From a couple of weeks ago.......

Saturday was such a long and very full day. I slept well afterwards I can tell you and sleep is a blessing.

We were a nervous band of gals in bright shiny spotless white and sparkling sequiny turquoise and on only our third public ‘outing’ as a side. We jingled and danced our way through our repertoire of six dances and we were watched by a small but very kindly audience. It was very hot and sunny so splashings of sunblock liberally applied to the nose made sure Rudolph did not make an appearance unseasonably. After a quick cuppa we had to rush off home and I had enough time to turn around, kiss the girlie, collect a different set of colours and collect my lift back to Hastings for the next round of public display.

Different group, different colours and these are the well serious lot. Long established and stimulatingly high standard - being lazy I really need to be pushed hard! There are two of us that are still new, without full kit and still on probation but we got to join in a couple of dances. 1066 is one I found quite tough to learn as there are some complicated steps but it’s growing on me now. We finished our gig at the fete and then meandered into town. Hastings was enjoying a hot summer Saturday, on an afternoon that saw England win 1-0 against Paraguay, and we danced here and there in the Old Town amidst the warm, drowsy, happy, and in many cases cheerfully drunk, wanderers.

Dancing over for the day we all headed off for a meal at a Greek restaurant. The musicians played their melodeons and the girls jingled their bells at the table to the bemusement of the passing populace. It was a mellow evening and we rounded of the evening with a plate decorating competition, which I won - my prize being a crown of ivy which I had to wear all the way home. It was a groovy day.

I am going to be offline for a bit - please don't forget me.

Well summer is rather lovely at the moment. At least it’s lovely to be having some summer.

I had a bit of an embarrassment at work today. I will set the scene here. I am not a receptionist at the surgery. I move and shuffle paper and data, I tot up figures and audit information, I can make a nice little powerpoint presentation and do a good lunch and I sit in meetings. I don’t do reception. So there you are - that is me.

Well ok sometimes I cover in reception - because basically I am a jolly good sort and don’t mind giving anything a go. So today I covered an hour at lunchtime so the other dudes could go to lunch. There was another colleague around who came down to use the fax machine and she jammed it. Suddenly there was this ear-splitting noise and I thought ‘whoa that is a screamy noise for a fax machine’ but she seemed quite happy dealing with the problem so I thought no more of it. Well it wasn’t the fax machine making the noise was it. It was the alarm in the patient toilet and one of the doctors rushed off to the rescue – all the while I was completely unaware. Fortunately it was just a mistaken tug so there was no major incident. But I felt soooo stupid!

We had a rehearsal this evening and I discovered that I have to come up with a one minute song to sing over a corpse. Oh so that will be piece of cake!

The girlie is having an early birthday prezzie. Her daddy has signed up for a year of cheap Sky. We terminated our contract about six months ago because it was overpriced and there was still nothing on worth watching. So ok there still isn’t much to watch but the package is vastly reduced in price and so we are treating the girlie to a year of Sky.

Been dancing tonight. We have been practising for a gig on Saturday. This is how it is for the summer I guess. It’s all go.

I work four days a week and have Wednesdays off – usually. All change. Now I have to work some Wednesdays and have a different day off. Well this week is bit different. I took the risk of taking a week’s holiday last week and when I get back I find I have been booked in to do something on every day of the week this week. It’s just as well I’m so accommodating really. I have however negotiated for a couple of days off next week which will be rather nice as I can turn it into a long weekend.

I have ‘Norwegian Girl’ (Smokie) going through my head a lot lately and every time I start singing I get told off. I don’t think the girlie likes the track.

I wish I could just empty my head out sometimes. It is way too busy in there. Maybe pop in a couple of goldfish, I’m sure they could work the controls easily enough.

And is anything going on in BB that I should know about – I don’t seem to be able to find time to catch up with the gossip.

The rabbits were at silflay and the daisies had shut up shop for the day when I walked back from rehearsal. I didn’t have to stay at rehearsal long because the only scene I was needed for was done first and over real quick. It was a hard scene though, the one where I have to play a starving mother, so an awful lot of acting was required from this porky pumpkin. Anyway I could walk back in the light so I could go play on the swing as well.

I got my easel out the other day and tried to get on with a bit of life drawing but I just don’t seem to be able to discipline myself if I’m not at a class. My mother goes along to a group on Thursdays but it’s my dancing night so I can’t join. They had a male model last time – I could spit.

Self-discipline is a tricky thing to master though. She says, looking at the pile of empty choccie wrappers. I used to be able to organise little chunks of time but not lately.

