Fat Friday.

Can you believe it - I've just checked our lottery ticket & I haven't won a thing.
Not all is lost as the Euro lottery raffle is still to come at 11.35pm.
I'm working on the aj positive thinking regime, which didn't take a vast change in attitude, so I'm sure that there are lots of good things out there but perhaps not a lottery win.
I've had a lovely day with Thomas & Jessie, who were delightful.
T & I went to Brueton Park to feed the "duucks", then walked across the park & to MacDonalds for lunch. After a potter around a few shops T climbed in the buggy & slept for an hour so I made good use of the time by trying on at least a dozen pairs of shoes in the Ecco sale finale, without purchase.
I cannot believe that W & J had a MacDonald's meal in Copenhagen & did not enjoy it.
I must take J to lunch in Solihull with T, in April, & see if it's just that the Danes don't cook them properly.
I shopped at JS on the way home, which took too long. I've since eaten the remainder of Wed's chicken with a jacket potato, which wasn't very exciting, but was there. I made cakes & cooked a gammon joint to take to Gina for tomorrow as I doubt that she'll have much time to cook.
G phoned from Leatherhead at about 4.00pm, back to reload the van for another round trip this evening followed by loading the last load ready for an early morning run tomorrow.
I'll pick him up at 10.30am when he returns the van, then back down to the flat for some scrubbing.

Andrew Lloyd Webber is on Jonathon Woss, showcasing the follow up to "Phantom of the Opera" - two grand pianos accompanying the leading lady. Fantastic.
Have a great weekend.

Is this spring?

We went to Bicester this morning so that G could pick up the van & go down to Leatherhead to get it loaded ready for tomorrow's move to Marsh Gibbon.
I'm wearing a cashmere sweater over a HH silky base layer & I haven't put a coat on all day & am presently in the lounge without having lit the fire, for the first evening this year.
It must be spring at last, either that or it says a lot for the HH.
I had intended to go to Kenilworth on the way home, to shop in Waitrose, for a treat, then on to seee Ann, as I haven't seen her for a while.
This went a little awry as I missed the Kenilworth turn off th M40 & Ann wasn't in.
I did shop at JS on the Stratford road - 25% off all clothes, including funky wellies, 1/3 off a lot of good wines & two bars of G&B for £3.
This worked out as a bit extravagant, but we have some nice wines & chocolate & I have a new T-shirt.
I had a potter around Knowle & came home, then went out again to take some flowers to Margaret shaw, who wasn't well at th weekend.
She was fine, doing a big jigsaw with Phil.
I have followed the aj positive thinking all day & enjoyed the day, despite set-backs.
There was a cheque from Dr Pepper when I got home, I'll check the lottery results later.

I've always thought that we were at an obvious disadvantage with winter sports in the Uk, but, with all this snow, perhaps we'll do better in the next winter Olympics
I'm looking for an event that I might excel in, given a little practice.

Thomas day tomorrow, Bicester on Saturday to collect G.
No spelling mistakes yet again. Wow!

Did I say " A day off"?

G has spent a lot of time in the garden over the last two weeks, doing some heavy gardening, cutting hedges, pruning & clearing leaves. Yesterday he set about the cypresses, opposite the conservatory - I hate them, they make the side lawn small & oppressive & G has to cut the tops off every year, at Rob's request.
This morning it was up & out in the garden by 9.00am to clear the hedge cuttings & the cypresses that G had cleared yesterday. We have built an enormous bonfire in the field with a large reserve pile to be put on as it burns.
Today, it would not burn, whatever the incentive.
I washed the car, which was filthy, & we came in at 3.00pm for lunch, knackered.
I bought lottery & Euro-lottery tickets, following aj's policy of being positive for the best results.
I am feeling very positive so we may be wealthy by now.
I hardly dare check.
I recommend aj's policy - do everything with enthusiasm & expect the best possible outcome.

You can watch "expenses" on your i-pod, apparently.
I thought that they were for listening to music, but what do I know?
Bicester tomorrow.

TGIF

Well, it is for me anyway.
I've had a good day at school, a nap in front of the fire, a chicken dinner & a chat to aj.
We've just watched the best TV programme that I've seen for years - "On Expenses", a fact based drama on the MP's expenses debacle, starring Brian Cox as the Speaker.
Do watch it if you have any opportunity. It is brilliant in all respects.

