Archives: grump

Last week… I was slack with the writing & I may well be again this week. I was reading Fortean Times last week, but I’ve nothing I especially have to read this week… Not sure – there’s a background lethargy on my part… sort of. Maybe it’s a craving for novelty & typing seems too much like what I said before… or maybe it’s the days drawing in & the cold seeming into the corners… That’s always a handy excuse his time of year (the desire for comfort).

So.. last week? There may well have been some notable things, but although I feel alert this morning there’s also the usual considerable for of my dull brain to scythe though…

So, this weekend? We set out to Keighley… which was just about right really – its a big town, but not a major conurbation in the terms of somewhere that flocks in the shoppers. It has its shopping centre & so forth, but I imagine many from Keighley choose to venture away from the town for weekend shopping jaunts. Good supermarket, wool shop, even a Woolies, a good crop of charity shops & that’s good enough for us. Stopped by the supermarket with the kids first; cafe food & some distraction & purchases fro the toy isle. My nerves got a little fraught from time to time. Jude wanted quite a lot & had to be talked back. Esme was skittish. Jack didn’t really want anything, but then pointed out a Jeremy Clarkson DVD from Louise with cars & explosions in it which was a little daft of him really as it’s just the sort of thing Louise disapproves of… No, he’s not having it. There was no locksmiths, which was a disappointment to Jude. Sainsbury’s is quite good for half price toys at the moment. If there was one more accessible I’d be tempted to try to do a little Xmas shopping.

That main bit done (Louise had been the the wool shop while I started them out at the cafe) we set out to do a little generic shopping.

Charity shops… We were due to go to a stationers, but Jude was satiated with a pad at the supermarket, so we passed that by. My hankering for a perusal had to fall by the wayside,.. shame… I do have to remind myself of a recent ebay purchase though… that should hopefully satiate this.. I’m hoping that will arrive by my birthday in a few weeks (as that’s sort of what ot is..) A shop or 2 in a locksmiths is spotted so I pop Into this poor fellah’s shop with a bunch of over excitables & ask for a couple of sets of our back door key. Jack needs one as he’s off to school al the time & on Wednesdays he’s home earlier & there’s a chance that there’s no one home when he arrives. It’s a Just in case thing really, but a necessity. Louise needs one, & I need one. I do not have a back door key though because Jude ‘needs’ one. He doesn’t use it as such; there’s no real necessity for him to be able to open the door, & indeed he does not take it out of the house as a rule. Still – Jude being Jude he ‘needs’ one. Hm. Therefore as Jack needs one I’ve been left without a back door key. Thus I was qute pleased to get a couple of back door keys cut: one for me & one for Louise (as hers is a little bent – leaving the bent one as a spare)

Jude starts bringing me keyrings in the shop. Jude likes keyrings. The one he seems to have set his heart on is a plastic ribbon style thig with, “Dad’s Keys” printed on them. I have 2 internal rejections of this; (aside from spending more money on him when he’s just had a car & some pads from the supermarket) ; that is that I don’t like this plasticated object & I wince at the printing thereon. I deny, he persists, I deny he persists, the keys are completed in the fastest possible time, I pay, Jude leaves , I leave, Outside Jude is beseeching to Louise, upset at the unfairness of it all. Denied, he turns & starts being a right pain in the bum. ‘Tape Loop’: “I want a Keyring, I want a keyring, I want…”

Tuesday – was too jiggered yesterday too type.

Long weekend though – that was good. I met Louise & the kids in Halifax on the Thursday; stayed on he train & went to Sainsburys to pick them all up & then homeward bound. Not greatly interesting for me, but the kids were happy (well – maybe Jack was a little sanguine because he hasn’t so keen on being out as the rest. I think the reason for it all was that Jude wanted a pencil case, but that was probably the prerequisite that Louise required to be heading out with them.

