annanotbob's Diaryland Diary

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Family, friends, food, fun

Thank you, my lovelies, for your good wishes regarding my plans for a day of pleasure. It has been utterly delicious, almost all day, and even the awkward bits were bearable.

I was fully intending to have a cleansing of some description before setting off to buy food and collect my dear pals, Sarah and Michaela, but the bloody daughter rang. 'Boo hoo, I'm hung over please come and get me, Mummy, please, please, yatter yatter,' Yeah yeah yeah, all right, shut up. So it was yet another quick dab round with a baby wipe and off I went. Had to pick up Millie, Jane being off on another hot date, then up to the Uni, as Sara had somehow managed to end up at Ren's.

I haven't been to his room since the day I helped move his stuff in and he's made it lovely with all his bits of this and that, which is somehow reassuring to me. I like to think of him there now. Millie and I made ourselves comfy on the bed and suddenly we were all in a big debate (well, me and the kids - not Millie, she's a dog, silly) about the need for women only spaces and why they're different to men only spaces. A bit intense for a Sunday morning, but my little feminist heart was full of pride.

Shopped, dropped off Sara, went round to pick up S & M, M was throwing the usual hissy fit, so we left her behind and Sarah, Millie and I set off into the countryside. All went according to plan, lots of spliff, lots of chat, but we didn't get round to the singing as we didn't stop talking for long enough to even notice the lack of music. I love that Sarah, I really do. Verystoned by the time we got to the nursery, which was probably A Good Thing as we were incapable of choosing what we wanted (all of it!) so bought very little. Pics tomorrow.

Then we fetched Michaela and dragged her up here for her dinner and Jane came round and then Jan phoned, so I invited her too and (shhh, whisper) they all got on! How often does that happen? Fucking rarely, with my friends. I love them all, but they tend not to take to each other. Tonight it all went swimmingly with even my Sara joining us for the meal and sitting around for the chat.

Jan used to be a bit of a pop star in Germany - well, she had a record deal, released about 10 albums and still has a bit of a cult following there. She's going to be 50 in August so she's having two parties - one over here, a party party, and one in Germany which is going to be a mini-festival. The town where she lived has a bookable public open-air space, which she's booked, with a stage and camping places and barbeque pits and we're all going over for it! Her old band are getting back together and she's invited other musicians and her fans - it will be small but lovely. How cool is that? Fab.

Also, her landlord owns about eight houses in this immediate area, charges much, much less rent than mine and is fed up with dirty, non-rent-paying students. So she's going to see if he's got somewhere suitable for me and my Sara and my Bobcat, at a rent that's a bit more of a long-term proposition.

The meal turned out really well. It's a recipe from my childhood, when we lived in a village and the butcher's van came round once a week, sometimes giving away recipe cards. Here it is:

Pork with celery and bay leaves
I'm not giving quantities - as much as you think. Turn the oven on to quite low - 160 or the equivalent. Put a heavy casserole dish on a low heat with a bit of butter and some oil. Add some onions, lots of celery and carrots, all sliced. Plus a good few bay leaves, four or five. Let that all soften while you get on with the meat. Pork fillet, when you can afford it, any old bits of pork the rest of the time. Cut it into slices/chunks and chuck it into a bag with a tablespoon of flour, some mustard powder and salt and pepper. Shake it all about to coat the meat. Fill the kettle with water and put it on to boil. Spoon all the veg out of the pot onto a plate. Fry the meat in batches just to seal it and brown the outside. You may need a bit more oil. Chuck all the veg back in. If you like a thick gravy, stir in some/all of the flour mixture from the bag. Pour over hot water from the kettle, enough that it's all floating. Stir and bring to the boil. Meanwhile slice a cabbage thickly. When the liquid is boiling, lay the cabbage on top, cover with a close fitting lid and bung in the oven. Put a tray of washed potatoes in as well. Hang out with your friends/take the dog to the park/smoke spliff/drink wine or whatever for at least an hour, but as many as three if that's how it goes. Should you be feeling like it, a pile of runner beans or cauliflower goes well, but if not just the spuds and the stew are delicious.

Today I am grateful for:
Well, everything really. Friends, food, family, warm weather, feeling OK, a great day.

Hey, and you know what else? I clicked on the 'random entry' button of this dairy and omyfuckinggod, my life has been through some changes since I've been writing here. I got the first day of the autumn term, 2006, at that little country school, when the timetable was suddenly changed, and I was all cool about being a teacher again. Ha.

Sweet dreams xxx

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1:51 a.m. - 28/04/2008

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Cat on a hot wooden fence - 08/05/2008

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