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Sons, Daughters, Sid and Shoes


Friday 25 May: Displacement Activity
Okay, I now know that ‘very shortly’ means more than a week so I’ve taken to pounding the country lanes running off the nervous tension. At this rate I’ll be able to run marathons with ease! Whilst running I notice a ‘flat’ – my shoes have exceeded their mileage and it’s beginning to show. If I don’t do something about a new pair I’ll injure myself. Part of the reason I’ve hung on is because I love my Ascis 1110s and the chances are they’ll have been updated which will mean getting used to a new model. Back home I trawl the net and find a pair for a truly bargainous price saving me a whopping thirty quid. The only difference I can spot is that the colour has been changed and I shall now be bringing bling to the countryside with Barbie-esque silver and pink. Next day delivery too. Marvellous.

Saturday 26 May: Glastonbury Update
Needless to say there is no word on the book and my shoes fail to arrive. Pah! Plus I have to clean the house from top to bottom as Lily and Boyf and Stepson 1 and Girlf are coming to stay for a couple of days each. Rally to news from Stepson 2 that Clocks are set to play on 23 June in the Orange tent. Apparently Stepson 2 rejected the first slot the band were offered at 11am ‘because everyone will be in their tents’ so they were given the 11pm slot instead. Amazing! I would simply have been pathetically grateful for anything – but then I’m in that kind of mood.

Sunday 27 May – Wednesday 30 May: Mixed Doubles
Lily and Boyf come up from Cardiff on Sunday for a couple of days. Stepson 1 and Girlf come up from the south on Tuesday. Both Lily and Stepson 2 are in fairly new relationships and it’s the first time they’ve brought their other halves to stay so there’s a lot at stake here. Just to add to the tension Tom and I organise a huge roast dinner to say farewell to Lily and Boyf and welcome to Stepson 1 and Girlf. Trying to ensure everyone feels happy and included doesn’t do much for my nerves but I manage to resist the temptation to settle them with alcohol. I’m one of those delightful drunks who feels the urge to tell everyone their fortune which is never a good idea but especially not in these circumstances.

It’s been lovely seeing someone looking after Lily. There have been several instances over the last few days when my maternal instinct has kicked in and I’ve turned to help her with something and found Boyf there instead. It’s a good feeling.

As for Stepson 1 and Girlf? Well, that’s interesting too. Complete opposites in every respect they are making the air round Hotel H crackle. No wonder my Internet connection’s been playing up! Strange that they’ve gone out by themselves for a while and I’ve been able to post a blog.

And Finally…
1) I sat down with Lily to watch the DVD of Uncle Sid’s fifteen minutes of fame and found that I’d recorded ‘How to Look Good Naked’ over it! Fortunately Rose came to the rescue and found him (Uncle Sid, not Gok) on the net. If anyone’s interested he’s on the BBC website under ‘Memories of the Cutty Sark’ or the ITV London website under ‘Cutty Sark: Sailor’s Stories’.
2) My new running shoes have arrived. They are beautiful and will, of course, like their predecessors before them, be the pair that will make me run like a gazelle.
3) ‘Very shortly’ means more than twelve and a half days.
4) I am now going to throw myself on the sofa and lose myself in Marian Keyes’s ‘Anybody Out There’ before Stepson 1 and Girlf return and the fireworks begin again.

Hwyl fawr!
The painting is 'Where the Railway Used to Run' by Tom Tomos

Comments

Bluestocking Mum said…
I love Marian Keyes.
You are SO good with the running!

Sorry it is all dragging on for you Chris. You will have the second novel complete by the time you hear news!!

