I'm really impressed with the service you get from insurance companies these days. The hire car was delivered today by a charming and professional young man. The paperwork was sorted out very quickly and he left me with a brand new BMW 3-series Sport in my possession. I was fully expecting my hire car to be a Fiat Punto or something similar! He did explain that they always try to provide a car of a similar standard, and I applaud that!!
Shortly after that a lovely, chatty retired teacher came with his tow truck and took my damaged baby away to the Car Hospital. The very jovial Car Doctor has just phoned and the good news is there was no hidden damage - the bumper took all the impact. He's ordered the parts and I should have my baby back around Wednesday next week. After that Stephen is not going to be allowed to drive it!!!!!
Friday 27 November 2009
Thursday 26 November 2009
I don't belieeeeeve it!!
Stephen was heading down to Bristol for a meeting today and took my car. He was in stop-go traffic on the M4 when someone ran into him from behind. My lovely A4 has a hole and the indentation of the other cars number plate in its bumper. He phoned to let me know and I then spent time on the phone to my insurance company sorting the mess out. They were really good (and should be for the price!) and with three phone calls they had arranged to have my baby collected tomorrow and taken into the car hospital and to have a hire car delivered.
Potential wardrobe malfunctions
Monday was exceedingly windy here which begs the question: why would a habitual trouser wearer choose to wear a full skirt to work? I don't know! I didn't look out the window when I got dressed! I was having severe problems walking across the open area from my office to the canteen. The wind was funnelling through the buildings...and my skirt was doing its very best to raise itself above my head Marilyn style. Not wanting to flash my butt at the office occupants I grabbed a large handful of material at one side and tried to maintain my dignity. Not easy when you're bent over like you've got a dowager hump, clutching your skirt!!
Tuesday was wet and windy - but I was in trousers - YAY! The wet portion of the weather was the problem... I got my heel stuck in between the brick paving and walked out of my shoe onto the wet pavement. YUCK!!
On Wednesday I wore a lovely wraparound blouse. I own a few of these, some of which require the addition of a camisole in order to contain the Twins. I didn't think this particular blouse was one of those, but a quick glance down revealed an expanse of boobage. Thankfully I was fully on top of this particular situation! I'd got as far as the kitchen door when I realised so I made a dash back upstairs to do a bit of rapid Twin containment!! After the knicker incident on Sunday you would have thought I'd had my share of wardrobe malfunctions...but there were a couple of very close calls!!
Tuesday was wet and windy - but I was in trousers - YAY! The wet portion of the weather was the problem... I got my heel stuck in between the brick paving and walked out of my shoe onto the wet pavement. YUCK!!
On Wednesday I wore a lovely wraparound blouse. I own a few of these, some of which require the addition of a camisole in order to contain the Twins. I didn't think this particular blouse was one of those, but a quick glance down revealed an expanse of boobage. Thankfully I was fully on top of this particular situation! I'd got as far as the kitchen door when I realised so I made a dash back upstairs to do a bit of rapid Twin containment!! After the knicker incident on Sunday you would have thought I'd had my share of wardrobe malfunctions...but there were a couple of very close calls!!
Sunday 22 November 2009
Oh Knickers!
We popped into the grocery store today and after about 10 minutes I was desperate to hit the checkouts and get the hell out of the store...and yet gormless Stephen was wandering about on his own in the slowest possible way, looking for 3D glasses. He even at one point looked directly at me, then turned down the condiments aisle...did he not see me? I went off in pursuit, but was hampered from doing so with any speed by the fact that my underwear had begun a rapid descent and I now had a roll of knicker nestling just under my butt cheeks. Thank God I was wearing trousers or they would have been round my knees! So, you can see why I was keen to get back to somewhere where I could try and retrieve them.
I eventually tracked him down and explained for the 10th time that the easiest way to find 3D glasses would be to ASK someone! And that we needed to leave the store NOW!
He asked the lovely girl on checkout. They had run out of the 3D glasses days before. All that searching for nothing - except an opportunity for me to say "I told you so"! He did get revenge though....I was sitting in the car taking a drink from a bottle of soda when he reversed the car rapidly and then slammed on the anchors. Oh, there was a lot of shouting! I had coke all over my scarf, jacket, decolletage and chin....is it renowned for its anti-ageing or spot fighting properties when applied externally I wonder? I mean, you can use it to clean toilets so it does have some non-drinking applications....
