Greyhounds

Kim has just welcomed a retired greyhound into her family. She texted us a picture of Ellie. The dog had already made herself at home lolling over the settee. We've got greyhounds. They are funny dogs in that most of the time they are no trouble at all. they don't need much exercise, they sleep most of the time(and snore) and hardly ever bark. They are very affectionate. Although to people who don't know the breed may think they look aggressive when they bare their teeth, they are in fact grinning.The downside is that they can be a tad on the sensitive side. Tommy and Penny hate fireworks/loud bangs it really freaks them out and a freaked out greyhound is a bit of a handful. its on the rare occasions they won't do what I tell them to i realise what big dogs they are. I wouldn't get any other breed of dog, if only for the amount of ex racers that are looking for a home. It breaks your heart.

Here is Steve with Tom and Pen in his parents' garden.

Glad to be alive

Oops I forgot to mention that I worry about my pension. I worry about that a lot.

On a lighter note - the yin and yang - here are things that make me glad to be alive:

Steve, Mum, Dad , Angela , Dave , Joe and Aaron - just knowing those people are there.
Walking the dogs on an empty beach.
The dogs
getting stuck into a really good book.
Girly nights out
Stevie nights out
Good hair days
My computer desk
Writing - when it is going well!
Waking up on a Saturday morning knowing I don't have to get up.
My garden
Coming home from work.
Laughing
Singing
Sitting on the settee having a cup of tea when we've just finished cleaning the house
Going to concerts
a glass of red wine, a bowl of crisps and a good film.
Hearing the thud of the paper when it is delivered - I promised myself that when we got our own front door we would get the papers delivered at the weekend.

Its harder to think of happy things, but much nicer.

Worry

here is a list of things that I worry about:

Steve leaving me
Steve dying
My family dying
Mum going blind
Getting cancer
Losing my job
the dogs dying
Joe's nut allergy
Not writing enough
That a horrible family will move to our road and make our lives miserable
That aforesaid horrible family will play booming music all night
that some one will park in front of our garage, blocking it.
that I haven't got any friends
Mutant dogs attacking our dogs. some one stealing the dogs.
I sit on a chair and it will break through my sheer bulk
I'll lose my hair
I'll wet myself on a long car journey/work meeting
The water won't be hot enough for my bath
the house isn't clean enough
I don't walk the dogs enough
I'm not good enough
I'll get diabetes
Some one will grafitti the side of the house.
No one will attend my funeral

Actually it is nice writing them all done. its liberating.

Food again

Listened to Paul mcKenna last night. fidgeted a bit but stuck with it. I think I made a mistake in leaving the light on, made it harder to relax. Walked around today imagining I was slim. just listened the CD tonight, with the light off and nearly fell asleep. That's more like it. thought about what I want. i want to have control over food. most of the time I have - but when i haven't - well its not pretty. That's why I'm so anti diets, because you're handing your control over to someone else.

Changing the subject a friend said that Steve and I were soul mates. i wish she had been here when Steve pointed out that although I might be sitting next to him, it didn't mean I could talk to him. the thing was I got what he meant. i hate it when I'm trying to read/watch telly / think and he is telling me about something Steve Allen said on the radio. Sometimes I think we like each other more when we're not actually together. I think it is like that for most couples. I hope!

Food

Have dug out my Paul Mckenna 'I can make you thin' CD and will make an effort to listen to it every day. I know the theory, eat slowly, stop when you're full. Its so simple but it is so hard. i don't believe in diets but I do believe in creating a healthy relationship to food. it is just for me, a difficult subject. I hate diets, the idea of being told what I can and can not eat is abhorrent to me. My Mum was always on diets when I was little and I used to feel sorry for all the horrible foods she used to make herself eat. I can't remember the last time i ate a grapefruit or cottage cheese - that was what Mum seemed to live on in the 70s. Yuk! The Atkins Diet worked for her , she swears by that and Paul. Wish me luck.