I note that W has attracted loads of comments on today's blog from Narnia, outlining his spring wardrobe. As I'm devoid of comments I thought briefly about following suit.
My spring wardrobe will be instantly available as it will mainly involve leaving off the fleece & replacing long sleeve T- shirts with short sleeved ones. I may go as far as opening the wardrobe in the spare room - no waiting for delivery from Internet orders, so it's not really interesting.
No change there then.

A day off tomorrow then taking G to Bicester on Thursday for a 3 day Pickfords' event.
At least the weather forecast says rain, not snow, unless you live in the frozen North.

Back to work.

Friday must have been a quiet day as I can't remember doing anything - perhaps we slept through it!
On Saturday I did a quick pop to Solihull to pick up KP's birthday pressie from JL & on to P & A's so that they could deliver it to the party on Sunday. I then spent two hours at the hairdressers in Coleshill, knocking 10 years off the average age that twenty senior citizens had estimated earlier in the day.
Eat your heart out aj!
I spent the rest of the day receiving compliments from G & writing a sermon for NW on Sunday.
As I finished the last paragraph I had a phone call to say that the service was cancelled as the new boiler was defunct.
Bother.
We had a nice Indian takeaway - I did have to de-ice the car en route - & sat in front of a grand fire & relaxed.
On Sunday, not having an 11.00am service to do, I went to 9.30 communion at Shustoke & then we went to KP's birthday party, which was lovely.
The children all had a whale of a time which included them making pizzas for their lunch, two shows & T streaking down the stairs. Wow!
That's a photo for the engagement party.
Back to school today with a lift from G so that he could gallivant, even if it snowed.
Actually he has worked hard in the garden, cutting the hedges, which he is still doing in the near dark.
I have a chicken to roast for dinner, so I had better get on with it as we are both hungry.

Still at last.

Aj & I had a great break in Ringsted with W, MK & family. Many Thanks.
The boys were lovely, great fun & so well - behavedl. J's English is really good & he tries really hard to find the right word to help us to understand him.
DK practised his walking every day & was pretty good at it & very pleased with himself by the end of our stay.
W & aj did a sheaf of crosswords every day, which pleased them no end, but was a little aggravating for us lesser mortals who could only get the odd four letter word when two of the letters were there.
Mk did all of the early morning stints, kept everything on track & W in a good mood.

We left at about 1.30pm yesterday with a lift to the station to catch the train to CPH.
This did leave us with a two hour check in/ shopping opportunity/ coffee & Danish pastry snack time.
This increased to a three hour opportunity as the Easyjet plane broke down at Stansted on the outward journey.
The knock on effect was arrival back at the car park at 9.00pm, arrival at the M11 about 3/4 hour later, 2 hours after it had been closed for repair.
This added almost an hour to the journey & we arrived home at 11.45pm, tired & peckish.

This morning aj set off for home & G & I set off for Aylesbury to meet J & G to assist with house hunting by childminding as & when required. We left them & went to visit B, E ,T & KP as we were near at hand. They were all on good form, especially KP, who was enjoying her birthday.
Her birthday card, left with G to post , had not arrived?
We left just before 7.00pm, braved awful snow storms , forcing us off the M40 at Warwick to be held up for over an hour en route to Balsall Common.
We eventually arrived home nearly three hours later, tired & peckish. (The journey usually takes less than an hour)
We are now settled in front of a good fire, full of pizza & red wine & chocolate, watching Question Time.
The diet starts tomorrow!

Shriven Tuesday.

Past tense.
We have dined already - frækadiller, potatoes & cabbage.
W refused to help with the spelling, due to ignorance, apart from the æ, which, strangely, is on the keyboard here.
They don't have an @, which I personally would find much more useful.
We have had a good day, including a walk around town in the snow, & to the outlet centre, where we had a scrummy lunch.
DK has done a lot of walking, including turning corners, unaided.
J has done a lot of everything, including snowballing Grandma - chosen as a soft target, I believe.
I did get my own back.
The boys are in bed, W & aj have finished the Times crossword, Thank God, with a little help from the online check.
Normal life can now resume.
MK & I have coughs. We are both being very brave about it.
We had a lovely evening with T & B yesterday, including perfect roast pork as only eaten in Denmark. We borrowed a car to get us all home as aj refused to keep quiet under the blanket in the boot after a generous quantity of red wine.
W & MK are returning this tomorrow before work (late start)
Home tomorrow.

