Wednesday, 30 September 2009

Two deaf people, an intercom, and a smashing good time

Haha ahem...

Last night I had a smashing time at Fab Friend’s place. Quite literally, but I’ll come to that in a minute.

Both exhausted by busy schedules at work, we decided to ditch climbing in favour of pizza and a gossip – putting calories in, not out – and I popped around there after work.

Now, Fab Friend lives on a really busy road and there’s an entry buzzer to get in. I can never hear the person at the other end, and Fab Friend, being deaf, too, can’t either.

So last night I buzzed the buzzer and waited, on tip toes with my ear pressed up against the buzzer speaker.

Nothing!

Little did I know, upstairs Fab Friend was in the kitchen thinking, ‘Did I just hear the buzzer?’

So I waited, and then I wondered, ‘Did I just hear Fab Friend?’

I yelled ‘Hello?’

She yelled, ‘Hello?’…

…and then, with no successful result, I wrote her a text to tell her I was outside.

The door opened!

Anyway, after pizza, we put some strawberries in a bowl for pudding and began to make our way upstairs to the lounge. As I was leaning over the dining table to pick up my bag, the bowl of strawberries in my hand slipped.

Not sure why, but I thought it would be a good idea to drop everything to catch the bowl.

Except I didn’t so much as drop everything, I hurled everything. And in my left hand, was a large glass of orange squash.

Smash! Went everything!

The bowl went one way, the glass the other, the contents of both, everywhere!

Fab Friend by this time was in the lounge, so she hadn’t heard the commotion. All she got to see was my mortified face peaking up the stairs and me mouthing, I’ve just broken EVERYTHING, while trying to dry her Nokia mobile on my dress!

She was amazing! She waved away my apologies and grabbed a tea towel, while I scrabbled around on the floor locating wayward strawberries, and soon enough everything was restored to order.

It was the clumsiest thing I’ve done for quite a while, quite possibly since I broke every single one of Ma’s six white serving dishes when I was at home in August. Another smashing time, which saw cats running for cover at the noise and even had me putting my fingers in my ears, which seeing as I was meant to be holding the dishes, may have made the whole thing worse.

Think I’d better stick to melamine from now on!

Tuesday, 29 September 2009

The latest post ever?

I'm writing this from Fab Friend's place as she was so shocked that I didn't blog today, she's making me do it now!!!!!!!

Today's post was written as usual this morning on Pinkberry on my way to work. However, today was also Pot Luck Day. On this day, we all being a hot, cold, sweet or savoury dish to work and have a fantastic credit-crunch lunch.

This is our fourth pot luck, and every time it just keeps getting better, and more competitive! So this morning, I was up at stoopid o'clock making my couscous salad, just like Shakira Shakira used to when we lived together.

Yum, yum, yum!

However, it was so yum, that I completely forgot to upload this post at the same time as I was putting my make-up review on the Superdrugloves.com website. (check it out after)

Anyway, what's on my mind this week is the number of my friends who are telling me they think their hearing is deteriorating. Gingerbread Man thinks his has gone down quite a lot, while The Councillor was also confiding in me his concerns.

It struck me then, how incredibly scary it must be to start going deaf as an adult.

I mean, I was a teenager when a lot of my hearing disappeared, and I think my resilience and typical teenage stubborness helped me deal with it in quite a productive way... most of the time.

So in a way, I've got that initial hurdle out of the way. Sure, I will have to deal with going deafer, but it won't be as bad for me as for people who've had great hearing up until now.

But what's the best thing to say and do? Well, I always try to offer them words of reassurance and encourage them to go and get their hearing tested, because quite often hearing aids can make the world of difference and they'll get back a lot of what they lost.

It's a weird one though - I always assumed that Fab Friend and I were going to be the only deaf ones, and our hearing friends would stay hearing, but it's starting to dawn on me that we won't be... not forever anyway.

Monday, 28 September 2009

What a wonderful wedding!

As I am writing this blog entry, this morning, people are hurling themselves onto my bus. The one in front was so full I couldn't get on, and this one fast following.

