This and that

Yesterday I must have visited every rotten shoe shop in Harlow in the quest for a pair of shoes for Rosie for the wedding next week.  She has a nice dress she wore last year and which luckily still fits but her feet have gone up 2 sizes since then.  At one point she wanted a pair of 4 inch bright red heels from New Look, can you believe.  Anyway, finally found a (yes, red) pair of lowish shoes for her in Asda, which she was quite thrilled with and they do go with her dress.  Its all boots and black shoes everywhere, I should have looked earlier but there you go, job done and it only took 3 hours.  I bumped into my friend, Mary's daughter when we were in New Look.  Mary was my best friend but I lost her last her when she had a stroke, she was only 56.  She was lovely, an Irish dynamo.  I met her on the train years ago when she used to go up to Victoria where she ran a taxi shelter (a little hut) like a cafe for all the taxi drivers.  It was really small inside but Mary was only about 4ft 10ins, so had no trouble fitting in.  Her husband, Ron, was a taxi driver and that was how she had met him years before when he came in for a cup of tea.  She had a hard life, she was one of 14 kids in a small cottage from a village near Cork.  Her mother got fed up and when one of her older daughters had settled over here, she buggered off and left Mary, who was one of the oldest, to look after the kids, including a young baby, and never went back.  I suppose you can't blame her, she was pregnant all the time and it was the only way of escaping.  Anyway, I had known Mary for over 20 years and after she finished with the taxi shelter, she bought a cafe in our village and ran than for a few years before she started up an ironing business.  The woman never stopped, if she was not ironing, she was child minding or mowing the lawn.  She was a terrible swearer, one of my friends used to call her f******ing Mary!  But that was Mary.  She had such a big heart and had had some terrible things happen in her life.  She was a great friend to me when the kids came to live with me and helped looking after them before and after school.  We took a trip last January to her home town for a family party.  I am so glad we did that.  It was lovely to see where she was born, which was the back of beyond and she showed me how far she used to have to walk to go to town etc.  She was so funny, she nicked everything everytime we went for a cup of coffee etc.  She came back with loads of new cups and milk jugs.  I threatened her with death if she nicked anything from our B&B!  She was looking after Matthew and Rosie and driving to pick up her daughter when she had her fatal stroke.  Thank god she pulled over as it started to take effect with a terrible headache.  The kids managed to call for help, it was terrible and very traumatic.  I miss her so much.  She made the best cup of tea and I have not had one since.  Oooh I have gone on here a bit.

The two young lovers, Martin and Julia, are still getting on well.  I am waiting for the next drama (lol).  She is really nice though and she did tidy up for me yesterday when I was out on my expedition!

We had a great evening last night watching Maria.  Didn't think much of that Connie one though.  She seems too over the top.  We were all hoping Helena would win but our favourite Maria was Abbie, ahh.

Just had a shower and will out again to go to local car boot in a little while.  I also have to go to M&S to get a wedding present and am still looking for a shirt for Matthew.  I might pop in and see my sister, Chris, while I am out and about.  She is a great girl.  She had a masectomy about 5 years ago now and is alwas upbeat and cheerful, despite us losing Andrea and Barbara.  She works with me up London, so its great seeing her every day.  We have had quite a few adventures together.  She is the second and I am the fourth in the family. 

Anyway, done the quiz, see below.

1. yourself: miserable cow

2. your husband: miserable sod

3. your hair: Excellence No.6

4. your mother:lost 1994

5. your father: lost 1973

6. your favorite items: fan, handbag

7. your dream last night: can't remember

8. your favorite drink: diet coke

9. your car: Vauxhall Astra

10. the room you are in: messy one

11. your ex boyfriend/girlfriend: can't remember

12. your fear: rats, mice

13. where you want to be in 10 years: sitting pretty

14. what you're not: rich, young

15. your best friends: Paul, Alex

16. one of your wish list items: menopause over

17. the last thing you did: showered

18. what are you wearing: towel

19. your favorite weather: cool, windy

20. your favorite zoo animals? tigers, meercats

21. your thought for the day?love Sunday

22. your favorite book: can't remember

23. last thing you ate: cheese snips

24. your life: busy, good

26. your body: oooh eerrrr

27. what are you thinking about right now: blimming quiz

28. your crush: Ronan Keating

29. what are you doing at the moment: thinking, sweating

30. your fall schedule: hopefully not

Catch you later.

Terry