Normally Spouse and I are fairly well regulated as far as financial matters go. But we realised too late that all his Defence Union payments and subscriptions to various professional bodies come out of his account on 1 August. And he hasn't been paid yet.
So yesterday I went to get some money for our holiday and HM Government having cleaned out our major savings account I could only squeeze a measly £100 out of it. I managed to extract £300 from my main account and another £150 from my secondary account, but that's my lot. In order to avoid going overdrawn in my absence I've had to leave a float in both, which isn't going to be enough if we run out of euros and have to resort to the cash machine.
Luckily, mil who generously gives us holiday money anyway suddenly produced another 100 euros and then gave me some cash for my account. So I may get away without a whacking great overdraft when I get back....
But I'm still hoping that the credit crunch hasn't made it to the south of France yet....
I'm back on 25 August, but may not be blogging properly till September as I'm off visiting family after that.
Till then au revoir, auf wiedersehen, arrividerci or whatever else rocks your boat.
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
We're all going on a summer holiday....
We're off to the South of France on Friday, heading for Cathar territory in the Perpignan region. This will keep Spouse happy as he is fascinated by the story of Cathar persecutions by the French in the 11th/12th centuries and all the nutty Grail legend stuff about the region. (me too and if you are can I recommend my friend Elizabeth Chadwick's brilliant Daughters of the Grail which is about this region and dealt in the whole grail mythology stuff of Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code some fifteen years earlier. It is also heaps better then Labrynthe.) We're not far from Rennes le Chateau which is where the local priest allegedly came into loads of money and dug things up in the local graveyard - Believers in Dan Brown's potty mythology eat your heart out..
(Not that I have anything against Dan Brown, he writes a rollicking good read but I don't believe at all in secret societies protecting the Grail legend, and I have yet to meet an albino murdering monk...)
So Spouse and I will be dragging our reluctant offspring to places like Mont Segur and Carcassone, and placating them from time to time with the beach and swimming pool.
The only trouble is this year, we've booked an apartment in a holiday village type of place. I must have been on drugs when I booked it (or very very desperate) because I went online last week to look at our accomodation and thought, yikes! it's much smaller then I thought. The pics are quite cunning, but there is a lounge/diner downstairs with sofabed, a single bedroom off the lounge diner and a mezzanine bedroom up top. This seemed like a lovely idea when we booked it and now I'm thinking. Oh dear. A mezzanine. That means you can't shut the door. Which also means no privacy for Spouse and I. Oh dear. Oh dear. Oh dear.
I wonder who'll be killing whom by the end of the holiday...
(Not that I have anything against Dan Brown, he writes a rollicking good read but I don't believe at all in secret societies protecting the Grail legend, and I have yet to meet an albino murdering monk...)
So Spouse and I will be dragging our reluctant offspring to places like Mont Segur and Carcassone, and placating them from time to time with the beach and swimming pool.
The only trouble is this year, we've booked an apartment in a holiday village type of place. I must have been on drugs when I booked it (or very very desperate) because I went online last week to look at our accomodation and thought, yikes! it's much smaller then I thought. The pics are quite cunning, but there is a lounge/diner downstairs with sofabed, a single bedroom off the lounge diner and a mezzanine bedroom up top. This seemed like a lovely idea when we booked it and now I'm thinking. Oh dear. A mezzanine. That means you can't shut the door. Which also means no privacy for Spouse and I. Oh dear. Oh dear. Oh dear.
I wonder who'll be killing whom by the end of the holiday...
Friday, August 01, 2008
The Downside...
...of the kids going to Stagecoach all week is that they are putting on a show this afternoon, and I have had to put up with them singing this every day...
Although I have to say I'd prefer listening to A Hard Knock Life then that bloody Tomorrow song...
And I don't mind this one. But then I'm a big fan of Oliver!
Although truth be known my favourite song is this one, which I find terribly affecting. It must be Mark Lester's cute little face...
No4 is also delighted to be singing this, as after having seen The Sound of Music she decided as the youngest in the family she is destined to play Gretl. Although, alas, not today...
