A Wizard called Woo and a Snowman called Bob

I have had a great time this week, spending a lot of time at the Nursery school where I teach physical skills once a week. First visit was to help out at the Christmas concert. About 35 toddlers need to be ferried across the road to the village hall, many adult hands to hold are required. We managed with only one grazed knee, Abbie tripped up the kirb! She was a very brave 'Pink Princess' though and although the bottom lip wobbled she did not cry. The performance was great, they always surprise me in so much as the usually confident outgoing children are the ones who are suddenly stage struck and don't utter a word. The shy ones suddenly become the stars of the show and shine under the foot lights.

The next day I was back to do my weekly play session, I devised a special Christmas theme and took along my lovely Snowman from Tumble Tot days. I had devised a circuit of equipment. The climbing trestle was covered with the parachute to make a snowman igloo, I put the slide on the floor going through the cave. The children had to pull themselves on their tummies through the igloo, wishing The snowman 'Happy Christmas' as they went through. They then balanced over the frozen river to get to the the snowdrift which they then had to jump into and across my bouncy foam wedges. They then had to get a 'snowball' from the pile and throw it though my shape board. They loved it and were all mesmerised by acting out the actions. They asked what the snowmans name was and I had to admit he did not have one. It was decided to a man he should be called 'Bob!'
A very special moment happened when the children all sat in a circle at the end, I had 'Bob' on my lap when the children started spontaneously to sing their special snowman song from their concert for 'Bob' it was a lovely moment.

The next day was the Chistmas party and I was invited! I was stuck in an awful traffic jam and so was it seems was Wizardy Woo! Could he not of waved his magic wand or weaved a traffic dispersing spell, obviously not as his car drew up at the same time as mine. I guessed he was the Wizard by his purple trousers, yellow shirt and red braces! So i offered to carry some of his equipment into the Nursery, mistake number one!
Once his act began I suddenly became his stooge and the butt of his very bad jokes, luckily my shoulders are as broad as my hips and I took it in good grace and laughed with the others teachers's (obviously glad it was me taking the brunt and not them) at the jolly japes. The kids had a great time and adored Mr Woo, I was a little disturbed at the little white rabbit in the act, seems very unfair, but Snowy seemed happy enough, but I was uncomfortable with it.

The big man himself attended the party (Santa) the older class clocked straight away that it was Kieth the music teacher, I think the Geordie accent gave him away. The younger class where either in awe or frankly terrified of this large red stranger, but happily accepted his gifts. we spend all year teching then NOT to take gifts from strangers and then actively encourage it when a large red clad bearded man arrives on the scene! Oh well, all in the name of Christmas.
It was in fact a lovely week, I kind of wish I worked their all the time!

It's Begining to Look a Bit Like Christmas

We were having a meal at Nando's just before going to Coventry Cathedral for a magnigicent Christmas Concert. A little girl sat on the next table to us, she was only two and very adorable. She was immpecably behaved for the whole meal. Barry went to the bar to get a my most favourite Lemon crunch pudding and the little girl decided she would much rather sit in Barry's seat than her own! She pointed to me and said 'She like Nanny'! her mother was mortified and apologized and assured me her Mother was very young looking. I just laughed and said it was the nicest thing any-one had said to me all day. We got into a long conversation about toddlers and tantrams etc. (her husband had gone to the bar as well) and we were almost like old friends by the time the menfolk came back. The parents of the little girl were off to show her the christmas trees and lights in the town centre and I told the Mum we were going to a Christmas Concert, we wished each other a lovely evening and went on our separate ways. The Muslim family and the Christian couple reconciled by a little girl and Christmas!

We had thought we would go to the cinema to see 'The Nativity' I had seen the producer interviewed and thought it would be great to see some of the percieved background of the age old story. It was impossible however as it was showing at only one cinema at 11am! Oh well I will have to read the book then!

Instead we went to Coventry Cathedral (What an awful building it is, like an aircraft hanger with the accoustics to match) for the afore mentioned concert. It was fabulous, choirs, bands, children, Kay Alexanda, Kay who.... She is a 'Midlands Today' presenter. The choirs were all winners or runners up of 'School choir of the year' competitions. What a lot of real musical talent there is out there. The one regret in my life is that I have no musical talent at all, not one iota, but I recognise good music and enjoy it greatly. If they did a programme 'Can't sing, won't sing' I would win it hands down. If I sing at all it is in the car on my own so as not to inflict the pain on any one else's eardrums.

However after a glass of champagne I can whistle and hum at the same time Happy Birthday, just ask my boy's....

Tagged myself!

Rach had been tagged, it looked fun so I did it too! You are supposed to answer questions in one word, very hard, I know I used two for Ginger Beer but I love it and its called 'lashings' in my house (as in famous five books, lashings of ginger beer!)but no-one would know what it was! Cheated on no.22 as well!

1. Yourself: Daft
2. Your girlfriend/boyfriend: BJ
3. Your hair?: Neat
4. Your mother?: Elderly
5. Your Father?: Funny
6. Your Favorite Item: Hairdryer
7. Your dream last night: Wierd
8. Your Favorite drink: Ginger Beer
9. Your Dream Car: Golf
10. The Room You Are In: Lounge
12. Your fear: Flying
13. What you want to be in 10 years: Grandma
14. Who you hung out with last night?: BJ
15. What You're Not?: Pretentious
16. Muffins: Rasberry
17: One of Your Wish List Items: Dishwasher
18: Time: 9
19. The Last Thing You Did: Chatted
20. What You Are Wearing: Jeans
21. Your Favorite Weather: Italian
22. Your Favorite Book: TheLionthewitchandthewardrobe
23. The Last Thing You Ate: Yoghurt
24. Your Life: Busy
25. Your Mood: Happy
26. Your body: Healthy
27. Who are you thinking about right now? Robin
29. What are you doing at the moment?: thinking
30. Your summer: Good
31. Best part of your life: Family

For One Night only The Man in Black was Back.

So, I had a fabulous weekend (almost!) It started on Friday night, as all good weekends should. We went along to the good old Civic Hall Theatre in Bedworth, they had a Johnny Cash tribute night with the old 60's Rocker PJ Proby singing as the big guy. After our last visit to the good old civvie Hall our expectations were not truthfully very high (We saw a very ageing group of guys calling themselves the Bootleg Shadows a few months back, who were so appalling they were funny!) However this show was just fabulous, PJ was like having The Man in Black back. He used up the entire first half and part of the second half being Cash and then for the last part of the show he was himself. Despite being of undetermined years he could truly still rock (I can see how the trouser incident happened). A very good show for very little money £13 each, a bargain!

Saturday morning arrived along with the rain, typical. I was a little trepidatious (is that a word?) as I headed out to the new stables I where I was to ride. I had a warm welcome from the owners a married couple about the same age as me. The office was in a warm barn with a huge fireplace with an enormous open fire, I was offered coffee and they chatted away about how the lesson was going to proceed. I was fitted out with a body protector (nobody rides without one at this establishment) and introduced to the tutor, Alex. Now Alex was not a spotty teenager earning extra pocket money teaching people to ride, but a fully qualified instructor easily in her 50's who oozed confidence and set me three goals for the day. 1. To get in the saddle again. 2. To get Toffee to obey my commands. 3. To get a decent rise and fall trot going. Nothing more, nothing less, I was not to worry about style, legs or hands, just do it! And I did. Toffee thought he would try and take the Mick at first, horses always sense a nervous rider, he wanted to go back to the middle of the school where we mounted and stand by his yellow pole. He is a lazy boy and just wants to stand still given half a chance. Once I got tough with him he gave up and trotted nicely round with just one nip back to the middle, which I quickly corrected. The good news is that I get to go up a class next time.

The last few days has seen me very well acquainted with daytime TV as I somehow along the weekend picked up some very nasty tummy bug, not in the least pleasant in any way or form!

Rocking and Riding

Well... we went to our first Ceroc clas last night in Nuneaton. Strangley BJ insisted on driving, I can't think why!

It was the best fun on two legs I have had in a long time, I am going to be hooked on it I think. We hardly danced together at all, as you constantly swap partners, this is a great way to learn. We had to throw Ballroom rules right out of the window along with our Jive moves. Ceroc is an arm led rather than foot led dance, the feet can do anything they like! You can dance to any rythm, you just set the pace and rythm of the dance to the music. Weird, but it works.

After the lesson their was 25 minutes of free style dancing before the next class, people just come up and ask to dance with you, it is considered rude to refuse so off you go having only learned four moves to do your worst!
One guy came and took me onto the floor and told me he was not going to be doing the moves we had learned and just to follow him. Hey! I did and the ballroom training paid off as I am used to a man leading and me following. It was great, I was doing some pretty amazing moves with him and just about keeping up. Not so easy for BJ as of course he could only lead in what he had just learned. However they have 'Taxi' dancers on the floor who are part of the training team and they come around and dance with the begginers so he got a few 'Taxi dances'

After the free style the begginers went into a separate room to recap on our moves for another 25 minutes and then you can go back on the main dance floor.

Total absolute FUN!

Riding

I realised that I had only been riding once since my rodeo audition, I had been keen to tell people I had certainly not lost my nerve but was just too busy. Time, I think to stop kidding oneself! I decided to ring another school and have a chat, they were very sympathetic and understanding and have booked me in to ride a quiet boy called Toffee on Saturday! I totally love being in the saddle, trouble is I am keen to remain in the saddle for the whole ride and not end up on the deck!

Overheard
Shopping in Tesco's, I was in the biscuit aisle pondering whether to buy chocolate covered ginger thins or low sugar, low salt digestives, when two elderly ladies dawdled past.
Coversation went:
"How's it going between you and 'im now?"
"Well, not to bad except he gets all excited when I go in the house and wants to get on top all the time"

My mind was definitely boggled, I do hope she has a dog!

