What a week for Brown

Tubes were delayed this morning; announcement that Picadilly Circus was shut due to a "security alert". Got off the tube and as I reached street level I received a text message asking if I'd been affected by the "troubles" on my way to work. Cue a raised heart beat, faster pacing, thoughts of July 2005 and a quick call to M to check that he'd made it past Picadilly Circus ok. Reached my desk and logged onto the BBC to be greeted with the headlines of bomb in central London. This has now changed to Police avert car bomb 'carnage' but even so, my heart lurched.

The news has been dominated by this story all day and this afternoon reports started filtering through that there may have been other vehicles involved. I can't help but think that it cannot be co-incidence that there has been major changes in the UK government this week and a terrorist attack potentially could throw newly appointed cabinet members into disarray.

Potential terrorism always makes me think of Rachel, so I was relieved to hear that her stalker has been sentenced to six months in prison. Not as long as I had hoped but still, Rachel can rest slightly easier for a while (if she has time with impending book launch and 7/7 anniversary events) unless fjl decides to try to appeal.

Wedding Fever

Image by Rebecca Portsmouth

Facebook. It has a lot to answer for. In amongst the usual catching up with friends past and present I have discovered that nine people I know are getting married this year (this does not include the three or so weddings which have already occurred this year). Apart from M’s brother’s wedding, and a family friend’s reception later in July, I am not required to attend any of them. This is a relief, not least because I can barely afford to pay my rent at the moment, let alone pay for flights, presents, dresses and the curiously named fascinators which seem ubiquitous at every wedding this year (or at least all of the other weddings whose pictures have appeared on facebook already). It is a relief because the words ‘wedding’ and ‘marriage’ had become dirty words in our household.

When a girl is faced with news that her oldest friend from gymnastics, one of her school friends, her boyfriend’s brother, her boyfriend’s brother’s ex-girlfriend, two good friends from university (to each other) a school friend of a friend, two of her boyfriend’s colleagues and one of her own colleagues are all getting married within the space of 6 months, it is inevitable that her own thoughts will lean towards marriage, or at the very least, weddings. These thoughts range from the insignificant “if it were me, I would do this” to the rather depressing “why are my friends so sorted when I am not”. And, of course, being a girl who talks so much that her father imposes a word free room when she is at home and speaks roughly what she thinks the vast majority of the time, I talked. About weddings. A lot. From the excitement of being a bridesmaid, to the disbelief that yet another friend had been proposed to, to the skill of a photographer I had booked for a ball who also specialised in weddings, to dresses to present lists. I talked and talked. And the boyfriend grew quieter and quieter each time I mentioned the word ‘wedding’.

I say had become dirty words because last night things came to a head. The boyfriend asked if I could stop pressurising him into marriage – that he wasn’t ready for marriage; we weren’t grown up enough, we had no money. He thought that every time I mentioned anything to do with a wedding I was pressurising him to propose. It was such a horrid conversation and I felt so helpless. Torn between feeling like a child and also like an adult, I don’t think I am alone in wondering about the future of a relationship that is 5 years old. School age. Not future as in shall we break sort of future, just wondering at what point one suddenly decides that one is old enough, mature enough, financially sorted enough to get married. Why getting married is such a step, when we live together already. And why if we are happy together than marriage means anything to me at all anyway, why I am I desperate to achieve something which I essentially already know. Pressurising him was never my intention; and I certainly never wanted to reach the point when I could not talk about anything to do with weddings for fear of making him feel cornered.

And so we talked, long into the night and reassured each other of our worries. And we shall continue, in our committed relationship of non-committal and I shall try to only mention my friends’ weddings in the context of them not me. And one day, maybe, when I am least expecting it, the boyfriend will ask me. And until then I shall try and stop torturing myself. And try to stay away from facebook.

Brown is new PM

So today is the day when Mr Brown displaces Mr Blair as prime minister and is finally able to move into number 10. Given that it was announced several weeks ago, it seems rather an anti-climax. I'm not even sure how much I mind really. There will be a re-shuffle of personel I'm sure but I cannot really see there being a huge difference. I hope I'm proved wrong.

I also read that Brown is the 11th prime minister to hold office whilst she has been on the throne. I wonder how many more she will see?

