Darkness

I'm rather confused at the moment.

When the world ends everything's supposed to stop right? Things aren't supposed to just carry on. At the very least there should be a moment when everything stops.

All I got was the TV blowing up.

Spain was lovely, got sunburnt and relaxed a lot and then got back to England at 3am yesterday morning. Crashed at Anthony's for a few hours, went to Tesco for food, went to Waterstone's for the new Pratchett and then came home just as the phone rang.

It was my mother ringing to tell me that my dad was in hospital. That he'd gone in on Thurs/Fri with a bit of a pain and that then all of a sudden she had a phonecall on Sunday to say that instead of thinking about him coming home on Monday, she should get there as soon as possible.

Unfortunately there was no point in me trying to get there as soon as possible. Instead we did sensible things like putting the food in the freezer and putting a load of washing on and feeding the cats treats.

Then we put the British Superbikes on to distract me. Then the TV went "buh-dooooooo" and stopped working. Then mum phoned about ten minutes later to say that dad had died about ten minutes before.

Bastard took my TV with him.

I think we are going to have to be careful with the family sense of humour. It is dark at the best of times but at the moment is very very black and leads to hysterical laughter followed by flooding.

Like the fact that my mother can now watch exactly what she wants on TV and has claimed possession of the "preciouses" (remotes) but then got all shaky when thinking about the copy of the Radio Times next to his chair with all the programmes he wanted to watch this week circled.

We are all over the place at the moment, literally. I'm in Wolves and Emily is in Cardiff. She went back yesterday morning when everything was still ok.

Anthony has had to go to work which is one of the reasons I'm up so bloody early. I don't have to even think about work until I have to ring RichieFingers towards the end of the week. Poor Richie, he was so very unintentionally funny on the phone yesterday when I phoned to say I probably would not be in today. He was all "Oh. What? No! What? What? No! WHAT?" Darling boy.

I spoke to my cousin Richard last night as mum couldn't face ringing my Aunt Sylv and so I rang Richard to ask him for her number. But he was also a star and said he would tell her (and his dad) and then pass on my number.

No one even knew he was in hospital cos everything happened so fast. But fast is good in a way as I wouldn't have wanted him hanging on and on for days. He would have hated it too, partly cos it's £3.50 a day for the TVs in Basildon Hospital. He was whinging about this, but then enjoying watching the football results.

Bloody Orient lost their first game of the season too. And he never got his birthday present - the programme for Leyton Orient.v.Arsenal in the FA Cup Semi-Final game from Saturday 8th April 1978. The game prior to this was the one that led to me being born.

I will be here for a few days and then will go home. Mum wants to be on her own for a little bit as it will make things easier afterwards. Emily is stuck in Cardiff until Thursday as she has to enrol on Wednesday (essential for student loan). I am worried about my baby sister. I am ALWAYS worried about my baby sister, but I am extra worried at the moment. Being worried about her is helpful cos then I am not thinking.

I will be spending a lot of time on the computer trying not to think. Thinking's overrated.

It also means I shall be doing lots of work on the cross-stitch for my mother.

And contributing to global warming by using acres of tissues.

Strangely satisfying

I just changed the countdown code for the Grand Prix from Italy to Belgium...then I realised with satisfaction that I will be on holiday when I watch the Belgian one, so I have added the code for Japan underneath. Possibly a little bit geeky, but satisfying.

In other news we went shopping for holiday clothes yesterday, and after being disappointed by Matalan (the Wolverhampton one is a clearance one) and buying me a fluffysoft new fleece in Next (very suitable for Spain I'm sure) we hit a successful run in Merry Hell.

Ok, so Anthony got lucky first, seriously, in the first hour all we found was stuff for him. But then we found some nice things in Peacocks (that phrase just sounds so wrong), got me a beautiful new t-shirt in New Look, and bought me THE sexiest dress in the world in West One.

Parents warned of additives link

Well durr!!!

My mother could have told you this 23 years ago when I wasn't allowed orange squash due to the fact it made me uncontrollable.

