The list grows ....

It might also be a good idea to keep me away from tumble dryer hoses.
I'll mention it when MM (Ma Maaaaaan) gets back.
In the meantime, 'Fragile, handle with care' tape, found in a kitchen drawer, has sorta patched things up.
It's sleeting.

Snow!!!

You know how us Brits panic when we get a bit of snow!
The gritters are out weeks before the mention of frost, chucking gritty salt all over my car when it's parked roadside and making a mucky mess but come a few inches of snow and Louth became gridlocked and inaccessible and over the radio people were advised to stay out of the area and avoid unnecessary travel.
Apparently 3 lorries (trucks) got stuck on the bypass hill and the whole area was affected.
I heard this on t'news and decided to stay put - the roads didn't look much fun anyway.
I thought they'd be better today - they weren't!!!
I thought they'd be better tomorrow - it's going to be even worse overnight and in the morning, MORE snow. However, that's supposed to turn to rain by the afternoon so I may be adventurous enough to venture on to the road and will attempt to remember to brake about 50 feet before I reach T junctions.
Once I left the braking a bit late and it was on a road that had had no sun and I went sliding out into the middle of the B1200, which fortunately didn't have anything coming either way!
That was almost as scary as turning right and having a momentary lapse of memory and finding I was driving on the wrong side of the road, of a sudden! Yes, BOTH times that it happened!
We were adventurous today!
We walked over the fields on public footpaths, which obviously weren't paved and anyway, even if they were you couldn't see the paving (but they weren't) cos of the snow underfoot! It was only about a 4 mile walk but pretty exciting.
I tend to forget that my spectacles go dark (I once stopped buying the reactolite-type ones, think I got a touch of SAD! - kept thinking we had awful weather then would look over the top of my specs and see we had brilliant sunshine!) and when I look o'er the top it was a really really white and bright day.
We walked alongside a river looking for a bridge. We joked about Ian throwing me in. Hmm, I think I started the conversation. When first we met and had a coffee, we followed this by a walk in the town, which actually led down a small alleyway to his car, in which he gave me a lift (ride) back to mine.
Ian now jokes how brave I was to do that - as opposed to stupid, cos he knows he wasn't going to attack me and I didn't think he was (see, shows I must be a good judge of character!) I told him if he was thinking of throwing me in the river, he could have chosen a more comfortable place to do it.
Well, being thrown in a river could never be comfortable, could it?
Hmm, I suppose if you were very hot then being thrown in a river might be a welcome relief?
In Texas (where in 2000, if I recall correctly, in N Dallas, it was over 100 deg F for 40 days running), where the dinosaurs were (not now, of course!) people were walking in the river looking a the dinosaur footprints (One lady, it was reported, on finding dinosaur prints in her garden, said: "Fancy them coming so close to the house!").
I was just standing on a stepping stone and saw a very squiggly little snake in the water.
Being thrown in that water, no matter how hot the day, I would not have been happy and would not have found it a welcome relief!
Heck, on the golf course, I wouldn't even go into the half way loo without an iron in my hand in case any snakes had decided to hole up in the privvy!
If I lost a ball in the long grass, it simply stayed lost.
Anyway, we found bridges and Ian never had any intention of chucking me in any rivers. In fact, on the return walk, a different route, where a small footbridge was missing, he very gallantly went first, testing out the squidginess of the snow/mud and depth of the water and then hauled me across and up t'other side.
On the radio today, people were messaging in about the strange concoctions they eat and drink. One person swore by burned toast spread with Marmite and dipped in milk. Which does sound a bit weird even to me.
Another said Coke with milk is good. I can imagine that would taste somewhat like a cream soda, yes?
Personally I enjoy, occasionally, a Makerson Stout with cream in it. Maybe it was the poor (wo)man's forerunner to Baileys?
A Croft Original sherry is going down very nicely at present.
The walk today did serve to clean my boots of the neat Jeyes Fluid (Ian said it smells like Lysol - but since I only know what Jeyes smells like and not what Lysol smells like, I can't yay or nay that) with which I disinfected my feeties at the Christmas Stock show about three weeks back. My scarf, which has been in the car boot for two weeks has, however, picked up the smell! I wondered how come, as i walked with scarf wrapped around my face as we walked into the wind, in the snow, that I could still smell the Jeyes from my boots when they must be about 4 feet from my nose. Then the penny dropped.
The scarf probably needs disinfecting now anyway cos I had to use it to wipe my runny nose because I couldn't find a hankie in my pocket!
Well, I didn't want frozen 'candles', did I??
I made some really hearty veg soup yesterday.
I'm something of a whizzzzz on soups.
Don't know why, just am. Can't really give you a recipe because I just cobble together whatever I have to hand and add a pinch of this herb, a spoonful of that spice and a cup or three of the other stock until it tastes the way I'm happy with.
Ian gets these "Oh I've died and gone to heaven" looks on his face when he tastes my soup. It's very rewarding!
We ate the remainder today, which I padded out with additional chicken stock, a little more thyme and mace and nutmeg, black pepper and salt - oh and some teeny tiny pasta shells.
Isn't it amazing how much one can write about nothing at all?
And ..... on the breakage front ...
Yesterday Ian broke a glass AND a mug, so he was one up on me.
Then today he was cutting up pork pie and it went sliding off the work surface on to the floor. And I should not have laughed cos a little while later I was just lifting the lid on the pan of soup and somehow the lid upended itself, turned over and scooped it was into the soup and landed upside down on the pan, full of soup.
Well, only Scoop could do that, huh???
I am now now allowed near glass things, plastic things, slippery things, hot things, including those with flames and maybe by the end of the night I'll be banned from electrical things???
OH, good news ... with no distractions, phones, having to dash out to pictures, etc etc I keyed in a year's chitties (don't make me explain again what they are!) from my accounts and started on the current year.
I might be able to get all this done without having to pay a fine to the tax man at this rate.
Once I've found an accountant who doesn't wear Mickey Mouse ties.
It is currently -6.5 deg C outside. There's a sensor outside the bedroom window. When I get up to pad to the bathroom I go look-see how cold it is before burying myself back in the down duvet.
Normally Ian heats my side of the bed up and seems to realise when I return from my little forays to the bathroom, even if he's fast asleep, waking up to have a small chat to enquire as to my well-being, state of sleeplessness, did I enjoy my cup of tea, the time and then he goes straight back to sleep.
I on the other hand stay awake to listen to his symphony and found last night that for 20 minutes, every 9-11 seconds (I may have counted more or less slowly) he gave a little twitchy kick. For a measured, quiet guy in the day time, he sure is active at night!
Last night I was first in bed and gave stern admonishments (is that a word?) about not dragging me over to the cold side!
What a wimp!
New Year's eve .... an invitation or two .... my, doesn't time fly when you're enjoying yourself?
And when you get older??

