Things I've been doing instead of blogging

It's been awfully quiet around here. I wonder if this "energy" thing might be the death of the blog?

Things I've been doing instead of blogging:

Crash & I went to Singapore for a wedding. It was a lovely ad-hoc hybrid of Western & Chinese tradition. They read this poem:

‘I’ll be there’ – Louise Cuddon
I’ll be there, my darling,
Through thick and through thin
When your mind is a mess
When your head’s in a spin
When your plane’s been delayed
When you’ve missed the last train
When life is just threatening
To drive you insane
When your thrilling whodunit
Has lost its last page
When somebody tells you
You’re looking your age
When your coffee’s too cool
And your wine too warm
When the forecast said ‘Fine’
But you’re out in a storm
When you ordered the Korma
But got the Madras
When you wake in the night
And are sure you smell gas
When your quick-break hotel
Is more like a slum
And your holiday photos
Show only your thumb
When you park for five minutes
In a resident’s bay
And return to discover
You’ve been towed away
When the jeans that you bought
In hope or in haste
Stick on your hips
And won’t reach around your waist
When the dentist looks into
Your mouth and just sighs
When your heroes turn out
To be wimps in disguise
When the food that you most like
Brings you out in red rashes
When as soon as you boot up
The bloody thing crashes
When you’re in extra time
And the other team scores
When someone informs you
There’s no Santa Claus
When you gaze at the stars
And step on a nail
When you know you’ll succeed
But, somehow, you fail
When your horoscope tells you
You’ll have a good day
So you ask for a rise
And your boss says ‘No way’
So my darling, my sweetheart, my dear….
When you spill your beer
When you shed a tear
When you burn the toast
When you miss the post
When you lose the plot
When I’m all you’ve got
When you break a rule
When you act the fool
When you’ve got the flu
When you’re in a stew
When you’re last in the queue
Don’t feel blue
‘Cause I’m telling you
I’ll be there
I’ll be there
I’ll be there for you.

It made me giggle, but not as much as the woman sitting next to me when the 80yr old celebrant started lecturing us on the Singaporean "Women's Charter". She moved to Singapore as a de-facto mother and was regarded as a scourge on society who needed to be expelled until she relented and married her partner, at which point she became an upstanding, valuable member of society. Marriage changes people, I guess.

But the night was excellent, 9 courses (although I declined the shark fin soup), great wine and a fab band. We bailed somewhere between 2 and 3am. We were pikers.

BTW, the dress I wore looked like this:

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We bought an upright freezer, because one upside down fridge for a family of five is just inadequate (#firstworldproblems, in Twitter parlance). I really want to be able to cook more efficiently - less waste, more bulk cooking, more bulk buying. And I'd really just like to be able to keep a few loaves of bread in the freezer and still have room for frozen peas. Unfortunately, the house was never designed for a second refrigeration device, so the only possible option was the laundry. Further, there was nowhere in the laundry to put it, so the laundry cupboard had to go, and the laundry tub needed to be moved, the shelves needed to be shortened. A fun job all round. But today it arrived! I played filled the freezer this afternoon and it looks so empty! I'm irrationally pleased with this acquisition. (We bought a one of these, in case you are incurably curious)

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Elissa reminded me how irregular English is, when she explained that she "wiped [her] hands on my clo" - "clo" clearly being the singular of "clothes".

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The air conditioner broke, and when we called the maintenance company (after they got back from 2 weeks' holiday) they were terribly indignant that we wanted a service appointment - it's their busiest time of year, doncha know? We found an independent guy who came the same day. He hasn't fixed it because he needs to order a part, but at least we're getting somewhere.

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The boiler and chiller in the kitchen ceased chilling. I mention this only to explain the feeling I have of the house falling down around me.

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The house fell down on Crash today. Well, at the least the little bit of it he had put up about 15mins earlier. He was sure he'd managed to hit at least one stud. The cut isn't too big, and his pupils are the same size, so I'm pretty sure he'll be ok.