Sunday 4 August 2013

Have you ever been on a reunion?

Have you ever been on a reunion? I never have before but tomorrow I'm meeting up with a workmate that I haven't seen for about 22 years! (That makes me feel really old). Let me tell you about her. She's called Denise and I totally loved working with her. In actual fact there was three of us working on the household dept in a large department store. We had nicknames given to us by Karen, (she was funny too) I was Baby Bear (I was 16 at the time) a lovely lady called Val was Mummy Bear and Denise, much to her annoyance was Daddy Bear! (Her best friend Caroline thought it was hilarious) Over the five years we worked together we went through every emotion. We laughed loads but also sometimes cried together. I was delighted for her when she got married but I felt great sadness when she moved away to another county but once again joy as she became pregnant and had a little girl. Unfortunately, we lost touch over the years but I never forgot her. Denise loved listening to the music from the West End play Tell me on a Sunday, in particular a song of the same name. I often found myself singing it and I thought of Denise and the impact she had on me. Also, whenever I stood at a bus stop I'd remember the times we walked to the bus stop together after work to wait for our buses. We'd give secret names to the regular people that was there each day, (I know I'm immature, but if you're a regular reader of my blogs then you'll know that all ready) I can't remember them all now but we decided one nice lady looked a teeny tiny bit like a horse (sorry nice lady) so at the end of each day when we'd clocked off and were getting our bags and coats from the locker room myself or Denise would shout "are you ossing"? (oss was the shortened version of horse) The other would call back "Yes, are you ossing"? Others would look at us as though we'd lost the plot, especially when we told them that it meant we were asking each other if we were going for the bus! Denise and I had a connection that was quite unique even though she's ten years older than me. I suppose, looking back, I looked up to her. The first time I went to her house and I saw her kitchen was painted white and all her accessories, kettle, toaster and mugs etc was bright yellow and it looked fabulous. I decided when I left home I'd want the same in my kitchen. But what I remember most of all was her sense of humour and also the fact that she didn't care what people thought of her. What you saw was what you got! I admired her for that. Last week Denise found me on a social networking site. I was blooming delighted to say the least. A couple of days after that she rang me. We were on the phone for nearly two hours, catching up on what we'd been up to for the last twenty odd years. I soon found Denise hadn't changed a bit. She still got up to mischief but didn't want to go into to much detail as she said she still thought of me as Baby Bear! "Denise" I said, "I'm forty-four so spill the beans, I want to know all the juicy details" (But even at forty-four I still blushed)! So, tomorrow at 11am I'm meeting her, as it happens very close to where we used to work. Will I recognise her? Will she recognise me? What will are first words be? No doubt it'll be "are you ossing later"? So dear readers, have you ever been on a reunion?

Wednesday 2 January 2013

Have you ever had a visit from the police?

Have you ever had a visit from the police? Well, I blooming have! It all happened last night and I've never felt so frightened in my life. Let me set the scene. It was midnight, hubs was working a nightshift and I was tucked up in bed. I wasn't asleep as my neighbours, who like night time activities (see previous blog), was being rather vocal! As you can imagine I couldn't listen to that so I turned up the television extra loud. I was hoping they'd hear it and realise why the volume was so high. After a few minutes I was back to silence. "Bliss" I thought and snuggled down to sleep. Then all of a sudden I heard tapping at my front door. I lay there not moving a muscle. "Oh my gosh, it's my neighbour coming to complain about my noisy tv" I thought. I was panic stricken. I wasn't going to answer the door and assumed if I stayed silent and unresponsive (unlike his girlfriend) then he'd go away. But no, the banging on my door grew louder and louder, then I saw a flashlight at my window. Now I was proper scared. I got out of bed and went to the window to see a bright light pointing right at me! I opened the window, my heart racing, and called down to who I presumed was my neighbour. "Hello " I called "Will you open your door please and let us in" a gruff voice answered back? "Who is it" my voice squeaked back? "The police" "I'll be right down" relieved it wasn't the Greek God Dionysus from next door. Within no time at all my door had been opened and three burly uniformed officers stood before me. "Can we come in" the youngest of the group asked? But before I could answer two of them was already in my kitchen. Wide eyed I just stared at them. "Is there anybody else here" the other asked? I went on to explain that hubs was at work and I was on my own. "We'd like to look in your garage please" the first cop said, and it didn't feel like a question. I handed the keys over telling them that there was a light switch on the left and it wasn't very tidy as we'd only been in the house for just over a month. "We can smell cannabis in the air and it seems to be coming from your garage" Goodness me they think I'm a drug dealer! "I actually thought you were from next door". I went on to explain my lively neighbours and why I didn't answer the door sooner. As one of them checked the garage the second stood in my doorway (I'm assuming so I couldn't do a runner in my fluffy slippers) and the third was outside trying to look intimidating (but failing) Now with all of us stood outside (I was pleased I'd put my dressing gown on as it was a bit nippy) and after the cop giving the garage a once over they were satisfied I was innocent. They went on to explain that a neighbours car had been found further up the road and it'd obviously been in an accident so they'd come to the address but no one was home and that's when the cannabis aroma had been noticed. The police made their apologies and left. I was a nervous wreck to say the least, you could see my hands physically shaking. I retreated back to the safety of my bedroom grabbing my phone I called hubs. After he calmed me down and I'd stopped peaking out of the window at the police concentrating on next door but one (maybe they noticed the air con unit on the roof of their garage) I settled back down to try and get some sleep (not that I got much). So, dear readers, have you ever had a visit from the police? Ps lighthearted innocent stories please, let's not get serious!