(and I've had a much better day today)

To Do List

1. Wake up to Foley purring in my ear.
2. Have fairly productive morning at work.
3. Have horribly frustrating and unproductive afternoon at work.
4. Walk Campbelli to her car and share rants about work.
5. Get home to letter from bank informing me that because I have gone £30 over my overdraft (due to a £30 charge they did not inform me about), they will be charging me £30.
6. Throw boots across room in frustration and burst into tears.
7. Put on "Mr Brightside" very loudly and sing along.
8. Make delicious Black Russian.
9. Sing along loudly to "Fat Bottomed Girls", then turn music down as remember that double-glazing is pants and if I can hear the "brothers" sitting on the wall outside, they can hear me.
10. Blog.
11. Check email/blogs/FaceBook.
12. Put on pizza for tea.
13. Make another delicious Black Russian.
14. Earn 90 gold on Warcraft. while eating pizza, watching CSI and making more Black Russians when required.
15. Buy flying mount.
16. Go to bed feeling better.

Selection from Thursday's To-Do List.

1. Buy more vodka and Tia Maria for making Black Russians.
2. Go to bank.
3. Have better day at work.

Haircuts and other girlish things

Now we all know I'm not that good at being girlish, in fact I sometimes think that Emily got all those genes - and jeans come to that as I only have one pair of girls jeans and the rest are mens ones, cos they are long enough in the leg!

One of the things she is good at and I'm not is haircuts. She always has beautiful hair and what's more she knows how to DO things with it. When my hair was long I would stick it in a ponytail, now it's short I wash, add wax and then go. No fuss. But this does mean that I tend to neglect my hair and only ever get it cut once in a blue moon.

It was a blue moon today.

Anthony was a darling and sent me off to T&G so it would be nice and short and under control for our holiday (in 12 days, but I'm not counting) as I hadn't had it cut for a few months and it was getting more than a little unkempt.

I did start to worry when after explaining to the guy that I wanted choppy layers, looking a bit like lovely Meg Ryan if he could manage it, he announced that he was thinking more Victoria Beckham and that I needed to be more feminine. So he washes my hair (always pure bliss) and then starts chopping away while I sit there with my eyes shut, only partly cos of getting hair in my eyes.

When he'd finished I was unsure, then I went over the road to work (T&G's is across and then three shops down) and realised again why I love my workmates.

Faye said "Wow" and that she nearly didn't recognise me, Chris gave me a thumbs up and said it looked good (extra kudos to him for noticing despite being male), Fiona saw me coming up the stairs to see Campbelli and said "Wow, here comes Kate looking gorgeous" and then Little Miss Campbelli told me that it looks fab. (Aren't they all so so wonderful).

So I am now feeling better about my hair, although I still don't know who it will behave once it has been washed and styled by me instead of Ruan (who was saying how my hair seems quite straight and under control naturally - afraid he got that VERY wrong), but we shall see.

Here we are then...



















Suitable for a week on the Costa Brava?

Slow Stitching

I don't think I'm going to get this finished in time for my mothers birthday...





















It's a lot harder than I thought it would be, partly because of the colours. There are four main shades of green and four of yellow and I have to do the lightest then 2nd darkest, then the darkest, then the 2nd lightest. (So shades A,B,C,D in order from light to dark have to be stitched A,C,D,B). Otherwise it's hard to tell which shade goes where. B is definately the one I have to do last each time which is a slight pain at the moment - you see the big empty space on the left, in the middle, that's pretty much all B... I am still enjoying it though.
It also hasn't been going too well as Anthony has been on evenings for the last few weeks, and is until we go on holiday. This means that the computer is all mine (mwahahahaha) and so I have been either tatting about online or playing WoW instead of sewing while watching films. Tonight is Veronica Mars night so I shall attempt to resist WoW and do some more work on it.

Other than not doing sewing I haven't been busy. I have been doing a diet that was working brilliantly - until my parents came to visit and I fell off it for the weekend, now I don't want to start it again. Basically it's a low-carb diet, I get to eat lots of cheese and smoked salmon, drink loads of water, but no chocolate, booze, pasta or bread etc. I managed a week (and lost 6 lbs) then missed a couple of days (last weekend), then did another week (and lost another lb) but came off it on Friday when we went for Chinese. Day 5 is the worst day as that's when I'm exhausted and my body is going mental for sugar, then Day 6 is good. I think I shall go back on it on Thursday as that way day 5 is my Monday off rather than my Sunday at work.