Boxing Day

Lotsa snow forecast! In the meantime it's just come down as rain!
Seem to have eaten myself silly the last few days, feel like a whale. I never did get to the gym on Xmas eve - well, it was a bit ambitious, wasn't it?
We were going to walk or cycle today but the rain's already arrived. Maybe I should just run up and down stairs.
Actually, I think Ian would probably prefer that I just stay in one place!
Remember the pressie that was on my back door handle, which dropped when I turned the handle?
There was glass in it.
Little lavendar gel candles in glass pots. Didn't find the broken one until I opened the parcel to use one of the candles and had to be careful of the broken glass.
Ian made a wonderful dinner, melon and Proscuitto for starters, paella with huge prawns all still in their shells, tiger prawns with just the tips of shells on tails, mussels, chorizo, chicken thighs, the usual stuff, followed by Christmas Pudding and double thick cream and brandy.
Oh, and breakfast was smoked salmon and scrambled egg and bucks fizz. Oh and a bottle of Champagne after that but before dinner and Montagny with dinner.
All very delish and fun.
Except
I managed to swallow one of those tail tips? And it went down the wrong way and as I dashed off to get some water to stop choking, Ian followed and i put the glass down and it broke - don't know how, it was a sturdy glass, now it's just a was glass.
Then I noticed the candles had burned out and the gel one had some gel left in it - we'd put it in a nice glass votive holder of Ian's, so I was teasing the gel out - it felt wonderfully squidgy - but then it felt a bit damned sharp and I had to hurtle through to him laughing saying "I got glass in my fingers!" to which he responded promptly by getting the tweezers which Santa had put in his stocking as a silly present and thank goodness he did! I think we retired shortly after that before I could get into much more mischief!
However, I managed the third breakage this morning which was a relatively innocent one and didn't involve glass or anything of value but we both burst out laughing as we heard the crack.
Santa brought me some lovely pressies including some super warm furry pyksie slippers! And a lovely antique butter knife - which is what I rather hoped he might find to replace mine which I ruined from leaving it in the washing up water over long!
Mind, he brought Ian some weird stuff - I'm not sure that purple and black is his colour well, a bra, triangle and s'penders in purple and black, stockings, too! I spose I'll just have to wear them for him!
One of the funniest. No, THE funniest, is a do-it-yourself willy kit! You make a replica of your willy. Y'know, the way one does? He laughed like a drain when he saw it. Reading the instructions it sounds very ouch-worthy. It's in glow-in-the-dark green! Hey, I could use it as a magic wand, or to read by! I used to like those stars - like Alfie gave to Kat for Christmas in Eastenders. You put them on the ceiling and they glow when the lights are out.
It's very relaxing looking at those, actually. Anyone with hyper-active kids could do worse than stick someof those on the ceiling.
By the same token though, I'm not sure about a glowing in the dark willy on the bedside table. I'll have to see if I can find the link for it.
NO, I'm not going to post a piccie of the finished product!
Thank you for my super gifts and a wonderful Christmas Day, my maaaaaaaaaan but most of all for being you and so kind and smiley xxxx

