Holidays

A flurry of e mails and calls about CatCalls . It must be Summer .

A flurry of calls and visits about MR2 s . It must be the Autotrader . Its still out there though .... the man who wanted to swap it for a Daewoo sent his heavily pregnant wife to view it and she came with the welder and wanted to take it there and then , having driven for over an hour . But the Daewoo had a serious lot of miles on the clock ...
Another man way after hours ( way after my hours anyway ) but turned it down when he cottoned on it was an automatic . It did say that in the ad but never mind .

Will see what today brings . The welder was a man not a tool in case anyone is wondering
The bathroom is all ready for decoration now , and I found a honey face pack in the process . What bliss as I sit here covered in soft plaster .

Four Broken Ribs and Jane's kitchen . Oh and a picture of the RS2000

Returned to the house at six to find a letter from the consultant who had sent me for a bone scan a couple of weeks ago . As expected , it said , the results of your recent bone scan show that you have four broken ribs and it describes which ones , two on the left side and two on the right , they have numbers attached , 6 and 8 and 8 and 9 I think , anyway I'm assuming they're near the top where it hurts , and , this would account for the severe pain you have been experiencing .
Tears of relief as I read it , an explanation for the pain , making such a difference to how I felt .
Rang Debbie and told her the good news . Weird to describe it as good news but all connected to Day Job Issues and the helpfulness of being to say that I have an explanation for my chest pain .

N out at her friends and D off to pick up a car in Carlisle ( after a day driving to Sheffield for reviews ) so rang Jane and went round there with Jenny s belated birthday present . Not that for once we didn't have it ready on time , but they were away on the birthday , then I rang to arrange to go on Monday but they had mislaid the phone in the upheaval that is their new kitchen , which was another reason I wanted to go round , to see the knocked down walls and the new everything , as you do .
A lovely way to spend an hour or so , fielding the year old collie pup Jem which wanted to climb onto my chair with me . Might have been OK but it was pouring outside and she smelled distinctly of Wet Steaming Dog and besides was really quite damp , and anyway isn't even allowed in that room we were in never mind on the chairs . But the rules about rooms and chairs and permissions had all been relaxed . In the face of no proper kitchen and a temporary one set up in one of the sitting rooms its hard to stick to your guns about furniture . I looked at Jenny's birthday presents and she liked the bag we had got for her and I remembered back to when N was 9 , or even 11 and used to be polite and friendly and ......Though I suppose N is polite and friendly to everyone really , just some of the time not me . But she is lovely with it , even when she is sounding off and telling me how to run my life . Elly is twelve and not thirteen and it shows . She and Jenny both stayed with us whilst we talked about this and that , joining in about school trips , kitchens , ribs and our trip to Center Parcs when I made them laugh with my bravery on the rapids and the attendant loss of my swimsuit and dignity ( probably ) . Did I mention that previously on here , perhaps not ?

This is the RS2000 though not yet clear how long he will keep this one as he has admitted it doesn't quite feel like him . I haven't driven it yet , but I'm not keen on the way the Toad alarm ( sorry the Class One Toad Alarm ) goes off several times every night , causing minor panics at each event , much tripping over mobiles and chargers and fumbling for keys in the dark.
Anyway an ad on several MR2 owners clubs and one in the Autotrader has resulted in several calls about it and a man is coming by later to propose an exchange with a daewoo something or other which not being a Subaru is unlikely to cut the mustard either . Oh well . This won't get the bathroom window sills cleaned . then again with four broken ribs should I perhaps be Resting Quietly

Oh , now the links are published , they do work!

Caitlin

My new code for a relaxing life: don’t bother-Comment-Columnists-Caitlin Moran-TimesOnline

This article in the Times on Sunday was so my sister that I became convinced she had written it . I spoke to her online , my sister that is , and she feigned lack of knowledge and an interest in reading the article , so sent her the link . Today , Tuesday, out of the blue, received a text from her ( again my sister , not Caitlin ) pointing out that Not Bothering is the ideal solution really , all the delights of the planning and the anticipating without ever needing to get off one's arse ( is arse an acceptable word in a blog ? Ass might be better , but so American ?). Oh , the link didn't work , try this one .....

caitlin How come these links arent working here but they work fine in my favourites list ? Another of the mysteries of the world .

