Experiencing the experience

As I get nearer and nearer to my 42nd birthday, I find myself ruminating on what it's all about.
And really its more a question of determining what the 'it' actually is.
I find that this year, I'm not that interested in gathering all my various friends together for a drink or something to eat. I feel like I need a break from organising things, as that seems to have been all I've done the past 10 months with college.
I know that my friends are my friends and that they're not going anyway. So whether I see them this week or next month, it won't change the friendship.
But what has been wafting through my thoughts has been to do with what I can experience in my life. I have just successfully managed to pass a 10 months intensive Access course, it was tough but worth it. I have been enjoying my man for the past year. My daughter and I are going to Austria in August.

This has nothing to do with excitement, rather more to do with mental stimulation. It's all about the exposure to other places, people, smells, food, life. It is not about the material things. I don't need 'things'. I have enough of whatever I need to get me through my daily existence. But what I sometimes crave are the new sensations that add a richness to my life. That can expand my life tapestry, creating more colour and dimension, giving it a greater depth of variety. Its about tasting the flavour of living amply and in full measure.

Lady of leisure

I can hardly believe it and yes, I keep pinching myself to make sure that I'm not dreaming.
But I have actually finished my Access course.
The long, dark tunnel that I found myself in after Easter, has finally come to an end.
I have completed ALL the assignments with the desired grades.
I even achieved a few merits and ONE distinction.
So here I am, patting myself on the back.
It feels quite strange not having any homework to do and not being under any pressure.
I feel oddly light and have a sense of freedom about me.
There is no need for me to rush or race about.
I have 2 and 1/2 months off to do whatever I feel like.
I am now able to catch up on all the blogs that I haven't had time to read and to possibly even write a few of my own.
I know I need to make the most of this time as the next 3 years are likely to be a mad as the last 10 months or worse.
But it's the end result that counts. I have a goal in mind and a direction to follow.
So, onwards and upwards.

Lazing on a Sunday afternoon....

Except that it was Saturday morning, after the night before.

It had been a beautiful evening with DC.

We went out for a meal and then caught the last hour and a half of dancing.

Neither of us were feeling the 'groove'. I felt like I was out of practice.

But by the end of the evening, with a few good dances behind us, very hot and sweaty, we headed home.

Earlier before we had set out, he said to me "the reality of the situation is....."

"Ok, what?"

"....is that I can stay the night."

What can I say, I was quietly excited. It had been a while since both our schedules coincided like this and to add to it, neither of us had anywhere to be until almost midday.

To us, being able to spend more than a few hours together was a luxury.

We eventually went to sleep, slightly cuddling.

It was the end of a long and final week of college for me and I was exhausted.

Being with DC was the perfect tonic for me.

I fell quickly asleep, knowing that I would sleep more than him.

Sure enough, I woke up a few times, opening my eyes, only to see him watching me with a smile.

He likes watching me sleep, watching me breath, being peaceful.

And I like waking up next to him, feeling his warmth, his strong arms wrapping around me as I roll in to him.

We made tea and coffee and brought it back to the bed. The French doors were open, the sun was shining and a gentle breeze was blowing as we sat there listening to the morning bird song.

I wished we could have stayed there for longer, but reality set back in and we eventually got ready for the rest of the day.

To say that I am besotted is an understatement.
Smitten.

Continuation of conformity...

I find that it's very hard not to conform in some way or another.
And trust me when I say that I have tried...not to that is.
I noticed it hugely when I lived in America. All the properties that I looked at to buy, were amazingly similar, right down to the granite in the kitchen. This was not limited to house buying but also to high street shops selling clothes. Everything seemed to have a sameness about it. There is so much choice but it is all so very similar. It follows the trend and it has so much to do with the consumer society that we are surrounded by. Its the quietly invisible peer pressure of the various circles that we move in.

It's our children in the playground, coming home with the latest 'hip' word, wanting to be the same as their friends. Fundamentally, we are all pack animals with our alpha males and females leading the way, while the rest of us 'sheep' fall into line and conform. It is the pied piper that leads us away from our explorative, edgy selves, to a more uniform existence.

It's what we do with our conformity that counts and how we make it work for us, for our bohemian selves. It's the exploration of our creativity, the spreading of our wings, that allows us to push those proverbial boundaries, that changes the norm into the boho, going far out into the left field.
So take those steps...

8.01am Sunday morning

Oh my gosh!
I can't believe it.
The cable man is actually here, ringing my bell at 8.01am today.
That makes me the first call of the day.
I am never the first call of the day.
The proverbial 'they' tell you that the engineer will be there sometime between 8 - 12noon. I'm usually the last one on the list, but not today.
Woohoo!!!
And the best part is.....is that my cable is working, at last, finally.
Life is good again.

