This is real life!!

Commentary on random thoughts and actions

Sunday, May 27, 2007

I DO NOT LIKE GREEN EGGS AND HAM!!

Another rainy Sunday here in London – what’s new!!

I am on my half term break this week and don’t really have a whole lot planned. Tomorrow ‘The boyfriend’ has booked me for the day (private joke) and we are supposed to be going out somewhere, anywhere – as opposed to sitting in his dark boring house, watching dark boring films. Since it will probably be raining, we will possibly end up sitting in a dark cinema somewhere – hey ho!! A nice meal after the cinema should keep me happy though, this is one of the ways to keep me happy as regular readers of this blog will know – food is my drug – heh, heh!! I won’t mention the other thing that keeps me happy, this is local blog for local people (another private joke).

The only other plan I have this week is Lunch with the girls from work at the pub ‘ The Case is Altered’ in Old Redding near Harrow on the Hill. They have a huge garden and play area for kids – the food is a little expensive, but the last time I went with some friends, we received exceptional service from one of the barmen/waiters there. It may possibly have had something to do with the fact that one of my friends was wearing a Celtic football top and the barman was a huge fan. I dread to think what the service would have been like if he had been wearing a Rangers top (it’s a Glasgow thing). I wonder if I should borrow my friend’s top for our next visit – just in case?

Wednesday I have to visit the Doctor for an update on my: Blood pressure, Thyroxin Levels and Cholesterol – I was supposed to try and lose some weight, but unfortunately I lost the argument with my willpower and have managed to pile on the pounds again – not good at my age.

On rainy days like this my thoughts turn to food – what – it’s called comfort eating!!

Today I will be making lunch a little later as we like to have a lie-in on a Sunday morning. On the menu later today we have:

Pork Loin Steaks in a cheesy pepper sauce
Garlic Sautéed Jersey Royal Potatoes
Asparagus and Tender Sprouting Broccoli


Mmm – delicious – I love my food.

Got to go, mouth is watering, have to eat something!!

Jo xx

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Sunday, May 20, 2007

THIS NEW BLOGGER IS A BIT PANTS!!


This new blogger is a bit pants (rubbish) – half of my banner is missing – what the hell happened to the profile thingy – it doesn’t connect you to like minded people anymore i.e. People who have the same favourite film or book??

Whassup with that??

I DON’T LIKE IT MUMMY!!

On other news I have read four books this week!! Ok, ok they are only children’s books about 200 pages each, but I thought I should be reading a variety of genre instead of my usual sci fi/fantasy stuff, which is the stuff I really love.

Three of the books I have read are short listed for something called the CIILP Carnegie Awards (some librarian thing). They are all very good and very readable and I would recommend these for 14+ age group as they deal with some delicate/intimate issues and would appeal equally to boys and girls.

My Swordhand is Singing
by Marcus Sedgewick - is a type of fantasy, but also deals with a boy’s relationship with his Father.

Beast by Ally Kennan - deals with a young lad on the verge of adulthood, he has been in and out of foster care most of his life and has a hugely dysfunctional family. His Father buys him a pet at some point – the pet takes over the boy’s life. This is another good one for relationships and children’s strength of character.

A Swift Pure Cry by Siobhan Dowd – based in a small village/town in Ireland, this is a story of a young girl’s passage into adulthood. It also illustrates the small-minded mentality of people and how prejudice and gossip can ruin people’s lives. This is a beautiful tale, which again shows children’s strengths and weaknesses and shows us how mistakes can radically change lives.


The last book - Bloodtide by Melvin Burgess (not a Carnegie finalist) – is a story based on the Icelandic Volsunga Sagas and is quite a shocking read for children – but no more shocking than the computer games, which most children of a much younger age group play. Violence, War, Sex and Relationships, with believable characters and mutants, boys should definitely enjoy this – maybe not the icky sex bits – but the strategies and the way the story is told from the viewpoint of different characters. I’m a girl/woman and I really enjoyed it!!

On the home front all is calm and loving again in the household – just how I like it.

