Witches in Stitches

Flying Tonight

More Bjork than Eva Green.

The Easy Broom Pilots Manual.

1. Adapt the Broom Position, it is all about Balance

2 Make sure there is room on the broom for the Cat!

3. Don't lose the Hat! (It could be windy.)

4. Hold tight and don't forget that what goes up must come down, simple rules of Aerodynamics.

5. Look for a soft landing place.

6. Avoid rivers , canals, and village ponds, we all know what happened there!!!

7. Same rule applies for bonfires.

Hubble , bubble, boil and trouble, I can't believe I spent all week sewing this darn costume!!!

Quidams at Quistmas.

As it is 9 weeks (I think) to Christmas, here is a sneak preview of something strange and mystical coming to Newbury!

Check out the link below:-

www.quidams.com/spip.php?...arg...Reve-d-Herbert.

Sunday 13h December in the marketplace and it is FREE of CHARGE.

Quidam is apparently Latin and means "someone, a human being that is unknown," the following interpretation is from wikipedia on the performance of Quidam by Cirque du Soleil, and means" someone unknown, faceless, yet known to us all,a nameless passer by who cries out, sings and dreams within us all, a passer by rushing and loitering"..... A headless man carrying an umbrella and bowler hat! (ie surreal?)

The website hosts a video showing a previous performance, haunting, surreal, beautiful perhaps, different, certainly and yet strange, odd. Starts at 5pm if it has ignited your imagination!

Perfectly Ghoulish- Just in time for Halloween?

The ghostly author through a glass (window ) darkly?

We have had so many tricks lately we are due a few treats!!! Last week's trick- hubby was knocked off his bike by an idiot driver, left bruised and sore, glad that his tests and x rays were all good news, but none the less, shaken and a bit stirred. Unable to move or walk- barely, for a week, I had to brush up on my not very patient nursing skills....

"Dead bugs in a window frame of cobwebs"....mwoaahahaha.

My garden is full of freshly laundered sheets. This week's trick- Not in anticipation of Halloween ghost costumes, but unfortunately as a result of baby's first gastric virus. We spent all night changing sheets and bed clothes whilst the poor lamb vomited like something in a horror movie. Finally now, he is sleeping, and hopefully convalescing. I hope it is over. He was wretched..... The only thing to be grateful for is that this is his first bout. Many parents tend to gastric virus suffering babies on a regular basis and it is just awful.

Cobwebs in a Tudor window.....

(I've been saving these shots for months!)

Very Miss Haversham ......

I hate the scary ghoulish Halloween of ghosts and witches. Horror films, the glorification of violence and evil.

But I love pumpkins and Hogwart-esque wizards and witches. We Mummies of little ones, focus on that side the fun of dressing up and being silly, Room on the Broom sort of thing. Last year my tot was a cute Witch's Cat. This year a skeleton. Daddy will be a Wizard, of the Dumbledore school, and me, well, a witch of the Worst Witch kind- I even cast a broom seeking spell and found a fab one at the local garden centre, but lacking its MOT I doubt it is safe to fly........

We received an amazingly produced and hand crafted invitation to a toddler Halloween fancy Dress do. Hence my sombre and sober self and husband in costumes! Normally neither he nor I wouldn't be seen dead in fancy dress, but once you have kids, it is different somehow, You can't expect them to do something you aren't prepared to do also, it is for their amusement, not mine!!

I 'm also imagining (I love pumpkins!) pumpkin soup, pie, scones, pumpkin and carrot cake, pumpkin- everything is on the menu!

I like the idea of 31st October being the beginning of the Celtic New Year. Quote from Wikipedia;-

Halloween has origins in the ancient celtic festival known as Samhain (pronounced sow-in or sau-an)^[4][5], which is derived from Old Irish and means roughly "summer's end".^[5] A similar festival was held by the ancient Britons and is known as Calan Gaeaf (pronounced kalan-geyf). The festival of Samhain celebrates the end of the "lighter half" of the year and beginning of the "darker half", and is sometimes^[6] regarded as the "Celtic New Year".^[7]

The name Halloween (or at least an Old English name which the modern term derives from), and many present-day traditions, derive from the Old English era.^{[8][9][10][11][12]}