They have also quite hilariously tried to demonstrate this one to me this morning no 4 dressed as a tiger and no 3 as a lion. No 1 refused to take part because she hates her off the shoulder leopardskin costume so much I am banned from videoing this afternoon's great performance. No2 sang the first bit then decided the whole thing was too embarrassing for words so marched off. I have a feeling Disney did it somewhat better...
There has been much excitement in the house about this great event - despite nos 1&2 inevitably bitching about the unfairness of not having major roles (that's showbusiness, kids, get used to it!). No 4 has been obsessing about her costumes since Monday. Most of it's provided (thank god), but I had to find some ripped shirts and rub them with coal (Coal???? who has coal in these centrally heated times?). I provided an old school shirt, but this wasn't good enough, so no 4 unilaterally decided to cut up another shirt which wasn't quite so old. Nos 2&3 spent yesterday afternoon sewing patches on their orphan dresses (I will no doubt be sitting on needles for months), and then no3 spent a happy time in the vegetable patch rolling hers in mud, while no 2 squeezed teabags over hers to get the desired raggedy look effect.
I could have done without the costume palaver, but they've had a blast.
And on the upside I've written 10 000 words this week, and am nearly at the 30 000 mark. I'm roughly a quarter of the way through, which means if I can keep doing little bits over the summer I won't be in such dire straits as I was at the start of last school year when I stopped writing for about six weeks, got stuck very heavily into no 1's startingsecondaryschool traumas which left me no emotional energy and severely dented my ability to write, and had a panicky time trying to meet my deadline.
On the other hand, knowing how my life works, I'm sure there'll be a new domestic crisis which will bite me on the backside just to make sure I end up racing to the end at breakneck speed.
Still, I probably couldn't do it all if I actually had TIME to...
Although I have to say I'd prefer listening to A Hard Knock Life then that bloody Tomorrow song...
And I don't mind this one. But then I'm a big fan of Oliver!
Although truth be known my favourite song is this one, which I find terribly affecting. It must be Mark Lester's cute little face...
No4 is also delighted to be singing this, as after having seen The Sound of Music she decided as the youngest in the family she is destined to play Gretl. Although, alas, not today...
They have also quite hilariously tried to demonstrate this one to me this morning no 4 dressed as a tiger and no 3 as a lion. No 1 refused to take part because she hates her off the shoulder leopardskin costume so much I am banned from videoing this afternoon's great performance. No2 sang the first bit then decided the whole thing was too embarrassing for words so marched off. I have a feeling Disney did it somewhat better...
There has been much excitement in the house about this great event - despite nos 1&2 inevitably bitching about the unfairness of not having major roles (that's showbusiness, kids, get used to it!). No 4 has been obsessing about her costumes since Monday. Most of it's provided (thank god), but I had to find some ripped shirts and rub them with coal (Coal???? who has coal in these centrally heated times?). I provided an old school shirt, but this wasn't good enough, so no 4 unilaterally decided to cut up another shirt which wasn't quite so old. Nos 2&3 spent yesterday afternoon sewing patches on their orphan dresses (I will no doubt be sitting on needles for months), and then no3 spent a happy time in the vegetable patch rolling hers in mud, while no 2 squeezed teabags over hers to get the desired raggedy look effect.
I could have done without the costume palaver, but they've had a blast.
And on the upside I've written 10 000 words this week, and am nearly at the 30 000 mark. I'm roughly a quarter of the way through, which means if I can keep doing little bits over the summer I won't be in such dire straits as I was at the start of last school year when I stopped writing for about six weeks, got stuck very heavily into no 1's startingsecondaryschool traumas which left me no emotional energy and severely dented my ability to write, and had a panicky time trying to meet my deadline.
On the other hand, knowing how my life works, I'm sure there'll be a new domestic crisis which will bite me on the backside just to make sure I end up racing to the end at breakneck speed.
Still, I probably couldn't do it all if I actually had TIME to...
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