Diary fail

It's my own silly fault writing things down.  Even when I've got it all locked down and private, I still quote from it at the most inopportune times and get asked for documentary proof.  So, I've had it printed into a book and shipped from the good ol' US of A and it's being read by Patsy at the moment.  It's probably better than me trying to talk about things as I can't articulate as well speaking as writing.  I don't think he'll be happy though.

I'm so glad it's Friday, but I think I'm in for a bumpy ride....

Birthday week

Back at work now after a lovely 5 days of birthday celebrations and pootling around.  Had a really relaxing time and although we got lots of things ticked off the list, it didn't feel like we were racing round at break neck speed.  Went out to lunch every day and Sian took the afternoon off on Monday (my actual birthday) and was the designated driver, so that was really lovely of her.  We went to Sarah and Adrian's on Saturday evening with Ed and Fran.  Her kids were in and out through the evening, but it was all relaxed and easy.  It seems like a year ago now actually.  Went for a drag on Sunday and the weather was lovely, in fact it's been lovely all week.  My birthday was spent drinking a bottle of Cava and fooling around in the bedroom and then going out for lunch, coming back, seeing the Howards and Pat bumping into Don, an old friend of his, who's been battling a heroin addiction for about 20 years or so.  That was interesting.  Anyway, they all scooted off and we managed to get in a bit of university challenge before collapsing into bed, probably very early.  Can't actually remember to be honest... We were so over hung on Tuesday, that we were in bed after the boys came round for chilli tuesday at about 9.00.  Nightmare! We just don't have the staying power anymore.  Never mind.  Went to Tapas Plus yesterday and had the most gorgeous Tapas.... I had a few glasses of red wine last night of course, the night before I have to go back to work! Tsk.  All good fun.

George Clooney

I watched a good film last night with George Clooney in.  It was very good, very low key and very enjoyable.  He's always good in whatever he does.  He's always surprising really as he is such a superstar and could do anything.  Anyway, I enjoyed it and I'm not going to give any spoilers here.

It's been quite a good week.  I don't know if I said that Pat wants a copy of this diary/blog from 2007.  I'd already set the printing of it in motion as a book, but it's not arrived yet.  I've also printed off my yahoo 360 blog as I couldn't put it into a book.  He's asked for them and I'm going to give them to him.  He won't like much of it, but that's what diaries are for isn't it?  Writing the shit down that you can't say to people.  Anyway, I'm still waiting for the book.

Sian is beginning to enjoy her freedom from the chains of co-habitation and her mood has lifted markedly and I'm enjoying her feeling that freedom.  She's too young to be tied down.  I know I've been in a relationship for, gawd, 27 years this year, but she is a different person and should experience her last teenage years to the fullest.  Boyfriend isn't dealing with it at all well. Analyzing everything too much.  Always causes trouble, you just need to get on with life.  It's gone too quickly.  Anyway, Anna made pasties last night and we all had them for tea.  They were lovely.  Looking forward to what she may produce this weekend.  Really looking forward to the weekend too.  Dinner at Sarah's on Saturday with Ed and Fran, which will be nice.  A few days off for my birthday on Monday, Tues and Weds, so all in all it should be good. Tarah! See you soon.

Teeth

I went to the dentist on Tuesday and thought, "I'm paying a small fortune for this, so it will be excellent".  Noooooooooo... I couldn't have been more wrong.  Cue three days of excruciating pain in my jaw (not the filling, which has moved in very quietly), yes, my jaw.  I decided to have the injection, to numb the pain, but as well as doing this, it managed to almost lock my jaw and the dentist had to do all the filling work in about 1.5cm of gap in my mouth as it locked up and wouldn't open normally.  I've only just got full jaw mobility back and I'm hoping that I've lost about a stone in weight as I haven't been able to eat properly.

It's been a bit traumatic chez Barrett this week as Sian has been having trouble with boyfriend, which has culminated in him having to go back to his mum's last night.  He'll get round her to come back, but I've told her that this came about because she was not happy and she shouldn't let him manipulate her.  I can't say much else as it's between them, but she looked ever so sad this morning when she went off to work.  Poor thing.

We went to see the film Paul last night with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.  It was very good.  A couple of times, Anna & I were clinging on to each other in tears of laughter.  Lots of nods and hugs to sci-fi and comic geek stuff.  Very enjoyable.  We all went, me, Pat, Sian and Anna and then we went out to the chinese up the hill afterwards.  All in all a good evening, although Sian had to take T's stuff to his mum's afterwards and was stopped by the police for speeding into Boscombe.  Luckily she wasn't charged, but I hope it will shock her into driving a bit more gently from now on.  It's exhausting !

