I can't stand up

It is the holidays at long last. Marvellous.

Today I foolishly forgot that I was a middle aged woman for a brief moment and played stick-in-the-mud with my class in the warm afternoon sun. This was brilliant until I fell over; resulting in a loud bang and an impressive set of grazes. I had forgotten how much falling over at speed hurts (the relative speed of a 40yr old, though there's a lot more mass to test gravity than there used to be) and nowadays one cannot burst into dramatic tears* and be half carried limping to the first-aid room, you just have to sit on the floor for a moment and feel like a bit of a twat. The kids were great though: they pointed and laughed. Bless 'em.

Our school is now officially in special measures. Um, hooray; or something**.

*dunno why really, I do dramatic tears on a fairly regular basis to be honest.
** something more like 'Oh: shiiit'.

shut yer gob

I'm on a self-imposed knitting ban, as my shoulder hurts. I don't think it's the knitting really, but it isn't helping any so I'm taking a few days off.

Fortunately I have just bought the biggest book in the world to read: Peter Ackroyd's 'London: The Biography'*. This tome is so massive that I have serious plans to use it as a kitchen step if I can't get through it. I was quite daunted by its heft and had to be persuaded that I really could read that many pages: just not all at once. Certainly one to avoid carrying in a bag for train reading, unless I want to do the shoulder further damage.

Having flicked through it a bit I can see that the format is eminently readable (not so sure about the language yet), and I am excited to have already had an 'Ooh, that's interesting' moment, which frankly is what reading books about London is all about for me.

Did you know that the use of the word 'gob' was first recorded in 1550? Me neither. That is a officially A Very Long Time Ago; and I now can't wait for page two.


*I bought it at the lovely Crockatt and Powell. Not sure what's happened to their website though, the link is mainly a map.

bound by wild desire

Ukulele Flash!*

I spent some considerable time last night playing with this. For those of you not ukulele obsessed enough to click (what's wrong with you?!) It's an offset of the Dulwich Ukulele Club, and includes play-alongable tracks. With a pdf of the chords, and everything. Which is very exciting when you've only been playing along with yourself in your sitting room, honest.

It confirms for me two things which really I knew already. Firstly, I need to find some people to play with asap, because I suspect it will be double the fun and I would learns lots; and secondly my strumming is a bit rubbish and I need to practice. This is probably bad news for my right wrist, but maybe it'll take the pressure off my left thumb which currently aches like buggery.

In other news: I now possess a nail punch set (a set, fer chrissakes!), and spent a considerable amount of time yesterday with my nose pressed against my bedroom floorboards. This close examination led me to visit the carpet shop this morning. Who knows what will happen next? It's anybody's guess, frankly.


*This post contains mass potential innuendo. I tried to avoid it but gave up. Life's too short and I have strumming practice to consider.