Sad Meal for one!

Whilst Gill sums herself in snowy Denmark I am spending Valentine's day alone with a sad meal and a glass of wine for company!! Log fire, uninterupted access to the TV controller and for once a decent supply of progs on the box. Quite tolerable really.
I did have a card from g and instructions to also look in her 2nd drawer in the bedroom. The card alludes to dancing girls - not a bad suggestion - but I draw the line at her underwear and the tights are simply riduculous - hairs sticking through all over the place - more suited to W's shaven legs ( cause or effect?) . Quite why she wanted me in that stuff I can't imagine though I did find a stache of Green & Blacks chocolate which she has presumably put there to scoff at a later date. I might move them to remove the temptation!
It's been grey and a bit miserable here but the garden continues to beckon and I'm keen to finish the chainsawing before the greening up starts. Bulbs are starting already.
For this evening I'm going to forgo the dancing girls and I have the Sunday Times to skim and for an indulgence the March edition of Classic and Sportscar purchased because it features the MBGV8 ("MGs bargain baby Aston! ") ( I'll pass on to EjBj), however there is also a 4 page article about the Car museum in Funen near Krengerup Castle - a short drive from Odessa which features a large number of Skodas , cheap and big for the money, even used by Danish Royalty featuring cars from 1937 - the recent VW group models. Surprisingly interesting.
G

snow up to your bottom.

If you are J's height anyway.
It may be up to aj's bottom, but she declined to come for a walk, so we may never know.
We are having a lazy day after the walk & homemade onion soup & pastries for lunch.
W & aj have done the Telegraph crossword, I was of little use & so feigned sleep!
W has gone to ride his bike around the basement, I offered to go down to chat & keep him company.
He declined, quite politely.

Aj & I enjoyed a short break at Stanstead airport yesterday, having left home at 7.30am, arriving at the Concord* car park in Mountfitchet by 10.00am & the airport by 10.30am, for a 1.35pm flight.
W met us at CPH before we had time to wander off.
The whole family are in excellent shape, J as active as ever & DK very cheerful with a lovely smile.
It's a bright cold day with a spattering of fresh snow but no wind. Mountains of cleared snow everywhere. W & MK have to clear the footpath adjacent to their plot - a large corner plot, so no mean feat.
Must be good exercise anyway.

*Concord were excellent - half the price we have paid in the past & personal car to the airport with a charming driver.

Ready for the off.

Well, not really, as I have yet to pack, but I do have a selection of cold weather clothes on the bed, alongside some books from Amazon, Atora beef suet & Yorkshire tea bags.
Will they all fit in my rucksack?
I must come by a more grown up cabin bag for cheap flights, with no checked luggage.
Aj & I are planning to leave for Stanstead at about 7.30am tomorrow, for a 1.30pm flight.
I drove down to see JR on Wednesday & took two & a half hours (usually well under 2 hours), due to heavy traffic on the M6 & an accident on the A14, followed by a hail storm.
I drove back this morning in record time, despite ice & snow on the country lanes near Shardelows.
Since then, I have sorted the laundry & the house out & been to a parents' evening at school.
W phoned to say that it is -8 there tonight & generally very cold.
I'll pack my HH base layers.
I'll wear everything else to make the packing easy.
All of the jobs are done, everything washed & ironed & the bed changed.
G will have a Thomas day tomorrow, which should keep him out of mischief.
Next blog from snowy DK.

Another week over.

Work wise anyway.
Two days is quite enough; Monday & Tuesday is great as it gives you the rest of the week off for good behaviour.
I did a good day's work followed by a maths tutorial for a school refuser, who should be in my class but doesn't attend.
She rarely attends the tutorial either.
We had a power cut this afternoon & a pneumatic drill outside the window, so I cut the tutorial short anyway so that she could attend her careers interview to fill in a college application , before the light failed altogether.
Will she refuse to go to college as well?
Who knows.

