Christmas Madness and Mayhem

Well, that's another Christmas done and dusted! One to go down in the good memory file to be sure.
We had an extra two guests this year in the shape of Grace, Simons friend who originates from Hong Kong and her little dog Tsi Tsi ( have not a clue if that's the right spelling!) who is a little Shih Tzu a similar breed to Ta-shi. I had been warned to expect a really bad, naughty little dog that would most likely wreak havoc and mayhem! What we got was a delightful and sweet little creature who is a little confused as to who is in charge in his life. Ta-shi decided to be boss dog for the time Tsi tsi was with us and steadfastly refused to share any toys and any cuddles if he could get away with it. He occasionally dropped his guard and had a good old romp with his new friend. If and when Grace decides to return to Hong Kong I think Tsi Tsi will find a home with us!

Grace was an absolute diamond of a girl, what IS my son doing letting a girl like that slip through his fingers, but I could really see that there probably was not a spark of romance between them and they really are just good friends but what a waste! They kinda look right together and Grace sure has the measure of Simon and gently teases him at times.
We had a few hilarious moments at times with her accent as typically she cannot pronounce the letters R or L as apparently they do not figure in the Chinese alphabet.
She asked us 'where Ta-shi Sweep' I said 'In the Kitchen'
She replied 'No, when he sweep'
'Well all night and sometimes in the day'
She getting a little excited now made a scissor movement with her fingers 'When he have snip snip'
It was a bit like 'give us a clue' Grace has a marvelous sense of humour so none of our misunderstandings mattered a jot. At one time she was looking at Barry and suddenly loudly proclaimed 'Aw Bawee I love your ears' Bawee looked a little surprised to say the least and clasped the said lugs, 'They are vewy long ears, vewy lucky, mean long life in China'.
So there you have it you guys whose ears appear to grow bigger with age, they are vewy lucky!

I had some marvelous gifts, I am getting to grips with technology with my MP3 player, what a nifty bit of kit. It was marvelous to see Barry's face when he opened my gift to him, a flight in a airforce jet simulator in which he has to bomb targets on the ground. Sorry folks I know it is a little 'rough boy' stuff but he has always wanted to fly in a fast jet and this was the nearest I could get. To say he was thrilled was an understatement!

We all had a marvelous game of cranium on Christmas day (Thanks Rach and Dan for introducing us to this) It was as usual absolutely hilarious! I avoided all humming activities though. I was nearly murdered by my own Husband as he tried to mime 'Buffy the vampire slayer' even though I had not volunteered to be the Vampire but I suppose it would of been quite rude to slay our guest Grace, who indeed thought we had all gone quite, quite mad as they don't seem to play games in Hong Kong.

After Christmas Barry and I headed of for two days away ay Alvaston Hall Hotel where we could relax, dance and eat yet more food. We were entertained on the last evening by The American Four Tops who where just fabulous, and they thought our dancing the 'Twist' was quite spectacular and they gave us a cheer! Both Barry and I can twist down to the floor and back up again, although on the last down twist Barry nearly did not make it back up a gain! My legs the next morning told a different story though!


All that remains to be said is thanks boys for such a lovely Christmas and gifts they were all great! And of course Happy New Year to you all, and happy birthday to me!

The meaning of Christmas came home today!

Today I helped the staff at the Nursery School I visit with their Nativity play. It was the very best place to be! If some-one had come along and tried to whisk me away to Capri half way through I would of said 'No'.

True it was organized chaos, true some of the children were overcome and cried. On the whole the fifty, Two to school age children were wonderful. In the group were two year old triplets, one a sheep , one a cow and the only girl a Chinese lady. They just about caused mayhem between them, the cow kept trying to pull the sheeps tail, the cow then decided it would be a marvelous game to bash all comers with his horns. Once I persuaded him that it was not 'kind' to bash our friends he decided the only way to wear them was over his eyes so he could not see me or any-one else for that matter and immediately tripped over a Abbie who lost her hat with corks all around the perimeter (she was that famous Australian who visited Jesus in the stable) and threatened tears. In the meantime the girl triplet dressed in a floor length real silk Chinese dress pulled a whole washing up bowl of water of the shelf and completely soaked herself from head to toe. I decided to sit them all Down and read a story while the staff sorted out the very wet and distressed China doll, and try to dry her costume over a fan heater.

I truly felt like Joyce Grenfell, thank goodness there was not a 'George' in the class. It was a case of, 'It was Christmas eve and every-one was asleep, er don't do that Tom! Except the mice, can you tell me who is asleep look. No Cally give Rosie her teddy back, Rosie darling don't snatch, that's right say thank you'. So it went on, I think I got to the end but who knows!

We eventually had to walk the children down the road and, nightmare! Across the road to the village hall. We had them in pairs but some of them are so tiny they have a problem negotiating the deep kerbs while holding hands. The little boy dressed as and Indian prince tripped so many times, bless him that I thought I had better pick him up. The Angels halo got blown askew by a big gust of wind, it never stood up properly again, she looked rather cheeky with it crooked. We must of looked a motley crew crossing the road, a member of staff dressed as a King held up the traffic while Angels, Shepherds, Kings sheep, cows oh of course there was the donkey as well! And 'Children of the World' ranging from Cowboys to Frenchman resplendent with a beret and a string of onions round his neck (type cast or what) crossed the road!

Once on the stage they came into their own I was amazed at how well they spoke their lines. One usually very shy little girl came alive once on the stage singing louder than any-one else and edging all the time to the front centre stage. The songs were brilliant, and I had more than one little tear in my eye. Abbie threatened to cry first because she could not see Mummy, then because she could see Mummy so I sat her on my lap and told her how amazingly clever and beautiful she was and look how pleased Mummy is to see such a clever girl, she settled into her Australian girl part with great gusto after that.

The beauty of working with children of this age is that you get to see the World as they do, a beautiful new exciting adventure, you see the wonder in their eyes as they act out the oldest story in the world but new and wonderful to them. Life is not yet cynical and cruel but a blank sheet of paper to map out their lives on. Already you see who are the peacemakers among them, who are the organizers and as far as quiet little Cally, who will aspire to be actresses.
I felt very lucky to have been part of it! It was the best fun!

A Brush with Narnia.

I had a fairly eventful end to my week of Friday. I was supposed to be running a course for just a few people on how to run a Gymbob class. No problem!

First one of the delegates was due to arrive at Birmingham airport at 8.30am and I was to pick her up as I pass by that way on my way to work. I get a call at 8 O'clock to say she is still waiting for her flight to be called in Edinburgh, delayed due to a real pea soup of a fog in Birmingham. I hung around for a bit until I got the call to say she would not be coming. OK no problem head to work. I use a laptop and projector to deliver my course and on arriving at work found I had neither. So a little thought and a fair bit of photo copying I delivered my course very successfully without the aid of modern technology. It was great fun, as I just sat down with the 3 remaining delegates and chatted very informally with them and got all the relevant points over really well (I think).

My poor boss was supposed to be heading out to our Company owned franchise later in the day to help out with a couple of classes that they were short staffed in. She was unfortunately laid very low with a very nasty bug. So I had to finish the course as quickly as I could and hot foot it over to Warwick to assist with 24 very lively 5 to 7 year olds. Well.... What fun, they were great fun and I had a very rewarding couple of hours with them.
The equipment theme was 'Winter' and I had opted to man the 'agility' station. I mesmerised them with a theme of Narnia and got them clambering over snowy mountains in search of Aslan, sliding over an ice bridge and into white witch mountain to rescue the treasure which was a key to slide down the shute and escape the mountain (it was a beanbag in reality.) Well, they loved it and really got into the story. One little boy said he could not get out of Aslans den as the lion was biting his feet, little Rachel who has been reading the book told him not to be silly as Aslan was a 'good Lion' who would not do anything as bad as eating your feet. She also decided to be called 'Lucy' and I had to call the two boys in my group Peter and Edmund!
Actually I am not sure who had most fun me or the kids!

I was pretty tired after tackling Narnia but had to dash home to greet guests for dinner. Dan, Rach and Simon headed our way to indulge in a little Curry therapy, it was a great evening. I love to have people to cook for, my wish is to have a really nice dining room in the near future. I have decided our new house must have three bedrooms, a garage, a dining room and a ballroom!