I eventually tracked him down and explained for the 10th time that the easiest way to find 3D glasses would be to ASK someone! And that we needed to leave the store NOW!
He asked the lovely girl on checkout. They had run out of the 3D glasses days before. All that searching for nothing - except an opportunity for me to say "I told you so"! He did get revenge though....I was sitting in the car taking a drink from a bottle of soda when he reversed the car rapidly and then slammed on the anchors. Oh, there was a lot of shouting! I had coke all over my scarf, jacket, decolletage and chin....is it renowned for its anti-ageing or spot fighting properties when applied externally I wonder? I mean, you can use it to clean toilets so it does have some non-drinking applications....
Saturday 21 November 2009
My name is....
Oh what a nothingy day this has turned out to be! We were at a bit of a loss as to what to do today so we took a run into Worcester with the intention of mooching around and having a coffee. Of course we'd forgotten that Christmas shopping is in full swing and after failing to get a parking spot in 3 car parks we gave up and went to Malvern instead.
We took shelter from the pouring rain in the coffee shop and I grabbed a table whilst Stephen stood in line for the coffee. The table next to me son filled with a couple and their brood of children. Daddy went off to buy coffee whilst Mummy failed to keep the kids under control. One child (about age 7) in particular was being delightful..fighting with his sibling whilst lying on the banquette, kicking out and gradually inching his way towards me. Not fancying having his flailing feet make contact with me (or my handbag!) I shot his mother a look which was meant to convey "I have patience, but he's getting a little close now" but which (thanks to my rather crapulous day) may have come across more like "If he kicks me I will rip his arms off and beat you with them"...anyway, she began to attempt to get them to stop. There was no visible effect, so Daddy lends his voice from the queue...
"Max...."
"Maxim...."
"Maximus.....stop that now".
Ahh....now I understand! You quite simply cannot call your child Maximus and NOT expect them to misbehave!!! Did they name him after watching Gladiator? Did she have a thing for the buff and oiled up Russell Crowe? Did he??!!
I have to say that I am not a fan of people inflicting names such as Apple, Kai, Beauregard, Satchell and Muffin on their little bundles of joy. A name is for life, not just for the birthday cake!!
We took shelter from the pouring rain in the coffee shop and I grabbed a table whilst Stephen stood in line for the coffee. The table next to me son filled with a couple and their brood of children. Daddy went off to buy coffee whilst Mummy failed to keep the kids under control. One child (about age 7) in particular was being delightful..fighting with his sibling whilst lying on the banquette, kicking out and gradually inching his way towards me. Not fancying having his flailing feet make contact with me (or my handbag!) I shot his mother a look which was meant to convey "I have patience, but he's getting a little close now" but which (thanks to my rather crapulous day) may have come across more like "If he kicks me I will rip his arms off and beat you with them"...anyway, she began to attempt to get them to stop. There was no visible effect, so Daddy lends his voice from the queue...
"Max...."
"Maxim...."
"Maximus.....stop that now".
Ahh....now I understand! You quite simply cannot call your child Maximus and NOT expect them to misbehave!!! Did they name him after watching Gladiator? Did she have a thing for the buff and oiled up Russell Crowe? Did he??!!
I have to say that I am not a fan of people inflicting names such as Apple, Kai, Beauregard, Satchell and Muffin on their little bundles of joy. A name is for life, not just for the birthday cake!!
Sunday 15 November 2009
Picture perfect Priory
I had yet another facial yesterday as those pesky zits are still hanging on in there. Time to electrocute them again...and this time we turned the machine up to 11! Zena thinks they're on the way out - about time too I say! I've spent a fortune on spot cream in the past few weeks! Aside from the one which burned my skin off, I've bought creams with salicylic acid, creams with a percentage of tea tree oil and finally I just bought the full-strength undiluted tea tree oil. I've also got about 4 kinds of exfoliators - masks, scrubs, pads....there is not a preparation available in Boots that I've not tried!!!
