Distracted by decongestant

I haven't inherited my mum's culinary skills or my dad's green fingers. Where does this creative force come from? Was there a literary hero disguised as a milkman, delivering more than he should in Shepley in 1971? Did the postman always ring twice at number 98 Marsh Lane?
I've been listening to a few Coldplay songs lately and think that Chris Martin would benefit from sleeping with my husband. Not for love or lyrics sake but simply to clear his nasal passages. The amount of Olbas Oil, (inhalant decongestant) Nigel douses his pillow with every night are practically suffocating me. On the other hand, it could be a secret writing potion. My very own opium working its magic upon me as I drift away 'to sleep, perchance to dream;'......(quote from Hamlet).

The weather has been very unsettled here recently. Strong winds arrived cooling the temperatures to lows of 14 degrees. I know that will seem pleasant to a lot of you. On occasion, I've had to wear a jumper and a jacket at the same time! Joshua still seems to be comfortable wearing his shorts to school.
We've also suffered a couple of sandstorms. The dusty sand is vigorously, fine sieved everywhere, like icing sugar over cakes. It gets into your whole house, hair, ears, eyes, nostrils, mouth, teeth and lungs. There is no escape.
A more pleasant weather front I experienced was cycling into an abyss of thick fog one morning. Moisture fell off my helmet in droplets and the cold, damp sweat I produced reminded me of cycling around my Yorkshire home in autumn. I felt really safe wrapped up in the fog cocoon, as though I was in a bubble of beautiful nothingness.

Things I can buy with my QR14.75 from Carrefour Supermarket, (referring to my Inspired post from 5th January).

30 slices of Mozzarella or Cheddar cheese

450g tub of Coffee Mate light  OR

some Cool Malibu Playboy, full body shower gel and shampoo for him, only QR14.50

Shall I treat him and leave 25 dirhams in my account? Possibly if it doesn't smell of eucalyptus.

I have written 12,467 words of my novel so far.
I have realised that I am very easily distracted, yet also very determined.

Current distractions include:

Listening to 'Don't Panic' and 'Talk' by Coldplay, reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, dancing to Otto's Journey by Mylo and singing along to everything on the radio, Hywel's CD collections, the iPod, youtube, you name it.

 Je m'appelle Susie x

Getting technical

Hopefully now there will appear a link to my blog in Nigel's timeline on facebook.
That is if I have followed the IFTTT.com instructions correctly.
Thanks for all of you taking time to read my ramblings, I appreciate it.
Love Susie x

Metamorphic melancholic

The old, sometimes holey clothes I wear, know how to fit comfortably on my skin. They hang, mould or glide across the contours of my body. Like good friends they don't need to try hard to feel right, they are free, just to be.
I have not had my hair cut since last August, possibly due to the then near rape of my auburn locks. Eleanor recently remarked, much to my delight, that I look like a homeless person. I prefer to look and see that this is me. Happy, hippy Susie in her enlightened writing state. Not weighed down by the constraints of fashion or style but wandering through this desert wilderness, just as Catherine roamed the moors with Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights.
This was Emily Bronte's only novel. Could I too join the Literary Canon as a one hit wonder?

Writing really helps me to stay sane. It's the only thing I can control in my life. I've decided it's better than talking to myself. Especially as I frequently try to engage with our teenager, getting a stony silence at best or a cutting remark at worst as can be seen in the following scene.

Intro
Joshua is asleep, husband out playing football.
Centre stage Susie is happily eating some crisps whilst attempting to watch Eyes Wide Shut (interesting choice)

Action
Eleanor enters stage right

Susie pauses the film at which point Tom and Nicole are dressed in their posh evening wear (no holes) dancing together. Not too freaky at this point. Phew!

Eleanor berates Susie for eating crisps with the sharpness of the apple vinegar seasoning the crunchy potato slices.
 'You're not going to get fit eating those are you?'  She flounces back off stage right. Hopefully to the wings of her bed.

Susie swallows the sour comment and tries not to choke. She presses play and gets drunk with Nicole.

Probably to be continued!

The next evening Josh and I lay together on his bottom bunk, staring up at the glow in the dark stars he has stuck underneath the top bunk. We count them and find different lines of three stars and almost glimpse Orion's Belt.
Three hours later, 10 pm here, I venture outside, lie on the cold flags and gaze up at the real stars above me. I send a kiss to my niece Harriett and nephew Freddie. The stars twinkle, twinkle back at me and wonder what I am doing below on the hard ground. I smile back as brightly as I can reassuring them I am OK, hoping the benefits of my Colgate Advanced Whitening toothpaste can reach that far.


Remember: 'Good friends are like stars, you don't have to see them to know they are there.'
                                                                                                                           Christy Evans

Lost and found

The toy clown lay face down in the desert. When I turned him over he still had his fixed smile in place, even though he had been abandoned. He lay on his back, arms and legs spread out as though he wanted to make a snow angel. Or maybe he had given up his false, fun life and surrendered to death. Back to dust and nothingness.
It would be hard to leave him there alone. Still he continued to smile, the colour of his clothes bright, despite the sand settling on them. A baby bird's feather nestled in his hair. I wanted to kiss him alive and make his dark eyes dance again.
But I didn't.
Three weeks go by. I retrace my footprints in the sand and find him exactly the same.
I'm really pleased to see him again.

Inspired

What more inspiration do I need than speaking to my dear old friend Arthur. He's 97 years old and aiming to reach 100. His voice was clear and mood bright as we chatted and laughed together this morning. We imagined two camels in his drive and then us riding them up Marsh Lane together. What fun that would be. Arthur has been to the desert during his active service in World War 2. I think his story is as amazing, as that of Louis Zamperini of Unbroken.
Maybe Angelina and I could work well together telling Arthur's survival story?

