Sparkle up.

When I was in England, I loved the gentle humour of my son's 'Bossy List' of things that needed doing during the day. For many years now I have worked daily from a 'to-do' list, in fact when I was teaching and managing a department, I had a hierarchy of lists, today, this week, this term, and then a daily one for home. Yes, I know this isn't earth shattering and many people have them, but it is quite an important part of my sanity.

One of the things on my to-do list today was to buy some sparkling wine. Now no-one could accuse Canadians of not liking their booze, being as there are so many Scots and Irish in the general population. Having said that, it's only here in Canada that I've ever attended a dry social thing in the evening, and that's bearing in mind I used to have friends that were Methodists back home.
But in general, yes, they like their tipple. It's not, however, as easy as you might think to buy alcohol. Instead of just being able to pick up a few bottles of wine and some whisky in the supermarket, you have to go to a Government run Liquor Store. Now these stores are most impressive in their range, most impressive indeed, however, let me put this into context. Think of how far you would have to walk in Britain to your nearest shop that sells alcohol. Five, ten minutes? Well I would have to walk for an hour, I know, I've done it.
Anyway, the sparkling wine was because we have a few limes left over and Kevin's mind immediately goes to what he can use them for and lo, a drink occurs to him. I like the way that works.

My friend Sleepy is not a fan of Champagne, although she'll have some in her wine for example, to 'sparkle it up'. I was thinking of this today not just because it was on my list, but because another item was getting some bits and pieces from the Supermarket. The woman at the checkout said,
'I like your accent.' This happens from time to time, but hasn't happened for some time so I thought, 'well maybe my accent got sparkled up when I went back to England.'

I'm never quite sure what the etiquette is, what I should say. If someone said they liked your jumper, you could feel complimented for your good taste, for your skillful selection of the jumper from 30 others in Dorothy Perkins or wherever.
But your accent is something you came by accidentally, you can't say,
'Ooh,thank-you, yes I got it off the rack in BHS,' no, it's more like,
'You have nice cheekbones,' or 'my goodness, are those natural?' no-one would ever say that to you, well unless you were both drunk and in the kitchen at someone's party.
SO I smile and say thank-you. Experience has led me to know that the conversation is going to continue anyway. Today it was poor Princess Di, so I gave the Princess Di look, you know, head coyly to one side, looking out from beneath my (rather dishevelled) fringe, showing that I shared the shop assistant's pain.

Ah well. Better go and sparkle up the floor ... or maybe the floor can wait and I'll sparkle up my coffee.