Saturday 31 December 2011

Godzilla service pack

I've got several blog posts sitting in the Drafts folder, started, then abandoned, like a too-big sandwich that you thought you could manage, but it turned out you couldn't.

There are several reasons for this, including the old favourites "utter laziness", "lack of enthusiasm for the subject matter that is my life" and of course "distracted by watching a film on TV and forgetting all about the blog."

Additional reasons which are slightly less dull and objectionable include:

Christmas.  I know it happens at the same time every year, but even so.  Things were busy, what with going out a fair bit, and enjoying spending time at home with Mr WithaY and various friends who have been calling in to visit.  A couple of Mr WithaY's former colleagues called in the week before Christmas for tea and mince pies, and it was very nice to hear about how shite things are in the office.  Mr WithaY was able to enjoy the gossip and then sigh happily to think that he is well out of all that madness now.

We had a party.  It was successful, in that all the food was eaten (and I think enjoyed), nobody left in a high dudgeon (as far as I know) and nothing got smashed.  Well, only a few of the guests.  In fact, that felt like the start of Christmas, and things have been mostly very nice ever since.

However.

The night of our party, ten minutes before the guests started to arrive, we had a phone call from a very dear friend.  His wife, another very dear friend, had been gravely ill following a heart attack.  Horrible.  We'd been informed of this by her brother a few days earlier, so were already anxious.  Anyway, her husband rang us to let us know that there had been more tests run, including an MRI scan, and that the results were devastatingly bad. In fact, he all but said that they were now just waiting for the end.  Well, fuck.  We (me, Mr WithaY and our recently-married mate who was staying with us for the party) had a stiff drink, I had a bit of a cry, and then we had to put on our best smiley faces and greet our guests.

All things considered, it was a very good party, but it was a bit weird.  At one point I went and sat outside on the bench in the front garden and looked at the stars, and had a surreptitious little weep (I had been drinking a fair bit, if that's any mitigation) but other than that, it all went well.

Recent news of our friend's progress  is fractionally encouraging, but not much.  We're waiting to see what happens.

The traditional Christmas Cold has made its annual appearance too.  Mr WithaY succumbed to it on Boxing Day, and since then has spent his time wrapped in many, many layers of fleece and wool, taking Beechams and accruing a huge mound of balsam tissues on the floor beside him, which then get ritualistically thrown on the fire, in a sort of Viking burial for germs.  I thought I'd got away with it until today.

I have not got away with it, however, and today I am developing my very own germ Valhalla mound.

Also, I got my car back this week.  It had a broken turbo, it turned out, and as a result I had to spend £1500 to get it fixed.  Fucking Toyota parts.

For that kind of money, I want my new turbo personally delivered by Godzilla.  On a bed of carefully-sliced fugu fish.  With a band of high-ranking Samurai warriors as escort.

They should do that.  Call it the "Godzilla Service Pack."  I'd buy it.

Anyhoo, the car is running well again, and if I felt less shite I dare say I'd go out in it.

So, Happy New Year to you all.  Thank you for taking the time to read and sometimes comment on my blog, I appreciate it very much.

I'd still write it, but it's more fun knowing there's an audience out there.

7 comments:

Isabella Golightly said...

Hope your friend makes it, what a crap start to the new year.

Keep writing the blog, I need reading yours as another excuse for not writing mine. Happy New Year from warm & sunny Sydney (today) - last 4 weeks have been the coldest start to summer in 50 years, so really, you've got nothing to whinge about, alright?

Mary Ann Tate said...

I'll second that...keep writing your blog and I'll keep reading. I may not comment but I'm here:) I also have the dreaded lurgy...the whole family have been ill since Christmas day.

Happy New Year!!!

Z said...

Oh dear, I know that slightly out-of-body thing where you have to put on a brave front and disengage from something. Although the phone call in the middle of a party to say that my husband's cousin had died suddenly aged 52, and I had to tell him in front of people, was a downer it was hard to get over, too.

I like your blog. Badgerdaddy mentioned you to me once, which was how I came upon it. You post, I read, sometimes I'll comment, and we'll all be happy. As will the year to come, I hope.

PRETTYDOG VINEYARD...KAZZ said...

Dear Mrs WithaY...Please keep writing even if it is randomly...I like your Blog because it's about 'real' stuff (as opposed to writing about important things like sorting out sock drawers)...Hope your year gets better soon...KAZZ, Hunter Valley in OZ

Liz Christopher said...

Hey- I am tuned in from Bermuda, don't stop posting. Sorry to hear about your mate. all the best with it, and your bug . . . but , well you're used to bugs. Stay cool.

badgerdaddy said...

I'm a big fan, too.

livesbythewoods said...

Isabella, thank you, we are trying to be hopeful without feeling terribly optimistic, if you see what I mean.

Mary Ann, lurgy is dreadful, I recommend lemon, honey and gin. Lots of gin.

Z, how awful! We were able to enjoy the party mostly, but it was very strange. And thank you, I still miss badgerdaddy's blog, actually.

KAZZ, I like your definition of "real." Although those sock drawers need to be kept tidy, of course.

Liiiiiiiiz! Hello from grey and rainy Britain. And yes, the WithaY household has had plenty of experience with bugs, one way and another.

badgerdaddy, thank you. I miss your blog, though.