veerkite

I got so unbelievably annoyed with year 10s who didn't hand in their homework. Or who handed it in done by a translator online. One was shocked I can tell "because everyone told me that's a really good one miss". Perhapes it was the subjunctive that I've not taught you along with oher random bits of grammar that you don't know, or maybe just the really bad way it translated "A-levels" as "un niveaux" (literally a - as in one- levels). FAIL!!!!

I almost screamed as I walked in the door to our building this evening. It was pitch black and right behind the door was a man seemingly just standing there. I might have made some kind of sound atually, because I remember him apologising for being in the dark behind the door. Turned out he was there investigating with a torch because there was some box bleeping behind the door and a power cut. I had to explain (took a while, his English was poor) that the box was an alarm so was beeping not because it was related to the power cut but because it didn't like not having power and wanted to make sure people knew it didn't have power.

An evening long power cut was a pretty good excuse to myself for not marking year 7 books. I read a litle by candle light as thankfully I was not short on candles, and then go an early night. the power came on just as my mum replied to my "we have a power cut" message to ask if it was still out. Weird!

I am so knackered because I haven't been able to sleep much this week because it's been too hot. Yes, it's January and I am too hot because there is far too much heating in my flat. I decided to turn the radiator off, and when I got back from work yesterday and walked into a pleasantly cool flat it was actualy nicer thank getting the blast of warmth I am used to.

Since I got in from work I've been lying under my duvet in pyjamas, and because there was no heating boiling the place all day, I'm comfortable under the duvet and not too hot. I'm wondering when is too early to go to bed.

Oh, and I've been eating grated cheese that was intended to go in the Cauliflower cheese I don't have the energy to cook, except because I have stop-biting stuff on my nails, I am overcome by nasty taste if my fingers get near my mouth. So I had to kind of drop-feed myself with grated cheese. Oh, I am so sophisticated some days.

I'd like to say this is what happened while I waited in for the Asda man, but he turned up at 12:01 of a 12:00-14:00 slot so it would be lying. This is the extension of all the animals I was drawing yesterday.
( photos here )

I hope everyone had a good Christmas.

I was woken up at 7am, at which point I flatly refused to get out of bed before 8am. My sister and I had stayed up late discussing the less-than-virtuous woman in the marching band we were once part of who was caught having an affair with someone else's husband recently so I was tired. There were no stockings as last year we were decreed to be too old, but as the family tradition states we congregate on mum's bed first thing in the morning we have substituted the stockings for a small present that we open before breakfast. We then carried on opening presents from each other and dad's side of the family before dressing and heading out first to the cemetary to lay some festive flowers on dad's grave and then on to my grandparents to prepare for Christmas lunch.

We'd planned to eat shortly after 2, when my uncle and his partner S would be arriving from her brother's. He is mentally and physically handicapped and also in the late stages of cancer so not only did she want to be aorund to care for him but also because it is likely to be his last Christmas. I guessed something was wrong when my uncle walked in about 1pm and sat down huffing. He hadn't slept due to S's brother being ill and the man in the flat upstairs screaming and shouting all through the night. He had also been involved in conflict with S's two ungrateful, grown up daughters. They are incredibly spoilt by their father, who will have spent over £1,000 on each of them for Christmas and as such were just opening other presents and throwing them to the side, often with disparaging comments, which wound him up. Then the eldest, who is 24, made snide comments about how nice it must be to spend Christmas with your children. My uncle's children disowned him during the messy divorce about two years ago and he hasn't seen or heard from them since. He would give anything to be able to spend Christmas with his own children and does not need bitterly reminding of this by her. S turned up at 2pm as planned and for the rest of the day the atmosphere between them was not pleasant. It was probably not a good Christmas for either of them which is a shame, they both have things to find difficult about this time of year and hopefully will realise this and support each other rather than fighting.

We had a lovely lunch, then sat down to open more presents, playing various family games well into the evening when my nan typically tried to feed us again with another spread fit to feed an army. We were, howver, not an army, but 8 people who had already had too much to eat.

I got more theatre tickets from my mum, some to see Lion King in February and some to see a pantomime in North London on Friday. These are a bit of a mistake as my mum didn't realise they were just for a random pantomime in a random area of London as opposed to a big show, but I'm sure it'll be good. I have candles, chocolates, cosmetics from Lush and the Body Shop, a book about the origins of language, a cup, a purple scarf, a random kitchen gadget, a calendar and some jumpers too. I also have a watch from my nan that will have to be changed as it is unfortunately not to my taste. I have money from my dad's side of the family that I will wield in the sales tomorrow, as this is when most shops in Basingstoke will be opening it seems.

Today is just a lounging day in our household, so brother and sister are watching a DVD and I'm about to go and curl back up with an old paperback I found on Sunday when I returned that is a long term favourite and one I have not read in years. Sometimes old is just as good as new!

Friends only, it saves more hassle that you know.