Well dear readers, one things for sure...Katie Melua had clearly got it wrong when she sang about nine million bicycles in Beijing. They are nowhere near Beijing love, its not a fact. The fact is that they are all here in sunny Cambridge-most of them parked at the railway station to be honest and a fair few in my friend Simons shed (its like a game of two wheeled tetris in there!) but there are also a trillion heading through the city streets shortly as part of the Cambridge leg of this years Tour De France. It's an understatement to say that Cambridge has gone bicycle batty-we've seen crocheted bike frames, tinselled tandems, quadricycles, dicycles and even a childs bike with cheese box wheels! All this passion for the pedal is leading us up to Monday July 7th where we will witness if we are lucky the whizz of some wheels complete with a cohort of smooth legged lycra sporting cyclists of the male variety. Never one to shy away from a challenge, this year sees our beloved Ophelia join proceedings by decreeing herself as the First Lady Mannequin of the Cycling World. Lets establish quickly that there are no drugs involved and she won't be peeing out the side of her shorts for nobody but you can rest assured that where there is a will there is a way and where there's a mannequin there's a magical day or two of mayhem! What a glorious cycling tour of Cambridge our Ophelia has had. Enthused by watching fellow celebrity mannequin Dickie MacKay complete stage 3 of the race (video link here), Ophelia, as you would expect, took a rather more varied approach and combined her new hobby of cycling with her long-standing obsession for fashion and gave a little bit back to the world by modelling modern and vintage velo-wear outside some of the great landmarks of Cambridge City Centre. With a cracking photographer on hand (Oliver of Oliver Cross Photography and Music) and a good supply of bicycles from The Bikefinder General himself (Simon), and lets not forget the presence of the general dogsbody and runner (Sam) and muggins here (Vix) who had to do the mannequin manoeuvring (no mean feat from level 11 at the Queen Anne Carpark I can tell you!) a good but rather hot day was had and only one small child was psychologically damaged in the process (upon the opening of the lift doors!!!). We succeeded in fooling and freaking out many members of the public with our ridiculous Tour De France (which may I state is not in France(alone)-nonsensical name!!) shenanigans and hopefully brought a sense of the unreal to the streets of this University City-Reality Checkpoint indeed! A second day, slightly saddle sore, brought more sunshine and smiles from the general public as they witnessed Ophelia transform into a more vintage version of herself or infact of Sue Perkins and Princess Diana (noted by the Cross family!). She is a marvel that girl-a shapeshifter extraordinaire, she can turn herself in to anyone you like at the drop of a rather garish hat! She rocked the tricolour tweed ensemble and graduated to the gown and mortar board-a must for any mannequin in a city such as Cambridge. And there we have it folks! Ophelia is left feeling uplifted yet unable to sit down (which is just as well since she can't) and our barefooted bicycler is already looking to the horizon for another challenge! Next stop London Marathon? Do feast your eyes below on the fantastic images of Ophelia and her bicycles. This episode of mannequin madness comes to you courtesy of the efforts of the following people-please do check out the links and give them your support! Simon Cross (The Bikefinder General, bike sales on Ebay here) Oliver Cross Photography and Music (@PhotoOliC and on facebook here) Romsey Retro (for the provision of vintage fashion and props!) (@RomseyRetro of Hope Street Yard, CB1) Alexis, Alexa and Lynette for coming up with the goods! Sam Cross for being the best wig hand a mannequin could have. Many thanks to all involved! Before we cycle off in to the sunset dear readers, let us leave you with the most fitting video for the occasion. Known already for their love of mannequins, German electronic geniuses Kraftwerk released this brilliant track in 1983 entitled Tour De France. Enjoy! (and do let us know all about your TDF adventures!) Dearest readers, we return from our extended break with news galore! We hope you haven't missed us too much in our absence yet are glad to have us back and welcome us to your plentiful bosom once again. Life has turned to shit in a rather splendid way folks-much of the allotted Ophelia time has of late been taken over by the international enthusiasm that