Yes, I'm alive ...

I’ve just been working, Christmasing, working, writing lists, working, actioning lists, working, writing more lists … I had an email at work from the shark who suggested the following list:

jools to do list.

• go home
• blog
• make a list
• go to bed

This is what I actually did:

• Finished up the project plan I was working on
  I’m hoping that at some point I’m going to start liking my job … I hope the reason that I don’t is just because it doesn’t take care of itself yet in the way that my previous jobs did. If I concentrate hard on being fair to myself I guess I’ve only been doing it 6 months and I did join a company which is in the middle of changing direction so trying to establish any kind of order is a bit like building on quicksand. However, added to that, there has unfortunately been a whole hell of a lot else going on in my life which has meant that, unusually for me, I’ve not had my eye full on the work ball. There’s still no let up in my “life” so I guess liking the job may have to follow on at some point. In the meantime, I have to admit that I’m just “not bothered”, so staying late to catch up is something I have to do but it’s a real chore.
  


• Wrote a shopping list
  Always a tedious yet strangely satisfying job.
  


• Did shopping on the way home
  Honestly, you’d think that the shops were never going to open again … I got the last bag of carrots. They were organic – I tend to buy organic as much as I can anyway, but I knew that there were no ordinary carrots because when I was walking past where they should have been I heard a bloke inform his wife bleakly that there were no carrots left. I nonchalantly sauntered to the end of the aisle and then picked up my pace in the direction of the organic section. I could hear quickening steps behind me, so speeded up myself; the footsteps also quickened. I didn’t quite break into a run (standards!), but fortunately managed to keep ahead of the “wife” and calmly grabbed the last bag of organic carrots from the shelf – phew! At least I know that I’m now assured of good eye sight in the New Year …
  


• Drove ‘home’
  The drive was fine, it was the arriving ‘home’ and getting the shopping, work laptop, bag of tupperware (which had accumulated at work - including the pot that I took the Vodka Tomatoes in – gotta get the new company addicted to the idea of Vodka Tomatoes!) up into the flat. Note to self: when I get my next place it must either be at ground level or at the very highest 1st floor. Life is too short for doing multiple trips up the stairs with shopping (and I’m fit for goodness sake) and I just don’t have time in my life to do multiple shops during the week – it costs more (I always spot something not on my list and buy it, so if the shop only happens once a week then its less costly) and is such a waste of time …
  


• Poured myself a glass of wine, put the radio on, and unpacked the shopping
  


• Looked at the state of the flat and tidied it!
  


• Poured myself another glass of wine
  


• Wrote a list of stuff that I need to do before bed:
  
  
• Sort out jewellery
  For some reason it was all over the place and jumbled. (I’ve still got that single earring … Either someone hasn’t done a tidy up, or it really is lost. I’m going to hang onto it still though.
  DONE THIS MORNING
  
  
• Sort out make up
  Because I’ve been visiting recently and this was scattered between several different overnight bags.
  DONE LAST NIGHT BEFORE BED
  
  
• Sort out paperwork
  I’ve been meaning to do this for months.
  DONE THIS MORNING. I now have a big bag of recycling.
  
  
• What is all that stuff in my handbag?
  DONE THIS MORNING
  
  
• Washing
  DONE LAST NIGHT and is now all dry and put away.
  
  
• Make lunches for next week
  I know this sounds a bit anal, but I’ve got rehearsals every night next week (in preparation for our German tour) and if I don’t plan ahead and have food in the freezer that I can defrost and take with me to eat I just don’t eat … And I am acutely aware that despite my protestations to the contrary (I am a contrary bird sometimes) I have lost weight over the last 3 or 4 months.
  DONE THIS MORNING
  
  
• Dust and hoover flat
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  DONE THIS MORNING
  
  
• Clean bathroom and kitchen
  Have I mentioned my disturbingly pink bathroom?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Well – its now very clean as well as being very pink …
  DONE THIS MORNING
  
• Blog!
  As you can see, I have done this. All from the comfort of my pink recliner …
  
  


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• Have a good old soak in the bath
  I’m just off to do that now but have many thoughts to get into order on the whole subject of baths (pink or otherwise)!

Well, I guess that’s all for now, off for a soak with Mr Frog – it’s always good to bathe with a friend!

HAPPY NEW YEAR BLOGGERS!!

My Elf Name Is...

Freckles Fruit Cake

What's" Your Elf Name?

Not quite on the jazzshark scale ...

Happy Sunday

I went to Kew again yesterday afternoon. I enjoyed it as much as the first time but the main difference for me was that now I have my new toy (my new work phone), I have an almost reasonable camera with which to try and capture my favourite bits. There are a few of them below, but I will pre-excuse them by saying that a) the camera is still not that great and b) I’m really rubbish at taking pictures!

The other part of the plan was to try out the ice rink, but it was really crowded and we decided that the pair of us flailing around like windmills in such close proximity to other people was maybe not such a good idea so we chickened out and enjoyed a picnic instead. By then time we’d had our picnic we were frozen to the core, so we retired to a genteel public house for several glasses of Baileys before heading back to the relative normality of Chiswick.

Gardens of Glass
Chihuly at Kew

Exploring pastures new

So, I’ve found my local – The Raven. Not a bad wee pub as it goes. Very nice wine list and interesting menu (partook of wine but not of food on this occasion). It has an eclectic mix of furniture which includes a nice leather sofa over by the open fire which is perfect for sitting and reading the paper to the background sounds of James Brown before heading off into Chiswick High Road to check out the fab butcher and plentiful green grocer stalls.

