Norway, nil point!

I'm one of the 170 million watching the Eurovision Song Contest from Copenhagen - a Montenegrin man presently singing whilst a woman skates around the perimeter of the stage.
Why?
"Because it's Eurovision" as Graham Norton keeps saying, to explain the man in the hamster wheel, the round piano........
It really is bad.
Norway's entrant isn't even a singer but the brother of the composer - I suppose that the population is very small anyway and it was easy to get together to practise during the bad weather.

I've prepared tomorrow's services and delivered the Christian Aid envelopes - don't know when I'll have time to collect them!
I haven't mown the lawns as the mower hasn't been touched  - they are so long now that it will be a nightmare to cut them - a shame as they were looking really good.
I really don't know what to do as I've only used it once since it had an expensive service, apart from buy a new mower and start again.
I'm not sure that JA is an engine man.

The woman on the BBC Breakfast programme was wearing the same "Warehouse" dress - big rectangles of different colours - that I wore for the 1970's night on the P&O cruise in Feb.
Beat that!

 

What price care!

Home again after a sleepover in Bicester followed by a sleepover in Cambridgeshire - both excellent.
I collected T and PK from school on Wed, we went to Pret for tea, for a change, then did a little light shopping in Tesco with B, then back for a scrummy Chinese dinner and bed.
Yesterday I did the school run, then dried my hair and put on make-up (beat that for poor planning) and went to have coffee with a friend.
I had intended to buy geraniums at Bicester Garden Centre - the best garden centre in the world - but ran out of time so had to go straight to Cambridge.
The journey took longer than anticipated as the SATNAV couldn't find the road after Buckingham and just loitered in fields, then I hit the Cambridge rush.

I was visiting cousin JR, aged 90 and with dementia, to check up on the care he is receiving from his very expensive care providers.
This morning we had an Annual Review  meeting with the agency boss - she could score full marks for excuses, little for providing and being accountable for her staff.
The carer I found there a couple of weeks ago I would not have left in charge of my dog, the house filthy, food inadequate and little care being given - more later.
Things have been improved but still lacking on too many fronts.

The lawns have not been mown for nearly 3 weeks as the mower isn't working - a medium-sized member of the large cat family could well be stalking unnoticed on any of the lawns.
The next mow is going to be very hard work - if not tomorrow, I shall run out of time.

I shall eat a big salad for dinner to make up for the rubbish I have eaten yesterday and today.




 

One man went to mow....

the lucky one, whose mower was functioning.
Those with malfunctioning mowers found other harmless past-times - I did a little ironing then baked - chocolate cake and oat cookies, delicious sticky ones made with condensed milk, morello cherries, cranberries and raisins.
Then on to the agenda items - to Coleshill to tax the car then on to Solihull to collect J from school - Th at football practice.
As I was unable to get into the house, J and I went out to tea in Solihull - Pret, of course - some shopping then back to cook tea for Th.
A quick stop at JS and a car wash (how lazy is that?), then on to a friends - didn't make bell-ringing after a Tia Maria!

Water meter fitted a few weeks ago has put water costs down from £60 to £22 per month - don't want to blow it with car washing extravaganza!

I saw the first swallow in the garden today - stable door has been open to give access to their nest site - summer's come.

 

How many ploughmen?

Over eighty!
Excellent weather for walking, hence a really good turnout for the Parish Rogation Walk.
LM served 53 bacon rolls early on, by noon walkers had reached Shustoke and over 80 ate lunches by 2.00pm - self service ploughmans'.
Every scrap of food was eaten.
I vacuumed up the crumbs then locked up and went down to NW for the closing service at 4.15pm - the first sit down of the day - I treated myself to a cup of tea and some wonderful coffee cake afterwards.

This evening I've found a local chap to come and make good the plaster in the kitchen on Wed., before the decorator, Peter the Painter, alias PP, starts next Monday.
As this is imminent and I have a busy week, I then set to stripping the bookcase and dresser and moving them away from the walls ready for plastering, then emptying the room, mainly into the conservatory, which is now full.

