This is real life!!

TIME FOR A RETURN TO LIFE - AND ALL IT ENTAILS

2008-08-15T06:44:00.004+01:00

I really don’t know where to begin. I have just read my last entry and realise how much I was involved with – no wonder I have been ill. I suffered a severe bout of dizziness and nausea, which kept me off work for two and a half weeks; I have never been off sick for more than a day or two in five and a half years!! On top of the dizziness I was told that my blood pressure was sky high and was promptly given medication (Ramipril) to help reduce it. Now, five months down the line, the BP has been reduced and I have dropped a lot of the activities I was formerly involved in – I am feeling more relaxed and thank heavens the twitchy eye thing has stopped.

At present I am enjoying time off for the school holidays. I have embarked on some DIY work around the house, which I am rubbish at. I am in the process of decorating my tiny toilet, tiling, painting and installing some tongue and groove panelling to the walls – it is a lot harder than I thought and I really think I don’t have what it takes to make a good job of it – well I haven’t given up yet.

The weather in London is very depressing – it is amazing to think that we are in mid-August and it has been so wet and dark for at least the last couple of weeks. Today at least seems to have started well (fingers crossed). My eldest son has been trying to dig out an area of the garden to create a patio and bbq area – but work has ground to a halt with all this precipitation. Perhaps today he can get some work done – it has to be finished by the 6th September as it is my younger son’s birthday – he will be 21!! He is planning to have a bbq for all the family and his friends and is intending to re-furbish the old shed at the back of the garden and make it into a bar. We are off to buy the wood and other bits and pieces today.

On other news – it is my Mum and Dad’s Golden Wedding Anniversary in January – 50 years of wedded bliss!! My siblings and I are planning a big do for them and inviting all our family from Spain and the North of England and we really are a big family – at least 100!! The main problem we have encountered is trying to find a hall with a kitchen big enough and cheap enough for us to rent – the other day I was quoted £964 for the rental of a hall for only 7 hours!! It’s incredible how expensive everything is and it’s not getting any cheaper. I am still looking; so if anyone out there knows of a decent hall for hire in the Kenton area of London, please let me know.

My poor Mummy has been incredibly depressed lately – I think it is mainly the bad weather that is causing it – of course the weather is affecting her ability to go to her beloved CAR BOOT SALES, which are like a relaxation therapy for her and she seems to be on the point of crying every moment – this is not common for my Mum so I have offered to take her to an Antique Fair that she likes to sell at once a month in the hope this might lift her spirits. It doesn’t help that she spends all day every day with my Dad and most of that time is spent running him up to the hospital for his numerous appointments with: Cardiology, Renal and Ophthalmic consultants.

I have managed to read a good few more books – especially by one of my favourite authors, Anne McCaffrey. I have read the three of ‘Acorna’s Children’ series: First Warning, Second Wave and Third Watch, also by the same author three books from the Petaybee series ‘The twins of Petaybee’: Changelings, Maelstrom and Deluge. All thoroughly enjoyable and quite easy reads for me – I can’t wait for the next Dragons of Pern book, which her son Todd McCaffrey has now taken on.

I am at present reading a book by Paul Torday ‘The Irresistible Inheritance of Wilberforce’ about a thirtyish year old man who inherits a wine cellar and proceeds to drink himself to death all the while deluding himself that he does not have a drink problem (actually I don’t know if he dies – I haven’t got very far into the book) although the subject matter is grim it is still quite a humorous book and it certainly teaches you a lot about wine.

I am not sure when I will be back here again, so don’t hold your breath! Heh heh!

Jo xx

LIFE GOES ON AROUND US

2008-03-13T18:36:00.014Z

Life has been rather frantic of late. As usual I have overstretched myself. I am trying to juggle a full-time job, with keeping 'The Boyfriend', happy, amused, satisfied, with getting involved with my school's PTA (Parent Teacher Association), with embarking on a self enrichment program, which involves mentoring three students, doing Tai-chi classes twice a week and attending creative solutions for first time managers courses! Needless to say I am struggling - I am suffering with indigestion, heartburn and my right eye hasn't stopped twitching for several weeks now. All in all I am not bad!

I have still managed to read quite a bit (twitchy eye and all) and have got through a William Nicholson trilogy for children called 'The Windsinger Trilogy'. The books were a nice easy read and I managed to get through them over three nights. I have now read the first book in the 'Seeker' trilogy, but since the other two books are not available in our library I will have to wait to finish this set. Other recent reads have been 'Mr Pip' by Lloyd Jones, about a village on a Pacific island off the coast of Australia, where the only white man on the island takes it upon himself to educate the children using the great, Mr Dickens' book 'Great Expectations' as a learning tool. It is a beautiful and sometimes shocking book, both poetic and brutal, but worth a read. Last night I finished 'The Book Thief' by Markus Zusak. Another beautifully poetic book, narrated by Death! It tells the story of a young german girl's life in the Second world war, her fears, her dreams, her life, her death - a wonderful book.

This Saturday the school I work at will be holding an Indoor Spring Fair and Table top sale (indoor Car boot to those in the know). This is the involvement I mentioned with the PTA, unfortunately, there are only two parents and two (and a half) teachers involved in this PTA, well I am not really a teacher but they don't seem to be too bothered about that. I think they are happy that anyone else wants to help. I think it is shocking that in a school with 2000+ students and 280 staff only four people want to help out and when it comes to getting donations of gifts and prizes from people forget it! The management ie: headteachers and deputies are yet to put their hands in their pockets and contribute so much as a bar of chocolate - hmmm, I
wonder what they spend their £60 - £100,000 salaries on??

