Missing October 2012

I write blog posts in my head all the time. (I try not to think about whether this is normal. I get on well with the voices in my head and since they don’t tell me to do bad things, I’m assuming they’re relatively benign.) Still, it distresses me that I’ve stopped being able to put the blog posts down on ‘paper.’

Poor old October didn’t get a mention on the blog and it was a pretty wonderful one with a trip to the UK, friends, family and millinery. I just noticed that November was in great danger of being missed as well, so… here I am.

I could write in a paper diary and therefore keep my inanities to myself but I’ve never kept that up. Failed by January 13th. There is something about blogging - publicity? Commenting? Interaction? – that has enabled me to keep going. We might have had an uppy and downy few months (year?) here at Tea Stains but we are approaching our 6th birthday; much, much more success than a paper journal. (I have had many an attempt at writing a diary primarily because I need to write but also because I love the way that paper that has been written on both sides, begins to curl and crinkle like it’s almost changed its chemical make up.)

The truth of the matter is this: while you are most welcome here and I love it if you enjoy what I write, I blog for me. It’s giving a voice to the voices; remembering our conversations. Concocting them in my head seems to be enough at the moment but I get a good deal of pleasure going back over past posts and rereading things I’d forgotten.

So I’m just going to get quietly on with putting them down on ‘paper’ again.

Hello? *Waves*

I'm sorry I've been AWOL.

What have I been up to? I've been to the UK and eaten quite a lot of cake - most of it wheat free but not all of it. Sorry body. It was my Dad's 82nd birthday and Daughter and Sister made him a 'light chocolate cake' from Harry Eastwood's Red Velvet Chocolate Heartache book. It was quite simply the best cake I've ever eaten.

My sister taught me to make tzatziki and I cooked quite a lot; most out of character.

I raced like a maniac around the countryside seeing people and doing things but people drove and trained around England to come and see us too. Thank you people. Several things got cancelled and we weren't able to reschedule and other things didn't get arranged in the first place. I'm so sorry to people I didn't manage to see.

We got back to Bangkok just in time for Sister in Law and her family to arrive. They had a week in the city and then we all set off for a week by the sea - Koh Samed. I'll skim over the fact that I had what I think might have been flu while there. At least I could look at the sea while I felt crap.

And then the kids went back to school and it felt like we'd never been away.

I feel very 'start of a new term' though. We've started planning for our Melbourne Cup hats - I am feeling very excited about these. And I've bought myself a food processor (both Husband and I bought food processors to the relationship. We both had them as students and bits had broken off so that nothing fitted together in the end. They were judged too falling apart to make the trip to Thailand. Both were twenty years old which I reckon was pretty bloody marvellous and is why this week I bought a new Kenwood.) I've continued to cook quite a lot - tzatziki, hummus, leek and potato soup, guacamole. I'm failing to buy sweet potatoes in Bangkok at the moment so I can make Leon's sweet potato falafel. Leon says it must be the ones that are orange inside. Somewhere else it said there are Japanese sweet potato and the internet said that what Americans call yams, often aren't. Or something. So I keep going to gaze at sweet potato shaped things in greengrocers, wondering if they're the right thing to buy.

And I'm writing. I've had five days of storming writing or rewriting to be accurate. I appear to have worked out what needs doing with the novel and I feel a bit floaty about it.

I'm beginning to think the fairies might have dropped in and exchanged me for a slightly better model.

On stupidity and being married to Jason Bourne

If I feel as though I’ve spent the last month packing, unpacking and repacking my suitcase it’s because I have.

I tried to be all relaxed during my travels, leaving my lap top in Bangkok and only taking my ipad but I wasn’t cool at all – just too stupid to understand how to get the most out of it. If I ever had a period where I kept up with technology (and my family say I did – for about three months back in 2008) it’s gone now; I’m trailing behind all over again.

I spent ten days in England (in five different venues) one week in Bangkok and then a week in Laos (Vientianne and Luang Prabang) for Thai – and Laos – New Year. I was so glad to get back to Bangkok on Saturday evening even if it meant more unpacking. At least this time the suitcase can go away until July.

This last month has been a rollercoaster of emotions too. I gave up writing and started again. Three good friends – those that I’d turn to in a personal crisis – are leaving Bangkok in the next few weeks and months. Husband took Daughter to the airport for a long anticipated trip to see her BF in Australia. On checking-in they were told she couldn’t fly because she had no visa. (She’s British; who knew she’d need a visa?) Husband went to an internet café and managed to get her cleared and she flew but it gave me three long days of palpitations for not checking in the first place… I mean she’s British… Commonwealth countries? No? We’ve had a horrible situation with a charlatan company with VERY DODGY practices that gave me the heebie jeebies for a week. I handed the problem over to Husband while I ran around in small circles weeping and squealing. I'm excellent in a crisis.

But the good news? Well, we thought this weekend was Easter so we spent yesterday eating chocolate. I think we can do that all over again next weekend, right? And Husband is a hero; firstly because of solving AustraliaVisaGate and secondly for saving us $$$ by his calm negotiations with Charlatan Company. He IS Jason Bourne… Oh give the man a break; it’s his birthday today. He IS Jason Bourne.

See you tomorrow.

I love my Dymo

Newsflash!

I’m taking a blog break.

I’m tired and a bit bored with myself.

I’m struggling with my book and need to concentrate on that for a bit. I shall continue to read blogs but I'm not sure about commenting. I will update my wordmeter and reading material.

Blogging has become more of a pressure than fun, which is no good at all.

I don’t know if it’ll be three days or three weeks that I am away for. I will be in the UK for the last two weeks in April. I suspect that it will be so exciting to be there again that I’ll have lots to say.

I hope to see you back here soon.