I never normally leave at this time but I overslept this morning and have now found myself slap bang in the middle of school rush hour.

There are children everywhere, French mainly.

On the subject of traffic, I nearly didn't have such a fabulous weekend as I had a very narrow miss with a delivery van on Friday afternoon. But for once, my hearing was not to blame.

The delivery van was!

There I was, waiting to cross the street to get to my bus stop, when a white van went past and pulled up. Just after he passed, I crossed and just as I crossed, he slammed his van into reverse at great speed, missing me so closely that I felt him brush my bag.

Thankfully, I saw his reversing lights just at the last minute and was able to leg it onto the pavement. I also heard, as I think they must have been quite loud, two guys yelling, ‘Look out!’

They were slightly grey when I turned around to thank them for warning me!

It made me very glad for my eyes for noticing the reversing lights so quickly.

In the driver’s defence, I was right behind his van, and was probably not visible in his mirrors – but the ‘what ifs’ in that scenario just don’t bear thinking about.

Anyway, this weekend was marvellous! Miss K and I went to London Fashion weekend on Saturday, which will be blogged about on Superdrugloves.com, and yesterday, I went to First Uni Mate's wedding.

It was the best weather we’ve had in ages, and the most spectacular wedding I’ve ever seen.

If I'd tried to count the orchids, I'd still be there now, and if I'd gone for a stroll in the grounds of the hotel where the reception was, I'd still be there now!

It was insanely huge.

The string quartet serenaded us through dinner, while a funk band allowed for some shape throwing afterwards. A guard of honour and horse-drawn carriage created a traditionally chic feel and added some uniformed dish to the proceedings, while the amazing food left me wondering if I was in a Michelin starred restaurant and resembling a Michelin man!

I didn't want to leave, but it wasn't very local, so halfway through the shape throwing, I limped away, in my stoopid shoes, which shredded my feet to the fading sounds of the funky bass in the background.

In the grey light of day, on my cattletruck-esque bus, it all seems like a fairy tale.

Another world.

Think I'm gonna have a daydream...

Friday, 25 September 2009

Hurrah! It's Friday

Today is Thankful Friday.

I was planning on being thankful for an impending visit from Penfold, but she’s sick and can’t come anymore.

Luckily, it doesn’t seem to be pig related so she should be well again soon.

Luckily however, I still have plenty of other things to be thankful for – like my tickets to London Fashion Weekend courtesy of those lovely peeps at Superdrug. I’m taking Miss K and we get a free manicure, which is great news, as my nails are looking more than a little neglected at the moment.

I’m also thankful that I am going to see Penthouse Mate and First Uni Friend this weekend…

at First Uni Friend’s wedding!

It’s 10 years since we all met in our first year at university and I really can’t believe how quickly time has flown.

First Uni Friend was my ears at university – she took the same literature modules as me and got paid a very unstudenty £10 an hour to take notes for me. Being diligent, she used to type them all up, too. She only started doing this in my third year, and all of a sudden I went from getting crap marks to brilliant marks – so you could say she saved my degree.

We share the godmotherdom of Penthouse Mate’s daughter, Miss D. She’s 3 years old and already has the sensible nature of First Uni Friend and erm… the same love of handbags and accessories as me.

*blush

I can’t wait to see her be a little bridesmaid this weekend, and know she’s going to love every minute of it.

Let’s hope I can manage to hear the ceremony and speeches, as I don’t think I can ask First Uni Housemate to take notes for me this time!

Thursday, 24 September 2009

I'm off to Central Perk

Aaaah retail therapy – at the risk of sounding like a shallow, blonde bimbo, it really is great!

*teehee

Last night I met London Aunt at Westfield in Shepherds Bush. For those of you that don’t know, it’s an ENORMOUS shopping centre, so big that it’s possible to get lost. When I took The Rents there at the weekend, not only did we get lost, but we also lost my car.

There I was wandering around the car park pressing the unlock button on my key fob hoping to see the flashing indicators of my little 107. But alas, twenty minutes later, still nothing. And then I realised I’d been looking on the wrong car park level. My car was, in fact, parked two levels below!

