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Much of a muchness
Things that make you go 'hmm'…
Procrastination rules…OK?
Posted by on April 5, 2009
My youngest son is travelling in Australia and the Far East for four months and I spoke to him the other day. (Don’t you just love Skype?) He asked me what I had been up to. I replied that I had been working relentlessly on the music anthology books and clamshell boxes. He said ‘I thought you must have been, I checked your blog a few times to see what you had been up to and saw that you hadn’t posted for ages’. I checked and was horror struck to discover my last post was on February 22nd! Eeek! Where does the time go? To remedy this sorry state of affairs here is a list of things that have been preoccupying me the last few weeks. (Apart from making books that is)
- Bought my Glastonbury ticket this morning. Blur, Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen are confirmed so far. Woo hoo.
- My friend, Claire Fordham whom I have mentioned many times here, has just found out that the film based on the story of her trying to get her book made into a film (still with me?) is being premiered at the Cannes Film Festival! So exciting! So I am going over to Cannes for the weekend in May to attend the premiere and hang out with my mate. The film is called ‘The Making of Plus One‘ and Claire and her sister Julia, both appear as themselves in the film.
- Julia Fordham, Claire’s lovely sister is a well known singer/songwriter and she is performing in the UK for the first time in ages. She is on in Newbury on May 6th and at the Pigalle Club in Piccadilly, London on May 8th. I am hoping to go to the Pigalle gig which should be brilliant as usual.
- I am flying from Nice to Geneva after the film premiere to meet up with my friend Edwina. We are then driving from Crans Montana to Palma in Mallorca. We have done this same drive twice already and so we have it all planned and ready to go.
- I went to the premiere of ‘The Boat That Rocked’ last week. Well, the Weymouth premiere! As it was filmed in Weymouth and Portland, the cinema in Weymouth was allowed to have a copy of the film early to have a charity fundraising evening – there was even a small red carpet! I really enjoyed it – despite it getting bad reviews in the press – what do they know? But then I love Bill Nighy, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Rhys Ifans so I would, wouldn’t I?
- I have just found a reason never to visit Papua New Guinea. They have just discovered 50 yes, FIFTY new species of jumping spiders – that’s NEW species of JUMPING spiders!! Holy moly! How many were there to start with? And spiders that jump? My worst nightmare. You can read all about it here if you have the stomach for it…be warned. This is a jumping spider.
How disgusting is that?
- The weather has been wonderful but I have hardly set foot outside the door as I have been cooped up in my prison cell workroom. To say Milo is bored would be an understatement…
- The other scary thing of note is that it is my father’s 80th birthday shortly and I have volunteered to host the celebrations. This means that most of my family – parents, sisters, husbands, children are descending upon me over the Easter weekend for a party and three nights of merriment. Bearing in mind I have done no housework for several weeks now, and a decorator is arriving to paint my hall, landings and stairs on Monday, I am now getting severely stressed and it occurs to me I ought to be dusting and changing beds rather than writing this. As always though, procrastination rules and as I work better under pressure and with looming deadlines, I am assuming it will all work out in the end. Milo at least will have plenty of company to pay him attention.
Bye for now….
Much of a muchness 
Oh boy, do I know that feeling ;}
It never gets any better either despite the best of intentions…
There are several points that need clarifying here :-
1. Husbands – how many have you actually had?
2. So far as I am aware there is some water between Crans Montana and Palma in Mallorca? – how are you intending to drive this?
3.How come you know so many famous people and why haven’t you introduced me to them?
4. That is not a dog – it’s a a domestic appliance – a mop to be precise.
5.Surely there’s an age limit for entrance into Glastonbury? – (I’m in hiding now …. tee hee hee)
1 Just the one ex husband (who won’t be there), the others belong to my sisters.
2 Ferry, from Barcelona – takes 7 hours!
3 Not quite sure, my charm and charisma I guess. Come to the gig at the Pigalle Club in Piccadilly and you can meet some of them. Julia is a wonderful singer….
4 Milo will be a mop if he doesn’t stop munching on my shoes…
5 Cheeky monkey. I can still see you hiding behind that chair….
Wow Julia Fordham that brings back some memories a hauntingly beautiful voice…..as for her sister at Cannes…I wonder what the distance is to Luc-sur-Orbieu?
Will we ever meet?
Frustratingly, I will be driving past the turning to Carcassonne on my way to Barcelona from Crans but as my friend has the route planned with military precision (we have to get from Switzerland to just over the border in Spain in one day – we overnight in Port de la Selva) we don’t do any detours!
I am desperate to see more of that neck of the woods – especially Carcassonne, I am determined we WILL get together and I will make it out to Luc sur Orbieu…you have been warned!
bloody hell no wonder you have found no time to blog
1. way jealous about Glastobury
2. way jealous of the jet setting but how wonderful ;-)
3. you should have VIP tickets surely
4. Oh a girlie road trip … fabulous can’t be beaten
5. So have to go and see that film .. I was so proud as a youth for having the same name as a pirate radio station ..
6. Please erase that spider !!
7. aww Milo has had a hair cut .. so cute
8. gawd major stress after not having done basic domestics coz you have been busy doing life … I can soooo ID with that one . I hope you all have a lovely party for your dad :-)
I’ve never met a girl named ‘London’.
Took me a while to work out what you meant!
Sorry about spider. At least I made it a small pic and not the usual large one. Disgusting isn’t it? Yes, Milo did have to have a haircut. He looks mad – he has a crewcut with ears that look like girlie bunches – poor thing.
