Where's the cuckoo?

Today is the last day of April.
By this time we are usually woken in the mornings by a cuckoo.
There is plenty of birdsong from an early hour, but, as yet, no cuckoo.
Are they voting with their wings in disgust at the weather/the government/ the state of the economy...........?
I think that I fell asleep before I blogged last night - blame Thomas!
We had a charmed day, despite the rain & even managed a couple of hours in the garden in the afternoon, between showers.

A robin kept us company, to Thomas's delight, &, along with the local moggy & passing traffic, caused us to converse for most of the time.
We had soup followed by jacket potatoes filled with bacon & mushrooms for dinner, in order to empty the fridge.
A word of warning - Covent Garden smoked bacon & pearl barley soup (bought by G)
It looks as though it has already been partially digested, brown & thick & lumpy.

Today I went to the gym & then parked at Morrison's, had tea & a scone in M&S & shopped in Solihull.
I bought a pretty perforated little dish by Hartley Green & co, Leeds, in the charity shop, for 95p. I have learnt a little about it from Google - it is known as leedsware.
Anyone know any more?

This isn't it, but a small HG& co dish.

I had to shop at Morrison's as I had parked there, it was disappointing - there was quite a lot of specific goods that they did not have - kleenex, L'oreal hairspray, yorkshire decaf tea, shreddies.........
Back to Sainsburys next time.

A nice bit of haddock for dinner.

The gas man cameth.

A great day on Sunday, up early for a run then church & home to make a chocolate cake for Tim & Jessie to decorate.
Ben arrived with KP & Tim for brunch & Tim's version of "Question Time". We managed to find two loads for the washing machine, which Tim helped to hang on the line.
Tim & KP played on the tractor & "helped" to clear leaves & molehills whilst Grandad tidied the yard, all in bright sunshine.
Paula, Jessie & Thomas arrived later & joined the fun.
We had a very late lunch followed by chocolate cake, by then disguised as a "smartie mountain" - Ben was generous with the smarties.
In the evening, after a quick tidy up, we watched "Malta Story" in b&w, accompanied by large gin & tonics & vegetable crisps.

Today the gas man was booked in for a third attempt to stop the boiler coming on at random times, causing overheating at night.
I planned a day at home to accommodate this, starting with the ironing, to get it out of his way, as the boiler is in the laundry.
Actually,a charming young man arrived shortly after 8.30am, replaced valves & switches & left.
I have the oven insides in the dishwasher, sheets, valances,etc on the line, I have oiled all of the lounge panelling, cleaned all of the mirrors, windows & glass doors, had elevenses & now have to vacuum & put everything back together.
Cleaning the ovens looks very unattractive at the moment, perhaps that's why I had a sudden great desire to blog.
Any offers?

Sat Nap

OK, so no-one blogs at the weekend, but I fell asleep on Thursday & Friday before I got round to turning on the laptop.
A great week altogether, Monday with AJ, two days with Thomas (& Jessie) on Tuesday & Thursday, & two days at Granville, on Wednesday & Friday.
The grandchildren were delightful, Granville was challenging, but fun & I was congratulated on my classroom management by a young teacher assistant, in with a class of "nutters".
Today G & I went to P&A's for G to cosset a mower, then on to Solihull to buy wine in Laithwaites (great deals & mystery cases at the moment, which are always fun + discounts if you ask), a new suit for G & odds & ends in M&S & JS. I did get a severe reprimand for taking too long to buy the fruit & veg!
Home by tea-time (whatever happened to lunch?).G off for a bike ride whilst I put in couple of hours on the ironing board followed by a little light vacuuming.
Four grandchildren are visiting tomorrow & I have a fear of them eating dead (or living) insects off the floor & spoiling their appetites!
I have to make a large chocolate cake in the morning so that J & T can decorate it with smarties, for dessert.
There is a dreadful cold war movie on TV, G is asleep.

April 23, a double celebration.

A phone call at 7.00am from Sandra at Granville school saved me further deliberations as to whether to dress before or after breakfast, in preparation for a leisurely visit to the gym.
As it was, I showered & dressed very quickly & hurried to Swadlincote, without breakfast, for a day's supply teaching.
I had a most enjoyable day, despite getting very little work out of two junkies in year 11 this afternoon.
The weather was glorious from mid-morning onwards, a fact that I am sure played a significant part in 50+ students going on strike at the end of morning break & refusing to return to lessons.
Their reason - the school will not be closing tomorrow - the day of the NUT strike, which is causing the closure of one in three schools, including some local ones.
This classes as a logical decision in Swad.
BS's reaction was equally logical - fixed term exclusion for them all.