*blush

Westfield really is HUGE. I didn’t like it when I first visited to meet Gingerbread Man for a coffee. It seemed so vast, and it left me wide-eyed and missing the outdoors. But over time, I’ve come to appreciate its merits – it’s great for captive shopping.

So, London Aunt wanted several key pieces for her winter wardrobe. I had sussed out where I reckoned she could buy them and so I took her around the specific stores. Because there’s nowt else to do there except shop, and because you are completely unaffected by the elements, all you can really do is focus on the task in hand. And so it was mission accomplished as London Aunt got everything she needed – except from things in a size 10 from Marks & Spencer.

Has anyone else noticed a distinct lack of size 10 in M&S recently? (and there’s another question I NEVER thought I’d ask)

Anyway, I have more exciting news: a Central Perk has opened up in London, not too far from my work. It’s apparently a reproduction of the famous coffee house and has been created to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Friends. As a fan of Friends, I simply have to check it out, and while I’m there, I’m going to see if I can bag myself a real-life Chandler – he was the best guy in it, after all.

*blush

Wednesday, 23 September 2009

Gimme subtitles please!

Last night I had a first attempt at making the sugar-paste rosebuds for the top of the cupcakes for Niknak's wedding.

They're quite hard to create, but after 20 attempts, I at last had something that looked like a rose rather than a messy blob of sugar paste.

Having never made sugar-paste rosebuds before, I had a little Google to see what came up. And do you know? There are loads of videos on YouTube showing you how to make them.

This is great, but it left me hankering after subtitles, so I could read along as well as watch.

Anyone know of any subtitled sugar craft videos? (Now, that's a question I never thought I'd ask!!!!)

Other things I wish were subtitled that aren't, are exercise DVDs. I quite like doing these and they're cheaper than a gym membership, but they never ever have subtitles.

This means that I never really know what's going on.

Sure, I can follow the actions, but I miss the instructor tips and when doing anything that's meant to involve looking at the floor, I can't as I need to watch what happens next.

I think the muscle I work hardest during these DVDs is the one in my neck, as I'm always craning it to see what's going on, and when I don’t know what’s going on I look like a newborn foal who’s been at the Baileys – arms and legs flailing everywhere.

I know if there were subtitles, I'd still have to crane my neck to read them. But after a few times, I'd probably remember that the instructor said, breathe here, and don't forget to clench those butt cheeks... or what ever it is they say.

I wanna know when to clench my butt cheeks...

*blush

I want subtitles on my exercise DVDs.

Tuesday, 22 September 2009

When I am mayor…

This morning, one stupid idiotic woman in a stupid, idiotic car almost made me late for work.

It always amazes me how one person, who I don't even know can annoy me this much.

First she parked her humongous off-roader, essential for city living, so far away from the pavement that no bus, or car for that matter, could pass by.

She then walked her child, slowly towards school, dropped him off and returned, completely unaware of the chaos she had caused.

She then tried to ignore a diversion sign and drive through a newly pedestrianised road, holding me and everyone else up once again, when she realised she couldn't and needed to reverse back.

*argh!

She wasted five minutes of my morning, when I could have been making tea, catching up on work, having a nap, all because she can't park properly and she insists on driving a massive car.

OK, so this is all a bit judgemental, but I'm a big fan of rush hour protocol. And here's how it goes:

Thou shalt not speak to the bus driver at stops asking him for directions and other such things that you could get from an A-Z and waste valuable time. Particularly not when the bus is packed and this allows more people to dive into the melee.

Thou shalt not park your buggy taking up maximum room and then remove your baby and put her on a seat beside you taking up two seats and the standing room space of four people, when other passengers are face to armpit in the gangway.

Thou shalt not cross the road cappuccino in hand when the flashing man is red causing my bus to break so violently the front row of people headbutt the glass.

Thou shalt not see bus lanes as parking bays for dropping off your spoilt brat children, making deliveries, making a phone call.

Thou shalt not assume your massive designer handbag needs a seat more than a real life person and huff and puff when asked to remove it.

You see, it doesn't take much!

Hmmmm perhaps I should run for mayor...

