Love letters str8 frm the ♥

Scene number one:
Charles sits at his writing desk , fountain pen in hand , monogrammed writing paper before him , ready to pour our his hearts desires on paper.

He writes :

"My Dearest Eleanor , My heart yearns for only you , your eyes , like blue pools have me entranced , your hair , the gentle curls that escape onto your neck , make me wish I was less of a Gentleman , that I could be nearer to you than I am.

Please could you do me the honour of accompanying me to the Summer dance , it would make my heart sing if I could have the pleasure of your company for just one evening.

Yours in hopeful anticipation
Charles "

50 years later when going through their Grandmothers belongings Mary & Susan find a bundle of yellowing letters , tied with faded red ribbon. Reading the precious letters they get a glimpse of their Grandmother as a young girl , in love , with all her hopes and dreams before her , not the rather stern old lady they have always known , who never really had time for anyone.

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Scene number two:
Dorothy sits down at the kitchen table after a long day in the munitions factory , doing her bit for the war effort , she gets out the letter that she began writing in her break and continues .

"Molly and George are doing well at school , it is quiet there with a lot of the others evacuated. I really hope that I don't have to send them away but your Mother insisted that they would be okay.
Betty asked me if I wanted to go to the dance with her at the naafi but I told her it wouldn't feel right , not without you.
We have been digging for Victory , it has been hard work but the cabbages seem to have survived the rabbits , mind you Bill has been quite busy with his gun so that may be why .
I hope this letter finds you safe and well , you are in my heart always , I dream of you every night & pray that you will be kept safe from harm , I hope it will not be long until we are all together again.

My love always  Dorothy x "

The battered old wallet that Gramps carried in his breast pocket all through the war , close to his heart ,the crumpled letter inside , read and re-read while he spent those long lonely nights away from all of those he loved. Found hidden in that old tin box that he kept under his bed , that he never showed anyone else , along with his old army paperwork and that newspaper clipping that was sent to him to keep him in touch with what was happening at home.

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Scene number three:

ur gr8 hon wanna go out 2nite

                                                                               dunno brb :-)
u wot , nandos innit
                                                                           cu at 8 bbz xxx
l8r k


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                                                  xxxx

What is in a name ?

Firstly apologies in advance for any people that I stereotype in this post , hopefully you will have been able to change those misconceptions about your name !

I was asked an interesting question on Ask.fm earlier today :
"If you had a different name , would you be a different person?" (asked by an anoymous person , the irony !) , the response I gave was , yes , of course I would , the butterfly effect would surely have seen to that , but it really got me thinking.

Those of you that know my full name (no Petleg isn't my 'proper' name silly) will have to admit that it is unusual and according to a Google search , I am in fact the only person in the UK with my name (the other lady died a few years ago)but if my name had been more mainstream , would I have had a different personality ?

To start with , anything that relies on alphabetical order will have been different , at senior school we were sat in order of our surnames so I would've still been sat with the same people but in other situations where first names were taken in account , I might have ended up with a completely different set of friends and therefore , life experiences.

Another point , having an unusual name tends to make people remember you , leading again to different experiences .

At school I was surrounded by loads of Stevens, Pauls , Marks , Dannys , Claires ( okay different spellings of that but ...) , Sarahs , Lisas , almost as if the parents of the 70s had no imagination and now I am sure that classrooms are full of Joshuas , Georges , Ellas and Sophies !

My Brothers ended up with 'normal' names , my eldest Brother having a very 'Essex' name and 1 middle name each , but yes , me being different I've got 2 middle names as well (show off I know) but I've got to admit I like it!!

I am an artistic person & I do wonder if , had I been given a 'normal' name , would I have been less artistic ? Has my name influenced who I am or didn't it make much difference ? Did I feel I had to be unusual to match my name? All questions I will never know the answer to , but I do like to feel that standing out a bit with my name has made me not want to be a sheep at all , to go my own way & do my own thing .

