On A Day Like This In June

This post is for both the wonderful Gallery, posted by Tara Cain, and Josie's Writing Workshop, which this week have teamed up together to come up with one theme for both words and photos.

The prompt is Emotions.

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Nine years ago today, I married the love of my life.

I have a tendency to get a bit weepy at the slightest thing at the best of times, but there's nothing that is as guaranteed to set off my tears as much as a wedding, real or imagined. Every year, I like to dig out the album and look through the pictures, which brings up a whole raft of emotions. (This time of course I had the excuse of trying to find a picture for this post!)

Nostalgia comes to mind. I am wearing the dress and veil that my mother wore to marry my father. There is also a slight envy and longing for that old life. How young we look! How full of hope and opportunity. My husband's hair is thick and black. My eyes do not yet carry the bags containing the sleep robbed by our children. We are about to embark on the most wonderful journey - literally (a once-in-a-lifetime honeymoon to Tanzania and Zanzibar) and metaphorically.

My heart is tinged slightly with sadness at the memory of those that were unable to join us on our special day. There is a place in our hearts for these people, even if there is no place in the photos. Just as sad is the sight of faces on these photos of people we have not seen for a long time; friendships that have grown apart, marriages that have since dissolved.

Nine years is a long time.

Of course, the overwhelming emotion is one of joy and happiness. How could it not be the best party ever? The most important people in our lives were in one place sharing this special day. They had travelled from all over Europe to do so. Some had even brought baby bumps that were ready to burst only a week later!

The weather was that absolutely perfect English summer's day that comes around as often as leap years. The venue was the old English house of my dreams. The food was outstanding, the drink was plentiful, and as a result the dancing was ridiculously silly. I am proud to say that all this time later, our wedding still gets talked about as being one hell of a party.

"Love doesn't make the world go round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile."

Franklin P. Jones

Happy Anniversary, A x

Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition

The three sisters over at Paris-Ankara Express have tied me to a comfy chair and subjected me to the Spanish Inquisition (please, no cushions!). This involves answering 10 questions, then developing ten questions of your own that you would like to ask other unsuspecting bloggers.

1) If you had enough money so that you never had to work again, what would you do with yourself?

I suppose this is a bit like the "what would you do if you were a billionaire" question in the 5 years meme. Husband and I were actually having this discussion over the weekend, and I think we both came to the conclusion that we would probably do very little in the first instance. We would take the kids to and from school, then do all those little jobs around the house that needed doing. In the summer we would tour Europe for 6 weeks, making the most of the school holidays and exploring all those places we had always wanted to go.

2) Do you knit or sew or do any other 'womanly' craft?
I have always been terrible at knitting and sewing, despite my poor mother's efforts. I don't think I have the fine motor skills for that attention to detail. The only vaguely crafty thing (and this is not necessarily just 'womanly'!) I do is a fair bit of cooking and baking, which is something I enjoy doing with the children.

3) Do you have a special talent that's unlikely to be noticed or that you're unlikely to brag about (like being able to brush your teeth with your feet!)

Nope. Not one thing. I am either completely transparent in my talents, or talentless!

4) Are you a meticulous planner?

Probably only when it comes to holidays - otherwise I'm pretty much take it as it comes.

5) Do you wear make up? If so how much, how often?

Yes - can't live without mascara. I have the most feeble, straight, thin eyelashes of anyone I know, which seems to only get worse with age. I look weird without just a lick of the black stuff and got fed up of people telling me I looked tired if I wasn't wearing any. If I'm going to work I'll also throw eyeshadow over the top.

6) Is there something you learnt as a child that you wish you could pick up again? A language, a sport, a musical instrument?

I was terrible as a child for dabbling in things and then not finishing them. Over the years, I attempted various sports, various musical instruments, and various foreign languages. The only thing I would quite like to do a bit more of is Finnish - I do feel a bit ashamed at how little of my mother's mother tongue I speak, especially as we are off there on holiday this year!

7) Do you swear in front of children?

No - I like to keep my swearing for those who might appreciate it.

8) Do you have any habits that you regard as childish?

Oh, too many to consider, but the worst is probably that I bite my lip a lot when nervous.

9) Jimmy Steward or Cary Grant?

Cary Grant - hands down

10) Vampire Bill or Eric Northman?

I watched the first few episodes of True Blood, but never really got into it for some reason. I therefore didn't really see much of Eric Northman. Personally, I'm also more into the tall, dark, handsome type, not really blondes, so would have to say Vampire Bill.

I would now like to pass my questions on to the following:

The Gherkin Jar

Nova at Cherished by Me

Belgravia Wives

My questions are:

1) What's the first single you ever bought?