(The chocloate covered ginger thins, by the way!)

A criminal at large! But she is only two..

Picture the scene... An activity class for children age walking up to two years old where they are encouraged to climb safely, balance and generally be physical little beings. Two little girls decide they want to climb up a trestle to the slide at precisely the same time, one lashes out at the other as only a frustrated 18 month child can do. The other child gets a little scratch on her face, the sratchers Mum immediatly apologizes and remonstrates with her little one. The other Mother spurns the apology and rushes out of the room. The class tutor tries to cool the situation but the Mum has left the building leaving the childs shoes and coat behind. An hour later the Father arrives to collect the left belongings and accuses the other child of abuse and informs the Mother he is on the way to report the incident to the Police! I would of loved to have been a fly on the wall at the police station as he tried to get a toddler arrested.

The Cat is back.

No... not one of my four footed friends but he who now calls himself Yoosef Islam, in my youth he was Cat Stevens a great sixties folk singer. In fact it was his version of 'Morning has Broken' that inspired me to have the hymn version at our wedding. Well he disappeared from the pop scene when he converted to Islam, gone but not quite forgotten!

He is back with a great new single and album, (it's on my chrissy list, folks) He does a wonderful cover of 'Don't Let me be Mis-understood' so very appropriate. I heard an interview with the great man on Sunday, what a sensible, grounded level headed man he is. A great asset for the Muslim community, they need more folk like him to be a spokesman for the true non radical side of their community.

Letting the Side Down,Girls!

Sorry Girls! but I let the side down big time for lady drivers this weekend!
With the mileage I do in a week I consider myself a reasonable driver able to cope with city driving, Motorway miles and country lanes. Nothing much fazes me behind the wheel I just get on with it. However on Saturday I almost brought the whole of
Nuneaton to a grinding halt with a little bit of ‘blonde’ behaviour!

We had decided to check out where the co-op social club in Nuneaton was located as we are going to start a Ceroc dance class next week. (Ceroc is a cross between Jive and Salsa). There is a brand new modern multi storey car park in Nuneaton, which it seems, follows the fashion of having shiny stainless steel sides, great, it looks clean and modern! However with a low bright winter sun beaming down and glinting of the shiny sides is enough to completely blind an unwary driver. As I drove into the unfamiliar entry road the sun duly dazzled me so much that I could see nothing! I then spotted a bit of roadway which I headed towards, only to crash, crunch and bump my way over decorative kerbstones and a narrow pavement straight onto the exit slip and with a car just coming out! The drivers face was a picture! She was confronted with a mad middle aged woman heading up the wrong way of the car park exit road, with an even madder middle aged man in the seat beside her remonstrating strongly and wishing he was anywhere on earth than beside his wife on an unexpected roller coaster ride. I then had to try and reverse the car back the way I had come over the pavement and decorative kerb edgings watched by an army of bemused shoppers and irate car drivers who where waiting to either get in or out of the car park!

Not my finest moment!

An Unexpected Pleasure

What an exciting evening I had on Tuesday, along with my Sister and her Hubby. My wonderful Son and now very favourite Nephew of my Sis had been assigned some complimentary tickets to see Cliff at the NIA. Now my Sis is a lifelong fan and devotee of Sir Cliff, his music and his beliefs, she has a Cliff calendar in almost every room! So I made the phone call, not really thinking she would make the trip up at short notice and during term time. However she had two lieu days due and went into school and begged and pleaded with the headmistress who was extremely sympathetic and personally offered to take her class for her! Hurrah for her.

Annie was beside herself with excitement when we eventually met, secretly so was I! I am not really a great fan, but I admire the guy he has stood the test of time, looks great, has a great faith, and yes every-one still sounds great!

Rob met us at the stage door entrance of the NIA, he looked really handsome all suited and booted and wearing his new glasses, he kinda looks like Elvis Costello. We were treated like royalty from here on in! Rob escorted us to the Olympia Suite where he served us Champagne, no running the gauntlet of public bars and loo’s for us. Various people came to say hello, one lovely man, a wine waiter came to shake my hand and tell me what a lovely boss Robin is, he told me he thinks Rob has lovely manners. I bristled with pride at my gorgeous, handsome and polite! Son. I always believe it pays to be nice to people and it seems maybe Rob does too. It was amusing to watch Rob working, being very sweet to the ‘grey brigade’ in their Cliff T-shirts and offering varying amounts of money in bribes to meet the great man.

The concert was fabulous, I was very surprised at how enjoyable it was. It was a great mix of old and new, rock and ballad. He can still walk the walk and talk the talk. Boy does he look good still, think I must pop out and buy some Ginseng later.

I felt quite moved when he sang ‘The Young Ones’ as I remember it first time around and BJ and I went to see the film in early days of courting. Now I had a young one of my own who had given us a night out that money could not of bought.

Thanks Robster!

Boo to BJ who decided not to come, he missed a terrific night.

Lost in Translation

The radio has been a constant scource of amusement this week, probably as I have, as usual spent a lot of time in my car travelling to and from visits.

Fire advice from the Scottish Fire Board

A leaflet was produced by Scottish fire brigades in several ethnic languages advising what to do if there is a fire in the home. Advice for if you really need to jump: 'Use a cushion to break your fall from an upstairs window.' However when produced it was realised that the word cushion had not been used instead it read 'Use a Donkey to break your fall from an upstairs window.' This made me laugh out loud. Imagine the scene! and just where are you going to get a donkey from in the middle of Glascow?

Next news item that made me laugh. A lady in America was very upset when her deceased pekenese dog called Billy received call up papers from the Army and was told to report for a medical examination bringing with him identification papers and Swimming trunks! Do you know if the dog was still alive I would of loved to have taken him along for the appointment!

These stories reminded me of a report I heard way back in the seventies during the miners strike, at the same time a space flight and moon landing was happening. The news reader first gave us an update on the latest moon landing and then went onto talk about the miners where a union official had announced the government 'was looking for spacegoats!' Well of course I new he he meant scape goats, but for one lovely moment I had this glorious mental image of astronauts seeing little goats floating by.

Pancake Day!

I came of age today, at least a lady of a certain age! I was called for my first breast screening. Boy does it make your eyes water. First one by one they are put on a metal plate then another metal plate is pushed down extremely hard squashing the poor 'Pammy' as flat as possible. They then turn the whole caboodle round and squash the poor boob sideways. I sure know how a pancake feels. Still it is a very worthwhile operation.

Not a Boy, Not a Girl, but a Sharon.

Some of the children in nursery had started potty training, some of the boys were very keen to tell me they were wearing 'big boy's pants' I told them how impressed I was and got into a conversation as to who was a boy and who was a girl after one little girl also told me she was wearing 'big boy's pants. After they had all told me whether they were a boy or a girl I asked if I was a boy or a girl. Ethan looked at me and said 'silly, you're a Sharon!'

I used my old forgotten trick of getting a smile out of a sulking or sad child today.
Try it.

'Oh no what's happened to your lovely smile, have you lost it? oh no here it is hiding in my pocket! ready..... catch' and pretend to throw it towards the child. They just cannot help laughing! They all then try (and fail) to have sad faces so You can find their smiles in the your pocket. Magic!

Talking of magic, on my way back from nursery I noticed the car in front of me on the A46 (a Four x four) had the number plate 'MAGIC' I was intrigued and as I passed it saw the logo on the side announcing 'The Paul Daniels Magic Workshops' and low and behold Debbie Magee was driving with Paul her passenger. I liked it, not a lot! (To my USA friend, that's his catch phrase)

Jolly Holiday for Dog

Hurray! I am going to spend a whole week at home sleeping in my own bed. The last three weeks has seen me away for at least one night out of seven, last week it was two. I sure am making up for lost time in the career stakes. Not that I regret for one minute the time I spent looking after my family it was time very worthwhile. Anyway I still managed to run a franchise business not once but twice during this time so I was not a total failure in the career stakes.

Funny moment at Nursery spot!

At the end of my session the children get a little sticker relevant to one of the activities done, this week it was 'I Can Balance', I always talk about what we have done and ask the children to tell me 'what can you do' they then say what the sticker says to get the much coveted item. Abbie has recently joined my 2-3 year old class, she is very much the baby of the class with limited vocabulary but plenty of spark. She listened very carefully to the other children getting their stickers, I left her to last so she could watch and get the ghist of what was happening. I came to her and asked "and what can you do Abbie?" she looked at me and said "On the bus"! Soooo... she got the sticker of course! She knew something had to be said, there were the correct number of syllables and one word began with 'B' so no problem!

Day at the Seaside for Dogger

As I had a two day trip down south visiting a Franchise in Bexley one day and Broadstairs the next, I saved the company money by staying two nights with my Sis in Herne Bay. I decided to take the Dogger with me! He managed to throw up twice in the back of my car (carseat covers are now on my christmas list)I managed to shut him in a small box accidently, thank God the RSPCA did not see, and he encountered water that chased him, much to his amusement, on the beach.

The box incident happened as I was coming back to Herne Bay from Broadstairs, I stopped at Argos to buy my Mother a new shopping trolley. She no longer can manage her pull along one (so she say's) and thought she would like one of those big square push along ones. I think myself it is the latest 'must have' among the cronies in her retirement flats, but hey! she has a birthday coming up so the item was duly purchased. The said shopping trolley came in an incredibly long flat pack that I pushed and shoved into the back of the car. I then rushed into the next door store, a sports shop to look at trainers, luckily I was not more than ten minutes. I got back to the car and could not see the dog ANYWHERE! Oh my God he's been stolen, was my first reaction. I excercised calm panic for a moment until I noticed a little black nose poking up out of a small box of retuned Items from a Franchisee, he had obviously jumped into it for a nap and I had then covered it with the long flat pack from Argos. He was very laid back and just gave me a disparaging look as if to say'why did you DO that?'

