Feeling very lively and bouncy today and suddenly amazed that I am 45. How on earth did that happen?? Anyway decided to impart the secrets of eternal youth..... well this is what has worked for me anyway! And without being too vain or stuff like that I reckon I'm not doing too badly for someone who has attained this age......... oh dyed my hair red this weekend.... mmmmmmmmmm not too sure about it so giving it a week to either get used to it or decide to go back to the more 'normal' brown!

Anyway I digress........ what has got me feeling sprightly and youthful mid forties......... is a recipe made up of;

a plentiful supply of alcohol
sitting under a hot sun whenever possible
drugs (a bigger variety the better, spread over at least 30 years!)
financial hardship.... (the more of a struggle the better i guess... cuts out unnecessary expenditure on stuff like cakes )
and loads of frenetic shagging

seems to have worked for me

Well I like the new look, seems much neater and cleaner but I'm really struggling with the top line! can't find an appropriate code to complete the border?? Oh well! Nice font I think. Gill sans.... very clean indeed

I'm keeping the stones, and no I'm not refering to that band but to the image at the top of this blog... it was part of the original template .... and still in keeping somehow....... a nice link to the weekend ahead.. Pete and I are off camping, heading off tonight on a Honda Hornet with tent in panniers! We really haven't given too much thought as to where we are going, it's more a 'getting away from' idea rather than a 'going to.. ' so this afternoon I have randomly selected some maps and Dorset seems to have landed on top!........ there are stones there are there not? Big ones! and fossils on beaches and a coastline and beaches and cliffs and beaches ......... ahhhhhhhhh cliffs.......... seems a good choice! Hardly heading off in search of stones but hopefully will trip over a few.........

Time to start working on this blog, a bit of an update is required and as the boss is out today it seems the ideal oportunity.......

just did a google search for Delilah's Palaver and it came up!! Whether this is because blogger and google are now inextricably linked or because there are a few more links to the actual page I guess I just wont ever know, but I like to think it's the latter!!

profound thought of the weekend was:

'There is a little bit of a rebel even in the most innocuous looking biker'

came about because I was in the shop and realised that even the dullest of biker must have a bit of ummmmph about him just because he actually is out there riding a bike! Ergo they can't be completely dull!....ok maybe I was a little bored!!

hmmm its tuesday afternoon and sadly I am bored....... new job is sort of ok.... getting busier mostly but but but (and my god is there always a but !!!) can't really motivate myself to go looking for stuff to do as it's all fairly inconsequential

oh well...... life is trundling along, getting used to some stuff but have this underlying feeling that I want to go home. I have had a bit of fun but now I want it to return to normality and hide away with my own things, in my own place... the only way to describe the feeling is by saying I want to go home. Trouble is I left home and am supposedly building a new one here but its not emminently comfortable yet, it's not utterly familiar, so I feel a little like a spare part yet to discover my niche.

London is a good place to be though, I am not miserable and wallowing in despair here far from it. life is fun, dynamic and very sociable!! with lots of accompanying exclamation marks. god I sound like a true whinger! I want a bit of normality, of familiarity. though I suppose when it comes when this place does feel like home I will start looking elsewhere..... endless striving is particularly pointless -as is endless waffling. so I will go now and find something useful to do

Walked home from work Tuesday night. and it was thoroughly pleasant! Hadn't intended to walk quite so far. Originally planned to walk to London Bridge but discovered The Thames Path, so enjoyed a little stroll along by the river. Then realised that to get to London Bridge I would have to back track quite a bit..... as Tower Bridge was in sight I decided to head for that so had to walk around the Tower which was very pleasant if a little touristy!! The walk after Tower Bridge was mostly continuing along the Thames Path, it was sunny and most enjoyable, a vast improvement from the walk home in Cambridge which included mostly council estates!

Where to start??

