gemmak 09/03
Monday, 22 November 2004
Pre-cut
I have to admit to feeling slightly weird about posting this but at Lisa's request.... this is me prior to the haircutting incident!
gemmak 09/03
gemmak 09/03
Contrary...moi??
As if!
A year ago I had long hair, the real deal, lots of the stuff and it drove me crazy! I have hair that has a closer affinity to a sheep's fleece than to that, of let's, say Demi Moore, not for me a sleek, straight, perfect mane sadly and if left to it's own devices I begin to bear a strong resemblance to Crystal Tipps.
Consequently much time was wasted with what the manufacturers strangely now term 'product', and with electrical devices, hair dryers, straightening irons and the like in an endeavor to look presentable. All to no avail. One hint of dampness in the air and the moment I stepped outside up it would spring again. Despite all the effort involved I persevered with it, I had not had hair of any magnitude since I was 14, I grew it when I moved North figuring no one knew me so if I looked a mess for the interim no matter.
And so it was, it took two years to grow and having finally got there, within 6 months I was fed up with all the fiddling and straightening etc. and this week last year I ventured into a local salon and had it cut off! The stylist was not happy, she feared I would regret it, I assured her I would not, after all it was only hair. Still she would not be persuaded that I really meant short, as in very short! No one she said went from long to very short in one hit......I do I insisted, "I have had short hair most of my life",I assured her "it's no big deal" cut it"!....but no, it became hilarious, the whole salon became embroiled in this decision, various stylist's telling me I would live to wish I had hair and gathering round making 'helpful' suggestions.
Those of you who are regulars here may recall that I don't have much time for the inane carryings on that seem part and parcel of any hairdressing salon, I avoid the places like the plague and finally in amusement and some frustration at this poor girls fear of retribution should she hack off my hair I snatched the scissors from their resting place on the side, pulled up a big lump of hair from the crown of my head and cut off 8 inches..."there now" I said........"you have to finish it now"! This caused some hilarity but it did the trick and an hour later, the somewhat nervous young stylist ejected me from the seat, still crowing that I would regret it and that she had never been asked to cut off so much in one go! For goodness sake.
A year on?.........bugger!........ok, ok, I admit I regret it, I will live of course, it is not one of life's major disasters. It is of course easy, it's not hot, it dries in 10 minutes instead of 2 hours, it doesn't get in the way, doesn't require copious amounts of attention and is tidy but I miss it and what it does require of course is 6 weekly treks to the bloody hairdresser and we know how I feel about that!
Thus, it is abandoned again to the birds nest stage while I re-grow it all over again....Goddamn.........another two years!
Contrary? moi?
A year ago I had long hair, the real deal, lots of the stuff and it drove me crazy! I have hair that has a closer affinity to a sheep's fleece than to that, of let's, say Demi Moore, not for me a sleek, straight, perfect mane sadly and if left to it's own devices I begin to bear a strong resemblance to Crystal Tipps.
Consequently much time was wasted with what the manufacturers strangely now term 'product', and with electrical devices, hair dryers, straightening irons and the like in an endeavor to look presentable. All to no avail. One hint of dampness in the air and the moment I stepped outside up it would spring again. Despite all the effort involved I persevered with it, I had not had hair of any magnitude since I was 14, I grew it when I moved North figuring no one knew me so if I looked a mess for the interim no matter.
And so it was, it took two years to grow and having finally got there, within 6 months I was fed up with all the fiddling and straightening etc. and this week last year I ventured into a local salon and had it cut off! The stylist was not happy, she feared I would regret it, I assured her I would not, after all it was only hair. Still she would not be persuaded that I really meant short, as in very short! No one she said went from long to very short in one hit......I do I insisted, "I have had short hair most of my life",I assured her "it's no big deal" cut it"!....but no, it became hilarious, the whole salon became embroiled in this decision, various stylist's telling me I would live to wish I had hair and gathering round making 'helpful' suggestions.
Those of you who are regulars here may recall that I don't have much time for the inane carryings on that seem part and parcel of any hairdressing salon, I avoid the places like the plague and finally in amusement and some frustration at this poor girls fear of retribution should she hack off my hair I snatched the scissors from their resting place on the side, pulled up a big lump of hair from the crown of my head and cut off 8 inches..."there now" I said........"you have to finish it now"! This caused some hilarity but it did the trick and an hour later, the somewhat nervous young stylist ejected me from the seat, still crowing that I would regret it and that she had never been asked to cut off so much in one go! For goodness sake.
