Typecast

The reason my wedding was arranged was not a conventional one.  My boyfriend had just been released from serving eight weeks of a six-month jail term ( long story, another time ) and with his Get Out Of Jail Free card release grant we bought a new engagement ring for me as I had originally bought my own.  We then visited the local Register Office to publish our banns and booked the wedding for three months later - 1st August 1992. Next, we stood in a phone box and we rang our parents. Neither set of parents were over the moon about the arrangements.  One set (mine) said that they already had their annual holiday booked and they would be away for the date we'd picked.  Strong-willed as ever, I stubbornly announced that I would rearrange the date, slammed the phone down and stomped all the way home. Another trip back to the Register Office the next day allowed us to rearrange the date.  We were now getting married on 11th July 1992.  We phoned ...

Back in March I published a guest post from Emma detailing what could happen to her family if cuts to the current Disability Living Allowance were implemented by the Government .  The Government's response to the consultation on DLA has been published (pdf) and I have invited Emma to respond to it. ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~

It's not often that I post pictures of myself on here but you have to remember that I'm a child of the 70s and 80s and my whole fashion sense and style is hampered by that fact.  I can't really blame my mum for my early years.  I was probably kinda trendy at the time, even if I did look like a boy at certain intervals. early, mid and late 1970s My entry into high school opened my eyes wide.  Suddenly music and fashion choices were tantamount to survival.  In the 80's you couldn't really get it wrong - loud and proud was the call of the day.  These two photographs encapsulate everything I thought was "fashion" in the 80s.  I was a bit under the radar if I think back. l: charity 3-legged race r: somewhere in France Anyway, none of these can top the photo I found in the depths of the photo pile.  I'm sure there are much worse than this but all my photos are at my sister's house.  I got custody of the albums when mum died and it...

Last night the realisation hit me that my babies are not babies any more.  It full on smacked me in the face, not once, but twice.

All these pictures of beautiful bulging fridges full of food and interesting jars and containers are annoying me.

I was stumped this week when I read the prompt.  My Blog.  I had already encapuslated "my blog" when I had taken pictures for the Gallery prompt " Self Portrait " back in May last year.  Then I saw something on Twitter and had a bit of a brainwave. Welcome to the back of my blog.  The inner workings.  Sort of...

Time for a mini-rant. I can't seem to read a British newspaper without being faced with stories about glorified prostitutes shagging very famous married blokes.  In turn, these very famous blokes then get a bit scared about their fame and fortune being threatened so slap a gagging order on the prostitute to stop her selling her story.  Said prostitute manages to employ the services of one very renown PR consultant who encourages the sale of "teasers" to the papers.

"I'm going to pick up some bits to make the aerials, Nic.  You coming?" I go, just for the change in scenery and the fact that I am not going to be driving for a change.  There is one small problem though.  Kev owns a transit van and I hate sitting in the front of it for two reasons.  The first is that I think we look like we have escaped from the local gypsy camp and the second is to do with Kev's Meldrew-esque driving.  Occasionally he forgets he is in a van and get a bit boy-racer and other times he believes he is the best driver In The World.

Today will soon be tomorrow Tomorrow will then be today Today will become yesterday And we can start all over again © N . O'Hara (April 2011) I do love a good sunset...

Oh Mrs Lister ,  where have you been all my (blogging) life?  I have found you and your wonderful Q&A post via the lovely NotSupermum .  I so wanted this to be a real Q&A for the Guardian - I even thought about interviewing myself on tape and then typing it up, but that really is a bit too egotistical, even for me. So which group am I in then?  The " get the frig off my screen, you screaming loony " bunch of people or the " I'm on my way down to yours with 3-for£10 bottles of wine, you screaming loony " type of person?  Read on to find out...

My finger hovers over the pause button whilst I listen to another snippet of sound.   I click, then pick up my pen and write quickly before I forget.  Then I repeat, over and over again, sometimes going back a few seconds to make sure I have heard correctly, occasionally listening to the same three words. I have not slipped back to the 1980s, attempting to learn the lyrics of the latest pop song to impress my mates on Monday.  I am merely trying to transcript a one-minute piece of conversation for an assignment.  The principle is much the same though.  

I love constructing a " Wordle " from time to time.  Sometimes it give me inspiration for the next month and others times it give me the opportunity to see what I've been banging on about.  This time I took the text from all my blog posts from March 2011 and this is what the mash-up looks like:   Thoughts?

When you live in Blackburn and you are the parent to tweens and teens, it is hard not to take notice of the rumour mill cranking its way round the local schools.  Moreso when you have the utmost responsibility of selecting a high school for them.  Luckily (if you see it that way), we don't live in a "lottery area" so the choice of schools is pretty much on an even keel, with the faith schools slightly out-performing the traditional comprehensives.  We do, however, live in an area that is performing below the national average . I come from the era of "old school" when teachers were respected, you stood up at your desk on the rare occasion that the headmaster entered the classroom, blackboard dusters were thrown with regularity in the direction of unnecessary behaviour and if you got a detention you missed your bus home and had to yomp into town to catch another.  There were only ever one or two students that were recognised as being 'difficult' or ...

I keep meaning to join in Kate's Listography series.  Some of the posts that are dotted around the blogosphere created from her prompts make me HOWL laughing! This week I've just got to join in completely embarrass myself as the theme is "First Five Albums". Now, before you read my answers, please bear in mind that I am a child of the Seventies and I only really discovered music during my teenage years... and we all know what was wrong with the Eighties, don't we?  The following albums are all to do with parental influence  part of my definitive childhood.  Don't you dare diss it!  You can click on each of the images to be taken to the track listing of each album if that's what floats your boat. Back in 1974 the world was a simpler place.   The Wombles was an innovative children's programme with an important environmental message.  Singer/songwriter Mike Batt (yes, he who discovered Katie Melua) brought The Wombles to life and...

This is a strange tale.  It is the tale of two microwaves and other electrical equipment in a communal kitchen.

Editors Note : It's been a while since I posted any " Cancer - Your Story " guest posts.  The facility is always there in the background if anyone wants to use it.  Recently, Sharon contacted me and asked if I could reproduce an up-to-date version of her own story about her Dad along with information about what she has done to raise awareness and charity funds.   This blog post originally appeared on Sharon's blog, " I Heart Motherhood " and you can find her on Twitter as @iheartmuthahood

More useless information about me that you probably knew already but you're here anyway and might as well read... * ahem *

I realised, with a jolt, that it is weeks since I visited your grave.  I felt guilty.  But I also remembered that you would want me to live in the here and now and make the most of what is happening in my life, especially as it is so exciting now.  I want to know what you would have thought.  What am I saying?  Of course you would have been proud of me.  That's what Mother's do, isn't it?  Enthuse about their off-spring.   What I'm trying to say is, even though you're not here anymore, you're still my inspiration. If you would like to suggest a prompt for my 100 Words post on a Sunday then please  email me

Do you fancy a sneak preview of the Wikio Parent Blog rankings for April?

My "BBC Breaking News" app on my phone was flashing wildly this morning.  " EARTHQUAKE IN BLACKPOOL. "  I checked the date - April 1st - but thought it would have been a pretty sick joke as an April Fool prank considering recent events in Japan.