Oof puff pant

Nah, I haven't started exercising yet but I did go look around the health club with golf course today and was impressed. The pools aren't as long as the one I've been used to swimming so I figure I'd just have to do more lengths. IF they don't get too many people in it'd be OK. The separate ladies sauna probably seats about four people if they're very friendly. I was actually quite encouraged to use the gym and even the spinning didn't seem as bad as I thought - I had a quick 'go' on one of the bikes ... not sure how long 'the bits' would stand up to (or sit down on) the bike seats though! The golf course is basic but so's my golf. All looked good, just a question of when. I'm going to pop in for a free trial of the facilties. The tour I was given today actually lasted about one and three-quarter hours so they weren't exactly rushing me around! A couple of the classes I might like to attend are held only during the period when I'll most likely be at work, which is a shame but I can still see a couple that interest me. There's a 'body combat' class which is little like kick boxing without contact, nipping about like Mohammed Ali. Went to a very enjoyable party last night at Sue and Roger's home, friends of Ian. There were about 14 guests and it was great fun with a very tasty dinner, veal sausages cooked in red wine with shallots - yum! Did some last minute shopping today, stocking fillers - no, I didn't buy a pair of legs!! Well, better get wrapping ... I was goin to get A little bit wet But I took wit me An umbrellee I put dat up When da rain came on An' me kept dry So say si bon!

Customary care

I've just called re the Customs (re)claim - at least THIS time I had a specific no. to call and person to talk to so didn't have to go on to redial.
As requested on the telephone previously, I had mailed all the labels adhered to Tora's gift but today I received a letter asking me to send the original customs declaration and charge labels.
So I called, off trotted the man and returned saying YES, they did have all the originals.
So why ask for them? He said our letters must have crossed in the post.
Yet the letter begins "Thank you for your recent letter" - d'ya think something didn't actually look at what I'd enclosed?
Just shows, it aint over 'til the fat lady stops singing!
Watch this space!
The reason I actually originally logged on this morning was to say that I had a word with The Angels (cards) and twice, the same card fell out.
Celeste:
"A happy move to a new home or place of employment is in the works. This movement will usher in positive new energy"
Well, well! There IS an angel on my shoulder!

Secret Santa?

My friend/neighbour, Anna, sent me a text saying there's a bag on my bag door. Which promptly fell off when I turned the handle to open it, hope there's nothing breakable inside! She hasn't answered whether the gifts inside are from her or a secret Santa!!!! There's no writing at all on the gifts inside... maybe whoever left them there even got the wrong address??? Care has obviously gone into wrapping them though. As if by magic ... an hour after the question asked, a text reply, yes, they ARE from her. That's just doubled the number of gifts I have to open. Wheeeeeee I enjoy giving pressies soooooo much! Like to see if I can surprise, I suppose. I haven't heard from my son about his Christmas goat yet!!! Just been calling a couple of health clubs in the area. New year, new job, potential new home, new age in February! I've put a pound or 6 on through indulgence and Ian's great cooking and my membership to the Kenwick club expired a couple of weeks ago. In truth I hadn't used the pool, my exercise of preference, for a month or more and I did enjoy swimming. There are two possibilities in clubs, one which is just around the corner from my new place of employ so that would be handy to nip into either early or after work and they're sending me a pack on their facilities - there's no online website. The second club has golf too, though. A nine-hole course that would suit me well - until I built up stamina for 18 again and 2 hours is good exercise. I don't really want to use the gym - I get obsessive about gym use ... once had a gym on the complex where I lived in the US and I started going for 20 mins and ended up being in there for two - three hours! It din't make much difference though!!! :) A bit of cycling a bit of gentle walking on the machinery, 20 mins in a gym is plenty of time for me ... a sort of penance then I go enjoy swimming 40 lengths! There are two jacuzzis at the second club, also and two pools so swimmers don't have to wait for aquacise to finish and a sauna and - well, two, one female only and one mixed and one steam room. By now you'll have gathered where my preference lies but it may depend on cost ... so much does, huh? Oh yes, I thought I'd got poltergeist again! The first year I moved in here there were a couple of slightly inexplicable things. On Monday when Ian was leaving early I reset the heating to come on at six but getting up and finding cold radiators the timer was set at 9. OK, maybe I just did 6 upside down, easily done?? Knowing I had to be up early y'day for the dentist but not THAT early, I reset it for 8am and left it at 1pm to go off ... I was out for an hour or two but started feeling the chill around 1.30 so looked at the clock and the red and blue 'stoppers' were pushed right up to one another for between 12 and 1, approx and so it had only been on for an hour. Weird stuff! I wonder if I've added sleepwalking and clock changing ..........ARGH come to that, my bedside clock, which obviously I never change cos it keeps good time and rarely use the alarm on (thus maybe turning the wrong dial on the back?) was almost 2 hours behind time the other morning, too. I altered it to the correct time and it's kept time sooooo ????? ..... to my nocturnal habits of snoring, sleep talking and tooth grinding? I can only hope I don't fart, as well ... at least, asleep, I'm spared the embarrassment of knowing about it!!!

I'm all stuck up, ugh ugh ugh

Isn't there an EASY way of unpeeling the backing off double-sided tape???

