Hell I’m not complaining…Whoever has her can keep and leave this replacement in her place!!

Jordan went away last Friday for a week with his dad and what a week I have spent it almost in its entirety in the company of my sister, Emma…Who by normal standards would have blanched at the thought of socializing with me, but not only has she actively partaken in Steph type activities she’s even initiated it!!

Friday 27th we went to the Cleveland to meet with some of her work colleagues and and a drink. And drink we did, LOTS, I ended the night stopping 2 fights and walking my sobbing sister back to my house to confront her “twat” of a boyfriend who’d been sending her abusive text messages all night!

Saturday 28th I spent with Penny visiting craft shops in Lichfield, surprisingly spending not a great amount of money considering we were two women loose in shops and no place to be in a hurry. Spent Saturday evening at James house eating Fish and chips with Penny and Rob while waiting for James to get back from filming a friends wedding.

Sunday and Holiday Monday we spent “starting” to decorate my house, By starting I mean procrastinating to the point that come Monday evening we’d managed to clear the bathroom and paint one coat on a room less than 6 feet square!! Impressive no? BUT the pizza we ordered because I couldn’t be bothered to cook was LOVELY!!

Tuesday! 1st night of madness with Emma and it was back to the Cleveland to watch to football COME ON ENGLAND!! Didn’t get home till silly o’clock and I had work the next day!

Wednesday, It was James brother “Stat” birthday and we went to join him for drinks in Walsall, Much fun was had by all, Emma ACTUALLY enjoyed herself with MY friends, something I never considered possible before AND she held conversations with people I never imagined her even voluntarily sitting next to let alone TALKING TO! We both lost track of time and stumbled home late again.

Thursday and it was chinese night….Off to the Imperial in Wolverhampton with Al and again Emma, ended up in the Royal London, (The place Em refused to come to on my birthday and ended up not seeing her at all) Where we discovered that they sell a ridiculous amount of alcohol in something called a sourz tower for a silly low price and decided that as we ALL had work again the next day we would have to a return the following night to experiance them to there fullest.

SO Friday we returned again to the Royal this time in the comapany of Mr Clarke, Mr Eccles, Mr Sullivan and later in the evening Mr Steve (Steve doesn’t get the use of his surname because I cant spell it!!) and got very very drunk!!

Saturday was football day again so feeling not so much hungover BUT incredibly tired we headed to James’ to watch the match and then in the evening to Mike and Nickys for a BBQ, Although I think we could have all done with a sleep after the football as come 11pm we were all flagging!!

Sunday, Jordan came home from his hols so I spent the afternoon listening to his tales from Scotland, then it was Ed Harcourt at the Wulfrun Hall on the evening…and get this EMMA OFFERED TO BABYSIT!!! Which in itself completely baffled me as this girl has not looked after my son since he was a baby in nappies…He’s now 6!! BUT she also offered…YES OFFERED to give us a lift in to town to save us catching the bus! Then when we returned home she sat adn talked and laughed with us till the small hours of the morning!!

Long may it last I’m quite enjoying have a socialable sister for the time being!

Today was the blonde kids family assembly, He played the pig who built a house of straw in the tale of the three little pigs….

How he loves the attention of being in the spotlight, He never forgot ANY of his lines and beamed and blew kisses to us sitting at the back once he’d finished…I cant imagine where he gets his love of attention from!!

Its back to work for me this afternoon after being laid up in bed (well lounging around the house) for the begining of the week due to this god damn bug, Not sure if i’m looking forward to going back but my bank manager would shout at me if i didn’t return, so I must force smile and endevour to look enthusiastic!

Last weekend was (even if it did end with me being ill) lovely. Friday night I went to stay at James’ but took Jordan with me. I was, not nervous, but a little apprehensive about how he would interact with everyone, He’d met them before so I knew he’d be fine but staying there was something new and I was a bit unsure how he would settle. I needn’t have worried he dived in head first and made friends with everyone and come bed time went down without complaint, well nearly without complaint there wa a small amount of sulking when i removed the micro-machines he’d smuggled into bed with him!

Saturday morning James mom Penny took meJordan and myself to Kingswinford Glass museum, to a bead fayre, We watch a demonstration on glass bead making it was very interesting. Jordan was very intrigued by it all as he and Penny had made some at her house the night before. Saturday night we went out for Dicko birthday, I really enjoyed myself even if I was more appehensive than I let about leaving Jordan with the babysitter…

…The babysitters being James parents, What was there to be nervous about?? Oh only that I’d only ever left him with members of MY family before and as much as I love James family I still felt funny about leaving him,

Again it was proved I was worrying for nothing, Jordan, by all accounts had a marvellous time, making beads from glass, Making boats from milk bottles, searching the house for toys from the James and his brothers youth and generally running Penny and Rob into the ground just being Jordan.

He enjoyed himself so much infact that last night he declared to my mom that he “would love to stay there again and if he could have another nan he would choose Penny.” To which my mom replied” I hope she’s not planning on putting me out of a job.”

