Seaside sauce

At Maisie's request. for her birthday weekend, we bundled ourselves into the car, dog and all, and took ourselves for a fun-filled time in Blackpool. We got there, we drove round aimlessly (thanks to the highly complicated one way system), we parked, we looked for food. We had a vast array of choice - as long as it was fish and chips or pizza! We chose chips at Harry Ramsden's. I'd never been to one so it seemed as good a time as any to give it a go. 

The service was….lacking? Lacklustre? A foreign concept? We were greeted at the door with a barked "Two adults, one child?" Yes we said, as we did the next two times we were asked. We got to the table, and the waitress was bustling about with the menus, placing them on the table, complaining we hadn't sat down as she would normally put them in our hands…we hadn't had a chance to sit down. Then I upset her by asking for adult menu for Maisie - she's far too old for the kid menu which comes with crayons. This caused a little controversy  - but you said two adults one child…ahh - now I get it, she was obviously referring to what menu we needed…how silly of us not to realise. She stalked off to complain about us to her colleagues, and we were left to contemplate the various ways your fish and chips could be served. With bread and butter? White or brown? Sauce? Red, brown or yellow. With peas - mushy or minted, without fish, without chips, with pie? All  good healthy options.

The waitress who took our order was a little more civil - it couldn't have been hard. The food arrived in good time, and was actually very enjoyable - even the fluorescent mushy peas. Leanne and Maisie turned up their noses up at the peas but they have undeveloped palettes for such fine dining.

We retrieved the dog from the car and set off  down the front on a quest to avoid donuts and sticks of rock. We ended up at the big wheel on the pier. Obviously they didn't allow dogs, so it was left to me and Maisie to brave the dizzy heights. There was no one else on the wheel and the bloke implied we were not in full possession of our marbles as we wanted to go on! When we were at the top, I could understand why - it was bloody freezing!

We celebrated Maisie's birthday with a trip to Sealife aquarium, lunch out, a walk in a park, and a great japanese meal in Lytham St Annes. The scottish, japanese teppanyaki chef called Jimmy was good value, juggling the pepper grinder, clanging his spatulas, a bit of chat, more juggling - eggs this time, and cooking up a wicked teppanyaki.

Sunday morning and a brisk walk on the sands was needed. The dog loved it - a chance to run and run. There were no donkeys, but the wind turned us all into hairy creatures with a tendency to bray. Hair by Blackpool, not suitable for all, but we enjoyed it.

Highly Strung

Maisie's school Valentines concert

We arrived, we sat near the front, we were excited. Maisie had been keeping the names of the songs a secret.

Not only were the junior choir performing, but also various other instrumental ensembles. During the Junior string - grandma leant over and said - "I'm so glad Maisie is learning the flute." I suspect one to the budding violinists turned over two pages at the same time. 

The percussion band however were excellent, beforehand their teacher did a little talk saying this is the one class where we say, you can have as much fun and make as much noise as you can, unfortunately, the percussionists looked like pale frightened rabbits caught in the headlights in front of such a large audience. They gave us a rousing Sambaesque rendition. The only down side was they were right at the front of the hall, as was the old lady in the wheelchair, and the headmaster. Old lady clutched her ears and cowered in fright during the whole performance, headmaster developed an uncontrollable blink twitch kind of movement every time the snare drum was struck (frequently)

Then it was the turn of the junior choir, about 40 girls, and 10 boys. In they trouped, on the stage they stood, and out came - tunes from the shows - starting with Oliver - a firm family favourite, Maisie gave us a little grin - result. Well worth sitting thorough the string cacophony.

Knickers and glory

Last week we went for a family meal with both my parents. Not that unusual, except that they have been divorced for decades. All went well, and the menu had a selection of dishes that were probably on the menu when they were still married. I couldn't resist the prawn cocktail, Maisie and I shared a knickerbocker glory.

 We have had lots and lots of rain, lots of water under the bridge - less today, see the difference for yourselves. 

Valentines tomorrow - love is all you need

Nailed it

After much hunting for a nail kit, I found a french manicure kit, not for myself you understand, but for Maisie and her friend. £3 from Debenhams, a bargain! Way better than the £25 over the top kit form Argos, and Claire's Accessories - well they could do with a visit from Mary Portas (my new crush - not virtual this time) and one of her retail overhaul sessions where the customer comes first.

