Stress-free!

I'm sitting here typing my blog on Christmas Eve and all is calm, all is bright! Having been confined to the VT for the last couple of weeks with the awkward ankle and then snow storms, followed by ice upon ice for once I had to learn to delegate! I am really not good at the 'D' word - I'm one of those that feels things get done a lot quicker and efficiently if I carry them out - hence I'm run ragged most of the time. But kind family and friends have dashed around getting shopping for me, I reluctantly withdrew my offer of cooking on Christmas Day and for the first time since I was a kid I'm actually twiddling my thumbs and waiting with quite a big bubble of excitement for Christmas Day! I don't think my sons have ever witnessed me so calm - ordinarily I join the rest of the women of the world at this point brandishing a potato peeler and panicking that there is just not enough Quality Street or loo roll to last the two days that shops don't open!

So I say to all my friends out there - I do not recommend falling down a hole as it is fairly painful but I cannot speak highly enough of just sitting down and taking it easy. I will raise my glass (and my crutches!) to you all for a jingly festive time and a spectacular New Year! ;-) xx

Taking a nose dive!

What's been happening? Well the most significant news is that a week ago, in my typical mad rush to do a zillion things at once I rushed out to the boot of my car (to hide my eldest son's Christmas gifts) put my foot down a hole, sprawled myself across the road and subsequently was told by the hospital the following morning that I had torn the ligaments in my ankle. A week later, ankle elevated I'm still in pain and frankly I'm considering getting in touch with MI5 to suggest they use daytime TV as a form of torture, either them or lovely Jack in 24.. mmmm...oops I digress!

Forced rest - what's that all about?? Actually aside from the pain which I am numbing with the odd glass or two of red and prescribed pain killers, I have to admit that for the first time in ages I have time to chat on the phone, time to read the whole of the Radio Times, watch TV adverts (not pre-record everything and have my finger poised over FF) and drink a hot cup of tea. So sensibly I need to take note and when back to full fitness (uh hum!) take the time to look at the sky, watch the flowers and all those feel good things - will I? Would you?? Nah - I'll be chasing down to Sainsbury's and panicking about de-scaling the kettle - normal life will resume and I probably wouldn't cope any other way! :-)

I've done it!!

Yes, I've done it! Each year I set myself the task (a somewhat ridiculous one??) of getting my Christmas tree and decorations up within the first week of December, ideally the first weekend but I like to give myself some leeway ;-) So.. since insomnia has recently moved in again and being up at 5am on Saturday morning I thought 'perfect - I shall erect the tree!' Four hours later and I'm still grappling with fairy lights, beaded chain and glass baubles I momentarily question..why??' But my reservations do not last.. 'It's a Wonderful Life' is playing happily on the DVD player, the aroma of Christmas cake from the oven (yes I've even managed to bung that in too!) - quite honestly if you'd been here and closed your eyes you could have imagined yourself in the midst of Delia's abode - thatched roof, stunning conservatory, homely kitchen, cute kitty and all... okay down to earth I'm in a VT remember!! Is it all worth it? Yes! As I sit here, typing this admiring my tree I'm thinking 'ahh lovely' but it won't last ... cat+tree=chaos! :-)

Excuses excuses!

So why haven't I written on my blog recently...? Well I have a myriad of excuses - in fact the amount even impressed me! ;-) Truthfully I've been working - not just my City job but all my home jobs too - anyone who knows me will testify that I have a difficulty in saying 'no' - so when that telephone rings and I'm asked to tutor a pre-school Christmas craft group I say... 'of course, love to!' I then, thirty seconds later think 'oh crap!' and spend hours lesson planning, making crackers out of toilet roll middles and finding Pritt Stick in places where it really shouldn't be... you get my gist. I love it really, their cherubic faces light up when I open my box of goodies and I feel as popular as Santa - well for a short time anyway.

Which leads me on to the subject of Christmas ... do you love it or hate it? I adore it - I get silly excited from the end of November and begin to plan the tree, the outside lights (the VT (Victorian Terrace) has never looked so glam!) Much to the annoyance of my sons I start playing Christmas CDs in the car and I get a real thrill out of wrapping the gifts and popping them under the tree (even if Darcy cat has taken to chewing them to the point that they look shredded!)

Which leads me on to the subject of Darcy cat ... and another reason I haven't been writing .. just cannot reach the keyboard... see photo! :-) xx

House-Sitting, Hamster and Heating!

On average three times a year I give up my little Victorian terrace (VT) to house-sit for my sister in the country. I find myself 'discombobulated' - (a word an American friend of mine uses frequently - basically 'confused' and 'out of sorts'). After a day or two I settle but for a Victorian terrace gal this sprawling place in the country is (a) dark, (b) too quiet and (c) not near any shops! Each day I drive back home to check on my little menagerie which is where I discovered Harriet (the hamster) had curled up and died alone - silly I know to get so sentimental but then I discovered my central heating had stopped working so I taunted myself that she'd died curled up, alone and cold! I gave her a fitting little burial (the cat watched on suspiciously!) and vowed that was the very last little rodent pet I would own - I mean my sons are teenagers now!

So in the midst of all this how is my writing going? Badly is the best answer - I take a laptop to the country house but it's just not the same - it's far too 'tippy tappy' - my words do not have 'oomph' - to write, I need to bash my keyboard - (unsure what should be read into that!) I do have a plan - come Monday morning I shall be back in my VT, back in my routine and more importantly back to my beloved keyboard :-)

Headfirst - Sylvia Fletcher

I got up extra early to deliberate my outfit today - I am going to a book launch this evening. A very good friend of mine (she is also part of my writers' group that meets monthly) has written a wonderful book - Headfirst - 'A glorious amalgam of her couture millenary poems & prose'. The launch is at the shop where she works Lock & Co - Hatters of St James's, a building erected in the 1700's. Amazingly this shop still stands albeit the floors are at alarming angles and it most definitely helps if you're only 4' tall! We are promised champagne and cup cakes. It is all so very delightful but it did make me ponder... her venue is perfect - it obviously suits the subject matter of her book, it is also in a grand part of London. If I were to ever get to that wonderful 'launch party' stage what would I do? I live in Gravesend - (yes it is as dire as it sounds) my subject matter is disastrous dating - what sort of venue ideas does that conjure up? Grotty pub, Lambrusco and tepid doner kebabs perhaps! Oh I do hope not!! ;-)