I meant, you're in charge of this, in the sense that you're subordinate to me in every way.

I'm pretty tired this evening. I'm just not a wee young slip of a thing any more, and taking trains tires me out! I'm not saying this in a complaining tone, it's more that I'm wondering just how I got to be so lame.

I had a very lovely weekend, all the same. As the weather has been so beautiful, Nic and I decided to take a long weekend and head down to Kent to see his parents. The additional bonus of doing this is that, as they live by the seaside, we can have a dip in the sea. I worked from home on Friday so that we could get away early, which was really helpful. It also meant that I was at home to receive delivery of a new pair of shoes:




Shoes number 28: Vivienne Westwood Anglomania for Melissa Lady Dragon shoes
Wow. The name of those shoes is a mouthful, isn't it?! I've admired these shoes for quite some time, and tried on a pair in Selfridges at Christmas. They were £110 and also, the size 5 was miles too big for me so I quite happily relegated them to the file in my mind marked "Shoes I like but can't afford but that's okay because I wouldn't be able to wear them anyway." I revisited my love of them when a lady was selling them at the empty attic sale on Rue Lepic when we were in Paris last month, but again they were too expensive (well, affordable but too much for a pair of pretty scuffed-up second hand shoes, Westwood or not) and also, size 5. Sorry, I guess this story is actually pretty boring, so I'll get to the point. Amber bought a gold pair when she was on holiday, and I felt very covetous of them...and then Fi got sent a pair to review, alerting me to the fact that they were on sale. So I snapped them up, this time in a size 4, and they fit! They're ridiculous plastic shoes with a big old heart on the toe, so I can't say that I'm going to get miles of wear out of them, but sometimes you just need to buy something ridiculous and frivolous.

I didn't actually wear these shoes with that dress on Friday - that was just for the photo. It was too hot, and I was going to be walking around London so plastic shoes weren't really the thing. Nic and I got on the train, and spent a few hours in London before going to Kent. You'll be in no way surprised to learn that I bought a dress in the Fever shop and Nic bought some comics, so we very nicely played to our own stereotypes. There wasn't anything exciting on the sample rail in the Fever shop, and the one sale item I liked is probably more trouble than it would be worth but I am very pleased with the dress I did buy (but I bought it in blue)

After a week of feeling headachy and blue, getting to the seaside was a real tonic. I love the first glimpse of the sea that we get when the car drives down the hill into Sandgate and you can see the sea glinting behind the buildings on the seafront. After catching up with Nic's mum and dad, we headed down to watch the sun setting on the English channel:







Half an hour of sea air had the effect of a tranquliser dart on me. Nic and I got back to the house and settled down to watch an episode of The Rockford Files and I fell straight asleep. I could barely open my eyes enough to get ready for bed, but then I am pretty lame around bedtime at the best of times.

Nic and I started Saturday morning with a dip in the sea. I had bought a swimming costume and a pair of jelly shoes (the beach is pebbly so not the most comfortable for walking on) and was ready to have a good old splash around. I should say there that I can't swim and neither can Nic, and also that this is the first swimming costume I've owned since I was about 12. So, I didn't swim in my new swimming costume, but Nic and I did have a highly enjoyable splash around. The water was cold, but the sun was shining and there was a warm breeze. It was beautiful. After getting dressed, Nic and I went to visit his grandparents. We followed this up by spending the afternoon in Folkestone, having coffee in Home Ground and chatting with the delighful Paul Rennie. Folkestone is a funny town - it's a bit like Coventry in that there is a disconcerting mix of beautiful architecture and concrete, but I am very fond of it all the same.

On Sunday we had a day out to Charing to visit our friend Dan and his girlfriend Vic. Charing is a really beautiful little village that sits between the North Downs and the Weald, and it's also the former home of Tom Baker. The house that Vic and Dan in was formerly owned by Vic Reeves, and he still lives in the village (in fact, we saw him driving past in his car. How starry was my weekend?!)


