Once a bridesmaid never a bride.

Good morning. 

I don't have many old photo's. When I was a bridesmaid at my best friend Carol's wedding, she had a professional photographer, so I ordered a set of photographs. I'm trying to remember what year that was. I think we were in our early twenties when the wedding took place. 

As time went on I was often asked 'are you courting', as it was expected that everyone did find a partner with the intention of producing little sproglettes. Another question that cropped up on a regular basis was, 'are you married yet'. 

Boyfriends came, and they went, but there was never the right one that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. The term 'settle down' was often bandied about, as if that was the only option and everyone would get sucked into it at some point in their life. 

Oh, I thought about it, should I or shouldn't I? Settle down, oh no, I don't fancy that at all. An awful thought. Settle down and be legally chained to someone I didn't love. They say you can grow to love someone, but if there isn't that spark there right from the start there is no point in hoping and praying that it might work, when there is obviously a mismatch going on. 

And so life went on, with no obvious suitor on the scene. Besides I was busy working. Trying new jobs, and moving about. 

After a while I realised that I might never get married. I had two proposals, which weren't quite right so I had to end them. For their sakes, not mine. I wasn't right for them. They were kind and deserved someone better.  

I had two disastrous relationships which might have lead to something permanent, but I was not prepared to suffer being bullied. They had to go. 

I now know that I was never meant to be married. It was never in me. A feeling I had right from being a teenager. I always knew I wouldn't have children. 

Some might think I am a lonely old spinster, a batty old woman, they are so wrong on that score. I weathered the storms, and made my choices. If something doesn't feel right then it isn't right. 

Now I am off to Coffee Morning to chat with friends. 

I wish you a happy Wednesday. Toodle pip.   ilona  

Busy in the garden

Good evening. 

I've had an afternoon in the garden, in the raging wind. A hedge trimming job that needed doing. The brown wheelie bin is now full for collection tomorrow. 

Tonight the wind is still crazy, and it's raining. 

This is a picture of my Granddad Walter. My dad was an artist, mostly pencil portraits and some cartoons. He didn't take it seriously though. His time was spent going to work, and going to the pub to meet his friends. We didn't see very much of him.  He had a talent for drawing. Shame he didn't do more pictures. 

Walter was a lovely Granddad. He lived in a cottage in a very small village with Grandma Blanche, and their five children. He spent a lot of time in his garden, growing vegetables and flowers. There was an outside toilet at the bottom of the garden. A wooden seat over a bucket. I remember when the lorry came to empty it. I spent my summer holidays there. Walter built me a bicycle out of spare parts. I remember him watching me go down the road as I tried it out. I was so happy with it, and went on lots of bike rides. 

Not much to say tonight. I have just watched a film, it was very good. The title is, Between Two Women. Here is the link if you want to see it. There is some fantastic footage of steam trains.

It is 1957. Ellen Hardy is unhappily married but is close to her ten-year-old son, Victor. The family has recently moved house and Victor has started at a new school where Ellen has become friendly with his teacher, who is keen to encourage his art.

Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip.   ilona

Lucky me.

Aye up me ducks. 

Twas a busy day today. I was getting ready to go to Crafty Club and these two vans turned up and parked outside my house. I thought, what do they want, are they coming here. I went out to speak to one of the drivers and asked him if they were selling something. He said no, we have come to change the meters next door. He showed me his paperwork and I said, sorry sunshine, you have got the wrong street. A bit of banter followed, all very good humoured. I said I won't have any smart meters. He laughed and said I don't blame you. I said I love the bright colours on your vans, but you can forget the zero carbon bollocks, it's a scam. He laughed again. He said yes it is, these vans run on diesel. Of they went up the street to the right house. 

After lunch I went back to the Industrial Estate do a bit more litter picking. I had seen a lot of glass bottles and it was bugging me. I filled three carrier bags with glass, then put a red sack in my trolley and proceeded to fill it with plastic bottles and drinks cans, and anything else. That trolley makes the job a lot easier.  

