Welcome, President Obama.

I hope that the summit goes well & puts the world on the road to economic recovery.
I know little about such things, but surely with all that talent around one table, something should be achieved.
Anyway, to more important matters.
Tomorrow is G's birthday, he has a dental appointment, how else would you celebrate?
We shall go on to have a nice lunch somewhere & on to Bicester to see the family.

What are you doing? as twitter says - I would tweet but have only ever got on to the right page by accident.
I'm sitting on the settee, aching in a lot of places, having gardened in the sunshine until 6.00pm. This involved a lot of kneeling down & bending.
It also involved digging up a rather cross bumble bee & a hibernating newt & getting bitten on the face by a nasty bug, causing a big swelling.
When I came in, I decided that standing up jobs would cure the aches & pains.
I vacuumed then steam cleaned the floors downstairs.
You could eat your dinner off them, but, as W once told me, this is not a widely prefered method of dining.
Anyway, if you fancy eating off a floor, this could be your chance!

We have eaten vegetable moussaka & salad & finished Sunday's wine (off plates, W was right, as usual)

Tom Wilson was on the TV last night, talking about the "wooden horse"escape mission during World War 11, of which he was a part. A remarkable man.

Nice photos, thanks G.


Monte Carlo


The Old Town.


Antibes.


The beach.


Monte Carlo, again.

It was very Nice.

We have just spent five days in Nice.
We stayed in a family hotel just off Place Massena, in the attic, en suite.
Not luxurious, but a real bargain.
We have walked miles, sunbathed on the beach, window shopped & done the old & new town.
We visited Monaco where we walked the grand prix circuit & had the most expensive sandwich & beer in the universe.
We went to Antibes, walked from end to end & back again & had a picnic on the beach.
The town is beautiful but the Picasso museum was closed.
Yesterday we walked as far as the airport & then took a bus along the coast to Cagnes sur Mer. Despite walking for miles around the town we couldn't find the bus to the old town to go to Renoir's house & garden. It was just too far to walk!
Last night there was torrential rain which continued this morning.
Photos later.
We are home & settled, washing done & lawns mown.
Tennis tomorrow. Clocks to be put forward & e-mails checked.
Must phone aj to discuss.

Happy Birthday B C Eng Mi Mech E.

Just known as Timothy 33 years ago, of course.
After a few days we were aware that he didn't look at all like a Timothy & changed it to B.
The other bits are later additions, which no doubt, my technical acumen had some imput (discuss).
Anyway, Have a fantastic day.

We went to The Talbots for dinner last night, hence no blogging time.
Tennis, gym, boxes of books to the Charity Shop & a little housework.
We had the loft extra-insulated, with the help of a government grant (thank you Gordon) & G spun.

Moley is back - side lawn for a change.

Thanks for the lovely Flowers, the house smells wonderful.
I am planning my vegetable plot, thanks to a weighty tome from B,E,T&KP.

Happy Mothering Sunday.

We have had a great day.
I took Morning Prayer at Shustoke & Over Whitacre, popping home between services to put a large chicken in the oven.
G was out, having cycled to the old Fort Dunlop to watch/photograph A abseiling down the building, for charity..
Well done A!
P,A, J & T along with B,E, T & KP came to lunch, then played in the garden, then the children had pizza & we all had tea & B's birthday cake.
(I have coloured icing - now taking commissions!)
They all went home for baths & bed, I cleared up & we are watching "The Antiques Roadshow".
Whilst in the "magic wood" at the top of the field, B & T found a dead weasel with a dead mouse between its paws.
Strange.

Today is Mothering Sunday - the 4th Sunday of Lent, when, traditionally, people went to their "Mother Church" to worship. Youngsters in service, apprentices & the like were given the day off to go home & join their families.
"Mothers' Day" is an American celebration of motherhood, celebrated on the 2nd Sunday in May, matched by Fathers' Day in June.

