Wednesday 14 March 2012

Midweek filler

Typing blog posts on my phone is not something I enjoy, but I have no choice.
Liam has reclaimed his netbook, he's well into social networking now.

I'm lying in bed with cold feet and a  bloated belly from binge eating. I'm from the John Prescott school of eating disorders.

Along with my mum, I looked after my niece and nephew today. I returned to a mother and toddler group I thought I'd left behind 2 years ago. Margaret, 80, was still there. Margaret is a no-nonsense sort of lady, efficient and thorough. If you forget to pay your £1, cor blimey, you can guarantee she won't forget.
Tea is served in bone china cups with saucers. One gulp and I've finished.
Cath runs the group, her husband is a parson (is that the right word? He takes services at the Chapel. Too fiddly to Google it using phone mid blog post).
Cath used to teach maths at my high school. I hate mathematics, hurts my brain and makes me feel inadequate.

I was treated to 40 minute run down of all the activity I've missed over two years, including the lead being stolen, twice, from the roof.
I felt I'd never been away.

A new pensioner had joined the throng of helpers. I didn't catch her name. I'd say she was in her 70's, and that sartorial elegance is not something she is known for. Jade green jacket (short sleeved, gold buttons, mock breast pocket with floral trim), floral skirt which skirted mid-calf, white socks pulled up, revealing about an inch of blueish hairy-skinned leg. White trainers.
I was transfixed, she's quite a character - chasing the toddlers, singing and clapping very loudly and suddenly, darting about like a lead theif.
Babies, toddlers, young mums, older mums, grandparents and great-grandparents. All sat together.
I really panicked when I thought how quickly the time could pass between now and me being one of the grandmothers.

And how soon I could be sporting an "I don't give a shit" outfit.

Then it dawned on me.
Nothing is going to change!

Out of interest:
What was your favourite job?

20 comments:

  1. I've escaped playgroup by saying I was going to move to the other side of London. That's since fallen through of course, but I erm, haven't gone back. It's quite liberating. Mind you, I was there as a mum and a helper, and my youngest is at nursery now. I often don't shave my legs, but was always careful to keep them hidden under my 'ok to be covered in paint, or worse snot, playgroup jeans'.

    My job at Random House was good for the free books. Although the work itself was quite stressful and low paid. Fave was probably when I worked in a sandwich bar in Bristol as a student. Ageing criminal boss, cash in hand, free sandwiches, radio all day, surprising popularity with the boys. (it's true what they say about men and their stomachs)

    x

    ***To those I follow and who follow me - is my blog appearing on your dashboard? Blogger appears to be losing some blogs I follow!**

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  2. Being child-free I'm yet to experience playgroup from the parental perspective - I just remember being pre-school age and getting excited about sports biscuits (you know those ones with the pictures of people swimming, running, playing football) and a cup of milk in a plastic beaker halfway through. I always thought the place smelt like cheese too!

    Favourite job? Got to go with Lakota on this one and say it was food related - waitressed for 3-4 years through school at a local tearoom. Plentiful tips, worked with one of my best friends and there was always cake to take home at the end of the day. Close second would be the book shop - almost bliss :-)

    Jem xXx

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  3. For some reson all I could think of with those elderly helpers was the CRB checks. My favourite job is the one I’ve got now - retiree!

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  4. Oh how I can relate to that eating disorder and I've been baking lately. That sounds like some afternoon :) I don't ever wanna look like one of those old ladies. Please. No. Never.

    My favorite job ever was running a lil sex shop downtown while in college. Potions & Lotions It was a blast, it was crazy at times even a lil scary but what an adventure it was working there.

    XOXO~
    Krista

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  5. Fave job, working as a stewardess at a casino. Soooo much fun. Astronomical tips. Probably the only time in my life I've let my hair down. So far. I will of course return to those crazy days when I'm one of those grannies you write (with such lovely humour and your usual eloquence) about.
    x

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  6. Mmmm. When I worked in a marketing department 10 years ago - I cannot believe it was that long ago it seems like last year in my mind. I was a lowly PA doing all the grunt work but there were huge perks....one being I controlled our sample room and it was very large and filled with the entire range of products we sold, including branded shampoos, conditioners, shower gels, body lotions, deodorants, hand cream, foot cream, face wash, household cleaners, over-the-counter medicines..all sorts of stuff like that. So I got loads and loads of freebies.

