Fiona's Quiet Life

So, last time I wrote I had been walk­ing on water.….…..for which I got a lec­ture on the dangers of thin ice from a grand­son and a stern look from younger daughter.….….….…it was only 30cms deep said I , and the ice was 10cms thick.….….….it is not drown­ing that kills you says daugh­ter it is the icy cold.….……I grace­fully agreed, espe­cially as I was hav­ing chest ache from the -10 air I had been breath­ing. so no more walk­ing on water.…might skate on it though.

Well, they have given me a taste for it hav­ing booked me into a roller blad­ing ses­sion at centre parcs.….I was the only one to stay on my wheels not my bum.

It was beau­ti­ful at centre parcs in the lake dis­trict, we had the same chalet as in the sum­mer but it had been totally refur­bished and was done to a high stand­ard, and I needn’t have taken the extra heater and duvet it was lovely and toasty des­pite the snow and very low tem­per­at­ures. Half way through the week I nipped back to Glas­gow and took deliv­ery of bits of a corner bed settee from Ikea, and drove straight back down…only 2 and a quarter hours. Then on the 23^rd came back and put most of it together but gave up after a lot of swear­ing as it needed two people to lift a bit onto another bit.….……him upstairs to the rescue.

he.…him upstairs that is, is all smiles and in the grip of a new romance.…I can tell these things.….…this one sounds very right…I hope all goes well.

Mean­while I still haven’t had my Christ­mas din­ner because I woke on Christ­mas eve with a stinker of a com­mon cold.….….…..I hid behind a mask in the hope of not infect­ing my vis­it­ors ( Basil’s daugh­ter Abby ‚Ian and Jonathan) three of them were stay­ing at my house and two at her moth­ers. Any­way, hav­ing no appet­ite I didn’t eat much , yes­ter­day I cooked it all as it needed to be either cooked or thrown out, but still not hungry.….….….….visitors were spend­ing all their time with her mother so not much food was eaten here.

Have just real­ised tomor­row is new year’s eve ….….…I must clean up and change the beds.….….….it would never do to start a year in a dirty house, I have memor­ies of my mother clean­ing the bath at five minutes to midnight.

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instead of doing the 1001 things i should be doing in the run up to Christ­mas and the influx of vis­it­ors i allowed myself to be per­suaded to ven­ture out into the frozen north that has been Glas­gow for the past three weeks by him upstairs.…… i have cre­ated a mon­ster in him.….….….….…well he cre­ated him­self, hav­ing laughed at me for being a mem­ber of a cam­era club he now attends all the meet­ing and wanders about town and instruc­tion classes.….……and he drags me out in the cold to walk on water.

the hole in the wall has finally turned into a nice cup­board and i have been paint­ing and and clean­ing all the plaster dust up.….….…..and look at my crazy chan­delier, yes it is made of 36 wine glasses.……all usable and within reach of a thirsty person.…..and i could change some of them for col­oured ones.….….….….…did i ever say i was sane.

Nic­ola et al are return­ing to Glas­gow to live in mid January,yippee, they are all stay­ing with her father till they find a house.…he is feel­ing tired at the thought already .….it will do him good. he has man­aged to reach the age of 73 without chan­ging a nappy, not that a five yr old and a six year old wear nappies.

more snow is fore­cast for tomor­row, my road is still under 4cm of ice from the last lot nearly 3 weeks ago. i have bread ‚pota­toes, pasta and milk so bring it on.….…do have some other food too includ­ing two boxes of ice lollies.……an online order­ing mistake.

him upstairs is behav­ing in an inter­est­ing manner.….….….…that’s all i am say­ing …except.…she sounds really really nice.

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I have been being lazy.….….….…..well that is not really true , i have been dash­ing up and down the coun­try like a blue arsed fly.….…..whatever that is.

the indol­ence with which i like to spend my time is not allowed.

so where was i .….…..cant remem­ber my last entry, was i in Israel in the 35c heat.….….….….…..how dif­fer­ent that is from the -9 and thick snow that is Glas­gow tonight
or was i pho­to­graph­ing ny nephew’s wed­ding in the pour­ing rain in a roof­less clastle.….….…yes i bet that was the last one.

so we are now in Decem­ber 2010. there has been thick snow on the ground for a week and all is won­der­fully silent. it has been like a hol­i­day because him upstairs was slightly snowed in at his hol­i­day home in Keswick and i knew no vis­it­ors would brave the thick ice rink that is my street so i could get really dirty and scruffy and empty the attic of everything and get it insulated.……there is none up there and it is floored and even car­peted, you can’t stand up in it but still there is a carpet.…so i have all the con­tent s on my lounge floor and bags of rubbish.….……three car­loads have gone to char­ity shops.….….…..icy roads do not scare me.….….….so i have been wear­ing the same clothes for a week.….….well i did wash some.….….……and shower­ing in the even­ing instead of the morn­ing by which time i was filthy.
I have been whizz­ing up and down the country.….once to the funeral of Rita , my step daughter’s mother in law.….….….…if i could go to her party i could go to her funeral. then i vis­ited the town in Kent where i was born before driv­ing north.….….….…..met a woman in Rochester who went to school in blair­gowrie where i went to school for a few years.….….…600 miles away ..amazing

mm i may have writ­ten all this before.….….…..come with age all the repeat­ing ones self.….….….….…anyway
the other times were the usual baby sit­ting of the small boys and two other times were for Nic­ola to attend an inter­view for a job .….…she came up and stayed in my house and i went down and stayed in hers.….….…i have to do it again next week while she goes for another interview.….….….….….….…but the great news is .….….they have decided to move back up to the civil­isa­tion that is scot­land, so any job sha accepts must allow her to do it up here, it is a great relief as it does tie up every month at the moment.

the build­ers are back.….…..well a girl needs a project.….….…..for 20 years i have been think­ing a cup­board could be sunk into the 2ft thick wall in a back room.……it is now nearly fin­ished, it would have been fin­ished but build­ers were snowed in in East Kilbride.

it had been an old fire­place it will be cup­boards up to waist height and shelved above.

did i men­tion giv­ing my old dining-room table and chairs to char­ity and with great luck find­ing the per­fect table and chairs for my kit­chen in the same shop karma or what ?

him upstairs who used to laugh at me for going to the cam­era club, has become deeply involved in it now, help­ing the sum­mer clear out of the base­ment, going on the ‘wanders ‘about Glas­gow, sub­mit­ting images to all the com­pet­i­tions and get­ting into earn­est con­ver­sa­tions about stops and apertures.….….…he is also sud­denly cheerful.….….….i am watch­ing with interest.

snow­men have been appear­ing all ove r glas­gow, i saw one peer­ing over a motor­way bridge

i must brave the roads agian tomor­row as it is my old­est grand­sons birthday.….….…after a trip to B&Q for cup­board doors.….….….…life goes on.….….….….……

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