Do people live up to stereotypical names ? Taking some 'Essex' names , how annoying must it be to be called Tracy , Debbie , Sharon , Wayne , Steve , Barry & having the negative associations that go with those names ? Are all Essex girls called Tracy as thick as they are portrayed ? No of course they are not , but I bet some of them wish their parents had chosen a different name for them.

And what of the 'wacky' names ? In the past only given by drug addled rock stars to their off spring , but more recently introduced into everyday lives , how are these children going to get on when they are older ?
Would you like a lawyer called Moonbeam or a doctor called Ace? or because of the way they will be treated in life , are they more likely to be artists , writers , dancers or actors?

Only time will tell but the old peoples homes of the future will have less Marys , Alberts and Joyces and a lot more Britneys , Judes and Tylers that's for sure xxx

 

 

Cake , just cake

So the idea of me doing a blog was basically giving me a chance to ramble on about things that I like , you might've known it wouldn't take long until cake was on the menu (so to speak)

Lets be honest , who doesn't like cake ? .....What ? , you don't ? , sorry , run along now then , there's nothing I can say that you would ever want to hear  (right now he's gone , lets continue)

As a child on Sundays our house was filled with the smell of baking. Mum would make several large cakes to be cut up for our lunch boxes during the week , coffee & walnut , Victoria Sandwich , rock cakes , fairy cakes , scones , carrot cake ...excuse me while I wipe the drool from my chin!

As my Brothers grew older the cake stock only lasted until Tuesday, Wednesday at the latest & 'shop brought' cakes edged their way in along with Clubs, Kitkats & Wagon Wheels (bigger in those days of course)

One of my first memories was sitting by the worktop with Mum , rolling out bits of pastry , left over from a pie or something , dropping them on the floor , rolling again , cutting out & then presenting them for Dad to eat when he got in (he liked grey pastry with bits in , well at least he said he did !!)

As I got older , one of the first things I cooked at school was a Victoria sandwich (6/6/6/3 method of course) , followed by a Christmas cake with homemade marzipan & fondant snowman , although the short time we had for home economics at school meant most of it was actually done at home.

Then came the exciting bit , one of my older Brothers had done his chef training & decided that he wanted to specialise in patisserie , which for the uninitiated means CAKE !!
He won national prizes for his bread & his Swiss rolls & cake was frequently brought home from college for us all to enjoy , not to mention the homemade fresh doughnuts (hot with cinnamon sugar) and the yearly treat of hot cross buns (still a treat to this day)!

Then Mum , having decided that she was not going to pay out for 3 Birthday cakes in 2 months learnt how to decorate cakes , intricate icing , sugar flowers , swags , bows , frills , fiddly bits (technical term)and being the lovely Daughter I am , I decided to go with her to learn , something I regret to this day !!

I'm not saying that I dislike cake decorating (yes I am actually) but the bit I find annoying is that people eat my creations !
If people realised just how long each individual flower petal , stamen or fiddly bit took to do they would preserve the cake forever in a glass box , to stare at daily.
Having been to a wedding and seeing the flowers from a cake we'd done stuffed in a box , all broken up , it makes you wonder why you bothered !!

But still I like cake , I like eating cake more than making it , although my waistline has complaints on this issue and yes I know you are wondering, my favourite ever, ever cake ~ just has to be a split custard doughnut , fresh creme patisserie , lightly dusted with icing sugar and I'd better go now , the drool is making my keyboard damp. xxx

Hey You .......

 

Not a 'proper blog post' but say no more xxx

 

Sugar & Spice ?

"Why are you always so nice to everyone?"

A question I've been asked a few times recently & to be honest , I'm not entirely sure if it's always a compliment.

I have this strange feeling that I am thought of a some kind of 'Slickly sweet Mary Poppins' type figure by some people , spreading good words & fairy dust all over the place whether people want me to or not.

So to set the record straight , believe me I'm not always nice to people , just ask my family who live with me everyday !! I can be a total bitch & I'm more than willing to admit it. As a teenager I was a total horror making 'Kevin The Teenager' look like a saint and no , I'm honestly not exaggerating !!