We have had an adventurous evening; we went to Coventry to the pictures to see "Sherlock Holmes", which was quite good, but not "put yourself out" good.
We then picked up fish & chips in Meriden to enjoy in front of the fire with a chirpy little Sauvignon Blanc ( half a bottle, left over from Sunday), washed down with a cup of Yorkshire tea.

I may go to see JR tomorrow, if the snow that's predicted for the East doesn't materialise.
JR doesn't know, so he won't worry.
G is at work so I may have to find an M&S for coffee if it does snow.
Actually, I get a bit lazy about going out when it's cold & there's no serious shopping to be done.

I wonder if this blog will illicit a pornographic response from Japan.
Have I repeated the magic word that triggered that response yesterday?
Time will tell.

A low carbon weekend.

I may be misguided there, but I didn't travel far.
I popped up to Coleshill for emergency rations on Saturday morning as J, G & family were coming on Sunday for a "sleepover".
I did a little selective housework, baked cakes & prepared for the dinner with Colin & Lynne.
We had a lovely evening & compared holidays.
On Sunday I went to church - the new brass ware has arrived, following the theft last year.
It looks very good; the new cross is a St Cuthbert's cross, (a circular bit around the crossed bit) very large with red enamelling - a bit "in your face".
We had lunch & a great day with J, G, O & the twins.
I left for school this morning as people were waking up so I guess they had a good night.
It was very quiet. J had an interview this afternoon & G was going to check out the area.

We have just finished off yesterday's stew with new dumplings, in front of the fire, having both fallen asleep before the 6.00pm news.
We are watching "Tower Block of Commons" - MPs living in tower blocks with families who live on benefits. Austin Mitchell & wife are disgusting. It looks pretty tough.

Apparently two couples of pensioners in Germany kidnapped a financial advisor who had caused them to lose their pension funds.
They claimed that they had "taken him on holiday". Sounds like a good idea.
Siberia could be too warm!

Chicken Kiev.

Dinner that is or was. (M&S of course)
How 1970s is that?
I've had a fun day with Thomas & Jessie before & after school whilst G has got on with the tax returns, & did some more lumber jacking.
By the time I got home at 6.00pm, G had an enormous bonfire going.I had just narrowly missed flattening two pedestrians with their two large dogs, all kitted out in black & walking in the middle of the road, in the dark, in Hollylands.
We did three runs to school as I forgot Jessie's bag on the first run.
Thomas & I went to the park to count dogs & magpies & have a go on the swings, then a potter down the Stratford road for an M&S snack.
We bought a pizza for lunch, whichThomas carried home with great affection.
Jessie wanted to know why, from her observations, nearly everything is made in China.
A prize for the best answer.

News Quiz, Radion 4 at 6.30pm, repeated tomorrow at 12.30pm was brilliant.
Do listen to it if you have the means & the time.
You will be a better person for it.

DK is walking -I hope that MK is in training as I would guess that J & DK will make a habit of going in opposite directions at high speed.

A couple of films to see - "Sherlock Holmes" & "Invicta".
No chance tonight with G in lumberjack gear & smelling of woodsmoke.
Colin & Lynne coming to dinner tomorrow - salad then lightly smoked salmon fillets.
Any ideas for a simple desert?
J, G & family are coming on Sunday - stew & dumplings, I think as it keeps well.

Enjoy your weekends.

Well, do you watch soap operas?

There are many ways of dividing the population into groups, some more useful than others.
How about whether or not you watch soaps.
Those asked on The One Show nearly all said "no", then went on to discuss the storylines.
Perhaps there are those who tell the truth about what they watch on TV & those who don't.

You can probably guess that my day has been quiet.
Actually I've spent most of the day vacuuming, so it has been noisy.
I did housework at home this morning then cleaned the church this afternoon.
It was bitterly cold up there but you cannot polish & vac in a coat & gloves.
I even mucked out the stable as Epiphany has ended.
Beat that.
W, MK, J & DK have booked to come over at the end of April, which will be lovely.
Scampi to cook for dinner but I'll have to leave this big fire to cook it.
Interesting fact to make it worthwhile for w to read this blog - one gramme of plutonium contains as much energy as one tonne of oil.

Think young.

