Photos from Egypt - to warm you up!

. Downtown Luxor.

The Temple of Karnac, adjacent to Luxor.

This is 1.8 miles from the Temple of Luxor - they were joined by an avenue of sphinxes.

This land is being purchased & cleared in order to excavate these sphinxes.

There are 134 of those colossal columns in the hall of hippostyles, all decorated .

.
A view from the entrance to the Hall of Hippostyles

In the shade.

All of these treasures are on the West bank of the Nile near to Luxor.

The Collosi of Memnon.

The Temple of Hathsethsut, next to the Valley of the Queens.

G in the Valley of the Kings.

Small & empty as it was all taken to Cairo. Small because Tut died young & tombs were built during your reign.

Ramses 11 enormous tomb was dug next door & the waste buried Tut's tomb, that's why it wasn't found until 1924.

There are still tombs to find in the valley.

It was quite hot.

More photos , later

Happy 60th birthday William snr.

Sorry about the short blog on Saturday.
Ben came to see us along with T @ KP, for the day.
T was helping me, which involved a great deal of deleting so when he suggested a light tea of bacon, sausage, egg & fried bread, I closed down with some alacrity & got the frying pan out.
We had a great day, although, sadly, E was at home, unwell.
We played, ate the last of the turkey,( in the traditional dish, with cheese sauce, a cheese & breadcrumb topping, served with green vegetables), followed by Danish rice pudding, then had a grand bonfire of garden waste & Christmas wrappings.
T tested all of the Christmas Cd's & a selection of DVDs, KP talked & cuddled us all, a lot.

On Sunday G raked up mighty mountains of leaves while I was at church, then we made one colossal mountain at the top of the field with 90% of the leaves from the whole site. We then collapsed in front of a big fire, in the lounge, with scampi & salad & the rest of the wine from Saturday.
The mole has returned so G now creates a nightly pyrotechnics display by pouring petrol down all of the holes & setting fire to them.
Moley has just moved to the side lawn again, where we caught him in action this morning.
He got away!

We have been into Birmingham to Lee Longlands - they have amazing furniture & beautiful carpets. We bought a bed settee for the study & now have the challenge of de-cluttering & decorating, before it arrives.
We then had a nice lunch at Cafe Rouge in Gas Street Basin before shopping in Solihull, briefly.
G had taken the food shopping to the M&S car park, I had the emerald green cashmere jacket that I had admired before Christmas, (£99 down to £29) in my hand, when the fire alarm went off & the store was evacuated.
Obviously it was not meant to be mine.
The car park was closed, but G was already there, so really we were lucky to be out & to come home.
We may go to the cinema to see "Australia".

It's very cold.

Boxing Day walk - J on her new bike.

Nine days to go.

Christmas started with the midnight service at Shustoke, as usual.
This is a bit of a misnomer as the service starts at 11.30pm so that communion is at midnight.a

A Happy & Peaceful Christmas to you all.

I'm back.
G & I have just spent a fascinating week in Egypt, sailing from Luxor to Aswan & back.
We put up the outdoor lights & the Christmas tree, made up the beds & cleaned before we left, leaving only the shopping, dusting & decorating to do.
That was yesterday & most of today taken care of.
The house gleams (almost), the tree glitters, the table is laid for lunch & there is a large M&S turkey in the laundry fridge so all's pretty well with the world.
Actually, I'm a bit cold but haven't lit a fire as it will then be ready for tomorrow.
I'm watching the Christmas service from Kings College whilst I prepare tomorrow's family service for Nether Whitacre (11.00am)
We shall be going to the midnight service later, to celebrate the start of Christmas proper.
I hope to stuff the turkey & wrap the chipolatas in bacon before then.
I've been asleep for about an hour, so there's a fair chance of success there - I should stay awake!

I hope that you all have a lovely Christmas day with good company & that lunch goes well.

I shall post some holiday photos later.

Friday already.

