September

I really like this time of year. I suspect it's partly because I still think of it as a new school year and a new start, even though it's four years since I graduated university! I also like the changing weather, where we might still get some hot sunshine but I definitely need to know where my cardigan is. In another few weeks the leaves start changing, and then we get Hallowe'en and Bonfire Night, my birthday in November (obviously a very important event), the winter solstice and finally Christmas, which I love and am very excited to celebrate with the Bat. I do miss the light evenings, but the darkness only really starts getting me down in January and February.

The one downside of September is the SPIDERS. Augh. The great big hairy brown ones that keep themselves decently hidden all summer so I can pretend they're not there. Suddenly they come out and start roaming my walls looking for a shag. I am getting less phobic and can tolerate small spiders now, but these big buggers are too much. Urrrgh.

General update

Owl had last week off work, and as usual all our grand plans (days out, take the Bat swimming, sort out the flat) didn't happen. But we did have a lovely time sitting around together and I got lots of writing done, so that's all right.

On the Tuesday we took Bat to the optician to follow up the initial "yes, she's a bit squinty" diagnosis we got a couple of months ago. She had to have eye drops to dilate her pupils, which she did not love, and then little lights shone into her eyes which she hated. The guy got a good look in the end, though, and concluded that things weren't as bad as we thought - no sign yet of long- or short-sightedness. I think the woman we saw before jumped to conclusions when Bat failed to look at a picture of a boat on the other side of the room, when actually I don't think Bat had learnt the word "boat" at that point and so didn't know what she was looking for. If it had been a cat or a banana, we'd have been well away. Anyway, we're just monitoring the squint for now and we'll take her back in January.

Other than the medical stuff, we got to see lots of Owl's family. The new profile pic to your right is from the first weekend of Owl's holiday, when we went to a 65th birthday barbecue and had a great time. In the evening we got to see a guy doing a one-man Midsummer Night's Dream, but Bat was tired and we had to go before the band came on. Then the next day we were at another family barbecue, which has inspired us to try making baked sweet potatoes ourselves. They were fabulous.

Now Owl is back to work and so it's back to reality for me too, being alone with Bat during the day. She's going through a very whiny stage. Why is Mummy being so slow with my breakfast, whine whine whine. Why can't she see I didn't want THAT breakfast, grizzle grouch moan. *fling food on floor* Get me out of the high chair this instant, woman! Then when I do it's WAAAAAH, why are you stealing the rest of my toast? *seize toast and stuff into mouth, glaring tearfully*

No!

Bat has learnt how to say "no". Not just the concept (which she's been expressing very effectively for months already, believe me) but the word. I think we just managed our first proper conversation held all in words:

Me - Aren't you going to eat up your tasty crusts?
Bat - No!
Me - Oh, all right then. What would you like to eat now?
Bat - Marmer.
Me - A banana? [holds up banana]
Bat - Yeah yeah yeah!

It sounds like such a little thing but I'm actually quite excited.

Everything's good except for the bad stuff

Sorry for the week of silence. Since Monday I've mostly been slumped in front of the computer, reading about the riots and getting steadily more depressed by both the violence and the kneejerk reactions on each side of the political spectrum. I don't really drink much any more, but if I did I'd have taken a drink every time some pontificating muppet said "Bring back National Service" or "Take away their benefits!" The petition to take away rioters' benefits is making me crazy - we shouldn't need to make up special, new, extra-nasty punishments for these people, and in any case I think it's horrifying to create punishments that can only apply to the poorest rioters. The hand wringing about "see what happens when you take away the kids' youth centre" is just as far wide of the mark (though I do worry about the Sure Start cuts, because I think we need to be there for kids from the beginning if anything is going to change). If someone is so detached from their community that they can cheerfully smash it up, there's more wrong than just having nothing to do in the summer. I believe the ConDems are doing serious harm with their spending cuts, but social inequality in this country goes way beyond the current austerity measures.

ANYWAY. I'm trying to avoid thinking about this because it's getting me down, so end rant and move on.

I went out for a meal and drinks with some of my mummy friends on Saturday night, and really enjoyed myself (despite the cheeky bugger who, hearing that we were a group of mums, asked me whether I'd had my baby yet. I know I'm fat but I do not look pregnant!). I hardly ever go out in the evening and I don't think I'd realised how much I was missing it. I had three whole beers! Talk about living it up. I delighted the Spanish bartender by drinking Mahou, a lager made in Madrid. It wasn't entirely my kind of beer, but nice enough. I almost dropped out at an early stage, because the bar we were in was too noisy for a proper conversation, but we moved on and ended up sitting outside having a great chat. A taxi home turns out to cost around £18, which I certainly can't afford every week but is less expensive than I feared. Hoping to do it again soon.

Batgran is coming up this weekend (sorry Mum, I can't resist), which will be nice. We need to do some serious tidying today and tomorrow so that we can make her up a bed on the living room floor, since Bat now has the second bedroom. Characteristically, I'm ignoring the tidying and thinking instead about what I might make us for dinner on Saturday night. It's all right though, Owl will be home soon and I can make him do it! Though I've now dreamt two nights in a row that he's planning to leave me, so perhaps I shouldn't - maybe my subconscious is telling me that I'm a rubbish wife.

In other news, I'm trying to get back into fiction writing, with a short story and a longer project in the works (I can't say the word "novel" at this point, I've only just started and it feels like tempting fate). The short story is about a luxury wallpaper designer who casts spells on her distinguished clients, and it's shaping up OK. I've also registered on that OU course I was wailing about a few weeks ago - Batgran very generously stumped up half the course fees so I can do it after all. It's a creative writing course, it starts in October and I'm excited already.