I cannot label the photos as the Hmtl (whatever that is) is playing up.
Sorry.
Top one is from G's 'Catchphrase' collection - intended to be "holding down a job" - other interpretations possible!
Help, please.

So far, so good.

We have branched out tonight, having prawn puri followed by chicken dhansak & pashwari naan.
How adventurous is that?
After all of that excitement I fell asleep for about an hour, waking up in time for "Question Time" Tessa Jowell MP appears to have aged considerably.
A possible candidate for "10 years younger"
Perhaps there could be a series rejuvenating opposing MPs (after the twins series)

This morning I dropped G at P&A's for him to do some filling prior to the decorator coming. Against the odds, I then managed to drive back to the gym, alone, with no one to tell me how to drive the car.
After a good work out, I went to the dentist to have my latest broken molar repaired. This will actually need a crown & will cost £400. An aching jaw followed by a pain in the pocket!
We came home for a light, late lunch then G set about servicing A's mower whilst I went to clean the Church, with Maurice.

I went on "Twitter" last night, as requested by W.
I didn't manage to twitter, but it e-mailed me, so I must have been recognised.
Strangely, W was not listed & B had no followers.
I keep nodding off; I shall go to bed.

Stuff beta blockers.

Having been on half-dose beta blockers for two weeks, I had my BP measured this morning - lower than usual - so I'm off them for a two week trial.
Great.
I went on to play tennis.
One of the first requirements is to move your feet, to be in position to hit the ball.
My feet refused to move today.
This may be as a result of the day gardening yesterday or because my legs are reacting badly to the load or because my body was taken by surprise at being expected to play tennis on a Wednesday.
Anyway, I was rubbish.
After lunch, G cycled to Lichfield to collect the replacement shower head & I went in the garden to clear the rockery.
G returned 4 hours & 3 barrowloads of waste later & complained that "that was not 4 hours work"
OK, so I did have a short chat to aj on the phone whilst the circulation returned to my legs.
I did a further hours work while G made a cup of tea & showered.
I ironed & cooked the dinner.
Whilst doing this I calculated that I could make up the required hours of work whilst G cycles in Zambia & dives in Egypt.
I now have to go on "twitter" as recommended by W.

First Cut

Not one of the grandchildren!

G lit the bonfire last night.

Shortly afterwards there was a phone call from a friend in the village who had received a phone call from a concerned villager who thought that there was a house fire in the vicinity.

A day in the green gym.

O & J at the Christening - escape tactics worked!

T, in party gear.

After the event.

Speech!

(That's the back of my head - style gone)

That's a G term that I really don't like, so, a day in the garden.

I am always amazed at how knackering gardening really is. We went out at about 9.30am, stopped for elevenses, on the job, we stopped for soup & a hot cross bun at 1.30pm, Dugdale's agent came at 2.30pm to set the new blackmail level.

Intriguingly, he is a very confident young man who has a patch over one eye. I forget his name; we do have a number of "familiars" for him.

We knocked off at 5.30pm & I spent the next hour in a hot bath reading my latest Wilbur Smith, Warlock.

We have since eaten fish with a pile of vegetables & a bowl of fruit.

We both have doctor's appointments tomorrow; Me to have my BP checked, after two weeks on half dosage tablets, G for a blood test to check his cholesterol. (nil by mouth after 10.00pm)

Hopefully not a sign of things to come.

I'm going on to play tennis & G is going to cycle to Lichfield to collect a part for the shower, navigating the tow paths.

Achievements: we have tidied the hedges in the field, raked out all of the debris, cleared every last leaf, even going so far as to move the trailer to clear that area.

The tyres were a bit flat, necessitating using a tow rope on the volvo to pull it out. We pushed it back but found that it stuck, with no obvious obstruction, until G realised that it was still attached to the car!

Thank God we didn't manage to move it, we could have run ourselves over, leaving four orphans!

And so, to bed.

I'll see if the pictures will blog tonight.

Yet another "bad hair" day.

