O.O.M.A.

Which stands for Object of my Affection...
He's a man I see around my local area who is so much my type that even new friends picked him out for me. He's tall and has slightly floppy hair and a good sized nose (I love a good Roman nose)and looks enough like my ex-husband to have been nicknamed after him. In fact it's not so much that he looks like my ex as that they both look like my first love the gorgeous Italian, Vittorio.
I've never got up the courage to say more than a few words to him but when I see him I turn into a bit of a teenage idiot getting all excited and texting my friends.

I saw him today. I was in one of our local coffee shops messing about on t'interwebs and eating a slice of Dime Bar Cake (yum) when I looked up and realised he was sitting across the room with an espresso and a friend (good combination if you ask me). I carefully removed my scarf in order to display a little more cleavage (O.K. a lot more...)and tried my best to look busy and interesting rather than stupid and self-important. I felt like we kept making eye-contact but I'm really not sure if that was just because I was so self-conscious. After a while I had to leave so I gathered my things together and headed for the door only to get there a the same time he did. We ended up walking down the street almost side by side. All without saying a word to each other.

So my question is...
Did he get up at the same time as me on purpose?
Is it all in my mind, or was he making eye-contact with me?
Will I ever manage to get the courage together to give him my phone number?

Random Thoughts About Allergies.

I have four different types of allergies. There's the type like the wrong kind of washing-up liquid or moisturiser that brings on bumpy hands or eczema. There's the type like hairspray or paint fumes that makes me wheeze. There's the type like cats or dogs that does both. And finally, there's the type like pine sap or tea tree oil that causes hives, unpleasant digestive responses and full-on-call-the-ambulance asthma.

The first three are inconvenient and at times distressing, I have a small (and often expensive) choice of household products, toiletries and cosmetics to chose from, I've never been able to have the much-longed for dog and I've had to ban the cats from my bedroom. The steroid creams and ointments prescribed for allergic eczema are all based on white paraffin or petroleum based carriers which...I'm allergic to.
Walking past someone who's wearing too much aftershave can leave me gasping (seriously, Lynx works more as chemical warfare and less as personal grooming in my world) and I once passed a hideous train-journey behind a woman who thought doing her hair and spraying Ellnett all over her head in a crowded carriage was a good idea.
On good days I take three different asthma and allergy drugs but any number of illnesses can result in hospital trips (last year's pleurisy caused months of issues). My eczema makes me feel self-conscious and ugly and my asthma restricts my life, I hate it.

However, I can live with all that. Slightly, no strike that, a lot more dramatic is my reaction to latex, pine sap and tea tree oil. After noticing these things were all tree based I was a little worried but yesterday's experiment with Maple Syrup was totally satisfactory and I enjoyed my pancakes very much.

I've had three very serious allergic reactions in my life.
The first was one night when I'd eaten a prawn sandwich that may have been a bit too old (hot day, insufficient chilling in a sandwich shop), I came out in hives and my lips, and fingers swelled-up. However, in the light of subsequent events I'm beginning to wonder if the latex gloves I wore for my housework that evening may have been more to blame (though I'm still being wary of prawns).

The second was a couple of years' ago on a family day out. I'd gone to Bekenscot Model Village with my Dad, my sister and my niece. We'd been meaning to go for years and it was lovely. I adore model villages (there's a post in there somewhere) and was having a lovely time when suddenly my sister said,
"What's that on your face?"
That, was a hive.
They'd been trimming all the miniature trees in the village and an avenue of full-sized conifers and the sap was on the air. I became very ill, very quickly and had to be taken home. Fortunately my anti-histamines and asthma drugs worked and I recovered quickly.

I was not so lucky last week.

I've had an abscess on my head (golly, I'm making myself sound attractive aren't I!) and have been bathing it with very hot water into which I'd put a few drops of tea tree oil. Stupidly, I hadn't made the connection to my other allergies and although I was fine for a couple of days, when I got too much of the water and oil on my body I cam out in hives all over my body. By Friday night they'd joined up into great red patches and my breathing had gone crazy. I called an ambulance.

