Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Watch me

I should buy a watch. I put my watch down somewhere - can't think where - and I turned around and it was September.
I should buy a watch because last week my baby girl started school, and I cried all the way home after she threw her arms around me and said "bye" and "love-you".
I should buy a watch because all of a sudden there are rosey and gold plums on my tree and blackberries at the roadside, and nobody told me that summer was over.

So - how's it hanging?
If you stop blogging, you lose your nerve. You are half-way along the wire in your sparkly tutu and the lights in the Big Top go out and you think "Maybe I'll just stay here and wait till they go on again." Except the lights don't go on again, and then you start thinking what exactly do you have that's worth saying anyway, that someone else couldn't say better - perhaps someone who didn't mix their metaphors? Though I have one advantage - I'm free. No paywall here. Oh no. I'd know if there was a paywall around my blog because I wouldn't be broke. Or maybe I would? I'm not entirely broke though, last night I went out and did a reading for the local Women's Institute, and they paid me with an iced lemon sponge with candied lemon slices, and a pot of home-made raspberry jam. And one of the ladies said "I read your book a couple of years ago - I enjoyed it." I really must buy that watch.

40 comments:

Kerry said...

Yay! You are back!!!

H said...

welcome back! my watch broke two years ago. it's on the (LONG) list of things to "sort"
i'm holding out for a vintage chanel watch that's never going to arrive....

Somersetbound said...

Nice to hear your voice again.

I cannot believe the baby girl is old enough for school. Time certainly does fly.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you're back.

Gappy said...

Oooh I'm glad you're back too. I got into your blog just as you stopped blogging and thought 'Bugger. I've missed the boat.' But now you're back again so hopefully I can catch it.... or something.

Anonymous said...

They do come in handy. Time moves on too quickly and a chat would be lovely.

CJ xx

Anne-Marie said...

No false modesty please on sharing your views on the state of the world. School holidays negate all possible free space in a mum's brain, but now you can start to keep us all on our toes again! I'm carrying on with my battles locally. Come and join me.

Pam said...

Welcome back. I still had you linked from my blog and would wonder sometimes if you were planning on keeping it up. I love to read about all the stuff you do - the interesting, the mundane, the funny, and the sad. Please do keep it up!

Iota said...

Are you really back, or is this just a brief foray?

Ann in Saskatchewan said...

I quite like mixed metaphors so polish off your sparkly tutu and let us get caught up with your summer. You have no excuse now your baby girl is in school, think of all those hours with an empty house and the computer beckoning you. There should be a little clock at the bottom right hand of the screen so you don't actually need a watch! Welcome back wifey ... we have missed you.

Karon said...

Thrilled to see you back, don't stay away so long. Where does time go, under the bed, under the stairs, can't find the damn stuff anywhere....
Karon

Potty Mummy said...

You're just showing off now, with your talk of plums and blackberries... (please, no more unripe apples from Azerbaijan!) (Oh, and welcome back, btw)

Catherine said...

Good to see you back. Just seen my youngest on the train back to University. Still wrecks the heartstrings.

Mama of Boys said...

hurrah, have checked your blog every couple of days for months...am thrilled to see you again :-)

Anonymous said...

hey .. its u! i read your book. it rang true .. despite the fact that i LOVE the north. left london clawing and scratching my way home after 5 years in the smoke. and now .. i am stuck. two babies, a tea room and a husband. in that order, i am afraid. it's bluddy grim oop north lass. only in the winter, i say, which sadly lasts about 9 months of the year!! u, my friend, are a very clever girl. i love it that you can write your stuff down .. me? i just go periodically insane, drink some gin, (personal trainer says it is less fattening than wine) and then get back up and carry on. if i was in a film, i would smack some of the staff round the head with a lamb leg, punch my husband in the face with a fist the size of a basketball, and give my kids medised during the day. but no .. one wouldnt want to show any weakness. :-) how do you do an insane grin in that type face stuff?

billatbingley said...

OMG! You are finally back in the land of blogdom. We'e missed you so much. We will be travelling up to Waren Mill and staying there between Oct 9th - Oct 16th and had decided to send out search parties to see what had happened to you. Our youngest one flew the nest three weeks ago, when she got married, so we are now just two oldies left alone to bounce off the walls.

