Muddles

In the doctor's waiting room again this morning (yes, m'lud, it must be my age) and there was another little child about the same age as my "chebya" toddler. He was bright and eager too, but stuck in his mouth was a dummy, so his speech was all distorted and slobbery. He tried to name all the toys but couldn'y properly annunciate. If I'd been just another year older, and wearing purple, I might have gone up to the parents and advised them to remove the horrible thing NOW! The mind boggles. Later while browsing the eyeliners in Boots I overheard three young children talking while their mother tried on lipsticks. Looking at one of the little mirrors that helpfully show up all your wrinkles and creases under the bright shop lights, the oldest one said she could see her reflection. "Flechon", repeated the smallest one, aged about 3. "No, that's not wite, it's WEflechon," said the middle child, maybe 5 years old, importantly. "Say after me, We, We." You never get bored with little kids around.

Back home again I set about completing the four insurances that need renewing about this time of year: house, contents, car and breakdown. The house and contents staggered to a halt yesterday because the computer didn't seem to like my not having a burglar alarm, so I had to call them and speak to a person. I don't want an alarm as past experience tells me it is quite likely to go off when a spider crosses its lens, and there is nothing more terrifying than being woken by that deafening noise and dashing downstairs in a state of shock. No thanks. But the man on the phone who was harder to understand than someone from the Indian subcontinent but in fact came from Doncaster told me I already satisfied security requirements. Cheered by finding a good price and setting the insurance up, I then hunted for a copy of last year's no claims bonus to show my new car insurers. And that's when I discovered I had renewed it a whole month early. This is very typical of me when buying online, especially air travel, but in this case was caused by unexpectedly changing cars early last year. I contacted the company to arrange a new date but they had to cancel the new policy and reissue another. And guess what: the premium had gone up by £100. I'll wait until nearer the time then, and try again. I my be an idiot, but I won't have them making a monkey of me.