Vote for Miss Essex

Vote Imogen Leaver for Miss Essex 2009

Vote for Imogen at http://www.missessex.org/vote_profile.php?id=10437&vote=yes

Filed under: Campaigning, Family

Maldon Mud Race 2009 – Changed my Mind

Thanks to Dad for sending this on, he & Mum were there spectating.

I’ve always said that I wanted to have a go at this, but after watching this year’s race I’m reviewing the situation.

It’s a long clip, the race starts at about 1.40 but it’s worth watching the end to see the ‘voiture balai’ (that’d be six stout Essex fellows pulling unlucky competitors out of the mud using ropes)!

Filed under: Essex, Family

I am not good at being ill

It makes me very grumpy.  I feel like my body is failing me and that if it tried harder it would be fine.

Unfortunately after having severe difficulty physically getting out of bed this morning (and not for the usual reasons) I rang NHS Direct.

A nurse, who rang back to ask a lot of questions, tells me that it sounds like I have twinged my sciatic nerve.  I make it at least three times this morning.

The result is burning pain in the lower back and tops of legs, leading to a collapse onto the floor and writhing (if writhing is possible in a ginger manner) to try and find a position that eases the pain.  Then 5 minutes of trying to work out how to get up without incurring another spasm.

I am now ensconced in a sensible upright chair at the table where I intend to stay forever.  I’m even too scared to stand up and go into the kitchen to make breakfast in case it hastens another ‘attaque’.

Nursey says not to trouble the GP as there’s nothing they can do and to self medicate with rest paracetemol and ibuprofen.  She also says I should feel much better tomorrow.

I’m even grumpier because this is the second week of my new job.  (And sadly working from here is not an option because there is no remote access unless you have a specially installed additional phone line.)

I am never doubting my grandma’s need to carry a stick again (she carries one in case of sciatica but practically needs it).

Filed under: Family, Guilt, Illness, London, The Drawer

Look at Me Being an Opinion Leader!

Someone has contacted me to ask me to encourage you to take part in a survey.  They say:

The study involves learning more about parents’ attitudes towards child nutrition, obesity and food choices offered to children at school.

This blog has been selected based on the overall content of your postings and the comments posted by your readers – so your readers’ participation would be very important. The survey findings will allow us to learn more about parents’ attitudes towards these important topics.

I’m quite excited by this!  Not since the Evening Standard contacted me in desperation has my help been sought…

My problem is that:

1. the survey that they want you to fill in seems to relate to the American market
2. it’s for a potato products manufacturer and although the intention seems unbiased I’m not sure

But, hey, it’s up to you: Kids & Food: What do You Think?  I’ve had a quick bimble through and if I qualified to fill it in then I would do (no kids so I can’t).

Not wishing to lead the jury, but I know what my response would be….  homemade packed lunches full of pretentious yummy mummy organics, no to school dinners until I can be sure that chips, mini pizzas, ‘chicken’ nuggets (or any kind of non free-range chicken) etc. are not on the menu.

Further than that:

1. school dinner menus should be published a week in advance to help prevent clashes with home cooking (like they do in France)
2. schools should not be allowed to purchase from food services companies such as brakes bros. etc.
3. potatos would not count as a vegetable choice

However, I don’t think I’d go as far as banning jacket potatoes and am relieved to see that that this story was rubbish.

Although all of this is based on personal prejudice it’s not from a position of complete ignorance, my mum was a primary school bursar who had to outsource and then re-house school dinners and Himself works in the food service industry.

Filed under: Children, Cooking, Family, Food, PR, Shoes

Party Preparation

The most difficult bit so far has been compiling a list of must have songs for the DJ.

This is a difficult list to make, cos it’s not about showing your cool credentials, it’s about thinking what I’m likely to want to dance to when three sheets to the wind, what my friends and family are likely to want to dance to, and what songs mean something to friends and family.

(And with that explanation, I’ve just realised I’ve left a crucial one off.)

Anyway – the list I’ve just sent looks like this:

• Teenage Kicks – The Undertones
• Le Freak – Chic
• Build Me Up Buttercup – Foundations
• Because the Night – Patti Smith
• Disco Inferno – Trammps
• You Can’t Hurry Love – Phil Collins
• Dancing Queen – ABBA
• Crazy in Love – Byonce feat. Jay-Z
• Hanging on the Telephone – Blondie
• Brand New Cadillac – The Clash
• Double Barrell – Dave & Ansell Collins
• You Can Get it if You Really Want – Desmond Dekker
• Come On Eileen – Dexy’s Mignight Runners ( for my Nan, Eileen!)
• Mercy – Duffy
• Henrietta – The Fratellis
• Standing in the Way of Control – The Gossip
• Town Called Malice – The Jam
• Golden Skans – The Kaxons
• Rock & Roll – Led Zepplin
• Once & Never Again – The Long Blondes
• Ooo Wee – Mark Ronson
• Valerie – Mark Ronson
• Pure Pleasure Seeker – Moloko
• Cigarettes & Alcohol – Oasis
• The Importance of Being Idle – Oasis
• Shake – Otis Reading
• Rocks Off – The Rolling Stones
• I Don’t Feel Like Dancing – Scissor Sisters
• Hey Little Rich Girl – The Specials
• Alright – Supergrass
• Let’s Dance to Joy Division – The Wombats

Filed under: Birthday, Family, Friends, Music

You Tube: My Contribution

My breast examination video on You Tube!