Plan B

We were supposed to meet Sharon and Tim for a night out at Christmas, but Steve and I were poordy so we cancelled. We rescheduled for the weekend. Tim and Steve has know each other for years ( i think it is about 20?) and luckily Sharon and I really hit it of when we first met. I don't really believe in the concept of best friends but I would say Sharon was my best bud. Any hoo it is Joe and Aaron's birthdays Monday and Wednesday. Angela said that she was planning a family buffet and I said we couldn't go as we already made plans.
Angela : Perhaps you'll end up with plan B.
me:No - this is plan B.
Sharon rang up this morning - Tim is v poordy. We have rescheduled for February. We are now on plan C. Still at least we can go to the birthday buffet. When I told Angela she said that she knew we would end up going. Angela thinks she has got a touch of the Mystic Megs.

I told most people I know about my story getting published. I have divided people into those that ask for the web address and those that don't. I don't like those that don't so much now.

I was talking to Joe the other day and he reckons his Mum(Angela) is harsh. I joked that if he wanted harsh he should have nanny for a Mum. For example I was talking to Mum about how I would look at the window waiting for her to get home from work. Before I started school Mum had an evening cleaning job. Mum frowned and said she thought I was quite old to be doing that. Reader, I was four years old. My Mum is harsh. I think it is because she was born just after the war and remembers rationing. As for my Dad - he is so hard he has only recently starting washing in hot water.

Bullying

I just had to write something about Big Brother. I'm sick of people saying it is not racism, it is bullying. As if that makes it better. Or if they say its not racism the bullies are just jealous. As if that excuses it. If it feels like racism to the person being victimised it is racism.It doesn't matter if the perpetrator didn't intend it that way-it is how it is perceived. I'm suspicious of the way Shilpa is now stating that she knows it is not racism when in one unguarded moment she asked Jermaine : Is it because I am Indian? I think the producers have had a word with her. I've also had enough of the 'Jade is mixed raced so she can't be racist' defense - are they saying only white people or "pure"race people can be racist? It reminds of that awful - but some of my best friends are black/gay/ disabled- arguement.

Age

I was talking to Mum (well, I was actually doing the listening part of the conversation) and she told me that some of her colleagues thought she looked like a 40 year old.
Me: You don't look 40! I'm nearly 40. I look 40.
Mum: They said I look 40. You look 25
Me: I don't look 25.Are they scared of you? i think you look early 50s but never 40.
Mum: They did say they thought I looked 40
Me: I suppose you could look like a 40 year old that has had a really hard life.

I should say we were laughing as we said this. My Mum looks great for her age (undisclosed - but saying she looks early fifties is flattering) but she never looks 40. I like to think I could pass for 35. then again I would like to win the lottery.

Happy

I feel really happy today. I just got an e mail to confirm that one of my stories I submitted to Hackwriters has been accepted. I've put the link under favourite blogs. My name is on the list just like I'm a proper person and have a right to be there! I can't believe it.

New Blog

My good friend Ruthie has started her own blog. She wants to get the hang of it as first so I'm not allowed to link to her at the moment. In fact when I asked her what her blog was called she refused to tell me. i had to use the old Gina charm. (tell me tell me tell me.)

I can' t remember if I mentioned it but I submitted 2 stories to a E magazine on Saturday. I got a reply today and nearly wet myself - but it was only to say that they had received it and would get back to me. The editor said he had 300 essays to mark (classes are getting bigger.) So fingers and toes crossed.

BTW Steve has just read this and he said 'Ruth said you can't link to her!' I know!

Sunday

Feel quite quite bleuh today (definition of bleuh - feeling greasy faced, fat and bored.) I think I miss the discipline of the creative writing course, I need to knuckle down and get on with it. I'm reading The Murder of Roger Ackroyd at the moment and there is a really funny scene where four of them are playing Mah Jong. Agatha is very good at dialogue. Also watched The Bourne Identity, really enjoyed it, I think Matt Damon is a under rated actor ( or perhaps I just under rated him, I was surprised at how good he was.) The underlying feeling of bleuh has stayed with me all day. Steve and I took the dogs out for a walk this morning and I enjoyed that. We don't actually walk them together that much (too busy) so it is nice when we get the chance to. I took the dogs to the beach yesterday and saw horses galloping along the shore, that was great. Sometimes I can't believe I live in such a nice place. Outside the fire station they have made hanging baskets out of their helmets. the police station has proper hanging baskets. perhaps they get paid more.

Questionnaires

Mark does some really cool questionnaires on his bog. (see my link for Falcon Portal.) i have no idea where he gets them from or if he just makes them up. Well here is my quiz. i've made it up all on mine own and it is my first attempt, so be kind.

