How about this for a slightly idiosyncratic solution to the problem of a car being parked right where council workmen wanted to tarmac the road? To misquote the Everest windows advert, "Now I bet you didn't think they'd be doing that today, did you?"
As it happens, Keith was called out the following day to open a car parked behind the offending vehicle.
Fame at last!
B&Q Baby Boomer
Having paid a visit to a friend's new house the other day and seen, with envy and admiration, how much work she has done on it, decoration-wise, I have decided that the time has come to grab the bull by the horns and start decorating again. I have done it before. A few years ago, I decorated the living room, dining room and kitchen and later, the bathroom and conservatory. Being a newcomer to decorating - in my previous life, I was always relegated to stripping wallpaper and clearing up the mess - the results were by no means perfect, but by the time I was on to the conservatory, I think a degree of improvement was evident - if you squinted sideways through one eye at it, anyway.
So today, much to Keith's consternation, I called at B&Q and bought the requisites for doing the dining room and kitchen. I've got it sorted this time. Walls and ceilings will be white; that way it doesn't matter if I go over the edge with the paint. Simples!
I also remembered to register my 'over sixties' 10% off card and used it for the first time.
So now, I'm a member of the B&Q over-sixties club.
A B&Q Baby Boomer! Not sure how I feel about that...
So today, much to Keith's consternation, I called at B&Q and bought the requisites for doing the dining room and kitchen. I've got it sorted this time. Walls and ceilings will be white; that way it doesn't matter if I go over the edge with the paint. Simples!
I also remembered to register my 'over sixties' 10% off card and used it for the first time.
So now, I'm a member of the B&Q over-sixties club.
A B&Q Baby Boomer! Not sure how I feel about that...
Ten years
Ten years ago this summer, Mum was ill and getting weaker, the end result of an initial stroke at the age of 70 and a series of TIAs (transient ischaemic attacks or mini strokes) in recent years. I spent a lot of that year driving up and down the motorways most weekends between Liverpool, where I was then living, and Bristol and then I stayed for nearly all of the school summer holiday to help out with her care. By then, she was almost bedridden and eventually was moved downstairs where she could be more 'in the loop' and it was easier to look after her.
So memories of that summer are a mixture - hours doing record keeping and planning for the following term, as I usually did during the summer holidays, interspersed with caring for Mum, doing housework, cooking and shopping. I remember the weather being hot and humid and fans were essential.
The carers, when they began to come, were excellent; kind, caring women who did their job well and treated Mum as a person, rather than a patient. Some of them attended her funeral later in the year.
Kathy and Hugh had holidays which they took to spend time there too and Claire and James came when they could. Inevitably, those weeks were a time of difficult emotions and stress but there are good memories too; Kathy and I decorating the bathroom, the care and sensitivity of Hugh when he lifted Mum in and out of bed, the sense that we were all pulling together and working as a team, and I look back at that summer as probably the last chance I had to spend any lengthy amount of time with Kathy and Hugh. Once your children are adults, they live their own lives, of course, but you value the time spent together all the more for that.
In a couple of weeks, Keith and I will be meeting up with Kathy and Claire to go and see Paul performing in his drama group - and that will be another moment for future memories.
So memories of that summer are a mixture - hours doing record keeping and planning for the following term, as I usually did during the summer holidays, interspersed with caring for Mum, doing housework, cooking and shopping. I remember the weather being hot and humid and fans were essential.
The carers, when they began to come, were excellent; kind, caring women who did their job well and treated Mum as a person, rather than a patient. Some of them attended her funeral later in the year.
Kathy and Hugh had holidays which they took to spend time there too and Claire and James came when they could. Inevitably, those weeks were a time of difficult emotions and stress but there are good memories too; Kathy and I decorating the bathroom, the care and sensitivity of Hugh when he lifted Mum in and out of bed, the sense that we were all pulling together and working as a team, and I look back at that summer as probably the last chance I had to spend any lengthy amount of time with Kathy and Hugh. Once your children are adults, they live their own lives, of course, but you value the time spent together all the more for that.
In a couple of weeks, Keith and I will be meeting up with Kathy and Claire to go and see Paul performing in his drama group - and that will be another moment for future memories.
And the weather this weekend...
When I saw the headline for this article in the Daily Telegraph, well, I got really excited. A weekend heatwave, hot enough to lead to health warnings! And then I read the article. As usual, anything that happens weather-wise in the south east is immediately given prime coverage as if the whole of the UK is going to be affected. Yes, I know we are in the middle of Wimbledon and so the forecasts there are more than usually important, but this happens all year round. I pity the poor Scots. They routinely undergo hail, rain and chest-deep snow and no-one even hears about it.
At the moment, I am in Bristol (south west England). On Sunday, I shall be returning to North Wales, also on the west of Britain, so I shall not be affected by or interested in what the weather is doing over on the east, except to be mildly disappointed that I shall not need my factor 50 sun lotion whilst travelling, to protect me from the fiery rays of the sun.
Oh no, "Elsewhere in the country will be cooler, with unsettled conditions and temperatures in the low 20s in some places." That's what we'll be getting.
On the other hand, it's probably just as well that I shall not be collapsing at the wheel with heat stroke like all those poor people in the 'Sahf East' innit!
At the moment, I am in Bristol (south west England). On Sunday, I shall be returning to North Wales, also on the west of Britain, so I shall not be affected by or interested in what the weather is doing over on the east, except to be mildly disappointed that I shall not need my factor 50 sun lotion whilst travelling, to protect me from the fiery rays of the sun.
Oh no, "Elsewhere in the country will be cooler, with unsettled conditions and temperatures in the low 20s in some places." That's what we'll be getting.
On the other hand, it's probably just as well that I shall not be collapsing at the wheel with heat stroke like all those poor people in the 'Sahf East' innit!
T.K. is back!
I haven't treated you to one of T.K.'s gems lately, so here's one I got from him this morning. You know what they say - there's many a true word spoken in jest!Julia Gillard, the Prime Minister of Australia, and David Cameron, her British counterpart, are shown a time machine which can see 100 years into the future.
They both decide to test it by asking a question each.
Julia goes first. "What will Australia be like in 100 years time?"
The machine whirrs and beeps and goes into action and gives her a printout.
She reads it out. "The country is in good hands under the new Prime Minister, crime is non-existent, there is no conflict, the economy is healthy. There are no worries."
David thinks "It's not bad, this time machine, I'll have a bit of that." So he asks, "What will Great Britain be like in 100 years time?"
The machine whirrs and beeps and goes into action, and he gets a printout.
But he's just staring at it.
"Come on David," says Julia, "what does it say?"
David replies, "I'm buggered if I know. It's all in Arabic."
Skinny dipping
At 8.30 yesterday morning on a beach at Rhossilli, 400 people took up the challenge to stay in the (extremely cold) water for at least 10 minutes, to raise money for the Marie Curie Cancer Care and the National Trust.Read all about it here.
And before you ask, no, I was not among their number - far too cold for me.
Daphne, on the other hand, could have been there except that she was busy doing her own Great North Swim. You can read a comprehensive account of that on Silverback's blog, here.It's a good thing some of us are hardy critters!
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