Potential Shopping

As a result of the wonderful Maths tutor visiting us we can now use the dining room to actually eat it.  Last night we sat down to some disappointing sausages (considering they were advertised as 'finest'), hash browns and baked beans.  We had actual conversation and the condiments weren't shoved all over the place.

Our dining room and kitchen are in what used to be the cellar.  It makes it snug in winter, cool in summer but there is a tendency towards damp and the light isn't good.  We started eating upstairs in the living room when bear was a newborn as I didn't want to carry him down the steep steps to the dining room - and they are steep!  Then father came to live with us and the stairs were definitely too much for him.  Since then I have been failing to catch up, but I am getting closer.  It felt good to eat in the dining room again.

I did notice that the condiments in the plastic box looked limp.

They were in a plastic box to keep them roughly together and to stop the acid from the vinegar, ketchup etc staining stuff.  It didn't look glamorous.  I started planning my shopping.  I could look on eBay and see what was around.  It couldn't be a metal tray to hold them, as vinegar and ketchup are acidic.  There is an urban myth going around about a convict using ketchup to eat through the iron bars of his cell.  I know it is a myth, but I also knew that a metal tray wouldn't stay good for long.  Besides, with all the best intentions, I would never polish it.  I was doubtful about wood as I was concerned it would stain, though I could always embroider a cloth.  Then reality hit.  I had a nice plate that I could use.

I've always been fond of this plate and resisted throwing it out even though I don't really use it.  Except now I do.  So I have a nice place to put the condiments, a use for a plate, and I even got to do some window shopping.

Keeping On

Bear had me up at 1am and 3am, largely to do with not wanting to sleep.  The smoke alarm at the back is going off and has been since 6.30am and is still a nuisance three and a half hours later.  The street looks like this.

The dumping of rubble, rubbish and tarmac continues.  It's all along the street and causing a genuine problem for traffic.  At least now they have put down cones.

It all seems like nothing compared to the stories coming out of Paris.  I'm still praying for them.

Praying for Paris

I don't know why, but it really caught me, all those innocent people caught up when they would least expect it, all those at a music concert, all those at a football match, all those just in the wrong place and the wrong time.

I'm praying for Paris.  I'm praying for those who have been killed or hurt there, their families and friends, the police and medics that are suddenly in a crisis, those that somehow have to keep going on even though they are traumatised to the core.

I am also praying that the politicians and those that make the real decisions don't get caught up in the moment, that they think very hard, that they don't listen to the rabble rousers.  I suspect that some of those who committed such dreadful acts were born in Paris.

I wonder how long before the backlash really hits.  Muslims aren't terrorists in the same way that Christians aren't terrorists.  Idiots are terrorists.  Violent people are terrorists.  The deluded, the sadistic, the ones consumed by hate, they are terrorists.  While I am heartbroken for those hurt and killed in Paris and their families, I am also angry for the thousands of innocent, peaceful Muslims whose lives have just become that little bit harder.

Last night the events took place in Paris.  Their impact will affect the whole world.

Image from Wiki, taken by Andy Mitchell and used under the Creative Commons Agreement.

What meal plan?

I've given up on proper meal plans but I try and think a day or two ahead.  Tonight we've got 'proper' sausages with baked potatoes and beans on the menu.

Bear has utterly rejected baked potatoes.

Tonight he has managed somehow to demolish two very large easy peeler type satsumas, four chocolate mini rolls and three very mini pizzas since he came home so while he is currently declaring how hungry he is I think he can manage with just proper sausages and beans.  DH and I can share his potato.

I wouldn't say I was a natural with kids, but there are times when they are endlessly entertaining.  This morning there were advanced negotiations about raffle tickets.  Bear was refusing to buy any as the odds were against it.  There were hundreds of raffle tickets for the Children in Need day and besides he had already got £1 ready to hand in for going in plain clothes.  I insisted that he put another £1 in for 4 raffle tickets (I supplied the £1!) because it wasn't the winning but the taking part and some of the raffle funds were for designated school charities (building toilets overseas in places where schools do not have toilets) and some was for Children in Need.  Bear was unimpressed at my lack of understanding of basic probability but I told him to just buy the dratted tickets.

He won a prize.

A Sort of Progress

Bear has swapped a pathological and morbid fear of ghosts for a pathological and morbid fear of rabies.

Please let this one pass quickly.

Shopping Fail

For once it is a failure to shop.  Approved Food had free Christmas Crackers if you spent over £25.  I didn't see things I liked that came to £25.

Dumping of construction rubbish then removing it continues.  The view this morning is this

But on the bright side the extremely mild temperatures-normal-for-May weather has allowed this

The winter pansies are looking cheerful.

Now all I need to do is stop coughing long enough to grab a shovel and nick some of the gravel.

Trying Day

I know it could all be worse.  I still feel grumpy.

I had to deal with some letters for father.  One was concerning a pension.  When I rang they confirmed that they had been notified by the government 'tell us once' service, but they didn't take any notice of that.  They had all the details of when father died, they were just still sending me letters about where they should pay his pension.

Then there is a sneaking suspicion that father's mysterious mobile contract is still ongoing, even though we are no longer being asked for money.  I got a letter confirming that they hadn't charged father this month.  It's a relief of sorts.

I had a long and baffling call from Tesco.  They were lovely.  Really lovely.  I am still not exactly sure what was going on because they were treating me with the sort of caution normally saved for people with a chainsaw.  I had asked a minor enquiry about carrier bags, certainly not a complaint.  I think they were used to being shouted at.

Bear intercepted the parcels from Amazon.  When they came through the Royal Mail I knew that they would arrive when bear was at school.  Today bear spotted the van before they had even knocked.  I'm going to have to get the parcels delivered elsewhere, I think, if I carry on getting Christmas and birthday stuff for bear from there.

I have a very convulsive, desperately dramatic cough that is much worse than it sounds but isn't good.  I also have a weak pelvic floor.  I feel up to my eyeballs in yeurk.

And now it looks like the very neat, very tidy maths tutor who is lovely may be coming to us due to building works instead of us going to her.  The house looks like it has repeatedly hit by the completely-inadequate-housewife stick.  It is a state.  It needs to be completely redecorated before she gets here.  I have until Saturday.

On the bright side, bear has almost, very nearly, just about started to finish his homework.