Aw Diddums

Pinched this quiz from BEG… we had the same result! It was quite amusing.

I’ve never had a husband but was able to give a good guess as to how I would feel. I would be whiny and a bit impulsive with the budget. I would probably consult with Mr Diddums before buying anything important, but would be a bit slovenly around the house; terrible with guests (especially unexpected ones); go around the house in stockinged feet; be crabby in the morning and reluctant to get up to make breakfast for the family… and though I would write a lot to my husband when away, it wouldn’t cross my mind to write equally as often to his parents. Unless I was very fond of them.

Had to say I wouldn’t spend ages on the phone…. after all, it’s true! And I could have interesting conversations with people… depends who, when and how. Probably not so much at a formal dinner party; I would be too busy wilting with shyness and mortification.

-9 As a 1930s wife, I am Very Poor (Failure) Take the test!

Ooh, four-year-old article… Are Open-toed Shoes Appropriate Business Attire? But I have to say I don’t understand the anti-open-toed stuff either. I only read comments on it fairly recently, in magazines and blog posts. I never even look at people’s feet, so if people are going about with long toe nails and rough heels or glittery nail polish, I don’t see them. Seems simple to me… other people’s feet are none of my business.

I mentioned it to Mum, and she was confused too… she said “what are you talking about? I haven’t heard anyone complaining about open-toed shoes.” She held up a beautiful, well-cared for foot with straight toes, and said: “look at this foot. It’s a 75-year-old foot. Other women my age have toes crossing each other because they were determined to wear fashion shoes.”

Yes. I go for health and comfort above fashion and individual / corporate prejudices. Anyone else?

Shortly after moving in with Mum, I realized how closely her cat Cheeky stayed by her side. You would think I would notice that while visiting, and don’t cats hang around anyway?

The answer to both is ‘not really’. If you visit your mother and see a cat in the same room – big deal. Cats quite often go off by themselves or sleep in their favourite spot, which might be another room or somewhere outdoors.

After moving in, I’d be sitting at the computer and Mum would come upstairs to talk. Cheeky would waft into the room hard on her heels, and sit looking at me as though to say “we decided there was something we just had to speak to you about.”

Occasionally Cheeky would arrive ahead of Mum by about 30 seconds. It always reminded me of the cat in the Harry Potter book, Mrs Norris. If she was around, you knew her somewhat sinister owner couldn’t be far behind.

I was also caused to think of how women with cats acquired the reputation of being witches with their familiars. If those good wives (or good singles) were followed everywhere they went by their green-eyed shadows, who then settled down and fixed people with meaning gaze much like Cheeky does to me, it was… whoops, just noticed some toothmarks at the bottom of my clipboard… not all that surprising.

I teased Mum about it more than once, but I think I’m getting my comeuppance now. Every time I come downstairs, it’s in company with the kittens. It’s almost as though they are waiting for permission; from the way they slink along at my side, looking carefully into the passing shadows, I feel like a lioness with her cubs.

Mum mentioned it only yesterday. Is a witch allowed two familiars?

The photo above is an old one – Cheeky when she was not much more than a kitten herself. And yes, I did green up her eyes…. it’s not a very good green; in real life you get a flash of emerald, and then she shutters her eyes and looks away knowingly.

Mood: Tired
Listening to: Ghostly song in my head: ‘Classic’ by Adrian Gurvitz

I don’t know what it is, but these days when I start out to write a nice short blog post, it ends up going on and on and on forever.

And… usually I know why a particular song is in my head, or can work it out, but so far I’m puzzled by Adrian Gurvitz. All this recent talk of books, surely – I was deciding to keep some classics but not others. Many of the ones I chose to keep were written by women (e.g. Jane Austen), while the ones given the push were by men (e.g. Thomas Hardy). I didn’t intend to discriminate but it certainly looks that way!

I didn’t even like all the ones by the female authors (Wuthering Heights, aargh! but keeping. Why?? Because the writer was a gurrl?)

Meanwhile I’m wandering around sadly, singing

And it’s not what I mean
I mean it’s not what it seems
I just keep living for dreams
And it’s not what I mean
I mean it’s not what it seems
I just keep living for dreams

All Mum’s cats and mine blink kindly.

It will pass.

