As I prepare to do some serious desk-tidying on my last day at work, I'm going to look back on 2014 - quite changeable, I think you'll agree.
This time last year we were bracing ourselves for many drunk shenanigans from our neighbours - as a sign that Derby is [makes tiny gap between fingers] *this* big, it turns out that my mother in law knows someone who knows HIM.
Which is how we found out out a few weeks ago that SHE had dumped HIM, SHE had a new boyfriend and HE was heartbroken.
A week or so after finding this out, we saw them out shopping together - and we remembered that the same thing happened last year - a noisy bust-up followed by a pre-Christmas reconciliation.
Ain't love grand?
Speaking of which, I recently started receiving emails about my ex-girlfriend's iTunes account - either she hasn't updated her secondary-contact information or this was the most sophisticated and specific phishing attack EVER.
We split over 10 years ago and haven't kept in touch [as an aside, why do people do that? There's a reason why you split up!] but when I got an email with her address details, I thought I'd reach out, say Hi, suggest what the problem might be, and wish her a Happy Christmas.
The silence since has been deafening.
Finally, we thought we were heading for a conversation which every disabled/chronically-ill parent dreads the other day.
As has been mentioned before, my daughter is pretty matter-of-fact about the idea that daddy's legs sometimes get tired - he needs to use a walking stick and is sometimes a bit wobbly. The other week she went with her nursery pals to a nature reserve and when she returned was pleased to report that there was a ride that daddy could go on which was for Distabled people.
So far so adorable - but the other day she started crying asking will she be distabled like daddy when she grows up. We tried to comfort her (she's three-and-a-half so wouldn't understand the concept of something being "statistically unlikely") but she still kept saying that she would be distabled too.
When we comforted her further it became apparent that she actually wanted to be distabled. We asked her why and she said it was because she wanted daddy's disabled parking badge. And walking stick.
She's a 'nana.
Happy Christmas if you've read this far! Let's all hope for a healthful New Year.
x
The child is a genius. I shall now aim to bring the word 'distabled' into everyday usage.
ReplyDeleteNo offence to them if they happen to be reading this, but I've started thinking of the MS Society as the Tesco of MS charities. I'm certain they do good work - just as Tesco sell some decent products - but they do so in a fairly charmless and industrial way. When I was looking into the possibility of a charity place for the London marathon, they were one of my first ports of call. I've run for them before and they're the most prominent MS charity. You have to fill in an application form saying who you are and what you plan to do to raise money (as you do for everyone, to be fair). I filled out something similar for the MS Trust. The MS Trust sent me a personal email back almost immediately, but I heard nothing from the MS Society...... until I got in on the ballot and then they were all over me telling me I should run for them ("click this button and we'll make it happen IMMEDIATELY!")
ReplyDeleteI was admiring their ruthless efficiency, when they also then sent me an email telling me that I hadn't made the cut... so actually, they were just spamming people who had got in on the ballot and hadn't put it together with my application to run for them in the first place.
I went right off them. That and some of their social media posting that seems to appeal to the more self-pitying amongst us.
The MS Trust - as you know yourself - have been delightful to deal with, and I"m looking forward to running for them and blogging for them this year too.
Happy New Year to you and yours, Steve. Let's hope 2015 is a good one. I'm thinking I might make it the year I give the Fall a serious listening to. For real.
T
ah the mighty Fall - always different always the same.
ReplyDeletei have a specific fondness for a specific era (1980-83) - but i'm no expert and there's gold in it all - there was one of those Top 10 things in The Guardian recently (http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2014/jun/11/the-fall-10-of-the-best) which i can't argue with as a primer