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Si, si, ça se soigne I thought I could prove that I am not completely insane when The Boy on the way home mentioned he needed a painting shirt for school, "you know, an old one that isn't needed anymore". I had the perfect one in mind, the one that had taken on an uneven fluorescent green when I washed it with the house-guest's bright yellow jumper, great justification for keeping/hoarding it. Only Him Indoors had used it as a ground-sheet when drilling holes at the weekend when he was playing with electricity and things. Fantastic, Him Indoors had unwittingly the perfect opportunity to justify hoarding unwearable shirts twice... but he had also provided me with the opportunity to justify procrastinating too. See I had to use one from the pile of shirts which have been awaiting for over a year to have their buttons cut off and the still good material cut into fat quarters because you can never have too many spare buttons and you never know when you will need a small square of material to finish a quilt or a cushion cover. I was doing so well at attempting to prove I am not completely insane and then I think I lost the upper hand when Him Indoors found me ironing the painting shirt because it was all crumpled and no it doesn't matter that The Boy then rolled it up in a ball to stuff it in his school reading folder. |
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6.9.06 20:54 |
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Son regard noye‚ sur la carte de France lalalalalalala* *No extra point for guessing the song but the rest of the lyrics is there if you feel the need (I had to stiffle a "OMG, I used to do that too, how very 80's" at the way the sleeves of the Jacket Gerard Blanchard is wearing on the record sleeve). Anyway I digress, things that have made me feel a bit home sick today: My sister has sent me some pictures of my nephew and I am ashamed to admit that he has grown so much that if I didn't know where the picture came from I could not have put a name on the child. Since the last time I saw him in May he has gone from babe in arms to almost walking. I have no excuse for not visiting more often appart from LD lines being I didn't get much time with my mum and dad when my parents came over to bring The Boy home. I made some raspberry entremet Ancel last night to have for pudding tonight. It tasted of being at home. Think pink vegetarian milk jelly. I have spent a lot of time on the phone to a couple of French suppliers and a French bank. The suppliers were in my old trade (shipping) and one operated from the port where first lived away from home and where I trained. Even after so many years, the accent and turn of phrase were familiar and so was the teminology and it felt comfortable. Everytime I have logged in on IM it has been my SIL rather than my brother who has been online. I expect it will pass, it always does when I remember how foreign a lot of things now seem when I go home to visit nowadays and how little time it takes before I argue with my dad or he drives me up the wall and all the reasons why I left in the first place. As for missing shipping I just have to remember the hours and the money ro start missing it less.
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7.9.06 23:07 |
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I am not a grown woman, I am a toddler The scene: a playgroup, a toddler as discarded a toy, another toddler comes along and registers an interest in the toy. Todller number one then throws a tantrum. Him Indoors has a smile on his face, somebody has registered some interest in him and he broke it to me, very gently and I reacted like a toddler who doesn't like the idea that another child might get some fun out of their discarded toy. "But you told me to move on" he said, I did tell him and I do want him to move on and be happy. I don't want him to be my boyfriend anymore but i don't like the idea of him being with somebody else. I have the mental age, emotional awareness and social adequacy of a 2 year old. It goes without saying that although I have not met her and only know whatever minimal details Him Indoors has given me (her hair colour and the area where she lives) she is not worthy of him. How dare she fill in the gap I have left? It doesn't matter that I have no intention of filling the gap myself and return to his side ever. See, told you I am as rational as 2 year old. Feel free to mock, even I can see it was ridiculous to be annoyed and I have in th past mocked friends who had similar reactions when their exes looked happy with somebody else even if they had moved on and were happy themselves so I guess I deserve it.