A year on?.........bugger!........ok, ok, I admit I regret it, I will live of course, it is not one of life's major disasters. It is of course easy, it's not hot, it dries in 10 minutes instead of 2 hours, it doesn't get in the way, doesn't require copious amounts of attention and is tidy but I miss it and what it does require of course is 6 weekly treks to the bloody hairdresser and we know how I feel about that!
Thus, it is abandoned again to the birds nest stage while I re-grow it all over again....Goddamn.........another two years!
Contrary? moi?
Sunday, 21 November 2004
Oh the embarrassment.
There are some days, we all have them, when the fact that you even got out of bed was your first big mistake. Today was one of those days!
Having woken to minus 5 degrees and frost a foot thick rendering my car white as opposed to it's usual blue, I trudged outside, already feeling a little 'fragile' (reason unknown), and gingerly scraped the ice from the windows, not wishing to repeat my experience of a few weeks ago and damage the windscreen. Mission accomplished off I set to work.
At about the half way point I encountered an odd problem. You have to understand first that we live so close to the border with England that on each journey, to or from work, I cross over the border. This morning upon crossing into England I discovered that someone, somewhere in local authority, in their wisdom, had decided that despite the weather forecast grit would not be spread on the roads. Scotland had gritted but no, not England. Last winter it was the same....when snow fell there was a definite line in the road on one occasion where the snow plough and gritters had stopped at the border and presumably the boundary of their jurisdiction. This morning it was the same....in Scotland the roads were fine, I hit England and immediately had to begin crawling along on ice!
Journey completed and having arrived in one piece a cup of coffee was hastily obtained from the 'nasty coffee' machine and then straight into the business of work. Well that at least was the theory.
I unlocked the office and settled for the mornings work of cashing up the previous days takings, within less than a minute the fire alarm sounded! The manager and myself looked at each other, there was no way this was a drill, there was only he in the building with authority to carry out a drill, I locked the safe fastish and the six of us that had arrived by that time evacuated into the freezing temperatures, no coats, no coffee, no damn cigarettes!
The usual hoo ha of checking every one who went in was out etc. carried on while something struck me.....only moments before the alarm sounded I had turned on the heater in my office........hells bells, the alarm panel was blinking a light furiously, designating said office as the seat of the fire. The Fire exit and the office are very close to one another. I am not completely without common sense, I was after all married to a fireman for many years, you can't help but learn a little so we nipped back in and sure enough there was the heater, still only smoking at this stage. It was duly turned off and the more serious consequences averted.........we still had to wait outside in the cold for the bloody fire brigade to arrive and officially declare the building safe though.
That sorted we had lost precious time, come hell or high water we have to open ontime and for anyone who has never worked in a large store, getting it up and running is no mean feat in 20 minutes! We made it......... but the day only degenerated from there.
We were staffed by only 8 and one manager, this is a BIG store, and just about every demanding obnoxious customer in the area appeared at our door at some point in the day, each one of us seemed to have to give 150% for 100% of the time and it began to take it's toll. The place felt like mayhem for the main part, negativity set in and things began to fall apart. I needed 20 or more staff at any given point to attend to outstanding customer requirements and only had 8 including myself. We are generally used to stress in my workplace but hell......this was something else particularly for one who had begun the day 'fragile'!
Ultimately for me the wheel came off as they say, the umpteenth difficult and rude customer said the wrong thing at the wrong time and I did the unthinkable, something I haven't done in as long as I can remember and I don't wish to do again. I finished serving her, ditched my keys with a capable colleague, fled to the staff room and fell into a heap of pathetic tears.........oh the embarrassment, thank God the only person who found me was feeling similarly herself! I gathered my wits, had a smoke and went back into the 'throng'....FFS, I hate myself for 'losing it', I don't 'do' losing it, I 'do' appearing at least to keep it all together......Goddamn, why didn't I do as the guys do and go run the forklift into the side of a container or something macho instead of behaving like a pathetic woman!! Grrrr.
Oh, and PG rang in the middle of all this to inform me his car has 'died' yet again.......happy days!
