Minor rant from atop a very small soapbox

Is it me or is everyone obsessed with sexual orientation on TV? I have a couple of gay friends but they don’t wear their sexuality as a badge, it isn’t the issue that defines them but rather the people they are. Now I may be accused of being homophobic and quite frankly I’m sick of the PC brigade, I don’t care any more what people choose to think and the key word in that phrase is choose because it is all contextual. I have no desire to switch on my TV and see people of any peruasion writhing around in the throes of passion, I switch on to see good writing, excellent casting a top class storylines. If I want the other I’ll stick to the daytime soaps.

Being Human

Plot holes big enough to fly a 747 through notwithstanding, Being Human is an enjoyable piece of escapism with wit and humour of the darker variety.

Mitchell is a dark, brooding vampire with a social conscience who shares a house with George, a reluctant werewolf and Annie, the ghost of the former occupant who makes endless cups of tea(causing a shortage of clean cups) in spite of the fact that she can’t drink them she insists old habits die hard. George is ashamed of his condition and has a system of hiding himself in a conveniently closed off section of the hospital in which he works until , that is he discovers workmen apparently renovating the space for an admin block. Panicked, and with time running out before he changes, he seeks out Mitchell who drives him to a patch of woods where George goes running off to find  a secluded spot all of which seem to be occupied, and so, with the clock ticking George finds himself back in the car with Mitchell having decided the safest place would be at home after all.(no, this werewolf doesn’t seem to have worked out how to open doors or jump through windows)

The scene is set for ain intrguing tale of friendship across many boundaries.

Monday!

How quickly monday morning seems to come around. I’ve still got everything I was supposed to do last week plus the usual extras for this one but I say buggerit! The world will not end if I sit on my arse all day.

Instead I’ve chosen to play with the rabbits today.

Stone the crows!

Every other Tuesday is recycling collection day in Calstock. Now don’t get me wrong I think recycling is a brilliant idea but when I look at the state of my recycling bags/boxes/trucks I wonder just when schools are going to start giving lessons in how to flatpack everything because my instructions sure as shit don’t seem to be getting through to my kids and I spend ages going through the cardboard stuff flatpacking and uncrumpling it to make it fit better. Needless to say I’m ranting the whole time and perfecting my mastery of the profane(doesn’t the gas man deliver that in big cylinders?)

Buggerit!

Monday Morning

And it feels like the holidays never happened. Granted everyone I know has been ill over Christmas and I’m currently carrying around two pounds of catarrh which makes falling over really easy right now, but holy crap where did my lie-in go?

Its my birthday tomorrow which was always a bittersweet time as it was always the day the Christmas decorations came down agin so I’ve made a start today so that tomorrow can take care of itself.My new bed arrives on Wednesday (fingers crossed) and I’m going to be making the transition back to my own room a priority. Its weird the way the kids leaving home affected me with panic attacks and so on, its an interesting journey we’re all on and I guess this has to be a part of it. Now back to taking down the deccies.

When I grow up…

Sitting at the computer in my living room I look around and survey the wreckage of my former lives. I’ve been a daughter, a wife, a mother of four, now a mother-in-law and one day a grandmother and I still don’t think I’ve grown up enough yet to qualify for any of it.

I’ve been running my own household now for twenty years, gotten into and out of and back into and back out of debt, been threatened with bailiffs and eviction and still I’m here holding it together.

I’ve coped(or not) with the various societal pressures and am finally ready to stand up and declare my ambitions. I want to be a GOOD daughter/mother/mother-in-law/grandma. None of this corporate crap for me, I want to excel in the areas that truly matter because my family is my chosen “career” and I am sick to death of those people who would look down on me and tut disparagingly about fulfilment I AM fulfilled in my chosen role and quite frankly  I think those who get no fulfillment from being a parent are missing out on a wonderful experience

Happy Birthday William

It was my youngest son William’s 21st birthday today(see above picture for the “present” from me its almost finished.) Unfortunately nothing went according to plan. Firstly it was my day to take my nephews to school then Penfold had to be at the hospital for 11am for her hysteroscopy, I was then to pick up Liam from school in Launceston, ring the hospital to find out what time Pen needed picking up and somehow fit in William’s birthday celebration. Well first out of the stalls was the unfolding tragedy of Liam’s fish tank, newly acquired and freshly stocked yesterday Liam was greeted with half his fish floating belly up when he woke up this morning. Now losing fish is one thing but to a child like Liam who is autistic with communication problems it was nothing short of a catastrophe so imagine my dismay upon learning that while we were on our school run his pet rabbit was also found to be recently deceased. Kinoki was 6 years old and a firm favourite with Liam, a very interactive rabbit with a distinct personality, this was going to hit him hard plus just to compound things further his mum was going to be in hospital when he found out and guess who was going to have to break the news to him….yup, me. I had roughly six hours to work out my strategy and in the meantime Pen had to be deposited at the hospital 20 miles away and we had to swing by the aquatic shop to pick up a new airfilter to try to remedy the problem with the fish tank, no such thing as a straightforward trip to the hospital for Penfold and certainly not today. The first place we tried had sold out of filters for some odd reason everyone was replacing them, was there some sort of global conspiracy on a local scale that was affecting fishtanks? could this be a subtle alien plot to vanquish Cornwall? or at least Cornish fish tanks? We might never know but while we were in the vicinity I thought it best to pick up some dog food which is still languishing in the boot of Pens 2008 Peugeot so I must remember to bring it home tomorrow.

