TV Dreams

I went out last Thursday to Notts Chams Christmas Party. This is the second excursion in under a week. And TBH having told myself sub-consciously that I hadn’t missed going out (March was the last time prior to that) who was I kidding? The feel good factor has been sky-high.

So, to the first of my “firsts”. I much prefer changing at home before going out, but rarely get the chance - you know how it is with family life. But on Thursday I had a window and my wife colluded to ensure the girls didn’t return before I’d got out of the house by 6.30. In my usual style I left five minutes after the agreed deadline (no doubt my wife factored this in). I opened the front door, stepped outside, and by the laws of synchronicity the next door neighbour (father or son, not sure which) also left his house.

Now, there was me (jumping to conclusions again) thinking that it would be almost impossible for that to happen. What did I do? What could I do, we’re not 10 yards apart, but OK it’s dark. I kept my head down, walked to the car and slid into the driver’s seat - damn those interior lights that stay on. I think I exited my drive just a little too quickly, although I recall a mental check not to attempt a wheelie in a japanese diesel estate car. Thank god I’d been sensible, packed my strapless red party frock and worn a black top, with tan leather trousers.

Our road joins a busy main road and in keeping with my luck that night I couldn’t turn right straight away. The neighbour pulled up behind wanting to turn left, but thankfully he couldn’t squeeze up my inside, affording himself a “better” view. I sat their for ages resisting the temptation to make a dash for it - visions of an accident and my neighbour “coming to help” kept me routed there ’til it was safe to go. So Rachel meeting the neighbours (almost) was the first, first.

I’d left in plenty of time to find Notts Chams venue and would have done so except for a few quirks of fate. I used to travel to Nottingham regularly and I knew the A610 out of Nottingham very well, and the venue was just off the that road (as it turned out). But I’m sure you’re well acquainted with sod’s law.

I’d gone through Nottingham and wasn’t far from the M1 (J26) pulled over and decided to call the Chameleon’s mobile number to get directions for the ‘last few yards’. I believe the website says to call on a Thursday if one needs to. Got a little concerned when the ansaphone message stated the next meeting was on 27th April! OK, so no assistance there.

Next, I got out the PDA, went on the web and pulled up streetmap.co.uk - thought I’d discovered how to get there and set off. Got the other side of the M1 and decided I’d gone too far. Ho hum.

Set the sat nav. OK, so may be I should have done that before - shut up will you? Sat nav takes me to Nottingham Road, Nuthall. Great, it must be round here somewhere. Drive from one end of Nottingham Road to the other. No Temple Community Centre to be seen anywhere.

Boll*x to this! Park the car and walk into a chinese take-away. Two young women behind the counter, very helpful but never heard of the place. In fact, so helpful they ask the bloke in front of me if he knows. All credit to him, he looks me firmly in the eyes whilst having a good think but he too can’t help. No silly nonsense, just a straight forward if brief conversation with no attitude. 10 out of 10 to both of them.

Took another look at streetmap and discovered that the arrow on the map was pointing not at the A610 but Nottingham Road… the other side of the roundabout at the junction of the A610. Shame the sat nav sent me to the wrong part of Nottingham Road!

So I arrived after 8pm, which meant that the place should have been heaving with young lads and parents collecting their young from the karate club. No I didn’t give a sh*t! In fact, I parked right outside the centre instead of going round the side to use the less frequented entrance. Bugger ‘em.

I have to say now that Notts Chams are a very friendly bunch and I was changed into my party frock in no time.

Second first. Meeting Lynn. A couple of the organisers were leading me over to meet some other members and this tall, willowy girl comes over, gives me a hug and continental kisses. The penny only drops when she calls me Rachel. Have to say I had her down as shorter and not so slim!

Not only do I meet Lynn but also Charlotte Downs who I haven’t seen in ages.

All in all, a very eventful evening. It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a support group meeting allbeit Christmas Party, but as they say it’s the company that counts and I really enjoyed the evening.

Hello to Janice, and another couple of girls whose names escape me, sorry.

I’ve only said hello to the neighbour (Dad) once since last Thursday and I’ve no idea if I’ve been sussed or not. So I’ll let you know as soon as I know. Exciting isn’t it?

Cheryl’s Studio

Originally uploaded by rachelw80

Do you know how it feels when you write a long post and then just before hitting the button you lose it all? I’ve done my fair share of swearing, but not tonight.

