Here's my hot tip for today. Google your service providers before you pay them a retainer. Sometimes you might find something interesting. Like an article about your solicitor on a national news site. One where it details his alleged use of a Lesbian porn website called "Hot young girls with suntanned skin going at it" (hmm catchy) and the fact that he narrowly escaped being disciplined by the law society on a technicality and has been swearing in court and throwing documents about and that judges have variously referred to him as "incompetent" and blatantly stated that he has no credibility amongst other gems. This wasn't on a user reviewed website where anyone can write anything, but a newspaper with quotes from actual judges and magistrates. Hmm, no wonder we hadn't had much progress on our cases... One of our previous solicitors was being investigated because she took funds from a trust fund for some post baby plastic surgery and to buy a new boat. We just don't have much luck with solicitors!
Keeping things to a Dull Roar at our house at the moment involves lots of finger food in front of the TV for dinner as I keep having prolonged bouts of non productive contractions (Hello pre-labour! Aren't you just the thing?) and keep trying to plan for bubby's arrival which seems like it is never coming- I am not overdue yet- just worn out from so many nights and days of pains. I know labour will probably be fast but my last labour was 1.5 hours and I didn't need so much warm-up!
It's raining now so no walking. I think I will give myself a break and go fill the house with convenience foods (hopefully keep the costs down and the convenience and actual food up!) so the family has something eat if I ever go in to hospital or for the evening when I am huffing my way through more painful non-productive contractions.
At least finding out about the solicitor has given me a much needed belly laugh for the day!
Here's a picture my dear husband took of me last night because he seems to love taking pictures of me when I am heavily pregnant and having contraction pain- I am getting quite a collection being on my third pregnancy. I am not sure what he likes about them but this one captures the whole feel of the moment I must say.
It's a funny point in my life right now I am in the dreaded waiting place, do you know the Dr Seuss story Oh the places You'll Go? If you don't you must read it- it is wonderful and it mentions the waiting place:
... a most useless place.
The Waiting Place...
...for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or the waiting around for a Yes or No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.
Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for the wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting.
And that's a bit how I am at present. With two weeks to go until baby's estimated due date and nigh on six weeks of pre-labour symptoms behind me I am just waiting, interpreting every little niggle as a sign of impending labour, packing and repacking my hospital bags and being generally grouchy and teary.
The garden is in the awkward waiting place too. Stuck between Winter and Spring in the hungry gap the daffodils aren't blooming yet, the Purple sprouting broccoli is coming along but it takes as long to grow as a baby does to gestate (it really does!) The weather is bravely Sunny in enthusiastic spurts and the early Spring blossom is about to get our hopes up but the hills are snow-capped and it is still cold.
We have big developments in the pipeline and after many months of grindingly slow progress with paperwork and accountants we should be getting some definitive answers we can use to make some big decisions with but until later this week we are still just waiting...
We are an impatient pro-active family and being stuck in limbo, in the Waiting Place is quite torturous!
So it is time for me to confess something that has come into sharp relief for me and I feel I need to get off my chest. I can't grow radishes. I keep trying, year after year, different soils, different varieties different times of year but they either never fill out or bolt immediately. given that radishes are supposed to be the ultimate starter absolute beginner vegetable it is really undermining my confidence as an urban homesteader. Worse still the damn jolly little rubicund orbs are my number one pregnancy craving and I must have them so I can be seen at the local farmer's market rain, hail or shine buying bunches of cherry belles and french breakfasts (I only like red roundish ones by the way) and stuffing them into my face on the drive home. Really.
Last night I was watching River Cottage with the boys (who take it very seriously and hang on HFWs every word) and watching him positively gloat about how he had timed his poly tunnel radishes perfectly so they were finishing cropping just as the outdoor ones were ready for harvest with great armfuls of French breakfasts he crows about the crunchiness and how he thinks they will taste with fresh goats cheese. Smug bastard. WELL I AM VERY JOLLY HAPPY FOR YOU HUGH!!! NOT ALL OF US CAN GROW THE DAMN THINGS.
So there we have it. I am nearly constantly tormented by my lack of growing prowess at the moment and the lack of radishes plays sorely on my mind (mushrooms are another craving and "easy" vegetable I can never smegging get going). By the way, pregnancy progresses well, just a few more weeks and we will have a new member of the family, I am good at babies...it's radishes I have the problem with!