Hey ho....tomorrow is another day :o)
Having woken to minus 5 degrees and frost a foot thick rendering my car white as opposed to it's usual blue, I trudged outside, already feeling a little 'fragile' (reason unknown), and gingerly scraped the ice from the windows, not wishing to repeat my experience of a few weeks ago and damage the windscreen. Mission accomplished off I set to work.
At about the half way point I encountered an odd problem. You have to understand first that we live so close to the border with England that on each journey, to or from work, I cross over the border. This morning upon crossing into England I discovered that someone, somewhere in local authority, in their wisdom, had decided that despite the weather forecast grit would not be spread on the roads. Scotland had gritted but no, not England. Last winter it was the same....when snow fell there was a definite line in the road on one occasion where the snow plough and gritters had stopped at the border and presumably the boundary of their jurisdiction. This morning it was the same....in Scotland the roads were fine, I hit England and immediately had to begin crawling along on ice!
Journey completed and having arrived in one piece a cup of coffee was hastily obtained from the 'nasty coffee' machine and then straight into the business of work. Well that at least was the theory.
I unlocked the office and settled for the mornings work of cashing up the previous days takings, within less than a minute the fire alarm sounded! The manager and myself looked at each other, there was no way this was a drill, there was only he in the building with authority to carry out a drill, I locked the safe fastish and the six of us that had arrived by that time evacuated into the freezing temperatures, no coats, no coffee, no damn cigarettes!
The usual hoo ha of checking every one who went in was out etc. carried on while something struck me.....only moments before the alarm sounded I had turned on the heater in my office........hells bells, the alarm panel was blinking a light furiously, designating said office as the seat of the fire. The Fire exit and the office are very close to one another. I am not completely without common sense, I was after all married to a fireman for many years, you can't help but learn a little so we nipped back in and sure enough there was the heater, still only smoking at this stage. It was duly turned off and the more serious consequences averted.........we still had to wait outside in the cold for the bloody fire brigade to arrive and officially declare the building safe though.
That sorted we had lost precious time, come hell or high water we have to open ontime and for anyone who has never worked in a large store, getting it up and running is no mean feat in 20 minutes! We made it......... but the day only degenerated from there.
We were staffed by only 8 and one manager, this is a BIG store, and just about every demanding obnoxious customer in the area appeared at our door at some point in the day, each one of us seemed to have to give 150% for 100% of the time and it began to take it's toll. The place felt like mayhem for the main part, negativity set in and things began to fall apart. I needed 20 or more staff at any given point to attend to outstanding customer requirements and only had 8 including myself. We are generally used to stress in my workplace but hell......this was something else particularly for one who had begun the day 'fragile'!
Ultimately for me the wheel came off as they say, the umpteenth difficult and rude customer said the wrong thing at the wrong time and I did the unthinkable, something I haven't done in as long as I can remember and I don't wish to do again. I finished serving her, ditched my keys with a capable colleague, fled to the staff room and fell into a heap of pathetic tears.........oh the embarrassment, thank God the only person who found me was feeling similarly herself! I gathered my wits, had a smoke and went back into the 'throng'....FFS, I hate myself for 'losing it', I don't 'do' losing it, I 'do' appearing at least to keep it all together......Goddamn, why didn't I do as the guys do and go run the forklift into the side of a container or something macho instead of behaving like a pathetic woman!! Grrrr.
Oh, and PG rang in the middle of all this to inform me his car has 'died' yet again.......happy days!
Hey ho....tomorrow is another day :o)
Saturday, 20 November 2004
The 'freezer'
I'm amused by this, it's a first for me.
Knowing I wouldn't be home this evening from work until well past 9 and never one for slaving over a hot stove at the best of times, I bought at lunch time, a frozen 'ready meal' for my supper. I plonked it in the boot of my car and left it until I arrived home this evening.
6 hours later........it's still frozen solid!!
I know it's cold and I know if I had considered it, it was obvious it would not defrost at minus 2-5 degrees all day, but I didn't consider it and I'm highly amused, it hasn't even begun to defrost!
Next time the freezer packs up I'll hope it's in winter! :o)
Knowing I wouldn't be home this evening from work until well past 9 and never one for slaving over a hot stove at the best of times, I bought at lunch time, a frozen 'ready meal' for my supper. I plonked it in the boot of my car and left it until I arrived home this evening.