Due to the recent demise of the MR2 ( was that its name ? Sudden mental block , anyway the Blue Car ) D has been frantically scraping around for another Car with Character , ebay being the second port of call , where to my horror he was again focusing entirely on Loud Subarus which go Far Too Fast and make a loud banging noise at the back end to boot .

Having failed in a bid war whilst I was watching Casualty , things were getting desparate as he needed to drive to Sheffield today and still no wheels on sunday night . Undeterred , he found an RS2000 not too far away in a magazine and went to collect it yesterday . The journey involved getting the metro to Newcastle , followed by the train to Durham ( fifteen minutes ), then a bus to the Durham village where it was living . Suffice to say D is not used to public transport.

Whilst he pored over train timetables and bus routes I had a clear picture of him on one of the few trains heading for London which fails to stop in Durham ..... so tried to say to him " make sure you get a train that does actually stop in Durham blah blah " . I knew he wasnt listening , wondered , shall I say that again , but not wanting to come across like someone's Mother , I kept my counsel .

Next day , he texted me to say " Guess what , Im now heading for Darlington. Caught the one train today that doesnt stop in Darlington" .

The car looks great , but I have a funny feeling about it too . Probably just the loud noise from the back end ( a something bore exhaust ?) , which makes me very nervous in the passenger seat . Only one solution to that .

Watch this space .

sunday

No CatCalls today again so the chance to sleep later and recover from the 5am awakening and attendant Issues ( Teenage Business again ). Mist and drizzle from the window so back to bed until 8 with half an hour of Carol Shields to get me back to sleep .

felt like a day to celebrate no work , so cooked mushrooms and bacon and toast as well as the usual Rachel's coconut yoghurt ( from Hexham , we can't get it round here ) and strong black coffee from the new machine . The cats swarm as usual and the guinea pigs squeal with glee as the fridge is opened . Kitty , our tortoiseshell ThunderThighs is furious as Waitrose food is on offer , forgetting that she rejected Pearl Gourmet last week . She barges at bare legs and throws backward hisses over her shoulder but it cuts no ice .

At nine we brave the chill outside and do the usual Fish Quay run , this time with the camera in tow and are rewarded by the arrival of two imposing ferries right in front of us as we ride along the edge with no barrier .

A few minutes later we are in front of the Priory , castle ruins and I stop for a breather ( steep hill ) on pretext of taking some pictures . I hate the fact I struggle with those tiny hills just now , hopefully not for long . The picture of the castle was meant to be here but there you go

MR2

The car I just got used to drving when mine was off the road ... and now its failed its mot and is about to bite the dust .
That patch on the road isnt an oil leak either, it's water after a heavy fall of rain .

Pug Puppy

N is desperate to have a pug puppy . A few of her friends have dogs now , all acquired in the last year or so , and she describes how they all take them out religiously every morning before school and the only reason N herself stays in bed right up till the last possible minute and beyond is because there is nothing to get up for . Of course , with that puppy in place everything would be different . I point out that we rarely see her these days , she is always hanging around with her friends who knows quite where , but apparently most of the friends ( two of them at least ) take their dogs with them and they sleep with them , train them feed them brush them!
As the days pass , the pug puppy begins to turn into the panacea for all ills and would improve all aspects of her functioning , her homework would get done , she would do this and that blah blah .

I resist all discussions for days . We cant have one . We have four cats . The cats are used to a queit life . The cats would hate them . I dont want another dog . After Jasmin I was determined we would have no more .
Finally , proud of my resolve , I call upon Google and sneak a look at a page of pug pupppies , then quickly look at some breeders sites .... £ 1200 .... Surely not ! My Birman kittens went for £350 or thereabouts and are Far Superior in every way . But then again ..... I find myself logging on again and reading about the breed personality ,and before I know it pug puppy has become Pug Puppy in my mind and I hear myself mentioning the fact that N would like one when we meet my mother for coffee at Kirkharle courtyard , a favourite Saturday morning haunt . " Mm " she says noncommittally , trying to carry on the pretence that its nothing , just a passing fancy .( She could not imagine life without her dogs . )

Later in the day N brings my purse to me to give her some money to buy some new school trousers as her old ones "have stretched " , a thing mine never seem to do , and oh poop , she catches me looking at Pug Puppy pictures , little grumpy faces from all angles

Mum , she yells , I KNOW you want one ! And I HEARD you telling Grandma about them too .
Why do teenagers shout everything out loud so the whole world knows your secrets .

Mm indeed .