Homeward bound

"..... oh I wish I was, homeward bou ...." Wait I am home! What a journey ~ the channel's a bit dodgy tonight!! However, I have a stomach like a zoo-keeper's boot and I was fine :o)

Anyway, a lovely week away .... photos of stunning ice-bound French france and nice (but not stunning) shorter, new haircut to follow. Until then let me take this opportunity to say to you and yours ...

"Have a very Happy New Year

full to the brim with

good health, joy and happiness!"

Love & best wishes

~ Jo ~

*rubs eyes tiredly*

See, this is why I like to fly! It's 2.22 am for goodness sake! I want to go back to bed, but the ferry is @ 4.30 and we have to be there 30 mins before! It's freezing! Right, turning PC off ... goodbye broadband *sniff sniff, sob* hello Dover!

BTW, don't forget to go and answer the Q.o.T.D. while I'm away :o)

Thirteen things happening tomorrow

1. Tomorrow morning I wont be here.


2. I'll be in the car or maybe on the ferry or back in the car (but on the wrong side of the road) or navigating the hell that is the Périphérique. Actually I'll be fine, Simon will be having kittens.


3. I'll be going "home" for Christmas!


4. I'm off to France because that's where the family is, so that's where "home" is!


5. The car is going to be full of all kinds of strange essentials ... a turkey, stuffing, parsnips and salad cream to name but a few!


6. You can't get any of these things in France ... well I'm sure you could get the turkey if you looked hard enough but this is an M&S turkey and her with the husky voice says it's better than anywhere elses!!


7. I have all the Christmas presents that I am going to get a chance to buy.


8. They are mostly wrapped.


9. So if I need anything else ~ hard luck!


10. AAAGGGH!! French Dial-up Internet!


11. I am not looking forward to not being able to blog properly. It might It'll make me a tad tetchy. I might will have to go out and find an Internet Cafe somewhere ;o)


12. I have all the cold weather clothes I could pack ... it was freezing last year. I also have some sun-screen ... I got burnt the year before :o)


13. I'm hoping there'll be a hot cup of tea waiting when I get there and not a boxed Christmas tree to put up like last year!

*well duh*

So, this morning I am doing a little school work ... working on some assessment data and figures etc. I have a Word document open on the PC and a big old calculator to work out percentages. So I know that 12% of the children in one year group are working at level 5. And I'm typing it into the box and it's not appearing!!

I hate technology!

And then *blushes* I realise that it's not appearing because I am typing on the calculator and not the PC keyboard! *blushes again* I'm going to go and do something else right now!

p.s. I have moved to the new version of Blogger *touches wood* so far, so good!

Blog Fodder #4

Blog Fodder continues to fight writer's block, one post at a time. This week's question was submitted by Shane, at Reflekshins.

What is the best practical joke you have ever participated in, or one that was done on you?

I'm not much of a practical joke person to be honest. I get one of my mother's favourite adages running through my head "it's not big and it's not funny!" Or that other favourite, "someone is going to get hurt, someone always does!"

However, I do remember the last week of school. The week before my final exams were due to begin. What should have been a critical week, asking those last minute important questions and checking on the final bits of study we needed to do. We had a geography teacher who was a little different from the others ... not particularly young* but he treated us like adults. Took us to lectures @ the local university, to the pub afterwards. So did we respond like young adults?

NO!! Don't be daft! On that last day ... I and another girl on the course distracted him "Umm, Sir, about the essay style you suggested last week. I'm not sure I really understand, could you go over it again?" Whilst we were doing this the 7 others on the course went out into the playground and found his car. Between them they bounced it across the school lawn, up the stairs and into the reception hall of the school. They hit the fire alarm and legged it. Of course this emptied the school ... mostly through the front entrance and there was his car for all the world (well all the school, including him and us) to see :o)

Bollocked? Of course they were! Was I bollocked? Still, to this day nobody** knows I was involved!!

*He'd been a marine and a London bobby for a couple of years before returning to Swansea to teach.
** By nobody I mean my mother!

*singing* Frosty the snowman

Brrrr! First proper job frost of the winter. Everything looks crunchy outside and white! I think I'd like to stay right here, all warm and toastie-cosy BUT I have to go to school to get some work done so that I don't have to take any with me on Friday when I go to France.

I've just rung Ruth to ask what time I should pick her up. 2 1/2 year old Kristina answered the phone. We had a lovely chat and then I said ~ Is mummy there?

Kristina ~ Yes!

Me ~ Can I speak to her?

