Noodles, Picture Postcards, Test Results & ZUMBA!

The end of the month makes Harriet very happy because its payday and this month was no exception.  On Friday night Harriet went out with a group of mates to Weatherspoons; on Saturday she took herself off to Newport for half a head of highlights and on Saturday night she went clubbing up the city.   Sunday was a gentle day spent recovering and last night she went to see ‘Hairspray’ at the theatre.  She said it was a brilliant show, the theatre was packed out and people were dancing in the aisles. I am glad that she is out enjoying herself and having a good time.  At 21 this is exactly what she should be doing, there’s plenty of time for stresses and responsibilities.

Despite banging on about change and positivity, Monday didn’t turn out to be a particularly productive or positive day for me.   A hangover and a late start didn’t help but neither did Google.  They had made some changes over the weekend to their blogger programme and I couldn’t workout out how to upload photos onto my blog. I think this was because Shockwave Flash crashed on my system, I dunno, each day some or other application stops working.  In the end I went to use Phil’s laptop in the conservatory and got the photo’s uploaded no problem at all.  Phil doesn’t like me using his computer and I don’t like sitting in the conservatory, its freezing, I’m much happier in the kitchen.

Blog up and running it was getting on for midday so I decided to leave the gym until the afternoon and go and do some shopping so I wouldn’t be at home for the viewings.  I’ve recently discovered that Waitrose stock a good range of Japanese noodles so I stocked up on these.  I then tripped across to the centre to go to Holland & Barrett to buy some more green tea.   Afterwards I climbed back in the car and went to the sorting office at Kiln Farm to collect a parcel.  I’ve got a couple of things on order so I wasn’t certain just exactly what I was collecting but it turned out to be my arty competition postcards.  There are hundreds of them so I think I may have over ordered but no worries they are colourful and pretty and will keep me going in competitions for at least a couple of years.

Sue sent a text to say that Alan was being admitted to MK Hospital yesterday. I’m not sure whether the speediness of admission, the following day after seeing the consultant is a good thing but I figure that it is, the sooner they get this tumour out and analysed then the sooner Alan can get the proper treatment and they will (hopefully) both know what they are dealing with.  I called Sue on the mobile last night and good news is that they dishcharged Alan after tests so at least he got home and could sleep in his own bed.  If you happen to dip in here S&A, which I think is quite unlikely, then we send you lots of love, positive thoughts and strength for whatever lies ahead. 

When I got back home after collecting my parcel I drove up to our driveway only to find that the estate agent and the second viewer were still there so I turned around and parked up across the roundabout.  It was a long viewing and I reckon they must have been looking around for at least half an hour.  I took that as a good sign and the agent phone me late yesterday afternoon to say there were very positive and are thinking about a second viewing at the weekend.  My business head tells me this is good and we already have someone that has offered us the full asking price but still has a house which she is struggling to tell; my heart will heavy though and if a sale does progress then I will be very sad to leave.   When I was finally able to return home I had some leftover Sunday dinner veggies and then cooked up a batch of chicken noodles in a chilli sauce.  I’ve deviated quite a lot from the recipe from the Wagamama cookbook and I’ve finally adapted it to a less complicated version that both Phil and I like.  Not surprisingly I didn’t get to the gym, my body and mood just weren’t up for it.  Phil was weary when he got home on Monday evening at almost half seven so he was very glad to sit down to a bowl of spicy noodles.  It was a quiet night and we both went to bed very early.

It was another struggle getting up yesterday but I got up with Phil and stayed up.  I hung around because I wanted to make sure Harriet got up in time for work and then went to the gym.  It looked grey and cold outside so I dug my green puffa jacket from the wardrobe.   I bought this coat in Las Vegas and it kept me warm when we visited the Grand Canyon.  Wearing it brought back nostalgic memories and I can’t believe it’s nearly a year since we were starting off on our Australian adventure.  Happy days…………

Phil offered to buy me a new i-Phone but I declined, deciding that this would be too frivolous and I would probably never utilise all the applications.   So I said “thanks but no thanks”.  I did however splash out on an annual movie ticket at Cineworld.  Yes, this was a bit indulgent but I only need to go to the cinema twice a month and I will save money.  At the moment we go about once a week and as it looks unlikely that we will be going away for the winter (unless we sell the house and/or win the lottery) so I can see I will be making good use of my season ticket.

Phil is not working today, he’s had to take the day off so he can go and see Louise, his diabetes nurse for the results of his tests last week.  I hope they come out okay, I am not overly impressed with the diabetes clinic so far, it certainly doesn’t seem very effective and the various nurses, GP’s and clinics do not communicate very well.   Not good for the patient but then I do wonder if Phil sits there like a meek lamb and doesn’t push or ask the right questions.  Let’s see how he gets on today.   I am not sure what other plans he has for the day; me, I am off for a run at the gym and then I am going to try my first Zumba class at 10.30am.  I am a Zumba virgin and admit I am a little nervous.  Still, you’ve got to give these things a go and besides, I’m beginning to get bored of my gym routine.  Next week I’m going to try a Body Pump class; Vanessa was telling me that she does this class 3 times a week and as a result, she has got biceps to die for!   Must finish and post now.  Time is of the essence and this girl needs to go and do some Zumba! 

The Power of Positivity

Although it’s a wet, grey miserable Monday morning and I’ve got a hangover and am watching The Jeremy Kyle show, I have decided that the way forward is the power of positivity.  After looking at the right hand side of the blog and reading back some of my titles and seeing blog titles like ‘Bit of a crap week’, ‘Boring Boring Boring’, ‘One wedding and a funeral’ and ‘A desperate housewife’ I’ve decided that if my life is going to get any better than I need to change, big time.  No more negativity, no more cup half empty, from now on, come the new month of October, it’s all going to be positive. 