I’m looking forward to my half-term holiday next week and have some DIY planned for part of the week – well planned, but I probably will only get around to maybe one of those things, but hey ho it’s my life!!

Ta ra
Jo x

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Tuesday, May 15, 2007

THANKS A BUNCH!!



Sometimes in your life you suddenly think ‘Thanks a bunch’!!

My ‘Thanks a bunch’ moment came yesterday evening around 9pm.

After a very stressful day at work – staff shortages yet again! I had people whining on about their problems at home, with their families (The Boyfriend phoned), their children, their partners – listening to complaints about aching backs, fevers, headaches and other assorted ailments - I arrived home and all I wanted was to have a quiet night, not burden my sons with my work problems and generally just chill. Everything was fine until 9pm when a friend of mine phoned, hoping to get some temp work whilst he is finishing his studies at University. I answered the phone, and yes I admit I do have a rather loud telephone voice, I proceeded to explain to him the politics involved in trying to secure him a position, the nepotism and near corruption in the educational system and that I would try my very best to get a positive result. All the time I was trying to have this conversation, both of my sons were blah, blah, blahing and generally thinking they were being hilarious (not) and I was getting more and more angry. They normally are good at spotting my anger rising, but because I was still talking, their hilarity was increasing exponentially – never a good thing when your mother is trying to have a serious conversation with a potential work colleague. Two minutes, that’s all I was on the phone for, two minutes out of their precious television watching time!! I came off the phone and they both launched into me with, ‘Why do have to talk so loud?’ ‘ We don’t want to hear about your work problems’ and ‘we can’t even hear what they are saying on the TV’.

My anger and frustration shows in two ways with my children –

1. I go very quiet
2. My eyes start to burn as the tears threaten to escape


My way of dealing with this is to sit there for about 5 minutes with an inane death mask grin on my face and then slowly remove myself from the site of frustration by slowly walking out of the room. I slowly walk up the stairs to my bedroom, go into my bedroom, slam the bedroom door and then throw myself on the bed and have a good cry - I was so tired, that I think I went to sleep within twenty minutes!

My children do not normally upset me in this way, but sometimes their insensitivity astounds me. I spend hours listening to my eldest telling me about his worries at work, about life and general moaning about most things on TV. My other son doesn’t really moan, except maybe about his brother sometimes, but then I do have to listen to all the moans and groans about football or him groaning because he has been killed on his on-line computer game. I spend two minutes talking about my stuff and I get pounced upon – there’s gratitude for you!!

Well just as well I have cyberspace to moan into – you do have a choice, you either read this or you don’t.

Thanks a bunch!!

Jo x

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Sunday, May 06, 2007

I AM A MASOCHIST!!

OMG – Not more birthdays!! April and May were busy times in our family – lots of procreating going on. This month it’s my sister-in-law, my elder son John (25 today) my sister Angie (my lips are sealed about her age) also her birthday today – Happy Birthday Angie and Johnny. It’s my nephew Danny’s Birthday on the 12th and my brother Joe’s Birthday on the 16th, plus a couple of work colleagues too!!

I bought my son an Ipod nano - 8 gigs of memory – this is really good, so I am told and he seemed to like it – so I did something right for once. I think he has inherited his fussy ways from me and is quite specific about what he likes and dislikes – as a result gift giving and receiving can be quite a hit and miss affair. Obviously the one exception for me is ‘The boyfriend’ who just buys mad gifts for the hell of it – I have mentioned some of the more eccentric offerings in previous posts – just to refresh your memory I thought I would show you the photo of the cow car, again.


Yesterday evening I went to an 18th Birthday party with ‘The Boyfriend’. The party was for the daughter of a childhood friend of his, who I also knew from my teen years. On arriving at the party, which was being held at the ‘Old Crown’ pub in Highgate – I told my boyfriend to wait a while as I didn’t fancy being the only oldie in a room full of teenies. I shouldn’t have worried really as most of the people in the party were our age (40ish) and most of the music was from the late 70’s early 80’s – Reggae, Soul, Ska and other similar sounds. What really surprised me was that the teenagers were all sitting at the tables, sedately sipping their drinks, whilst their parents were strutting their funky stuff on the dance floor, to the music of Bob Marley, Marvin Gaye and Chaka Khan amongst others. There were a lot of embarrassed young faces as they watched their parents wriggling and writhing on the dance floor – parents can really be so embarrassing!! Heh, heh!!

