Who do I vote for ?

I always vote.
I don't think anyone has the right to criticise the government if they choose not to vote.
I vote because women died for that right.
Tomorrow, I still don't know who to vote for.
Labour are woeful, but the Tories are new Labour circa 1997.
I know it's not a general election, but it feels the same.
I was reading an article which stated that social networking and online blogging is silly, irrelevant and a waste of time. I hate intellectual snobbery. A well known British TV presenter ( oh, the irony!) declared yesterday that we are a nation of couch potatoes and that we need to spend our weekends in art galleries instead of watching TV, ( presumably he still wants us to watch his programme )
If I suggested the Saatchi gallery over a Hannah Montana double bill, I know what my girls would say.

working girl

So, I'm working in an office and loving it. It's really really good ( if a somewhat alien experience ) working in a non toxic atmosphere.
Everyone is really really nice and helpful and friendly.
Most of the time !
The phone rings, but people are encouraged to deal with each call properly.
Quality not Quantity.
It's nice to work in a place where I'm not being pressured every 5 minutes with deadlines or busily preparing an important presentation with 24 hours notice or dealing with an atmosphere of passive agressiveness or 12 hour days!
I've done plenty of work from home over the years, but it's fairly antisocial.
Which I don't mind mostly cos I like my own company, but when I start talking to myself, that's worrying ! Gavin keeps reassuring me that, actually, working in an office is extremely overrated.
But it feels important to have some structure and routine back to my daily life again.
So, welcome back routine. Welcome back chats around the coffee machine.
Welcome back conversations which don't exist around parenting subjects.
Welcome back feeling-like-useful-member-of-society once again,
I'm back !
Gavin's probably right. It is overrated. But I need to do it anyway.

Here Comes Summer

Summer, I love you.
I love the long hot perfumed days. On long hot holidays, the pool and/or beach offers some reprieve from the gasping heat, but at home there is only a vacuum of humidity punctuated by the twice daily shower.
I love summer,
but will be doing a rain dance if we don't get a downpour soon.

I miss them

Charlotte and Rebeca, that is.
We were all warm as toast this morning, huddled beneath freshly laundered bed linen.
In the holidays, we'd still be fast asleep at 7.30. It felt rude throwing the duvet aside with shouts of `morning, quick, hurry, we don't want to be late, do we ?`
It was so sublime lying in bed until nine ( or later !) throughout the holidays.
I felt so bad for Gavin, rudely blasted awake by rock music on his I-Phone. I complain and yet get an extra hour each day. It's why I don't mind him having a long lie in at the weekend and it's why I don't mind him playing World Of Ruddy Warcraft to wind down after work. Ok, perhaps I mind.
A little !
The world is a happier place when Spring arrives. The girls swap their winter trousers and pinafores for cheerful gingham and pretty ankle socks. Still, Charlotte managed to be quite tearful on the way in to school yesterday. She enjoyed the holidays and I don't think it finally dawned on her, until we were stood outside her class, that it was over.
School, with its sharp edges, stale air and indifference, is back again. Until the end of May, at least.

The Last Day of the Easter Holidays

How unfair.
The weather is now gloriously dappled spring sunlight, the kind which envelops everything in a flattering sheen and makes every step seem lighter. I drank coffee at the table in our garden whilst the girls read `Rainbow Fairy` books and grunted requests for Ribena, water, sunglasses, sunscreen etc. at various intervals. Connie danced around like a baby lamb chasing butterflies.
All was serene except the occasional muted yelling from a neighbouring property. Usually, I'm the one closing windows to yell at the girls for some minor dispute or three, so it was refreshing to live in a state of harmony for one soft-focus afternoon. The calm was broken only by a hurried trip to the supermarket, where it's impossible to buy ` a few things` for less than £32.90 apparently.
Rebecca (6 and in Yr1 ) spotted a couple of friends and gleefully ran over to hug them. She's excited about going back to school. They must make school more interesting these days because I never ever got close to an excited state throughout my entire school career.
My default setting for the school years was one of melancholic resignation !

Biggleswade

I found a page on facebook for Biggleswadians and pop over occasionally to see if anyone has bothered to add photos or comments whilst failing to add any of my own !
It was interesting looking at photos of the VE day celebrations pouring onto the streets over 50 years ago. Is community spirit the same anymore ? I think not.
We've created a world where people use cars all the time, speak via the web rather than face to face...mind you, I can't imagine the London underground ever being a friendly place. It's quite distracting, trying to avoid eye contact with anyone whilst at the same time keeping an eye out for your stop/dodgy looking folk with large rucksacks/etc...

Easter Holidays

Ah, the school holidays are back.
Deepest joy of joys.
Each school holiday is an opportunity for me to exploit my job ( as Mother ) to its fullest and grasp every chance to show Charlotte and Rebecca what a hands-on, creative, inspiring, wonderful Earth Mother I am.
But I don't.
Instead, I nag incessantly at the state of their rooms ( they are 9 and 6, they can't help it ! )
grimace at the grey clouds, moan at the cost of doing anything that doesn't involve a picnic at the park, encourage them to get arty then scream inwardly at the sight of paint, glitter, felt and things-salvaged-from-their-bedrooms..... whilst every other Mother worth her salt seems to be off down the local play barn/zoo/beach every day, regardless of thunder or lashing rain.
But, we had fun. We did. Despite me !
We went to Blackpool and walked the dogs in the sunshine, ate good food, had sleepovers at their Aunties, made birds nests in the woods, swam, painted, saw a couple of friends and relaxed.
When I was a girl ( a phrase I swore I'd never use ) holidays were for doing nothing. We had no schedule, no itinerary, no routine.
We woke up and there were no plans.
Nothing.
We slept in, read books, rode our bikes, played in the field, got muddy and dirty, picked caterpillars off the cabbages on our neighbours allotment, watched cartoons on the one channel which played them for kids in the daytime ( and when they were over, that was it... no skyplus, no video even then ), went to bed early and stayed up chatting and watching the moon, writing a diary, playing connect 4 and snakes n ladders.. no nintendo, playstation in sight.