A carbon neutral day.

I may be wrong there, but I didn't go out in the car today & I did a lot of manual tasks.

I hung out the first washing to go on the line this year (+), then did a pile of ironing (-).
The mole was excavating a new hill as I hung out the washing so I got out a spade & a pitchfork with great haste & returned to the "hill".
The spade could not cut through the tough grass, so I resorted to the pitchfork, having dealt with my conscience first. I don't know if I have a mole death on my conscience. Time will tell.
The electricity man came in a big red coat, to read the meter, which we found in the garage (0).
I got ready to go to the gym, but decided that it was such a nice day that I should garden instead.
Four hours later I had done all of the borders around the house, taken four barrowloads of waste up the field & washed the car. The highlight was when an small mammal ran from behind the pear tree just as I was about to rummage in it's hidey-hole. Shreik! (0)
How many calories did that use?
I ran the dyson around a pretty clean downstairs & stairs (-), lit a fire & cooked dinner.(-)

My day in pictures:




Moley, eyes shut. Perhaps he's playing "dead".



Your bonus picture - a cool Jeremy, having a nappy job - soon be out of them!

What happened to Tuesday?

I remembered.
I played with Thomas all day, came home & fell aseep.
We went to bed & were woken up at 1.00am by an earthquake, which gently wobbled the house & then rattled the bedroom window.
G tells me that he was actually woken by me poking him to tell him that there was an earthquake.
That doesn't happen every night!

AJ went on the Ryanair site & booked 1p flights for us. We are going to Dublin in April.
Great!

This morning we spent some time on the internet & phone to each other, booking a hotel.
We have chosen Leesons, near the city centre. Please don't comment that it's rubbish.
We hope that they don't think that wer'e a "hen party"!
I then went to the gym & did the best workout ever, so had to reward myself at M&S with a skinny decaf cappacino (& a piece of cake).
I food shopped, bought a "touch" lamp for G at BHS as his no longer responds to his touch! (familiarity?) & he has to get out of bed every night to turn it off.
These lamps are great as they have three levels of brightness so you can come round gently(unless the wife is awake & talking!)

A request from Kingsbury on the answerphone, to go in for four days during National Science Week.
Brill. Most enjoyable & the holiday paid for.

Diane & Steve came to dinner - salad with pears, walnuts & brie, then baked gammon with normandy potatoes, roast celeriac & garlic(parboil next time, whatever the recipe says) & purple sprouting, followed by lemon cake & coffee by the fire.
All in all, another great day!

We bought this card at the Arboretum on Sunday, for William:

Break today.

A phone call last night from Sandra, the secretary at Granville school gave structure to my day - three science, one maths & a french lesson that all added up to a " bon jour".
A good work out at the gym afterwards & a take-away, collected by G, completed the day.
A slight "cock-up" when G went to the Polash to collect the prawn puri, chicken biryani & pashwari naan when I had (under instruction) ordered it from the Rajrani.
What did we do before mobile phones? (apart from have private time, talk to people we were with, enjoy train journeys, talk in full sentences.......)

Yesterday, G went for a bike ride whilst I took the services at Shustoke & Over Whitacre. We then had brunch - something that we only do about once a year.
We set off in the car to find somewhere different for a walk.
We actually found some foul, cold wet weather at Alrewas, at the National Arboretum.
£10,000 worth of the trees have been destroyed by flooding, so it is not as it should be.
We made a brief sortie around the neareast memorials, then returned to the car to warm up.
We came home, stopping at Aldi in Tamworth, as a treat for me as I had never before stepped in an Aldi.
Not an experience I shall rush to repeat.
Hardly M&S is it?
We ate freshly made scones in front of a nice fire &, presumably, fell asleep.



The view from the bedroom window, yesterday. A hard frost.

Our Aldi purchase, inspired by a row of houses in Bure Park - social housing for tits!

The main memorial, to all those who have lost their lives in the services since World War 11.

weekend, so just a few photos

Four proud mums & one dad!

Friday again

William informed me that no-one reads blogs at the weekend, so this is probably a waste of time.
Never mind.
I didn't blog yesterday as we were at Paula's &, from what I remember, I fell asleep when I got home.
Tonight I am in Bicester, babysitting Tim & KP whilst Ben & Elaine go out to dinner to celebrate Elaine's birthday (25th, I believe)
Not a peep all night.
Tim told me that He was very excited to see me & loved me; what a charmer! KP cried,as usual. I'm working on that .
Thomas entertained me all day today & was his usual cheerful self.
Today he was practising his "ug". He does it very well now.
The journey to Solihull was a little fraught as Blyth road (Shustoke to Coleshill) was closed due to an accident & all traffic was diverted down Castle Lane to Maxstoke.
There is a lot of traffic at 8.00am!
Having tried both roads, I used my local knowledge to approach Maxstoke from the other direction, so managed to jump a lot of the queue & arrive on time.
I'm on B & E's computer, so no pictures tonight.
Have a great weekend folks.

