moan moan moan itch itch itch moan moan moan

Don't say I didn't warn you.

Thank God for an hour or two to collect my thoughts, drink more tea, think about what the hell I'm teaching at 1.00, do a bit of de-littering around the house, drink more tea. Thank God the clocks went back not forwards on Sat. night.

More tea.

LG was still awake at 12.30 Sat. night (after being "quite demanding" earlier in the day) with EXTREMELY itchy scratchy legs: dry skin, mosquito bites, an allergic reaction to something I think...(possibly Veet, she is getting very self-conscious about hairy legs)... hysteria set in ... red welts and puffiness... she put rather wet flannels on them to cool them down. Bed change and mattress turning at 11.30 because of wet patch (after about 10 minutes persuading her to move to let me change the bed).
Bugger, no piriton in the house. She'd been slathering herself with a cunning mixture of aqueous cream, antisan, aloe vera, E45, conotrane... i'm sure there were a few more... calamine and witch-hazel, diprobase ... anything she could get her hands on really... and having no nails (due to the gnawing which is one of her major hobbies) she scratches her legs with any handy edged object. She'll kill me if she ever knows I have written this on the WORLD WIDE web. I may have to delete it later.

She thought her quilt was making her itch and so wouldn't have any covers and was shivering with cold.

M. was out for the evening.

Where the hell do the resources come from to stay calm and loving (on the outside) and not slam the front door and run away?

I think she was asleep by about 12.30. I sat on her bed (clean sheets, alternative quilt, inappropriate drugs hoping for placebo effect) stroking her hair and listening to Artemis Fowl. And then managed to drag myself to bed.

I think I might have been dozing off some time later when M. texted to say he was staying overnight with his mates.

I think I might have been dozing off some time later when M. texted to make sure I didn't forget about the clock-change.

Stupid, stupid, stupid not to have turned my phone off.

Then not so much of the dozing.

I know I looked at the clock at about 3.00. Can't remember whether that was 3.00 BST or GMT. And 5.00 ish. And 6.00 ish. Managed to avoid immediate panic about recurrence of bad insomniac problems earlier this year. I did sleep, a bit.

So thank God the clocks were going back not forward. Because despite it being Sunday morning, I had to get up and out for 9.15, being booked into a weekend workshop on paper-spinning. Which I could have just missed of course, but that would have been SO miserable.

It was a great workshop, a lovely tutor, a fascinating and ancient (but also contemporary) Japanese textile technique, therapeutic and relaxing to do something different with new people. Interrupted only by a phone call from LG, itchy legs, Dad doesn't care (yes, he came home again), he's just going on about homework etc. ..... My bloody day off and I'm phoning in mediation between the two of them. You can maybe guess how that enhanced my day.

I'd texted him to buy E45 anti-itch cream and piroton on his way home.
He'd bought the cream. Forgot the piriton. (????****????!!!!)

Returned home to find her having got not very far with cutting out and painting wings (ready for Halloween costume) which she'd had all afternoon to do [on the lounge carpet with paint!!! "dad said it was ok"] so I made tea and then sat and painted with her. Red and black, LARGE demon wings.

Itchy scalps all round. An ealier nit infestation obviously wasn't quite cleared - she wouldn't let me comb any more once it stopped itching - and now we've all got them back again. In flocks. Hordes. Deluges. So multiple combings before bed.

Brief row over whether or not wet hair should be dried before bed.

And up at 6.30 this morning, she's back to school after a week's holiday and already very tired. Fuckity fuckity fuck.

And now my back really hurts after sneaking another heavy bowl of rubble into the wheelie bin.



What a moany old rant.

I'm so sorry to subject you to all that, in fact I hope you stopped reading long ago near the top.

I must go and remind myself what I am teaching today.

After some more tea.