cold desert

Browsing in Topshop today I came across this jacket. Now, I'm not really allowed to buy things at the mo 'cause that would kinda defeat the whole clearing-out-my-stuff thing I'm in the middle of. But I would like a new autumn/early winter jacket or something. (you know what I mean!) So I was sort of considering this, not too seriously mind - it wasn't cheap, when I noticed a tag that said something along the lines of "Avoid contact with water". I can't remember the exact wording but it sounded like water was a definite no-no. So I turned to a sales person and asked what it meant. She said "it means you can't get it wet" to which I replied "Does that mean rain and stuff as well?" She said she wasn't sure but a bit of rain should be fine, as long as it didn't get soaked.
I'm sorry, but this is Britain. Where, you know, it tends to rain a bit. Any coat you wear in autumn is bound to get wet. Often. And soaked at least a few times. Just the other day I got soaked to my skin in a torrential downpour even though I had an umbrella...
So, I'm not so sure about this jacket anymore. Methinks some more research into the whole rain matter is called for before making any decisions.


I've also found an adorable peacoat in gap that, in a moment of madness, I almost bought. Madness because it's 70-odd quid and I didn't even know I wanted a peacoat until I saw it...
It's terribly cute though and if I was the type of person who spent that kind of money on coats I might only wear a few times I'd buy it. I, however, only really do that with shoes. I'd spend 60/70 smackeroonies on a pair of shoes without batting an eyelid. And they're rarely the sensible kind or, you know, shoes you'd wear regularly. It's usually heels. And I don't wear heals a lot. Only when I go out. And that is something I haven't been doing a lot lately, but that's a whole other story...






I was very good today though. Even though I spent a couple of hours at Westfield (ugh), I managed to resist my urge to buy every cute pair of high heeled shoes I saw. Instead I just got a Stephen King book, a book about crochet and two craft magazines. I had to buy something!
I'm sure there are support groups for people like me...

sab x

The Swedish Neo-nazi party

Apologies to those of my readers who don't speak/understand Swedish. This is an ad for a Swedish party running in the general election. They are called Sverigedemokraterna (The Sweden Democrats) and are pretty right wing.




The countdown is the national budget. The person on the left is handling the budget for pensions, the person on the right is handling the budget for immigration. As the budget countdown goes lower and lower two emergency brakes drop down from the ceiling. One with the word pensions, the other with the word immigration. Who will make it there first? The immigrants (to pull the pensions one) or the OAP (to pull the immigration one)?

This is a rough translation of what the voice over is saying:

All politics are about priorities. Now you have a choice. On the 19th of September you can choose between an immigration brake or a pension brake.

Basically the message is "who do you want to spend your hard earned money on, cute little ole' ladies or burqa wearing muslims and all their children?!"

How is one supposed to react to this? Laugh or cry? I laughed. Because it's so crude. And vulgar. And rubbish. I mean, the voice over woman sounds like she might have an IQ of about 5. And really, little ole' lady with a walking aid?! Women wearing burqas and pushing buggies?! A race to get the money?! Not really into subtlety are they?
I'll admit, it also scares me a little bit. Maybe even a whole lot. Because the fact of the matter is it looks like these people might actually get the 4% needed to get into the Swedish parliament... A very frightening thought indeed.
Enough to make you afraid of the dark...

sab x

(This post might be slightly rambling and incoherent. I just wanted to put it up before I forget or lose my momentum. I might go back and change it later. Or I might just leave it as it is.)

Tonight...

...I'm hanging with sis. We're going to watch a movie, eat crisps&dip (Sweden style) and hang.
Looking forward to that.

I'm starving and there's no food in the house so I'm off to Costa to sit down with my book and enjoy a decaf mocha and panini.
Then it's back to the sorting! Can't wait...

Laters
sab x

Sisyphus pt.2

I've been tidying and rummaging and sorting for a good few hours now.
I've got a bin bag full of stuff for the charity shops and a bunch of stuff I'm undecided about.
At this point I've a good mind to just chuck the lot! I want to declutter a bit but it's proving difficult.
I live in a (fairly good sized it must be said) single bedroom. Or maybe it's a box room I'm, I'm not sure. And when I say live in, I mean live in. Due to various unforeseen circumstances I am now a live-in nanny. I went from having a flat (shared with my sister) to living in a flat share to just living in a room. And all my accumulated stuff has to live here with me. I wasn't supposed to be a live-in so my room is actually the oldest daughter's room and a lot of her stuff is still in here. Hence, I have nowhere to put my stuff.
I am also somewhat of a hoarder so I have a lot of stuff. I'm always buying books and, being me, I want to keep them after I've read them. I now have 2 storage boxes full of books sitting on my floor...
I have tons of clothes, most of which I never wear, and they don't all fit in my wardrobe.
There's CDs, DVDs, magazines, stuff and tat.
Most of this lives in various boxes, bags and/or piles that just get moved around the room.
I feel like a dog chasing it's tail... I keep deciding to have a sort through and get rid of some stuff and organise the rest but half way through I get sick of it, start despairing and give up. I've never been good at finishing things at the best of times.
Today I have been ruthless when going through my stuff. I keep finding things I've completely forgotten I have and thinking "oh, this might be good to have/come in handy..." and then I tell myself: No, you didn't miss it before and you won't miss it later. If I didn't even know I had it, it obviously wasn't that important!
I'm hoping I'll at least get some sort of order this time though, before I lose my mind completely!

