War Song
Another week to go. Oh look, coincidence of coincidences....the Attorney General's advice about the war comes out. How convenient. I am not interested.
And they wonder why so many people are already bored hearing about the elections. Bored of Mr "Something of the Night" and his constant rants about immigration. Bless
Charlie Kennedy, I think he's just weary from his first born.
Yes I will vote, and follow a long line of political devotees who exercise their political right. Well, I might be in a minority - I get the impression that my brother and sister might not. But as a Christian it is my moral duty, as a citizen it is my social obligation. And I actually
like voting!
Yesterday in my wanderings, was walking up the road, when this man was talking to two people and then went into this office. I looked and realised this is my local MP - the guy I have never seen in the area before now, and I've lived here for almost 8 years.
At the wedding last weekend, I got into an interesting discussion with a slightly inebriated man who said that our local MP has never canvassed for votes. He went on to say that he divorced his Latin American wife because she wanted to send their child to a private school and he didn't agree. So in short, he put "politics" over family. I mentioned it to someone else and they said apparently there was some truth in it.
But I really wanted to ask him how comes I've never seen him before in the area? How comes I get to hear what the Lib Dems are doing (probably because they run the local council) over the years and nowt from Labour until they want my vote? If only there was more time and I wasn't in a hurry.
Everything changes
It was beautiful...but then you knew I was going to say that didn't you?
It was also strange. The church wasn't very well amped - truth is, the acoustics were terrible, so we couldn't really hear them exchanging vows. There seemed to be an abnormally high number of tall people present, as we couldn't see a thing...not even Aunt Peggy (who is no shortie).
We took the nice routemaster to the reception where, after hors d'ouevres and liquid refreshment, we were allowed into the reception hall and finally met the husband. Ok, we got to see him (briefly) close-up.
Two hundred and twenty at the reception, and we finished eating not long after 8pm, after the speeches Peggy left. RP and I stayed on for the Ceilidh. I finally figured out how that is pronounced "kay-lee". There were two nice guys at our table, a couple, the guy who did the sermon and his wife, the photographer. One of the single guys was RP's dance partner for the evening - and a fellow wine taster.
I opted not to dance, but I did enjoy the Ceilidh. It's the second wedding where I've been that had one, and those are the most inclusive and most fun, in my experience. There was even a real "band": violinist, bass and acoustic guitar, and accordion player.
In my great wisdom of course I forgot my digital camera in my coat pocket - fortunately it was still there when I went to look for it. It wasn't really a "photo" wedding, so I didn't get many - a few blurred ones of people dancing, the lighting was much better than at the last wedding I went to. However I got some great ones by the cake, but they're on my 35mm. I'm stuck at 13 and it's a 24 exposure.
And you know how long it'll take for me to use THAT up...
At last!
I can't believe I have finally done this. I have, honestly I have.
This evening I met up with my sister on Oxford Street, she was all enthusiastic (a bit like a hyperactive chihuahua). First, we went into Superdrug and looked at some of the Revlon stuff. Then, we walked to "House of Fraser" and as she stopped to talk to one of the cosmetic people, I pretended I wasn't with her. That was, until she called my name (sis that is).
So I turn back - not that I had a choice. Next thing you know, I'm sitting on a stool, and the cosmetic counter girl was putting on some kind of powder on my face. My sis remarks that I don't wear make-up to cosmetics girl, and she said "I noticed". What, is my skin that bad??? No, just every time she touched my face I flinched - I'm not used to anyone putting their hand on my face.
We walk away with Iman Oil Blotting Pressed Powder. As for the price - don't ask. Then, to Debenham's where I got some Urban Decay lip gloss. Obviously we're on a roll now, so we go back to Superdrug for the Revlon Super Lustrous lip gloss, and threw in some mascara for good measure.
There you have it; my first ever make-up acquisitions. I figure they could last me for years if I really ignore them often enough...but I can't see that happening. On the other hand, apart from special occasions, I can't really see myself spending too many of my precious minutes putting on that stuff on a regular basis.
