A mixed bag o' mashings

The bombings in London and this afternoon in Glasgow airport of all places are all designed to cause disruption and fear to the population already frayed at the edges with flood and wet weather. Despite the media I hope that the British people do what they always do so well in the face of calamity, and that is go about their normal lives without too much chaos and upset. Reading entries on the sheffield forum, that is exactly what people are wanting to do, and by doing so hopefully the terrorists will not gain the psychological upper hand.



The virtue of old fashioned products, came to the front today as (and apologies to Nige and other avid readers for this banal entry) I used the old tried and tested vim scourer on the nasty marks on the bath. Now I have tried glacier smelling mousses, biotic gel cleaners with scientific back up and

expensive anti-scum beating multi-sprays, all with little or no effect. Then this morning, with a rush down memory lane I used a ton of elbow grease and the trusty powder and BINGO!, clean bath! How sad is that? ......entries on a postcard please!


................and finally....When I was soaking in my beautifully clean bath this evening, I got to thinking about the phrase "looking without seeing" .On our bathroom wall is a 1940 print by Cecily Barker entitled "The Dead Nettle Fairy" Now we have this print for years, but tonight, for the very first time I realised how sweet and subtle the drawing actually is. Funny how you take things you see every day for granted isn't it? lesson for the day closeth!

The empire grows...and an Interesting French film

With the girls banging out the eggs big style, and orders coming in thick and fast, I have started to sell the ton of new potatoes left over from the allotment. This afternoon got rid of a load to a passing rambler, and I have made the most of the sunshine (more floods tomorrow I hear), and have walked on the beach,shopped and mown the lawn.

Tonight will be a night in, in front of the tv!



The other night watched an interesting film on one of those "out of the way" channels on sky. The French film Une liaison pornographique (1999) was a weird little number. A Parisian woman Nathalie Baye, advertises for a man on the Internet to fulfil her need for a pornographic affair. She meets, Spaniard Sergi López, and after a series of private liaisons they fall in love. The relationship falters and subsequently ends and that is about all there is ! yep it sounds a bit pretentious and very , well "French", but I must admit the leading actors gave the whole thing a heart, that perhaps the director did not want to show. The film does not show the "pornography" hinted by the title, but it concentrates on the little intimacies that surface between the two characters, making the whole thing rather more interesting. I thought Lopez particularly good ( he was the baddie to beat ALL baddies in Laberinto del fauno, El (2006))

Williams first hair cut and 20 bags of sugar!!!

William now looks like a real deco terrier! albeit a slightly skinny one! Took him to the dog groomer and fitted in weight watchers in between. Good news is that I have now lost the equivalent of 20 bags of sugar! only 3 lbs to go and thats it!!!

Listened to stories of Sheffield householders from Winn Gardens (just down the road from where we lived in Hillsborough) on radio 4 this morning, very sad!

Nights tonight!

wedding plans?

Spent the day knee deep in manure,so rang Chris at 6pm to meet me in The Ivory on his way home , (The new wine bar in Prestatyn). It was very nice too ( a bit like All Bar One, but withour the mother-in-law's tongue!---sorry Nige) , we manage to have a nice bottle of wine and meal!
Chris has now decided that a wedding IS on the cards ( after his confidence panic after Nu and Jim's wedding. ) and I had to chuckle to myself, as I knew he would change his mind. We had a nice evening bantering about who would come and who would do what and where! All I am bothered is that all the people we know and love are there and are happy, but I would LOVE to use the grotty village hall as some sort of venue. Anyhow we will see.........watch this space

Before and After

A before and after picture of the garden! only 8 months apart!

Sheffield gets it bad!

Just been reading the news that Sheffield came to a standstill yesterday. I suspect the emergency protocol was put into effect at the Northern general hospital, which was effectively cut off by the flood water!. Hundreds of people seemed to be trapped all over the city, and I can't believe that two people were drowned! it sounds terrible.The Stories on Sheffield forum http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=100 , are sobering too!

mind you, reading some of the posts does reinforce that "spirit that won the war" mentality, which is the saving grace from all this misery.

(left,a very scary picture of central Hillsborough. Below, am I wrong but is this near Meersbrook?)

Friends seem ok, Nige is stranded at home,(but is ready for war as he has saved water and candles!!!!!!!) Jonney has no electricity in Hillsborough,Jane is fine and Sarah was trapped overnight at the Spinal Unit

When you have live in a place that suffers on this great scale, the reality of disaster hits home. Sometimes the problem with the media is that we all are desensitised to a certain degree from the horror and sadness of this sort of thing because we "see" it every day on the news. To me these pictures are truly shocking.

....I wasn't the weakest link.......hello!

Today has been rather surreal. Rain, rain and more rain. The chicken run seems awash with floodwater and mud and the girls all look like extras from The Poseidon Adventure. So I was happy to have a change and go for my "interview" for the weakest link at Bangor. My fellow "interviewees" were a mixed bunch and we all looked fairly sodden when waiting for things to kick off, in rather a scruffy hotel overlooking Bangor pier. My fellows included a middle aged woman originally from Kent (who had two plastic hips , 4 children and a scoliosis problem), a middle aged publican (and drinker), a painter and decorator (in his white overalls!), a pregnant professional 30 something with self image problems, an overweight bloke who played in a heavy rock band and a camp trainee school teacher who loved hospital radio and who obviously wanted to be on tele! Apart from myself and the painter all the others took the exercises that were set for us terribly seriously. We did the usual warm up introductions with Ben and Toby ( the 12 year old researchers! one tall,blond and "Mr Nasty", the other camp,pot-bellied and friendly), then were tested on our general knowledge. After coffee we then played The Weakest Link and then finally were interviewed in depth (yeah right!!!) on camera. It was all very funny and unreal, and I did enjoy when Toby slagged each one of us in turn (aka Ann), the middle aged woman was asked "How long have you been dressing far too young for your age?" which threw her slightly! Camp teen teacher, tried to be clever when asked if he dressed a bit gay! I was chuffed that all Toby could slag off was my "two tone" beard! which I said that Chris thought was distinguished!
It was all very silly and fun, and it would be nice to get chance to play the game for real in London! as it would be lovely to catch up with Nu!


Got home at one pm and took the dogs for their wettest walk of the year on the beach, it is now early evening and only just feel dry

Just checked on the girls, who are all still soaked and looking bedraggled, pity they don't drink hot tea....I would have made them all one!

Crops for tea

The music at the concert this afternoon was great, unfortunately the links between pieces by affable newscaster Jamie Owen and camp welsh weatherman Derek Brockway were all a bit pantomime! We couldn't get over the selfishness of one couple who brought two tiny children (one a baby of a year or so) into the theatre. The brat cried constantly throughout the first half and the parent didn't leave (or were even asked to leave) until the second half! I cannot believe that some people can be that stupid!

Janet and Ned came for tea and I was so happy to provide the potatoes and herbs from the allotment to accompany the lamb. I dug up a load of huge radish also and I must admit I was so impressed with my first real harvest! (see photo)