Happy New Year

Hi everyone, isn't it exciting that we are on the verge of another New Year. There are two important things that I've learnt this year, one is that you are what you think and the other is that you get what you ask for. So many good things manifested themselves this year that I know anything is possible if you believe it.
The highlight of my year was playing at the Ambient picnic as it was our first 'real' gig, and all the excitement and preparation that went into it, being on stage was a big high, it was like tripping.
The funniest moment of 2007? It's got to be Cafe de Paris, what a disaster, I'm still cringing about it to this day.
What made me stronger? The upheaval of moving and being burgled, such a difficult time , but we didn't let it grind us down.
Hope you all have the best year ever, remember, don't just dream it , be it!!

Walk the walk

Locked in a deep sleep, awoke to the beautiful sunshine, if you didn't go outside you would think it was the middle of summer. Today I will attempt to go to a few sales if I have time, judging by all the reports in the papers, it is like a madhouse out there. Perhaps I will miss the worst of it as the initial surge of bargain hunters will have tried to empty the shelves already.
By the way, I'm feeling guilty because I refused to speak to my sister on Christmas Day, I have become fed up of her persistent stinginess over the years, and I don't think the way she treats my Mum is right, she couldn't even be bothered to pick up the phone and find out if my Mum had arrived safely. It seems as if she wants me to be responsible for everything, which is fine as far as I'm concerned, but I know if I was in her shoes I would behave differently. So I just got annoyed and couldn't be bothered to speak to her. Then I thought I should have been more spiritual about it, just because she doesn't act like I would like her to doesn't mean to say I shouldn't talk to her. I think the thing that annoys me is that she is a fundamental born again Christian and if you are going to bang onto people about religion then you should at least act accordingly and not be a hypocrite. If you're gonna talk the talk, then you must walk the walk! Anyway, what goes around ....

Free on NYE

It's a windy day today, almost a gale outside. Apparently there were so many people trying to get to the sales yesterday that the police had to shut the motorway around Bluewater (a large shopping centre). That's what amazes me about this consumer society, everyone just wants to spend , spend , spend, should be called the I Want generation. No doubt it's all going on plastic. I also wouldn't mind going to get a few bargains, but I'm not that desperate to queue all night outside in the freezing cold and then get crushed to death in the crowds. I see that already they are gearing up for the New Year's Eve fireworks display in London, which reminds me of last year when we went along, it was a fantastic display, but there are just too many people and it is a bit uncomfortable trying to get home. So I don't know what we will do really. Does anyone want us to come and play at their NYE party? Well, I'm just about to go out jogging, but I keep getting distracted by the feeding frenzy of birds in the garden, apart from having their own food, they also get Nyo's leftovers, by the way, I haven't seen our squirrel for weeks now, I'm sure the burglars chased him away, maybe he is hibernating.

Hope you had a Happy Christmas

Hi everyone, sorry for my silence, tried to go online yesterday to tell you all about our Christmas, but for some reason I kept getting disconnected, so I just gave up in the end. Well, here we are then, still a bit shell shocked after all the activities. We had a lovely couple of days really, it was quite chilled out, and of course it was the first time my Mum and I had been together for Christmas for quite a few years. I cooked a triumphant dinner, without any disasters and then we just monged out for the rest of the day. My only complaint was that there was no decent films on the telly that evening, sometimes you are just in the mood for watching a good film, especially after a huge meal. From what I recall, we just passed out in the end anyway, once that log goes on the fire and your feet go up, it's not long before you are dozing away. It did feel very much like Christmas out here, not a person was to be seen outside, it was as quiet as anything and of course it rained and rained so it turned out to be a very wet day. Yesterday was beautiful and sunny and a lot warmer than it has been of late, temperatures in double figures, I think the cold snap is over for the time being. Hope you all had a great time and got loads of pressies!

