Malta it is!
The heat is overwhelming here, so are we staying in the shade all the time and wilting? No don't be silly! We are driving around to see the tourist places which is an added danger in itself. Driving over here is a case of survival of the bravest, a need to be in front of every other car, especially one driven by a woman. The roundabouts seem to have their own laws, there are very few markings and I have only seen five cats' eyes in the whole of the island - yes five! Bear in mind that Ronnie drove me back from the airport in the dark which took about an hour so I've seen quite a lot of the roads.
The funniest part is the car that we have hired, I am sorry to be so blunt at this point, it farts! Suddenly as we are driving along this little farting sound emits from the exhaust - farty farty fart fart fart. Where can you look when your car behaves so badly, there is nowhere to hide as there is so little time to think let alone do anything. We stopped at some lights and it had a little session - fart fart fart! Whe we parked at a square in Mdina today, just as the ignition was turned off - fart!
Very funny!
The Pool at this complex also has its amusing side. A French family whom we have christened M Miserable Git and Madame M Git, were getting paranoid about the children in the pool when their own children started jumping around and causing mayhem. Smiling, enjoyment - obviously not part of their vocabulary! Get a life the famille Git please.

Look what the Times had to say about this today...
We're the Party People

No Photos as yet - the computer suite does not do that, I will put them in when I get back.
Time for a shower, drink and meal.....

Are You Packed?
It's 8.30 in the morning, i have to leave at about 12 ish and I have just taken the washing out of the machine cos I forgot to do it last night. So no, I am not packed and at this rate will have nothing to wear to get there! However, I have recharged the batteries for the camera, the phone and have put them out. It just needs the swim wear and a sarong - now I am ready! Oh, and some suntan lotion, some shampoo, some knickers - oh flippety flip, I need to pack! Back in a week, might even log on from the hotel in Malta. Byee - back soon!

Come Back British Rail - all is forgiven.

Well, not quite all perhaps. On a trip to London yesterday I was told to change trains at Nuneaton, that was a new one for me, but ever obedient – don’t laugh so loudly, I did as I was told – after the train had been delayed in Birmingham just long enough for us all to dash over the bridge at Nuneaton to watch our connection gently ease its way out of the station. What has happened to the idea that the passengers can be accommodated and looked after? I know it would be so much easier if the trains were allowed to travel between stations without even bothering with us, no hold-ups, cleaning, luggage, food to load etc etc. Perhaps that is what is in the five year Rail Track (or whoever is looking after the rails now) plan.

One little gem I found courtesy of the incourtesy of the system, was the café on platform 5 at Nuneaton. They have decorated it in with old railway ‘bits’ – the signs, seats, lights, models etc. It is wonderful!


And they still have the victorian embellishments on the buildings.

ally couldn't justify it. i saw them live last night and even when i wasn't always particular into ALL the music, and even though it was a group of men-men, with modernist-men-brain-spirit, it was so honest and fast and slow and the lead singer had so much about him in and out of his little hat and his coat. it was...a good experience. they put on a good show. yellow lights/tight. and about the retro...i'm not sure if i'm responding to the music in a critical way, if it's really at all groundbreaking, or if it's just hitting something emotionally. who can say why something gets inside someone. but when it might not all seem immediately original (though i think it is), it lacks that dirty city ambition characterizing so many of these new successful (or wannabe successful) bands taking stuff from long ago and making it sound good but smell bad (like the uneasy enjoying of songs by the strokes and rapshit and sucklike - feeling like 'enjoying' china through epcot center rides) these guys, it's not like that.
and they're not a boring pub band either, stuck in an old rock riff. they're different! and that singer, ben, has charisma with a capital SEE. d they're not a boring pub band either, stuck in an old rock riff. they're different! and that singer, ben, has charisma with a capital SEE.

Cricketing Men - I need your help!
When did the game of cricket start to use three stumps instead of two? I am on a bet here and I must know in 24 hours - so please, men out there, help me on this one! I forgive you for not helping me with my drilling problems, this is serious stuff though, on a need to know basis it scores 10 out of 10!