2) Have you ever performed on stage?

3) Night owl or Early Bird?

4) What's your favourite kitchen appliance (and why)?

5) What's currently on the top shelf of your fridge?

6) Worst ever holiday destination (real or imagined)?

7) What time does your alarm go off in the morning?

8) You can only have nice hair OR perfect skin - which do you go for?

9) What would your dream car be?

10) Have you ever spent any time in hospital?

TV like in the Good Old Days

Not content with being in the musical dark ages, I have this week come to realise that our TV viewing habits are probably more akin to those of my youth than a lot of people I know.

The World Cup has brought this realisation to the foreground. Now, I actually enjoy watching the World Cup. It is one of the big five sporting events that I do vaguely follow (the others being the Olympics, the Six Nations, Wimbledon, and occasionally, but not as often as before having children, Formula 1). However, there are occasions when even I get a little fed up of having it on every day, and every now and then I get the urge to watch something else.

What seems to happen in a lot of households (and here I am going to generalise horribly) is that the man of the house ends up watching the sport, while the female in charge goes off to the second television and catches up with CSI.

Notice the term "second television" there?

Technically, we also possess two televisions, if you count the "very tiny portable on the top floor that now no longer functions as we no longer have an analogue signal and whose internal aerial isn't strong enough for more than two channels on the digibox". Otherwise known as "the crappy portable". It's hooked up to our ancient VCR that only works if you physically remove the tape by taking off the top of the recorder with a screwdriver. Suffice to say, neither of them really get much use, and to all intents and purposes we are therefore a one television household.

I know, you are probably reeling from the shock right now. To make you feel better, it is a nice telly - nothing too fancy, but under 5 years old, HD and also hooked up to fancy PVR, so we're not completely steam powered. We rarely seem to watch anything "live" these days (other than beforementioned sporting events).

99% of the time I am more than happy with just that one television. Thankfully my husband and I share a similar taste in television. He even lets me control the remote occasionally. The children are at the age where all they want to watch is CBeebies anyway and are in bed by the time we do our viewing.

However, I do wonder what will happen when they grow older. Will they want a TV in their bedroom (something I'm personally dead set against)? Will we compromise and get a second "proper" telly for the kids? For gaming?

Am I naive in thinking that it will ever be like when I was young and the whole family congregated around the box to watch something together?

The Gallery - Creatures

This week's Gallery theme is Creatures. Welcome, then to the little creatures that are the bane of my life in the summer:

Terrible photo I'm afraid (AGAIN), but this is the corner of our conservatory. It has a lovely permanent collection of spiders/cob webs that are annoyingly just out of reach with anything other than a long-handled brush. In the summer they do especially well at catching the flies that float in the open doors. I suppose they are useful from that point of view.

DD1 is learning about "mini beasts" at school at the moment, so she is fascinated. They are therefore kept there purely for educational purposes. *ahem*

The one where I think I am prejudiced for good reason

Chav (Source: Wikipedia)

A chav (pronounced /ˈtʃæv/ (CHAV)) is a stereotypical rough young person in the United Kingdom. The typical "chav"—known also as a charver in Yorkshire and North East England^[1]—is said to be an aggressive teenager, typically unemployed or of white working class background,^[2] who repeatedly engages in anti-social behaviour,^[2] such as street drinking, drug abuse and rowdiness, or other forms of juvenile delinquency.A chav (pronounced /ˈtʃæv/ (CHAV)) is a stereotypical rough young person

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I will freely admit I'm a bit of a snob. I have a tendency to judge people. I think this is, however, part of human nature. At least I recognise my affliction, so I can work towards overcoming it.

However, let me paint you a picture of something I witnessed recently, and perhaps you can tell me if you think my reaction was rash.

I was walking through our local park on my way to pick up the children from school/nursery on one of my shorter working days. In front of me I saw two men attempting to light what looked like a cigarette. They were pushing a baby (approx. 9 months) in a pushchair, and were also accompanied by a toddler, who must have been around 2.

One of the men was slightly overweight and dressed in a too-tight vest top and shorts. The other, probably in his early 20s, was wearing a football shirt and baggy jeans, had that strange greasy combed forward hair, several earrings and the sallow, spotty skin that instantly screamed of a diet of junk and not enough fruit and veg.

Judgement number 1: they are obviously not working, and they do not look like the kind of men who have CHOSEN to be stay at home dads.

Judgement number 2: they are smoking with small children around (although, granted, we were outside, so that could, technically, be forgiven)

As I overtook them, I realised that basically every other word was f*ck. "F*ck this, f*ck that, f*cking pot".

Oh, so it wasn't a cigarette they were trying to light.

I bet I'm not the only one wondering about the children now, am I?