The diet thing is cos I'm fed up with carrying about 2 extra stone of "grief" (it's the two stone I put on through comfort eating when George and my Grandad died and I was off work with a broken arm) as it's a bad memory of a bad time. I just want to get back into the jeans I wore when I moved up here and stop my knees aching so much in cold/damp weather. It's getting easier the more I do it, partly cos most of the bad food has gone from my house and also cos I love the fact that eating peanut butter from the jar by the spoonful is sort-of allowed.

I figure two more weeks of being strict will have lost the first stone, then when we fly out to Spain in Sept (which I am sooooooo looking forward to) I can relax for a week. It's all-inclusive too so it would be rude not to drink....

Oh yes, my holiday - Anthony will only let me take three books! How will I cope! I've just read the first Lee Child book and enjoyed it so I plan to make Alf take some of those so I have so extra books. But what should my three be?
Can anyone recommend me a good holiday read?

Gone'd

My ability to blog seems to have vanished into the ether.

I think of something to write about, but when I start to write, it stops.

This is why it has been so quiet and Kimi having a shit has been at the top of my blog for so long.

I am trying to find my blogging ability so some posts should hopefully start appearing again soon.

I hope I find it soon as I have already been spoken to sharply about my lack of posting, and if I don't post soon I am worried that Campbelli will find something to stand on so she can clip me round the ear for not writing.

I go to hunt down inspiration...

Grand Prix

Gosh I rather dislike that boy (listen to me being good and not swearing like I want to).

For your viewing pleasure I bring you Hamilton and Alonso before today's incident...




...and Kimi, being his fabulous self. This one's for Emily:

Book Queries

Books I have been asked for recently:

The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (Yes, it's a real book)

That new childrens one about the rubber ducks - not 10 Little Rubber Ducks but Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks (which is not a childrens book)

The second book by the fridge guy - that'll be this one then.

Today I also had a phone call where I was asked the following:

Caller: I'm looking for a book
Kate: Yes....
C: It's called Downpour.
K: There's nothing coming up, can you give me the authors name.
C: I'll have to spell it, D-W-O-P-S and the first name is Wayne.
K: *sigh*
K: Nothing coming up for that (thinking: but you know that don't you)
C: Can you just repeat the book you're looking for please.
K: *sigh* Downpour by Wayne Dwops.

Then I sighed again, rolled my eyes and hung-up.

It turns out that I was phoned by Scott Mills. Not only that but Emily heard me on the radio. She said it hadn't sounded like me (which is a small bonus I guess).

I'm just doing the listen again thing from his site...

Update! The one that's in todays broadcast isn't me! Yay! That's probably why it didn't sound like me. It was also slightly after 10 that I was phoned which could very well mean that it was either them recording ahead, or some bored student copying the radio.

Reading my subconscious

I'm reading all sorts of things at the moment. After Potter I picked up Hexwood to reread as I wanted something fantasyish but not too over the top. I then reread her latest book The Pinhoe Egg which means that in the next few weeks I'll probably go through all of the Diana Wynne Jones books.

I also read Flora Segunda of Crackpot Hall which Campbelli had a proof of. It was ok, took a while for me to get into it and it's made me want to read some Sheri S. Tepper which I'll probably move onto after I've finished all the DWJ books.

I've bought, but not read yet, the fantastic reissues of Just Another Angel, Angel Touch and Angel Hunt by Mike Ripley. I can still remember when the third one of these had just been published and dad found it in Chelmsford library. The grin on his face as he said "Look what I've found" and flashed the front cover at me. I'm so glad they've been reissued at last.
They also have nice introductions by him which talk about how he started writing them, the tv rights and all sorts of other interesting asides. (This more than makes up for the fact that the insides are not as beautiful as the covers).

I also shot through Lean Mean Thirteen last night, Janet Evanovich's latest Stephanie Plum novel. All good fun as usual, shootouts, Grandma looking for a man and the eternal dilemma of Morelli or Ranger...
Extra: Keris has an essay in Perfectly Plum which I'm planning to buy in August.

My reading matter yesterday affected my brain...no honestly! I've been rereading Books, Baguettes & Bedbugs and The Child That Books Built and reading The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop for the first time. This means that I had a fabulous dream this morning.

I was walking down a little arcade alleyway when it started to rain. I ducked into a dress shop that I'd been in before to find a prom dress (not in real life, in another dream. I seem to have a remarkable internal world in dreams, places pop up repeatedly). I looked at the clothes for a while and then wandered through a door into this huge bookshop (again, I'd been in there before). It's in a huge stone market hall and most of the stuff is second-hand. Big old bookcases just leaning against the stone walls and everything all mixed in.