Hope to call in and see you whilst we are up in Northumberland!

wife in the north said...

golly. I didn't think anyone was listening anymore.
There is a good chance by the way that I've forgotten how to do this, so bear with me for a while...it went along the lines of ho hum ain't life interesting, vote Labour, and look at that tree. Something like that anyway.
re gappy yes the boat has arrived at the docking station so don your life jacket and try not to fall overboard.
re pam and iota: I will try and keep it up as the bishop said to the ....(I'm not telling that joke the week the pope arrives. Hurrah for Benedict.)
re Ann in Saskatchewan: I have tried strapping my laptop to my wrist but it makes scratching my nose really difficult
re potty mummy: well i could do you a jar of plum chutney? would it make it?
re anonymous: I'm pretty sure there was a 70's TV play about a woman who killed her husband with a frozen lamb leg, roasted it and ate the evidence. Or did she kill him with an icicle? In any event it didn't end well - for a small fee of gin, I am willing to provide a safe house
re bill:glad everything with you is well and u'd be very welcome to drop by for coffee

Katy said...

Welcome back to bloggsville.... time does fly doesn't it. I also read your book years ago and loved it.

Unknown said...

Hurrah! You're back!

andy said...

Welcome back - you might just have saved me some embarrassment.

When i make presentations about e-marketing and talk about blogs i always like to scatter the section with a variety of blogs that I read regularly and I've always included yours - together with a mentioned that it was turned in to a book, serialised on radio 4 etc etc and that I discovered it when I read about it in the Daily Telegraph [I think] - then you disappeared . . . . .

And now you're back so I can start to talk about your blog again.

Some people think I'm odd - a bloke reading a girly blog but it's a great story as to how a little "smart" could see a blog picked up by the media, and anyway - I am a little odd [eccentric my wife calls it] and I like your style and humour.

Cal said...

Yay, you're blogging again. I was thinking of you the other weekend as I was up in the wilds of Northumberland.

I was at a party at a friend's place that looks south into Scotland (yes, I'll repeat that, south into Scotland) and there were women there and I kept wondering if one of them was you.

It's gorgeous up there. Though I was blessed with very lovely weather.

maria said...

oh I've missed you--welcome back!

www.retiredandcrazy.com said...

I missed you. How's it going?

London City (mum) said...

Never too late to stage a comeback.
Must say seeing this post has put a smile on my face, great to have you back.

LCM x

wife in the north said...

re andy: any recommendations on good blogs then? My blogroll needs a good overhaul.
re London City Mum: A "comeback" ? Now I feel really old.

Jo said...

Oh I'm so pleased you're blogging again. You don't have to be [very] frequent; we can wait patiently because you always deliver poetically, with such eloquence. Please, please write another book. Your pitch and voice and insight is a delight.

Mimi said...

hey, welcome back!
Good to see you again.
And in case you think you were forgotten, have a look at this http://eddybluelights.blogspot.com/
-you're actually mentioned twice, once in the roast (by the roastee), and once in the comments (by me!)

Mimi said...

forgot to say that you need to scroll down a tiny bit to the roasting of retired and crazy to see the references to you!

andy said...

First off, I should confess that I'm a geek so a lot of reading is IT focussed.

I really enjoy Peter Cochrane, http://www.silicon.com/search/peter-cochrane/n-28e/, he's a former crystal ball gazer for BT and very good at what he does

Rupert Goodwins is the Editor at ZDNet and has some interesting tech blogs, some of which are quite irreverent http://www.zdnet.co.uk/blogs/mixed-signals-10000051/1/

Rory Cellan-Jones is the BBC's technology correspondent and does not take himself [or IT] too seriously - http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/rorycellanjones/

The Red Ferret blog is a peerless place to look for IT geekery, gadgets, little software applications and "stuff" Some good stuff written with tongue in cheek
http://www.redferret.net/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/markkermode/ - Mark Kermode blogs intelligently about films and the film industry [I REFUSE to call them movies] and his taste broadly coincides with mine - so that's a bonus then.

Jeff Zbar who blogs about all things "Homeworking" http://www.chiefhomeofficer.com/

The truly excellent Paul Camilli at http://lifeattheendoftheroad.wordpress.com/ who blogs about his life on a croft on an island off the west coast of Scotland. He's self sufficient in electricity, not because he's eco - simply because there's none where he lives.