I want to have a nice space to live in and I keep thinking that if my room wasn't such a mess I wouldn't feel so apathetic about everything else...

Here's hoping!
sab x

One more thing...

And then I'm going to bed because yes, I have no life and am sitting at home blogging and listening to music on a Friday night and also, I'm old, have had a hell of a week and can hardly keep my eyes open.

Yesterday morning, after G had been packed off for his first day back at school, I'd washed my hair and had breakfast with a side of Stephen King, I offered to help my boss fix the wardrobe that had fallen apart the night before.
My boss, the dad, has recently retired. This is driving me nuts. Not only because I'm used to having the house to myself during the day and he keeps popping round corners and doorways saying "Sabina?" and scaring the shit out of me. But also because I've realised that he's not someone I enjoy spending a lot of time with. He's quite full of himself, very condescending and clearly doesn't understand how to run a household. Luckily he's going on a month-long course in a few weeks then starting his new job. Yay!

The wardrobe in question wasn't really broken. Just the door had come off. The very heavy door. Which I now found myself holding while my boss tried to slide the damn thing back on. And crushing my fingers. After a failed attempt where the door popped back off he started to fiddle with the tiny screws, managed to drop one and then couldn't find it. Clearly frustrated he turned to me and said, in a voice dripping with sarcasm, "got any more bright ideas?!"
Huh?!
Yes, how 'bout you don't lose the screws? Or maybe, I don't know, listen to me.
After finally finding the screw (on a shelf he kept telling me not to look on 'cause he'd seen it fall and it couldn't possibly be there) I took charge of the situation. I told him very clearly what to do and how. Ideally he should have been holding the door and I'd have done the fiddly stuff but he's got a bad back and if he would have thrown it out again that would just have made my life worse.

We finally got the door back on and he, of course took all the credit for it.
"That's what I was saying to do all along" kind of thing.
Well, last time I offer to help with something.

And he keeps saying "good girl" to me all the time. Just randomly. For like putting the milk away. As if I was a bit slow and needed constant encouragement. In a very patronising way.

Honestly, I'm not sure I'll still have my sanity by the time he goes off for his course!

sab x

A few things

1. Getting dressed this morning I decided to wear these tights even though they're full of ladders going up and down the legs. Partly because I'm punk and partly because I love these tights. Admit it, you are all thinking "what a rebel!" and "I wish I could be cool like her!"

2. A couple of weeks ago I wore this skirt for the first time in ages. The other day when I took it out of the washing machine it looked tiny.
"I'm sure it used to bigger that this" I thought to myself looking for the care label. Ah, hand wash only. That might be the problem. Luckily it's one of those "one size fits all" jobby so even though it's lost some elasticity I can still squeeze into it. It's been a while since I shrunk something in the wash and I guess it's lucky it was a skirt since I rarely wear them (but can't seem to stop buying them) so it's unlikely to actually have an effect on my life...

3. This evening I'm munching o Strawberry "liquorice". Being Swedish things like strawberry/raspberry/insert-fruit-flavour-here liquorice annoy me. It isn't liquorice unless it tastes of liquorice! Preferably it should be salty, but that's just my preference really. And I am a bit of a liquorice connoisseur...

4. I still have no idea what's going to happen with this blog. Or even, really, what's happening at the mo'.

sab x

on food

This week my food has had a bit of an Asian theme...
Monday evening, every blog I read seemed to mention sushi, which obviously meant I got a huge craving for the stuff. After dreaming about it all night I decided to have it for lunch the following day! I went to our local Hare & Tortoise at the lunch crowd beating 11.30 (I was too excited to wait any longer!) and got myself a 12 piece vegetarian sushi box. I obviously didn't eat it straight away, just knowing it was there for me when it was time for lunch calmed my cravings somewhat...

Yesterday my local Thai shop finally had some kimchi in stock. For those of you who don't know, kimchi is a Korean side dish that is really yummy. I've only tried a few different varieties and the one I usually get (can't remember the name and not going down to the kitchen to check) is some type of cabbage and quite spicy. Look it up if you're interested and try it if you're so inclined!

And if that wasn't enough I've been snacking on these babies all week:


They are little "fun filled biscuit treats". I got exactly the ones in the picture - chocolate, strawberry and something called "creamy milk filling" which mostly just tasted sweet. But in a good way, ya know!

sab x