Edit 8 March 2007:

Last night I switched off the computer and walked away, and suddenly I understood, like a lightbulb turning on, why I have that Adrian Gurvitz song ‘Classic’ in my head! You know those lines

Got to write a classic
Gotta write it in an attic

Someone mentioned the books in the rafters, referring to my mother sending most of our books into the loft. At that moment I had an image in my mind of War and Peace balanced on a beam. That’s where I was going to put it if there was no more room on the shelves.

Ah. The books are singing.

Edit 8 March 2008 (a whole year later):

Comments to this post when it was on the old site:

1. kateblogs wrote at Mar 8, 2007 at 16:44:
It’s nice to meet someone else who isn’t keen on Wuthering Heights. I did it for A’level and (letting you in on a secret now) I didn’t read it. I made a start, but soon realised Cathy and I were never going to get along, so I winged it using what I remember from the film and the York notes. Don’t tell anyone LOL

It’s not a patch on Jane Eyre, which is a far superior book IMO.

2. Diddums wrote at Mar 8, 2007 at 21:35:
I admire anyone who can read the whole of Wuthering Heights and keep his/her focus. Though I read it all, my mind definitely wandered. The best thing to come out of Wuthering Heights was Kate Bush’s song…

I should really let the book go. If there’s another ‘book sweep’ in our houses (which seems likely) I’ll send it to the charity shops – maybe it will find a home where it’s appreciated.

Was just reading this post over for typos and there was a loud droning noise – no, it wasn’t me, not this time. “What’s that? A lawnmower?” Looked out my window. “Can’t see a lawnmower and it’s a bit loud. Maybe a plane?” I waited, and suddenly three planes appeared together in a tight group. They were dark planes; one was much larger than the other two and had a very blunt nose.

They’ve just soughed past again, very close – definitely not jets. They might be old planes, or one old plane with escorts. A man walking his dog has stopped to stare up at them. People in the house opposite have come out for a look. Even the cat is looking. Hmm.

Onto other things…

Just now I pulled up a few weeds and took them to the brown wheelie bin and noticed sticky webbing on the handle. I touched the lid and an enormous black spider shadow appeared from nowhere – it stopped me in my tracks! Then I saw the spider itself – a pale brown figure that was fairly well camouflaged, nothing like as big as its shadow. Still, I’m glad I’m not a fly.

I spotted a post from Deep Jive Interests: Paul Stamatiou is My Hero: Makes Backhanded Comment about Metrics - Gets it Right. They have a valid concern that people reading RSS feeds without visiting the actual blogs are not contributing to the blogosphere – I agree, but admit I’m guilty of that as I’m on dial-up and it would take me ages to visit every page I’m subscribed to. Still, if I see something in the feed that catches my eye, I visit the blog and sometimes comment as well. I don’t think the fact that some feeds are partial stop me – whether it’s full or partial, if it doesn’t look interesting, I’ll skip it, but they’ll soon write a post that does interest me, and I’ll visit. While I’m there I can catch the the post that I missed.

Onto a different tack – sometimes I wonder where my blog (or anyone else’s) fits in the scheme of things. Aw Diddums is personal but it’s not ‘just a diary’ – I don’t even consider it a diary, though I suppose others have a looser definition. Nor is it about politics, technology, business, current news, religion, culture, humour, writing, the media… maybe a little from each, all mixed up together in the context of my life.

If I had a blog that was only about Mac software (for instance) I would only link to relevant sites. But then you find yourself looking at a site or directory that says it’s for women – at first you’re delighted, but after a while you realize they only spotlight or link to those who blog about politics, religion, business, technology or feminism.

It makes me think of a newspaper article I saw (can’t find it now) that said they were trying to strike the word ‘housewife’ from the terminology of the Scottish Women’s Rural Institutes (SWRI). They weren’t allowed to, and thank goodness for that. I don’t even consider the word ‘housewife’ as being for married women only, and nor do I see it as something to be hidden under the carpet – either the activity or the word. So when I go to a site that says it’s for women, and it turns out it’s all business stuff that they link to, I feel cheated.

Back to what I was saying… the beauty of not being in any of these specialized fields is that I can spread my net to anything that interests me – so perhaps personal blogs are the glue that bind the rest of the blogosphere together. Small spiders cast enormous shadows.

It gets deeper the more I think about it.

Come into my parlour, dear, it’s time for tea…

Edit Feb 2008: Comments to this post when it was hosted on Blogigo:

1. drifting wrote at Sep 9, 2006 at 01:52:
I love your entries – they’re always so thought-provoking, sensible and, well, interesting. I agree that general blogs such as ours have links to all manner of other blogs and websites which take you on little sidetracks of discovery.