Chilling

It's a misty country morning, the garden is shrouded in foggy, bright sunlight, the frost still glistening on the grass, it all looks very surreal indeed. From the weather reports , it seems that we are in for a wet Christmas, not a white one. Yesterday I cleared out my chilling room and it is starting to take shape. This was after finding an old -fashioned chest when I was out with my Mum. We managed to get it home and it became an excellent storage space for so many things, it inspired me to tackle the rest of the room. It is actually the room where the burglar entered from, and speaking of burglars, we have been utilising the alarm. It's a bit daunting at first because you just pray that you don't set it off accidentally and give everyone a heart attack, especially when you come back in the early hours of the morning. It's a good feeling though, knowing that no-one can get inside without you knowing about it. Just as well we do have it really, because yesterday I turned on the alarm but went out without locking the back door! A serious breach of security! Well, today we are going to go for another walk and take advantage of the dry weather whilst it lasts. Tomorrow afternoon there is carol singing on the village green, it will be like real Christmas here, not a single shop open, like it should be. Hope I haven't forgotten anything vital!

One nerve left

Today my nerves have been jarred all day , don't ask me why I let little things upset me. I think I am adjusting to having my Mum around, as much as I adore her. It is a big responsibility because of her age, but at least she is in good health and still has most of her marbles, but it's funny how our respective roles have changed now that we've become older. It is quite stressful, and then I feel guilty if I snap because after all she has been through a lot and then coming to live in another country must be hard for her too. Then she was upset as well because her friend who was meant to be having our little dog, has since found another owner for him, the poor little creature. I'm sure he will be looked after, but I didn't know he was going to be moved again. I hope he won't think that no-one loves him. At least I have 95% of things for Christmas now, I went into London yesterday, it was quite refreshing to walk around the buzzing streets, then I had a lovely hot chocolate before returning home. Didn't last long in front of the fire, saw 5 minutes of a film , then fell asleep!

Inertia creeps

Another disrupted day for we had the carpets changed and it was another early start, to top it all we had someone else come round to measure the infamous windows at the same time. Hey, we want our life back. Did I mention that we had to dismantle the studio as well, no easy task, you should see the amount of wires ! Well in suppose that I should stop complaining because at least the landlord is getting around to doing some of the things that need doing. I feel like falling asleep all the time, I don't know if it is because of the weather and the fact that it gets dark so early now, or if all the stress is catching up with me now that I've finally had a chance to relax. There's something so soothing about sitting in our living room that it hypnotises you into a state of extreme inertia, unable to stir yourself into any sort of locomotion whatsoever. I finds myself staring stupefied into the garden at nothing in particular,then sometimes all I can see out the corner of my eye is Gerald staggering under the weight of the coal bucket. Speaking of coal and chimneys, why didn't anyone tell me that you are supposed to make a wish when you get your chimney swept and the brushes peep out the top of the chimney? The man who came round to do ours had the audacity not to mention anything, he was more interested in the four years of soot that had accumulated at the foot of the fireplace, it's a good job we had it done, imagine all that lot spurting out, or worse still, the chimney catching fire. It's still cold , but no sign of snow yet.

Mummy's Here!

My mum arrived safely and I have just been getting her settled in which is why I have been absent from my blogs for a couple of days now. It is lovely to see her and know that she is safe with us now. Also lovely for me because I don't have to do so much housework anymore, it was the bane of my existence, too time consuming when we have so many other things to take care of. I feel a lot calmer over the last few days, must be my mum's influence and also because our alarm is now installed and is a major deterrent for any undesirable characters lurking around in the bushes. We haven't had any more upsets or things go wrong which helps as well. It's really cold and everywhere has been covered in a thick blanket of frost over the last few days. I wonder if it will snow, that would be fabulous, I always get so excited when I see the snow, must be because I never experienced it when I was a child. So everything is content in the Cling household! Catch you later!

Still sorting everything out

Hi folks, first of all, I must mention that the Dubai thing is off, some problem because we are UK residents! Sorry to get you all excited. Just doing the last minute preparations before my Mum gets here. It's going to be another busy week, first of all the alarm is being installed tomorrow, then my Mum gets here on Wednesday and the chimney is also being swept, how old-fashioned. On Thursday we have an environmental health officer coming over to check out these godforsaken windows that have caused us so much trouble and if we find we have a case we might be taking action against our landlord, who happens to be a household name and a corporate giant. Talk about fighting for your rights, in a way the burglary woke us up a bit and we decided we were not going to be stomped all over by anyone. Still, sometimes life does seem a lot harder out here, but I suppose we are adjusting. If I didn't have anything better to do, I would go and join the fuel protesters over the weekend , the price of petrol in this country is ridiculous. I have come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter where you live , the governments are sneaky and underhand, just that in Africa they are far more blatant about it. I can see the attraction of going to live on a commune on an island, remember the book and film, The Beach?