6 hours later........it's still frozen solid!!
I know it's cold and I know if I had considered it, it was obvious it would not defrost at minus 2-5 degrees all day, but I didn't consider it and I'm highly amused, it hasn't even begun to defrost!
Next time the freezer packs up I'll hope it's in winter! :o)
Technical assistance......
....NOT!
With the onset of winter and the lack of suitable outside interests, Ditto has rediscovered the computer and has begun offering her own inimitable form of assistance again......
Tech 'help'!
Ditto 'assistance'!
With the onset of winter and the lack of suitable outside interests, Ditto has rediscovered the computer and has begun offering her own inimitable form of assistance again......
Tech 'help'!
Ditto 'assistance'!
Friday, 19 November 2004
Snow-less in Scotland
Flakes
Ye Gods it's cold!..........did I say a few weeks ago that I like winter? Can I retract that statement for a day or two whilst my little body adjusts to the arctic figures my external thermometer is currently displaying?
I have not been warm since sometime yesterday, the heating is belting it out and my nose has not crossed the threshold since we got home yesterday evening and yet I am still bloody freezing cold.
The temperature is only a degree or two below freezing but add to that the wind chill and we are somewhere in the region of minus 15 right now....and falling. PG was forced to cut his round of golf to only 9 holes this morning, the fact that he even considered standing in a field poking a stick at a ball with the wind whistling off the sea amazes me...the man is mad! Ditto's lifestyle has also been curtailed, she has only ventured out once or twice and then only for markedly briefer periods than is the norm!
This would of course all be acceptable if there was snow! I could stamp my feet in frustration, there is snow higher up the country, there is snow lower, Snowbabies have snow in Yorkshire ..........but no, not a flake of snow in gemmaks-ville, not one single, solitary flake to be seen anywhere! Bah!
Friday's Feast
This is my first attempt at this 'friday Feast' malarky, I'm promised it's fun so here goes!
Appetizer
What do you think is the perfect age to get married? To have a first child? To retire?
I don't think there is a perfect age but if forced I would say 32, 36 and 55
Soup
If you could change occupations tomorrow, what would you want to do for a living?
Can I have 2 new occupations please? Photographer or meteorologist.
Salad
What does the color green make you think of?
My credit card statement!
Main Course
What is something that has happened to you over the last year that you didn't expect?
I had to have oral surgery :o(
Dessert
How old were you when you had your first kiss?
Er....can I take the 5th amendment on this one? No.....ok......13, a guy at the local youth club and I'm glad to say things improved with age!
What planet are you from?
|
You Are From Neptune |
 You are dreamy and mystical, with a natural psychic ability. You love music, poetry, dance, and (most of all) the open sea. Your soul is filled with possibilities, and your heart overflows with compassion. You can be in a room full of friendly people and feel all alone. If you don't get carried away with one idea, your spiritual nature will see you through anything. |
Thursday, 18 November 2004
Very un-gemmak
Yesterday the drive to Edinburgh to deal with the cell phone debacle was the task at hand, I picked PG up from work mid afternoon and off we set again on the hour and a half journey. There were on this occasion no beautiful vistas, no myriad of autumn colours or overly wooly sheep meandering in fields. Instead we drove through cloud, thick, wet, all enveloping cloud, visibility was set at about the front of the car, the roads were caked in many places in thick, slippery mud, deposited by agricultural machinery hurriedly completing the Autumns sowing and any sheep that there were stood huddled miserably against walls for protection from the biting, strong wind and rain, their fleeces looking somewhat less than fluffy!
The wind was the meteorological thing of note.........a head wind and in typical Scottish fashion extremely strong. My car is small, it has an unimpressive number of apparently lazy horses under the bonnet and whilst I couldn't say it struggled the wind alone made rather more gear shifts than is normal necessary! On Sutre Hill, an extremely large bump in the landscape between here and Edinburgh (in cidentally I Googled 'Sutre Hill', in the hope of discovering it's elevation and came up with nothing!) the prospect of retaining a straight line in the road became frighteningly difficult.
Having made it, in a longer time than we had anticipated, to the outskirts of Edinburgh we were met with something I no longer consider and discovered that my tolerance for has diminished to almost nil..........a traffic jam, a big one, no escape route available. My irritation was notable, I just do not 'do' traffic jams anymore, they don't exist, in fact traffic rarely exists I any significant quantity on the journeys I make as a rule nowadays. An hour we sat, miffed and aggravated until we finally escaped and arrived at our destination.