Today I have been nursing a little hangover, little because I only had four drinks – but I really am not used to drinking and the combination of the Dry Martinis and the smoky bar, contributed hugely to my heavy head and leaden stomach today. I have absolutely no sympathy for myself – it is completely self-inflicted. When I do get these hangovers I find that the only way I can make myself feel better is to eat a lot, so today I have had a marathon eat in.

I started the day with a cooked breakfast kindly made by ‘The Boyfriend’

Eggs, Bacon, Black Pudding and Fried Bread plus Two cups of Tea

I got home and had a cup of coffee plus two toast with butter and honey

My sister-in-law came to visit and brought:

Breaded garlic mushrooms, Garlic and Onion Dip, Houmous, Pitta Bread and Fresh Cream Chocolate Choux Pastries plus another cup of coffee.

I have just finished my evening meal of Pasta in a tomato sauce with a sizeable Sirloin Steak.

Tomorrow I am going to cry about how much weight I am putting on - I have absolutely no sympathy for myself – it is completely self-inflicted.
Yours with a full stomach and a heavy head.

Jo xx

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Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Thanks for waking me up Wil!!

Ok, ok!! I have finally been made to feel guilty – Wil Kyle from Paradise driver has been asking if something is wrong - coincidentally, my brother ‘London Cabby’ and my Sister ‘So this is Paradise’, hadn’t written anything for ages – come to think of it my other brother ‘The Reluctant Agnostic’ hasn’t written for a while either. It must be something to do with being such a close family, we all seem to shut down at the same time and go into another mode. Anyhow, no there is nothing wrong with any of us, we are just all extremely busy people, Family, Work and extra-curricular activities, take up a lot of our time.

My problem of late has been that I have started several projects and then moved on to something else, it seems like I am never finishing anything. I am pleased to report that I have definitely finished some of the unfinished stuff (?) and it really does give me a sense of satisfaction.

Firstly the re-mortgage on the house finally came through, three months after starting the process! The paperless application process has left me with a file of paperwork at least 2 inches (approx.5cms) high – huh, so this is a paperless application – I dread to think how much paperwork the paper application would generate.

Secondly and this is due to Firstly above – I have been able to consolidate (pay off) all my loans, credit card and other sundry debts, which I have acquired over the past 4 years – this has left me with one manageable payment and a huge burden of guilt lifted from my shoulders. I can now hold my head up high and say I don’t owe anyone anything – well the mortgage company doesn’t count!! Does it – heh, heh!!

Thirdly, Finally and also because of Firstly, I have been able to do some jobs around the house, which really needed doing: Unblocking drains (again), buying a small garden shed to keep the lawn mower and garden furniture in, buying a new drill, so that I can finally get around to doing all those odd jobs around the house that require a power drill and many other small repairs that everyone’s home needs doing from time to time.

On a personal note – I am quite content at the moment. Work is going well and I am finally feeling like I am the boss (not in a bad bossy way), things are progressing and the libraries are becoming quite some showpieces, we regularly get visitors from other schools and other countries, who are told how wonderful our libraries are – I must be doing something right. I am not reading too much at the moment, I have about five books on the go, some which I started reading before Christmas. I have yet to finish: My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk, The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint by Brady Udall, Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder, Four past Midnight (Short Stories) by Stephen King, The Book of Dave by Will Self.



I did manage to finish Blood Song by Melvyn Burgess, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It is a children’s book, for older children. It is a fantasy, but it also deals with a tricky subject – sexual awakenings. It is dealt with in a sensitive, non-judgemental way and I think that adults should read it too – they might learn something from it!!

Well I am off to a meeting of The Brent Librarians – on my day off – I must love this job!!

Hopefully I won’t leave such a big gap with my postings this time and thank you Wil for caring.

Until the next time.

Jo xx

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