The celebration has some elements of a festival of the dead. The ancient Celts believed that the border between this world and the Otherworldbecame thin on Samhain, allowing spirits (both harmless and harmful) to pass through. The family's ancestors were honoured and invited home whilst harmful spirits were warded off. It is believed that the need to ward off harmful spirits led to the wearing of costumes and masks. Their purpose was to disguise oneself as a harmful spirit and thus avoid harm. In Scotland the spirits were impersonated by young men dressed in white with masked, veiled or blackened faces.^[13][14]

Samhain was also a time to take stock of food supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores. Bonfires played a large part in the festivities. All other fires were doused and each home lit their hearth from the bonfire. The bones of slaughtered livestock were cast into its flames.^[15] Sometimes two bonfires would be built side-by-side, and people and their livestock would walk between them as a cleansing ritual.

Newbury Races

I'll place 50p each way on the old nag in the green livery...... not.

My son has inherited my old nag of a rocking horse. I name her an old nag as she really is quite fondly so called, she was made for me by my Grandfather, with his own hands, and was loved by me, my sister and now by my son. My parents lovingly restored her to her original 1960's glory and presented her to me, quite unexpectedly after baby arrived.

I have a sneaking feeling her hair do was updated to a 70's Kevin Keegan Mop, or is it a Popstar Mullet? We love her. Proof that the best things in life are almost always those hand made with love, not bought with heaps of dosh.

As Christmas approaches, and the first ripples of terror spread throughout the parental community, perhaps it is worth thinking about? What are toys? What purpose should or do they serve?Rather than the austere "Can we afford it? " or "Do we need it?" perhaps the better questions are "What does it do?" What is my child learning/gaining from it?" and "Can I make one?".....

I know we too will succumb to heaps of plastic tat under the tree, I don't pretend to be so righteous! I confess, however, to having already purchased a few items "to send to Santa" in Charity Shops, and on half price sale days. But one thing I do promise is that I know I will be looking at eco-provenance and cost per use ratio (CPUR?)of what ever goes into Santa's Sack. And my sewing machine is already a buzzing......

BTW if there is a horse called "Old Nag" in the Newbury Races, you didn't get the hot tip from me...

Something Rotten in the State of Denmark

So there is an eco/climate change- summit in Copenhagen. Admittedly I know very little scientific fact about Global Warming, but I know enough that my Polyanthus should not be flowering in October, but in Spring.

This beautiful Delphinium should have bloomed in Summer! Not October!

To read more on the Copenhagen summit click here

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8278973.stm

Is this one late Clematis flower, or a sign that the Mother Plant is confused by the seasons/ weather?

Maybe I just have my own mini biosphere or microwhatsit weather thingy, but every one else's (neither I not Blogspot spell check have a clue how to spell ) Budhlea(?) flowered months ago.....

Ok this is one sad ecological disaster that only I can claim blame for!!! My pathetic attempt at a herb garden. Elen DeGeneres would dispair. It started out as Corriander, Basil and chives. Don't ask, don't know, am guessing neglect?

Dan Brown Day

D Day has arrived.

For months now my husband has feared the meeting of Matter and Anti-Matter. In our house hold, known as Mr Frootles 1 and 2. The bed time cuddly toys. The idea being that if baby einstein ever discovered there were two of them (rotated frequently to maintain an equal rate of wear and tear) he would want them both at bed time- not on our agenda! The plan was to always have a back up Mr F incase Mr F got lost!!! (They are pretty irreplaceable being a discontinued line!) Anyone with a child who has a bedtime "blanky" or similar , without which sleep is as evasive as the pot of gold at the end of the proverbial rainbow, will confirm this theory.

This morning Mr F1 was in the washing machine drum and we thought Mr F2 was in the cot. Not so. Baby was found grinning like a loon, holding both Mr F's in his little paws in the laundry room. The drum of the washer playing the role of the Hadron collider, baby minus a white lab coat, matter met antimatter............. No Collision Occurred. Disaster Averted. The world is still turning. The Universe is Safe!!!!! Religion is unshaken, The God Particle was not created,the pope can sleep in peace.

