Countdown.....

The house looks so bleak without the Christmas decorations. Talk about 'Bleak house', I think the series must have been set here. The only thing cheering it up right now is the sight and sounds of The Boss which I am playing very loudly on music DVD. Even Ali loves him now (indoctrination - I am sure she will need therapy later in life for being forced to listen to The Boss as a child!).

The driveway is like an ice sheet again. I am convinced I will have another knackered ankle before the week is out. No summer and now arctic winter temperatures lasting for months. When D's friends arrive Saturday visiting from NZ (where it is the height of summer!) they will think they have over-shot us by a few thousand miles and hit Russia. I think extra heaters may be required!

It must be about my 'now' age when you start to dread birthdays, because for the first time I am not looking forward to mine. As tomorrow draws nearer I am experiencing and ever impending feeling of doom and want to curl up in a ball in bed with my electric blanket on and hide until it is all over! There is a little twinkle in me that would still love to go out and party - but I think I would have to get blind drunk to endure the pain of it all! Now I'm a quarter, possibly a third, of the way into my life. That in turn translates as only three quarters to two thirds of it is left? Better get started on my list of things to do before I die! Scary!

Having put Ali to bed this evening I settled down to watch 'Top Gun' as I have never seen it all the way through before - I know, apparently this is a crime - and within an hour and a half she was crying and shouting. I rushed upstairs thinking she must have fallen out of bed and hurt herself, but when I got to her she was stood at the bottom of the bed, she had thrown back her bed covers, wrapped them around the bed post and the foot of the bed, and was pulling on them repeating the words 'I just want to help you, I just want to help you mummy'. When I said I was here and ushered her to get back into bed, she went without saying anything. Strange would be considered and understatement I think. Now utterly panicked that Ali is going to be a 'sleep-walker', I have locked and bolted every door/window I can find.

So...I am asking D if I can have one of my birthday presents early..........tune in again to find out if he said yes!