Have now been living in London for a week and a half and already it is becoming more familiar. Feel more relaxed about stuff now, the job seems ok.... maybe not utterly dynamic but pleasant enough which at the moment is as much as I need!! There are still worries about the boys in Cambridge as Jake is still off work and Josh hasn't got a job yet but I am trying not to focus too much on that and to concentrate on stuff that is happening here.

Four days left here....... difficult to fully absorb the enormity of finally leaving Cambridgeshire! Maybe London isn't too far away but it's a whole new world to explore and experience

The weekend has been utterly lovely, with Friday night starting off at the shop in Bermondsey, not so many people turned up but it was decided at some point around 11 to head to Chelsea Bridge. Now, in my naivity, I just assumed that the half dozen or so of us would go to this bridge maybe one or two of them would try the wheelie thing and that would be it. Well, we did all ride down there together, though Pete decided to go on the Quad bike which was hilarious. He led for most of the trip -people were being very polite and not just racing past him. It was really quite odd to be part of a group of 'bikers'..... very buzzy! So we arrived at Chelsea Bridge and it was a full, heaving mass of bikers!! They ranged from grey beardy blokes on big Harleys to teenagers on scooters. The lads on scooters spent most of their time wheelying across the bridge ... there was a strange smell of burning rubber and the buzz of a large gathering! Very odd, and it happens every friday night!
We then, as a team, headed into Soho and found coffee at 'Bar Italia', sat on a doorstep and watched the world go past at 2 am

Congratulations to Neela and Sacha for the arrival of..... a new person

How about Nezzah! Ok so maybe I have used the last bit of Nebuccanezzah! but I think it looks like a proper name!!!


and I have managed to get a job, starting on the 14th of April!!!! working ....... don't laugh! .........for a fashion company! Well maybe not at the height of fashion as they make silk ties and cashmere scarves but its better than reproductive biology!!!! Its in the grubby part of London that hides in the shadow of the Barbican which actually isn't too difficult to get to from Rotherhithe..... so that's the job thing sorted now we just have to fix up the boat!

Monday again .... and once again the weather has been wonderful! Even dozed off in the sun on saturday afternoon!


It has been a quieter weekend, went to a party in Maida Vale friday night...... it was Jamie's, Pete's mechanic, 30th birthday...... fairly pleasant affair, nice to see Nina again. As Nina is Matty's girlfirend and Matty has been in Dubai for 5 or 6 weeks she hasn't been around but she will venture to the bike shop for next friday's bike do...... definitely want more females to go as the conversation does become rather biased towards biking things with a pile of leatherclad bikers discussing weird stuff about the greasy workings of supermotards....... ?

Sunday was Mothers Day so I had to go home and be a mother! J &J cooked roast lamb... it was very pleasant though I found their insistence that I could not help quite difficult to cope with!

the afternoon

what is going on in the world of knickers????? Is it that long ago I bought new ones? but had a little wander into the Grafton centre to purchase a number of such items and find the choice is limited to thongs or big pants, there seems little in between and maybe I'm just too old or not so very adaptable but thongs are a laughable commodity and I can never forsee the day when I would purchase something that will sit uncomfortably in my bottom all day long, it just doesn't make sense and so I am unable to conform to that present little fashion pecadillo. But big pants! ahhhhhh cant cope with them either??

hmmmm yes H had a scan but didn't see it herself, though J did... this must be so traumatic?? a very difficult time for both of them

and on to another matter only somewhat ambiguously linked...... favourite babies names! well maybe not all of them are serious, or any in fact!

Murdo......... can you imagine a child at school being called this!!!!!
Mungo......
Shebah........
Yitsak........ had to have that one on the list
Noah... met one the other day, he was tall and extremely skinny with a very big nose
Murdoch....... seem to be having a run on names starting with Mu for some reason
Lili...........
Neemah......think I made that one up?
and last but not ever forgotten
Nebuccanezzah....... though think this one could be spelt in sooooooo many different ways

Its probably a good job I am planning no more myself!!!

