Funeral for a friend

Last night The Boy returned home briefly...I picked him up from school and then got completely battered by a tornado of tales from his week in Germany...from his Facebook posts I knew he'd been having fun...but really it was just a party from the day he arrived until the moment he departed....he had a ball, of course! There was beer, there were girls aplenty.

We had to do some washing because he today he's off again to spend a few days in London with his Grandmother in Wales, Uncle and sister. I started to put clothes in the washing machine, and felt it sensible to check there was nothing in the pockets of his jeans...I had just enough time to recognise what was in the little pocket before they were snatched away from me. I know what was in there; he knows what was in there. I think he knows that I know what was in there...although he may be in denial. But it is the way of the parent that sometimes it's best to say nothing. There will be a time and a place to talk about such things. But last night wasn't it.

I'd have liked to spent longer with him, but he was tired (at least I assume that is why he was so hyper) and I had to leave early to go to a funeral this morning. I'd never met the person...I was going to support one of my best buddies...it was his mother who had died from a combination of breast cancer and alzheimers. That's a pretty evil combination, and I'm sure that it was a relief when she passed away peacefully.

And selfishly, from my perspective, after a fairly hideous few weeks it's helped put life, the universe and everything back in perspective.

Nature: Tara's Gallery

On the one hand this is an easy topic...plenty of scope, etc. On the other it's tricky...just how do you select a single or pair of images to illustrate the theme?

I choose these from our holiday with Grandma in Cyprus last year:



On the one hand, as divers you are at one with nature...the fish swim around you, and will feed out of your hand...it's quite a magical experience. On the other, without the man-made aparatus you wouldn't be there...man and nature in harmony, perhaps



And in this picture...if you look really, really hard, there's a kingfisher on the rusty iron...nature is doing its best to remove this man-made structure which intrudes into the sea, and by so doing creates a beautiful contrast....

Desk diary

First there was Weird John

Then there was Mad Maria. She rented the same desk, "We may need two you know!" she cheerily said as she set up her 'Sustainable Marketing' Consultancy from our office. Well when I say from our office, I mean she paid the rent and spent her days drinking coffee with friends at the local cafe 100 yards down the road. When she was here, she spent her time playing games on her computer, chatting to friends and organising her holiday photos. Unless she had organised a meeting. She seemed to have a LOT OF THOSE. They went on noisily all day, but never seemed to achieve anything. She did organise a few hundred hessian bags to promote her business. They sat in the bottom of a cupboard until the day she left.

Gorgeous George and Gay John (who also work in our office) didn't take to her...from their days as estate agents they vaguely remembered selling her a property. It had been a difficult transaction. It may have been foolish of Gay John to mention how very, very small her house was. And situated in a very peculiar area. Gorgeous George is really just George, happily married father of one. Gay John is not gay at all, but so called because he once bought a fake designer scarf - it was red when he pruchased it, but turned pink in a matter of days. He insisted on wearing it.

We wondered about her 'ethical' approach to life when she came in pleased as punch one day. Her neighbours were having some work done, and Maria wouldn't let the builders carry some ladders across her garden unless they paid £250. After some heated discussion she got her £250. I expect the neighbours turned up their music very loud everyday after that.

She wouldn't contribute to the toner and paper costs for the printer. "I've only printed one page you know", but would happily say, "Can I make a quick call on your phone because my battery is low" and "I'll just send this fax"....

So Maria went.

Mad Maria was replaced by Super Suzanne. At the same desk. Suzanne the Creative Director of a Lighting Consultancy. Suzanne was in and out, cheery and friendly. We like Suzanne. She's busy. She's enthusiastic. Suzanne always has a smile to warm the cockles of your heart.

But oh woe. The project she's involved in needs her on site for the next few months. So Suzanne is going. She's only been here a month. The lovely be-wedded Girl from Spain (she's actually half Peruvian and half Italian, but don't let the detail get in the way) has been away becoming a Mrs and having a honeymoon, and has never met Super Suzanne. We are all quite sad.

So I don't know what it is about this desk, but t seems to have the evil eye. Some sort of juju. Or some voodoo. We think we should have it exorcised. Or perhaps move it to improve the Feng Shui. But something's got to change 'cos we'd like to have a nice person who wants to keep us company during our working hours....

Filthy lucre

I don't normally keep in touch with The Boy when he's away...I've always thought that short breaks away from the watchful parental eye were a good way of encouraging independence...for both of us. I realise the daftness of his approach during his teenage years when he already thinks he's capable of ruling the world. No, the universe. Still, it's something I've stuck to. However, this weekend I felt the need to text him in Germany...the disaster at the Love Festival worried me, only because I remember his German exchange student friend talking a lot about Festivals. Of course, Duisburg is a million miles away from where The Boy is staying, so I was being ridiculous...but then that's what parents are for...isn't it. Naturally, he was fine...and then revealed that he'd been partying every single night. That's six nights on the trot. And whilst I can admire the stamina...we could all do that when we were younger...I now feel the need to panic about what 'partying' might mean. He's back Wednesday evening at which point I'll be a gibbering wreck, and will no doubt never be any the wiser.

I may have mentioned that I've always kept this here blog free from commerciality...its my bit of fun, my hobby. Nothing more, nothing less. But recently, I somehow ended up on some list as one of the Top 10 Daddy Blogs. I don't know how, but I have. And the net result is that I now get daily approaches from companies wanting something. Some will even put something my way. I'm not sure that the stick of rock that I received in the post will quite swing it for me, but I sure as damn am tempted...so I might just have a 'commercial break' once a month. After all I've done worse things than compromise my principles before...oh now there's an idea for a post!