You may recall that I subscribed a couple of weeks back to the ‘Simply Prizes’ competition magazine in a mad moment and blogged cynically shortly afterwards that I didn’t stand a cats chance in winning.  Well I take that back, because since signing up and entering hundreds (literally) of comps I’ve had a result.   Since winning twenty quid on a scratch card sent to me by my kind sister, I’ve since won a free holiday!  I’ve won a free week in an apartment in Tenerife, just the accommodation mind you, not the flights, but I managed to get return flights for both of us for only £200 which includes our luggage and transfers.  We fly out on the 8^th of January 2011.

When I got back from Abingdon on Friday afternoon I opened the post to find that I’d won another free holiday; a weeks holiday in Turkey in a 5* hotel including flights.  I have yet to receive the booking confirmation pack so we haven’t booked but still, I am very excited.  I did another competition on Saturday courtesy of the Mail and I think I have won an all expenses weekend in Venice for 2 but this has yet to be confirmed.  I think I shall carry on with this competition lark, my persistence and patience is paying off!  I am taking it very seriously, I have ordered printed self adhesive address labels to save me writing my name and address one thousand times and I have even gone as far as ordering fancy arty farty postcards, figuring the bolder they are, then the more chance I have of getting selected.  All I need now is a mega cash prize win then I/we will be sorted.   Be positive Claire, you have got to be in it to win it!!!!!!!!!

We’ve had a gentle pleasant few days since returning home from Abingdon.  We stopped off at the carvary in Shenley Church End on Friday for lunch. You really can’t beat their roast dinner at £5.25 on weekdays; it really is the best in town.  I got on with domestics when we got home and Phil took the KA and went to Northampton to do some driving with G.   Early on Saturday morning I went to the market to buy the usual fruit and vegetables and when I got home I thought we were going to the gym but Phil decided that we would walk to the cinema to watch ‘Eat Pray Love’ the film that I’ve been banging on about for ages.   I didn’t mind missing the gym too much because the walk to the centre, there and back was 7k, I know that for a fact because Phil clocked the mileage on his new i-phone.  He was even able to tell him the actual number of steps but I can’t remember the exact amount but I can tell you it was in the thousands.   The film was a bit of a disappointment.  I could tell Phil was bored because he was huffing and puffing and sighing a lot, and to be honest, I thought it was long and drawn out.  I think when you’ve read the book and worn the t-shirt, the movie never lives up to the book.  It was okay but it was too long and I wouldn’t recommend it; after all the hype in the media, it certainly didn’t live up to expectation.

Sunday was a lazy day.  Phil awoke early on both Saturday and Sunday and I was tired for the entire weekend.  We laid in bed reading papers and books on Sunday morning.  In fact, I read 3 books over the weekend and caught up with a backlash of newspapers.  I bought 3 biographies whilst in Abingdon at WH Smith for a bargain price of 5 quid; I read the autobiographies of Clarissa Dickson Wright the famous half of Two Fat Ladies and Kathy O’Beirne, an abused catholic child brought up in Ireland.  Both reads were excellent.  I also read a slightly dated biography telling the story of Davina Mccoll which wasn’t so good.  Harriet picked up my copy of ‘Committed’ by Elizabeth Gilbert from the city centre which I have started but have yet to finish.  I love reading with a passion, it takes me into another world but I have to be in the mood to read.

As I predicted, Phil dedicated most of his weekend to the new love in his life, his new black sexy i-Phone model number 4.  He got slightly exasperated at times because its technology is very advanced and Phil struggled to get to grips with his ‘aps’.  However he did manage to put in all of his contacts albeit that he had to do this manually and he also took these black and white photographs of himself, me and Harriet, which I think are rather clever.   He did loads of other things with his new phone but I got a little bored listening and after a while I switched off.  Long may his love continue!

Phil was so absorbed with his phone and new software that he really didn’t have time to go the gym on Sunday but although we were late up I took myself off for a 5k run; I didn’t do the weights or swim and actually I didn’t even shower there because I wanted to get home to start the Sunday lunch.  I cooked roast chicken with loads of veggies and Yorkshire pudding which was really yummy even if I do say so myself.  Phil settled himself in front of the telly to watch the Singapore Grand Prix and I practically waited on him hand and foot all afternoon but I didn’t really mind, his days in Abingdon are long and hard and he really does deserve some R&R some times. 

Sue & Alan invited us to join them at the quiz at the Cricketers in Oldbrook last night.  I did warn them that I was no good at quizzes but they didn’t seem to care.  Alan was driving and picked us up which was good of him.  They weren’t many participating in the quiz because I gather it has only been going for a couple of weeks. Sue said it was a laugh the last tim