I haven't mentioned family events for a while - we haven't had too many get togethers recently - we are all such busy people!
My Dad had his birthday in February, he was 77 - we have been so lucky to have him for three years more than we thought we would, especially after the terrible time he had a few years ago on life-support and several literally heart stopping days. He
is not a well man, but at least he is happy with his family around him, he is not in pain and is looking forward to the warmer days, when he can go out into the garden and tend his beloved tomato plants.

My Mum is going to be 70 this year and we are planning to go out 'en masse' probably to a local eaterie - not too expensive - as mum hates spending too much on going out! As long as the place we go too is not too fussy about noise and caters for children with big appetites we will all be happy.

My boys are doing well in their lives, still looking after their old (well middle-aged) mum. Both of them are working, my younger son just having started full-time work at the local Tesco as a team leader (cashier supervisor). It's all about experiencing life in its many rich and varied forms. My younger son informed me the other night, that he is certainly learning the art of patience. This is mainly due the amount of complaining customers he is having to deal with - I am so proud of him! My baby is all growed
up!!

Well checking out now (get it?) Heh heh!

Jo xx

LIFE UPDATE

2007-12-21T23:25:00.000Z

I don’t know why I haven’t written for ages, specifically I couldn’t tell you. A general feeling of malaise has descended upon me and my creative juices have evaporated.

Ok, so today I felt a little inspired to put fingers to keyboard and write something, but now I have started, where should I go?

I don’t really browse the blogs as much as I used to, but still stop in now and again to see what my family has been up to. LondonCabby, So this is Paradise and Agnostic Joe, have all tapered off with their postings - now and again a little gem appears to entertain me. Paradise Driver is always dependable and incredibly prolific with his postings and beautiful photographs of Maui – I would like to meet him some day – Lord knows how he finds the inspiration every day!

I have had a quick look at New York Cabby’s blog and it seems, since she has been involved with her book she has become somewhat obsessed with it and has forgotten that which made her popular in the first place. The quirky eccentricities of the native New Yorkers made for great reading, it kept people from around the world amused and gave us all a little insight into another type of life – good or bad – didn’t come in to it. All Melissa Plaut’s postings since she received the book offer have been pale imitations of her once meaty stories. Just looking at the number of comments she now receives to the hundreds she received in her heyday an indication of her waning popularity ’15 minutes of fame’, well and truly gone.

I have been trying to read more lately and have managed in the past two months to read a variety of decent and half-decent books.

Antibodies by David J. Skal

Heavy Time by C.J.Cherryh

Wideacre by Philippa Gregory

The Almond Picker by Simonetta Agnello Hornby

Here There Be Dragons by James A. Owen

Angel Blood by John Singleton

Stranger in a Strange Land (re-read) by Robert Heinlein

Lord of the Rings (re-reading) by J.R.R.Tolkien

Work has been incredibly stressful, with one colleague who has been taking advantage of my good nature – coming in late, off sick all the time and has managed to upset most of the other girls she works with at one point or another – she has a rather abrasive manner and constantly bosses people around, including me!!

Another one of my staff has been asked to resign – she had only worked with us for 3 weeks. She is very young, very sweet, but unfortunately a little crazy! She has tried to commit suicide twice, during her three weeks with us, so has in fact only worked two weeks, with the rest of the time off in hospital or at home getting counselling. The sad thing is that she was a good little worker and the kids really liked her, so I feel a bit bad that she was semi-forced to resign by the human resources people – I hope she will be OK.

I finally finished work yesterday for the holidays – I will be back at work on the 4th January 2008.

Family events are coming up, so it’s bound to be a busy time for all the Mums out there, cooking, cleaning, buying/wrapping presents and sneaking into bedrooms in the dead of night to leave an overstuffed Christmas stocking by the bed. I still give both of my sons a Christmas stocking – they are 25 and 20 respectively, but I don’t leave them by the bed, I hang them on their bedroom door handles – even so I still seem to be going to bed at around two in the morning. I have tried to stop this tradition, but they both begged me to keep it up – big babies!

Just in case I don’t get back to blog world before Christmas and New Year, I wish you all a happy time with whatever you are going to be doing - the photo above is my greetings card to you all.

Feliz Navidad y Prospero Año Nuevo.

Jo xx

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness

2007-09-30T12:00:00.000+01:00

Okay, so it’s another sunny Sunday morning – just how I like my days, a fresh touch in the air and Mother Nature painting the trees in beautiful shades of Autumn. It is a split between autumn and spring as to which season is my favourite. Spring is a re-birth of life, new plants and fresh bold primary colours – sparkling Snowdrops, dazzling Daffodils and twinkling Tulips. Autumn is a quiet repose, reds, browns, russets, bronzes and golds, a rich time before the little death that is Winter.

Those pesky squirrels are digging up the bulbs I have planted and are burying them around my garden or in other pots – no wonder things keep growing where I haven’t planted them, well sometimes I get nice surprises, perhaps a peach tree starts growing where I had planted a tulip or a miniature oak tree pushes its way out of one of my hanging baskets – I could have sworn I planted some crocus bulbs there??

The local foxes have started preparing themselves for the oncoming mating season, ripe musky smells from scent marking males are all over my garden, why the vixens find this smell attractive I will never know. The foxes are looking particularly fine at the moment, sleek and fat with beautiful shiny russet coats, now if I was a vixen that would probably be more of a turn on – heh heh!! In the next couple of weeks I am sure to be woken up by the blood curdling screams of foxes in the throes of passion – lucky foxes!!

I am off now to make myself and my sons a late breakfast or brunch as we brits like to call it – all the mundane things that need doing and should be done are calling to me, but I am finding myself drawn outside again.

One more look before it all fades away….

John Keats - To Autumn

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,
Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too, -
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

This is one of my all time favourite poems – enjoy.

Until the next time my friends.