has welcomed our latest venture (with our lovely lady of the curls, Seabee)-the facebook wonder that is 'Bowls Of Crap'! For those of you unaware of this exciting new craze, the gist of it is that you post a photo and a little story of one of those bowls you have (everyone does, believe me!) that are full of a variety of little things, mainly that just haven't found their home yet or that are sentimental or indeed that are just crap. Its a previously unspoken of phenomenon that we have unwittingly tripped upon and now seem to be deluged by confessional bowl sharing! Its a riot! Do take a look at our page and spread the word but more importantly cleanse you soul by sharing your own bowl of crap.
Do not fear dear followers, Ophelia has not been resting on her lacquered laurels whilst we have been busy investigating other peoples clutter. She has paid another visit to Oxfam Mill Road and a second blog waits in the wings but Oxfam are having some technical problems it seems. We hope it will be published very soon. It has been an enjoyable venture. Demand for Ophelia to lend herself to helping other local enterprises is at an all time high though ladies and gentlemen and Ophelia must go where the work is-like the fairy godmother of business promotion-a Mannequin Mary Queen of Shops if you will. Lately Ophelia has been working with the gorgeous vintage hub that is Romsey Retro of Hope Street Yard (@RomseyRetro) & her mannequin, Holly and the delightful local eaterie Urban Larder, taking part in a photoshoot to help highlight both businesses and promote a bit of mannequin monkeying around! Above is a rapidly taken snap from the photoshoot and there will be more to follow once we have settled on the format. Do go and visit these lovely places and support your local businesses. I will be telling you more about them in a while but for now make a date to check them out for yourself! And if you are a local business that would like to employ Ophelia to shine on your parade then do get in touch! It appears that on the same day Dickie the mannequin from McKays was also in town, filming something for the Tour de France. Also there is a mannequin related community art installation happening soon at Mitchams Corner so its all systems go in the world of the shop dummy! If you haven't got one you best get on to it sharpish! This week Ophelia will be mainly modelling clothes I am intending to sell on Ebay and will remain wigless whilst we try and sort the knotfest that has occured in the wig drawer. I'll leave you with a few recent pics of life here at Family Ramblings! Enjoy the sun! xxx Just a quickie dear friends to keep you up to date with developments in the life of our lady without the lamp (fire hazard unfortunately). Inspired by her heroes Smashie and Nicey, Ophelia has long wanted to do something for 'charidee', to give back in some way after her dramatic rescue from life as a hardworking land girl at Ely Museum by a charity who then sold her to me leading her to this rich life of celebrity she enjoys now. Fear not dear readers. Where Scarlett Johannson may step down from her links with Oxfam, Ophelia Days is ready to step up! Hot on the heels of other famous models doing their bit for Oxfam (Agyness Deyn and Elle McPherson) Ophelia did what she does best...became a stroppy looking clothes horse with a lot on her mind! Please take time to visit the first blog I have written for Oxfam about her day in the shop on Mill Road, Cambridge-undoubtedly the quirkiest Oxfam I've ever come across which of course fits our Ophelia to a T! More importantly please give a little thought as to what you could do to chip in on Ophelia's charity helping mission...buy vintage from the shop, donate some goods, offer a few hours, give them some cash...the volunteers in these shops are doing a cracking job and we like to make them smile :-) Here's the all important link! http://oxfamshopf2504.wordpress.com/2014/04/09/ophelia-days-visits-oxfam-mill-road/ Also you can follow them on @OxfamMillRoad or on Facebook at Oxfam MILL ROAD Before I leave you, feast your eyes on these marvellous mannequins of the north! An impromptu visit to Leeds to swoon over Guy Garvey led me to these beauties.The pink mannequin heads were in a fantastic little shop called Culture Vulture and I could've spent hours and lots of pennies because I loved it all! Do visit if you find yourself with the chance. They have an online shop too. I liked the nesty hair of the second mannequin-hair I aspire to in my later years! The last two strapping lads were in a sex shop window! Don't ask! Apologies if photos come out funny! This blog comes to you from an iPhone! Limited weebly editing! Until we meet again dear readers...be good! X Apologies dear friends and followers for the delay in getting the gritty details of the day to you! No sooner had we done the deed so to speak for the boys from the Jaxx than the next big event kicked in-to arrange a party for our lovely Spanish exchange students 13th birthday! Since then I have been in the land of the knackered, barely able to dribble my words out let alone think of them! No matter, because here we find ourselves once again and I have a story to tell!
