Friends

Warning, warning, warning! I am about to ramble on about something that I've covered before but with a slightly different twist, I hope! So, please feel free to log off now and dismiss me for being repetitive if you so desire, I said please feel free.... you get my point.

I know I have discussed friends with you before and if my very poor memory serves me correctly, which it often doesn't, it was about "friends" on social networking sites. I realise that I could go back through my Blogs and see what I wrote, way back when, but to be honest, I really can't be arsed. So, you've had fair warning that this may bring back memories but if you don't like it, quit now.

Oh, you've decided to carry on reading then have you? I hope I don't let you down.

I have recently been given cause to think about friends and friendship and what makes someone a friend, or even a good friend, come to think of it, a bad friend. Personally I feel we sometimes confuse friendship with other things, for instance, I may work with someone that I really like and we have a laugh together, does that make them my friend? Or someone I live close to and say hello to on the occasional trip to the shop and of course "chat" to via Facebook, are they a friend?

I don't think that there is an easy straight forward answer to these questions but I just want to say that recently I have been given hope that I know who my friends are and why they are in my life.

As I'm sure you're all bored of hearing, Master Musical has just returned from a trip to Australia to stay with "friends". People that he met via the internet, yes, don't worry, my mother had already thought of it, are they grooming him???? I did of course meet them first when they visited England and I'm sure that if they intended grooming anyone, it would have been far cheaper and easier to have stayed in Australia. I digress.... two lovely families that have been waiting for my first born son to save enough money to visit them for the holiday of a life time. Well, he went and what a time he had, in fact they really are now part of our family it would seem and it looks like we may visit them when we've saved a few pennies and of course they're saving to come and stay here. We will call them friends.

Then there are my lovely friends that I met first through my boys' primary school, all were teachers but I went on to care for their children and through that we became firm friends. We may not see each other all the time but it doesn't matter, we know we're here for each other no matter what and I will love ALL of those children forever, no matter how big they get.... and ladies, they do get big!

I of course can't forget my lovely school friends and how the prettiest girl in school has ended up with the boy we all wanted to be with, jammy bugger. Oh and work colleagues from my many different jobs, please be sure I only add the ones I want to call friends on Facebook, if you're name's not down, you ain't a mate!

But finally the loveliest thing happened a few nights ago when Mr Grumpy decided to borrow a very large ladder to take down the now redundant TV aerial. As I stood at the bottom, watching him ascend, I decided that if his fate was to fall horribly to the ground and die, I'd rather be indoors with a glass of pink watching Cougar Town. So, some time later, when he returned, I asked him if it was all sorted. Well, he obviously didn't die did he? To which he replied that two of our neighbours had seen him looking useless, I mean struggling, dropped what they were doing and came to hold the ladder while he removed the aerial. They obviously didn't care if they had to witness his blood being shed.

My final point, if there really is one to this story, is that friends are what we make of them. Some come and go and then come again.... don't be rude...
Others are with us constantly, a bit like my family.
Some come in to our lives and no matter what happens, how often we see them or whatever differences we may have, stick by us through it all.
But I guess the ones that are nice to have in our lives are the ones that will be there whether blood's shed, they'll hold the ladder and most of all they'll pour the pink, offer a tissue and give us a reason to smile and say thank you.

For the record, if you've read this and stuck with me to the end, you too are a friend and I thank you.

What was I doing?

As old age advances at a great rate of knots, I find myself struggling to remember things. Some are far less important than others, like getting to the bottom of the stairs, heading towards the kitchen and not being able to recall why I was going there in the first place. Those forgetful moments never seem to have a great impact on my life as I find that once I return to the top of the stairs, my memory kicks in and I can remember exactly what I was down there for. This kind of forgetfulness is good for my legs and is my daily cardio-vascular exercise.

A more worrying kind of forgetfulness is heading out of the door, realising it's a bit chillier out today than yesterday and realising that I have forgotten to wear underwear. Not a problem if I don't tell anyone I guess but we all remember that warning from our mothers when we were younger, yes, today is the day we will get run over and my friend Cheryl might be the one driving the ambulance and what on earth would she think?!!! I'm guessing she'd think, "ah, good old Ali, some things never change"

The thing though that I find oddest about my memory is that the things that happened right from my early childhood can be recalled in the blink of an eye. My first pet, trips to the seaside, Sunday tea at my Wicked Aunts when she made us eat bread and butter with tinned fruit, my lovely Aunt's budgie called Fred and the stories my grandfather told me in the scariest of thunder storms, the list is endless.

