Recovery, fame and new camera

First the health bulletin. Scarlett is much better today, still a bit on the feeble side and needing lots of dummy time (usually 100% restricted to bedtime). Apparently while I was at work this morning she did a poo which I had a full and graphic report on the colour and consistency of when I got home 😆 So far none of the rest of us are showing any signs so hopefully it was a Scarlett-specific thing.

Work was fine, a nice morning. We have two Saturday assistants at Lancing, one is Tom, who wants to go to London College of Fashion and is thrilled at the prospect of the challenge, adventure and possibilities of university. Sitting chatting with him about it a couple of weeks ago made me feel envious of his youth and freedom and full of hope for him and the experiences he’s going to go off and have. The other is a new girl, Sara, who is the same age and about to finish her A levels and attending uni interviews as well. Except she wants to be an actress and has this desperate air about her of it all being so important that she does it all now. Not only that she is facing so many odds stacked against her already long before she ever gets anywhere near actually realising her dream. She is facing the prospect of not getting into any of the unis she’s applied to as they are all totally over subscribed and holding stiff audition style interviews and are apparently looking for older people with more life experience to do their courses. When I asked her what she’d do if she didn’t get into any of them she said in a really downhearted manner ‘I suppose I’ll travel and try and get some of the life experience they want, but I’d rather get the life experience while I’m at uni’. Dreams and ambitions are wonderful but a jaded 17 year old is a sad sight to see, especially one with X Factor style stars in her eyes… Talking to the Saturday assistants reminds me both of how old and how young I am simulatenously somehow.

Ady headed off to London as soon as I got home. He’d spent some time this morning finding me a new camera. I’ve never actually had a new camera, my first was a courtesy camera which we were never asked for back when we had one repaired – very beaten and battered but a great little camera. My second one was Ady’s old work camera but I have admittedly mistreated it, keeping it in my pocket and it finally expired this week after a rather lengthly decline. Ebay suggests I’ll still get 20 quid or so for it on a spare or repair basis so it’s probably worth following one of the online guides to repairing it and then ebaying it if it doesn’t work. But being without it for just two days has had me moaning about how I simply cannot live without a camera so Ady took an executive decision that our Hornby profits would go towards a new camera rather than the camping mats we’d planned to buy. He found a Canon camera with a printer bundle on clearance at Argos so the kids and I went out to collect that. I don’t think we’ll really need / use the printer so I might ebay that to recoup some of the price anyway. It’s bigger than my little purple camera and a bit plasticky looking and clunky but will more than do the job for me. I’m the same with phones, having tried various brands I am a committed Sony Ericsson affectionado and I do like Canon cameras – I know where everything is on them!

Davies and I did a load of work on his paintings for the library. He’s finished all the drawings and given the set a title and created a header board for them. Most of them have the background colours painted so tomorrow is all about detail and little bit like the people on them. I’ll photograph them all when they’re done and we’ll get them put up at the library on Monday. I’ve given him the opportunity to not do the display (in a calm and rational manner, not a threat ;)) several times and although he’d struggled with the level of work involved and some of the more boring stuff like painting skies he has learnt loads of history through it, used lots of imagination and creativity and it’s been his first experience of means justifying the ends I think which has been a good lesson to learn. Hopefully he will be proud of his finished work and proud to display it and see it up on public view :).

Scarlett and I read a couple of books, she played a bit of Starfall and a bit of X box but I realised how much she struggles without someone to ‘play with’. She has always had Davies ready to play with her or entertain her and without him around can be quite high maintenance. So to have Davies busy painting and me spending time helping him combined with her feeling not 100% yet anyway made for a slightly disgruntled Tarly.

They had dinner, I sorted out the chickens and got dinner on for me and Ady, lit a fire and then the three of us had a bath together at their request. Then we all got ready with wine for me, TV set up for Primeval and laptop set up ready for QVC and watched the two side by side til Ady came on and flicked over to watch him. The children are rather blase about Daddy on TV really and given that Davies has been on himself and we are all so used to seeing our images and those of everyone we know on video cameras or photos on tv and computers I don’t think they quite grasp how many other complete strangers might also be watching Daddy. I think having had various brushed with the media too with Davies on radio, both of them in the papers several times and Ady’s photos in national papers this year they are quite laid back about such things. Not sure whether that is good or bad really, I think it’s probably a healthy attitude to not give much credance to fame though. 🙂 They finished watching Primeval and went off to bed.

Ady was great, he wobbled once which was probably only obvious to me and rang me as he left the studios to say one of his three lines had already sold out, one was low stocks and the other selling ok so another success for him up there. I’m very proud of him for consistently taking whatever roles are thrown at him throughout his career and adapting and striving to meet all these challenges. QVC guest presenting isn’t his dream by any means but I certainly couldn’t do it and have respect and admiration for his ability to not just do it, but do it rather well :). So yay Ady!