For those of you who know not what day I am referring to...why not?! Have you not read the previous blog?! Do it now! It was a Saturday like any other really in our house, where dressing as Frida Kahlo is a fairly run of the mill family activity. Once the decision had been made not to utilise one of Ophelias gifted merkins (the landing strip!) as the famous Frida monobrow and instead opt for an expertly painted swallow to do the job it was just a matter of threading cheap plastic carnations in my hair and dismantling my beloved mannequin to head for the glory room that is the Cambridge University Union Debating Chamber. I wondered if these walls had ever hosted a mannequin before, let alone one as prestigious and classy as our lady of the living room? However since the call to arms was a fairly late in the day affair the question of what that lady should wear was what lay heavy on my mind. Jaxx the lads had requested 'naked' initially I am led to believe, which of course would've proved easy for Ophelia and not so easy for me and the other 109 singers in The Dowsing Sound Collective taking part in these shenanigans! Thank the Lord that idea was put to bed swiftly! So we were left with 'fancy dress of any kind' as a guide and I am not usually one to be thrown by this but I didn't want Ophelia to look too out there because ,after all, sometimes we must let other stars shine but also I had lent out most of my best pieces to the various beggars and borrowers that come to my door in search of a new look. It occurred to me that putting her in something fairly ordinary in a grand room full of everyone who'd gone to town on the effort front was infact probably the best bet! It was, as expected, quite a conundrum to fit 3 kids, a life size mannequin and a big bag of tricks in to my car-a puzzle worthy of being a GCSE maths question I would say. However we managed it after a few different approaches as you can see in the photo above! It is certainly the truth that our visiting Spanish Exchange had never before travelled in a car with a pair of marvellous mannequin legs across her lap! I have no idea what she must have thought of it or indeed of the whole day but needs must when the boys from the basement call. Arriving in parts Ophelia still managed to stun those already in situ into silence (followed by tittering) and unfortunately there she stayed, not at her best, legs akimbo and arms recumbent until the clock struck and it was time to get our girl ready for the ball! With lots of hands on deck and only a few on her private regions we managed to get her straight and sorted in no time and lo and behold a swimming star was born. We are not talking Bo Derek or Baywatch here ladies and gentleman. Imagine, if you will, a serious swimmer and diver, competitive, dedicated, driven and there you have it-our one and only Ophelia's tribute to Tom Daley, Ellie Simmonds, Michael Phelps and the like, without getting a drip of water on her precious skin! She didn't look amused though, as I squeezed her in to a teenage sized swimming costume and cap! Nor when I squashed in the orange ear plugs and strapped on the rather strap-on looking matching goggles and snorkel! Standing proudly alongside the rest of The Collective, Ophelia surveyed the scene-a grand room filled to the brim with colour and madness-Carmen Miranda, Sargeant Pepper, a giant bumble bee, a tiny dragon, Where's Wally?, Where's Wanda?, a book, a playing card, a poorly hospital patient, characters from every century, every decade, a goddess of nature, Marie Antoinette, a band of pirates and a few brilliant clowns thrown in for good measure to name just a few, all led and conducted by a brilliant Adam Ant! What a merry band it was that then delighted Ophelias ears (now minus the ear plugs) with their rousing rendition of the soon to be released Basement Jaxx written anthem 'Power To The People'! But whats this? Whats this creeping out of the side of her Slazenger one piece? Dear readers it is with great trepidation that I report to you that