Jo xx

Life in the life lane

2007-09-22T12:46:00.000+01:00

Hello - where am I – Oh it’s Blog World!!!!

I haven’t been here in such a long time, so much and nothing has happened I don’t really know where to start.

My holiday was a bit of a washout for several reasons:

I hate where my parent’s flat is, it’s noisy, smelly, hot and dusty and if you don’t have a car, walking in 40 degrees of heat is no laughing matter.

The nearest beach is 25 minutes walk away – in 40 degrees heat.

The flat – in 40 degrees heat – has no air conditioning!!

My poor niece was ill for most of the holiday and was unable for most of the time to leave the flat or even eat anything and the temperature (40 degrees) for her was unbearable.

Did I mention the heat – heh heh!!

Most of the rest of the holidays was spent DIYing, my eldest son has built himself a wardrobe, it was his first attempt at carpentry and he has built a solid fitted wardrobe in his room – the doors don’t fit too well and are slightly different sizes, he has yet to put on the handles and the whole thing still needs painting, but for a first attempt, I think it is marvellous!!

We got a new garage door, new guttering, new slabs for under the little tool shed, cleared out: the garage, behind the garage, the big garden shed and loads from the attic into a giant skip.

The skip had amazing magical properties as whenever a metallic item was placed into it, the following morning it had disappeared – washing machines, garden rollers, old vacuum cleaners, metal chairs and assorted chains and rusty tools all vanished mysteriously – well actually they were taken away by rag and bone men (scrap merchants), who clambered all over the container looking for anything they might be able to salvage for scrap. This was actually a bonus for us as we were able to get rid of far more rubbish due to the self-emptying properties of this device.

Back to work at the beginning of September and the perennial problem of trying to find a new staff member – I am very fussy and know exactly what I am looking for, so interviewing has been quite a depressing affair, I have now interviewed around 12 people for the post of Librarian/Open learning officer and fussiness aside none of them have been suitable.
They either have no experience working with children, they cannot speak English, they cannot understand English, they do not read books or know anything about books, they know nothing about computers – the list goes on. How do they expect to be able to cope with a job where children are constantly asking, demanding, requesting all sorts of help?? I do find sometimes, that we are holding X factor auditions and have to stop myself laughing at the answers some people give to questions at interviews.

For the last 10 days I have been spending a lot of time with my Dad. My mother has gone away for a well deserved holiday with my brother London Cabby, so the rest of the family: Sister from Palmers Green, Sister from Harrow and Wealdstone and Brother Agnostic Joe, including assorted children and partners have all taken turns in spending as much time as possible with him. Since my Father was literally on death’s door, two years ago, he has been on a huge number of medications, having all kinds of treatments and numerous hospital appointments. For all these reasons we thought that we would draw up a Rota of times when we could all help out – it all worked out really well although it was tiring for all concerned trying to fit in this extra responsibility with out normal busy lives. My Dad loved being fussed over and was delighted with all the attention, he even showed the District Nurse the rota, which had been laid out in chart form by my sister in Harrow & Wealdstone. When my Mum returned from her holiday my Dad also showed it to her and she became quite emotional. I am just glad that my parents have such a big family, because looking after anyone is a huge responsibility and we only did it for a short time, some people have to look after their loved ones for years.

To all of you out there, you unsung heroes, carers of family or friends, my love and admiration goes out to you all.

Best wishes and Big hugs to you all.

Jo xx

WASH DAYS AND I'M OFF TO SUNNY SPAIN

2007-07-28T09:08:00.000+01:00

I’m looking forward to putting my feet up next week – I’m off to incredibly hot and sunny Spain, I’m told the temperature is hitting 40 degrees and that is very hot!

I will be going just for one week to Torrevieja near Alicante; my parents have a flat there, which they haven’t been able to go to since my Dad was seriously ill two years ago. He is not allowed to fly anymore as he has a heart condition and many other ailments – despite all these afflictions he still manages to tend to his beloved: tomatoes, peppers and aubergines and is expecting a good crop this year, as long as we get some decent sun here in London (fat chance of that!) I will be travelling with one of my many nieces – I have nine nieces and five nephews – the niece I will be travelling with is the daughter of my sister from Palmers Green. She has been taking a foundation course in Art and will be starting a BA in Photography in September, so I thought it would be nice for us to have something different to photograph, apart from rainy skies. I really enjoy photography too, so am looking forward to getting some decent shots to post on my deviantart webpage, maybe something other than flowers perhaps?? Hee hee!

I finally have a new washing machine – woo hoo!! My lovely brother London Cabby took me to Comet in Colindale where I chose the machine, paid for it, my brother and son loaded into the cab, unloaded it (very heavy) and then my wonderful brother plumbed it in for me. I have already washed 10 loads of washing, it’s amazing how much mounts up when you don’t have a machine for a couple of weeks, it also makes you realise just how many clothes you have – too many really. My Mum used to say when we were children, well she still says it now and again “When I was a girl I had a dress, which I wore everyday and one special one for Sunday” and ‘neecas’ knickers or panties “ We only had quita y pon” one on one off. I suppose it makes sense really, I must have about one hundred pairs of knickers, most of which don’t fit or are uncomfortable – no wonder I have to do so much washing – we really are quite a wasteful society now.

Well I’m off to find some more washing now.

Laters

Jo xx

RAIN, WASHING MACHINES AND HARRY POTTER

2007-07-23T08:24:00.000+01:00

Rain rain go away, come again another day.

I have water pouring through my living room ceiling, right where the TV should be - the TV is on a small table in front of where its normal position should be. In its place there is a bucket and a pile of towels - more money to be spent! I think it's coming in through the guttering, which cannot cope with the volume of rain and is finding a pathway through my bedroom window and down to the living room - I have wallpaper hanging in shreds in my bedroom - even more money to be spent!!! Oh well - at least the house is still standing.