Defection
I have really missed the comments, yes I've already said that, but now I have done something about it. Thank you Daisy for the site, I am extremely grateful for that, so now folks, line up to put those comments in - don't be shy! Just click on the comments and write - please sign your name and we can rock and roll. I'm feeling very positive, a holiday in Malta looms on Monday and we are starting to sort out my dissertation - two extreme opposites of the enjoyment scale! Both will provide some measure of terror as I am hoping to dive again, there is however, less paper work involved in that.

With his head tucked underneath his arm...
I knew it, it was bound to happen! All this does me no good! There's been a disaster in my little world... and it has been directly caused by cleaning. I was just proudly (there! that's the cause of this - pride!) dusting my study window sill when the little man I brought back from China fell over in shock and his head was knocked off! How do you apologise in Chinese? I've thrown away all the old glue so I can't stick him together until I've been shopping - and I can't go shopping until I have cleared the stairs, the circle goes round and round. I can't even find a cupboard to shout in because I 've just taken my favourite shouting cupboard down!! Oh drat, drat and double drat! I give up on this tidiness...

Aaah...

Sulks!
The shout outs are 'off' again. One of the joys of this blogging is to write comments on friends' sites - it adds fun to the experience. So when they disappear, half the point goes missing into the ether. So I think I must do some work and sort out another method of comments. Please bear with me while I do this, the map takes comments as well as little people. This will be done after I have finished today's alloted clearing up, I have to report that I am almost finished! And what a marathon it has been! Never mind Carpe Diem, what's the Latin for sieze the rubbish? Carpe rubbishum? Carpe bagum? Carpe ....?

A Quacking Armada!
So, you want to shoot my yellow ducks...?
(OK, OK, I know he's not a duck, he just wants his 15 seconds of fame...)

How about this for a real target then, just get yourself comfy, lots of ammo, a blunderbuss and dig in on the coast – Cyprus will be fine, they’ll get there all in their own quacky time. (Take plenty of food and wine, suntan cream and a good book too.)
As reported in The Times on 13th July by John Elliot, there is ‘an armada of yellow plastic ducks bearing down on America’s Atlantic coastline after an epic journey halfway round the world. The invasion force is supported by similar numbers of green frogs,(see? they went too) red beavers and blue turtles…they began their journey in 1992.. and have roamed the globe since in large flotillas.
After bobbing along the coast of Alaska the 2in toys headed for the Bering Strait, which they reached in 1995. They then crossed the Arctic Ocean.
The toys are thought to have spent about five years encrusted with snow and ice as they made their way past polar bears and seals (so you will be no fearful enemy to these intrepid explorers) and eventually around the tip of Greenland. By 2001 they had passed Greenland and reached the area of the Atlantic where the Titanic sank, …they could arrive in New England at any time. When they originally splashed into the Pacific 11 years ago the toys were in sets of four,….shortly after their escape the salt water washed away the glue holding the wrappers together. Time and the weather have faded the toys, with the ducks changing from yellow to white. They are stamped with the words “the first years”’
Curtis Ebbesmeyer has been charting their progress, together with 80,000 pairs of Nike trainers, 34,000 ice hockey gloves and 5 million pieces of lego …..
So what are you going to do when you retire?

Gallivanting!
A good time was had by all...
For the last two years I have been working for part of a University which has been involved with training teachers how to use computers. There were about 80 staff all over the country, a lively helpful group of people who have bonded together in a remarkable way. So this week-end was our last meeting before the project finally ends and we all move on to 'pastures new'. We have met together twice a year to receive training, but there were some incredibly talented people who set up an online group which is extremely vibrant and helpful. For once this was better than any real staff room!
The meeting was held at Danbury Park near Chelmsford, so the question was, where to visit on the journeys?
I chose Waddesdon Manor on the way down - just the gardens on this trip. What a scented paradise! It was lovely, a weeping silver lime was exotic, the kind of scent that had me sniffing the air to search out the source. On a smaller scale they had planted masses of heliotrope in the bedding out borders which wafts across the gardens. Wow! Top marks to the Rothschild's gardeners for that.
Waddesdon Manor

On the way home - Hatfield House, a place I have been promising to visit for many years. It is the house that Henry VIII imprisoned his daughters and has had an attraction for me since childhood. Not too strong, its taken me a long time to get there. However, it was worth it!!
Hatfield House

The house was beautiful, lovely warm brick colours with pennants flying overhead - just what you imagine it should look like. Inside the portraits - the famous pictures of Henry, Mary and Elizabeth. Seeing them made the history seem far more real, the guides knew their stuff and told interesting anecdotes. The gardens were planted sympathetically - mulberry, quince and medlar trees - with fruit, but I behaved for once, no scrumping this time! The herb garden was another sensory overload, with huge bushed of lemon verbena at the gateways into this part. Bliss!! At this point I want to be able to give you a link to a smelly vision site ... but this will have to do! ( Have a surreptitious squeeze next time you are visiting a garden centre just to give yourself that experience!!)
lemon verbena

I have to admit that I forgot to take my camera with me - so no photos, will try to remember it next time I go out of the house.