Horizon, which always sounds interesting, & isn't, is on, on ageing.
Some elderly men were allowed to live as independent younger people for a week, by the end of the week they were more agile with increased IQ.
Seems like an argument for putting the oldies in student accommodation - posters of Gracie Fields & Maurice Chevalier on the walls.
The really old folk they interviewed had not lived particularly healthy lives, but thought young.
The Horizon outcome of the week seemed to be that you're as young as you think you are - think & act young & you'll stay young.
Is that WRM's reasoning?

I've had a relatively easy day.
G is totally immersed in paperwork for the Huntbach charity - tax return avoidance technique number 567.
I had a lie in & read ("Wolf Hall", a novel about Thomas Cromwell, 5* but v long), then wrote letters, showered & went to Solihull to take a pile of clothes to the charity shop, post letters, buy fuel & food. Came home, ate scallops with G, saw him off to Leatherhead, then ironed, phoned aj & watched TV.
A bit short on high spots today, but relaxing.
I was going to visit JR, but have a chest infection & feel a bit lack lustre, apart from the coughing.
I do have a pile of lottery tickets to check - perhaps that will be exciting - then a crispy clean bed.

Groundhog day, Groundhog day, Groundhog day, Groundhog day......

So did the groundhog see it's own shadow when emerging from his burrow this morning?
If he didn't, he will have stayed out as winter is due to end; if he did, back to bed for a lie in for six weeks or so.
Option two sounds the better bet to me, given that the Earth seems to have frozen over.
In the film "Groundhog Day" a weatherman visiting Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, to cover the Groundhog Day celebrations, was stranded there by a storm that he had failed to predict, which resulted in him reliving the day over & over again.
I would certainly not wish to live today over again, having struggled with a chest infection & a number of thoroughly unpleasant children.
G had a big fire going, fetched & served prawn puri, etc. so things are looking up.

Of course, it's Candlemas - the presentation of Jesus in the temple when He was 40 days old.

The Kraft takeover of Cadbury was settled today & tax returns were a day late, otherwise the world seems little changed since yesterday.

News from our Bicester visit - T now reads & writes enthusiastically, getting up early to write up his diary; B is strumming quite competently on an acoustic guitar in a manner not unlike early Eric Clapton, KP holds long conversations with everyone whilst E holds it all together.

We have just watched a fascinating programme on the background to the Haiti earthquake.
It was predicted with some accuracy, repeat of one in the eighteenth century. That last one was followed by an earthquake in Jamaica, so the concern is that there may be worse to come.

White Rabbits.

We had a great weekend; a lie in, a visit to the hairdressers to put right the ravages of the last two months, then off to Bicester to see B, E & family.
G & I played with T & KP whilst B & E did furniture shopping, then we had a wonderful meal & too much wine & caught up on the news.
B & E looked through the odd few hundred holiday photos, then we woke them up & let them go to bed!
We had another lie in on Sunday, KP & T didn't.
We went to Botley where we took T & KP to Toys are us (yuk,yuk,yuk - name, layout, stock, staff.....) to test the stock to destruction, then to Pets are us, to fill our nostrils with the stench of fish tanks, reptiles & assorted small mammals.
Seriously, it was great fun despite the tat & the smells.
Amazing fact - a pair of homeless rabbits costs £50! The home comes in at around £100!
How's that for inflation?
I wish that I had invested my money in rabbits back in the 80's when you could have bought an extended family with des res for a fraction of this.
I could have been a hutch millionaire by now,
Another opportunity missed.

A full day at school today followed by a maths dept meeting then an Alms Houses meeting at Shustoke school at 5.oopm.
All reports are now done on line using a comment bank so that every sentence starts with the pupil's name, unless edited.
I really do wonder how many parents read these long winded, repetitive documents.
I have always believed that most really want to know a level of achievement compared with others, anticipated grade, behaviour, effort & a short comment relating to their child, possibly to confirm that the teacher is commenting on the correct child.

I particularly liked the suggestion from "The News Quiz" (radio 4, Fri 6.30pm, Sat 12.30pm) that The Chilcot inquiry team should have consisted of Jeremy Paxman, John Humphries, Jeremy Kyle & a five year old, who would respond to every answer with "Why?"
Gordon's on tomorrow.
That'll be exciting.

We are listening to !The Dimbleby Lecture" on Assisted Death, given by Terry Pratchet, who has Alzheimer's disease, so it is being read by Tony Robinson.
Well worth listening to.