I walked through the halls looking at the shelves and found copies of all three of the books above, then I turned out into a small courtyard. I asked if I could take the books into the stall on the other side (it's like lots of separate bookstalls in there) and then went over there for a look around.

I found a large box of Chalet School paperbacks, 60's Armada covers (the ones I love) and all brand new and shiny - and all 10p each! I handed my sister (who'd just appeared) the list of the ones I already own (which I don't actually carry with me, I'm not quite that bad) and then spotted a big shelf of foreign children's books.

On there were a selection of Moomin flashcards (which I'm pretty sure don't exist) and lots of Babapapa books. I was just about to take my armfuls of books to the counter when my flipping alarm went off and they were lost to me! I shall get back into that shop at some point and try to sit and read them!

I have a craving for a visit to a second-hand bookshop now, not one of the charity shops that never have anything good, a proper twisty stair cased shop with treasure waiting to be discovered. Now I just have to find one, I wonder if Anthony would like to go on a drive on Saturday...

The End of Harry Potter...

Well, that's it. The end of Harry Potter. Three hours of overexcited customers including two of frantic bookselling, and then 2 and a half hours of reading and it's all over.

It was bloody good though.

The two major characters that she said died...it was more like 5 to me. One death I knew was going to happen from the minute I finished the Half-Blood Prince, one was totally totally unexpected and had me shaking and in tears. Another was a surprise but not such a shock, and the other two were so linked that if one was killed the other had to be.

There were actually quite a few characters who didn't make it to the end but couldn't really be described as major really. They were kind of accumlative deaths if you know what I mean. Big huge fights have to claim more than one victim and they need to be named characters.

I can't quite believe it's all over. But it very much is. That last chapter that she's had written for years is sort of a "happily ever after" one, it leaves the way open for a little more, but also means that you leave characters happy and getting on with life rather than just after the fighting has stopped and the dust is clearing.

Ah well.

Right then, I'm due back at work in 5 hours so I'd better go and get some kip. I wonder how many plot hints I can drop at Campbelli tomorrow before she thumps me?

Black Dog

I'm having an attack of the Black Dog at the moment which means I haven't been doing a lot of anything.

It's ridiculous really. My life is good, I'm not in debt, I have a great job, cool friends, fabulous boyfriend...but something in me just wants to sit in a corner and cry. I've put a few bits of paper saying "it's a chemical imbalance" in places where I'll see them if I get too blue, but otherwise I'm just trying to chill and ignore it. Unfortunately that's not really working. So I've been coming home exhausted, half-heartedly checking my emails and then slouching on the sofa watching CSI or the Dukes of Hazzard. Half the time I'm on the sofa I can't even be bothered to do any sewing. Anthony understands which helps immensely. He gets it too sometimes and knows when to prod me to go and make dinner (which helps cos then I've accomplished something) or when to pass me the icecream and give me a big hug.

I did manage to blitz it yesterday afternoon, I had a half-day and left work feeling like crap. I went and bought a load of M&S Bucks Fizz and then treated myself to a cab home and an afternoon in the sunshine drinking the Fizz, reading Harry Potter and going slightly pink. I plan to try and do a little bit of this again today.

That afternoon "out" of life has helped me get excited again over the fact that I get to see Emily tomorrow! She is coming to visit for Harry Potter night and we are going to have a great time! Yes, she will have to put up with Anthony and the cats on her own on Sat as I'll be at work (after very little sleep), but she managed to put up with the Yeti last time so this time it'll be a matter of stopping talking to read the book rather than reading the book cos there's no-one to have an intelligent conversation with.

Before I go and do some housework in honour of her visit, a list of some things that are making me smile:

My gorgeous new shoes
Sexy chocolate buttons
My new waterbottle
lolcats
This strange creature, which apparently Katie W. has something to do with...

More holiday

My second holiday week was just as relaxing as the first, but had the added bonus of Anthony.

We went shopping a couple of times, including buying some heavenly choc drops in Hotel Chocolat, and also went and looked at fish tanks. We saw some lovely ones that doubled up as coffee tables, which we could actually picture in my front room...with Foley doing her best to get into them! So the fish plan is on hold for the moment.