Another relaxing day.

A morning at the gym - lots of people in classes in other rooms, lots of people in the pool whilst I was in the gym, so all very satisfactory. Jeremy Kyle on the TV so the time just flew by.
Then M&S for a pot of decaffeinated tea & a scone, a potter around the shops & home.
I had a cup of tea with Diane, who was here feeding the goats, & then lit a nice fire as it is a cold night.
There is a delicious chicken in the oven, the vegetables prepared & the table laid.
I'm enjoying the fire & watching the news, considering whether to put a bottle of wine on the hearth, it being Wednesday.

Not actually my fire, but similar.

From KP's party, two proud dads & Jessie & Tim admiring the cake.

I think that these last three pictures could be the subjects for a caption competition!

The gas man came.....eventually.

A lazy day.

A long chat with aj on the phone, discussing world politics, blogging, a bath & facepack, bed changing, washing & ironing, cups of coffee, then he arrived.

The boiler is serviced & the valve on the dining room radiator sorted.

I cleaned the bedrooms then made soup, braised red cabboge, potato wedges & coconut rice pudding, all to make a meal including the cold DANISH pork (scrummy).

G is working still.

I shall watch Horizon, on diet/aging - a 92 year old doctor performing open heart surgery, a 104 year old woman weight training in preparation for her daily bike ride.

Apparently, living in Japan helps. I am not prepared to go to such lengths & will have to rely on my genes & healthy living.

I may consider sushi, although I'm not very keen.

I have added the images twice, without success.
Bother.

Monday again.

James, Gina & Oscar left at 11.00am.
It was freezing & the usual avoidance strategies were a little underdeveloped so I ended up doing housework, including all downstairs windows, even the car.
The steam cleaner had its second outing; I did consider serving dinner on the kitchen floor, but it's a little uncomfortable.
I was still hard at it when G came home at 7.00pm. I must admit to have taken time out at lunchtime to look at the blogs & check out possible venues for a family holiday.
Any thoughts on the Gower Peninsula?
I plan to go to the gym early tomorrow as the gas man cometh between 12.00 & 6.00pm - I presume that it will not be a six hour visit, rather that he has a flexible timetable.
This, of course, removes any flexibility from my day.
I have a free week so I'm not complaining - I'm unlikely to be called into school the week after a holiday.
Good. I can choose what to do for a couple of days. - any ideas?

I'll post some more photos tomorrow - blog won't let me today.

A glass of fine shiraz by the fire.

Where did I get to?
Friday evening, I believe, awaiting G, James and Gina.

We all went to Katie Poppie's first birthday party on Saturday pm.
A lovely party, with all of the family. KP looked lovely in red & white check & B & E had prepared delicious food, home made bread, cakes & savouries.
G took 140 photos!
Here are a few - grandchildren + Evie, in chronological order:

Evie.

Thomas, this sticker from Jessie's comic entertained for quite a while.

Katie Poppy - birthday girl, with new "baby"

Jeremy, he sent his apologies - he was in Norway with his Mum's family, on a skiing holiday.

Oscar, looking for mischief.

Tim, learning how to handle a yoyo.

Jessie, enjoying a yoghurt after all that rich food.

Today, church, roast pork (left the scrummy sage & onion stuffing in the oven) & anice walk in the sunshine with J, G & Oscar.
Supper by the fire & a little blogging.

And finally, that's it. Over for another year!

(Is this better, William?)

Friday, granny-day.

Up early to make some fairy cakes to take with me to P & A's for a day with Jessie & Thomas.
We have written, drawn, disco danced, chased each other, decorated (& eaten) the cakes & been out for an hour's walk. This included races in the park & "pick-ups" when dogs appeared on the horizon.
Thomas mainly fed, cuddled, giggled & slept.
It was a great day.
I am now waiting for G to come home (no change there then) & James, Gina & Oscar to arrive from down South.
No eta's yet so I have persuaded the boiler to light,(thermocouple trouble) lit the lounge fire & had a cup of tea.
Weekend weather is going to be bright & sunny.
Katie Poppie's first birthday party tomorrow with the families (apart from those skiing in Norway)
What more could you want?

CPH to BHX

Last night we had an italian meal. Jeremy was on good form, having had nearly 4 hours sleep after lunch, after a frantic morning of high speed play.

We had an early night, driven by fatigue & danish TV.

