Tuesday 30 September 2014

Shopping around for the best prices

Hello I had a lovely start to the day, I watched the third and last episode of  Cilla, a drama about Cilla Black's early days from typist, to singing in the Cavern in Liverpool, to her first television series. The amazing Sheriden Smith played her, what a fantastic actress she is. If anyone has missed it you can see it on ITV Player, possibly not available in other parts of the world though. It is on Yoootooob, but the quality of the first episode is not brilliant. It brought back many happy memories for me, I had a ball in the swinging sixties. Here is a clip of Sheriden singing Anyone who had a heart. She sang all the songs herself and I must say she sang them brilliantly. 


It was MOT day for the car today. I was undecided where to take it. Last year it passed and the tester man put an advisory note on it. Apparently there is a tiny hole in the middle section of the exhaust. I remember taking it in to a garage I have used before for my repairs, and they said it wasn't urgent, and drop it in when I had time. Well one year on and I still haven't had it done, so I expected it to fail on that. 
I didn't know whether to take it back to the same place for it's test, but decided not to. Although he is a bit cheaper than most places at £40, he doesn't give you a time, just asks that you drop it in first thing in the morning and he will get round to it sometime during the day. Not very convenient. I looked on the internet yesterday and found that Halfords do an MOT for £30, looks good, the only proviso is that you book and pay online. I don't normally buy anything on the internet, don't like putting my card details into the computer, but I thought I would give it a try to get the special price. The site was easy to follow, find your local branch, insert the details of the car, and name and address etc. Halfords is conveniently situated close to the town so no hanging about waiting for it, I can drop it in and do my own thing. 
I was in Poundstretcher when they rang to say it was ready. When I got back I had a nice surprise, it had passed. The notification of the exhaust leak was still there, still not urgent, plus another notification of brake pipes starting to corrode. Replacing them is not urgent, and I was told they would probably be ok until the next MOT test in a years time. The man at Halfords said he would put a note on his file to send me a letter in six months to bring it back for a visual check. That will do nicely I thought. I left with a big grin on my face, yipeeee, it's passed, and only £30 spent. I was in two minds whether to get the exhaust repair done before I took it for test, I'm glad I didn't now, it can wait a bit longer. 
I had a bimble round town while the car was being done, and went to the 20 21 Arts Centre to see what was new. This is what I found in the main exhibition area. Scaffolding, laid along the floor and through and over that door at the far end, with a tall pyramid tower in the middle. Now who in their right mind can call that art. I was gobsmacked, well almost.  

Here is the blurb about the so called artist. I couldn't resist putting something in the visitors book, and I can tell you it wasn't at all complementary. I managed to control my language, just. I saw that a lot of comments before mine were along the same lines. Apparently Ms Ellis was supposed to provide another piece of artwork, which according to the picture in the brochure, look a lot more interesting than this. There had been some kind of hitch in getting the piece ready, so the scaffolding was brought in instead. They needn't have bothered, the empty space would have been better. 

I visited five shops while I was in town to pick up bits and bobs, mainly pet food. Found some Ribena reduced to 50p as it was out of date by one month. I like Ribena but never buy it because it is usually quite expensive. My cats have taken a liking to Ultima dried cat food and I found some in Wilko for £1.75 for 750 grms. It's a bit more expensive than the Whiskas dry so I ration it.

Aldi is close to Halfords so I popped in there, to pick up a few items that I had run out of.
Carrots 1kg 65p
Bananas 1kg 68p
Quiche £1.19. This will do for four meals with veg added.
2 x soft cheese with garlic @ 49p each
6 x large free range eggs 99p
2 packets cream crackers 28p each.
Also Bugsy likes their small trays of gourmet food, at 20p each.

Tomorrow morning I'm off to see Helen at her house. She has a new sewing machine and has started going to sewing classes. She has asked me to help with zips as she is struggling to get to grips with them. Also she is not sure how the machine works. That will be fun.
Welcome to the new readers, hope there is something of interest here. I'm just an ordinary pensioner  trying to make the best of my life.  
Toodle pip.