I was ready to leave when I thought I would have one last look to see if I had missed any bottles. I found two more. Then surprise surprise, look what else I found. Lucky eh! 

Guess what else I found. A tent hidden in the middle of some bushes in the middle of a roundabout. I was getting some bottles out from under the hedge and went into the middle of it so I could pick some more which were out of reach. No one about, but it looks like someone is living there. There was some personal stuff on the ground and the jacket looks new. I made a quick exit back onto the road. 

So, a bit more added to the pile I left yesterday. I thought the Council would have collected them today, but maybe Tuesday is their normal day for checking this location, same as last week. 

I good result I would say. Chuffed.

Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip. ilona 

Dead ends.

 Good morning and the start of a brand new week. 

This is what David says. . . . . . 

David Icke

@davidicke

·

15m

It's the power of wanting a 'saviour' instead of looking in the mirror where the 'saviour' looks back at you. It works on so many levels and that's how they ensnare the populous. YOU are the answer - not these Cult gofers of ALL parties.

He is right of course. The endless twists and turns in the official. and the unofficial narrative, are mind numbing. Every search for an answer to the question, 'what next', leads to the same dead end. The road to nowhere.

You can worship, you can pray, you can wait for someone to come and save you, but ultimately it is the power you have inside you which, if unleashed, will give you immense satisfaction.

So many people are hooked into a system that is detrimental to a free and happy life. All because they are searching for guidance. All because they don't want to be alone, don't want to feel left out. If you look inward the answers are there.

Troubled minds fester, they will never be free. To achieve peace you have to let go, you have to break out of your prison. 'They', the cult, are intent on taking away our freedom. 'They' want an easy passage to world domination. Let them try, then don't let them.

Have a good week.

Catch ya later. Toodle pip. ilona

Not another boring post

 😮😭😛😎

Oh no, more chuffin litter picking. Oh yes. I filled three bags today, from three locations on the Industrial Estate. It's nice and quiet there on a Sunday. Found another grot spot. Still plenty to go at. I left them at the same place as before, next to the litter bin. They should be collected tomorrow, or Tuesday. Someone else left the small red bag.   

Mayze likes her bed laid outside the back door when it's sunny. 

Plenty of exercise and fresh air today. Vegetable stew for dinner. Now I relax.

Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip.   ilona

Red letter day

Good morning. It is Sunday and the sun is shining. 

It was the table top sale in the Village Hall yesterday. Set up at 11am, start at midday. Supposed to finish at 4pm, but at 3pm there was not much point in hanging around any longer. A few visitors came through the door. It was nice to chat, but not many sales. This was a trial event to raise funds for the Village Hall. I'm not sure if they will do it again. I had a free section on my table. Everything to the right of the line was free, everything on the left was 50p. 

I put this video out on Friday on my channel. Another letter from the TV Licensing people. Yoootooob have decided to add their own AI generated summaries on most videos now. Another way to control the content they put out. 

AI-generated video summary 

Quality and accuracy may vary. 

After ignoring several notices, a red letter arrives regarding a TV license. The content outlines the consequences of not having one and the potential for an upcoming enforcement visit.

So far, 2,626 views, and 70 comments. I check all comments. Subscribers can also talk to each other.

I have copied two comments here. It seems that it is my fault for the increased license fee. It is due to go up to £180 in April. 

Why not just tell them you don’t have a tv ? That way the additional costs raised chasing people like yourselves are avoided , as in the end everyone with a tv ends up paying for people like you!

It's would be hilarious except it's just costing us who do have a TV and pay our licence fee, extra to cover the cost of all these letters.

Now I am going to have breakfast, then off outside in the sunshine.

Catch ya later. Toodle pip. ilona

Freedom to choose.

 You are what you eat, as they say. Whatever you put into your body will have consequences. 