Do I give him the order of the boot?
Does he deserve any shelf space? A man (podgy and cross-eyed at that!)who uses any old excuse to write a poem - his literary salesman's name, the fact that a Lady has asked him to write a poem, all these are poetical subjects for Byron.
"You have asked for a verse:- the request
In a rhymer 'twere strange to deny:"

Is this what poetry is all about - not for me!
So does he stay or does he go? Hang on, he may well have written a poem about the order of the boot, I must have a look before he leaves... mmm and he has written a poem called "Fill the goblet again" Now that sounds more familiar!!

Another Memory, another holiday, another hot day..
The ideal picnic place is in a wadi in Oman, we found it after driving up past a village with children and sheep trying to look brave as they jumped over the stream. Further up, past large boulders and indeed over fairly large ones - this was my introduction to real 4x4 driving, we drove slowly on into the gorge where the sides became steeper and higher, the temperature hotter and the silence so strong it was like a feeling of deprivation. There were no animals, birds or even insect sounds. My brother and I decided we needed to find somewhere to picnic, we were describing what we needed - a rock, a tree to shelter us and somewhere peaceful. The latter was easy, children and sheep were long left behind, but the gorge was bare of trees and any shelter. We gave ourselves two more minutes driving before we would turn around - and there it was around the next corner - a huge rock, we are talking the size of a normal bedroom here, with a tree growing beside it. A tree that gave complete shade to the rock and space for parking beside it.
How often does that kind of thing happen in life, it was wonderful! So of course we picnicked! Sorry there is no photo - I have no scanner, but I shall carry the small version of it in my wallet as a daily reminder that sometime the impossible does happen.

The boxes, the boxes....
Those four boxes have caused agony, amusement, tears and also a feeling of having been an extremely privileged person. Part of the work that I did for the Cricket Coaching Association was to be editor of their national publications. I did this for ten years or so and as a result met up with some wonderful people. One dear friend - The Flying Pig of Derbyshire has been a tremendous help on the coaching front as well as a true friend, he's always been there if I needed help and always seemed to know what to say. He has a way with words and describes cricketers as true sportsmen or the 'Nearly Men' who can be graded on the Pratt factor of 1 -10. Mischievous but so true, and I have frequently rung him and described something I recently did and we would both grade the action on the Pratt factor, so it wasn't always unkindly meant. The true sportsmen are lovely people and although I have never played the game, it s been my privilege to work with the only England Squad to have won the World Cup and then have their coach voted Coach of the Year. A truly inspirational coach, with vision and determination to get the best for the squad. We paid to coach that squad, it was in the days of no sponsorship for players.
Then there were the heart throbs, Mickey Stewart - a lovely man who I really had to chase around the country to get any written article out of him. There were times when I presented him with roses to shame him... good fun!
Some of the National Coaches - I won't name individuals but we have worked a lot together and laughed a great deal. Other coaches who make you want to go out and do what they suggest - NOW! John Barclay, John Abrahams who also never forgot a name, Gordon Lord who was incredibly kind to me when running a refresher course and has continued ever since. Men who are not famous but love the game and work many many hours for sake of continuing the tradition, 'Our Col' a true Yorkshire man who took my teasing so well and always brought me chocolates. He knows teheway to a woman's heart!
Many more people that I can't go on to mention have given me a love of the game, so thanks folks, I count myself truly privileged!

