The Bad, The Good and The Sailors

The Bad
1. Mil has become one of those domestic accidents stats that get trotted out at the end of the year; the ones where slippers rear up to savage their wearers and trousers lay traps for the unwary. The ones that sound funny but end up in a trip to casualty, if not worse. Poor Mil woke up to see a spider on the ceiling, directly above her head and couldn’t go back to sleep knowing it was there. Rather than wake Dil in the next room, she trotted off to fetch a broom to coax it down herself. Now Mil is a fan of the Marshmallow Bed, very high and very squashy, so you know what happened, don’t you? One minute Mil was swatting a spider and the next she was on the floor, slammed up against the wall, wondering if she would ever walk again. Fortunately she doesn’t seem to have sustained any permanent damage, nor even, it seems, any broken bones but she’s terribly shaken and needs a lot of ‘‘phone’ support at the moment. We’ll have to see how she goes and hope her confidence returns soon.

2. Ma has had a nasty bout of cystitis. ‘I thought you only got this if you had too much sex,’ she grumbles. ‘Well, ease off a bit,’ I suggest, to mutual sniggering. But once we’ve got beyond the rude jokes I find she’s actually been quite ropey and hasn’t breathed a word of it to me. She did the sensible thing and went to the doctor’s but with her and Mil both in the wars it raises all the old concerns about living so far away from them both.

3. On Sunday I took my eye off the ball for a moment, panicked and inadvertently downloaded a malicious software programme which, as Purplecooers know, pretty much trashed my ancient laptop. I’m very grateful to Wizzard who offered advice on how to start repairing the damage but the laptop is still poorly. Ok, it was my own stupid fault but whoever started that little wheeze, thanks a fricking bunch – you’ve really made my week and will probably cost me a load of money I haven’t got.

The Good1. We had a visit from my lovely cousin and his wife who are house-hunting up at Caernarfon. They’re a very gentle, level-headed couple and we enjoyed having them to stay. I have to admit that it also alleviates some of the guilt I feel about leaving family in the south east behind when someone else is doing the same.

2. Tom had an OU seminar in Cardiff on Saturday which gave me the chance to catch up with Lily. Yippee! Lily and Russ are settling nicely into their new flat so we took some time out to visit the Food Festival at Cardiff Bay. The sun was shining and the pancakes with strawberries and chocolate sauce were superb. One glass of chilled cabernet sauvignon was so good that I had to have another and nearly lost control of Mrs Hyde who got over-excited with Russ’s mates turned up. Phew! That was a close one!

3. Not long now until the Ace Gang arrive for their annual visit! Hurray! We met up, ooh, more years than I care to remember now, at ante-natal classes and we’re still together. Can’t wait to catch up with them.

The Sailors
The boat went back in the water last Wednesday. Tomorrow we’re off, we hope, for a mini-cruise. Not quite the extended tour of the Irish Sea that Tom was hoping for but it’s a start. I’ll let you know how it goes.

And finally…
I’ve just finished Sadie Jones’ ‘The Outcast’. It’s teeth-gnashingly good and deserves all the hype. Well done her.

The image is a print by Tom Tomos, ‘The Sea’