I have found the secret to a good night's sleep - don't fall asleep on the settee before bed.
This was my modus operandi last night, mainly because G was away & the house was cold.
I did some reading for my sermon - John chapter 1, as read brilliantly by James Fox on Tuesday night, then fell asleep.
I woke up at 7.25am - wonderful!. I showered, revived my hairdo, dressed, did some jobs & set off for Cambridge to see JR.
He was fine, although feeling rather sorry for himself as he has a bladder problem (men!) & is having uncomfortable treatment on his better eye, to preserve his sight.
G caught a train to Manningtree, where Peter picked him up & drove them up to Shardelows.
We went to lunch in Linton at The Crown,then back to JR's for coffee & then home later, via Coventry to collect my car from G's office.
It is cold, wet & windy.
We have a nice fire & shall shortly have supper.

I'm sorry that there are no photos - I will try harder.

Is it that time already?

Apologies for the break - this is the first time that I have logged on since the last blog.
Anyway, MK, J & DK went home last Thursday.
I left them at the airport in the morning& went to Solihull to avoid the empty house.
M&S kindly supported me in this by having a 20% discount day.
I enjoyed the odd few hours there & then on to the gym then home.
A pretty good day all in all.
I have stripped the beds, washed & ironed, but done no other housework since then.

Friday was a Thomas day.
G picked me up mid-afternoon to go for our Bupa medicals, which went well.

On Saturday we pottered, went to see P&A then on to Wagamama & the pictures to see "Lakeview ------" It was OK, not great.

On Sunday we went to see B & E, a nice relaxing day, concluding with dinner.

On Monday we went to London, G to a meeting, me to potter.
I was very pleased with myself for hopping on & off the tube with competence all day, minding the gap with the best of them.
I met aj & Paul at Kings Cross for an hour or so to chat, then on to Oxford St, Libertys, down to Marble Arch, window shopping, then on to Covent Garden, where I eventually meet G for a coffee & the journey to Margaret's.
We went out for a great Thai meal then slept over.
On Tuesday we went to Leatherhead to see J&G. It was O's 2nd birthday.
We had lunch then on to J's practice for G to have a treatment before travelling back into London to St Lukes in Sydney St in Chelsea for a Christmas concert in aid of The Elizabeth Finn Trust. Joanna Lumley, James Fox & Kate Adie did brilliant readings, Betjeman's Christmas poem, John, chapter one...... & wonderful music.
We got home late.

Wednesday was a Thomas day, I then drove on to Bicester to babysit whilst B&E went to see Quantum...

I drove home this morning. Bicester was at a standstill. The M40 south was at a standstill, but the M40 North was quiet as everyone was avoiding the M40.
I got home, finished the Christmas cards, posted them, went to the hairdressers - you will have to take my word for the fact that I look really glamourous, sitting here on my own, blogging, watching Question Time, planning Sunday's sermon.
I went on to the dentist to have my tooth mended, then into Solihull to shop - late night shopping, but quiet.
Tomorrow I am going to see JR.
G is in London, at a dinner. He will go to Manningtree, by train, be picked up by Peter & drive up to Lavenham to meet JR & me for lunch.

On Saturday we may have a lie-in.

White rabbits + 1

Another busy day.
I put a note on the front door, directing all deliveries to the back door, just in case W is still shopping, then we went out.
Actually, I had a phone call from Aga yesterday, saying that I had won a food mixer in their draw at the Food Show at the NEC, & it would be delivered shortly.
I'm really delighted. I just hope that it's not a wooden spoon!

We got up at a gentle pace & then went to Kenilworth, where MK, J & DK scampered around the castle whilst I went to Sainsburys to shop.A bag of iced buns assured that we got home without anyone fainting from hunger.
We pottered around home for what remained of the afternoon, played with the boys, wrapped presents, watched J's DVDs & ironed.
DK has fluffy fly-away hair, having enjoyed a bath with J & a kick-about without his boots on.

Manchester tomorrow, so we are hoping for the weather to warm up a little. We shall take a picnic lunch to eat in the cafeteria.
The hospital food looks very unhealthy!