I'm not too happy with Currys(Store), where I purchased a washing machine two weeks ago to replace my 12 year old washing machine. After two changes of delivery dates and being told that the machine, which was supposed to be in the warehouse was sold - I agreed to take the machine that was displayed on the shop floor, as long as it was in perfect condition! When the perfect machine arrived at my home, it had several dents a loose front panel and the top didn't have one area that wasn't covered in scratches. Infact it looked older than my machine!! I told the delivery guys to take it away - they emphatically agreed with my decision (nice guys) - and loaded it back into their van. I have now asked for and received a full refund of my money - I still have no washing machine - so the launderette is beckoning.

Finally I have read the latest Harry Potter book - The Deathly Hallows. For some reason I kept falling asleep whilst I was reading it(sleeping sickness??), so I had to take a little nap for a couple of hours before I could continue and finish it - it has tied up loads of loose ends, but possibly still left a lot of unanswered questions. It is a very dark book - a lot of death and destruction also very moralistic - I won't say anymore, I don't want to spoil it for any Potter fans out there! It's a good read!!

Wingardium leviosa (tee hee)

Jo xx

QUICK HELLO

2007-07-17T12:35:00.000+01:00

Just a quick hello, to say that I am still alive and kicking, but exceedingly busy with work stuff. The last few weeks have been hectic here in the school, we have had Excel week, which is a week of activities, trips out, sports days and team building competitions. Suffice to say everyone was knackered by the end of the week - only one more week to go and then a six week break from early starts and loud children.

As usual I have still be short staffed, but hopefully this should be resolved by the end of this week, I am interviewing four candidates on Thursday - none of them are particularly inspiring on paper, but who knows perhaps in person they are the answer to my problems. We didn't get an awful lot of applicants as the wages are rubbish and the hours are not to good either. One of the applicants is a prison officer - perhaps this might scare some of the students into behaving - heh heh!

This last week of term is a string of get togethers, bbq, pub outings and many good byes to leaving staff and then the whole thing starts again in September. Ah well - it's a living.

Hopefully I should get a bit more time to post stuff over the holidays.

I DO NOT LIKE GREEN EGGS AND HAM!!

2007-05-27T13:23:00.000+01:00

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

THIS NEW BLOGGER IS A BIT PANTS!!

2007-05-20T11:32:00.001+01:00

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

THANKS A BUNCH!!

2007-05-15T20:38:00.000+01:00

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

I AM A MASOCHIST!!

2007-05-06T21:09:00.000+01:00

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

Thanks for waking me up Wil!!

2007-05-02T10:41:00.000+01:00

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

OFF WITH OLD, ON WITH THE NEW

2007-04-05T08:42:00.000+01:00

We British love to talk about the weather and can you blame us?? We seem to have the most changeable weather in the world – Monday was so cold, you could have frozen the balls (testicles) of a brass Monkey (It’s an old English saying)!! Today on the weather report, I am told; we will be expecting temperatures of around 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit)!! I love British weather it keeps you on your toes – shall I put my winter jumpers away, is it warm enough for a pair of flip-flops and shorts?? I know one thing for certain, it’s not keeping me on my toes enough – strangely in the last two months I have managed to put on half a stone in weight (7lbs or 3.17kilos) and a couple of inches on my waistline – this is not good – Summer is fast approaching and most of my clothes from last year are bursting at the seams – let me tell you, it’s not a pretty sight!! Ha, ha!!

I am on Easter holidays (Spring break) at the moment and I really haven’t made the most of my time. My finances are on the up and up – my re-mortgage has finally come through. This means I can finally pay off some of my high interest debts – the credit card being the main one. I have already snapped it in half – this is to be my new financial regime, I will only spend what I know I have in my bank account and I am going to stop buying stuff I know I will never: wear, use, eat, etc.

It’s been and still is a heavy month for Birthdays in my family
– April 1st (April fools day) was my Mum, my boyfriend and my niece Rosie, April 4th, my Father-in-law and another niece Emily, April 18th my nephew Michael, April 23rd (St Georges Day) my nephew Joshua and April 27th my sister Anna. There must have been a whole lot of loving going on in the summer months of those years!! Actually May is not good either – perhaps I should take out another loan or maybe I should stick my credit card back together?

I don’t know if you have noticed, that when the weather is good the Garden centres suddenly become the places to be – and that is exactly where I will be in about an hour from now. I have the Spring bug on me and I will be buying a small shed to keep my lawn mower and garden tools in. I will also be buying my bedding plants for the summer and a few nice big pots and shrubs to put in them. I love the sunshine, it’s just the incentive you need to do a spot of gardening – but I’d better hurry up because it’s probably going to rain again tomorrow.

Goodbye from sunny London.

Jo xx

VIVA ESPAÑA

2007-03-21T13:34:00.000Z

I have been so caught up with stuff lately – at work and at home, so I really haven’t had much time or enthusiasm for writing anything – or reading for that matter.

I am still trying to sort out a re-mortgage on my home. Hopefully, when it all works out I should be free of some of my debts, the more interest heavy ones that is. I didn’t realise how time consuming and stress filled this would be – as for paperless applications – IT’S A LIE!! I have a mountain of paperwork from: The Broker, The Solicitor and The Building Society – it now fills nearly two manila folders with random stuff and I still have no money. Ah well, ‘patience is a virtue’ I have been told.

It was Mother’s Day last Sunday and my boys bought me a DVD of ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ and a lovely card. They were supposed to re-grout my bathroom tiles for me, but a heavy night the previous night, put paid to any manual work and they spent most of the day nursing their hangovers. Boys will be boys eh!!