A week where Phil finds Love

There must be something weird or freakish about me and my face in particular because perfect strangers always stare. Honest to god, it's not just me being paranoid, ask Harriet. A couple of weeks ago, Harriet and me were walking through the Tesco car park in Kingston and even before we'd got to the main entrance, at least 3 lots of women had looked me up and down and given me the once over. It happened quite a few times when we were in the store, and was so obvious even Harriet noticed and passed comment. It's not just staring either, strangers in the street stop me and ask me for directions and this has happened twice since I’ve been hanging around in Abingdon. I find this quite funny because anyone that knows me well, will know that I have absolutely f@*k all sense of direction. I figure that I must have a face that offers help and empathy because people that I have never met will very often strike up a conversation. This is fine, I will talk to anybody and everybody regardless and Phil is the same as well. Harriet thinks that we attract and collect ‘randoms’ but we mean no harm. A couple of weeks ago I met my very first schizophrenic in the changing room at the White Horse Leisure Centre. I was getting dressed after my shower and just mind my own business when a lady came in and started a conversation about her doctor giving her the wrong prescription. Within 5 minutes Maria told me she was a borderline schizophrenia but assured me that she wasn’t dangerous because she’d taken her tablets that morning. She told me she fancied her best friend’s husband and that she had a birthday party and nobody turned up. I felt sorry for her. Apparently her GP had advised exercise as part of her treatment and so Maria had joined the club. I wasn’t aware that you could get gym membership on the NHS but I suppose if it helps heal then why not. Anyway I was sitting on the bench after my work out yesterday, munching on a banana, when Maria walked into the changing room. I don’t think she remembered me and it was weird, because we pretty much had the same conversation that we had a few weeks back. I walked out of the changing room with Maria and had to remind her to tie up her shoe laces before going on the treadmill. Bless her, she’s harmless enough or at least I think she is!



After my drama with the exploding egg, Wednesday turned out to be a good day. I had a good run at the gym after a late start and then went to meet up with Jan at the OU. It was a beautiful sunny day and we walked to the hub and sat outside on a bench for a much needed catch-up. There has been a bereavement in the Barker family and poor Jan has been looking after her mum-in-law whilst fire fighting with a heavy workload. In spite of all that, Jan had been giving some thought to my joblessness and suggested that I start up a cleaning company or advertising my services as a painter cum decoration for ladies. It’s certainly something to think about because both these things I am good at.

I very nearly ended up in trouble in the afternoon and narrowly avoided, what could have potentially been, a very smelly and highly embarrassing experience. I’ve been drinking a cup of special Cho Yung green tea each morning which is a very expensive diet loss tea that I think I’ve mentioned before. Well, on Wednesday morning I decided to have 4 cups of the tea, reusing the tea tag each time and just adding hot water. I’ve developed quite a likening to this tea and the fact that it promotes weight loss is of course a big bonus. Anyway to cut a long story short, I was in Aldi in the afternoon queuing up to pay for some of their £2.99 wine which is on offer at the moment, when I started getting funny pains in my stomach. I really needed the loo and I was willing my queue to hurry up because the need was becoming more desperate as each second passed. Eventually I got through, paid my money, threw my bottles in the boot and quickly got in the car. I hadn’t got far when I pulled over to take a call on my mobile; it was D&A to say that my glasses were ready for collection. As I was very close to the centre I deliberated for a second as to whether I could make it to the car park but my toilet need was very urgent so I sped home, clenching my cheeks. Thank god, I just about made it, but oh boy it was a close call. Cho Yung tea is good but my advice is DO NOT reuse teabags unless you are going to be at home for the day!


I briefly said hello to Phil when he got home then jumped in the car and went to see Vanessa. This was my first chance to catch up with her and hear all about her trek to Kilamanjaro. Of course I’d read her blog journal but to hear her describing her trip in person was just incredible. Vanessa had trained hard for Kilamanjaro and plans to carry on with her fitness training because next year she plans to do the Peru Trek. Go Girl!

Phil is in love, and nah, I don’t mean with yours truly. He’s in love with his new iphone model number 4 that came into his life on Tuesday evening. He is absolutely besotted with this black slim line machine and the black leather case that Jimmy gave him; I haven’t seen him so animated for a long, long time. He can barely contain his excitement and all he can talk about is his ‘apps’ which means very little to me. I am not jealous, anything that stops him being grumpy, is worth every single penny. Long may it continue is what I say!


I left early yesterday morning and came down to Abingdon with Phil. After the beautiful sunshine the day before it was depressing to wake up to grey darks skies and pouring rain. I knew the sunshine wouldn’t last. I dropped Phil off at work and then went about my usual Abingdon routine. I won’t you bore you with the details it was just more of the same old. Phil finished at quarter to two and we had lunch in a pub and then settled ourselves in our room at the Crown & Thistle. My nice friendly receptionist was on duty but unfortunately she couldn’t put us in room 5; instead we got room 16 which I much prefer to the 4 poster room. Unfortunately this was on the 3rd floor and we couldn’t pick up the hotel’s free Wi-Fi connection. I managed to get onto an unsecured network but Phil was really disappointed because he couldn’t get any connection whatsoever on his iphone. We’ve just worked out this morning, that this problem is something to do with T-Mobile and Tesco and swapping his SIM card over. I think I need to phone T-Mobile to see if I can sort out the problem because if it’s not fixed today Phil will moan all weekend.

I’m posting this from the hotel. I’m hanging out here for as long as possible because it’s raining again today. Phil is finishing at midday so I’ll pick him up from work and then we’ll head back to MK. No firm plans for the weekend at this moment in time. Phil wants to download some software that Tom had sent via Jim all the way from Kuala Lumpar. Tom was able to get Phil, SolidWorks 2010, AutoCad 2011,Audoesk Inventor, Pro Engineer and a couple of other programmes. These programmes would have cost thousands in the UK but I’m not sure how much Tom had to pay for them in Malaysia because Jim wouldn’t take any money from Phil. Phil is very grateful and will no doubt find some way of paying Tom back. Once Phil has downloaded the programmes, he can start to teach himself how to use them and once he has mastered them, he can add these new skills to his CV. And hopefully, this will help his chances in getting a job that is much closer to home. Phil said he had a good day yesterday at work but I’m not sure how much longer he can cope with the journey to Abingdon especially as the nights draw in.


So I can already see that Phil will be spending much of his weekend on his laptop in the conservatory. Not only will he be keen to explore his newly acquired software but I know he will want to download more ‘apps’ on to the new love in his life, his iphone4. I not sure what I shall do to occupy myself but I’m sure I will find something to do. If nothing else, I can always find some cleaning to do. Just typing that sentence and I sound like such a saddo. Oh Clairabella, it really is time that you got yourself a job girl ! And soon…………………..