Some how though I don't think this challenges the theory, or undermines the work of the good folks at Cern.

http://public.web.cern.ch/public/

http://www.danbrown.com/#/angelsAndDemons

www.direct.gov.uk/Pandemicflu

If you spoke to me today then you know I am supposed to be in bed with suspected Swine flu....

There is only so much moping and mooching around, listening to the sound of the pounding in your head and contemplating the stuffiness of the silence in your sinuses a gal can do. Apart from a few midnight asthma attacks and a mid morning attack I feel ok. Ok , I feel lousy. But I am bored and my eyes are too blurry to let me focus on reading too well.

Hubby and son have gone to Boots to buy a thermometer and some decongestant, meanwhile, I reek of Olbus oil and lemsip sploshes are on my Pj's & duvet. That's why its called Swine Flu, it makes your bed a pigsty.

Baby doesn't sound too grand either, so he has been schlepped to the pharmacy with Daddy for some advice. Monday we will be off to the surgery. I don't think it is swine flu, there isn't a temperature or vomiting. It 's just a common cold. Truth be told though, I panicked a bit though when I couldn't breathe at 3.45 this morning!

The crusty loaf

5 minutes later!!!

Date and Walnut loaf with honey and gogi berries.

You didn't believe me did you?

Bun in the oven?

Is your life going down the pan???

When my husband bought our house, it was long before he met me..... It was quite a renovation project as these photos show. I met him after most of the work had been completed, good timing or what? Though the down side meant that A) it isn't done in my taste, and B) it isn't my house!

Original Victorian outdoor netty.

Would you believe he kept the bog? Only Lucinda Lambton has more old bogs. Don't ask me why. I refused to marry him till he scrapped the loo, and then I caved in. Then I said it had to be gone before I gave birth- he hid it in the garage!!! There it resides, his throne. One day it will be" Nightmare on lavatory seat" and he will discover the local tramps, cats and stray dogs have p****d in it and maybe, just maybe then, I will get rid? Mwaahahahahaaaa.

The original oven.

Our house was originally a bakery! This room is now our dining room, and the oven here was removed brick by brik by my husband and his bricky. In its place now is a lovely set of French Windows that overlook the lawn. (The Garden became my project). He clung to the "antique iron parts" (Read "rusty scrap") like a baby to its blanky. My father, who has Much Experience in Metals, announced on his first visit to our home "Son it isn't worth Jack, you'd have to pay someone to take it away!" Eventually after birth of baby my father and I hauled the rusty (s)crap to the tip in secret. I didn't want baby to suck it/ teeth on it/ fall on it, any other valid excuse?

Inside the oven from the outside.

All I can say is that I admire hubby for his efforts, that is one renovation job. Yes, it would have been cool to bake our own Pizzas, but er, I do prefer having a dining room! so why, all of a sudden, am I revealing all this hidden side to our home? Well we plan to move home. I guess I'm getting a bit nostalgic, and I feel that hubby needs to have his efforts acknowledged, after all he proposed ot me in this house and it was his home for a long time!

No , I haven't got a bun in the oven as the title suggests, I have a fruit loaf baking downstairs- seriously, the house makes me wanna bake bread!!! It wants me to bake bread, it is a compulsion that comes over me at weekends, I feel the kitchen warm itself and sigh "aaah, this is what I was built for!" with nostalgia, when I bake!

The Old Flour Loft.

Friends and Rellies, who have visited know the guest room well, it is now a huge, candy pink and cream haven, has "double aspect windows" over the lawn.... It is my favourite room, it is feminine, glamorous yet cozy and pink!

Probably too much information, ahead now, dear reader, close your eyes if you are the sensitive sort, or my mother, look away NOW!

My baby was conceived in the flour loft, and that is why it is special to me... collective cyber sigh girls......".ahhhhh."

The Flour loft again.

The ramshackle back garden of Yore and rear of the house, no longer recognisable.

The rusty (s)crap that Dad and I secretly dumped

(was the oven door and linings.)

