A Very Crepey New Year

[Cremolafoam]

Will this do ??

We're dining in. Bracknell's finest Brewers Fayre, having left the hardcore Irish contingent singing maudlin songs. They were pretty much ignoring DP and his siblings. So we all snuck away. Shattered. DP is just a husk.

DS and his cousin devised a dance. Then performed it in front of people and charged them money. He made about £25!

Oh Herbs, what a brave and eloquent dp you have. And what a credit to his dm. Sniff!

CV that's also wonderful that you have such a strong relationship with all of your dp's and partners. All sounds most healthy.

Hatty, my eco wash is also painfully long lasting, but it uses hardly any water 💦 apparently...

Dm arrived round at 4pm , bouncing about the inauguration, and forcing me to put the telly on. Turned out all she was interested in was Melania's new frock and Look look! It's below her knee.
The Western World will be all right then.

No better tribute to someone than to try to be more like them. Sniff indeed. Your dp's speech sounds wonderful, Herbs.

I like the sound of your four dps, CV.

Rudy, crossing everything for ds next week, poor chap. And hope all is OK in Ugg land.

Glad it sent her off well, herbs.

Thank you all for being so nice about me.

Am drinking wine and trying to forget T-p. Just had flaming row with DD1, whose protests that she "literally didn't go out" in revising for mocks slightly overlook the dossing-around/snogging at home she did...

We are thinking about a free state locally... we will base it round the pub

Things I found in my desk drawer this afternoon, while packing:

Four bottles of perfume
A pair of tights
A twenty pound note
A tin of baked beans, date-stamped 2008

Where are you off to, CV? Good finds, especially the beans

We're just catching up with Merry Can Bean Boy here

Goodness, where is everyone...on the march?

I'm not on the march, except in spirit. I got a very kind present in the post today from a lovely Crepey - thank you so much! I think the kindness involved will help me sleep as much as the actual Stuff, gorgeous though that is. Thank you, all Crepeys, for your sympathy about minge worry. It has made me double-determined to lose weight, since the dreaded Obesity is on the list of things which increase cancer risk. Also I had NO idea that having two parents who died of colon cancer increased my gynae cancer risk. At least that means I'm entitled to more regular checks, I think.

How are you, Rose? I hope you are having a lovely time at the spa, BTM!

Herbs - how are you today? It sounds like your MIL had a great send off. I find the first few days post funeral that exhaustion hits you and you feel completely drained and unable to do much.

CV - I cleared out my locker the other day and found a birthday card that DD1 had made me when she was about six. It had our old cat on the front, simultaneously being sick and pooing, with "sick" and "poo" helpfully labelled with arrows, lest there be any doubt. And DH slumped on the sofa saying "More beer! Hic! Fart! More beer." Inside it said "I am sorry Mummy but you are now 41." This seemed to be the least of my problems...

Aw, MrsS. Those little cards and drawings...so funny, so touching. Not sure I've got anything of dd's to rival that!

I'm heading home from the march having bumped into my girls at the station! DD2 pretending I'm nothing to do with them

I'm OK Molly thanks, having fought off a headache, and praying it won't come back we are shortly off to the Hampstead Theatre with supper first. DS2 is back just for the weekend which is a relief only inasmuchas DD won't go to bed if she's on her own in the house. I'm so glad your health scare is over. Waiting for results in the worst thing ever.

I hope those Crepeys who marched were suitably militant and felt solidarity against the misogyny and racism of the orange one.

Herbs how have things been today? Hope you and DP are holding up.

addle everything you said about being the eldest strikes a real chord with me. We should talk

Will try to catch up later or tomorrow, Crepeys xx

Beachy - it's my desk drawer at work I was packing - we're moving up two floors. They do say one should move house every ten years, just to have a clear-out, and the same clearly applies to offices - I have to say, I do feel "cleansed".

Anyway, DS and I were up with the lark, and spent the morning humping boxes and furniture upstairs to our new floor (well, DS and the other menfolk did the heavy stuff, and I....supervised). There was quite a jolly atmosphere, actually, and the FD arranged a massive Domino's delivery at lunchtime to keep everyone going. DS came away with £100 cash-in-hand and a big smile. The new office is super-spacious (new carpet and some fab second-hand furniture, all sourced by yours truly), and I now have a whole storage room for all my IT bits and pieces so it is no longer stacked precariously around/under my desk. Heaven. It's going to be a bit quieter than the old office, though, and most of the people around me work early hours (8.00 - 4.30) so I shall probably be on my own for the last hour of the day.

CV, £100 in one day ain't bad. And a Dominoes!

MrsS, love the picture of your DH

I am lounging in the bed room at the hotel having had a sunny afternoon spa session in the rooftop spa (not on hotel!) and partaken of a West Country cream tea! Imagine my delight when on the cocktail menu I spotted..... Yes! Dark snd Stormies! I can't wait to go down and try them

Hello there crepeys.

