Weather Pixie

Cruising around some blogs this morning, I discovered that the weather pixie is back. Seems she has been for an overhaul, a health checkup, M.O.T. whatever due to pressure of work but now she's back, hopefully to stay.

Bird protection

Whilst cruising around the internet today, during the quiet times in the shop (yes, I've done the dusting, made the coffee etc!), I came across 2 items on birds.
The first was from Raised by Chaffinches detailing the widespread slaughter of many of our small birds and birds of prey in Malta and Italy. Do like the man says and sign the petition please.
The second item was in this morning's news. This is a much more positive item about the Great Bustard chicks which have been brought over from Russia to settle on Salisbury Plain. When I heard this item on Radio 4 this morning, there was mention of a number of possible hazards which could cut short a long and happy life. To accustom them to natural predators, a stuffed fox will be placed in their cage. Speaking as the mother of a soldier who was once stationed in that area, I would have thought that the biggest threat would come, not from foxes but from Homo Sapiens Armius! How about a cardboard cutout of a squaddie in the cage? Oh well, just a thought.....

Harry Potter

I wanted to go and see the new Harry Potter film. Keith isn't interested in Harry Potter. When I looked on the internet to find out when it is on at the one and only cinema near us, I discovered that it is only on once a day, in the morning and only until this Thursday. Keith tried hard to hide his delight but he didn't quite manage it!
"Oh, what a shame!" he tittered.
"If you wanted to go and see a film, I would be quite happy to go with you," I pointed out, reasonably. "Think of all the 'Scrapheap Challenges' I've sat through on television without a word of complaint," I continued, still very reasonably.
"You didn't need any words of complaint," he replied, "The body language said it all." How unreasonable can men be!!

Happy Monday

The best thing about yesterday evening was that I didn't have to go to school today! No 50 mile treck to the outskirts of Liverpool. I was still going to work - in Keith's shop and I'll be there all week and it is such a pleasant change. I can go to work, finish at 5.30p.m., come home and forget about it. What's more, I am not coming home to face another couple of hours of marking, preparation etc which must be done before tomorrow. Neither am I coming home too exhausted to do anything else but collapse into bed once I've finished all the 'homework'.
I know what you're thinking - 6 weeks holiday (5 weeks this time, actually). Well, in reality, half the holiday is commonly taken up with reorganisation, preparation and other work for the coming year. Given the choice between that and what I am doing now, I feel I have definitely made the right decision. There is more to life than long holidays! Trust me! :)

Are you a freak?

I found this site where you can take a test to find out how 'different' you are from the rest of the human race! Thanks to Crash n'Donna for that discovery. When I did it, I was dismally conformist, so I haven't published the result - maybe I'll try again and cheat! :)

More S.A.S. sheep

Today we were cruising around the Clwydian mountains and we came across some sheep (surprise, surprise!) - in the mountains, on the grass, meandering along the lanes, throwing themselves in front of the car.....
If you look at the determined expression on this sheep's face, you will understand that the cattle grids in Yorkshire would pose no problem for her! Welsh sheep - they make 'em tough over here!

Boxes 'r Us

Boxes 'r Us
Keith's not the only one who can have collections of boxes - but mine are more upmarket, being coloured and plastic. This is the result of my day's work sorting out my stuff from school into that which can be safely binned and that which it would be advisable to keep for future supply work, bearing in mind our limited storage space.