We stayed at Anthony's house a couple of nights, and he made himself very happy by managing to get WoW on both computers so we could both play. This was part of his cunning plan to get me to level 70 before the end of the week, cos otherwise I'd tell him to play while I worked on finishing my cross-stitch.





Both of these tasks were achieved!






I've also picked out and started a new cross-stitch project. So far it looks like this ---->
Obviously it's a work in progress, but it has a deadline so I plan to photograph it each week to encourage me to work on it!


I loved both Grand Prixs during my holiday, not just because Kimi won both of them...honest! Although it was a little scary when I phoned home yesterday to natter about them, to have my dad say "I hear you have a kitten blog" (!!!) I think my sister has been talking about me behind my back (which isn't hard when she's in Essex and I'm up here!).

I'm back to work tomorrow which I am actually looking forward to. I have a few things to sort out that I can't wait to get my teeth into now I'm all refreshed, plus it's less than two weeks until Potter!!! (I have been practicing staying up to read it, at least that's one of the excuses I used when I went out for a night on the town and didn't get home until 4am).

Cat Scratches

"Mum, I'm stuck! Shall I jump?"

"Sorry, look I be cute and fuzzy and make your back feel better."

Anthony reckons they're the worst scratches I've had so far so they had to be recorded for posterity. The blood has all washed out of my white top though.

Lazy Holiday

I have very deliberately not done a lot so far this week. I've slept until I wake up naturally (usually about 10am) or if woken by a cat at 6am (Esme) then I doze in bed until I want to get up. I've been going to bed at night when I feel tired (about 1am) and yesterday I had a nice little nap on the sofa when Henman got rained off.

I've been tatting about with photos on Flickr and got myself a pro account on there at last so I can load what I like. I've even set up a blog just for Foley (Esme will be on there occasionally too) to highlight the fact that she is in fact completely barmy.

Foley has both honoured and disgraced herself this morning. She fought and defeated an evil spider-in-the-bath and brought it to me as a trophy.

Then she alerted me to the fact that when I'd put the washing machine on I hadn't moved the hose and so the kitchen was getting a little wet. (Nothing got horribly soaked luckily).



However she let herself down completely when she jumped up onto the hatstand. Instead of meowing like mad until I stood up and let her jump onto my shoulder, she took a flying leap to land on my back where I'm sitting at the computer...in just a vest top. I sense I will not be wearing one of my new back-revealing tops on Friday night, as I fear people will think I've got too close to a tiger! (The bleeding did stop eventually).

Apart from being clawed to death and flooding the kitchen I have also moved all the stuff that was piled up in the back room, painted the piggy bank I got for Xmas, finished listening to The Last Continent on audio, read several books, connected up the Wii (although I can't actually make it work and will have to reorganise the scart leads once Henman has played), eaten lots of cheese on toast, read lots of random blogs and gone ding (leveled up) quite a lot on WoW. I've also created two new characters (Undead Warlock and Tauren Shaman) to get myself away from my Alliance bias.

I did find something funny when I was sorting out pictures onto Flickr. In my collection of old information posters (photographed from a diary my mother gave me and now cut out to go up on the stairs) I found this <---- picture. Now that is when I've got my holiday this year, I've been daring and actually taken two weeks off together now, and then I've got a week in September (only partly cos when I went to book holiday July and August had already been snaffled by Campbelli, Fingers and Ian). This time of year has always been different. Last year, rain and sun, year before sunny, year before that I got sun burnt one day and then nearly drowned the next. This year I decided to be optimistic and buy some sun lotion...so naturally the weather is terrible, and I'm starting a cold! I have high hopes for the end of next week though. As an aside, I do think that those information posters should be revived. Think about it, we saw those growing up and so know not to drop litter, how to cross roads etc. Today's "hoodies" are just exposed to adverts for things they should aspire to own rather than ways to behave. Maybe they should be brought back by our new PM?

The cheese in the fridge is calling me...

Bookness

With my nice back-pay that I got on Wednesday I decided to treat myself to a few books that I've had my eyes on for a while.

So I now need to add the following to LibraryThing:

• Chocolate Cakes - in an attempt to actually bake...


• Jarrold Short Walks in Birmingham and the Heart of England - to burn off the effects of the baking!


• The Unseen University Cut-Out Book - my second copy of this so I might start work on it in my holiday-time over the next two weeks.