I think that this strike is unwarranted, disruptive, organised by militants & supported by the mindless masses of the NUT. It will alienate parents & sets a poor example to students.
Apart from this, I have no strong feelings about the NUT action.

I went to the gym in Solihull after school, but must admit that I fell asleep, briefly, in the car,in the gym car park, whilst listening to the end of a radio programme, before I went in.
I put this down to lack of food - no breakfast & two bananas (small) for lunch.
G came home & mowed the lawns whilst I drank pints of tea & prepared a meal.

Watching "The Apprentice" was the highlight of the evening - most of this batch are talentless, charmless two faced bitches who slag each other off mercilessly.
I cannot believe that they are the cream of the young talent in the UK; I wouldn't want to work with any of them - good TV though.
Come to think of it, I wouldn't want to work with Alan Sugar either.
Perhaps it's a good job I'm out of the workplace.


Not NUT, but he looks like a teacher.
A prize for the most innovative suggestion for "PCS"

Your'e fried!

A live a live o.

A prize for the first person to identify the title & the connection.
I have only one reason for not blogging yesterday or earlier tonight.
I have been asleep.
Not since yesterday evening, but whenever I have sat down with the opportunity to blog.
I don't know how to overcome this, having given up working & devoted myself to domesticity, family, holidays & exercise.
Any ideas?

Yesterday AJ & I made a late start after a few domestic chores, then drove to Kenilworth, Solihull & Knowle, tootling around the shops, & enjoying a coffee break at M&S in Solihull.
Following up on William's suggestion, I would rate this M&S as 9/10 - large, bright & airy with a good atmosphere, a large food hall & a great Cafe Revive.
I have one niggle - the M&S car park charges £2 minimum. Sainsburys, opposite M&S, pays this amount if you spend £25 & present your ticket. M&S gives no concession.

AJ went home today, I had a great day with Jessie & Thomas, drawing, colouring, reading, playing pretend & and spending an hour in the playground in the park. Jessie is intrepid - down the longest slide, legs thrown over the sides, scooting the roundabout round, fully loaded, scary heights on the swing....
Thomas has pretty effective ways of trying to prevent removal from a swing.
The evening has been spent asleep, eating gravalax salad & pasta & sleeping again.
G went for a bike ride, ate & has slept soundly since then.
He is talking about a cycling holiday in Africa next year!
I can think of only one response. Why?

Also,
A belated "Happy Birthday to ER for yesterday - we did drink to her last night.
Charles & Camilla were in Birmingham to open the refurbished Town Hall today & well received.
The bin men are on strike tomorrow for more pay so there will be a lot of Moet & Chandon bottles awaiting collection outside in Corporation Street tomorrow.
I don't think that these last two events are connected!

I'm back!

From Dublin's fair city, where AJ & I have had a great few days, seeing the sights & even drinking an odd half pint of guinness.
We arrived early on Wednesday, boarded a bus at the airport to be told by the driver that he didn't know where he was going "because of the funeral" - Patrick Hillery, ex-president, a state funeral at the RC cathedral.
A good start!
We walked the last mile or so to Leeson street, the far side of St Stephen's Green, to the hotel.
Armed with our "DK Eyewitness guide", we walked 5/6 miles a day, taking in all of the recommended sights in the city:

AJ, on a balcony at Powerscourt shopping centre, developed inside a grand mansion, built as a family home in 1774.

The beginning of a farmers' demonstration the Lisbon treaty/ Mandelson, arranged for day 2, to again confuse bus drivers.

Bewlays cafe, the third floor theatre. Just a room really, where there is a production every lunchtime - 15 euros, including lunch. A two women play of mistress & her "daily help".

Excellent.

Trinity College, which houses the magnificent "Book of Kells"

A two mile walk on another cold, blustery day.

The 14 euro entrance was a rip-off.

The best part was the view from the roof of the tower, whilst we drank a small guinness.

The remaining bit of the old city wall, adjacent to St Audoen's Church, the oldest medieval church in the city.

AJ, visiting the former home of Oscar Wilde, facing Merrion Square, with a lovely garden & a statue of OW looking back at the house.

M&S on Grafton street, a most wonderful example of an M&S store, a good match for Brown Thomas, a very upmarket store opposite.