I felt I owed dogger an apology so I stopped off at an area of beach that dogs are allowed so we could have some quality time together! He was very startled at first to see water coming after him and spent a few minutes trotting down to the water line to sniff the strange smelling fluid, he then had to trot backwards at an alarming speed when the strange water chased him back. He was very funny, he soon decided it was a game the water was playing and decided to join in with gusto, first chasing the receding water then running away when it turned and chased him back! We then had a great game of stone thowing and chasing into the waves. He then discovered seaweed! and decided it was the most delicious item ever discovered by dogkind and I had a little battle of wills to get the smelly stuff away from him. I reasoned that I had quite enough of dog vomit for one trip thank you!
All in all we both had a great trip, I managed to combine business and pleasure. I earned brownie points with Mum as I cleared out an incredibly crammed cupboard for her AND bought her the much coveted latest modelall singing and dancing shopping trolley. I saw Sarah (my neice) and spent a lovely time with my Sister laughing, chatting,reminiscing and probably drinking a little more wine than was sensible.

Dog had a great trip despite the box incident, he was made up because he has to sleep in my room with me at Annie's house and despite having a blanket on the floor always hopped up onto the bed once he thought I was asleep!

News of the Week... Mummy Cut my Toenails!

I spent the week training people here there and every-where this week. Down to the West Country for two days which was great fun. I had to be in a little village outside Weston Super Mare for 9.30 Monday morning, so it was another silly o'clock alarm call to get and drive down. I arrived before the girls who actually live in the village that I was there to train! First to arrive was the brand new Franchisee with her shiny new trailer full of shiny new equipment. We had to unload this into the little village hall which was down a pedestrian walkway (no room to reverse a car) We unhitched the trailer and tried to steer the thing down the alley. Now I don't have any experience in trailers and nor did the franchisee! We pushed it, pulled it almost lifted it up and carried it before we could it get it around the corner. Eventually we got it where we wanted it, just as another member of staff turned up, one who is an experienced caravanner. She wound the jockey wheel to lift up two of the four wheels and hey presto you could turn the thing on a sixpence. It is so true that you learn somthing new everyday! If you need a trailer moving I'm your girl!

Wednesday was my Nursery day and as usual it was a delight. The children have a few minutes telling me any special news they have, and it can vary from telling me where they have been on holiday to who has been round to play at their house. One little girl who has never before taken part in this aspect of the class was eager to speak. She was very excited to tell me that 'Mummy did cut my toenails'!

I had an observer sitting in to watch a child who has behavioural problems within nursery. She is in fact a very delightful child of whom I am very fond but she can be a a little boisterious with the other children. She is very funny though and last week told me I was very bossy! Of course she behaved perfectly in my class, with no problems at all, I felt the nursery staff where a little disapointed as they apologised for her 'good' behaviour to the observer! We did have a very exciting session though as it was 'parachute' week. (The children call it the parrots chute!) No... it does not involve me leaping from a tall building...

It made me consider how on earth can any-one do my kind of job with their face covered. I use facial expression continuously to communicate with my kiddly winks. How silly things have become!

Another story in the news this week is the McCartney divorce. Its all got very nasty and I feel this so called 'leak' was contrived and manipulated. The main person to suffer in this debacle is their little girl, how very sad.
This is very amusing though.

Norwegian Wood

I once had a girl
or, as you know
she's now had me.
She showed me her leg
Isn't it good?
Norwegian Wood.

I know, I know it's my little nasty streak, but Paul was my first love!.. yep I was only 12 but we all had our childhood crushes.

In the Company of Royalty.

Yes... my blogging friends, the honourable Mr and Mrs BJ Blog spent last Sunday evening in the Company of HRH The Duke of Edinburh or 'old Phil' as we like to call him. This happened courtesy of Baby Blog who kindly gave us tickets for the gala night of.... The Horse of the year show!! Ta-Dah!!! I was thrilled, I have always wanted to go to the equine equivilant of the last night of the proms and I can tell you, it lived up to expectations.

From standing up to sing 'The Queen' to laughing at the antics of the pony club games, it was total entertainment. Old Phil seemed to be accampanied by my Aunty Joan right from her hair style and outfit down to the sensible court shoes, she really was a dead ringer. However it turned out to be a VIP from the Farmers Gaurdian, the sponsors of the show, unless Auntie Joan has a double life as a very upmarket escort girl.

We saw a hilarious game called 'Hurry Scurry' Where World famous Show jumpers, Jockeys, and carriage drivers raced time trials in teams. It was amazing to see the Jocks jump the show jumpers over the course, they were fearless or mad... racing hell for leather, driving the rather startled horses over the jumps at breakneck speeds without using the irons. The irons, of course were too long for the jockeys who ride very short.

It was an absolute treat to see the likes of the whittaker family (John, Robert and Ellen)and Tim Stockwell putting their amazing horses over the course.
The hilight of the first half was a display by The Blues and Royals Horse Artillery, they were incredible. It was amusing that they galloped into the arena to 'Lets Get ready to Rumble' especially as our Rob had got us the tickets! (Rob will know the signifigance of that). They were spectacular, the horsemanship of these talented and brave young men (just back from Afganistan) was unrivalled. The horses some of the very best and most handsome in the world.

The funniest sight of the evening was during the interval, we had wandered off into the entertainment and shopping area. There was a carousel with golden Gallopers to ride on, it had been taken over by the very handsome young men of The Blues and Royals complete in their ceromonial riding regalia, they were all riding the roundabout! It was very funny, boy were they a handsome bunch, had to keep reminding myself I could easily be their Mother. (How sad)

Old Phil and Aunty Joan were on fine form, he is a still a very lithe and fit looking man, he took time to speak to every single child who took part in the pony club games and patted and fussed every one of their super little ponies.

I had a wonderful evening as did BJ. Thank you Rob Blog!

Whistle Stop Tour of London

Went to London to visit a Franchisee today, I could of flown to Italy and back in the time it took me to get there!
What is that stretch of M4 bus lane all about? The busiest stretch of motorway into our esteemed Capital City down to two lanes of crawling traffic (one hour to travel 6 miles) while either side of me was empty hard shoulder and empty bus lane, total madness. The M42 around Birmingham allows the hard shoulder to be used during rush hour very successfully, take a lesson in traffic management Mr Livingstone. I then missed a right feeder lane onto the south circular and got caught in a one way system around central London. I saw many iconic landmarks that I did not wish to be seeing, I crossed the river more than once and then managed to scrape down the side of some-ones car in a narrow street, a madman was heading staight at me doing stupid miles an hour. I pulled over to avoid a collision but managed to bang into a parked car instead. Blast!!! Luckily it was the company's car and not mine this time.
Coming home I only went over the river once, at Kew, enjoyed the delights of The Hanger lane Gyratory system, totally in the wrong lane all the way, but I was gun ho by then.
I felt as if I had done one of those whistle stop tours by the time I got home.

I saw; Tate Modern, Battersea bridge, Kew bridge, Olympia, Hammersmith Palace, Earls Court Road, Wimbledon Common (no Wombles, or tennis players) All because the Lady missed the A3.

The Knicker Story!

It has been requested that I relate my mishap on the dance floor with a pair of errant knickers!

We had recently moved house to Coventry and needed to find a new Ballroom and Latin class so we could continue our much loved hobby of dancing. We soon found ourselves a class and settled in well with a great bunch of people. However it was 'Strictly Ballroon' and no Latin!

A new Latin class was announced as starting the following week, so we and a few other couples decided to go along.

It was great fun we new a few of the couples and met quite a few new people as well.
Jive was the first dance to be taught, well we had a head start as we had done a fair bit in our previous class back in Milton Keynes, the music went on and we were off jiving very fast, spinning and turning and having a great time.
As I turned I noticed an item of clothing on the floor, round I went again, it was still their, people started pointing to the pair of black panties being kicked about the floor.

I had an 'OH MY GOD' moment as I realised they were MINE!

I carried on dancing for a minute after telling Barry that I thought they were mine. He said I should ignore them and deny ownership. I could not as I felt sure their was a big arrow pointing at me saying 'her Knicker's every-one!' and every-one would realise they were mine. The music stopped all eyes were on the panties, people were looking puzzled and wondering where they had come from, what could I do but....

Pick them up and say, 'oop's I think these belong to me, I thought it was a bit draughty in here!' I put them in the hand bag and joined in with the absolute hilarity that ensued, every-one fell about laughing, probably relieved that they belonged to some-else. What an ice-breaker, we got to know every one in the class and hence forth from that day forward I was know as Nicholas (Knicker-less) in the dance class.

I would like to add that my modesty was still intact despite the wayward underwear. They were a pair I had been wearing the night before with the same black trousers I was dancing in. When I had taken the trousers off the night before I had inadvertantly left the pants up the leg and with all the spinning and turning of the Jive, danced them right out.

The moral being always check your trousers for odd socks and horror of horrors lost Knickers.

My Boys!

Eldest son is on his travels, he flew to Hong King yesterday and will spend two week on his travels around China. He loves these trips but they do pose some probems at times. In a remote village last year where he went to inspect a factory that makes brooms, he was taken out for a meal by the owners. Trouble was he did not know if he was in a restaurant or a pet shop! He always say's he is a vegetarian when travelling in China to save himself from inadvertantly eating some-thing he would consider a family member in this Country!
This particular factory failed its inspection last year for many reasons, so they have built a new one! Important contracts these!
Although I am unlikely to see him more often than once a month, I always miss him when he is away. How daft is that.

Youngest Son is unlikely to be seen until Christmas, as he is entering the really busy season at the concert venue where he works . I am sure he will be having a great time mixing with celebs and the Hoi Polloi, but he will be exhausted by Christmas as the hours are very unsocial. He has the added work of starting a degree as well, which he is really looking forward to, but knows it will be tough fitting all the demands it brings in with his work schedule. Well done that boy for taking that on! I am the proud Mum!

