We will remember them

The photo's which my uncle gave me are quite small, but I have scanned these, so that my mum and dad can float around in cyber space forever.

Look at the lovely pram I am sitting in. I'm not sure where the picture was taken, it looks like the door of a cottage. I remember mum had a box camera, the sort you hold down on your waist and look into the top of it.

My mum was strikingly beautiful, I don't take after her but my sister does, lucky girl. She had thick black hair. The fur coat must have been real fur, they hadn't invented imitation then. I remember buying a real fur coat from a jumble sale when I was a teenager, and parading around in it. How awful, I was young and didn't know any better.

Mum (Martha) and dad (Norman) together. It looks like she had her hair cut a bit shorter there.

Dad in his army uniform. He looks very young, it was probably taken just after he had joined up. Dad was in Hamburg during the war where he met mum. When he came back home to England she came with him and they were married.

Things could have been a lot different, he could have been injured, or worse still killed, in which case I would not be here. Lucky for me, he came back.

Not so lucky for the families of others, who did not come back.

"They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning.

We will remember them."

Pushing up the daisies

Boohoo :o( my baby won't be coming home.

But £££££££ the insurance money is enough to buy another car :0)

Today I went home

Glad you like my hair. It gave me a bit of a shock when I looked in the mirror, OMG WHAT HAVE I DONE. I blame it on my age, ha ha.

I've been to Burton upon Trent today, my home town, to visit some friends that I haven't seen for over 30 years. I used to be a bus driver many moons ago and one of my work mates was Jonathan. Actually that's not the whole truth, we were a bit more than mates, we used to step out together. Oops that's let the cat out of the bag ;0) Anyway, I've had a very enjoyable day, with Jonathan, his mother Daphne, and his sister Mandy, boy was there a lot of catching up to do. When I came away mandy said, don't leave it another 30 years before you come again.

I also called in to see my Uncle Stan and Aunty Pat. Always lovely to see them. They have adopted a cat and he's called Cornelious, (is that how you spell it) He's a lovely little fella, mostly white with flecks of brown and tabby.

Just before I left, Uncle Stan said he had something for me and left the room. When he came back he handed me a small photograph album which was obviously very old. It has a blue fabric cover with flowers embroidered on the front. It used to belong to my dad, and contained photo's of him and his army mates, and photo's of mum and dad from around the time I was a baby. There is me in a little old fashioned pram, wearing a coat with a matching bonnet, and mum with a fur coat and a cotton print dress, with her hair parted down the centre and tied back. My sister and I have hardly any photo's of when we were very small children, they have all got lost, so it is lovely to have this little album.

It was a nice trip dowm memory lane.

Ooooops ! ! !

Here is a competition, guess what this is ? ? ? ?

Sorry no prizes,
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~

It wasn't that colour on the box, ha ha.

I'm off for a day out in the BMW tomorrow, catch up with you later when I get back.

Chuck it all on, it will get eaten

You know I don't follow conventional recipes, I make my own up as I go along. Today I need to use up some out of date stuff, so here is a pic of my lunch.

Half a bag of French style salad, out of date on the 2nd November, reduced from £1.60 to 59p. A spud in the microwave, from a bag out of date on 26th October, still got three left. Some dollops of houmous, reduced from £1 to 25p. Then I cooked a few baby mushrooms, reduced from 84p to 25p, in a little margarine, and added two eggs and scrambled them all together.

A massive big plateful, and yummy. I don't plan meals, just look in the cupboard or fridge, and use whatever I have in. Nothing gets chucked away, there are no leftovers in this house

Customising a charity shop bag

I wanted a shoulder bag to take to London with me. Not too big and not too small, so that I could carry a few bits and bobs around with me, like sandwiches, snacks, a drink, small umbrella, maps, etc. I like shoulder bags, I feel safer if the strap is across my body and I can grip the bag in front of me. Best to be careful if you are walking in busy places. I don't put my valuables in my bag though, they go in a body belt strapped to my waist underneath my clothes.

Anyway, I found this bag which is just the right size, in a charity shop for £1. It looks a bit plain so I thought I would jazz it up a bit. It needs some decoration to make it different from everybody elses bag. The colour is dark blue by the way, a couple of shades darker than this photo.