Kristina ~ Yes!

Me ~ Ok, see you later! Bye bye!

Kristina ~ Ok, see you later!

Kristina ~ It's Aunty Jo!

And nothing, nada, rien. She must have been telling Cinderella (on the TV) or her dolly that it was Aunty Jo ... because she certainly wasn't telling Mummy. The phone was put down on the sofa next to her! So next time I'll remember to say "will you go and give the phone to mummy please!"

Dinner yesterday in Walthamstow was lovely. Even the drive over there was no great problem, straight through Greenwich and into the hell that is the Blackwall tunnel ... thank God I don't have to do that everyday! And I don't half pity the poor sods who have to! And then up past Stratford, Clapton, Bow and the Hackney marshes (not necessarily in that order). Geoff cooked dinner ~ roast beef and all the trimmings .... delicious!

We shared Christmas presents and traded news, gossip and scandal! Simon's mum bought him a very natty dressing gown and I got 2 tickets to see the Lion King on stage in London in February ... no guesses as to who got the better deal on that one eh? Let me think dressing gown vs tickets; tickets vs dressing gown?

I spent yesterday morning before I left putting together some new Thursday 13 headers (see below or @ the Thursday 13 forum) before my version of Photoshop trial runs out. I'll be buying a full version but when finances allow because I am considering that a luxury right now .... so if you are a TT-er please feel free to help yourself! Right I'd better move, have a good one today ;o)

Unconscious mutterings #202

I say ... and you think ... ?

Hardball :: softball
Sleepless :: in Seattle
Graduation :: ceremony
Presents :: Christmas
Toe :: nail
Lotion :: sun
Snicker :: peanuts
Eve :: Adam
Investment :: bank
Pain :: No pain, no gain!

Sketch #10 ~ 5 Boys

So this week I used family photos to complete Pencil Lines Sketch #10. My free trial for Photoshop Elements is going to run out and I am going to have to buy a copy because I am officially addicted!

I am off to Heathrow today to drop Leah-May off so she can fly home to Chicago ... I must be mad ... it's the Saturday before Christmas! Just look at this! But she's worth it :o) My mum and dad will be back from Wales tomorrow morning ... we've had to cancel dinner @ Helen's tonight because they don't have keys! BUT we still get to go to lunch with Helen, Geoff, Laura and Simon's mum tomorrow ... unexplored territory in the depths of Walthamstow.

Blog Fodder #3

Blog Fodder ~ fodder for the blocked blogger and this week’s topic submitted by Judy, over at Welcome to my World of Dreams is ...

Do you have any memories of a childhood illness?

These are short memories, little snippets ... I guess because you don't feel well at the time and therefore you don't take all that much notice of what is going on around you ... does that make sense?

So aged about 7 I ended up with a really bad bout of tonsilitis. The kind where the doctor came to see me at home instead of going to his surgery. This led to a kidney infection and I remember that I slept a lot of the time and people kept urging me to drink ...there was lemon barley water in a covered jug on the bedside table. And then on the Sunday morning (it was one of my dad's traditions to walk down to get the paper and then stop for breakfaast @ his friend Gino's Italian cafe) Dad brought back a bowl of ice-cream from the cafe just for me. And it was so lovely and cool on my throat. And my brother didn't get any!!

I ended up with Scarlet fever when I was about 9 or 10. Another doctor to the house moment. I'd been sent to bed looking perfectly normal and told "if you don't feel well stay there." * So the doctor arrived (not our normal doc, quite young and good looking if I remember correctly **) and when he asked me to poke out my tongue it was bright red like a strawberry & he made me lift my nightie up and the whole of my body looked like it had been painted red. Another week in bed :o(

And finally, I remember going into school one morning aged about 12 (I was at senior school at least) and noticing a wart on my thumb and being disgusted because at the time I thought "warts are just so ugly!" And I felt tired and crotchety all day. And by the time I got home my stomach and chest we're covered with a crop of warts and I in fact had a huge dose of chicken pox instead. They were everywhere ... up my nose, in my hair, between my toes & right down there! And my mother painted me pink from head to toe with caladryl.

Like all children I know I hated being ill because it disrupted the flow of my life ... not the whole school thing but time with my friends. Here's to hwyl and iechyd da!

* They probably thought I was trying to pull a fast one.

** I obviously wasn't that ill because I remember that much :o)

Thirteen number thirteens posted by me on Thursday Thirteen so far!

