Saturday 29 December 2012

Status Quo and Christmas.

The band, not the situation.

We drove up to freezing Blackpool to see them and they were pretty good - not as good as I expected, but good. I appeared to be the only one there that had never seen them before as die hard followers of the group had seen them a number of times. Or so I learnt in the Ladie's. We rocked all over the world as one man stood throughout the concert wearing a mac, scarf and Trilby, moving from side to side when the mood took him. There is something rather eccentric about the British. That may be it.

On 22 December we loaded up the car before setting off for the long drive down to Devon to send a few days with the Parental Unit, Tatiana, her partner Thomy and Todd. Before leaving I managed to do something to my back and as I pulled back the curtains in the living room I saw that I have rising damp and mold growing everywhere. There was no time to do much about anything so I folded myself delicately into the car, sniffed and we were off, windscreen wipers frantically wiping away the rain drops. And it rained all the way to Devon. Non-stop.

The news on the radio was not very comforting as the Young Ones were coming over from Brussels that day too and although the Eurostar was working (yes, this Christmas the Eurostar was on time and running), trains from Paddington to Exeter-St-David's were not. They were stranded at Taunton so my dad had to run up and get them. In the car.

Christmas was fine and jolly - we were told not to spend more than £10 on one another which would have been fine had my father told me that in November when I was being organised and ordering all my presents before a mad rush - and for slightly more than £10. Oh well. I would never have managed to get my mother, who wanted linen handkerchiefs, more than one had I stuck to the £10 - even John Lewis don't sell them. John Lewis. And they sell EVERYTHING.

Richard got me a Wacom tablet so I shall have to pick up on the tutorial and carry on learning what I can do on it before trying to put doodles up here. He also got me some nail varnish although that arrived while we were away.

It was lovely catching up with Todd who I haven't seen since August 2011 - and it is always good to see Tatiana and Thomy. I greatly missed Coralie, though, and have no idea when I shall next see her.

The journey back was awful for us all. The Young Ones had to get up at 5am to get the train from Tiveton (now that they were running from there) but my dad ended up driving them to Heathrow as there were no trains at all. They missed their Eurostar but managed to get the next one and Tatiana was only slightly late to work. Richard and I hit traffic at Bristol and Birmingham so it was a long journey home for us - and we got home to a very cold house, too. The heating had packed up and it is only today that we have heating and hot water again. The bill will be sent shortly, too.

I was turned down for another job which I'm rather upset about but let's hope that 2013 is a better year. I'm going to be 50, Coralie and her partner are going to Vietnam for 7 months and then spend 2 months travelling so who knows what else to expect.

A knees up to celebrate my 50th in Crewe, probably.

All two of us.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Soooo . . . . . a good time was had by all then? My Christmas was pretty much the same as always.
Christmas Eve - watched telly.
Christmas Day - watched telly. Went for a walk in the pi**ing rain.
Boxing Day - Stayed in bed. (Alone, I might add).
Can't wait for Easter. . .

Anonymous said...

Ye Gods! I was first. First time ever!

neena maiya (guyana gyal) said...

You sound happy. I'm tempted to add some !!! but I remember you don't like 'em.

Where's the turtle in all of this? Is he having fun too?


tricia said...

So glad you were able to catch up with your son.
Maybe you start saving for a birthday bash in Vietnam - it is a special one after all!

Anji said...

It goes so quickly and they are off again. How was you reunion with Todd?

Despite rising damp and incoming bills I hope that you have a Happy New Year. If you fancy working from home, Christian is recruiting for his phone company again - let me know and I'll get the details from him.

Dom got married yesterday 'sigh'

Zoe said...

Anji - Dom got MARRIED? How old is she now? And many congratulations to her. How does it feel to be a mother-in-law? I doubt Tatiana will marry - her partner of seven (yes, SEVEN) years has a very cynical outlook on marriage (I believe his parent's divorce left him with a very sour taste in his mouth).

I would go to Vietnam for my 50th but I didn't get the job that I was after so with nothing coming in and all of it going out it's a little difficult :(

Todd is maturing just fine and may turn out to be a decent human being ;-) I'm proud of ma boy :-)

Anji - I don't know if I have what it takes for Christian to recruit me but if you remember my email then I may be interested. Thank you for thinking of me though!xx

And Hermie is fine. Mad as a bucket of hair, but just fine :-)

JoeinVegas said...

A mad turtle, might be something in there for a Johnny Depp movie.
Sorry about the work -
We spent Christmas and New Years just the two of us, kids off in different directions. They do tend to mellow out as they get older, now that teen years are passed.

Anji said...

I sent an email but it came back, so I don't have your email adress. Here is the link:
www.sensee.co.uk
Good luck
Dom is 24

Lost said...

Oh my how things do change! Imma have to keep up with you again.

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