JA came to check out the mower - not the battery, so it will have to go away and I'm still not able to mow the lawns.
Bother - they really are growing fast.

I've recorded the Gary Barlow/James Cordon programme, which looked great, to watch another evening - ready for bed!

J to collect from school tomorrow after some jobs in Solihull - will Knowle Auction Rooms sell an oil painting for me?
I'll give it a try.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

For the second evening in a row, I have fallen asleep shortly after eating dinner then woken up in time to got to bed - the cost of having a busy day following a poor night's sleep.
Yesterday was the Table Sale in the Parish Hall, a success due partly to the brilliant weather so lots of people about.
We had two stalls of bric a brac - one for the church and one for me, each involving a boot full of stuff - hard work loading all of the boxes into the car, then unloading and setting up the table.
We had to put the tables away and I swept the Hall before coming home to put the unsold goods back in the factory and clean the car.
At some point during the night I realised that the hose reel had gone, I checked at 5.30am and it has gone. Where?

Today was church at Sh, on to NW to take the service home for brunch then out to mow the lawns.
The big mower still wouldn't start so I eventually mowed outside, both sides of the road, with the pathetic little mower - 5 barrow loads of grass and 3 hours later........
It looks good and will be a little less to block the big mower when it's eventually sorted out.

Tomorrow I'm serving ploughmans' lunches in church - the annual parish walk around the churches, each serving food, usually well supported.
I have to collect the bread and salad from Morrisons, then sort out the church flowers before setting up the lunches.
I hope that the sun shines for everyone's  day off.

X men

Having never seen any of the films, Graham Norton has the three stars on his settee and they are tremendous - James, Michael and Hugh.
GN is redundant!
Mollie is singing the Eurovision Song Contest entry - it's really good but the voting is purely political so the entry for the UK is of no consequence.
I've had a busy day - sorted out the Table sale for tomorrow - two more tables requested this morning, so now only have to sort and load the stuff to sell on my stall and the church stall.
Two brill cake stalls booked, if you're peckish!

Morrisons had special offers on most of the necessities for ploughmans' lunches - cheese, tomatoes, bread rolls and even Branston pickle, so most of the shopping for Monday's open church lunches already bought, bread ordered.
I went on to Solihull for a potter before collecting Th from school (J going home to play with a friend).
I succumbed in Laura Ashley and bought a navy and mint striped T shirt - half price, with an extra 10% taken off at the till.
I collected some wallpaper samples to try in the back bedroom - 30% off until Monday - this is the last one to choose, Peter the Painter starts in a week' s time.
That room will have a blue carpet and burgundy settee - what paper will tie it all together without it looking like a tribute to Aston Villa!
 

Bother.

Plan for today was to catch up on the e mails then go to Coleshill for petrol then mow the lawns.
Having just finished phase 1, the rains came down so  everything is on hold for the moment.

AJ and I returned from a great week in Ringsted with W, MK, J and DK.
We  have done the nursery runs with DK - J now cycles through the park unaided - pottered, shopped, gardened, ironed and relaxed.
On Thursday, Tina and Birthe took us to the gallery in Ordrupgaard, designed by Hadid, the designer of the London Olympic Aqua Centre, to see an exhibition of Van Gogh, Gaugin and Bernard, painted whilst they worked together in the south of France at the end of the nineteenth century - I hope I got that right.
AJ reckons that they shared the paint ......and the wine!
The whole thing, including the lunch there, was brilliant.
We spent the weekend at the summer house in brilliant sunshine - first paddling of the year!

Apparently there were big problems at the airports yesterday - we just missed the problems and had a very good trip, then visited JR on the way home, the his local friends.
We had visited JR on the way down and were very concerned at the state of the house and the carer with him - I have spent an hour on the phone to Avail this morning, expressing my concerns.
Annual review date set!

Table Sale to set up for Saturday - more sellers still needed.
Any ideas?