Dan and Vic had made us a lovely lunch, and we sat out in the garden to enjoy it with a glass of Pimm's and lemonade. YUM! I hadn't seen Dan for a while so it was excellent to catch up. I've only met Vic a few times, but we got on incredibly well as it turns out we have a lot in common. After lunch, we went for a walk through the Charing nature reserve and up onto the Down. You can see a few more photos on my Flickr if you'd like but here are a few in the meantime:




We took a bottle of cava and some beers back to the blanket in the garden, and met some of Dan and Vic's housemates:


It was an amazing day, and we had so much fun that we ended up getting back to Sandgate pretty late. It was another tranquiliser dart evening, so we went to bed pretty early. Today Nic and I travelled back up to Leamington, stopping off again in London. We went along to the Portobello Road again, which was lovely. I didn't buy anything exciting but Nic did buy me a copy of Mrs Harris goes to Paris by Paul Gallico. I was too tired to read it on the train back up to Leamington, sadly. In fact, the train was so warm and comfortable that I fell asleep. That's the main thing about this weekend, I have been feeling sleepy for a lot of it!

The other thing about this weekend is that I have had a weird pain for most of it. It started out as a sore RSI-type shoulder on Friday and now it's full on pain in my back and side which is making it difficult to lift my right arm. I think it might be that sleeping on a sofa bed all weekend has pulled something but it sucks! Also, it bloody hurts and it kept twinging (I know that's not really a word, probably) the whole time we were walking around in London. I hope it's better tomorrow after sleeping in my own bed, I don't love feeling like an old lady.

With that, I'm off to lie down. My back hurts. Ouch!

I didn't get where I am today by wearing underpants decorated with Beethoven.

Just a few things this evening as I'm recovering from a nasty sick headache that laid me low for most of today. Seriously, I spent most of today sleeping on the sofa while Nic finished marking essays. It's all glamour round here, isn't it?! Anyway, I am feeling a fair bit better now, helped along by being nursed by Nic. You'll have to forgive me for this just being a random assortment of my thoughts.

I finished the halterneck dress! Only, I decided against keeping it halterneck, instead I crossed over the straps at the back and sewed them to the dress. As I said earlier, I found this second dress more difficult than the first but I like it a lot, and I will definitely wear it, and I've learned lots from it. I need to get better at gathering, but there's plenty of time for practice. Apologies for the slightly blurry photo - the light wasn't very good, and I'll put up a better picture when I actually wear the dress:


I'm cheating a little bit for Ruby Shoesdays by modelling this with my Mermaids, but in my defence they're probably the shoes I will wear with the dress! Also, having realised that I could clean up the slightly scuffed sides using nail varnish remover, they're feeling like new shoes again! I have a fair bit of this lovely fabric left over, so will have to find a project for it. I'm going to go at making a maxi dress next, using some more of the lovely fabric that I bought in Paris.

I finished reading Room by Emma Donoghue. I won't review it, because Martha has already done it better than I could. You can read her review here. Like Martha, I found the book utterly compulsive and it got under my skin in a way that hasn't happened for a long time. Jack is a compelling narrator and, although I've finished reading the book I can still hear him. In fact, it's fair to say that the book left such an impression on me that I found myself looking at my surroundings through Jack's eyes, which was unsettling to say the least. You should go on over and read Martha's review, and pre-order yourself this book, it really is extraordinary.

Okay, that's all for this evening. The horrible bratty children from the house behind us are making a racket in their garden (seriously, it's half past nine, shouldn't they be in bed?) and it's difficult to concentrate. So I'm going to get a lemon ice lolly and attempt to ignore the little gits. Maybe their parents will put them to bed soon, or maybe I'll invest in a water pistol.

You get my support the same way I get yours--When I agree with what you're saying, or when I don't care about what you're saying.

The other day when we were in town, Nic picked up seasons 1 and 2 of The West Wing on VHS from a charity shop. It was a pretty good deal because they were still wrapped in cellophane and he reasoned that we could watch them, and then donate them back when we're done. I think it's a pretty good plan, and I've thoroughly enjoyed watching the show again and getting reacquainted with the characters. I've been telling Nic for ages how much I adore Allison Janney, and her character C.J. Cregg, and it's been really good to see how much he's been taken with her as well. It got me to thinking about female characters I admire. So, get ready readers, here's a list of my Top 10 Fictional Females (in no particular order)

I'll start with C.J Cregg


Why I love her: I think it's impossible to watch The West Wing and not love C.J. For one thing, she is formidably intelligent. She manages the press room and briefs with dignity and humour, and she can balance a friendly relationship with the press with a sense of professionalism and loyalty to the Bartlett administration. She succeeds Leo McGarry as White House Chief of Staff, managing to bring a resolution to a humanitarian crisis in Darfur despite a relative lack of experience with foreign policy. In short, she's awesome. On top of this, she is funny and warm and loyal. On an unashamedly fangirl note - she has the most endearingly goofy smile, and I'm always captivated by her elegance. Yeah, I love Claudia Jean.

