About Me

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A first time mum at 39, trying not to let my son kill me off too soon. Busy juggling a new family, a new house and a tricky recording schedule I figured blogging would be less expensive than therapy and less embarrassing than shouting at rude and stupid people in the street/on trains/at the supermarket.

Friday 23 December 2011

Bah humbug to ITV!

Let's not beat around the bush here.  I love Tim Minchin.  He's clever, witty, musical and can make ginger hair and eye liner look quite cool (something I strived for in the 90's but not entirely sure I ever achieved....)

Jonathan Ross also loves Tim Minchin hence he invited him to his Christmas show.  Jonathan Ross' bosses did not like Tim Minchin.  I think he explains it best here.....

Personally I think it's a genius song but you make up your own mind.

Thursday 22 December 2011

Very bad day.....

Yesterday the people buying our flat pulled out of the deal.  The day before we were due to exchange contracts. Merry flippin' Christmas.
As you can imagine, I'm not happy.

Only 5 days ago I was at the house we're buying measuring up for curtain poles, new kitchen appliances and nursery furniture.  Let's face it, at this point would you expect it all to fall flat on it's backside!?  We were looking forward to spending an obscene amount of cash in the January sales but alas, we're back to square one.

I will be honest, I spent most of yesterday afternoon in tears.  Perhaps there was a touch of petulant child in the there with the whole 'why me?' mentality but at the same time I think it was a little justified.  I'm under no illusion that these guys have been stalling for about a week and the fact they didn't even tell the estate agent that they were withdrawing is a little galling.  To find out via my solicitor who received a letter posted a few days previously was not very nice at all.

I'm swinging between cross and upset.  I'm almost 5 months pregnant, having an awful time at work and was looking forward to getting out of a tiny flat.  I know I should be grateful that I have my own flat but it's getting terribly cramped after 9 years of collecting junk  - not to mention a husband who brought his own stack of junk.  Trying to fit everything in without the pending small person is a nightmare so when we have to try to put in more furniture to house the small person it could just tip us over the edge. 
So the choice it, get back on the horse and try to resell again and hope we manage it in time to get our house back or sit tight and live in a flat I'm beginning to really dislike and be as cramped as hell.  What a nightmare!

It makes me so cross that our system of house purchasing is so namby-pamby.  Short of there being a very good legal reason not to purchase, I find it amazing that it is perfectly acceptable to just change your mind at any time without any recourse.  It's simply not on.

Apparently they may be in a position to change their mind in January  - well BULLY FOR THEM!  I hope they have a lovely relaxed Christmas with no worries whilst I'm crying into my turkey gravy with not even the possibility of drinking myself into oblivion.  Thanks so much.

Friday 16 December 2011

PRESSURE!!

I've just discovered that this blog does get read occasionally.  How bizarre.  I realise that probably was partially the point when I first started it and I know of a couple of girlfriends that do 'tune in' from time to time but I didn't know that this particular person logged on too.  

PRESSURE! 

So now I have to make sure I triple check my spelling and grammar as he's bound to comment on it at some point.  

He's probably bored.  That's what happens when you move house and have a broken ankle.  He likes to fancy himself as a bit of an athlete.  Well sweetie, the only injuries I've ever known you to sustain have been whilst doing something energetic (and I don't mean a strained muscle from stretching to reach the remote control) so this can only strengthen my argument that not all exercise is good for you.

Still, thanks for tuning in.  I'll endeavour to keep you entertained, it just won't be in quite the same way as it was when we were students...I simply can't hold my drink to that extent anymore.

Tuesday 6 December 2011

I dispair....

A friend of mine directed me to this website today.  It almost makes me want to cry....
http://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/12-extremely-disappointing-facts-about-popular-mus
For those who can't follow the link it is entitled:

12 extremely disappointing facts about popular music

1. Creed have sold more records in the US than Jimi Hendrix
Okay so i don't know who Creed are but after a little research I discovered that they have been 'active' and touring and releasing records from 1995 til 2004 and then started again in 2009.  Seeing as Hendrix was discovered in 1967 and died in 1970 he hasn't really had time on his side. 
Still quite surprising though.

