Voyage autour du lac!

One of my favourite walks with Lucy is around the lake at the back of our house.
This is the view across the lake at the moment. The leaves are glowing with their autumn colours and on the morning I took this, it wasn't raining! (It made up for that later on, of course!)

You knew this already, didn't you?

Some very sensible, worthwhile and true comments from my friend, T.K. Enjoy!!

Men are like... Laxatives... They irritate the shit out of you.

Men are like... Bananas... The older they get, the less firm they are.

Men are like... Weather... Nothing can be done to change them.

Men are like... Blenders... You need One, but you're not quite sure why.

Men are like... Chocolate Bars... Sweet, smooth, and they usually head right for your hips.

Men are like... Commercials... You can't believe a word they say.

Men are like... Department Stores... Their clothes are always 1/2 off.

Men are like... Government Bonds... They take soooooooo long to mature.

Men are like... Mascara... They usually run at the first sign of emotion.

Men are like... Popcorn... They satisfy you, but only for a little while.

Men are like... Snowstorms... You never know when they're coming, how many inches you'll get or how long it will last.

Men are like... Lava Lamps... Fun to look at, but not very bright.

Men are like... Parking Spots... All the good ones are taken, the rest are handicapped.

Diet? Moi?

I have the morning off but I have been very good and not spent all morning on the computer! I have taken Lucy for a walk and done the domestic goddess bit - hoovering, dusting, tidying, the washing has washed and is now drying as I write and I have even sorted out my wordrobe and 'rationalised' it, as one erstwhile colleague was fond of saying when she was throwing out folders of out of date National Curriculum stuff. That brought me to the realisation of a long-held suspicion - I need to diet! No, correct that- we need to diet. At work it's all too easy to nip out for fish and chips with curry sauce or large portions of chicken and mushroom or steak and kidney pie accompanied by chicken nuggets or spicy chicken wings, followed by cakes.
But, hang on - I don't do that! I don't even eat meat and avoid any processed food as far as possible. I use skimmed or soya milk, never take sugar, never eat chips or crisps or butter. So what am I doing wrong???
It just ain't fair!
Correction! Keith needs to diet! He's the one eating all that junk food, not me. Maybe he could diet for both of us!

New look again!

The more eagle eyed among you may notice yet another template change. Told you I had a low boredom threshold! In fact, I had done a lot of fiddling with the other one and it was taking a long time to load, so that was a good enough excuse to get me started.
So, while Keith cowered in the background, fearing the smoke coming out of my ears when things went wrong, I, being now an expert, comparatively speaking, managed the change with relatively few problems! (Miracles do happen!)
It's not all finished yet, but I hope you all like it - especially my friend T.K. who is still missing the green template! :)

Brassed Off - Theatr Clwyd

Last night we went to Theatr Clwyd to see a brilliant play, Brassed off. I have never been to this theatre before; it's not very big but it contains 2 theatres and a cinema, which means that each one is small enough to enable the audience to have a clear view wherever they are sitting and also to feel part of the performance.
I always enjoy going to the theatre, although I probably don't go as often as I would like, but I really can't remember a performance that I enjoyed so much. The storyline is about the struggle of a tight-knit Welsh mining community faced with the closure of the pit which is practically their only source of employment and of their brass band which is a focus of unity for the community. The performance included live brass music - even the leading characters were actually playing their instruments. The portrayal of determination to keep the pit open gradually gave way to the cynical realisation that the powers that be had already made their decision to close it, no matter what and were manipulating the families involved through their conditional offers of redundancy payments. "Take it now and don't argue. We'll win in the end anyway."
The argument within the community was about the conflict between the short term benefit of taking what was offered and the fact that, by so doing, they were betraying future generations of workers, but, in fact, it was the government which was doing that; the choice was not really theirs to make. If you have seen the film, you know the story but this performance was immeasurably better.
'Brassed off' is playing at Theatr Clwyd until mid November and if you live within travelling distance of Mold, you shouldn't miss it. As I said at the beginning - it's brilliant!

Rain! Rain! Rain!

Ever since we came back from France, it seems as if it has been raining. Some days a little, some days a lot, showers, drizzle, storms, gales, thunder and lightning, we've had it all. To look on the bright side, at least I am not still in school, struggling to contain stir-crazy classes of pupils through endless wet playtimes. Come to think of it, given our unpredictable climate, I have never understood why schools in Britain are not built with a verandah so that the children could at least get out for some air on rainy days, but that's another story.
Looking back before our holiday, we don't seem to have had many dry days since Spring either. In fact, I feel as if we are still waiting for summer and it is now nearly winter. Two months from today it will be Christmas, next week-end the clocks go back and we will return to dark evenings and soon afterwards to foggy evenings, frosty mornings and, eventually, no doubt, ice and snow.
Meanwhile, the leaves on the trees are beautiful in their autumn colours and there is an indefinable tang in the air at this time - but not when it is raining all the time! Too much of the wet stuff is beginning to affect everyone's mood. Customers are irritable and complaining, staff (in other shops, of course, not ours!)are impatient and disinterested. To add to the problem, Wales is earmarked for yet more storms mid-week - when will it end!

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