This morning we ate, did 2000 jigsaws, ate again (coffee & scrummy danish pastries) & then I persuaded William to take me to the station & put me on the train for the airport, rather than take me to Copenhagen, as the family are flying to Norway this evening for a short break with MK's family.
Two airport trips in one afternoon is a bit excessive, even for William.

I now know CPH pretty well.

We were to fly from gate D103, then changed to gate C23 45 minutes before take-off as the plane had been damaged on the inbound flight & a replacement plane would be quicker than repair.
After 20 minutes it was decided that repair would be quicker than the replacement, so we retraced our many steps to D103.
We eventually took off 35 minutes late, had an excellent flight & landed only 20 minutes late.
G picked me up (therein lies a novel), & so home.
We had olives, pasta & a bottle of fitou in front of the lounge fire, due to a heating problem.
A bit of blogging before bed.




Call that a "Bambino pizza?"

I fancy that bit!


Nearly all gone!

Actually the destination of a fair portion of every pizza on the table could explain the photo on "Little William's World".

I, very sensibly, had pasta with mushrooms, beef, mustard & cream.

Thanks, William. It was great.

How about a few comments,if only "Hi"?

Fat Tuesday

It may be the lunches, the pork, the danish pastries, the wine, or a combination of all of them, but I feel distinctly fat today.
I am not looking forward to the evening ritual of Jeremy baring all of our stomachs in turn, to check that we are "full" at dinner tonight, especially since we plan to go out for a pizza.
This activity is accompanied by a great deal of laughter, which will only draw attention to us & may scare other diners.
It may be possible to avoid this if I don't do it to Jeremy first, I suppose.

We have played manic games for most of the morning, involving running around the house, hiding in corners & shouting "boo", pushing/ riding in a large plastic storage box on wheels, (brought out from under the bed & temporarilly emptied of baby toys, by Jeremy)
For intellectual stimulation we have jig-sawed, read, built houses/towers & watched "The Teletubbies", & "Big cook, Little cook".
J had lunch & slept. William & I had lunch & he is now exercising in the basement.
We have an excursion, on foot, planned for later, arriving at the Pizza restaurant at the same time as MK.
No photos for my critics today, although W did find two videos of the cafe in Roskilde, on my camera. One featured Jeremy, largely. The second featured a chair.
This second one was rather lacking in interest!

Real Danish pastries are low fat.

Not allowed to blog on Sunday - W says that no-one reads blogs at the weekend, only during the week, when, apparently the non-retired are paid for blogging.
Well!
I did make a surrupticious effort, but was detected when W wanted to continue with his work & only my blog was in evidence.
Yesterday we had a wonderful lunch & then went for a long bracing walk.
Danish pork is great, danish TV is not.

This morning J & I have fed the ducks (J ate all of the soft bits of bread, so the ducks didn't do that well), jumped the puddles, run up & down Tele-Tubby mountain, been on the swings, lorry spotted & done the town.
J fell asleep eventually so I went to the bakers (speak english, smile & point) & the supermarket.

We have had a scrummy lunch, done all of the jigsaws, read "Spot the dog" in danish (beat that) & "Fireman Sam" is now showing, causing a lot of giggling.
J has been a poppet & W not too bad.
He is going to post my photos, later.

Ringsted or bust!

I flew to Copenhagen yesterday.
Di kindly took me to BHX & had to pay the pound to get out again as that's the way it is at BHX since the Glasgow bombing.
It took almost the full hour to check in & get through security as the queue was so long - families extending the half term holiday (12 weeks of school holiday out of a 52 week year is not enough!), & rugby fans off to Italy, I surmise.
We took off 1/2 hour late but made up a little time. William met me at the airport & so to Ringsted.
MK is blooming & J is growing in stature & confidence.
We watched J's new "Fireman Sam" (the hero next door) DVD 204 times.
J really likes it!
We ate, drank & fell asleep.
This am T & B dropped in en route for the slopes of Norway. MK, J & I went to a theatrical presentation in the library (a cross between the Pied Piper & "Parsley & thyme"). J loves the library, which is brilliant & so child friendly.
Later we visited Roskilde for lunch & a browse.
We arrived home in time for tea, then relaxed, ate, drank & have now only to fall asleep!
I did take some photos which I will post tomorrow, if they exist.

To boldly go.....

My day has been quiet, gentle, but possibly a little lacking in highlights compared to yours.
My main success is that I have washed everything washable, ironed it & put it away.
My detergent of choice is.........Bold!
I spoke to most of the family
- Jessie collected her first school prize last night, for always having a smile.
- Tim had eaten "boring old shreddies" for breakfast & invited me there & himself here, before the usual long goodbye.
- Jeremy was with morfar for the day, both playing at being ill.
- some folk were at work. Shame.
I did odd jobs & a little light shopping to ensure that my suitcase is full tomorrow when I set off for Denmark.
G has a clean bill of health so all's well.