Ghosts of the past
There are four boxes of photographs to sort - an easy task I thought! Hah! I reckoned without the moments of remembering each occasion on the print, the most difficult being the children's birthday parties. I used to make thematic cakes, there are gingerbread houses - that party was a nonstarter, it snowed so heavily non of my daughter's friends could get through. Humpty Dumpty - my son's first birthday, engines - of the steam variety; so many other different ones, even a leotard. I have spent more time down memory lane in the last two days than I can remember. There are pictures of them both starting the new school year, on holidays in North Wales, catching crabs off the harbour in Porthmadog. What a lovely task to give myself, I think though that it needs many weeks, so I am sorting the packs and will place them in albums, leaving the family pictures until last.
Today is the day to mount the pictures of the holiday in China, it is only about 20cm deep .... or perhaps I will start with the very few cricket mementoes I am allowing myself, or ..

It's Hot, hot, hot!
My goodness, 93 degrees yesterday and we felt every one of them! I went down to see my mother and on a whim we went out onto the Malvern hills and made up a picnic lunch. I love organised picnincs, but this was one of those impromptu almost sordid ones. No cutlery or plates, one glass for her to use, so it was bread rolls, celery, mayonnaise, hummous, cherry tomatoes pistachio nuts and local plums. All local produce or home made stuff, delicious! ( I also have to own up to the chips of root vegetables which I love! Not good for the diet though and more about that at a later date.)
We sat under some trees on the edge of a playing field and had a lovely time, I dredged some of her memories about Edie and Archie out of her and will sort that out later on too. We went back to harvest the lavender in her garden, managed one bush and then retreated inside - the heat was too much! Mum remembered a time she was doing a clininc on her own in the bush, a small hut full of sick people -'rather overpowering' was her phrase! One of the men in the group turned up and asked her to step outside when she had finshed, I wonder if she wore a nursing uniform?! I must ask that daft question! Anyway, she was presented with a huge slice of water melon, never has it tasted so good she mused. See? Another gent!

Germaine Greer hide your head in shame!
I hope she is regretting some of her writings about women's lib, because the antagonisms shown towards men have done us a great disservice. Where has all this come from? I walked over to the village to buy the Sunday paper this morning, on the way I pass the village church - well its one of the two village churches and is rather a pretty one - with spire etc.

It was just the end of the morning service so people were coming out to their cars, I walked on along the line of cars to see a gentleman, and that is what he is, opening the car door for his wife and ensuring she was safely in before he shut the door. He said 'Good Morning' to me and then went around to his side to get in. I was musing that it is not often that this action is seen nowadays and what a pity that is, because there is nothing I love more than for a man to open a door for me, or anything simple like that - showing that they can and they want to make almost a caring gesture - which after all may also be made to a total stranger with no underhand meaning. At this point a car drew up beside me, the same gentleman spoke again, 'Excuse me, would you like a lift into the village or am I right in thinking you would like to walk?' Wow! I was incredibly touched by his good manners, what a pity that feminism has done away with that kind of behaviour from most people.

Now those children in my new class in September may well have lessons in something they never bargained for, I hope we are learning about life during the second world war. Lots of opportunities there!!

Follow that sun!
There are four places in my garden that I can sit in during the day if I want to sunbathe or even find wasps nests! Last night was such a beautiful evening that I ate out side - fillet steak with mushrooms and garden peas, washed down with wine. Then I spent the evening reading in the sunshine, whenever the sun moved off me I changed seats to one in the sunshine, this went on until about 9.30 at which time the sun set and I couldn't pretend it was there anymore. It was warm, the hooligans were playing overhead - the swallows and swifts, they seem to have a teenage outlook to flying rather similar to the motorcyclists on the A41 - 170 mph (that's the bikes), I don't know what speed the birds do, but they enjoy it! The pigeons now regard my pool as their personal drinking bowl and the thrushes are dealing with the snails.
This was the sun shining on the bark of the walnut tree at the bottom of my garden - taken from seat number two!!