The Open University has launched a YouTubeTM Channel with over 300 videos to extend its commitment to broadening access to education. YouTube is the leading online video community that allows people to discover, watch and share originally created videos.

OUView went live yesterday [Thursday]. Video taken from OU courses is available on the OULearn Channel and features household names such as broadcaster Sir David Attenborough and inventor James Dyson. Videos cover subjects from arts and history to science and nature, in bite-sized chunks of 2-3 minutes each.

OULife is a channel for the OU’s staff and students to upload their own videos – from graduation ceremonies to video blogs. The launch includes a series of video blogs where OU staff and students talk about what they’ve learnt from YouTube.

Here is my contribution “Wot I learnt from YouTube”.

Thinking of you Grandma.

Filed under: Family, Guilt, Higher Education, Internet, Movie, PR, TV, Work

Clothkits Kid

Big Birdie Skirt from Clothkits

 

Clothkits is back!  Woohoo!  I am dashing out the door to buy a sewing machine before I forget how dreadful I am at sewing.

I was a Clothkits Kid – and loved it.

Many years later, we were having a summer bevarage en-famille in a beer garden and wondered over to a car boot sale next door….

There we found mine and my sister’s Clothkits wardrobe for sale at a considerably marked-up price!  My mother’s handiwork had stood the test of time.

See more at Seventies fad of kit clothes is born again and Is home made better than off the peg? and while we’re having an ethical bent see Chazza shops entries at CK’s Random Ruminations (Happy 30th CK).

Filed under: Bicknacre, Clothes, Family, Fashion

The Man With No Name

I have always loved Westerns.  And I have always loved Clint Eastwood: particularly in Westerns and in Dirty Harry; but I will make no excuses for Play Misty for Me.

But his best role for me, and one that he has played variations of throughout his career, is The Man With No Name.

The Man With No Name has many qualities that I admire.

Filed under: Branding, DVD, Family, Films, Me

You can take a girl out of Essex….

From my Dad…  Posted because I went home for the weekend and because I wore my white stilettos on Friday night (honestly) and because I don’t forward these things on but it’s worth sharing.

alma chizzit - A request to find the cost of an item 

amant - Quantity; sum total (“Thez a yuge amant of mud in Saffend”) 

assband - Unable to leave the house because of illness, disability etc 

awss - A four legged animal, on which money is won, or more likely lost (“That awss ya tipped cost me a fiver t’day”) 

branna - More brown than on a previous occasion (“Ere, Trace, ya look branna today, ave you been on sunbed?”) 

cort a panda - A rather large hamburger 

Dan in the maff - Unhappy (“Wossmatta, Trace, ya look a bit Dan in the maff”) 

eye-eels - Women’s shoes 

Furrock - The location of Lakeside Shopping Centre 

garrij - A building where a car is kept or repaired(Trace: “Oi, Darren, I fink the motah needs at go in the garrij cos it aint working proper”) 

Ibeefa - Balaeric holiday island 

lafarjik - Lacking in energy (“I feel all lafarjik“) 

OI OI! - Traditional greeting. Often heard from the doorway of pubs or during banging dance tunes at clubs 

paipa - The Sun, The Mirror or The Sport 

reband - The period of recovery and emotional turmoil after rejection by a lover (“I couldn’t elp it, I wuz on the reband from Craig”) 

Saffend - Essex coastal resort boasting the longest pleasure pier in the world. The place where the characters from TV’s, popular soap opera, Eastenders go on holiday 

tan - The city of London , the big smoke 

webbats - Querying the location something or someone is. (“Webbats is me dole card Trace? I’ve gotta sign on in arf hour”) 

wonnid - 1. Desired, needed. 2. Wanted by the police 

zaggerate - To suggest that something is bigger or better than it actually is. (“I told ya a fazzand times already”)

Filed under: Bicknacre, Essex, Family, Friends, Language

The Fields of Athenry

By a lonely prison wall, I heard a young girl calling
“Michael, they have taken you away,
For you stole Trevelyan’s corn,
So the young might see the morn.
Now a prison ship lies waiting in the bay.”

Chorus:
Low lie the fields of Athenry
Where once we watched the small free birds fly
Our love was on the wing
We had dreams and songs to sing
It’s so lonely round the fields of Athenry.

By a lonely prison wall, I heard a young man calling
“Nothing matters, Mary, when you’re free
Against the famine and the crown,
I rebelled, they cut me down.
Now you must raise our child with dignity.”

By a lonely harbor wall, she watched the last star fall
As the prison ship sailed out against the sky
For she lived to hope and pray for her love in Botany Bay
It’s so lonely round the fields of Athenry.

The Irish were in fine voice today. This song always reminds me of Himself’s Auntie Mary, she leads the singing it on highdays and holidays and at weddings and wakes.

(Marys are always referred to by their First and Last name’s in his family – being a good Catholic family they have too many Marys to do otherwise!)

I must admit though that for years I thought it was Fields on Atton Rye – on account of the accent!

Filed under: Family, Himself, Lyrics, Rugby