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Good morning. 

I've just been to the Post Office in the church. Notice on the door says it is not open today due to equipment failure. That could mean anything, but I read it as the computer has malfunctioned and there is no connection to the internet, and no way that transactions can be completed today. Oh well, it happens. 

It's that time of the year again, the trek to Switzerland has begun. Maybe trek is the wrong word. It doesn't take any effort to step into a limo, climb aboard a private jet with your entourage of bag carriers, then get ferried to your posh hotel for your annual holiday in Davos. 

Rebel News are on duty at the airport to report on how the meet and greet all works. Guests walking  across the tarmac. Lots of people we have never heard of.   

After a week long conference, the WEF will be revealing their new plan about how the rest of us should be living our lives. None of them have been elected, except for a few new faces in this years shindig. Some puppets, er politicians, have accepted invites to attend, to the consternation of many who question their motives. Have they sold out to the Globalists, or have they a cunning plan to infiltrate the very heart of the richest people who pull their strings. Who knows. Whatever the outcome, they can throw ideas around, nothing will change. 

I see that David Icke is soon to start his UK tour. Two events are sold out. I haven't booked a seat this time. I saw him in Derby, and read everything he posts online, so I am up to speed with his concerns for the future. 

Now it's past midday, so Good Afternoon. It's sunny and dry, so I might go out after lunch.

Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip.   ilona

More pics of the quilting show.

Hello.

As well as all the beautiful quilts on display there were also a lot of stalls selling everything you need to make your own artistic masterpiece. Ladies were loading up their bags. For a lot of people an outing to a sewing show is a must. Many of them travel miles because there are no arts and craft dedicated shops in their area. Here it's very convenient, everything under one roof. 

I found a box full of zips, four for £1. Couldn't resist having a rummage in that. All colours and all lengths. I spent £3 and bought 12. Not sure what I am going to do with them, but I've made a start by  sewing them together. 

Here is the walk around the quilts video I recorded. 

I joined the ladies at Crafty Club this morning. We had a laugh and put the world to rights. 

Thanks for popping in. Now I'm off out to do a litter pick before it gets dark. 

Toodle pip.   ilona

If you love quilts . . . . . .

Good morning. It is Sunday and it is raining. There might be a walk later, but in the meantime I have enough to keep my grey matter occupied here. 

Some photo's from the Quilt and Sewing event yesterday at Newark Showground. The first show of 2026. Let's look at the magnificent quilts on show. Some of these are massive. The skill of piecing and stitching fabrics together is off the scale. The artist starts with a centre picture, then builds the surrounding areas with smaller shapes and colours for the background. If you look closely you can just about make out where the background overlaps onto the picture. Imagine collecting all that fabric and cutting it into the shapes and sizes that you need to complete your masterpiece. Pure magic. 

Then when all the pieces are in place you blitz the whole quilt over with hours of machine sewing. 

Lots of medium size quilts. 

Then smaller quilts. They can be any size you like. 

There are some very worthy prize winners in the smallest of these wall hangings. 

I recorded a video of some of the quilts, which I will upload now and post later. 

I treated myself, spent some money on a superduper LED lamp for my craft table. That will brighten things up a bit. Now going to unpack it and set it up. 

Thanks for popping in. Enjoy your Sunday. Toodle pip.   ilona

Get out, we want your house.

Good afternoon, or is it Good evening. 

I've been out today. Coming up later will be photo's and a video from the Quilt and Sewing Fair at Newark Showground.

I started to prepare this post when I got back on Thursday but didn't get round to finishing it. I took some photo's on the outskirts of Derby as I was passing through, inspired by this video I found about a week ago. Charles Veitch is an investigative journalist, and puts himself out there in the middle of all the mayhem. He comes across as someone a bit bolshie and not afraid to voice his opinion. You might even think he looks a bit rough on the outside, but he is a smart guy. I watched an earlier video from a few years ago when he describes his upbringing, his education, and and how he came to live in different parts of the world.  

I have copied a few of the comments underneath this video which sheds some light on how 16 houses in Derby came to be abandoned. 

Expansion of the adjacent A38 dual carriageway. They were subject to compulsory purchase orders several years ago.

m38 motorway ️ £646 million over 4 years , starting in March 2026

They've been looking to widen the roads/A38 near there for years. Buildings and trees etc removed. Most people in these houses were simply bought out. I think the last person finally left but stayed in their house there, refusing to budge, for a long while after all the others were boarded up.

The row of boarded-up homes in central Derby, specifically those on Queensway near Markeaton Island, are vacant due to a long-standing plan to widen the A38 road. The properties were acquired by National Highways (previously the Highways Agency) through compulsory purchase orders for the now-cancelled road-widening project.

One house belonged to Gail Roberts who was the last to leave. See Derbyshire Live article "Last woman standing on Derby street set to disappear" You can read the story of Gail Roberts here.

These are my pictures.

This is a shocking state of affairs, though I suspect compulsory purchases are happening all over the UK when the Government wants the land. How much did they pay the owners of these 16 houses? Who owns them now? Will the widening of the A38 at Derby ever be completed? This has been going on a long time. The Government must be sitting on mega acres of land. 

