The big rush at work is over (at least for a few days) so I got to go home on time today. Yippee. On the minus side, it seemed like all the drivers from "how crap a driver can you be?" (or whatever the TV programme is called) were out in force in the western suburbs of London. No Sir, just because I am on a bike, it does not mean you are allowed to pull out in front of me at the junction if there is a give way sign on your road (particularly unpleasant when you are cycling uphill). Yes madam, your lipstick really needed touching up. I can see what compelled you to stop on the double yellow lines in the blinking cycle lane (Is there a new article in the highway code I am unaware of which states that as long as you put your hazard lights on and you drive a BMW, it is ok to stop and reapply ?). And you , the idiot in the fiesta with a personalised number plate (pleeease !), do you think I wear the stupid fluorescent jacket and my bike looks like the Skegness illuminations just so I can be a clearer target ? Anyway, that was the rant of the day. On the plus side, my mum called to confirm that everything had gone ok with my grandmother's operation. My mum has been to see her and she is fine. The proof. The minute my my stepped in, she was having a good whinge about the food. And yesterday, she threw a strop at my grandfather for not coming to see her early enough for her taste (she was still on morphine at the time - goes to show how strong she is, and how quickly she recovers). My grandmother is an extraordinary woman, who was born at the wrong time. She was very good at school and had a particular talent for mathematics. Unfortunately she was born at a time when an academic education was deemed unsuitable for a girl and she was made to study needlework and home economics. Her grandfather was a "monsieur" who had his own bench at the church. He also owned a fleet of barges and a touch of a gambling habit. The family fortunes took a bit of a nosedive when he started to gamble his freight, and the freight he did not yet have. My grandmother will not even have a pack of cards in the house. A lot of the decisions her father made hinged on preserving their lost standing in society. She does not believe in ill placed pride. Her mother died when she was very young and her father remarried. She is close to her half sister. She had 4 children (2 daughters and then 2 sons - at home) who she has admitted she never wanted. My grandfather is the one who wanted children. He was her husband. She had children. I share many of her personality traits. Mainly the bad ones like the stroppyness, the propensity to find a glass half empty, the total need to control my kitchen and to have it stocked up to the brim, the use of food as a means to give love to those close to me, thinking the worse of everything so as not to be disapointed when the worse happens and feeling uncomfortable when people say or do somthing nice to me. I am working on the more unpleasant ones. I also share some of my grandfather's traits. Too much feelings for only one person to carry, so much it has to be shared for example (my grandfather is the one if you need a cuddle). It makes for an explosive cocktail. In their couple it shows through big arguments which have become legendary. My mother has memories of objects flying about in rooms. In me, it just makes for a bundle of contradictions. If you add other ingredients from the paternal side of the family you get a very hazardous product. More about being a control freak in the kitchen: I was once told that everybody has an autistic side. Mine shows in my kitchen cupboards. For example when we moved into the house. Kim let me organise the cupboard in the kitchen, she knew if she even made a suggestion she would end up wearing the crockery. For a while I used to keep a list of the contents of the freezer on the door (him indoors has put a stop to it, he finds it a bit freaky). The only other person who I know does that is K. (another control freak with serious affection issues - notice a pattern ?). I also have to have cupboards full of food. I do not know why. I have never gone hungry in my life, so why ? For example, I normally have at least 5 different shapes of pasta, 4 or five types of rice (considering the only rice dishes I can cook are rice pudding and risotto - just a touch weird), various grains all neatly lined up and in an order that only seems obvious to me. Him indoors does not understand it but, has a good memory so he can put things back where they go. The previous au-pair unsettled me "a bit" (understatement of the week) by putting things back in places which even Him Indoors felt could never be right. Picture Him Indoors helping me unpack "where do I put the falafel mix ? Between the lentils and the Bulgur of course. And do you want the tinned salmon in front or behind the tuna ?...." The funny thing is I am the most untidy person Him Indoors and The Boy's father have ever met. I have the Mr Trebus hoarding gene in me. But not in my kitchen cupboards.
At least I got to go home on time...
3.12.03 23:35
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(3.12.03 23:56) There was plenty of shite drivers out here today too! I had boderline road rage by the time I got home! What would I ever do, if I lost my middle finger? lol Glad to hear your grandmother's surgery went well. |
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Lisa (4.12.03 11:57) Could you please come and organise my kitchen? My cupboards are shocking. I tend to cram whatever I buy at Tesco in the pantry and cupboards, pushing the items at the back into oblivion, never to be eaten or seen again. Oh, and while you're at it, can you please organise the closets as well? There are some that I'm afraid to open... |
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(4.12.03 14:21) Apathygirl: you are a master of self control if you manage borderline road rage. Lisa: Happy to have a go, I don't do closets, my madness is contained. Beware, control freak kitchen cupboards are high maintenance. Is it ok to organise other people's kitchen cupboards then ? A friend's ex-boyfriend used to dity up and clean other people's places and was told it's an illness. We used to call him "la fée du logie" (the household fairy). |
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(4.12.03 18:40) Generally it is definitely NOT OK to organise other people's kitchen cupboards, especially if you are a house guest when the owners of the kitchen cupboards will have to retain their host-politeness and have no vent for their rage upon discovering the rice filed in alphabetical order. However, as Lisa has specially requested your services, in this instance it IS OK. Glad to clear that one up. |
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(4.12.03 21:08) rudelyawaken: Thanks. Saw the fée du logie this summer at BF "wedding". He could not resist cleaning the kitchen. There was nearly a diplomatic incident when he threw away the net in which lemons used to be. Old empty net... he thought bin. BF's mum was keeping it to make a spiderman costume for her grandson. |
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(4.12.03 22:33) Do you have lots of neat labled tupperware containers,? My mother swears this is an autistic trait |
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(5.12.03 10:22) no labelled containers. There are rarely any leftovers in the house + The Boy seems to be able to spot any food that has been reheated and shun it. I have however noticed my Trebus side is slowly taking over my autistic side. Biscuit tins are beginning to multiply. Ahhhhrghh, need to regain control. |