Afterwards I picked up a couple of coffees and met up with Stephen (I did think about only buying one for me, but I figured that would be a little bit mean!) and we headed back into Worcester for the second time that day. Stephen has decided that I need a better camera as my Canon didn't compare with his Nikon when we looked at the end results which meant that he would disregard my photos as barely worth looking at, despite a grudging admission that sometimes I would get the better shot. (And believe me, it was a grudging admission!!) Our second trip in was to get the camera he's spent weeks reading up on so I have time to play with it fully before we head to NYC at Christmas. It was also to stop him spending a tenner a week on "What Camera Shall I Buy" magazines....honestly, he'd be able to afford a whole photographic studio if he didn't buy all the magazines for 6 months!!
We popped along to Malvern Priory this afternoon for a little photography shoot. It was a dodging the showers afternoon. Every time we ventured outside it rained. Every time we were inside it was fair. On the way back home in the car there was blue sky and little puffy clouds...d'oh! The Priory is a lovely building. Building began in 1085 and there were some 15th century additions to the original Norman church. There is also some gorgeous stained glass. One window was a gift from Henry VII, another from Richard III and there is some really remarkable modern stained glass which was installed in 2004. We weren't the only ones in taking photos...there was a veritable paparazzi pack in there! All you could hear was the click of shutters!!
I smiled at one of the notices on the tiny rear exit of the Priory which said that CS Lewis (who had gone to school in Malvern) may have been inspired to write the Chronicles of Narnia after emerging from the wardrobe-like exit and seeing the gas lamps amongst the trees in the churchyard. However, having just looked up Wiki it seems that he became atheist whilst at Malvern College, so perhaps they're a little wide of the mark! I was smiling because half of Malvern has previously claimed the honour of being the inspiration! Further Wiki investigation tells of CS Lewis and JRR Tolkein coming out of a pub in the winter , seeing a gas lamp shining through the falling snowflakes and Tolkein saying "that would make a great opening for a book"....Soooo, on two counts it would seem that the Priory may be a little wide of the mark as I didn't see a bar in there...unless they were hitting the communion wine!!!
Afterwards I picked up a couple of coffees and met up with Stephen (I did think about only buying one for me, but I figured that would be a little bit mean!) and we headed back into Worcester for the second time that day. Stephen has decided that I need a better camera as my Canon didn't compare with his Nikon when we looked at the end results which meant that he would disregard my photos as barely worth looking at, despite a grudging admission that sometimes I would get the better shot. (And believe me, it was a grudging admission!!) Our second trip in was to get the camera he's spent weeks reading up on so I have time to play with it fully before we head to NYC at Christmas. It was also to stop him spending a tenner a week on "What Camera Shall I Buy" magazines....honestly, he'd be able to afford a whole photographic studio if he didn't buy all the magazines for 6 months!!
We popped along to Malvern Priory this afternoon for a little photography shoot. It was a dodging the showers afternoon. Every time we ventured outside it rained. Every time we were inside it was fair. On the way back home in the car there was blue sky and little puffy clouds...d'oh! The Priory is a lovely building. Building began in 1085 and there were some 15th century additions to the original Norman church. There is also some gorgeous stained glass. One window was a gift from Henry VII, another from Richard III and there is some really remarkable modern stained glass which was installed in 2004. We weren't the only ones in taking photos...there was a veritable paparazzi pack in there! All you could hear was the click of shutters!!
I smiled at one of the notices on the tiny rear exit of the Priory which said that CS Lewis (who had gone to school in Malvern) may have been inspired to write the Chronicles of Narnia after emerging from the wardrobe-like exit and seeing the gas lamps amongst the trees in the churchyard. However, having just looked up Wiki it seems that he became atheist whilst at Malvern College, so perhaps they're a little wide of the mark! I was smiling because half of Malvern has previously claimed the honour of being the inspiration! Further Wiki investigation tells of CS Lewis and JRR Tolkein coming out of a pub in the winter , seeing a gas lamp shining through the falling snowflakes and Tolkein saying "that would make a great opening for a book"....Soooo, on two counts it would seem that the Priory may be a little wide of the mark as I didn't see a bar in there...unless they were hitting the communion wine!!!
Can you tell whose is whose??
The beautiful Priory (taken by S)
The Priory graveyard (taken by me with some photoshop jiggery-pokery by S)
Another of mine!