It's funny really, England is undergoing an enormous change and has gained a new pm without a general election and all I am interested in news wise at present is whether or not it is still raining in SW19. Priorities, priorities...

BBC Wimbledon Weather Forecast

Clicked the link on the sidebar mostly out of boredom, expecting to see wet cold English summer weather symbols. You can imagine the double-take I did when all the symbols developed as suns, temperatures 34-36 degrees. Checked location – Augusta, USA. Some fool at the BBC has mixed up Wimbledon SW19 with the golf…

Birthday Weekend

The period of 23-26 June seems to contain a large number of my friends birthdays. I'm not sure what happens at the end of September to make it such a popular time to conceive a child but tomorrow is shared by my father and good friends S and C; the 24th is M and then H and K celebrate theirs on the 26th. So an expensive few days.

We took the train to Berkshire this afternoon to visit my parents and have supper with both sets of grandparents. This is the first year for several years that we have not gone to Glastonbury and the train we caught contained several of the stragglers who couldn't take the time off work and had missed Friday's performance. To my mind, it seems odd not to go for the whole festival; I would rather not go than only go for half. Anyhow, watching some of the action from the pyramid stage this evening on the BBC was rather peculiar. It was almost as if I was watching a performance that I had been to, as my brain couldn't seem to get around the fact that it hadn't been there, so familiar was the sight of the flags waving, silhouetted against the lights of the stage, the crowd cheering, dancing, singing and moving as one. The only difference is that I am warm and dry and not wearing a plastic coat and I can sleep in a proper bed. And judging from the Arctic Monkeys rather dismal performance, I'm not missing too much either (at the moment).

Another Quick Update

So little time to blog lately that when I do finally get an opportunity every thought that I've had in the past week which I have made a mental note beside saying 'blog' has flown clean out of the window. I suppose this may in part be due to the migraine which I had yesterday and has shown little sign of shifting since. Or, perhaps I should start carrying around a little notebook and recording my thoughts.

Equally annoying are the incidents I can remember that I earmarked 'blog' but now, when I have the opportunity, I am unable to remember the details. Like the two girls who I had the 'fortune' to sit opposite on the bus last week. So styled they were they could have been caricatures and whose conversation was so tummy hurting funny that I wanted to share it. And now all I can remember is "Mummy, I've did 100 hundred butt clenches this morning and now my butt is numb". And that just doesn't sound so funny without painting the rest of the picture.

So, devoid of interesting things, I shall have to think of something else to write about. The WI were mentioned in the Sun last week with a picture of the Christmas beer and chocolate tasting. Not a terribly enlightening article and very poorly written, but still, some more exposure. And speaking of the WI, spent yesterday evening at an organisation meeting for the Christmas Charity Ball. We have managed to decide the theme, the date, the charity and even some of the decorations. Things are progressing nicely.

And, given that my mind is now drawing a resounding blank, I think I will go and be extremely dull somewhere else. Perhaps in front of the television. Where I spent most of the weekend watching the extremely addictive Twin Peaks (and am now desperate to find either £60 or someone who knows how to turn region 1 Dvds into region 2 so that I can watch the second series).

Nearly there

Sorry that it's been a while; things are taking longer than I thought in the new house. Long hours and short opening hours of services has resulted in a back log of things to sort out. Convincing the gas, electricity and water services not to cut us off has had to take priority over the telephone and broadband, but we are slowly moving towards an efficient household.

Unpacking is taking it's time as well. Each day I try to follow my flylady tip (although that in itself hasn't been the easiest task without easy e mail access) and I have been unpacking one box or doing a 27 fling boogie, or whatever she calls it, when asked. Setting myself the task of just spending 15 minutes doing something I have been putting off has really helped me.

Just time for a quick round up of stuff that's happened other than the all demanding move.

Rachel 's stalker has been arrested and is currently in prison awaiting sentencing. This is obviously a huge relief to Rachel and the other various victims. I am pleased that bloggers managed to help catch her and prove that there is a huge supportive blogging community in London. Button has now been taken down.

I spent the weekend sailing to the Isle of Wight, no, not for the festival, although that would have been nice, but practising for our impending sailing holiday in France. It was so warm that once we were anchored off Osborne Bay (just to the east of Cowes) we swam in the sea off the boat and it was much warmer than I expected. Once I have co-ordinated photos and computers, I may try and post some.