Monday, 21 September 2009

Planning for the future?

Well, what an amazing weekend I had! The Rents came to visit and we had a pretty good chat about my future.

Future is a weird word – to me, it's like a big rush to get somewhere more important than where you are now. It's like saying, when I get here I will be happy. But does this stop you enjoying the right now?

I've never been much of a 5-year plan kinda girl, more like a 2-week plan kinda girl – although those 2 weeks of my diary are always full. There are too many factors and people who get in the way if you plan long term, I find. You can forget that the people in your plan have plans too, and aren't just your puppets.

Sure, I have a vague plan in my head. A vague idea of what I'd like to achieve in my life, but if it happens in the wrong order, I don't really mind. And if some things don't happen at all, like winning the lottery, then is that really the end of the world?

It's hard to resist this planning mentality, though. Magazines tell you where you should be in your relationships, in your health, finances etc, but they haven't personally interviewed you, so how can they really know?!

Whenever I get swept up in it all and think, right, I'm going to settle down THEN, commit to something THEN, build a complete life in London THEN, something jolts me back to reality and reminds me what I will miss out on if I strive for these bizarre and quite often unattainable markers in my life.

Recently, I was so swept up in making plans, that I totally missed an opportunity to go down a path I've wanted to go down for ages. It was scary! It brought me to my senses. Luckily, with a little help from a lot of people, I joined the path a little further down the track. And now I'm on it, it just feels right, in spite of the fact I've got to do a bit of planning.

So, I've come up with a compromise. Instead of a 5-year plan kinda girl or the 2-week plan kinda girl I was before, I'm going to be a 5-week plan kinda girl.

That really does sound like a plan to me!

Friday, 18 September 2009

On this Thankful Friday…

Today is Thankful Friday – and once again, I am thankful for my wonderful friends.

OK, so I might have been last in the queue for the Hearing and Sight senses, but what I did get was excellent taste in friends… and handbags.

*teehee

This week, I had a great catch up with Gingerbread Man over a couple of beers – we shared exciting news, prospective plans and made promises not to leave it so long before meeting up again. It was great to get his perspective on a couple of things bothering me – men have a way of simplifying girly worries in a way that I cannot fathom, but it always seems to make sense.

Anyway, I also got some fab stuff in the post including chocolate – YUM – although I am still awaiting Onion Soup Mate’s promised Snail Mail but with the recent strikes, I think there’s been something of a backlog.

But heck, it could be worse – some people oop norf are finally getting letters this week, four years after they were posted, after a former postman hoarded them in his garage. Imagine all the havoc that could have caused? Lost love letters, bills, Christmas cards… the mind boggles.

Anyway, that’s it from me for today – it’s sunny and I want to get out there at lunch and enjoy it.

Happy weekend, everybody!

Thursday, 17 September 2009

National Cupcake Week

Hey, did you know today is National Cupcake Week?!

Miss K texted me this morning to let me know this very exciting information.

Cupcakes are rather fashionable right now with everyone jumping on the bandwagon offering decorating courses, baking courses and even how-to-go-into-business courses.

I originally turned to cupcakes, ditching the Victoria sponge in the process, when I moved in to my current flat with the Barbie Dreamhouse oven. With heating elements at the side and no temperature gauge, I was sick and tired of burnt cake on the outside and raw cake on the inside.

As a result, I haven't baked a proper cake for years, just cupcakes, which is why guess people think of me when they hear things Like it being National Cupcake Week.

Anyway, the week has really flown by. I am in my penultimate week of blogging for Superdrugloves.com and can't believe how quickly it's gone by. This week I was up until all hours making a video presentation of my product review, which you can see here. It did have a lovely soundtrack but I got slapped for copyright by Warner and it got removed. It really is amazing how these big companies can watch your every move.

Anyway, all I've got left to do is one more review and a lovely trip to a London Fashion Weekend, and then... that's it!

*sniff

Time really does fly when you're having fun.

Wednesday, 16 September 2009

The shouting man on the bus

Whoa, ever had one of those mornings where you wake up dreaming that you’re doing what you know you’re going to be doing that day?