And so the job was done, the cell phone was duly returned and changed for another, a Samsung E600. Yup, I know I said I am a Nokia girl but the lure of a VGA camera that actually produces a picture that can be defined and the attraction of something so tiny and shiny was more than a girl could resist......that and the fact that Nokia seem to have lost the plot a little of late.
That achieved it was off to Ikea......well you just have to visit an Ikea when there is one in close proximity don't you? By now hungry, we were forced to partake of the less than 'haute cuisine' fare on offer but I suppose to complain would be unreasonable, when one considers that two people can eat two courses for less than £10! We wandered around like herding cattle among the throng for a while, purchased the obligatory candles and a small table in the hope of not having to burn our legs with the laptop perched on our laps any longer (man those things give off some heat)and headed home.
The odd thing I discovered in this days activity was my most un-female and un-gemmak like growing disinterest in shopping! Not good, we women shop, it is what we do, the thing we love. All my life shopping could be considered a no.1 activity.........no longer! What on earth is happening to me? Save for more ram, a better graphics card or a bigger hard drive there was nothing I could raise interest in......well ok, I lie, diamonds, one can never have enough good diamonds but then one can rarely afford them either. Mostly we didn't even window shop, we fled the concrete jungle that is the shopping mall with some haste......PG was a happy man!
Scary, I think I'm turning into a hermit! :o)
The wind was the meteorological thing of note.........a head wind and in typical Scottish fashion extremely strong. My car is small, it has an unimpressive number of apparently lazy horses under the bonnet and whilst I couldn't say it struggled the wind alone made rather more gear shifts than is normal necessary! On Sutre Hill, an extremely large bump in the landscape between here and Edinburgh (in cidentally I Googled 'Sutre Hill', in the hope of discovering it's elevation and came up with nothing!) the prospect of retaining a straight line in the road became frighteningly difficult.
Having made it, in a longer time than we had anticipated, to the outskirts of Edinburgh we were met with something I no longer consider and discovered that my tolerance for has diminished to almost nil..........a traffic jam, a big one, no escape route available. My irritation was notable, I just do not 'do' traffic jams anymore, they don't exist, in fact traffic rarely exists I any significant quantity on the journeys I make as a rule nowadays. An hour we sat, miffed and aggravated until we finally escaped and arrived at our destination.
And so the job was done, the cell phone was duly returned and changed for another, a Samsung E600. Yup, I know I said I am a Nokia girl but the lure of a VGA camera that actually produces a picture that can be defined and the attraction of something so tiny and shiny was more than a girl could resist......that and the fact that Nokia seem to have lost the plot a little of late.
That achieved it was off to Ikea......well you just have to visit an Ikea when there is one in close proximity don't you? By now hungry, we were forced to partake of the less than 'haute cuisine' fare on offer but I suppose to complain would be unreasonable, when one considers that two people can eat two courses for less than £10! We wandered around like herding cattle among the throng for a while, purchased the obligatory candles and a small table in the hope of not having to burn our legs with the laptop perched on our laps any longer (man those things give off some heat)and headed home.
The odd thing I discovered in this days activity was my most un-female and un-gemmak like growing disinterest in shopping! Not good, we women shop, it is what we do, the thing we love. All my life shopping could be considered a no.1 activity.........no longer! What on earth is happening to me? Save for more ram, a better graphics card or a bigger hard drive there was nothing I could raise interest in......well ok, I lie, diamonds, one can never have enough good diamonds but then one can rarely afford them either. Mostly we didn't even window shop, we fled the concrete jungle that is the shopping mall with some haste......PG was a happy man!
Scary, I think I'm turning into a hermit! :o)
Wednesday, 17 November 2004
Is there no pleasure.......
......in life that is without dire warnings from the medical or other professions?
I read this story in a news paper yesterday and again this morning I was met with it almost the moment I booted up!
I am not sure exactly what the criteria is in this research to define a 'heavy user' but somehow I imagine I can't be too far off and as one that is struggling through no longer suitable spectacles, to see what I am typing at this very moment it is a little scary!
Best I make tracks to the optician in the not too distant future I think!
