h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've been a bit on the busy side these last couple of weeks; it's all been good.....
apart from an occasional traffic jam; and the need to buy a clutch slave cylinder and break pads for the car. Oh yes. And a new wheel,and god alone knows how much petrol.

I've been driving a fair bit. Up and down the A2like a demented thing. Doreen's youngest daughter has given birth to a new baby girl, so I was invited up for a viewing;

I've never been particualy excited about babies; talkative toddlers, yes. Junior school age children,certainly; teenagers for absolute certain.I really like teenagers - they're so full of anger and idealism.

But babies?

I've never been one of those women who go all misty eyed and gooey over small humans who are usually bald, always toothless and who invariably bear an uncanny resemblence to the late Winston Churchill, with added incontinence and lots of squalling. I've had 2 myself, and I found the"baby" bit of their lives the least enjoyable.

Oh... there's all the wonder of how tiny and perfect they are,with their tiny feet and little starfish handies. But there's an awful lot of shovelling food in one end and cleaning up the other and very little conversation!

However, I'll make an exception for young Masie; she is absolutely gorgeous. I spent the best part of an afternoon cuddling, gooing and cooing at this tiny little scrap of humanity and being thoroughly soppy.

I suspect I'm in love.

I've started back at the pool, and I'm loving it; I'm still well out of condition, but it's gradually coming back to me, the stamina is increasing, and I'm proud to report I've lost half a stone nearly, and gone down half a dress size and(thank gawd) 2cup sizes in the bra department. This is a terrific ego boost, and I've celebrated by going ballistic in the local lingerie department.

When I hit my desired size there'll be a party to remember.

I visited my friends Jane and Phil in Ashford and spent a day with them lazing in their garden and learning clay craft with Jane; she's as much into clay as I am with my jewellery making,and i enjoyed her enthusiasm. She's damned good at what she does, too. I also renewed my acquaintence with their daughter - last time I saw her she was 19! Now, at 29 she's the proud mam of a lovely little girl of just turned 4, and her brother of 7 months, a wonderfully cheerful little lad if ever I met one!

Overheard conversation:

Phil: And what are you going to be when you grow up Eve?
Eve (rolling eyes and sighing heavily) An adult ,grandad

Kids. Don't you just love'em?


I also visited The Mother and managed to spend nearly 3 days with her before the desire to commit murder got too strong. This in itself is pretty good; I have mentioned in passing I've been taking some pretty heavy councelling over the last 3 months; well, that's reached an incrediably sucessful conclusion,and I can honestly say I have never felt more positive, more cheerful and above all so happy as I feel *now* Every dayis a new adventure and I'm enthusiastic without havingto *work at being positive. Consequently I feel healthier,am doing far more than I usually seem to be able to do and although I do still get terribly weary due to The Back,it's a different sort of weariness. Once I've had a rest I'm refreshed and ready to get on with things instead of fighting exhaustion a lot of the time.

All the councelling in the world isn't going to cure arthritus, but it's gone an enormous way towards losing the world weariness I've felt for years. My life hasn't changed externally, an awful lot - I still have to swallow pain killers, and I still have to pace myself which I do find frustrating. I'm still not exactly rich fiscally and unemployable...BUT...

it's not an issue any more. It's just something I still hope to work around.

A blip, if you like, rather than something insurmountable.

Anyway, as I said, I visited The Mother. She hasn't changed;she's still paranoid, rude,stubborn, a creature of entrenched habits; most of them ghastly. She's still...well.. unbelievably awful. As my eldest lad says, a sort of hybrid between Dot Cotton of Eastenders and the old man in Steptoe and Son.

It's a very accurate description!

But it doesn't bother me much now. It doesn't hurt or bother me that she considers me to be a waste of space and a spiteful bitch. I think it's quite amusing when she tells me, as I sort out her larder and refill her fridge, and chauffeur her around to whichever set of shops she wants to visit, that I'm a dreadful daughter who doesn't give a damn about her and is only after her money. It doesn't worry me I can't convince her that this really is not the case.