I feel that when I am on Twitter or Facebook , there's no reason to be horrible to people , I really can't understand people who join up purely to abuse or insult , what sad lives they must live.

I'm honest with the people on my timeline , and that's all you can ever ask of anyone even if it might not be exactly what you want to hear at that moment in time.

If I send a 'virtual ((hug))' to someone , a 'thinking of you' or a supportive tweet , it's not just me going through the motions , I really am thinking of that person & wanting to cheer them up , even if it is in just my small way. If you are my friend (even if we only know each other through Twitter) I will be there for you , through the good times and the bad (cliche alert , sorry) , loyalty is one of my good points (modesty alert as well ,oops!)  

I'm more than happy for people to dm or text me if they have a problem , I'm not an  expert , not by a long way , but being nearly 39 years old , I've experienced a few things and if what I say helps someone at a tricky time then I'm glad and will continue !

So as I say , in answer to the initial question , no I'm not always nice , I'm human , I have moods , high points , low points & everything in between but if I can make someone smile then believe me I'll try xxx

Valentines Schmalentines

Yes , there are far worse things in the world than being single ,I know that & don't get me wrong 364 days of the year no one even notices ,but dear old Valentines Day ,the day when the whole world is covered in hearts & flowers is nearly upon us & the smug couples come out in full force.

If you were to ask me (go on ask me) , then I will have to admit that deep down I am a romantic , soppy old thing & have nothing against love at all but it's the way that romance is force fed to us in the run up to Valentines Day that bugs me.

Every magazine , every Sunday supplement , every 'Woman' section in the newspapers , not to mention the shops clad in enough red crepe paper to go round the world 10 times, hearts , roses , fluffy bunnies , dinners for 2 , champagne , lingerie ......need I go on ?

Then on the day itself , the Facebook & Twitter  posts thanking 'My Darling' for the 'amazing 2 dozen red roses' that were (of course) sent to the office (everyone saw them , yeah !!) , the 'How many cards did you get?' question that every teenager dreads (yes I can remember that far back ,cheeky), the local newspaper messages to 'snuggly piglet' from your 'honey bunny'.

I know what you are thinking , 'bitter , single old cow , bet she'd change her tune if she was with someone' and who knows , maybe I would but I've never really been one for Valentines day even when younger.

First memories of it , being sent a card , which (of course) I had to take into junior school to show everyone , only to find that another girl had received an identical card , exactly the same message , writing everything, yep we then knew who it was & he did apparently love both of us .

As a teenager , one year I got about 4 cards through and was very excited , curious about who these mystery guys were that clearly adored me !! Postcodes from all over the area ,different writing on each of them , but yes in hindsight , my Mum worked in an office with reps that travelled all over the place ,so quite easy for her to arrange really (sad but true) !!!

So on February 14th just remember you might not get a valentines card or a date or your name in the paper but who knows ,you might just find that special someone the very next day & when he buys you flowers on a random day in July , it's because he really wants to , not because he feels he should xxx

Hello & Welcome To My World

So I guess 'My Mad Ramblings' has got to start somewhere & here it is , the place where I will spill the contents of my mind on the occasions where there just isn't enough room on Twitter to fully get it all out.

The one thing that you will have to understand if we are going to get along , is my sense of humour , some people just don't get it & I have had to apologise on many occasions when what I intended to mean has got taken in totally the wrong way !

Also the occasional spelling mistake & misuse of punctuation (I blame the teachers) ~ Does blogger have spell check ?? Ah yes , found it !!

Also I am not (definitely not) a writer & never claim to be , just someone with a bit (too much) to say and hopefully some of you will actually enjoy reading what I go on about!

I also tend to type as I talk & think so hence the name 'My Mad Ramblings' but if you enjoy what I write , that's good , if not I guess this will be a short relationship and I'm sorry to have troubled you xxx

p.s I may also include some of my most favourite quotes along the way too