A quick glance at my bank balance reveals QR14.75
This is great news. I am a poor, desperate housewife who can only tap away at a keyboard, hoping to make her fortune through writing. It's perfect, I have nothing to lose.

As I pack away the Christmas decorations the future certainly looks brighter wearing my new neon blue, luxury wig. It's even got it's own name, the 'Peluca Lisa Superior.' Thanks a lot Jill, I hope you treated yourself to one too! The full moon suddenly grabs my attention as if jealous of the neon glow from my head. So I decide to carefully admire it for a while through the binoculars.

Next time I go shopping I'm going to see what I can buy for exactly QR14.75

Happy New Year 2015

Wishing all my friends and family a very Happy and fun-filled New Year!

I resolve to get back into the land of Blog this year, whilst writing my best selling novel.
 Hope I'm not being too ambitious?

'Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss you'll land among the stars.'
                                                             Norman Vincent Peale

Love Susie xx

Working Girl

Back in the land of blog!
 I so thoroughly enjoyed being home for the summer it was everything I had dreamed of and more.
 A BIG THANK YOU to both our families and friends for making it special and for all the fun we had. It was heart wrenching at times to be staying in our home knowing we had to leave it once again. I recall crying as the rain lashed down on the velux windows in the loft, loving the sound, feeling so safe, warm and rooted. I was probably crying from exhaustion having painted two bedrooms and seeing Nige, the non stop DIY crazy man, fitting a new bathroom with much needed help from both our Dads.
The bizarre happening of the summer must be the demise of our green Vauxhall Astra Estate. We began to break down in North Yorkshire on a I in 3 hill. In the end we had to be towed back to Huddersfield and a big fella came and took it away to his scrap yard giving us a hundred quid for his help.  Alas poor green car we knew so well! The past is gone, the present is here and now.
We have resettled back into our other world with some ease, it is more familiar now. My life has certainly seen a big change as I have begun working full time as a Teaching Assistant at the school. I really enjoy my role and am slowly building up my work confidence and seemingly balancing life and work reasonably well. We have clean, ironed clothes most of the time and something to eat, most of the time. My exercise regime and blog have had to take a back seat but I will endeavour to juggle more balls efficiently as time goes by. It all depends on the size of the balls.
 I miss blogging as it's therapeutic, helping me to make sense of being here.
My big news is that I will be going to hospital on December 16th to have my left leg varicose vein ligated. Say that fast ten times. I beseeched the surgeon to do the right leg at the same time but he said no. If I like the result of the left, then OK, another time he will do the right! Gulp. I was hoping it would be removed so I could re-use it as a piece of rope or fashion some interesting, yet disturbing jewellery out of it. After all it has been such a big part of me for years, do I really want it to just disappear? YES I DO!
Mum and Dad came back to visit us in October and it was great to have them here again. I think knowing they were coming out made it easier to say goodbye in August. I have never been good at goodbyes. Are you?
They enjoyed the beach club facilities and had the place mostly to themselves the whole day until school finished. We enjoyed their company in the evenings and as always the time passed by too quickly. Then they were straight back into winter.
The school had a visiting author recently and I was excited  to go along and listen to him perform. His real name is Donavan Christopher, aka Rappaman. He had rasta hair and charisma and as soon as he opened his mouth I heard the rapturous honeyed tones of my homeland, those elongated lazy vowel sounds of West Yorkshire. At the end of his reading, rapping, fast talking hour or so I asked which part of the county he was from. He retaliated, 'which part are you from?' I replied 'Shepleeeey' and he 'Faaaartown.' Was it just a literary love connection or could he have been that lad I disco danced with once when I was about 14, dressed in 80's style lemon yellow? I certainly felt a connection to him and appreciated his way with words.
We all camped out in Ship's Canyon on the Hash festival. It was a a torchlit, starry night trail, followed by fine food, then campfire singing. It was a really relaxing atmosphere as everyone joined in with the songs they knew. The kids did torch dance moves in time with the music. Their huge shadows looked great against the big backdrop of the jebel. It was mutli sensory magic. I finally plucked up courage to sing Martha's Harbour but felt really nervous and as though my heart was going to explode in my chest. I also had the joy of sleeping with Josh in a two man tent. He was so excited and wouldn't sleep for ages and kept fidgeting. We eventually managed to get some sleep but as the call to prayer reverberated around the canyon at four or so am, I acknowledged it was going to be a difficult day ahead. Definitely worth it though, for the great evening before. 'It seems like everybody's got a price, I wonder how they sleep at night?'
Nigel completed his first triathlon, here in Dukhan. I tried to talk him out of it but he was determined. He did really well, completing all three disciplines, recovering well afterwards. I was in a trio, the 'Triathamums,' and did the 35km bike ride which I found really hard at times. It took me about two hours in temperatures of about 38 degrees, but I sang as I cycled to keep me on track. Eleanor was also in a team and did a 3km run in 18 minutes. Joshua played football most of the day with anyone he could. He is loving kicking around in his birthday footy boots, or even barefoot.
We have just had our half term holiday and have had fun relaxing and socialising here. As the temperatures start to drop it will be a welcome relief and even more time will be spent playing outside.
To date I have received two wages, my first in ten years and had two illnesses. I have just read Kensuke's Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo (children's fiction) and can't wait to begin Walking Home with superman Simon Armitage.
Please bear with me followers and I will keep you posted on my continuing Arabian Adventure. Wishing you all well on your adventures x