I have not written a post for more than a week eeeeek so here is one for today.
I am writing about my favourite words beginning with each letter of the alphabet in no order at all. This goes against my orderly mind but I am going with it. Today is the letter ‘J’.
Jackal In Your Mind…
This is my number one track to listen to whilst driving by Francis Dunnery, of course…
I’m sick and tired of love troubles
Searched my whole life to find my perfect girl
And then when she shows
I realise we come from different worlds
Her with her money
She’s never had to work for anything at all
And me I was born to work for each and everything I own
She say: pack all your troubles and leave me
I say: the argument’s over now everything’s fine
I feel like a jackal
She says silver bells and pretty clothes they often make me smile
But nobody could afford the way you held
Then kissed my mouth goodbye
I wanted to trust you and I wanted you to trust me
Swear that you need me all of the time
I know I’m a jackal in your mind
I’m sick and tired of love’s sorrows
Facing all the things that I really want to hide
The child in me grows
It lives its life and feeds on my insides
Never showing, it never had a chance to see a happy time
My parents it seems were hell bent on destroying all my pride
They say: pack all your troubles get out of here
I say: I can’t bring my friends round I’m scared what they’ll find
And they’ll think I’m a jackal
She says silver bells and pretty clothes they often make me smile
But nobody could afford the very first time we met and you said hi
I wanted to kiss you and I wanted you to kiss me
All those moments long lost in time
Now I’m just a jackal in your mind
Jackal in your mind
Jackal in your mind
It is such a powerful and haunting song.
Jalapenos…
It was another J word that I could think of that I like! Mmmm.
Jeans…
I love my jeans. I think that 501s are a favourite. Jeans are just my go to thing to wear on most occasions. Dress up or dress down – perfect attire for an ageing rock music lover! And very comfortable. I saw some on sale at the County Show last week and wish that I had bought some new ones.
Jogging…
I will write a post about this separately in the coming weeks but a big shout out to Rising Brook Runners (beginners) – I now have a love hate relationship with running/jogging and wouldn’t change it for the world. I love my new trainers and I am thinking of investing in a Garmin tracker. Any recommendations will be gratefully received… If you are a couch potato and are thinking of having a go – just do it! It has changed my shape and my mind and widened my social circle. What’s not to love?
John…
My big brother, John Peter. My dad is called Terence Peter and his brother is Robert John. My granddad was also a Peter. Anyway, John is 8 years older than me and I always looked up to him in my younger days. He was born on Christmas Day 1963. He was my idol.
My mum says that the loudest scream she ever heard was when John accidently hit me with a garden spade; I still have a tiny scar on my forehead. I don’t remember. I do remember him skating on thin ice on the canal when walking home from school and I told on him! He doesn’t let me forget that! He left home when he was 16 to join the army and has travelled all over the world. I loved his tales from Scotland and The Faulklands and Norway. He was an excellent skier and won awards. I did visit him in Cyprus, Northern Ireland and Germany, all great holidays that have given me great memories. Cyprus was beautiful and my first holiday abroad at 16. John was a great host taking us all around the island. I saw the best road sign ever in Cyprus; Slow – grape juice on the road! I still have the photo somewhere, I will have to dig it out. In Germany we visited Bergen-Belsen – a place that will stay with me, it was an eerily quiet place where the birds had no song. When I visited John in Northern Ireland, I stupidly told him the incorrect airport arrival details so he had to rush from one end of Belfast to the other to make sure that I was safe. Oops!
Nowadays my big bro loves a game of golf and a beer or two on a Friday night. He is happily settled with Linda, Matt, Meg and Tilly the chihuahua. He has worked hard all of his life, a Morgan trait, I believe. We need to go out for a catch up soon although he does see OH on some Friday nights out. Big loves xxx
Jokes…
I love a good laugh but I am hopeless at re-iterating jokes. I usually laugh in the wrong place or say the punchline before I have told the joke correctly. We went to see Kevin Bridges last week at Stafford Gatehouse and he was absolutely brilliant. He has such a unique style and fantastic timing and he is so different to anyone else that I have seen. He did a joke about the family waiting in for a Friday night takeaway before the days of Just Eat. Hilarious! I can’t even write down how funny it was without messing it up so I will definitely leave the jokes to the professionals and move on…
Japanese words…
Japanese is the ninth most spoken language in the world. My beautiful daughter loves the Japanese language and culture and wants to go and live in Japan for a year. She wants to eat Japanese food and have Japanese babies! Her future son has a Japanese name – Nowaki. Her future daughter, however, is Esther! As a result of her Japanese love, I now know some Japanese words;
おはようございます ohayou gozaimasu – Good morning!
こんにちは konnichiwa – Hello / Good afternoon!
お名前は何ですか? o namae wa nan desu ka – What’s your name?
…です …desu – I’m…
好きです suki desu – I like it.
ありがとうございます arigatou gozaimasu – Thank you.
どういたしまして douitashimashite – You’re welcome.
