Slow walkers; out of order lifts and willy's that are just too long.

Firstly I'd like to say after 5 weeks, I finally have a working washing machine. 5 weeks. Bloody Indesit bastards! I'm sure they've had the motor for ages, they were just making us wait. Forcing us to dig to the bottom of our drawers and the recesses of our wardrobes and wear those clothes that you haven't even seen in at least three years. Bastards.

Anyhoo. Many random outfits and hand washes later, we are finally working through the mountains of clothes stacked precariously on top of our (dusty bins) washing baskets. Does any one else refer to their washing basket as dusty bin? I can't remember the exact reason but I'm getting vague flash backs of it being a character from the 80's. My brother had the original one I think. I still call it that now, without even thinking why. Old habits die hard I guess.

The only trouble now is that we have plans to go and watch the Czech Republic match tonight at our friend's house - he's Czech - and I have no jeans. My measly four pairs of jeans are all in the wash, literally as we speak. Ha ha. So I'm hoping this motor is a good one and can dry my jeans in the next couple of hours, otherwise I'll be pant less. Or I'll have to wear a skirt or something, but it's not exactly football watching clobber is it? Ah well. I made Cranberry, white and milk chocolate cookies to accompany our football night and along with some beer and cider, it should be a great night.

Well done England last night. A good win, though as usual the nails are bitten down to the stump. (a slight lie as I've never bitten my nails, but I did chew on them, especially in the last fifteen minutes.) They like to keep you in suspenders don't they, but for once England came out on top. Now that doesn't happen very often. It's about time!

And so to a week of randomness and general annoyances and some grand discoveries:

General annoyance number 1: Slow walkers.
Now, I'm not just talking tourists here. The guy walking in front of me on Friday morning was obviously a local and was off to work with his saw in one hand and a massive golf umbrella in the other hand. I tried to get past him, but it was saw in face or pointy end of umbrella in face, plus a mass congregated around the bus stop. There was no way I was getting past him without some sort of injury. So I had to wait and and walk ridiculously slow behind him. Not impressed!

General annoyance number 2: The broken lift.
It's been broken for five days now and still, every morning and every night I walk to it, see the yellow tape (a la Big Bang theory) and groan. I don't mind the five flights of stairs up and down, it's just that my mind blocks it out and I completely forget and then I realise and I think, oh bugger. Mainly because I normally have at least two heavy bags with me, but also because the journey home is ingrained into my legs. I barely have to even think about where I'm going or what I'm doing. Most of the time I just drift away and lose myself in a story or my music and then lo and behold, I'm home. So re-routing my brain to include the stair case instead of the lift is actually way harder than you think. I really don't have much of a short term memory, Ha ha.

Grand Discovery number 1: Adults are really rude.
I went to two early years training courses this week. One about sensory processing in children with Autism and one supporting practitioners that work with children with down syndrome. The first one was particularly interesting and knowing both the tutors through my SENCo work was great, but what was even more interesting was that adults are really rude! Bare in mind that everyone there either worked in early years or primary schools and so were teachers or educators of some variety. Most of the women there easily had fifteen years on me, but what I lacked in years, I made up for in common courtesy and manners.

They all talked over each other, interrupted, talked amongst themselves whilst the guest speakers were presenting and made snide comments under their breath. It was just like being back in school but instead of joining in, I was sat there thinking, is this real? Are these people really that rude?

What's funny is that we teach children to take turns, listen to others and wait to talk, but as adults quite often we ignore all that and just loose all sense of social decorum. I was really interested in the subject matter and the guest speakers as they are really top of their game in their respective professions, but I mostly found myself distracted by murmured comments and hushed voices. We really should just go back to raising a hand if we want to talk. Yes it makes you feel like a kid but it mainly worked. Besides it helps to stop those people that hog all the conversation too.

Randomness number 1: "Your willy is too long."
He he. Two of the children were in the bathroom having number 2's at the same time, as they like to. And when one had finished he went into the other cubical to see the other child, as you do when you're four. They are no social boundaries here, no sense of social etiquette. One announced to the other. "You're willy is so big. It's too long."

Out of the mouth of babes. He he.

Grand Discovery number 2: It's hard getting back into running after two years off.
Fairly self explanatory this one. Am slowly getting back into the half marathon training, with the help of the broken lift. I'm up to about 40 minutes of continuous running or exercise which isn't great but it's getting better. I only need to increase to 2 hours and I'm set. Ha ha. But I'm getting there and I'm managing to fit in writing and training and everything else, I just need to keep going, keep increasing the mileage.

Finally, the excitement is mounting for our holiday much later in the year when we head back to the states. But I received two of the guide books the other day and am now in crazy excitement mode, planning and deciding where we want to go. Am so giddy. Well, anything to take my mind off work, which is shockingly shite at the moment and will only get worse as I have to train up new staff. Urgh. I was going to say, worst part of my job, but I think others would argue that vomit, poo and wee were the worst parts of my job.

And so, here's to a lovely weekend for all, whatever you may be up to. Enjoy the football, give your dad a call on father's day, or a cuddle if you're there to see him. Wash your clothes, if you can and walk up the stairs for a change. And enjoy the wind. It's pretty crazy out there.