I AM Carrie Bradshaw?

Got up very early this morning, without any hangover (Small Chardonnays and alternate sparking water-last night) and went into in the city centre with a cup of coffee. The small square in the Leopold Street development (pic) has been completed to a high standard, and I really enjoyed sitting there at 7.15, listening to the sound of the city in the morning sun and sipping my PROPER coffee!. Funny the things you can enjoy when you don't experience it for a long time.
In Sex and the City, Carrie Bradshaw always says that New York has a rhythm of its own, and the noise of the start up of deliveries, commuter traffic and building sites this morning DID remind me of New York, albeit on an obvious smaller scale. The very bright sunshine also gave the illusion of being abroad, and I did feel rather smug sat there on my own

Catch up

Got home at 10 am this morning after lunch out in Dronfield and a night out in Sheffield yesterday . Kathryn treated me to lunch which was lovely, and the weather was great to be able to sit in the sun and chat! Had enough time afterwards to do a bit of window shopping at Cole Brothers, before meeting up with Micky then Mike and Jane.

There is something quite satisfying "doing" the city one day and a few hours later,feeding my chickens in the sunshine and the peace of the field.

Had a good time!

Tim's Birthday

Tim's (59th) birthday meal was a welcomed change as we all have not all met up for a long time. Andrew and Jayne turned up with Janet and Ned and Tim's sister Carol, and we all have a socialble evening meal!


It was nice to have such a relaxing evening, as only a couple of hours ago, one of the passing farming hay wagons ripped off the top of the cottage garden wall! As Chris and I was leaving to go to Ann and Tim's we caught sight of the farmer who had inflicted the damage. It was like a red rag to a bull to me , when he refused to apologise and just banged on about having a problem with the size of his trailer! I think I embarrassed Chris as I lost my temper and in no uncertain terms reminded him that our cottage has been in its present position since 1764 and that if he had hit it, it was in fact his fault and not ours!. I shouted that I expected him to repair the wall, and drove off! If he does so...well...we will wait and see.

The trouble with terriers

.....is that they never back down! The fight between George (pic) and William started over a few crumbs on a plate and nothing more and ended with William being lifted bodily from the fight by his tail with George still hanging on to his beard, and so suspended the fight continued! Thank god no blood was shed! and both dogs were retired to their respective corners, flicking dirty looks at each other.

Barcelona 92

LBC was debating how the London Olympics will fair in 2012 this morning, and I wondered if the UK will put on a show as good as Spain did in 1992. Lighting the torch was the highlight of the games and great showmanship!

Independence Day

I have just watched the director's cut of Independence Day (1996) which has always been one of my favourite disaster films ! It is ten years since I enjoyed it at the cinema for the first time, and although it is hokum of the purest kind, the whole film still holds up pretty well against other more showier films that imitated and followed it.

The sequence that holds up the best is the initial destruction of the cities of New York (of course), Los Angeles and Washington. C.G.I combined with the more old fashioned physical special effects (aka Poseidon Adventure and Towering Inferno) are used in increasingly iimpressive set pieces to crank up the tension to unbearable levels. Director Roland Emmerich, obviously seemed to enjoy himself and gives great homage to all those disaster flicks of the 1970s as well as epics like the War of the Worlds. The piece de resistance scene where stripper Vivica A. Fox saves her son (and dog) in an L.A. road tunnel which is exploding in flames has to be seen to be believed.

all bollocks but great fun

More Crops

The potatoes are ugly as hell, but have been selling like hot cakes, and the first of my runner beans are ready, so in between digging the new vegetable patch, I have been delivering sold veg to "customers" in Bodelwyddan,Dyserth and Prestatyn. 18 Eggs today too so I think I will bring a few samples to Sheffield on Wednesday for Jane, Mike, Micky and hopefully Jonney.

I have been hand feeding the "Hookers" with worms from the new patch digging, and over a period of around two hours all six seemed to get over their strutting fearfulness, and they lined up greedily at the wire for their titbits

A nothing day, and good ebay service yadder.yadder.yadder

We are having a "nothing" type of day today after having a nice meal, too much wine last night at The Ivory in Prestatyn. We also had a good day dream of what we are going to do when we visit New York in November which was fun.

Working this evening so have just caught up with chicken jobs and with the risk of Nigel photographing a cornflakes packet, I am delighted to receive my new galvanised chicken feeder which I bought for a snip on ebay! Not VERY interesting I grant you, but I was impressed with the service I received from the company I bought it from.

1. The company was the cheapest

2 The postage was the cheapest

3. The delivery was prompt and the feeder was well wrapped

4. Correspondence was polite and clear

and this was from a business in PORTUGAL! yeap better in every way than an British equivalent!

The Black Hookers are still stalking around their compound with attitude and burst into noisy cackling from time to time! Which can be a little off putting to passers by I have put the new feeder in for their attention but at the moment they have pointedly ignored it.

Caught up with the news today on-line. The visuals from the US bridge disaster were more graphic and and exciting than any 1970s disaster film and I couldn't believe only 4 people sadly lost their lives. The school bus story (44 tiny children saved by a heroic passer by) is the stuff of Hollywood script writers and the ordinary bloke I am sure would have been played by Charlton Heston in his best corduroy jacket! (You can make out the bus on the right of the picture).

Worrying about Foot and Mouth today also, on a micro level, It may mean that the goats are on hold for a little while!