ごめんなさい gomen nasai – I’m sorry.
じゃあまた jaa mata – See you!
お元気で o genki de – Take care.
Justice
I have faith in the British justice system and have worked within the service for 30+ years I love my job and have recently had a ‘5 minutes with’ published on the intranet and hope that it reflects my passion and personality
Jane X2, Julie, Joan and Jackie!..
Two of my oldest and bestest friends are called Jane. Carpet Jane and Tall Jane! They are both very dear to me and have a piece of my heart. I have known both since school days but did not become friends with either of them until after school.
Carpet Jane…
I love this woman! She was my best friend in days of singledom when we first discovered drinking. We actually met and became friends at Pat Knight Commercial, a Youth Training Scheme in 1987. We used to go out pretty much every night of the week for what felt like years, even if we could only afford a lime and soda! We had many a good night down ‘the vill’, night clubs, day trips and between us we have a fair few tales to tell of life and men!
I met the biological father of my daughter in 1997 and subsequently introduced Jane to his brother, Carl. I thought that they would hit it off and have a few laughs. They are still together now and are happily married. I love seeing their social media posts of their latest travels, adventures and ups and downs of daily life. I don’t see Jane as often as I would like, such is life, but I hope that she knows that I am always here. One of my biggest regrets in life is that I did not go to Jane and Carl’s wedding. It was a hard time of my life when I had split up with Dani’s dad and I just could not go through with it. I didn’t want to see him. I wish that I had have gone, Jane looked stunning on her wedding day. Let’s go for a walk up the Wrekin soon, Jane!
Tall Jane…
I love this woman too! We became great friends when, as barmaids at The Star, Penkridge, I gatecrashed a 2 week holiday to Halkidiki with Jane’s sister Lyn and her friend Mandy. It was a fabulous holiday and I still laugh about the handbag and losing my hat in the sea and the people that we met. It was such a long time ago now. Jane went to Ireland and loved it so much that she stayed; she soon made lots of friends and climbed the retail career ladder. She has, in the last few years, returned to England to live with her parents as she has a beautiful 2 year old daughter – Lily. It is a funny old world as I am now Jane’s manager at work whilst she is settling back into life in England. I don’t suppose that she will stay too long as she wants to find a home to raise Lily in and needs something more stable than the hmcts can offer right now. She is a very clever lady and so I am sure that it won’t take her long to climb a different career ladder when Lily is a little older. It is so nice that I see Jane at work and I cherish each moment. She is a strong, kind, gentle and beautiful friend.
Julie…(and Joan…)
Whilst I am waffling about ‘J’ friends, I must also write about Julie. I work with Julie, too, and she is one of the nicest people that I have ever met. She is kind, thoughtful, funny, caring, a fantastic mum to three adult children and I know that I can tell her absolutely anything without her judging me. I am honoured to call her a friend. I am very sad that she will be retiring later on in the year but long may our friendship continue. Julie is very attractive and does not look her age at all, it is hard to believe that she is leaving me!! I hope that you all have a Julie in your life. Haha! Typing this has reminded me of another ‘J’ friend – Joan! Joan is lovely too, a kind and caring lady who makes me laugh. The particular incident that has just sprung to mind is when Joan and a few others met for lunch and Gill was discussing her partner (now husband) called Roger. Joan said quite loudly, ’everyone needs a good Roger’. Haha.
Jackie…
Also, whilst I am still waffling about ‘J’ friends, I cannot not mention Jackie. Jacqueline – Jackie – was my best friend at Middle School and we continued to be friends thereafter although we did lose touch a little over the years. We used to walk to school together and have tea at each other’s houses. She enhanced my Middle School experience. With thanks to social media, we have grown closer again. Over the last few years there are 5 of us from Middle/High school that get up to shenanigans together. We had such a good time at Birmingham German Market and, more recently, going to see Go West. In July, we are going to Let’s Rock in Shrewsbury featuring 80s groups such as China Crisis, Brother Beyond and Go West again – I can’t wait! Life has taken weird and wonderful and very varied turns for all 5 of us. Jackie has two lovely grown up sons – James and Jordan – and loves them dearly. Jord is very special to her, though, and due to being bullied because he was a little different Jackie decided to homeschool him. He actually attempted suicide and thank goodness he was unsuccessful, it was such a stressful time for them; heartbreaking. Jackie’s decision helped Jord to grow in leaps and bounds and Jackie is such an admirable parent for doing this. She currently has problems of her own and lives in constant pain with various ailments but she is a rock to her family and friends. She is so kind and caring. She has now found true love and I hope that it all goes very well for them both. I admire Jackie every day; her strength, selflessness, honesty and love for others. She has also turned into a batty cat lady and loves her cats as if they were children! I would never have guessed this all of those years ago at PMS as she was not an animal lover but I think that she has 7 now! I can’t wait to see Jac in July with Lizzie, Sara and Jo (another ‘J’ with another story for another day) xxxx
G’night all.
Love Mandy xxx