Thelma Ferris

Why I love her: I've written before about my love of Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? and it's fair to say that the main draw the show has for me is the marvellous James Bolam. On repeated watches, however, the character that really stands out is Thelma Ferris (nee Chambers) wife of Bob and friendly adversary of Terry. It would have been easy for Clement and La Frenais to write Thelma as some sort of 'her indoors' type character, but they resisted the temptation to do this. Thelma is extremely intelligent and hard-working. She wants a happy marriage to Bob and a comfortable middle class home on the Elm Lodge Housing Estate, but there is much more to her than this. She uneasily tolerates Terry, despite his seemingly bad influence on her husband, and on more than one occasion she shows her mettle by defending Terry to others. She's independent and has a mind of her own, and while she is keen to move up in the world she hasn't forgotten the bowl she was baked in. In the episode Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? she steps in to defend Terry against the sneering and snobby Brenda, despite the social cost to herself. I feel she deserves a mention not for enduring Terry Collier's intrusion into her marriage, but for being married to whiny old Bob.

Nora Charles

Why I love her: Some of this is to do with a love of Myrna Loy, I'll admit. But Nora is an excellent character. From her first scene in The Thin Man, in which she executes a perfect fall into the Gin Mill in which she is searching for her husband Nick, Nora Charles had me captivated. She has a nose for trouble and a taste for adventure, rousting Nick from his comfortable life and pushing him back into detecting. She's a willing companion and is intelligent enough and quick witted enough to really participate in solving the mystery. Best of all, she is good fun. This is what really sparkles in The Thin Man, Nora's amused looks, her sly teasing of Nick, and their very obvious attraction to one another. Nora Charles is a classy lady in more ways than one.

Anne Shirley

Why I love her: It was only a matter of time before I got to Anne, wasn't it?! She is the most enduring of my childhood literary friends. I return to Anne time and time again, when I'm feeling sad or anxious, and also when life is good. Like the other women I've written about, I love Anne because she is so intelligent. She's sentimental and loving, and she makes lots of mistakes. She's quick to temper, but quick to forgiveness (with the exception of poor old Gilbert, he has to wait a while!) I think what I love most about Anne is the way that she is so fully realised. She is thoughtful and intelligent, and deeply spiritual and she loves pretty clothes, and good books, and tasty food as well. Anne is more real to me than some of the real people I know, and I'm not ashamed to admit that.

Pauline Mole

Why I love her: Adrian himself is obviously the star of the Adrian Mole novels, but there's a big part of my heart reserved for his mother Pauline Mole. She makes many, many, many mistakes over the course of the novels. She isn't the type of mother that Adrian wanted. She's loud and vulgar and she drinks and smokes too much. She makes bad choices about her relationships (affairs with Rat Fink Lucas and Ivan Braithwaite come to mind.) Despite all of her failings, she's one of the most entertaining characters in the novels and she comes through for Adrian more than once. She discovers feminism while pregnant with Adrian's sister Rosie, and names her after Germaine Greer. She takes part in the Greenham Common demonstrations. When Adrian can't deliver his TV tie in cookbook Offally Good, Pauline steps in and writes it for him. She has other ambitions as well, and in the most recent novel she is writing her own 'misery porn' memoir entitled A Child Named Shit. Excellent.

Mary Beth Lacey

Why I love her: Mainly, because she's amazing. Don't get me wrong, I love Christine Cagney as well but for me the heart of Cagney and Lacey is Tyne Daly's Mary Beth Lacey. Of the pair, she's the one who is more by the book. She doesn't have the obsessive nature of her partner Chris, but she is a good detective. She has a strong moral compass, holding liberal and feminist values. At times Cagney accuses her of just being in the job to pay for the orthodontist's bills, but Lacey is a public servant and serving her community and her city is important to her. She's opinionated and she sometimes gets it wrong, but she is loving and dedicated and has as good a line in wisecracks as anyone else I can think of. Also, you should check out the pins on her - she is a seriously elegant lady.

