Going Missing

Almost four months. The more the days and weeks drift by without writing anything, the harder it is to start again. Not to mention, of course, the fact that (when the boys are around, at least) getting near my PC for anything longer than the ten minutes or so I'm kindly permitted for the purposes of checking my email is nigh on impossible. RuneScape has a lot to answer for! Anyway, it goes without saying that I've been sadly remiss, not only in updating my own blog but in reading and commenting on old favourites. A mammoth catch-up session is definitely overdue...

So, excuses over, what have I been doing since I last posted at the end of June? I had a birthday at the beginning of July and have now reached the shamefully advanced age of 39. (How scary is that? In just over eight months I'm going to be 40, which surely can't be right. I remember my Mum's 40th birthday party only too well. I was 18 and, naturally, knew everything about life. I stood in a corner of the pub with my best friend, M, sipping a Pernod and blackcurrant, and gazed at the assembled party-goers with a cynical eye. In my mind there were two certainties: I had to escape from Barnsley at the earliest opportunity and, should I ever reach the impossibly ancient age of 40, I would definitely behave in a more dignified manner, befitting my mature years. Yeah, right...)

The summer slipped by in a pleasant haze: school holidays, catching up with friends, days out, trips to the park and a laid-back two weeks on the Isle of Anglesey. My soundtrack for summer 2006 was not, as predicted, Corinne Bailey Rae but, somewhat surprisingly, Lily Allen. The James Morrison album featured pretty heavily too and didn't fail to live up to my expectations.

I was looking forward to getting back to some serious gig-going after the lull of the summer (three children plus working at weekends means that the delights of the festivals are pretty much out of the question) but, with the exception of Maximo Park at Birmingham Academy a couple of weeks ago, I'm still waiting for it to happen. (Cam and I took the boys to see McFly at the NEC last month but that definitely doesn't count!) Maximo Park were pretty incredible, though and I've developed more than a slight crush on the gorgeous Paul.

I had tickets to see Corinne Bailey Rae last weekend but the gig's now been postponed until March next year whilst Corinne tries to make it big in the States. We'd planned to stay over in Birmingham after the gig so, with my Mum already organised for babysitting duty and time booked off work, Cam and I decided it would be a shame to waste the opportunity and headed off to Norwich for the weekend instead. We had a pretty good time, despite Cam losing his voice completely for part of the weekend. (Made for an 'interesting' time whilst out and about, with me in the role of mouthpiece!) Anyway, lots of alcohol, good food and 'couple-building' (cringe) time. We saw The History Boys at the cinema on Saturday which I thought was excellent - the best film I've seen in a long while.

This week saw two anniversaries for me and Cam. The 18th was our 9th wedding anniversary and today is 17 years since we first got together. We met a couple of weeks into our final year at Aston University. I'd just come out of a three year relationship and, feeling in need of some excitement, had announced to my friends that I was going to 'pull' that night (what a tart!). So, there I was, Friday night, strutting my stuff on the dancefloor and I met the eye of a guy sitting underneath a table, looking somewhat the worse for wear. He seemed to be smirking, so I marched over to him and demanded to know if he was laughing at my dancing. I looked into a pair of the most gorgeous (albeit slightly bloodshot) green eyes I'd ever seen as Cam delivered the immortal line, "No, I was smiling at you." And thus began a beautiful friendship... Sick bag, anyone?


Going Missing - Maximo Park (A Certain Trigger, 2005)

Super Glider

It's been too long. Almost three weeks since I've posted and I've missed two Musical Mondays. All is well in the Midas household. My only excuse is that life is busy again. We're currently in the middle of mad birthday season - George, Daisy, Cam and I all have birthdays in the space of three weeks, not to mention various members of the extended family. All the present buying and party organising, together with the other extras happening at the moment - guitar concerts, school plays, sports days, special assemblies... has resulted in my online escape time being eaten away.

