10 days of bedlam......

As I have stated before, this period of the year is badly planned on my part. Especially in light of my new found role at work as a planner. In the space of 10 days I have

GMD's birthday - now completed with no major issues but severe money spent

Baby's birthday - now completed, large amount of money spent, party over for kids and adults (both expensive), damage limitation to bank account now in progress. Of course she really is no longer a Baby. She is now in double figures, a proud achievement for her, a momeny of fleeting sadness for me as she inches inexorably towards another phase of her life when wonderment stops and cynicism starts.

Wedding Anniversary - today! We are going for a meal at lunchtime in the pub, so it'll cost around £40. We have mutually agreed that in the best interests of our bank account and our combined desire not to have bailiffs visiting us we will forego cards, flowers and prezzies. This is especially relevant being as her birthday flowers are still fresh, and the fact that her prezzies are still new this makes even more sense, and the fact that cards are just another mechanism for grabbing money from pockets to keep card companies cash flow running seems eminently. Plus I wrote Happy Anniversary on her birthday card this morning and re-presented it makes things OK. Surely?

Teenagers birthday - this is next week, the money has been spent on prezzies, plus a day out for her and her friends (snotty-arse boys included) at Thorpe Park. She becomes a real Teenager oon this date, with even more attitude, more brainless mind wandering, more crap music and more statements such as "I didn't know" , "I didn't hear you" , "Why are you so mean?" "Leave me alone (accompanied by slamming of bedroom door)" , " Can I have some money?" , "Can I have more money?" "Dad, can you fix this?" and of course the two stalwarts of her conversation ...."So what" and "Whatever". Oh deep joy.

This then sees an end to a part of the year when barely recovered from Christmas, along comes a load of other genuine events, to sit alongside manufactured ones such as Easter, Valentines Day and Mothers Day, as well as a couple of Bank Holidays all designed to part me, personally, from my hard earned cash.

I am a cash cow, nothing more, nothing less. A device for bringing in money for others to spend with barely any for me. If I want something new, we can't afford it. If they want something new then they only have 4 months after Christmas to wait, although they rarely do. In fact most times they go out to the shops, they come back with more clothes, more make-up, more accessories and unbelievably....more fucking shoes. What is it with women and shoes? What is the fascination with footwear. I have 2 pairs of shoes, one pair for work, one pair for the pub....ohh and a pair for golf. You can count my footwear in pairs on one hand. You can't count the amount they have each on two hands and two feet!

And I'm supposed to keep smiling?

Later, SkintJack