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11.9.06 19:01 |
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The ride home As The Boy gets ready to climb on the back of the bike... "did you have a nice day"; "no it was a horrible, horrible day"; "ah, you can tell me about it once we get going, and how come you're all hot and sweaty"; "well that's why the day was truly horrid, I was boiled in a pan" As I puff and pant on the bike with The Boy riding pillon... "how many people did it take to do that"; "only one"; "he must have been big and strong to put you in the pan, and very fast to catch you, or were you tricked into it?"; "I'm not that dumb Mummy. Actually there were 2 people and they were big and strong and they grabed me and threw me in the pan" As I turn the corner and think he is really getting too heavy to ride pillon... "How long did they boil you for?"; "The whole time I was at school, 6 hours"; "Are you telling me that in 6 hours you didn't work out a way to escape"; "I was locked in, the lid was really tight with really tiny holes to let the steam escape"; "I see" As we arrive in front of the house "Mummy, you left your lights on, your car won't start in the morning" I never found out how he got out of the pan. |
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12.9.06 19:05 |
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Shushhhhhh! I'll try not to say it too loud in case it hears me and decides to throw a wobbly on the way to Aldershot, but tomorrow after work the cranberrymobile will be swapped for a newer model. I have had my lovely fire engine red Frenchmobile longer than I have had my son so I have grown quite attached to it. It has served me well but its time has come. There will be no more mocking its bubble windscreen; no more suggestion that it is held together by red polish and that using t-cut on it would make it fall appart; no inspecting the growth of moss on the window rubbers; no more applying fresh duck tape on the whole where the passenger side mirror used to be before the local yobs got annoyed with the pub refusing to serve the already drunk underaged drinkers and went on the rampage and wrenched it off along with the side mirror of the other cars which happened to be parked on that side of the street and no more feeding it oil on a weekly basis. I wonder if the novelty of having brakes will make up for losing the worried look on my passenger's face as the seat clonks back into place another notch as they sit. Pah, what am I saying? As if the worried look on my passenger's face was ever going to disappear, changing cars won't improve my driving.
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19.9.06 20:55 |
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The mind boggles Let's say you sell goods on the internet and that you sell mainly to individuals rather than businesses. Granted some of your customers will be working from home, some may be retired, some maybe housewives or house husbands and some may work shifts and be at home between 8am and 6pm but I don't think it is to far fetch to assume that a fair proportion of your customers will be working standard office hours. I shop online because I don't want to wast precious week-end time traipsing around shops with other 9-5ers, I assume I am not the only one so I expect the online to retailer to put a bit of thought into which company they use to arrange their deliveries. At the week-end Him Indoors placed an order online on my behalf*. On Monday morning he had a confirmation the goods had been shipped and on Tuesday there was a tell tale little card saying "tried to deliver, you weren't in, we'll try again tomorrow and if you still aren't in you'll have to come to the depot where we will be holding the goods a further 2 days before sending them back". No phone number to arrange a redelivery/tell them not to bother because we weren't gonna be there. No mention of where the depot is let alone a little map or opening hours. Never mind that delivery 1 Tuesday, delivery 2 Wednesday, hold 1 day Thursday, hold 1 more day Friday means no collection on Saturday the earliest day off. The only information on the card is that I'll need to go with ID to collect the goods from the depot and a website address yippee. I feel it is a big leap of faith to assume everybody having a parcel delivered to them will automatically have easy access to a computer and internet access and find it a bit lacking that there shouldnt be a telephone number on the card but maybe that's just me. A bit of surfing later and I have found out that the depot is in Hayes (that's on the other side of the M4 and certainly not a trip I want to make in the evening rush hour, oh no I don't though I should be counting my blessings I don't have to work out how to get there by bus) and I have a phone number which leads me to an automated switchboard and a series of recorded messages and no option to speak to a real person. Today joy of joys I was greeted with another little card saying I wasn't in when they came to deliver my new toy. I could have saved them a trip but who cares about the homeless penguins? At least this time the driver has scribbled a local number on the card and adter a number of rings designed to test my faith in the existence of staff at the depot I got to speak to a real person (she was lovely though she couldn't really help me much), so to sum up... even if I had been able to call them the previous day it would have made no difference since no they cannot deliver to a different address and no they are not allowed to leave the parcel with a neighbour even if the neighbour in question has been given some identification but yes they can hold the goods a bit longer on request. Call me fussy but I fail to be thrilled by the service and don't think my online shopping experience is enhanced by having to go to Hayes to collect my shopping. I suppose I'd better switch off the rant mode. *Sorting out a paypal account for myself is one of the many things I should be doing but have been avoiding for no good reason other than I am the queen of denial and procrastination. It's on the list somewhere with starting to collect boxes and beging packing ready for Teh Move which is scheduled for the end of December when the current tenant of what will be my new home vacates the premises. |
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27.9.06 22:21 |
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