This morning I woke up dreaming about my Superdrugloves.com post, which is due in today – I was up late last night trying to sort it out, as the crazy idea I had doesn’t seem to be working.

This morning, I woke up and in my dream I had been asking Big Bro, who’s a bit of a computer whizz, for advice. So the first thing I did, after showering and chomping down toast whole – a sure-fire way to get indigestion – was drop him a line.

He’s amazing with computers and whenever I have a question I send him an enquiring email, usually asking him to fix something remotely – he lives in Clogland – or guess what the problem with a file, photo, webpage etc, with my very girly descriptions of what I think the issue may be.

He’s very patient it must be said. He once stopped me buying a laptop simply because it was pink, and made me buy Pink Top, which is to be fair, pink, but it is also a very good computer.

Right now, I am sat on the bus tapping away on it, praying the bloomin’ roadworks on my route to work don’t make me late, but knowing that at least I can get today’s blog done – multitasking at its best.

The bus however, is putting me in a very bad mood, or rather a man on the bus. He is behind me shouting at the top of his voice down his mobile phone. I don’t know if he’s shouting in English, although the tone doesn’t sound like it, but I wish he would shut the hell up.

There is another man next to me, also on his mobile, but he’s talking in hushed whispers and I can barely hear his voice, let alone what language he’s talking in. That is how it should be if you choose to make mobile calls on the bus. When I am Queen I will enforce this law – in fact I shall make talking on mobiles illegal – everyone shall have to text, quietly.

I know it sounds odd, a deaf person complaining about hearing things, but imagine having white noise played in your ear continuously on your journey to work. Or simply having someone shout down your ear something that was totally unintelligible…

It would annoy you, right?

The man to my left is not on his phone, and he is doing the British thing and quietly ignoring the loud man, in fact, I am not even sure he is actually bothered. But I am getting more and more bothered by the minute. It’s building up and in a moment I swear I am going to stand up and shout at the shouting man on the phone.

Not a good plan on a rush hour bus, but hey, it might make him shut up.

It also might make the local news – girl loses plot on bus and throws pink laptop at shouting man…

Look out for the headline on The London Lite tonight

*teehee

Tuesday, 15 September 2009

Strike action

Deafinitely Girly is on a 24-hour strike due to poor pay and working conditions.

Luckily she is not a train so this will not stuff up your daily commute to work, nor is she in the public sector, so no one will die as a result of this strike.

This is not a hunger strike either – Deafinitely Girly cannot live without food, particularly not chocolate raisins. Anyone wishing to sustain Deafinitely Girly during this strike should send chocolate raisins to the usual address.

Please refer all press enquiries regarding this strike to deafinitelygirly@googlemail.com and check back tomorrow for your usual daily update.

Monday, 14 September 2009

Dreaming's all I do…

Last night I didn't sleep – I dreamt! It was the kind of dreams that are exhausting – that require you to participate.

In just 6 hours, I went to a wedding, was in a ski resort, had a blazing row with someone I really love, and confronted a face from the past.

It was like I'd stepped into an episode of Eastenders written by someone who'd had a few to many drugs that day.

When I shut something, or someone, away with no hope of resolve or sometimes no attempt at resolve, it always comes back to me either in my dreams or through strangers on the street.

In the dreams it's more obvious, that person is right there. In reality, that person appears in the faces or even the back of the heads of random people walking by, and instantly I’m reminded of them.

I sometimes wonder if that's why I'm always fully hearing in my dreams. Is it because I've shut my hearing away without any resolve so the only place it can crop up is in a dream world?

Recently, my dreams have been very busy. Maybe I'm shutting a lot of things away. Or maybe my mind is so full, there's no room for anything else.

I am a bit busy right now, that's deafinitely true. And, maybe there are a lot of unresolved things in my life. But I can't fix that right now. So, I'm going to delegate and see if my dream persona can sort things out better than the real-life me...

Friday, 11 September 2009

Computer says what?

Just yesterday morning I was thinking how long overdue an embarrassing deafness moment was.

Funny how when you think about something it happens, eh?

