Change of location

After trying to a while to work out how to add pages to this site via blogger, I have discovered that you can't. So I shall be moving this blog to Wordpress.

15 March 2011 - the Blog has been moved to www.perkyandupbeatnot.wordpress.com - a slightly different format, but all the same information along with a new page called Becca's Scribblings where you will find a few stories. This will probably expand as time goes by if my arm gets twisted enough.

Enjoy.

Change of location

After trying to a while to work out how to add pages to this site via blogger, I have discovered that you can't. So I shall be moving this blog to Wordpress. I'll give you the location, etc. in a while, so come back in a little bit to find out where to find me.

Jonno

            ‘And how long will madam be staying?’

            ‘I’m afraid I don’t know. It was to be three nights, but now I don’t know. Will that be a problem?’

            ‘I shouldn’t think so, madam.’ He looked at her sourly. Bloody women. Why can’t they get themselves organised? ‘I’m sorry your companion couldn’t join you after all.’

            ‘So am I.’ You wouldn’t believe just how sorry. ‘What time is dinner this evening?’

            ‘Five thirty, madam ...’

            ‘Thank you.’

            ‘... to accommodate the theatre-goers, you understand,’ he explained to her back as she made her way up the stairs, nodding absently. Three years! Three years gone in one angry conversation.

*

            The light on the answer-phone was on when Katie returned home from work. Automatically, she pressed the ‘play-back’ buttons. Going through to the bedroom to change her clothes, voices drifted in.

             ‘Catherine? Can you please call your sister. She’s been trying to call you for days. It’s about the holiday plans.’ Oh, mother! ‘Today, please.’ Why do you interfere? If Jools had called I would know, wouldn’t I? Why do you think I have this blasted machine?

            ‘Hi, Kate. About holiday plans. Give me a call. OK?’ Ok, OK, OK! I’ve got the message. Sorry, Jools. It’s mother again. Why does she annoy me so much? Don’t bother, I know why.

            ‘So, Cath. You’ve got one of these confounded contraptions too, have you?’ Hello, Dad. I’m fine. How are you? ‘Could you ask your mother what her plans are for the next week or so?  There are a few things I need to collect from the house.’ Find out for yourself, you scheming old sod.

            ‘Kay?’ Hi, Jonno. A smile creased her face. ‘Cancel all plans for tomorrow!’ Why? What’s happened? ‘I’ve got a research day and wondered if you could give me a hand.’ You get paid for it, Jonno. I don’t. ‘You’re so good at it; you make it so much easier.’ Humph. Why me? ‘Two thirty. At the Central. We’ll go out for dinner afterwards. OK?’ You’re assuming too much, Jonno. And no mention of next weekend. You can’t have forgotten; you’re the one who thought of it. Still, I’ve booked up now, you’ll have to go.

*

            Stupid! You are a stupid fool, Catherine Jane Simmonds! Jonno didn’t want a weekend with me. It was one of his daydreams. He’d wanted a weekend with one of his ‘flimsies’ he’s mentioned. Well, daydreams don’t work, Jonno. People aren’t like that. They can’t be. Sure, it’s OK to have ideals, but you have to recognise them for what they are.

            I have ideals too, you know. No, you probably don’t, we never discussed it, did we? No, really. I understand. We didn’t know each other so well, after all, did we?

            I considered you to be more than just a friend. I told you things about myself that I haven’t even told my best friend. And you didn’t have enough respect for me to remember what I’d said to you, or you to me.

*

            Katie travelled by bus to meet Jonathan. As they worked the weather closed in making the afternoon end prematurely. The rain started as they walked to the bus stop, falling in huge drops.

            ‘As we can’t go away this weekend, I’ve got tickets for that play you wanted to see.’

            ‘Can’t go? What do you mean, can’t go? Jonno, it’s all booked and everything. Why didn’t you tell me before?’

            ‘I never intended ... I didn’t think ... I don’t ...’

            ‘What are you trying to say? You never intended to get that involved? You didn’t think I’d take you seriously? You don’t want to go? Am I right?’

            Jonathan opened his mouth to protest that Katie had got it totally wrong. He turned to face her, but seeing a flush on her cheeks and streetlights flash in her eyes he knew that she wouldn’t accept what he said, whether it was the truth or not. He shut his mouth and looked away.

            ‘Are you afraid it wouldn’t live up to your daydreams? Well, no, I don’t suppose it would. But then life doesn’t, does it? It’s one of the sad facts of life, Jonno. You can’t have everything you want and sometimes you have to compromise.’

            ‘Kay, you’re right. I’m sorry.’ She turned to him. ‘I should have told you.’

            ‘Oh! Jonno!’ She strode away from him towards to the centre of town.

*

            ‘Excuse me, madam. We have others staying here alone. Would you care for company?’ enquired the Head Waiter.

            ‘No, thank you.’ Jonno made such an event of having dinner out; the right wine with the right course ... And always with company. It became such a bore. ‘I prefer to eat alone.’

            ‘As you wish.’ Katie was handed a menu and left to peruse for a while. She decided on the stuffed mushroom starter and a sweet. That would be adequate. Jonno would be horrified.

*

            ‘Kay! Kay, please! Wait!’ Jonathan hurried after her. ‘Kay!’

            ‘I have nothing more to say.’

            ‘What about dinner?’

            ‘Tonight? I don’t think so, Jonno.’

            ‘But ...’

            ‘Think about it.’ She could see her bus coming and joined the end of the queue.

            ‘The play, next week then.’

            ‘I won’t be able to go, Jonno.’

            ‘Why not?’

            ‘If you remember, I have a hotel reservation for next weekend. I’m not cancelling.’

            ‘You’re going – on your own?’

            ‘Of course. Why not?’

            ‘But, Kay ...’