I am doing a fair bit on travelling myself over the next few weeks as well, down to Somerset for a few days to train a new Franchisee and her staff, and loads of audit visits to do before Christmas as well, not to mention a Baby Show at Olympia and the Manchester road show during half term week. I have been told I have 12 days holiday to take before New Year as well, just where I am going to fit that in I don't know.

TGIF or Thank Goodness its Friday!

I had a fabulous Friday this week! On my return from Italy my friend Christie had emailed me to say she was coming over to Britain from her home in Utah and could we meet. The problem was that by the time I got her email she was already in England and I had no way of contacting her! I emailed her account anyway in the hope that either she was checking mails from here or that one of her kids or her hubby would pick it up in USA. Luckily she contacted me and we arranged to meet.

So Friday started with me first having a 9am appointment at the doctors to get a repeat of my Elixer of youth, commonly known as HRT, boy do I love those little white pills, I am a hormone junkie! Well, I sat and sat for ages in the waiting room at the appointed hour, people came in and left, children played then got bored and cried. Tumbleweed rolled through the waiting area when suddenly a family of horrendously HUGE poeple surrounded me on the seats making me feel like a squashed banana at the bottom of the fruit bowl. The Mother's huge thighs spilled right off her seat and threatened to over flow and smother mine. Her and her teenage children all wore a uniform of grey sweatpants with varying baggy tops. I longingly looked at a seat all on its own and wondered if it would look tooo.. rude to move to it, decided it probably would and stayed squashed.
Eventually 45 minutes after my appointed time I was called in to see the doctor. I told him I had come to tell him how well I was feeling with loads of energy, sleeping well and very best of all no awful life stoppingly embarrassing hot flushes. In other words ' just give me the pills and let me get out of here!' Then came the moment I dreaded 'I'll just check your blood pressure' Simple words but ones that strike terror into my blood stream and send the said BP into overdrive and out through the top of my head and through the roof. Now, I was late for my trip to meet Cristie, I had sat looking at my watch worrying about being late, and spent the last twenty minutes crushed between the big friendly giants! OF COURSE MY BP WAS HIGH! I thought the HRT was going to be off the agenda but he agreed I could have the pills but I have to see the nurse once a week for a month to get re-checked. He has to be joking, I will never get time from work once a week to check my BP that is perfectly normal at any time other than at the surgery! White coat syndrome is alive and well with me.

To try and calm the raging BP I then set off on a 75 mile motorway journey to Thame down the M42 to meet christie, I drove through torrential rain, thunder, lightening and I am sure a swarm of locust popped up at some point aand eventually was safely guided into Chinnor road by my sat nav. The trouble was it was the wrong Chinnor road! Unknown to me there are two in the same postcode district and this one was a Country lane with no civilisation to be seen! I was seriously late by now and wondered whether to phone (she would not be able to give directions) or try again. Brainwave alert! I remebered she said I had to park in nearby Croft Road so I set that into Sadie ( yes my sat nav has a name) Bingo it was only 3 miles away so off we went.

I arrived at the house she was staying at and nervously knocked the door, Three Women and a tiny four year old Chinese girl almost immediatly opened it. We all stood looking at each other for a moment as I was not sure which one was Christie as the only photo I had seen ofher was four years ago and she had curly hair then. All suddenly became clear when she spoke (the accent gave it away) I think she had not realised I would be so short! It transpired that the little girl was the adopted daughter of the friend she had travelled with. She was the cutest little thing apparently abandoned at birth as she had a serious cleft pallette and was a girl! She is now a very confident chatty four year old who helped us all get to know each other.

Christie had decided she wanted to visit the Cotswolds so we set off to the nearest village which is Burford. We got on like a house on fire, It was like we really were old friends which we are, just had not met before. We had written to each other on and off for five years. Sometimes though 3 months would pass and then we would exchange a few letters about our families etc. Then nothing again for another few months but we always keep in touch however sporadic. We spent the whole journey talking and laughing and catching up on our relevant families. She is a real lovely girl with a great sense of humour and fun.

We walked about Burford for a while and visited a flea market which she really liked. Like a lot of Americans she thought we all lived in quaint little villages and rode around on bicycles I think. She was a little disapointed with the amount of traffic in the village and the fact it was difficult to take photo's without cars being present. We decided to have lunch in a quaint little tea-shop suitably ye olde worlde! Christie decided we should have 'The Engish Afternoon Tea'. This was a delightful selection of pretty little sandwiches with the crusts removed and an enormous selection of cream cakes and scones and of course a pot of English Tea. The only problem there was that Christie being off the Mormon religion does not drink tea, so she had 'afternoon milkshake' instead off afternoon tea! By the time we were ready to leave I felt as humungous as the people in the surgery that morning! We left with two cake boxes of left overs to share and strolled, or was it waddled up the village.

Christie still wanted the quintessential English village photo's, so we wandered off the main street to the quieter lanes around the area.
She wanted to find quaint little cottages with window boxes and net curtains to take pictures of. I added that it would be preferable if Miss Marple was just coming out of one with her large wheeled black bicycle with a whicker basket on the front! She agreed this would be ideal, so we went on a search.

Miss Marple was out of town, but we found cute cottages, even one with Honey-Suckle clambering around the front door, it and many others were dutifully recoreded for posterity on Christie's film and my digital in case hers did not come out good.
Then the really impressive English rain began agin in earnest and fell in buckets, we fled under our brolly's back to the car where we had to just sit for ten minutes until it lessened. Christie was very impressed at the amount of rain that fell in a few minutes and concluded that the reason England was so beautiful was because of the rain!

It was great to meet Christie and fun to see a Cotswold village through new eyes as somewhere wonderful an unusual. I wonder just what she would make of Coventry!

The Wrong Answer (nearly)

We are going through the hoops to become Family Link Foster carers at the moment. It is proving to be a very complicated process (rightly so). We had our first interview with a social worker last night, she talked us through the whole process and gently probed us about ourselves as well. All was going very well until she asked us about recent relevant experiences with young children, this was easy for me to answer as I regularly work with pre-schoolers. Barry then related how we have lots of contact with the little girls next door and how he regularly threatens to put L in the dustbin! Not quite the answer the social worker was looking for!!!!

However all was well as at the end of the interview she concluded that we came across as a warm loving couple who are obviously in a stable and loving relationship. Thats OK then.

My 'Maria' Moment and Barry Ascending

A Diferent Italy

Well, here we are, returned from a rather amazing holiday in the Abuzzo National Park in the heart of the Camoshiara (spelt wrong) mountains.

The weather was the worst we have ever seen, spectacular rain and thunderstorms for a lot of the time and then glimpses of the Italy weather we know and love. Our shorts and T-shirts and summery clothes travelled all the way with us and never saw the light of day. The few pairs of trousers and pullovers were worn until they were able to set off on walks on their own they were so grubby.

Pescasseroli is a tiny hillside village in the heart of The National Park, it has two parts to it the old, and the new. As expected the old village is beautifully picturesque with cobbled lanes and allies leading through the medieval buildings. Shops are hard to distinguish from peoples living rooms, the clue is ussually a beaded curtain over the doorway. Not many people speak English which made it all the more charming, as I had to practise my 'umpo' Italian. I was delighted to find that I could make myself understood with one or two muddles to start with. The first mistake was I got hot and cold the wrong way round and asked for 'latte caldo' for my tea and of course I got exactly what I asked for, hot milk!

The walking was totally spectacular, although the first day or two I suffered a little from the altitude and was a little lightheaded and dizzy,luckily it soon settled. The village was 1200 metres above sea level and we often walked to 2006 metres.
The first day we joined a park ranger for 'Appenine Discovery Walk' This went high into the mountains through an area where Wolves and Lynx live in a reserve area, eventually you arrive at a picturesque Cascara (waterfall) and continue down the mountain.
The scenery was totally breathtaking, the air fresh and clean and we were able to safely fill our water bottles from mountain springs, the very best of wine would not taste as good as this crystal clear cool water. The hi-light of this six hour long walk over very rough terrain was that we spotted a Lynx! We also saw Red deer who stood and stared at us, as much as we stood and stared at them.
On this walk Barry gained a very sweet lady admirer called Molly. No, not a little girl but an eighty year old Irish Lady who was staying in our hotel with Five friends all in their seventies who, to a woman could walk the legs off us any time! They were a great bunch very funny, full of life and spirit and surely must be taking some kind of elixir of youth! Barry being the flirt that he is was always looking out for Molly and her her friends, moving chairs around for them, offering a helping hand down tough bits of the walks and generally being Barry! they loved him! and all decided that he had kissed the blarney stone.

We also set out on walks on our own, one took us high above the village to the Castle Mancino ruins. We set out early as the weather was due to turn wet later in the day. As we climbed up and up and up we suddenly heard the most spectacular sound that I think I have ever heard, (except for the first cries of my babies of course).
The wolves were howling, they carried on for about five minutes it was SOoooo.... wonderful to hear wild wolves calling, I adore wolves and always seek them out at zoos, safari parks etc, they are extremely fascinating in the way the pack lives and how the same pack mentality can be used in the training of our domestic 'wolves'.
One person in the hotel even saw one crossing the very path we were walking and that was my hope that day. However the weather had other ideas! As we reached the peak of the mountain a storm started across the valley, it was amazing to watch lightening from above! as it tracked across the village below. We sheltered in the ruins of the castle until eventually the storm instead of passing over, grew stronger and wilder, we guessed we were a little unsafe in our position so hastily made our way down. We were soaked to the very skin by the time we got back to the Hotel and it was only 10.30am and what an adventure we had had.