2. Led Zeppelin, REM, and Depeche Mode have never had a number one single, Rihanna has 10
Yes, but in recent years you may only need to sell between 18,000 - 23,000 copies to hit number 1.  Before 2003, the average number 1 sales were over 130,000!!  C'mon, I don't really need to say any more do I.


3. Ke$ha's “Tik-Tok” sold more copies than ANY Beatles single

This blows my previous argument out of the water and I don't know what to say. Especially as I have no idea who Ke$ha is and I've never heard  that song.  God I'm old.

4. Flo Rida's “Low” has sold 8 million copies – the same as The Beatles' “Hey Jude”

see no.4  I have heard of her but i have no idea about the song.  In defence [m'lud], The Beatles didn't have the luxury of the internet and digital downloads to help their total. 

5. The Black Eyed Peas' “I Gotta Feeling” is more popular than any Elvis or Simon & Garfunkel song

See no.4.  Elvis and Simon & Garfunkel didn't have t'internet.  And please define 'popular'.
That saying, this is a very sad fact.  Haven't these people seen the video of Black Eyed Peas embarrassing performance on The X-Factor last year!?

6. Celine Dion's “Falling Into You” sold more copies than any Queen, Nirvana, or Bruce Springsteen record

Kill me now.  But then I guess your nan will buy Celine Dion and not Nirvana.  There is no accounting for taste.

7. Same with Shania Twain's “Come On Over”

see no.6

8.Katy Perry holds the same record as Michael Jackson for most number one singles from one album
Shows they were both lazy and couldn't be bothered to write new stuff! [ok, so I'm only half joking...]

9.Barbra Streisand has sold more records (140 milllion) than Pearl Jam, Johnny Cash and Tom Petty combined.
and this surprises you because.....?
MOR will always sell more.  Sad but true.   And I'd rather it was her than Celine Dion. 

10. People actually bought Billy Ray Cyrus' album “Some Gave All…” 20 million people. More than any Bob Marley album

yep, but no one will actually admit to owning the BRC album and lots of people will tell you that they do own a Bob Marley one when in reality they downloaded 'I shot the Sheriff' for a party once.

11. The Cast of 'Glee' has had more songs chart than the Beatles.
Yes, but how many of them did they write?  And charting doesn't mean they were hits.  And I refer back to point 2.  I reckon if I had a go I could make a song chart. 

12. Justin Bieber exists.
we all live in hope though. 

Monday 5 December 2011

Random...

I just stumbled across a blog entitled 'Random Hot Guys'... honestly I wasn't looking for it, I was being curious and just hit 'next blog' at the top of my own to see what else was going on in the world.  And there was 'Random Hot Guys'.

All I can say is that it was definitely random but there didn't appear to be a plethora of hot guys.

I guess I just have very different criteria to your average American gay guy....

Friday 2 December 2011

We're all in it together

I've had some real conscience wrestling these last few days assisted by a lot of tongue biting.

Wednesday brought a massive Public Sector workers strike and I have real mixed feelings about this (including a lot of anger) particularly as i have a lot of friends who are teachers and civil servants.  For those of you have been living in your shed without a TV for the last year, the country (and most of the world) is in pretty deep doo-doo financially and some pretty drastic cuts have got to be made to stop us from turning into a crap version of Greece * .  Consequently the government have introduced some pretty unpopular cuts to services and changes in policy to try to reduce the deficit.
* At least Greece has good weather and beaches for when you're really depressed.

The most recent one has been a change in pensions for all Public Sector workers. Now the big point that everyone seems to be missing is that Public Sector Pensions (and the State Pension come to that) should have been reformed years ago to take into account the fact that people simply live longer than they used to.   In 1926 when State Pensions were introduced the average life expectancy was 76 for men and 78 for women, in 2008 those figures were closer to 86 and 89 respectively.  So there is an extra 10 years of pension cash to be found per person in the UK and yet until recently there had been almost no real move to increase the age at which these pensioners could start receiving their cash.

Anyone who can do simple adding and subtraction knows that this kind of commitment cannot be sustained indefinitely.  Unfortunately the world financial crisis has elevated the pension timebomb profile and the government have no option but to address it and try to sort something out.  They have already brought in plans to raise retirement age for the State Pension and now they are making changes to the Public Sector and it's not going down well.

