6) THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY

THINGS THAT GET MY GOAT

1) How supermarkets always stack bananas the wrong way up for maximum bruiseness.

2) Why you have to pay all those miscellaneous extra fees to banks and solicitors when you're buying a house - there's enough to fork out already!

3) How I always dwell on the past and my husband is forever planning the future.

4) How you always bump into people you admire/adore/don't want to see when you're at your worst in the hair, zits, fashion stakes.

5) The way chocolate muffins speak to me, but apples and oranges don't....

6) Shop-bought sandwiches in this country - why are they 90% mayo and not much else? And why do we accept that it's ok to pay £2 or more for them when we know full well they cost about 50p to make?

7) Adverts. They make me buy things I really shouldn't  & make my children nag about things they really don't need.

8) Children - the way they throw back your own personality at you when you're trying to tell them off.

9) My siblings - the way they've only got to make one reference (usually at huge family gatherings like at Christmas) to something you did when you were seven and you're back there, seething.

10) Exercise. I think more people would do it if it didn't make you sweat and look like you're about to internally combust. And if it didn't give you a huge appetite.

11) Arrogance - in anyone, no matter how wealthy, wise, or well-known. We're all just human.

12) The way my feet get too cold or too hot really easily.

13) Hearing tales of awful, unjust illnesses affecting innocent children or really good people in the prime of their lives. So unfair.

14) Defeatist attitudes.

Things that get me 'up' rather than down:

1) Cinnamon
2) Good coffee
3) Cheese and tomato toasties
4) Blue skies
5) Blue Jeans
6) My three really squishy 'down' pillows
7) Good books
8) Hugs
9) Elderflower cordial and sparkling water
10) Lovely clean new stationery
11) Eating grilled fish al fresco
12) Orange juice - no bits!
13) Radio 4 or 2 or Classic FM, depending on the time of day and levels of stress
14) Kind people.
15) The smell of baking bread or cut grass or tiny babies.
16) Children's giggles.
17) When I've written something that I think is alright.
18) When I lost 4 pounds and Wii Fit gave me an age of 29. Yay!
19) A really good gossip with old friends, preferably over a glass of wine.

To be continued......