We visited the art galleries, museums, pubs, bridges & all sites of note - a great city for a short break.

Ready for anything....

Not a lot to report, did the Times Travel Magazine comp, hung the washing out (that took a degree of faith ), vacuumed the house from top to bottom & then went to the gym.

I did the full work out, 10 minutes in the spa pool as it was vacant & it is very relaxing.
A quick trip to Solihull to take things to the Charity shop then tea & the obligatory scone in M&S

I bought 3 "count on us" diet meals (for the price of two), prawn crackers(BOGOF) & came home.
The mole had made one large & 5 small mole hills overnight, all on the bald patches where we had cleared the other mole hills yesterday.
When I went to get the washing in he was just digging a seventh hill so I attacked violently with a pitchfork then listened carefully for the sound of mole laughter (a little like mouse laughter only more throaty)
I could never attack a terranian animal in this way, but this appears to be a victimless crime & this beast has made us suffer.
Time will tell if I need to consult my conscience.(mole hill count tomorrow)

I then raked the grass & leaves off the top lawn - G had mown it without the collector for the first cut - because of G's terms of endearment as he left for work, "if you want some exercise you can......."
Fortunately there was a downpour after an hour so I could retreat to make a cup of tea.
I took G to the NEC so that he could enjoy an evening of fine food, good company & entertainment, then drove home to eat my diet meal, a glass of sauvignon blanc & fell asleep.
There's a little ironing to do before bed, now I have my "second wind".

Ikea & elephants.

On the promise of my first ever visit to Ikea, we went to Coventry on Saturday morning to collect W's car from the adjacent car park, where G left it on Friday night.
We had coffee, spent £3.45 in the store & rather more in the food shop - interesting, but not aimed at the likes of us.
Not knowing where we were & seeing a familiar church spire we went for a short walk & found ourselves in the city centre, headed for the Belgrade Theatre & bought tickets for the evening performance of "Elephant" - a UK/S. African production of song & dance with "enough charm to stop a rhino".



We drove home, G arriving before me as I took a detour into the Ikea car park (kind young man moved the bollards & let me out) & a number of suburbs before finding Coundon & the way home.
I always found Coventry confusing!
I spoke to Ann at length in the afternoon - I was wrong, she does not have a big birthday until 2009 - we caught up on the news, & I finished today's sermon - The Good Shepherd.
Ask me anything you like about shepherding in Judaea.


We went back to Coventry to the theatre, which was very good & then to Spon Street for an excellent Indian meal.
We were surprised at how quiet Spon St was when we arrived at about 10.00pm; it did not disappoint by the time we had eaten it was heaving with clubbers, many scantily clad for a chilly evening!

Today, I took Morning Prayer at Sh & OW, G cleaned gutters. After a bowl of soup, we spent the afternoon in the garden tidying up & moving mole hills.
A good weekend altogether, although G still has a tummy bug - the curry did not prove to be a cure!
I made some rock cakes to "tempt him".

Happy Birthday Ann.

I think that I am right in the belief that WRM's big sis has a big birthday today. In this belief I have been to see her (out) & left a card & flowers.
En route I spent two & a half hours at the gym followed by tea & a scone in M&S & a little food shopping.
I am pleased with my efforts in the gym - 20 min on X-trainer
30 min on treadmill
30 min on bike
5 min on rowing machine
+ 30 stretches on the sitting down "leg" things (abs?)
then a minimum of 10 lengths in the pool, depending on numbers in the pool/time/energy.
I reckon that must be at least 10 digestive biscuits.
Today I went in the Spa afterwards, as it was empty.
It was great!

G is out tonight so I shall have an even quieter evening than usual & possibly watch a "Miss Marple" as the TV on Fridays is usually very poor.

I regret wishing that the weather would get warmer as it has had the opposite effect - cold with hail/sleet storms at regular intervals. i.e. dry intervals matching those I spent in the car.
It is bright & sunny now that I am inside, but still cold.

A good drying day.

Another lazy day, full of good intentions.
Yesterday I bought the Sunday Times travel magazine - an indulgence at £3.40 - which had three competitions, one of which could be entered on line.
I made the poor decision to log on shortly after breakfast & then spent most of the morning on line.

