12/04/2008 by Aileen.

Had a long overdue haircut today. Emil finished all the odd jobs round the house. I’ve worked on my OU course website all afternoon. Not sure what J has done. Not a lot.

Well he booked a table for 6 for tomorrow in a pub up near Carlisle. We’re meeting Ali and Eric halfway, and the kids are coming back with us for a few days. End of peace. Start of fun.

Must fly. Still have to prepare kids’ liturgy for tomorrow, and do a bit more of the website while I’m on a roll.

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11/04/2008 by Aileen.

Well, the Easter break is offically over with the start of my Creative Writing class this morning. I haven’t done my ‘homework’ so things haven’t changed in the last 50 years! I’ll hsve to grab an old poem, as we are supposed to be handing something in anonymously and we have to guess who wrote it.

On the news just now, there is an item about a family who were followed around for three weeks (not sure by whom) to make sure they actually did live in the catchment area for a certain school. I’ve always said I don’t mind cctv cameras etc. etc. but this is definitely scary. It’s the targeting of a specific family and its being covert that I don’t like. (And neither did they!!!)

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09/04/2008 by Aileen.

When we moved ‘oop North’ four and a half years ago one of the first things we needed desparately was a cat flap for the three cats. The windows here are too high for them to use, which is what they did in our Surrey house.

So we found Emil via an ad in the local villages news magazine. Since then he has done so much for us. Decorating, underfloor heating, guttering at front of house. He even stayed in our London flat to do it up before renting it.

Today, he put up 8 sets of lights, mended the garage tap, sorted a sticking door, and hung up two heavyish wall hangings. Tomorrow he is going to prepare front door ready for painting, mend another lock, sort guttering over sunlounge, put a double plug in the ‘office area’. He mightn’t get it all done, but he works really hard and doesn’t even stop to eat or drink. (I worry about his kidneys)

If he had turned down the cat flap job for being too small for his consideration, he would not have had lots of work from us. And we wouldn’t have had the benefit of an excellent worker.

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09/04/2008 by Aileen.

I woke up this morning, with the kitchen a bit of a mess, wondering what to do with the lovely hours stretching before me until Slimming World at 6pm!

Anyway, we did Hull and York yesterday! At Hull we bought:

Clintons:

5 birthday cards

Body Shop:

moisturiser

face mask

nail varnish remover

lipsitck (which feels horrbily sticky. I can’t report it to the Trades Description bods then)

2 different body washes which John sneaked into the lovely wicker (not wire) basket

Holland and Barret:

Health Magasine

2 low salt veg stock packs

Floradix (tonic as we’re both feeling so tired lately)

Chocolate flap jack (that John thinks is healthy because he bought it in a health shop)

Then at M&S I bought the pinkest, softest, fluffiest dressing gown I have ever seen or felt in my life. (Sorry Old Girls, for letting down

‘Notre Dame, School for Young Ladies’

I’m a bit of a bimbo at heart.

As it was only 11am we went off to York and had our PRET A MANGER lunch.

I had chicken and avocado salad, and J had salmon and prawn salad. Delicious.

Then I got some strappy red Paver sandals reduced to £20. I was so pleased until I remembered I already have a pair of red sandals. Bum.
After buying 2 pressies for bigger grandson’s birthday we staggered back to the car and got home around 4pm. John got nothing for himself!
Scripture was excellent last night. We looked at the Good Shepherd readings for next Sunday. Thought how the shepherd would count his sheep into the fold at night, knowing them all, (There’s Nicky with the nick in his ear)((No, I’ve just thought of that bit now!)) But we discussed how our idiosyncracies make us who we are, and that is how we are known and loved.
Discussed how a gate is a divider. Safety inside, danger outside. I know this sounds a very old-fashioned model of Church - a bit like the Ark of Salvation - but decided that when safe inside the fold the sheep rest and gather strength to go out and face dangers the next day - and go out to bring others to safety.
At the moment on the news, I am hearing about Karen Matthews’ arrest. There’s a family who could do with a Good Shepherd to nourish and keep safe.
Finally, we discussed how being sheep is normally a bad thing. However, we are happy to have a Good Shepherd.
Peter’s reading on Sunday is about following our leader and that it might lead to being reviled etc. as he suffered for speaking up for the underdog. I don’t thinkI do enough speaking up, as no one reviles me (at least not to my face, and people are welcome to say anything about me behind my back)

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08/04/2008 by Aileen.

I woke up a while ago thinking that I quite like Tuesdays, as it’s the one day of the week the house is pretty much tidy. I was lying there planning what to do with a lovely empty day from then until Scripture this evening, when John said, ‘Let’s go into Hull.’

Update - it might be York or Doncaster now! Mainly because John doesn’t think there will be something like Prêt á Manger in Hull, and he really fancies a nice healthy sandwich. Don’t know what he wants to buy! I don’t want any clothes until I’ve lost another half stone. Might get some summer sandals.

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08/04/2008 by Aileen.