Life is like a box of chocolates

When the weather got cooler last week and I spotted leaves and conkers falling from the trees I started making preparations for autumn-cum-winter.  I put away the shorts and the flip-flops and got out last years jeans, jumpers and boots.  I got Phil to adjust the central heating programme and ordered me a new winter coat from La Redoute.  A couple of weeks ago I put away the patio chairs and was waiting for Phil to dismantle the patio table, I job I might add, that he didn’t get around too.   So I was a little surprised when the sun came out on Monday afternoon enabling me to cut the lawn in the back garden.  And yesterday it was hot too and the forecast this morning says the temperature today is going to reach 70 degrees Fahrenheit.  It’s bizarre, I’m not complaining but I just like to know where I stand so I can get the wardrobe department sorted; I write this now but it will probably snow at the weekend.  I hope not because my in-laws are off to Great Yarmouth on Saturday where they will be spending a week in a caravan along with their friend Gladys.

It’s been a funny old week with lots of odd jobs ticked off on the ‘to do’ list.  I’ve had the usual daily visits to the gym and was pleased with myself when I ran 7k on the treadmill on Monday morning; this is the longest I’ve run in one session in years.  On Monday afternoon I took myself to Dolland & Aitchison in the city centre for an eye test.  My last prescription said I didn’t need an eye until 2011 but I knew my eye sight had worsened and the test proved me right.  I gave the optician my glasses and just ordered replacement lenses but this still came out at 85 quid and this was for the basic standard glass with no fancy extras.   Still, I managed to wiggle out of the eye test fee of £27.50 so I mustn’t complain too much.  In the meantime I bought a cheapie pair of specs from Superdrug and hopefully my new prescription glasses should be in ready for Friday.  Fingers crossed!

I took 2 big boxes of mixed chocolates in to the agents after my workout on Monday as a thank you for securing a let on the TMA flat.  I spoke to both Rhys & Adam and both said they’ve had a couple of manic weeks.  Chocolate is always good on a Monday morning so I hope my chocs made their day a little sweeter.  Tuesday was a gentle day; I cooked up a batch load of Udon noodles with chicken and a lemon grass and ginger sauce before going to the gym.  Normally I’m not awake enough to cook first thing but yesterday morning I woke way before the alarm.  Unfortunately I also woke up Phil so he was not too happy.  At lunchtime I went to see Carmelo in Stony Stratford for a cut and finish, since having his baby daughter he seems to have lost his touch so I’m not sure I shall be going back there.  Emma has given me the name of her hairdressers so I’m definitely going to try her girlie next time round.

Harriet called from work to say that she had passed her PowerPoint exam, scoring 92% so well done HH.  She’s done really well in her efforts to achieve her ECDL certificate and has surprised even me.  I think she’s only got a couple more exams to do, so if she manages to complete the course it will give her another skill under her belt.  In the current recession you have to do everything you can to help your chances.   Speaking of which, I whacked out another job application to the OU on Monday evening just getting it in only a couple of days before the cut off date.  We shall see what this application brings.  I won’t be holding my breath.

Phil had a very long day on Monday and didn’t get in the door until gone half past seven.  He wasn’t too bad yesterday morning but he was moaning about tiredness when the alarm went off today.   It looks like that he shall have to put in some hours on Friday so I’m probably going down with him to Abingdon tomorrow.

Yesterday I went to Dunelm’s for a second visit; I’d spotted some rather pretty mugs and placemats from the ‘Poppy’ range just by the tills and couldn’t resist myself.   Of course, I didn’t really need these but sometimes it’s nice to chop and change and my old stuff always ends up in one flat or another so it’s not really surplice to requirements.

It was an exciting day for Phil yesterday because the new iPhone4 that he’d only ordered the day before from Mr Tesco was delivered.  Actually, that isn’t strictly true; Parcel Force tried to deliver when I was out and about and had taken the new phone to the post office in Newport Pagnell.  The card said wait a day before trying to collect but I took my chances and as luck would have it, the parcel was ready and waiting for me to sign and take home.  Needless to say all of yesterday evening was spent charging, playing and exploring.  What is it with boys and new toys ????????

I don’t begrudge Phil his new phone because his old one was really crap but we had to get a new boiler fitted in a flat yesterday so that’s going to cost a pretty penny or two.   We are going to have to watch the pennies for a while, I just hope Phil can work a few more weeks in Abingdon although I’m pretty he doesn’t! 

Phil mentioned in his weird and wonderful blog last week that I follow many blogs.   I don’t follow THAT many but there are a few that I follow religiously and am very loyal too.   My fellow bloggers have been a little lazy lately and I’ve been disappointed when I’ve clicked in to check for new postings and there haven’t been any.  I was excited last weekend to see that Vanessa had posted journals and photo’s from her Kilimanjaro trip; it was reading The Ford Family in New Zealand that first gave me the inspiration to start our first blog in Goa. 

One blog that I’ve been following for nearly 10 years is Frank and Joan in Northern Cyprus.  Actually they’ve recently moved to France and will be starting a new blog but that’s not set up yet and I read yesterday that they’re currently on holiday in Spain.  Frank normally blogs every couple of days but he hasn’t posted in over a week and I’m beginning to worry.  I guess he’s in transit and as I know only too well, trying to get internet connection whilst on the road, can be very difficult.   I hope he posts an update soon; I’m itching to know what’s going on.  Yesterday was a good day for my fellow bloggers; Attack of the Redneck Mommy had posted and also there was a recent posting on Diary of a Desperate Exmoor Housewife, so that was a good result.  I spent an hour or so surfing for new blogs to follow and with Alan very much on my mind I somehow got caught up with kidney cancer blogs definitely not good for the soul.   And Sue, if you're reading this, just don’t got there, at least not until you know just exactly what you’re dealing with. 