2. Pacian wrote at Sep 9, 2006 at 12:49:
I work hard to ensure that my blog features articles on all four of its title areas – cpace, cats, rockets and ships. To dilute my blog with off-topic content would be the greatest crime.

I saw a spider shadow last night, or rather I could just about make it out beneath the much larger daddy long-legs spider that was twittering over it like a spasming filament hand. It was lovely!

3. Diddums wrote at Sep 9, 2006 at 18:50:
Thanks, Drifting – makes me think of how the hearth is the heart of the home – so maybe the ‘home blog’ is the heart of the internet. Today I followed a link and didn’t just find one interesting blog, I found a whole heap of interesting blogs! I’m still reeling. Will sort them into my linkbar later when I get time.

Pacian, I wonder what that daddy long legs thought it was up to – was the spider after it? I went to try and get the Brown Bin spider to pounce again, but this time it stayed hidden. I wonder if it noticed its own shadow yesterday and thought “dang it – I’m a twit.”

4. Pacian wrote at Sep 10, 2006 at 16:07:
It was a spider of the Daddy Long Legs species, as opposed to a crane fly or a harvestman which are also known colloquially as daddy long legs.

5. kateblogs wrote at Sep 12, 2006 at 11:29:
“and suddenly three planes appeared together in a tight group.”

A similar thing happened here a couple of years ago – in that case the plane in the centre was a passenger jet, and the two flanking it were fighter planes. It was quite frightening because they were so low, no more than 200 feet above the ground. Several neighbours came out of their houses to see what was happening, but whatever it was is a mystery, to this day I have never seen any kind of explanation for it.

Shuuder daddy long legs – I am terrified of them. Don’t mind spiders but ddls give me the creeps LOL

6. Diddums wrote at Sep 12, 2006 at 13:32:
I wonder what that was about? Maybe it was an old and valuable plane. My three were showing off, I think – they went round and round 3 or 4 times before finally taking off.

The other night I watched Jurassic Park – I was horrified the first time I saw it (in a cinema with sonic mega roars blasting me out of my seat, and the deep thudding footfalls striking to my very core) but I couldn’t help watching it again when it appeared on TV – and now it’s a bit of a classic.

However, am I the only one irritated by the character called Ellie – the one who made the mad dash through the grounds to turn the electricity back on? She showed plenty of spunk and vivacity, but her little jokes failed to hit my funny bone. I was annoyed by her apparent obsession with children but I realize not everyone is as hard-hearted as I am. Just so long as no one assumes that all right-thinking women should be as keen, or that it’s every woman’s duty, or stuff like that. I don’t want people like Ellie to be the stereotypical woman, is all I’m saying.

I’m kind of like the guy in this…. I would be stumping hastily out of the car to avoid the talking child, but if we had to spend time together (preferably without Ellie giggling idiotically from the far corner) … well, a child can win you over as a person in his or her own right.

I remember walking along and a woman in front of me had a little girl by the hand. I was in a really grumpy mood that day, ready to scowl at all and sundry, and suddenly the little girl looked over her shoulder and gave me a huge sunny smile, as though to say “hey, Diddums! Nice to see you!” (though we had never met before in our lives). A big smile spread over my face in return – it was our own secret moment and I felt much better for it.

So, you see, children don’t all run screaming round supermarkets or catapulting stones through windows (as happened to my mother once – she was just lucky she wasn’t in the room at the time, as her chair was right by the flying glass. The police said they couldn’t do anything, though it has happened to other people in the same area – the little culprit had long since scarpered).

One way or another, there was a certain dated feel about Jurassic Park, and I suspect it’s because the character Ellie was supposed to the perfect woman – beautiful, intelligent, witty, kind, and mad keen to have children. In that sense nothing has changed. Also there was so much emphasis on her being the ‘top mind in her field’ and having to defend her right to be the one rushing around waving a gun…. We can only feel women have achieved true equality when the film doesn’t even bother to mention such issues.

Aside from that niggle, it was good, as always. Later on I had this little email exchange with Mum:

Me: It was quite a good day for all that dinosaury stuff on TV – misty and cool.
Mum: Aarugh!
Me (grinning): Jeff Goldblum was the best bit. All the way through.

And so he was.