I did learn that Bali has four lakes & that Lake Bratan has caves along the banks, dug out & lived in by Japanese during World War 11. (comp 2)

Otherwise, I did loads of washing which dried beautifully on the line so that I could iron it all & replace/put it away& cleaned upstairs
I ventured to Coleshill. The car thermometer said that it was 13C - it was certainly much colder in the open, with a cold wind - the snowman hasn't yet all melted.
I would like it to warm up now.

G has a bad stomach & has suggested that last night's dinner poisoned him, despite the fact that we both ate exactly the same & I'm fine.

He has refused to eat tonight & gone to bed early!

I think that most gastric problems are caused by putting dirty fingers in your mouth.

Self indulgence.

I had a great day with Thomas yesterday, including a very long walk around the park & local area & a visit to M&S food.
Unfortunately I left my purse in Thomas's pram.
I was very low on fuel, but, because there was a lot of traffic, I decided against filling the car with diesel on the way home, which would have been a little embarrassing with no means of paying.
I realised what I had done when I got home & so I started the day with a rather fraught journey to P & A's to collect my purse, with only 30 miles of fuel left which fell to --- before I arrived.
P assured me that A often drives around with --- fuel, which cheered me up & I did make it to Sainsburys to fill up & then on to the gym.

Grandchildren must keep you fit as I did an extra 10 minutes on each machine without realising how long I'd been working. I even managed extra time on the rowing machine. Beat that!
I went to M&S for a decaf tea & a cheese scone & then looked for a wedding outfit for a family wedding next month, but found little inspiration. (G says no M&S!)
I bought some scrummy food/fish & vegetables & came home for a cup of tea.

This is for Tim.
This is as good as any that I saw, but not for me!

I only ate the one, honestly.

A good evening's sleep.

We awoke to bright sunshine & about 2 inches of beautiful, powdery snow this morning.

We got up early to make the most of the snow before it disappeared.



After breakfast G fashioned wellies/overshoes for Tim from thick polythene & tape & we did a little sledging before utilising much of the snow on the top lawn to make "Dennis" - complete with carrot nose & ginger nut* eyes, mouth & eyebrows, assisted by Ben & Steve.


Tim rode the tractor around,collecting snow in the bucket, but found the snow too cold to handle. (I did have the advantage of my best rubber gloves!)

By lunchtime most of the snow had gone. We enjoyed a leisurely lunch of roast beef followed by spotted dick & coffee with a celebratory chocolate cake; KP & Thomas joined in for the first time.
(small portions, low fat suet & having a no-diet day)

Between lunch & tea we walked to the sports field where all of the children enjoyed half an hour on the play equipment.

We have since cleared up & I have had a snooze on the settee, waking in time to see the final episode of "He killed coppers".

Time for bed, said Zebedee!


*The ginger nuts that I made yesterday that Ben decreed "not fit for purpose".The birds may enjoy them.

A prize for the first person to identify the origin of each picture And Dennis's surname.

Hi-jacked!

G is now a blogger!
Friday, I worked my socks off cleaning & polishing everything in sight & then went to Kenilworth to shop, for a change. It's a pleasant drive & about the same distance as Solihull with nice little shops & a good Sainburys with free parking.
JS had sent G a "burthday present" of a voucher for a box of chocolates, again, which I collected. Why don't they send me a pressie for my birthday since I'm the customer - G never darkens their doors.
We went to "Cineworld" in Solihull & saw "Vantage Point" - an attempted assassination of the US President seen from a number of vantage points.
Good, not great.
We had a portion of fish & chips from Coleshill on the way home as G was not hungry (I was!), consumed with a bottle of chardonnay.
I liked Cineworld, G did not.
It is like a small Star city but less threatening, with an integral car park.

Saturday, we went to Solihull for G's appointment at D & A (opticians). I had half an hour to shop then we went to Bromsgrove to collect a part from Paul Matty, for the lotus.
G was so long in the spares department that I sold two elises whilst I was waiting for him.
Could this be a new career?
I was considering becoming a central heating installer as I find that I have a natural bent for boilers & valves - last weeks episodes involving British Gas were highlights of my retirement.