• The Ankh-Morpork Post Office Handbook - I'd had this stashed for about 6 months so thought I'd better buy it!


• Moomin - Totally beautiful book. Read about it on our intranet and ordered it for a look and then decided I had to add it to my Moomin/Tove Jansson collection.


• Nobody Does It Better... - I love French food, and I love the idea that I could actually cook some of it. Ok, so we've covered why when I think of cooking I think of it as a hassle, but I want to get past that and cook lovely things and enjoy it!


• The Good Fairies of New York - this is another one I saw recommended on the work intranet a long while ago and I'd ordered one for stock. When tidying Sci-Fi/Fantasy I found it and added it to my haul.


• Stranger in a Strange Land - I read this years and years ago and have wanted my own copy for a while (another one of my dad's books). Another one found on my trawl through Sci-Fi/Fantasy, and then promptly moved to the front 342 table.


• Casino Royale , Live and Let Die and Moonraker - I've always loved James Bond and when these sexy new/old covers came out I figured it was time to invest.

I know that these won't keep me going for the whole two weeks so I shall be visiting the library again next week (that way I get a lift as Anthony is on holiday then too) and try again to pick up some stuff that I wouldn't normally read.

Truths

Matt is very good at pool. Anthony and Katie W are pretty good at pool. I am not as good at pool as I was when at uni, but I still think I am until I start playing.

Contrary to a belief I have held for a long time, I CAN walk and dance in shoes like these without breaking an ankle. (although my calves are killing me this morning).



(For me, that is a very big heel!)

No matter how good Campbellis sexy pizza was, I refuse to believe it could be nicer than my BMT from SubWay.

Black Russians are still a very nice drink. Having them made of Kahlua, vodka and Pepsi instead of Tia Maria, vodka and Coke was something I thought would make them less nice, I was happily proved wrong.

The Quadrant is a nice place to have cocktails but the music is too loud for sensible conversation. This is why we spend most of our time in there stroking Campbellis legs.

Campbelli looks bloody gorgeous in a dress!

The Royal London has a chandelier that I may have to steal. Although I'll pass on decorating my loo with a collage of Barbie pictures.

One Barbie picture was a colouring page that said "Theresa has come over for a sleepover. Brighten up our night with your pens" Naturally someone had added an i to that last word.

Anthony is still asleep and snoring, this is possibly because he is trying to avoid the fact that we either have to go to Ikea today or next Sunday and he's trying to forget that fact.

We are going to Ikea to get a frame for my sexy picture that he bought me when we went to see the BTCC. (It's the one in the middle of the top row here.)

My sister is at Le Mans this weekend and I am very slightly jealous. I have been promised that if she enjoys herself I get to go next year!

I am going to wake up Anthony and remind him of Ikea...

Happy things for Campbelli

A collection of nice happy things has to be kicked off with It Is Just You, Everything's Not Shit which always has something on there to make me smile.

Heard of lolcats? I LOVE lolcats. I can only cope with them in small doses though as otherwise my incorrext spelling gene kicks in. I love going to I Can Has Cheezburger? for a daily dose.

Miss Campbelli has the most beautiful umbrella that has blue skies and clouds on the underneath of it. I've never seen another one anywhere but this one comes close to it. Pretty!

Another happy thing (but unlinkable really) is the fact that among the other things I did today at work, I removed 31 copies of a book that was cluttering up her children's section!

Love you Campbelli! xxx

Curry and Lyrics

Curry:
I am going to be eating a fantastically nice curry in a minute.
We bought it from Asda the other day, Limited Edition Buttered Chicken Marsala. I had it on Thursday night along with three naan breads and a large glass of shandy. It was bloody lovely. So lovely in fact that we went back to Asda tonight after I finished work so I could get another one. Anthony is just dishing it up now... YUMMY!

Lyrics:
It's not just Green Day that suffer from me mishearing the lyrics. Everyone knows that ABBA sing the line "When I saw you last night in Tesco", but have you ever heard of the Yappy, Yam and Yead songs?

John Denver sang the first one "Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy". Yes if you get all proper and sound your haitches then it's fine, but when you're singing it mutates into "Sunshine on my shoulders makes me yappy". This is what I used to sing when I was little and later led to the second song...
Take That and Million Love Songs - "A million love songs later, here I am". This one was pointed out by my dad when they came on TOTP and he said "Not that bloody yam song again!"
The Yed song is a relatively recent addition. Sung by Blink 182 it talks about the fact that "you're just a voice inside my head", again with the haitches!

