My Everchanging Plot of Life

the CD player is definitely dead. It's had a hard life, and been used a lot, but I'm still sure it should've had a longer life than four and a half years.

The keyboard may not be as terminally sick as I thought, and a new lead will be tried first.

Mood improving, thankfully. It's been just as well I've not had much encounter with the rest of the human race for about ten days! Though, I have watched far too much TV. Enough to make up for the fact I've scarcely watched any for years.

I think I may be able to pack the little I'd unpacked in a much more sensible fashion, and may even have an unused bag this time round. I'm also not trying to think of three different lots of travelling this time!

I'm still bemused as to how the Odd Sock Situation has got out of control so fast, so dramatically, again. I shall have to go on a Sock Hunt.

The current horrid mood, impending sulk, tearfulness, inertia, etc. etc. They're going to have to go on hold.

Just never mind the sorting out a job, where to live, what to do with the rest of my life stuff. For some more serious crises have hit...

How dare the CD player die on me, with such noisy dramatics, and how dare the keyboard (of the musical variety) threaten it!

I've not got time for this. Look, I'm the one having the tantrums and the sulks, not you, and I've only got another day or so left to have them in peace and tranquillity... OK, another day to have them with my music playing loudly, at full volume. And I can't if the CD player is dead, and the keyboard is crackling if it's on louder than medium volume!!!!

Stomps off to bed to have a decent sulk, in silence.

over-react.

panic.

say something I will regret later, but will make me feel considerably better now.

worry.

disappear into a corner.

apologise for my existence.

But the sooner distance is restored the better. I am clearly remembering why it was established, and maintained in the first place.

Now, back to wondering how on earth a job application for a job I don't want, and whose application I filled in in a hurry, just to get various people off my back, has resulted in an interview? Pah.

The green bin crisis has been sorted.

The shopping is done for the next few days.

Much celebrating has been done with those who have had good exam results today.

Nephew has been bribed to be helpful... except he doesn't quite know what a slave driver his aunt can be, or how good she is at packing a car. He'll learn.

It's about to pour with rain, so watering the garden will be minimal again!

The fishes are thriving happily. One feeding a day has been adhered to strictly, despite all the soulful looks they give me every time I go to make a cup of coffee..

I think I've caught up on my sleep, now.

Oh dear.

I'm not entirely surprised, but I seem to have ground to a complete halt! More long sleeping sessions, and a severe case of inertia when I am awake. Pouring rain didn't encourage me to go out of doors as I had intended to do today.

Still, it did mean I didn't have to water the garden.

a solid ten hours sleep! Sleep's been a bit erratic lately, and being awoken in the morning by an enthusiastic, barking dog is not my ideal alarm clock. She has finally realised inspecting me cautiously is the best plan, and if I'm still under the duvet, it's best only to stand and look. Then go away if no head or arm emerges to acknowledge a new day has begun. As the dear creature is away with her loving staff, my system is gratefully making the most of it!

That was the excellent news of the morning.

The good news was I caught the re-cycling truck with the three huge boxes full of paper, card and glass in the nick of time.

The bad news is that I failed to get the green bin out... methinks a little creative working out how to get the contents to the local tip will be happening when I'm more awake. Luckily, it's within walking distance, and I think two or maybe three shopping trolley loads should do it!

Back to form filling....

Watching Taggart without having to translate.

Getting the laundry all done and sorted, especially after the little incident with the self-adhesive sticker sheet left in the black jeans pocket. Gaffer tape was very useful in sorting this crisis out!

Regular clarinet practice.

A church that does fire drill.

If water plants I have to do, a sufficient supply of watering cans to save me walking miles is very impressive.

but is failing miserably.

I am home alone for a whole week. Well, apart from the fish, who I will get to feed, (and in a crisis call on Soy for help) and the plants I get to water, and possibly a lawn to mow if the grass grows too enthusiastically.

Not, in my current circumstances, that I am as desperate for time home alone as I have been for the last two years, and I am getting three months worth very soon. But, for the past four weeks, there's been a lot of changes going on, and a week to get used to some of them a bit more is what I need.

Off to try out a different church, again!! I did go there a couple of weeks ago in the evening, but realise it wasn't a good time to see just how much it really had changed over twenty five or more years. (No organ any more!)

I was going to go off for a long walk (again) but now I'm up and dressed, and the bells have finally ceased (perils of living so close to a church with enthusiastic bell ringers) I've just looked out of the window, and it looks ominously like serious rain will be along later.

I was also going to do some laundry, but I think that can wait too. There is no immediate urgency.

Maybe writing some answers to numerous e-mails and letters is what I'm meant to do today, but maybe not!

Since I had a job application form that needed sending and I'd never been to the place in my life before, I decided to take myself off to deliver it to be sure it got there. This was once I realised that the county wide day ticket covered all buses I needed. Three buses there, and three buses back...

So, off I trotted this morning, with lunch box full of supplies, and complete form firmly in my back pack!! The first bit was a doddle, even if I got waylaid by an archdeacon looking for a church. I was extremely polite, and directed him to the church I knew was hidden behind the trees. The first two buses were extremely easy, and there was even one of the second variety waiting patiently for me at the bus stop, so I was not waylaid by the joys of being in a bigger city.

In the next town, I did get waylaid by the supermarket of a variety I don't get where I am currently living. But, not for long, as the buses to the Village I was seeking were not that frequent, and I wasn't entirely certain where I was going when I got there. I did have a scribbled on the back of an envelope map, but nothing more, as my printer was doing dire things last night, I did not dare risk it dying on me by asking it to print a map as well as a completed job application form!

