I had a post called "nearly Christmas" that I've now binned because I'd not had time to sit and just put down everything I wanted in a coherrent manner and now it's New Year's Eve Eve! My life seems to fly by faster as I get older and, frankly, I don't like it! I didn't really ever feel old enough to turn 30 and I'm now nearer 40 than 30, and I really, really don't feel old enough to be there.
On more pleasant note, Christmas was lovely, really, really lovely. My very nice man and I had been to see my parents the weekend before - always stressful, my sister more than my parents, she operates on the reverse Gallileo principle (of the opinion that the world revolves around her). I finished work on 22 December and then, after battling with Tesco's, we shut ourselves away for a few days. We cuddled on the sofa, we watched tv, listened to music, sung carols around the piano and had a blissfully quiet time. The year flying by has certainly taken its toll in the last few months and there were early nights and long sleeps which helped both of us.
This didn't all last very long as he then had his kids for Christmas Mark II from 27-29 December. I was invited to "Christmas Day", quite a big deal as I've not been along before, and indeed hadn't even met one of his daughters. In my humble opinion (which isn't expressed very often, unless I've had a few vinos), he takes a LOT from his ex and this results in many things that don't make his life easy, including never having his kids at Christmas but now always having responsibility at New Year so we can't go out! The day was nice, dinner for 9 is always challenging (3 kids, 1 cousin, 1 boyfriend and 2 grandparents as well as the two of us) but we all managed to bumble along together.
And now it's the weird in between time. I took the whole period off work - I wanted a break from the miserable-ness of the public sector, with constant difficulty about spending money and even keeping our jobs. I need to make a good list of resolutions to sort out a few things in my life - from the mess that is the spare room, to changing my bank account (my bank and I have fallen out over the last year), through to sorting out work, what I want to do and how I can be happier with it. Well, it's nice to have ideas like that! Let's go get the pad of paper out.
Friday 30 December 2011
Wednesday 14 December 2011
Nearly back on time and then ......
So I mainly floated through last week, floundering from one day to the next and feeling really rather tired. On Thursday evening, I went to see Chris Addison at a comedy gig. He was really excellent, amusing himself as much as everyone else it seemed, and enjoying making "middle class" jokes about Waitrose and hummous. Getting there was a tad stressful as the trains were up the creek again, and I made it with just 5 mins to spare. You really don't want to walk in late to a comedy gig late.
Friday morning, I was dropped home by my v nice man as I'd stopped at his the night before. And although it was half 8, I felt I could snooze for a little while and listen to the radio. And after accepting two calls from work (I don't work on Fridays but had told some of my staff to get in touch about particular issues), I went back to sleep ..... until 2pm. It proves that I really was tired when I say that I had no trouble getting back to sleep that night. Bed by half 9!
It's been a funny couple of weeks. Just before my holiday, my v nice man's eldest daughter (16 going on 26) decided that she was going to come and live with him in the week. Now to date when he's had the kids around, I've stayed out of the way. Not that I've got anything against them (we'll get on to them having something against me ....) but when it was their weekend to spend with their dad, I felt quite strongly that they didn't need to have me around, it was parent-child time. However, her moving in was going to be quite different. She is a nice kid, when she wants to be. She can be fantastic but she can be a real pain and it really depends on her mood and thoughts. Initially, when we got together, she was almost encouraging her dad to move on. When he did, she decided that I was the devil incarnate - not helped by the fact that her mother has decided that he and I were having an affair for years before we got together (not true - and indeed impossible as I didn't know him well at all and indeed was travelling for almost 8 months, which would have made things logistically very difficult!).
She stayed over for the first week before I went away. And to date it's all ok. It's meant a bit of re-thinking because whereas before, we had no routine about where we stayed or even when we had an evening together and when not, suddnenly routine has been inflicted upon us. He has to be at home Sun-Wed/Thu evenings when she's there and it makes things less flexible. But we've actually had some fun times too, just banter over dinner or when she sang along with some of the songs at our band rehearsal.
I'm going to see a consultant on Friday about headaches and to give me something to talk about, I've had a really painful one for the last two days - confining me to bed painful. I don't really get migraines, but my headaches are getting worse. I went to the doctor's which was pretty useless and included the sentence "what are you hoping to get out of this consultation" when I went back for a second opinion. I know that headaches aren't easy to diagnose, I know that it might be nothing but when it came on from nowhere and these are different headaches that are lingering, I think it's right to ask questions.
