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!! ;-)

Re-read or not to re-read and tweaking!?

I find myself posed with this problem daily - when I have written say 2000 words a little imaginary road block pops into my head and it says 'just go back over that, re-read it, tweak it' and then the next couple of hours I hone, improve and all but manicure my words into perfection. And then I feel lost, my plot plan is buried and I've deviated once again. Momentum has ground to a halt. I make a cup of tea and what do I do? ... I re-read it all again and think 'wow I bet I could shape that into a super short story'! :-)

Lists and the one item that never gets ticked off!

For my sins I'm far too organised - I write lists for everything, I get a buzz from ticking items off, a thrill from re-writing yet another list and I awake each day to a list entitled 'Today' (meticulously prepared the night before!) For the last few years there is one thing I cannot tick off my list 'finish novel' - those two words get transferred onto a new list every single day - the day I strike it through I will use my golden gel pen in pure celebration! But today I do not feel quite so guilty - I glance at those two words and smile because I've taken a step closer to actually finishing my novel - I've joined Novel Racers and now I am responsible for writing and making sure those thousands of words count - the golden gel pen is shivering in anticipation! ;-)

Suspenders!

Picture the scene - nine women working in an open plan City office, chattering, gossiping, making tea (or lack of it in my case!) It is not unsurprising that when we all stroll back to our desks after lunch if one of us is carrying a shop bag brandishing 'Next', 'Monsoon', 'Marks & Spencer' we are all but frisked to see what the purchases are! Today one such lady was 'frisked'! With a cheeky smile she held aloft a black lacy suspender belt. Now the responses SHOULD have been 'have fun' or 'enjoy' all said with a salacious wink - instead the responses WERE 'that's not going to be comfy', 'a woman wouldn't have designed that', 'couldn't keep one on all day' - oh dear! Does this mean we do not make the effort to be sexy? We're forgetting to embrace our femininity? Well I refuse to be down hearted because I actually think we do and I certainly work with a lady who is putting lots of effort into keeping the female race sexy! Go girl! ;-)

She's a Better Woman Than Me!

I visited a good friend today and still feel as if I'm walking around with my mouth agape with astonishment! We sat and had coffee in her bedroom because an army of builders seem to be ripping apart the rest of the house (and hopefully building the massive new extension) to accommodate her, the new man and the four teenage children they now have between them! While I sipped coffee, the electrician called, the architect confirmed the windows were the wrong size, the builder cut his hand, the eldest teenager could not find his basketball shorts, the father in law arrived with a casserole which did not fit in the microwave (her only form of cooking right now), the elderly dog she has now also adopted whined continuously to go for a walk and she calmly chatted as if all this chaos wasn't actually happening around her - I admire her, I feel humble and, more importantly, why do I not have the 'zero panicking gene'!!? ;-)

Woman in Black

I've had a very sleepless night - my son kept me awake - not through sickness, teething or anything so expectant or baby-like - no he is actually nearing 16 and has reached 6 feet! He kept me awake because he was terrified! He had been to the theatre to see the Woman in Black and came home completely spooked - (this is from the boy who watches 'Saw' films and happily brushes off all that horror and gore and tucks into a dinner). But this was a different fear - the real 'something under the bed' syndrome (not that he saw his bed he dived into mine grabbing a cat en route!) As for the actual play - superb - I think if you are happy to be thrilled, terrified, cling onto the edge of your seat and ultimately give someone a sleepless night - he thoroughly recommends it! :-)

So here I am, finally succumbed to blogging - in the space of two months I've embraced Facebook and I am now teetering on the edge of investigating Twitter - what is happening to me?! I guess I'm growing young - I don't want to miss out and even though none of this really comes naturally I'm darn well going to give it a go! :-)