Musing

Just back from a visit to the dental hygienist. She says they're in good nick! I put it down to flossing and interdent brushes - and a few thou $'s work in the US a few years ago. They're not taking any routine appointments until March, only problems, cos the dentist is going private. We'll be getting a letter in January with the options. One prob is that there are 4.500 patients and he's only taking on 1800! Erk. However, the hygienist said she'll put in a good word for me cos she enjoys my stories when I go visit! Apparently the monthly sum will cover the cost of a couple of routine visits and hygiene visits and one pays for any additional work done ... at what price though? Hmmm? Crowns in the US were $300 ish each - probably the same in £s here! I'd better not eat any more banana toffee! After the last four years of being awoken early by the bottle bank collecting lorry, crashing 3 times as it emptied the brown, green and white banks, it suddenly occurred to me this morning that it ALL goes in the same truck, just one load on top of the other ... which renders pointless the 3 colours of the containers because they all get mixed up anyway!!!! Anyone thought about that? I've mailed or hand delivered all my cards now. Just got a couple of piccies to frame for gifts, which I'm looking forward to seeing finished. I think I'll be tempted to keep one for myself. I'll take a piccie when I've finished. Had a girls' night out at Sorrentos Italian restaurant last night. There was a table next to us with about 8 gals on it, all wearing puce-coloured pinnies. Not sure why the pinnies ... I know it's de rigeur for hen parties to dress alike as they trail around the pubs but the pinnies really did nothing for the gals and one of our party said "Are they staff?" Whoever they were, they were SOOOO noisy! Three of 'em even stood on the (not very substantial) chairs for some reason, it was a relief when they'd gone. Maybe I'm getting 'old'. However, I do think it's possible to enjoy oneself without marring other's enjoyment of their evening. The meals were large and we were glad we'd opted for no starter beyond garlic bread and enjoyed a liqueur/coffee afterwards. I had Strega. I'd been trying to remember the name of the liqueur and was delighted to find it on the wine list. I thought it was made from pine nuts - it has a disinfectant type smell - maybe a medicament type smell would be a better description! As the story goes, Giuseppe Alberti found monks from the town who made this liquor. He eventually coaxed the secret recipe from them and started to produce it as Alberti Medical Elixer. It did not sell. So he renamed it to Strega (witch's love potion). Strega is a delicate liquer with digestive qualities. It is made up of a number of herbs such as mint, fennel, and saffron (the world's most expensive spice) which gives it a bright yellow color. Only two people left in the world have this secret recipe. They better not drink too much of this and forget the recipe, because it is 80 proof . Finally sorted out the duty on my gift from Tora. Tor's had to email Customs and tell them it was a gift and give the value of producing it and I've had to send the wrappings from the parcel and maybe in a month's time I may get a refund if they can now agree it's a gift. Then I have to try to reclaim ParcelPost's handling fee. What a to-do!! Bless her, she knows me ... of course I opened the gift right away. Today I received a wrapped gift, which I know is a calendar, but I'll be good and open on Christmas day. There was a continental market in the town on Sunday. They operate every weekend, going around the country but at this time of year it's a daily market, moving from town to town. There was a Polish bread stall that ran out of bread by 1pm. It's baked in London and the lady gets up at 3am to go collect it. A cheese stall, run by Thierry, had customers in line all day long. One guy was selling bratwurst in rolls, charging £2 each. I bought a packet containing six sausages in Lidl for £1.49, which suspiciously like those on the market so the guy must have been making a fair profit on his sales. It was nice to have the opportunity to buy this foreign stuff but it wasn't exactly cheap! Some ethnic type clothing (well, Asia IS a continent) was well over priced. I had an acquaintance who went to Goa and came back with a case BULGING with goods and a cotton throw, cost her £1, which is charged at around £20 over here. The whole caseful, including silver jewellery only cost her about £20. Hmm, OK, plus the airfare! I've been printing off what will probably be the last few photographs that I'll be selling. In fact, season of goodwill, they were one or outstanding or requests from pleasant people so I just sent them gratis. I've been told I'm generous to a fault. Really though I was just glad to get them done and out of the way and off my mind. In fact one such, hand delivered today the lady insisted on paying for. I suppose generosity spawns generosity and kindness, kindness. I'd like to think so. Well, once I've framed these piccies I won't have any excuse left, apart from the Xmas festivities, not to start on the accounts ...........