Eventually we got to the hospital and the strategic stalking began, finding someone who looked as though they might be headed towards an already parked car in the hopes of hot-bunking into the soon to be vacated space but on this occasion it wasn’t needed and a space became available almost like magic which on reflection it must have been as even hospital appointment letters advise allowing a good half hour to find suitable parking without then having to catch a bus back!

Penfold was secured down on Fal ward and I checked the shackles myself to see she couldn’t get free and escape and I made my way back to her car, stopping by the W H Smith’s shop to pick up a bottle of water for the windscreen wash which had run out on the school run and which I had subsequently forgotten to replenish on being told about poor old Kinoki. So, where was I? Oh yes, I put 1.5 litres of Volvic in the screenwash doohickey and set off back home. Every moron in possession of a drivers licence was out today and they all seemed to be aiming for me as I drove back in Pen’s car, a real hardship I know but we all have to make sacrifices. William was taking Kyle to college and I was headed over to St Dominick for a social visit with Maggi, a veritable island of calm in the maelstrom that the day was becoming, then it was home for half an hour to spend some “quality” time with my 13 year old daughter who was not quite well enough to go to school but not ill enough to miss out on performing in the village panto. In the end she came with me to pick up Liam from school and we fell about laughing when she made a boo-boo and commented as she hitched her trousers up that they were falling over.

The 12 mile journey back from Launceston College was difficult as Liam was still upset  at losing his fish and this prompted further discussion about the other pets he had lost and my stomach sank as I considered the task ahead of me. How would he take it? How would I tell him? In the end the matter was resolved virtually as soon as we got out of the car and were headed down the path to the front door and Liam looked over at the hutches and remarked that Kinoki was slobbing out playing dead. I knew  that it had to be now and I steered him gently inside and broke the news to him that Kinoki wasn’t playing this time. My heart broke into little pieces as his face crumpled and he tried really hard to hold it in but couldn’t. Luckily his dad was there to hug him as he cried his first of many tears and I could busy myself with making him a milk shake, me and Kit a well earned cup of tea and I could compose myself again before ringing the hospital to see what was happening with Pen.

It transpired that the anaesthetist had gone home sick (Derriford has several wards closed due to a recent Norovirus outbreak) and the surgeon was waiting for a replacement so surgery had been delayed ….by several hours! I was told to ring back at 5.30 which gave me an hour and a half to get home and try to help William celebrate being 21. My daughter Rachael and her husband Will (yep I get confused much of the time between Will and William. ) had come over too and it was lovely to see them. Thanks guys for making such a huge mid-week effort for your brother. I love you.

I put the nibbly bits in the oven and comforted Liam who was having one of many emotional breakdowns and was in need of a surrogate mum’s cuddles in lieu of the ones he would get from his mum when we liberated her from the hospital later on. Poor Liam was struggling manfully with his overwhelming emotions and seeing that effort was heartbreaking in itself. Its going to take him some time to deal with and its not going to be easy going through the process with him but Pen is an outstanding mum and has moved heaven and earth for her boys so he is in good hands, if anyone can get him through this its her. I once again doff my cap to you Penfold!

We’d just about taken the food out of the oven when I had to ring the hospital again to be told to ring back at 6pm as she wasn’t back from theatre yet. Oh boy was she going to be pissed! I knew this from the text messages I got when I finally checked my cell phone and read the unfolding hospital drama in retrospect. 6pm arrived and finally Pens release date was set, we’d go in and liberate her for 7.30, only two more trips to and from Plymouth and I was done, picking Pen up and then dropping Rachael off at her dads a little later, not a prospect I particularly relished as I don’t enjoy night driving half as much as I used to but at least the day was nearly over and so was I.

Penfold was eye-wateringly alert when we arrived, climbing the walls to be sure and she put down her cell phone when she saw us remarking that she was trying to ring me and here I was. Ten minutes later we were headed out the door, me in the lead with Kyle behind and Liam dejectedly bringing up the rear, we had to slow down for Pen as she was only walking from the knees down after her op and her previously alert state was fading rapidly the further from the ward we got, odd that. We got home having dodged out of the way of a police car all sirens and blue lights on its way to someone elses catastrophe. One more trip and I was home free.

In the end I got Rachael home safe and even remembered to drop Will off at my mums where he is staying monday to friday as his workplace is only a ten minute walk away and he hasn’t passed his driving test yet. Katherine was home from the pant, William was tidying up and I was out on my feet. What a day!