Long time no blog

Well first of all, sorry for not having blogged recently but due to circumstances beyond my control I have been unable to blog. Last week we had thunderstorms here in lovely Plymouth, which in our generosity we spread to the rest of the country. One of the lightning strikes hit my house and took out our phone line and our broadband, which then took out our main network server. Therefore I have not been able to get online to blog. This is now getting sorted out.
So, what’s been happening in green and fluffy Frances Land I hear you ask? Well, um, not a lot really.
Have spend most afternoons for the last 2 weeks in the centre of Plymouth, lying in the sun (when it is sunny) watching the tennis on the big screen that has been put up there, with Fi most of the time, but also KT, Nick and Rowena occasionally. Sometimes Owen sits with us at lunchtime, goes back to work in the afternoon and then comes back to find us still in the same seats as we were at lunchtime! I watched Tim Henman’s second round match there in the glorious sunshine, getting sunburnt and watching him lose, so my painful sunburn was in vain. Unfortunately I was watching it with Rowena who didn’t really understand the whole Henmania thing and I was getting really quite stressed as he was losing and all Ro was doing was laughing!
One of my best mates tried to kill herself the other day and I only heard about it when she was already in hospital. I can’t believe that I missed the signs. I spent most of Saturday night telling one of my other friends that we wouldn’t have been able to stop her even if we knew, and now I guess I’m just trying to convince myself of that. I knew she was down, but I didn’t know she was that down. I’m just glad that it didn’t succeed. The thing is only in January/February this year she was one of the people trying to stop me doing it!
Apart from that there really isn’t that much to say, life continues very much in the same way as always.

Fran/Frances

I am trying to come to terms with the recent discovery of my split personality. On the one hand there is the beer drinking, football loving, curry eating Fran who is very much one of the lads (or rather is always taken the mick out of by most lads I know). However, on the other hand there is the Frances who has to take her hair straighteners and hair spray away with her, even when she’s only going away for the weekend. This Frances also likes dressing up and having her hair done etc.
I can’t believe that I have become this person who has to take their straighteners and spray when they go away. How does this go with girl who drinks beer, eats curry and watches football?
More to the point – when and how did this happen?

Grand fiasco

Ok – as I didn’t watch it I cannot really comment on it. I only got to hear about it via friends. My dad is sending video footage of the events.
What am I talking about – well what else but the USA Grand Prix (or rather not the USA Grand Prix).
As I was on a train back from doing grand daughterly/ daughterly duties (it was my Grandpa’s 75th birthday so he was having a party in Leicester and as Sunday was Father’s day I was also nice to my dad) I was totally “out of the loop”. I was however getting texts from a mate who I met at a CU leaders conference a couple of years ago.
Anyway, she was keeping me informed of what was going on.
I have to admit that I was shocked and stunned, and slightly surprised that it actually went ahead. I am not however surprised that it was the Italian Team (you know who I’m talking about – and I only call them that because they are based in Italy) who rejected the proposed chicane which would have slowed them down enough for it to be safe for them to race.
The race its self was such a farce, and I’m not at all surprised that fans left and threw things at the drivers. However, they do have to remember that the safety of those 14 drivers was compromised due to faulty tyres, and therefore so was the safety of those 6 drivers that did actually race.
I just await with interest the fall out for the teams who pulled out.

Messy Children!

What is it with children and mess? I know what you’re thinking, children and mess go hand in hand! This week at school it has been Africa week so we have been making all sorts of stuff connected with Africa. Therefore, this morning when we were doing some wood block printing on some scarves I thought, I better put on my “painting shirt” as I don’t want my shirt to get messy. However, I had no protection on my lovely denim skirt, so naturally where do you think my lovely children got paint on me? That’s right – my skirt! Also, not forgetting that because we had put special glue in the paint to make it stick to the scarves, the teacher’s assistant in my year said it might not come out. Well, have already put it in the wash once, and it has come out quite a lot, but not fully, but hopefully another couple of washes and we should have a lovely – paint free – skirt!
It is not the first day this week that I have come home with a present on my trousers/skirt from my children! Yesterday I noticed at break time that there was some glue on my nice black trousers. When I noticed it the teacher said – was it a particular child, and actually yes it was as they had been waving the glue sticks around everywhere, including getting some in their hair!
At what age is it that we stop creating mess when doing arts and crafts and actually get paint/glue where we're meant to?

