Look forward not backwards

 A few words before I go out into the sunshine. 

We have a rotten Government. They couldn't run a piss up in a brewery. The other side are no better. Our legal system is screwed by the rich one percent who control everything. The borders of Europe, and the US, are open to anyone who wants to walk in, sail in, or fly in. They don't like the country they live in and turn up elsewhere.  

The world demographics are changing. Guard your own little plot of land, your own house, and your community.  Your safe space will be your salvation. 

It's a sunny day here. I am glad to be alive. What happened yesterday has gone. Look forward to every new day, and make it the best that you can. 

Lots of love.   Have a good weekend. ilona. xxx 

New headgear

I'll just put this one out here. It came out of the oven yesterday.

Enjoy your weekend. Toodle pip.   ilona

Bringing you a smile

It's becoming mighty difficult to stay upbeat and content with ones own life, when there is so much mayhem going on all over the place. This poem comes to mind. I have never read it all the way through, but wow, how it resonates with me now. 

If by Rudyard Kipling.

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

I won't post it all the way through but you can find it on this link. 

David Brown .co.uk

I can understand why people do not wish to go down the path I have chosen. People have different coping mechanisms when the going gets tough. The choice is that you either face forward and march on, or join the back of the queue and hide until it all goes away. It's a bumpy ride whichever way you approach it. 

While the rest of the world is sorting itself out, we can all benefit from some light relief. Stress can be a killer, we know that. One must step off this crazy world, and take time out to laugh. 

If you are on a downer at the moment, make a drink, and settle down in a comfy chair and watch these crazy lads celebrate Christmas in their own crazy way. Go on, give it a go. Even the grumps might find a smile creeping across their face. Viewer discretion advised, they use colourful language. If you can't laugh at the odd 'fuck' now and again, you might want to give it a miss. 

Thanks for popping in. Have a good day. Toodle pip. 

Keeping warm outdoors

Eeee by 'eck, it were chuffin freezing today. But I have a solution to the problem. Beanie hat, furry hood, and two scarves. Snug as a bug in a rug. 

I turned a corner and disturbed three deer. They scarpered. I watched them run into a field and alongside a hedge. Can you see three white bob tails in the distance? 

Man cutting grass in a field. 

I bet you didn't know that we have a waterfall here. 😜 Ha ha, joke, we don't. This is the rain running down off the fields, through a wood, and making it's way down to the river. A mini waterfall. 

The sun is going down. On my way home. 

The end of another day. See ya soon. Toodle pip.   ilona

Shout out for cash.

 I found the topic for today's post, on Sue's blog. I can't go on there and join in, so I will put a few thoughts of my own here about saving loose change. This is a habit a lot of people have, to put their coins in a jar and have a count up once a year, or even two years. This gives them a nice little nest egg to spend at Christmas. 

This way of saving may become extinct in the years to come, as we move towards Central Bank Digital Currency. We are already half way there when shops start refusing cash and will only take payment by card, or an app on a phone. With the closure of so many bank branches it will become more difficult to access our own cash from our accounts. 

The banks say they are closing because of lack of walk in customers. In truth this was always the plan, to move everybody over to internet and electronic banking and payments. Spending cash is anonymous, no one to judge you on how you spend your money. Spending electronically leaves a trail. Your lifestyle, what you buy, and how much money you have is there for everyone to see. Your privacy is greatly diminished by every recorded transaction you make.

I was interested in the comments on Sue's blog post. It seems some people have become aware of the impending changeover to CBDC, and some of them are prepared to let it happen and go along with it. Personal choice of course. 

You may remember that all this upheaval started at the beginning of the plandemic. We were told that cash, coins and notes were dirty, and passing them around would help to spread the virus. That conspiracy theory is now debunked, as with a lot of the panic measures that were brought in to keep us safe.

If I may quote from Sue's comments. . . . . . . . 

Because of the pandemic I hardly use cash now and I think this is bad on so many levels. 

As I have explained above. But if you carry on as you are, you can't complain when all your income and expenditure are just numbers on a spreadsheet. It's not to late to revert back to spending cash. 

The problem is there are people who still use cash, like taxi drivers and people in the markets. I don't see it as a problem, the changeover has happened. The banks withdraw their services, and left many people stranded. 

Using cash is only a problem to those who want us to move towards globalisation. Those who want to control our every move. Closing banks is a part of this plan. It is deliberate to leave people stranded. 

Banks don't seem to like it when you turn up with bags of coins. I simply use them up as I go along. 