Fine balancing act

The sky was half blue, half brown so I risked putting out the laundry, bedding, though there was no wind (it blew all thro the night though). Now the wind's come up but the sky's wholly grey/brown so I have to get ready to rush out to grab the laundry before it gets soaked! There was a frost last night. I should have put the laundry out overnight. It's great when it gets frozen because it freeze dries and though it may be a bit difficult to get off the line and fold, it's great when it defrosts, just right for ironing. Sheesh, how mundane! Didn't get to bed until 3.40 am, finishing making/writing cards and wrapping pressies. I was going to do 'just one more' pressie when I realised I was so tired I could hardly stand. Sank into my pillow, covered up with the down duvet then realised I should be up early because the postman tried to deliver a parcel yesterday at 9.10 and the card said he'd try again today. So I've been pottering, waiting for him to come, when I really want to go back to sleep and I reckon postie's probably decided that if I wasn't in at 9.10 y'day he'll try me at the back end of the day. If I suddenly fall asleep while typing ... oh oh, sky's getting awfa dark. Weather report from Ian, 19 M north of me that he's just had hailstones. Ouch. The parcel I'm waiting for is a gift from Tori but the PO have decided to levy a huge customs duty on it. Ian's called to say his parents had a similar occurence and managed to get a refund! Well, i want my pressie and am happy to pay but by gum sometimes they can be very jobsworth! Looking out of the window earlier I saw a guy walking around the car park opposite taking photographs from different angles. Since he then took one with my car in it I could contain myself no longer and forgetting I was dressed in my checked jammies and red socks I threw open the door and yelled at him: "Excuse me ... what are you doing." The guy actually lives over the road but without my specs on I couldn't see it was him. He came over to explain that he was photographing for a survey (I'd have thought ...... rainnnnnnnn Argh and yeuk .... it was hail and I didn't have time to find footware and my socks are wet! AT the same time the Parcelforce guy called and while taking delivery and discussing the parcel the phone went and then my mobile trilled too! Why do things happen all at once? The delivery guy has pointed out a number to call to reclaim (if possible) charges ... which, naturally, is engaged every time I call it and ringback doesn't work. Oh yes, the car park ... seems the council want it surveying to re do it, adding posts so it looks like the free spaces, if that's what they are because one neighbour disputes that, saying they have it in their deeds that they have a parking space over there. Which would only be fair since we have double yellows both sides of the road and thus no where to park our cars and no room in the garden/drives. I suppose I should ring the council now and get my 'bags I' in for a paying spot. Sigh bloody sigh! Second lot of washing's just finished so now I have TWO lots to find drying space for. Ting! I could use the tumble drier! Wonder how long I'm going to have to keep re-dialling?

One that arrives on time

Season's Greetings to all my readers xx

The end is nigh

Long time to look back on, I need to cast my mind back! Last Sunday Chas, son, came to visit with his girlfriend of four months, Hannah. I haven't seen him in almost a year and it was wonderful to see him. He'd put on a little weight (and lost some I gather) and his hair was longer, no longer the 'no. 1' and he looked happy and healthy. We had a blow out lunch at t'pub and afterwards relaxed in front of the TV followed by tea. I had to dash off early evening for a concert so what they hadn't managed to eat for tea I packed as a picnic for their three hour drive back. A great afternoon. Racing to pick Ian up, we went on to a concert of The Messiah in the Central Hall, Grimsby, by the Grimsby Philharmonic Society with the Eastern Sinfonia. A group of Ian's friends were attending en block and Ian had exchanged his ticket and bought an additional one so we could sit together. The circle was pretty well packed though the stalls had plenty of room. One of the group, David was in the choir and his brother and wife had come some distance to join the choir for the night (and day's practice, when they'd run through the WHOLE of the concert). It was a long programme, not finishing til gone 10, I think and then apparently 45 mins had been cut from it!! Afterwards there was a party at the home of David and Nina, with drinks and eats, including some delicious mince pies which had a pastry with bite and layer of cream cheese inside. Unusual and very tasty, like they had cream ready added! David's brother Bob treated us to a Jake Thackery style impromptu recital on guitar then with David a duo which was very good and amusing and David managed even with one string broken! Yesterday I got my hair multi-hued again! A variation on the colours this time, blonde (duh), purple and copper!! It must be noticeable since a few people have commented on it again - favourably I have to add. In fact I suddenly noticed that the colour selection seems to have become quite popular on ladies in the town. I wonder if I started the trend a year or so back? During the year I have been asked where I had my hair done (and this evening) and can only suppose that the question was put so people could either avoid or making an appointment with the hairdresser! I have started making cards. I used a Scottish deer for the first batch but the second batch (which I'm working on) is of Christmas wreaths which were hung outside a florists. Now I want to exhort y'all to take care on the roads. I know it's a busy time of year and people are rushing around to get things done but please do remember it's better to arrival safely even if late, huh? A friend was in a road accident last night. He underwent a six hour operation through the night and a second one this afternoon which, I understand, went according to plan. Here's hoping for a full recovery. I finish my job tomorrow - sort of! I had decided tomorrow would be the last day but there's a continental market in the town on Sunday and I don't mind capturing a few shots from that. Sooooo, hmmm, apart from the odd occasion of 'social pictures' this will be the end of pyk the 'photojournalist'. I start a new job, totally unrelated, in January, beginning with 8 weeks training and it's not one to write about so pykspeeks could be nearing its end folks! A lot of people have expressed dismay with "Awww, we LIKE you" and have been generous in their praise for the job I've done, which has been heartening and sad but life moves on, the rent needs paying and I'll have to start doing 'normal' hours (arghghghgh, how????) But, no more evening work and a Saturday morning only once in maybe three months, paid holidays and pensionable. Security. Bet I'll have the most colourful bonce in the office!!!

Moi?

Your Seduction Style: The Natural You don't really try to seduce people... it just seems to happen.Fun loving and free spirited, you bring out the inner child in people.You are spontaneous, sincere, and unpretentious - a hard combo to find!People drop their guard around you, and find themselves falling fast. What Is Your Seduction Style? I suppose, at 4' 11", people do see something childlike! I was walking through a primary school yesterday when the youngsters were in a long, long line waiting to file into the hall. I was glad to get alongside the 8 years old who didn't tower over me!