I saw this over at a Flyover Blog where she made her 13th TT a list of the 13th item on all her TTs to date ... so being the thieving blogger I am, I nicked it! I did tell her I was going to though :o)

1. Thirteen things on my desk included a pair of chopsticks. They're still there too! But they are pretty chopsticks ~ honest!

2. The thirteenth in the long list of reasons I am still married to Simon (the week of our wedding anniversary) was that he loves me and the feeling is mutual.

3. My French shopping list consisted of Marigold vegetable bouillon ... amongst other things! In fact that was the 13th item!

4. In June during the World Cup I gave you 13 things about Football day in school, #13 was a complaint about a lesson observation when I was heard to mutter ... I used to like her you know :o(

5. Number 13 of my great-grandparent's children was my gran Gwyneth, born in 1904.

6. The 13th item that needed removing from the kitchen counter was a birthday card for nephew #4.

7. In half term the 13th thing I did was à la Fizzy (ie a roll of bin bags and stay in here until your finished) tidied the home office, causing Simon to have minor coronary due to shock!

8. Number 13 in the list of artists regularly on my playlist was the fabulous Miss Joni Mitchell!

9. My 13th drink I wouldn't say no to at different times of the day / week / month was unfortunately Alka Selzer.

10. The 13th place to drink a great cup of tea or coffee was at my kitchen table! Come on over!!

11. I wouldn't want to be a headteacher, that was number 13 in the list of jobs I have had or wouldn't want to have ... ever, ever!

12. 13th in the list of things that you'll catch me saying a lot is I'm so going to blog that!

13. So here I am, week 13 and I love Thursday Thirteening. They're sometimes a week long job, as they take a while to write .... but hey, they keep me out of the booze/liquor aisle at the local Tesco's so they're performing a public service for the community!

So ....

Tonight is office, well work, party night! Hurrah!

But I'm driving! Boo!

But I'm going with Ruth! Hurrah!

But it's blowing a hoolie! Boo!

But I have a new outfit! Hurrah!

And the photo must mean ... I have a new camera! Double Bloody Hurrah :o)

I'll try really hard to stay away from all of the tit-tape and tomfoolery this year!

Battered and bruised

I was spoken to by 2 separate parents this morning about their children. Both of whom had been in accidents over the weekend and ended up with visible injuries ... a badly bruised chin & a battered nose. Both wanted to stress that the children had had accidents and it was nothing to do with them. Isn't that sad? That a parent has to stress that this was an accident, because otherwise I / one of my colleagues is going to believe that the child was hurt by the parent. But I do understand the reasons behind it. The failings in the system that allowed the death of Victoria Climbie should not be allowed to happen again ... but the parents who came to speak to me yesterday are not the ones I am concerned about.

But there is one! One who I speak to our Family Liasion Officer about every week. One who who drops her 3 year old on her own, cold, dirty and often unfed in the playground, instead of bringing her to our door. One who leaves her littlest tot (18 months old) alone in the car outside school to collect her three other children. She who is suing Social Services because they wont give her respite care away from her children. What other family gets respite care for their children if there are no major special needs involved?? God she makes my blood boil!!

I spoke to the little girl with the bruised chin *winces ... it's a corker* I'm so glad we're not doing school photos this side of Christmas!

Me ~ What happened Emily?

Emily ~ I fell off the window sill!

Me ~ But what were you doing on the window sill?

Emily ~ Flying!

Ok ... so what do you say to a 3 year old with imagination? I looked at mum and raised my eyebrows and we laughed. I'm going to put pillows on the floor under the windows in the nursery just in case :o)

Busy week of numbers ahead

What a week it's going to be starting this morning with the first of ....

2 Christmas assemblies, followed tomorrow by
1 night of poker and then there's
3 Christmas presents to buy and wrap before
2 Christmas parties, which means theres at least
9 pass the parcel parcels to wrap before
1 grown-up Christmas dinner (what did I order?) and with
78 Christmas cards to write and
4 grown-up presents to buy and wrap before school finishes on Friday .... I really don't know when I'll have time for the
1 whole set of school assessment data that needs analysing and print off!

So, tell me, why do I think I have the time to sit here and blog about it??

Unconscious mutterings #201

I say ... and you think ... ?