Sensible solution. 

We use cash a lot in all the small shops. 

Another sensible solution. 

Now I barely use cash and wonder how long it will be before we are an entirely cashless society. 

It will come sooner or later, unless people wake up and say no.

I don't like the idea of a cashless society, and cheques are very nearly a thing of the past. 

I wrote a cheque just the other day, and put it in the post for my water bill.  

Posts about this topic are going to come up for many more years. I have no wish to get into long conversations about it here. Please go to Sue's blog if you wish to discuss further. 

It's a dry, cold day, so I am going for a walk. Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip.   ilona

A place to remember them.

Last post about the National Memorial Arboretum. This is the focal point, the Armed Services Memorial. The gathering at the top are a group of volunteers. Ask them anything you like, they are there to help. Pity they parked their buggy at the front entrance. There are paths to walk all the way around it. 

There are thousands of names carved into the walls, and room for thousands more. 

I take a walk around it with the video camera. Please join me. 

Now I get ready for Crafty Club. Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip.   ilona

The National Memorial Arboretum

I recorded this video at the end of my visit to the National Memorial Arboretum. They were about to close at 4pm so it was an opportunity to walk around with a camera. The staff were packing up ready to go home. 

I will split this visit into two posts because I have another video. There are lots of photo's. Quite a lot of the site was flooded, so there were some areas not accessible. There are 150 acres, and over 400 memorials. Enough to keep you busy for a whole day. Have a stroll through this blog post to see a few of these memorials, then check out their web site for more information. 

The river is somewhere over yonder, beyond those trees. 

There is a land train to give people a lift around the massive site. Not needed today.

This memorial has two sides, so I took two photo's. I think with a low sunset just above the horizon it  would make a perfect picture shining through the glass. A bit of sun struggling to break through the clouds today. 

Adrian getting a bit of practice in. 😆

The floods prevented us from getting any closer to this. 

Now this looks amazing. If only I could get up close to see the details. 

Everywhere you go, there are names carved into bricks and stones. I think the plan is to keep adding names in years to come. 

I will cut you loose here. Look for the next post for another video and more pictures. By the way, it's free to get in here. You only pay £6 to park, so if you bring friends with you, that is a bargain. 

Enjoy your Sunday. Toodle pip.   Ilona 

Arriving at Burton.

Hello me little Bloggerettes. I've been trying to get this out all day. Keep getting distracted. Getting a bit behind on the walking so I did a three mile village walk, followed by a one mile Billy dog walk. I have  a video uploaded, I will put that on here tomorrow. And I have just discovered three hilarious yoootooobers, and watched their latest one hour video. I will share that with you in a day or two. You will laugh your little cotton socks off. 

Here are a few Burton pics from yesterday. As I mentioned, the River Trent always bursts it's banks when it rains heavy. I parked at the Library, close to the High street. I had a couple of errands to do, and I arranged to meet my nephew. I rang him and said, give me an hour, I want to take a few pics.  

I remember the Market Place. When I was a teenager I went to the market every Saturday to browse the cheap fashionable clothes. And maybe treat myself if funds allowed. More often than not I spent a few £'s on makeup and toiletries. Yesterday there was one stall selling plants in pots. 

The Market Hall has turned into a giant mobility scooter shop. Most of the other stalls were closed. A snack bar was open for drinks. 

This pub in the High street still looks more or less the same. 

And another one in the High street hasn't changed much. 

Checking in.

I've been out today. I very nearly didn't go. Seeing all the news reports of massive flooding, I wondered if I should cancel the trip. Maybe go next week when the water levels have gone down. I decided I would chance it. I might have to turn round and come back if there is a lot of water on the roads. 

The journey was easy, absolutely no problems, 70mph most of the way. The motorways were clear and not very busy. Straight through. There were reports of the River Trent bursting it's bank. It always does, every year, sometimes several times. This is the view of the kids playground next to the library. No one is playing today. 

I'm glad I went. I had a lovely time meeting up with my nephew Adrian. The journey back home was just as easy, it takes one hour forty minutes. 

I have photo's and two videos, I'll get them sorted out for tomorrow. But for now I am going to bed. We'll catch up soon. Toodle pip.  ilona 

Celebrating New Year again

Good evening. I will put this on here so you can all enjoy a second New Years Eve celebrations. Mike GIV, aka the German in Venice, that's Venice Beach in California, puts out some smashing videos. They are like mini news reports looking at real life, with an entertaining slant. He has been to the UK, and in his collection are videos of his London visit. He visits his mum back in Germany, and puts out videos from towns and cities there. 