Saturday is a special occasion, and I've been thinking about it for a while. I'm tired of the "shine" my face acquires which has nothing to do with the Shekinah glory of the Lord radiating from me. So...
Silly Games
I had two very interesting conversations today.
First, met up with the girls as one of our number will be getting married this weekend. We had a great time - pity we don't get to meet up often enough. Strange enough, she hadn't been well and none of us knew about this - well, one of us, I knew she hadn't been well but no one seemed to remember exactly what was wrong. But sitting across from her I noticed she looked extremely pale, even though the restaurant was quite warm. Turns out that she was severely anaemic and has been off work for about three weeks.
Later I tried to enlist Susan's help in finding a skirt for the weekend online. I couldn't believe it could be that hard to look for something pretty straightforward and (maybe) simple. Came across some interesting options in Debenhams, which I will have to check out tomorrow in town.
Whilst sitting at my pc, decided to log on to Yahoo and see who I could catch up with. Interesting enough, Biju popped up - hadn't seen him because he wasn't on my list. He starts off asking where I've been, and somewhere along the line the conversation starts to deteriorate.
To me, it's a pretty simple thing. You send me a forward, I tell you I don't like them and please not to send them to me anymore. The result? Rather than respecting your friends wishes, you continue to send them. What does that say about the sender? And what would you do?
My response is simply to ignore them. So when I hear that I haven't replied to his IMs, I'm like, what IMs? Turns out it was the forwards he'd been sending me which I asked not to be sent and therefore never read. So as he goes on implying that I haven't been busy as I said I was and to top it off, I was a snob. Why? Because I didn't "reply" to him or even send an offline message to say hello.
Unrequested forwards are treated like spam and text messages which are statements; I don't respond. If someone continues to do something I expressly ask them (nicely of course) not to do, that person cares little about other people and has no respect for them. Somehow I think this man thinks I should be grateful because he sends all of these forwards to me and everyone else on his list (requested or otherwise). And to top it off, because I said I don't appreciate them or respond to them....I am a snob!
Now my Christian disposition up until this point was being quite reasonable, but this sounded like a grown man having a hissy fit! I thought the whole thing was incredulous - I have never met anyone in my life who was offended by someone not replying to their forwards! His argument (for want of a better word) was along the lines: "I talk to lots of people from all over the world and none of them act the way you do". Hmm...lemme see, last time I looked on my passport, it didn't have their names in it, and to the best of my knowledge my parents didn't name me "everybody else".
At this point, something my mother said came to mind; "if your friends decide to jump off a cliff, are you going to jump off with them?" Follow-fashion was never in my list of things to do. And at this point I realised it was not possible to have a reasonable conversation with someone who was clearly not being reasonable. If he chooses to remove me from his IM list, it does not matter. Regardless of how long we've been chatting, I won't lose sleep over it; rather than sink to his level, I gracefully bowed out. Childish behaviour from a 40-something year old is unbecoming.
Not long afterwards my brother called, and I was telling him about it. Sometimes it's nice to get another level headed (male) opinion....but maybe Charles would be a better person to ask cos he's a typical male. Strange enough I know exactly what he would say....
Going to a-go go
Sometimes I surprise myself. Yesterday I didn't have the remotest interest in the events going on in Windsor....until five minutes before the whole thing started.
I was at work, listening to Radio 4 (as usual), and noticed that one programme finished earlier than normal. Then it occurred to me that this other event was happening. As there was no one around, I naturally turned on the TV and got there in time to see the whole thing...well, most of the whole thing. I wandered away at intervals and returned for the church bit.
It's all been very interesting. The
article by Christine Odone really put it into a certain light. And to think that after all of these years, they still fancy each other like crazy.
Which obviously was the problem in the first place- sad, but true. However, there's a high probability that they won't break their vows this time around.