Rach is Ta-shi's new best friend! She and he spent ages playing together. Rach obviously has the same 'animal magnetism' that Simon and I have :-) . Ta-shi thought Rach had stayed overnight and first thing in the morning rushed upstairs to search the rooms for her.

BJ was home for the weekend which was just great! I really miss him during the week. No cuddles when I get home and no three kisses before he goes out in the morning (it has to be three) . My Mother seems to think that we are sure to argue when BJ comes home as that's what she and dad did when he worked away from home. Sorry Mum! We do many things but arguing is not one of them. Close the doors turn the phones off and shut the curtains maybe but no arguing! Not bad for a pair of oldies, after all these years we are still quite silly over each other. Even if he can be a grumpy old git at times!

I seem to be on the wind down now at work towards Christmas, I am finishing work this Friday and even that day is going to be a fun day. I am going to the Nursery School that I deliver 'Leaps and Bounds' to help with their Christmas production. Its going to be organized chaos I am sure as even the little 2-3 year olds are taking part. I can't wait it's going to be the hilight of my week I am sure. What a lucky girl I am to have such a wonderful job. It's hopefully going to get better next year although the downside will be not so much contact with the children as I will be much more involved with the business side of things.

Well I must go and have a chat with Bj we always phone each other at ten pm to have a little chat and say goodnight.

It was 25 years ago today!

Well the song almost starts like that! I am talking Sgt. Pepper of course and the song really starts 'it was 20 years ago today.'

Today is the 25th anniversary of the murder of John Lennon one of the icon's of the last century. I grew up with Beatle mania, lived it, sang it, dreamed about them, cried tears of grief when I thought Paul was going to marry Jane Asher (well I was only about 12).
Pocket money was hoarded to save seven shillings and sixpence to buy a record, as they were called in those distant days. As I only got half a crown (two shillings and sixpence) a week pocket money this was no mean feat. (Thank goodness for Granddads)

The year Tracey was born we were staying in my grandparents flat for Christmas and I had a portable record player for Christmas. Well... I was made up, it was wonderful I also had the single 'She loves you' and I must of played it so many times I am sure I drove every-one completely mad with it. In later years Barry was to mend this treasured item many times for me, I even bought it to our first married home.

I tried to get Mum and Dad to name the new baby, Michelle like in the song, they almost did as Michelle was quite an unusual and exotic mane in those days. Tracey must be glad that she was not a 'shell' !

One of the first records I bought for myself was the EP 'Twist and shout' which also had 'A taste of Honey and 'There's a place' and 'Listen, do you want to know a secret'. I loved them all, and can still sing them all virtually word perfect, but probably not in tune :-) but my parents and Nana, who often stayed with us used to complain like mad about Twist and Shout as rock and roll was considered 'devil' music.

I was completely besotted with Paul as most girls were, those big brown puppy eyes and the gorgeous hair that he would shake maniacally during a song. As for the way he screamed and did those kind of 'woo's' with John during chorus' would drive us into a frenzy.

I was watching the Royal Variety when John told the Audience 'Ok those in the cheap seats clap your hands and those in the front rattle your jewelry'

I remember being uncomfortable when he announced The Beatles 'were bigger than Jesus'. But hey, that was John.

John Lennon was of course a total genius, a visionary, eloquent a man of deep contrasts, peace loving, yet sometimes aggressive. Kind but often very cruel, Thoughtful, but outspoken In fact a very human man with all the foilbles of most of us.

He had a very sad childhood really, bought up by his beloved auntie Mimi who led him to believe his Mother lived hundreds of miles away when really she lived close by. He found her again when he was twelve and it was she who taught him to play the guitar. Sadly by the time he was sixteen she was killed in a traffic accident. How tragic for him.

John lived life through his songs particularly in the later years. 'Watching the wheels go round' written while he was a bored house husband and had not written anything for about five years.

'How do you Sleep at Night' was a very vitriolic dig at Paul after the split. It must of been very hurtful for Paul. It is also claimed it is about his withdrawal from drugs at the time as well.

'Mind games' written during his short separation from Yoko, and so it goes on.
He had a comment for every world event in a song. Mind you we all hated Yoko Ono, we were convinced she split the Beatles. I think now it was Johns complete obsession with Yoko that split the Beatles! It was time, they all had to move on and grow, no boy band sticks together for many years. They certainly brought a bit of magic into our lives at the time.

favorite Beatle or Lennon tracks for me:

In My life.
This Boy.
Twist and shout
She's leaving home
Help
Lady Maddonna
The Long and Winding Road
The whole of Lennons 'Imagine' album. Particularly the title track and 'Woman.'
'WhenI'mSixty Four', because we would play it on the way home on long car journeys and Barry the boys and me would sing to it at the top of our voices, being Sixty four seemed a life time away back then, its slowly edging nearer now. I desperately want a couple of grandchildren on my knee in a rented house on the Isle of Wight, by then!
Oh, probably most of Sgt pepper.
'Maxwell's Hammer, because it has such a catchy cheerful tune, but the words are gruesome!

A new generation are learning to love Lennons music all over again, so really he lives on in his music and words.
As the song again almost say's "It was wonderful to have been there, It certainly was a thrill"

Training the Owner.

Ta-shi decided last night that I was in much need of play training! Lets set the scene. In Ta-shi's little doggy world certain people have certain commitments towards him. I for one am most definitely the pack leader, Alpha Female or she who must be obeyed! I am responsible for feeding and that means which order in the animal hierarchy they get fed as well as the actual food part. I require the cats to be in a higher status in the pack from the dog for reasons of peace and tranquility! So they are fed first Ta-shi see's this and is ordered not to touch their food, this he accepts unless he thinks I am not looking of course! Before the cats, we are fed so he realizes that at the end of the day I am top dog and BJ second in command.

Now because I am top dog I am not really considered a playmate! This is BJ's purpose in Ta-shi's life. He is happy for games of fetch with the ball when out for a walk with me but that is about it.

Bj plays exciting rough games with Ta-shi and he just LOVES it. The problem has arisen because BJ is working away from home for months and months and so Ta-shi is missing out on both games and peanuts again only BJ provides these.

Well Dogger decided that as his pack playmate is no longer available at 9pm every evening he had better train another.

So.... at nine o'clock precisely last night he brings 'Ha ha' to me and sits at my feet. I am required to throw it hard so it makes the mad ha ha noise as it lands. This I do, he looks at me pathetically as if to say 'is the the best you can do' and just strolls to fetch it back. OK, I think I will throw it up the stairs, this he likes better and breaks into a trot. I remember then that he likes to be tickled and gently bashed with his toy before it is launched at great speed towards the bookshelf, if it lands on a shelf he takes great delight in trying to jump high enough to get it, or to practice his 'door shutting' technique in order to get BJ to get it down for him.

I can see he is a little more impressed with me now, so we repeat the game over, and over ,and over again! He eventually gets very excited when I manage to launch Ha Ha onto the very top of the bookcase and have to get a chair to retrieve it.
Next minute Ha ha is abandoned and he arrives at my feet with 'Monkey' this toy has very long arms and legs and is a 'shaking the prey' sort of toy.
Ta-shi says 'Ok you have got the hang of that one, lets see if you can manage this' So I am lectured by my small dog how to play a decent game of tug, I think he was impressed as I was allowed onto the hallowed Telly Tubby toy which tummy squeaks, you MUST squeak before you throw otherwise you get the look of disdain.

All this went on for an hour, but I think I have passed the training, I have to wait and see If he allows me to play tonight at nine!

Things Self help Books Never tell You

I came across an article in a magazine today that rather tickled my fancy! It is called 'Things Self Help Books never tell You', here are a few I thought particularly amusing.

* When you go on a diet, you will lose all the weight from your boobs before a single ounce goes of your thighs. (Actually I would not mind that scenario as I have a veritable bouncy castle for a bust, I also have very small feet as nothing grows in the shade.)