Have a good weekend. See you tomorrow. 

Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip.   ilona 

Watching Aimee work

Good morning.

Another quickie today. Aimee has been working on excavators for a long time. After the narrow boat rescue I think she has reached star status. There are lots of videos of her at work, on yooootooob. Here is one of them. 

Click 'Watch on youtube' 

Now I must get ready for a full day of busy - ness.

Enjoy your weekend. Catch ya later. Toodle pip.   ilona

Three minutes of your time.

Ladyva is in London. Just passing through. 

How come someone can be so beautiful, and have so much talent, and she can sing too. Makes you sick, doesn't it. 😁😂😃😄🎹🎹🎹  ilona

Toodle pip.   ilona

Saving the Boats. (edited)

This is epic. This magnificent beast has winched one of the narrowboats out of the breach on the Llangollen Canal. They ain't messing. These are the boys to get the job done. 

And if you want to see how it was done, feast your eyeballs on this. 

More information. They are using this spider excavator, check the video. Guess what, there is a woman in the driving seat, and it is only the third time she is working with it. How cool is that. This photo is from a job in Gargrave in North Yorkshire. On hire from WM Plant Hire. 

More pictures and information coming out about Aimee the Spider driver. Lots of complimentary comments. She should be proud of herself. 

Aimee’s incredible skill and patience, not to mention bravery when you see just how precariously she was perched next to Ganymede, is highly commendable!

Great work by all involved from start to finish. That spider digger was a proper piece of kit. Well done to Aimee, great driving.

 AIMEE is the brightest star. 

Someone please put her up for some sort of award, if there is such a thing for digger drivers?

In other news. . . . . .

Heidi, The Narrowboat Pirate, has a new video out. She is trapped on a 30 mile stretch of the canal and has decided not to get craned out for the time being. She is in an area that she loves, she has her campervan not far away and will go off on some adventures in that. Her parents are close by, so plenty of scope for more videos until the canal can be restored, which I think will be rather a long time. 

I took some photo's yesterday so I will be back later. Now it's time for breakfast. 

Toodle pip.   ilona 

Another one bites the dust.

 Landlord Calls Time at North Lincolnshire Pub

A much-loved North Lincolnshire pub will close its doors for the final time tonight as its landlord hands back the keys amid rising costs.

Craig Goulden, licensee of The Butchers Arms in Winterton, has announced that the pub will cease trading on Friday 16th January, citing increasing overheads and financial pressures as the reason for the closure.

This has been a popular pub over the years. Well known for it's good food, and events held on the large car park at the back. Our Government, and previous Governments are hell bent on making small businesses almost impossible to run. Higher taxes and higher costs, mean increases have to be passed on to the customer. A lot of pubs will fall by the wayside. Maybe new blood will come along and turn it around. We shall see. 

Toodle pip.   ilona

Admiration.

 Good morning.

Some smashing pictures appeared on my screen this morning. Emily and Louise of Camper Vibe have bought a 30 year old Landy. The plan is to turn it into a campervan, and go offroading in it. There isn't anything these two ladies can't do. Travels in their campervan with their dog and cat have taken them far and wide over the years. 

Their other project which is ongoing for the forseable future, is the renovation of a run down cottage in Ireland. If you are interested in building a cabin from the ground up, check out their channel for a step by step of how they are getting on with that. I shall be watching their progress with the Landy 

I admire people who get on with their lives and follow their dreams. They inspire me to follow mine. 

Catch ya later. Toodle pip.   ilona

I went out today

 Good evening. 

I had a day out today. An easy drive down the motorway to my home town. Nothing much on the road so I was able to scoot along. Lunch out with family in a very nice cafe. I called in at the Insurance Broker in the High Street to pay my car insurance. I usually do this on the phone, but I fancied going out so I turned up in person at the office. I was going to have a look around the town while I was there, but it was raining heavily. The daylight was fading, so I decided to head off back up north and come home. The rain was lashing down on the motorway. Traffic was heavy, queuing to get on and off at the junctions. I usually slow down and sit behind a lorry at 56mph when it is like that. An extra ten minutes on the journey is neither here nor there. 

A picture of the boys I snapped yesterday. Mickey sleeps on the bed with me, then when I get up, Oscar joins him. 

Now Mayze wants a cuddle. 

Catch ya tomorrow. Toodle pip.   ilona

Another dig.

 PS

I should really ignore this, but it makes me laugh, 😁😃😄so I will share it. Seen on another blog. 

Traveller

Common sense seems to have gone out of the window. Journalists are not calling out obvious lies. Some people think expert is a dirty word. Some people think this is all part of a grand plan. -seriously the leaders of the world are all marching to the same tune.

People get their information from X thinking this is more reliable that those journalists who will ask questions.

Hateful Traveller is still at it. You know who he is talking about don't you. 

Now I really must go. ilona

We need more trees.

 A quickie this morning, I have things to do.

