I think this is very 1980s...Saturday night?

Does anyone remember this???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrh9hU7U7nM

So yesterday, running all my errands I FINALLY got around to going to the garage and getting another set of car keys.  That would be set number 4.  Car came with Sets 1 and 2 - one of which got lost - I blame hubby, he blames me...a child could also be involved but anyhow, last year I got Set 3 which also magically disappeared.  Since then I am the main driver of said car, and I have quite a large set of keys - which makes them, and the last car key, less likely to be lost.  Hubby calls them my 'Prisoner Cell Block H' keys.....not sure if that will mean anything to anyone Amercian....

Anyhow, went to the garage and saw the same old guy who looked at me like I was mad, needing another set of keys and remote control.... $100 +.  I joked to him that this new set, well that I was going to take them home and attach them to a brick so they wouldn't get lost.  Now I know they use the word 'brick' over here (I even know a little boy called 'Brick'), but he did not understand my humour one little bit.  Nada.

So waited in the cashier's office for them to programme new key fob when a little old lady came in with her Oxygen pump in hand....she had a bill to pay of over $600 (over 300 quid).  She was saying to the cashier that she hoped the part would last a long long time.....and then went on to say that the car was old but only had 20 000 miles on it, and she herself was 84 and there didn't seem much point in buying a new car.  This car would see her 'through' - I think this was the expression she used.  It just seemed very very sad. I think she saw me sitting there - obviously having heard what she'd said.  I gave her a closed smile but had no words.....

Then last night I got a letter from UK which included some news about an old teacher of mine from Infant school.  She had been my teacher at my first school and then we moved to the other side of the city - to the same village  where she herself lived.  So even though she was no longer my teacher, I still saw her regularly.  Her husband was very kind to me - he was a bit of a grandfather figure I suppose - he would let me help him wash his car, pick apples, help in the garden - taught me to row a boat even.  He died when I was a teenager and I never saw the teacher much after that but we always exchanged Christmas cards - even just this past Christmas.  I had enclosed a family photo and she wrote back saying I hadn't changed - she would still have recognised me anywhere.  Apparently she recently died from Kidney-related illness.  She must have been in her 80s.

Growing up in my house, anyone like a Doctor or a teacher was considered quite Saint like - their opinion mattered because of their degrees - it made them infallible.  It is not something I agree with but that was the way it was.  This teacher in particular was always someone to be looked up to as far as my Gran was concerned.

I remember buying my first record.  As in vinyl, turntable record.  I think I was maybe 12.  And my Gran thought it was a ridiculous waste of money.  She did not want me to buy it - at all.  And as was the norm with her, when she didn't get her own way she sulked and literally ignored you - froze you out - didn't utter a word.  For days. 

I remember at the time going to visit said teacher and telling her I was in trouble as I had bought a record, with my own saved up money, but that I was being ignored because of it.  I remember she told me that grown ups don't always make the right decisions and sometimes, going against a parent's wishes is actually the right thing to do.  She made me feel so much better about it.

I hope she didn't suffer.  May she very much rest in peace.

It just struck me today - I am mailing 2 'with deepest sympathy' cards today.  One local - one back to England.

The English one is for a very old teacher, who was then a friend - she died last week - I mentioned it in a post. I think she must have been 80 at least.  She outlived her husband and her own mother.

The local card is for a man who hubby worked with very briefly at his current firm.  Jack (the man) met Hubby when Hubby first went into the office - and he was very down (Jack) as he had just found out he had cancer. This was maybe 18 months ago.  He had treatments and continued working but decided to take early retirement which he did - just last summer.  By this stage the treatments weren't really working.  The was a large retirement party for him at the end of last year where he really looked unwell.  He had aged an awful lot. 

Since then he has been in and out of hospital and the prognosis was never good.  We heard through a financial friend that things were being prepared for the death....and he died this past weekend.  Very sad but also a release from his pain.

But to retire at 60 (normal) and then have so little time - to never get to really carry out everything you'd been planning all that time.  Sad, so very sad.

Whilst reading through CNN I saw this

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/13/prince.andrew/index.html#cnnSTCVideo

It is Prince Andrew who is over here (apparently) promoting US/UK business.  When I watched it I first thought that he sounded much more down to earth than other members of the Royal Family do.  He didn't sound too plummy at all. 

But he has got himself in a pickle it seems (his father's son) by making a statement about Iraq and how politicians could have thought a little more and reflected on UK's experience of wading into other countries to try and take over.....when the Commonwealth was more of a feature in World Politics.  It the video iterview this is indeed brought up and here he seems to flounder somewhat.  But I do understand where he is coming from with what he said....at the time he did not believe it would be taken out of context but now I read it is making headlines as it is a 'Royal Voice' giving Political Opinion... and we all know that is not supposed to occur.....don't we?

I was writing to someone today about parenting etc.  And I said that whilst I often doubted some of the things I did as a mother, all I really had to go on was a lot of what not to do.

1.  I will never say that the kid/kids were good when they were babies...implying that anything thereafter is not good

2. I will never give my kids ridiculous ultimatums especially ones that I can't follow through on

3. I will try to never ignore them.....the silent treatment doesn't resolve anything in my book.

4. I will always cuddle them and tell them I love them

5. I will always try to be there for the no matter what.

6. I will try never to keep family secrets from them **

7. I will really try to stay objective when they start dating....knowing that it can back fire if you are really against a boy/girl friend

8. I will teach them all to cook.

9. I will always support their chosen careers (I hope - remind me of this is Bee ever wants to be a stripper in a cage).

10. I will keep quiet when they name their kids.  They don't need to know if we ever had neighbours who called their dogs those names....Sure there is plenty more to include but these are the main ones springing to mind....

P** you could say that because I haven't explained my adoption birth mother/grand mother dilemma that I am keeping the secret and I suppose in a way I am.  With almost everyone else I am open about it - but until my gran dies then I don;t want to make the situation worse for her.  I really shouldn't care at all about her feelings given some of the shit she has pulled with me over the years but I don;t think the kids need to know of that just yet.

Just returned from the movies...I was in two minds whether or not to go but when we all got back in from riding lessons, the kids were squabbling and I decided I would get dinner sorted and then check my e-mail.  If I had a message from a specific person I would go.  I did.  I went.

Had read such good reviews about "Le Scaphandre Et Le Papillon"  - or "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" and was not sure how much longer it would be playing.  French with sub titles.  Long time since I have seen a French film.  My French is v v rusty. 

Very interesting film....there were only 5 of us in the theatre....I didn't love it at all and at one stage thought about walking out as it was boring me but I knew it was a true story so wanted to see the outcome (sad).  Vague plot - Editor of Elle magazine - healthy 40 something guy has a stroke.....no one knows the cause but there is brain damage and he is paralysed.  Cannot speak but can breath unaided.  He understands everything around him but is literally trapped in his body.  They get him to blink for communication and run through a specially ordered alphabet and he blinks at the correct letter and so they put words together and he writes a book.....

In a way it was uplifting but also very sad.  Such a terrible situation. 

When we did our wills a few years ago I said that if I were to remain alive but unable to breath independantly and hubby were dead I would leave my care to my brother in law who I get on very well with - he is a lawyer in UK.  I was telling him all this and my wishes etc and I think he thought I was winding him up at first. As I had just read a book on Terry Shiavo... it was in my mind as to what I would want to happen if I were in a prolonged vegitative state....not a nice thing to have to even think about but I said that if I were able to see my children and be aware of their presence I would want to be kept alive.  But having seen this film tonight I can see how that may actually be a lot for them to have as a burden.....It was certainly a film that leaves you food for thought.