TIME FOR A RETURN TO LIFE - AND ALL IT ENTAILS

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

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

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

RAIN, WASHING MACHINES AND HARRY POTTER

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

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

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