Research :: Scientist
Chuck :: dooce
Insert :: foot in mouth, something I do too often
Bang :: Do you remember that song? Bang bang, the might fall, oh wo oh! Who the hell sang that? Why can I only remember the first line and then not completely? Off to Google! Or Wiki. BRB :o) Aha B.A. Robertson, know there's a blast from the past! I remember him on Saturday Superstore ... showing my age again!
Lousy :: awful
Rehearsal :: play
Critics :: newspaper
Memory :: A memory? I was talking to my mum yesterday morning, saying how I wished that I remembered what my days in nursery school were like. There followed a long conversation about the yellow cupboard (a 3' high wooden cupboard, painted bright yellow that you were sat on top of if you were naughty. If I think about the H&S implications I shudder!! And who would do that to a 3 year old anyway?) Going in my pram to collect the dinners from the canteen of the factory over the road. The hugeness of the room. That's it. All I remember. Shame really :o)
Squid :: Cooked quickly with a little chilli & garlic, sprinkled with parsley and a squeeze of lemon. Delicious!!
Remove :: take-away

Saturday, round-up

So mum and dad arrived last night, I truly didn't think they would. The weather in the channel and throughout Kent has been so awful that Operation Stack* is causing havoc once again. Obviously the captain of their Speed Ferry was feeling brave yesterday and they arrived in time for curry and beer ... well perrier for dad!

Mum needs to shop today. I really can't face Bluewater ... but can probably encourage myself to go to the Dockside Outlet ... they do great hot chocolate @ the Outback Cafe! I haven't really started my Christmas shopping yet and I so need to bloody-well knuckle down and get on with it! Well, we'll see how it goes eh?

Other than that and a bloody gynaecologist's convention @ my bedside** during my hospital appointment on Thursday that you really do not need to know anymore about, not a lot happening .... so I'll leave you with a truly brilliant song. Happy Saturday folks :o)

* It took Simon 1 hour + to do his normal 20 minute journey home up Bluebell hill ~ happy bunny I hear you ask? Umm, no would be the polite answer!
** Do you think they travel in packs?

Thursday's Thirteen #12

A list of thirteen things I say a little sometimes occasionally a lot!

1. Ooops-a-daisy!
2. *complete with actions* Show me two empty hands please.
3. Mynyffyrny (Welsh, swearing-ish ... bit of a bloody hell!)
4. Can you reach that for me please? (He's 6' 2" and he hung the kitchen cabinets, I'm 5' 5 1/2" ... a minor inconvenience!)
5. Buggeration! (said in the closest approximation to a Yorkshire accent I can do.)
6. Have you booked the ferry?
7. Hello pet.
8. I'm just going upstairs to check my email.
9. Is it my turn to go to Tesco's or yours?
10. Simon!
11. WTF?
12. What do you mean the bottles empty?
13. I am so going to blog that!!

Blog Fodder #2

Submitted by Nikki-ann, this week's Blog Fodder topic is going to take a bit of thinking out and writing!

Tell us about somebody who has changed your life, even if just a little bit.

Right ... who to tell about? Who do I consider has changed my life? Family or friend? Both I suppose, in different ways. But I think I'm going to tell you about a friend of mine.

I moved to Kent in late August 1997 to take up a teaching post @ a large local primary school. I moved into a small flat and began my first teaching job with no real idea of the changes that were about to take place in my life! I was one of three new teachers starting that year ... and Ruth was one of the others. Ruth & her daughters had moved to Kent from Glasgow, a huge move, away from family, friends and support.

But actually this huge move was really the second part of a well thought out escape for her and her girls. It had started nearly 5 years earlier when she had made a decision that she wanted to re-train and had applied to the University of Strathclyde to join their teacher training programme. Her already physically abusive ex-husband was vehemently against this idea and his abuse changed and became physical against her girls too.

Knowing she had to protect her daughters, she acted. As she started university in the autumn of 1993, so she moved out of the marital home and into local authority housing. Her ex-husband gave up his job and went on the dole so that he wouldn't have to pay any money to the CSA for his children's upkeep and ignored her and the girls in the street. But she carried on, got her degree and amazingly applied for and got a job at the same school as me in Kent.

I was struck by Ruth @ our first meeting. She was so positive. Even though she had moved hundreds of miles from all her support structures ~ family, friends and loved ones ~ the glass was always half full. She was always laughing. She was a good listener and incredibly kind. Eventhough life was hard .... good god money was tight and we both lived in awful houses, she looked for the little things that made life great and celebrated them .... her wee golden moments.

So there, my best-friend Ruth. She changed my life. Made me look for the positive. Helped me celebrate my glass as half full and never half empty. Taught me to sing out loud and dance as if it was my last day on earth! And I love her for that and so many other reasons!