20 comments:

  1. As always, I enjoyed your post today. I check your blog for a new post each afternoon. There's several hours difference in our time zones, as we live in the U.S.
    Thank you for sharing your days with us.

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  2. Art, schmart. I have to say I agree with you, what a load of claptrap. I want art that makes me think, question and ponder..but question beyond the inevitable. The only question I have for this art is WHY?

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  3. I agree with Glenda, I always enjoy your posts.
    Thank you for each and every one.
    Pam in TX.xxx

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  4. I wouldn't call the scaffolding art, but the Arts Centre itself is really beautiful. I'm glad that your car passed the inspection. Have fun sewing with Helen and show us what she is making. Enjoy your day!

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  5. I agree with you about the scaffolding....but I guess they have to have it to get things done. Interesting post.

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  6. Oh the relief when your car passes its MOT. It's one of those unpredictable expenses. You know it will cost you the price of the MOT test but after that the sky is the limit! I too find some modern art ridiculous. I have a simple test - if I could make something as good or better then it probably isn't art!

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  7. The problem is it looks unfinished. If I had visited I would have thought oops turned up to early. If it were the skeleton for something else I might be impressed. It lacks colour and texture, it doesn't lead the imagination. Maybe they should hang artwork from it. But what do I know. Good news on the MOT, it's never happened to me yet!

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    1. Yes, it looks a halfhearted attempt to produce something, like it was done in a hurry and something is missing. I still can't see any art in it.

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  8. I've loved watching cilla too, just caught up on the last one as home today sick, though Sheridan Smith was excellent not only with her acting mannerisms and everything but her voice is fabulous. Good news about your mot. X

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  9. You are no ordinary pensioner Ilona. You are an inspiration in so many ways. We were very pleased that your car passed its test, we have an old car and are so happy when it passes its test every March.
    Wendy (Wales)

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  10. i do wonder, is Ellis able to weld properly, or is this considered 'good enough' for the type of work she's producing and it is implied that she chooses not to weld proffessionaly? ann, (sculptor)

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  11. Great news about passing the MOT! always a great relief. We have inspections here in NJ, which can be nervewracking. Always nice to know you're legal again.

    About the art: let's remember that what you take from an artwork is what you brought to it.

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    1. Hi, I take nothing with me when I go and view art, I go with an open mind, so I suppose in that context I took nothing from it. It was about the artists lack of welding skills, the joints were a bit messy, she was saying it doesn't matter because you won't see it. My answer to that is, then why did you bother to show it then. A bit like the messy unmade bed I suppose.

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    2. Please check out this link!
      http://calgary.ctvnews.ca/circle-art-piece-leaves-some-feeling-blue-1.1489490
      In our city 1% of all building, road construction etc. has to be spent on public art. The art also has to be in the same location as the work that was done. We had a new runway added on to the airport and therefore a tunnel had to be made under the runway to accommodate traffic. Therefore $471,000 had to be spent on public art at that location. What do you think of our 'blue hoola hoop that cost us tax payers almost half a million dollars? You can be sure the majority of us were not happy!!!!

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  12. You are many things but ordinary is not one of them!

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  13. Glad your car passed its MOT, its a bit of a worry and luckily you didn't need any repairs.
    Some art is a bit 'kings new clothes', you've got to be in on it and non arty people dont get it. I just like what i like. Wouldn't it have looked better if the weld was neat and finished to give a seamless effect? And are the welds good enough for the structure to be safe?
    Dave.

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  14. I was a teenager in the sixties too I loved the cilla drama as well. I have family connections to the "pool" so watched it with memories flooding back.
    Hang on I'm in my sixties now so that makes me a teenager again doesn't it

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  15. I once went with a friend to her art appreciation group to a theatre.
    One of the "exhibitions" was a man who walked on stage naked, urinated in a bucket then walked off?????
    Oh well
    Talk about taking the p***

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