25 April 2023

Garbling

Days trickle by like sand inside an hour glass. Before you know it, it will all be gone. Time I mean.

We should make the most of it but it is very easy to squander time and to put off the things we mean to do until another day.

A small victory today was the sowing of twenty four runner beans into little plastic  pots and five courgette seeds too. They are up in the front bedroom now waiting for moisture and warmth to stir them from their slumbers. I had collected the runner beans last autumn and dried them in a sunny window. It's something I have done many times before.

Shirley and I visited "Atkinsons" this morning - now Sheffield's premier department store. We were there to seek out some curtaining material upon which we could both agree. It is for our front room. In the thirty four years we have lived in this house, we have only had two different sets of curtains in the bay window of our front room. On each occasion we chose very good quality material that lasted and lasted but last autumn we redecorated the room and new curtains were inevitable. 

We found some material that we were both happy with and brought a large swatch home to assess its suitability in context. We both think it will do just fine so tomorrow we will put in our order. At around £500 ($620 US) this is a purchase with which we need to be contented. Those curtains could easily outlast me.

On Sunday Little Phoebe's behaviour caused me some reflection. She has taken to slamming doors and claiming room spaces for herself. Maybe it's all about asserting control because small children are invariably disallowed such rein. Also, for the first time, she refused to come to the table for her Sunday dinner. I had prepared a plate for her with carrot, parsnip, broccoli, new potato, roasted beef, Yorkshire pudding and gravy upon it. But no. She would not join us and instead played with her bricks. She is developing, changing. She was never going to remain that sweet little innocent forever. 

What else can I say about ordinary, domestic matters?

Ian and Sarah have just returned from a lovely ten day holiday in Mauritius. On the British Airways flight home, they were upgraded to business class. Not something that has ever happened to me but you hear about these things. Their heavenly babe, a little boy, continues to grow day by day, moving towards what we hope will be a healthy birth. No doubt future holidays will be somewhat different.

And tomorrow, I have arranged to pick up my old friend Bert for a pub lunch. His positivity is quite infectious. He's always singing happy songs from long ago and he rarely moans about his aches and pains or other health concerns. "Smile when your heart is breaking" is an instruction that would fit his philosophy of life quite perfectly.

Yes. Days trickle by. We grow older. We forget things. We move on. Soon it will be May. Soon it will be 2024. More famous people die. More come through. We are only here for a short time and then it's done. 

29 comments:

  1. Phoebe missed a grand meal!
    I was regarded as a "soft" parent but refusing to come to the table was not something I ever tolerated. How do we choose our non-negotiables?
    Enjoy your time with Bert, I'm so pleased you take him out

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    1. We shouldn't show too may chinks in our armour when raising children.

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  2. That's a rather black ending! I guess we're allowed to have a down day once in a while.

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    1. This is the reality that underpins everything.

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  3. Yes, famous people die. It was Harry Belafonte's turn yesterday. He was a man I much admired for his humanitarian and political engagement, on top of being a great singer. He was so much, much more than the "King of Calypso". At 96 and after a long, productive life, his death does not actually cause me grief, but it is always a little sad to see someone go who has been around all one's life, just like the Queen last year.

    Phoebe is, as you say, asserting herself now. Tantrums will become more frequent, but like puberty, this too shall pass.

    Nice to know you and Bert are meeting. Friends are so important for our wellbeing.

    As for curtains - there is not a single one to be found in my home.

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    1. I didn't realise you were so poor! You are welcome to our old curtains. Shall I send them by courier?

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    2. Yes please - if they match my colour scheme, of course.

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  4. Rather reflective Mr Pudding. Kind of sums up how I am feeling about life as well. Keep blogging.....Jan Bx

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    1. I don't suppose you are Jan Blawat from Sloughhouse, California are you?

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  5. Kids grow up so fast, my father thought was a good thing,

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    1. Aw! Didn't he like you as a little boy?

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  6. As you said "More famous people die." What concerns me more is that fewer and fewer of my friends are still alive.

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    1. I have lost a few key people but possibly not as many as you Graham.

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  7. Could Phoebe be going through the terrible twos?

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    1. It's very possible. We will see how she is when we look after her tomorrow and on Friday.

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  8. It sounds as though Phoebe is suffering from the "Terrible Twos"! Her first attempt at independence and seeing how far she can push the grown-ups!


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    1. To be truthful, I would not have let her leave the table but she is not my daughter.

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  9. Phoebe's behaviour is normal, she is beginning to test her limits and some leeway may be allowed for this, but important things must be stricter, betime for example.
    I hope your vegetables grow well.
    Five hundred pounds for curtains?? it would be cheaper surely to find bedsheets in a pattern you both like and hang those! (kidding, although I have done that in the past))

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    Replies
    1. We could get much cheaper I am sure but with front room curtains we wanted quality.

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  10. It worries me when I Google how old my Rocker hero's are YP.

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    Replies
    1. Gary Glitter is 78! Adam Ant is 68! Alvin Stardust is dead.

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  11. Yes. You are feeling what I think many of us feel as we age. Most of us, probably. It's as much a part of the process as Phoebe taking it upon herself to decide when she wants to eat or if she wants a door closed or open.
    Do you think the new curtains triggered these thoughts? I frequently think of how something I am buying will be the last of that I will ever need. Strange thought.

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  12. Sounds a bit melancholy, Neil. Hope your trip out with Bert lifted your spirits!

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    1. Just some late night thoughts to top and tail my blogpost Ellen.

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  13. Poor Phebs! Trying like the devil to find out what she has control over in her life. This stage is hard on the adults in her life and a rude awakening at times for the child. Exciting to hear that you are having a grandson!!!

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  14. Surely it can't curtains for Mr Pudding.

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  15. A reflective post! I've been upgraded to business class exactly once -- but it was on a long flight from the USA so I wasn't complaining. Yes, as others said above, it sounds like Phoebe is embarking on the "terrible twos."

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  16. I find that the older I get, the more quickly it is going.

    Toddlers are terrorists of a sort, but never boring:)

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Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.

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