But ask me to pick something up from the supermarket and be fool enough not to write it down? No chance. Birthdays, anniversaries or appointments not on the calendar? Not a hope in hell.
I'm just thankful that as I threw my car keys in the bin earlier, something, somewhere clicked and realised that they actually belong in the drawer.

Right, where's that pink?!!!

Power of the sun

So as the sun takes hold of us we turn in to a nation of oddities, well, some of us were already odd but that's another story...

I refer of course to how this lovely, early heatwave affects all of us in different ways. Never does people watching become such a fun past time than when the sun shines brightly in the sky, throw in a couple of long weekends and maybe the odd royal wedding and we're a country of complete and utter loonies!

The first mind blowing thing that happens is the shedding of clothes. Now don't get me wrong, I like many others am very keen to top up my tan, in fact the feeling of sun on my skin makes me feel a million times better than when I drink a whole bottle of pink. But I try to ensure that my sunshine revealings are kept fairly private and are usually restricted to my back garden, only my poor family and my long suffering neighbours have to suffer the sights of my wobbly bits.
It would seem though that there are those that walk among us that feel it's necessary to show us all of their lovely white bits and pieces and they don't care whether we want to see or not!

Now I know I'm no spring chicken and my body has acted as a carrying vessel for two small people but seeing these people with their ample midriffs and over flowing breasts makes me feel like a super model! Some of them even try to enhance their whole appearance by adding a sexy cigarette in their mouth and of course the cleverly placed tattoos, oh and let's not forget they must be accompanied either by a small screaming person or a partner wearing shorts, no shirt, trainers and a fake Burberry cap.

The next tell tale sign that the sun is shining is the smell of barbecues or rather not the smell of barbecues but the empty shelves in the supermarket. Just the burger and bread roll aisles of course and there'll be a dent somewhere down the lager aisle. When you get to the checkout, just look discreetly to your left or right and you'll see the same afore-mentioned people waiting with their trollies piled high, ready to go home and annoy anyone that lives within a 2 mile radius with some terrible music blasting from their stereos.

Am I getting old? Of course, we all are hopefully, but as I grow older, thankfully I am not losing my sense of taste, my concern for others or becoming one of the flabby flashers. Well, unless you ask me really nicely that is!

Is it a Good Friday?

Just in case there is someone reading this, let me just say good evening and I hope you're enjoying today as much as I am.

I realise I haven't rambled in quite a while but after a walk along the Green Wheel with Gary and Edward recently, I felt a little inspired. I won't share the happenings of that particular ramble with you but needless to say, if you want to blame anyone for my bletherings, well, now you know who to aim them at.

I'm not going to go on about the reasons behind why most of us have enjoyed a day off work and some time in the sunshine today but some little things did once again trigger my thoughts on all things god like.

I have just finished reading Dawn French's book, Dear Fatty, funny, sad and also thought provoking at times. Strangely the thing that stuck in my mind and surprised me probably the most was the hurtful comments and actions that she and her husband had endured, yes racism. I finished the book and immediately went in search of something else to read, the only book in the house I could find that I hadn't previously read was Faces in the smoke. It's a story about a holocaust survivor, someone that Master Musical met after he'd visited Auschwitz two years ago. Now I'm sure most people would find it ridiculous of me to mention these two books in the same paragraph, but you know what, it isn't really.
How do so many small minded, bigoted people still manage to walk this earth, even after all these years have we really learned nothing?
Yes, I know all about freedom of speech and appreciate that everyone's entitled to an opinion but it doesn't mean you should brandish it publicly at the cost of someone elses feelings.
I hate all the "isms" particularly racism, sexism and whatever the ism is for homophobic people.
So on a day where we're led to believe in all things god like I hope that some people in the world take a few moments to consider why their god still allows such terrible things to happen.
Young, innocent children that die at the hands of cruel abusers or thoughtless governments. Brave people that fight for the rights of their country and those that live alongside them. People that are still persecuted for the colour of their skin, the country they were born in or just the fact that like to love someone of the same sex.
I will hold my hand up and say I'm not perfect and have acted naively in my past concerning some of these "isms", I'm not proud of what I thought but I have learned as I've grown and only hope that I can pass on this level of acceptance towards others to my sons.

Sorry it wasn't a funny one but then when are they? Happy Long Weekend Off!!! (Well for those that get it)