Another walk took us up onto some mountain meadows which was very 'Sound of music' the silence and peace of this place was overwhelming. We stood with our eyes closed and listened to the perfect peace.
Coming down I took a tumble but luckily only pride was hurt. Barry was leading the way down a tough bit and suggested where to place my walking pole to steady myself and where to put one foot, onto a rock that he had safely negotiated. Fine, only I trod on the rock and it totally disintergrated throwing we headlong into the undergrowth.

We decided to visit Rome on Sunday on an organised trip, we don't usually do 'organised' but their was no other way out of the village and the montain weather was wall to wall rain that day and only light showeres forecast for Rome.

What a stunning place Rome is! The whole City is one open air living breathing museum. Each corner you turn another magnificent sight awaits. We were given tickets for the hop on and off tour bus around the city but decided not to use it and walk instead, it was the best decision as we saw so much more by walking through streets and alleyways. We were accompianed by Pam, a lady travelling on her own, we did not want her to walk around Rome on her own so asked her if she wanted to tag along with us. It was very amusing as Barry who has excellent map reading skills led us around The eternal City with two ladies in his wake, as he was also carrying a rather splendid and expensive umbrella he was twice mistaken for a tour guide! I suggested he should ask 5 euro's every time some-one asked for directions. I cannot even begin to think which was my favourite sight as it was all a bit whistle stop, I longed to go into the colloseom but he queue was horrendeous and we would waste to much time of our precious few hours their. The Panthenon was amazing, the most complete and perfect ancient Roman structure in the city. It has an enormous perfect circular hole in the domed roof and as we were inside a soft gentle rain started to fall through it with a shaft of sparkling sunlight glimmering through also, I have never seen a shower look so beautiful as it gently fell earthwards through one of the most ancient buildings in the World, how lucky we were to see that! You can see why the ancient Romans worshipped the sun, it was a powerful moment!
Barry had put on his pedometer that day and we actually walked 8.3 miles around the city!

The Hotel sadly let the holiday down big time, it was the very worst we have ever stayed in. It called itself four star but in reality struggled to meet three. The food was dreadful, not one fresh vegetable or any fruit for a whole week. Twice we were served bottled pickled beetroot warmed up as a vegetable. We were continually hungry and filled up on chocolate and crisps, I actually lost weight on holdiday, never been known before! The bar had run out of drink by the middle of the week, although they did send out for bottles of beer after complaints. Their reasons for this bad service was that we were the last visitors of Summer season and the Hotel was closing until Ski season after we left. I spoke to the only English speaker and told him we had paid the same money as any other party in the season and should therefore recieve the same service. On speaking to the Rep however Inghams have had many complaints through the season and th Hotel management had been approached many times about the problems to no avail. The Company are considering pulling it out of their brochure.

The one enduring problem we had, was no plug for the bath. Despite asking three times at reception in Italian, and also Sorin (the Rep) asked on our behalf, we never got one.

We did however devise a way of taking a bath! It involved sitting in the bath with bottom over the plug hole and filling the bath around you, once enough water was in the tub a flannel stuffed down the hole would give you enough time to get a wash.

The hotel was indeed so bad it was funny, we seriously expected Basil Fawlty to appear at any moment! In fact the so called Manager had an uncanny resemblance.

The last day of the holiday we were booked on another Ranger led walk through beech forests, sadly Barry was ill along with several other people in the hotel, the result of bad chicken the night before. ( I took one taste and left it, Barry was so hungry that he risked eating it) I went along on the walk while Barry recovered and he missed a real cracker of a walk. It led us across mountain ridges, through meadows where cows grazed wearing jangling cow bells, and down through a most ancient and magical forest where bears roam freely. Though not during daylight so we did not see one, however we did see bear poo!

We returned home having had some amazing experiences, not least driving around hair raising hair pin bends with 2000metre drops and only a two foot high barrier between the coach and oblivion! I won't miss that. I will miss the wovles, the scenery and the crystal clear air. We are fitter and in my case a little slimmer and fired in enthusiasm for mountain walking!

The first thing we did on arriving home was to run a deep, hot, bubbly luxorioux BATH!

Italy are you ready for us?

We are of on our hols later this week, it seems a long time coming but at last the day is almost here. We are going to Pescasseroli in Italy, it is in the Abruzzo National park so we hope to do lots of walking, eating and as the Hotel brochure bizzarely suggests 'Wild watching' so we thought we would do a bit of that as well.

The area is one of the only area's in Italy where Wolf and Bear still live so I really hope to see one, but I guess we won't. I adore Wolves and love the hierarchy they have within the pack.

I have been trying to learn some Italian for the holiday as I don't think English will be widely spoken in this area. I think trying to use it will result in some hilarious situations but I am looking forward to giving it a go and probably getting it very wrong. I have learned lots of ways of saying very good, wonderful and excellent so I am sure that will get me by. I can say that I have booked a room, I can ask for a table on the terrace, and ask where the lift is, and bizzarely, I can tell you that the hotel dates back to the 13th century (which it does'nt!).

All in all I shall have great fun with the langauge as the Italians have a great sense of humour and the Italian men love to flirt with us girls.

So....

Ciao, e a piu tardi (Goodbye and see you later)

The Con of Macdonalds Healthy Eating.

I went shopping yesterday in a nearby out of town complex to get last minute goodies for our holiday. I was having a great time and bagging a fair few bargains, when I decided that all this retail therapy makes a girl hungry. Ah ha a brand new food court had been built, so I headed into the sparkly new complex to see what was on offer.
Sadly it was burgers, pizza or deep fried chicken! I searched for the healthy option (having recently lost eight whole pounds! and hoping to lose at least the same amount again) I really tried. I decided that the only thing I could do was have a McDonalds Chicken sandwich and an orange juice. The server asked if I wanted it as a meal deal, no I did'nt I told her, as it came with chips this way. I was duly told that to have it as two items it would cost more than having it with the fries. Confused I asked for the meal deal without the chips, but no that could not be done. I know I could of left the chips but I just new if they were in front of me I would of been tempted so I told them I had changed my mind and was about to walk away when the girl remonstrated that she had already ordered the chicken sandwich from the kitchen and they were made to order. I politely told her if she could not deliver what the customer had requested then it was tough.

So Macdonalds you are not really trying to give us healthy options at all, not when we are asked to pay more for less!

I went to M&S and grabbed an organic egg sarnie, some mango slices and a fruit juice for £3.20 and sat outside in the sunshine and enjoyed my CHEAP healthy lunch.

I Might Be a Rich Now.....

But I accidently shredded my Lottery ticket! Oh well never mind, please no-one tell me the numbers.

We took a trip to the very fine city of Liverpool yesterday, Barry worked for almost a year in Halewood but never got the time or inclination without me to visit the splendours the place has to offer!

I took him on a tour of The Beatles Story, he was, as I expected blown away by it. It is an excellent place to visit if you love Beatles music. It is also a bit of an emotional roller coaster at times, particularly the last two rooms!
I took some illicit photo's whilst in there. Not really allowed but the japenese tourists were conveiniently ignoring the no photography signs so I thought if they are doing it why not me. I can always pretend to be Hungarian (I am 1/4 anyway!) and do not understand the signs.

We then wandered about Albert Dock and even bought our very first Christmas present for my candle crazy Sister.

We found a wonderful Jazz Cafe Bar for lunch called Ha ha's. Wow! great coctails girls! How decadent to be sipping a Sorrento Appeltini on a Sunday Lunch time. I was mesmerised by the fabulous lights on the ceiling, very modern chandeliers, beautiful, or was it the effect of my coctail?

Afterwards we discoverd a bit of a 'gig' going on and listened for a bit to the very loud 'Lightening Seeds', we wished Rob had of been with us as it was such a happeining day!

On Albert Dock they have part of The Tate Modern gallery, Free entry so it seemed rude not to go look and see what it had to offer. I wanted to go and see the Henry Moore sculptures and was not in the least disapointed. I had to keep my fists firmly clenched as it was all I could do not to stroke the wonderful smooth lines of his 'bodyform' works, fab! Also we looked at an exhibition by Joseph Rauchenberg which was truly fascinating. I love to see something a bit different and this certainly fitted the criteria. One exhibit called 'Condition of Woman' was a glass case on a pedestal filled with what looked like the contents of the bathroom bin, on reading the description it was INDEED the contents of his wifes bathroom bin complete with empty Tampax box from 1960. How very strange. I was delighted to see some Degas scultures, I did not even know he had done any. They like many of his paintings were of dancers in poses of getting ready for dance.

All in all a most excellent day, definitely need a weekend up their to do it justice.
Now we are broadband I can post my illicit pictures as well (No not that sort of illicit pictures!!!!)

My Boy!

My boy is not happy, he has spent the week sulking! Can't play, won't play!

All because we got new sofa's! He now has not got the best seat in the house, no chair by the window in order for our little gaurd dog to sit and watch for friends and foe passing. The friends being 'The girls' nextdoor who come to play with him and take him for walks and feed him titbits. The foe being a gorgeous Golden Retreiver who DARES pass our house on his daily walk!

To add insult to injury he is not allowed to stay in the lounge while we are out and has been made to spend time in the 'servants quarters' not befitting his status. He does indeed have the run of the kitchen and consevatory with a fluffy comfy bed, a basket of toys and a few dog biscuits. He has rewaerded us by chewing the door and leaving an unmentionable mess on the floor. He has also discovered the joys of the rubbish bin and all its contents! It is now known as TA-shi's Lunch box!

It seems that he has won all his protests and has now been given his own blanket on a corner of the sofa. Proving dogs are as manipluative as children.

Playing Dodgems.... and failing!