I need to make a dental appointment to repair the tooth that broke last night.
I fear that my own Dundee cake may have been to blame but I have officially blamed the seeds in the loaf

I'm back!

Sorry for the gap, I've been busy & have fallen asleep every time that I've sat down.
It has been a great week - J has just come to help, so this may slow down.
Last Sunday I did services at Shustoke & Over Whitacre, there was a "Cavie show" at OW & the car park full of cavie-lovers cars, packed in like gerbils.
We went for a tootle in the afternoon.
On Monday I went to see JR in Cambridge.
His sight is deteriorating & he can no longer drive, which gets him down, but he enjoys a visit & lunch out.
Tuesday, I shopped - nothing edible left in the house. MK thought that I had got lost.
The time just flies when pottering.
Wednesday, we went to Manchester. DK had his plaster removed & replaced with a brace, which was brilliant. I think that he has doubled in size in the last few weeks, all due to a diet of liquidized potato, masquerading as non-dairy baby milk.
Thursday, we either did nothing at all, or I've forgotten.
On Friday we all went to P & A's to look after Thomas & collect Jessie from school, then have tea.
J had such a good time that he sobbed when it was time to come home.
I collected W from the airport in time for dinner.
W, MK & family went to Bicestre to see B, E & family for the weekend.
G & I did a "St Andrew's Eve "fundraising evening, for Shustoke church, with all Scottish food & whiskies - roast beef & Yorkshire puddings(?), smoked salmon, mackerel, scotch eggs& haggis with neaps & tatties, followed by Dundee cake, shortbread flapjack & gingerbread.
We raffled whiskey, shortbread & a hottie, had a Christmas bring & buy & all wore a bit of tartan.
We all had a good time & made £250, so it was worth the effort.
On Sunday we had a united service for our 4 churches for Advent Sunday & to celebrate Dianes ten years here as our vicar.
A very generous Villa player in the congregation said that he would match the money we had raised, & did so from his jeans' pocket.
Added to that, two of the churches have stalls at a table sale in Coleshill next Saturday so we took all of our unsold goods to them after lunch.

I have just remembered Thursday.
Mk had a day of peace with the children & I went to the NEC to the Good Food Show, which I really enjoyed, bought some of the food for Saturday evening, some presents & saw Gordon Ramsey's demonstration at the end of the day, before staggering out, laden with beef, whiskey & chutneys, to meet G at the station.

Plenty to do today - cold & sunny at present.

Beyond Bournemouth.

Home again on Sunday evening to dinner cooked by W & MK.
KB was cutting the field hedges across the road & took the top off the field hedge for us.
MK & I took J to the playgroup in the Village Hall on Monday morning, he enjoyed it & we met some nice local mums.
After lunch I cleared up some hedge cuttings then took W to the airport & went on to the gym & then home for dinner.
On Tuesday we took DK to the doctors to get a referral to the consultant in Manchester, then went on to Solihull. We parked in Brueton Park & walked to the town centre via the playground in Malvern Park for J to run off some steam. We did some shopping & met Ben, who was there for a business lunch. He brought the baby gym for DK to use.
After coffee in M&S (where else?) & a failed mission to buy J waterproof boots, I walked back to fetch the car & picked up Mk, J & DK at the end of the High street, then home to tea.

Today we went to Manchester for DK to have his plasters replaced.
We had a good journey both there & back by using the Toll road & ignoring the instruction to leave the M6 & drive through the centre of Manchester, in favour of the M62, M60.
The boys were great. We arrived early had a picnic lunch in the waiting room & J made full use of the toys provided. DK slept for most of both journeys & smiled through his bath & plastering session.
We got home just before 5.00pm, have fed, played & watched some poor TV.
There was a good joke about tinnitus & wind chimes.

Bournemouth in the sun.