My sister (Palmers Green) phoned to ask me if I would like to join her and take our Mother out for day on Sunday. She had seen an advert for a ‘Viva España’ Exhibition at Olympia in London - My Mum has been feeling really homesick for Spain recently, she has not been able to spend much time there since my Father became ill and she is really missing catching up on all the local gossip from family and friends. We have tried to convince her that she should go for a couple of weeks, but she is always so guilt ridden (that’s the Catholic part) that she won’t leave my Dad, even though we are all more than capable of keeping an eye on him. – Well anyway, my sister thought it would be really nice to take her there, if only to get her out of the house and spend a bit of time with three of her girls (my other sister Angie lives in Mallorca).

After a marathon journey, which took us five changes of trains (Sunday service on the London Underground is hellish) we arrived at Olympia. The exhibition was primarily for property sales, but in amongst the property sales, were free tastes of: Chilled Spanish Sherry, Soberano Brandy, a selection of wines from all over Spain; Olives, Nuts, Spanish cured ham (jamon Serrano), bread with olive oil and several other tasty titbits. I was feeling quite tipsy after only one taste of the sherry (well it was quite strong!) and my sisters from Palmers Green and Harrow and Wealdstone, were entering into the spirit of the whole event. There was Flamenco dancing and singing and we also stopped for some lunch in the makeshift Square (Plaza Mayor) and had a selection of Tapas . My Mum seemed to enjoy the event, but I am not sure if it only served to make her even more homesick – I must have a little chat with her tomorrow, when I pop in for a visit.

My boys were at it again on Monday night – Tottenham was playing against Chelsea in an FA Cup round (I think?) and they took the loss quite badly and so had to drown their sorrows. My eldest son told me that his brother had fallen asleep leaning against the bar and that he had left him asleep until it was closing time. I also ended up with a street sign in the middle of my living room, which I am not at all happy about. It is being returned this evening – definitely!!

I would just like to say, that my two boys don’t normally go together, out on the ‘lash’ as they call it, but I am quite pleased that they get on so well – it just shows how much they have grown up recently. Sorry did I say grown up – except for the street sign incident they are normally very polite and well behaved boys. Everyone is entitled to go mad a bit now and then.

Well got to go and get ready now – I am off out to meet a friend, we are going to the Cinema to watch ‘Premonition’ with Sandra Bullock. We are then going out for dinner to Chiquitos – better still she is paying!! I have such very good friends!! Ha, ha!!

Adios amigos, hasta pronto.

Jo xx

A BIT OF CULTURE IN MY LIFE

2007-03-07T20:25:00.000Z

The morning did not start too well – I woke up with a crashing headache and a blocked nose – Bloody Hell!! I don’t believe it this blooming cold is haunting me. After spending two or three days relatively happy and sniffle free, full of the joys of Spring, the cold comes back to wreak havoc on me. I did not let it beat me and took a couple of Co-codamols, which within half an hour made me feel a bit more human.

Today, Wednesday, being my day off, I fancied a bit of culture and together with two of my very good friends Steve and Jill, I went trolling around Central London visiting a few places of interest on the way.

I met my friend Steve at Borders bookshop in Oxford Street at 11 am. We decided to take a stroll around the back streets of Soho, where a multitude of interesting little galleries, art shops and other oddities can be found. We went into a really nice ceramics shop (Broadwick Street – I think), with the kind of ceramics I have always wanted to be able to make, huge pots and platters and interesting sculptures – huge price tags though – far too expensive for my modest pocket.

We continued on through: Carnaby Street, Poland Street, Wardour Street, Berwick Street, Dean Street and countless other little mews, which criss cross that whole area. Our objective was to reach the Photographers Gallery in Great Newport Street for 12.30pm, where we would meet our friend Jill.

We arrived at the Gallery with time to spare and had a look around the exhibition of photographs, which is free to anyone. They had several documentary exhibitions, some of which were quite startling, others downright boring (pretentious), but all educational in their own way.

After the gallery visit, we thought it was just about time for Lunch – we found a nice Spanish restaurant called ‘La Tasca’ in Maiden Lane, Covent Garden. They served a huge selection of Tapas (small tastes of food) and at lunchtime the deal is £10 eat as much as you like per person.

I ate: Fried mixed fish, including Calamari, Prawns, Whitebait
Spinach and Advocado Salad (beautifully fresh)
Pork ribs in a wonderful thick gravy
Potatoes cooked with Onions and Peppers

Other things on the menu were: Patatas Bravas (Potatoes in a spicy tomato sauce)
Potato Omelette
Skewered spicy chicken pieces
Mushroom Croquettes
Oven roasted aubergines with tomatoes and cheese

And much, much more!!

After a long and leisurely lunch, we decided to go on to the National Portrait Gallery, near Trafalgar Square. We spent a couple of hours wandering through the rooms and looking at some good, not so good and downright awful pieces – not all art is good art!!

We finished off the day by walking around Covent Garden, which was packed with PSV Eindhoeven fans, waiting for the big match against Arsenal. They all seemed quite well behaved, but then it was before the match – lets see what happens later on this evening. A visit to Neal’s Yard (Vegetarian’s delight) and Cucumber Lane finished off a wonderful day out.

The journey home on the Bakerloo line and Jubilee Line was not so salubrious, but then we can’t have everything in life. I am absolutely shattered, so it’s an early night for me, after I’ve soaked my aching feet.

Happy but tired I bid you adieu.

Jo xx

IN SICKNESS AND IN HEALTH

2007-02-27T18:20:00.000Z

Well I know I haven’t written again for a while, but this damned flu, cold, chest infection, sinusitis, whatever, is really hanging on to me for dear life. I feel really old at the moment and tired and fed up – I really would like to feel well again instead of feeling this awful lethargy and apathy that seems to have invaded my body. That’s it, aliens have invaded my body and I think they are getting comfortable and setting up home in my 47 year old body, yeuchh!!

