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Sunday, March 16, 2014

I found this unsigned note in the living room on Friday...


For anyone not trained in the dark arts of cryptography, that reads "To Toby, you're the best baby in the whole world. We love you". Although 'whole world' took a bit of analysis. My first thought was that Lisa's handwriting is getting slightly worse, but it transpired that it was written by Amelie, who's already displaying the fine motor skills required to be a doctor, plus a caring bedside manner...


Although I'm not sure you should sit the patients on your lap.

Anyhoo, I know they say that if you want something done, you should ask a busy person, but between Friday and Saturday evening, I would have told you to sod off. I was so preoccupied, I barely had time to read the latest conspiracy theories about flight MH370 (it's either aliens or elves, obviously). On Friday evening we had our shopping delivered from Asda, but in addition to the usual salad, fruit and vegetables (no, really) it came with a side order of something slightly less healthy, in the form of Bis Sis and her boyfriend, who paid us a flying visit en route to my parents'.

It meant we were able to spend an enjoyable evening chatting about life, work, and whether Sis had brought down any planes recently, whilst eating pizza and slagging off phone salesmen. Lisa and I didn't get to bed until after midnight, but I was woken at 6am by Toby kicking me repeatedly in the back, so I got up, put the previous night's shopping away (fortunately there was nothing frozen) and took Amelie to the Saturday morning film at the cinema. Which turned out to be slightly colder than our groceries.

We actually went to see 'Frozen', a chilling tale about a girl with the power to freeze anything. It's based on the old Iceland adverts with Kerry Katona. Tickets were only a pound each, which explains why the cinema was packed to the rafters with children, but personally I found the bigger stress to be caused by the parents who queue up for popcorn, spend an eternity deciding if they want sweet or salted, and then elect to pay by credit card for something which costs less than a fiver, before letting their friends jump the queue ahead of you, and proceed to do exactly the same. By the time we got into the auditorium, I felt a more appropriate film would have been 'Scream'.

But having taken a few deep breaths and a couple of good seats, Amelie and I settled down to watch some delightful little musical numbers such as 'Love is an Open Door'...


Although personally I prefer this version...


They're so like me and Lisa. I don't keep my eyes on the road either.

Anyhoo, at the Oscars the weekend before last, the Academy Award for Best Original Song went to 'Let It Go', which is sung by Elsa about 35 minutes into the film. It was the highlight of the first half of the movie, and came about two minutes before Amelie told me she was bored and wanted to leave. You can't argue with a headstrong five-year-old, so having asked her if she was sure, we abandoned 'Frozen' after 37 minutes, and headed outside to defrost in the sunshine. Whereupon Amelie admitted that she'd actually found the film a bit scary. I was the same with Pete's Dragon.

From there, we headed home, had an early lunch, and went straight back out to Hove, where we dropped Amelie at a friend's house, before heading to Halfords for a headlight bulb. I'd noticed on Tuesday that one of my car's headlights had stopped working, and I only had the sidelight on the right, so I thought I'd get the experts to fit a new one. Having parked outside the store, I double-checked that only the sidelight was working, then went inside to request a new headlight.

It was a young lady who came out to fit it, but fortunately I'm quite secure in my masculinity, so the fact that a 20-year-old girl knows more about cars than I do, didn't bother me. I probably know more about cupcakes than she does. She fitted the new bulb, and I turned on the lights to check it, at which point she said "Oh, the sidelight isn't working". I replied that it had been two minutes ago, and she said "Yes, I thought it was too...", before suddenly getting all defensive and claiming that it can't be anything to do with her, as she hadn't touched that bulb at all.

Now, I admit I know nothing about cars, but when a bulb suddenly stops working within seconds of someone changing the bulb six inches to the side, isn't that slightly suspicious? Either way, I had no proof of anything, and no choice but to fork out even more for a new sidelight bulb. Which only come in packs of two. Meaning I'd bought three bulbs instead of one. By the time we left, I'd spent twenty quid and lost all faith in Halfords.

On the bright side, however, Amelie was out at her musical theatre class all afternoon, and Toby went to sleep for a while, which meant I was able to spend a solid two hours creating a presentation for our next team meeting at work. It's about a clinical trial involving sharks. Although I'm not sure they're willing participants. With that (partially) done, we headed back over to Hove to pick up Amelie, then down to the marina for petrol and a Happy Meal (the latter wasn't for me), before getting home, putting the kids to bed, and having an early night ourselves. I'm not sure if I should give up my car, my kids or my job, but I'm definitely far too busy.

1 comments:

Phil's Mum said...

I suppose you COULD give up your blog, but that would cause uproar all over the world, so perhaps not!