Tuesday 22 January 2008

Throwing it all away

When I'm not frolicking on a Saturday night, I've been spending my time clearing out the house.

What started as a bit of filing has now turned into an attempt to break the People's Republic of Lambeth's record for the highest number of recycling sacks left out all at once for the collectors. We're up to ten sacks at the moment, and we have three days to go.

My cousin gave me an Australian Flower Remedy combo - Purifying - which has set me off foraging through cupboards and throwing things away.

I'm now thinking about what I'm going to do with my collection of Feng Shui magazines, my old French degree coursebooks, and all the magazines and newspapers I kept when the children were born. What immediately comes to mind is my trusty shopping trolley and the fact that the British Heart Foundation Bookshop is a two minute walk from my abode. And I have another roll of orange sacks.

I am determined to work my way through the house. My old work clothes - even the Jaegar stuff, bed linen from the 1980s, our last pushchair, all the crap my aunt gave us when she cleared out her own house, all the self help books I've bought from the charity shops, and so forth.

I'm even tempted to pack away the cupboard full of crystal we got as a wedding present. What possessed us to want all that stuff when we only use glasses from the supermarket. Why do I need ten plastic mixing bowls, when a couple will do. Mercifully we have an Oxfam furniture shop within dragging distance so they can all go there. The trick will be to escape from the Oxfam shop with an empty trolley.

I have now stopped the arrival of more crap to replace the old stuff. The post is processed on arrival - I attack it like a manky old rottweiler. School letters are digested and immediately binned, and magazines and read and passed on within the week.

We're knee deep in crud at the moment, but it'll be lovely when it's all finished.

Watch this ever increasing space!

Monday 21 January 2008

Another Saturday Night.....

So far this year, there have been three Saturday Nights.

On the first, as detailed in a previous post, I spent a wild evening with some wild women watching reruns of Green Wing in a pub in Bermondsey St, SE1. Oh, and it was my birthday (thank you all for your good wishes).

On the second, I decided at the last minute to accept an invitation to a concert/meditation featuring the amazing Gabriella Kapfer. Didn't know what to expect, but it was a wonderful experience.

http://www.yescarefirst.com/songbird.htm

On the third, my husband and I went to see Much Ado at the National starring Zoe Wanamaker and Simon Russell Beale. What a fantastic performance. Even my husband, who's seriously allergic to anything cultural, enjoyed himself. And we saw Joanna Lumley in the car park! What could be better than that? It was a pity that when we got home we discovered that our house had been trashed by young people with too much coca cola in them, but never mind....

http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/muchado


So what about this coming Saturday? will that be it, now, for the rest of the year? I am doing the moonwalk in May, so that's at least one more Saturday booked up, but I fear that will be it now, and I'll have to spend Saturdays as usual, in the bosom of my family, elbow deep in washing up.

Any suggestions, anyone??

Thursday 10 January 2008

All The Rage - January 2008

Here we go again!


Another edition of All the Rage and I'm in it, again!


It's a good read.

The theme this month is Forbidden Knowledge

Sunday 6 January 2008

Yesterday it was my birthday....

I hung one more year on the line.
I should be depressed, my life's a mess, but I'm having a good time......

Yes, indeed, it was my birthday. I had a wonderful day.

Presents - usual collection of bogof books from husband:
Paul McKenna - I can make you thin
Bill Bryson - Thunderbolt Kid
Niambh Greene - Confessions of a desperate housewife

stuff from children - candle and home made bracelet

Went shopping for some lovely cheap stuff from Nappy Valley

Then spent the evening in a pub watching reuns of Green Wing with a bunch of likeminded women.

We drank, ate, chatted, made yellow post it note wigs, booed, cheered, sighed, and generally had a wonderful time.

We watched episodes 5 and 6 from the first series, and episode 4 form the second. Then we also watched The Phenomenon from the Definitive Edition.

Then we went home.

Would some men like to come next time? It would be very interesting to get a male perspective on GW. Or perhaps, according to my husband, men have better things to do with their time. Splitting the atom? Anyway, just sign up to http://excoboard.com/exco/index.php?boardid=17848 and you too could find yourself on a leather banquette wedged between a bunch of cuddly women with a white wine too many inside them........

Think about it.