We came down to Bournemouth on Friday morning, with P.
James' graduation was at the pavilion at 1.30pm, followed by refreshments upstairs,
It was good & not too long - about 90 graduates to be "done"
We went on to the "Durley Dean Hotel", which is to be recommended - charming, with very helpful staff & comfortable rooms & only minutes from the beach.
We walked to Boscombe this morning, played with O on the beach, had lunch at The Pierpoint with P & then I walked back. A picked G & P up as they had done with walking.
Tonight G & I are babysitting O, S & H - childsplay!
All settled, baby-alarm on & dining by 8.30pm.
Presently in the bar alarm works there) watching Prince Charles birthday bash (brilliant) with 15 minute monitoring before I go up again with my book & torch for the duration.
G is getting admiring glances from the women as he listens to the alarm!
Great weather - home tomorrow to see W, MK & family.
G to add photos.

So just how do satNavs work?

Mk & I have been up to Manchester with J & DK, to take him for a visit to the Ponseti clinic to have his legs plastered.
G kindly set up the satnav, phone, aerial & all other technical aids for us last night as we had to be there by 9.45am
All went well & we are now home, having resuscitated with tea & chocolate digestives.
Why did the Satnav take us up the M6, A56 & through the middle of Manchester this morning, in the rush hour, but bring us home down the M60, M62, M6, missing all of the city out?
A couple from Nuneaton told us that their TomTom did this, so just note the route home & do it in reverse next time.
We duly noted the route home - motorways & junctions.
Next Wednesday's trip should be childsplay!

Granville.

I went to school today & had a very pleasant day.
No, really!
I shopped hurriedly on the way home, checking out my own shopping.
I must admit that the machine would not accept my credit card, so I ended up feeding it all of my cash, in order to complete the transaction.
I dashed home, did some of the ironing - the bulky stuff - & went to pick up MK, J & DK at the airport.

All is well, the boys went to sleep, we have eaten dinner, prepared for tomorrow's early trip to Manchester.
And so to bed.

OK, so I'm not worth a comment.

I started early as I had a premonition that Granville School would want me to go in tomorrow.
I made up the beds & "cleaned the house from top to bottom", got logs in & laid a fire.
I went to the doctors to sign DK on & to Denis Walkers to sort out the insurance on the Lotus - still not right though, but now only £272 & falling.
One of the advantages of age!
On the spur of the moment, I went to Kenilworth to shop - nice shops & no parking charges.
Water was pouring down the road by the castle, into the ford, which was impassable, so I had to double back through the old town.
JS has Berio olive oil (my favorite) at half price, with a £25 voucher against a case of wine at Laithwaites.

I bought odd things to appeal to J, including Humdingers & a cucumber.
I went on to Knowle, through some impressive floods, & to the gym.
I am getting fitter again with regular attendance.
When I got home there was the predicted message from Granville along with some unintelligible mutterings - delete!
G came in later, from the gym in Coventry.
We have had a scrummy dinner of salmon marinaded in soy sauce & honey, with a mixture of green vegetable & jacket potatoes - King Edwards, that were delicious.

Tony Robinson is on the TV with Timeteam in a bunker near Ypres, discovered after 90 years.
G loves a war programme, it is interesting.
Nearly time for bed.

Checking through this I found that I had missed the "S" off "scrummy", which changed the intended message, somewhat!

Can anyone be bothered to comment?

Remembrance Day.

I went to church at shustoke this morning, having swapped services with Steve, who wanted to take the remembrance day services, having just found his grandfather's world War 1 diaries.
He read extracts, which were interesting.

We have no family involvement in war as the family were manufacturing materials needed in the war.
Granny's brother, Uncle Walter, was involved in WW1 - tales of hardship & infestations in the trenches.

We went to Solihull to get more prints of G's Karma Enduro rally to complete his thank-you packages to sponsors & had coffee in M&S. Came home, lit a big fire in the lounge & relaxed.
I still have a lot of the Sunday Times to read as a cousin from Northants phoned, having been contacted by the cousin in Georgia.

She sounded like my mother.
She had met aj & me as children on a couple of occasions & remembered our long, thick plaits.
Granny Glenn was one of ten children, not an only child.

