Household Trivia

Freezer appears fine this morning. Just put my fake orange,lemon and lime slices back in to refreeze. Had scrambled egg with a lot of cheese on toast for breakfast with a Queen's golden jubilee mug of Lapsang.

I need to buy some bleach and do more washing, then I shall tackle the prawn dish later on.

Kooky still hasn't got the hang of the new hours and started torturing me at 5.15am. Must feed him later at night.

Well, I have now cooked the prawns - not very exciting, and attempted to bleach the tops, a partial success, now washing them ready to hang up.

Had a chicken green curry at Lye Torng. It is Hallowe'en, and the shops are full of masks, skulls, ghoulish make-up etc. I may well be the only one at home watching the X-factor tonight. We shall see. Perhaps Simon Cowell's fangs will be showing.

Pre-departure Panic

Family Britain is proving to be a bit of a hit. Having quotes from so many sources certainly brings history to life - so it is a bit of a page-turner. Definitely a good buy. I must not let it prevent me from getting ready to go away. I need to sort out the catfeeding note and putting the food and bowls handy, find a case and pack it etc etc trying not to leave the flat in a complete mess before I go.

Today, I shall tackle some washing, which will be a good start. I may also defrost the freezer. We shall see.

Hmm. Since the freezer door won't close decided to defrost it. But I have lost the instructions and the top drawer is frozen solid and iced up. So I turned it all off and am hoping for the best. Propped door open and taken two drawers out. What a ghastly mess it is. Have managed to get the top drawer out and put some towels inside to start soaking up the water. Now finished and turned on again. Had some excellent chicken soup from it. There's a huge thing of prawns which I shall cook tomorrow with butter, garlic and onions and maybe some tomato puree before refreezing.

Finished work for the week and funny CD

last day at work this week fortunately - the hotel kept ringing up about the rooms - they thought we had too many - then the hamper company wanted money upfront - then my bank told me I had too many accounts (2) and should not use my debit card to purchase goods online. I am waiting for them to publish this advice. I may have to change my bank from Lloyd's TSB to a less nosey bank.

To cap it all, my Bob Dylan Christmas CD arrived. True he does sound like an old drunk, but I quite like it, seems rather appropriate to the season. I think that the problem is that Dylan fans are a bit po-faced and lacking in humour, which is why it seems to have upset them. I suspect this CD is a bit of a send-up judging by the colour and the snap of the backing musicians inside. Not to mention the pin-up Christmas girl on the interior.

'Flu Jab Day

'One of those days' at work. Several odd calls including one from the Charity Commission whingeing about not having received our Annual Report which is not due until the end of the month and which we emailed on 21st - they are both hopelessly inefficient and excessively bureaucratic. Romy forwarded them yet another copy. I was glad to leave early to have my 'flu jab. Surprisingly no long queues in the surgery. A history 'lite' book arrived today. Family Britain 1951-1957 by David Kynaston. Not normally interested in history, but this is peppered with commentary by ordinary and well-known figures of the times. It's a couple of inches thick, so will keep me quiet for a while.

Romy thinks my Midwinter 'riverside' design china is vile. She prefers the rather jazzy Zambesi design we had at home, but it costs a lot and is very hard to find now. I remember also rather loathing the riverside, but I do love the 'fashion' shape, and have grown rather fonder of riverside recently. It looks very good on my white table. I suspect it would also look good on a brown linen cloth. We shall see.

Back to Work in the Rain Today

Medical matters: using Etrivex shampoo for the first time today. Reading the leaflet has put me off using it for a couple of weeks, but the psoriasis has become so bad I have decided to take the plunge. Strange stuff. You have to put it on dry hair thinly, then wash your hands carefully before leaving for up to 15 minutes then washing the hair. Apparently you should not let it get anywhere else on the skin in case it is absorbed. Perhaps because it contains loads of steroids. A bit worrying. Still, needs must.

Decluttering has slowed down a bit, but still continues. The good news is that I found my hairdryer after several years.

Seems I shall be going to Hayling Island since my neighbour can feed Kooky. I shall see if I have any clothes left to pack.

Saw Julian last night, who came to play with Kooky and is thinking of going to the Damien Hirst thing at the Wallace Collection. Helpfully, she changed the clocks which I can't reach so I now have the right time everywhere.

Vanity, etc.

Just wrote to the 'Dear Mavis' column in the Oldie with some advice for a foolish old dame contemplating eyelash extensions. Basically, don't. I had some done quite a few years ago when less overripe, but despite asking them to put shorter ones on, I ended up looking like Barbara Cartland with spiders around my eyes. I had to wear sunglasses for a week. These are definitely for drag queens or young women.

These days I just use mascara which dries very quickly so you can layer it a bit and thicken the sparse eyelashes that way. For the oldie, best use brown rather than black. Less obvious. I still recommend drag queen glasses in black with diamante from Opera Opera (as above). Though slightly Dame Edna, they are fun to wear to parties with a black dress.

New Week

Dear me - the Government is going to give careers advice to seven year olds. Mr Gradgrind comes to mind. Maybe it is a well intentioned effort to indoctrinate children whose parents and grandparents have never worked with the idea that they might one day have a job. Hmmmm.

Last night on X-factor the Cheeky Boys triumphed again. A not too bad girl group were ejected. They didn't perform well under the pressure, poor things. Louis is a crafty cove, but a pity he didn't make more effort with the girls and less with the boys. That wasn't going to happen, though.

Either Julian or my neighbour will be feeding the Kookster the week after next when I go to Hayling Island. The term 'dumb animal' might have been invented for him. He keeps getting stuck outside, but can in fact get back in again. If my neighbour looks after him I shall ask Julian to come and check on him now and then. If he stays in Julian's flat that particular problem will be avoided.