*Drinking 8 to ten glasses of water a day means you can never watch a film all the way through or sleep through the entire night. (Yep, tell me about that one)

*Eating only when your hungry is a habit we abandoned thousands of years ago- along with cave paintings and dragging one another home by the hair. ( Tell that to Gillian McKieth, the "I am so smug" 'You are What you Eat' author)

*Ignoring your inner critic is not a good idea after an entire bottle of wine and the first three chords of 'I Will Survive'. ( not really likely to happen to me, unless I have to hum of course)

*It's not a good idea to attempt body brushing in front of a mirror while naked, it looks as if you are dragging a fork through blancmange.

*Building up you confidence by starting conversations with people you do not know, will guarantee you a seat alone on the bus or train.

* Having your hair style changed radically will make your children laugh and you cry for a week ( I have to say I can relate to this one, except my hair made ME laugh for a week)

* Finding your inner child is healing... Unless she turns out to be the spoilt brattish she devil who would send supernanny into retirement.

*If you have time to fold your knickers neatly into drawer dividers, you need to get out more. (My knicker drawer resembles a jumble sale after the hoards have rummaged through it)

* Some stress is actually good for you, it can be energising and creative. (Totally agree with this, I am at my best under a bit of pressure. )

These were taken from January's issue of Good Housekeeping.

An Ali G moment

Well... I had this mad idea that I would like a MP3 from Santa (Or at least BJ), this is a daring move from me as I am completely techno phobic but anyway my dear Husband decided to indulge my whim and we went looking.

Now, I wonder do electrical salesman go to special 'nerd' schools or was I just unlucky. By the way have any of you girls tried to actually buy something from one of the big electrical stores such as the one who's name sounds like an Indian dinner. You amazingly become totally invisible! Any way I digress.

We went into the first shop and a friendly young guy asked my Husband if he could help, we explained our needs and that was that, he went of like rocket into his sales speil. He was not letting us of that shop without having sold us the top of the range all singing (well I suppose that's what they are supposed to do) all dancing MP3 player with all sorts of unasked for appliances to go with it, and did his best to sell an ipod instead. When he realised I had glazed over and began sucking in my cheeks in despair at his tactics he decided I needed time to think about it. He then decided we could not leave the shop without a catalogue to browse through at our leisure at the marvellous price of £3.99. We declined but he followed us to the door still trying to get a sale. Nothing turns me off more than the hard sell!

We then decided to have a go at another household name electrical store! We were onto a winner here with a very knowledgeable man who went through all the options on the various models and explained the technology in laymans terms for me. We had more ar less decided between two and asked if he could get them out of the cabinet for us. He went of to get the key and returned with a young Indian guy who unlocked the case for us. At this point the other guy was called away but he said he was leaving us in the capable hands of Sandeep. Oh yeah!

Sandeep was unable to speak in more than monosyllabless and grunts and for a young man new very little about the product he was trying to sell. BJ asked a relevant question about the USB port and he was clueless. Not only that he would make no eye contact with us and obviously wanted to be anywhere but in our company.

Oh,how I nearly said 'Ees eet cos I's white'

Will The Real Georgie Best Please Stand Up

Here is my take on George Best. Robin has his own very valid opinions, here are mine, also very valid.

I was, believe it or not very caught up in the world of football in my very early teenage years. If you wanted to be popular with the boys at school you had to be!
I was in the first year of Dendigh High School in the great year of 1966 so got really caught up in that particular World event.
Just on the scene that year Georgie Best was emerging, the real George Best I mean not the pathetic excuse of a man that he was to become.

He was fabulous, exciting on and off the field and like nothing we had ever seen before. Even I can appreciate that he was a total wonder the like of which had never been seen perhaps until Pele arrived. He had the world at his feet and basically he could not cope with the pressures put upon him.
Us girls thought he was sex on legs the trouble was, so did George! We worshipped his prowess and forgave him his odd misdemeanors.
Well, if he did not turn up for training he was probably a bit tired!.
How can you expect a man to play football if he has had a late night! On it went.

Then suddenly you felt a bit let down by it all. His club needed him, we needed him to be a bit more responsible. The headlines about Bad Boy George got a bit monotonous.

Suddenly you thought maybe the gilt was coming off the ginger bread, didn't he sound just a teenee bit slurred in that interview. Wasn't that comment just a tiny bit arrogant?

One blonde model after another, surely the man could have a little more respect for himself.

Eventually after really only a few short years at the top he was a has been and it was only one persons fault! Old Georgie Boy's!

Once he became an 'alcoholic' or chose to be one! I new all was lost. He became self pitying, selfish , violent, manipulative and down right nasty.

In the end Best suffered the most from his self destruct mode, It was the longest suicide in history, but I am not sorry for him but indeed hope his soul is at peace.

I will remember my lost youth and the Georgie Best as was, lithe, sexy and a twinkle in his Irish eyes and magic in his Irish feet. God Rest his troubled soul!

Hair Raising!

My hair obviously had an effect on airport security at Inverness airport. Security would not let me out of Scotland until every little thing of mine had been thoroughly searched. Do I look like a danger to aircraft and humanity? Maybe don't answer that one. They were happy enough to let me into their extremely cold, snowy County, but like all good guard dogs were not going to let me out without a fight!

We were already concerned that the weather was going to delay or cancel the flight as it was extreme weather in the highlands, I had to go and buy an extra warm woolly while up their as my silly Sassenach items of pretty rather than practical jumpers just could not cope with -2 degrees plus wind chill. As for the snow it hardly stopped for 24 hours.

Any way back to airport security. I put my hand bag through the X-ray machine and walked under the metal detector, no problems I thought! Until the security man invited me to come to the end of the desk where he would like to search my bag. I was a little embarrassed and wondered what on earth he thought I had in it. He opened my medication (strong migraine pills) and asked what they were. Obviously he thought I was carrying drugs! I explained what they were for and he seemed happy. He then wanted me to demonstrate that my mobile was indeed exatly that. Then he found my keys! Here we had a problem, I carry on my key ring a locking device for Tumble Tots climbing trestles and it happens to be rather pointy.
what's this Madam?'
'its a key for a climbing trestle' I replied
'I don't think you can take it on the aircraft, I will have to take advice from my superior'
'well I flew up here with it in my bag' I reasoned 'You can't really take a key away from me surely' But of course I knew he could!
Anyway his superior looked me up and down and decided that I did not really pose a danger with my keys and let me keep it.

All was well for a full ten minutes sitting in departures looking at the screens of cancelled and delayed flights and warnings of severe weather all over Scotland.
Our peace was shattered by the tannoy calling for passengers Griffen and Owen to go to airport security. 'Oh no' I thought 'They have decided they want my key after all'
We duly reported to the desk where Anne was asked if here bag was one of several waiting there, it was not, but guess who's was! Yep it was my suitcase.
Yep! They wanted to search it! So here we go again, this time I had to explain why I had a ball in my case. I know it's a bit odd but I had traveled up to Scotland with Ta-shi's ball in my pocket by mistake so I had put it in my case. They seemed a little amused by my story and I think they thought I had a dog hidden about me somewhere. In the meantime they undid everything in my bag, investigated my wash bag checked my hairdryer, how very embarrassing not only to have your smalls picked over by a burly security guy but also with a senior colleague looking on as well. Made a mental note to pack tidier next time!

I commented to Anne that I hoped that they now did not want to do a body search as they would have to play some music and play pass the parcel with me as I had so many layers on!

Eventually I was deemed safe to leave the airport and was allowed to board the plane, however as it was so windy crossing the tarmac I nearly flew home without it! Anne grabbed me as a gust of wind almost toppled me, I was not keen to travel in such weather but it was Ok once above the clouds.

I think Easy jet Pilots need to work on their landing techniques though as both times they slammed the plane down rather than landing.

It's been a funny week!

Hurray! I can speak again, still a bit gravelly like some-one who smoked 40 cigs a day (I have never smoked one) Think Mariella Fostrup, no I think that's probably wishful thinking.

My Mum who is a great believer in the power of prayer said one for my voice, I let her believe it worked but I think the large doses of steroids did it. But then again..... Who knows!

I took Ta-shi for his 3 monthly haircut on Friday only to discover that Jo who runs the groomers out at Nuneaton had suffered a car accident on the way to work and was in hospital, get well soon Jo, hope all is well. Ta-shi was a little confused to walk into the pet shop and then straight out without his usual wash and trim and then a good old game of chase and flirt with Jo's cheeky little girl Apso.