I looked out of the window earlier on and there was a fox curled up in the middle of the back lawn. They are all a bit naughty though. One of the babes had stolen the top section of the swingball which we eventually found it in the bushes and there are lots of scratchy patches on the lawn again. In fact there is not a lot of lawn left on the scratchy patches. I have never seen a fox playing swingball but obviously they want to give it a go, though how they manage to hold a bat I don’t know.

Back at work today. It weren’t so bad I guess. We had our monthly meeting and I had offered to make the lunch this time instead of getting a caterer. The last time we had lunch from an outside caterer and it was expensive and unsubstantial. So I decided I could do better for less doodah, and I did. And I didn’t get any complaints either. I also did a rather nice little powerpoint presentation, only we haven’t got a projector so had to just do handouts, but I was still pleased with it. So all was not horrid bad!

I am fed-up. I am seriously fed-up. I am mega fed-up. My fed-uppidity has gone beyond all normal levels and has now reached level four hundred and sixty which is a really difficult level and the star is right high up and you have to do all sorts of different jump kicks to get it. Or am I getting confused with Mario. Which I can’t play anyway because I lost the fricking lead that plugs into the fricking telly which is just another of those things that adds to the generalised fed-uppiness. But the specific fed-up thingy is that it is the end of my fricking holiday and I have to go back to fricking work and I am fed-up. Fricking fed-up.

I have had a nice week really. I have done all sorts of little things I wanted to do. Nothing fancy, nothing wow. And perhaps that is the problem. Nothing is wow. Why can’t I be wow at the moment? I want to be wow. At least a little bit. But I am not wow, or even wo, and not sure I can even claim to be w. I’m a little dribble of bleugh.

I invited a bunch of dudes from work to trample my lawns and take tea with me yesterday and only one turned up. One is worth it of course but what a miserable shower of bastards the rest are. Sorry but the term ‘shower of bastards’ is one used by Father Jack and isn’t meant to be wholly offensive. I am not really networking well at the moment. I contacted an old friend and asked her to meet up for coffee/lunch/anything else and she didn’t even reply. Perhaps I should start using deodorant! I am, believe or not, very shy and it takes an awful lot of building up of courage to make any kind of advance and I can’t take too many more knock-backs this year.

I shall have to go, before this turns into a long saga of feeling sorry for myself, now where did I put my emergency Baileys………………

My Bunch of Fives

5 things in my fridge

A petit four size bun tin with pastry ready to make mini-quiches with, possibly tomorrow
Half a melon
A swede that should have been used ages ago
One egg
A jar of mincemeat that hubby was given for Christmas

5 things in my wardrobe

The four outfits I wore in the play though what I shall do with the power suits I don’t know, I’m not going THAT smart
A genuine Egyptian belly dancing outfit
A genuine English Morris dancing outfit
My sister’s prom dress, handmade with little beads on the points of lace
Giselle, a beautiful ballerina

5 things in my pocket/handbag/ Wallet

Nail clippers
Two Clarityn tablets
Rose Quartz gemstone
Needle
Lipsalve

I have a pounding headache. It’s the changeable weather I think. We have had cold AND hot AND mizzly today. I spent a nice lot of time in the garden getting it ready for our little mini-open-garden afternoon tomorrow. I shall bake scones tomorrow, but I won’t be making jam. The other treat in store for the weekend for me is shovelling shit with me dad on Sunday. Horse poop that is. I really know how to have goooood time!

Like this evening. Not down the pub, out at a concert, or even at a party…. Nope, I spent the evening doing drama exercises with a small but select group of thespiites. It was fun but I would have enjoyed it far more without the stinky headache. Too many nights out perhaps but there is no let-up for the foreseeable so I will have to perk up my stamina pack.

Yesterday was a big step for me. It slid past in a fairly obscure way which was precisely how I wanted it to be. My first ‘outing’ with the Hastings side. (First with Bexhill group was at Jack In The Green). Outside a pub in Peasmarsh. And no, for the umpteenth time, I didn’t see Macca – sorry but everyone has asked me that! There wasn’t much in the way of audience and I wasn’t the only newby that was dancing out, although I was probably the least competent, so it wasn’t a terribly daunting experience. I do have to admit to getting a huge kick out of putting on the bells and waving my hankies, I’m hooked now.

I had to pop out and buy a couple of pairs of shoes today. As ya do. I am planning a new work image. I’m going smarter. I don’t do smart as a rule but I found a nice little tailored waistcoat in Wallis for £4 so I’ll try it out for a bit. But the shoes are less serious – jeez I can’t go the whole hog, I have my identity to consider.

I just remembered something.As I was walking back from work one day I saw a black sack tumbleweeding along the road. Is this the new tumbleweed? If so it was probably because I told a (nother) crap joke.

Latest ipod additions Don’t Leave Me This Way (Communards) and Red, Red Wine (UB40). It’s a long old nostalgia trip.