It had been a good week so far, I had run two successful training courses and had one more to go. Excellent delegates on both days despite one person starting the day with a face like a bulldog chewing a wasp! Some people come on our courses thinking they have nothing new to learn and that they are know all there is to know about childrens physical development! Non of us will ever be in that position as we all learn something new everyday. I soon won her over however and made sure that I reconised her experience within the group. She, like children blossomed with a bit of praise and positive feedback in reply to her sometimes ascerbic comments! By the end of the course she was smiling and enjoying her self and even gave me a hug and thanked me for the great course. I love it when they all go away in a positive mood!

Sadly on the way home my day took a serious turn for the worse. I crashed my lovely new car!!! The M5 motoway where it joins the M6 is truly a nightmare at the best of times. This day is was raining heavily and there was a traffic jam from hell. I was almost at the point where the traffic has to sort itself into appropiate lanes for M6 North or South, I was already in the correct lane, suddenly the traffic started to move faster as the traffic moved to go towards the slip road South. Great I thought, lets get home! Suddenly the traffic stopped! It did not slow down it came to a sudden halt as some twit up front had realised he was in the wrong lane and at the last minute changed lanes. Sadly although all the trafic halted I did not! I smashed hard into the car in front. I have been driving since I was 21 yers old (30 years ago) and have never ever had so much as a tiny bump! So this was a big shock to me. I was mortified, luckily the guy I hit was great about it, probably as he was driving a company hire car.
My car is quite badly damaged and the front end will have to be virtually re-built, new bonnet, new front grill, new bumper, new A/C unit not sure about one wing yet, that may also need replacing.
Poor Barry was talking to me at the time of the collision (hands free of course) and had an awful shock as I shouted a swear word and then heard me crash.

The main thing is I am fine apart from a very sore back caused by my desparately trying to brake and knowing I could not stop in time.

I was still feeling quite shaky the next day but had to go to work as I had another course to run, the most energetic one of the week as it deals with our 5 to 7 year old classes. So although I started the day with a bad back it soon disapeared as I demonstrated the more physical parts of the programme! Proving if you have a bad back (muscular pain) excersise is the cure!

Oh yes! I learnt a new way to handle children forward rolling around a bar from one of the quietest delegates on this course! Proving we all learn something on them even the tutor!

Tonight Matthew, I am going to be a Border Collie!

To those of you who know our family or indeed ARE our family, you will remember Ben our very clever but sometimes daft, but as loved as any other human in our family Border Collie! We were all bereft when he suddenly collapsed and died four years ago and I certainly felt no other dog would replace him in our hearts. I was of course right as you cannot 'replace' any much loved animal or human, however a new place is found in our luckily very big expandable hearts. Most of you know how I ended up with funny peculiar Ta-shi, and how I had chosen a much prettier pup from the litter and signed all the paperwork etc. When I suddenly put the pretty pup down and said no I want this one and picked up the odd little fur ball that was to become our new best friend. I have always thought Ben had a little part in my choice and was looking down that day and decided that this was the chap for me. I never once regretted the choice as Ta-shi (Supposedly lucky in Tibetan) is a great little dog and as well trained as any collie I know. Have not tested the herding sheep thingy though!

Now one of Ben's funny tricks was that he loved to swim or get into any kind of dirty water he could find. "Please not the bath though," was his mantra! He, however needed a reason to get into the water, so would go to the edge of the river bank or lakeside and carefully drop his ball into the water. He then would look at me with those gorgeous brown eyes and happy smiling face and say "Look what's happened I am just going to have to go in and get it are't I!" Of course I would agree and he would spend some time happily doggy paddling before eventually retrieving the wayward ball and come out and give me a fragrant shower of eau de river!

On Saturday evening BJ and I were walking Ta-shi along the Oxford canal when suddenly and precisely he went to the edge of the canal and dropped the ball over the edge into the water!!! He stood and looked at it wagging his tail and looking at me as if to say "aren't I clever?"
To say I was flabbergasted was an understatement I have always joked that ta-sh is Ben re-incarnated as a dog with a bit more attitude but it was only a joke. More was to come on this surreal walk.

We cross a field which has been left fallow this year but has a lot of waist high rye grass, Ta-shi always sticks to the footpath with me as he does not like any grass that tickles his rather low slung tummy. When suddenly he goes off on a mad one rushing into the grass at top speed, birds and ducks fly up squawking and quacking in surprise as a mini whirlwind invades their hide-outs. He carried on this malarkey for ten minutes before coming out (once he had remembered which way was indeed out) with a spring in his step and tongue hanging almost to the floor after such mad exertion. This was another game of Ben's! How very weird!

On Sunday BJ and I took a trip to West Midlands Safari park and spent a lovely day in the company of various wild beasts. The funniest thing was when BJ fed (you can buy food to give to the giraffes and Llama's) a giraffe. The gorgeous beast (the giraffe not BJ) gracefully lowered his gentle face and took the food, he then put his now rather loomingly large face into the car and spat it out all over BJ. It was the funniest thing, I am still laughing today.

The stupidest thing we saw was when driving through the tiger reserve a safari truck came racing up past us and the other cars. I wondered what was the matter, I could not believe my eyes when as we rounded a bend I saw that a child was standing head and shoulders out of the sun roof of the car she was in, about ten foot away lay three tigers. MAD!

While I was gone

OK! I know I have not blogged for ages. I feel I have spent the last few weeks in my car. I have just done my expenses for the month and I have done 1000 miles and that's without the regular trips to and from the office which is 80 miles a day.

So... the week we did not go to Scotland. We walked, cycled, swam, danced and BJ became 'monkey boy'. We spent a few days in our favourite Hotel, Thoresby Hall in Sherwood forest. In the forest we found 'Go ape' an assault course high in the trees for adults. Wow, it looked great, high walkways, trapeze type rope swings high wire balance wires and zip lines that whizzed you through the forest. I could not wait to try it! BJ was a little nervous as he has a phobia about heights, I however did not think I did as I have done a couple of big abseils.

We booked our places and turned up on the given day at the given time. We were trussed up in safety harness and lectured on health and safety and instructed on how to use all the equipment. We were then let loose on the first activity! BJ flew across, no problem. I stepped onto the thin wire holding onto the one above my head. I got halfway across and froze, I literally could not go forwards or backwards I shook so much my teeth were chattering. I had to be talked down step by step. How weird, I did not expect that reaction from me at all!!! BJ flew (literally) round the course with at times abject fear on his face but he showed a dtermination I have never seen before to complete the course. I ran around the forest floor with my camera as he tarzaned his way into cargo nets, crawled through revolving tunnels 40foot above the ground, and stepped into oblivion at times. A big WELL DONE to my monkey boy.
Go to www.goape.co.uk to see more.
I am determind to go again and complete the course next time, watch this space.

A series of Unfortunate Events!

We should be languishing on the side of Loch Ness this week. However due to a series of unfortunate events we are not!

It is not the disaster or disappointment it should have been, in fact we are having a very nice week.

On Friday I was frantically rushing around trying to get ready for the mega drive to Scotland the next day. It started going horribly wrong from the start really. The house was in dire need of cleaning, one half of me said, leave the house your not going to be here to see it! My other alter ego was saying, the very house proud neighbour is coming in every day to feed the cats, we don’t want her thinking I am a slutty house wife now do we. So I cleaned the house.

While going about the hoovering, washing and polishing I realised their where lots of patches of fresh blood appearing around the place. It could only be the poor cat Saffy who was recovering from a bad bout of cystitis. I went and searched her out and she was a very sorry cat indeed, looking very poorly. Ok, phone the vet. Yep, they could fit us in at 4.45pm.

So… I now had to visit my own Doctor at 2pm, get some shopping to take away with us. Get dog to the kennels at 4pm and then to the vets at 4.45pm. Just about can do his I thought. Until my car decided to start making a very alarming noise!

Barry called to say he was on his way home from work and was all set for our holiday week. My response is probably not printable! However luckily I am married to the kindest man in the world and he told me to calm down and wait for him to be home and we can sort all this out.

We got the dog to the kennels, except I filled out the paperwork and then walked out the gate still with the dog on the end of the lead. Graham the kennel owner suggested I had forgotten something. I passed the confused and relieved dog over. Ta-shi is the only dog I have ever had who loves the kennels, he greets Graham like a long lost friend which is great for me as I never worry about him being their.

We made the vets appointment, Saffy has a second course of antibiotics and will have to go in for some investigations when she has recovered from this bout of illness. She is a really gorgeous cat and has oodles of character, but I will never have a pedigree cat again. She is only three years old and I must of spent £500 in vet’s fees already.

The car seems to have wheel bearing problems and needs to be fixed ASAP, as I need it for work.

I lost the will to travel and on checking the weather forecast for Scotland it was wall-to-wall rain for at least five days, then gale force winds. So… do we leave here with at least three days fine hot dry weather travel for eight hours to a very wet and windy Scotland? We are still here!

We have been to the Peak district, walked around Ilam Country Park, and then over Dunster hill to Dovedale, from there to Milldale and back again. A walk of 9 miles in glorious countryside and lovely weather.
I have put a deposit down on a new car, the mechanic has adjusted brakes, which was the weird noise, but the bearings are on the way out. Nissan have given me an excellent deal on an 03 Almeira!

Saffy is recovering from her illness and is looking and sounding her usual noisy self.

Oh, we are going to a spa tomorrow for a couple of days, the house is tidy enough for Annette to come in and feed the cat’s, she also does not mind administering the cats pills. I think Saffy maybe more difficult than her usual patients though, she is a district nurse! Although maybe not.

Its still raining in Scotland!

No More Letters from America!

I was always an avid listener of Alistair Cooks ‘A letter from America’ on Sunday mornings on radio four. So I was very happy when about ten years ago I started corresponding with a lady in Texas. It all started when Robin had a project at school to get a pen friend from a foreign country. He decided to go down the email route as we had recently got a brand new fancy pants modem! He put his details on a pen friend site and got himself quite typically a girl from Russia. I was so impressed that I asked him to show me how to put my details on as well.