On the way to the above Pet shop I passed a newly opened Fitness centre and Gym called 'Better Bodies' So what! I hear you shout, It directly overlooked the local Crematorium! Some-one was definitely having a laugh.

Now, Rob blog is always talking about music so I am going to have a little say on the subject.
We watched Music Hall of fame the other evening and Barry and I got into a long discussion about Dylan who was an icon of Barry's youth perhaps a little more than mine. I like a lot of his stuff now more than did then, probably because I am older and appreciate the poetry in the lyrics more. I felt that I enjoyed his songs more when they were sang by other artists, however I have now changed my mind. I heard several of his numbers covered by different singers on the show and some done by the man himself. I now see the difference! Sung by other artists they are just nice songs with pretty words, sung by Dylan the true meaning of the lyrics totally blow you away. As a kid I loved 'Blowing in the Wind' it truly meant something to me when I was painfully becoming aware of the way's of the cruel world. It is ageless and the lyrics hold true today. So I am a Dylan Convert!

As a footnote to that BJ and I were having a conversation as to what we would of like to have been called other than our own names, Bj said he would liked to have been called Dylan! Can't imagine what he would of looked like, surely he would of had to have had more hair!!!
I fancied Charlotte or Francesca, but I would have to be more Glam and ladylike.

Talking Glam, I have just returned from the hairdressers after being talked into a hair colour experience by my stylist! Its rather startling and a little bit scary, not sure if I should go out without a hat. Think tortoiseshell cat, crossed with a Tiger! I have bits of gold and bits of very bright red through it. I had asked for it to be warmed up a bit I know, but I look like a firework now! Good job BJ is away for a fortnight he would fall about laughing I think. I have to go scare the good people of Inverness on Wednesday, well, at least if they are short of a beacon I am their woman!

Still croaking!

I think some-one in the Tesco's CCTV department is having a laugh! I received a money off coupon today for.... Cif bathroom cleaner! Do they want another demonstration of exfoliation or are that considering re marketing it as a beauty product, either way its excellent for the bath but not for the face.

Still can't speak, it's getting very boring now and a bit scary, I just want my voice back please.

I had to get an emergency appointment to see the Doctor this morning as I could not stop wheezing and despite using my inhaler many times it did not help. How embarrassing when the Doctor asked to see the inhaler to find the expiry date on it was June 2003! No wonder it had not helped. So... I have a new inhaler and a course of the dreaded steroid tablets to bring the asthma under control and hopefully reduce the inflammation in my Larynx. I hate taken steroids as although they do make you feel better quite quickly, I have to take SIX, yes SIX at a time for six days then stop. The stopping is the problem , I get what must be withdrawal symptoms and feel very down and lethargic for a good few days.

Still, in the meantime I may run a Marathon, or lift some heavy weights, but must avoid random blood tests!

Dog in bed!

Here is the beloved dog enjoying the comforts of his new bed!

Dog has a new bed.

Well, today this is the only way I can communicate as I have acute viral laryngytis. It is not in the least bit funny as try, as I am told I must not by the Doctor I can hardly utter a sound.
The funny thing is people I have had to try and 'talk' to end up whispering back to me, including my boss when I had to try and explain why I needed a few days off when I phoned in sick. I did not need to say many words as it was pretty obvious what was the matter with me, once she had differentiated me from a dirty old man making a nuisance call. I can do a realistic Phil and Grant impression if nothing else.

Before all this came on I had a little shopping trip and decided to treat Ta-shi to a new bed. Nothing really wrong with the old one, a hard plastic affair with a nice furry blanket in it. It was inherited from his predecessor Molly, another Lhaso Apso of note but more noble and Lady like than the mad boy Ta-shi. However it was a little dog eared and scruffy!

I came in the house carrying the new upmarket smart new bed calling Ta-shi to come and see his new present. I teased him a bit and played with him asking him to sit in it and generally made a big fuss of him and the new bed. It is soft and furry made from 'TeddyBear' material, this is what caused the confusion!

Ta-shi (pronounced Tar Shee and meaning lucky or good fortune in Tibetan) thought it was a new throw toy an enormous Frisbee I think. He duly dragged it into the lounge and dropped it at my feet ready for me to throw for him to fetch. What a spoil sport he thought I was when I put it back and got his Teddy to throw for him. Oh no, he went right back and fetched the bed out again. This went on for a bit until I decided to ignore him and the bed so he lost interest, until later!

I collected Barry from the airport and Ta-shi having not seen his beloved play mate for a week immediately dragged his new 'toy' out for Barry to throw!

He now has realized it is his new bed and absolutely adores it, he even snuggles into it during the day when normally he has a blanket on a chair in the lounge. The cats who were welcome to have a snooze in the old bed are not allowed any where near it and if he thinks they are getting a bit close to it he will sit in it and guard it with a little low grumble to warn them off.

Well best go and rehearse for my duet with Rod Stuart!

We Remember Them.

Percy Albert Jennings, like the rest of us Jennings/Janko's was a rather small man standing only 5'3'' and a tiny size four shoe size. However, he had the heart of a lion when it came to standing up for what was right. He had some terrible experiences during several major battles in World War One but he would like many men of his time, never speak of them. Not for them counseling or treatment for Post Traumatic stress (not right or good but how it was).

He was my Granddad!

When I was in GSE year at school I chose to do modern History including coverage of this dark dreadful time and asked for his help. I opened a Pandora's box of memory for him which was both traumatic and cathartic for this beautiful man.


He received the citation after his friend beside him was shot and killed in a gruesome manner, Apparently this poor boy's guts spilled out of a wound in his stomach and for a few minutes my Granddad thought he would be OK if only he could put this guy's guts back inside of him. It dawned on him that he was dead and in his own words, " It really got me mad, I saw the red mist and just went."

This tiny, quiet, gentle man who we all loved dearly showed bravery and compassion such that I hope none of any of us will ever need to.

He stayed friendly with one of the prisoners who he nicknamed Fritz, (the prisoners had to be kept at the front until they could be transported elsewhere) this 'Enemy' had a young wife and baby at home, Granddad saw pictures of them. Fritz also carved a beautiful walking stick for Percy which is in our family to this day.
I am very happy to say Percy lived to a wonderful 86 years old saw my two boys born and was a wonderful Granddad who loved nothing more than to grow Roses and work his allotment with two grubby little girls in tow picking his peas for him and learning the names of all the roses in his garden.


Awarded Military Medal During 1st World War
Citation Reads
P.T.E (L/C) P.A. Jennings 11th Suffolk Regiment (Cambs)

During the attack near Vendige on 24th October when the line of consolidation was exposed to much machine gun and trench mortar fire this NCO went out to deal with a party of riflemen who were causing casualties to our men.
By a bold dash he succeeded in completely overwhelming the enemy and brought back seven prisoners. Throughout the operation he showed a fearless determination to succeed.

God rest you Grandad, you were so loved.

Oh Lonesome Me!

Well, two out of the three most loved people in my life are out of the Country just now, was it something I said?

Eldest Son out on a business trip to Hong Kong and China sourcing very special 'made in China' goods for the Company he works for. I am sure he will do a sterling job of bringing back for the consumers some wonderful stuff, like umbrella's for dogs, and plastic dolphin toilet seats, and containers to put stuff in your fridge for a few day's before you throw it away!

Husband is also on business (he tells me ) in Sweden!

At Birmingham airport where he flew from we had a slight altercation's with the check in desk. BJ was changing flight at Amsterdam and needed to be checked in for both flights as he only had 40 minutes to get from one plane to the next. He was told that could not be done as the flight to Gothenburg had been oversold by 11 seats so BJ had to be on stand by for the flight. How ridiculous is that! I told the check in guy that if I bought theatre tickets I would not expect to get there and be told my seats had been sold to 10 other people and I could only have the seat if they did not turn up! It however did not impress him at all! Madness!

In the end BJ got chatting to the guy in the next seat who flies the route regularly and told him the secret is to race as fast as you can to get to departures before the other 11 people and you might get lucky, he told BJ to follow him as he knew the quickest route through the terminal.
It worked and BJ not only got the flight but was upgraded to business class as well, but fancy having to do that just to get the seat you have booked and paid for. Guys, don't fly KLM.

