Juxta another blog post.

I have felt tired recently.  It turns out that I was much more tired than I thought, as I went to bed last night and it was early June.  Today I woke up and it appears to be November.  No wonder I was bursting for the loo this morning!!

An oft visited theme by me is the absolute and undeniable influence the weather has on the nation’s mood.  I admit that I am perhaps a more severe example of this than most, but today’s endless torrential rain and overcast gloom has not enticed me to dance around the house with joyous delight.  How can this be when I had the delights of the big shop this morning, followed by a longer than usual taxi run to get Emily to a choir practice session?  Asda and Atherton respectively failed to enhance my Sunday.

So the week prior to this weekend saw me busy.  With new stuff to do at work, I no longer exist outside of meeting rooms it seems, and I have inherited a fair few folk who fall into the categories of drama queen and terrorist, and dealing with their behaviour, nonsense and hissy fits has merely meant I have had less time to do any actual work that has a significance to it.

I don’t do work stuff here really, as five days a week is plenty thanks, but maybe my malaise is half weather, half weariness.

Emily completed the last of her dreaded Maths papers this week, and if all has gone to plan she will never need to darken its door again.  Maths and The Williams family do not get on.  I kicked, bollocked and scraped my way to a GCSE (well an O Level, but that may make me look old), and it seems my numerical genius has been passed to both offspring.  Emily was fairly positive in her overly verbose response to my text asking how it went.

If it were possible to text a shrug of the shoulders she would have!!

Tomorrow sees Emily tackle her final Media Studies paper, which is much more up her street.  She has more or less already passed this one it seems, due to course work and all that, and so she is looking forward to this final bit, which is all about an original idea for a film.

Whilst we are on an education theme, Louise and I spent most of Saturday at a UCLAN open day.  This is not, as it might sound, some sort of science fiction conference.  UCLAN is the University of Central Lancashire.  Louise is considering going to Uni next year to train as a nurse.  Having taken photographs of boobs for a while now, she is considering undertaking the Nursing course at UCLAN as a change in direction.

The Uni is in Preston which is about a thirty minute drive from us, and the buildings themselves are all new and shiny.  They look odd against the juxtaposition of the absolute hole that the surrounding parts of Preston City Centre look like.  I am sure like any town or city that there are nice and nasty parts, but my God, the part we walked through was the pits!!  Nearly every shop was either boarded up or involved in something illegal (allegedly).

The course and facilities look good, but the intake doesn’t happen until next April so applications will happen and then we’ll see if we can afford the lack of Louise’s wages!!  So we are just three years away from Louise being a qualified nurse and us being welcomed into Florida with open arms on a full time basis!!  There is the small matter of me finding a job, paying for healthcare, uprooting the girls at crucial points of education, leaving all our family behind and rehousing several animals, but these are trifling issues when compared to how close to Disney I can find a house, and how quickly we can secure Florida residents annual passes.

After what felt like a long day at “school”, Louise and I settled down last night to watch Despicable Me.  There was a time when we watched films like this for the girl’s benefit, however, both of them were busy elsewhere so we enjoyed it regardless.  It was good fun, if a little formulaic, but hey, it is a kid’s film!!  Then, having enjoyed the blood and boobs fest that is Game of Thrones recently, we thought we’d give Camelot a go on Channel 4.  It was more Camel Toe to be honest, with the sexual content being so high.

Apparently there were no ugly folk in the olden days, and despite no toothpaste, razors, soap or shampoo, everyone looked like a model from a perfume ad.  Suspending that belief though, it was entertaining enough, and when compared to the absolute dross that clogs up Saturday night TV most weeks it will be welcome relief from the ominous approach of the X Factor.  It draws ever nearer, in depressing style, and will hold the country in its vice like grip all the way to Christmas.  What a thought!  Damn it, we almost got through an entire post without me whinging about Cowell and his mind numbing distraction of the masses.  Maybe next week?

Speaking of juxtapositions.  What do you mean I wasn’t?  I used that word earlier…keep up!!  Louise was out and about buying essential stuff (apparently) and happened across a deal for sun tan lotion, on a BOGOF deal.  We HAVE TO have a certain make as it is the only one that stops heat rash for Louise.  I suspect all these are exactly the same in different coloured tubes, but that’s just me.

Anyway, back to juxtapositions……I spotted these purchases, along with Louise’s sunglasses on the kitchen table, with the monsoon like conditions happening outside in the background.  That right there is a juxtaposition!!

Did I mention that this weather is a bit depressing?  Still it means I still can’t mow the back lawn, which is not a euphemism in any way.  The grass is so long out back (I promise you I mean the back garden!) that there are small tribes living in it, none of which look anything like the characters in Camelot.

Till the next time….