It was half term last week and I did manage to go out a couple of times. The first was with my friend Steve, who is an avid photographer. We went out for the afternoon to Kew Gardens, where we managed to take some really nice shots of spring flowers and many other hothouse plants including Orchids and Flamingo Lilies. For a look at some of the photos I took, look at my Deviantart web page.

I did also get out one night to a Salsa class, which even though I had a temperature of 101 degrees, I still seemed to manage to enjoy myself. I paid for it the next few days and confined myself to my bed, with aching joints (salsa & flu) and a hacking cough.

I do intend to go back to work on Thursday; I get withdrawal symptoms if I don’t work – so with or without the flu symptoms I will be soldiering on regardless. The Easter break is coming up in about a month, so I can rest then …

Yours in sickness and in health.

Jo xx

WAR, PEACE AND PANCAKES

2007-02-20T09:20:00.000Z

So today is Pancake Day in Commercial World and Shrove Tuesday in the Christian World – traditionally a day when you get rid of all your good decadent stuff to prepare for the 40 days of Lent and fasting and abstinence – not for me, I eat what I like, when I like – in case you hadn’t noticed.

My children have always enjoyed a pancake or two on this day, I find it a bit of a bind and cheat a little with a pancake mix - A bit of lemon and sugar and Bob’s your uncle!! When I was a child my parents would make a big thing of this day (we are Catholics) - (I am lapsed) - we would have an evening of flipping pancakes and filling them up with whatever we fancied – bananas, nutella, jam, honey – it was a happy time, simple pleasures and all seven of us kids enjoyed it immensely. It was a good bonding time, slightly competitive i.e. who could flip the pancake higher, without hitting the ceiling, who would be the most inventive with their fillings, or recipes as we called them, but always with good humour.

Competitiveness in children is not a bad thing as long as they learn to take the winning and the losing equally well. All too often I hear children jeering and making fun of the losers – or should I say ‘those who have not won’, then again those who have won are terrorised for winning, which takes the pleasure out of the whole event.

Just recently I have been listening/watching my sons playing on their new Xbox 360, it has a microphone attachment so that when they are playing on line the players, from all over the world can speak to each other. Lovely I thought, communication with other people from all walks of life – not really – I have never heard so many insults fly around in my life: My own sons seem to have a thing about Northerners (English) and constantly make references to the way they speak, my elder son told me that there is actually far worse language coming from the majority of other players, regarding Race, Colour, Creed and even Sexual orientation. So not only is there a war raging on the gaming platform (Gears of War) but there is also a war of words happening at the same time – not a good thing. Let’s see what happens with this one, will it actually increase intolerance of differences or will it be a forum for venting your spleen – either way war is war.

On a much lighter note ‘The Boyfriend’ surpassed himself this Valentine’s Day and bought me an assortment of odd items. The one pictured below is of a cow car – it moos!! He also bought me a light-up Duck (Darth) Vader, which lights up in the bath and a squidgy ’I Love You’ pillow, chocolates and a pair of Minnie Mouse briefs – two sizes too small (Is he trying to tell me something?)

Well until the next time ‘MAKE LOVE NOT WAR’

Jo xx

VALENTINE'S DAY - AGAIN!!

2007-02-14T15:02:00.000Z

Here we go again.

He loves me
He loves me not

He loves me
He loves me not

Who bloody cares anyway??

Everyone as usual is going mad, because the advertising campaigns tell us, that if we don’t spend a fortune on our loved ones this day, we are bad, uncaring people

Why the hell would you want to spend £30 on flowers, which would normally cost only £9.99 – why – because we are suckers!!

I am not saying that I wouldn’t want a bunch of flowers, but for £30, I can buy a bunch of flowers and a takeaway on any other day of the year – and enjoy it a lot more.

I have no idea what ‘The Boyfriend’ has been suckered into buying as I haven’t seen him today – later – well at least I know I will be fed, because he is a really good cook and loves cooking.

I being as usual short of the readies, have bought him some: chocolate mini muffins, Cadbury’s crème eggs and two bars of chocolate coated Marzipan, which he loves – Total cost £10 – and I will tell him that I love him – well it seems that men need to be told that they are loved – come to think of it, women do too.

Happy Valentine’s Day!!

Jo xx

Snow days and Holidays

2007-02-11T14:57:00.000Z

Well another week has gone by and not very much has changed with regards to: financial situation, staffing situation and health situation.

Thursday here in London and I think most of Great Britain was a snow day (My back garden above) – I stupidly struggled in to work – I’m a bit of a glutton for punishment – only to find that most of the rest of the staff had not bothered, so we got sent home at around 2pm. Most of the kids that go to my school live in the surrounding area, so they had all turned up for a normal school day, they looked quite sad to be in. The sadness turned to joy, when they were released at 10 am to go back home. Many of them hung around the school grounds, making snowmen and giant snowballs, some of which reached a height of 5 feet – the giant balls are still in the playing fields, gently melting!

One of my colleagues, who is quite short in stature, but rather large in the breast department (40JJ) – took a couple of falls in the snow and ice and hurt her back and elbows – I don’t know why everyone laughs when I tell them this?? I had to drop her home as she was in some considerable pain. On the way we passed a group of our pupils at least 50 strong – I was just behind a bus and they pelted the bus with snowballs as it drove by – I gritted my teeth and nearly closed my eyes; gave them a steely look and almost dared them to throw a snowball at me – not one of them did. Am I really that scary?? Well am I punk?