Here's the scene - Sheffield high street, lunchtime, very busy, a slightly butch, slightly overweight lesbian enters stage left. Steps into Claire's Accessories, on the look out for a nail art kit. Two assistants, one customer (me). Waiting for a gap in their conversation (banal) "Excuse me, I'm looking for a nail art kit." I thought I'd make light of the situation; "not for me of course." I might have just as well have thrown up on the counter for the look I got. One of them managed a point towards a display on ground level. I creak down with my middle-aged knees to look, fairly hopeful (after having visited Boots and Superdrug  to no avail). I was, however, slightly disappointed as the kit wasn't quite what Maisie had in mind. I expressed my disappointment to the lovely assistant, hoping for some actual care (I was their only customer, after all). Sarcastic voice - "Well, you can go to Boots or Superdrug then". Dismissed. The end. Conversation (still banal) resumed.

The woman in Debenhams was lovely.

Maisie's friend arrived, a great evening watching them play with the Wii, then off to Meadowhall shopping mall the next day - more retail therapy. We enjoyed sushi for lunch, and the girls went off by themselves for an hour (with only a little parental anxiety). They headed straight for Claire's - although I suspect may have fitted the store demographic more than me.

Oh yes - it's been really windy, a tree blew down in the garden, time to get the chainsaw out again.

Save Our Libraries Day Feb 5th 2011

Everyone who cares about reading, literacy and libraries to use their public library on the 5th February and tell as many people as they can to do the same.

The only gay in the library

Well it's that time of year - time for the delayed by snow work Christmas party. I approached the party decision with a fair amount of trepidation. Colleagues were either wildly over enthusiastic or "I'm not going to a library party ever again". Unfortunately all of my team fell into the latter category. Undaunted by this, I felt it was necessary to sample the party for myself, I signed up, I had promises from non team colleagues that they would talk to me, what's the worst that could happen.

The evening arrived, the clean shirt was donned, and we were off down the road to the City Hall for the festivities. Upon arrival it was a nice touch to see a red carpet by the door. It wasn't so good to see a police car and an ambulance, blimey these Sheffield librarians obviously know how to get a party started, it was barely 7.15 pm. Fortunately the emergency vehicles were completely unrelated.

Drinks at the bar were very pleasant, we all clinked glasses and said Happy Christmas and Happy New Year in the spirit of the Christmas party. Then it was the dash to the tables in the ballroom. As far as I could tell, the objective was not to sit with the big boss, it's the same at every library party I've ever been to! Mission accomplished, seated with some lovely people, pleasant chatter ensued, a great evening. We had crackers to pull, stupid hats to wear, and even party poppers to pop. The candelabras on the tables with burning red candles was a nice touch, as was the bottles of wine on each table.

We drank, we were merry, we collected our Christmas dinner from the carvery, I'm fairly confident they hadn't just frozen the food from the cancelled date, the vegetables looked and tasted fairly fresh to me!

Then on came the 'entertainment'. This was a Russian (fake) accented bloke - Madame Galina - in a white tutu, who proceeded to do a ballet routine around the ballroom, pretty good, then came the audience participation. Asking people to help with his routine, he saw all the party poppers and mentioned it was like a gay club. Then he wanted to out all the gays, and asked all the gays to put their hands up. Me being a nice compliant girl, I dutifully raised my hand before I could think. Guess what - I was the only one! Madame then insulted my shirt, and I'd accidentally outed myself to the entire library - not that I mind, but it is my best shirt.

It's virtual love

The TomTom situation

We were driving to a friend's place in Marsden in the south Pennines, we decided to use the TomTom instead of the traditional trusted map. Off we set. The journey was without incident down to the bottom of the road. 'Jane' talked us through the junctions (I think Leanne has a crush on her).

It was well into our journey that the first altercation happened. Jane said "turn left" Leanne said "I'm not doing that, I want to go this way. Ahh - woops, maybe Jane was right." This happened several times throughout the journey. I actually found it quite reassuring - it isn't just my directions that Leanne ignores, she disregards the sat nav's as well. I'm beginning to warm to that Jane.

The Wii affair

We have been putting the Wii fit to good use, and I may have developed a crush on my personal trainer. What is it with us and these virtual chicks? If you were a passer-by and happened to look in and see one of us seemingly doing demented penguin impressions (in a vague attempt at one of the balance challenges), would you call an ambulance? Perhaps you should. Maisie is of course the best at EVERYTHING, but we are enjoying it and its helping with shedding pounds from the excess Christmas treat consumption.

The dog is really, not virtually, in love with sitting in front of the fire in his pyjamas - wonder where he gets that from?