(Written Friday)

Hey Benners,

What a shock that was to wake up to an email saying 'Benjamin James has uploaded a photo of you'. Me?! A photo of me?! You're in Thailand and I'm in Wales....how on earth can you have taken a photo of me to post on facebook.

Oh yes, that's right, you found a market stall with handbags for sale. I have to say, it doesn't get any more accurate.

Today I'm grumpysaurus. Usually Fridays are good days. Usually I sleep in late and get up around 8am, do a bit of housework then begin work at 10.30am. Work is as it usually is except on Fridays you turn up around 12pm to keep me company!

My task today was to 'courtesy' call 50 customers to check they're happy with their tables without arousing suspicion for the real reason I was calling.....to check whether their tables smell of fish...it's been a pleasant week.

Today though my work day was lonely, annoying and punctuated by the screams of the children on the road who should have been indoors doing housework for their mothers. Oh, and I think they must have sung 'you're the one that I want' in their end of term play last week....I've lost count of how many times I heard it today through the window.

Yesterday we had a meeting with an accountant about taking Dusband's company limited and we were there for T...W....O... HOURS! Yes Benny, two hours. He talked really sloooooowly and rambled on and on and on....I almost lost the will to live. That didn't help my Friday mood.

Anyway, the only one good thing was that I got my pattern finished and emailed out to the pattern testers. I had to make one small edit to a diagram you did but I don't think it will ruin the integrity of the pattern.

At 2pm I finished work and by the time I had some lunch, did the laundry (yes, I do feel like I'm turning into an overworked and underpaid mother without actually having kids!) and then around 3.30pm settled down to sew a new purse for myself.

Talk about craft fail...I chose a really sturdy fabric to use cos I thought it'd be nice and hardwearing. Turns out it was too thick and I couldn't even turn it through. What a waste of 3 hours!

I ate some potato zoo animals for dinner with leftovers from yesterday and then two bars of galaxy. I feel fairly justified though and considering a third. I don't feel that would be too extravagant. Just don't tell my nutritional therapist!!

We're off to Luton and back in a day tomorrow to see my nan. She had a stroke on May 25th and is still in hospital. We saw her the day after her stroke but we've not seen her since so we're going up for the day tomorrow. It's around an 8 hour round trip which I'm really not looking forwards to. If I was still a child my parents would describe me as a 'bad traveller'. As it is I'm an adult and Dus would just ask at every single services if I need to stop :)

It's so long since we've seen her I hope that she enjoys our visit and we don't tire her out too much.

Just to show my bitter side, going back to the photograph you shared of bags in Thailand I was a bit annoyed at the two women who I don't know commenting on your photo that they wanted you to bring them back a bag. Really....is that how we women are these days? We see a bag and we expect a man to buy it and bring it halfway round the world back for us?

I feel awful myself that Dus earns the lion's share of our money and yet I don't even have time to do the housework. This guilt is starting to get to me and in your absence I'm finding myself pondering on a comment you made a couple of weeks back. I'm sure it wasn't a deep and meaningful comment at the time, but I'm still thinking about it.

I think I was complaining about being crazy busy and you made a comment about my choosing to be so busy. I find myself envious of people who sit playing games in their spare time because I don't feel like I have any spare time at all. Dus is a workaholic because he feels the obligation towards clients who need work doing but I seem to be turning into a busyaholic because I feel the obligation of other people's expectations.

I need to re-assess my priorities and choose which things I keep and which I reject.

Anyway, enough rambling, hope you're having a good trip and haven't bought too many handbags!!

Lots of love,