So here is the finished article. The cats face was on the front of a tee shirt which went all baggy and wore out. I cut it out to fit the front exactly, adding a bit to turn under to make a neat edge. I sewed it on by hand with very tiny stitches.

Then I cut the three letters out of coloured vinyl, and attached them with running stitch in matching cotton.

I am well chuffed with it.

I have a new artwork

I went back to the scene of the accident today, my insurers have asked me to draw a sketch of the road layout, for their records. While I was there I popped into the garage to see if they have made a start on their inspection. They have been a bit busy and are hoping to fit it into their work schedule on Monday.

No one has cleaned the debris away, it is still there, albeit in a lot more pieces as traffic has run over it. The policeman did move some of the larger pieces off the road and put them on the pavement. It seemed a shame to leave this one behind so I brought it home and cleaned it up.

I think it looks kind of arty hanging above my fireplace, I think I will leave it there ;0)

The posh frock comes out once again

It's been a long time since I was nominated for anything, and I remember it well. In 1990 I was nominated to attend the Women of the Year Luncheon at the Savoy Hotel, in recognition of the work I did in promoting women in transport, through the Lady Truckers Club, of which I was the founder member.

I was amazed when I received an invitation, and couldn't think who had nominated me. I later found out that it was Edwina Currie, who I had met when she came to a Lady Truckers dinner dance which I organised.

I was immensley proud to attend this prestigious event at The Savoy, as the invitations were sent to women who had reached the top of their profession, and I felt honoured to be one of them. The day was magical. I arrived at 11am in my friends transit van, and we were greeted by a red carpet specially laid, security hovering around, and lots of press waiting to snap the stars. Alas, they did not snap me, a lorry driver in a transit van. Once again I wore my posh frock.

Inside I was given a guest list and seating plan, and ushered into a large reception room, with waiters flitting around with trays of drinks. It was like a dream, there were people there that I had seen on television, and to think I was mingling amongst them.

The time came for the guest of honour to enter the room, everyone stepped aside when the door opened, and left a clear path for her to walk through. My heart was thumping in my chest. I prayed that she might stop and speak to me, as she got closer I held my breath. She was truly the most beautiful woman that I had ever seen, far better than her photographs. She spoke to the lady standing next to me, then.......she crossed over to the other side and missed me, oh dear :o( I was so close to her Royal Highness Diana the Princess of Wales, a wonderful moment I will never forget.

The following year I received another invitation, whoopee, and the guest of honour was Sarah Fergusson, she didn't speak to me either. The year after I didn't get an invite, I thought, not to worry, twice is brilliant. But....the year after that in 1993, I did get invited again, wow, three times, how fab is that! The guest that time was Princess Margaret, and guess what, she did speak to me.

This is my ticket for that event, I have memorabilia from all three luncheons which I shall treasure for the rest of my life.

Now, getting in my time machine and zooming forward seventeen years, today I received a letter from North Lincolnshire Council. I have been nominated for an award for, guess what.....litter picking. Cool eh! I pick up rubbish and someone has noticed.

So, on the 23rd of November I shall be attending a special awards evening, with drinks and a buffet, and I will be introduced to local dignitaries. Another opportunity to wear my twenty year old posh frock ;0)

My new car ;o)

My neighbours will think I have won the lottery.

Look at this then, a new BMW, how smart is that! I have never driven one of these before. I only hope I don't get too upset when I have to give it back.

Is it the end of the road for my Focus?

This is my second post of the day.
It's exactly eleven months to the day since I had to make a claim on my car insurance, and all because someone decided to vandalise it. My first claim ever. Yesterday was my second claim, again not my fault, but this time the damage is a lot worse.

I parked as usual on a wide straight road, no restrictions, and walked the few minutes into town. Found a bag I wanted in a charity shop for £1. Found a pair of heavy curtains for £3, also in a charity shop, these will make some great shopping bags. Then I went in the library and borrowed three books. Walking back to my car, this was the sight that greeted me.

Sickening isn't it? And this is the car which caused the damage.

