Tuesday 24 June 2014

Back on the radar

Hello chums!  Did you miss me?  I wish I could fabricate some wildly exciting reason for my longest ever break from blogging but all I can tell you is that life got in the way and, as is usual for wives and mothers, everything else took precedence. (Whinge over).

So what has been occupying my tiny mind in recent weeks?  Sadly not your blogs as I haven't had time to read those either - so apologies to all those people who can usually rely on a comment from me.

The first thing that happened was that my (very elderly) mother had a fall and was admitted to hospital in the middle of the night.  By the time the medics tracked me down and I had trekked to her local sanatorium, she was sitting up, very chipper, full of antibiotics and IV fluids.  When the nice nurse came round to ask if she'd like a drink, how do you think she responded?  did she say:-
a)  Thank you dear, I'd love a cup of tea
b)  A latte would be lovely
c)  Got any Gin & tonic?
I'm sure you can work it out for yourselves.  

And, when she was finally given a discharge date, how did she react?  Did she say:-
a)  Tuesday? Wonderful!
b)  Tuesday? - oh well, I'll miss the lovely hospital food but never mind.
c)   Tuesday?  Good.  Now look here (turning to me) if you don't come and get me out of here on Tuesday I shall lie on the floor and scream and show my knickers.

Hmmmmm.

In the midst of all this, son and heir departed for 3 weeks in Brazil, taking in some of the World Cup.  It's a hard old life, innit?  Here is a pic of him and me at the airport:

Not sure what went wrong with the perspective - his feet aren't that big and I'm not that small.  Oh, maybe I am...
He hadn't been there 5 minutes when he happened to go up Sugar Loaf Mountain, as one does, and bumped straight into Colleen Rooney.  That's him in the middle with his arm round Wayne's* missus.  
*For the benefit of my non-Brit readers, Wayne Rooney is a football (soccer) player who plays up front for Manchester United.  He is also a sometime film actor who has played the title role in such monumental movie successes as Shrek and Shrek the Balls.

Son is still out there and seems to be having a great time.  When he gets back, we have 24 hours with both of them at home before daughter leaves for Thailand and Cambodia.  For a month.  The Shah and I are hoping to grab a week in Greece later in the summer.  Bloody hell.  We've gone horribly wrong somewhere.

And finally....last weekend we had the enormous pleasure (not) of moving daughter out of her University accommodation.  The way things worked out, she was the last to leave so, of course, we got the brunt of the cleaning. How the hell none of them died of salmonella poisoning during the year, I will never know.

Enjoy the photos of the fridge.  Hope you're not eating while you view them:

This was brown slime that actually made me heave....


How appropriate!  We have tons of random crap in the house now :(

17 comments:

  1. I have to say I've missed your posts and your comments, welcome back!
    How lucky your kids are to be off on such fantastic travels - we have an 18 year old son off to Kavos on Friday - look out for me on TV's "Sun, Sea and Suspicious parents"!
    Can't say I'm looking forward to son's accommodation at Uni from what your photos tell me, that's if he gets in, the exams don't seem to have gone well......
    Hope your Mum is on the mend.
    Glad to have you back
    Jay
    x

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    1. I didn't mean to suggest that a week in Kavos is anything like a trip to Brazil, Thailand and Cambodia!!

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    2. Hi Jay - Kavos is one of those rite-of-passage things, isn't it? Both mine have done that (and Malia and other unsavoury places) and now feel it's their god-given right to spread their wings a bit further. Lucky old them! Will be nipping over to yours shortly to catch up! xx

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  2. Weeelcome back, i keep popping in for a cuppa or a gand t but no, nada, nufink and I keep an eye on my sidebar of loved blogs. Well this is a veritable cornucopia of news and tales from the deep. Plus - is this the first photo you've ever posted of yourself, I know you said you were a former redhead but I did not picture you blonde!!! Whohoo! (and I though that photo on the right hand side of the lady with the loudspeaker was actually you. Always love seeing pics of your kids - they are tall and good lookers.Oh my goodness what fresh hell was that accoms? I will collecting my kids (if they ever get into varsity) from the carpark. I consider myself forewarned. Good to see you chook

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    1. Hi Jody - thanks for the warm welcome back! Glad I can teach you something about Varsity and cleaning. DEFINITELY wait in the car park - it's the safest place. And I still consider myself a redhead, even if I've faded to a sort of strawberry blonde nowadays!! xx

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  3. Your mum sounds a corker. Mine is a G&T fiend too.

    How lovely to see a piccie of you. Don't think I've seen one before. Both my sons are bigger than me now. I'm still taller than the cat though.

    Bet you were happy you got to clean out that fridge... Mask and bleach spray at dawn to tackle that, I'd say. Beurk!

    My eldest has been sitting his Bac exams the last couple of weeks. Hopefully all has gone well. He only needs to scrape a pass to get into university here, so he's been pretty laid back about them. I've been pulling my hair out in the background.

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    1. Hi Sarah - my mum is as feisty as they come and then some! All those remarks about her are 100% genuine. she tries to deny the knickers thing but it doesn't convince anyone! The fridge was utterly gross - I've blanked it from my mind now. Somehow, I find my kids exams so much more stressful than my own ever were! And yes, I realised after I'd posted it that I'd never put a picture of moi meme up before - and I've been the smallest in the family for ages - both my kids tower over me :(.....

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  4. I'm with your mum all the way on the G&T. As for the fridge, I'd have gone straight for the blowtorch option.

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    1. Actually considered Napalm, Andy. And needed the mother of all G&Ts when I got home :(

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  5. There you are!..welcome back. Lovely pic of you and the lad....what a good looking family you are....and hope your ma is on the mend.

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    1. thank you for your kind words (as usual) Libby. It's good to be back - I just hope I can keep up the impetus!! x

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  6. Ah this is great, coming back from a weekend with my own mother, to find out all about yours!
    Good to see you back. Like Jody, I kept coming over to find bugger all here and then, when I forgot to come over, you sneak a post in.
    That fridge is truly awful. I have all this to come.
    Rory is coming with us to Norway - I love him for that, bless him x

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    1. Having just read your blog Trish (I'm falling behind again) I see that your Norway trip was 3 days long - maybe that's the trick of it? Going for a fairly short break is tolerable for them. Mind you, I'm not convinced I'd want to go away with either of mine again - the Shah and I get on so much better without them there bickering with us!

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  7. I couldn't comment when first read this on my phone but meant to come back and say I'm sorry to hear about your mum and glad to know she has returned to fine form though! It really has been too long since we met up and that pic of you brought it home so do please get in touch next time you're down south and let's have a drink! xx

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