Nothing like blowing my own trumpet! I’m delighted. (Got it for my Foundation course, by comparing Pygmalion and Wide Sargasso Sea.) My tutor also picked up that I hadn’t seen the subtleties in Pygmalion, and the fact that Eliza went off to marry Freddy meant that that was all she could see for her future - somebody’s wife.

While I’m boasting - I got 98% for the Website Design course, but this little cma is only worth 6% of the course. Also, it is quite different from an Arts course, as the answer is either right or wrong, so easier to get high marks. In fact, I only lost two marks because I accidentally ticked the wrong box! This is the story of my life. Careless! Careless! Careless! Still. I couldn’t care less.

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06/04/2008 by Aileen.

We’ve just watched Kelly Holmes carrying the Olympic torch surrounded by security and police! I am so glad the protest about Tibet was violence free. It was a great opportunity to draw attention to the plight of Tibetans, and the protesters made their point.

I grew up with romantic notions of the O. Games, learning that in Ancient Greece all wars and differences were put aside for the duration of the games. (Not sure how true this was, but it seemed very commendable. Seems either impossible or daft now.) Anyway, now I see the games as an opportunity to make political points, and sports and politics do mix. It would have been wonderful if, when Kelly had lit the fire, she had pulled off her sports vest and revealed a Free Tibet vest underneath. No such luck.
I have always had a soft spot for Tibet. In good old St Vincents Junior School we had to choose a country to study. People were getting into groups choosing Spain ande France etc. so I pored over a map and chose the smallest most insignificant blob of a country I could find. I chose Tibet. Imagine my dismay when I discovered that at the other side of the class Eleanor, ‘my best friend whom I hated’, had chosen Tibet too. Her memories are different to mine, but I distinctly remember that gut churning dismay and spite when I realised she had chosen the same as me.

22.00hours

Oops! There was violence!  Anyway, I wanted to revise what I said. This isn’t about politics, it’s about basic human rights.(As someone on the tv said this evening)

One thing I find strange is people’s inconsistency. Pro-lifers, who presumably think life is sacred, will injure pro-abortion doctors.

Oh well! ‘There’s nowt as queer as folk!’

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05/04/2008 by Aileen.

I suppose the nuns did let us down at school. (Although putting it in context, I don’t think other schools were geared up for careers advice) I should really have done History (along with English and French) but saw how hard the girls in the year above us had to work for Miss Hammond, and decided it wasn’t for me! I told Sr Emmanuel I only wanted to do English and French, expecting her to insist I did a third A level, but she told me she thought I was wise, I probably couldn’t manage a third!!!!!!! My feelings were obviously mixed!!!!!

I could still have gone to Uni in those days with just two A levels, but as I knew I wanted to teach, Training College was the answer as far as I as concerned. Of course the nuns were delighted as they really pushed teaching.

I chose Maria Assumpta as it was situated in Kensington Square, London, and I think I had the best of both worlds as I lived in Pimlico. I could go home for home comforts, but enjoyed the community life of college.

In fact, I had more freedom with the nuns there than I would have had if I had lived at home.

The next block of my OU study is the 60s. I have such happy memories of music, Biba, mini-skirts, yoghurt!, Burke’s Law, Dr. Kildare, Gene Pitney…. I could go on and on.

But I must go to bed.

Night.

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04/04/2008 by Aileen.

Can’t think of another heading as I was gobsmacked yesterday. My mobile rang my neighbour by mistake, and I explained that it was an accident. I said I had been in Kent, and that I was having lunch with my son in Oxford and would be home in the afternoon.

Half an hour later John heard a key in the door, and in she sailed. She was really confounded to see John and mumbled something about my phone had dropped and she had heard voices and paper rustling. (What that had to do with the price of cheese I don’t know.)

I was really winded (air knocked out of me) at first, but when I arrived home John and I started giggling about it. We really need someone to be a keyholder for the alarm system (which we don’t use) and our cats are too nervous to go to a cattery when we are away.

Anyway, she rang later and I was very cool with her. She began again by saying I had dropped the phone and she heard voices. I said, ‘Yes, I told you I was in a restaurant.’ Then she said something about checking up on the cats. She asked me if I had enjoyed myself and other things, and I just answered in monosyllables. She knows I’m annoyed, but we really do need her. I don’t think she’ll be doing it again. Especially as John only had a towel round him when she came in!

And we’re going to start using our alarm.

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04/04/2008 by Aileen.

It was great meeting so many old acquaintances. 18 of us out of about 30. I think we have all worn very well, and will post a picture of us in a minute. Veronica, our head girl, organised the day, and organised us by getting us to move places every so often so we got to speak to everyone. She even managed to get hold of a bell!!!

I was pleased that many of us had happy memories of school, as I was happy there. Sorry that some people weren’t. I agree that the nuns weren’t the best at careers advice, and of course Sr Magdalen was doolally to put it mildly. (’Pray about it girls!’)

Can’t wait until the next reunion.

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