Don't worry a few months later hubby found out, and wasn't as upset as I thought he might be. Still haven't got round to disposing of the bog though! But I'm damned if it moves to the new house with us!! Hubby thinks it is "worth a bit" So if you collect old loos, or want a Victorian/Edwardian flush for a renovation project, leave a comment below, and we can negotiate! (Lucinda, heloooooo!) Got to sign off now, I can smell freshly baked date and walnut loaf wafting up to the office..mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

The Pav in the park

So why am I against the pav in the park?

Well first off, I don't think that Newbury has enough green spaces for the population.

Secondly I love the park as it is, I have no problem with an Art Pavilion, just not in Victoria park.

Thirdly its construction requires a moving of or a change of shape of the Boating Pond. To me it is a sacrilegious idea, like suggesting demolishing or moving part of Winchester Cathedral. I love the circular pond, and love to see it from the dual carriage way as a land mark when I drive out of or home to, Newbury.

The Art Pav is only really for the use of a few citizens, and is an attraction as a graffiti/ vandalism project to our wasted youth, who hang out in the park after school and in the holidays. (Though if they go vandalise that they may leave my neighbourhood alone, hadn't thought of that!)

Also there is enough going on along the wharf, will an art pav really bring in the tourists? I doubt it, the Desmoulin art gallery in the wharf car park failed, the new one is always empty. Most of the daytime Newbury is full of Mums, OAP's and The Unemployed. (And currently Bob the builders but they haven't time to smell the roses, never mind stare at Art). Not exactly your Saachis.

Who would use it? the old dears of Newbury Art Group? The local Morris Dancers? Any professional gig would use the Corn Exchange..... I've seen the studios up at Greenham they are delicious, and If I had a few hundred quid spare I'd rent me one, so is the pav replacing the studios? ie a place to paint, pot and pose for those who can it afford? If so then why does it have to be in the park???? If it is a rehearsal space for the youth of Newbury, whihc is a fab idea too, then it needs to be out of town with parking for parental drop off and soundproofed. (I suggested a Bunker but the Greenham Common people weren't happy about that!!)

I would welcome updating the park loos and kiosk- which would not change the footprint of buildings on the park and would really be great.

And a boat house/water activity building for the canoeists and co, since theirs is going to be demolished to make way for exclusive waterside flats..... clearly it would need to be on the canal, but why not further out of the town centre? why in the park?

There is a great office space on London Rd that would make an ace art studio site and even more fab gallery (If anyone actually bought art these days, they do, dear reader (yes you hon!) want a print perhaps, but not a piece of original art.)

If anyone does fancy a bit of canvas for their pad I recommend the Affordable Art show or the Summer Exhibition. Hre are a few links..... The one thing in life I regret is not blowing my credit card on a Cumings, it was only a grand at the time,(2001) as he was a relatively unknown..... and would be worth a fortune now! ah sigh.

http://www.fredcuming.com/

http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/summer-exhibition/

http://www.affordableartfair.com/

http://www.20-21intartfair.com/

http://www.thegoldsmiths.co.uk/events/

http://www.friezeartfair.com/

The Vue from here

These shots are from my mobile phone, the cinema has landed! I'm actually quite excited at the prospect of having a multi screen movie theater on my doorstep, in Ealing, in Swiss Cottage, in fact in most places I used to live or work we had that luxury. I love the Big Screen! the dolby surround sound, the Pearl and Dean of it all.

My favourite shows were the 4.45/5.30 showings, just after work ( and before peak pricing) As a single gal, if I wasn't at the gym on my way home after work, I was at the movies. In the dark of the auditorium, nobody knows you are there alone, in the crush of the foyer, there are so many people, that you just disappear into the crowd. Heaven for me, were I to believe in such a destination, would be a cinema with an ever changing choice of movies, from the time that celluloid was invented.

Strangely though other than a diet coke, the thought of pop corn, hot dog, burger or sticky sickly sweeties revolts me, as for foyer eateries, eew, just dont make me go there! Chenz and Nawab, be secure in the knowledge you will keep our business, I'd rather have fish'n'chips in cheap street that go to some plastic fantastic fatgeezer eatery. Shame that The Gin Palace closed, it will be sorely missed!

You can't deny it though, it's one big F**er, it does drown out the surrounding buildings!!