Now, I wish to protest to the namers of villages at this point. Old Village and New Village are unhelpful when only Village has been named in addresses all through the process. Especially is this unhelpful when I got out at Old Village, before realising I needed New Village. New Village is a good mile or so's walk up hill from Old Village. I am grateful that I have been walking a lot more lately, and am considerably fitter than I was this time a month ago.

New Village, on first sight, had me wondering why on earth anyone would think this place could hold a job for which I am, apparently, ideally suited. I am not a country soul, nor do I have any desire to work in a village, let alone live in a village. Especially not an affluent looking village, which was at odds with what I'd been told about the area. I've had several mis-gvings about this particular job ever since it was enthusiastically thrust at me, with much pressure to apply for it. Even with all the information I have, I'm still not convinced, but am also aware I need a job!!

Further exploration of New Village convinced me it could be possible... sight of possible work place also had me convinced that, should by some wild possibility I get this job, it could be later than advertised, and would suit me better! A moment of encountering the local hostelry, (we won't discuss why the urgent need, but I didn't linger once I'd purchased a bottle of a soft drink as recompense for my use of the facilities) and a walk across the park totally convinced me this village was definitely only affluent around the edges. I'm still not more than about 80% convinced, but I posted the application form through the appropriate door anyway!!

And, as if to reward me for my virtue, all three buses home connected beautifully, and I had no more than five minutes to wait anywhere.

So, I'm declaring a work free weekend. I've filled in lots of forms this week, and done lots of useful things.

There's a nice alphabetical title for you. I do like a good bit of alphabetical arrangement. Books, CDs, words...

It's been a lovely day, catching up with friends, being given the tiniest but most colourful aubergines I have ever seen, reading the riot act in the bank, (oh boy, did I read the riot act!) exploring bus routes, and learning about possible travel options for the immediate future.

For it is coming to pass that I am moving on from this temporary abode, sooner than was looking possible this time last week, to another temporary abode, (but for months rather than weeks) not too far from where I was living when I first began this blog!

I have been dithering very badly over the last few weeks/months, and completely unable to make up my mind about the simplest things. But, since making this one decision, I seem to have got much more motivated to sort other things out, and am enthusiastic about job and accommodation hunting again. Especially as I can see several glimmers of hope on the horizon!

So, I'm forgetting about all the ideal and sensible solutions, about moving to the area where I currently have a part time job, and developing a life there...which I now realise I don't want to do. Nor do I want to make my life where I am currently living. It's been a great temporary solution, but was never meant to be anything other than temporary.

Now, to think of mini-aubergine recipes!

Dear me. This is not good.

I failed the other week to make a bunch of five year olds understand I'm not really that good with gaggles of children that age. One or two at a time, yes. Lots, definitely not.

This morning I have failed to make a dog understand I am not it's current best friend, even if I am the only person in this morning. She seems to think curled up next to me whilst I muse on the meaning of life, do I need another cup of coffee, and more job application forms, is the best possible place to be.

Have I left my "Leave Me in Peace" vibes in a box somewhere, I wonder?

Considering I fell asleep before 9.00 p.m. last night, and am not long up and dressed, I really would like to go back to sleep again! I think the enormity of life has just caught up with me, and rest seems the sensible thing to do this week and next, when nothing else is going on!

Oh...

I appear to be having an incoherent moment/hour/day/week or several, bear with me, and words that make sense might appear.

I also appear to have lost all ability to make any decisions... but that might be returning, slowly.

I also appear to have problems with connecting mouth to brain, and the former is consistently working before the latter has had time to engage.

Today, however, should be the day when I start being a bit more proactive about several things, and working towards what I really want and need. It's been the date in my mind for ages and ages for that very activity. But, I'm sure it can wait now until after the weekend. After all, the sun is shining, the last of the mammoth laundry pile is being dealt with, a nice long walk beckons, but still no interest in chocolate.

in that the laundry situation was, um, somewhat more dire than I had realised, and had to be attended to before I could pack again, and I had completely misread the bus timetables, and what should have been a two hour journey after returning the car turned into three and a half hours, and I desperately needed sleep this afternoon and couldn't get it, owing to the new shower being installed, I'm going away early tomorrow morning instead! Which will be much more sensible, and what I should have said I would do in the first place.

Time to attend to my seriously neglected blog!! Off I go, and, in no particular order...

I have somehow managed to gain myself a reputation. Again. This time, for being good with the five year olds.... Five year olds!!! No, this cannot be. I cannot account for why these children, none of whom had met me this time last week, decided I was the adult of choice when it came to putting themselves into working groups. I'm not sure if it was the fact I was the only one who could consistently remember all the words and all the actions to the songs, or that I didn't mind my feet being eaten in the Shark Game, or that I mentioned that very rude word, (knickers), when deciding if any of us were wearing white or not.

Despite the serious clear out I had before moving, I still seem to have a large amount of boxes and cases that are sitting patiently in the garage, awaiting a more permanent home.

It rained last Thursday. Serious rain. If I'd have been organised, I'd've gone a-hunting for Subs until the rain had stopped, since I was driving past her neck of the woods... but I failed there as well.

I did not paddle in the sea.

I did have a very, very scrumptious elderflower and lemon cake.

Coventry Cathedral is the most gorgeous building to play a clarinet in. I am told I was quite a tourist attraction, stood in the pulpit, playing away. (I was not best pleased that there were tourists meandering around during a service, so I ignored the tourists. I had a job to do!) I still don't quite believe I grew up less than fifteen miles away from Coventry, yet have visited the Cathedrals for the first time last week. It was all well worth the three hundred mile round trip!

I am going to enjoy saying "I told you I did not believe in seven working days" to the nice people in the bank when I go to enquire as to the whereabouts of my debit card that was ordered fifteen working days ago, at least.

I still seem to have no interest in chocolate....

But, you're going to have to wait to find out, because I'm off early again in the morning for another few days!!

Back soon....