Tinkerbell's Pages

On wondering 'Why does it always rain on me'?

You know those days when everything goes wrong and you wonder what you've ever done to deserve all the crap that is piling down upon you?! Well I had one of those days on Saturday. For a start, I woke up and the weather was grey and miserable. It was raining. This weather was the perfect reflection of how I felt inside. The boyfriend was in one of his inexplicable bad moods which basically consisted of ignoring me for no apparent reason, so I thought I would escape down to the Post Office before it closed. I had to send back a book from my book club which someone there had decided I would appreciate and would want to pay for, even though I had not asked for it. It was pouring with rain and halfway there I remembered I had no money in my purse, so I had to stop at the cash machine. The one on the way there had a queue of people waiting to use it, so I thought I would use the one right outside the Post Office when I got there. So I hurried on my way with a scowl on my face, getting soaked because it was also windy and my umbrella was therefore completely useless. However, someone had very thoughtfully decided to move the cash machine from outside the Post Office. It just wasn't there any more. So I had to risk life and limb to cross three lanes of traffic to get to the one on the other side of the road, getting more soaked all the time. The queue for this cash machine was even longer than the first one I had passed earlier on during my fateful journey, so it was a REALLY ANNOYING. Then I had to wait in the queue in the Post Office (once again, risking life and limb to get back across the road) behind the slowest people IN THE WORLD. Also quite annoying, as you can probably imagine.

The day didn't get much better when I went over to see my mum in the afternoon. Had dropped the moody boyfriend off at the dentist which is 2 mins from Mum's house, so I thought I would go and have a chat with her while boyfriend was having his fillings done. But here I was almost immediately set upon by Big Brother who decided it was the perfect time to bring up the rather taboo subject of Christmas Day and "What the hell was going to happen about Christmas?" with our sisters no longer speaking to each other and little sister about to give birth at any moment (baby was due last Wed). The conversation was all far too emotional and screwed up for my liking - somehow I managed to find myself on the receiving end of his anger and frustration (quite unfairly methinks!) and it was only when he reduced me to a quivering wreck of tears that I think he realised that the whole sodding situation is NOT MY FAULT!!! However, the tears turned out to be quite well-timed because the boyfriend then arrived at the house and on seeing my red blood-shot eyes and tear-stained face, realised that he couldn't be horrible to me anymore : )

On the bad parenting of Mr. and Mrs. Darling...

Went to see the extremely cheesy, but nevertheless highly entertaining Peter Pan on Ice at the Crystal Palace Sports Arena with school today. It was a very special day because the children have been looking forward to it for weeks and everyone in the school went together. The organisation of the trip wasn't easy and involved transporting 270 children on six coaches to Crystal Palace, but it all turned out OK in the end. The skating and the costumes were good and the show was just about the right length to keep the audience's attention, but the place was more than half empty, so there wasn't a particularly exciting atmosphere. Add to this the fact that we were watching this show at 11am in the morning - I think it is probably a lot better when it plays to a packed arena at night! It was actually highly amusing to watch 270 children (and that was just from our school!) cringe when Peter Pan and Wendy kissed at the end of the show! By the way, Tinkerbell was made to look all punky and chavvy - I was not impressed : (

As I watched, certain random thoughts entered my mind, including the one that I often thought about as I watched the Disney version of Peter Pan as a small child. How come the Darling family use a dog to babysit their children?! I had to check this fact, in case I had somehow managed to get the wrong end of the stick, but it does indeed seem to be true that the dog 'Nana' is left in charge of the children when the parents go out. It's all very strange. I'm sure it's a case for Social Services to get involved in. The original book states: Mrs. Darling loved to have everything just so, and Mr. Darling had a passion for being exactly like his neighbours; so, of course, they had a nurse. As they were poor, owing to the amount of milk the children drank, this nurse was a prim Newfoundland dog, called Nana, who had belonged to no one in particular until the Darlings engaged her. She had always thought children important, however, and the Darlings had become acquainted with her in Kensington Gardens, where she spent most of her spare time peeping into perambulators, and was much hated by careless nursemaids, whom she followed to their homes and complained of to their mistresses. She proved to be quite a treasure of a nurse. How thorough she was at bath-time, and up at any moment of the night if one of her charges made the slightest cry. Of course her kennel was in the nursery." But of course.

On loving reminiscing with This Life...

For those of you out there who know me, you will know that it does not really take much to please me. Therefore, words cannot express my delight at the news that the fantastic TV programme This Life is currently being shown again on our TV screens. For those of you unaware of its existence - it's a cult show which was first shown in 1996 about a group of twenty-something friends (Miles, Anna, Milly, Egg and Warren - pictured above) who work in law and share a house together in London. There's loads of swearing, sex, alcohol and drugs (it's a bit like a grittier, dirtier British version of Friends) and it's absolutely fantastic. There are loads of dodgy camera angles and they play Radiohead songs in the background. A LOT. What more can you ask for?! I remember watching it when I was in my late teens in my bedroom with my boyfriend at home and being totally gripped by it. Now as I watch it I reminisce shamelessly about the 1990s (I seem to be doing that a lot lately). In those days I had just left school, I was at university and the world was my oyster. How quickly times change! (Still have the same lovely boyfriend though!) I especially like it when they have fleeting shots of Miles and Anna leaving Chancery Lane tube station, as it reminds me of a very happy time in my life when I tempted in an office just down the road from there. Ahhhh, the memories.....