Sounds like you've all had productive days, whether marching or moving offices.

Here there is much relief that the funeral is over, but a 'what now' feeling. DP's parents were the lynchpins of the extended, as well as immediate family, and their loss has left a vast hole. They had a simple life - council house, no money, and few possessions, but they had such a big influence - their house was where everyone met, and were welcomed within.

DP took possession of a few of MiL's vases, etc, that he'd wanted her to have. 'A little life,' he said. 'This is all that's left.'

In an attempt to combat sadness, we're having friends round tonight for Aperol Spritzes and a take away curry. I think drunken-ness will ensue. And why not...

In other news, just realised my car hasn't been taxed for nearly a month. Eek! Not entirely sure it's got an MOT either...

You write so movingly of MIL, Herbs, and I remember you talking about her very movingly when you came to get the train set. She will be fondly remembered, for as long as you all live. I think it was better in some ways when everyone wore visible signs of mourning for ages.

BTM, enjoy your D&S! CV, very good and efficient use of a ds there. IME they do so love to be hench in front of their admiring mamas.

I am feeling very left out since my FB feed is chocka with pix of friends at marches worldwide...I shoulda been there. I love catching up with mates at demos. Next time I'll be there - I have no doubt there'll be plenty of opportunity.

Herbs - I think it is particularly poignant when the "second" one goes, and the whole household, the whole link to a generation, simply ceases to exist. I felt that about my aunt and uncle (who I adored), who died within 18 months of each other. I drive past their old house occasionally and always get a lump in my throat. Hope this evening serves as a temporary distraction.

Molly - there will be other marches.

A special Hello to Herbs post funeral, and can I give you a hug? I know I barely know you, but the memories of life immediately post funeral haven't left me. ((())) - it's just a small one....

I've been away for the last few days and a bit out in the sticks. Wifi been a bit sporadic, so have lots to catch up on. Feel v disappointed not to have marched. Will def be up for the next one if poss.

WAF a belated big YES to the footwear.

Colly I'm glad you're feeling the love.

Hope the consolation of the funeral will stay with you Herbs.

DSis2 has had a good visit and I've cooked successfully. DD is all set up with contraception (gulp). DCat has staged another breathtaking comeback from death's door. I have driven short distances, in some discomfort but with no lasting damage. And so we KBO.

Reasons to be cheerful:

1). Sunshine and frost
2). Decent coffee
3). The Comeback Cat

Glad the march was positive.

Herbs, how is dh today? What you write is so touching.

Auriga, KBO indeed, what a mixture......

Would be marchers - MWR and March for Europe both in March I think....I don't enjoy demos (crowds) but may tangle with those.

I thought the bridgesnotwalls images from Friday were amazing. Talk about a picture/1000 words.

DD2's school report and mocks results were as expected - ie she has put in zero effort and is capable of much better. Did well in French, Art, Spanish and English but not very well in all the rest. ALL of her teachers have said that she needs to put some effort in to haul up her grades for the exams in the summer. She has been told she is doing double science, and that is that, because she puts in no effort. She told me she is cross about this, because the teachers of the triple science subjects are better teachers.

DD2's nemesis in her last school (she invited everyone in the school year to her birthday party apart from DD1, and this wasn't an oversight) doesn't appear to have been affected by bad karma, as she has just signed a contract with a top model agency, and (according to DD1) it looks as if her romance with the son of a famous British footballer is back on. DD1 said, it still doesn't make her a nice person, which is very true.

TBH Mrs S from what you've described ( modelling, footballer's girlfriend, nasty and rude behaviour) is all a poisoned chalice. Dd does herself down to make comparisons with so much candy floss.

Lalsy, The marches were amazing. Some incredible shots indeed.

BTM, hope you have had a lovely spa day. I am very much looking forward to my treatments ( booked in at the Riad in Morocco 🇲🇦)
I am a bit worried though, that my throat is no better after 5 days penicillin and am wondering what on earth to do about it. ( get another Abx/ presume it's a virus/ panic and start screaming) I have no voice at all, feel shattered, want to sleep and have swollen glands on one side. Need to do something as we depart soon. Right now I don't much feel like it.

Hello dear crepes.

Good evening last night, but DP v quiet this morning. I think it's all sinking in a bit. We're having our lovely neighbours round for roast beef soon, so hopefully that will cheer.

Now, all you health experts. I have to 'choose' a hospital to look at my funny hip. The 'choice' is not very inspiring, and I don't know how to choose! Whips Cross, Royal London or North Middlesex... There's lots of info out there about hip replacement outcomes, but I don't think I need a hip replacement. Just some sorting of me cartilage. If I go on waiting times, North Mid is a quarter of Whipps Cross (which also gets an 'inadequate' rating on CQC), but is handy and has some randomly good stories.

This illusion of 'choice' gets right on my tits. Give us the info we need. Or - and here's a revolutionary thought - make all schools and hospitals good.