Ahem

Is it just me or is everyone seeing fuzzy???
Grin
I experienced late night opening last night, at t'pub.
I only went over for the last hour, not realising the last hour had turned into the last two hours and there was such a lot of bonhomie that I actually got home three hours later.
Good grief, maybe it's true that people will drink much more???
I certainly did, I dare not to say even HOW much, suffice to say that it is now 13.40 and and still re-hydrating. Surely there's a better word for that?
Getting wet? Nah.
Soaking?
Sopping up?
OK re-hydrating.

Sutton on Sea had a Victorian Christmas shopping evening last night and the main drag, giggle, was closed.

There were a few guys, Old Fossils (no, I'm not being derogatory!) selling hot chestnuts and mulled wine, and other stalls, of course - this fuzzy picture is one such, Tony Powell. I was messing about with the settings and thought this was a sort of ghostly picture. I did get a proper one, too, which looks very jolly.
I think this is Peter Atkin.
Wot a lot of conkers!

I had to stand on the street waiting for someone tall to walk past last night when I got back!

My car aerial, fixed at great expense (£198) was screwed in so tightly by a guy from the Environment Agency the other day when inspecting the sea defences that unscrewing it, at the best of times difficult, became impossible last night. I'm just not tall enough to grip it at the right angle.

So I skulked around the car park eating a bag of popcorn (caramelised) wondering if whomever I asked to remove my car aeril would, in fact, request me to show, in some way or other, that the car was in fact mine, or whether they would be just helping me have it away with someone else's aerial. Do I mean that?? I think I meant to say make off with.

Fortunately, the first person who came by was a) 6' 3" so I wasn't going to embarrass anyone who was also too short and b) Rick, Anna's boyfriend, whom I know so that little jobette was accomplished no probs.

I have just purchased my son's Xmas present. I don't think he reads this so it won't spoil the surprise. And anyway, he'll find out in a couple of days time through the post.

I've bought him a goat!!!

There was a radio programme on a couple of weekends back where people were discussing how much to spend, what to get, whether one should even buy Xmas gifts at all.

I don't think, by and large, except for a large collection of shoes and aerosol deoderants that I or my kids are particularly materialistic. I don't HAVE to have designer stuff, if it fits and it's the right colour and looks ok, that's fine by me, and since Chas is an organ donor ... no, hang about, a potential one but I hope not too soon and please God not before I go, unless it's just some of that stuff that's in the middle of your bones ... ahhh, marrow .... which he can spare ... losing plot, losing plot .... hmmm, oh yes, so I thought he might like to have a gift that's helping someone else this year.

You can get more than just a goat (you can get a whole herd of them!) can buy a toilet block, a fruit tree (this was second favourite choice, cos it's living, see?) clean water kit, plastic sheeting, a school desk, school uniforms .... all sorts of stuff, from a fiver to £000's. You select your gift, then personalise a card and can either send it email or snail mail (sorry postie, I do know you walk pretty fast really).

Well, I figure that if I can't buy a present that won't be useful, or I don't know what the recipient would really like/enjoy, then exchanging dosh is just a bit daft so it may as well be used for better purposes, huh?

Ok, so you're all dying to know the URL for this great way or sorting out a gift ... it doesn't have to be for Christmas, it can be for any ol' reason at all!

So ...... http://www.greatgifts.org

Must get my Christmas cards written. I wish I thought about all this earlier then I could have made some! I've had two particularly lovely hand made cards and wonder if I've got time to make any ... or enough imagination to make interesting ones. Duh, I spose I could take a photograph of something???

Or maybe I should just crack on with the accounts.

I'm SOOOO good at procrastinating.

Having said that, I'd better get shifting cos I've got to get to an Xmas Fayre at Fotherby and then on to Ian's. He cooking a rogan josh for dinner and I'm going to take over a Bollywood DVD, Bride and Prejudice which makes me hum "bompa dompa dom" and want to jump around (sound like and Oompa Lumpa, don't I?)

Maybe I'll just make another cup of tea first???

OH, Chas is coming over tomorrow - son - and in the evening there's a concert, Handel's Messiah.

Bompa dompa dom

welllllll

I have to say that I can't really remember what I was going to say.

The Beasties

Show Champions, Class 10, Pen of three matching lambs sired by continental ram (exceeding 131 kg live weight), Beltex X owned by Mrs P Wright of Boston.Left to right: Chris Wright, Pam Wright and Emma Wright.

One guy kindly (?) opened the gate so I could better take this picture and the lambs wanted to run for it - or me - so I grabbed a piccie while they were still penned!


This beast is one of a pair, 3rd in their Class of an unhaltered matching pair (heifers/steers or mixed) and I didn't get underneath to find out what it/they were), and they are Belgian Blue X Charolaid X Lincoln Red! Beautiful colour! The top of the beast has been shorn to 'show the meat' I was advised by a passer by.