I read this story in a news paper yesterday and again this morning I was met with it almost the moment I booted up!
I am not sure exactly what the criteria is in this research to define a 'heavy user' but somehow I imagine I can't be too far off and as one that is struggling through no longer suitable spectacles, to see what I am typing at this very moment it is a little scary!
Best I make tracks to the optician in the not too distant future I think!
Tuesday, 16 November 2004
Not in my back yard
Practice makes perfect © Blackrat
This evening I watched the news, nothing remarkable in that other than it is something I always mean to do and somehow never actually manage to do!
Among the reports was one that caused my ears to pick up and for me to take notice.
The report in question concerned the dangers involved in members of the RAF practicing their low flying skills, specifically in the Brecon Beacons in Wales. It seems there have been a small number of 'near misses' involving low flying fighter jets and gliders resulting in those in support of the 'sport flyers' calling for more strict controls on the RAF's activities in the area.
This is not a new issue. Also this week a report was issued concerning a woman who was killed in Lincolnshire when a low flying helicopter apparently caused her horse to bolt resulting in her being throw off and her subsequent death. The coroner in the case sent various recommendations to the RAF regarding how they should in his opinion modify their practices!
This all raises a number of questions in my mind. Firstly is a coroner qualified to make such recommendations, after all his or her experience i doubt is generally based in military training and nor does it seem to me to look at the bigger picture..........and this is where the whole issue really begins to annoy me.
There is absolutely no doubt that to lose one's life or the life of a loved one in any such circumstances is a tragedy and not one any of us would like to have to experience, or to come face to face, from the cockpit of your glider, with a Tornado must be terrifying to say the least but, and for me this is a big but, is it not always the case that wherever a dangerous but necessary activity is engaged in, there will sadly be repercussions on occasion?
It is a fact, whether as individuals we like it or not, that we need to have highly trained fighter pilots in the RAF. it is not a choice, it is a necessity, current events and events of recent years have proved that beyond any doubt and yet there seems to be constant complaint from some quarters when our combat pilots require training. There are unending calls for the flying height restrictions and noise levels to be amended .........do those that complain think that in an environment of conflict a pilot has always a choice not to fly into certain situations, not to have to avoid the enemy or the landscape....to be able to fly nicely and politely within acceptable restraints? I think not!
So it seems this is yet another case of 'not in my back yard'. Yes, doubtless the complainants want a well trained Air Force, want our country and those of our allies suitably protected and no doubt in many cases are proud of our airmen and women's skills, they are second to none..........just as long as they themselves don't have to suffer the risks or noise pollution involved!
The not in my back yard mentality annoys me more than almost anything else. Where should these pilots practice the skills they need exactly? Perhaps those who complain would like to see this taking place over the centre of London, Edinburgh, Birmingham or some other large urban conurbation, where should one crash, hundreds could be killed or injured!! These guys (and gals) undertake a massive responsibility, should we not be allowing them to train suitably for this task...yes, the payback is massive, a Tornado for instance must be the ultimate 'grown up toy' but in the end, when push comes to shove these guys risk their lives and I have no doubt they want to stay alive as much as the rest of us.
It seems to me that given this training has to be undertaken it is far wiser to undertake it in areas such as the Brecon beacons where the risk to those on the ground is the smallest. Yes there is risk and yes there is phenomenal noise generated by a jet at 250 feet but it seems to me a relatively small price to pay.
This is not a subject I know nothing about, I live in an RAF low flying zone, I get woken regularly by the earth shattering noise, I am used to it but despite that it scares the life out of me at times. There is nothing in my experience, louder, more ear splitting or more sudden. These things come from out of 'nowhere' and often so low the pilot can easily be distinguished in the cockpit.
For those who complain I have one final point to make........ the death of anyone is a tragedy but despite being very much in the 'firing line' so to speak, I'm damn sure I would rather a Tornado crashed here than in the middle of Manchester!
Oh...and for those that are interested, and anyone who knows me knows the interest and care I have for animals, the field full of horses at the back at my property don't bat an eyelid at their airborne companions and nor, after only a very short time did my cats......... I see anything from 5 to 50 military jets a day, day after day, after day but I have yet to see one fall out of the sky, it happens I know but by comparison to the flying hours it is damn rare. Perhaps a little perspective is called for here by some!
