Tuesday 26 January 2010
I’ve showered, done my hair, put on my face and some decent clothes ready to go out, but it’s not happening. It’s approaching 4.30 pm and I’m still here. I need to go to the bank, the post office and have yet to check out the sales for left-over Christmas stuff. To be honest, I’ve a feeling I may have missed the boat this year. I haven’t been into town since the week before Christmas and the longer it goes on, the less I’m inclined to do so. I’m braving the outside world when I have commitments but have totally lost interest in going anywhere just for the sake of going.
I suspect part of the reason is my continued lack of my own car. This is about to change. We’ve part-exchanged the ‘people-carrier’ for a ‘me’ car. I’m calling it my ‘mid-life crisis’ car, but I’m not necessarily sure that’s what’s going on. I’ve reached the stage in my life where my children (again, using that term loosely) no longer need me to ferry them and their multitude of friends around. I’m spending a lot of time all alone in my seven-seater and was beginning to seriously consider changing it before Christmas but the fact that it once again let me down as soon as the weather got colder made our minds up for us. This new car is too posh for children to ride in, with leather upholstery and a retro cream dashboard as well as chrome trim and wheels. We’ve bought a Chrysler PT Cruiser in midnight pearl (dark blue), a car that I’ve fancied the look of for a long time. It’s one of those cars you either love or hate, but I love them and I’m picking mine up on Friday!
In the time I’ve not written my blog we’ve celebrated Alex’s 21st birthday. It doesn’t seem possible that my first-born has now reached true, official adulthood, but it has really happened. She came home from University on Friday and spent a laid-back and well-fed weekend here, starting with chinese takeaway on Friday evening, followed by a meal at the local pub on Saturday with other family members and Sunday lunch, which she cooked, with friends. Her friend Tanya joined her for the weekend and they disappeared on the train back to Cheltenham late on Sunday afternoon. She’s in the process of writing her dissertation so hasn’t been in touch as much as she was before, needing to concentrate her efforts on that.
I’ve also become a surrogate mum to an abandoned calf called Jenny. This little babe was premature and didn’t realise she was supposed to chase her mother around for sustenance. Her mother quickly lost interest when she wasn’t being sucked and was added to the herd without a murmur. Jenny Junior was bottle-fed with her mother’s milk which was kept separate. In the first couple of days we were certain we’d lose her; she was so tiny and lacked any interest in sucking, but she’s come on in leaps and bounds. When I go into the calf-shed to feed her in the mornings she starts head-butting the bucket and hanging her tongue out ready to go. She’s not out of the woods yet, but it certainly looks a lot more encouraging. Alex took a photo from her bedroom window of the pair of us going for a walk on Saturday evening – the more exercise the calf gets, the stronger she’ll be. The photo’s quite dark as it was about twenty-past five and if you look at the bottom left of the photo you can just see the tip of Gizmo’s nose. At one stage they were touching noses, both curious about what this strange creature could be.
A friend of mine (he may now be having second thoughts about that) of a very ‘certain age’ indeed, recently bought a German sports car. He was not at all impressed when without thinking I refered to it as a “male menoporsche”.
Have fun in the Cruiser Jackie!
Arrrrrrh to little Jenny.
Come for a visit…………….
Very good, Fr Peter. That made me chuckle and is so appropriate!
I will Julie, when I have my own transport again!
[...] Gordon shut two youngsters back this evening as they look imminent. One of them was photographed here back in January 2010 – a Jenny. Advertisement GA_googleAddAttr("AdOpt", "1"); [...]