            ‘But what?’ She turned to him, a challenge in her eyes.

            ‘Nothing.’

            ‘Don’t look so scandalised, Jonno. Women do it all the time. I may even stay a few more days.’ She stepped onto the bus, shaking raindrops from her coat as she took her ticket. ‘I booked two rooms, Jonno.’

            Katie sat looking at Jonathan through the grimy window. His hair, plastered to his head, channelled the rain under his collar and into ears and eyes, making him blink furiously. As the bus pulled away, Katie brushed the water from her cheeks and lashes.

*

            ‘Your theatre tickets, madam.’

            ‘But I only ordered one.’ She suddenly looked up and smiling, offered the seat opposite. Katie looked at him for a long time while he read the menu.

            ‘I cancelled your room.’

            Jonathan smiled at her.

            ‘I know.’

Rebecca Mills

© 2 January 1990

John Ruskin - that Pre-Raphaelite chappie

I won't have time to finish this blog before I have to go out, but need to start it now, so that I can pick up the train of thought when I get back.

As part of the current OU course I'm doing (Start Writing Essays), there are some excerpts from set texts that have to be used for The Essay. So while I was in the library yesterday I picked up a copy of Sesame and Lilies by John Ruskin. It is the text from some Lectures and Essays he wrote in the 1860s and much of the text reminded me of the phrases used by my paternal grandparents.

Unfortunately, I have had such a busy day, that I am too tired to continue with this today. Maybe I will revisit it in a while. I was so enthusiastic about it this morning and now feel disappointed that I can't finish it. I'm just too tired.

Saturday 5 March 2011

This morning I had a small group of 5 people on the 11am walk - well, there were 4 from France and fairly far down south,too (Montpellier and Avignon). They complained it was too cold and only managed half the walk - round to The Exchange. They said that they might join me at the 3pm walk, but only to arrange where to meet to finish the walk. No stamina these French!
The walks will be ending at the end of March. There isn't enough demand for them and I want my weekends back. The garden is in a terrible state and there are jobs about the house that need seeing to, not least a good tidy up and sorting through all the 'important' bits of paper in various piles about the place.
It will be sad to stop the walks as I really enjoy taking them, but after 2 years and nothing financial to show for it, there really is no other option. And the OU work is needing more time than I anticipated, so another reason to give up the walks.
Sitting in the cafe in the library, I thought I should buy a cup of tea so I wouldn't feel so guilty for eating my sandwiches there. It's so noisy! Children with their clattery toys, parents trying to keep them quiet, and adults just having rather loud conversations. However, the time has ccome to see if I can upload this via my little beastie (which is so slow on the internet) and then be on my way to take the next walk.

What shall I do this weekend? 12 February 2011

OK, so it's Saturday morning and what shall I do with my day? Well, the weekend laundry is just coming to an end and I have the beginnings of flapjack warming in a saucepan and the oven is on to heat up. I also want to fit in as much as I can of 4 hours of Time Team. I love this programme and because of taking guided walks at weekends, I miss quite a lot of them, so this is a good way to catch up, if I'm not too busy!
The flapjack is in the oven, the laundry still isn't finished, yet, so I'll start on the sponge cake and see if I can get that in the oven before TT starts.
Well, there is a batch of flapjack in the tin, a sponge traybake cut up and in the tin, but the mince pies have been postponed, maybe to tomorrow, maybe later in the week. I can't leave it too late as the pastry has been defrosted and will go horrible if it's not used fairly soon. Lunch is now 'doing' in the microwave - a small venison(!) cassarole provided by a benevolent parent some weeks ago. Just need to make some instant mash (which has greatly improved since the days of the Smash Robots!).
The parents turned up while I was knitting and watching 'Murder She Wrote: South by Southwest'.
They have just cleared out their attic and had a few boxes of my stuff to go into my attic, so that was the first thing to do and in the process we managed to break the glass on a very large sketch. That will now have to be reframed at quite an expenses. My fault, can't blame anyone else.
Next it was out to Tesco to do a little bit of shopping - frozen stuff, so a car was convenient. After fiddling about for another hour or so, it was tea time. That quintisential thing us Brits do; quite strong tea, scones and jam, sponge cake and flapjack. Yummy.
Dad was watching 'North by Northwest' (yes, I kid you not!) and it had got to the exciting climax, so we all watched for a little while.
So the parents left shortly afterwards and I had a Christmas present to unwrap! I know it's the middle of February, but it had only just reached me via a tortuous route. It was a box of 'Simply Delicious Peanut Brittle', one of my favourites - it won't last long.
Another ramble about what I get up to in a day. I know it's not interesting ... but I don't have much else to say at the moment.

Oh, The Joys of Embarking on Study

I am just at the point of starting a new Open University course. It is A172 Start Writing Essays. I have begun a degree with the Open University and, as I've been out of higher education for about 20 years, felt that I should brush up on my essay writing skills.
The course is entirely 'on-line' and we have begun with 'forums'. The Tutor Group forum opened a couple of days ago and we were encouraged to write a short paragraph about ourselves. This will introduce us to each other, provide a bit of background information and give us an idea of how other students are planning their study time.
I have been pleasantly surprised that the tutor has taken the time to respond to each persons' introduction of themselves. This helps us to understand our tutor and get used to her 'voice' before the course kicks off properly this weekend. I'm trying to get a bit ahead of myself, by starting Block 1 today. I think it will take about 2 or 2.5 half weeks to finish, especially as I get easily distracted wtih 'more important' things to do!
I'm hoping to give regular updates on how the study is progressing, what I particularly gain from the process and if any extraordinary 'things' occur to me during the process. If you have any questions about anything that I write here, please feel free to send a comment.
If you would like to see the courses that are run by the Open University, I recommend that you visit their website which can be found here http://www.open.ac.uk/