Newbury Literary Society

Newbury is bizarrely literary, having sporned or homed some rather dazzling and varied talent, from the Richard Adams (sorry darling but Watership Down was one of my top ten most boring novels) Sebastian Faulkes, Geraldine Mccaughrean, and of course Michael Bond!

I want them all!!!

We Mums have a Paddington Appreciation Society Newbury Branch! We love him. Not only that Mine isn't the only baby whose Daddy travels to and from Paddington every day. So we have fond associations.

Admittedly I swanned through Padders regularly myself before spotting the little fellow lurking in the arcade. He takes some finding, I had to have a tip off. This photo is proof for A's mummy that there is indeed a Paddington statue- she doesn't believe me. (She doesn't have time to read the blog either,)

Can you BEAR it?

On a different planet, far away...... but speaking of Paddington Station, we saw "Breakfast at tiffany's" in the west end. My personal opinion? Save your money and the effort of travelling into Town. Get the DVD. Audrey Hepburn just can't be beaten. Or if you are a purist, read the book! The chapters flow better, rather than jerking and stumbling from scene to scene, the landscape of NYC in 1958 in your imagination from Truman Capote's description will satisfy you more than the aesthetically displeasing set at the theatre! The novel's characters are more life like, despite being printed on paper not stilted, cardboard cut outs, as the actors were.

Of course Anna Friel did the one thing Audrey would never, ever do, she got her kit off and her t*ts out for the lads..... bizarrely though there weren't that many men in the audience! You won't get that in the book or the DVD.

shop till you drop

Today in Newbury (I think I am going to have to buy an anorak?) I counted 5 empty shops to let in the high street! the 5th one is the old next /lime outlet (no photo).....

We are feeling the Recession, oops sorry, Credit Crunch, ( showing my age a bit there, hey Arthur?) having to cut down on the mummy coffees and treats. At times the sales assistants in shops are so jaded they don't even offer to serve you! I thought I'd get bored of saying "just looking thanks", but as it happens they seem to expect little else, and when you do need serving it takes them by such surprise that someone is buying something they are quite startled into action.

Just had an awful thought, maybe they don't stop to serve me, continuing their conversation or their texting because..... maybe I don't look like I can afford to buy something? Maybe I'm working the haggard, slummy mummy look so well they just look at me and think "AS IF LADY??" Laugh out loud.

Customer service is not what it was! Can't get the staff. In my day (I worked in Burberry in the 1980's ) you assumed every one who came through the door was a potential customer, and treated them all equally. Let's face it millionaires come in all kinds of guises, and many a perceived fine feathered bird is in penury and filing for bankruptcy!

And as someone voted that they don't want to stop the building of an Art Pavilion that means that other than my dear Hubby who reads this on his commute, I have a "dear reader". Dear Reader!!! And you are dear, even though we disagree, as it means that despite our difference of opinion you are reading my blog. I do love an audience. Bless you misguided, bored soul, your life must be very dull if perusing my blog is your entertainment.

Voice in the Ether

Excuse me while I shout

STOP BUILDING IN CENTRAL NEWBURY... You are destroying the charm and character of the town.

Thank you.

Newbury building site

Are they sure???

Something is happening to Parkway- but will it spoil the skyline and dwarf the historic market town?

The girls at the Corn Exchange will tell you YCB loves the movies! But even as a cineholic, do I approve of the building? What would Kevin McCloud say? It dwarfs the whole of historic Cheap Street? It hides the ugly Kennet Centre? It competes with the ugly Kennet Centre?

I was pleased they chose reflective metal instead of hideous primary coloured plastic for a facade, but hey, how HUGE is this building?? IT BELONGS OUT OF TOWN . Ever since I stood (And was defeated) for the council, I opposed having a cinema in Newbury, I think a leisure complex at Greenham Airbase would have been ideal, with food court,parking, opportunities for other sporting facilities to be built there. Nobody listened! My second proposal would be to have built in Thatcham by the Lower Way Bowling etc. Again, nobody agreed.

Imagine if it were out of town...........

The town would not be in the shadow of this giant,

the corn exchange cinema would have no competition,

there would be ample parking..........

