Friday 4 January 2008

No more Mrs Mardy Pants

I've been having a wander round various blogs reading about what people have achieved over the last year and what their plans are for this year. Quite inspirational really. So I thought instead of being Mrs Yah Boo I've Got To Go Back To The UK Mardy Pants I would have a look back over what we've done this year that we never did before and maybe make some New Year resolutions that I can kick myself later for not achieving (oops Mardy Pants keeps raising her head bear with me while I give her a quick slap)

1) I have achieved my long held dream of sleeping till I wake up for nine whole months. This means not getting up at 6am in the dark and dragging the poor dog off for a walk in pissy cold wet rain before joining in the wacky races on the M62 to get to a job that sucks my soul away and saps my will to live (Ok it might not of been that bad but you know what I mean).

2) You might not of noticed. I know I hardly ever mention them but we have chickens. How did we ever manage without them? No more wondering if the eggs I'm buying are really free range and what sort of conditions the chickens were kept in. Plus they are a joy to watch. Unless you are watching them digging up someone else's garden that is and they talk to you and hum and make happy chicken noises. The eggs are almost a bonus. Lovely fresh eggs to make as much custard as you can eat with some to spare to give to friends and neighbours (eggs that is not custard).

3) Kind of leads me on to I made custard! Real custard not from a packet and jam and chutney and soup. Whole meals even from stuff I had to hand. From scratch.

4) And of course we grew food like potatoes and beans and peas and sweetcorn and salad and carrots and onions and cucumbers. I got past wondering if everything might have a maggot in it and not really be up to the standard of something grown by professionals and discovered that vegetables taste really really good when they are really really fresh and you've nurtured them and anticipated eating them for weeks and weeks. So much so that cooking them is fun and satisfying and rewarding. I've felt the soil in the garden warm up as Spring moved into Summer and I've actually been affected by what the weather is doing rather than just inconvenienced.

5) We've built internal walls in the house ( that very nearly reach the ceiling and will do if we ever finish them), plumbed pipes, fitted sinks and a toilet and a shower. We've discovered that a perfect looking house is not nearly as important when you're not compensating for not having control over other areas of your life. Although a scruffy shack can still be quite embarrassing especially when it looks the same as it did when someone called in months ago.

6) We've lived in a foreign country

Six of the best is enough to give you the flavour I think. So looking forward I will:-

1) Stop sulking because I am luckier than lots of folks

2) Learn more French

3) Grow more food

4) Cook and eat it with the respect it deserves.

5) Repay some of the hospitality and favours of the wonderful people we have gotten to know this year

6) Oh I don't know. I'm sure the list will be up to 60 by the end of the week

14 comments:

softinthehead said...

Not sure which alter ego I prefer yet, Psycho Wife (phew that took up a few brain cells in the spelling department) or Mrs Mardy Pants. I hope we will meet more as time goes on. Of course Mrs Tweedy was also a favourite. What will she get up to in the UK.

Imperatrix said...

That's a great list for things done in 2007, and your 2008 list seems eminently do-able.

Cheers!

Anonymous said...

the one think you ve missed in the list of achievements

HAPPINESS

yours martin

Anonymous said...

blog when back in leeds will read
wake up
go to work
watch t v
go to bed

just kidding

yours martin

Breezy said...

SITH Psycho Wife is down the road I don't think anyone is ready for her! I'm managing to shake off Mrs Tweedy now they've stopped escaping for a while Who knows who I may become though

Imperatrix I do have a tendancy to set the bar low and still fail to hit it due to going off chasing other bars that I didn't think up yet

Martin Happiness true enough. The Leeds blog is the one I fear coming true though. Although it might also include read book. I may try for got up won lottery went back to France

aims said...

oh Breezy! It sounds like bliss!!

I love renovating - have been doing that for 13 years now on this old barn - and I love it! I love looking at the results and thinking - I did that!

I think your new found respect for food is very admirable - and I envy your ability to stick with it. I just don't do gardening...something to do with this bad back.

You sound like you've found your home - and that is where you heart truly is.

Anonymous said...

if its read a book best bring it with you ( as i only have a well thumbed copy of skinhead escapes) as you know Leeds is a culture free zone

yours Martin

Breezy said...

Aims I thought I loved renovating but I've discovered I prefer gardening at least when the weather is fine and food is the end result. There is nothing like grazing in the garden there is somehow more food in fresh homegrown food perhaps because it feeds the soul as well

Martin I will be going round the charity shop and buying many many books to clutter up your new house

Debra in France said...

Hiya, You have had a brilliant year, and achieved so much. If your alter ego is Mrs Mardy Pants, what is TS's one?

I love the fact that you live 2 doors down, with only strange other-side neighbour between us.

2008 will be even better for us all, but, will you still want to know us when you win the lottery?

Jen said...

Crumbs, what you say about not having to compensate about not being in control of life is sooo true.

Sleeping till you wake up is quite an achievement. It'll be interesting to see what you make of being back in Blighty.

Let me know if you need a chicken-sitter!

x

Unknown said...

Work in the UK with a smile on your face. When people ask you why you're smiling, you can tell 'em. "Why, it's because being here now will allow me to live as I want to for nine sun-kissed months!"

Breezy said...

Debra of course I'll still talk to you when I win the lottery I'll need someone around to show off the gold spoons to. TS's alter ego is Turning the Air Blue Man

Jen sleeping till I wake up has been my ambition as long as I can remember which is probably why I am such a git if I have to get up to the alarm and also why I have not achieved worldly success

HW I will begin practising my smile immediately kind of like Mona Lisa but a bit more smug and obvious and drive everyone mad by saying "well of course when we are in France . . . "

Anonymous said...

Sleeping until you wake up must be the most healthy thing anybody can do , and which is probably achievable for anyone even if they do have to be somewhere at the crack of dawn, provided they go to bed early enough!

Breezy said...

But it's the not having to that's important