My poor heart

It's such a rainy, wet day, I thought it was the middle of the night when I woke up, because it was so dark ! Not only that, the roads are turning into rivers. It's warm and cosy inside though! I really appreciate having the little luxuries in life that we take for granted, like heating and hot water, especially after yesterday, we only got reconnected in the evening!
Only a few more days till my Mum gets here, I wonder how she feels to move to another country after 69 years! I feel so emotional myself just to think of it. I was looking through some old photos and it actually feels like a big chunk of my own life has been severed and all that is left is memories of those beautiful days when we hadn't a care in the world.It hurts too much to even think about it anymore. My love affair with Africa always ends up breaking my heart. Oh well, we have , after many years, fulfilled my father's wishes that he made on his death bed. He predicted what would happen in Zimbabwe and implored my Mum to get out of there. Another chapter is about to open now, change is good and we have had a lot of them recently, it keeps you on your toes.
Silver Skies, the collaboration with Dreamlab, has been entered into a competition and if we win we will get to play in Dubai! Not only that if you vote for us, you will also be entered into a competition where you could win a trip to Dubai. So please watch this space for all details, we will post them up as soon as we have them.
Have a great weekend everyone!

Toughening up!

Hi folks , we have been without heating the whole day, and the gas men are still working outside, they lied as they said it would be back on by now. I went for a lovely run today, not in the forest, but alongside it, on the road that goes into London. I think the forest will be too muddy. I twisted my ankle and because there were so many cars going past, I had to act all cool and pretend that there was nothing wrong, meanwhile I was grimacing in pain. Then when I got back on of the gas men said to me that I obviously hadn't gone far enough because I wasn't sweating. Actually, it was so cold that it was only when I was on the way back that my hands started to warm up. Gerald keeps phoning me to find out if we have heating, I don't even say hello, I recognise the number and I just say "No dear, it's not on yet!"
There is very much a Christmas spirit out here that seemed to be missing where we lived before. It's lovely to go out in the evenings and all the houses are lit up with their Christmas decorations, which reminds me, we must put up our tree, it will look especially lovely next to the fire!

Stronger

It's a rainy day in the country, I still love it here despite all the recent problems. Today is actually the first day in a long time that I've woken up feeling like my normal self, which is a good thing, I don't like to feel vulnerable. I wonder if burglars ever stop to think about the psychological effect they have on their victims, I very much doubt it. My only consolation is what goes around comes around. My poor Mum though that she was escaping all this nonsense, just goes to show that it doesn't matter where you live, you are always at risk. Some people seem to be gloating about the fact that we moved to a nice area and then got burgled, call yourself friends?
Tomorrow we will have not heating all day because they are doing gas works outside. the other night we had to call someone out because they dug a hole outside our property and there was such a stench of gas we thought oh no this will be the final straw if the whole house blows up! I don't think that I could take any more mishaps.
Haven't seen our garden squirrel for a few days, I had to ignore him the other day because of all the upset and the constant stream of people coming into the house to give quotes for the alarm, soon we will be all belled up, and my Mum is going to sit on the front porch on a rocking chair with her shotgun!

Still recovering

Hi there folks, it's been a strange few days to say the least. I don't think I've ever really felt before in my life that I couldn't take much more, but I'm beginning to feel like that now. The only answer is to keep on doing things which are strong and positive. All this upheaval will pass in the end, that's what I keep telling myself. All of it seems to have gone beyond the realms of what should normally happen when you move house, but what can we do except go through it and learn? The thing that really winds me up is that we can't seem to be able to get on with our lives and do the things that we're supposed to be doing because we're so busy sorting everything else out. I really will be glad to see my Mum next week as she will take some of the pressure off, I hope. The policeman who came round to see us after the burglary said a mother-in-law was an even better deterrent than a guard dog! When I look out into the garden and it is so peaceful and lovely, it's hard to believe that we had a horrible person in there, maybe even watching us from time to time. I suppose it will take some time before our confidence comes back, perhaps soon we can even get to do some music again!!