We had a wonderful evening on Saturday with my lovely niece and her husband and all BJ's other family members to celebrate Rach's Birthday. We had a truly delicious Mexican meal some great conversation including how to get rid of bathroom smells! The tips could of been very useful after a Mexican meal. The strike a match idea seemed to come up trumps (sorry could not resist the pun)

We then played Cranium with hilarious results. You have to bear in mind Bj's family are quite an intellectual bunch, very arty and even more musical, the group included three teachers and a rookie policeman, so you see my dilemma. I do not have one musical bone in my body and my attempts at art are much in line with what a chimpanzee could manage!

Dan's miming of free range eggs was one of those things I will remember for ever! It was so funny, but we got it, so it must of been good. I managed to side step the musical rounds quite neatly until I could no longer avoid it. I had to either hum or whistle 'Don't Cry for me Argentina'. Now my boys will happily tell you how funny my attempts of being musical are and this was no exception.

I first could not even get a sound out because I was laughing so much, I then could not get a sound out because every one else was laughing at my laughing. I finally managed to hum with an awful lot of hand and body gestures to try and get over the song to my team as I was sure I was so out of tune I expected the 'music police' would storm the house at any minute!
Finally some-one got it, and BJ admitted he had sussed it ages ago but I was fun to watch, rotten iggy piggy! At least it was voted as the most animated humming of the evening! Now Helen can hum like an Angel and every-one can guess her tunes immediately. I will have to put in some 'humming' practise before next time.

Well best go cook my dinner for one!

Hit The Ground Running......

Phew! What a week, I seem to have been working silly hours and silly days the last week or so. In ten days I had to go to London Four times. Two technical visits, a workshop to help host and then man a stand at the Mother and Baby show in Olympia! The last one was a real nightmare as it was a very long day, under hot studio type lights that gave me a mega migraine and I had to be sweet smiling nice for about fourteen hours Grrrr....!

On the way home I stopped at the most awful mototway service station in the western hemisphere to get refreshment and some guy tried to start up a conversation with me as I was still in corporate gear. I had no polite conversation left and wanted to tell him go take a hike, of course I did not! But hells bells he followed me to a table and sat at the next one and tried to carry on the chat!!!

The next day myself and several colleagues drove up to Manchester for a Road Show, it is real good fun but I was so tired and headachey that I did not enjoy it at all. They are all keen on alcoholic refreshment which is fine by me, but I don't care to drink much myself. They all get a bit silly and I feel like the odd one out. The worst thing was it was me with the headache (still) in the morning.

Migraine is the curse of my life! Thankfully not so often now as I get older, but it rears its very ugly and painful head at the most in-opportune times. Triggers include alcohol, chocolate, cheese, wine and over tiredness, oh and bright lights!
I must be the only one who can't look at the M&S advert for the chocolate puddings with the squidgy centres, it makes me feel physically sick at the sight of them, Migraine on a plate yuk!

I have had one or two funny experiences as well this week. I was shopping yesterday at Tesco's and looking at the bathroom cleaner 'cif' formerly known as 'jif' (why DID they change it) . I could not remember if I preferred the stuff in the yellow bottle or the white bottle. I know I thought I'll have a sniff. I carefully lifted the lid and put it up to my nose and ever so gently squeezed the bottle to lift the aroma.
I ended up with a large amount of bathroom cleaner up my nose and running down my chin! I tried to conceal my predicament by rubbing my hand over my face, have you ever tried cif as an exfoliant? Not good. I rummaged for a tissue, why can you never find one when you want one, and other times they are overflowing your bag and dripping out of sleeves and pockets. I ended up getting a pack of the shelf and opening it before getting to checkout. I had not reckoned on a do it yourself facial while shopping!

Today we popped down to the allotment for an 'hour' to put the beds to bed for the winter. I needed to plant a row of raspberry canes, I prepared the area and lined them up the regulation foot apart and set about planting. Half way through BJ came up and announced that my row was as straight as a donkeys hind leg and I was to pull 'em up and start again and he would put down some string to assist me.
Well, I tried to tell him it probably would not help but hey, let the guy try!
So... String line layed I started again, it started well but by the time I was half way along I was all over the show again, Bj just fell about laughing but as I told him he is an engineer which is a precise art, I train kids and dogs which is anything but.
The raspberries are very happy in their wibbly wobbly row, I lovingly top dressed them with some gorgeous rich manure and I even had a chat with them!! Barry said 'pardon' as he thought I was talking to him, when I said I was talking to the raspberries he truly thought I had lost it. Or trained at the 'Prince Charles school for mad gardeners'

Well raspberries happily esconsed in their new home we went shopping in Coventry, I parked the car in the usual multi story next to a very steamed up car! Well! I became shocked of Coventry! A couple where doing what does not come naturally at 2pm in the afternoon in broad daylight in a public car park especially when that couple were both MEN! I am quite happy to live and let live but this was totally out of order in such a public place. Guys, go rent a room next time!!

You Are what You Eat

I have always whole heartedly agreed with this statement, if not always carrying it out for my own health. Although I do try most of the time.

Today I discovered that this is true of my funny little dog as well. True to the title of this blog I feed the pup on a good quality brand of food known in our household as 'Jimmy well Lovely,' although on the packet it is called 'James Wellbeloved!' I was fast running out of this excellent dinner favored by Ta-shi and as it is only available from pet shops I decided to try him on another brand from the supermarket.

I looked at and dismissed many options, I don't like a whole lot of processed additives so I won't feed the dog on it. I eventually settled on a brand hailing itself as 100% natural with chicken, rice and 15 different health giving herbs! Aha! This sounded great and it was a little cheaper than the 'Jimmy's'. I set off home to feed the pooch, I was sensible enough to give him one third new food mixed in with the old stuff, increasing it little by little so as not to upset my lad's tummy. All was well, until I got him onto 2/3rds new food and a little old food, then the trouble began.....

I don't know what the 15 herbs are in the recipe, but.... I have one wired dog on my hands! He tore about the house like a maniac this morning, dogs blankets, cat beds turned out and blankets frantically dragged around the house. He ran up the stairs, down the stairs, around the garden about 100 times. All the toys he possesses took a trip around the house one by one, as for the poor cats I may never see them again! He teased, yapped and chased them both until one begged to be allowed into a bedroom away from the manic furball terrorizing her, The other took her usual refuge on top of the freezer until the furry hurricane had run its course.


I eventually got him out for a walk, where he bounced along the road as high as a Kite, we played ball, chased ducks, raced a border collie and won! He was so HAPPY I might have some of his food for lunch!

I am off to the petshop this afternoon to buy a large stock of 'Jimmy Well Lovely'

Alpha Male Alive and Well

I am going to be a little controversial now, please no one be offended, I am publishing my thoughts on a subject as I see it.

Religion! That and politics should not be discussed by a Lady! So my dear Father said. Here lies the problem.
For some time now I have been coming around to the idea that all religion on this Earth actively encourages and promotes male dominance.

When I think of religion and consider which faiths people choose to follow, it seems obvious that geography plays a very important part, rather than faith itself. The western World is predominately Christian and people follow one of many religions under that umbrella. Catholic, Protestant, Baptist.... And so on, why so many different ones though, I thought in Christianity 'One God Fits all!' If you are born in India or Pakistan you would probably follow Hinduism or be a Sikh, other areas maybe a Jew or a Muslim, I could go on. All I am sure very fine faiths to follow and probably with very similar values as our own Christianity. At the end of the day faith unifies a community.

I choose to follow Christian values and morality, which means I try to treat people as I would wish to be treated and try to be as kind and loving as I can to all I come in contact with. As a human however, I have been known to fail miserably at times. I don't beat myself up about it but try harder next time! I don't however feel able to be a full and complete Christian in the eyes of the church kind of dogma.