Groyne

I've had a cold, which to be honest had been bubbling since before Cornwall and the wedding.  I'd not let it out until last week and Friday was the worst day.  Was supposed to be going out with the girls and couldn't make it and also missed Kerry's birthday on Friday as I was tucked up in bed watching a dvd which Ran gave me called "Crimson Rivers" with Jean Reno.  It was very good.  I loved listening to him speaking French!

Here's a piccy.  Anyway, it made my coldy, achey evening pass much more comfortably.  Wasn't able to go into Mum and Pete's with the papers because of my cold so just handed them over on the threshold.  I don't think Pete would be able to cope with the extra coughing and snotty stuff.  Had a lovely afternoon at Chris and Tracy's though and saw Liz too, which was nice.  She went to the girls night out and I think if I'd gone I'd have been the only one with a partner of any length of time, so really, I don't think it was an issue, not going. Didn't do an extreme evening with the guys as was beginning to collapse.  Watched telly with Anna and then went to bed and straight to sleep.  Patsy didn't have a good sleep though.  It was either the hundred weight of Ameretti biscuits or the lentils (both, which I found lovely) it did upset his stomach though.  As a result he was a bit tetchy on Sunday morning and fell out with Sian because she said she'd give me a lift, but wanted to go round to chris & trancy's to pick up my car and then wanted to race off with her friends.  However, they kept delaying and it did get a bit frustrating and Pat was wondering why we hadn't gone.  I should have just got on my bike to be honest, but he ended up walking out and then Sian and me left pretty much 5 minutes afterwards.  It was a wasted argument and shouldn't have happened.  I don't think Sian is happy in her relationship and she definitely is projecting it badly.  Never mind.  Went for a drag down the beach once I'd located Pat and took a few photos of my groyne - Snort! Here's a piccy:- in the next blog space.

Aged Ps, Weddings and suchlike

We've had such a lovely time over the past week.  It seems like it's lasted forever, but it was only last Wednesday we went down to Cornwall for a few days and then Saturday for the wedding.  Cornwall was very relaxing.  I even started on Room, which is a book, which is sort of like the story about the German chap who locked up his daughter and had kids with her etc etc.  I'm not sure it's for me really, but I suppose I should finish it because it would be churlish not to.  The parents were fine, although seem to be much much older.  I think they've slowed down considerably and they are really feeling it.  However, not enough for Dick to accept that they could really do with a gardener and not enough for Robin to accept that a cleaner for a couple of hours a week would be a good idea.  Never mind, we'll keep digging.  Gill, Dave and the boys were down too, so we had a couple of champagne moments in our "drinking holiday amnesty".  I tell you what though, it definitely gave me heartburn, which was horrible and very surprising.
The wedding was lovely.  We met lots of friends and family of both Huli and Mike and we got to dress up very smartly.  Sian and Anna came too and Sian was designated driver for the whole day, which was brilliant.  The taxi's were totally booked up, but I had no idea when and where we'd be at any point in the day, so Sian was great.  I've got some piccys, but here's one of the barretts looking very smart indeed.

Poor old Patsy had a bit too much of the juice, but a good Devon breakfast sorted him out and we drove home.  It seemed like a long way, but it was only 3 hours and Sunday was spent flopping after having a chinese as a treat.  Mind you, I did pop round to mum's and pick up the shopping list so I could order it online, which I did on Monday. Phew! Brilliant time was had by all and no upsets either!

Black Swan

Went to see Black Swan with Jane and her mates last night.  Scariest film I've seen in years to be honest.  I didn't read the reviews on purpose just in case of spoilers, but I wish I had and I may not have gone.  It's a very extreme psychological film and Natalie Portman is in almost every shot, so I can imagine it was very difficult and hard work for her.  Apparently, she trained for a whole year for the part and it shows.  She was very good indeed.  Here's a pic:-

It was  a slow burn, just like all the other Darren Aronofsky films (Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler, The Fountain) and just as shocking at the end.  The make up and costumes were incredible too.  It was good to see Jane, although I didn't have enough time to chat.  I gave her a lift home and a precis of what had been happening, but not too much as to me, it sounds like blah, blah, blah.  So, I'm not really talking.  Why change the habits of a lifetime eh?