Barbara Wright

Why I love her: It's Barbara's concern for her student Susan Foreman that results in her being kidnapped, along with her colleague Ian Chesterton, by the mysterious Doctor. She's just being a good teacher, and she finds herself being whisked off into space by an eccentric and frequently untrustworthy old man. Barbara has become my favourite of the Doctor's companions (sorry Jo and Liz, excellent though you both are) as well as one of my favourite fictional women. She is extremely strong-willed and it is her refusal to be patronised by the Doctor that leads to there being some sort of understanding between the Doctor and his companions. She is very caring, becoming a maternal figure for both Susan and Vicky. What makes Barbara stand out for me, however, is her resourcefulness. She has so much fight in her! In The Dalek Invasion of Earth she becomes the leader of the resistance against the Dalek conquerors of Earth and is instrumental in their defeat. In The Aztecs she plays the part of the Goddess Yetaxa and she is determined to convince the Aztec people that their practice of using human sacrifice is wrong, before coming to the painful realisation that she cannot interfere in history. However, it is Barbara's poise and presence of mind that allows them to escape. Barbara doesn't need to be rescued, instead she uses her considerable intelligence and her remarkable bravery to get through some very dangerous situations. On a more shallow note, I also really love the way she looks - her big dark eyes and enormous beehive hairstyle is impossible to look away from.

The Provincial Lady

I don't have a picture of the Provincial Lady herself, so here is a picture of E.M. Delafield instead
Why I love her: Because she's just as funny as Charles Pooter. She never feels quite right in any of her clothes or hats, she struggles in social occasions, she doesn't have enough money. But she is eloquent in her self-deprecation, and funny with it. Really, to do her justice I just need to say that you should go and read her diaries. They're wonderful.

Detective Chief Superintendent Sandra Pullman

Why I love her: Her high-flying career in the Met was brought up short by a botched bank raid in which she shot a dog, and Pullman was given the leadership of UCOS (Unsolved Crime and Open Case squad) as a sort of punishment. Instead of languishing in a basement, she made it her own. Pullman is a good girl, and she believes in playing by the rules. She's frequently irritated by the way that her men break the rules or pursue unorthodox lines of enquiry. However, she's a good and imaginative detective and she looks out for her boys. She doesn't take any crap and she likes to be in control. Of course the writers of the show can't resist putting in one female-cop cliche - she has a string of failed relationships behind her - but she's excellent and thoroughly entertaining all the same.

And for my final entry, I'm going to cheat. It's my blog and I can do what I want, so ner...

Carrie Bradshaw, Miranda Hobbs, Charlotte York, Samantha Jones

Why I love them: Okay, so maybe you want to call these women whores. And maybe Sex and the City 2 made you so angry you wept tears of rage. But I love these fictional women. I won't repeat all of the things I wrote a few weeks ago in my defence of Sex and the City but I love these women for lots of reasons. They're successful (even mad old Charlotte is good at her job before she jacks it in) and intelligent. They make lots of mistakes, fashion and otherwise, but they support and love one another. They resolve their problems by talking about them to one another. They're funny, and have a sense of humour about themselves and their lives. They're ridiculously extravagant, but sometimes that's what I want in my fictional ladies. Sometimes, it's just good to look at the nice clothes.

So, there you have it. It's taken me ages to write this, and there are a few ladies who were just edged off the list. Close contenders were Lucy Van Pelt, Dr Elizabeth Shaw, Helen Gordon and Laura Hobson. I'd be really interested to hear who you'd nominate - let me know in the comments!

A cousin of mine goes potholin', a cousin of hers loves Joe Dolan.

The beautiful weather is continuing and I had a very pleasant day working from home today. It's especially nice when it's so hot because our flat is so cool and shady, it certainly beats the cycle of getting hot while walking to station - being frozen on train - temperature levelling out on walk to office - being alternately cooked and frozen until it's time to go home. I have those joys awaiting me tomorrow, but let's just say that I enjoyed being at home today.

