Happy Easter, everybody!
The consequences of offering to buy your child a ticket home for the weekend - a budget-busting Easter egg hunt after church with All The Offspring! Photographic evidence obtained and included!
Another Teenager to add to the collection
Happy thirteenth birthday Miriam. You are the reason this journal, Marshmallow Days, exists.
You have pretty much outlived LJ and old-school blogging.
I love you, little one!
(no subject)
What has happened to my LJ feed? I can see nothing, though I'm still logged in. Anyone know?
The loss of the LJ habit
Amid accusations of not remembering M's first word, I checked my LJ and found so many little gems (though not her "proper " first word, in that space of time), that my older daughters had a good giggle and a bit of embarrassment as their two boy-friends were present. We discovered the date when Orla actually cut her own fringe, a fact which she strenuously denied until about 6 months ago, and we were reminded of what everyone else did to celebrate their birthdays in 2004 (the year M was born).
We had visitors from NJ, our American McGonigal cousins, and we went over to Philadelphia. Such an exciting year!
We had visitors from NJ, our American McGonigal cousins, and we went over to Philadelphia. Such an exciting year!
Inverbervie to Gourdon
A walk along the coastal path on a beautiful clear February day.
Does anyone else think I'm lucky to live here?
Oil price dance
We live in Aberdeen, where the vast majority of people are employed because the oil industry exists here. Even the public sector jobs are only so numerous because of the many people from elsewhere who live & work here. We are not locals, but our children were born & brought up here.
Because of the oil industry a lot of people have good jobs, reasonably secure & well-paid. The oil price has halved in the past couple of months. The downturn began during the summer. The visible signs are: vast developments of office buildings lying un-filled if not empty; houses on the letting market which were previously highly sought-after; fewer cars on the road at rush-hour to the areas which are hubs of oil-company and service-company headquarters.
I found out today about one of the less visible signs. Bewildered, affluent people who have lost part of their income through redundancy, reduced hours, loss of expected Christmas bonuses, are turning up at Food Banks, which are there to help out those in need who are desperate to feed themselves and their families, and who perhaps turn to food banks as a way of avoiding loan sharks or those notorious "quick buck" companies who will charge you interest rates on an astronomical scale. Now, there has been a bizarre upturn of affluent people with expensive watches and nice cars - which they are probably paying up on a monthly basis - and living in lovely homes for which they have a mortgage based on two incomes - these people are finding with all their repayment commitments and their complete lack of experience of having to budget, that they don't know how to put food on the family table. They are the rich-poor. The food banks can't turn them away just because they are wearing costly clothes and expensive watches. It is a humanitarian enterprise.
How did we get into this situation? Aberdeen rode the last recession in something of a bubble as the oil price was not as low as it is now, and jobs continued to be available. Everyone outside Aberdeen is delighted that petrol is down in price, but you won't see people joyful about that here, even as they fill the tanks of their gas-guzzlers for half the previous cost.
The winter seems finally to be here. It should at least be cheaper for people to keep their homes warm. However, I do wonder how this small city will emerge - and when - now that the bubble has burst.
Because of the oil industry a lot of people have good jobs, reasonably secure & well-paid. The oil price has halved in the past couple of months. The downturn began during the summer. The visible signs are: vast developments of office buildings lying un-filled if not empty; houses on the letting market which were previously highly sought-after; fewer cars on the road at rush-hour to the areas which are hubs of oil-company and service-company headquarters.
I found out today about one of the less visible signs. Bewildered, affluent people who have lost part of their income through redundancy, reduced hours, loss of expected Christmas bonuses, are turning up at Food Banks, which are there to help out those in need who are desperate to feed themselves and their families, and who perhaps turn to food banks as a way of avoiding loan sharks or those notorious "quick buck" companies who will charge you interest rates on an astronomical scale. Now, there has been a bizarre upturn of affluent people with expensive watches and nice cars - which they are probably paying up on a monthly basis - and living in lovely homes for which they have a mortgage based on two incomes - these people are finding with all their repayment commitments and their complete lack of experience of having to budget, that they don't know how to put food on the family table. They are the rich-poor. The food banks can't turn them away just because they are wearing costly clothes and expensive watches. It is a humanitarian enterprise.
How did we get into this situation? Aberdeen rode the last recession in something of a bubble as the oil price was not as low as it is now, and jobs continued to be available. Everyone outside Aberdeen is delighted that petrol is down in price, but you won't see people joyful about that here, even as they fill the tanks of their gas-guzzlers for half the previous cost.
The winter seems finally to be here. It should at least be cheaper for people to keep their homes warm. However, I do wonder how this small city will emerge - and when - now that the bubble has burst.
Happy Birthday Miss Marshmallow!
Happy Twelfth Birthday to Miriam, my littlest child - how can these years have passed so quickly? It was her birthday yesterday, January 11th. When I started this journal way back in August 2003 I was expecting to be the mother of a new child by the end of the year, as her due date was December 25th. In a way, I'm glad (and not a bit surprised) that she was born late, but I could have lived with late December or early January, had she decided to make an earlier appearance!
It's a sad fact that LJ has been superceded as a means of enlightening the world about our family life, over the past few years, but I still log on here daily to see who's posting. Therbee and I were both expecting Christmas babies that year - hi Heather! - and given how small the world is, I thought we might have been able to introduce her boy to my girl before twelve whole years passed! We're going to be in southern France this summer - maybe we can swing a meet-up somehow!