I am so glad I had the opportunity of visiting Los Angeles and Las Vegas. I would probably have never done that if I hadn't met a very nice boyfriend. Great memories for me. This video brings it all back. 

Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip.   ilona

Fast fingers

 Good Morning. Starting a blog post with not much to put into it. Just some thoughts. It could be brief, or it could be a ramble. Depends how quickly my fingers can dance across the keyboard. I am not a professional typist, I have to look at my hands to make sure I hit the right keys. Although my fingers can move pretty fast they have a job keeping up with the words whizzing around in my head. My grammar is not always perfect, but I do try hard with the spelling. 

I have a normal size keyboard, could not cope with fiddly buttons on a tablet or mobile phone. A laptop is is not much better, as I like to give my keyboard a good bashing. Do not like the swiping over a screen thing, my fingers are too clumsy for that. 

It is Coffee Morning at the club this morning. I thought about going, then thought best not to. There are a lot of germs floating about, I hear people coughing, best to stay away from them breathing all over me. I have had my first coffee of the day. I will drink coffee later with my friend Angela at her house. She has a big kitchen, we will catch up with the gossip. Two coffees in a day is enough for me, can't manage three. 

As I flick through the Microsoft start page the frustration inside me escalates. What a load of bollocks are my first thoughts. Headlines that scream 'click me' you really need to know this. Sometimes I am curious and do click. It is usually something that I don't need to know. But I am nosey and question just about everything. 

Here's one ;- 'Warning as condition causes more deaths than covid, and is spreading'  Oh, I wonder what that is, I thought, click. It's about antibiotic resistance is killing more people than covid, as experts warn. And then it goes into a long ramble designed to put the frighteners onto anyone who has the misfortune to be bitten by an ant. It took two people to write that article. Chuffin heck, can't anyone knock out something that makes any sense, by themselves any more? I don't need a back up brain to help me write this. The one I have functions perfectly and suits my needs. 

Apparently the EU is heading for crisis, situation is really bad in Europe's largest economy. I'm not surprised at that. Germany is worrying, Berlin is worrying. Inflation crisis, energy crisis, are going to impact many countries all around the world. Of course it will, that's the way it is planned. 

Another article written by two people. Or Possibly two AI robots. Petrol and diesel car owners are going to be hit with higher road tax charges, from April. Well to get round that we must all go for vintage and veteran cars which at the moment are tax exempt. No doubt there is new legislation in the pipeline to change that. I have a big garden, perhaps my next vehicle will be a horse and cart. 

The Guardian, my favourite paper, ha ha, laughing hysterically, reports that, Labours poll lead could still collapse, shadow ministers warned. Jeeeez. You've gotta laugh. Ministers in a blind panic, scrambling around for every last vote. Worried that their nice cuddly cushy number will grind to a halt, and they might have to search for employment elsewhere. Well, my little sugar plums, if you had done the jobs you were elected to do, you might still be in with a chance. But no, you had to follow orders and go for the highest bidder. Your masters will abandon you, in favour of a younger version who is already on the elevator towards indoctrination. Best to cross over to the other side now, while you still have a chance. 

Phew, my fingers need a rest, and I need some food. I'm going to cook up a lovey lunch, washed down with the half bottle of beer I started yesterday. Can't manage a whole bottle in one go. 

Funny how things come to mind when I can't think of anything to write about. That's a lie actually, I have loads to write about. I might whack something out on the other blog later, that's if it hasn't been taken down. 😁

Toodle pip.   ilona

PS. Still deleting innapropriate comments 

A day not wasted.

What a miserable day outside. I had hoped to meet up with the local walking group, but I doubt anyone turned up in the pouring rain. Not to worry, I got these nine pet beds finished instead. Always have a plan B.

I have just finished a delicious stir fry for lunch. Courgette, broccoli, leeks, Singapore style noodles, cooked in a Blue Dragon Satay stir fry sauce. A splash of beer gave it an extra zing. I am sampling the Bomber County craft beer, made in the Lincolnshire Wolds. It's a deep red premium bitter with earthy hops and fruity malt tones. Very tasty. 

Still raining so I'll get back to the sewing. Toodle pip.   ilona

Happy New Year Live

I'll put this one up here in case anyone hasn't seen it. Best viewed on full screen. Bloody good show, including the drones.  