Now the biggest problem I have as I said earlier is this Male dominance thing, twice in the last week I have seen smack in the face examples of this. First the Scientology ethos on childbirth where crying out in pain or accepting pain relief is considered detrimental and traumatic for the child's future life. Who decided on this course of action, not I presume God, but the leader of the Cult. Now the best remedy to this is that the Father of the child is put into a vice for the duration of the birth and it should be tightened a notch at each contraction the Mother has. No crying out Guy's and no, you can't have a parachuting! I don't think most guy's would get past the third or fourth contraction before this rule was quickly abandoned!

Today I was talking to a lovely Indian girl, a Hindu, she was on a day of fasting from sunrise until the moon rises. I guessed wronly it was Ramadan but no! It is a religious day in her calendar where young married women fast completely in respect of their Husbands, and to give them long life. I asked when the day was when the Husbands did the same for their wives and guess what! There isn't one! Now I totally respect this girl as she took time to explain why she is happy to do it (her husband is very good to her, but I take it she is an excellent wife as well) she is very serene and has grown up in India with this being common practice. In fact it is a chance for young Indian women to gather at a house with friends and have the equivalent of a 'girlie day' as apparently they don't get out very much otherwise. Male Dominated!

As for young Muslim women covering themselves from head to toe in case they inflame passions, I can't even go down the road of what I feel for their oppression (read 'The bookseller of Kabul')

Even in our Christians religions it is very top heavy with male ethos, just look at the fight to get women priests, easier to become a priest if you are gay! (nothing wrong in that by the way)

I have been to three Baptist weddings in recent years, all people I love and respect dearly, my own beloved Sister was one of these. I did,however, have a problem with the reading and address which promoted wives deferring to their husbands at all times. I think the line goes 'wives submit to your husbands'. Now the problem I have with this is:

• Always read by a man
• Its 2005 guys!

Surely this day and age marriage is an equal partnership, all items should be up for discussion and a joint decision made. I am a voice of experince having been married for 32 years! My Sister chose to 'obey' in her service, which although I hold her decision in high regard I feel its what you get dogs to do not wives! I have had long discussions with her on this matter but we beg to differ. She is the best person in the World to have as a Sister and I think she is the most kind hearted and loyal friend, wife mother, sister any one can have! The very best thing is we can have these wonderful discussions, come to different conclusions and remain completely loyal to one another and go on and discuss the latest exploits of our offspring which is usually many and varied ( the exploits, not the offspring!)

So this is why I find religion a very strange thing, surely God see's us all as one, Ok I know he did not send his 'daughter' to save the World, but maybe he could have another think on that for the 'second coming' now he can see what men have done!

By the way I am not a man hater, my best freind is a very fine one, with on odd taste in jokes and his own made up langauge :-)

Let them eat cake

I had to go into Coventry City centre today, something I avoid at all costs Unless really necessary. For those who don't know it, it is square, grey and very depressing. I know it once was a beautiful place until the Germans bombed it. Sadly the 6o's had many things going for them architecter was not one of them. The best thing that could be done is to evacuate the whole place knock it down and start again.

However I digress! I decided to get a bite of lunch, so headed for the food court where all the upmarket eaterie's lie, you have Macdonalds, Kentucky, and spuds are us or something like that. Tucked in the middle of all this is a little place called Healthy Choice where you get served by very polite young people who do not indulge in the language of grunt.
I was beside another Lady in the Queue who was of advancing years and fairly well rounded.
she ordered a black coffee, 'any sugar Madam?' she was asked, 'Oh no my dear I have to watch my weight'. We exchanged smiles as I ordered the homemade tomato and herb soup with a fresh orange juice.
'would you like a cake or Muffin with your coffee?' asked the girl. The Lady hesitated ever so slightly before saying 'oh go on then I'll have one of those' She pointed to a huge cherry and chocolate flapjack.
She turned to me and my soup and said 'might as well while I can, the papers say we will all be dead with chicken flu by Christmas!'

I took my soup which I had thought would be delicious but turned out to be really gloopy and not much more flavour than dish water (not that I try that to often) I looked over in envy at the elderly Lady thoroughly enjoying her humungous flapjack. She was dead right, St Peter is not going to say 'sorry you can't come in here you ate to much cake!' is he.

I then headed for Woolworths to purchase some fabric dye and some navy cotton, I took the items to a cash point where the Lady scanned the dye £4.25 then tried to scan the cotton, it would not go through. She asked if I would read her the bar code numbers as she did not have her glasses with her. After much rummaging in my handbag I found mine and read the numbers out.
'That will be £9.09 please' she triumphantly announced.
'Pardon' I asked '£9.09' she repeated. I asked the price of the reel of navy cotton. I was told it was over £4.00. 'Its a reel of cotton' I said sure she must have it wrong, 'yes but it is our supreme range'. I was told
'Supreme! I want it to self thread and hem automatically at that price' I retorted. 'I take it you don't want it then' she said 'funny' she added 'you are not the first person to complain about the price today'.
Maybe they should check it out, it MUST be wrongly priced.

New Language invented!

My Husband not only has a wonderful technique for telling jokes but also has his own language! I was invited to 'Stretchulate my pedulators' the other day, I agreed to go for a walk with him. This new phrase has turned out to be a useful addition to the household, I can now announce that I am about to 'pedulate the puppy' without the dog immediately turning into a whirling dervish that always comes with the sentence with 'dog' and 'walk' in it.
Bj also rarely has a 'bath' but instead goes to 'spodulate' I know, don't ask!

This week has seen me do at least two 14 hour days, so I am quite tired today. I had to go to Esher on Thursday to do a technical visit, make sure all was running well and according to the programme. It was a real pleasure to see such a well run centre with enthusiastic staff and a committed franchised. I do realize that every-one is on their best behavior when I arrive and sit in the corner note book in hand observing, but I can now spot what happens regularly and what they have changed for the day in my honour!
The problem with this visit was that at one time on the M25 I took exactly one hour to travel the great distance of one mile! This luckily did not make me late in arriving as I had added on one extra hour to my estimated journey time.

Sunday and Myself and boss had to travel back to the same area of London to host another workshop (M25 running well). Another 5.45 alarm clock setting (anything with a 5 in it is totally wrong for a Sunday morning)
The workshop, I felt was a great success and went really well. A few really awkward customers who really don't want to embrace anything new and are totally negative but on the whole most of them were really great who felt they got a lot out of the day.
My pet hate is negativity! I hate the phrase from franchise's and there employees 'I am not trying that it won't work' I feel like saying to them, of course it won't work you have already decided it won't. Instead I try to convince them that as a team they have to work together support each other and give it a good try over at least a whole term, then tell us it does not work!
Most of these lack lustre people are the ones asking for help as the business is not doing as well as they want, they want a magic spell to get it back on track, but please no we don't want to actually change the way we work.

If you do what you always do, you will get what you have always got! So there!
M25 not so kind on the way home, M1 a no go area so had to come around M40 not so convenient for me as my car was at bosses house in Northampton, finally arrived home at 7pm to a really wonderful meal that BJ had cooked.

We went to see Pride and Prejudice on Saturday night, what a real treat of a film it was. Fabulous! The lighting was beautiful the scenery out of this world and the acting inspired. Brenda Blethyn was just great in her part of Mrs Bennett. Keira Knightly has looks to die for, no wonder the men adore her. I was not sure I liked Matthew Macfadyen as Darcy though. I felt he warmed to the part as the film went on. However I am a Colin Firth devotee!
Think maybe it is time to read the original book again.

I read this week a news report that Katie Holmes latest squeeze of Tom Cruise, has to give birth in complete silence and with no pain relief! This according to the rules of her newly found faith of Scientology. What is that all about. Giving birth is not called labour for nothing, I suggest she should sream, slap and bite her way through it with all the drugs modern medicine can provide! I know I did. Twice.

Well I am feeling the need of a little 'pedulation' I am trying to do 1000 steps on the days I am not sitting on the M25 I am doing really well with it and exceededthat amount on four days last week. The dog will soon look like a fluffy whippet! I live in hope that this owner will look just the same as her dog. In fact that will be a whippet with a permanent bad hair day!

Secret Squirrel

I have several daft pets in my possession in the shape of one now very elderly cat called Chloe who despite her age rules the 'youngsters' with no prisoners being taken. A quick swipe with her ever ready paw puts most infringements of her dignity into place. She is known by Ta-shi as 'The sharp cat' on account of her slaps being incredibly sharp.

