Louise, The Dogs And The Words

My youngest is now nearing the end of her first school year. By now I had expected to have both thoroughly cleaned and sorted my house and got a job. I have achieved neither. Not from lack of trying (at least with the tidying of the house) it's just every time I try the kids come home and destroy my hard work. Although to be fair I need to be more ruthless and actually chuck out some of the vast quantities of toys the children have amassed. However I'm forever being reminded that plastic kills dolphins so by that logic by not tidying my house I'm actually saving marine life. Go me! Getting a job has also proved challenging. An eight year career break poses problems. Firstly I have a pathological hatred of filling in forms, cv days were much easier, the forms are never straightforward copy and paste affairs and they end up taking longer than any interview is likely to last. Secondly, and most importantly, I am crap at interviews, I clam up and talk absolute gibberis...

Welcome to this facebook group Now we've let you in Make sure you read the rules Hi we are the admin This group is for local things For our community only Nothing from another place I'm talking about you Tony! Abuse will not be tolerated Keep it nice and light Fun stuff only if you don't mind None of that political shite So you scroll down to read the news Is something fun going on? This will be so nice you thought Boy… were you so wrong... There's dog shit on my street again! Someone's nicked my bin! They've parked across my drive again How will I get in? There's sheep wondering across the road! Is this your peacock? New business opened in the village Come see our brand new stock Sorry I didn't realise Adverts were only on a set day Admin remove if not allowed Need a plumber asap will pay I really need my lashes done Also who can do my nails? Cash for scrap metal I also take cars and ...

I remember when the internet first came out. Yes. I'm that old. I remember hearing the tuneless, soulless beeps of a dial-up modem for the first time and being excited, then hearing it connect. That's it! I'm online. Now what? It was sold as a wonderful thing, as if every encyclopaedia ever was suddenly at your fingertips. It was initially underwhelming,if you had no reason to be online you would just twiddle your thumbs randomly looking for things, but not with Google because Google was not a thing yet. You would Ask Jeeves or more likely Lycos because you liked dogs and that was their logo. It was a new way of connecting to people. Oh how I loved the now defunct Microsoft messenger. It was wondrous. Instant chat with friends in an age where many of us had only just stopped using rotary phones. We believed thee future was amazing, we had the knowledge and the power. With all the information surely the only way for the human race is up? And yet here we are twe...

Staring through the window Turquoise sky Briefly peeking through the clouds A brief glimpse Of a summer So far unseen

The family of rabbits gambolled freely in the field unaware a furry assassin was lurking. Ears pricked, on alert she stood, waiting and hoping for the signal from her master to catch and retrieve one of those tasty, furry toys.

Today I'm feeling sad. It's day three after the holidays, my house is still a mess and now I'm tired thanks to two children who have decided sleep isn't their thing. When I was at school I dreamed that I would have a fun and exciting career.  I was promised by teachers (and that lying arse Tony Blair) that if I got a student loan (I was the first year to have a loan instead of a grant) the world would be at my feet. Instead I'm a stay at home mum with a degree (and a post grad certificate) who has no recent experience so I'm effectively unemployable.  It doesn't help that I have no idea what I want to be when I grow up and my politics and history degree is not too handy for a northern former engineering town. I'm lost. I'm also rubbish at housework.  It's a thankless, endless task. A task that my family undoes the hard work of within minutes of getting home. My mood is also not helped by the fact that it's June but the weather think...