#SilentSunday - Crying Graffiti

(and if someone can tell me why blogger has suddenly decide to rotate my picture round 90 degrees , I would be grateful..argh!)

Scaredy Cat, Scaredy Cat, part 2

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(This is the post I had originally intended to write when I completely digressed and turned the post into one about my own fears and the tales of Gainsborough Old Hall. (Oops, it turned into a post about me, me, me again, didn't it?!))

DD1 (soon to be 6) is scared of the dark. This is immensely ironic as she was one of those babies that could not sleep unless the room was so pitch black that it was impossible to tell which part of the room you were standing in. 

Not only is she afraid of the dark, but this fear appears to be getting worse - it is also starting to apply to a slightly dim light, and it is also starting to manifest itself in the house when the lights are on. No longer is she happy to go to the toilet on her own past a certain time of the day. I practically have to hold her hand at all times. Bedtimes only work as she shares a room with her sister, and with the landing light on and the door "wide open - as wide as it will go". 

I understand more than anyone this irrational fear - I struggled with it for long enough myself as a child. However, I can pinpoint the start of my fears to a specific time and a specific event. DD1's fear seems to have crept up on us with no discernible trigger. 

Am I destined to accompany her everywhere once the lights go out? Will I be spending a fortune on nightlights for every room?

___

*Must buy DD1 this book, such a lovely story!

Scaredy Cat, Scaredy Cat - part 1

I was a bit of a scaredy cat as a child. Frightened of all sorts of things that now seem completely irrational. My biggest fear for a long time, however, was a general fear of the dark, and ghosts and ghouls (I still can't watch horror films to this day!).

I can distinctly remember what first caused it in me; some friends of my parents lived (and still live) in Lincolnshire. The lady of the house (J) was a blue badge tourist guide for the county, and visiting them was always a fascinating insider's guide to the county's landmarks. One day, we went to visit Gainsborough Old Hall, a medieval English Heritage property with an imposing tower.

On the trip there, J recounted the story of the ghost of Gainsborough Old Hall - the Grey Lady. She was, apparently, the daughter of a local nobleman who had fallen in love with a farm worker and was subsequently locked up in the Hall by her father, where she was apparently driven to suicide. Since then, her ghost has been seen wandering the corridors, and doing that clever ghosty trick of walking through walls. There are also tales of another young lady that has been seen there, and a quick google search reveals an article in the local paper from 2008 that shows the appearance of a mysterious orb .

Suffice to say, being young and easily frightened, by the time we reached the property, I had a severe case of the heebie-jeebies. This was not helped by a sign in the "haunted" corridor recounting the story again in some detail, with a helpful sketch of what the Grey Lady might look like were to encounter her. (Perhaps unsurprisingly; grey and ghost like).

For years afterwards - well into my teens - the story of the Grey Lady stayed with me. More than anything, it was the one thing that convinced me at the time that ghosts were real. More than anything it was the one thing that made me sick with fright if I had to go to the toilet at night.

These days of course, I am way too old and cynical to believe in any of that nonsense. Every now and then, however, I still hesitate in a dimly-lit corridor...

I ♥ Me - The Valentine's Edition

I'm very much a Bah Humbug sort of person when it comes to Valentine's Day. Maybe it's the combination of being an old married cynic for too long, or maybe it's the trauma of splitting up with a boyfriend on Valentine's Day when he chose A Question of Sport over a night with me, who knows. Either way, I'm generally to be found muttering about how I hate the commercial nature of it, and how if you need someone to tell you to be romantic, you're on a downward spiral...

(Case in point - Mr B and I popped into the supermarket on Saturday to pick up some bits and pieces. As we walked past the rows of red roses, he asked: "Want me to buy you some flowers?" My retort: "Nah, I would much rather you bought me some spontaneously" To which he replied: "But that was spontaneous! You can't get more spontaneous than that!!" See what the poor man has to put up with?)

Anyway, I am prepared to make an exception to my anti-Valentine's Day stance for the lovely Notes and her I ♥ Me Linky. Let's face it, I was hardly going to turn down this week's challenge was I - namely some fantasy shopping! Notes has challenged us to do:


"Window shopping on the internet. What would you buy yourself for Valentine’s Day. Spend as much as you like, buy what you want."

Well, she didn't have to tell me twice...

I thought I would start with some "traditional" Valentine's gifts, for despite what I may say, you can't go wrong with flowers and champagne:

Not red roses - too clichéd - but something more individual, a little bit different, and from a good florists!

So, as I am warming up to this idea, we'll stick with the tried and tested - a set of diamond studs. The biggest and best diamonds that money can buy, of course! Much as I would love a pair in real life, I do have too much of a habit of losing earrings to ever realistically warrant buying a pair...

Next, bags and shoes - I've mentioned before my obsession with the Mulberry Alexa. I'm afraid until I get this bag all other bags are ruined for me:

Let's throw in a pair of heels for good measure - something fun, something hideously expensive - just love these metallic snakeskin Gucci beauties:

..and finally, as I do like my homewares, and my home could do with some loving too - some beautiful new lighting so I can see my new purchases!

Heal's

See, I'm a simple woman really...

#SilentSunday - So That's Where The Moose Are Kept!

The Gallery - 24 Hours

This post is part of The Gallery, hosted by Tara Cain. This week's theme is "24 Hours". 

The following photos represent a very typical weekend for me:*

Click on the badge to go to Tara's blog to see what everyone else has posted!

*this may be a lie

I Heart Me, Week 5 - How Do You Blog?

This post is for Notes' weekly "I Heart Me" Linky. This week's question is "How Do You Blog"? Click on the image below to see what everyone else has linked up:

It is probably painfully clear to anyone that has been following this blog for a while that I am not the most consistent of bloggers. Phases of great enthusiasm follow deep troughs of apathy. Life is often busy enough - I simply don't have the time, or perhaps the discipline or inclination to blog it as well! (Last week's question being a case in point - simply didn't get round to it, sorry Notes!)

To me that is ok - the last thing I want is for blogging to become a chore - there seems very little point in putting something up half-heartedly for the sake of it. By definition then, blogging is something snatched and random - a moment when I have a few minutes to think, either when the kids are watching some TV, or in my lunch break at work.

Some posts will have been brewing for a while, whereas others are spontaneous and written down in seconds flat (and usually tagged with "rushed post" in the hope that anyone reading might forgive its slightly more rough and ready nature!). Some posts will have a very defined purpose, a point I wish to make - more often than not, however, they end in a random, meandering sort of wondering as my mind flits on to the next subject...