Monday, 15 November 2004
Frustrations
I seem to be having a frustrating spell these last few days....along with the bad news life seems to be full of small aggravations and I just don't seem to be able to get anything in order!
Firstly, I am as a rule Ms. Organised, everything done when, or before, it needs doing and consequently plenty of time to do as I please. This last week there has been none of that, I'm not entirely sure why but somehow life seems to be getting in the way! I have bills that I am sure are now late but my motivation to pick them up and log onto my banks 'pay bills' page is nil, no doubt resulting in an horrendously large charge from those kind mastercard people and the like, for late payment. Goddamn, I must get to it..........one £25 charge I can accept but you don't want to know just how many plastic cards I keep in my purse, suffice to say that a charge for each would be bad!
Secondly, I seem again to have been sucked into the 'dog walking' thing, tho only once or twice thus far and in daylight. I fear this is the thin end of the wedge.........I have to practice the 'no' word some more on that one before things get completely out of hand again.
Thirdly and this is the bad one........I had the weekly fight with the bed this morning. Good God......who on earth thought up duvets and those damnable covers they reside in? They were certainly not made for ease of use, is this because I am so small that they present such a problem or are they such an utter frustration for all sizes or person? Having carefully ironed said cover the fight begins, I wonder why I iron it at all at the end of each incident for it invariably ends up in a screwed up heap!
I am sure there is a proper and right way to go about this task but if there is I have not yet become acquainted with it, I spend what always seems an eternity poking bits of duvet into cover, only to find another bit popped out, I shake, I stand on the bed shaking some more, I lay the whole bloody thing flat and crawl inside with the quilt in a vain attempt to straighten it all out and still, there are lumps and bumps and bits hanging out of the bottom! Invariably this task is not helped by two things, one, PG insisted on having a king size bed, all very nice but it isn't him wrestling a supersize bag full of feathers every week and two, Ditto always considers it necessary to 'help' and so along with the normal difficulties involved with the duvet situation I am also required to extricate her from within, on a number of occasions!
My final frustration of recent days is a seemingly general lack of time, I have struggled to blog, I have masses of blog reading to catch up on and three 'novels in 30 days' that I am falling sadly behind with.
What on earth happened to my days of being lost on here for hours on end, chatting, blogging and fiddling in general, what happened to my laid back demeanor and cheerful disposition? Life sodding happened!
Please, do not mention PMS or hormones right now! Pfftttt.
Firstly, I am as a rule Ms. Organised, everything done when, or before, it needs doing and consequently plenty of time to do as I please. This last week there has been none of that, I'm not entirely sure why but somehow life seems to be getting in the way! I have bills that I am sure are now late but my motivation to pick them up and log onto my banks 'pay bills' page is nil, no doubt resulting in an horrendously large charge from those kind mastercard people and the like, for late payment. Goddamn, I must get to it..........one £25 charge I can accept but you don't want to know just how many plastic cards I keep in my purse, suffice to say that a charge for each would be bad!
Secondly, I seem again to have been sucked into the 'dog walking' thing, tho only once or twice thus far and in daylight. I fear this is the thin end of the wedge.........I have to practice the 'no' word some more on that one before things get completely out of hand again.
Thirdly and this is the bad one........I had the weekly fight with the bed this morning. Good God......who on earth thought up duvets and those damnable covers they reside in? They were certainly not made for ease of use, is this because I am so small that they present such a problem or are they such an utter frustration for all sizes or person? Having carefully ironed said cover the fight begins, I wonder why I iron it at all at the end of each incident for it invariably ends up in a screwed up heap!
I am sure there is a proper and right way to go about this task but if there is I have not yet become acquainted with it, I spend what always seems an eternity poking bits of duvet into cover, only to find another bit popped out, I shake, I stand on the bed shaking some more, I lay the whole bloody thing flat and crawl inside with the quilt in a vain attempt to straighten it all out and still, there are lumps and bumps and bits hanging out of the bottom! Invariably this task is not helped by two things, one, PG insisted on having a king size bed, all very nice but it isn't him wrestling a supersize bag full of feathers every week and two, Ditto always considers it necessary to 'help' and so along with the normal difficulties involved with the duvet situation I am also required to extricate her from within, on a number of occasions!
