vodka, valium or does the occasion call for both?

i know i know, you are reading the subject line thinking that you knew i was a little crazy but not a drug addict with an alcohol problem! then again, for those of you who know me well, you'll know the vodka valium combo is one of my all time favourites...

the last week or so has been bloody hardgoing (bar a couple of hours with a certain someone yesterday) and i'm drained... you know what i mean right? that feeling of complete and utter exhaustion which eventually becomes delirium and then a crashing feeling as you feel the effects of the adrenaline rush you've been living on start to fade...

so i came home to canberra lastnight, thinking that my making an early getaway from sydney at @ 4pm i would have a dream run! wrong - it took me almost 2 hours to get from darling harbour to campbelltown (well the M5 part of campbelltown) - so you can imagine, it was not looking good, which on any other day might have been ok, but i was REALLY tired...you know the sort of tired where you actually start to feel dizzy and a little disorientated and actually aren't sure that you should be driving!!!

well i got here in one piece (obviously) and had good intentions of having an early night (my parents who i am staying with were out and not due back until 11pm)...so i warmed up some lovely soup, turned on the tv, found nothing but House on and now, sadly, think i have found another show i can claim an addiction to, had a lovely bath and was in bed by 10pm...

so far so good, but then my parents, who are seemingly unable to be quiet or creep around - now i know it's their house, but seriously! how much noise can 2 people make! they seem to think it ok to shout at each other from one end of the house to the other rather than co-locating in the same room to continue whatever conversation they are having, arrive home and i am rudely awakened, and then of course feel i should get up to say hi! which i do - then get roped into talking to my grandparents (in the UK) who are celebrating their 67th wedding anniversary (i think in my valium induced state i say something to my grandmother like "you get less for murder" and "i'll be lucky to hang onto someone for 67 days let alone 67 years" - thankfully she thinks i'm pretty funny so i don't think i've offended her) and then finally after chatting for my folks for about 45 minutes i get back into bed! wide awake! unable to sleep and thoughts of my afternoon with ben playing like a movie trailer running through my head...

i finally get to sleep but as i have to take my car in to have some 'minor surgery' i am rudely awakened by my alarm when all i want to do is turn over and sleep for another 10 hours :-(

so the day is slow - i do what i need to, find time for a nana nap at around 4pm and then get up, feeling even more disorientated, at around 6pm in time to watch carlton play their first round match against richmond, which half way thru the 2nd quarter looks good, and then promptly, turns to shit! it's around this time that i think 'vodka'...

and then as my dad and i continue to watch them lose and i reach for another vodka, i am reminded of something that happened in 2005 when i was visiting my gramps in the UK. see i'd been with them for 4 or 5 days (now i love them dearly, but really, it is tough going being with older people for that amount of time - they (like me) have their routine, and they forget that i'm now an adult, one who holds down a reasonably responsible job, and whilst it's nice occasionally to be pandered to, i wish they would remember that i'm 30 something and no longer 3 years old...

so after i've been there about 4 or 5 days my parents (and a couple of their friends along with my dad's brother and his wife) turn up for 'morning tea' at my gramps on their way to the British Open Golf in Scotland - as you can imagine, i'm delighted to see my parents (having not seen them for a few months given our various travel commitments) and my uncle (he's my favourite) and aunt and delighted that for just one morning the entertainment of my gramps is not ENTIRELY my responsibility...

so it's sounding good right! but then my aunt (who can be hilarious) says to me that i need to tell my grandmother to wear deodorant - see my grandmother wears these nylon blouses mostly (rather than cotton) and like us all, sweats when it's hot (go figure!) and on this particular day it's bloody hot (even by english standards)...so my aunt tells me that it's my 'duty' to tell my grandmother - can you imagine! how does one start such a conversation? seriously, what was she thinking????

anyway, as the 'team' are getting ready to leave and head off, leaving me for another 2 days (which despite how much i love my gramps, seems like an eternity) with my gramps, i hug my dad and tell him that i wish they were staying to help me 'entertain' and he simply says 'two words for you darl: vodka valium'...

gotta tell you, there are times when people come out with things that make you wonder if they know you at all, but i reckon that comment is one of his all time greats...and soooo appropriate for how i was feeling :-)