Life has moved on now. She is still my best-friend. Still laughing. BUT there have been major changes in her life. She is happily married to a guy called Ian, has a third beautiful daughter and now works with me again. At the same school, back together! And the ex-husband ... still an arsehole!

We put the Christmas tree up in the nursery yesterday! And did our first rehearsal of our Christmas assembly .... Mary wee'd on the floor! I've got less than 2 weeks of school left .... and then it's the holidays! So I guess Christmas has officially arrived Chez le Laquet :o)

Fancy some eggnog?

Sketch #9 ~ Juxtaposition

This is my attempt @ Pencil Lines' Sketch #9 ... hard getting the circle thing looking right. I wish I could do wavy lines to soften the edge of the photos but thats beyond me at the moment!! Any Photoshop magicians out there who know how to do that ... please let me know :o)

A busy weekend ... the school Christmas Fair (I was on the groceries stall ... what an eye-opener), making Christmas hats / cards, a mad dash to London yesterday to rescue Simon's mum, demolition and re-building of the spare room (needs to be finished or at the very least habitable before my parents arrive on Friday! I think I'll be very glad to go back to work today.

Unconscious mutterings #200

I say ... and you think ...?

Hello :: *singing* I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello!

Flinstone :: Fred Flinstone
Corn :: on the cob
Interview :: questions
Deviant :: behaviour
Concept :: idea
Bridge :: *singing again* Sur le Pont d'Avignon
Karen :: *and again* Karen Carpenter
Encounter :: meeting
Biological :: weapon

Scrap booking

I have been playing about with digital scrapbooking ... like ordinary scrap booking but with less glue, no paper cuts and a mouse!

Oh my god it's addictive!! I've made a new header or two! And I've just had my first bash at the weekly outline on Pencil Lines! What fun :o)

Thirteen jobs I have had or wouldn't want to have ... ever, ever!

1. I child minded after school each day.
2. I worked as a barmaid in .... oh, let me see, too many bars to count.
3. And a checkout operator at 2 seperate supermarkets.
4. And a shelf stacker at a different supermarket.
5. And I painted maps for the Civil Service.
6. I worked as a receptionist in a Tourist Office.
7. And as a teacher, in 2 schools to date.
8. BUT, I would never, ever want to be a nurse. It's not the blood you understand it's the other bodily fluids / solids!
9. Or a vet, ditto the fluids / solids.
10. Or a sewer / drain cleaner ... can you see a squeamish about mucky stuff pattern developing here?
11. Or a chiropodist, other people's feet *shudder*
12. Or a holiday company representative, people on holiday having a good time and complaining, complaining, complaining to me. No thanks!!
13. Or a headteacher, give me kids over staff anyday!

So, what about you?
Go on, tell me about a job you've done and a
job you'd never, ever, ever do!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

.... it snowed today, which is amazing as it stayed @ 14 degrees + for most of the day! But I played in the snow & it was cold!!!! How? Easy :o)

Blog Fodder

Blog Fodder has begun. A topic a week for 52 weeks to ease the dread that is Blogger's Block! This week's question set by Jean-Luc Picard asks ....

What are some of your memorable experiences at school?

Gosh, school! Firstly you should probably know that I am a teacher because I didn't actually enjoy school all that much as a child. I found lots of things that happened in school quite painful and unfortunately it seems to be those memories that have stuck with me ... I truly don't wish that for any child in my care.

My first real memory of school is as a year 1 (aged about 5 / 6) child moving from one school to another. The village I lived in had been given permission to use an ex-grammar school (which had stood empty for years) as it's new English language primary school. The classes had previously been in a conglomerate of different buildings all over the village. The new school had masses of space both inside (including 2 huge school halls) and out and our visit was to perform (or maybe it was practice) for a concert ... prior to moving in permanently. I have this really strong picture in my mind of Miss Thomas telling us to take our shoes off ... the wooden block floors had been refinished ... in a huge classroom and lining them up in a long line down the edge of the room. I don't know what we did / where we went after that but I so remember the long line of shoes.

The same year after our move I remember my mum coming to collect me early one day, I think we were going on holiday early and she appeared in the classroom doorway. She had had a haircut that day and had gone from long (past her shoulders) to a short urchin crop! The shock!! My shout (and it would have been a shout, I was a gobby little cuss even then) of "oh my god, would you look at your hair" brought the classroom to a stand-still!

