Tuesday 6 August 2013

If you are reading this, then by now you will have noticed a small change to my blog.  It now features advertisements.  This was an innovation which I was very much against in all my years of life (and of which I am not entirely in approval even now).  Please be assured, however, that we have not sold our collective soul to dark or mercenary forces.  It is merely something that we are trialling, after it was suggested to my partner that she has "too much integrity".  For, when any advertisements featured upon this blog are clicked upon (by persons other than my partner and Gisèle), our household will receive a very small financial reward.  This is NOT an exhortation to visit numerous times for the sole purpose of clicking on the advert(s) but merely, as I bark, a trial.  If you are a regular reader then (not only do I salute and thank you) my partner will be most interested to hear your comments.

And before I leave the subject of finance entirely, I offer you one small observation:  although still not easy, life has become more tolerable for my partner and the girls now that they have made the decision to be thankful over what they DO have as opposed to mourning that which they have NOT.  Not for the first time do I learn that one's personal outlook and sense of perspective can make a grim situation that minutest bit better.

Away with such serious business then - and towards a FAR LESS intellectually-gratifying subject...


"Hihihihihihiiiii!"
"Hur hur hur - snort - hur hur..."
"Hiihiihiihiihiihiihihihihiiiii!"
"Hur hur - snort - hur hur hur hur..."
"Hiihiihhiii-"

"Oh, for Heaven's SAKE, pack it in; the pair of you!" I roared at the helplessly-giggling Betty and Gisèle.  They both looked up at me, still shaking with silent laughter.  The reason for this outpouring of hilarity was my partner.  One of her teeth had just fallen out and, for some odd reason, the girls found this deeply entertaining.

My partner herself was less-amused.  She already has one gap in her fangs where a baby-tooth fell out and no adult tooth ever grew to replace it.  Fortunately, neither of the missing teeth are front ones.  There is no way that my partner can afford to see a dentist (even an NHS dentist), so the second gap must remain, along with the first.  I advised the girls to take their laughter outside, before my partner found out what they were laughing at.  They headed out the French windows and laughed at each other going to the toilet instead.  Mad.

It defeats me as to why these two otherwise intelligent young ladies should be finding everything so amusing at the moment - sometimes it seems as though the only time not spent giggling and laughing are the hours during which they are sleeping - and I'm not even convinced that at least one of them (inevitably Giz) doesn't give in to "sleep-chuckles".  It is the weather, perhaps, which continues humid and close.  Or possibly that the two girls have never been better friends than they are now.  Fully at ease in each others' company, there seems to be no end to the amount of mischief they can conjure out of thin air.  Gisèle is happy to share her toys with Betty in the house now, and they are simply impossible to separate when out for their walks together.  My partner does, on occasion, find their exuberance somewhat trying, particularly during the late heatwave, during which both girls tore around like little (not so little in Betty's case) Tasmanian Devils after each other until their energy was spent, then after a few moments' rest and a good bowlful (each) of water, off they would go again.  I don't know what's got into the pair of them.  Neither one is in Season.  It seems that their joy in each others' friendship is all-powerful.  There aren't even foul-mouthed grumblings over edible treats any more...  As a reward for their particularly good behaviour today, my partner is taking them out to their favourite local woods for their evening walk.

And this brings me onto a long-overdue introduction.  One of the shining stars of our recent past - The Gizmobile, or Little Green Corsa II!!  The New Teal Megane with its bedevilled windows died an horrendous death when the engine's head gasket finally gave up the ghost, necessitating repairs that would cost more than the car itself had been purchased for, several years ago.  Panic-stations set in - but, very fortunately, my partner's parents were able to assist with a timely loan.  Accompanied by Sandy (this Sandy) - who might be 92 but whose mind is as sharp as a tack and is very knowledgeable about engines and cars - my partner and her parents went to look at some locally-advertised prospective replacements.  Easily the best and most beautifully-maintained option was my partner's secretly-preferred one:  a Little Green Corsa.  For a reader who may not recall the earlier days of this blog, written during my lifetime (and fear not!  The entire archive is all here; ready for your perusal, beginning with my blogging debut on Sunday 13 August 2006), the chariot during our "glory years" was our Little Green Corsa - and now something of a renaissance is here, with the settling in of Giz and the acquisition of the new similar car (with a CD player - wahey!) to that in which my partner and I were most happy.

Me, happy in the original Little Green Corsa

 The ALL-NEW chariot.  If you look closely you might see two dusky young maidens modelling the interior...:

Happy days!