Beach

The over painted cherubs outside our balcony

Beach life , just like real life has its etiquettes and rituals , trials and tribulations.
I am a watcher of people on the beach.
They are far more interesting than a cheap novel.
The Prof and I are ensconced under our usual canopy. To our right are another gay couple. One older and suffering ill health, the other younger and fitter. I noticed that the younger man removed the trainers and socks of the elder when they arrived today.
In front of us is a man with his mother.
They rarely speak. She reads. He eyes up the passing talent.
Yesterday five statuesque german girls with exactly the same figures but different faces sat nearby preening themselves all day. I was exhausted watching them. They have not turned up today, as yet.
To our right is an arty looking French family of five sat quietly brooding under their canopy.
Not one has smiled all day.
They had melon for lunch.
The beach hawkers filled the gaps by flashing their beach throws at anyone that vaguely looked interested, like Peacocks fluttering their tails at sitting peahens.They are mostly poor North Africans who look over dressed in the sun.
The hours pass, and we all, I am sure,  feel more and more relaxed as the magnificent Sitges Church chimes away the hours throughout the day.

Postcard

Sitges has lost none of it's charm.
The little town by the sea is still dominated by the Church which overlooks the beach like a protective mother duck over her ducklings
I'm feeling rested this morning if not a little constipated so am off for a power walk and a sit on the loo with a book
The Prof has a video conference to sort but the wifi is variable
The holiday progresses!

Sitges, Spain

3am

The Brothers

The three bachelors, through plain cheek and chutzpah have won over the neighbours and have proved to be more popular than any of the birds that have frequented the Ukrainian Village over the years. The reason for this is their blind bravery, for the three brothers spend much of their day on the periphery of the lane at the mercy of passing traffic, dogs on leads and young boys looking for mischief.
They now  have a habit of crowing in unison as soon as a new face, car or animal appears, and puff out their chests like short men at a gym when someone ventures a friendly hello.

Ive caught most of the neighbours feeding them tidbits in the driveways of their houses!
They now move together...... almost as if they were one animal

More Veg

Rachel's slightly controversial novelty veg photo entry

Please keep em coming

jgsheffield@hotmail.com 

Shit In A Pot

One of many broods of indian runners in the kitchen 

Yesterday evening I received a phonecall from a woman who needed some advice about ducklings. Her son had brought home four and she was in a pickle of what to feed them and how to keep them warm.
I gave her the info she needed ( scrambled egg is a great stopgap for hungry ducklings) and wished her well.
Ducklings are notoriously dirty little creatures , I warned her, especially if they are kept in the house. They have a somewhat annoying skill of flinging shit with their feet and it is easy to catch salmonella from them, if you don't wash your hands properly.
Nine years ago , after a particularly nasty bout of diarrhoea, I had to take a stool specimen into the labs at work to see if I had caught a nasty bug from my own ducklings who were being nursed in the dog crate in the kitchen. The sample was " placed" in a small plastic specimen jar and was neatly labelled with my name, nhs number and the words faecal specimen on the side. I placed it on the dashboard of the old berlingo and went out to complete a few jobs.before setting off for the hospital.

Now, I had forgotten about the container until I had stopped to let Olwenna Banks Hughes and Gwyneth Jones into the car. The two old ladies had walked along London Road a way and as Olwenna's fat ankles looked even more swollen than usual I offered them a lift home.
As we turned up High Street, the stool sample rolled noisily along the dashboard from its resting place,  first one way then the other and both old ladies stopped their chatter to silently watch it on its journey underneath the windscreen.

I said nothing and neither did they.
The " shit in a pot" incident was never referred to again

Ball Trouble

The woman involved is usually rather aloof.
She's tiny and skinny and never says hello but always pats Winnie when they pass each other on the walkway.
I noticed that she always wears large sunglasses even in bad weather.
I'd say she was approaching 70.
As usual she had a chirpy, long legged mongrel with her and today she was swinging a ball which was attached to a wide plastic handle.
I was daydreaming so only realised that there would be a problem seconds too late, as moments after our paths crossed I turned to warn her not to get too close to Winnie with the ball.
For Winnie adores balls.
As I turned I saw the woman merrily swinging the toy for her own dog to play with and like lightening Winnie jumped up and grabbed the ball in her fat and very powerful mouth.
The woman pulled back on the handle.
Winnie pulled harder.
And without , even a pause the woman flew through the air like a rag doll and landed with a splat on the path.
I almost laughed at the very cartoon nature of it all, thank god I didn't.

I don't think she'll sue, and she did wave me away after I offered to pay for any damage to the sunglasses ( once we eventually found them) but at least she let me dust  her off briefly and check her for hip fractures.