Year 6 (the last year of primary school) was a particularly painful school year for me. A year of abject misery, ritual humiliation (of me and a number of my classmates) and upset. Our teacher ~ who amazingly seems to have been canonised on the Friend's Reunited website ~ was cruel beyond belief. A glamorous busty blonde, who had the headteacher wrapped around her little finger she was unspeakably cruel. A la Miss Jean Brodie she would speak about us as the "crème de la crème J4a" and talked about the other year 6 class (we were streamed by ability) as the B class ... not good enough (by inference not intelligent enough) to be in class with us. She would wander around the class sniffing behind children's backs before announcing loudly "somebody is not wearing clean knickers today!"

Being a glamorous busty blonde she was used to the adoration of children everywhere, pre-pubescent boys wanted to carry her handbag from the car each morning (she never seemed to take any marking home ... where did I go wrong?) the matching set of prpubescentnt girls wanted to be just like her when they grew up. I didn't fit the bill! I didn't adore her, I loathed her and I was terrified of her. So she tried to bring in the educational psychologist / behavioural services .... my mother refused, knowing full well that this would stay on my educational record for good. When this happened she started a campaign of further ritual humiliations which culminated in sitting me in the secretary's office ... to answer the school phone ... on the same day that my parents were brought in to talk about my behaviour and attitude in school. Their interview took place in the head's office, just across the corridor and the headteacher's door was left ajar ... for the safety of the children monitoring the phone. Those were the exact words I heard her use to my mother and father as they were shown in for the discussion.

Thankfully 4 weeks before the end of term I was sent down to the B class, swapped with Debbie T ... what a relief! 4 weeks of the wonderful Mr Thomas and only thoccasionalal lesson with the horrific cow from next door! What bliss ... four weeks of joyous teaching from a true gentleman! Life lessons about kindness and fun! At the end of the year I (and my sychophantic classmates) assumed that her word would be taken into account at the local comprehensive school. She said I was "only good enough to be a cleaner!" I needn't have worried. She's probably turning in her grave at the thought of me as a member of her profession! But I now know that I would never humiliate a child like she humiliated me.

School's not so bad these days ;o) Lots of laughter and fun! Fostering a lifelong love of learning. New memories, good memories!

Odd* thoughts going through my head this morning

Isn't it dark outside?

Doesn't Internet Explorer 7 make things look different? Like bifocal glasses on your monitor! Don't know whether I should have installed or not!!

I wont get home tonight before 11pm ... I have school governor's training (boo!) followed by poker (yay!) The school governor's training doesn't start until 6pm (double boo) but seeing as these are school governor's and school finishes @ 3.15 ... shouldn't the training start earlier?

Had a very funny phone call last night, cried laughing so much I had to take my asthma pump after the phone call ended! Very chesty ... no smut buckets, not that kind of chesty ... this morning!

Must remember to ring the hospital ... wish I had a hanky to tie a knot in!!

What am I doing wrong to Haloscan ... wont open anywhere this morning!?!

What the hell can I get Nana for Christmas?

* not necessarily peculiar you understand, just there for no reason!

Found .... and yes, nicked!

Here are the rules:

You.
Can.
Only.
Type.
One.
Word.
No.
Explanations.
So:

1. Yourself: Typing
2. Your boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse: Asleep
3. Your hair: Messy
4. Your mother: France
5. Your father: Funny
6. Your favorite item: PC
7. Your dream last night: Forgotten
8. Your favorite drink: Hot
9. Your dream car: Touareg
10. The room you are in: Spare
11. Your ex: Blonde
12. Your fear: Spiders
13. What you want to be in 10 years? Happy
14. Who you hung out with last night? Ruth
15. What you're not? Religious
16. Muffins: Blueberry
17. One of your wish list items: Boots
18. Time: Early
19. The last thing you did: Slept
20. What you are wearing: Jammies
21. Your favorite weather: Sunny
22. Your favorite book: Eight
23. The last thing you ate: Meatloaf
24. Your life: Busy
25. Your mood: Apprehensive
26. Your best friend: Ruth
27. What are you thinking about right now? Answers
28. Your car: Red
29. What are you doing at the moment? Meme
30. Your summer: Hot
31. Your relationship status: Married
32. What is on your TV? Off
33. What is the weather like? Cold
34. When is the last time you laughed? Ikea

Steal if you wish but please pop over and tell the Mad Baggage if you do!

Unconscious mutterings #199

I say ... and you think ... ?

