Area 136

Sarahs latest announcement on the way back from the child minders-

"Oh this week at lunchtime I have cheerleading club"

Oh god! I know she is Blond ("I am not blond daddy! I am naturally highlighted!") but that is a bit too much.

The thing is I don't think her spelling is up to it.

All the way up the road she was trying to spell out words in a Cheerleader stylee and kept getting things wrong.

"Erm, hang on...what's next?"

"Worse cheerleader Everrrrrrrrrrr"

Lots of giggling and sillyness.

I know speaking about spending money in the present economic climate is a bit wrong but bear with me.

I don’t like buying things for practical reasons – buying a new pair of trousers because I need another pair is a boring process because it is necessary. I need to replace something like a pair of boots then I do, and for a day I may have minor new boot joy, but it does not last.

Only being able to buy something you don’t actually need gives you a pure shot of “retail therapy joy”. This is evidenced by my vast array of totally unnecessary guitar fx pedals, I mean you never know – one day I may be called up to join a band purely because I am the only person in London that has a pedal that can make his guitar sound like a screaming hamster. Or not. Not one of these little boxes was needed but the dose of the happys I got from buying them lasted far longer than when I buy anything practical.

But if I am lucky I will soon have to be buying dull practical stuff like furniture for my flat. Things like cupboards and wardrobes and a bed. Yes I know a bed can be a place of fun if you have someone in it with you, but it is still a practical item. And I can’t buy any of that stuff now, as I have nowhere to put it.

But I have been picking up stuff that is of no real use. Little items that I don’t actually need but I see them and think, “That will look great in the flat”

So far the list is-

A set of naughty ceramic coasters from Santorini.

A Tie-dyed throw with a Celtic design on it from Avebury (which is on the bed in the spare room at Rancho Collapso, just under Cleo the cat.)

A multi-coloured ceramic bull from Barcelona, which will go on some shelf or surface and be a dust trap.

And the one item that might be of some real use – A lamp made out of a Rock salt crystal. It casts a nice relaxing amber glow over the room.

I may have to put that in the bedroom as the soft lighting does wonders for my middle aged skin…. ahem.

So there you have it. Nothing practical at all, just the stuff that makes a place more like a home.

Just have to get a flat and start buying all that boring practical stuff.

But that won’t be nearly as much fun as buying the unnecessary stuff.

Should never be underestimated. I am listening to it now via Planet Rock on my work pc, and it is doing me a lot of good.

Thank you.

That is all.

Now bugger off.