No blog role would be complete without a reference to Stephen Fry http://www.stephenfry.com/blog/

http://rafairman.wordpress.com/ who is in the RAF, based in Oxford and soon to be off to Afghanistan

http://themodstolemyboyfriend.wordpress.com/ which is written by the long term girlfriend of a soldier who is currently posted to Afghanistan



And last, but by no means least - Lisa Lynch, Alright Tit, 28 years old and diagnosed with breast cancer. Funny, sad, inspiring http://alrighttit.blogspot.com/

And my apologies to all of those other exceptional bloggers whom I have yet to find

andy said...

First off, I should confess that I'm a geek so a lot of reading is IT focussed.

I really enjoy Peter Cochrane, http://www.silicon.com/search/peter-cochrane/n-28e/, he's a former crystal ball gazer for BT and very good at what he does

Rupert Goodwins is the Editor at ZDNet and has some interesting tech blogs, some of which are quite irreverent http://www.zdnet.co.uk/blogs/mixed-signals-10000051/1/

Rory Cellan-Jones is the BBC's technology correspondent and does not take himself [or IT] too seriously - http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/rorycellanjones/

The Red Ferret blog is a peerless place to look for IT geekery, gadgets, little software applications and "stuff" Some good stuff written with tongue in cheek
http://www.redferret.net/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/markkermode/ - Mark Kermode blogs intelligently about films and the film industry [I REFUSE to call them movies] and his taste broadly coincides with mine - so that's a bonus then.

Jeff Zbar who blogs about all things "Homeworking" http://www.chiefhomeofficer.com/

The truly excellent Paul Camilli at http://lifeattheendoftheroad.wordpress.com/ who blogs about his life on a croft on an island off the west coast of Scotland. He's self sufficient in electricity, not because he's eco - simply because there's none where he lives.

No blog role would be complete without a reference to Stephen Fry http://www.stephenfry.com/blog/

http://rafairman.wordpress.com/ who is in the RAF, based in Oxford and soon to be off to Afghanistan

http://themodstolemyboyfriend.wordpress.com/ which is written by the long term girlfriend of a soldier who is currently posted to Afghanistan



And last, but by no means least - Lisa Lynch, Alright Tit, 28 years old and diagnosed with breast cancer. Funny, sad, inspiring http://alrighttit.blogspot.com/

And my apologies to all of those other exceptional bloggers whom I have yet to find

diney said...

Thought I'd pop over and say hi! I had a month or so away from blogging over the summer and I felt a great sense of freedom to read, write and watch tv at night instead of blogging, but you miss it too, don't you? There are so many lovely and interesting people out there with amazing stories and lives - it's too good to miss!

ThresholdMum said...

Just read your book and loved it so much have already given it to two friends. Transported with husband and family to Kenya, and boy did lots of it ring true. Please keep blogging, you're articulating life with kids for many of us who don't have your turn of phrase!

Stay at home dad said...

I know what you mean. Watches are over-rated, but you've lost nothing of your skills.
Sahd

Scarlett said...

Just found your blog and I love it!
thanks!

Linden said...

I very much appreciate your writing ability and am happy to see you blogging again.
In reference to checking out blogs: you might take a look at mine although I will be amazed if you decide to link to it.

www.linden-would.blogspot.com

Linden Swift
Plainfield, Indiana US

Rachael (Tales from the Village) said...

Ooh, hooray, you're back. Since we had dinner together after Cybermummy I've been stalking your blog, waiting to read more.

I had a couple of weeks off when we went to France in August, and when I came home I was frozen, wordless, looking in at a weird world of people who didn't make sense. I posted a lot of photographs for a while there.

Livvy U. said...

You're so right, it is like walking the high wire - and it is so easy to lose your nerve. I did, for ages. Sahd inspired me by returning after over a year and then I hop over to you and lo and behold you have started posting again, too. Very glad, very glad.
Livvy

Anonymous said...

I read your book a couple of years ago and loved it, too.

Reluctant Memsahib said...

i read your book too. lots of us did. and lots of us enjoyed it. lots and lots. glad to see you back. keep blogging.

hilary@snr.co.uk said...

I really enjoyed the book. It takes me back to my desperate times in 1999 when, post-divorce, I moved up to the derelict railway station at Whittingham with five small children, a dog and two cats.(I think I fancied myself as something off “The Railway Children”). My mum still lives in Dunstan if you fancy a cuppa? I’d like to write a blog diary about life in a blender but am technically incompetent ( according to him in the “ home office” somewhere out there in the snow). Could you help? – I understand if you’re too busy, though.