The Eyes have it!
I denied looking like Dusty, but I have found the eye makeup that I used in 'those' days - Mary Quant no less. The eye gloss instructions for the silvery grey colour advise using sparingly _ i don't think I did sparingly; the inkpot for eyes is a lovely little ceramic pot with dark indigo colour gunk inside it. Perhaps I will have to take that denial back - but only as far as the eyes went!! (Somewhere else I have the false eyelashed too....)
Other little treasures that have survived in my shoebox to the past are the clips for candles that we used at Christmas on the tree. So dangerous its unbelievable!! I remember them being lit though and the tree did not burst into flames. We used to chop a holly tree down from the farm, we didn't buy trees in those days. A little contraption to tell me which exposure to use on the camera, an ivory thimble, one of those ever ready pen torches that we all had, a nail file with a tortoiseshell handle and a tiny panda with bendy limbs. This little toy was one of several small presents that an elderly relation used to give me when I went visiting as a child.
They were called Edie and Archie, he was a tea taster, Edie was a full time wife, one of those lovely caring 'soft' women who seemed to know what everyone would like to eat or to do. I must find out more about them from my mother. Every summer my aunt used to take me over to visit them and I would have such fun there, they lived in a huge house with those bells in each room to pull for someone to come and do something. We used to go to a room and pull the bell, then dash down into the kitchen to see if the bell was still ringing by the time we got there. Lovely staircases and those hand embroidered 'muffs' hanging around the doorhandles to stop the doors from shutting or slamming I suppose. Edie used to hide the presents for me on the stairs, there would be one tine little toy each time I went and I still have them all. (That is why I have a full house.... I keep things.) I will take a photo of the panda and the others and add it later - at this moment I am on a mission to finish that room.

A Blast from the Past!
Well, the things you find when you turn out the junk!!
I remember joining the Beatles fan club at that teen age when they were just starting out - it was in 1964. I have found the photo that they sent to all of us demented girls, beehive hairdo or no. (I didn't ever manage one of those, or have to scratch my scalp with a knotting needle!!) and the programme of a concert at Wembley in 1966 with an incredible line up - as well as the Beatles, there were Spencer Davis group, Dave Dee etc, the Fortunes, Herman's Hermits, Roy Orbison, Alan Price, Cliff, the Rolling Stones, the Seekers, the Shadows, the Small Faces, Dusty, Crispian St Peters (he was gorgeous!)the Walker Brothers, the Who and the Yardbirds. Not bad eh!! All introduced by Pete Muray and Jimmy Savile himself, what a night, I have only vague recollections which is very sad. I also have a ticket - it cost me all of 25 shillings to hear that lot - wow! I still bop around to the music at full sound level, but no screaming now - well it wouldn't suit me would it?

He's SO right!
The Naked Chef has some lovely cooking ideas which I try out, but what I love about him is his refreshing honesty. He talks about the bags of out of date flour that lurk at the back of shelves, so he has a system of clearing everything out on a regular basis to prevent this. I would grieve over throwing something away, but he is rich and has not had the upbringing of 'no waste - we're British'.
On the packets of ready cut herbs, he talks about storing them at the front of the fridge so that they don't become part of the 'fridge bum' syndrome. Now I know exactly what he means, I (Please take that to mean my fridge, not me personally!) can suffer very easily from fridge bum, so what do I do to prevent this? I buy small bottles of beer and store them on each shelf so that things don't turn nasty on me. At this moment in time I have run out of these important items in my life, the fridge has just been cleaned and I have a job in September, so I think I might have to go shopping.... well, its a good reason isn't it?
Now I wonder where my little car blue will take me?
I think I can also get my hair cut, buy that sofa for the conservatory, the rug and something to hang on the wall..... this sounds like a Chester day. Anyone want to come shopping with me?

Bottoms Up!
Charge your glasses - even those blue moulded jobbies, open the tin of olives and join me in a celebration. I have a job! Hang on, why am I celebrating the fact that in the depths of winter I am going to have to get up and go out to work - hmmm, facts of life I suppose, in other words the bank balance reigns supreme!
I shall be teaching years 5 and 6 in a village 6 miles up the lane from my home. The classroom will have an interactive whiteboard so I shall be in ICT heaven, in fact I might even start some preparation now.., no, the bookshelves and the cupboard must be finished first. However, I am going to be encouraged to do some music making with them - yes! and I can even indulge myself at Christmas time. Yippeee!! (I am a closet carol singer amongst other things...)
So there we go, I'm a happie chappie. Bottle ready, wine glass clean and waiting, where's that yard arm!

How do they know?
I live out in the sticks so the daily newspaper is a non event for me. I usually walk over to the local shop for a week-end paper or the local issue that has all the jobs in it. So I miss my daily 'stars', that's where the pooter comes in handy, I get them sent to me. So how do they know that I have a whole lot of jobs that I have been pushing from one table top to another, they need doing badly but (that word again!) I seem unable to get on with them. My stars today say that it is anti procrastination day - aimed straight for me didn't they! The phrase they use is a lovely one:
"Locate your ducks before you line them up..."

