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)

What a week!

Finally it arrived, the end of term and the start of the madness we call Christmas.
I've had a pretty rough couple of weeks and finally feel like I'm out of the fog of the virus and the real me is back! Sorry about that for those that are affected....
So any normal person would still be in bed this early on a Saturday morning, not on their second cup of tea and about to tuck in to a bacon sandwich, yes, the clue was in the "any normal person".

People think it's easy working in a school and getting all the school holidays off, well let me assure you, it isn't. For a start, my body is so used to waking up at 6am every day, as soon as the holidays arrive you think I'm laying in bed all morning, oh no, I'm up and awake by at least 7am! Then just as my body gets used to the fact that it can sleep a little longer than normal, I'll have to start setting the alarm clock and be back to a 6am start, two weeks of confusion for poor little me.

Then there has been the trauma of the last week in school. I've had to endure endless viewings of Madagascar and the first ninety minutes of films that I may never get to see the end of. How will I cope not knowing what happens to John Cusack in the film 2012? What about the girl that got kidnapped in Taken? Worst of all, did the gorgeous Ewan McGregor escape the evil clutches of Sean Bean in The Island?
Combine all of this with the copious cookies, pringles, doritos and chocolate cake that I've eaten and I'm sure you're sitting there thinking how glad you are that you work where you do and you will no longer envy those of us that are working in education.

All joking aside and as I'm sure those of you that know me are only too aware, I really do love my job and I feel so lucky that I was given the chance to have a go at it. I work with some brilliant students and secretly enjoy spoiling and indulging them with all the little goodies like biccies and crisps, for some of them it's the only time they get any treats. But I guess the best bit of all was yesterday when they all took the time to say thank you and wished me a Merry Christmas, forget Mastercard, that was priceless.

Free time

Once again Sunday morning is here and the toll of the bell signifying the end of another weekend. I love my job and really wouldn't want to do anything else, well apart from early retirement maybe, but why do the weekends have to go so quickly and the weekdays considerably slower?
Of course this week wasn't too bad, I was only in for two days and then off sick for three, believe me when I say I'd rather have been in work.

So, Saturday morning arrived and although I was still a little weary from all the coughing, I felt well enough to venture out. What oh what should I do with this freedom I had? No football training as Master Grumpy was still coughing like someone that's been smoking forty woodbine a day for the last twenty years, so the day was mine!
Obviously we all know where I ended up, Sainsburys. I won't go in to the joys of trying to find a parking space, or getting the right trolley, you know, one without the wheel that whizzes around like a demented spinning top as you push it. I'll even skip over the old people that I thought were banned from shopping on weekends, why do they still do that? Let's face it, when you no longer have to go to work and can sit around all day every day, why would you wait til the weekend to do your grocery shopping? There should be a law against them being out at weekends, I'll gladly let them have any day of the week they want, I'll stay away, besides don't they all get their food delivered from that nice Wiltshire man?

I digress. Shopping done, I made it back home and what do you think I did with the rest of my freedom? Collapsed in front of the computer and spent most of the day laughing at funny film clips, precocious children and some favourite music that I'd forgotten existed. Along with my mobile phone, I sometimes wonder how I coped pre computer, I know the older more cynical readers out there will be huffing and puffing about how I should get out more, not a good example to my children, blah blah blah. But guess what? I don't care. I laughed so hard I almost choked from coughing, I had a little tear at one point remembering a song that meant a lot to me a long time ago and through the wonders of the web was able to share them with some of my nearest and dearest.

So it wasn't the most exciting Saturday on record, although I did pop out later in the afternoon and almost ended up tagged on to the end of the EDL march in town, but it was a lovely, relaxing day and sometimes the best times are when you do nothing of any great use at all.

Have a relaxing Sunday and if you feel like doing bugger all, then do it!

Counting Down

Well here I am again, I think. My eyes are asking what the hell I'm doing up and typing at 6.45am on a Saturday morning, well my little brown friends, had you stayed closed and allowed me more sleep, we wouldn't be in this situation, would we?

It's been a rather interesting year for me and I have found myself wanting to blog on many occasions but have always changed my mind at the last minute. We all know how people like to live their personal lives out on Facebook and yes, at times I may have been guilty of that, but I really didn't want to start pouring my heart out on here.

So, before I start burbling about something totally different to what I had intended, I want to talk about the C word. Happily of course I mean Christmas and all the joys that come with it. Here we are, just 2 weeks away from the big day and how prepared am I? Let's say, not very. I know it'll all get done, the cards, the pressies, the food shopping and most importantly, getting the booze in, but right now I don't really feel in the mood.
I'm not a bah humbug type person, in fact I'm quite the opposite! I saw something on the television about how lucky children are these days, what they expect to get and the fact that they usually get what they want and far too much on top of that. Some miserable old git was giving some youngsters presents to share, presents that represented what they would have got maybe 30 or more years ago.... a tangerine and a yo yo. Well guess what misery guts? Times move on and thank goodness for that! I'm not saying my Christmas memories as a child are bad ones, far from it. I remember getting fruit in my sock at the end of the bed... bloody uncomfortable when you put your foot in it... but I also remember getting a dolls house, tiny tears, Penny puppy walker, Spirotot and one year my favourite ever present, a Hornby train set!
Now our parents weren't loaded with money, in fact quite the opposite, but I bet in order for them to buy all 4 of us the presents they knew we so desired, they had to save like mad and I'm sure the looks on our faces made it all worthwhile. For me it's exactly the same, I know that now my boys are bigger it's less about toys but it's still worth all the depriving yourself of the odd treat just to give them the very things that make them happy.

Oh yeah, while I'm on a roll, Christmas isn't just for kids either so please don't say it is! I love Christmas, hoping for that special present that I haven't even talked about or hinted at, wondering if anyone's mind reading skills have been working and I get a little something that I fancy. I know, highly unlikely but I can dream as I open another set of smellies or wash bag from the same person every year.... oh my goodness, do I smell?

I guess the point I'm trying to make on this dark and dreary morning is, let's just enjoy ourselves. let's all do what we want to do, not be told by others how we should be enjoying ourselves, how we should be spending our money and in fact, even if you don't want to be happy, then bloody well don't be. It's your day too!