Thanks, at least my famiy should forgive me for the odd cobweb – although I’m even more worried somehow. Don’t want my mum thinking I”m a slob. Even if I am… :-)
Good to see you back Diane, we were going to send the paramedics.
Everyone thought there had been some sort of awful bibliographic accident.
We had Medecins Sans Frontieres on Red Alert Standby and allsorts……………………………….
Thank you! Nice to know that you all notice! I’m making steady progress with the books but it is so time consuming….
You can stand down the troops :-)
They’re back to Orange Alert.
BTW, I still have an amazing e-mail that my Sister sent me.
But if you’re an Arachnophobe, I won’t send it to you.
Can you do me a favour, and hide this comment from 70s,
i’m running out of places to hide !
I hate spiders and most other creeping creatures too. Nasty little critters!
Wow, you are busy. That all sounds like great fun though.
That Cannes Film Festival premiere sounds like a lot of fun. Post some pictures if you get the chance! :)
Paul
You know me! I promise pics galore!
Hope the new baby is sleeping well. I love the photos of him on Facebook – so cute :-)
Thanks Diane. He’s not sleeping particularly well, but I didn’t really expect him to yet. He is very cute, though, and has started to smile and interact with us. He’s 7 weeks old today!
You are not procrastinating, darling; you are obeying Newton’s First Law. ;) If you’re seated already, it takes a strong force to get you up and doing cleaning.
LOVE that “map” of Australia…I may have to borrow it and tease a few friends.
Goodness, you are quite the jet-setter! I’m envious of your glamorous life (when you’re not locked in your prison cell, that is).
It is my imagination, or has Milo grown a little tummy while waiting for you to take him out for walksies?
I’ll be avoiding Papua New Guinea with you; while I love rodents and reptiles of all sorts, insects, particularly spiders, give me the heebie-jeebies. I’m not going to read the article you linked to, thank you very much. ;}
And lastly, thank you for that final cartoon: it describes me to a t too!
Milo is being a complete pain! I have a man decorating my hallway, landings and up both flights of stairs so of course Milo wants to be in there ‘helping’. (Actually, dunked in a tin of paint he would make quite a good paint applicator….no, don’t tempt me.)
He is getting good at climbing over the various barricades I have erected to keep him out of the way and the decorator keeps leaving the front door open so when Milo can get away from me he is straight out the front door and we ‘play’ chasing round and round the car until he finally dashes into my next-door neighbours garden and I have to go chase him around there (with my grumpy neighbour glowering at me through the window).
Not to mention that as I am working at the top of the house and the only way Milo can get to the garden to do the necessary is down the stairs, it’s all a nightmare. If I lock him in the kitchen he barks his head off. Remind me again why I got a dog?
…………and relax. *thinking happy thoughts* :-)
Sorry, hon, I can’t remember why you got a dog (we talked about how easy cats are in comparison), so I can’t remind you! ;)
At least you have lots of fodder for when you write your autobiography – and maybe it’ll do as well as your friend Claire’s! Major congrats to her, BTW, I forgot to say in my last comment!
I am up at dawn’s crack because I am too excited about our Cannes trip to sleep. Both Julia’s UK gigs are almost sold out (really!). I thought you were getting a table together at Pigalle. Let me know if you need a ticket. Trouble is the world and her sister have been contacting Julia asking to go on the guest list not realizing that she has to pay for them. She only gets 4 comps – the band don’t get any! Crazy I know. I am getting in as “crew,” which is even lower down the chain than a plus one – if that were possible. As for Milo…don’t get me started. Who’s dog sitting while you’re away? Start saving for Milo’s therapy, dogs don’t like it when Mummy goes away – terrible abandonment issues – and hide your best shoes and treasured possessions before you go because he will eat them as a punishment. I’ll see you at the M3 service station on May 16th. I shall be checking your luggage to make sure you haven’t snuck Milo in. Yes we Cannes!
By the time I remembered to buy my Pigalle ticket, ordinary tickets were sold out just dining tickets left. I will feel like a real Billy No-Mates sitting at my own table eating supper alone so I need to round up some more folk and get a table together as you suggest. Otherwise I shall just buy a dining ticket and not eat, just come and sit with you and Mia or whoever….
As for Milo, it’s kennels for him unless I can persuade Alex to have him for 10 days.
PS the service station is on the M27 just before the M3!
Yea, Skype is great. My wife use it often too, to keep in touch with the family in US.
You busy bee and so much interesting going on.
I think the spider looks cute :-)
Happy Easter to you and your family!
I am hoping my son can video Skype us this afternoon so he can wish his grandfather a happy 80th birthday. He is Malacca in Malaysia at the moment so it all depends if he can find a good internet connection with a web cam!
A very happy Easter to you and Diane too, Renny.
Cool girls know Skype hype.
That Australia map reminds me of a similar Texas map.
Enjoy your travels. This all after cleaning up house for guests? Or am I behind on news….
House guests now gone home, food all eaten, cupboard bare. Dust – do your worst!
Travels all begin next month….
Of all the exciting events happening in your life, I think the most gratifying would be your son checking on you while travelling in the far east. Have thoroughly enjoyed your blog!
You have hit the nail right on the head – I was so pleased when he said that. He is away for 4 months and I am missing him like mad :-(
Glad you enjoyed my blog!
just noticed the Neil Young mention .. is he still going??
Apparently so, I hope he lasts until the end of June! I’ve always longed to see him – ever since his ‘After the Gold Rush’ days and when he was in Crosby, Stills Nash and Young.