Ta-shi, whose name means good luck is a mad little Lhaso Apso, his aim in life is to have as much fun as possible and to eat as many peanuts that he can beg steal or borrow from BJ!

Saffy is a big clumsy lump of a cat, she is a Blue Tabby Maine Coone a large American breed. She is very beautiful with long hair and Lynx like ears and enormous furry paws. This cat is built for comfort not speed and has the grace of a small elephant! She has made her home on top of our now extremely high fridge/freezer where she sits like The Queen on her throne watching what goes on in her Kingdom below.

I was upstairs one morning when I heard a terrible commotion in the garden, frantic barking and the sound of shrubs being rampaged through. This was unusual to say the least as Ta-shi has been taught that it is very bad to manners to bark for no good reason.
I dashed down to see what the problem was.

To my utter surprise a Squirrel was frantically tearing around the fence perimeter with Saffy in a rather wobbly hot pursuit and Ta-shi hacking around below giving encouragement to Saffy to catch this daring intruder.

Squirrel eventually ran onto the fence next door between the garden where two very bad mannered German Shepherds live. Saffy paused to look if the Barky dogs were out.
Squirrel turned to face Saffy, this was one mad Squirrel it puffed itself up as big as he could and twitched his tail in his most threatening manner and chattered squirrel expletives at the puzzled Saffy. She eventually edged forward and Squirrel took off again he then came to a dead end with only the wall of the house in front of him. He paused and ran up the wall only to fall to the ground (unhurt) . I had ran back upstairs and frantically called to Saffy to try and stop her chasing the poor creature. She stopped in her tracks and looked to see were I was, this gave Squirrel a chance to make his escape. Phew!

Saffy then sat for a good hour on top of our fence all senses a quiver, ready to protect her territory if the strange intruder returned.
Ta-shi sat up on a garden Chair ears all of a twitch also waiting, probably hoping for another frantic game of chase.

The Squirrel I think has much more sense than to visit our garden again.

Hit the ground running and don't stop!

Friday saw me in London helping host a stand at the 'Early Years Exhibition' a good day but a little quieter than expected. Most of the people attending were Students and our target was Nursery Managers!
We were duly entertained by a man on a stall opposite selling so called 'Educational' toys. He spent the whole day chatting up ladies and swinging some kind of wrinkled tube around his head making it emit a strange whirring sound. He was such a ladies man, you know the type, middle aged, paunchy and very flirty in a leery kind of way. Don't you just love 'em girls!
I told my colleagues that I really thought this poor bloke thought his 'toy' was an extension of his manhood! Anyway these things were flying of the stand at £2 a piece so he was obviously a good salesman. (No I did NOT buy one)

My boss told me the really good news that there had been a bit of a cock up over the caterer booked to do our Bristol workshop on Sunday! In so much as it had not been booked at all! So Saturday saw me flying around Tesco's catering for 25 people, a really great way of spending the afternoon! Mind you I like a challenge and this was certainly a good one. The food was Ok and everybody ate it all, and seemed to enjoy it, so that was OK.

We went to a concert on Saturday night at The Spa Threatre in Leamington, I sat for several hours on the most uncomfortable seats I have ever endured in a theatre. No wonder the place was only half full. The show was brilliant though, 'The Kings of Swing' we had front row seats so we could look straight up the vocalists noses :-( . There were Three vocalists with a rat pack theme going on, lots of banter and comedy and a fabulous orchestra. A Female vocalist came on periodically but she was a bit weak unfortunately.

One of the vocalist (Frank Sinatra look alike) was uncannily like my Father in his youth. I truly could not keep my eyes off of him. He even had the same twinkly blue eyes, the main difference being my dear lovely Dad could not sing a single note in tune. This guy sung 'I've got you under my skin' and I was singing it in my head all night even when I wanted to go to sleep. The funny thing was it was one of my Dad's favourite songs and he used to wail it to my Mum!

I had a very inspirational day doing my 'Leaps and Bounds' session in a Nursey school I visit once a week. I was coaching Three year olds to execute a forward roll from standing straddle, they were just brilliant. It has taken since Easter to get to this stage but they really trust me now and just adore the sessions we do. We used a Lita board to roll down ( a slope). I like to think I am doing my tiny bit to avoid childhood obesity!
I also introduced the concept of relay games (not allowed to call them races, don't even ask!! P.C gone mad) They were great, we got in a bit of a muddle the first time with kids running back to the wrong team or going for another turn instead of passing the ball to the next person. It was tremendous fun with lots of laughing and shouting. It really helps that I have two really enthusiastic Nursery staff to help me in the group, they are great fun and join in with humour and a great sense of fun as well. Real diamonds in a Nursery World.
A couple of days off now. BJ has plans for me at the weekend it involves a couple of ton of manure that has been delivered to our allotment, shovelling sh.. is what a I will be doing Saturday, any-one know a good rain dance!!!

Danger in our Midst!

OK, is it me or is their an increasing danger that has crept up on us unseen? A new dangerous group of people that need to be kept under control. Chuck 'em into clink at the first sign of descent seems to be the Governments rule. 'Great' you may think 'at last law and order is prevailing'. No , I am not talking about itinerant youths in hoods that mug old ladies and steal your hard worked for cars and possessions. I am referring to the old ladies themselves!!!

They have become so dangerous that they have started with-holding part of their Council charge in order to protest at the grossly unfair system. Oh dear me, we can't have that 'send them down' I hear you cry.
These so called 'criminals' have worked long and hard, brought up families and have earned the right to own and live in a nice little house or bungalow in a probably upmarket area. They now have to suffer virtual poverty in order to pay grossly inflated Council charge. My Husband and I (no, I am not the Queen) know full well that come retirement we will have to move from our detached but modest abode as we will not be able to pay the Tax, it is more per month than our mortgage!

Now we have an elderly Gentleman, and by God he looked every-inch a Gent compared to the thug who throw him out of the Labour Conference for daring in democratic England to exercise free speech.
This guy escaped the holocaust and was brought here at great risk I am sure by his family for a better life where the Jewish could live with the respect due to different cultures in our diverse Country. He tried to join our Army to fight Hitler unfortunately he had a medical condition that prevented it. He should be a much respected and valued citizen!
I truly could not believe my eyes, when did Britain change into a dictatorship, was I asleep when it happened?
Sorry am I missing something, when did happen that Law and Order in this Country means we treat our elder Generation so disgracefully.
When did become against the law to heckle the Government of the day. Look what happens if you heckle pompous Mr Prescott, you get a punch in the nose!
My goodness it's a national sport amongst MP's when parliament is sitting. It seems we have a do as I say, not as I do mentality going on.

Why can our elderly not walk the streets after dark (or even in daylight) without the fear of a crime being effected against them. Yet we have young criminals who appear time after time in court without being detained at her Majesty's pleasure. They steal for drugs, rob your house, please don't bash them while they are doing it or low and behold you will be apprehended and dealt with very severely. The scallywag who perpretated the crime will no doubt be smirking all the way to Barbados where the court will have sent him to improve his mind and buy some more weed, or whatever the modern name for it is these day's.

I have no respect for The Labour Party, please Conservative's try and find some-one among you to really lead the Party and the Country. We need some-one to be The Life and Soul of the Party!

Rant Over! Kind off know where Rob gets it from don't you :-)

Rogue Trader comes to our house!

Monday started kinda OK with my little blog mobile actually passing the dreaded MOT test with flying colours. Downhill from here on in.
First we were awaiting delivery of a brand new state of the art fridge/freezer, brilliant I thought when I saw the van actually pulling up during the time scale appointed to us.
With a great deal of heaving and puffing the two burly men manhandled the large piece of modern technology into the allotted space. "There you go mate, Ok with that" It was then that I spotted the dent and the missing white paint on the top corner of said white goods.
"Hold on, there's a dent and the paints peeling off" I pointed out.
"No problem, phone John Lewis they will knock a couple of quid off for you" was the response.
In your dreams mate, no way was I paying a large amount of dosh for an already shabby fridge.
I told them to take it away and that I reject the goods as faulty. So two now pretty annoyed men had to manhandle the item back through the house and back to the lorry. This means we have to wait until Friday for a replacement.

