Rush Hour at coffee time

I came home from shopping and treated myself to some coffee outside, the weather has been so wonderful these last few days. The time was immaculate - just in time for the rush hour on the walnut tree at the top of my garden.
First of all the pigeons made a lot of noise mating - they do this year in and year out around here! I was just about to shout my usual abuse at them - comments about restraint etc when I noticed the Greater Spotted Woodpecker inspecting a hole in the tree trunk - then having a little wander up and down before flying off to join its mate on the tree next to the walnut. They both came back to the walnut and grazed in the bark before moving on.
The various members of the tit families were flying around too, the robin joined in together with the resident wren. Then some chaffinches flew in to check the outer branches and they were joined by some of this year's spotted flycatcher family.
Above the tree were some of the remaining few swallows and swifts flying around, I love to see them, they are so acrobatic.
The local squirrel then broke up the party, he is such a bully and a hooligan. But it was an incredibly busy tree trunk for about 5 minutes.
I only went out for a cup of coffee!!

Hmmmm.

My buying session of yesterday - the economical one, turned out to be rather less than successful. Why?

I found the receipt - in this new 'organised me' way, and checked it. Instead of paying 19p each for 4 fresh figs -(I know, they were an extravagance - but also very good for me!) the check out man charged me for 4 men's shirts! I rang the national number of the shop only to be told that local store numbers are not available to the public, so I have to go back in with the receipt and claim a refund. I will be returning in about a fortnight, so I hope I don't lose the small pieces of paper. However, it does explain why I wasn't too impressed by the cheapness of the total.

Learning curve - check the receipt before I leave the store!

A cup of coffee.

I went out with some friends from school for a coffee this morning, and returned more than 6 hours later!! True, the day constituted two coffee stops and a lot of shopping. But those two coffees were bought in two very different coffee shops. One sold excellent coffee but was not pleased that we talked and stayed there for some time, the second place was so friendly and welcoming. We spent far more money there and will return there next time.

The other incredible sight was an original Herbie which has been deserted in a car park in town. I think I want him as a friend for my Herbie. I need to ring Terry...

Nerdy person...

I am trying to be an organised person and it is not easy. At the moment I am thinking about the financial side of my early retirement. Going out to shop at Moet on a whim, must not be the order of the day, and other luxuries like that have to be considered before diving into them.

So I have set up a spreadsheet with all my daily financial 'outgoings' (the ones that I am good at) being put down in black and white. That's fine, no probs there, but do I have to send myself little messages with IF statements to comment upon my spending? Well yes, it makes things more fun! So at the moment I am 'doing well', but if I overspend then it will be a big 'OH NO!!', and the difficult comment will be - well, at the moment its 'Hey, that's good!'

How sad is that!

Friday's friend...

was full of apples - well not quite, but I suspect you would understand that she gave me a bag of glorious John Downey crab apples. They are such a lovely autumnal colour and the smell of crab apple jelly was a reminder of years past when I did a lot of jam making. That was Monday sorted out - after my return from a walking week-end.

Until about mid afternoon when I was invited over to another friend to pick her mom's plums. This time I made jam.
Today I received a bag of damsons - they are now boiled sieved and turned into damson cheese. And this afternoon a neighbour turned up with the first puffballs of this season.

I thought this retirement was going to be a doddle - all play and no work. How wrong was I!!

Sad memories

11th September is going to be one of those dates that you remember exactly what you were doing when the news of the planes hitting the twin towers came through. It still sends shivers through me and I am afraid I couldn't watch the programmes about it all last week.
Why do we human beings kill each other so much?

Ooooh, it happened again!

I was locked out of my blog and felt really strange! However, the magic pulling out of the cable at the back of my wireless router did the trick. Thank you wonderful daughter!!
It is very late and I am shattered so this is all folks!

Ouch! Ouch and ouch!

Why? Well, yesterday was rather painful - I cycled 28 miles for the first time in my life. (Don't ask me why...) Perhaps now the title is understandable!! How on earth do people cycle thousands of miles across continents - and from here to China and back?

(My new shopping list contains things like - a deluxe gell saddle cover. A milometer, a bag thing to go on the handle bars, and most importantly a puncture repair kit. )

We started out from Market Harborough, getting the hill climb over with at the beginning of the ride, then onto the first village, Lubenham which was holding its annual scarecrow festival. They were brilliant! Perhaps the most impressive one was the speed cop and then his first victim on a motorbike.



I also loved the Pied Piper of Lubenham. (But hang on - you'll have to lie down to look at this one until I can sort it out!!)




They were wonderful!! We then cycled down to Naseby and spent some time re-enacting (in our minds) the battle of Naseby. That man Oliver Cromwell has a lot to answer for! Lunch was taken at a village pub which looked lovely from the outside, but the bar inside was painted a dark purple - a really dark purple. It looked very much like a 1960's hangover and blow me down, there was a portrait of John Lennon hanging on the wall. Weird.

Our journey home was along a cycle track which had been built on an old train track. It was lovely - and so were the tunnels, real train tunnels that were very long and dark. Have you tried riding a bike in the pitch dark? It was very strange, I completely lost my sense of balance, so got off and walked. That was OK, but I still kept bumping into people in front and at one stage into the wall at the side. Blind in charge of a bike!!! And not a drop of alcohol had passed my lips that day.

I am doing a lot of strange things nowadays... its fun!

Herbie's Hey Day

I'm not sure how to spell 'hey' in that title, but yesterday certainly needed that little word. Herbie changes the most mundane of jobs into a different experience.

On my way into the recycling centre in Newport a lady gesticulated frm her car and claimed sudden love and lust for him. She wanted his life history as well as ownership, but I kindly warned her off! He's mine, the best man in my life.

After that little domestic job I drove off to Wolverhampton to my hairdresser and to do some shopping. No big deal I thought. Well, the youth of Wolves also admired him vociferously whilst I trawled around the streets looking for a handy parking space, and then driving down to the ring road, came his greatest moment, I could hear a siren screaming so like all the other drivers, I waited until the fire-engine showed itself and where it wanted to go. Around the roundabout screamed the engine, obviously off to a fire at some speed. The driver caught sight of Herbie and waved frantically at him, as did the other firemen in the front.

Wow! Perhaps men in uniforms like quirky too - not at all what I had expected of a fairly ordinary day!!