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I've got that November feeling - Bonfire Night
I don't particularly like November. I am even stroppier than usual (darker earlier, depressed at the sight of the garden and too lethargic to do anything about it). Bonfire night used to be an exception. I have great memories of going to Ottery St Mary to see the tar barrels while at University in Plymouth and returning there with Him Indoors a few years back. Two years ago I joined in the local fireworks madness. Invited the kids from the coffee morning circle for a party. K. brought very new baby Adam (who was still nameless at that point). Baby Adam was to die of cot death on New Year's day. Since then K. and J. have been having fireworks on the saturday after Guy Fawkes as a memorial.
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13.11.03 23:46 |
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Light relief - Friday 7th November
1. What food do you like that most people hate ? Andouillettes 2.What food do you hate that most people love ? Hard boiled eggs, milk in coffee 3.What famous person, whom many people find attractive, is most unappealing to you ? Robbie Williams. 4. What famous person, whom many people may find unappealing, do you find attractive? Tim Burgess from the Charlatans (I know he has run to seed a bit but I can't bear to take him off my naked twister list. 5. What popular trend baffles you ? Those hooded tops, worn with a cap or a wolly hat, even in the middle of August. Shows my age I suppose. When I was a teenager I would have suffered exposure rather than put anything on my head.
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13.11.03 23:54 |
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With friends like me.... - Saturday 8th November
Him Indoors has come down with a cold (he claims it is at least flu, or beri-beri), I am getting over it and I can confirm it is a cold - nasty maybe - but just a cold. You know the sort that makes you feel grotty but eventually goes away after a week of nursing yourself better with hot liquids. Can't go to K.'s memorial night. Wouldn't feel too good if we contaminated he new baby with viruses. Feel like I am letting her down terribly. No excuses. |
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14.11.03 00:00 |
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Remembering - 11th November
When my grandmother died last year. My dad inherited the family archive (a grand word for a few suitases full of photos and momentoes). Plenty of photos of my great grandad who died in 1917 (six months before the birth of his daughter). There is also postcards he wrote and the cards he made in the trenches out of birch bark. He painted a pansie on one of them (the french word for pansie is "pensee" litterally "thought"). His apprenticeship certificate (he was a joiner) and his joinery competion prizes. The letter which was sent to his family to explain he would not come back. What a waste. My great grand-mother remarried. Her new husband Lulu (for Lucien) was also a "poilu" so there are more first world war momentoes attached to him. Amongst the posessions I inherited, the height of kitch. Lulu brought back shell casings from the trenches which he had made into vases. I do not fear kitch so the "works of art" grace my shelves. |
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14.11.03 00:11 |
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Highlight my incompetence, why don't you
There was a little packet in the post today. It's the mould and paste for taking The Boy's upper jaw imprint for a gumshield, but lets start at the begining. During half term, the bike incident reminded me that I am not very good with dealing the The Boy's injuries and that Him Indoors is not always around to fix him for me. So the subject of gumshield for rugby raises its head again (somewhere we have one of the boil in the bag jobbies which was promptly put away safely once I had read the instructions and thought "maybe not"). Him Indoors spoke to the dentist about it (I am a nervous patient so the dentist thought it would be better if Him Indoors took The Boy to the practice, someting to do with not passing on ones phobias to ones children... I thought that was one of mothers priviledges.) The dentist was reluctant at charging us a fortune for a mould to be made when he is likely to need a new one done soon when the racketeer with wings comes along. Why don't we try a boil in the bag one he says. A little note about the tooth fairy. We thought we would somehow use the French myth that it was a a little mouse who came and swopped your tooth for a coin or maybe we would try to merge both (sort of the tooth fairy has a staff of mice to go fetch the teeth from children's bedroom). You know what I mean sort of a blend so he does not look too out of touch when he is in France. However the plague incident is still very recent and I don't think rodents are top on The Boy's list of animals welcome under his pillow, not to mention the fact our cat "Big Fat Baldrick" is a mean mouser whom the neighbours have been known to coax into their garages to rid them of mousie brown. Back to the gumshield. I search for the boil in the bag shield which is so safely put away I cannot find it (my house is ripe for one of those sort out your life by chucking away half your possessions programmes to come along). Eventually we found it (it made perfect sense it should be in the office on the box with the new toilet flush in it. We are now ready. The kettle has boiled the shields is soaking in hot water slowly loosing its shape. I fish it out, shake away the last drops of scalding water and we start to follow the step by step instructions. Along the lines of press hard on the front then on the back by sucking you thumb hard etc.... repeat until the gumshield does not fall off whe you open your mouth. After the 6th attempt at getting the stupid thing to stick The Boy is looking at me with the "are you sure you know what you are doing ?" look. I have even caught him trying to read the instructions while I was boiling more water. Time to move to a new tactic. I throu the now shapeless piece of plastic in the bin an start trawling the internet for an alternative. One site promisses me none of the hassle of boil in the bag and cheaper than the dentist. Basically the send you a form and some past to make a mould of your teeth, you send it back and they make a shield that fits. You can even choose fancy patterns. The packet has arrived. I have looked at the instructions. The first paragraph includes "practice with your child on the empty mould" and "teach your child a relaxation technique (fixing a distant point works well)". Not encouraging. Maybe I'll wait a couple of days and brace myself for it - apparently fixing a distant point works well. |
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15.11.03 09:25 |
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Tomorrow rugby semi-final
The Boy will cheer both side of course. I will always have the nude pics on the Stade de France website to cheer me up if France loose. What will Him Indoors have. Better go down to the shop and get some beer then. Old Peculiar anybody ?
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15.11.03 09:29 |
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Not a bad week-end all in all
Did not mind France loosing since they played rather dirty they did not deserve to win. K. came for a chat and dinner and brought along new baby Ollie (I suppose 4 months is still fairly new), her daughter and a bottle of wine. We talked about her complicated love life and the even more complicated love life of a couple of other friends to make her feel better about how complicated hers is. We also talked about: her maybe writing a piece or two as a guest on the blog; the way to boys hearts being via their stomachs; how "boob men" are born rather than made (Ollie is a great illustration of "everybody needs a bosom for a pillow"); how our children both start all their sentences with "mummy, can I tell you something ?"or "you know what". We reminded the kids that the last time they played with the golf clubs The Boy knocked one of E's front teeth off and they really ought to be more careful this time. We talked a little bit about Adam, when she will be able to feel less worried about Ollie and the talk on SIDS she will do to a roomfull of Doctors this summer (the parent's perspective with a human face if you want). In the middle of dinner classic child quote "mummy, you know what, we are the same Henri and Me, we have two daddies. I have a real daddy called J.C. and a pretend daddy called J.M.". Bless her little cotton socks. Reminded me a bit of the time The Boy told the childminder's child in the same tone men use to talk about having a bigger car/weeing further than one another "I've got two daddies and loads ans loads of nannies". How long before the ultimate insult on the playground becomes "your mother and your father are married ?" |
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16.11.03 21:04 |
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