Oh, and did I mention the “Nearly New” shop? I am now the proud owner of a Jasper Conran black velvet dress which fits like it was made to measure; it’s an absolute classic style, and is “just what I need” to take on tour to Germany next month. The best bit is that it only set me back £69!! However, try as I might I can’t shoe horn the lime green Vivien Westwood evening dress into the “just what I need” category, though it too fits like a glove and is only £79 … I think I’m going to like Chiswick – shame I can’t afford to stay here! Goodness knows how anyone affords to stay here to be honest, but it’s nice while it’s lasting.

In memoriam Violet Bruce (29.2.1920 - 26.11.2005)

• Her infectiously, wicked cackle of a laugh


• A cracking meat pie and pease pudding


• Fantastic baking


• A voracious and skilled knitter


• Sequence dancing with grandad down at The Comrades – they did an amazing quickstep.


• The image of her falling through a deckchair in our back garden in the late 70s! We shouldn’t have laughed but it was very funny – she was stuck for some time …


• Getting worryingly over excited at the wrestling on a Saturday afternoon TV!


• Lots of singing together – daft songs, proper songs and Cushie Butterfield on a regular basis.


• The time she reprimanded my mum for letting me watch "Wuthering Heights" because it had upset me so much I cried. Bear in mind that I used to cry every week at Little House on the Prairie!


• Knowing that I was & always would be her bonny lass.
  
  My Gran. Forever alive in my memories.
  
  Cushie Butterfield ...
  
  I'm a broken hearted keelman, an' I'm o'er head in love,
  With a young lass from Gateshead, an' I caal her me dove.
  Her name is Cushie Butterfield, an' she sells yella clay,
  An' her cousin is a muckman, an' they caal him Tom Gray.
  
  CHORUS:-
  She's a big lass, she's a bonny lass, an' she likes hor beer,
  An' they caal her Cushie Butterfield, an' I wish she was here.
  
  Her eyes are like two holes in a blanket pulled through,
  An' her breath in the mornin' would scare a young coo.
  An' when a hear 'er shoutin' - willya buy any clay?
  Like a candyman's trumpet - steals me young heart away.
  
  CHORUS
  
  Ye'll see her doon Sandgate when the fresh herring comes in,
  She's like a bag full o' sawdust tied roond with a string.
  She wears big galoshes, and 'er stockings was once white,
  An' her bedgoon it's lilac, an' her hat's nivvor strite.
  
  CHORUS
  
  When I asked her to marry uz, she started to laugh,
  "Noo, nyen o' yer monkey tricks, for ah like nee sic chaff".
  Then she started a bubblin an' roared like a bull,
  An' the chaps on the keel sez aa'm nowt but a fyeul.
  
  CHORUS
  
  She said "the chap that gets uz will have te work ivvery day,
  An' when he comes hyem at neet, he'll have te gan an' seek clay.
  An' when he's away seekin it, aall myek baalls an' sing,
  O weel make the keel row that my laddie's in".
  
  CHORUS
  

So, I'm in then ...

I didn't get much sleep the night before I moved, those last bits of packing were quite emotional really. As I was looking for “nick nacks” to take to personalise my temporary flat I came across photos and stuff and the inevitable thoughts of "where did it all go wrong?" were upon me. Regardless of whether what is happening is the best thing or not, I couldn't help the wave of sadness that came over me and stayed with me pretty much until Sunday lunchtime.

The car was packed to the gills - the duvet and pillows that I'd carefully packed into one of those vacuum bags - you know the ones you fill with squishy, yet bulky stuff and the attach the hoover to it and suck the air out so said bulky item miraculously halves in size - dutifully broke its seal and doubled in size again during the course of the journey rendering any vision via the rear view mirror impossible!

I got to Chiswick just in time to catch my window of opportunity to exchange keys with Lou. (I allowed 2 hrs to travel ? miles and it took 2 ½ - the delightful A205 on a Saturday ...) Fortunately that window of opportunity extended to Rupert being a gentleman and helping me carry all my stuff up to the attic flat! Thank goodness he was there to carry my big case - I could manage everything else (PPT would have been proud of me!) but if Ru hadn't have been there I reckon I would have had to unpack that particular case on the street and carry the contents up separately ... Its amazing how heavy, bedding and towels are - don't suppose the 5 books I stuck in there before I closed it helped though!

Anyway, there was in depth familiarisation session with Lou on which key to use in which door (!), a quick trip to Acton to see where I might be able to stash my car when I can’t park outside the flat (the joys of residents parking permits), and then there I was unpacking my stuff into this little cosy haven of mine.

Sunday dawned to the news from my mum that my gran had died the previous night. How weird is that? She’d not been well for a long time, and I guess it was only a matter of time, but the fact that all the “stuff” going on in my life meant I hadn’t been able to get up and visit her mid November as I had planned, made me selfishly sad that I had not managed to see her one more time before she went.

With that news taken on board, I must confess to having had a lovely day to myself. I did my food shopping, completed my unpacking made myself food and had a soak in my ridiculously pink bath with many candles. Content is the word I would use. I swing between that and terribly sad, but I guess it’ll get easier as time goes on.