I had SUCH a lovely weekend, it was just what I needed. Nic and I had a very lazy Saturday, but as I have already written about that I won't repeat myself. Sunday was similarly relaxed. I had a bit of a clearout on Sunday morning, which was very satisfying. I sorted through some things to go to the charity shop, some clothes to give to a friend, and some bits and pieces to take to the tip shop. Our kitchen is very small and, while I wasn't as disciplined as I could have been, I went through the cupboards and decided to get rid of a few bits of kitchenalia I have little use for. I kept all of my coffee pots, however. Those babies are going nowhere. Anyway, Nic and I dandered down through the park to the tip shop and then had a wee wander in town while the England-Germany match was on. I wasn't one bit sorry that England were beaten by Germany, but town was so peaceful while England were playing I couldn't help but think that it might be nice if they were playing all the time. As the weather was so glorious I took the opportunity to wear my monkey pinafore:




We had made plans with Tom to watch the finale of Doctor Who round at his. Tom couldn't make it home in time, due to unforeseen events, so we ended up watching it with Paul and Nat. It was lovely, but I did rather feel that we held Paul to ransom in his own home, to watch a show he has, at best, a passing interest in. Still, we brought our own wine and Nat enjoyed Alex Kingston's performance, so it wasn't all bad. And, indeed, the episode itself was rather enjoyable and called my mind back to one of my favourite Doctor Who serials, The Green Death. I have thoroughly enjoyed Matt Smith as the Doctor and I look forward to the next episode at Christmas.

The rest of the week should be fairly uneventful. I'm going to stir myself to get my halterneck dress finished and make a start on my next sewing project. It might be slightly more complicated because it involves altering a pattern quite a bit, but I feel up for the challenge. Since Louise pointed me in the direction of Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing I've found a few really excellent sewing blogs that have inspired and motivated me to teach myself a bit more.

I'm also going to do a lot more reading. Last week I read two really enjoyable Rose Tremain novels, The Way I Found Her and The Swimming Pool Season. The Way I Found Her was an especially satisfying read because it's set in Paris, so I knew lots of the locations mentioned from our visit at the beginning of the month. I've just started Room by Emma Donoghue and hope I'll get through it quickly enough to start on something light and fun that I can read when we're by the seaside this weekend.

Now, I have another blog post bubbling away in my brain so I'm away to write that. Well, maybe after a cup of tea.

"Do they call you Muldoon?" "Yeah. And Culchie. But mainly just Bitch."

I'm very happy that it is the weekend. For some reason this week has passed by very slowly, which is strange. Maybe it's the heat making me move more slowly, so everything else has slowed down as well.

Yesterday was my last day working in our London office, which was a strange feeling. I've been commuting between Leamington and London for over a year and a half now, and it's strange to think that it's finally over. I won't miss the office (although as offices go, it's a nice one) or the long days, or racing through the underground with all my stuff to try to make it to Marylebone in time for my train home. However, I will miss the place and the people and I feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to work in Mayfair for a time and to get to know London better as a result.

A number of my colleagues left this week, among them my colleague Andy. I worked with him on one big and stressful (and ongoing!) project and he's marvellous. I'm really sorry not to be working with him any longer and I felt very sad to say goodbye to him. I did feel emotional as I left the office yesterday, and the position our organisation is in seemed even more sad than it had before. As I wrote the other day, I'm trying to think positively about this and think of all possibilities there may be, so I'm not going to get too maudlin on you all now!

In any case, I'm too happy to feel all that worried right now. It's been a good week. I had lunch with the lovely Louise on Thursday and spent most of Thursday evening eating strawberries and gossiping with Sugar Plum and Martha. In fact, I spent lots of last night gossiping with Martha as well, this time over coffee and background noise episodes of Sex and The City.

One of the episodes wasn't quite background noise, however. The other day I read this post on Lauren's blog, and it chimed with things I have been thinking about this week, and the resulting mixture made me seek the wisdom of Carrie Bradshaw in the Season 6 episode A Woman's Right To Shoes. I love this episode. I think Tatum O'Neal is great in it as the bitchy friend Kyra, Stanford gets to make an appearance and you also get to see Evan Handler's wee bum. What's not to like?!