I found a taxi driver getting his car recovered. No one had called the police so I said I want the police in attendance, and the recovery driver organised it. There was absolutely no reason for him to slam into the back of my car, pushing it into the one parked in front of me, damaging that one as well. All he could say was his windscreen misted up and he was trying to clear it. I'm afraid I lost my rag a bit and a few choice words slipped out, only natural in the circumstances. For a moment I was into trucker mode, and all signs of the demure little pensioner flew out of the window, ha ha. My God, it does you good to let rip sometimes.

Anyway, I didn't sleep much last night, my lovely Ford Focus diesel estate, carefully chosen by me, is now in the garage awaiting assessment. The insurance company are on the ball and think it will be repaired, but they haven't seen it close up. The recovery driver warned that I might not see it again. We shall see what happens.

The lady who owns the car which was parked in front of me, turned up ten minutes after I did, she was also gobsmacked, to see the back end of her car caved in. When I left to come home with the RAC man, she was still waiting for her recovery vehicle to turn up.

Well, the wheels are in motion (not mine of course), to get me a hire car which I am assured will be delivered at 1.30pm. It is all out of my hands now, I will either get the car back repaired, or a cheque in the post. We shall see.

A good saving on food

I was going to post again last night, but things happened, so I will do two posts now on Thursday morning. I was chuffed at saving £8.06 when I called in at Tesco next to the bus station in Hull, just before I came home. Always a good idea to take the opportunity to bag a few bargains at any supermarket if you are passing.

As you can see my hassling the ladies with the ticket machines paid off, every item is reduced. I didn't need anything else, walked past the tempting chocolate and crisps, and kept my mind focused on my dinner that I would be enjoying when I got home.

The freezer is now stuffed with bread, wholemeal and multigrain. The salad, cheese and leek sausages, parsnips and swede, will add to the potatoes and onions I have from last week, so all this will last me for another week. I might be able to stretch the food I already have, untill I go to London. The chicken was a treat for the cats.

Water water everywhere

I fancied a trip out yesterday so I decided to use my Tesco voucher and visit The Deep in Hull. This is on the north bank of the river and the best way for me to cross is to take the bus, free with my pensioner pass, and a free crossing over the Humber Bridge, (saving £5.40). The waters edge is a short walk through the town from the bus station.

You go under the Myton Bridge, which is the main A63, alongside the River Hull, and it brings you out at The Deep, where it meets the River Humber. It was at this point that the Rix Eagle was waiting for the Millenium Footbridge to be opened so it could carry on it's journey out into the Humber. This is an oil transportation vessel built in 1990 and flying a British flag. Today it is anchored up. How do I know that? I have just read up about it, thanks to the internet.

This is the footbridge in it's closed position, it's the walkway to The Deep.

Now it has swung round to it's fully open position and the barge can pass through. You can see The Deep behind it.

Off she goes.

On her way. I love watching anything like that, anything to do with transport, boats, planes, and trains, fascinating stuff.

Once the swing bridge is closed again, and it only takes a few minutes, I can walk across. This huge shark is quite an eyecatcher, overlooking the river. I am having trouble standing still, it is so windy today.

Inside The Deep it's like being inside a luxury liner, if you can imagine that. The front of the boat juts out over the water, and here I am standing in the cafeteria, in the pointy bit looking out. Just like the Titanic, ha ha. Well it's certainly blowing like that. This is the view.

Over to one side you can see part of the marina. The weather is a bit gloomy and grey so the pictures are not so sharp.

When you start the tour, you need to go to the top floor, I chose to take the stairs rather than the lift, cue huffing and puffing. Along the walkways are a lot of videos to watch and listen to, they tell the history of the oceans, from how they came about to how they are now.

The Deep has many aquariums, but it is very difficult to take clear photographs unless you have a sooperdooper camera with all the bells and whistles. The main problem being, the fish move so quickly. No matter how hard I tried to get them to pose, they would not stay still for me. Flash is not allowed at all, so here is a few that I managed to get.

These are jelly fish. Fascinating to watch.

Now these sea anemonies didn't move about very much, ha ha.

This was a bigun, a stingray.