Friday and the sun is shining....... had another job interview this week and once again didn't get it. next week I'm going for yet another one, this time as a receptionist! But it pays as much as anything else I've applied for, it's in Moorgate which will be 20 minutes away and so I will go along for the interview... dont really want it though, I dont want to be an invisible person. Sometimes wonder if I will ever be regarded, in employment terms, as anything more than fluffy... dont ever seem to get interviews for jobs I actually want, for positions that will challenge and not leave me bored to tears after a couple of months?? Will have to concentrate on stuff outside work but I do feel that I am a vast underdeveloped potential..... I managed to get a good degree whilst working and being a single parent of two kids. so why am I only considered capable of 'meeting and greeting' ordering lunches and shuffling paper around? How on earth do I get a foot into a more interesting world?

the weekend has been good........... weather has been more than springlike, there have been positive hints of summer about some of it. I was actually wandering around with naked shoulders! and this is still March! Actually cleaned up Pete's patio furniture and basked whalelike on his balcony for a while which was very pleasant.......

Had a new toy to play with... a quad bike that is 'street-legal' it has indicators, lights and is registered for road use!!! Very nippy between cars! Ok to drive/ride it with a car license but still need to wear a helmet......

The boat........... it moved!! it didn't really go far but is now facing the opposite direction! Unfortunately because there is so little ballast the rudder is out of the water...... so you cant steer it!! As this type of boat is basically meant to carry tons of cargo it is easier to steer when full..... so we need to either pour concrete into it or some similarly heavy stuff! Apparently for the purist concrete isn't such a good idea ......... I guess because once set its impossible to move?? Anyway Island Hope is rather a heap at the moment -an unsteerable heap!! hmmmmmmmmm it's going to be an interesting summer.

so whilst I'm worrying about what bathroom to install and what colour flooring, this country is at war. At war not defending anyone or any principle, but at war because ........ why? Because the US wants to retain power.... and the UK just follows along....... and people in Baghdad write blogs describing their daily lives. We are told we are on terror alert but the threat doesn't come from the people of Baghdad, the very people we are bombing, they are more concerned with survival and Iraq, as a nation, does not have the weaponry to damage our lives. And yet we are at war...........

Just added a new blog to look at ... this one is a blogger in Baghdad, definitely an interesting perspective!

Get the boat tomorrow! We're busy having conversations that include stuff like, 'well just how big is a bathroom?' and 'howabout purple rubber flooring?' hmmmmm

The weather is so glorious at the moment I'm struggling to stay inside at work, desperate to be outside.

Taking my CBT very soon, so I will be able to ride up to a 125 cc bike which should be cool!! Do I need leather trousers I wonder, can I face the thought of leather trousers???!!!!

Godfather gig tonight, to go or not to go, that is the question........

Reading 'How to be good' by Nick Hornby

....... (continuing the theme of past events and catching up)......

friday found me watching some of the comic relief stuff in the offices of the Flying Squad!! This provided as much interesting conversation as was on the TV! In fact it was a bit like being in The Bill or some such similar cop programme, with burly blokes wandering around in t-shirts and bullet proof vests, ordering pizza's and discussing the rights and wrongs of shooting villians! Ended up there simply because Pete had been putting some cheques into his bank account when the bank was robbed. He got out and the area was cordoned off as the bank robbers were stuck inside the building. Trouble was his motorbike was left outside the bank not locked to anything..... so he imagined that as soon as the area was 'uncordoned' (? now is that a real word?) the bike would be stolen. So we went back in the evening to see if we could rescue it. As soon as the police discovered he was an actual witness they decided they needed a statement from him, even though he really hadn't seen anything, hence my hanging around watching tv ......anyway we got the bike back, the robbers were arrested and comic relief was its usual somewhat antclimatic self..........

More importantly!!!!!!!!!!!! finally got to see inside the boat 'Island Hope'... and Pete is buying it at this very moment in time (I hope) so my new home will be a 70 ft by 14 ft Humber barge!!! Needs lots of work too! mmmmmm will have to develop new skills... like welding!!!!!!!!!!!!!