Sunday, July 13, 2008

Not a lot to say. Or, perhaps, too much of the unsayable. One’s beloved offspring are busy, busy with creative projects (good), dealing with the slings and arrows that life inevitably throws (necessary) and fielding the rogue bastard elements that snake their way into the garden that is the sphere in which they live and have their being (ouch). Not to mention that one particular offspring’s group has got through to the next stage of a certain televised competition but the powers that be did not feature them at all, probably on account of their not providing enough televisual material in the way of weeping and hand-wringing (just as well, all considered, but disappointing for them).

I have M.E. Did I mention this? Yes, well I’ve had to mention it a couple of times recently in the context of Shrink sessions on account of him being a bit, shall we say, ignorant about it all, and following a conversation that went something like:
Signs: Do you actually believe in M.E. – you don’t do you?
Shrink: I don’t know.
Signs: Fuck.
But to his credit, he has been prepared to read stuff downloaded from the wonderful Hummingbirds site (on my sidebar) and taken it on board.
"I want to know what it means to you," says Shrink. I have given the short and the long answer. I could, I suppose, say – as some reality TV contestants are fond of doing – that it Means Everything. But strike me down with a sledgehammer if I do.

I am missing the services of the person who usually comes each week to vacuum the carpets, clean the kitchen/bathroom floors and change bed linen. She has gone away until September and it felt like too much hassle to try and find someone temporary to take her place. Lugging a vacuum cleaner up and down the steep and narrow stairs of Signs Cottage is out of the question, changing bed linen and cleaning kitchen floor are both difficult but possible if I choose the right moment. So Mr. Signs does the first and of course there is the option of allowing standards to slip a little, or a lot, here and there. It would make me happy for the house to be clean, but happier still to have written a new poem or story.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Curious a shrink not being up on the condition. Although a playwright friend of mine has had ME for 20 years now and still has to explain its characteristics to the ignorant, wilful and simply uninformed.

Reading the Signs said...

Hi Dick,

I think the problem is that many people seem to think they are informed - that M.E. is something that makes you quite tired all the time and you feel a bit rubbish and that's it really. Unless you have it, or are close to someone who has, there is no particular reason why anyone would research the facts about it. To Shrink's credit, he did acknowledge that what I'd given him was a real eye-opener - so he is open to learning about it.

Mr Spike said...

I have a tiny vacuum cleaner from Woolworth's. It's so small it's scared of NooNoo. And it only cost £17. You could get one similar and leave it upstairs? Otherwise, it'll be September sooner than you think.

Reading the Signs said...

Mr. Spike? Do I know you? Only Mr. Signs thinks perhaps I do :)
(what is NooNoo?)

Kahless said...

Is Mrspike MrSigns in disguise?
I will go blog checking out...

I have a cleaner too; yet I find I have to do a load of cleaning beforehand! I thoroughly clean the bathroom for instance... !

Collin Kelley said...

I will gladly come and be your personal assistant, Signs. Do you have a room to let? :)

Reading the Signs said...

Kahless, I can promise you that it isn't Mr. Signs, and he doesn't seem to have a blog up and running. (Mr. Spike? Are you who I think you are?)

Yes, cleaning before the cleaner comes is all part of it I think. In my case, though, it's mainly tidying up so that she can actually clean.

Collin, unfortunately my rooms are taken at present, what a sweet thought! I think I might have a look at that £17 thing from Woolworths.

Cusp said...

Do you have M.E. ???? what a small world ! So do I --- Snap !

Sounds like you should give me some home tutoring re. trikcyclists since I'm due to see the one provided by Insurance Company at beginning of September. Bet he doesnt really know about ME either, even if he does run the London Fatigue Clinic.

Cleaners ---- oh how I wish. They are like gold dust. We did have a lttle 'treasure' when I was still at work but she had to give up work because she got chronic fatigue ! Only we could find a cleaner with CF. Now we just manage between us and have cleaning stuff upstairs as well as down and in the hols kind of let it all go a bit though I find that a mucky house makes me feel even more tired and out of sorts

Reading the Signs said...