Getting the counter set up ready for the customers to come flooding in. 

Picking up your takeaway from a drive through fast food outlet. 

Taking part in an eating challenge. Attempting to break a record. Will he manage it. 

Nope, he didn't make it. He gave up. There's always another day, he can try again. 

There are many more challenges like this on yoootooob. Stuffing your face as fast as you can with huge amounts of food seems to be a group activity. Egged on by your mates, there are substantial prizes to be won. Go for it if you like a challenge.

This is not a post about me telling you what you should or shouldn't do. I believe in freedom of choice. You can trash your body in whichever way you like, even to the point of making yourself sick. Fill your stomach to bursting point. Alter your appearance with face lifts, bum lifts, false boobs, botox, tattoos, and piercings. Wear what ever clothes you like. 

As long as you accept responsibility for the outcome when it all goes pear shaped, and admit you did it to yourself, that's fine. We can see what happens when celebrities go through all these body shaping procedures. They eat too much of the wrong food, then they go on extreme diets. Then their willpower dwindles. When they try and put right their mistakes. It doesn't end well. 

So the advice I give is go ahead, you have the choice about what goes into your body.  

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

Batteries are dangerous

 Good morning. 

People think it's ok to toss batteries in with their household rubbish. It is not. Any batteries, even the smallest, should be recycled at an authorised collection point. 

Norwich City Council

2h ·

One battery. One fire. One lorry out of action for a week.

A discarded battery in a household waste bin caused a fire in one of our bin lorries this week. The blaze was so intense it split the welded metal floor of the lorry apart.

This didn’t need to happen. The battery could have been recycled safely through our kerbside electricals collection.

Please put batteries in a separate bag on top of your bin and make use of our free kerbside collection for electrical items.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Don't be a tosser.

I am coming across discarded vapes, these have to be kept separate. Cigarette butts are bad enough, but these can be lethal. Imagine sucking on one of these dummies for your fix. Try and get off them if you can.

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

Will there be enough time.

It was like a summers day here today, even though British Summer Time doesn't start until the 29th. 

I have jobs waiting to be done in the garden so I thought I'd better get on with things. Firstly sorting the plant pots out. Re potting where needed, trimming up dead foliage, and deciding which plants to keep when they look a bit sick. Will they pick up or won't they. Next some weeding, down on my hands and knees. Thank goodness Angela gave me one of those kneeling things with handles. I need to get the mower out soon, the grass needs cutting. Will it still work after all these years. I need to wash the car. It hasn't been done for ages. I can't bring myself to drive it through a car wash, I will do it myself, when I have time. Then I need to clean the windows inside and out. The summerhouse needs a lick of paint. Lots of jobs to do now the weather is getting a bit warmer. Plenty to keep me busy. 

Here is a video if you want to see my garden. 

I would rather be busy than have nothing to do. We are only here for a short time, best make the most of it.

Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip.   ilona

Just stop.

Good morning. Bright and sunny here. I am making a start on the garden. Such a lot to do. 

I don't know anything about Chris Packham, but he speaks with passion about animal welfare, which is good enough for me. 

 Chris Packham

14h ·

I’m smiling, but I’m very angry.

8 major food companies – including Nando’s, KFC and Wagamama – have all withdrawn from the Better Chicken Commitment.

They’re reneging on their pledge to stop using ‘Frankenchickens’ in their supply chain – the overbred, rapid-growing chickens that suffer awful welfare over the course of their short lives.

Instead they’re setting up the Sustainable Chicken Forum, a welfare washing PR stunt to deflect from the horrors these chickens face.

Vote with your £££ – don’t spend with these companies. Support The Humane League UK and Anima both on the front line fighting for these animals to have better lives.

- - - - - - - - - -

I will add my bit. Stop buying from these companies. And stop eating their takeaway crap pretend food. Go into your kitchen and cook up some real food.

Now going to eat my porridge.

Catch ya later. Toodle pip. ilona