Today has been really sad for me. I had to say goodbye (for now) to my lovely friend Lakota who is moving 60 odd miles away tomorrow. I have known her for 8 years & for the past 5 our youngest offspring have been inseparable. My smallest girl maintained that she was going to marry her son for a long time (although she has now moved on to make 'goo goo eyes' at a different boy in her class). Any one who reads her blog Faith Hope & Charity Shopping will know how funny & clever & bright she is. I will really miss her & her sage words of wisdom & listening ears when I carp on about my shit. She inspired me to start blogging. And her pithy assessment of things (& people) have me in fits. I have been a bit of a soggy mess the past few days. I could barely speak to her about it before today. I set several other friends off at school today (& got a hug from my daughter's teacher). My biggest girl comforted me earlier & my smallest drew me a memory book of things we've done together (like having 'coffy' & 'dinur')
I know, I know it's not
the other end of the world & that we will still see each other (a
hour or so on the train or quicker if we meet in the middle in London). I'm really pleased for her & her family as the process of moving has been arduous & they'll be where they want. But for me I am sad.
...well what I mean is there are so many moments I can think of when I have expected the duff duff drums & the theme tune to start
There are things that have happened in my life that if I share with other people I have to fight the urge to add the myself (but maybe that's the drama queen in me). My life is fairly dramatic but not quite as dramatic as this...
there was once a 'he's not my father' (but that's another story). This past few weeks I have kind of had my fill of drama. My mum has had a cancerous lump removed from her breast & today embarked on a course of chemo. The thought of this all has filled me with dread as I know how hard it is going to be for her & how little I can do to help. Seeing her being unwell is going to be hard, if she is unwell, if she reacts to the medication, who knows? More waiting to see I guess.
She's been amazing though. She went to get her hair done last week as she wanted it to look good before starting the treatment, and she's already planning a spray tan to give a nice bit of colour. She reassured me the other day that it'll be OK, we'll get through this, which was too topsy turvy for words. I should be the one comforting her but I'm a bit lost for words at the moment, yes a chatterbox like me, I'm grasping for the right thing to say. I know we will get through this, we're strong. We have to. I kind of wish my life was like Eastenders. I'd really like someone to shout 'cut' and to be able to have a break from it all.
So on thinking about my previous post about famous people I've encountered I realised that I have missed a few so here is part 2 of my shameless bragging (although to be honest it isn't meant that way - celebrity does not impress me much). 1. Matthew Vaughn & Claudia Schiffer checking in at LAX (they were going 1st class, we were going coach) 2. Billy Connolly sat 3 seats along from me at a screening of a David Thewlis film during a London Film Festival 3. David Thewlis was also sitting there in the dark. 4. A sparkly suited Ben Elton followed me down a corridor. 5. Len Goodman chirped 'Good evening ladies' at me & a group of friends gate crashing Strictly Come Dancing drinks 6. Scott Maslen (Jack Branning from Eastenders - you know, the one who buggered up his lines in the live episode) posed for a photo with me & my friends at said Strictly Come Dancing drinks we crashed. I seriously didn't want to be in the picture. As the photo was taken he squeezed my shoulder & I physically cringed. (I have photographic evidence.) 7. I rode Victoria Alcock's horse when I was 10 (she is an actress who has been in Eastenders twice, The House of Elliott & was one of the Julie's in Bad Girls) 8. I was made to drink beer with Eric Knowles 9. I made sandwiches & squash for Johnny Ball 10. Kerry Katona leaned into an office I was working in & said 'Hiya girls' 11. I shook Paul Gambocini's hand (he had his eyes shut) 12. At the National Theatre Brian Blessed queued behind me (he was holding a plastic bag) 13. Floella Benjamin gave me advice about marriage before I got married (never go to bed on an argument) 14. I took phone messages from Ainsley Harriet & Laurence Llewelyn Bowen 15. I talked animatedly with writer Tim Moore (after several lunchtime glasses of red wine) about Footballers Wives & Hollyoaks. 16. I saw Katie Price across a hotel foyer (v orange) 17. Said hello to Peter Andre who is incredibly handsome in real life way more than he appears on tv. 18. Saw Chris Evans across a pub in Belsize Park back in the day. He was wearing sunglasses indoors. 19. Saw Ant or Dec in the ITV canteen 20. Went to school with the 2nd girl to play Sam in Eastenders.
