Deb's Digest

Friday, 19 October 2007

Our younger son (Innocent Drinks) has been searching for a flat that he can afford to buy in London. It became more difficult when he moved to Hamburg for four months with his job so to help him out we drove to London and looked round ten flats on his shortlist - this was more difficult than it might sound because we did it in a day - driiving through London traffic, parking on London streets, racing from one tube to another and then legging it between addresses. What it proved to us was that yes, he could afford something but that something was basically a room - in one case a room 11ft by 10ft - to live, sleep and cook in.

However, one flat he's liked all along looked good and "had potential" as they like to say on TV property programmes. They've accepted his offer so now we're trying to sort a mortgage/survey and finances out between London and Hamburg from our home on Merseyside - thank God for the internet.

Nice but small......
The artist son was asked to create two pieces for the launch of the new Adidas shop in Liverpool. Let's hope a Liverpool footballer likes them and commissions a few for the walls of his mansion.

Tuesday, 9 October 2007

The Innocent Drinks son was home from Hamburg at the weekend. We had traditional English fayre - fish, chips and mushy peas; roast beef and Yorkshire puddings followed by bread and butter pudding and I made sure he downed plenty of vitamin and omega 3 tablets. When he flew back on Sunday night his case was full of washed and ironed clothes which made me feel a lot better if a little tired!

I went to a Horticultural Society Trophy evening the other night, to collect my award for cake and jam in the summer show. I was thrilled to discover that they'd engraved my name on the trophy. As I was leaving with it someone called me back to take a note of my phone number and post code - they obviously weren't taking any chances!

I've often thought that I was living with Victor Meldrew. Now I know it's true. I'd told my husband that the bulb in the outside lantern needed replacing. I was pleased with him because I'd only had to ask twice. We went to see the firework championships with both sons in the car on Saturday night and as we reversed out of the driveway, they were completely doubled up with hysterical laughter, unable even to speak to say what was so funny. Then I saw the lantern. From somewhere - and I know not where - their dad had found a tangerine electric fire light bulb and put it in my antique lantern. I think he does these things so that next time I'll do the job myself.

Thursday, 4 October 2007

We went to see Beauty and the Beast at the Liverpool Empire yesterday afternoon. I'd booked tickets months ago fearing that otherwise, I wouldn't get decent seats - I should have known better. The place was empty. The cast were probably grateful for that because in the show's final seconds, when Beauty kissed the Beast and we were holding our breaths for a happy ending, the safety curtain suddenly came down and a voice announced that there had been a technical hitch - anti-climax or what!

After five minutes of twiddling our thumbs the curtain went up and we saw the Beast being winched up by a pulley and doing mid-air somersaults until eventually, like a contortionist he managed to get his Beast mask ripped off. I was a bag of nerves by this time and felt sure he'd plummet to the stage floor and be killed.

Then we raced home for the Liverpool match, which our daughter assured us started at 6pm. In fact it was 8pm, and then they lost, so a bit of a fruitless day all in all.

The Innocent son is home tomorrow from Hamburg. I honestly don't know how he's coping - strange country, foreign language, dossing down in a hotel, looking for a flat in Germany and looking for a flat in London. All stressful situations in their own right - but lump them all together!

We've booked a flight to visit him in Hamburg in November - too early for the Christmas markets I think but looking forward to it none-the-less.

Sunday, 30 September 2007

It's our daughter-in-law's birthday today and yesterday she held a 'Quaint and Cravat' party - I wasn't sure what that was but it didn't matter because tiaras lay in wait for us! I have to say I enjoyed my afternoon looking like Lady Muck. Actually, as my husband (aka Richard) opened the door of the car for me while sporting a cravat, I felt more like Hyacinth Bucket.

Wednesday, 26 September 2007

We,ve just been soaking up some brain cells in Cambridge. We had three days of lectures and tours for the alumni weekend and we gate crash every year using the second son's name. It was wonderful. We (or should I say I - since I caught my other half's head nodding lower and lower) learned about Renaissance architecture and music in Venice and there wasn't a dry eye in the lecture theatre when a sample of singing from St John's College Choir was played as they sang in a small hospital chapel on a Venetian island. We heard a debate between Sir Peter Hall, Sir Trevor Nunn and Julian Pettifer about Shakespeare at Cambridge; we were shown onto the T.B. balcony (where all the beds were pushed) of the Judge Business School which used to be Addenbrooke's Hospital and we heard Zadok The Priest sung in the magnificent Kings College Chapel.

We went along to the artist son's Masters Degree exhibition the other night. He found out on the night that he's got a distinction - so we're all thrilled and we're now looking forward to yet another graduation ceremony. We never ceased to be amazed by our clever children - especially since neither of us even went to university.

Our daughter starts her Masters Degree this week and she's moved back home for the year. I thought I'd got rid of all that extra washing, ironing and cooking - but I suppose I'm secretly enjoying being useful again.

The London son is now living in a Hamburg hotel room and trying to understand and speak German. The Innocent Drinks newsletter claimed that his favourite word is Guinea Pig (in German). It's his birthday today and last Friday while in Cambridge I posted a birthday cake to him - as luck would have it it arrived today and I've just received this photo - talk about the wonders of modern technology!

Monday, 17 September 2007

The younger son has just returned from Sicily with a healthy tan. He stayed in the Art Hotel and moved to a different room each night - apparently every room is designed to reflect the work of a modern Italian artist. They looked a bit too abstract and bare for my liking but he said he can recommend it.

one of the arty rooms

No sooner had he landed in this country than it was time to set off for his work-based sojourn in Hamburg. But he'll be jetting back next weekend to meet us for Sunday lunch in Cambridge - more about that anon.

Our daughter meanwhile is now back from a whirlwind tour of New York - she fitted so much in - The Lion King, a baseball match, the Open Tennis at Flushing Meadow plus journeys up and down the highest buildings she could find - that it's difficult to believe she was only there for a week.

The artist son has been working on the exhibition for his Masters degree and at the same time doing illustrations for a Dubai magazine.

He's also been working on his new studio which to me now looks as cluttered as it did in its former life as a garage.

Tuesday, 4 September 2007

Our daughter is in New York with a friend. We left them to their own devices when they booked online. The consequence of that was that their plane from Manchester went East to Amsterdam before setting off West for the Big Apple. A journey that would normally take seven or so hours took 13. They rolled up at their hotel/hostel at 10pm only to be told there was no reservation. Our daughter called Expedia - the company they'd booked through - and they had no record of the booking. Fortunately my husband had asked her as she hurried out of the door with her suitcase if she had the confirmation print-off, and fortunately the hotel/hostel did have a spare room. They said that this happened frequently with Expedia bookings. Although the London son says that he has booked through Expedia on many occasions without a hitch and blames his sister 100%

Talking about the London son, he was home to dump the contents of his flat before going to work in Hamburg for three months and brought the Innocent Cow Car, complete with pink lips, long eyelashes, tail and udder. It was fascinating watching people's reactions as they walked past.