I’m going to have to teach my son what TACT is!!

My sister is a SELFISH BLOODY COW!!

I’ve honestly never met anyone who thinks more of themselves and has the capability to be a BIGGER bitch than she!

Younger and more naive she may appear but dont be fooled by apperances she’s no sweet innocent little girl, especially when it comes to knowing how to upset me!!

GRRRR

Last night I started and gave up on my gardening, My heart wasn’t really in it as I was shattered from going out to see The Dresden Dolls the night before in Birmingham AND working all day (and in fairness didn’t really start it till late), SO once I’d managed to hack away at a few blades of grass with a strimmer that was even less enthusiastic about doing the lawn than I was (I really should buy a new one!!) I gave up and had a bath…..an hour and 30 minutes later I woke up, sitting a bath of ice cold water shivering.

Not one of my smartest moves even I have to admit! I dragged myself out of the bathroom dripping and shaking into my bedroom where I proceeded to dry off and lie shivering wrapped in a king size duvet while wearing tracksuit bottoms (yes even in the midst if mini heat wave THATS how cold I was!) and a hoody (Thanks to James for the suggestion) worrying that I may well have just given myself at best flu and at worst pnuemonia untill I fell asleep!!

I awoke this morning feeling remarkably fine, and minus the tracksuit??? (god knows when I managed to undress myself??) To see the sun beaming through the cracks in the blinds, So I jumped out of bed (as sprightly as I ever am 7 o’clock in the morning) to open the windows and let the sun in….to be confronted by a police cordon line blocking of the street opposite my house and a forensics team in white jump suits scouring the road??

At this point I had no idea what was going on, so my first thought was to grab my camera to take pictures…unfortunatly they were just too far away to get a decent shot and my second was to get my son up for school, because the gossips on the playground were bound to know what was going on!

So after the general melee that is my house on school mornings I finally bundled himout of the front door and noticed that the cordon had moved further back but the police were still stopping anyone entering (or leaving, a bloody good excuse for being late to work) the street…Good for me as the parents that usually walk that way to school would now have to walk straight past my house, and luck was in, just as we crossed the road one of the parents came around the corner and as everyone knows mothers on the school run are a hive of local education. Low and behold the first words out of her mouth…”Have you heard? There’s been a stabbing!”.

“Oh Dear” Wasn’t my only thought but close enough, Then we proceeded to discuss this occurance (It had to be done) all the way to school with the merry band of people we aquired along the way. At the school it was a hot topic of conversation on the playground HOWEVER once inside the confines of the school playground the story matured and changed as these things often do into.,”It was a hit and run”, “There was a drugs raid”, “The Police have closed a brothel” and “There has been a murder” So with these ever so pleasent thoughts milling about my brain I left my son in the safety of the school and continued on my journey to work.

Still the gossips were working hard. On the bus I listened in on several conversations all which again had a different ending, “It was the kids rioting”, “They’ve found a bomb” and my personal favourite “Someone hung a dead chicken in the park!” (I kid you not! I really did hear some suggest this regardless of the fact it was the street that was closed not the park I’m just hoping the man who came up with that one was suffering from lack of sleep or something!) Once in town about 8 miles from the “crime scene” did the gossip abate and I managed to avoid all mention of it untill I returned home some 6 hours later.

The police have now reopened the road, but still in all the shops and people along the street its a good talking point and speculation is still rife as to what had happened, Which just goes to show the general intelligence of the people who live around my way, If they had have only tuned into the local radio station, bought the evening paper OR even checked the BBC website they would have seen (exactly as I have done) that a man in his thirties was attacked by 4 masked men beat around the head with a “blunt object” then shot in the stomache and the get away car was parked opposite MY HOUSE!!

Just to think all this occured less than 100 yards from my front door while I slept and tried to keep warm!!

I must point out however I do NOT live in the Bronx, Gun crime in my area is not a common occurance, ANY crime particully violent crime is not a common occurance wher I live, BUT it did add a hint of speculative excitement to the day (as well as my dozy mother dropping a house brick on her foot while gardening…breaking her toe and the shock of which bringing on an asthma attack!! Dozy bloody cow!!)

Ok so what did I say?? Sunny mid-week then rain all bloody weekend! I knew it but it didn’t make it any more acceptable!!

…really I’m not, but where did the sunshine finally appear from??

It couldn’t wait till the weekend when I was off work to put in an appearence could it?? Oh no, it appears mid week to taunt me with how good it could be, and what does the forcast for my days off read…BLOODY RAIN…how very typical!!

…just in time for the wedding of the year!!

Saturday Cat and Steve had thier fairytale wedding.

A little after 2pm it all got started and what beautiful day it was!! The weather was perfect, the venue was beautiful, the groom (when I first arrived at the church) looked a gibbering wreck and the bride was absolutly STUNNING (as ever)!!!! Much fun was had by all!!!

So CONGRATULATIONS Mr and Mrs Clarke….there ain’t no turning back now!!!!