MAKE MINE A PINT!

With drinking and smoking laws as they stand, the Real English pub has, like most other traditionally English establishments had to move with the times.. No brownie points come to me for such observations! Since I was never a smoker, not even an ocassional, recreational, just pretend to be one..and have never lived outside the confines of the M25 bearing in mind it was built up around me at some stage of my youth, then my own forrays and dependence on pub life has been relatively uncommon, and not particularly worth mentioning. There would be no landladies/lords wondering why I hadn't shown my face for a few weeks or months...no favourite corners or preferences for draught or bottle...no, i simply didn't really get into pub life. Then again apart from frequently noticing that the outside of some public houses have been tarted up, bedecked with filled baskets of self watering (how else do they do it) hanging pots, that exteriors have been redesigned so that our smoker fraternities can pollute the air, enjoy the sunshine or even sit beneath anything but green outdoor heaters...do I sound bitter? I mean to!! Where was I? The nineties plan was to give pubs the new look and for many of the larger chains, plasma screens offering all day sport and quiz nights or happy hours kept some punters finding a good reason to keep going in but since I've never found either of those even mildly entertaining, i've stayed out...until now...My eyes have been opened, more my ears...live music...not everywhere but in some of the finer outposts, scattered from village to town, from south and no doubt north of Watford too, pubs with character, with new menus offering local produce or at the very least a range of dishes, less curry, more bream and along with the trad. log fires, there are now quite a lot of live music venues...From jazz, blues, soul n rock...open mic eves, acoustic and even some standards thrown in for good measure... I'm not talking Kareoke!....please.... not kareoke....but real musos who over decades have mastered their crafts and passionately play for pauperish payments if any in order to do what they do from the heart and to fuel us, the soda and lime punters (with an occassional real ale thrown in for good measure) back to the hearth of English Pub life. At last I'm ready to go out and explore, to enjoy some REAL entertainment and some REAL Ale....about time too!

JUST ANOTHER POINT OF VIEW!!!

Spending at least several hours more awake than asleep last night, I tuned into L.B.C as my beautiful, sleek n silver ipod , loaded up with culturally rich podcasts has gone into freeze mode on me! Quick note here....buy from John Lewis....they replace without question, quick n fast....and my new one will arrive on Tuesday afternoon! Back to L.B.C then! If you've ever earwigged into the phone ins throughout the night then you'll understand that the callers and subjects discussed can be anything from mundane to simply irritating but it was no surprise to hear that the majority of callers wanted their say about the Jade Goody wedding/publicity/cancer story. I've enjoyed a few reality TV shows in my time but have never found time, energy or desire to watch Big Brother and consequently know little about Ms Goody but somehow or other the media have spared her sufficient space even outside of the tabloid sheets that she like many other 'non events' have become household names! I have heard about her devestated childhood, spearheaded by drug abusing parents and her lack of formal education yet despite all odds being against her, she has been determined not to fade into the obvlivion but to forge her way into a spotlight through sheer determination and motivation even if all the publicity hasn't necessarily been in her favour. Over the past few weeks we have been awarding credits in all forms to the film Slumdog millionaire which depicts youngsters with no reason to succeed an opportunity to break from the harrowing life of poverty and insecurity ...yes of course thats just a film, but here the Goody story wins no oscars....Her planned wedding ceremony today can only ever be the beginning of a very shortlived, sick and sad few months and as someone who has weathered the devestation of Cancer twice myself, I am, perhaps, in some position to in a small but not insignificant way, to understand her fear factor and desire to find a way to provide for her youngsters. When Cancer is involved, education, wealth and love may indeed have a small part to play, but ultimately the suffering is widespread and a turmoil of emotions ripple from home to worklife, from nearest to friends rarely seen and the care the patient receives is largely a lottery. Fortunately for myself, the Royal Marsden which is a centre of excellence, an NHS hospital in both Fulham and Sutton in Surrey mananged to help me through my last six months. For Jade, the very same hospital with the same expertise are unable to give her much in the way of hope! In my own situation, being self employed for 28 years and married means that my financial benefits are limited to £63 a week for a maximum of 6 months after which I will not be in a position to claim any benefits as I am deemed fit for some sort of work and my husband should be able to care for me...As if it isn't enough to live with the strain of the diagnosis, the treatments and the knock on effects of weakness both of body and mind the government creates its own limits which clearly does not meet the needs of the many. So whilst Jade and I have little in common, though if I'm not mistaken, we are both essex girls, who am I and indeed, who are we to judge her for keeping her profile raised, for selling her story and for ensuring that one way or other her boys wont have to be financially insecure. The media circus are no doubt fighting for their rights to the book, interviews, documentary and film which once again reflects that society is thirsty and always ready to buy into others misfortunes. Dignity isn't a consideration. I hope her two young sons will remember her with high regard, will recognise that despite all, she was hoping to provide them with some security and whilst marriage isn't necessarily the fairytale we'd all like it to be....i wish her a wonderful day!