She'll believe what she wants to believe about me, and that's fine, because I know different. I visit the silly old besom because she's old, and frail and lonely. I do what I can for her *because she's old and frail, etc. and it's not such a hardship for me to give up 2or 3 days a month to drive the 70 odd miles to her house and give it a bit of a clean and tidy.I choose to do it. I don't enjoy it much, but honestly, what's 48 hours 'ear'ole out of 30 days? It's not a lot to give up and it's no skin off my nose.

I've just come back from a 3day stay up at Big Jans'. As usual, it was fun, relaxing and enjoyable; we visited a couple of good food markets and I've come laden home with a box of cherries, with which I intend to make jam and pies and crumbles bucket loads of fresh runner beans that I'll prep and freeze, and some wonderful sausages made by a private enterprise called Giggly Pigs. The lads and I tucked into some with lime and chillis this evening, and jolly nice they were, too.


So all in all, I've been busy,content and getting on with Life The Universe and Everything quite happilly. Which has, of course,meant that I'm not logging into H2 as often now.

Those last two sentences are,of course, mutually exclusive

It's nothing personal, honestly; but Real Life seems so much more appealing lately that I've found I'm partaking in it far more, leaving me much less time to sit behind a keyboard just writing about it.

I am so glad things are looking up for you Ev. It's about time. Loved your post but it is very late and I have to . See you around on Hoo Too maybe, or I might even find the time to catch up on emails, but like you RL has been at the forefront lately.



Websailor

Hey, and I've got a bit of extra icing on the cake as well in the shape of being Quote of the Day this morning

That was a nice unexpected surprise!

Lovely to hear from you Webbie - I keep*meaning to email as well_ i'm an awful correspondent,it's either famine or feast... I *will get around to it, honest.

And as Son no 1 told me last night, he's all organised to leave home at the end of September, to persue his caerer -he's passed his first stage of Plumbing and now he's got his work placement up near where The Mother and Big Jan live, I'd best get some up to date photoes of him so I can look at them when I sit and pine after he's gone.

And attatch them to emails,too!

I can't believe it..the time for my great hulking hairy fledglings to leave the nest already

Where have the last 20 years gone?

Congrats on the quote <

It's a strange feeling isn't it? I have to admit I wasn't one of the Mums who suffered from 'empty nest syndrome' as mine were well overdue to leave! I know some women suffer a lot, but I made up my mind long before they left to fill my life with other things so I wasn't left with time on my hands and nothing to fill it. I am sure you are the same.

If not, you still have time to adjust. I will email soon, but RL is chocca at the moment and I feel like a hamster stuck in his wheel

Websailor

It sure is a strange feeling, but I've said from day one that they're only on loan to me anyway.But the time has flown!

I think the thing I'll miss the most is their friends calling in for them - there'll be less traffic in the flat, less spontinaity, sort of thing.



On the plus side, there'll be more space for *my friends to call around

...and there won't be Son No 1 giving me the evil eye and saying "Mother.. you're behaving disgracefully; isn't it time you got some sleep?" when he reels in late, and I'm still up and solving World Problems over a glass of wine

Look at it this way; I've worked for them for 20 years; with a bit of luck I can go out and work for myself soon!

And I'll save a small fortune in petrol outlay

Oh yes -I meant to say;I've managed to produce 4 jars of rather good cherry and strawberry jam today - it's actually set like jam, instead of slop for once

It might have something to do with the box of pectin I found at the back of the larder,I think.....

New season Apricots were on sale in Canterbury today, so I'm inspired to attempt a few pots of apricot jam, once Wendy the Witch has dug out her spare empty jam jars or I find some nice person on Freecycle who wants to pass on their collection.

In the meantime, I'm decanting coffee and whathaveyou into storage jars like a woman possessed

Sounds like the pectin did the trick, but I often find a drop of lemon juice does just as well if you are pushed.

The last jam I made was last summer when we were given some golden plum windfalls. I got six jars and it was lovely. I used to make lots but now there are only two of us I don't do so much. We'd only eat it!!! PHM not working means we don't get as many 'freebies' either.

Websailor