And the reason this fantastic piece of televisual nostalgia has been brought back to our screens? It's because they're going to show a ten-year anniversary Christmas special!!! I'm just too excited to write any more. It's just TOO good : )

On laughing at the hilarious Ross Noble...

The boyfriend and I went to see Ross Noble's stand-up show at Brixton Academy on Monday night. It was quite a weird experience because I had only ever been there to see live gigs before but never a comedy show. The first weird thing was the fact that there were seats. Well, very strange spring-loaded seats which had been brought in especially for the occasion which acted a bit like a seesaw (ie. when someone sat down or got up from one end of the row, you were almost catapulted into the air at the other end!) I'm used to standing right at the back near the bar, balancing on my tiptoes, straining my neck to see a band play live whilst simultaneously attempting to dance and look cool (no mean feat I can tell you!), but this time we were able to sit down in relative comfort. Our seats were only about six rows from the front so we had a really good view, but we were unfortunately sitting right next to the men's loos. With the air-conditioning blasting out unnecessarily (it's November for God's sake!) and the constant whiff of urine, it was not the most pleasant of environments to be sitting in for three hours, as you can probably imagine...!!!

However, the show more than made up for it. Once again, it was being filmed for a DVD (we always seem to find ourselves at shows which are being filmed for future release) and although we weren't in the line of the camera this time, one of my loudly-shouted suggestions for the finale to the show (which is much too long-winded to explain here) was taken on board, much to the boyfriend's sheer embarrassment! So if you ever find yourself watching the Ross Noble Fizzy Logic DVD which is due to be released before Christmas, listen out for someone shouting out: "On rollerskates!" towards the end - that's me : )

On getting lost in the dark...

Went to friend's wedding reception at the magnificant Horsley Towers in Surrey last night (not that we could really see that much off its magnificance because when we arrived it was very dark and misty). We had to miss the local fireworks display which we go to every year WITHOUT FAIL, which boyfriend wasn't too happy about, but I said that I was sure there would be fireworks at the wedding reception that we could enjoy instead. There weren't (that is, of course, unless we missed them...)The night didn't start off too promisingly really. The cab was 15 minutes late because the driver couldn't find our flat and then we got completely lost out in the deep, dark Surrey countryside for about another 15 minutes. When we finally reached our destination, we were so relieved to get there, I sprang out of the cab leaving my camera on the back seat, so boyfriend had to then run after cab to retrieve it.

Anyway, the reception was a good laugh. However, I do find that the annoying thing about arriving at an evening wedding reception is that all the guests who have been there all day are completely pissed already. We had no chance of catching up with them with the prices of the drinks, but we had a few drinks and were merry enough by the time the cab came to pick us up at the end of the evening (15 minutes late again!) It actually turned out that for less than the price we paid for the cab, we could have stayed in the guest house next door overnight, but I thought it was best to go home anyway because I've got so much work to do for school today. Going to see Ross Noble tomorrow night (more about that in my next blog I'm sure) and it's parents' evenings (which I hate) on Tuesday and Wednesday. I got up early this morning with the intention of making a start on all that work, but somehow found myself writing this instead : )

On having one of those SAD days...

Today I've had one of those days. Nothing particularly bad has happened, but I just feel totally fed up. I think it all stems from being tired now that I'm back at school and the fact that the weather has turned colder and the evenings are darker. We've got parents' evenings coming up next week and therefore this also means loads of marking and paperwork to get up to date before then. I was just beginning to think that I could be suffering from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), until I looked it up on the Seasonal Affective Disorder Association website http://www.sada.org.uk/symptoms.htm and realised that most people must suffer from most of the symptoms during the winter in this country!

According to the website: 'the symptoms of SAD usually recur regularly each Winter, starting between September and November and continuing until March or April. A diagnosis can be made after three or more consecutive Winters of symptoms, which include a number of the following: sleep problems (usually the desire to sleep and difficulty staying awake), lethargy (feeling of fatigue and inability to carry out normal routine), overeating (craving for carbohydrates and sweet foods, usually resulting in weight gain), depression (feelings of misery, guilt and lack of self-esteem, sometimes hopelessness and despair), social problems (irritability and desire to avoid social contact), anxiety (tension and inability to tolerate stress) and loss of libido (decreased interest in sex and physical contact).'  Hmmm, must admit that I don't know that many people who relish the thought of getting up and going out to work in the pitch black, early on a very cold winter's morning. Who wouldn't rather be tucked up asleep in bed under a lovely warm duvet?! Oh, and apparently, 'SAD may occur at any age but the main onset is between 18 and 30 years.'  Well, that explains it then.

Oh well, at least it's Friday tomorrow. I'm going to a wedding reception on Saturday night and going to see Ross Noble at Brixton Academy on Monday, so that should cheer me up. That's if I can drag myself out from under my duvet of course : )