Climate Change Hoax Scam “Even if the tremendous predictions of the apocalypse are correct - the contribution the UK is making, is not just minimal. It’s non-existent.” “China are building two new coal power stations every single week” “We get power from Holland where they still burn, we don’t have coal powered power stations anymore, we didn’t just shut them down - blew them up”. Every single person should decide if they want to continue to be poorer and colder, all for an ideology based in no scientific reality.

Sometimes the most powerful answers to our biggest problems aren’t created by humans — they already exist in nature.

A tree works nonstop: drawing carbon from the air, releasing oxygen, cooling the land, preventing erosion, and providing shelter for wildlife. It restores balance to ecosystems, supports water cycles, and improves the health of the soil, all while growing quietly on its own.

As the world invests in complex and expensive climate technologies, we often overlook this simple, time-tested solution. Protecting and planting trees isn’t just symbolic — it’s one of the most effective, natural ways to heal the planet.

Have a good day. Catch ya later. Toodle pip.   ilona 

The latest mandala is finished.

Aye up me ducks. Howz ya diddling. 

Cast yer eyeballs over this beauty. I'm mighty chuffed with it. It's nine and a half inches in diameter. When I started I had no idea how it was going to end up. I take the construction of these mandalas very slowly. Decide on the colours as I go along. Go through all my bits and bobs to see what might fit. Keep adding more layers until I fill the hoop. 

The green circle is the bottom of a cardboard popcorn tub. Previously I used the top rim of the same tub  on another mandala.  

The previous hoops I have wrapped with ribbon but I didn't have enough yellow for this one. I used wool instead. 

Some of the decorations I used for this. The black and gold motifs are from a charity shop. Everything is stitched on, I don't use glue. It's fully covered in red felt at the back, with my name and year sewn into it.  

I now have a set of four. I can't decide which one I like the best. Sorry, they are not for sale. When you sell hand made craft items, you never get the price you want for them, I would rather keep them. I am fascinated by circles and how they all fit together. 

Now I am watching some arty crafty videos on yoootoob, I might do something different for the next project. I woke up in the middle of the night with an idea for the face masks. I will play around with that. 

Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip.   ilona

Fond memories.

 Good morning.

My first job upon leaving school in 1964, aged 15, was in a small leather shop in New Street. I have just found this on faceboook. Looks like they closed the business in May 2024

New Street was my first job when I left school in 1964. I only lasted five days. All I did was dusting suitcases and handbags. I didn't like being in a small enclosed space. My pay was £3.10 shillings, half of which I gave to my mum. I then went to Woolys, and Melias, then onto factory work.

Dear All,

For over 100 years Start and Tremayne has been a constant name in the history of the town centre of Burton on Trent. A brand synonymous with quality and great customer service. It is with great sadness therefore, due to very difficult trading conditions and many external influences over the past few years, that we have to say goodbye. We will be closing our store by the end of May.

It was easy to get jobs back then. Just walk into a place and ask. Next stop Woolworths. I was given a yellow overall with matching headband, and put to work on the sweetie counter. Exactly like the picture below. I started as a junior to learn the ropes, then was given the pick n mix section to oversee. Eventually I was made chargehand and had the responsibility of a monthly stocktake upstairs, and putting an order in for new deliveries. 

It was great fun. Every Saturday the store was heaving. Three or four deep at the counter waiting to make their purchases. At the end of the day the counter was looking like a bomb had hit it, and Monday morning was a day to fill it all up again. If you fancied having a sweetie you would bend down pretending to rummage about underneath looking for something, and slip a handful of Smarties in your mouth. No cameras to catch you out then.

I remember this time with fondness. I was just starting to take notice of boys. There was a 'floor walker' a supervisor you could call him, called Howard. He was shy and good looking. I tried my best to chat him up. The nearest I got to having a date with him was to get a group of friends together and have a night at the Bowling Alley. He had a car so I talked him into giving me a lift home. Never managed to get a snog though, had to be content with just a friendship. 

Back to today. Dull and damp outside. Must go to the Post Office to pay my water bill. Must stock up on cat food, either today or tomorrow. Must pay my car insurance in the next couple of days. Might do it on the phone or go to the office. 

Thanks for popping in. See ya later.  Toodle pip.  ilona

Robert or Fred?

 Good evening. 

Please yourself who you believe. 

Posted by. . . . . . .Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) / X

Robert F. Kennedy Jr

@RobertKennedyJr

Posts on this account are my personal views.

Los Angeles, California

Joined July 2011

943 Following

5.7M Followers

Posted by. . . . . . .Fred Herring 🤪🗿 (@herringfred291) / X

Fred Herring

@herringfred291

Joined December 2022

143 Following

179 Followers

This is a war of the minds. Freedom of speech means you can say anything you like, but you can't believe any of it. They want to shut down twitttter, they want to block it in some countries. 

I know what I believe, and that is to take control of my own life. I said no, and now a lot of people are getting sick. No matter what I read, what I watch, I get to decide. Saying no is a lot easier than you think. 

Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip.   ilona 

PS. One last comment. I think Reform has shot itself in the foot, again. I really don't want to see any more fat bald men on my screen. I had a bad experience with one once. If someone's going to be an utter pillock, please let them be good looking.