The Rudeness of Strangers

Not sure if I've grumbled about this before but if so, then I'm doing it again.
I got on a bus at about 10.45pm last night, not too late.
It was fairly full with no seats on the lower level, so I stood where the buggies would normally go.
My journey takes about 1/2 hour at that time, with many more people getting on and off.
Firstly, an obviously pregnant woman in her late twenties got on. Did anyone offer her a seat? No, not a single person.
Then an elderly woman, followed by an elderly man got on.
Someone gave the woman a seat, but not the man.
Finally another elderly woman got on and also had to stand, at least for a few stops.
Most of the people sitting were my age or younger and could quite easily manage to stand for their journey.
It just amazes me the lack of respect and courtesy that people do NOT have any more and yet, everyone of them would probably expect to be given a seat when they reach their older years.
It costs nothing to show kindness.

Lesson in futility

Oh what a colossal waste of time that was.
What began with the needs to resolve a cable issue and the need to have my own wireless ended in me pulling my hair out.
It has been going on for several years...this frustration that I have with Virgin cable.
I was happily enjoying the ordinary service of Telewest, when they were unfortunately bought out by Virgin and that was when it began.
To begin with, Virgin and Sky could NOT come to an agreement, so the Sky channels were dropped by Virgin....there goes Lost and Bones.
So not fair.
Then the on demand doesn't work properly most of the time.
"Re-boot your box", I'm told.
Ok, so I do that periodically and still no change.
Virgin finally gets the Sky channels back...yippee.
But then they put Lost on a Friday night, oh well can't do anything about that.
The on demand works, then doesn't, then does, then doesn't...etc
Finally about a week and a half ago, my Sky 1 disappears.
Not Sky 2 or 3, just 1. The good one (scuse the pun).
I am not liking life (admittedly, I should be doing homework and NOT watching the telly).
So finally today, I rang Virgin and had a big rant.
A seriously big rant.
They are sending round a chap to sort it out, next week and giving me a new cable box and a whopping big credit of £10.
And the reason I rang Virgin was to organise wireless.
Having got a quote for that, I then rang BT thinking wouldn't it be nice to have all 3 bits (phone, broadband/wireless and TV) all on one bill.
Just trying to simplify life.
BT appeared to be brilliant and helpful.
Gave me loads of deals and info, set it all up for a weeks time, emailed me the list of available channels and great, it was all sorted.
Or not.
I had asked about a few key channels and was assured that I could get all the usual dramas etc.
So when the email list arrived, I read through it.
Crap!
My channels weren't on the list, in fact, very little was.
So what exactly had I just agreed to pay for?
I rang BT back, discussed it and cancelled my order.
Whatever their 'vision' is, it is not for me.
What an absolute phenomenal waste of my time.
And to add to it all....I still have no wireless for my laptop to do my homework.
Ahhhh!!!!!

The Real Housewives of North London

Ok, not really but close.
Especially as my dear friend, lets call her Mrs. K, said as she was handing me a glass of cool bubbly, "have some fizz, it will numb the pain."

(Cue: Children screaming v. loudly in the background!)

Perhaps I might explore this subject at a later date.

Home

Home.
Not sure why it is but I find myself smiling when I think about it.
And it's not just my own small living space, but the surrounding area.
I was driving back from a long afternoon of dancing on the river, followed by more dancing in a pub, completely exhausted with little patience for idiot 'Sunday' drivers, when I turned right onto Roseberry Ave and found myself smiling.
I had grown up going to Sadler's Wells, the old theatre, not this glass monstrosity that they have now replaced it with and it sort of felt like a signal. A sign that I was in home territory.
Not long now and I'd be wending my way past my old road, the road where I lived for 30 years. Do people still do that? Live somewhere for that length of time? It seems that everyone wants bigger and better, more space inside, more space outside. Are we never content with just enough? Is the grass always going to be greener on the other side of the fence?
That is a question that I am at this point in time, happy to answer with a no. I am content with where I live. It is my home. My humble abode. I share it happily (most of the time) with my child. We as a family unit, have grown and developed here. But further down the line, later on, perhaps in a few years, I would like to have a slightly bigger home, with a garden.
I can aspire to more. For what are we if we can't have our dreams? Our hopes? Our goals?
It is healthy to be able to achieve and to reach an actual peak in the daily mountains that we climb.
So yes, I am happy and I do smile when I near my own little part of the world. It is the comfort of the known, the normal, the routine that makes everyday life, at least for me, the life that I am happy to be leading.

Sex....

and the City 2.
Why what were you thinking?
Actually it was my man's suggestion to go see it. I did say to him that he might be the only man there, but that didn't appear to be a problem for him.
I wasn't really that bothered and had sort of assumed that I would watch it on my next trip on a small 4" x 6" screen.
But no, he came over and off we went.
It was a lovely evening and we strolled up the road to the cinema. There was something so nice about the way he draped his arm over my shoulders, so relaxed and familiar.
The film itself was quite funny, with the best bits being ALL the clothes - WOW!
Half way through it, he sat up, looked around and said in a fairly pleased voice, "ahh...I'm not the only man here, there is one other."
If his laughter throughout is any indication, then he thoroughly enjoyed the film, as did I.
In fact, we enjoyed our whole evening.