Cusp, it's worth bearing in mind that not all trickcyclists are psychotherapists. I really don't envy you this thing looming and just hope that you stumble across an informed human being. Sometimes it happens!

Yes, dirt and disorder take energy - why I appreciate the help so much because it really does impact on quality of life. There just wouldn't be any room to store cleaning stuff on the top - no landings or storage space. But we don't have young kids to look after, so it's ok - manageable.

Cusp said...

I think you'll just have to stick with Quentin Crisp's philosophy until September: 'After 4 years you don't notice the dust...'

Might take a leaf out of his book myself ;0)

Merkin said...

'After 4 years you don't notice the dust...'

Exactly.
The guys I know who actually met Our Quentin said that he was a self-seeking-promoting arsehole, rather than a member of the fight.

Still, sitting within my dilapidation I am prepared to give his ghost house room.

Reading the Signs said...

Cusp, I don't think I can manage four years worth of dust between now and then, but that saying has always resonated - even though I couldn't bring myself to live it.

Hi Merkin,

Well exhibitionism was his thing, and self-promoting - I suppose goes with the territory especially in show biz. I dunno, he seemed quite a generous and gentle person too. Not that I met him, I just saw a couple of televised lectures he gave, and The Naked Civil Servant.

I've heard it's quite true what he says about the dust - and it only takes three years, not four.

Cusp said...

Oh Merkin, (sorry to address M on your blog Signs) --- poor old Quentin. No doubt he was 'self-seeking-promoting' but an arsehole ? No. I think his story was extremely important in its own way and, in a funny way, he was one of the first 'Celebs' in the current sense: i.e. famous for nothing in particular with no particular talent for anything other than being himself. However, he did at least have the intelligence and self-knowing to realise that was what he was and nothing more. and expected nothing more. It was writers and TV and film that took him up --- he didn't seek it initially. When I met him and saw him in his one man show many years ago he seemed quite bemused by the whole circus around him and couldn't quite understand what the fuss was about but in the other hand in his twilight years he was making the most of it. Who wouldn't after yeras of being spurned, denigrated and living hand to mouth. He lived by his own tenets and you could see the one about cleanliness in the state of his clothes and personal hygiene --- Boy was he grubby ;0)

I'll always be fond of Quentin and I'll forgive your slur [;0)] since you have put up the lyrics to one of my favourite toons on your blog

Reading the Signs said...

Cusp, and another thing Quentin said that stayed with me was the thing about how a teacher can only ever teach one subject, and that was him/herself. So (in a way) true!

I'm a bit envious that you met him.

Cusp said...

Well I only met him briefly but he was sweet. It was at a theatre in Basildon of all places but at that point in the late 70s that funny litte theatre booked all sorts of interesting people so one was prepared to travel and it was a very small venue and intimate. Think its been torn down now

Mr Spike said...

Andrew Hughes at your service, but if anyone asks tell them it's MrSpike. NooNoo was the vacuum cleaner in Teletubbies, duh! All the best!

Reading the Signs said...

Andrew, Mr. Signs said it was you! Where's your blog? Nice to see you here.

Pants said...

Hi Signs

I hope you can concentrate on the poem and leave the dust to take care of itself.

xxx

Pants

Reading the Signs said...

Wise words as always, dear Pantaloon.

Anonymous said...

My grown-up daughter and her partner own a robot vacuum cleaner. You fire it up and it bundles around happily on its own. She 'phoned me when it went on its maiden voyage and I could hear it in the background. She says that, being self-motivated, it's highly efficient. Seriously.

Reading the Signs said...

Dick, if you hadn't said "seriously" I wouldn't have taken you seriously. I don't get how this could possibly work. Will research, if only out of curiosity. But I bet it doesn't climb stairs. Does it?

Mr Spike said...

My blog is in a far off place, and it's very part-time, just like me! http://uk.360.yahoo.com/mrspike5

Reading the Signs said...

I went to your far off place, Mr. Spike, and wanted to leave a message, but it seems only offical friends can do that. Sending healing thoughts in your direction.