I've shampooed my hair twice now, so it is well & truly back to its normal state - don't battle with nature, it always wins - eventually!
We did a short break weekend in Leatherhead, prompted by the twins' Christening.
We went down on Saturday morning, to J's Practice so that G could have treatment on his back & neck.
Rejuvenated, we had an excellent lunch at "The Grumpy Mole" somewhere between L'head & Bookham, then found our hotel. The Satnav took us down a field track & in through a back entrance. Apparently, this is because the road that the hotel is on is unadopted.
Satnavs will not recognise roads unless they have a clearly defined parentage!
Anyway, it was charming, excellent value & did a very good breakfast - "Little Bookham Grange". Highly recommended.
We later visited the church, church hall, G's sister, Wagamamas & the theatre in Guildford to see "A song at twilight", with Peter Egan. We did both fall asleep during the performance (me, only briefly, G, long & sound)

On Sunday we visited an old friend of G's parents, in L'head, delivered the Christening cake & bubbly to the church hall & met P, A, J & T for lunch at a local pub. They all behaved impeccably!

The Christening went well, apart from The main players arriving rather late & the vicar christening both twins "S". Dissension from the congregation stopped him & he put things right.
There was a good turn out with a tea party to follow.

I played tennis this morning for a couple of hours in warm sunshine,then went on to the gym for a swim.
Shopping & getting home just took too long, G had mown all of the lawns & gone to his spinning class (hungry), - I passed him en route, at tea time, having promised to be home with a scrummy late lunch.
Apparently, 5.00pm is not a late lunch.
Oh dear!

"It" won't let me add any images - I'll try tomorrow.

Some premature comedy

An itinerant pheasant - mole unavailable.

G, back....

& front.

My new style, back,

& front.

Right, the photos have it!

We got up early (8.00am) & went for a bike ride around Maxstoke, which was very pleasant.

G eventually went on for a further ride in the Atherstone direction whilst I washed & cleaned the car, vacuumed & made the Christening cake.

This came from the Good Housekeeping cookbook & consists of two layers, each containing a bar of G & B 72% chocolate, 6 eggs & 1lb of butter, amongst other things.

No problem with cholesterol there then!

I have since filled & iced it, with more chocolate, cream & sugar.

G supervised the icing

We are now talking again!

Just the final decorating to do .

In between, I went to the hairdressers for nearly three hours & a day's wages, to be totally transformed - foils & straighteners.

My hair has not had so much attention since the days of curly perms in the 80's.

G doesn't like it. I love it. He says that it will be better in the morning - of course hair always looks better when you have slept on it!

Our joint attack on Moley yesterday, when we spotted him digging, was a failure. There is another mole hill today. Bother.

We have watched The Apprentice - Comic Relief, disappointing. Too many egos there.

Question Time is discussing training ex-bankers to be teachers in 6 months rather than a year.

On Tuesday a tutor supervising a student at Kingsbury admitted that the course actually took 28 weeks, the rest is holiday, so no great change really.

They must be trained to cope with long holidays (discuss)

Apparently, Elevenses are dying out, along with Harvest Festivals, May Day Celebrations & Morris Dancing, according to The Daily Express.

What do they know?

Finally, I should like to recommend Daz. I bought some last week as Somerfield had no Bold.

It smells really good & comes in magic orange bubbles.

Pictures it is then!

A poster in Lichfield - G was amused!

Only one comment, & that noting that there were no pictures on yesterday's blog.
How about a note of appreciation on the days that there are pictures?
OK, I'm just being touchy.
I went to Sutton Coldfield this morning, to find a specialist cake shop in Boldmere High Street, in order to buy "things" for the Christening cake.
I went on to Sainsburys to buy "things" to make the cake ( G&B chocolate, icing, sugar, etc, etc),
then drove home along the route I used to use & came upon a dead end, where the M6 Toll road has cut through,
Well. Fancy that!
I had to back track & find another route.
It made me realise how long it is since I shopped in Sutton, & why.
Anyway, I have a kitchen piled high with scrummy ingredients, a mental note from James Martin in "Good Food", that good quality 70% cocoa solids chocolate is better for baking than cocoa (fancy!) & a morning set aside tomorrow for baking.
Watch this space.
I will post a photo of the result.