Yesterday afternoon I found myself home alone (no change there) so decided to take myself to the cinema, I know this was very indulgent but I didn’t want to sit alone in my kitchen with my thoughts and besides Tuesday is bargain bucket ticket price day.  I watched the 3.30 showing of ‘The Kid’ which is based on a true story.  Phil watched it with G on Sunday and said the film was very depressing and he was right.   It was an extremely thought provoking film that stayed with me all evening and I guess the message that the producer wanted to make is that life can be violent and brutally hard but it is possible to overcome and triumph over adversity. The next film that I can't wait to watch is ‘EAT LOVE PRAY’ starring Julia Roberts which is released on Friday.  I promised I’d go with Christine to see it but she’s away for the weekend and I just know that I won’t be able to wait until she returns.

I have not had a great start to the day.  Opting to go back to my bed after Phil left this morning has made me very late.   I fancied poach egg on toast for breakfast as a change from fruit and yogurt.  Phil normally cooks the eggs when we have this so I wasn’t sure how to make poached eggs.  I looked it up on the internet and it said pop an egg in a dish and put in the microwave for 1 minute.  This seemed easy enough however what I hadn’t factored in is that my microwave is really powerful so my egg exploded after only 40 seconds!  It was still edible but it’s made a right mess of the microwave. Late, late, late, I should make haste and publish this posting, get dressed and start my Wednesday.  And who knows what the day will bring.  As Forrest Gump says “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what your gonna get”.

A peaceful weekend

Its quarter to seven on a Monday morning and I am washed, dressed and ready to start the week. I’m on my third cup of tea, I’ve made sandwiches, made the bed, waved goodbye to Phil and put out the rubbish and so here we are at a start of another week. We had a fairly peaceful weekend with lots of R&R so please don’t expect anything much from this naked blogger today because I warn you, she is going to be very boring, even more so than usual.



Phil was on a mission on Friday, I think he intended to make the most of his day off. He started early with 2 appointments at the medical centre for diabetes tests. After this he took himself off to Wolverton for a much needed haircut then he came back home to pick me up and off we went to the gym. Phil managed a fairly good work out; it’s surprising once you actually get him to the gym he actually works quite hard but it’s getting him to the gym in the first place that can be the problem.

Even though we had left over chicken tikka masala in the fridge we decided to treat ourselves and went for lunch at the Thai Papaya in Oxley Park. This restaurant is really good value for money especially for the lunchtime special which is only £6.95 for two courses plus crackers and a chilli dip to start. The only niggle with the Papaya is we’ve tried to have lunch on 3 occasions and we’ve turned up only to find that the restaurant closed. If you like Thai food then you have to try this restaurant but one word of advice, is phone first just to check they are open. http://papayamk.co.uk/

Whilst wasting time in Abingdon last week waiting until I could Phil up from work, I spotted a book in the little book store that I thought that Phil might like - ‘The Grand Design’ by Stephen Hawking & Leonard Mlodinow. It’s a book that promises to give new answers to the ultimate questions of life and just the sort of book that Phil enjoys to read. He loved it and it was difficult to prize him away from it on Saturday. Somehow we missed our time slot for the gym on Saturday but after lunch we decided to walk to the centre to watch a movie. The walk took nearly an hour so just about filled our exercise quota for the day. There was a nip in the air on the way there but at least the rain stayed away. It was my turn to pick the film and I choose a film called F. It wasn’t my normal choice of film but sometimes I like to see something different. The film was crap and I wished I’d tried harder to search for reviews on the internet beforehand. I did try but nothing readily came up on the search engines. The movie was badly filmed, the sound quality was poor and the plot was just plain silly. I wouldn’t recommend a cinema viewing or even a DVD rental for that matter. The walk back home only took us 40 minutes I suppose because it was downhill and we were lucky to get back home before the rain started. Saturday night was a movie and XFactor and that was about as exciting as it got.


On Sunday we actually had a lie in with a mug of tea and a backlog of papers that we just haven’t had time to read. We haven’t done this in a long time. Phil spent the day with G and I spent the morning in the gym. I cooked pork loin for lunch for Phil and me and Harriet did herself some chicken. Sunday evening was TV and ironing and preparations for the week. And that was our weekend; well I did warn you in advance that it was boring. I’m not sure that this blog is worthy of a posting, but well, I guess I’ve managed a page so I may as well as cut and paste and publish and get on with the week ahead.

Bit of a Crap Week

First job of the day is to wish Jimmy ‘A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY’.  Not sure what plans you’ve got to celebrate but me and Phil hope you have a good one.  I nabbed this picture from Jim’s Face book and thought it was brilliant. 

It’s been a funny old week starting with a stay in Abingdon on Monday night and 2 very long days.  After being away, it took me most of Wednesday to catch up with shopping, washing, housework and cooking. I also picked up the keys from the agents and went to inspect the TMA flat.   I’d taken my cleaning stuff with me because I knew I’d want to get stuck in once I was there even though the professional cleaners were due in the next day.  Actually it wasn’t too bad and it didn’t take me long to whiz through which is not really surprising because it’s not a very big flat.  The tenants that live in the block don’t take any pride in their residence and my biggest (and dirtiest) job was picking up all the rubbish on the front lawn and consolidating this with the other bags of rubbish. When I say consolidate, I had to pick all the various bags all over the lawn, pavement and road and put them in the bins.  I also had to sort out the cupboard under the stairs as there were about 6 months worth of unread free papers.  Deciding the flat was looking a little bare I nipped to the new Dunelm store.  This was my first visit since the store opened; I do like Dunelms but you have to be careful because some things you can get much cheaper at IKEA.  They had some gorgeous red glass bar stools at only £29.99 that I was very tempted to buy but they wouldn't have fit anywhere in my kitchen.  I brought pretty much what I had wanted to get without spending too much.