We have maternal relatives in abundance!
I have spoken to the grandchildren of two of Granny's siblings today.
Some meeting & delving to follow.

Tax cuts seem to be on the cards - some good news on the financial front then.
Gordon Brown owes me, big time!

The service from the Cenotaph was superb - something we are good at. The Queen looked fit & very agile for an octogenarian.

Some November colour.

Pyrocantha, a mass of berries awaiting the blackbirds - a little past their best now.

Maple in the corner of the field opposite the kitchen.

Pyrocantha under the dining room window.

Never say passion is over - still flowering in November.

G took these this morning .

This evening it has rained hard & the roads are covered with leaves - we have been to friends in Dorridge for dinner (Jamie Oliver recipes - excellent)

Well done USA!

I have a minimal grasp of politics but Barack Obama's convincing election victory indicates the desire for change that can move the world forward in a new direction, out of the awful mess that greed for personal wealth & power have created.
I wish that the UK had someone of equal stature who we could put our faith in - I can only think of one or two media pundits who would do.
Brown who has spent years sailing us up the creek is now gaining support for looking at ways to fashion a paddle, whilst Cameron comes over as a rather lightweight yuppie, however hard I try to think well of him.
I did like his comment to Brown yesterday as to whether he had mentioned to Obama that "Now is no time for a novice"
I suppose that Cameron does have some merit - at least he speaks well & you don't have to look away when he's on the TV.

Anyway, good news from W about little DK, foremost in my thoughts.
Fully functioning bowels are a basis for a happy life.

7023 hits & not one from me yesterday as I went to Granville, then on to the gym, came home & cooked dinner then fell asleep for a long time, so no contact with my laptop whatsoever.
This achieved when aj has been off-line for over a month, since her laptop was stolen & the library computers will not give access to blogs ("inappropriate")
I paid a high cost for my nap. I was still awake at 4.00am, having heard the milkman come just before 2.00am, G snoring intermittently & the occasional owl.
I did come up with various plans for today, one of which involved going to the matinee at Stratford, hence the early Internet connection, having swept up some of the leaves or gone to the gym - must get on, as my mother would have said, though probably not have acted on.

We are celebrating Guy Fawkes tomorrow night so I hope that we may have a couple of dry days so that the bonfire will be worthwhile.

Lazy Tuesday.

A lazy day, on th internet, on the 'phone, catching up on mail & clearing out a cupboard, at aj's suggestion.
This afternoon I went out, donned wellies & cleared up leaves, to get some exercise & to relieve my conscience for such an idle morning.
I had to give up at 5.00pm as it was too dark to see the leaves.
The drier leaves are on the bonfire, which we may light on Friday, & light a few sparklers.

When poor light stopped play, I came in & made gingerbread with G's ginger from India, some flapjack & did the ironing.
G phoned to say that he was going to the gym & would be late, so I ate the whole prawn salad that I had intended us to share, had a glass of wine, a piece of gingerbread, chatted to aj & watched TV - Kwan with his naked, would be apprentices & poor Prince Charles, having his life dragged through yet again.

An early night as I am working tomorrow & have to get up early to be at Swad. by 8.40am.
I'll hear the election results when I wake up.
I put my money on Obama, an outcome that would have pleased Catch.

Another highlight - I should reach 7000 hits tomorrow. This without aj, who still has no computer, but did manage to get onto the blogs today as the library gave her an emergency connection, after her connection failed.
Apparently, blogs are not "inappropriate" in an emergency, despite my rather rude title yesterday.
Anyone want to come & celebrate.

Bugger Granville

I think that the title may be a little rude, on reflection.
Anyway, I had a call to go to Granville today, two OK technology lessons before break, two horrible maths lessons after break & then a pleasant afternoon with the bottom year 10 maths group, who were said to be the group from hell.
The two nutters on reception duty, next to my classroom, interrupted me at ten minute intervals during the two horrible lessons, despite my best efforts to keep intruders out.