I dried the washing on the line, made a joint attack on moley, with G - he with a spade, me with a pitchfork - as we noted that there was a new molehill emerging on the top lawn, ironed , changed the bed & made a cottage pie.
G cleaned the Lotus & took it for an MOT. IT PASSED! HURRAY! G did have to accept that it was Mrs N's car from school as I taught most of the staff at Kingsbury garage & have taken it there for the last 8 years.

G dropped me at the gym at tea-time & went on to P's to do things & collect his bike, abandoned there last Friday. He picked me up 3 hours later, we came home, ate the cottage pie with lots of green vegetables, drank a bottle of the aforementioned M&S tempranillo (G drank most of it) & finished off a chocolate cake with our coffee.
Not particularly low fat, but very nice.
Not too much to do now before bed to read "Warlock" by Wilbur Smith.
Both G & I are reading this & I am intent on finishing first.
Now to post some pictures.
Why do they always appear at the top of the blog rather than down here?

Is there anyone out there?

If you just click over the "comments" at the bottom of the blog, you will be able to put any comment you like on my blog, which will make me very happy as I will know that there is someone out there who reads my blog.

Today I paid the long promised visit to Kingsbury School.
I took a tray of cakes, hot from the oven, to be sure of a warm welcome.
It was great to see everyone, despite feelings being rather flat due to the proposed changes in staffing that have recently been muted.
Karl will be on Paternity leave in May, which I have been asked to cover - a chance to catch up on the state of play & earn enough to pay for the Easter holiday.
G dropped me off, booked the Lotus in for an MOT at Kingsbury garage & visited the office in Dosthill.
Later we went to Lichfield, primarily to buy a shower head from the firm that supplied the new bathroom fittings & to find some cake decorations for the christening cake.
We ordered the shower bit, but, unfortunately, the cook shop only had Christmas decorations & Easter chicks.
We visited the Arthur Price factory shop, just because it was there & sounded interesting.
We bought a couple of Ian Rankin & Wilbur Smith books in a charity shop, found a fascinating antique jewellery shop & had lunch in "The Scales"pub (fish & chips x 2 for £6)
It was market day, but very quiet in Lichfield. We tasted a sample of "home cooked Indian food in the market, which was delicious, hence we have enormous onion bhajis & curry for dinner, when G gets home from his spinning class.

The Global Warming conference in Copenhagen reports that sea levels will rise much more quickly than the 3mm per annum previously calculated.
I think that I will get my wellies in from the garage before I go to bed.

March brings breezes.......

It certainly did today.
Despite that, we had a good game of tennis this morning at Coleshill. I went on to Knowle & then the gym for an hour or so & a nice shower & change of clothes.
In the Acorn shop I bought a very charming "Mr & Mrs Rabbit" made by Ellgreave pottery in Burslem in 1947. They are about 9" tall, brown, green & white.
The pottery is known for making piggy banks. I can't find any more about the rabbits.
Does anyone else know anything?
I did some shopping, had my bargain coffee & cake in M&S & got home before 6.00pm.
A very pleasant day all in all.
G went to his spinning class. I did the ironing & cooked dinner.
I have had further calls from Kingsbury school - I plan to visit tomorrow if there are no better offers on the table.
They do seem to have more problems than I could have imagined.

On to more important things;, I didn't sleep at all yesterday & slept very well last night. I think that I may have stumbled onto the secret for sleeping beyond 5.30am.
I haven't slept today so may not wake up until lunchtime.

My honorable readership

Grandad G........smiling Still smiling.

Oxford has some really nice shops - just one worth a visit.

The Radcliff infirmary is now just two enormous piles of rubble, to be replaced by University buildings.