I agree that the measures seem unfair and it would be a pretty poor argument if all I did was bleat on about the private sector being stamped on for years with dismal payrises, long hours and diminishing pensions to show for it, so I won't.  Instead, let's think about a few other points.

1)  No public sector worker will lose any money they have already invested in their pensions.
2)  Public sector pensions will be 'defined benefit' ie: linked to pay and not on the amount saved or invested.  So why is that bad?
3)  Private sector workers must be responsible for the investment into their pensions, so why should they also be predominantly responsible for the investment into public sector workers pensions too?

Forgive me for being cynical but, generally, Governments tend to focus on keeping themselves in power for as long as possible and traditionally they like to make themselves pretty popular.   So why are the Tories seemingly making themselves as unpopular as rabid dog at a teddy bears picnic?  Could it be because they've explored all the popular options and realised they don't work?  Could it be that there really are very few alternatives left (if any) and so drastic times call for drastic measures?

Even Husb who would sooner cut off his hands than be accused of being a Tory is shouting at the telly when some of the half-wits that the media choose to interview at times like this bang on about everything being 'not fair' and 'I'm entitled!' etc etc ad boredinium....[yes I did just make that word up]. 


The simple facts remain that we are not in a good place and we're all in it together so whilst you teachers are worried about your diminishing pension, so are we; you guys are worrying about future redundancies and job security and so are we.  Times are rubbish but if we all start taking some responsibility then maybe we can get through it.  Our parents and grandparents didn't exactly have it easy but they managed.  They survived wars, rationing, general strikes and some positively dreadful fashion statements.  They had to work out how to stretch a ridiculously small amount of food just that bit further and mend clothes rather than buy news ones yet most of us mainly have to make sure we don't overstretch our finances just in case something hits us – so, no new flat screen TVs, no amazing foreign holidays, making sure the kids have new shoes rather than £100 fashion trainers.  You get the idea. I know I could easily knock a good £10 off my weekly food shop without trying too hard.   And yes, I am aware that I am one of the relatively lucky ones and there are a lot of others who have to cut it down a lot more than that and have a lot less income to start with.

Incidentally, if anyone has any ideas that the Tories haven't thought of yet then please do share them.  The only ones I can think of would probably be even more unpopular...
 - Income tax rises
- VAT rises
- Council tax rises
- Fuel duty rises?

And before someone tries to bang on about Bankers and the mega rich and so on, yes ladies and gents, there will also be the 'haves' and the 'have-nots'.  It's the way of the world and always has been.  Some will have inherited, some will have got lucky on the lottery, some will have got theirs from their golden boots or golden tonsils and some will just be thieving greedy bastards.  It's not always necessarily fair , but in a lot of  cases the 'haves' have built up their fortunes through hard work and sacrifice.  Do you begrudge them their money too?   You know as well as I do that if it were you (or me) who had the millions stashed away then you would enjoy it as much as those guys do.

We can't base all our decisions on what someone else does or someone else has.  At some point in all our lives we have to just take some responsibility for ourselves and look out for those who can't look out for themselves.   I don't have all the answers and if I did, would I want the Prime Minister's job?  Would I heck.

Ooooer madam.

I know that it's quite common to have vivid dreams when pregnant but I didn't know they would be quite like this...

I woke up in the night after having a very real and convincing dream in which I was ....erm... having 'intimate' relations with a very old friend whom I haven't actually seen in about 10 years.  He was quite good looking then and is still pretty hot now - even though he is 40 (huh, like I'm some spring chicken).

All very bizarre as even in the dream I was pregnant but didn't appear to have a Husb and friend didn't mind at all that I was 'with child'.  In fact I think he kinda liked it.  It was so real it scares me.  I woke up in quite a fluster - I had clearly enjoyed the experience, but then I got 'The Fear' about Husb rumbling my infidelity!  It took a couple of seconds to remember that I hadn't actually done anything, it was all my sub-conscious.  Ooops.  I'm still trying to decide whether up to fess-up to my friend (we still chat on Facebook).  He'd probably find it funny but I'd be mortified if he didn't.