B,E T &KP arrived at tea-time.
B was delighted with his apple peeling & coring machine that we brought back from Denmark.
B & E went out for a romantic dinner, we had shepherds pie on the settee, followed by coffee cake.
G has a sore thumb from over-use of the Powerball. I hope that his muscles build up with some haste otherwise life could get ugly.
He is encouraging me to "have a go".
I think that two sore thumbs in the house is enough for one weekend!
A big family Sunday lunch tomorrow;; well - hung ribs of beef.
I may ask B to make the yorkshire pudding as his are brilliant, much better than mine, of late.

burthday

My 'powerball' arrived today so I now have a sore thumb from exercising it and trying to perfect the spinning technique. 10213rpm achieved so far!. An interesting gift - thanks to W,K&J for sending it.
Got half way though the first strip of mowing and down came the hailstones - got soaked for my trouble so packed up.
Had my eyes tested a.m. no change there so just cost me most of this morning after I had plotted the route for October's Karma Enduro locating all the stops with latitude and longitude. Some of the names were really quite impenetrable.
P,A,J&T + B,E,T+KP for lunch tomorrow - hopefully it will not snow and I can get out for a ride a.m. and get the mowing completed.
Geo.

The gas man cameth....again

No blog yesterday as it was the most uneventful/boring day I can remember.
The gas man was due to come between the hours of 9.00am & 1.00pm.
I did things*, like ironing & tidying for an hour & then went on t'internet to make the final selection of a holiday cottage, armed with the "AA book of Britain's coastline", to check out destinations
British Gas phoned just after 1.00pm to make their weekly enquiry as to why we have changed suppliers.
I explained that it was to ensure that I had a weekly phone call from them, having been ignored for the previous 20+ years, that the new supplier was cheaper & could they find out where the gas man was who should have visited before 1.00pm.
I was offered a phone number.
The gas man did arrive at about 1.30pm,gave me an overview of his daily habits, including the fact that he had not woken up until 9.30am.
I gave tea & sympathy (effects of changing the clocks/global warming on the older man) & he found the motorised valve that was sticking & gave us back the power to control the boiler.
This was one of the two valves that was such a mystery to the gas man on Tuesday.
It was nearly 3.00pm by the time this little adventure concluded, it was a cold, grey day, so I returned to the lap top to complete the cottage selection & do battle again with the "Good Housekeeping" site,which refuses to acknowledge my subscription number (written by the address on the postage sheet.
I filled in all of the boxes in triplicate to highlight this problem & eventually received an e-mail giving my subscription number.
This bears no relationship to any number anywhere on anything! Please explain.
I haven't yet attempted to use this number, it may be a joke!

I had scrambled eggs on Oatmeal, a banana & sauvignon blanc for tea as G was out.
Hardly foie gras, but very enjoyable.

I am going to the gym now.
I have prepared a casserole for dinner & was going to clean the outside of the downstairs windows before I went, but my new chamois leather has migrated from the laundry, I suspect that it is in the garage, but am fast losing the incentive to care, despite it's initial cost.
(All of this before 9.00am - I could handle a full-time job)
Have a great day!

*A display at the Viking Museum in Roskilde explained that the Vikings called their meetings "Things" & had various heirarchies of "things".
This gave credibility to a wonderfully useful word, much used by my mother, Auntie Norah &, increasingly, by me.

Happy Birthday George.

Thomas today. He was his usual fun self, ate drank gurgled, cuddled, kicked & slept(briefly)
Alongside this, the gas man came to give a quote for a new, condensing boiler.
This involved counting the radiators(3 times, as he kept forgetting), measuring the house by putting his mobile phone on walls here & there, & counting the number of motorised valves.
To do this necessitated removal of a panel in the kitchen ceiling & several phone calls to G & Ben. Gas man couldn't see the valves from the airing cupboard or the hole in the kitchen ceiling.
G, Ben & I all guessed that we were a two valve household, so he did a quote for one & two.
He left after an hour & a half, stressed; it took half an hour to clear up.

British Gas phoned shortly afterwards to ask why we had left them after 20+ years.

A gas man is coming tomorrow to mend the boiler clock hat was replaced two weeks ago, two weeks after having been mended.
I think that British Gas may be getting their own back by keeping me housebound for weeks on end.
The guy on the phone thought that this was unlikely.

Tonight P & A came to dinner to celebrate G's birthday, which we enjoyed.
The birthday cake was a banana cake , for a change & we ate a lot of fish.
G's cards seemed to have an ageist theme.
Fancy!



Yesterday I did paperwork, the gym & shopping in Solihull.
I decided that fruit from Morrisons was disappointing so I parked at M&S & shopped both there & in Sainsburys, who do pay for 2 hours parking if you spend £25.
No problem there.
I fell asleep before I could blog - sorry.

I still have to book a holiday cottage, Dorset or Devon, 4 bedrooms, near the beach.
Any ideas?