Well.
Comments from both Gord & Al, but, "fine words butter no parsnips" as we yokels say, so until something is done about interest rates I shall continue to hold my rather low opinion of the "dubious duo".
Yesterday morning G & I awoke in Bicester, unsurprisingly as that is where we went to bed, having babysat for B & E. After breakfast, some instruction from T on use of the remote control for the new TV &cuddles from KP & for Baby Anabel, we left for a quick visit to Bicester Village.
Many of the famous designer outlets there are wasted on us as we haven't heard of them.
We did visit Helly Hanson, Musto, Timberland & Carluccios.
We only parted with our pensions in HH, buying "Hi dri" underwear for both of us & cycling tops for G.
I understand that the underwear will "wick away" perspiration, keeping the wearer dry & sweet smelling.
I calculate that this will save us a small fortune in energy & detergent & shower gel as we shall not have to shower or change our clothes for weeks on end.
No doubt friends & family will point out if we have got this wrong!

We left the car at the Park & Ride & went into Oxford, where we pottered around randomly, enjoying the architecture, doing a little shopping & lunching on panini, carrot cake & coffee.
We liked it a lot & shall return when next in that direction.
We bought some sour dough bread, olives & cheese for supper at a delicatessen on the way to the bus stop.

Today I went to church at N Whitacre whilst G tidied the garden with a chain saw. We built a big bonfire & just got caught in a hail storm before we finished at about 3.00pm
We have pottered, tidied, cleaned, baked, etc until dinner.
I have been awake now since 6.00am, nearly 17 hours.
Not bad, eh?

The Saturday Times recommends M&S tempranillo - Palacio del Marques, la Mancha, Spain, down to £3.99. Worth a try.
Does anyone know a good vinyl repairer?

Retail therapy.

The best comment on the economy that we have yet heard came today on Radio 4 - a Scottish economist lamenting over the Government's lowering of interest rates, to put money in the pockets of those who had over-borrowed, as they would not spend anyway because of fear for the future.
Low interest rates hit the older people who live on the income from their savings. If given a higher income they will spend as they have no reason to save.
I hope that G Brown/ A Darling heard this &/or read my blog.
I think that the latter is unlikely as neither has yet commented!

Anyway, to prove this theory correct, today G & I went shopping.
Lee Longlands had sent us an invitation to their "£5 million clearance" preview. This, combined with Debenhams' (G's latest tailor) 25% discount day, nothing on the calendar & Wednesday spent at home, spurred us on.
G updated his wardrobe & was given a box of chocolates (eaten) & a voucher for a cup of coffee.
I have a new T-shirt for my holiday.
Our boats remained unfloated in both Lee Longlands & the Jewellery Quarter.
Will we get a letter/ e-mail thanking us for this small effort to help put the economy back on it's feet?
We arrived home to find that the mole had taken advantage of our absence to excavate a further two mole hills. For the cost of a little energy & a mere litre or so of fuel, G cleared the soil & produced a magnificent pyrotechnics display on the top lawn.
This will either have sent moley scuttling back to the neighbours in fear or to fetch his mates to enjoy the warmth & entertainment.
Watch this space!

We have just enjoyed fish & chips with tartar sauce & half a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc.
The wrappers gave a glorious blaze as a finale to the meal whilst we had coffee & ate G's chocolates.

Tomorrow is a Thomas day followed by babysitting for B & E with a new TV - usually I read because the TV fights back.

Where did Tuesday go?

Signal strength is low.
If I move to the settee, it is very low, an inch or two to the right & it disappears!
Last night I was in the middle of the settee so no chance of blogging without a great upheaval - G & aj in the prime signal seats!
(Are all computers built with a special "annoy" chip that can sense when all is going well & take diversionary action such as typing in a different place altogether, at random, pop up advertisements, go to new sites or offer "penis enlargements"?
I guess that it has something to do with my degree of competence.)