I am having a senior moment!
What is the name of the scarecrow in the film with the yellow brick road? (I am hopeless at remembering these kind of facts.) The reason I ask is that on the way back home I drive past our local farm shop where they grow vegetable crops, and at the moment these crops are being defended by an army - yes at least a platoon , of scarecrows! They are wonderful, each one is different and is surrounded by the kind of stuff that airplanes release when they are being attacked by scud missiles, streams of material to divert the missiles. The scarecrow platoon look marvellous, standing to attention and dressed in a seemly uniform for the job that they do. However, I am slightly worried about the reason for the streamers, what are they growing there that might be attacked by the scuds?? It has given me an idea for my next scarecrow though... keep your eyes peeled!

The time has come the walrus said
Have I got the strength to do this? People think I am a very strong character and 'can do anything', well that's good, I just wish it were true. Especially at this moment in time.
I am just about to demolish the rather horrible built-in wardrobe in my spare bedroom, that action will have terrible repercussions on the rest of the house and on my emotions. Inside that cupboard I have stored the treasures of my past, there are school projects I did as a child almost 45 years ago - still with the cotton pod bulging in the scrap book. I have the photos from the start of my camera days, the paintings that my children did from very early days - pre-school in fact. There are dressing up clothes that I made for them - Henry VIII, a clown, a tutu etc. Bags of material which I have started to use to make a patch work bedspread, I can't throw those away as they are the material I used to make the children's clothes. I can remember them wearing the clothes and the fun we used to have.
"I can't" "But" are both words that are starting my thought streams when I look a the bin and then at the things I have lovingly hoarded. So what do I do - apart from stand there and remember the times that these items bring back to me. Should I turf out all the sensible things from the linen chest and have a memory chest of these survivors? They will have to be stored in something that is mice proof as they are my autumnal visitors in the loft on an annual basis. I can't bear to throw them away, but I need the space. If anyone has had similar predicaments and has a sensible sloution - please help - BUT DON'T tell me to throw them away.....

Someone remind me to never, never ever consider carpentry as an alternative career. I have been working on 'that' wardrobe since about 9 this morning, it is now 4 in the afternoon and I still haven't managed to take it all down. Electric screwdrivers are very useful except when you want to undo the long screws that are sticking into the wood and concrete, or the ceiling at all sorts of angles. And because they are so easy to use, they put lots of them in. Grrrrr! I am exhausted by it all and I don't often admit to that! So the next step is a strong brew of workman's tea ( to my eternal shame I had an aunt who called indian tea that name) and carry on. Well I shall imagine it could be "Carry on up the Wardrobe" or - no it gets worse! And I don't imagine Sid James would be much help in this situation!

Did it?
No, of course not. It behaved very well - we are talking about the weather here.... Livvy and Tim came round to help me celebrate by cooking and eating a bbq, Ru bought me a cushion cover from my favourite Middle Eastern Carpet shop in St Andrews.
One of us is a vegetarian, so the barbeque has to be barbeques and as I don't have two, we used the disposable ones. Very good they are too - no problem lighting those little jobbies. I prepared the food - as you do in true Blue Peter fashion, I strayed from the plot slightly by drinking some red wine whilst I did it, but I reckoned that was OK as it was 'my party and I'll do what I want'.

Tim lit the touch paper first..


We ate the food and drank the wine - all very delicious, however this is the sad sight of the last drops of a bottle of red dripping into my lovely rummer glass.



then Livvy started to snap at us with my little camera. Guess who this is?



She also made a movie of the fire, but it is so big that I don't think it will download onto the page before next week, so sorry about that Liv.

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
OK, its a 'timely' song and I love it. The other day I explained that I had been lying on the garden bench, I also had been taking photos of the clouds which were those lovely puffy balls of clouds and they came out!! The wonders of science!