I've loved being able to document the passing years, but of course as children get to this age and beyond, milestones are strictly NOT for public consumption - unless they have been self-posted of course. Even the dreaded FB is pooh-poohed by teens now. We parents are not supposed to be able to keep up with all the many and varied means of communication open to our children.
Could I have imagined that little squishy bundle - hooked up to feeding tubes and receiving extra oxygen despite being the 9lb "bouncer" in the Special Care baby unit - giving me That Look and disappearing off to her room? Or sharing in-jokes with her older siblings over Snapchat, jokes that I will never see or hear? How has this happened?
My children have now had 73 birthdays since I brought the first one into the world. Technically, aged 18 and over, the other three are all adults now. It's tempting to sign off here, but really do feel that Livejournal is where this public-sharing started for me, so as long as I have a pre-18 year old, or as long as LJ lasts, I'll stick around for a while yet!
Advent-ures in Fifona-land
You should have been with me for the past two weeks! It has been busy! And cultural! And it made November swish past so quickly that I have only just realised it is nearly Advent. Advent in November seems early, early, especially as the day after, November the 30th, is St Andrews Day. We will be having some haggis in commemoration of the patron saint of Scotland, even though he was Greek and is also patron saint of Russia. I'm sure that all countries have their own version of haggis? I mean, who would want to waste all those sheep's innards, especially if you had lots of peppery spices to try to make them palatable? Umm... What, not you? ( Collapse )I have a feeling there is something I've missed out, but I'm already exhausted looking back at that list, so maybe I'm just thinking of the marking and knitting and general taxiing around of Miriam ... It all adds up to a busy life.
Autumn into winter
It's a REALLY long time since I've updated here. This weekend we had a visit to The Grandparents' to see them in their show ,White Christmas. It was all good fun. We saw the Saturday night, final performance after meeting up with them and a bunch of family-and-friends for a meal at a nearby restaurant. It's become a tradition, and it's great as we get a couple of hours together as well as seeing the show. As for the show itself, it was really well done, with the principal actors-singers doing a great job & lots of great songs for the supporting cast to entertain us with.
My dad was wearing his ski jumper from the matching set my granny had made him & his young wife the first winter they were married. They were planning on going skiing (somewhere in Scotland, I presume) but before they could get that organised, they discovered they were going to be parents! So, rather than getting to experience skiing ( which "expectant" ladies did NOT do back then) they got a pair of coordinating jumpers and ... yours truly! They never did take that skiing getaway.
On our way down to visit, we stopped by JuliE's flat in Glasgow. Orla had come across from Edinburgh to spend Friday evening with her, and they were in the pub with two of Orla's school friends who are studying in Glasgow. I hugged the two friends and said I missed them, and that children should NOT be allowed to leave home and take their friends with them.
It goes without saying that the terrible events in Paris this weekend left us all feeling very sad, and though it did not stop us enjoying the show and the get-togethers, it made us all exceptionally aware that the victims of the attacks were just like us, innocently going about their social lives, eating out, attending concerts & a sports match, doing nothing wrong, just being so sadly in the wrong place at the same time as these murdering maniacs. Seumas had gone to an event in London instead of joining us, and he was at a large conference venue, just the sort of place that would seem ideal to such attackers. What if they target Paris one week, then move on to another city at a later date? How many attacks would it take for us to stop saying "We will go back to work, to eat out, to meet in public places in defiance of this violence"? I don't even want to think about it. I know it was not the only atrocity leading to loss of life in the world this weekend, but it was close to home. The Twin Towers were close to home, for that matter. Familiar places are close to home.
I'm just appreciating that we had the chance to enjoy our lovely family weekend. :-)
My dad was wearing his ski jumper from the matching set my granny had made him & his young wife the first winter they were married. They were planning on going skiing (somewhere in Scotland, I presume) but before they could get that organised, they discovered they were going to be parents! So, rather than getting to experience skiing ( which "expectant" ladies did NOT do back then) they got a pair of coordinating jumpers and ... yours truly! They never did take that skiing getaway.
On our way down to visit, we stopped by JuliE's flat in Glasgow. Orla had come across from Edinburgh to spend Friday evening with her, and they were in the pub with two of Orla's school friends who are studying in Glasgow. I hugged the two friends and said I missed them, and that children should NOT be allowed to leave home and take their friends with them.
It goes without saying that the terrible events in Paris this weekend left us all feeling very sad, and though it did not stop us enjoying the show and the get-togethers, it made us all exceptionally aware that the victims of the attacks were just like us, innocently going about their social lives, eating out, attending concerts & a sports match, doing nothing wrong, just being so sadly in the wrong place at the same time as these murdering maniacs. Seumas had gone to an event in London instead of joining us, and he was at a large conference venue, just the sort of place that would seem ideal to such attackers. What if they target Paris one week, then move on to another city at a later date? How many attacks would it take for us to stop saying "We will go back to work, to eat out, to meet in public places in defiance of this violence"? I don't even want to think about it. I know it was not the only atrocity leading to loss of life in the world this weekend, but it was close to home. The Twin Towers were close to home, for that matter. Familiar places are close to home.
I'm just appreciating that we had the chance to enjoy our lovely family weekend. :-)