Anyway, back to what I was saying. Lauren wrote passionately and angrily about the way in which some people pigeonhole her or judge her for writing about fashion in her blog. There were some interesting responses in the comments, which again seemed to chime with things I have been thinking about my blog. In the past few weeks I have been giving quite serious thought to either taking my blog offline completely, or making it subscription only. I have been feeling that, by writing about what's going on in my life, or how I'm feeling, or what I've been spending my money on, I have been opening myself up to criticism. I have been wondering if I shouldn't expect stones to be hurled if I'm going to go around handing them out.

Obviously, as you're reading this on my blog - I decided against closing it/making it private. I'll keep writing and I'll keep it open to whoever wants to read it. I'm very aware that some readers might think that I am frivolous or shallow because I like to write about the pretty dresses I've bought, or they might think I'm immature because I write about silly things. Some people might even find my attitude towards life to be offensive, who knows? I'd like to say that this doesn't bother me, but it does. And, on a more personal note, sometimes I wonder if the record I'm leaving behind of myself is doing me an injustice! But, the thing is this. I am frivolous, and I can be shallow, and I definitely have some very immature interests. I enjoy writing about this stuff, as well. There is a lot more to me than I can put into this blog, and it only represents a small part of who I am, but I like the part that admires the way my wee feet look in pretty shoes just as much as I like the rest. I might have a go at writing about more serious things from time to time and show you all what an upstanding member of society I am, but in the main I enjoy what I've got going here. In the Sex and the City episode I referred to earlier, Carrie is bothered by the way in which her friend Kyra judges her for spending money on expensive shoes. Kyra tells her that she no longer spends so frivolously because she has "a real life" and Carrie leaves feeling that she has been shamed for her choices. Lauren wrote that she didn't want to feel shamed for writing about fashion and in the comments to her article, Amber wrote that she felt the same way, and so do I. This blog is silly and trivial, but I like it.

So, it's business as usual, really. With that, here are a few wee outfit shots for you:


Laura Lees for Topshop dress and Irregular Choice Mermaid shoes

This is what I wore on Thursday. I love this dress but hadn't worn it for ages. I think I had an idea that I didn't like the way it looks on me. I'd been holding on to it for sentimental reasons but I've decided that I do like it after all! I have a few dresses by Laura Lees for Topshop and they're all very pretty, with lively patterns and cute embroidery on them - but these days I'm too old for Topshop. I can't even figure out what half of the garments are meant to be when I go in nowadays and also their shoes are crap now.

I don't have an outfit shot for Friday because I spent most of the day either on a train or packing stuff in boxes, so I was too sweaty and tired to bother with a picture.

Today was a different story, and Nic and I have been enjoying a lovely lazy Saturday:


Ruby Belle Darcia dress, Clarks sandals and my fetching straw sunhat

I bought this dress on ebay and it arrived this morning. Man, it is short. Really short. I don't know how anybody who was any taller than my measly five foot one could manage wearing it (but then, maybe this is why it was being sold on ebay for £7) I confess that, while it is very cute, it is not at all practical for an afternoon of reading in the park. I had to sit in a very particular way to avoid flashing my pants to passers by. That said, I'm very pleased with my find because I think the dress is very cute. It will look good with tights in cooler weather, and it has pockets!

Well, I'm off to enjoy some more of this beautiful afternoon. I'm going to leave you with a wee video of Soupy Norman. I have no reason for it, except that it makes me laugh. Enjoy!


If you promise not to pee on the seats I'll roll down the window and you can stick your head out and shout all your mad Cork stuff at the Dublin people.

I don't ask were you get your cash from, you don't have to ask where I get me whales.

It's still lovely and sunny here in Leamington, and I've decided to get back on track with my Shoe Challenge. Today it was the turn of...