our Ophelia chose this time, this moment in her life, in the midst of her first ever opportunity to star in a real proper music video, to show her affinity with her peers working for American Apparel...who you may remember, from a few blogs ago, have recently brought back the bush, welcomed the wool, thrown out the razor and cast away the wax. Not only this dearest darlings but she was papped at the point of the big reveal and I am not sure she will ever live it down! It is one thing readers to leave your lady garden or any other area of body hair to grow however it should choose and by crikey, some people do have interesting results! It is however, another thing to be photographed, laughed at and accused of leaving a trail of merkin material throughout the reputable debating chamber, one of the most famous university rooms in the whole of Cambridge. I know not what to say apart from that I feel it did not add to her look particularly and that she still has not had the call from American Apparel. It was a futile protest, a c**t stunt that may mean she finds herself on the floor of the editing suite. Its unlikely she will survive the cut I think. I will leave it there dear readers with photos of the day-mostly courtesy of the fabulous Mike Oliver of www.bymikeoliver.com (do check out his work!) and fellow Dowsers who remembered to take snaps where I forgot. Many thanks to them all. Thankfully things can move swiftly on for Ophelia in terms of her work-the release of the blog detailing her modelling work for Oxfam (Mill Rd) is hot on the heels of this fiasco. I will post a link when it has been published. She will be fully clothed and there will be no mention of merkins I promise! Until then... Dear Readers, we interrupt this hiatus in posts with news to knock your socks off and blow your mind! This weekend Ladies and Gentlemen, and for one weekend only, Ophelia Days has been asked to join The Dowsing Sound Collective as an honorary member (did they read the bondage post one must wonder?!). This is a major coup in itself and despite Ophelias obvious lack of talent in the vocal department it is clear that she could offer a certain poise and style to their proceedings. She is thrilled! But even more than that this opportunity involves her wearing something other than the Dowsers requisite sparkly black top and jeans (Ophelia is not one for denim unless its double and involves a cowboy as you can well imagine!). And yet still there is more because this involves filming, frolics, fancy dress and a fantasticly famous band! What could top that sort of a weekend I ask you? Are you feeling like washing your car on Sunday morning is not something to get excited about after all?! Read on...
This is how its gonna pan out: Travelling stylishly to the recording destination with legs out the top of the sunroof Ophelia will be greeted by no less than 120 fellow Dowsers in fancy dress of ANY sort and will take her position in the throng and look on admiringly, blessing the group with her beauty as they sing and are filmed for an online collaborative project with the utter awesomeness that is the one and only (except there are two of them!) BASEMENT JAXXXXXXXXXX!!!!! What a whopper of a treat is that? Where could this lead? First BJ (unfortunate acronym) and next who knows, maybe Ophelia live at the London Palladium!? This could be just the beginning but what a start it is indeed and if things go downhill for Ophelia then what a story that is to tell the mannequin grandchildren! Better than my claim to fame-shaking hands with Bob Champion, jockey of the day in the 80's! (although of course I too will be doing the Basement Jaxx thing, dressed as the formidible Frida Kahlo, so infact my regaling will be better than Ophelias because I also get to sing and plus I probably one day will have actual real grandchildren who will listen with eyes a-wonder rather than a mannequin frozen glare of disinterest!!) Anyway, must dash readers as I have an outfit to source for our lady in the corner with the utmost urgency-she has to steal the show amidst the giant bananas, Elvis impersonators and Cruella Devilles! Bring it on! But before I go let me 1) sadden your heart with news that the Hobby Stores shop in Trumpington, which you may recall offered sound advice of a sexual nature to the bondage curious visitors of the village hall back yonder, has closed its doors! Comedy gold has left the village and I for one shall miss them (although I never went in!) and 2) delight you with news that we are currently party to a Spanish Exchange and my fridge in well stocked with chorizo the size of England itself! Unfortunately my daughter stopped me greeting our exchange student in full flamenco dress with castenets at the ready, rose in teeth etc but never the less I hope she feels welcome and not too freaked out by the mannequin stares and the prospect of the fancy dress fiesta that will be our weekend! Adios! (sorry no pics as no time and no cable to do the business!) Before things commence dear readers l feel I must inform you that I am writing this on a phone because sadly my computer has finally and properly died. Please excuse the lack of slickness accordingly and yes, my eyes hurt! Let us begin...
