the mood for cooking dinner tonight, so I might get one of them to make a meal for me, for a change.

If I haven’t mentioned this already, I thought I would tell you that I have lost 7lbs on my low cholesterol diet, which I have been keeping to for the past 3 weeks. I haven’t used any particular gimmicks; I have just cut out red meat, cheese, butter, crisps, cakes and biscuits. I have been eating loads of fruit and veg, which seem to be making me run to the toilet more often – but at least I can get into some of my pairs of trousers that haven’t fitted for a while and that’s good news.

I am off to Namur in Belgium on Sunday, so I probably wont be posting next week. This is a school trip for 90 kids and 10 staff. We will be visiting several places around Belgium, including: Limestone caves, a space centre and a theme park. So it should be fun for all, hopefully I will get some decent photos.

Off now to see what I can eat, that’s wholesome and healthy – mmmm, what shall it be celery or carrots, lettuce or radishes – the choices are infinite.

Until then “Let’s all be careful out there” as Paradise Driver likes to say.

Jo xx

It's all over

I am completely gutted – England is out of the World Cup – but maybe I should really have been prepared. They weren’t playing particularly well throughout the tournament – it was more luck than skill, which put them through to the quarterfinals.

Like I have said before, I am not particularly a football fanatic, but one must support their National team, mustn’t one?? My boys were devastated and their mood reflects the mood of the whole country – 40 years on and still no luck!! Better luck in four years time. I have just found out that Beckham has resigned his captaincy and he looked so sad, the poor love. Thanks for entertaining us Becks!!

BOOK ALERT!!

I have just finished read a book by Vikas Swarup called Q & A – what a great read!!
It is a story about a young man’s life his adventures and a quiz show. It is funny, sad, horrifying and illuminating. Please read this, I promise you will not put it down.

On another note – the boyfriend is getting on my nerves!! It could just be that womany time, but it may just be that he is really annoying me at the moment.

His house is an absolute tip, I did take some photos, but I thought he would not appreciate his shortcomings spread all over the internet. His living room is a heaving mass of rubbish: used cups and plates, half-eaten biscuits, DVDs and CDs scattered all over the carpet, out of their covers, his precious expensive Cannon camera on the sofa, his work suit jacket on the sofa –under his (really expensive) laptop, which he bought to play games and download his photographs-from his expensive camera!! Tools scattered around the room on floors, tables, chairs and sofa – power tools, spanners, hammers, screws, nails, screwdrivers. He doesn’t seem to actually use these tools, because nothing ever seems to be fixed, or new – maybe he just likes to look manly??

He(the boyfriend) has the cheek to come to my house and casually mention that some of my outside window frames need painting – SEETH, FUME, BUBBLE, EXPLODE!!!!

ME: “BEFORE YOU TELL ME WHAT NEEDS DOING IN MY HOUSE, TAKE A GOOD LONG LOOK AT YOURS, YOU BUSY BODY.”

THE BOYFRIEND: “I WAS ONLY TRYING TO HELP YOU DARLING”

ME: “WELL TRYING HELPING YOURSELF FOR A CHANGE!!”

THE BOYFRIEND: “BUT I LOVE YOU”

I really shouldn’t get angry with him, but I just can’t help it sometimes, he just gets under my skin – I am an independent woman – I don’t like to be told what to do, especially by someone who is so disorganised.

I have been practising with photoshop again and have used my rose photo and played around with tones - I love this colour.

G'night all. Jo xx