Lounging Trousers

Having read about this new concept ages on KT's blog, and having been over to Nick's (her boyfriend) flat on Sunday and seen her, and some of his flatmates wearing them, I decided to wear my lounging trousers toady. They are fantistic and very comfortable. I have decided that I ought to get a proper pair of them! You may wonder what lounging trousers are, well they are in fact pajamas.
Two of the girls in Nick's flat came up with this concept and when they get back to the flat put on said lounging trousers, and then when they go out put on proper trousers. Nick has said that he and some of the other guys are also going to purchase lounging trousers for next year, and they will be "the house of lounge!"

Compliment or no?

I know this is just me but when people say something like "oh you've lost a lot of weight" or something like that, I never know whether or not to take it as a compliment. I know it's meant to be, but to me sometimes it feels like people are saying, well you were fat but now, you're not quite so fat. I really don't know why I always think that, but I do. Maybe its because I have a thing about my weight and hate people taking about it and have done ever since I can remember. It's just one of those things I have to deal with.

Women's football

Ok, I cannot let it pass without commenting on it. The Women’s European Championship is taking place right now right here in sunny (at the moment, at least in Plymouth!) England. Now, I know that a lot of people are very sceptical about women’s football, and say its rubbish. To them I say, give these women a break, they aren’t professionals, women’s football is years behind the men’s game, these particular women have not been playing football since the age of 6 or 7, and have not had the same chances to improve their game as say, Wayne Rooney. Eniola Aluko, one of England’s strikers, is taking her A levels whilst at the same time being on international duty for her country, not forgetting that she studies in Birmingham and plays for Charlton. How can she possibly be playing football to the same standard as Rooney, who would not have had to worry about exams during Euro 2004, or have to travel up and down the country for training?
When the children at primary school now come through and are a bit old then I’m sure that women’s football will progress as all the children that want to are able to play football, so the girls will have been around football and playing for as long as their male counterparts.
Having said that however, they will need the same support and backing from the clubs as men get. Once the youth systems for men and women are equal then I’m sure that the women’s game will improve greatly.
What is so wrong with women playing football? Are men somehow threatened by women playing a sport, which has traditionally been seen as male? Well if that is the case, grow up! Women play football – fact. Deal with it!
Finally I say – Come on England, you can do it!

Heysel, May 29th 1985

If you didn’t know, May 29th was the 20th anniversary of probably the lowest day of Liverpool history. May 29th 1985 was the day when 39 football fans (mainly Juventus fans) died when a wall collapsed at the Heysel stadium in Belgium before the final of the European Cup, between Juventus and Liverpool. Having seen footage of it recently, I have no idea why the game was played at all after that happened. That is not the point however. The point is, we should take a moment and remember those 39 who never returned home, particularly Liverpool fans, as it was the Liverpool fans there that night who charged at the Juventus fans in the now infamous block z, after some missiles had been thrown by both sets of supporters, and as they fled, the Juventus fans trampled over their fellow supporters and suffocated them.

From rapture to despair!

Having watched Liverpool snatch victory from the jaws of defeat last week, and having seeing Kimi Raikkonen qualify in second for the European Grand Prix I sat down to watch the race on Sunday. As I support Kimi Raikkonen I was really happy for most of the race as he was leading, until the last 10 or so laps when I saw the state of this tyres, and saw that Alonso was catching him up and might overtake him. A little while later I then saw that Alonso was not catching him up quick enough for the amount of laps left, so I thought, ok, Kimi should win his third consecutive race. However, on the last lap his suspension let go and he went crashing out in a spectacular fashion! As James Allen (itv commentator) said, “for the second time this week I am physically shaking at the end of a sports event!” Why oh why do we do it to ourselves? Why do we, voluntarily, make ourselves emotional wrecks, for something which, at the end of the day, is only sport?

Motorway madness

I can understand traffic jams in towns and cities at traffic lights, roundabouts etc, but why and how do you get them on motorways (apart from an accident when the road is blocked or road works when there are speed restrictions and lane closures). Why do you get traffic jams due to “heavy traffic”, surely there must be something at the front of this queue of traffic, or am I just being thick? (please don’t answer that!) Going back “up country” to visit the parental units on Friday I was crawling on the M5 for what seemed no apparent reason, apart from the amount of traffic, but where did it begin? Someone somewhere must just decide, “ ah, I must drive really slowly, because I can! Then motorway traffic jams will be achieved mwhaaaaaa!” It just really puzzles and annoys me. Anyone got any answers?