No. 10 - Irregular Choice Matronix Courts

Okay, I know they're not the most summery of shoes, but for some reason yesterday I took a real notion for wearing them. I haven't worn them to work much because, while they're comfortable, the velvety lining means my feet don't have too much grip so they're not much good for the inevitable run for the train (or the soon-to-be-a-thing-of-the-past dash through the tube) I'm working from home today, though, so I can do what I want:


Fever shirt dress, Max C belt and sun hat from Leamington Peace Festival last year

Actually, neither of those pictures really do the shoes justice. They have a lovely suede upper but the best thing about them is the purple sparkly heel. I hesitated over buying them, despite having wanted them since about October, but then obviously I decided just to go for it! They were really cheap from Amazon and, while the suede (and the aforementioned slipperiness) make them not the easiest shoes to wear, they were totally worth it. I bought the dress from a shop called Dessies in Armagh - worth visiting if you're ever in the area because a) they have good bargains and b) Dessie himself is SO nice and cute.

It's all quiet here in Dolly Clackett Towers (hah. That doesn't really work, does it? I need to think of a name for where I live) My up and down moodiness of the past few months is finally levelling out and I feel all the better for it. I've been thinking a lot about the future. This is partly connected with the fact that, since the Government announced plans to close my workplace down, I have been thinking about my future. Also, Nic is writing up his thesis and he too is trying to figure out what to do next. Obviously it's a difficult time to be planning for the future, and I'm trying to see this as freeing, in a way. An uncertain future is arguably full of possibilities. The budget and the continuing financial gloom is obviously casting a cloud, but in a way this has possibilities of its own. I've found this to be true emotionally, as well, and the emotional turbulence I've experienced over the past few months has created possibilities of its own as well. It's good to be feeling positive again after what felt like such a long time of feeling miserable.

Well, I've gone from talking about shoes to getting all philosophical (well, in my own very shallow way) but, in truth, these kinds of thoughts occupy a much bigger space in my brain than shoes do. I'm one of life's worriers, which is why I keep finding grey hairs when I do my hair in the morning.

Anyway, the sun is shining and everyone at work is watching the football, so I think I'm going to take myself down to the park for an ice cream, and a read of my book, and further philosophical and shoe-related thoughts.

Just because Lauren asked...

Lauren tagged me in this quiz thing. I used to do these all the time when I had a blog on myspace, and I've resisted doing one on here. But, Lauren is difficult to say no to, so here you all are. I'll write a proper blog later.

Five names you go by:
1. Roisin
2. Mouse
3. Puppington-Smythe
4. Russian
5. There are probably a number of uncomplimentary ones I'm not aware of

Two of your favourite smells:
1. Fresh coffee
2. Clean laundry

Three things you are wearing right now:
1. Green wrap dress
2. White cotton slip
3. Red glasses

Two things you want very badly at the moment:
I know I should be all 'peace on earth' and that here, but screw that.
1. My dinner. I am starving!
2. New shoes, and there is a sale on at Office, but I have no money. Oh well, I always want new shoes.

Three people you hope will fill this out:
Aw, I'm not going to do this. If you want to do it, go ahead, and I'll read it!

Two things you did last night:
1. I nearly finished the dress I've been making. It's not too bad.
2. Watched an episode of Murder Rooms with Nic

Two last things you cried over:
1. Confusing and depressing friendship stuff
2. Work

Two things you ate today:
1. Banana
2. Yoghurt and granola

Two people you last talked to on the phone:
1. Work people
2. Lauren, I think, on Saturday.

Five favourite bands/songs:
1. The Divine Comedy
2. Tori Amos
3. Fred Astaire
4. Paul Curreri
5. Devon Sproule

Two things that you are proud of:
1. I'm good at my job
2. My intelligence

Two things that you are not proud of:
1. My propensity to get obsessive about things that make me feel stressed
2. My inability to stand in a queue without feeling snarky about having to stand in a queue. It's stupid.

Two things you are going to do tomorrow:
1. Go to work (oh. the joy!)
2. Hang out with Martha in the afternoon

Two longest car rides:
1. Belfast to Birmingham via Stranraer
2. That other one, I've done it more than once

Two favourite beverages:
1. Champagne
2. Coffee

Two of your favorite memories
1. All of my holidays with Nic
2. Many happy summers in Loch an Iuir

Three favourite concerts you have been to:
1. Tori Amos in Wolverhampton with Rod and Hayley - must have been 2003 or 2004
2. The Divine Comedy in Dublin Caste Courtyard in 1997
3. Paul Curreri and Devon Sproule on Valentine's Day in Taylor John's House