Anyway, thank you to Cat and Kell for missing me. I should be around a little more often this week and plan to spend some time catching up on all my favourite blogs as well as updating my own. In the meantime, I didn't want to let another week go by without posting an offering for Musical Monday.

This week's selection is Super Glider by Drugstore; a song that, for me, perfectly evokes lazy days and the long, hot summer of 1995 - my last childfree summer. I first heard the song on an indie compilation, Sharks Patrol These Waters, and loved it so much that I was driven to seek out the band's eponymous album. Although I'm fond of other tracks on the album, this one remains very special - short, simple, and yet achingly sweet.




Super Glider - Drugstore (Drugstore, 1995)

Seven Days In Sunny June

Well, I'm not really sure where the last week's gone. Time certainly flies when the children are on holiday from school!

Monday and Tuesday were spent visiting my parents in Barnsley and surprisingly, as I mentioned in my last post, I had a pretty good time. Cam, Daisy and I escaped on Monday afternoon for a drive over the moors. A mere fifteen minutes from my parent's house and you're on the edge of the Peak District with some spectacular views. The hills are one aspect of Yorkshire I really do miss. Although Leicestershire has some attractive countryside, it can't compete with the stark beauty of the moors. Having no map and only the vaguest idea of where we were going, we tried to find the windmills of Royd Moor. After failing to find the road up to the top of the moor, we abandoned the attempt and decided instead to visit Emley Moor and the infamous TV transmission tower which dominates the skyline for miles around.

Tuesday saw us heading off into the countryside again. With Mum directing, we managed this time to drive to the top of Royd Moor and visited the recently erected viewing point. Mum also introduced us to the delights of the local farm shop and café with homemade scones to die for. (How do you say scone, by the way - do you pronounce it to rhyme with phone or to rhyme with gone? For me, it's the former and I completely disagree with Dominic Byrne on Radio 1 who said this morning that my version is the 'posh' pronunciation!)

The sun finally arrived on Wednesday and we had a lovely day out at Warwick Castle. It's sometimes difficult to find places to visit that will appeal to all three children but we seemed to manage it this time. I think Cam found the ramparts walk with a nervous Joe and a completely fearless Daisy a little hairy, though! George doesn't like heights so we stayed safely at ground level and found other things to see.

Cam went back to work on Thursday and the children and I spent most of Thursday and Friday enjoying the sun in our local parks. Friday evening was Big Brother eviction night and I was happy to see sleazy Sezer get the chop. I don't think I've ever seen an evictee look so shocked as he did when his name was called.

Saturday was spent shopping, catching up on domestic chores and I accompanied Daisy to a birthday party at our local soft play area whilst Cam and the boys went for a bike ride. I was back at work yesterday but didn't have a lot to do. Presumably people have better things to do than phone for a moan when the sun is shining!

So here we are. Monday again. The boys are back at school, Daisy is chilling out after pre-school and it's time to choose my song for Musical Monday.

(Edited to add: Audioblog seems to be having some problems. Musical Monday will follow once normal service is resumed...)


Seven Days In Sunny June - Jamiroquai (Dynamite, 2005)

Let Me Introduce You To The Family

Well, where to begin? I guess an introduction would be the polite thing to do, so here goes... My name is Julie, I'm 38 years old and married to the long-suffering Cam(ilo). We live in a small village in Leicestershire and have three (mainly) delightful children: Joseph (who prefers to be known as Joe these days), age 9; George, age 7 and Daisy, age 3.

I've been thinking about keeping a blog for some time but now I've actually got round to it, I'm not really sure what to do with it! Guess I'll just stick with it for a while and see how it goes. (Hmmm... that last sentence is pretty much the subtext of my life, actually. I'm a great one for drifting into things without making any big decisions...) Anyway, I've taken the first step and written something; albeit a waffly, pretty meaningless sort of something. Watch this space!


Let me Introduce You To The Family - The Stranglers (Singles: The U.A. Years, 1989)