Thinking out loud

There are some things about the festive season that make me rather uncomfortable. Like that old saying 'Compliments of the Season'. I never remember to say it and I often feel like a dunce when I just say the non-season specific 'Hello' and the person responds with 'Compliments of the Season'. I never know what to say back. 'Compliments of the Season to you too' is rather long and convoluted. It's like saying thank you when someone says they love you. I've said it (compliments of the season to you too) and it often leaves the other person with the glazed look of information overload. So what are you supposed to say back? Thank you? Then it means I haven't given back compliments of the new year. Will the lack of reciprocity mean I have damned that person to a compliment-less year? Perish the thought. An even more troublesome animal is that old Zimbabwean way of shortening things that shouldn't be shortened. Forget the confusion of 'C...

You know when you haven't seen an old friend in a long time and you eventually meet up?? If you're like me you (and I doubt you are!) you probably have a list of things that you must discuss to catch up. And I mean an actual written down list!! Lists calm me. We will talk about seeking therapy later. Anyway I'm thoroughly mortified at how long it's been since I blogged and like meeting up with an old friend I feel like I should list a few things that we must chat about. The first and most important thing is that I'm now a mum. After a trying pregnancy God gifted hubbz and I with the most beautiful little girl. She is far more beautiful and engaging than I could ever imagine  and she stole my heart from the moment I met her. I was petrified of becoming a mum and I've overcompensated by reading up and getting clued up on baby stuff more than I've ever been on any other topic. I can already see bits of me and hubbz in her and I can't believe she wasn't ...

I really cannot believe how long it's been since I last blogged. Sometimes life takes over, grabs you by the scruff of the neck and drags you into submission. Pausing to write about it all was the furthest thing from my mind. Instead I just licked my grass burns and pulled through it with all the energy I could muster. To be honest 2013 wasn't all bad, in fact it was pretty fabulous. I didn't do all I'd set out to do, I did some things I could have never envisaged and grew in ways I know will be useful for me in the future. So this very first waking moment of 2014 finds me sitting on the cold floor of the balcony of our apartment. I cannot believe how neglected my hanging strawberry baskets are. These once astoundingly fertile and beautiful baskets of fruit and plush greenery (that always reminded me of the fruit of the loom logo), are now in dire straits! There must be a metaphor somewhere in there. Where there once was promise now grow weeds. Not even impressive weeds...

What do you call someone you grew up with? The person who was born a week before you. The one you shared baby food with and every bath for the first five years of your life. When I was ill so was he. When he got a new cardigan, so did I (often the exact same cardigan!). We knew each other well. He knew that stuff made me cry, he'd sit with me till the sobs died out. I knew he had a naughty side, I never let them be too hard on him. He let me have the last bite of everything and I listened to his crazy dreams!  What would you call that person??! Brother? Friend? A gift for a timid child who really needed a friend at home because she was too afraid to make friends anywhere else.  It's your birthday today. I'm thinking of you. I miss our lives before they got complicated. Hope something made you smile at least.  Happy Birthday 

What better way to celebrate the arrival of Baby Cambridge?? Bangers and Mash methinks. 

I spent the whole of yesterday on the serious business of royal baby watch. Clad in my union jack apron (from the royal wedding!). I say from; I wasn't actually there. That's a whole other blog about how I foolishly bought into the commercialisation of a couple's marriage. They don't know me and yet I allowed a shop to take my hard-earned money in order that I would feel as though I was part of the wedding. Hilarious right? But I'd do it again. Would I buy an apron or put up bunting up to celebrate the marriage of Persuade and Headlight...probably not. And that's a crying shame.  Anyway I digress. So the royal baby  was all my favourite radio stations talked about. From the serious 'this marks a pivotal point where one must pause and seriously consider whether one is royalist or republican' REALLY?! To the less uptight 'wonder whether they'd ever be free to name the baby something like Poppy'. Now that's more like it!  And then the little...

There is no one in the athletics world I love more than Tyson Gay. The news today that he and Asafa Powell among others had failed a drug test, quite simply broke my heart.  Could his desperate need for a come-back and a possible head to head with Usain Bolt driven him to want to win at all costs? Was his current resurgence real? Too good to be true.   Watching him win races again in his cool, calm and collected way was wonderful. He was right where I thought he should be and now this. I wish he'd say more. Clarify things. I know this sounds naive but he just doesn't strike me as the type to cheat and perhaps the corruption and commercialisation of sport has turned good sportspeople into desperate fame hungry pawns. It's now become a case of who will fall next, what's the next scandal? But blame to those it is due. You cheat, you're out.  Just heartbroken.