No - not the band - just a new haircut... a new hairdresser, a new experience. I have had a notional £40 for a hair cut hanging around for sometime, the problem was always going to be getting the hair cut and coloured for that amount, but yesterday it was £45 for a "rug re-think". I had to go all the way to Sittingborne to achieve it - but it was worth it. Anna T (who is currently in the middle of a major low in the bi-polar cycle) has a friend who I've met before called Marion - who she used to teach with. She lives in a close of large modern houses in Borden - right across the road from where we did our first historic recording job in Kent. Curiously, we've had two quite good jobs in Borden. She has a peripatetic hairdresser called Tim - and a huge, spotless kitchen... ideal for hairdressing.
So, I have just transformed from long "spaniel" hair - auburn at the ends with a grey crown, to dark brown hair, auburn at the ends with blond highlights, in a shorter, shaggier style - but not having had it all shortened back to the "poodle" - what kind of dog do I now look like? A long haired dachshund perhaps? We had a couple of glasses of wine afterwards with Martin, her husband - and Anna was observed to laugh and enjoy herself. Martin asked me how I felt being introduced to everyone by Anna as "my bridesmaid" - I said it made me feel like Edna Everage's sidekick Madge Allsopp...
Rather annoyingly when we drove off again Anna subsided into "I haven't been very well" a phrase which she must have used about 30 times yesterday - and seemed to forget that she'd been cheery for at least 10 minutes. There was almost a sense of wanting to forget it - of wanting to hang on to the gloom and not wanting to see or hear anything positive. I always feel like such a bully when she gets like this (not that often really) but I think a bit of tough love and amateur CBT can't really do her much harm. She is in a glorious situation now - retired, mother in a home, nice husband (ok, he's not the DIY king, but you can't have everything) and soon she will have extra income from her mother's house. So - if it were me I would be dancing a jig. Marion said they could go and live in France and let their Canterbury house - which Anna would never do, since "the boys" live there - 30 and 32 now... Marion is clearly as exasperated with her as I am, I do have sympathy - I have had those catonic days too - when you can do nothing except sit at the computer and stare at it. I find it hard to motivate myself in certain directions... And this week it's already Thursday and I don't feel I've got very far. But Anna's catatonia is clearly worse than mine - and she doesn't have quite such good support. Actually, I think Robin is rather wonderful - but she tends to infantilise him because of his problems (hearing, sciatica and the beginnings of vascular dementia). I can see where this is all going.... and I don't like it. Old age not for sissies etc.
I found the day not stressful exactly - but had to be on "best behaviour" and watching out, making sure I said the right things etc. When I came home I drank 4 glasses of wine and scoffed some crisps... just from relief really. Haircut did not astonish the family - but I like it - think I prefer it to the "half-poodle" but it still doesn't quite meet the heroic standards of my Italian haircut in 1981/2 - not so much the cut itself ("FULL poodle") but about 3 months after when it grown into something I have aspired to ever since...
So, I have just transformed from long "spaniel" hair - auburn at the ends with a grey crown, to dark brown hair, auburn at the ends with blond highlights, in a shorter, shaggier style - but not having had it all shortened back to the "poodle" - what kind of dog do I now look like? A long haired dachshund perhaps? We had a couple of glasses of wine afterwards with Martin, her husband - and Anna was observed to laugh and enjoy herself. Martin asked me how I felt being introduced to everyone by Anna as "my bridesmaid" - I said it made me feel like Edna Everage's sidekick Madge Allsopp...
Rather annoyingly when we drove off again Anna subsided into "I haven't been very well" a phrase which she must have used about 30 times yesterday - and seemed to forget that she'd been cheery for at least 10 minutes. There was almost a sense of wanting to forget it - of wanting to hang on to the gloom and not wanting to see or hear anything positive. I always feel like such a bully when she gets like this (not that often really) but I think a bit of tough love and amateur CBT can't really do her much harm. She is in a glorious situation now - retired, mother in a home, nice husband (ok, he's not the DIY king, but you can't have everything) and soon she will have extra income from her mother's house. So - if it were me I would be dancing a jig. Marion said they could go and live in France and let their Canterbury house - which Anna would never do, since "the boys" live there - 30 and 32 now... Marion is clearly as exasperated with her as I am, I do have sympathy - I have had those catonic days too - when you can do nothing except sit at the computer and stare at it. I find it hard to motivate myself in certain directions... And this week it's already Thursday and I don't feel I've got very far. But Anna's catatonia is clearly worse than mine - and she doesn't have quite such good support. Actually, I think Robin is rather wonderful - but she tends to infantilise him because of his problems (hearing, sciatica and the beginnings of vascular dementia). I can see where this is all going.... and I don't like it. Old age not for sissies etc.
I found the day not stressful exactly - but had to be on "best behaviour" and watching out, making sure I said the right things etc. When I came home I drank 4 glasses of wine and scoffed some crisps... just from relief really. Haircut did not astonish the family - but I like it - think I prefer it to the "half-poodle" but it still doesn't quite meet the heroic standards of my Italian haircut in 1981/2 - not so much the cut itself ("FULL poodle") but about 3 months after when it grown into something I have aspired to ever since...
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