The upshot was that Pat mailed me to ask if I would be kind enough to write to an ‘old biddy’ like her. I was delighted and so a long friendship started. Each week I looked forward to 'A Letter from America' of my own!

I never met Pat, except to speak on the phone several times a year, (I adored her Texan drawl, she adored my perceived upper class English accent!) but we got to know each other really well. I called her my ‘US Mom’ as she was the same age as my Mother. She was feisty, independent and very opinionated, never married but career driven, spending many years in real estate and management of large shopping malls. She adored animals and called her pets her children. I learned of Mouse (a dog) and Diablo’s antics, shared a laugh when Harry the little kitten turned out to be Harriet! Adored Little Bear a rescue cat from the New Orleans’s floods. Many a waif and stray found refuge in Pats home. In turn Pat loved to hear news of my family, she felt she new Robin and Simon and shared a little bit of family life with us. We exchanged opinions, recipes and news and views. She taught me tactics to use in the workplace with difficult people. Commiserated my bad times and celebrated my good times.

Lat Friday my dear good friend died. Thank You my dear girl, it was great to know you. I guessed you would leave us when you became so ill. Invalidity you would never countenance.

All my Love from your English Daughter

Cat in a Flap

We have our long awaited conservatory!!! It was a smooth operation from start to finish, builders arrived on the appointed day and did exactly what they were supposed to do in the time scales we were given. Is this a record. They were all polite and charming, nothing to much trouble, consulted us all the time regarding the works and tidied up after themselves. Any-one wanting a conservatory I can recommend Planet conservatory.

What I had not bargained for was a £40 vets bill for a traumatised cat!

Saffy our gorgeous but slightly batty Maine Coone, (do cats take after their owners as well as dogs?) enjoyed having the company of the builders all week as they dug holes, laid bricks and cut pipes. She even very helpfully walked over the newly laid cement floor to check if it was set yet. They also enjoyed her antics, and each evening had a tale to tell of what she had done that day with them.

However erection day was last Friday and suddenly it was not fun any more, a large delivery of glass and frames, lots of banging and lifting of frames over fences and she was off for the duration.
Friday evening when all the builders had left shereturnedd home when she heard my voice, up onto the fence she popped. Well!Iff a cats eyes could pop out of her head in sheer shock and surprise Saffy's did. She froze on the fence at this monstrous growth that had suddenly appeared on the back of her house. It was a case of "what the hell is THAT". She stayed put for at least an hour just watching to see if the monster was safe or not. She eventually hopped down sniffed the door and frantically hopped up onto the other fence. She flatly refused to come into the house through the glass monster for two days. I finally encouraged her in with food, I decided to feed her in the conservatory for a few days so she had good experiences with the scary house. All was going well until Sundat evening she hopped onto the garage roof to investigate the roof of the conservatory, we had just had a shower of rain! She climbed onto the roof of the beast and promptly came skiing down it legs all akimbo until she landed with a plop on the ground. I have not seen anything so funny and undignified as the poor cat flying down the roof, or the expression on her face when she landed. It was pure comedy, she was not hurt in any way, but miaowed at me as if to say "Did you see that? It threw me off".


The upshot is the poor cat gets stress induced cystitis and boy has she got a bad bout. I have two bottles of pills and two bottles of drops for her, my vet is also a homeopathic consultant and recommendedd some homeopathic drops to put on her tongue, a bit like Bach's flower remedies. The problemn is it stresses the hell out of her trying to put the drops on the said tongue! So they go into her food along with her antibiotic, her cranberry extract, and the cystaid ( a pill that is supposed to prevent attacks)amazingly she still gobbles down her food with all these additives.

Ta-shi loves the conservatory and was very interested to stand in it while it was raining, he could not quite work out how, if it was raining all around him why was he not getting wet. Animals are the funniest of things!

Tonight's The Night! (or not in our case)

It was our 33rd Wedding Anniversary on Friday, so we thought it worthy of a bit of a celebration so I planned us a fun day out! I bought tickets for Birmingham Hippodrome theatre to see 'tonight's The Night' the musical based on Rod stewarts music. It was to be followed by a meal in Ciello's a rather upmarket Mediterranean restaurant in the heart of Birmingham.

All was going well, apart from the weather, we arrived in Brum and started a little light shopping, Simon called us to say he was in town so we arranged to meet him in Starbucks. As we strolled up New Street arm in arm under our umbrella singing the song of the same name ( a sixties song) and laughing as we went, a young man in a suit popped out in front of us to ask us to take a stress test! I asked him 'Do we look stressed?' that phased him a bit and I added 'No mate I've seen your lot on the news' he disappeared into the throng of shoppers at that. He in fact was touting for business for the Scientology Cult and his little entourage had featured on the previous nights local news.

After our bucket of coffee, what happened to cups and saucers? With Simon we headed of for a light lunch and then to the theatre.

The first half of the show was great, excellent cast with great voices, a bit of comedy, a few scantily dressed ladies with legs up to their armpits, good dance routines. We were loving it! We had nothing against the first half of the performance at all, sadly nor did they!!!

We returned to our seats after the interval and eagerly waited for the second half, we waited, we got a bit wriggly, we looked at our watches and wondered what had happened. A few Manager's seemed to be rushing out behind the stage, then a stage hand came onto the front of the stage and took away all the lights and wiring. Now we were worrying that if they did not start the now 45 minutes late second half soon we would be late for our table at Ciello's.

Eventually a Manager came onto the stage and said that due to technical difficulties they could not perform the second half,(they could not lift the Iron curtain) instead they were going to put chairs in front of the iron and perform the songs concert style! Not even Margaret Thatcher had that much trouble getting the iron curtain up!

I was livid, having paid a considerable amount of money to see a musical I was not going to accept a few singers on a row of dodgy looking chairs. I also reasoned if we did indeed stay and watch this debacle we were in fact accepting the alternative and would have less chance of recompense.

I and many other disgruntled people made our way to the ticket office where many heated discussions took place. We were treated abominable and no-one was prepared to take responsibility for the problem apart than we would all have to write to customer services and each case will be looked at individually. Well I tell you now, I will get my money back even if I take them to the small claims court to do it!

The evening ended on a high thankfully after I had calmed my temper and my disappointment. We met up with boys who both looked amazingly handsome (Rob looked kind of pretty in a boy kind of way, he has grown his hair longer and it suits him very well, he also had on a pink stripe shirt, strangely pink suits his coloring)
Simon as usual was very smart and gorgeous, of course I am biased! Jaime who has just moved to Brum joined us as well, she really is a joyful larger than life lovely girl.
Dinner was more a work of art than food, dreadfully expensive but worth every penny, it more than made up for the afternoon. Not one of us could fault anything at all, it was lovely to finish the meal with my favourite Limoncello liqueur.

We went our separate ways after, the boys and Jaime to go to 'The Living Room' (a bar, not their house) to celebrity spot, we made our way back to the station to get the train back to Cov, composing a letter to the Hip as we went.

We had to take Ta-shi on a marathon of a walk on Sunday as the poor boy had been left so long on Saturday. It was so long that he sat down after four miles as if to say 'Ok enough, its not fun anymore'. He perked up when he met a Jack Russel puppy and had a bit of a gambol with him and found a second wind.

A Ronnie Barker Moment

A colleague and I had to pop into town at lunchtime yesterday to buy one of those birthday candles shaped in a number. It is the owner of our company's 60th birthday so we were dispatched to buy banners, balloons and the said candle for the obligatory birthday cake! We went to a little cake decorating shop which is charmingly old fashioned, wooden counter, parquet wood floor and a very helpful little lady. We stated our need, a 60th birthday candle! She proceeded to count out 60 separate little candles! Anne my colleague and a director of the company went positively pale as she thought of risk assessments and fire regulations of 60 candles on a cake in our listed 1920's 'art deco building. I stood there trying to suppress my mirth and resisting the urge to ask for fork handles and some O's.

On a different subject altogether as I was driving to work I listened to an astounding news report. Not sure if it was a government department or a health authority being quoted, but the item was that it was suggesting that special rooms should be set up so that heroin addicts can go and shoot up safely with clean needles and under supervision. Did I miss another report maybe that they have let all the lunatics out of the asylum? (oh no sorry of course we have, we went and elected them didn't we) Why stop here, lets set up a special supermarket where shoplifters can do their stealing in safety and without fear of prosecution. While we are at it maybe a dimly lit car park for effect so that car thieves can go nab a few vehicles without being tackled by those annoying little owners who dash out of their homes to protect their hard earned motors and get attacked for their sheer cheek. The possibilities are endless.

Mrs Meldrew signing off!!!

Life is a bed of Roses

I am very excited and can't stop looking out of my window at my front garden, I have at last got a rose garden again. Safely planted out, I have some old favorites like, Grandpa Dickson, Remember me, and my all time favorite Just Joey. Also I have a brand new rose called White Diamond and a very rich red wine colour rose called Cardinal del Richeleau. Can't wait for them to bloom!

Wild Card

I am in no way a football expert but having lived and breathed football for 25 years with a football fanatic and coped with the highs and lows of moods that it brings, and the trials and tribulations of if our favourite team is on the up or not. So.... I can feel just a tiny bit qualified to comment on Svens choice of Theo Walcott!

What a truly marvellous opportunity for this boy and what a gamble for Sven, nothing to loose as I'm leaving anyway, Goran Erikson! It could work at least the other teams who would of studied hours of footage of the other players and will know just how the cookie crumbles with the whole team except Theo! They will be saying Theo who? Good Luck to the boy.

Ordinary Life.