The opposition said they wanted to have cinema goers use the bus and train instead of car!

Well, at £4 each way by bus, and I have no idea how much it costs to Thatcham by train, but after a late movie you'd need a taxi from the station to your house. If you leave the kids you would need a baby sitter at £4.50 an hour. If you take the kids , a family of 4 going to the cinema would be around approx £5 per seat . That is £20 before you start. Do you want coke, pop corn, hot dog? This is a recession people. You do the maths, I don't need to. I'm telling you it is UNAFFORDABLE. But hey, the good people of West Berks did not vote for me, they voted Lib Dem in my parish...... On their heads it be.

The earlier stages of Parkway.....

People stop me and chat in the street and tell me they have heard only Debenhams has committed to the Parkway centre- I can't comment, I don't know. But I do know, Newbury needs high quality shops, to draw in people from out of town, it needs no more Charity Emporiums, and no more Italian Eateries!!!

I do know that Woolworths with it's prime location is still EMPTY.

And one last rant.

Why not turn some of the hoards of empty offices in Green Park and Reading into flats? You would get your xk new homes in the Thames Valley in one fell swoop!Thus saving our brown belt and making it GREEN.

If you are new to" the Ripples", then dear reader, write to your local councillor and beg him/her not to build the Art Pav in Victoria park!To save the boating pond. Not to build houses on the Racecourse, and bug , bug, bug. Write to the Newbury Weekly news, air your views! Leave a comment on here.

There are councillors with their eye on the blog!

Confessions of an Addict part 2

Oh no!

I fell of the wagon this week and indulged not only in chocolate but in biscuits and cake. Such is a chocoholics nightmare. Two, yes two, packets of Cadbury fingers. I lie. All addicts do, it was really BOXES. They were meant for families. I should sue Tesco for selling them so cheaply. That was the start.

Then came a series of "well just one won't hurt" episodes, and as all dieters /addicts/alcoholics know, there is no such thing as Just One! and we all know one thing leads to another, Nutella opened, jam sprread, cakes baked on some really feeble excuse, and all the goodies bought for the impending parental visit scoffed by the weekend! They arrive next week!

Teenagers reading about this and thinking about trying smoking or drugs you have been warned! If it is this difficult with chocolate imagine how it will be with the real hard stuff!

So a new week and a new start!!!

YCB's diet tips for the week.

Tip 1. Take baby for babminochinos when he is bored, then he will be so stressed and crazy you won't have tie for cake or pannini. NB. Do not enter cafe when Baby is asleep- too much temptation!

Tip 2. Eat grapes, instead of drinking wine!

Tip 3. Crochet cakes, instead of eating them! Keeps the hands busy and the mind occupied.

Tip 4. Knit cup cakes, see above, and present at afternoon tea with the girls, help them resist temptation too. (cakes seen in Beaumaris wales.)

Where Stories Come From

Watching my 18 month old son, I can see where authors got their ideas.

So far at 16 Months he was climbing into my wardrobe and trying to sit on the shelf! He also hides things, like his toys, shoes and toothbrush in my Wardrobe. (Narnia and The Indian in the Cupboard)

Today witness one small boy, who can't talk and has no idea about either Santa Clause or Mary Poppins, sitting in my bedroom, at the fireplace, (original Victorian should you wish to know the minutiae) shouting up the chimney and having a burbling conversation with whoever is up there!!!

We are off to the park today to take some autumn photos, armed with his daftest winter hat and coat to get our shots for the Christmas card. Last year he sat by the chimney in a little red hohoho suit and sack of toys, posing as the Great Man Himself. This year we aren't dressing up- we are going with a leaf throwing/stomping theme!! Of course it is also an opportunity for Mummy to get some practice in with her new digital SLR.

Tonight not again

Sleepless in Seattle?

It is Sunday . 01.18 am -Finally the only sound in the house is Jason Mraz, serenading us all.

An hour ago it was screaming , non stop, Mummy tearing her heart out as baby thrashed and yelled, nothing to calm him. Daddy despairing as cuddles and hugs were rejected, and Baby screamed and screamed on.

We tried everything, tummy full of milk, new nappy on. Yell , cry, scream, so it persisted.......