Tuesday 10 November 2009
Funny moment of today
Making further note to self not to wear the bracelet I had on today with this cardigan. It catches....
I was chatting with someone in the kitchen when I swept my hand across the back of my cardi and skirt in a smoothing/sweeping motion and ended up with the bracelet attached to the cardi about the region of my nether regions! I can only say they were a good friend and unhooked me as I couldn't see to unhook myself! Goodness knows what the person who walked in and walked right back out again thought....we probably presented an intriguing sight, with my rescuer bent over, peering closely at my bottom!!!
I was chatting with someone in the kitchen when I swept my hand across the back of my cardi and skirt in a smoothing/sweeping motion and ended up with the bracelet attached to the cardi about the region of my nether regions! I can only say they were a good friend and unhooked me as I couldn't see to unhook myself! Goodness knows what the person who walked in and walked right back out again thought....we probably presented an intriguing sight, with my rescuer bent over, peering closely at my bottom!!!
Monday 9 November 2009
Grumpy cow
I have been many of Snow Whites housemates over the past few days. I've been Happy, Sleepy, Sneezy and undoubtedly Dozey, but primarily I have been Grumpy...
Things which have grumped me out in the past few days have included:
The two cyclists who seemed to be under the impression that the Tour de France runs through Malvern. I was driving to my hair appointment and had to wait for HOURS (well, a good few minutes) for them to peddle up the steep incline of Church Street SIDE BY SIDE. Its not wide enough for the parked cars, the side-by-side cyclists and my car. If they had gone line astern then no problem, but no....they HAD to hold me up!!
The kid acting out in the line at Waitrose. He was running around so much, and his dad wasn't able to control him at all, that they shoved their empty trolley into our side of the checkout which rather hindered Stephen and I being able to get in to pack up our groceries. Unfortunately I couldn't move it back over without squishing the kid into the side of the conveyor....although I was SORELY tempted to!!!
The utterly crap latte I got in Worcester which consisted of a couple of mouthfuls of coffee topped off by 4 inches of solid foam so thick that you could actually cut it in half with the wooden stick things that pass for spoons. (I'm not exaggerating here!)
Today. Almost in its entirely. I have been mildly grumpy, increasing to pretty darn grumpy by the end of the day. It started when our neighbour leaped out (is he stalking us?!) as we were backing out the garage to ask if S wanted to go for a drink tonight. Then I discovered that the trousers I had on were conspiring with my blouse to flash my belly roll. Note to self: don't wear these trousers without a belt to keep them up! Then I found out that I was supposed to be able to give Stephen's location at any given point in the day to a shouted enquiry from the other side of the office... I am NOT his keeper or his diary secretary. And...why not walk and ask me/phone and ask me/IM and ask me - anything but yell across the office from 30 ft away and ask me!! Even better - why not phone and ask HIM!!!!! Then the neighbour turned up 10 minutes early to collect S to go to the pub. As we'd only got home at 7pm and had been home 20 minutes we were still finishing up the hastily prepared supper. Indigestion city!!
I am now de-grumping by watching Stephen Fry's Tour of America - which we missed when it was on first time round as we were in America! He's in Washington DC....ahhh, how lovely it looks!
Things which have grumped me out in the past few days have included:
The two cyclists who seemed to be under the impression that the Tour de France runs through Malvern. I was driving to my hair appointment and had to wait for HOURS (well, a good few minutes) for them to peddle up the steep incline of Church Street SIDE BY SIDE. Its not wide enough for the parked cars, the side-by-side cyclists and my car. If they had gone line astern then no problem, but no....they HAD to hold me up!!
The kid acting out in the line at Waitrose. He was running around so much, and his dad wasn't able to control him at all, that they shoved their empty trolley into our side of the checkout which rather hindered Stephen and I being able to get in to pack up our groceries. Unfortunately I couldn't move it back over without squishing the kid into the side of the conveyor....although I was SORELY tempted to!!!
The utterly crap latte I got in Worcester which consisted of a couple of mouthfuls of coffee topped off by 4 inches of solid foam so thick that you could actually cut it in half with the wooden stick things that pass for spoons. (I'm not exaggerating here!)