Good day to you laughers and weepers one and all. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, the japonica is blossoming and the inside of my car is still a big old dirty mess. We can't have it all readers! Since our last meeting there has been a flurry of Ophelia related happenings not least of all a further anonymous development! You will recall I am sure that Ophelia was recently gifted a lovely set of merkins from a silent stranger! Well, silent no more! A note jotted on the back of a receipt for two dozen eggs, some anusol cream and a bottle of talcum powder found its way to my door reading 'I hope I did not embarrass you with the gift I sent. I heartily recommend this make of merkin for cover and comfort. Should you need any further advice on fittings or current trends in that region please don't hesitate to ask via your blog which I read avidly'. The handwriting looked feminine and curly but dear readers to be honest I'm not sure I want to know more! I mean...who buys talcum powder these days? Not someone I want to meet that's for sure. I think with the absence of Cumberbatch we'll end this little episode here! The eagle eyed and bright minded amongst you may have remembered that it was actually Ophelias birthday on Valentines Day! (Don't even ask! Its rude to!)It's a shit day to have a birthday if you have a broken heart but luckily our Ophelia only has a broken big toe currently which is not nearly as bad. Nevertheless celebrations had to be put on hold due to the rest of us living a life of rock 'n' roll. Our present to Ophelia was a pair of spectacular spectacles which you will see below. They give her a certain je ne sais quoi I think you'll agree! She felt loved I'm sure and was happy to pose for a joint birthday photograph with Thing One celebrating the potential beauty of female facial hair (also below). In other news the pace of the mannequin revolution is quickening. They seem to be popping up everywhere these days!(see photo evidence!) Usually that is just in my life but I am seeing others are noticing this too. Cambridges second media friendly mannequin Dickie MacKay, from the brilliant hardware grotto that is MacKays on East Rd now has a Twitter (@DickieMackay) and Facebook account and I like to think that he and Ophelia do sort of represent the Queen and King of the Cambridge mannequin world! Suggestions have been made that their relationship should be more than professional but as Ophelia said 'any man(nequin) that wears a hat that says Dick when read at the wrong angle is not the man(nequin) for me!' She is a bit two-faced though to be honest because she was delighted when Dickie sent her one of those hats and wears it with joy. A very exciting opportunity has befallen our Ophelia in that she has become the new vintage face of Oxfam Mill Road! This adorably quirky little treasure trove of a charity shop is one of our faves and in an effort to boost their fabulous vintage section Ophelia has been modelling for them and will star in a monthly blog written by yours truly! Oxfam do cracking work and we are delighted to support them although this lack of computer is going to prove an obstacle to overcome first! In non-Ophelia related news we are super excited to report that our fave artists ever, Pip & Pop, are back in the UK! Northampton to be precise. The things they do with coloured sugar and origami and little plastic figurines are mind blowing and indeed mind altering! Please check out the link here and really don't miss it! Thing One is currently busy tidying her room under the pretext that the Spanish Exchange student we will welcome soon is infact a room inspector in disguise. Thing Two is currently gyrating his way to school to the beautiful African beats of Baka Gbine, our current band of choice for car disco commutes. Right, I'm off to bathe my eyes in a vat of Optrex. You're off to admire the selection of photos below! Adios readers and look out for the links I will post to Ophelias Oxfam Outings! Toodle Pip! Well dear readers, following on from the previous blog entry, what a strange turn of events has befallen us today-I am barely able to speak for laughter and thus lets be grateful I don't have to verbalize this story to you for we may never get to bed tonight! (so to speak!)