This morning I went shopping to Brent Cross shopping Centre with my two sons. My eldest needed a new suit for work and I needed to buy my Dad, who is 76 on Tuesday a birthday present. It’s really difficult to buy him anything now as he seems to have lost interest in reading books (he has eye problems) he can’t drink too much as he is diabetic and has kidney problems and he doesn’t eat a lot of things as he has problems chewing (bad teeth). Well I ended up buying him a short-sleeved shirt from Marks and Spencer and a bottle of Harvey’s Bristol Cream (sherry), of which he drinks one small glass per day with his lunch. My youngest son just came along for the ride – and the burger and chips his brother bought him from Burger King.

What I did notice in the shopping centre are all the signs advertising special offers for the School’s half-term break, which is next week. Why would you want to spend £300 on a new games system to keep your children entertained for the week – why don’t people take their children out anymore? Wouldn’t if be better to take them to see something interesting, or go out to a park, visit a museum or just take a walk around the area you live in? For me living in London has always been something amazing and I used to enjoy taking my children out to places, not necessarily to spend money – a walk by the River Thames to see the sights and hear the sounds, free museums and galleries, loads of beautiful parks – all free!! Just walking around London especially the City of London can turn up interesting features and can enrich you and your child far more than plonking them in front of a TV ever could.

Have a look at these websites for ideas of what to do with your precious little angels or even your precious little devils!!

Enjoy England

For some reason the one above doesn’t seem to load up the right page – you may have to type the URL into the address bar, but it is worth it – this is a really good site.

365 Tickets

UK Government

London Visions

All you Mums and Dads out there - TAKE THE KIDS OUT!!!!

Jo xx

LIFE'S UPS AND DOWNS

2007-02-04T08:33:00.000Z

Life lately has been a little of a roller coaster ride - maybe not as high or as low - but it certain has had it's ups and downs. I still haven’t been in the mood for much posting, but I thought I should put a few words down, if only to have a record of what I have been getting up to.

First High - The 'boyfriend' has been particularly sweet and supportive, although he is having considerable problems with his own employment. I have been extra nice to him - only one outburst recently - but it was for his own good!! Nice dinners, Candlelit baths, TV programmes taped for me – what more could a girl/woman want.

First Low - I have been feeling really run down and ill since the beginning of the New Year, sinus problems, insomnia, coughing (and spluttering), chest infection.... etc.
I am taking anti-biotics as we speak, but it doesn't seem to be helping with the hacking cough and breathlessness.

Second High - Went out on Friday night for my friend Jill's birthday. We started off in the local pub 'Moons' in Kingsbury High Road. This pub is the hub of all the local schools and on most Friday nights and End of Terms; you can find a minimum of 50 teachers from all the surrounding schools, coming here to let their hair down. It can be quite scary to see how much alcohol some of these teachers pack away!!

After a few drinks – I wasn’t drinking (anti-biotics) – we made a move to another local pub/ Indian restaurant (Great Eastern), for a curry. This seems to be a great British tradition now and no night out is complete without the obligatory curry. The food was fantastic! I don’t eat very hot curry, so I ordered a Lamb Shahi Korma, which was delicately spiced and creamy, with nice tender chunks of Lamb. I also ordered a Kashmiri Rice, which was Basmati rice with Cashew nuts, Apricots and Sultanas - absolutely delicious! I will definitely be going back there again to try out some of the other dishes.

Second Low - I already mentioned that I have lost a couple of members of staff, so it has been incredibly stressful at work, I have had to deal with the increased workload and try and find replacements - one bit of good news (little high) is that we now have a new person - in situ - for one of the jobs. The other position will be filled by Monday - thank God!!

Third High – It looks like my finances are well on the way to be sorted. I have several plans in the pipeline and life could be financially rosy within the month – well here’s hoping anyway.

Let’s hope that March will be better??

Jo xx

Life is a bit pants at the moment

2007-01-21T13:16:00.000Z

Life has been a bit pants lately –

Oh, but there have been some really good bits, like my friend’s husband’s 50th Birthday, which ‘The Boyfriend’ and I were both invited to.

This was a very swanky affair in a beautiful restaurant called ‘Singapura’ in Limburner Street, which is almost next to St. Paul’s Cathedral in the City of London.

Young and beautiful, Malay and Thai, waiters & waitresses walked around re-filling glasses with, Singapore Slings, Champagne, Beer and any other tipple you fancied – our glasses were never empty. Unfortunately for me, I had made friends with Ibuprofen that evening (still unwell) and could not take advantage of our hosts’ beneficence. Tasty starters were passed around on large platters, Chicken Satay, Sesame Prawn Toast, Thai fishcakes and Vegetable Spring Rolls- thank goodness the Ibuprofen didn’t interfere with my eating – that would have been a catastrophe!! My friends had rented the Restaurant for the evening and all the tables were beautifully laid out for our meal of: Chicken with Soy sauce, Prawns in a Thai Green Curry sauce, Lean and Tender Beef in another spicy and aromatic sauce (don’t remember which), Rice and Steamed mixed vegetables – all wonderfully delicious!! The dessert was a Fresh Tropical Fruit Cocktail with a homemade Lychee Sorbet – scrumptious!!

Throughout the meal there was a slide show with photographs of my friends and their family throughout the years, some very cute pictures of the birthday boy as a handsome little blond boy and some other more embarrassing photos with the obligatory fashion faux pas, which only goes to prove that there is a fashion victim in all of us.

My head started pounding around midnight (Cinderella Time) so I asked my ever-suffering boyfriend to take me home. I heard afterwards that some of the guests embarrassed themselves by overindulging, but I can only say that I had a great time.