I expected some comment on the Radley bag. Obviously you all thought that" it suits me, sir".
Question Time is on, from Liverpool. The Labour MP, Andy Burnham, has really strange eyes. Mascara? David Bannatyne looks very bored, otherwise the panel is of little interest.

Did you all have pancakes on Tuesday?
Have you given up anything - treats, bad habits, etc for Lent?
Are you prepared for next Wed (14 Feb)?

Home again, & not even missed!

Aj's laptop wouldn't let me blog last night - a truculent, Yorkshire mouse, I suspect.
I drove to York to see aj on Tuesday am, we had a high-speed gossip & set off, walking, then the top deck of a bus, for the city centre.
A light lunch & some excellent sales shopping in M & S, followed by a market research interview on "Muller yoghurt", the payment for which paid for the shopping.
Did you know that the aforementioned dairy product is made in Shropshire with locally sourced ingredients?
We evaluated possible stands for a country fair, which included a game, throwing balls at a large map of GB, with Shropshire as the goal.
At least I learnt where Shropshire is.
We walked/bussed home for tea (top deck again) & then off to a squash match.
This was at/against the "Next generation" gym. I carried aj's spare racquet to gain access & did my workout whilst aj played (wiping the floor with all opponents)
We all ate in the bar then home by 10.30pm for a glass of wine & bed.

This am we walked to Acomb, did the charity shops then home for an early lunch, before taking aj to the station to go to work in Leeds.
I drove to Wetherby, parked by the river & tootled around the town for a couple of hours.
After long deliberations & a cup of coffee, I bought the Radley bag that Father Christmas had failed to source.
I recommend Wetherby; a lovely drive from York, interesting little shops, friendly locals & a mere hop back onto the A1.
I arrived home with wonderful healthy food to cook for dinner (salmon, Thai style).
G had not missed me.
He had been busy.
He did really, but I hadn't answered my mobile phone.

I shall just blog the pictures one day & you can make up the day!

Monday again!

Well, my Friday blog wasn't worth a single comment, even with photos.
Never mind, I will blog on, despite the seeming indifference to my efforts.

Saturday was cold, wet & windy; we stayed in all day, doing things.
G ventured out in the evening to fetch a takeaway (prawn puri, chicken biryani & peshwari naan), which we devoured in front of a roaring fire, with a nice bottle of wine.
Delicious.

Sunday was Candlemas,named because of all of the candles in the temple in Jerusalem where Jesus was presented when he was 40 days old.
If the sun shines on Candlemas tradition says that winter will continue for 6 weeks.
No problem there then!
Middle USA has Groundhog Day - they come out from hibernation, if the sun is shining they go back for 6 weeks.
Fancy.
Sunday was very cold, wet & windy.
We went for a bracing walk around Kingsbury Water Park, coming home to stew & dumplings to warm up.

Today I dysoned upstairs & down; this took 400 Kcals(I hope) & 3 hours.
I did errands in Coleshill & then took the G car to The Ring of Bells for them to listen to the squeak under the bonnet.
Luckily it was squeaking for England when I arrived & it only took an hour to identify the cause & book it in for next week.
Shopping was seriously curtailed by this, but I did get to the gym by 4.31pm & worked off a few grammes of fat (no doubt from a most inconspicuous bit)

A gale is blowing, Piers Brosnan is advertising L'oreal, "because he's worth it" & baked beans now come in one portion, microwaveable pots.
Whatever next?
A bite of a chocolate cookie for the best suggestion.

Sun, wind, rain, snow & Thomas.

Instruments of torture.

The best egg whisk / stress monitor (it vibrates!)

Not this much, really.

Would you leave this & go out in the cold?

I have had a lovely relaxing day.
I ironed seven shirts + lots of unskilled articles & now have no ironing whatsoever to do.
Beat that!
Thomas came to play; we played mainly with the egg whisk, rubber mobile phone & telegraph magazine. We read a fair bit, watched "The Antiques Roadshow"(circa 1990) & ate.
We wrapped up well & took a turnaround the block in the cold & wind, which did us both a great deal of good. T slept throughout & for the following half hour, I improved my circulation.
At teatime it suddenly snowed very hard, which Thomas found absolutely fascinating; he was still staring out of the window when P arrived in the snowstorm, which was apparently limited to Hollylands.
Strange.
I spoke to Tim (& E) on the phone. Tim finds the conversation very funny & giggles most of the time, attempts to extract information & concludes with at least 20 "byes".
He's right. It is really funny..
E is much more lucid!
G was planning a night out, but we settled for dinner in front of the fire, in the lounge & an early night.