warm wishes
30 May 2007 at 07:29
Un Peu Loufoque said…
I wonder if you would mind cookng me a roast lunch and doing the odd bit of mother henning your brood and hangers on are very lucky! If they ever get fed up wth you motherin, you know where I am!
30 May 2007 at 11:15
Rose1278 said…
ooo looking forward to seeing those minxy little running shoes, with the rest of your running get-up im sure u are the style queen! hehe i'm glad i found uncle sid in the depths of the internet, i'd be interested to find out how much the reporters were force fed by aunty joanie while there tho! xxxxx
30 May 2007 at 11:40
Suffolkmum said…
I'm that sort of drunk too - and I get horribly and inappropriately affectionate - I love the world after a bottle. Just grit your teeth, keep running, and use the time to crack on with no. 2!
30 May 2007 at 12:39
Elizabeth Musgrave said…
Love the stuff about grown up children and their relationships. We have just had younger son and his new girlfriend (very very serious very very suddenly) and younger daughter fed up with being single - lovely and fraught in equal measure. so what do I do? i cook.
30 May 2007 at 13:59
Pondside said…
What a busy blog, Chrish - being busy is one of my ways of coping with waiting too. I had a chuckle from your description of yourself in your cups - I too am an affectionate and gregarious lush - I want everyone to love everyone else and I (embarrassingly) reassure one and all that fondest dreams will come true, love will happen, money will appear, life is wonderful - you get the picture, I'm sure.
Many thanks for your notes and encouragements. So your son has a Canadian girlfriend? Good taste, eh? Yes, her family in Montreal is closer to you than they are to us. That's why I was a little nervous about my Lillypad (we both have Lily's) going to France and Italy - it felt SO far away!
I'm rambling - also waiting with you in patience and hope.
30 May 2007 at 18:10
Sally Townsend said…
I hope you have heard something by now, oh the stress of waiting for news. I take it you won't be under canvas at Glastonbury, what a brilliant spot 11pm.
30 May 2007 at 22:46
Zinnia Cyclamen said…
Hate to be doomy but 'very shortly' could well end up being measured in months not weeks... busy is definitely the answer. Glad everything else is going so well.
31 May 2007 at 03:14
countrymousie said…
All those hormones - I should think a couple of books must be buzzing in your head this week. We must have pics of the shoes for the pink parade.
Really pleased for rockstar son with his late slot - they will all just be getting up by then and loads about. Pray for dry weather.
Cooking, - now are they too loved up to eat. That seems to happen round here I find.
Love reading you diary. mousie
31 May 2007 at 10:22
@themill said…
Children and the mutliplying numbers on the doorstep (more usually around the kitchen table) - sounds very familiar.
31 May 2007 at 10:37
annakarenin said…
Been watching six feet under series through our DVD rental and on last nights episode the main couple were arguing and their guest commented "Oh you are not one of those couples who get off on arguing with each other infront of someone then rushing off for wild passionate ***."
I laughed because in laws get really twitchy when hubs and I bicker infront of them (think they bring out the worst in hubs unfortunately) we don't of course forgotten what it is since no4 but maybe it will give you something to laugh about next time your two start having a go.
31 May 2007 at 12:42
Faith said…
How do you get the motivation to run - wish I had a bit of it!
1 June 2007 at 10:46
Exmoorjane said…
Huge Marian Keyes fan here too. I loved that book. She writes so effortlessly and so warmly somehow - I get the feeling that she would be a lovely person, a great friend, and totally fab to have for a dinner party. When you become famous Chris you'll have to sort that one for me, OK?
good for you and the running shoes - of course they will make you run like a gazelle...

Horrid you're still waiting.... Waiting is not a fun game. I think it's time for it to stop. We have our exchange, so now it's time for your good news eh? Janexxx
1 June 2007 at 15:08
Cait O'Connor said…
Your blog IS busy, I see why you wrote what you did on my comments page :)
I am losing myself in 'Plotting for Beginners' by two authors Sue Hepworth and Jane Linfoot, I think you and other Purplecooers would enjoy it too. A nice light read as I have time off.
Good luck with the shoes and hope you hear news soon.
Caitx
2 June 2007 at 01:28
LITTLE BROWN DOG said…
Exhausting though it is, I'm sure they will have appreciated all the effort you made for the respective boyf and girlf - you sound like a fab mum. And hopefully will have taken your mind of the wait. Hope you hear soon and hope it's good news.
Looking forward to hearing next week's news.
2 June 2007 at 15:11
. said…
Of course these are the shoes that are going to make you run like a gazelle! Does barbie wear silver, I thought she only did pink or am I way behind the times?
3 June 2007 at 05:03
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