Rhyme :: No rhyme nor reason to it!
Substantial :: BIG
Instant :: Cup-a-soup
Greed :: A deadly sin

Brad :: The delicious Mr Brad Pitt ... I mean is there any other?
Season :: Salt and Pepper
Accomplished :: cook
Invite :: Dinner
Sparkle :: Diamonds
Rainbow :: *now singing* Somewhere over the rainbow!

**UPDATE**

Enquiring minds need to know cq? Enquiring? Isn't that a polite way of saying nosey? *chuckles* Ok ... cream carpet, plain, no pattern but what I would consider a cool cream not a rich cream like say Cornish clotted cream. Right walls ... cream, except one wall is purple. Bedding and curtains will probably end up being navy blue, so the whole thing "doesn't end up too girly ... right!" Now I wonder who could have said that?

**UPDATE ENDS**

Which is why we have to get at at six and dismantle the bed ~ bugger!!

*flop*

I came home on Tuesday night and flopped! Asleep at 7.45!!

And I did the same thing on Wednesday night and last night! I was in bed last night at 9.05pm ... I mean WTF??

You see, it's my week outside in the fresh air and it's the dancing and the slide and swing and the bikes and the hide 'n' seek! It's killing me :o) In a good way. I think I need an early night :o) Or maybe I just need to dance more!!

Happy Friday guys :o)

Thirteen great places to drink a cup of coffee / tea!

1. Nell's Café on the A2 ~ a member of that great British tradition, a transport caf. Fab breakfasts served with huge and I mean huge mugs of tea. They gave Kev a very odd look when we went in there once ... something to do with him asking if they did a vegetarian breakfast! The girl at the counter said incredously "you mean with no meat like?"
2. Hotel Kyriad La Garissade, Labastide Murat ~ just up the road from le Laquet. Serves a gorgeous cup of café au lait on the terrace on market day. Served by the lovely, smiley Isabelle.
3. The beach cafe @ St Margaret's at Cliffe ~ none of that crappy polystyrene cup rubbish! Proper mugs of tea!
4. The Rose & Crown, Perry Wood, Selling ... sit in the fab garden with a cup of coffee until the sun is over the yard arm and then get a pint of Adnam's to go with one of their amazing Ploughman's.
5. The Grand Hotel, Brighton ~ they do the most wonderful afternoon tea! Crustless sandwiches, cream cakes, scones with strawberry jam and wonderful Villeroy & Boch china tea pots full of steaming hot English Breakfast tea!! Wonderful!!!
6. And now on to Wales. The Kardomah Coffee Shop, Portland Street, Swansea. The smell as you entered the Kardomah was fabulous; a rich, roasted coffee scent hung in the air and if I close my eyes I can still remember it now .... South Wales seems to be full of really good Italian owned cafes. Why? Here's why!
7. Which leads me neatly on to Domachi's (RIP ... now a fried chicken joint and not even a really good fried chicken joint) in Pontarddulais near Swansea. Mrs Domachi or her sister used to stand at the till and shout orders at her husband. They did glass cups of milky coffee that was so hot it would take the layer of skin of your upper lip ... wonderful memories!
8. Fecci's & Sons Ice Cream Parlour in Tenby ... great ice-cream, great cup of tea. Not together you understand!
9. Cresci's Cafe in Ynysybwl, Rhondda (though I'm sure some people would argue the geography of that!) I remember a morning after the night before when Jon, Kev and I sat with sausage sandwiches and huge mugs of tea ~ bliss!
10. Joe's Ice Cream Parlour, Swansea. The best ice-cream and a good Italian cappucino too :o)
11. A good one to go to with new friends. The Pumpkin Café @ Doncaster Station!! But we drank hot chocolate :o)
12. One for my dreams, a cup of tea with breakfast at the Oyster Box Hotel, Umhlanga Rocks, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. I spent a blissful week on that terrace drinking tea *sighs* watching whales & dolphins and generally soaking up the sunshine! I want to go back one day soon :o) And finally ....
13. My kitchen table ... pop in if you're in the area!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

Things I have never done ~ A meme

Tagged-ish by Mar, this meme was created by Naomi, sitting in the hills! A list of things I have never done beginning with ...