Anyway, I have shopped on the way home at M&S at Ventura Park & am sitting in the lounge with a large cup of tea & two toasted pikelets & cheering up no end.
We are planning to go to see "Quantum of Solace" tonight, & eat out - escapism!
I hope that we can go to Solihull as it's a cold evening.

Nothing booked for tomorrow yet, so I may get to the gym, being as I chickened out tonight.

Freezing.

No blog since Tuesday as I've fallen asleep every time I've had time to sit down.
On Wednesday we went to Drayton Manor Park with A, J & T.
Thomas Land is brilliant: Harold the Helicopter & Jeremy the plane, rides.
Terence the traction engines to ride on - T jammed the whole circuit several times as he could not relate the steering wheel movement to vehicle movement.
The Thomas trains run to the zoo, where there is a great adventure playground.
J & T tootled around, hand in hand, going on selected rides with B & A.
KP & T soaked up the atmosphere.

On Thursday, B, T, KP & I went to Solihull to buy hats & gloves.
We went to John Lewis for lunch, as a treat. I was a good half way through my brochette & salad when I noticed a rather fine slug crawling across my plate towards me.
Ben was magnificent.
When he had stopped laughing, he took my meal back & we were joined by the head chef & restaurant manager, who gave me a cup of coffee & repaid the price of the meals, with many apologies & filling in of forms.
We went home, B, T & KP set off for home, I went to the hairdressers for a cut & blow dry, had a quick tidy up at home & then drove to Heathrow to meet G.
I arrived in good time & had coffee with Steve's wife as we waited for the plane.

Yesterday we had a lazy day; G was up at 4.30am, blogging & sending e mails.
P, A, J & T came to tea - a toad in the hole worthy of W or B - to catch up with Grandad.

It is another very cold day today.
We had another lazy morning, eventually popping into B'ham to the jewellery quarter for a couple of repairs.
Home for lunch & getting in some logs, since when we have sat in front of a good fire & fallen asleep.
The Grand Prix time trials are on the TV, I have tomorrow's sermon to write.
Perhaps another cup of tea will help.
It is nearly 5.00pm, cold, dark & windy.
We were intending to go to see "Quantum of Solace", but have put it off tonight to avoid the rush.

Snow!

A great day.
I collected J (late!). B came over with T & KP & we did Halloween; we made cakes & did spooky decorations, - KP's had fewer decorations as she ate or at least sucked most of hers, we made an orange jelly & a good pumpkin lantern which we put on the front porch.
We drew, read, did puzzles & even had time to watch "Charlie & Lola", & ate.
The children were all great fun, J with her handbags, being followed around by KP, T opening, closing & questioning the contents of everything with a door & KP with a small improvised walking stick, looking like the Yoda.

This morning was bright but cold, after lunch it rained & then turned into snow, big penny sized flakes, hard & fast for about two hours.
B took T & KP outside with a torch to enjoy the snow when J went home as J had no wellies with her.
I'm sure that A would be game for snowman when they got home - I heard him giving T some design tips!
I do hope that it clears before our Drayton Manor day tomorrow & that it stays dry for the morning.

Happy Anniversary.

Today is our thirteenth wedding anniversary.
It was a bright sunny day in 1995, as it was this morning.
We were married at Shustoke church at about 1.00pm. It should have been12.30pm, but G's family arrived late. Fancy .
I have a rain cheque from G, who is still in India, so we shall be celebrating later - perhaps we'll go out for an indian meal!

I had a lovely morning, playing tennis in the sunshine. I went on to Knowle to take some things to the charity shop, shopped in Tesco (shame!) & went on to the gym, then home.

B is coming tomorrow with T & KP. All is ship-shape & the beds ready. I have even removed the cobwebs from the bathroom that I missed last week & received a complaint from W.
Other peoples cobwebs are always more obvious than your own, for some reason, even to an avid scrubber like me.
J is here tomorrow, I'm sure that J & T will have a lovely day together.
We have pumpkins to carve & spooky fairy cakes to make.

