I'm Waiting for my Bill

So far so good. Day by day there are further improvements to the house. A door for the shower, and not just any door, but a clear glass door! The hob was plumbed in today, and Jake cooked us our first home-cooked meal, which as delicious.
The bill is looming though. All other expenses are on hold until we pay the final builders' bill! Not sure how much it will be yet, the three we've paid so far have been calculated by bizarre means known only to architects and genius madmen. Plans on hold are....the garden, now a solidified mud wasteland, needs urgent attention. A holiday with the relatives in Greece would be nice, a new mac would be nice, too. Can't think of the other odds and ends we vaguely promised ourselves when the building work was done, maybe a few days in Ireland.
Oh yes, driving lessons. I knew some of the plans were a bit more sensible! I am trying to learn to drive, although I've put things off since we moved back home. It is very daunting, and expensive, and, as I've begun to ask myself, what's the point when the oil's going to run out in ten-fifteen years time? The only real motivation's been that our yearly trip to Whitby would be so much easier by car. In fact, it's just the second leg of the journey that's a problem. We've tried every permutation by public transport, and when you're laden down with fiddles, guitars, fishing rods as well as a few clothes, none of the options are easy. At the moment, the family vote is for the Coastliner bus from York, so I guess that's what we'll do this summer.
Saw Di today which was nice, she popped in to see the developments and have a chat, which helped us in our settling back in phase.

In between times

it's been a weird time; last time I wrote, I'd stopped being ill, but in fact had come down with a sinus infection, which made my teeth throb, and a chest infection.
So much better now. Had a great time back in Brentford twice in the last week or so, realise how much I've been missing all my friends. The first occasion Sunday lunch at the Brewery Tap. I had never been there before, but it was a really relaxed place. About 16 of us went. The occasion was that Mary, Graham and Bekkah were there. These are our good friends who emigrated to New Zealand about two years ago. It was good to catch up, also to see Ali, Darren, Barney and Kate and for Jake to be with some of his friends.
Well, lunch was a fiver and a bargain. A huge plate of delicious roast meat with veg and gravy. A far cry from the Sunday lunches we've sampled in the Putney eateries. The atmosphere in the pub very relaxed and uncliquey, a very nice way to spend the afternoon. We went back to Ali's to collapse and digest, and to force down a little cheese and wine later on.

The second visit was to Phil and Tracey's on Friday. A true gathering of the yummy mummies, and very nice too, fuelled by tequila sunrises. Very nice to have Ali there, and without Darren, so lots of socialising all round. Of course, the evening would not have been complete without a little sidle round to Ali's for cheese and wine a bit later.

Putney is a very different place.

cheeseboard of the brentford/ealing borders

Went out with Philly and Ali on Saturday to sample the cheeseboard at The Ealing Park Tavern; when Ali had phoned to enquire of the existence of such a thing, they were so nice about it on the phone, and enthused about the other lovely bar snacks available, how could we resist.

A lovely evening - the cheeseboard arrived, four different cheeses, with lots grape, apple and interesting and tasty biscuits, and a pot of spiced apple. I don't know what the different cheeses were, but they were delicious, a waxy yellow one, maybe comte, a creamy blue cheese that looked like it had been cut from a loaf, a white goats' cheese, and I can't remember the other one! We ordered a slice of aged manchego with quince paste for good measure - that was my favourite. We also drank a fair bit of wine - the house rose is particularly pale, dry and delicious. All the bar snacks looked great, I could happily work my way through all of them, maybe not all on one night though. We did get asked to leave three times for lingering too long. This felt quite unpleasant, I must say as the man said I've asked you three times now. Ali took her drink with her and was apprehended, and made to return the glass. I give the cheeseboard a 9 though, just to give other cheeseboards something to beat. Back to Ali's afterwards for more wine and conversation about life and death. Left at 2.15am; Phil can't remember being at Ali's at all; he fell asleep on the sofa at about 1.

When Helly met Philly

or how I met my wonderful husband and learned to stop worrying about everything.
I had been on my own for about eight months, and really started to look at what I was doing with my life and sorting myself out. This was happening partly as Ali laPeche was hitting her big four o, and in a crisis about what she was doing with her life, and life in general. I thought, I'd better get my act together before I hit forty, and so I started to. I decided- no more stupid relationships with rubbish men, and, that I needed to do something constructive, ie training and eventually a job/career. So I started doing some voluntary work with Release, an organisation giving mainly legal advice to drug users, but also offering a kind of counselling service on the phone. met some new people, got some confidence, then in October that year, went to Rob T's 40th birthday party with Ali la P. It was great fun. At one point I started talking to Phil-I had known him very slightly through Saffron and Rob, and even seen him play at a gig in a band with Paul in their band Defrosting the Fridge in what was the Red Lion (now McDonalds) in Brentford. I had in fact gone that night to watch Saffron's band- that would have been in about 1992.. I had also noticed him at another of Rob's parties where he had fallen asleep in the middle of the dance floor, cradling his violin. Most endearing.
Anyway there we were, chatting at Rob's birthday party; for some reason I was telling him about some of the bizarre dates I had been on, and then I asked him what he was doing in the coming week-sort of asking him out. He very gallantly remembers asking me out. Anyway we were entwined for most of the evening after that- Rob T even said it would be wedding bells next, and he was right. It was a magical evening which ended in a wonderful way with Ali, Phil and me waiting for a taxi, and lying on the pavement near Rob's flat gazing at the full moon.
Phil is so brilliant and in fact we have rarely spent the night apart apart from his initial pretense of still living at Rob's..that was on Tuesdays, and we just spoke to each other at length on the phone instead-you put the phone down first, no you put the phone down first, no you etc... we got married eleven months later! lucky us.

This week

Still off work with the sore throated boy. Since I last wrote...the days have blended into each other a bit....Saturday stayed in with the boy and kept him dosed up with painkillers, then went to Questors to help out with the various youth groups' plays. Came home and had fun enjoying the garden.
On Sunday, it was St Faith's centenary; Phil played with the musicians, but I sat in the congregation in the long box shaped church. There was a little party afterwards, which was quite fun and caught up with a few friends. as well as having a bit of a chat to Andrew Dakers, who I haven't spoken to for about 10 years, since we used to correspond in cyberspace He is involved in a sort of forum looking at ideas for the development of Brentford town centre. Met Derath for the first time, vicar of St Faith's. Bishop Richard was there, who was hilarious and said the highlight of his reading about the history of St Faith's was the item about flannel dancing. He said he had no idea what it was, but thought it sounded saucy. I'll have to google it, or look it up on Wikipedia! Sat and chatted to Linda and Steve, who supported my need for a nice new computer, a mac of course!
Ali laPeche treated us to Sunday lunch mmmm, it was very welcome as I hadn't done any proper food shopping, and really didn't feel like cooking. At all. Met wee Lee's girlfriend, Sofia, she is lovely, and Greek!!! They are very sweet together, we talked a tiny bit of Greek, and drooled about mediterranean food.

Wednesday was a great day-Sarah's graduation at Brunel University in Uxbridge- it was in a wierd oil drum shaped stadium and very well organised. Went with Petey and Phil, and that was quite proper. She looked great in her mortar board and gown; The speeches were good, and meant something to me as well in terms of my own academic endeavours. Sarah was very impressed by the pomp and meaning of the ceremony and speeches. I was very proud of Sarah, and she really enjoyed herself, particularly later on when she went to see her tutor, and relaxed with some friends. In the evening, we took her to Pappadums, a favourite for special occasions. Beautiful food, and we sat outside for Kulfi and ginger tea, admiring the view. Magical evening, including our special walk home.