So, there I was, in Sainsbury's garage paying for petrol. The cash people in there are always really friendly. They always ask you how you are, how your day was going, how your job is, etc, etc, etc before telling you how much your bill is, so I was desperately trying to work out what my cashier would say first.

She said it.

I said pardon.

She said it again.

I said pardon, again.

And so it went on. And on repetition number 5, I worked out she was simply telling me my bill.

She was frustrated, so I immediately told her about my deafness. She was less frustrated.

I was embarrassed but dealing with it, until...

A big burly bloke to the right of me piped up, ‘That was like watching an episode of Little Britain, that was.’

Hmmmm, what a lovely thing to be compared to. Let me see, was I the ‘Computer says no!’ woman? Vicky Pollard? The laydeeee?

Seriously, I struggled not to see red and hit him with the bar of Green & Blacks I’d bought for NikNak

But then, I really don't like confrontation, but I did feel like saying, ‘Oi, you no!’ particularly as by then, the entire rush-hour queue of shoppers were all eagerly listening in.

So instead, I smiled sweetly and merely said, ‘Really? Well, that would be hilarious, except it's not, because I am actually deaf.’

To which he looked a bit shifty, and then before I could help it, I added some smart Alec comment about computer saying no, and marched out of the shop.

*blush

I just don’t know when to stop somtimes.

But it was a relief to know that some of my feistiness I was lamenting about losing recently is back!

That can only be a good thing, yes?

Thursday, 10 September 2009

30 ponchos done and dusted!

Phew, today I am absolutely shattered…

Mainly because I finally finished my Superdrugloves.com challenge last night and uploaded it onto the site. Finding 30 people to don bright pink ponchos was more than a little tricky, but I did it and now I can rest again, at lease until I’m challenged again.

Anyway, I recovered from all that and had a lovely dinner with Flo – we tried a little Vietnamese place in Fitzrovia, which was very, very tasty and it made me wonder who Friend Who Knows Big Words is getting on in Ho Chi Minh City.

She’s been gone almost a month now.

*sniff

Anyway, I’m going to do a lazy thing and redirect you to Superdrugloves.com so you can have a gander at my poncho efforts!

Enjoy and more tomorrow.
X

Wednesday, 9 September 2009

When hearing on the bus is bad

My Ma has a mantra, it goes like this:

‘When one door closes another opens.’

When I'm frustrated she tells me this to remind me that it's not always time to lose hope.

I like that.

Recently however, it feels like I've stumbled drunk into a revolving door, which keeps spitting me out at sporadic intervals.

The good news about it being a revolving door however, is that I can get straight back in if I don't like the view.

Anyway, last night I met up with Fab Friend and had a fab evening – we were in the local pub, the view was dark. On Saturday she's going on a yoga, mountain biking climbing retreat in Switzerland, which I am most impressed about.

She's living proof that deaf people can do yoga, but I think she found the best way to do it was by having private lessons.

I did yoga once and found it so hard to lipread that I actually came out more stressed than when I came in. If Zen had been a solid object, I think I would have hurled it out of the window.

I think it's because I do not find closing my eyes relaxing, I find it restricting.

However, it is not thinking of yoga poses that is making me want to throw my Zen out of the window today, it's my talking bus!

Now, these are a great idea. They also have subtitles, which scroll on a screen at the front of the top deck. But this morning my bus driver is giving more messages that ET would if he were drunk dialling.

So far the bus has declared no less than 10 times that there's to be no standing on the upper deck or stairs, but no one is! Oop, make that 11.

It's also said the same amount of times that people should move down inside the bus. It's like being back at school with a bossy teacher. Next it'll probably tell us to sit down cross-legged with our finger on our lips.

It's like white noise. I'm not sure if I can take it any longer. Why do I hear the worst things in the world and not the best?! Why did I get the frequencies of the bus woman and not the violin?

Think I'm gonna walk!

Tuesday, 8 September 2009

My latest Superdrug challenge

This morning on the bus to work, I must have yawned at least 30 times.

But that's not the only thing involving the number 30 in my life right now.