TOM TOM ....

Aha, I hear you think...a whole blog about how to get from A-Z without one of course!!! :-)
No, of late, these past few years I've scarcely made enough journeys to warrant the technical update for myself though I'm convinced it has been one of the best, most useful inventions in the past decade or so, besides the mobile phone, the computer of course and the hundreds of other things that Tchibo the High Street Store that nobody can pronounce stock, albeit it for only a week or so at a time. Nobody, if ever asked would think to mention that they shop in Tchibo. Why would they after all is it a coffee shop or a paraphanalea shop. One week the window will be sporting a range of free weights, thermal underwear and yoga mats and the next, a host of kitchen utensils that you have lived without until you see them, thinking that life would be totally transformed if only you had one of whatever it is that they are displaying. I'm convinced that nobody sets out from home with Tchibo on their shopping list.
Not only were we in this instance enjoying a rare but enjoyable hour of family time in our local shopping centre- Ma, Pa and El with plans to indulge in a Costafortune Coffee together -that's another story, but we were drawn en mass into the shop that sells whatever it has to sell for this particular week. We were drawn like magpies on the hunt, considering, discussing and even touching and weighing up whether or not the £3 bath pillow should be the purchase of the day! Of course we spent minutes at least wondering whether or not it would be machine washable, if we seriously needed one since we shower 90% of the time and if making such an impulse buy would create havoc with the finances! Thank goodness we weren't drawn to the towelling head turban for post shampoo effect at closer to £5. As we queued to pay we were invited to buy ourselves a coffee, either to drink in or take home..what else would you expect to happen!? Being cautious of being oversold to, we escaped, £3 bath pillow in bag and quickly made our way into the local coffee shop where we would no doubt be charged way over the odds for the joy of sitting down in a warm spot without all the temptations of Tchibo!.. Oh and just in case a little friend of mine is reading this....Hello Thomas!

EARLY HOURS

At 4.30 a.m. the day is young...frankly for others who might consider that i'm simply overdoing the late night bit, the facts are that I went to bed at a decent hour, slept for a few (3 maybe) got disturbed by a man getting beneath my duvet with me (yes, yes, I know the man!)....and then couldn't get back to slumber...felt hungry...just a little peckish...can't even blame my low sugars cos they were up..so it was a quick fix of insulin, a slice of bread n peanut butter (and a spoon of peanut butter without bread too- just for good measure) and then tea...then e mails, facebook, scrabble, lexulous or whatever its called and then...back to bed...an hour later...still awake, listening to some great arts programme that I'd downloaded but for the life of me, can't remember anything about it except that the man who was being interviewed was Iranian and had hidden in a hole in the desert for 3 years...and a japanese woman who is joining the force of many others that are publishing short novels onto cell phones..making me hope that our eyes develop and our fingers adjust to this never ending barrage of technology that is probably making opticians and physiotherapists rich ..( in some ways I'm happy about that...bearing in mind son no. 1 is one of them...physio i mean...but then i've mentioned that many many times...too often i'm sure..fractionally better than bleating about cancer, diabetes and groaning on about credit crunch and grey skies! ) ...then again......
So its 4.40 a.m. I need my sleep. not much less than 6 hours will suffice and the only light on this bleak horizon is that I don't have to be up early...perhaps late will be fine....Perhaps late will be essential ...that is....if i can actually get to sleep in the first place....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
could be a fug of a day tomorrow! bye bye everyone (very Sooty Sue n Sweep!!)

BARKING MAD!