My final frustration of recent days is a seemingly general lack of time, I have struggled to blog, I have masses of blog reading to catch up on and three 'novels in 30 days' that I am falling sadly behind with.
What on earth happened to my days of being lost on here for hours on end, chatting, blogging and fiddling in general, what happened to my laid back demeanor and cheerful disposition? Life sodding happened!
Please, do not mention PMS or hormones right now! Pfftttt.
Sunday, 14 November 2004
An un-wonderful weekend
It has been an odd weekend and not one I wish to repeat in a great hurry!
I was never superstitious but I am considering becoming so from this day, or rather yesterday, forward.
Yesterday was the 13th, hmmmmm, you may recall the last '13th' was not a good day in 'gemmaksville' well this one was worse. The day began cold and with an early start for work...that was the good bit, it degenerated badly from there on in, though more for PG than myself.
PG, if I haven't already explained, works with severely disabled adults and has done so for over 10 years. One of his charges, a lovely guy for whom he has been keyworker for 6 years, sadly died yesterday morning completely unexpectedly. The ramifications of that in a residential establishment, along with the obvious sadness made for a bad day alone...... but this was not to be the end.
I called PG later in the afternoon just to see how he was, only to discover he was at the police station! Whilst he had been out for lunch, some 'kind soul' had driven into the side of his car while he waited to turn........she had then proceeded to drive off! Thankfully the damage was slight and no one was injured, not that she waited to find out! A bystander who witnessed the proceedings, recognised her and subsequently sought out PG to give him the information........he was as I called him in the process of reporting the incident, though I doubt anything will ever come of it.
Still this was not the end. In the late afternoon we learned of the death of a close friends mother, again suddenly and unexpectedly on Saturday morning.
Work was hard and tiring for both of us and I crawled through the door at 5.30 ready to do nothing but chill for a while.........yeah right!
I made a cup of tea and put the iron on, figuring I would get what needed doing done straight away and then we would have the evening to relax. I turned to fetch milk from the fridge and in the process managed to upend the iron, which promptly headed for the floor and landed with a crash, rendering it somewhat 'dismantled' and burning the floor just for good measure. In my haste to rescue the remains of the hot iron from it's resting place before too much damage was done I knocked over the cup of freshly made tea which, in an instant joined the other 'rubble' now residing in a heap on the floor and on its way burnt my leg, though luckily not badly!
Someone please.........remind me not to do anything or go anywhere on the next 13th!
I was never superstitious but I am considering becoming so from this day, or rather yesterday, forward.
Yesterday was the 13th, hmmmmm, you may recall the last '13th' was not a good day in 'gemmaksville' well this one was worse. The day began cold and with an early start for work...that was the good bit, it degenerated badly from there on in, though more for PG than myself.
PG, if I haven't already explained, works with severely disabled adults and has done so for over 10 years. One of his charges, a lovely guy for whom he has been keyworker for 6 years, sadly died yesterday morning completely unexpectedly. The ramifications of that in a residential establishment, along with the obvious sadness made for a bad day alone...... but this was not to be the end.
I called PG later in the afternoon just to see how he was, only to discover he was at the police station! Whilst he had been out for lunch, some 'kind soul' had driven into the side of his car while he waited to turn........she had then proceeded to drive off! Thankfully the damage was slight and no one was injured, not that she waited to find out! A bystander who witnessed the proceedings, recognised her and subsequently sought out PG to give him the information........he was as I called him in the process of reporting the incident, though I doubt anything will ever come of it.
Still this was not the end. In the late afternoon we learned of the death of a close friends mother, again suddenly and unexpectedly on Saturday morning.
Work was hard and tiring for both of us and I crawled through the door at 5.30 ready to do nothing but chill for a while.........yeah right!
I made a cup of tea and put the iron on, figuring I would get what needed doing done straight away and then we would have the evening to relax. I turned to fetch milk from the fridge and in the process managed to upend the iron, which promptly headed for the floor and landed with a crash, rendering it somewhat 'dismantled' and burning the floor just for good measure. In my haste to rescue the remains of the hot iron from it's resting place before too much damage was done I knocked over the cup of freshly made tea which, in an instant joined the other 'rubble' now residing in a heap on the floor and on its way burnt my leg, though luckily not badly!
Someone please.........remind me not to do anything or go anywhere on the next 13th!
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