Arriving home from the school run, laden with homework books and rejected packed lunches, I am greeted by a parcel, all shiny and expectant on my porch floor and unusually addressed to our one and only Ophelia Days. I could not recall ordering anything for her lately despite constantly discovering fabulous accessories with great Ophelia potential! What on earth could it be and more to the point who would've sent it? Who knows her home address or have I unwittingly left a trail for mannequin stalkers right to our abode somewhere? And who had been shopping at the store 'The Mutts Nuts'!!? So, with a mixture of great excitement and worriment Thing Two and I fought over the packaging until out at my feet plopped a packet of merkins! (Yes, incase you are wondering I did have to do some quick explaining to the said Son-taken on board with a shrug, all par for the course in this quirky family!) What a gift from the Gods, a fannytashtic freebie from a (hopefully) friendly follower of the fou fou fiasco, a mystery merkin shopper! Surely we need Sherlock on the case to solve this curious conundrum. I laughed and cried at the generosity of this ahem...lady beard buyer-how thoughtful and considerate in this winter climate to protect Ophelia from a chill only a few women will know. Whoever you are kind soul, please accept our many thanks for the lovely present, for the ensuing laughter and for the reminder that my life is like no other-I am truly blessed with good fortune always presented in a most unusual fashion! Once the hysterics had subsided the quest became to choose and fit the rug and find appropriate underwear to show the merkin off at its most magical! EPIC FAILURE!!!! All my pants are too ahem...large!(Ophelia being a model of ridiculous proportions!) and the only other underwear in the house is vastly inappropriate! Maybe lingerie shopping is next on the to do list or perhaps just by writing that down I have guaranteed an influx of undies through my post box! Tom Jones eat your heart out! When we are properly equipped we will put together a photoshoot for your eyes only, but in the meantime if anyone out there knows anything that will lead us to this big-hearted Ophelia fan please don't hesitate to give us a heads up so we can thank them properly! P.S You left the price on! x Never did I envisage dear readers that my shopping list would stray so far beyond bread, milk and Canesten cream to the mysterious world of the mannequin merkin. Our beloved Ophelia was designed downstairs with a 'buff no-fluff muff' yet the eagle-eyed amongst us (and you know who you are Mr C!) have noted that the trends are turning and the bush is back. For those of you who have no idea what I'm wittering on about (and this surely does not include you Sally S-having seemingly got a merkin masterclass under , and not presumably below, your belt) the merkin is a toupee for the tinkleflower (seriously! I have spent time looking these up!) a wig for the womans cave of wonder(!!) or, if you prefer, a hairpiece for the hoo-haa! Jeez this feels beyond ridiculous! It gets no better when I reveal to you that my trawling efforts on ebay for one led me to a dishrag-the wonderful Dodo Juice Mint Merkin Waffle Weave Microfibre Window Cloth! Perhaps we can make do with one of these instead! Ever the practical person, I'm thinking my windows will shine better with this purchasing choice. For now Ophelia will remain rugless but watch this space if you dare ladies and gentleman...the influence of American Apparels latest window of controversy (its only hair!!!!) may yet reach this region! No-one even mentioned that they were wearing glasses! Keep well and warm Phelie Followers, until next time.x Ah well readers...good intentions and all that! I wanted to do a big Halloween blog all Frida/Day of the Deadish, a firework night blog with catherine wheel tits on fire (its a reference only some will get!) and a more general yet pretty miserable blog about the nature of loss (its a year now since Celski our beloved first cat got run over on Halloween and a few months since our second cat Skitzy fucked off to join the cat circus or something!) and I felt under self induced pressure to come up with great goods after the success of the last post but dear readers there is nothing like a bit of pressure to halt all creativity plus I have