At last I'm suffering from empty nest syndrome :-)! After more than 20 years of picking up clothes, towels, emptying rotten goodness knows what from smelly gym bags, nagging, begging, chauffering, paying out, feeding and forever fretting...the house is child free...We can watch something other than Friends, the computer is ours to hog, the biscuits are ours to nibble and the fridge generally has in it what we placed there a few hours earlier. There is time to read, paint, strum or browse and meals can be whisked up in minutes given that we're hungry! We can go out, come back and hide for hours without babysitters or checking in with our offspring, so why, oh why would we even consider the possibility of taking in a pooch..Indeed it is a question that requires a level of thought that only a physcologist may unravel. Having never housed a four legged friend (unless Monty the guinea pig is to be counted...) and the gerbils who never really made an emotional impact upon any of us (kids included) we find ourselves thinking that there is sometimes a void...sometimes! We need to get out to walk and yet despite our best intentions, the excuses of why we don't have time or the inclination give us reasons not to bother. We have watched our neighbours nurture and love their labrador from puppy to his autumn years where he now walks with the pain and speed that his arthritis will allow but between the years from pup to papa he has been a wonderfully rewarding and affectionate companion. So maybe we are thinking that a companion would be fun and rewarding. So we've begun doing a little research and rapidly realise that theres so much more to this selection process than we might have imagined even if we rule out the cost involved. My wish list would have to include...a dog who...didn't molt, bite, yap, growl, have bad breath, fussy eater, could cope without company for a couple of hours at a time and wouldn't yank my arms out when taking it for a walk. I'd prefer one who looked appealing, not too small but then again not too large, who didn't have a history of schizo behaviour, liked children and animals and was obedient. Preferably he should have a clean bill of health, come from a good gene pool, not whimper or have travel sickness, understands me and doesn't mind sleeping alone in his own basket. I've yet to look into the costs of weekly food, insurance and kennels should we want to go away and am barely able to imagine to distress if we lose him (not because we're careless but because of a health problem..- i haven't got one yet (a dog I mean) and I'm almost in tears imagining this scenario!)... We gave Monty the Guinea pig a home for less than two years...He was an overweight and not terribly friendly G.p yet its probably 8 years since he passed away and we still miss him dearly.
A dog? can we really be thinking about this now? Are we crazy? ...watch this space........

MY NEW MAN!

I've not been on the hunt for a new one of late, (man that is!) but thanks to the enthusiasm and spirit of El (my daughter!)...i was encouraged, with some not too gentle encouragement into putting on my waterproof togs, my ol' gardening boots and my genuinely Peruvian bonnet in order to make me a new sturdy man...I am of course referring to the one made of snow who sits somewhat wonkily, lilting just a tad from the heat of the day- as opposed to the sub zero temperatures of yesterday! Unless you are reading this from afar, very afar, you will understand the ecstasy and agony that we all seemed to enjoy or suffer these past 48 hours because of a full on fall of pukka snowflakes which rarely land and settle since the onslaught of 'global warming' effects. Yet for a while at least, our streets, cars and houses gave us the brightest eyeful many of us have experienced in many months. Our children were allowed out, clad in their wellies and warmest coats, council recycling boxes and their lids making temporary sledges, reminiscent of our childhoods seemingly some decades back. For once the roads were eerily still, no buses, no trains and oddly, very oddly little urban noise. For the shops that opened there were few, other than those selling outdoor wear, soup or DVD's that were actually busy yet there seemed no doubt that despite the lack of tills ringing there was an out of normal positive energy that brought smiles and open faces to the fore... Being English and unused to temperatures or conditions that justify waterproofs, thermals or winter tyres for our vehicles being part of our routine stock we were brought to a standstill.. Breakfast tv bringing instant news to thousands of youngsters waiting to hear that their Head Teachers had publicly announced that school would be closed giving the kids a bonus holiday and the parents even more stress wondering how to reschedule their already over scheduled Monday. There can be few who would deny that from the warmth of our homes the blanket covered roofs and roads looked utterly magical. Our gardens came alive as the grey and damp conditions of our bleak back yards and empty flower beds were plumped up in white, fluffy and glistening flakes.
It has been years since I've made a snowman and I have to admit, the thought of going out into the garden wasn't initially attractive yet once i'd put on my waterproof gloves (kitchen marigolds came in handy!!) ...and wrapped myself up appropriately the joy of being out of doors and having some fun...good clean and wholesome fun was indeed totally uplifting. Our snowman didn't actually get a hat or a pipe. No carrot for a nose and no shiny buttons but he looked affable, substantial and not entirely unlike the fella i have indoors... who incidentally looks as if he might just keel over too with the weight of this long and otherwise dreary winter.