I didn’t go to the gym on Wednesday so I really can’t understand where the day went.  I’d invited Christine for supper and decided to make homemade tomato soup and I was under pressure because time was getting on.  Unfortunately when I put my soup mixture in the mixer to blend I found out the blender was split so I lost half my soup down the sink.   I decided to try the hand blender but when I switched it on it splattered soup chunks all over me and the kitchen.  Poor Christine had to endure lumpy soup but still the ciabatta bread was nice and warm and we had red wine to wash it down with.   It’s the first chance I had to catch up with Christine since we visited her new cottage in Surrey.  Phil gave Christine the kitchen plans he’d drawn up for her galley kitchen and also the kitchen designs from our visit to IKEA.  There are some moderations to be made but at least now she had something to work with. 

It has been a long week for poor Phil with a nightmare journey on Wednesday both ways.  Apparently it’s all due to some road works in Bicester. Still, at least he has today off but only because he has blood and wee tests at the doctors surgery.  Yesterday I slept in late; I got up to make Phil ham and mustard sandwiches but then went back to bed because I felt tired.   I didn’t get back up until gone 8 and by this time Harriet was already up and in the shower.   I had a few jobs to do and decided to wait for the traffic to die down before going to the gym.   I had a good workout, popped into ASDA drove home and cooked basmati rice and Chicken Tikka Masala.   It was a Gordon Ramsay recipe and tasted very nice.

Sue & Alan popped round for tea and biscuits and a face-to-face catch up.   They had viewed a couple of properties to rent but at the time of going to press I don’t think anything is secured.   Sue relayed the tale of their visit to the Italian hospital which sounded like a nightmare from hell.  It was major drama trying to get a flight home secured through their insurance but after many hours of phone calls, faxes and huge amounts of stress they finally managed to fly home on Monday night. Sue & Alan saw their GP yesterday morning but won’t know nothing anything more until Alan goes to see the consultant in a couple of weeks.  If being diagnosed with tumour wasn’t bad enough, poor Alan is really suffering with a bad back.  I hope this gets better soon, although my gut feeling tells me that things are probably get to get more uncomfortable for him before they get any better. There is not much they can do at the moment apart from staying strong and focusing on the positive.  Hold in there Alan, we are all routing for you!

Phil came through the door not long after Sue & Alan had left.  For once he was cheerful and I was greeted with a hug and a kiss rather than his grumpy sighs and long face.   He’d had a good run in and a clear run home and was extra happy because he had a 3 day weekend ahead of him. 

And here we are at the end of yet another week and I am still jobless.  I am not sure what plans Phil has for the weekend or even for today for that matter. I’ve got a few emails to send and then I’m off to the gym.  The sun is shining so let’s hope it stays for the weekend.     Have a good one everyone………..

Life is like a lottery

At last I have finally got round to reading my latest self help book ‘Eat Pray Love’ by Elizabeth Gilbert.  It’s taken me a couple of weeks which is unusual for me as I normally devour books.  I think this is a sign that ‘Eat Pray Love’ didn’t rock my boat and after reading it, I can honestly say that I haven’t found god or inner peace.  However, that said, it has aroused my love of travel. I enjoyed reading about Gilbert’s passion for Italy and everything Italian, pizza, pasta, Italian men, sex and her love of the language screams out at you in every page of the first few chapters.   

After leaving Italy Gilbert travelled to India and this is where I lost the plot a little.  Having been to India and already dabbled with mediation and Buddhism, I got a little bored with her explorations and practices at the Ashram retreat.   It was at this point that I put the book down and forgot about it.  However not wanting to be beaten and I am not one to leave a book in mid stream, I picked it up again at the weekend and persevered.  How glad I was that I did because the last phase of the book where Gilbert’s spends 3 months in Bali was really interesting.  It has reawakened my love of Bali and made me want to explore it more fully.  We were there for a week last November but we were fairly jet lagged after Hong Kong and there wasn’t enough time or energy to explore.  But now, having read Gilbert’s account, I want to go to the village of Ubud and seek out Ketut Liyer, the medicine man and go to Wayan’s house and be cured with her miracle potions.   And I will one day before I die, it’s high on the wish list.  ‘Eat Pray Love’, the movie, is out on the 24^th September and I for one will be going to watch it.  Elizabeth Gilbert has written a follow on book entitled “Committed’ which of course I shall have to buy; not only do I like her self effacing and honest style of writing but her second book is all about her travels in Vietnam which is place I want to visit.

I was a little startled when I read Phil’s blog on Monday and for a brief moment I thought I’d typed in the wrong URL; he’d asked if he could write one and I said “yes of course please go ahead, be my guest”.  But Monday’s posting was really weird even for Phil.  Or maybe it’s just me but I just didn’t get it, but then, I can be a bit thick sometimes and I’m certainly no philosopher or academic.   Last weekend went in a whirl but didn’t entail anything very exciting.  Phil went to his mum and dad’s on Sunday and after the gym I took myself to the cinema to see ‘Grown Up’s.  It was very American and very lightweight, okay for a DVD rental but not worth the 8 quid that I paid to see it on the big screen.