Harold Fox from Spilsby admiring the Class 5 Unhaltered Steer Show Champion, 'Reddy' a Belgian Blue X with a Limousin cow, from P & B Hodgson & Sons Ltd from Mareham Le Fen. Yes, I can see it's red! I so doubted myself that I'd got the wrong beast since it was a Belgian Blue X that I phoned the farmer myself to check! Speaking to Mr Fox on how lovely the beast looked he said "Yes, it'll be dead by tonight!" Awww


I was busy dipping my welly-booted feeties in and out of troughs as I passed through the market building to the sheep pens and when finally coming out I stuck 'em in the wrong bucket and got the wellies covered in neat Jeyes Fluid and slithered all over the place til I could find a puddle to splosh in!

My car boot smells very disinfected now!

A load of bull

It's the Louth Christmas Fat Stock Show tomorrow so hopefully I'll have piccies of bulls. The first time I was asked to do the show I wasn't sure whether I was taking piccies of cows or bulls ... I think the boy cows had had their bits removed - which was what I was looking for to differentiate. However and on the other hand, I didn't actually want piccies of the bits. It'll be a wellies jobbie tomorrow. And maybe more jobbie than one would like. Wonder if I can find a santa hat to drape on a beast?

Spellcheck

I used spellcheck in the last but one post and it made more mistakes in correcting them than mending them. If I go back and correct them I'll just get one of those big white spaces which I still haven't solved, at the beginning of the post so the mis-spellings will just have to remain an annoyance. They're not all mis-spellings though, they may just be typos or then again, maybe just MY spellings, from the pyk dic?
I think I need to make a list. Maybe I need a booklet for lists? Somehow I managed to have 3 notebooks on the go at once. It's not to be recommended. Probably because one of them was meant to be a to-do b ooklet, but since they all look the same it just got mixed up. Now I need to look through all three to find the note I made that was for me, not a caption! Grrrr

Did you know

that Charles Dickens and I have only 151 years minus one day (or plus, I'm not hot on maths) separating our births?? In fact I'm so bad at sums that I've just figured it's actually 139 years, still minus or plus one day. Well, the point is really we're both Aquarians and great writers!!! Well, it made ME laugh!

It comes to something

When you have to look at yer diary to see what you've been doing! OK, Thursday I went to take a photograph of the replica Royal wedding cake - Chas and Camilla's. Two ladies from Woodhall Spa, Dawn Blunden and Mary Robinson, (with help from adult education students and friends) and the use of a friend's bakery in Norfolk, won the contract to bake the two tier cake, with 4 weeks notice to plan, bake and decorate it. As well as the main cake they baked 2,500 extra slices (did you get one? I didn't!) for special people (ah, that's why!). The ingredients included,080 eggs from frantic local chickens, to make 93 12-inch rich fruit cakes, which were later dowsed with 20 bottles of brandy and it weighed a whopping 17 stones! Oh yes and it took three days to mix all the ingredients by hand - so if you've been labouring over your Christmas cake, stop moaning! Oh yes, I gather Prince William is partial to a bit of fruit cake! Went along to a cheque presentation for the Louth Hospital CT Scanner Appeal - the ladies of the WI had raised £245 from their August garden party and autumn auction. They were being entertained at this event by the Louth Recorder Group. I didn't have time to stay and enjoy the whole performance but enjoyed the five mins I was there. There was a rather strangely shaped 'recorder' though ...Anyonee know what it is?? Friday evening was the Caistor Sommeliers' annual dinner - held at the Kenwick Park Golf Club. Hey, it was great fun and started with a champagne reception - and me taking their piccies for the social pages. Members took their own wine and shared it around their tables. There were some fun Christmas crackers. Each had a numbered whistle inside and at one place setting was a conductor's baton and a list of Christmas Carols, in numbers, rather than with crochets, etc. We elected a conductor but then couldn't really decide whether it was better to just point the baton at each number ...Having swapped whistles round the table so the number ran one after the other around (can't think of a word for that), or for him to call out the numbers. Actually, I found it easier to be pointed at. However, calling was the chosen method in the end and we took so long deciding that we were the last table to go and everyone just ended up singing the words anyway. I think we'd sorta got beyond musicality by then. We did get point .. just the least of any other table! There was adeliciouss choc in a pot pudding (as well as two others, which I can't remember now!) which had I been at home it would have been great to run one's finger around and lick the very last morsel from the rather awkward dish! Individual ones, I hasten to add! Saturday a.m. I drove Ian up to the club to collect his car and in the meantime jaunted off to take a picture at a Christmas fayre at Holy Trinity church. As I walked up the side gate and across the York stones I was recalling how, a couple of years ago (that long?) my feet went from under me and I fell with a thump to the ground ... and blow me down, if I didn't do just that ... OOOOOF. By gum that shook me up, Arms flailing (camera case kerplonk), Pyk kerplonk, on bum, back, arms, shoulders. Don't think I hit my head but certainly pulled something in back of neck/head, whiplash, I think! I wobbled into the church and found the Director of Nursing (it was a do for the scanner) from the Louth Hospital who said I needed sweet tea. I was shaken (and had a wet bum/back). And the vicar was sought to sort the situation of the flagstones out. Not sure how much time passed but the gate I'd entered by was locked and the area roped off so no-one else could walk along it. The Vicar told me NO ONE else had fallen over. She had walked three times that day on it and hadn't fallen over. The flagstones had been power washed just a few days before. THUS "It must be the way you walk." You know, it may well have been the way I walk, but unfortunately, it's the ONLY way I can walk! The DofN on the other hand, who had come out with me to look at the offending bit of paving and had announed them 'lethal' as he rubbed his toe over the area, suggested that some sand 'cheap as chips' should be thrown over them to give some grip. Well, I didn't really fancy doing much else jobwise after this but with Ian driving we went out to Mablethorpe where the Dunes had a Victorian Christmas. The boys there, the very fragrant Malc and Phil (I always like to give 'em a peck on the cheek, cos they smell so good!) were dressed up and the mayor was wearing mayoral robes, which were very becoming but they weren't really his but from Dennis Joice's wardrobe, who's abfab with a needle and thread and makes all his dame's costumes and many others for the various pantos in which he's involved. He won't be doing pantos for a while cos he's starting a new career - at 73 - as a dance host on the Fred Olsen lines cruise ships. He's such a dapper guy, I wouldn't mind being a wallflower mesen! Left to right they run: Malc, Phil, Santa, Mayoress andgranddaughterr, Mayor and Dennis. Sunday was the Christmas market in Louth and with my trust camera bag carrier/minder, Ian, we went into the fray for piccie taking. It was pretty crowded and we arrived as the Alford Morris were about to perform. After a warming glass of gluwein we repaired to the Mason's Arms and tested out a pint or two of real ale. Ian joined in with the singing, got a great voice. On Sunday night one of the Morris guy's said "You can bring him again, he's got a good voice!" New life was breathed into yours truly and when the playgoers cast, or some of them, from next year's panto encouraged us, from the stage to join in the dancing, yours truly took to the cobbles and danced her little pants off. Well, not quite that but certainly the ale acted asanaestheticc for my back! The event was organised this year by the Rotary, Round Table and Lions, who also had stalls providing sustenance including some delicious looking sausages - 'cept they'd all gone by the time we got out of the pub! Not much wonder, eh?? Well, it was a dog's life for some ... the Bernese Mountain dogs, towing little trailers found time for a rest though! Oh yes, day ended with the pub quiz which 'we' won this week, without having to share the glory. Well, I actually only answered a couple and one of those was wrong! The quiz answers were punctuated with laughter since Tom, had a little machine that gave out some very rude-sounding farts and people kept erupting in giggles.

