Gene Kelly on Roller Skates

You have to see it. Here's a YouTube link for you to follow. Go and look, right now...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAISjlN_p8E

OK, maybe I'm influenced by the fact that I can't even stand up on roller skates, but I think the man was a genius, and that bit of film is the proof.

Can't Complain

So, as I already mentioned, I'm nearly forty.

Just a couple more months.

One of the things that annoys me is that I can't grumble, complain and freak out about it to anyone.

There are two kinds of people in the world - those who are older than me, and those who are younger.

I can't complain to the older ones. They'll either tell me that I should think myself lucky, or hate me because I'm rubbing their noses in the fact that I'm younger than they are.

And the younger ones? They're just so young and vibrant and smug that they make me sick!!

Forty

Yes. I'm almost forty.

I find it quite frightening.

I'm the youngest out of five children, so I'm used to being younger than everyone, but now I'm really not any more, and I have to face that fact!!

OK, I'm still younger than my siblings, obviously, but that's no consolation!

In a way, though, I've aged gradually, which has given me time to get used to it. The really weird thing is thinking that all my little friends from school are forty, too.

Last time I saw them, they were little kids. How could they possibly be as old as I am?? I refuse to believe it - I'm sure they're all still riding their Raleigh choppers and eating plasticine.

Then there's all the vibrant prime-of-life people that I used to know. When I first started work at 16, I seemed to work in a company made up entirely of thirty and forty-something people. I can't believe those people are now approaching or into their retirement. Bizarre.

Which reminded me, and I just checked on iMDB, all the stars of thirtysomething are now fifty-something. That's just not right.

Over-excited!!

Today, I'm much too excited about a couple of green strawberries.

But we grew them ourselves! And they look somewhat like what they're supposed to be!!

The one nearest the camera is even starting to get a little pinkishness amongst the greenness.

I should have waited until they were red, I suppose. But I'm too excited! And probably some bird, or insect, or neighbour child will have eaten them by then!

As you can probably guess, this is the first time we've grown anything edible.

We've started with some potatoes, some carrots, some tomatoes and some strawberries, and the strawberries are the first things to look anything like edible, hence my childlike excitement!

The carrots are a sad story. We planted them, and between the local cats and the local slugs, there is nothing left of them. A couple of little leafy bits will struggle out of the ground from time to time, but despite all our efforts, something has always dug them up or eaten them within a couple of days.

Makes the strawberries all the more miraculous!!

Dressing for the Occasion

I'm a new(ish) cyclist.

I only started to learn quite recently, despite being fortyish.

I can cycle in a fairly straight line, now, so long as I don't try to make hand signals or look too far over my shoulder.

But what to wear?

I tend to just get up and jump on my bike and go. Which leads to me looking like a middle aged woman who was just sitting on the sofa watching TV, who has been magically transported onto a bike.

A bit incongruous.

I feel I need more sporty clothing for my bike riding, but I don't want to take it too far.

Every once in a while, you see a bloke on a bike, riding through town, wearing the full Tour de France getup.

Lycra shorts, super-aerodynamic helmet, lycra top covered in advertising. It's a bit much for nipping into town for the papers.

I wonder about those blokes. Do they carry that tendency into other areas of their lives?

When he's making beans on toast for his tea, does he dress in a white tunic, checked trousers and a tall white hat?