Crepe Oddity

[MrsSchadenfreude]

Sorry.

Joins others on the non sleeping bench (I woke at 2.35, was awake for a short while, then was again awake from 4 - 6).

BD, glad to hear DDad slept in a bit. Your poor family; I also wonder about the advisability of treatment under some circumstances (my chief concern tbh is the financial cost, when we have a finite amount of resources).

It's a very pleasant day so Addle should have some good walking. I now have a vision of her running up the Cheviots, wearing a long peasant skirt and singing. The view from Yeavering Bell is stunning.

MrsS, I do not envy you all your travelling (well, maybe some of it). I hope there is food in next time you come home.

Have a good MU!

No, they absolutely did not make it clear that there would be so much travel. It used to be my boss who did all the travelling, but she is picking and choosing a bare minimum of what she will do. I have sent one of my team to China next week, and he will also pick up quite a lot of the travel, but equally he is brand new and very junior and it will often have to be me who does it (or me doing it with him, so that he can do it on his own in the future). It was presented to me as a marvellous treat, and I think she was a bit stumped when I said I had spent about half of my career with my arse in a plane seat and it held little attraction for me.

BD - my Gran had a colostomy bag fitted when she was nearly 90, and managed it well for several years. I was told that she was at death's door at the time and dashed back from overseas to see her. When I got to the hospital, she was sitting up in bed, demanding jellied eels, and telling me that the nurses "were a bunch of bleedin' ugly fuckers", so we knew she was on the mend. She lived for another nine years.

Sorry to be so hopeless. Was really looking forward to a curry fuelled catch up with the South London Massive.. but won't make it today. There is a sickness plague in our house - I will spare you the details... You would thank me.

Have a lovely time. Look forward to hearing about it!

Addle, hope the hills are alive!

Rose, hope somebody at home has remembered it is your birthday

Auriga, that all sounds sadly familiar.

MrsS

Not sure if I can pop out to the MU yet (just for a drink) - will text you if I can MI.

MrsS I wish my mum would do that.... I can't see her lasting another 9 years and it means a new care package. And so sorry re all the travel - that is a bit naughty to shaft you like that!

GGG sorry to hear about the sickness.

Happy Birthday Rose.

Happy birthday, Rose, have a lovely day with lots of presents (even if you have to go to buy them yourself).

Urggh, minutes of my charity meeting to do now, before I can't read my shorthand.

Ooh, missed that you're not well, GGG. Hope and the family feel better soon.

Happy birthday dear Rose.....when's your next visitation south? We'll have a less rainy walk soon.

Hope you have a lovely MU. Very jealous of a lunchtime curry.

Hope your mum recovers soon and manages well, BD.

Here we are plunged into a thick sea fog. I suspect on the other side of the hills, it is clear and blue sky. The sun might burn it off soon I hope.

All jobs, jobs, jobs here today. School shoes, various drop offs, sorting stuff......

Happy Birthday, Rose.

I can see thick sea fog my side of your name too, Beachy. But where I am (3 miles inland) it's dull but not foggy.

Happy birthday Rose!

Have a great meet-up Sarf-Londoners!

Tuition of lovely boy seemed to go well! Hurrah! He has great ideas, but doesn't actually write them down in his essays. I think he feels under pressure, not least from his terrifying mother.

Now off to sing some lovely (hopefully) tunes for a wedding. In a church right next to my old flat. Might have a wander round the old manor.

Happy Birthday lovely Rose - hope you get to do something nice.

Addle - have fun in the Cheviots - I remember doing the Cheviot Batholyth for my O level Geography!

Have a fun meet up ladies.

Happy birthday Rose

Rose, many Crepey returns, lovely lady.
And forget about invoices and suchlike until another day. I hope someone is treating you to something lovely.

I may have lost the rag this morning with a colleague over something stupid. She is refusing to sign the new contract on a very valid point, but refuses to believe me that she will lose her job if she doesn't return the contract by Monday. I don't want this to happen, so I tried to explain that we had tried everything we could up until now, to not have the job descriptions changed, but she is choosing now (NOW!) to go round and round in circles over one issue that has long since been agreed on. The New management won't give a shit about her personal twist and will just assume that if she hasn't signed it, she is leaving. Anyway I dealt with it ungraciously I think. I may have been snappy ( long week, and I do agree with her, but the point is moot) come home feeling vile, to Dh sat in a Dh shaped chair having 'changed a plug socket' this morning and achieved nothing that was On The List. Then he had invited his entire family round this afternoon ( I distinctly told him we had to iron and pack as we both have stinking weeks ahead before trip) so this afternoon sucked up by dhs relies, and nothing sorted. Haven't had a proper drink since I started my ruddy painkillers for leg 18 months ago but could neck a vodka and tonic right about now.
I am now sitting on a bench with Molly ready to pack the Fuckyourucksack.

Sounds grim, Crem. And Molly, having to do the shouting. My DH is going through a similarly inert phase. I'm trying to ignore the mounting tasks and focus on work, with some success. Otherwise I'd end up doing everything.

Hope you get a chance to unwind, both of you.

Hope you are having a lovely birthday, Rose, whatever you are up to.