So – why was I off on the Friday? There was a Halloween do on the backstreet that we were supposed to e preparing for Now, the real preparation here wasn’t settling decorations or anything of that nature. Because there was a possibility of adults roaming into our house we needed to have a general tidy. Not really reason enough for to be taking a day off… no… Well – OK – the real reason for taking a day off was that it was half term & the kids were home & Louise asked me to take the day off: that’s all I need as a reason. Fact is though; I mainly did tidying up.

I found that the vacuum cleaner (DC08) I got from the market had no filters at all which set off my asthma a little as it bumped up the stairs & shook some dusk out into it’s ‘air out’. That was not so clever & I ordered a new filter off ebay. It’s not only me though – it’s Jude as well – it caused him a few wheezy days as well which was a shame. He had been all geared up for Halloween wanting face paint etc, but when it came to dressing up he decided it better to play & then get in the bath & into his pyjamas… It was only Debra (neighbour) popping in to try to extricate her twins (Gabe & Jules – a little older than Esme) from the wooden train track set out in the back room & commenting to Jude that he was missing the fun & encouraging him out that made him change back out of his pyjamas & into civvies (not halloweenies) & join in with everyone.

As a whole the party went well. Eve was first to be dressed up as she had Evie’s Halloween birthday party to attend before the ‘street’ party.

While she was away we brought down the enormous box that had arrived the other day from Hazel – what could it be? There were 4 smaller ‘Cadbury’s’ labelled boxes for the kids. This was handed out & they were ripped open & contained a Halloween bucket filled with backs of Halloween themed animal biscuits & a pack of Halloweeny marshmallows. Jude & Esme started tucking into the biscuits straight away & were keen to be going out to to trick or treat, but it was too early.

This was only stalled until Jack joined in, getting his Skeleton costume on & wanting to head out with his bucket, egged on by a desperate Esme. So as it was starting to get dark we let them out to some of the neighbours.

Louise & the kids came to meet me from work on Monday, which was nice.

There was some humming & ha-ing during the day as to whether they would make it because Jude was resistant at one point & the rest of them had dashed out to play with others at some other point, so Louise was wondering whether their professing that they all wanted to go was less based on reality than the idea. But when Jude had a bath he was more amenable & the kids must have been reasonably easy to round up, so I met them getting off the train at Victoria; everyone in buoyant mood.

1st stop Cafe, then some shops – the kids picking up treats for themselves while Louise searches for clothes & so forth. I suppose TK Max is about as close as we can get to a department store nowadays; the kids can be distracted n one area while Louise is able to get a bit of shopping done; she found Eve a lovely new coat.

I didn’t get to look for new shoes (ah well) & I did have to make rather more trips to the toilets with one or other of them than I though was really necessary (but they were needed) but all in all it went very well indeed.

At work, Lee is back from Japan & has tales to tell & photos to show, so I’m slower than I should be, but it’s not just me – so that’s good.

Jack got homework worry last night… It was Religious studies what done it… They had to write up what Religious Studies was for which is a little bit of a nebulous question, really. It may have been the case that they took notes on the subject class & were supposed to write this up, but it was the last lesson on a Friday & Jack’s notes seem to be a little threadbare on substance. Also: he’s never had to do anything like this before, so he had some troubles with the idea of how to approach the whole thing. It being a tricky question he needed to do more preparation for the writing of this than he was used to doing, but Louise guided him through it well, & by the end of the evening (it took a while settling nerves & discussing things) he had a few good paragraphs which made up a pretty good little essay. Jack’s thought processes always have a tendency to go flying off in the many possible directions he sees… this might not be such a good thing for buttoning down an argument (at the moment) but it is one of his strengths. We decided (as an aid to writing) he could do it on his laptop – the theory being that it would stop him having to worry about having to rewrite things as he was restructuring them & that seemed to help as well. He still wrote everything out long hand before committing it to type & has oddly kept all his notes as well (hoarding instinct?)

Jude’s temper upon leaving school is as bad as ever. I’m not sure what causes all this pent up aggression… probably being ‘good’ at school, as he is good there as he can be at home if his pettiness doesn’t get the better of him. He was up early again this morning as Louise called just before seven to ask where the little camera he was playing with yesterday had gone? Just on the floor by the computer – I saw it there this morning (thinking that he never looks after anything). No doubt that will just have been his first demand of the day.

