Ketchup!

Notable occurrences in the past couple of months:

• I went out in the big city. Twice! Once to meet some TUS people and once to a concert. The former was a great night (although a little short for my liking) and the latter was free.
• There was Easter, but I can't remember anything about that.
• My car's odometer clocked 123456.7 km and Anna and I pulled over to have a good look. I should've had a camera.
• Anna started in her new school and seems happy enough there. There was some incident the other day, but she seems to have gotten over it.
• We finally sold Sally's old car, but it's amazing how little effect this had on our debt.
• Paddy's had a haircut. Sally took a scissors to him yesterday (well, his hair).
• Piano lessons have finished for the summer and I'm wondering how to proceed.

One night when Sally was out, she rang the house from the mobile and asked that I open the front door for her as there was some spooky guy just standing in out driveway. I did so and she scuttled in explaining that when she pulled in, the person hadn't even looked up and seemed oblivious to his surroundings.

I listened out the side door and he appeared to be on the phone.

You just went off and left me!
Ah, he's been abandoned, poor thing.
What have you been saying to me for the last month?
Some sort of domestic dispute maybe?
What have you been saying to me for the last month?
I'm curious now too.
What have you been saying to me for the last month?
Go on, tell us.
WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN SAYING TO ME FOR THE LAST MONTH?
That's it, encourage whoever it is to get to the point.
WELL I'M LISTENING NOW AREN'T I?

Having decided that he posed no threat to us, I left him to his conversation (such as it is).

In future news, I have a day off on Monday (no reason, just wanted to) and the Venice trip approaches. I'm hoping that this holiday will stop Sally from pricing trips hither and yon. We can't afford it. I sympathise as she's stuck in a rut with no work and she doesn't know what direction to take.

We've re-opened the twin topics of going to New Zealand next year (for a year) and also having another child. I feel that this might be a bit much even though timing requires them to occur concurrently. I'm generally scared of anything other than the status quo (not the band), so skirting around these topics is making me a little, well, nervy.

I did a job for someone the other day and if I ever get paid for it, I'm going to get a new stereo for the car. A CD player that can play MP3s. That way I can listen to the radio all the way home (my current stereo loses the signal in large sections of my journey) or random music from the vinyl vaults.

There's also the potential for audio books and so on.

Can't wait.