    Also, we did interesting things like going to the advert shoots for TV, and attending fabulous conferences, and sitting in on brainstorming sessions, and marketing research sessions..honestly it was fascinating. And very glamorous job, in a way.

    The things I leaned about advertising and how companies manipulate people into buying things they do not need...mind boggling!

    I started doing an evening degree course in marketing as a result, because I wanted to climb the corporate ladder..but sadly, being a single mum with two toddlers, no ex-husband nearby to help out, and having a full time job, put paid to that. I had to pack it in from sheer exhaustion.

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  7. my favourite job was working in a family owned cinema in the evenings (i worked in a bookshop during the day). I sold sweets and drinks and chatted to the owner for the first couple of hours and then i got popcorn and an apple tango and was paid to watch the film sitting in a special chair at the back and tell kids off if they were too noisy...

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  8. Fave job has to have been when I had a market stall in Newport Market in the 1980's flogging old shmutter and things I'd made. Bliss.
    xxxx

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  9. I don't have a favourite job, they've all been lowly but essential and not terribly interesting. My favourite occupation now though is writing. It's not exactly a job but I may get paid for what I'm doing some day...

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  10. Hello Lucy:
    This all sounds too too frightening for words. We are even scared reading this, let alone in any way participating and can so easily imagine the scene right down to the 'one gulp' china cups and saucers and the conversation rotating around the stolen lead from the church roof. If this is being ageist, then we stand, in our near dotage ourselves, accused?!!

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  11. That pensioner's outfit sounds exactly like the way a lady who regularly walks past our house dresses, one half of me commends her "don't give a shit" attitude and the other half makes me want to take her arm and drag her into the nearest charity shop for a Vix-style makeover.
    Best job? I'm always been a slacker and memories of the corporate career I once found myself forced into still make me wake at night in a cold sweat. I'd have to go for life model at an art college, where I'd get paid to get my kit off and be the centre of attention. xxx

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  12. PS I've just tagged you on my blog. Play along if you fancy. x

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  13. Play groups, mothe and baby groups, etc - what a minefield they can be...
    That pensioners legs sound a bit like mine.
    You are a LONG way off being one of them, Lucy, don't panic!
    Best job? Still waiting, may never find it. I like the chat best, the actual WORK... nah, not so much! xxxxx

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  14. Thinking about writing about it sounds like the best way to get through this - and other things. I don't think I've found my dream job yet, though I quite fancy being an opinionated columnist: like a paid blogger. What about your favourite job, Lucy?

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  15. My favourte job was when I ran a bar at the National Eisteddfod and spent two weeks drinking beer, listening to customers tell me why people from N or S Wales were the scum of the earth - gogs vs hwntws. There was a fight ever night. But I enjoyed it because I felt like some United Nations peacekeeper and I didn't have to buy a drink for a fortnight.

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  16. Good work! I am buggered if I can write a sentence on a phone, let alone a cohesive blog listing with no spelling mistakes! Snaps for you, girl!.

    My favourite job, apart from what I am doing now, was working for a fashion designer in Sydney when I was 18. My girlfriends and I visited for a week and stayed 10 years! I had no idea, I was such a rube. I got the job, the first day, only interview, with a designer on the basis that I could take risks and I was Croatian. I didn't realise then that she was the trendiest designer in Sydney/Aust. I thought she was naff 'cos I was a Mod! Ah those were the days!

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  17. I shudder at the "playgroup" thing - ive only been twice and i vow never to go back - terrifying!
    My fave job was working at Lush - brilliant bunch of people, great product and refreshing to work for a company that doesnt care if you do fit into the "norm" look for their shop floor :o) Scarlett x

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  18. What nightmare! poor you.
    that is so mean.. what a biatch!
    Mine is too needy and cry baby and I cant handle not speaking my mind comfortably, but I still love her.
    I'm have sorta of a love/hate with people.
    I never had a favorite job ,but I did enjoy working for beauty salon cause I learn so much from them.

    besios

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  19. Hello there,
    How I have missed your take on life. When my son starts school in September I shall leave the local church toddler group that I have attended for six years. It will be a real rench although its such an odd enviroment and I often feel like 'billy no mates' Mum as I struggle with my inability to do small talk. Weird! My fav job was definalty caring for oldies in the community for four years. I loved the tea and chat as I dipped in and out of their lives. The passing of that generation will be a loss to us all. Hope your doing ok, Kat x

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Sorry I am having to filter comments at the moment