Diana - tragic accident or murder?
Man on the moon - or just some film set in Texas?
Freerange or factory farmed?
Glasses or contact lenses?


Thats all I could think of.

BTW - totally amazed at the comments on my blog about Darts. Pleased to see most people agree with me Alan and Steve!

Seaside stars

One of the things I love about living near the sea is the clear night sky. When I let the dogs out before we go to bed, the stars are sparkling and I can make out Orion. When I went to Australia it was a weird feeling to look up at the sky and see different stars. It was humbling.

Darts

Steve and I were having a "discussion" on whether darts and snooker are sports or not. he reckons they are. I think any activity where you can smoke a cigarette or drink alcohol whilst you're doing it is not a sport. So snooker and darts no - ice skating and driving - yes.

BTW I've registered a domain name, its Ginarobbo.com I didn't want to mention it on my blog (because it is boring) but I've been told I should do so.

Ruthie - thanks for your lovely comments - but can't you post them to my blog - all those 0 comments are a bit depressing. Mark - I've no clue (and more importantly the Robertson inhouse computer expert has no clue) why you are no longer able to post comments.

Guilt

I'm fed up. I'm fed up women's magazines and television programmes designed to make you feel guilty. For instance all women feel guilty to one degree or another about what/how much they eat. It doesn't matter what size these women are. Now there are all these diet programmes that entail a radical life change (Chinese takeaways and lagers to mungo beans and warm water - how are they going to maintain that?) Then there are the debt programmes where a posh city bird makes a spendaholic live on £5 a day and sell all their stuff. or Pay your mortgage off in 2 years - when it is a luxury to have a mortgage these days under £100,000 - most people I know are still saving up for the deposit. Then while we're worrying that we're fat and in debt we can watch 'How clean is your house' and worry that we live in squalor. I know we don't have to watch these programmes but now they seemed to have spilled into magazines. I used to really like Goodhousekeeping. I liked reading articles about the best vacuum to buy, recipes that I never actually followed and life affirming stories about middle aged ladies hiking across the Himalayas. I could pretend for a little while I was middle class.Now it is full of scary articles about pensions short falls and how one glass of wine can increase your chances of getting breast cancer. And I really hate those - what is the best age to have a baby- articles. And before you say I don't have to buy it , Idon't - it was a subscription present.

Coat

Mum treated me to a new coat today. It is a lightweight brown jacket and I really like it at the moment. I also bought a new pair of shoes. I tend to muller shoes quite quickly -but then i treat them in a shocking way. I just chuck them in the downstairs cupboard and hardly ever polish them.

Steve has finished the discos now so he has given me the disco computer. It is super powered and finally I can get sound. I've been watching Youtube a lot. For some reason I can't use Firefox anymore and I had real problems logging into this blog. I haven't mentioned it to Steve yet because a. he got the nark when I asked why I couldn't use Firefox (you just can't, all right.) and B. I think he will go mad and go huffy and puffy.

Blog

Met Alan last night and he said 'Your voice sounds all right to me.' I thought how does Alan know I've got a sore throat and then I realised. Alan is a reader...

Work

Everyone at work is feeling very poordy, it has been a very difficult week. My voice is still deeper than Steve's . And Steve has got a very deep manly voice.

I'm reading a lot of Agatha Christie (my dad has got all her books and I've been borrowing them. I'm under strict instructions to return them). I used to be quite snobby about Agatha - but they are really good. There is a lot of sly humour and (unlike a lot of contempory crime books) they keep you guessing. it also makes a nice change to be able to discuss books with Dad, as we don't usually read the same sort of stuff. He likes reading true crime, especially stuff about the Krays and I hate true crime books. I'm really glad that they have pulled that O J Simpson 'book.'

Cold

I've still got this stinking cold. Its a weird GM type cold - i thought I was getting better and I got worse. My voice has is all over the place -it starts off as a deep rumble and disappears on a high squeak. So I'm cooking lots of vegetables for dinner tonight. Steve has got a racking cough. We sound like we both on 40 a day.

Steve has bought a domain name with the word DJ in it. how cool is that? Sorry girls- he's taken.

BTW Aaron And Joe really liked the story. And I believe them as they are very honest critics.