Of course I didn't remember taking them and when downloading, wondered what I had been on to take a picture of pebbles. The penny dropped and I was immediately transported to the M54 about 10 years ago. Livvy and I had been to Ikea and filled up my lovely little 2CV called Lucy with bookshelves and other must haves from there,as well as a chicken and a bottle of gin. We were dashing back to Shifnal to meet my son from his skiing holiday. Late as usual his bus passed us with much ribaldry and waving between vehicles.
Then my little car went up in flames, truly up in flames, she was very well behaved, the fire remained in the front engine part, it gave us time to offload all the shopping, and she was full! Then we wept bitter tears on the side of the M54, watching the end of what would be for me a motoring era. Livvy comforted me with the thought that Lucy was now in the sky with diamonds and we were safe.

The firemen -she warranted three fire engines and two police cars, just laughed their heads off. It was not unasked for as on the windows we had stuck some no smoking signs from the double ended engines at Porthmadog.
Oh sorry - I get all emotional when I think of her.
So this is for Livvy who is aiming to start the national poppy collection.

Browning
The quote from Browning is not one that sits easily in my character. It is one, however, that I am trying to adopt. Let me explain a bit more.
I have been doing an online degree with several other people whom I know who have also been ICT tutors over the last couple of years. They are doing their second degree, realise that thinking is good thing and can work in this way. I am one of those kinds of people who look at something, make a snap decision and then rush into it - I also find a challenge irresistible, its what I call the 'banging my head against brick walls' syndrome - how many can I cope with at once?!!
So, the degree has several different types of work areas, one of which is a discussion board. I loved this and became quite addicted to it, finding it very difficult when people didn't contribute or when the facilitator disappeared for weeks on end. It is supposed to be the area where you read a comment, go away and think about it, then come back with a measured, thoughtful response. Mmm, I think you've guessed it, I jump in straight away with reactions, post them, then a day or so later have very different thoughts and the strange thing is that this way of working eats away at my subconscious level of thinking and makes me think about the subject. Whereas, I am sure that in face to face learning, I found it extremely easy to forget things and not cogitate. That thinking was a new experience, the other difficulty is my tendency to destroy the English language.
I chop words up and fit bits together that should never be joined and sometimes have astounded even myself. My two (what do I call them now - not children still?) -start again, my son and daughter still remember the time I went into the bakery shop in Porthmadog and asked for a slice of milk. Do you see how this could be difficult in an online situation? The vocabulary is sometimes totally novel, the meaning not what I want and as for the spelling of the the word 'the', I can manage to do this in many different ways.
So back to Browning, the word 'doubt' is there in a positive way for me to make an effort to check things before I press the enter key. Perhaps I should even stick a label on it with the word 'don't'!!

Here's the famous Browning poem for you:

Oh to be in England

Life style
There are times when it feel so right not to be going out to work - when the grass gets cut before it grows so high that I need to tilt the mower sideways to half cut it, then have to go over it again to fully cut it. Then there are the borders which need sorting so that I can see the flowers, I usually get around to that after the flowers are over.... you get the idea? I am not the world's most organised person.
However, this year, the christmas cake will be made before the middle of December, I am in the middle of mixing it now. Whether I get round to icing it before Christmas Eve is another matter - that is usually a tradition we have, my mother perches somewhere near and tells me how to do things - with the help of a little scotch, then I do it. We usually finish the job after midnight and celebrate Christmas twice - very early, then after breakfast. If I am organised and the cake doesn't need icing, then things won't be quite the same - so perhaps I could bake some mince pies at midnight instead!!
The other times that balance this unheard of organisation in my life are when the favourite shops in my life tell me that they are having sales or have their new stock in. That's the down side!! I shall hide my car keys so that my car does not take me over to Eccleshall and take care not to trip over my bottom lip which is having a mega sulk!
Back to the cake, then I shall pick the first peas of the year from the veg patch!

A Warm Glow
That's what I'm feeling - a warm glow! I've been put on a link from another site, and that's a lovely feeling! If you can imagine my twirling around in pleasure, please do so at this point!!
Coming down to earth, I got up this morning in time and scuttled off to do a day's work, it felt good. I need to sort out several of my ideas, but it was a positive experience so perhaps my decision to go back into the classroom is the right one. Must get a class to go into though....

The Real World has caught up with me again!
Drat, drat and double drat! I was hoping to do a term without any work, but I have been found out and asked to do a day's supply work tomorrow. That is going to be a terrible shock to my system, never mind the teaching, I shall have to get up in the morning. Ugh!