BD, wishing your DM a good recovery from her op. And your DSis, Auriga; it sounds like there is a tough road ahead.

BTM - how are things with DD? I'm also having trouble sleeping, which is most unusual for me. I think wine might be the answer.

I haven't done much today, but did manage a little stroll around the village with DH, dragging along DD1 (who is being a little sod at the moment, very hormonal, and winding us all up). We went for a nose at a nearby house that burned down a few months ago, and is sitting abandoned. The garden is still full of family "stuff" - BBQ, trampoline and bikes, very sad. The owner (a friend of a friend) had fifty grand in a case in the loft which all went up in smoke; now he's battling with the planners because he wants to demolish and rebuild.

And DSis just phoned - a couple of weeks ago she said she didn't want to exchange birthday gifts any more (too much money, focus on the DCs, blah, bah). I was a bit peeved, because I had just bought the most perfect gift for her birthday, which is on Monday. So I took the gift back to John Lewis and got my money back. Now she has changed her mind, and thinks we should exchange gifts, otherwise it's a bit miserable.....gnnnnn.....so now I haven't got anything for her.

On a positive note, we've just booked our summer holiday flights to the US!! Eeek! It's really happening! Rudy - I've PM'd you for tips.

CV, where are you going? We haven't got around to booking any of ours yet, but we think we will visit our friends north of San Fran, then go on to Lake Tahoe, followed by Arizona. Boring to be doing the same things again, I know, but we do love it, so why not? I really feel I need some sunlight. I would be irritated with DSis, too.

California!! Flying in/out of LA, although we're not expecting to stay there long.

DCs are already busy researching places to visit. We probably need some sort of "campaign map" to track our route. It's all very exciting.

Happy birthday, Rose. Hope you've been doing something nice today.

BD, I do hope your dmum is doing ok and feeling more comfortable. Hope things have gone alright today.

Looks like my new life is mainly just about work and housework. Woot woot.
:( Hardly a moment to MN. Or maybe that was just this week.

Crem, have a lovely holiday. Hope dh behaves himself. In answer to your query re: dd - we're just taking it a day at a time. She's taking her meds and still spending a lot of time in bed, but went to school for 4 days last week, which is the best she's done for about 2 months. And she still managed to get an A in her maths mock - when she eventually did it. She's having to deal with the inevitable uni rejections now, but hey ho. Various medical appointments and stuff lined up for the next few weeks, but she is currently actually liaising with the docs herself. This is a massive step forward. That is not to stay that there is not still bad stuff going on, but I'm giving you the edited highlights. :)

Molly, sorry to hear you had to pack the rucksack. Hope your dh has now modified his behaviour.

I'm feeling a bit bewildered and discombobulated about stuff, mainly to do with working in an environment which stands for a whole bunch of stuff I don't just not like, but have actively spent my life running away from. I had a bit of an angsty meltdown on Friday, but I think the chaos was worse in my head than it was externally, iykwim, so I don't think anyone at work noticed. Don't usually work Fridays, but I had to go in yesterday as a one-off. Still love the people I work with. Pupils also fine. There are just a few aspects of life in the 1950s which are sticking in my craw.

Jeez, CV, fifty grand in a case in the loft??? WTF?
Very of your trip to Cali. We haven't got anything sorted yet, though DH is looking at flights to Vietnam.

Stropps, glad to hear DD is liaising with the docs and going into school. What a clever girl she is - if she can get her MH sorted, she'll do really well. I hope she can see that.

I am feeling slightly hungover after a party yesterday.

£50K in the loft? That's Surrey for you!

Oh joy, to add to the various delights of having to go to Norwich later the trains are f*cked. And I have to go tonight because mum has invited people for dinner.

CV - There is a 12 page supplement about the US in today's Sunday Times - lots of ideas for different places. If you can't get it, PM me your address & I'll send it to you.

BD - Hope Mum is OK.

Stropps - so pleased to hear your DD is starting to head in the right direction. Not surprised you feel all over the place, when my DS started to get on the road to recovery I felt almost worse than when he was really bad. Suspect it's about being able to let go a bit.

MI - What a bugger re trains - hope the journey is not too awful.

Foggy & damp here - cleaning is the joy for today!

Foggy and damp here too Magi.

of fabulous US holidays. I haven't booked anything yet because of utter confusion about who will be coming or not. We are going to end up going nowhere!

Stropps - so pleased it's coming together for DD - agree with BTM - she sounds like a smart cookie.

We never book holidays till, er, quite late.

Update: as other dinner guests have cancelled on account of streaming cold and indeed mum not sounding too chipper am going at crack of dawn tomorrow. More expensive but they'll spring for ticket and I'd much rather get up hideously early than spend half of Sunday going.

As someone who once spent the best part of a day trying to get to Norfolk by train, you have my sympathy, MI. Weekday trains are generally more reliable.

I have never been able to book a holiday in advance, and have had holidays cancelled before, due to work bollocks (they have to reimburse me, and the suggestion of this often focuses the mind as to whether they do actually need me to do something, or whether someone else can do it).

Glad things seem to be progressing, Stropps.