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)

Other Voices

So, Bonnie has been evicted from The Big Brother House and whilst, on a personal level, she was not exactly the most offensive of housemates, I'm so pleased she has gone - if only so I no longer have to listen to that dreadful voice! Whilst I have nothing against regional accents per se - I don't exactly speak in Received Pronunciation myself - the Leicestershire accent (Bonnie is from Loughborough) has to be one of the worst the UK has to offer.

I'm not sure why I find the local accent so grating. I think perhaps it's beacause it sounds so lazy - almost like the speaker can't be bothered to finish off his words properly - for instance, replacing the ie or y at the end of a word with an 'eh' sound whilst er becomes 'ah'. An' if ya thought Bonneh wah bad, ya shoulda 'eard 'er sistah! Having seen Bonnie's sister, Lara, on Big Brother's Little Brother Yesterday, Bonnie's accent began to sound positively mild.

Living in Leicestershire, it was perhaps not a good idea to name my daughter Daisy - she's destined to get called Daiseh! So far my children have avoided developing a Leicester accent and long may that continue. Cam went to school in Leicester and managed to escape with his vowels intact but Cam's youngest brother has lived in Leicester all his life and has a noticeable Leicester twang.

I spent the first few years of my life in Portsmouth, moving up to my mum's home town of Barnsley at the age of around four. During my time at primary school, no one ever commented on the way I spoke but it certainly became an issue once I got to secondary school. Not having the regulation broad South Yorkshire accent, I was considered 'posh' and consequently began to modify my accent to fit in. Ironically, as soon as I moved away, a Yorkshire accent was the last thing I wanted and I set about losing it again.

The nature of my current job, involving a lot of time on the telephone, means that I'm exposed to the whole range of UK accents and, in more bored moments, I play a little game of guessing where people are from before I've located their details. I'm often woefully wrong but if someone from Barnsley has a 2 in their account number, I'll pinpoint them every time! There are some regional accents I could listen to all day - Geordie, Irish (both Northern and Southern), West Country; some I find irrationally amusing - Liverpool, Manchester and (rarely) some that are downright unintelligible!

I'm not sure what kind of accent I have these days - vaguely Northern/Midlands, I guess. Funnily enough, though, when I'm speaking to old schoolfriends or my family, I subconsciously lapse into broad Yorkshire. I've observed this chameleon quality in other people too. Cam works in Birmingham and when speaking to work colleagues on the phone, he definitely develops a slight Brummie accent!


Other Voices - The Cure (Staring At The Sea, 1986)

Time Passes...

It's a common complaint, I know, but I rarely seem to have enough time. I'm not greedy - a couple of extra hours each day would suit me. Just enough to let me do everything I need/want to do and still get enough sleep at night. This year is marching by at breakneck speed - days and even whole weeks just slipping by. The demands of three children, home and work are never-ending and I sometimes feel like I'm swimming against the tide, barely keeping my head above water.

I've had more than a few evenings out over the last few weeks, and though I love to get out and see bands, socialise with friends and generally feel like I'm still me and not just a mum, wife or whatever, I have been burning the candle at both ends. If you hadn't already guessed, I'm feeling tired and slightly sorry for myself at the moment! Things haven't been helped by the fact that, at the end of last week, whilst rushing to leave the house to collect Daisy from pre-school, I slipped on a toy which had been discarded on the top step and crashed down the stairs from top to bottom, grazing and bruising my back and aggravating an old ankle injury. I'm sure I'll begin to feel better soon. I have nothing major planned for the rest of the week and I'm hoping that a few quiet days and - hopefully - some sunshine should sort me out. Not to mention the fact Big Brother 7 starts this week. Only two days to go! Ok, I admit it: My name is Julie and I'm a Big Brother addict. It's been several months now since I last indulged...


Time Passes... - Paul Weller (Stanley Road, 1995)