As part of my Superdrug Summer Insider challenge, I have to find 30 people to don bright pink Superdrug Ponchos.

*whoop, whoop

Ooh and I get extra points for famous people – anyone know anyone?!

Now, London is not know for being the friendliest of cities, and if I march up to complete strangers in the street asking them to do this, chances are I'll be sectioned quicker than you can say straight jacket.

When I was younger, I was much more gung-ho at speaking to complete strangers. Once in the supermarket car park I saw personalised number plate with my initials on it and the number 6. I was 6 at the time and before Ma could stop me I had marched up to the man to tell him that was my number plate.

He was a little bemused, but thankfully in the Wild West um… Country, complete strangers do say hello to one another.

Another time I got chatting to a cute guy on the train when I was about 17. ‘Hurrah for strangers,’ I thought then, until halfway through the conversation he handed me a strange-looking religious book and started trying to convert me to whatever religion it was.

Time to change carriages…

And then one time, I was interviewing WW1 veterans in the pub for a college piece and this mad old man suddenly appeared to have some sort of flashback from his time in the war and grabbed my arm and threatened to break my thumb. It was an odd experience and I ended up floored on the carpet in Wetherspoons by an octogenarian, hoping that someone, ANYONE, would come to my aid.

So yah, talking to strangers is not a strong point of mine.

But a challenge – I like them.

Thirty ponchos…

Photographed on people…

By tomorrow…

What to do, what to do, what to do?!

I'm off to have a think and a biscuit.

Monday, 7 September 2009

The trouble with hearing toddlers

Tempting as it is to spend today's blog talking about the weather, for the sake of Miss K's sanity I'm not going to.

But it is September. Time is flying faster than ever. Friend Who Knows Big Words has now been away for almost a month. Hopefully time will fly so fast that she'll soon be back in the UK staying with me and quaffing champagne. But in the mean time I must be content knowing she's having a fabulous time sunbathing on hot beaches. Or getting drenched by monsoon rains.

*sniff

So anyway, my weekend… well, it was utterly impromptu, but utterly fantastic and involved a visit to Nelly Mac in the Wild West um... Country. She's the mother of my Goddaughter don't you know! A brave woman to give me that job if you ask me!

My Goddaughter is at that fabulous age where she wants to look like a princess every day. She's 3! If a dress doesn't puff out when she spins, she's not interested, if her hair isn't done to perfection, she's not happy, and if she forgets to accessorize before leaving the house... disaster!

Yesterday we went shopping and she was the best dressed kid in town! Wooden flowery beads - check! Princess dress - check! Flowery tights - check! Sparkly hair clips - check! I felt most underdressed.

Anyway, she's a little bit too young to understand that her godmother is deafer than a door post, so I spend most of my time giving her vague answers, which for a toddler, who wants all the answers, can be quite frustrating.

I felt bad. So I had a think on the car journey in to town. And then I came up with an idea.

Talking gibberish!

And do you know what? It worked!

I babbled at her, my tone varying to sound happy, sad, inquisitive and angry and she then babbled back. Even her little brother joined in, and soon the only person in the car making any sense was Nelly Mac!

But everyone was happy. And it was nice to solve the problem of how to hear a toddler. Of course it doesn't always work and that's why it's great Nelly Mac can hear her. Otherwise her requests for 'a balloon, Mummy' would have been met by repeated trips to the toilet... 'balloon, Mummy!'

'loo, Mummy.'

*blush

I'll stick to the gibberish I think!

Friday, 4 September 2009

Thankful Friday

Today is Thankful Friday. It seems to have taken a long time to get here in spite of the Bank Holiday, but it's here... finally.

Today I am thankful for new life. Last night, in northern France, one of my oldest, bestest friends had a beautiful baby boy.

She went on holiday and also went into labour. That's one holiday souvenir that won't be forgotten!

I am also thankful for the fact that tomorrow I will see Nelly Mac. She's just had a birthday and so I'm going to see her to celebrate.

Finally I'm thankful for my thighs. They've never been skinny - more shapely, or if you're being rude, thunderous. But according to BBC Breakfast News, this is a good thing. People with skinny legs die younger apparently.