Today. Almost in its entirely. I have been mildly grumpy, increasing to pretty darn grumpy by the end of the day. It started when our neighbour leaped out (is he stalking us?!) as we were backing out the garage to ask if S wanted to go for a drink tonight. Then I discovered that the trousers I had on were conspiring with my blouse to flash my belly roll. Note to self: don't wear these trousers without a belt to keep them up! Then I found out that I was supposed to be able to give Stephen's location at any given point in the day to a shouted enquiry from the other side of the office... I am NOT his keeper or his diary secretary. And...why not walk and ask me/phone and ask me/IM and ask me - anything but yell across the office from 30 ft away and ask me!! Even better - why not phone and ask HIM!!!!! Then the neighbour turned up 10 minutes early to collect S to go to the pub. As we'd only got home at 7pm and had been home 20 minutes we were still finishing up the hastily prepared supper. Indigestion city!!
I am now de-grumping by watching Stephen Fry's Tour of America - which we missed when it was on first time round as we were in America! He's in Washington DC....ahhh, how lovely it looks!
Sunday 8 November 2009
Our Saturday
Saturday was a very pleasant day. I had my hair cut and de-grayed and it was nice enough weather-wise that I managed to get the top down on my convertible driving home. Of course, it rained about 20 minutes after I got home, but hey, I'd had my fun by then. It was a tad chilly I do have to admit, but the clever car immediately whacks up the temperature when you press the hood down button, plus I had my lovely new scarf - 12ft of fluffy, sparkly loveliness hand-knitted by Justine's mum. It was much admired by the staff of the salon too.
We decided to stay in and cook dinner last night (woo-hoo!). We did a quick run around Waitrose and came back and opened a bottle of champagne (just because) and prepared a feast of chicken breast stuffed with boursin and wrapped in pancetta. We polished that off and were sitting enjoying cheese and biscuits and a glass of port when Stephen decided that drinking the port via his mouth was much too boring and that filtering it through his jumper was much the best way to go. He missed his mouth altogether! He thought he'd caught it on his chin until he saw my horrified look....his bargain silk/cashmere jumper from Banana Republic was now acid green with a huge dark red mark.
I haven't moved so fast in a long while! I had the jumper wrestled off him and into the sink in the blink of an eye. Then began the frantic run through of the stain removal techniques. I even remembered that in a cupboard somewhere I had "wine off"...it didn't seem to make any difference! Soap seemed to do best and YAY the stain is no longer!!!
We sat down to watch Knowing which was a great movie, but verging on a bit scary for me (nothing more scary than Bambi remember!). One of the female characters said something and Stephen said "that's what you sound like all the time"....which made me laugh! I sit with the legal team in work. The head of the section doesn't speak to me very often, other than to reply to my Good Morning, but when he does its invariably to ask me if I'm doing something for July 4th, or Thanksgiving. I was beginning to suspect that he knew I had worked in the Inc, realised that I had an accent of some kind, but not realised that it was a Scottish one. Perhaps I'm being hard on him...perhaps I still have enough American in there to be genuinely confusing for him!!
We decided to stay in and cook dinner last night (woo-hoo!). We did a quick run around Waitrose and came back and opened a bottle of champagne (just because) and prepared a feast of chicken breast stuffed with boursin and wrapped in pancetta. We polished that off and were sitting enjoying cheese and biscuits and a glass of port when Stephen decided that drinking the port via his mouth was much too boring and that filtering it through his jumper was much the best way to go. He missed his mouth altogether! He thought he'd caught it on his chin until he saw my horrified look....his bargain silk/cashmere jumper from Banana Republic was now acid green with a huge dark red mark.
I haven't moved so fast in a long while! I had the jumper wrestled off him and into the sink in the blink of an eye. Then began the frantic run through of the stain removal techniques. I even remembered that in a cupboard somewhere I had "wine off"...it didn't seem to make any difference! Soap seemed to do best and YAY the stain is no longer!!!
We sat down to watch Knowing which was a great movie, but verging on a bit scary for me (nothing more scary than Bambi remember!). One of the female characters said something and Stephen said "that's what you sound like all the time"....which made me laugh! I sit with the legal team in work. The head of the section doesn't speak to me very often, other than to reply to my Good Morning, but when he does its invariably to ask me if I'm doing something for July 4th, or Thanksgiving. I was beginning to suspect that he knew I had worked in the Inc, realised that I had an accent of some kind, but not realised that it was a Scottish one. Perhaps I'm being hard on him...perhaps I still have enough American in there to be genuinely confusing for him!!