As a last resort, Dr Greens, 5 minute interval "controlled crying down"..........

Cry . Cuddle. Cot. Quit.

Repeat every 5 minutes.

An hour later, with nothing left in my arsenal, I had the inspiration to log onto itunes.....

It worked in the womb, it works in the car, an lo and behold!

It works in the middle of the night.

Jason might not work for your baby, it works for mine, as clearly he heard it so often in utero. I suggest you try whatever you played over and over for 9 months!!!

If that fails, then try the maestro for your self, if nothing else the cocktail of heavenly voice, lovely lyrics, and beautiful music will calm your soul, turn the oxygen in your blood to love and float you off to that other place where it transports me and if it doesn't soothe your baby as it soothes mine, it may soothe you!

And now I have to go to bed. Baby was in the land of nod by the end of "Mr Curiosity" if I stay up too long MR A-Z will roll into Scissors Sisters, and sleep will elude once more!

I don't feel like dancing, no sir!

Remember, in the midst of the melt down, life is wonderful!! Or at least it will be once we all get a good nights sleep.

01.31.Bon soir.

Ennui

Ennui. Word for the day.

In my last post I raved about the joys of motherhood, and it is indeed joyful, but everything in life has a reverse side. The other side of joy is ennui. Watching daytime TV, in a zombie state, whilst baby sleeps, is an occupational hazard of motherhood. My poison is currently "The Gilmore Girls", 2.10 and repeated at 3,10 on E4 /E4+1. If baby wakes he watches with me, and dances maniacally to the theme tune at the end! He is ok to watch it as it has neither violence or sexual content. Yesterday however, Michel and Sukki were suffering from "Ennui", and boy did I empathise. I empathise in every episode, how I would love to live in Stars Hollow, Connecticut! How I 'd love a wrap-around-porch on my vintage colonial house, with wisteria growing up the facade! And to have a life like Lorelei, and indeed a figure like Lorelei, to sip coffee at Lukes, and run the Dragonfly Inn...... bliss. But reverting back to ENNUI. I think at sometime all Mothers ask themselves "Is this all there is?" Especially when they are wiping something unsavoury off the kitchen floor yet again. When their little one pees on their bed (accidentally) mid potty training. When the Husband is going to be working late -Again! We stare into window displays of "beautiful things we can no longer afford", we shudder at the price list in the hairdressing salon window, we mouth "Waitrose" nostalgically, savouring each letter, in remembrance of mealtimes past as we fill our trolley with Tesco Value...... on our daily, yes daily shopping trip. The highlight of the day! We avoid the uber competitive mothers who demand to know how many teeth junior has, if he is walking, speaking mandarin, potty trained, juggling, sitting his GCE's at nursery- We despair, the same old conversation....ennui. We hit the same cafes, walk the same routes, and try every trick we know to get through to the toddler that switching the washer off mid cycle and the cooker on is not clever, that eating the cable to the lap top is not nutritional, and that 4 am is really not a good time to want to play....... over and over again. In the Mother, Ennui takes the form of the 7 mile stare, the zombie gaze, the deep sigh, utter confusion,forgetfulness and lack of panic. (On a joyful day we are exuberant, madly rushing from one activity to another, play group or babyclass, in a panic of ecstatic proportions!) In the toddler ennui is lethal. A bored toddler will not sit and mope! He looks for and usually finds Mischief. He will literally climb the walls and swing from the metaphorical chandeliers,he will tear mums hair out, tear his books, scream and throw a tantrum to rival Rumpelstiltskin! Thank God for Other Mums, who, suffering their own Ground Hog Day,drop a pleading text or give a quick call. "We need to play! I need to get out!" The call to arms in the battle of Ennui. So raise a toast to The Other Mothers, for whom I will drop anything (Except the baby) and who will drop anything for me, when Ennui takes up residence! And a toast too, to all the waiters who patiently tolerate the 4pm toddler tantrums, bambinochino spillage and drool, Who politely ignore Mummy's end of tether ennui as we down that "I need caffeine" last coffee of the day before home, bath and baby bedtime. And now excuse me, it is time for my afternoon dose of daytime TV....yawn.