My sis Angie, arrived from Mallorca on Wednesday, I went to pick her up from Luton Airport. I have to say that the parking charges there are scandalous – I haven’t been for a while and was horrified when after some delay to the flight and trying to pay my ticket, the machine flashed up that I owed £10 for one and half hours of parking - this is even more expensive than Heathrow Airport!! It’s lovely having Angie over though – she is only staying for a few days, but that’s better than nothing.

Another family event occurred on Thursday, this was my niece’s 21st Birthday, the whole family went to ‘Dragon King’ in Park Royal, for an eat as much as you like Buffet and then afterwards to Mum and Dad’s to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ with one of my sister’s (Palmers Green) cakes – too much food to list - I have mentioned ‘Dragon King’ in previous blogs, so you can always fantasise with one of those.

Bad things are happening at work:

People not listening to what I am telling them to do
People telling me I have to do things that are not in my job description and I am not qualified to deal with.
Still no replacement staff
People going over my head to the Headmaster, to get their own way.
I’m not happy with this situation and am actively seeking alternative employment – I’m feeling demoralised, undermined and underpaid.

Ok – well there is more good than bad in my life – so maybe it isn’t really that pants??

Jo xx

The Fog is Clearing!!

2007-01-15T23:10:00.000Z

I know I am a Librarian, but just lately I haven’t felt much like being one – the main reason has been because I have been feeling a bit under pressure at work, lack of staff to be precise. The pressure caused by sinusitis has been another factor – I have been feeling distinctly under the weather and my best friend has been several packets of Ibuprofen, which have intermittently relieved some of the pressure (no I am not become addicted to painkillers!)

Tonight I am feeling slightly better, or it could be that I am reaching the Zenith of the effect of my painkillers – joking!! Anyhow, somewhere amongst all my grogginess I have managed to read a book – no really. The book in question is P.D.James’ ‘The Children of Men’ – this book has been out since 1992 and last year a film adaptation came out, which I still haven’t seen. My first surprise is that P.D.James is a woman and my second surprise is that I quite enjoyed the book, although it did paint quite a bleak picture of ‘a future Great Britain’. As is usual with ‘Dystopian’ worlds the acquisition of power plays a big part in this novel – what is it about power – why can’t people just be happy with the good things in life? Anyway, it’s quite a short book and has started me thinking about what I should try reading next, perhaps another P.D.James book, now that I know she is a woman (joking again).

Off to bed with Ibuprofen now.... I'm so sleepy.

Jo xx

We are Family

2007-01-10T09:39:00.000Z

I woke up this morning: head pounding, blood on my pillow (nosebleed) and such a sore throat, that I thought someone had spent half the night rubbing it with a file – in short, not a happy bunny. Two hours later and one coffee, two (plain) chocolate digestive biscuits and a couple of Feminax tablets – I feel semi-human – not full of the joys of spring – but ready to face my day. Thank heavens today is my day off, so I have time to contemplate my navel, plus anything else, which takes my fancy.

I have just started reading my brother Joe’s blog, which is always interesting – quite often when we all get together we invariably get on the subject of philosophy and religion. Religion has always been a big part of our lives in this family - our Father particularly was quite a devout Roman Catholic – in recent years and due to ill health he does not seem to have the same fervour, which he demonstrated with force when we were children, his sometimes blind devotion is probably what has made us more aware of religions and their impact on human behaviour. We all have our own views on religion and life and discussions can sometimes become quite heated, but as we have matured we have realised that religion – in the organised sense – is not necessarily the be all and end all. It is ‘The Family’ and the respect of each other as human beings, which in the long run are the most important things.

My sister Angie is coming over from Mallorca next week, to visit for a few days, this is always a joyful time for us, as Angie is a very upbeat person and always injects a sense of fun into everything she does – it’s also a good excuse to have yet another family get together, with, yes you guessed it – more food!!

Until the next time, love and respect to you all.

Jo xx

A KNIFE IN THE BACK

2007-01-04T17:47:00.000Z

Oh, God what a great start to the New Year – not!!

Yesterday, The first day I get back into work, which incidentally should have been my day off, I am told that I am losing yet another member of staff – the most galling thing about this is that this is a friend of mine and she didn’t mention anything to me, which is OK- but she did put me down for a reference for her new job. She has already handed in her notice to quit and to put a cap on it all, has told nearly every other one of my colleagues that she is leaving. Apparently she didn’t want to upset me, because we are such good friends and she didn’t want to let me down. Well I am upset and she has kind of left me in the lurch and I do feel just a little bit miffed – finding out in this way, was not really the way to go, but it’s done now and I just have to get on with things. C’est la vie – I suppose??

I know I have said this before, but the manager thing is not really my thing – I am one of life’s little workers and although I don’t like to be told what to do (because I know), I really don’t like having the responsibility of worrying about whether or not someone is taking me for a ride and not pulling their weight at work (they should know). When I first started in this job, I had my own area of responsibility and I was happy and enthusiastic – well obviously not everyone has the same outlook on life as me and most people don’t give 100% to their jobs, but I always do and I get a kick out of doing a job, well done – I thought everyone was like me – I am so disappointed.

On a personal note, my finances could be on the up and up – my eldest son has offered to take over a couple of the household bills, which will save me around £100 per month: The first is the bill for Sky TV, which I hardly ever get to watch as the football and wrestling are constantly on; the second is the BT Internet bill, which is quite a large chunk for something I don’t use that much either. It is a bit of weight off my shoulders and I appreciate the gesture.

I have to say that at the moment I am brimming over with love for my two boys, who are growing up to be remarkably mature and kind young men and are taking care of their increasingly erratic old Mum (me). My youngest son is as I write this, preparing a homemade Lasagne for our supper – he loves his belly as much as his old Mum.

I am looking forward to my evening meal, in the good company of my children.

Good night and God bless you all.

Jo xx