(Pause to eat some curry)

I really do mishear lyrics all the time. The most famous example is a song my parents have that apparently talks about Alan being an Elfchild. Not to me. To me Alan will be forever an Eldron, whatever one of those might be.

Classic.

I just googled for the song, and got the lyrics below. No Alan mentioned! So the line I have always sang as "Alan was an Eldron, Eldron, Eldron. Alan was an Eldron down beneath the sea".... was not even close!

Ok, I think I need to stop now!


Steeleye Span - Elf Call Lyrics


i heard a bonny cow low, cow low, cow low,
i heard a bonny cow low over the lea.
and it was an elf-call, elf-call, elf-call,
and it was an elf-call calling unto me.
and the little elf-call, elf-call, elf-call,
and the little elf-call said unto me:

“come and nurse an elf child, elf child, elf child,
come and nurse an elf child down beneath the sea.
come and nurse an elf child, elf child, elf child,
come and nurse an elf child down beneath the sea.”

“what do you moan for, moan for, moan for,
what do you moan for?” the elf king said to me.
“i'm moaning for my own child, own child, own child,
i'm moaning for my own child far across the sea.”
then the little elf king, elf king, elf king,
then the little elf king said unto me:

“come and nurse an elf child, elf child, elf child,
come and nurse an elf child down beneath the sea.
come and nurse an elf child, elf child, elf child,
come and nurse an elf child down beneath the sea.”

i heard a bonny cow low, cow low, cow low,
i heard a bonny cow low over the lea.
and it was an elf-call, elf-call, elf-call,
and it was an elf-call calling unto me.
and the little elf-call, elf-call, elf-call,
and the little elf-call said unto me:

“come and nurse an elf child, elf child, elf child,
come and nurse an elf child down beneath the sea.
come and nurse an elf child, elf child, elf child,
come and nurse an elf child down beneath the sea.”

“come and nurse an elf child, elf child, elf child,
come and nurse an elf child down beneath the sea.
come and nurse an elf child, elf child, elf child,
come and nurse an elf child down beneath the sea.”

Looking for the Moomins

Today I made a promise to Campbelli that I would write a blog tonight, one on Saturday, one on Sunday and one on Monday because she wanted something interesting and strange to read. It would probably have been better if I had some vague ideas of things to write about before vowing to do this, but then again if I'd HAD ideas for stuff to write about I would have blogged it anyway.

My head seems strangely empty at the moment. It's like my internal dialogue has turned itself off. I don't know if this has anything to do with my mother telling me that she worried herself when she did something silly and the little voice inside her head said "Now we both know that you didn't want to do that." Both!?!

Anyways, my head seems mostly vacant. It might be because my life has changed completely since I moved house. Not in a "I've had a stroke and have to learn to talk again" kind of a way, just in a "I've pretty much stopped watching TV and now spend my evenings attempting to unpack boxes and then giving up and going to play WoW" kind of a way. Surely this should mean that my head has more time to do its own thing without trying to figure out who did what in CSI, but this seems not to be the case.

I've also developed even wonkier eating and sleeping patterns than normal! This is something I'm working very hard to sort out as it's quite annoying spending mornings at work like a zombie and then being bouncingly awake until 1am. I've even started trying to eat breakfast again. Ok, so it's either a SlimFast cereal bar or shake, but it's breakfast! (and a bit more nutritious than a Mars bought on the walk to work). I've even cut down on the alcohol. Again, it's mainly cos I've got a taste for bitter shandy at the moment so I'm drinking that rather than Kronenbourg but it's an improvement.

I've taken to listening to my iPod when I go to bed in an attempt to switch my mind into sleep mode. A nice dose of Pratchett audio while I play solitaire and the light dims down. I just have to try getting to bed earlier. I did try playing music instead of the books but that wakes me up too much so I shall just have to hang onto my Audible subscription for a little longer.

(I'm rambling now and have lost all direction in this post, can you tell)

Right. The title for this post came from the fact I was listening to Green Day on the walk home and discovered that in When I Come Around he does sing "I'm just looking for the Moomins" at one point. I thought that this would be a good title for a blog post in which I could ramble on about the music I've been listening to lately. But it's too late and I shall do that tomorrow instead!!!