Toodle pip.  ilona

Looking back.

 Let's wind up 2023. A look back at the year just gone. My highlights. What happened, where have I been.

JANUARY. The Quilting Show at Newark, Nottinghamshire.

FEBRUARY. Walk over the Humber Bridge. - The Yorkshire Sculpture Park. - Wentworth near Rotherham. - Lotherton Hall. - Cycling at Cleethorpes. 

MARCH. Newark Showground for the Horse Show. - Bolsover Derbyshire. - Renishaw. - Chesterfield.

APRIL. Conisbrough and Sprotbrough. - Whitby and Pickering. - Caught the nasty bug, 2 weeks staying in. 

MAY. Join the local Walking Group. Walks Scotton and Barnetby. - Leeds for a Food Fair, two days car camping- Harewood House. - Flamborough.

JUNE. Conference at Bath. Car Camping, five days. - Lincolnshire Show. 

JULY. Day out in Lincoln. - Waddingham and Bishop Norton. - Patchings Art and Craft Festival, 2 days, Walking Calverton, - Oxton, - and Southwell. - Doncaster Racecourse, Craft Fair. - Walk over the Humber Bridge. - Walk Farnsfield, - Bilsthorpe, - Kirklington. 

AUGUST. Cannon Hall Crafts Fair, 2 days. - Bolton Abbey and Skipton, 2 days. 

SEPTEMBER. Isle of Wight car camping, 8 days. 

NOVEMBER. Lincolnshire Showground, Craft Fair. - Craft Fair Elsham. - Went to Hull on the bus. - Lincolnshire Showground again for the Crafts and Food Fair. 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

I draw a line under that, it's done and dusted. 

Now looking forward to 2024.

Probably more of the above, depending on how my body holds out. It's been pretty good up to now, but who can tell. I keep thinking something has got to give eventually. Something might be brewing inside me, surely this good luck will take a dive at some point. Bodies wear out.

Money, - I might spend a bit on the house in 2024. I will look into the cost of tile replacement on the roof. There are quite a lot crumbling up there. I might change the car in 2024, though my garage tells me to keep the one I've got, it's a good one. My insurance quote has just come through and it's quite a leap from a year ago. I have got the money saved for that so it will get paid. Car road tax comes in February, Recovery insurance comes in April. The idea of having more money than I actually need worries me. My needs are few, I am a make do and mend person. All I need is enough, and knowing what level of income is enough, gives me peace of mind. This is why I refuse to make any extra money online, or by selling my arts and crafts. 

As for friends, I am grateful for the few I have, they are the best. I wish for good health and happiness for everybody at the start of a New Year. Regardless of whether they are friends or not. Everyone must find their own utopia, and that can usually be found inside ones head. It is there, you just have to look for it. 

I wish all the conflicts all around the world would cease, but that's not going to happen. People have to find their own way. We are all at the mercy of where we were born. Some are lucky some are not. The solution is not to put everyone in a big melting pot. The disruption this causes will create more conflict. The solution lies not with a one size fits all. 

Upon recognising what is causing people to hate each other, I believe the way forward is to spread love and kindness. If the fighting continues, in whatever form whether physically or verbally, the outcome will only deteriorate further. We all know now what the Big Plan is. There are some people who have no morals, no scruples, no empathy, and no humanity. They will push forward their agenda no matter what. 

Hey, less with this gloom and doom. There are a lot of good people about. I meet them every day, online and in real life. Right now I am going out for the first walk of 2024. A two mile route around the village where I know I will meet friendly dog walkers who love to stop for a chat. 

All the best for 2024. Best wishes, Toodle pip.   ilona 

Are you ready for 2024

Hello peeps, I've just been out for an early walk. Changing my routine slightly. I have a two mile walk around the village, if I do that twice a day that will easily cover the distance I need for the challenge. Then if I walk in other places as and when I feel like it, I will be sailing along. 

I met another walker this morning. I hadn't seen her before because I usually walk in the afternoon. We stopped to chat, me asking the first question, how far do you walk? I was pleasantly chuffed to hear her story. She hes been doing the 1000 miles for eight years, and often achieves more than the target. She has amazingly lost three stone in weight during that time. Exercise combined with sensible eating can have that effect, although it should be noted that exercise alone is not enough to lose weight.  

A video I knocked out yesterday.

Now it's countdown time to a new year. Those with pets, a reminder to get them indoors tonight. I expect there will be some flashes and loud bangs at midnight. 

Toodle pip.   ilona