In the meantime we had a problem with our back door mechanism, in fact it had jammed shut Friday night and we were unable to open it all. Leaving two cats who could not understand why we would not let them in for the night and who totally refused the invitation to either come in through the window or come around to the front door. Being creatures of habit they thought I had gone bonkers with both those idea's. Blog dog had to go out to the front garden for his ablutions and he also thought he must of done something very wrong to not be allowed his usual free access to the garden.
Saturday morning Hubby Bj started phoning locksmith's who all seemed to be to busy or not answering their '24hour' phone line. Eventually we got a firm to come look. The guy decided it was an unusual lock and he would have to take it away to order a new one and come back on Monday by Midday to fit. He charged us £78 for the pleasure of his company.
Monday Midday, no sign of locksmith or new lock (he had left us with no way of securing our door so we had to go out inrelayss!) After several phone calls we were told each time that the lock was very difficult to obtain and to phone back inan hour.
By 3pm we decided to try and scource the lock ourselves. BJ phoned the Company used by our builders (new house) who had fitted the windows. They told us that no way was it difficult to scource and even if the local suppliers had not got one the actual factory that makes them is only 20 miles away.
What I needed was a part number, so I called the locksmiths office to ask for it, quite reasonably and politely I thought.
I was met with a total tirade from the girl on the phone who said she had already told my Husband that the part was here and just waiting for the locksmith to collect and fit. I argued that most certainly was not what we had been told and that again I needed the part number. I got no-where as she once again launched into averball tirade so much that I had to hold the phone away from my ear for a full two minutes. Eventually she paused for breathe andrealizingg I was not going to win this conversation said I had one more thing to add if she would listen a moment.
She amazingly stayed quiet while I suggested that whatever charm school she had attended, she needed to ask for a refund as it truly had not worked! I did not wait for a reply!
Half an hour later a Manager then called to say they still had not got the part and had ordered the supposed lock that I had been told was waiting for collection, it would now not be in stock until FRIDAY!.

Now this was truly the limit, so I called another locksmith who was horrified at this treatment and asked if the Company was 'reactfast/fast response' unfortunately it was. They are apparently a gang of cowboys who are giving the trade a very bad name in the area and had even been featured on the TVprogram'se 'Rogue traders' Just our luck.
The main thing we needed to do was get our old lock back from them in order to get some-one else in to do the job.
Iimmediatelyy phoned Trading Standards to get legal advice as to what to say and how to approach this 'rogue trader' and set about getting the lock back. I bypassed theverball girlie and got a Manager who truly smirked when I mentioned Trading Standards but he said he would get the lock back to me.
To ensure this happened we called them every 15 minutes until they were truly sick of us. Surprise,surprisee at 5.30pm they called us to say they had located a lock now and were on the way to fit it. I almost suggested it would be very hard to walk with a lock in a certain place!

We took delivery of the old lock told them to keep the new one and got a reputable chap who even had one in stock himself as they are a commonly featured lock in new houses! He charged us a realistic rate and was a real good egg.
So folks if you live in Coventry area and need a good Locksmith call Dave at Dr Lock!

Otherwise had great weekend, brilliant Thai Curry with Rachel who is a fellow Blogger, and her husband. Rob the youngest blog called in for hisfavoritee roast lamb dinner on Sunday. I filled him up with fresh organic veg from theallotmentt and gave him a bag to take home. Poor boy helped us take old fridge and freezer out to garage and got his new sparkling white tank top grubby. We had to bring the fridge back in Monday afternoon after the delivery debacle.

The Slimming Club experience

Firstly Hubby BJ came home with a joke last night. I was ready for the usual long story with a dodgy ending but it went like this... "Two blondes walked into a building today" I waited as he paused for effect, "Well, you would of thought at least one of them would of seen it"

I, and my next door neighbour in a moment of madness and in the effects of alcohol decided it would be a good idea to join the local slimming club. She, I must say is as thin as a pin already and would disappear completely if she stood behind a lamp post. I, on the other hand have got the beginnings of the dreaded middle age spread. So on the appointed day and the appointed hour, we attend out first meeting.
First we get 'The New member Talk' given by the sleek, shiny and skinny tiny doll like creature who looks about fourteen, she tried to convince me she was 26 years old! No child has ever passed through those hips methinks! She tries to convince us that this programme is the best thing since sliced bread (so long as you don't eat it) and only greedy Muppets fail on it.
She did however impress us with her newspaper clippings of her at about 100 stone! She sure must of blocked a lot of light from a lot of large windows in those days.

She told us of the pain and humiliation of not being able to wear nice clothes and how shorts would ride up her legs. 'SHORTS' a large parachute would not of covered her posterior.
Anyway we were impressed enough to join, so we were escorted to the desk where we had to part with a enough money to keep Dawn French in chocolate for at least four hours. Then we had to be weighed (in confidence ladies). The weighing lady had a great delight in pointing out the page in the book which gave the ideal weight for your height. As I am the height of a twelve year old pre-pubescent child the weight seemed to correspond with this fact. I have not weighed this amount since I WAS a twelve year old pre-pubescent child, nor will I ever weigh this little again.

The meeting started for real and consisted of announcing the losses/gains of all members attending. We all had to applaud or commiserate accordingly, these proceedings took an hour and half, I truly had lost the will to live and felt like a seal in a circus with all that half hearted clapping.
I thought any minute now there will be a 'Who Ate All the Pies ' award. In fact they did have a slimmer of the week award, a pretty young girl who had lost two stone (not in a week, you understand) and had one more to go. Maybe it does work then.

I have sussed out how it works now, the plan is so complicated that by the time you have decided if you are on a 'Red' day or a 'green' day and what can be eaten on which day you don't have the time or inclination to eat! I discovered that my usual bowl of cornflakes and fruit is classed as 5 'syns', (15 syns allowed a day, my usual class of Bell's is only 2.5 maybe I should have that for breakfast instead.) how on earth can a healthy breakfast be a syn, I ask you.
I will give it a bit of a go as neighbour is keen to continue and I would truly like to lose a stone in order to lower the ever rising blood pressure. Mind you I will still eat the banned cornflakes, I have just bought a new box.
Going round to my niece and new hubbies house for a meal tonight, she has promised us a Thai curry, is that a red or green day? Oooh... The calories!

Me and Mine

Well here I am again! I am a wonderfully Married girl, it works for some! But you have to ride a few storms and put a bit of effort in to make it this good, 32 years on I think we have it sussed!
Hubby BJ puts up with a fair bit of strife really, he is a quiet sort of guy but he has a legendary joke telling technique, they go on for hours. Either you drift of to another planet before the end or he forgets the punch line or even funnier he remembers it but thinks it so funny he cannot tell you for laughing! God love him. He is a brilliantly kind loving man who I would not swap for the World, Ok I may consider George Clooney. (Not really BJ)

My boys are my pride and joy (actually they are men now but will always be 'my boys' to me) in fact the youngest blog got me into this site. He is a real chip off this old mamablogs block, same blue eyes, same 'light the blue touch paper' temperament, though mine has mellowed with age. We both like to ride the high horse at times forgetting its a long fall from a high horse. He has a great sense of justice and hates to see the opposite. I think we would both change the world for the good given the chance.
The older blog funnily enough is a chip off Dadablog. A real brown eyed handsome man like BJ. He ,I think though has my sense of fun. He is a bit of a charmer and knows exatly what to say in any given situation, a perfectionist and a real career driven guy.
Myself and him did a massive 175foot charity abseil last year, it truly was the most scary, brave stupid, exhilarating (once back on terra firma) thing I have ever done. And no I don't think I will do it again! But then never say never.
I work as a Technical assistant to Tech director of a franchise operation. Sounds great and it is most of the time. I get to travel the Country a bit, train people to run classes of pre-school physical activities and I also get to run classes sometimes which means I work with the children which is truly a brilliant time. I adore trying to encourage them to reach their full age range potential. Very rewarding.

Day one as a blogger!

Aha! at last I have unlocked the secrets of setting up my Blog page. At least I hope I have. This from a Fifty year old techno phobe. I am desparately trying to join the techi people!