1. I have never broken a bone, not completely ... a fracture once but not a real brake!
2. I have never parachuted and I don't intend to start!
3. I have never been to Asia, South America, Antarctica or Oceania ... in first place on my wishlist would of course be Oceania, specifically eNZed!
4. I have never been the youngest child in the family, I was the only child for 3 & 1/2 years but never the youngest! I'd like to keep it that I'm not an only child for now :o)
5. I have never understood the rules, laws and foibles of cricket!
6. I have never streaked *people around the world bow down in thanks*
7. I have never managed to change a poohy nappy without heaving, which leads tidily into ...
8. I have never had a baby, but I'm not through trying yet!
9. I have never *wiggles eyebrows* opened a bottle of wine just to have a glass! It goes off you know! Stale and horrible :o)
10. I have never missed the last bus home and been stranded *crosses fingers, legs, eyes & touches wood* I hope it never happens.
11. I have never cooked a souffle successfully.
12. I have never injected myself with ANYTHING!
13. I have never fallen asleep in school but I did fall asleep during a university lecture once ... the lecturer was horrified but it turns out I had a serious viral infection!
14. I have never hit another adult in anger.
15. I have never been able to whistle successfully. And by successfully I mean really loudly with 2 fingers in my mouth!
16. I have never seen a musical onstage in the West End. I'd love to!
17. I have never been scuba diving in the sea.
18. I have never seen the aurora borealis but I'd love to!
19. I have never knowingly picked up a spider.
20. I have never ....

So, go on, tell me, what have you never ever done!

Just practicing with video

I saw this over at Rainy Pete's ... classic and sick is always appealing to me!

Make sure you watch the laughing babies video too :o)

Unconscious mutterings #198

I say ... and you think ... ?

Teacher :: Me
Fifty :: Sixty, Seventy, Eighty ....
Crossword :: Ongoing battle, every night with the crossword. And then the phone call from my mother doing the same crossword 2 nights later (it takes a while for the newspaper to get to France) saying "what do you mean you can't do 7 across? That was easy!" Yeh, yeh, yeh!! I have one word for you mother ... arboreal!
Stuffed :: Chair
Family :: Together

Purr :: Cat
Toad :: Toadstool
Cocktail :: Americano
Insecurity :: Too many to mention!
Magical :: *singing* Roll up for the mystery tour

Anon

Don't just disappear completely!
Keep in touch with your roots K :o)

Some joker ...

... had fun with that paint job!

Thirteen drinks I wouldn't say no to at different times of the day / week / month!

1. Hot water with lots of lemon juice and a shot of honey.
2. A cup of tea
3. A glass of juice - orange, pineapple or cranberry.
4. A Virgin Mary ... plenty of Worcester Sauce and celery salt.
5. A glass of cold milk, semi-skimmed for me please.
6. Mid-morning coffee, strong and milky.
7. Mineral water, sparkling ~ Perrier or San Pellegrino. Ice-cold :o)
8. And so starts the hard stuff ... wine, Banrock Station Sparkling Shiraz!
9. Or maybe a glass of South American merlot.
10. An Americano.
11. A large gin and tonic, ice, no slice!
12. Brandy, with ice and coke.
13. Alka Selzer :o)

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

Tuesday evening

I have just gotten in and I have to tell you that my heart is beating nineteen to the dozen!! As I came through the Medway tunnel tonight on the way home from poker I saw blue lights flashing behind me ... always unsettling, I think of the poor someone they're going to. Whethter its an accident, the victim of a burglary ... whatever :o(



So, I slow down and keep to the left on the dual carriageway. At this point I still have no idea whther this is an ambulance or the police and I immeadiately start worrying about the state of my car. I knew I didn't have to worry about drink driving! My poker partners will attest to the fact that I had a glass of water, a cup of tea, 6 or 7 breadsticks, 1 Mr Kipling's French fancy and a tonne of Bombay mix ... gin swilling poker players we are not! But I still don't like the fact that this police car is behind me!

And then he signals in with his indicators!!!!!!!! Bugger! What does he want? Was I speeding? Do I have a bald tyre? Bugger! So I pull in and ........... he screams passed me! Cheeky bugger! Ambulance driver just wanted me out of the way so he could do an illegal u-turn in the middle of the road.

And to top it all ... £7.00 down! So, tell us PP, who won all the money? Right sleep well everyone, me and my ongoing headache are off to bed :o)

Monday, Monday!

Monday, start of the working week. Staff meeting day!

Did you know that Monday, gets its name from the Moon, which in turn gets its name from Mani, the Germanic Moon god. Similarly, the Italian name (lunedi), the French name (lundi) and the Spanish name (lunes) come from the Latin name for the moon, Luna.

Monday's child is fair of face or so they say!

However, this Thursday's child is not happy about having to go out on a long journey to work when on this Monday morning it's still pitch black and blowing a hoolie out there! *wanders off to look for scarf and gloves for the day's expedition*