If you follow my blog, you may have received this early (an unedited version!). Many apologies. I forgot to ‘schedule’ it, (due to a phone call at the wrong time, so I forgot what I was doing.) It zoomed off, and although I deleted it immediately, it was too late. Sorry – I am so not an IT person…..

Hello, how was your week?
I was not at all sure there would be a blog this week. I have been busy, rewriting my finished books so I can publish them as Amazon books, and there hasn’t been much time for anything else. I have posted a blog every Monday for about three years, but this week, I didn’t know what to write. Usually, I have a few stored up, that I can post if the week has either been hectic or empty, but I’ve used them all. Some weeks I have too much to write, especially if I’m travelling. Most weeks I do, or see, or hear, something that sparks an avalanche of words. I then spend a few days reading and changing what I’ve written (and if I’m worried, I let someone in the family read it first) ready to post on Monday. Occasionally the family tell me to delete what I’ve written, but usually I’m okay.

But this week, I mainly sat at my desk and proofread old manuscripts. This wasn’t easy, as we are having the house re-roofed. Roofers are very noisy (impossible to use a nail gun quietly I guess). I also tend to forget they’re coming – so do things like leave open my bathroom window, and then when they cut tiles above it, all the debris falls into my bathroom. There are also way too many cars around my house, it reminds me of that television series Butterflies whenever I want to go out.  The new roof is looking great. But I will not be sorry when it’s finished.

The only other news this week is Son2 invited some uni friends to visit. They were men – which is always very strange for a mother. When you have sons, you are aware that they have grown taller than you and have deep voices and smell strange, but really, you still see the three year old. When they bring home school friends, they are again quite big, but usually you have watched them grow up (especially if, like me, you taught lots of them when they were 13) so you still see the child inside. But meeting friends from uni was different. They were men. At least, they were on the outside. Probably they still laughed at, and worried about, the same things they did when they were 13.

We did have a slight problem with the catering arrangements. I asked Son2 if they were allergic/couldn’t eat anything. He told me that one of them was possibly Muslim and couldn’t eat meat one day a week. (Actually, he initially told me they were gluten free vegans – but that was just to scare me). But he couldn’t quite remember. I asked if it was all meat, or just pork. He said he thought it was just pork, and the friend might be Jewish. I decided to make a nice beef casserole, but at the last minute, decided to check. The ‘possibly Muslim’ friend was actually Hindu, so does not eat beef. So glad, as I used to teach Religious Studies, that my son is so well informed about these things. Other than the near embarrassment over meat, it was a very nice visit, and fun to meet some new people.

I also have a new phone. I have not yet bonded with it. Today, Husband rang me on it, which was a shock (old one didn’t work for phone calls.) He was using something called FaceTime which meant he could see me. Very disconcerting, I didn’t like it all. I refused to hold the phone in front of my face, so he had EarTime instead. Not sure he was very impressed.

We (Son and I) took my mother to buy a phone this week. I took Son for back up. In the first shop, Carphone Warehouse, an assistant came and asked if we needed any help.

“Yes please,” said Mum, “please can you tell me….” she leant closer and lowered her voice, “would these phones be cheaper at Tesco?”

Really? Was this really the conversation we were going to have? But yes, it was. The assistant was completely unperturbed and whispered back that yes, Tesco would be cheaper, and so would the shop opposite, and actually, they didn’t have many phones in stock anyhow. Super. I now rather like Carphone Warehouse, because they have honest assistants (who can cope with my mother). But it wasn’t the question I was expecting her to ask. Eventually Son took over, and helped her order a phone on the internet. I knew it was a good idea to have children.

Hope you have a good week.
Take care.
Anne x

Thank you for reading.

anneethompson.com

xxx