Laid back

Or is it layed back?? Layed would be like a chicken and egg situation, wouldn't it? And layed back ... well once assumes that things get layed out and forward so layed back can only be like a scene from Sense of the Realm ... my copy of which, by the way, I appear to have lost. Where was I? Oh yes, I appear to be laid back today almost to the point of being beyond care, which is all rather nice really. I found I was a little slower getting going this morning that I had expected to be - interrupted doncha know it, by a phone call that went on a bit - so rather than stress out and try to get the the first piccie ... where we do have one already this week on the same society ... and get totally stressed out trying to find a parking space close enough to the library, on market day, when the town's packed and especially just before Christmas, I thought I'd give it a miss and motor to the next job, in Mablethorpe, in a relaxed rather than the usual frenetic manner. There I met up with my local MP, Sir Peter Tapsell, at the Cons Club ... short for Conservatives, I should add for those who might put another and rather different connotation on the abbreviation, where a coffee morning was being held and Sir P was due to view the sea defences with gentlemen from the Environment Agency. He was dismayed to be losing 'the bouncy one' (photographer) but said he'd send me a Christmas card if I let his secretary know where I'm going. He's actually been a jolly person to take pictures of and I was very happy, of couse, when I got a piccie of him in The Daily Telegraph, prior to the last election. Hmm, I think I'm supposed to have run to the Post Office with mail, taken the drying out of the tumbler - tho from the condensation on the windows, the stuff I put on the radiator should be practically dry by now. It's like being in the tropics here! I should have gone to a school Xmas Fayre but since I went to one yesterday, with the new 'less pictures' regime I wondered if they'd support a second picture in the same week so I stayed home in the warm and had a cup of tea and got on with writing up this morning's story. Going out this evening, the Caistor Sommeliers' annual dinner at Kenwick Park Golf Club. Better take camera for social pix. Hope I can still fit into my evening gear - Ian's a great cook and has been feeding me well !!! I love mussels and just mentioned a recipe I'd seen in the Scottish Fish Ricipe Cookbook and low (and behold) when I arrived at his house for a St Andrew's day dinner, our starter was mussels! Yummmmmmy. The haggis, steak, riced pots and mashed swede (in lieu of neeps) was first class and followed by cheese and biscuits and accompanied by some fine wine. I hope i don't end up like one of those bottom weighted kiddies' toys that you push and it just rocks and rocks on it's bum, falls to the side and immediately bounces back up again. Oh, maybe that's why I was called the bouncy one??? Shove her over but she'll bounce back!