The Paramedics, and the lovely staff at Hull Royal Infirmary were wonderful. They sorted my breathing, pumped me full of anti-histamines and put me to bed. They cared for me and listened to me and never once patronised me.

They saved my life.

And now? I have an appointment with my GP later, I'm going to sort out my medication, I'm going to take my allergies seriously, I'm going to carry a warning card and I'm going to go and see the Consultant. Oh, and I'm going to have an artificial Christmas Tree this year...

Don't Panic, It's Organic.

I used to hang out with a load of dope smokers, they were nice enough people though if they put as much energy into jobs or causes that they put into scoring they could change the world but many of them did have a somewhat naive attitude to their drug of choice. In their defensive stance they would insist that weed was totally safe and actually quite benign because it was natural. Now I should say that I think marijuana is no more or less harmful than alcohol. Some people have the occasional joint in the same way others will have a glass of wine with a good dinner. Some people spark up at breakfast just as some crack a can of strong lager as soon as waking.
However, it's very clear to me that this blind trust in a drug because it's natural is ridiculous. Belladonna is natural but the clue's in the name- Deadly Nightshade. Hemlock is natural but it still did for Socrates. And Tea Tree Oil is natural but it still nearly killed me this weekend...

Apologies #1

I'm sorry I haven't been blogging. There are several reasons.

1. I've been getting into the swing of the new term and have felt a bit busy.
2. My computer just kept getting slower and slower.
3. My internet connection (via Dongle) went bonkers and it was taking me four or five attempts to get online.
4. I got out of the habit and couldn't think what to say.

Errrm, that's it. Then of course I just started to feel guilty for not blogging and it got more and more difficult, like with your thank you letters after Christmas as a child.

So I'm back with a new netbook and will be blogging again. If the internet still kicks me off it's not so much of a problem as my new speedy pooter reconnects so fast (the old one took at least ten minutes) and I can use this little HP Minibook in coffee shops for full posing value.

More tomorrow...

New Term, New Shoes!

One of the disadvantages of being a supply teacher is sitting waiting for someone to give you some work whilst you watch your bank account empty and worry about paying the bills. September tends to be a horribly lean month as teachers return refreshed from the holiday and less likely to go off sick and they don't go on many courses as they want to stay in school and get to know their new classes.

So, I was delighted to be asked to work on the very first teaching day of the new term and in fact have worked all but the two Fridays. In addition to this I've had a bit of a tax rebate, enough to pay some bills and have a couple of treats. This all makes me very happy! And what did I want to buy as a treat? Why shoes of course! Now, as I have previously mentioned I am quite a practical person. Much as I love the killer heels you see on the catwalk, I realise I wouldn't be able to walk to the bus stop in them or spend a day in the classroom. So when I look for beautiful shoes, I look for beautiful, comfortable shoes. And I found them.

Now, I'm not sure that this picture does justice to their plummy beauty so I'll take some pictures of my feet when they arrive (my local shoe shop didn't have an eight in stock so I've ordered them). I am ready to fall in love with them.

I also got a pair of trainers to wear to the gym but that's a whole other story...

Reading Lists

I don't tend to do book reviews as I think there's a limit to how many detective novels you want to hear about and because, despite my love of reading, I'm not going to impress anyone with my reading list. Unlike this young man...


A dictionary, an encyclopedia, The Bible and Batman! Wow!

Back to Work!

I love my job, most of the time, and hate the holidays, partly because I love teaching and partly because I don't get paid. Today was the first time ever that I've had a supply day on the fist day of term and it was wonderful to be back in the classroom. Even better I'm booked for three days a week at the school closest to my house right up until half term. Now if I can just fill the other days, get my tax rebate and get my ex-husband to cough up the money he owes me I might manage to be able to afford a new winter coat this year (last year's coat was cancelled when the cat got ill and I needed the money for vets' bills).