Eve is doing a lot better. She seems to have pulled herself together a lot following a rocky end to the holidays & start of the new school year. She’s even started reading her books herself, rather than rely on just my reading at bed time to traverse a story. It’s good; her approach to things is generally a lot more stable & certainly a lot better appreciated.

Esme (as usual) is full of life. Her over enthusiasm causes her problems at times – like a sore head she got when she saw me arriving at the playground yesterday & ran across the playground to open the gate, pushed open the gate too hard & when it stopped swinging open she couldn’t stop & bashed her head on the bars of the gate. Tears & screeching ensue so I give her a cuddle & plonk her in the swings (which seemed sufficient distraction). After a few moments all I had left was Jude & Esme but Jude was cross because I refused to push him on the see saw roundabout contraption (no one to balance him out – Esme is not doing it because he’ll be bored with the slow pace) . Jude remains super grumped up all the way home, but he doesn’t attempt to biff me… I wonder why?

Got home at school leaving time – well – a little later because the train was late – caught up with the family heading home. Broke a grump about something or other just by turning up, but then Jude regrumped as I wasn’t taking him directly to the park (want to drop off my bag at home first) . And there lies a pattern… Jude had a bit of a grumpy evening & didn’t get what he wanted because of it. Louise got the worst of it though. We have to leave the park sometime & Jude didn’t want to – sat himself atop the climbing frame & scowled. I left (Esme claiming that she wanted to go to the toilet forced us to take the action of leaving (but she then forgot this ‘need’ straight away). We left the park & he followed (calling us stupid). Once across the road Eve & Esme dash into 72 (cafe) – they were getting ahead because Jude was reluctantly trailing. When Jude & Louise trail in they are wanting something to eat & a treat is deemed OK. 3 chocolate nest cakes with smarties on top are chosen because they are sufficiently treat -worthy & there are 3 – one for each. Jude suddenly procrastinates after the choice is made & then settles on wanting a chocolate bar… But the choice has been made. He protests (the choice has been made) & he starts to kick off as we leave (the choice has been made). He starts biffing Louise & his choice & his chosen treat is lost to him & he’s in a foul mood. Louise is also somewhat unhappy because he’s been an embarrassing little brat. I eat the cake that was intended for Jude as Jack (who is at home by now) has had his treats for the day (treacle sponge & pudding for school dinner). Jude is in a proper foul mood, but stroking the rabbit a bit before coming in seems t calm him a bit. He pops off to ‘Jack down the road’s on the understanding that it is only for half an hour. Louise & I wonder what to do about his ferocious temper…. After the half hour has passed I get him & he’s somewhat perplexed that tea is not ready of The Simpsons are not on… “We said half an hour”. He refuses to read his school book, so has to sit on the sofa with me & listen to me being boring & lecturing him about what is & is not acceptable, while he punctuates things with declarations of my stupidity & reminding me that I’m an idiot. He’s also reminded that such words are not what we want. Goodness knows if he’s taking any of it in… I try to see it as a ‘sea the shore’ effect: I will keep on like this until something gets through. The rest of the evening is basically OK with Jude, I guess – he has a bath early because he can have one without fuss & with fresh water. He likes that; he’s usually the last I the bath (by his choice).. He plays rather than sitting down to a story (as usual)

Other things

Eve was reading the Lemony Snicket book on her own after coming back from the park.  She must have wanted to get out of the way & she was able to get a bit of peace & actually read. This is good because she is often reluctant to do this or she cannot concentrate because there’s too much a-doing. So – she was able to sit & read & enjoy sitting & reading – a good thing.

Jack worked on Homework for quite a bit of the evening. Design Technology was Food Technology & sorting a collage of differing food types. There was writing up lab rules, there was an online Maths thing. The collage took quite a while as he hunted online for images – printed them out & collaged them.