Saturday 7 November 2009
Reminiscing
We were out on Thursday with Steve and Graham for dinner. This was a birthday celebration for both Graham and me as it fell somewhere between our two birthdays. We went to Pepper & Oz which was lovely but rather eye-wateringly expensive! Probably not down to the food to be honest...it was 1.50 each for the tonic in the gin!! The food was lovely though, as was the company. We were getting advice for planning our NZ trip. Graham lived there for 11 years and is a great resource for planning!!
We were talking about how its possible to love being where you are, but also to miss somewhere so much. I had a big burst of homesickness for Old Town last weekend. Halloween was such a big thing on Lee St (people came from literally miles around to trick or treat on Lee St!) and it was a huge non-event here! I really felt I should be carving pumpkins (and y'all know I didn't really enjoy doing that!) and handing out candy...but there aren't many kids near us in the village and we didn't get one single knock on the door.
We were talking about how its possible to love being where you are, but also to miss somewhere so much. I had a big burst of homesickness for Old Town last weekend. Halloween was such a big thing on Lee St (people came from literally miles around to trick or treat on Lee St!) and it was a huge non-event here! I really felt I should be carving pumpkins (and y'all know I didn't really enjoy doing that!) and handing out candy...but there aren't many kids near us in the village and we didn't get one single knock on the door.
Who ya gonna call...
Thank Crunchie its Saturday! Its been another busy week at work. Fun times! My boss has been giving briefing sessions which I've been lining up. Poor bloke must be reciting them in his sleep by now! We've been going since mid-September. I've booked up nearly 500 folks onto sessions which is no mean feat given that a) no-one particularly wants to do it and b) once they've booked, they invariably want to change dates/times. Its like nailing jelly to the wall! It was well and truly fun times on Thursday though. The Boss called me just after 9am to say he had been stuck in traffic for 1 1/2 hours and had only just made it onto the M4. There was no way that he was going to make the first training session!! I had to leap into action and phone everyone to re-arrange. It certainly got me revved up and raring to go pretty quickly. I barely needed the usual caffeine kick...
Since The Boss has been doing the sessions I seem to be the new telephone hotline - thanks to his mantra of "If you're not sure - ask" . As he uses a paging service to take his calls and Gracy is 5 hours behind us it does rather seem that I'm No 1 on the calling circle!! "Who ya gonna call? Call Kerry!"
Most folks are absolutely lovely and very grateful for a little bit of advice and handholding. There is one woman who is just a git though. As I said to Gracy - all this woman does is phone to chew my ears off... "why can't I do this/surely its your job to do that/bitch moan bitch" (this translates as "I haven't done my job, so I'm going to blame you"). Inevitably I get a 10 minute tirade whenever she calls (and yet I still pick up the phone when she rings!) What can I say? My ears are obviously tasty morsels! And yet there is stony silence whenever we pull the rabbit out the hat for her...never a word of thanks. No salve for my abused ears!!
Its just as well that she is the absolute minority....and that she hasn't phoned before the vital cup of I-can't-deal-with-people-first-thing Liquid Will to Live!!!
Since The Boss has been doing the sessions I seem to be the new telephone hotline - thanks to his mantra of "If you're not sure - ask" . As he uses a paging service to take his calls and Gracy is 5 hours behind us it does rather seem that I'm No 1 on the calling circle!! "Who ya gonna call? Call Kerry!"
Most folks are absolutely lovely and very grateful for a little bit of advice and handholding. There is one woman who is just a git though. As I said to Gracy - all this woman does is phone to chew my ears off... "why can't I do this/surely its your job to do that/bitch moan bitch" (this translates as "I haven't done my job, so I'm going to blame you"). Inevitably I get a 10 minute tirade whenever she calls (and yet I still pick up the phone when she rings!) What can I say? My ears are obviously tasty morsels! And yet there is stony silence whenever we pull the rabbit out the hat for her...never a word of thanks. No salve for my abused ears!!
Its just as well that she is the absolute minority....and that she hasn't phoned before the vital cup of I-can't-deal-with-people-first-thing Liquid Will to Live!!!
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