Its been a fairly ordinary week! BJ goes to work and then surprise, surprise comes back home the very same day. We have been used to BJ going off to work on a Monday and coming home two weeks later. Its been great (most of the time) However I have had to remind him more than once that he is no longer living in a hotel, and that I actually including traveling time work longer hours than he. The very thought that I should suggest that leaving clothes where they drop is no longer acceptable and having a mutual tidy up before leaving in the morning did not go down too well at first. The trouble is I have always been the home maker and still am at heart but now we must either share the household duties and enjoy the bonus of my decent wage coming through the door, or I go back to mundane part time work and take care of the house. Actually there is no way I will give up my job, I would get a cleaner in first but lets not tell BJ!!!

BJ is enjoying his new job and seems to be settling in well, he has already been told to slow down, he is working faster than people can keep up with. He does think some of the work maybe a little repetitive and possibly boring after a while. I suggested that we arrange a more exciting social life to recompense. Poor boy looked a little startled I think he is worried lest I try and get him horse riding or abseiling! (Not a bad idea)

We returned to our dance class this week after a years absence, we got a big welcome which was great and we just about held our own. We had to swap partners with another couple some of the time to learn anew waltz routine but we managed. The class had learned a whole new Tango routine which rather flummoxed us, we new all the steps but not necarssarily in the same order as they were doing!
We have decided to drop down to the intermediate class for a while rather than the advanced as we need to brush up on our steps and learn new routines.

We have decided to stay put in Coventry for now. The new conservatory should be started by the end of May, this will give us much needed space for a decent dining area. I used to love entertaining but it does not feel right eating in the kitchen among the deritus of cooking pans etc. I look forward to Christmas lunch in the conservatory. Actually I think a consevatory warming family dinner will be in I think I will need to hire a Marquee, or re-order a bigger conservatory! As now we have our own darling boys, Rachel and Dan, Stuart and Jaime all living in the vicinity. What a delightful evening it will be. Trouble is as half this lot work in the catering or hospitality business it is going to be a logistic nightmare to get every-one together on one day. I will do it though so watch out kids I will be onto you soon for dates!

I am having a very busy period at work at the minute, we are in 'workshop' mode and are holding training workshops the length and breadth of the Country, all on a Sunday! Its not so bad when you get there, but the thought of working every other Sunday virtually from now until end of July is not good. I don't even get paid for them and have to take time in lieu. This is OK in theory but last year I was so busy that I lost a fair few days as I did not have time to take them all. I will not let that happen again! My boss is back to her old self and is being very sweet and kind, I don't know what on earth has been the problem but I am glad to have the old person back. Work is a great pleasure again!

Oh Dear what Can the Matter be

Oh dear what can the matter be
The secretary has been sleeping with the prime Ministers deputy
Sold her story to newspapers and the TV
A headache for poor Tony Blair

Oh dear what can the matter be
The prisoners have been let out of our old penitentiary
Should of been sent back to their own fair Countries
Now nobody knows where they are

Oh dear what can the matter be
Nurses shout and stamp at the hypocrisy
Patricia Hewitt saying your jobs are safe with me
Nobody wanted her there.


It may only be a local Election on Thursday but I know who is getting my vote of no confidence!

By the way if ever there is a case for brining back free eye tests for all, then surely it is now! Who in their right mind would choose to have an affair with the ugliest most uncouth man on the planet.

Rest and relaxation?

Its been quite a happening week in the Mama blog household, lot's going on personally and professionally. BJ has finished one job and has a week off before stating the new one. Aha! He thought a week of R & R! Aha! I thought jobs to be done! So... The poor devil has been gigging up the whole of the front garden and is re- designing it. On the computer design it looked an easy job. Get rid of the grass and the awful slabs up to the front door, lay a stone circular patio, a new pathway and make a rose garden of the surrounding area. Needless to say the poor boy has a sore back,and ended up hiring a turf cutter as the lawn seemed to be welded in place by some supernatural force. B&Q who delivered the patio on a pallet, had not got one of those pallet mover jobby's on board so each slab had to be lifted off the lorry and placed on a separate pallet in the garage. The tool hire company insisted out address did not exist as it was not 'on his map' oh the incompetence of them all.

The patio is half done and is looking brilliant. All the neighbor's are bemoaning the loss of my colourful spring display though. They all love my front garden, but I say wait awhile you ain't seen nothing yet!

At long last I am to get a conservatory! We have had a few quotes and have found a company that will do what we want for the price of a small family car! Not the cheapest, not the dearest somewhere in between.

I went riding yesterday for the first time since my fall. I was very nervous as I drove into the yard, and even more so when I realized I had a new girl tutoring me, kind of got used to Amy. However Paula was a top girl and put me and Hector through our paces very efficiently. I rode the best I have ever done and regained my confidence.
I am re-learning my whole way of riding and undoing many bad habits and at last it is coming together. I got a really good canter going right around the school, got my legs, hands, and body all working in unison which is a first. I can usually get the legs and body working well but not get the steering going very well. This time I managed to make him go right into the corners and not take short cuts. Oh, and they have a new week old baby foal, Jacinta and baby doing well.

I bought on impulse a CD this week, Bruce Springstein's 'The Seeger Years' It is great houlie music and very joyful, just listen to a few tracks and you will be singing along. I love that kind odd gravelly, whisky, wine and fine young women kind of voice! Barry was well impressed as the last folk concert he went to was with Peggy Seeger and Euan Mc Coll, both notable singers of that time. Although the music on the CD is Pete Seeger.

Another big buy for me was a Sat Nav system, I have to drive into London probably once a week from now until August and am very worried about getting lost. So I treated myself to some very serious technology, my first foray with it tried to take me to Bromsgrove road in Stourbridge instead of Halesowen but I daresay I will get used to it. It got me home again which of course I know the way but it was just a practice.

Birthdays, Houses and Photo's

The best picture I have seen in the papers this week is one of our jolly old Queen riding a rather fine looking dapple grey mare in a rather jaunty trot! So what, you may all say. Well this woman is EIGHTY years old this week and still riding out, not on a gentle meander through the grounds of Windsor but in the most taxing on the body gait to ride to (except of course the bronco Billy gait) Good on you Ma'am you will do for me. Happy Birthday to you, not that you will be reading this, but who knows.

We have decided to remove our house from the stagnant housing market for the time being. It has been up for sale for six months and we have had three viewings in that time, so on average one couple every two months. I cannot stand the strain of keeping the place in pristine condition just in case! Anyway every time Simon comes round he knocks a bit of our house down and we have to keep mending it. He is however not random but sticks to pulling the coat pegs off the wall every time he hangs his coat up! We have decided to do away with the said pegs now and put the coats somewhere else, I am not saying where as I don't want Simon to know as he may well reek havoc on the new coat hanging area. Now I would not mind but as a lad I could not get him to hang a coat up for love nor money and once even very sarcastically gave him an in depth lesson into what a coat hanger was and how it worked, but no, coats would be slung on banisters, over chairs, dropped in the porch anywhere but on a peg.

This is the last evening of Barry being away, he is home for the foreseeable future tomorrow (Thursday) and starts his new job on 2nd of May. I am sure it is the right decision and wish him lot's of luck in his new foray into a new kind of industry, he will do just fine, he is one of life's good guys.

I am attempting to go riding next week, feeling a little nervous as I still have some pain in the ribs. I do not want to leave it any longer though as I will have to start afresh. I have been promised Hector my safe steady boy, he is the kind of horse you just have to kiss he is so lovely, a bit like my old Alfie, steady as a rock and hopefully not full of nasty surprises. I am told he can have a tantrum if you tap his bottom with the whip. He has to be tapped on the shoulder! Fair enough!

We did an important photo shoot last week at my Nursery. I had a photographer and all his paraphanalia, the MD of my the Company I work for plus one of the directors and the Nursery Manager all in the room watching while I put the kids through their classes and hopefully got them to pay attention to me and act normal. Well, my little kids where absolute little stars and behaved perfectly. The only problem we had was trying to stop the little girls from displaying to much of the next days laundry.

I had to work my little socks of to keep them looking at what we were doing but it worked and we have some great shots for our promotional brochures. I was really chuffed to get personal praise from my MD.

Comment of the day came from one little girl who announced that she had only got nipples now but one day she would have boobies! I thanked her for sharing that with us all and we all sang a song. What else could I have done?

Name or address?

I did not set out to watch the Grand National, I just happenend to be in front of the TV when it came on. It is not a race I wholly like as I feel it is far to demanding on the beasts, to many get injured and often (as on Saturday) one or more literally don't make it to the end at all (shot on the course due to severity of injury)

Well I got drawn into it as I lounged on the sofa and admired the fearless jockeys (still aching from my own efforts as a rodeo rider)on their all to beautiful steeds and then they were off! But no, false start, so back they came. Then they were really off, pounding hell for leather for two circuits of the Aintree course. The jumps were aimed at some jumped, some appeared to run through them, some horses just said "actually no, I don't think so , do you!" and were pulled up, on the rest went.

At the last two fences it was about a four horse race and BJ was convinced that HedgeHunter was about to win for a second year. Nope! I said he is tiring, watch that horse with the sheepskin noseband, he has been held back to a fast canter most of the way and is still fresh, I think he will take it! Mind you I wished the horse had stopped and turned around to the jockey and said "Will you PLEASE stop hitting me with that stick thingy, I am running as fast as I bloody well can!" (Surprised the jockey was not disqualified for over use of the whip. I just wish I had put a few squid on Numbersixvalverde! But then possibly against my principles. Good idea to call a horse after your address, unfortunately mine does not have such romantic zing to it.

Changing the subject, I fell over today, what a muppet, I still have sore ribs from falling of a horse, and I managed to trip up a kerb while walking the dog. I went down with a real thwack and I am quite sure I heard my poor body call out "Oh no not again" as the hard pavement came up to meet it! I furtively looked about to make sure no-one had seen me and got up quickly and hobbled off!