That's ya lot, I took a lot more but they were pants. If you want to read up about The Deep please go to their web site.

www.thedeep.co.uk

I will not be beaten

I'm just putting a note in here to remind everybody that VAT is going up to 20% on January 1st. Not a very good start to the New Year. I am always pretty optimistic on the first day of the year, a fresh new start and all that, and I don't see any reason to change that. Things are ticking over nicely here at Meanqueen Mansion, living within my means has been a part of my life for quite some time now, and with a bit of tweaking I hope to be managing my finances just as sucessfully, well into next year and beyond.

I know it sounds pretty scary, having to pay more for our goods and services, but don't despair. If anyone is worried about how they will cope, we have got two months to prepare. I am going to start up my money diary again, writing down every penny I spend, it will help me to keep my eye on the ball. Oh, I know I will fall by the wayside now and again, that's life, but with writing it down it will be all there in my face.

People have extra expense at Christmas, well most people, but not me. No, I am not a scrooge, I just don't get dragged into the whole crazy circus. I warn people before hand that I don't do Christmas. No presents thank you very much, and don't waste your money on sending a card. I will send Christmas emails to people, much more environmentally friendly, and cheap. I will probably send two or three handmade cards in the post for those who don't have computers.

Soon I am off to London for a holiday, I am trying to keep the cost down. Even so my frugalness will not spoil things, there is plenty to do in the capital without it costing an arm and a leg. I will do my own food in the hostel, and maybe I can afford a couple of treats. A day ticket for the Thames Clipper is £12, and possibly take in a show or concert, even if it means turning up on speck and waiting around to get a cheap seat.

So yes, I am optimistic that I will beat the VAT increase, there will be lots of no spend days in my diary, and I will still be a happy bunny. The challenge is there, are you going to join me in beating the buggers that are about to come and get us?

Food, simply glorious food

Folowing on from yesterdays post on keeping things simple, I thought I would tell you a little about my eating habits. As you know I do not like to spend too much time in the kitchen. I use the minimum amount of utensils, pots and pans etc, so I don't have mounds of washing up to do. I would not dream of having a dishwasher, for one person it would be totally unnecessary, a waste of water and heating it, and too expensive for the tablets or whatever you use to clean the dishes.

What do I eat? I steam a lot of veg, it all goes in one saucepan with the mesh basket in the bottom. I might grill a veggie burger or a piece of fish, and that will be it. No faffing around with sauces which mask the taste of the food, and make more dirty pots. My simple lunch for today was a bread roll out of the freezer, zapped in the microwave and sliced in half, and a tin of mackeral fillets spread over it. No need to butter the bread, the fish juices were enough to moisten it.

I occasionally buy scones or teacakes. These I eat straight out of the packet, or I might spread a bit of honey on it. I never eat jam by the way, too much sugar.

Last night I was visiting my friend, she was preparing a meal for herself and three others. Of course she was taking a bit of time preparing the dish, and as I was chatting I noticed that at the halfway point of preparation I would have stopped. The vegetables were steamed, the pasta was cooked, she then mixed it up and put it into two caserole dishes. Then she stired in some of that fancy fromage stuff, and some grated cheese. The topping was breadcrumbs mixed with cheese, and then it was put in the oven.

As far as I could see everything had already been cooked at the halfway stage, so why would it need further cooking in the oven? My version would be to put the veg and pasta on a plate and sprinkle grated cheese on it. Simple. I must say though it looked lovely when it came out of the oven, and I know you need to make a bit of an effort when you have visitors. I'm not knocking anyone who wants to go to a lot of trouble with their food preparation, some people enjoy their time in the kitchen, but for me it is not a hobby. Food is just the fuel to keep my body alive.

Tonight I have another plate of my home made veggie stew. I made it last night and there will be enough left for lunch tomorrow.

I like to eat food which is simple to prepare, the quickest and shortest way to make it palatable. I like to taste the food itself, and not smother it in sauces. My stews have a few herbs and spices thrown in, usually a veggie oxo cube and a shake of turmeric, perhaps a squirt of tomato puree. It's a bit hit and miss really, but this is my idea of simple cooking. I must be doing something right because my weight stays constantly at just over eight stone :o)

Beautiful Britain

I have just found these panoramic photographs of beautiful Britain, taken by Mark Denton, on the Mail website. Further proof that we are indeed living in a beautiful place.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1325425/breathtaking-britain-natures-beauty-dusk-til-dawn.html