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Watch Out Learner Driver

3 February 2012

Be afraid. Be very, very afraid.

car snowed in

Of course you can drive my car. If you can find it!

In fact, be so afraid that you willingly get off the roads. You see, we have a learner driver in our midst, and if Son is anything at all like his mother…

………well, you have been warned.

I bought Son driving lessons for Christmas and he is soon to get out there and start the learning process. That process otherwise known as reeking fear and wanton distruction. When I sat my driving test in the main street of Dunedin I slammed the driving instructor’s car into a truck, whilst sitting my test with the traffic officer sitting beside me. Needless to say I didn’t pass that day, but I they gave it to me a week later.  Read more... (767 words, 1 image, estimated 3:04 mins reading time)

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The Longest January Ever!

31 January 2012

A blood orange rose in the eastern sky.

winter sun

A blood orange rising in the eastern sky

We got there!

While those in the Southern Hemisphere have been aching for January to continue on and on, those of us in the northern hemisphere are breathing a sigh of relief that January – surely the longest January on record – is finally behind us.  Read more... (326 words, 1 image, estimated 1:18 mins reading time)

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When is it the right time to move the kids?

30 January 2012

For two days she waited, cigarette in hand, nerves jangling in the hot Fijian sun.

Vicki Aged 5

Me aged 5. Moving kids when they're this age is easy, not so much when they're teens

For two days, no meals were served, no cleaning done, no golf played. Instead this dutiful mum waited, positioned within earshot of the telephone counting down the hours until that call, the most important call of all, came. And when she heard that he was safe in the bosom of his English boarding school, she finally allowed herself a careful smile before getting on with the arduous days of missing him.  Read more... (899 words, 1 image, estimated 3:36 mins reading time)

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Reading Bliss

30 January 2012

I love books, but I can’t very often manage a whole one.

I used to be able to before I had kids, and work, and dishes and laundry, but since these little joys came into my life you can more often find me scanning a magazine, than reading a book. Which is a bit rubbish really, especially since I’m fairly keen on writing a book or two, and I have it on good authority that to write good books it helps if you read them!  Read more... (780 words, 1 image, estimated 3:07 mins reading time)

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Why the cold is driving me nuts but I don’t need a straitjacket

27 January 2012

I once thought cold meant putting a cardy on. Or switching to the winter duvet.

Winter Coat

I don't need a straitjacket, honest, I just need one of these.

I didn’t realise cold meant frozen dog poo in the garden, missing digits and toes and the onset of insanity. I’d iced cakes (and de-iced them when the icing was less than exemplary), but I’d never de-iced my car before. The first morning I needed to do it before driving up the M3 to work, I took it on the chin like the big girl I am.

I cried.  Read more... (549 words, 3 images, estimated 2:12 mins reading time)

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Facebook It’s complicated

24 January 2012

“But why would you want the world to know what’s happening in your life?” Mum asked.

Facebook logo

Relationship status: It's Complicated

I muttered. And changed the subject. My elderly mother just doesn’t get Facebook, but then I could hardly explain when push came to shove. I simply muttered and changed the subject.

Am I in love with Facebook?

Relationship Status has changed: It's Complicated.

But the conversation, made me think about how much time I spend on Facebook and whether it is really a good thing. There’s been lots of stories written about why Facebook is a bit of a tart. And the film about its strange conception as an awkward birth child of a socially inept founder, (The Social Network) did little to help me feel secure about putting all ma stuff on Facebook.  Read more... (988 words, 1 image, estimated 3:57 mins reading time)

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So Bloody Unromantic The Radio NZ Interview

24 January 2012

“Does that mean you’re going to be a star?” Miss 11 almost 12 asked, when she heard the news.

star

Wanna be famous?

“Nah, not really. Why do you want me to be one?”

“Yes…well, no” she replied hesitantly.

“Why not?”

“Because you’ll have to travel lots and you won’t be around and I like you being around.”

It’s good to be wanted!

I like having you around too, kid…

I thought lots about how much I value the journey I’ve made, we’ve all made, from NZ to the UK, from single Mum with three kids to remarried Mum, from uncertain to certain.  Read more... (420 words, 1 image, estimated 1:41 mins reading time)

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Tech Confusion

23 January 2012

My 74 year old mother has never been one for technology. She says it confuses her.

brain

Brain Drain

But being that she’s living in the technological age, and that she lives in technology savvy Australia, technology has started to make an impact on her life, whether she likes it or not.

First there was the whiz bang answering machine, that is purposefully looped as my Mum is hard of hearing. Then came the new TV, and laptop and medical wizardry. Luckily (for me and this blog! Though it wouldn’t be a problem if she read it, would it? Love you Mum!) she is still on dial-up, but technology is creeping into her life so quickly it is surely only a matter of time until she is whizzing along the WWW.  Read more... (566 words, 1 image, estimated 2:16 mins reading time)

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Wardrobe Malfunctions and the Death of Professionalism

20 January 2012

I’ve learnt to be super careful when I go to London for work.

bra

My cup runneth over and made for the door

It’s not that I’m concerned about my own personal safety, or health (though I often need to wash the grime off my fingers when I return. The Tube is filthy!) No, I learnt early on that I needed to dress carefully.

I’ve become quite slack in my work day dress. It’s not that I work in my PJs or even type in the bath, but I typically wear trousers and casual long sleeved t-shirts. Not clothes that scream professionalism, but then I live in a very non-descript little North Hampshire town, we’re not big on workwear here, unless it’s fluorescent yellow ‘Elf and Safety vests.  Read more... (719 words, 1 image, estimated 2:53 mins reading time)

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Put Down the Knife

19 January 2012

I avoid mirrors. And shop windows and anything with a reflection. I canno’t bear to have my own image – that comfortable forgiving mental image – shouted down by the reality I see reflected back to me.

Rubens Real beauty

Real beauty or unhealthy images?

Mirrors, shop windows – they are all too argumentative.

I’m sure I’m not the only sane, intelligent woman who has thoughts like this. I’m not the only one who has grabbed handfuls of skin and wistfully imagined a tool that could slice off this lump, shave off that bump, and sew together all the rest. I imagine some kind of saw, or even an exceptionally sharp cook’s knife cutting away the excesses of my life, but I don’t think of the pain or the blood. The crimson tide of life slipping away.  Read more... (587 words, 1 image, estimated 2:21 mins reading time)

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