been concentrating on living in the now and generally taking life slower. Life is for living not blogging ladies and gents and thus this page has had to be patient. In all that time of not putting fingertip to keyboard, I have been pondering what Ophelia Days would write if she had a diary (and the ability to write in one). Each day life is enacted out before her, sometimes involving her, sometimes not. She is witness to the laughs, the tears, the arguments, the make ups, the mundane and the exciting. As a busy and fairly useless keeper of records of our family life I sometimes wish she had the ability to document it all so we could look back and smile. But she can't and she doesn't so its down to me. One has to weigh up though the dilemma of recording the school play for posterity or just being in the moment and watching and enjoying it. We are inundated with ways of recording our lives these days and sharing it as it happens but perhaps that somehow stops us from actually living it to the full. Yet I do like a diary entry. I like seeing what we thought was important enough to write down. I like the idea that we mix together our inner most secrets and the most boring aspects of our lives in a few short lines. I like seeing what was written on the same day but years apart and I really like reading other peoples! Many years ago now, infact I believe it was on September 11 2001, because everyone can remember where they were that day, I found a diary for sale in CB2 cafe in Cambridge. How it came to be there I have no idea! It was a large, fairly unfilled diary from 1969 but I bought it because the idea excited me that I could glean at least some information about the author and their life at the time by the few entries it had in it. I have grown to love and cherish that diary and the simplicity of life contained in its pages delights me. By all accounts it is written by a young woman living with her mother on Tenison Road. The life of a young woman then and the life of a young woman now are worlds apart. It is true to say that in 1969 this family did spring clean in Spring and you did go away to the seaside to convalesce after a period of illness. Love it! I will not give you the best entries dear readers because I am thinking about a future art project on diaries that may use them but here are a few excerpts for your pleasure and delight: Monday 6th January 1969 Barry went down the town and then studied in the Front Room. He had a bath at 10pm to help him for Birmingham as Marjorie had the electricians rewiring the flat. Friday 10th January 1969 Mother had a pain in her Right Side after eating an apple. Saturday 5th April 1969 Painted larder 6am in the morning. Collected my glasses. £5.15.0 Very Nice. Jake rolled the lawn. Thursday 5th June 1969 Mystery drive to Haddenham. Very enjoyable. In contrast dear readers let me divulge some of my own diary entries from the same dates but different years later: Saturday 6th January 2001 Tried to visit Botanical Gardens but decided to go on a day when it was free. Looked at scarf I like in market but decided it was too extravagant. On way home current scarf got caught in back wheel of bicycle and started to strangle me. Lots of hilarity.(8 months pregnant) Saturday 10th January 1998 Came on, so I'm not pregnant :) or :( ? Watched TOTP2 and bought some goodies for half price at the health food shop-sad to be in a shop on its last day of opening. Friday 5th April 2002 Spent morning trying to organise what we are doing this afternoon! Go kite flying. Doug is fab at it whereas it dives and crashes everytime I go near it. Thing One thinks its funny. Sunday 5th June 1988 My Birthday! Got dress off Mum and the Housemartins double album and a condom off of Anthony! (boyfriend of the moment obviously hinting at me) GREAT ALBUM! Looking back on my diaries (and I regrettably threw out a heap of them a few years ago because they were morose and depressing to read!) it does seem that as with this blog I had good intentions at the start and wrote regularly and as the year passed on the pages stayed blank! Looking again shows us how our world has changed-prices, priorities, preferences. Sometimes we look back and what we thought was true wasn't and what we hoped/feared would happen didn't but mostly we can smile at ourselves, at our naivety, our confusion and best of all our living in the moment. I might just start keeping a diary again. Please let me know your diary secrets! Feel free to add your entires in to the comments box for the whole world to read. Best give you some pics of our Ophelia to keep you all happy! Here goes! |