We watched Coast, discussed the dreadful choice of programmes available & that's the last thing that I remember before waking up to go to bed.

Anyway, yesterday aj & I went to the gym for our free "Pamper day": two towels & a robe each (usually I take my own towel), a couple of hours in the gym, a swim & then a half hour Elemis facial & manicure. Pure luxury.
Thanks Dunc!
The weather was foul by then, so we opted to come home for a cup of tea despite M&S having a Cafe Revive offer of "coffee & cake" for £2 (a slice of a big scrummy cappuccino cake or Victoria sandwich which is usually £2.20 on its own, plus a cup of coffee)
I lit a fire & we "vegged" until dinner.
The weather took a downturn, very cold, wet & very windy for much of the evening, requiring remedial action to stop the rain from blowing into the dining room through the sash windows.

This morning is cold with bright sunshine - I have yet to persuade G that he would enjoy a walk around the reservoir.
Aj is on the way home, complete with rejuvenated complexion, shiny bronze nails, & a handful of rubber gloves to protect them from the brillo pads!

Could dear little DK's brace have some use as a snowboard?

Still here!

A very good day.
AJ & I played tennis at Coleshill with the ladies & then went on to Knowle & Solihull to shop, taking in tea & scones at M&S en route.
G arrived home late last night so needed time to acclimatise & catch up on e-mails, post & the like.
Unfortunately, he was unable to find an form of sustenance at lunchtime, apart from a chunk of Victoria sandwich that I'd made yesterday for aj (her favourite).
It's been a hectic week & the loaf had sulked in the bread bin, due to lack of attention, & subsequently, gone mouldy.
G can't cope with frozen bread, not even to toast & eat with pate & salad..

Anyway, we arrived home at tea-time & have since eaten the pate & salad, followed by roast chicken & profiteroles.
Good old M&S.
I am delighted to have booked a big house in Minehead for a family holiday, having negotiated a good price with the owner for the week.
This follows many hours on the Internet searching for a property that matched everyone's needs.
I hope that it's a great holiday.

Tomorrow aj & I are having a "pamper day" at the gym - full use of the gym for the day plus facials & a nail treatment.
As I'm a member this isn't as generous as it may sound.
We shall have fun.
Aj will enjoy the gym!

I must mention "poo" in order to illicit comment.
See "William's Little World" for details of his family's personal habits.
I spoke to T, who assured me that he would try to "de-poo" his vocabulary, despite KP being Miss Pooeypants.
He does have a point here.

Here I am!

Well, I've given up waiting for a comment or two, so I'll do a blog & hope that someone is interested.
I have been busy, honestly.
I know that this doesn't compare with you workers being busy but, I don't find this a problem.
G has just spent a week in the Red sea, some of it anyway.
He spent the remainder in Sharm, getting a tan - I collect him from EMA at midnight tonight (I hope that I've got that right)
I wont bore you with all of the details of life since the last blog, but it has been very pleasant, including Gina & the children staying, aj staying, tennis, shopping, & spending time with grandchildren, all of whom are really funny - we're working on T's farewell not including "Goodbye Mrs Pooeypants" *(not quite sure of the spelling there)

Aj & I have just returned from Shardelows, we went yesterday to celebrate JR's 85th birthday - lunch at The Cock in Castle Camps, complete with friend, Mary, balloons & a cake.
Last night we watched TV at quite high volume, to allow for JR's deficiencies & keep the hearing aid whistling to an acceptable level.
Aj is getting over the embarrassment of having selected QI as "Aj's favorite programme".
The content plumbed new depths of depravity as aj feigned sleep!
I fell asleep anyway.

I started a new book , something about chocolate, by Alex McCall Smith.
He writes very well, despite the first 50 pages or so seeming to be identical to the last book of his that I read - I was about to put it down, thinking that I had read it before.
The "Ladies No 1 Detective Agency" series was his first, before the Edinburgh novels.
They are great easy reads.
Time for some sustenance!

* spellcheck does not give a viable alternative!