James Munday, the soldier killed in Afghanistan last week, from Coleshill, is to be buried there tomorrow morning .
Security things were happening there today as Prince Harry is attending, apparently.
A place to be avoided, if not involved, I think .

A programme about class, involving John Prescott, is on at 9.00pm.
I want to watch at least a bit of it to remind myself how awful he is - I may not stomach more than a bit.
I have yet to talk to aj about the conspiracy theory regarding the third tower collapse on 9/11.
(programme on BBC last night)
I didn't know that a third building went down.
Did you?

Home Alone.

A quick note.
The Danes have arrived home safely - the highlight of the trip being J boarding the plane by slipping past the security & being found chatting up an air stewardess at the back of the plane.
A chip off the old block!
It was great to have them here for a little while.
I shall miss little J's wake up call of, "Good Morning Grandma" early tomorrow morning.

A Daily Telegraph columnist is on the Karma Enduro rally & writing updates - check out the Telegraph - Motoring, Joy Rainer.
Have a look at G's blog - see link.

The Passport Office sent back my photos from my renewal application as they "I do not appear to have a neutral expression"
These were the spare photos that were done for my visas last year - no lack of neutrality then!
I had more photos taken in the machine in Boots & aimed to have blank thoughts for the full two minutes.
It was a very windy day, I could not find my comb & am a little concerned that my hair apparently had attitude.

The mole is an ex-mole!
Yes!!

DK's first "slot".

Question Time has come to an end - a little disappointing this week - to be followed by yukky This Week. Three know-alls, massaging each others egos.
Time for bed.

We visited Kenilworth Castle this morning, had lunch in the magnificent "Stables" coffee shop, then pottered around the site whilst J climbed, crawled & peered. DK mainly slept.
We had to hang on to the Bugaboo at times due to high winds whistling around the castle.
We came home for a cup of tea, then W & I popped to Solihull to complete his personal shopping & change the wrong trousers for the right ones.
Boots have some very good offers on No 7 - 3 for 2 plus £5 off vouchers plus a free goody bag if spending £15.

We had a good takeaway from The Balti Cottage & collapsed on the settee before bed.

It is very windy this evening, with the occasional shower - a night to stay in.

Moley & chips!

A lovely day with J whilst W & MK took DK to Manchester to see the consultant, or rather for the consultant to see DK.
The news was a little disappointing, requiring a few weeks remedial treatment in Manchester next month.

J & I went to the playing field again & expended a good deal of energy on the assault course, the BMX track & the Teletubby hills before coming home to lunch.
I worded the lunch menu differently today, so that we had the proper Danish lunch of toast, pate & fruit (& smarties) rather than milk & biscuits, as yesterday.
After a quick fix of "Bob the Builder", J had a long sleep, I had a short one!
W & MK arrived home at 5.00pm & we had an early dinner.

Everyone is in bed now; I'm watching the ten o'clock news before retiring.

Two actions of note today:
The mole exterminator laid traps this morning so I live in hope that any moles in the garden are now past their sell by date.
The "No more boom & bust" PM used the word "Recession" twice during PM Question Time.
I think that he may be past his sell by date.

A new blog from Karma Enduro, with some great pictures - see link.

Make the most of tonight, Moley!

Tomorrow the mole catcher/slaughterer is coming before the lawn is totally destroyed.
We took this second option last year & realised that it was a mistake.
Moley is up to fourteen large molehills so far & hard at work with his mini subterranean JCB.
He has had a number of verbal warnings, with no response.
This is war!

W & MK went clothes shopping today which gave me a few hours with J & DK.
We walked to the playing field, or rather J rode his bike without pedals & I jogged alongside.
He did the swings, perfected the assault course & the BMX track before doing a lap of the field & coming home for lunch.
We had milk & biscuits (J's choice), then he had a two hour power nap whilst DK lunched & checked the house out.
G rang at this point. All is going well - check out his progress on the Karma Enduro link - he would appreciate comments.
We have had a relaxing evening & early nights all round (9.30pm & only me left up)
W & MK are taking DK to Manchester tomorrow for a check up.
J & I have plans......