The computer shutdown. But I don’t mind, because my eldest daughter is still alive. What happened? She was drying her hair and the hairdryer cut out - so she bent down to untwist the lead near the plug. Next thing she knows is she’s sat on the floor with thick black smoke marks running across all four fingers and thumb.

I heard a big bang, I thought WTF, the computer went off and I rushed into her room. She was getting up off the floor and ran into the bathroom to stick her hand in cold water. Fortunately, she’s just a bit shaken and there are no burns.

I took the plug apart and it looks as though the lead, where it’s clamped to the plug, had worn through and had probably shorted. My guess is that when she tried to untwist it she brought the brown and blue wire into contact, which caused the main fusebox to trip. The outer casing has melted and the inner blue and brown wires are exposed. That girl lives an exciting life!

Now to more mundane things.

Those that know me are aware that unless I’m going out somewhere I don’t frock up. I just don’t find sitting or prancing about the house particularly rewarding, so I don’t bother.

But March is leaving it too long and I’ve been getting a bit crotchety lately so I’ve been looking forward to The Rotherham Weekend: This is not a Beaumont Society run event, but Janett Scott (now ex-president) organises it.

I went last year to give away Vanessa to Jan in a civic ceremony and to my surprise enjoyed the weekend. Of course the ceremony itself was quite emotional, but the weekend as a whole was grea The Friday and Saturday dinners were excellent as was the 60s/70s/80s disco afterwards.

Moving on, I took the opportunity to look round Meadowhall on Tuesday whilst waiting to collect my daughters from a gig at the Arena. And struck gold at “West One”. Saw a gorgeous red dress in the window, but unfortunately they didn’t have one in a 12. But the girl was very helpful and said she’d ring round the other stores in the morning and took my number.

I didn’t get a call Wednesday and thought I wouldn’t hear from them, but on Thursday she came up trumps - the right size at The Trafford centre in Manchester, yay! Downside, it wouldn’t arrive ’til Tuesday at the meadowhall store.

A bit of quick thinking, and I told them I would be in Manchester on Thursday, could I pick it up either on the Friday or Saturday? I could. I called my friend Helena, asked her if I could come over Friday night, which was OK. Brilliant.

Saturday morning Trevor and called in at the store (he excused himself to go and look for trainers, chicken) and I bought it and headed for the loos to make sure it fitted (I’m a chicken too for not asking to use the changing rooms). It did fit, fortunately.

Back to Trevor’s where I had a big de-fuzzing session before heading off to Rotherham. Cutting a long story short I arrived just in time to change for dinner at 7 sharp. Vanessa and Jan did a brilliant job of keeping me calm and the result is what you see in the piccy.

The dinner was just as good as last year and this time I won a bottle of scotch in the Children in Need competition where we had to roll pound coins at the row of spirits - I got closest to the whiskey. We raised £61 all together.

After dinner I had a number of people compliment me on the dress (not the contents) even a dressmaker who wanted to see how it was made.

I ended up talking to Angela (a Rotherham Regular) ’til 4 in the morning. So it’s early to bed tonight.

Would I go again? I think I would. Mind you my guess is I was one of the youngest there, and I’m no spring chicken. ;-)

Wow, over two months since my last post. Aren’t you lucky!

And a busy couple of months it’s been. BTW, the title has nothing to do with the previous entry.

No, it’s just that I had a “run in” with certain authorities - in a financial sort of a way. As in we’d like you to pay us PDQ or we’ll asset strip you. Not the sort of stripping I find particularly sexy.

But… it did help focus my mind and at the same time a new working relationship developed out of a much older one, which meant the repayment schedule finished two weeks early. :)

Out of all that has come a much more organised system for keep certain government departments happy, bless ‘em.

So, all-in-all I’m pretty chuffed with the outcome.

BTW, this is leading up to a confession. You see when I have “things” on my mind I tend to focus on getting them sorted and everything else goes out the window. It continues to amaze me that friends don’t get fed up and adopt a “bugger him” attitude, as unless they stay in touch and badger me it can be quite some time before normal service is resumed. So a big thanks to all you guys ‘n gals who continue to be patient with me beyond the call of duty.

Anyhoos, it’s official. Happy Days have returned once again. :))