So I'm lying in bed typing, feeling a little guilty for not being in bed now although it was not good this morning and I really would have struggled to get in to London. There's a lot going on and people are not doing things I want them to do whilst I'm not in the office but I can't worry about that right now, I'll start that worry tomorrow.
Friday morning, I was dropped home by my v nice man as I'd stopped at his the night before. And although it was half 8, I felt I could snooze for a little while and listen to the radio. And after accepting two calls from work (I don't work on Fridays but had told some of my staff to get in touch about particular issues), I went back to sleep ..... until 2pm. It proves that I really was tired when I say that I had no trouble getting back to sleep that night. Bed by half 9!
It's been a funny couple of weeks. Just before my holiday, my v nice man's eldest daughter (16 going on 26) decided that she was going to come and live with him in the week. Now to date when he's had the kids around, I've stayed out of the way. Not that I've got anything against them (we'll get on to them having something against me ....) but when it was their weekend to spend with their dad, I felt quite strongly that they didn't need to have me around, it was parent-child time. However, her moving in was going to be quite different. She is a nice kid, when she wants to be. She can be fantastic but she can be a real pain and it really depends on her mood and thoughts. Initially, when we got together, she was almost encouraging her dad to move on. When he did, she decided that I was the devil incarnate - not helped by the fact that her mother has decided that he and I were having an affair for years before we got together (not true - and indeed impossible as I didn't know him well at all and indeed was travelling for almost 8 months, which would have made things logistically very difficult!).
She stayed over for the first week before I went away. And to date it's all ok. It's meant a bit of re-thinking because whereas before, we had no routine about where we stayed or even when we had an evening together and when not, suddnenly routine has been inflicted upon us. He has to be at home Sun-Wed/Thu evenings when she's there and it makes things less flexible. But we've actually had some fun times too, just banter over dinner or when she sang along with some of the songs at our band rehearsal.
I'm going to see a consultant on Friday about headaches and to give me something to talk about, I've had a really painful one for the last two days - confining me to bed painful. I don't really get migraines, but my headaches are getting worse. I went to the doctor's which was pretty useless and included the sentence "what are you hoping to get out of this consultation" when I went back for a second opinion. I know that headaches aren't easy to diagnose, I know that it might be nothing but when it came on from nowhere and these are different headaches that are lingering, I think it's right to ask questions.
So I'm lying in bed typing, feeling a little guilty for not being in bed now although it was not good this morning and I really would have struggled to get in to London. There's a lot going on and people are not doing things I want them to do whilst I'm not in the office but I can't worry about that right now, I'll start that worry tomorrow.
Sunday 4 December 2011
Body in the UK, head on another time zone!
Been a really bad blogger - although, I'm still blaming HTC partly because I can't get my phone to write blog posts ...... I can read other people's stuff and comment but can't do anything with my own blog whilst away.
So, I've had two crazy weeks in SE Asia. Absolutely intriguing place and a fantastic holiday - non stop for two weeks, a group trip with 13 other people I'd never met before. It started a little shakily as the tour company first rearranged the trip because of the floods in Bangkok and then a couple of days before it was all rearranged back. Not a problem at all for me but it did end up being a bit of an issue for some of the others who didn't get told - in particular, a couple who'd got married in Thailand (changing a lot of their plans because of the FCO advice not to travel) and who were not told, emailed, called and spent over 6 hours waiting for the rest of the group at Bangkok airport.
But once we got underway, it was fantastic. We had some brilliant local guides, all of whom were very keen to share everything about their countries with us and some of whom had had incredible experiences - including a guy who'd be in the Cambodian army towards the end of Pol Pot's time and another whose father and uncle had lived in the Cu Chi tunnels outside Saigon, frustrating the American soldiers. When you hear the stories and see them still smiling, it really hits home how lucky you are.
Were I as technically capable as Lesley, I'd put some photos on here, but at the moment they are very slowly being put on to Facebook and Flickr. I took over 1200 - lots to be deleted when I see them on a decent-sized screen but that still takes time, as well as processing and converting (I went sophisticated and bought myself a digital SLR which is great but the photos do involve some faffing about).
The rest of the group was one of the best I've ever travelled with. There was no one who immediately felt like my best friend but everyone was nice and there was no one that anyone wanted to avoid at dinner or on day trips out. One couple were really really lovely and I hope we do stay in touch. They've continued on for a few weeks (until early January) and I'm looking forward to following the trip.
There's lots more I could dwell on, but I'm still awake at 7pm after not being in bed since Friday night/Saturday morning (equivalent to 1am Saturday GMT) and I'm slowly fading. So will come back to you with everything else in my mind.
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