Now, where did I put that chocolate...

Thursday, 3 September 2009

When email works…

Over dinner last night, Miss K commented about how much I talk about the weather in my blog – and do you know what, she’s right. And now, I’m thinking about weather, that means I’m most probably going to talk about it a whole lot more!

Weather is a weird one. It has the ability to dominate moods, cause mental illness and make the bottom of my trousers soggy when I get caught in the rain. It’s the thing that most people talk about after saying the words, ‘hello, how are you?, and the thing that people wish for and wish away – always wanting summer, always tired of winter – and it’s also the thing that dictates what we wear, where we go and whether I have a good or bad hair day.

Yesterday evening it rained on me a lot, so I dashed into Marks & Spencer to escape and also buy some dinner for me and Miss K. While there, I spotted the most fabulous boots and accidentally bought them, too. I blame the weather.

Then, sat on the bus, I feel asleep and almost missed my stop. I blame the weather for that, too. It was so dark because of the rain it was hard to stay awake.

You know what else is affected by weather? My hearing! When the air pressure changes, my ear pressure changes. It’s most bizarre. If it’s going to rain, I get tinnitus, if clouds arrive on a clear day, it feels like I am going up and down hills, and if it’s sunny and clear, my ears are absolutely fine.

It’s weird! Does anyone else find this? I guess my ears are kinda like a barometer.

Last night, my ears were popping, whistling and squeaking away, which meant it was still raining outside and there was no chance of a last whiff of summer around the corner!

*sniff

But now, enough about the weather – I’ve much more important things to natter about. And that is the fantastically brilliant thing that happened to me while writing my Superdrug blog. My task for the week was to go to my local Superdrug store and meet the team and check it out. But after a good long think, I realised that my local Superdrug is actually the online site. So I reviewed that instead, dropping the web team a line while I was at it.

And the best part? They wrote back!

It’s amazing when email works as a speedy form of communication. It always makes me very excited when I achieve something almost as quickly as if I could use the phone. Today, I sent three emails asking for information from various different companies. In the end I asked London Aunt to sort out one of the things for me using the phone and decided to forget about the second thing. But it was so fab that Superdrug replied and the third thing was completed.

It left me grinning all day to tell you the truth. A mission accomplished. A job well done.

And now, back to the weather…

Wednesday, 2 September 2009

Rainy like a Wednesday afternoon

Rain!?

Pah, it would seem that autumn is here – although it would seem that autumn has been here since May to tell you the truth.

I don’t like rain. It makes my knees wet when I ride on Snowboarding Boy’s bike, and it gets up my sleeves.

It also reminds me, rather bizarrely, of the geography field trips we used to go on at school. Without fail it rained then and the journey home was always accompanied by the sound of the rustling of waterproofs and the smell of wet trainers.

Anyway, tsk tsk, Deafinitely Girly has been a bit slack of late in the updating of her blog and for this, she would like to wholeheartedly apologise and make the following excuses for it:

The dog ate it – because yah, of course I have a dog

Alreet I don’t but if I did, I would like it to be a nifty little hearing dog.

The internet crashed in London and prevented me from updating it.

(Lie, lie, lie!)

I forgot how to type – see, like this – kjjhghdkhkfg jgkhg

(More lies! Oh, the lies!)

And finally…

Oh crap, it really is just because right now, blogging wise, I’m spread more thinly than Marmite on toast – not the portions I give myself because that’s more of a dollop on toast.

However, I have good news! Wednesday resolutions have been made. Deafinitely Girly will slack no more.

Check back tomorrow to erm… check if I keep them, please!

Tuesday, 1 September 2009

It's just another manic Monday

Except it's not! It's Tuesday!

Ever had one of those feelings where you just weren't sure how you were going to fit everything into the day? Well today, I'm having one of them – massively.

So big apologies but for now, I'm sending you on a little trip – to my other gig where you can read all about my weekend in three posts.

One is about Carnival, one is about a party, and one is about South West Four on Clapham Common.

It couldn't be easier to get there – just click HERE

Enjoy peeps and I'll be back tomorrow!

DG
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