We decided that I’d go down to Abingdon on Monday to stay with Phil for the night to break up his journeys.   We drove down in the Land Rover this time and after dropping Phil off at work I took myself to the Leisure Centre for a really long work out.  The members at White Horse are mainly middle aged but they are really fit and take their workouts seriously.  I was doing my usual 5k on the treadmill but I noticed the lady next to me had already run 10k by the time I climbed aboard.   The Oxfordshire folk are an inspiration for the rest of us, well me anyway. Gym over, I decided to explore the nearly town of Didcot.  I’d found out that they had a cinema and was hoping to waste some time seeing a movie.  It was only 6 miles away but the town centre was busy and I didn’t really like the feel of the place.  The shops were run of the mill and the cinema complex didn’t open until 1.30pm.  I walked up and down and then decided to head back to Abingdon where I managed to fill a couple of hours in the library.  When 2pm came I went to the Crown & Thistle to see if I could book a room at the special rate.  Once again my luck was in, the receptionist remembered me from last week and not only gave me the special rate but also moved another guest so I could have Room 5, the honeymoon suite.  Result!

Phil didn’t finish until 6pm so it was a long wait in the room from 2pm until 6pm but I had the internet and the telly and was able to make a cup of tea.  We had supper at the pub by the bridge and then went back to the room where we remained for the rest of the evening.  Yesterday was a long day; the day didn’t start well when I picked up a voice message from Sue asking if I could call her back ASAP.  I called her back and she told me that Alan had been taken ill in Spain; he saw a doctor and they diagnosed a tumour in his kidney.  I’m not sure of all the details because the connection was very bad but I understand that they flew back to the UK yesterday and now have to get Alan to see a doctor as he may need surgery to remove his tumour.  They also need to find somewhere to live which was the reason that Sue phoned as she wanted to see if we had anything available.  Unfortunately all we have free is the studio flat but I’m not sure it’s big enough for them.  I just pray that Alan is going to be okay.  As Sue said on the phone, you just don’t know what shit is waiting for you around the corner.

I stayed in the honeymoon suite until they booted me out at 11am.   Then I killed a few hours at the Leisure Centre and then the rest of the afternoon I spent loitering in Abingdon town centre.  The weather was gloomy and my mood was grim, I couldn’t get Alan & Sue out of my mind.  It seemed ages until 6pm but I made it without going too crazy.   The drive home wasn’t too bad and we walked through the door just after 7pm.  I am not sure how long Phil will be in his contract but I think if I come down again, I will opt for a Thursday night stay where Phil can finish early on Friday so the day isn’t so long for either of us.  This morning I’m NOT going to the gym, instead I’m going to catch up with domestics, deal with some paperwork and after that I need to go to the agent to pick up the keys for the TMA flat.  After offering the studio flat to Sue via phone and email, when I got home last night I opened up an email from Morgans to say that a let is secured and the new tenant moves into the studio flat next Wednesday.  I feel bad but the deal is done, but if they want it, at least they S&A can have a bed albeit a sofa bed for the next few nights.

Phil & I crossed emails one day last week and he emailed me to say that this is good luck and grants us both a wish. I emailed back to say that I wished he could finish work early and his wish was that he won the lottery. I looked too deeply into email and took his reply to mean that he wanted me to go out and buy him a lottery ticket which I duly did.   Unfortunately it didn’t win but when I made my purchase I also surrendered a lucky dip that my sister had popped in my birthday card way back in July. I’d kept in my purse all this time because I thought I may have won something and guess what, I’d won twenty quid.   Thank goodness I didn’t bin the ticket as was my initial intention.  Life is like a lottery, some you win and some you lose, but the bottom line is, and I know I’m repeating myself here but you just never what shit waits for you around the corner so make the most of what you’ve got here and now.  Sometimes life really stinks.

The Angelus

Jean-Francois Millet painted the Angelus in 1857 as a commission for the wealthy American Thomas Appleton. As the purchaser failed to take possession by 1859 Millet added the steeple and changed the title. Just think, this painting might never have been seen by the public or other artists if Appleton had taken it Vincent Van Gogh might never have mentioned this painting in several of his letters to his brother Theo, who sponsored him financially for his whole life. It was a tragedy that Vincent never sold a painting in his entire life for as much as the materials cost him to paint it. It wouldn’t have had much chance of being spotted as a masterpiece, especially with its original title, “Prayer for the potato crop”. There certainly wouldn’t have been a print hanging in the corridor of Salvador Dali’s school while he studied there. It would never have occupied so much of Dali’s time and mind to become an obsession with him for many years. Dali even wrote an entire book just about this painting; in the early years he was convinced that it was of a couple mourning their child’s grave. He was so insistent of this that eventually they x-rayed the canvas which remarkably confirmed his suspicions as this picture was painted over a geometric shape strikingly similar to a coffin. Dali later believed that this painting held messages of regressed sexual aggression and he painted dozens of his own versions of this painting over many years. He started by representing the scene with carved stone statues on the beach. The figures became more and more abstract with each canvas that he painted until the woman had finally completely devoured the man who was represented by a bean. Even the portrait of his wife Gala was presented in the Angelus fashion with herself and the picture behind. One of them evn looks like it has the Big Brother Eye in it. Mind you, if I was one of Appleton’s ancestors I might be trying to claim this painting back on his behalf now it has been admired by the world’s artists.

R eye P Big Brother!
A big thank you to Big Brother for so much entertainment over many years; its not everybody’s cup of tea but it has certainly been mine. However, they have stopped it in the nick of time as it has become almost trendy to not like it. I think it has been wonderful for students of psychology and will be used to show examples for many years to come.

Many congratulations Vanessa for reaching the top of Kilimanjaro, what an amazing achievement. Read all about it on;-

http://thefordfamilyjournal.blogspot.com/ Unbelievable, well done!!!!!!!!!

A final word to introduce a new blog to you, unlike Claire, I don’t follow many blogs but I do follow this one. I stopped watching the news when I was a teenager. I used to come home from work to my parents perfectly happy only to become depressed by watching the 6 o’clock news. I realized that 99% of the news was negative with only a very small proportion of it being positive; mainly science stories. Well this blog site which is updated most days only shows that 1% of positive news so it’s perfect for me. Have a look, you can find it at www.deskarati.com and its run by my very good friend Jimmy.

A Desperate Housewife?

I have been doing a lot of thinking this week and have come to the conclusion that I desperately need to find me a job and sooner rather than later.   To be fair I have completed a smattering of applications since I have been back from Oz but I have been very selective about the types of jobs, going for ones with reasonable pay, short hours and generous holidays.  But those days are gone, I need to lower my sights and go for anything because I need the money. 

I need cash to pay off my credit cards because at the moment I’m only making minimum payments and the interest each month is the equivalent of a small mortgage, it’s ridiculous.   I also need to buy me a new car; my driving skills are so bad that it would be better if I got an automatic so at least I wouldn’t have to worry about gear changes and central locking would be nice.  I don’t mean a new new car, new cars don’t do it much for me, I’d rather buy a holiday or a house.   And lastly, but by no means least, I need to buy me some surgery.  I need Botox and fillers and an eye lift ASAP.   I was hoping not to have to start on the face until I was 50 but old age is not being kind to me.   My sister’s eye lids are also beginning to drop and she’s younger than me so it’s obviously a genetic thing. 

There are other reasons for finding a job other than the financial.  I was driving Harriet to work the other day and she pointed that I’d been wearing the same clothes for 3 days in a row!  Now I must explain that I’m talking about outer clothes and not underwear here because I never leave the house without clean knickers!  But even so, wearing the same stuff for 3 days is not good.   I don’t normally do this and it’s worrying because letting yourself go surely is a sign of getting old?

Its really apparent to me that I have too much time on my hands.  I am not good without having a project to work on and have been filling my time doing crazy things.  Last week I subscribed to Simply Prizes which is a monthly magazine that gives you all the details of competitions to enter.  When my first issue arrived in the post I entered hundreds of comps on line and have sent around 30 post card entries. I have entered to win IPods, plasma televisions, holidays, money off vouchers and large of cash monies.  This seemed like a good idea at the time but now I realise the chances of winning diddly squat are very low indeed.

Of course, given the choice I’d much rather work for myself then somebody else.  I’ve been racking my brain trying to come up with a wonder product or service that we make me rich quick but I can’t think of anything.  I am so not creative and my skills are very few and far between.  Sure I can type at 65 wpm, I can speed read and I can paint a room faster than anyone I know.  But what use are these skills to anyone?  It really is quite depressing.

I am writing this blog from our hotel room at the Crown & Thistle in Abingdon which is where we stayed last night.  We left home yesterday morning at twenty past six fairly organised having packed the car the night before.  Phil was just saying that he ought to check the oil in the KA at the weekend when only seconds later the oil light came on just as we got to the A5 roundabout.  Luckily we a bottle of the oil in the back so Phil pulled in at the garage and poured in the oil.   He really is giving my little KA a hammering driving to and fro to Abingdon each day, he really needs to be a little bit more loving to my car or otherwise it will die.   The rest of the drive to Abingdon was fast and furious.  I was still half asleep which was a good thing because it meant that Phil’s grumpy old men swearing and cursing at other drivers on the road didn’t really annoy me. 

I dropped him off at work and then set about my normal Abingdon routine.  First up, a toilet stop at Tesco Extra, then petrol and a cup of tea at the Costa garage.  Then I made my way to the White Horse Leisure Centre.  I had a good work out and a swim and it was nearly 11am by the time I’d finished.  To kill some time I had a wonder around Abingdon and then it was time to pick Phil up from at work.   He finished early because he’s put in some long days and isn’t allowed to work more than his 37 hours.  They’d had a sticky point in his project on Wednesday but two of the contractors worked late into the night so every thing was back on track by yesterday lunchtime.

We had lunch at The White Horse on the outskirts of town.  The pub was part of a chain but the food was still good.   Phil was naughty and had treated himself to a pasty from the food wagon at work but I was truly ravenous.  We both choose the steak and Guinness pie with chive mash and petit pois and a pot of gravy.   Phil said his pastry was hard but I thought it was a lovely meal.   After lunch we drove to the Crown & Thistle to see if we could get a room.  Once again I managed to book us in at the special ‘book on the day’ rate and better still, we got Room 5 which is the honeymoon suite! 

Phil was feeling very tired but after checking in I managed to persuade him to have a walk with me along the River Thames.   We were lucky with the weather because it had rained in the morning but the sun came out and we were able to walk without our coats.  We didn’t go far and an hour later we were back in our room.  Phil had a little nap, I had a bath and we just chilled out and watching the television.  We were down for breakfast at 7am this morning and this time we actually managed to get breakfast.  The last time we stayed here, breakfast was a complete disaster.  We ordered a pot of tea and waited ages for it only to find when we poured that it was coffee instead of tea.   There were no yogurts or orange juice and after waiting ages, the waitress queried whether it was 1 or 2 cooked breakfasts.  The cook had only cooked 1 breakfast so I told the waitress to forget my order because we were running late. This morning was fine, we got tea quite quickly and our two breakfasts.   I need to get a shower, pack the bags and check out.  Phil is finishing at midday so we should get back to MK early giving Phil the afternoon to chill out in readiness for the weekend.  I’ll post some photo’s later this afternoon when we arrive home.