Bimbling along the River Humber

I'm feeling generous today, here's another offering on my little old blog. Me and Rocky fancied going for a walk a bit further afield, after all, he has sniffed about every doggy smell within a two mile radius of here, so it must get a bit boring for him. We got in the car and went off to Barton upon Humber and the Humber Bridge, to search for more smells for Rocky, and a change of scenery for me. This is the back of the boatyard on the banks of the Humber. These boats are stranded on the mud as the tide is out. 

First we went to Waters Edge Visitor Centre. You might be able to read some of this if you click on it. It is set in an 86 acre country park which is perfect for walking, with it's picturesque reed beds, meadows and woodlands.

There are several routes to choose from, follow the coloured arrows on the posts.

'Aaawww, go on mum, let me go in and play with them', ha ha. No Rocky, it's too dirty in there.

 This is Rocky's trick, at every bench we come to he jumps up and gets a treat. He is very clever.

Here is a little film I made.



Fantastic afternoon with my little companion.

Edited to include this link. The man who walked across was 6ft 9ins tall and he did it a few miles upstream
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2005/aug/22/1

I owe it to myself

I sometimes wonder which bits of me are going to pack up first as I head towards old age. I've been lucky up to now with my health, maybe because I've spent a lot of years working a manual job mostly outdoors. Or maybe it's all down to my genes, I don't know. I think there's a lot of truth in the saying use it or lose it, and I have certainly been using my body more than my brains, so maybe my body will go on and on, and I will eventually lose my marbles. Maybe, perhaps, I don't know. 

At this moment in time, like a lot people of retirement age in their sixties, I am trying to keep busy, mentally and physically. I owe it to myself to at least try and stay as physically active and as mentally alert as I can. No one's going to do it for me, it's down to purely my own efforts to make the most of what I have left, and to make it last as long as I can. 

No one can escape the fact that we are all destined for the graveyard one way or another, OMG, I'll try not to sound morbid and depressing on this Saturday morning. But the truth is that some will get to the finishing line before they either want to or need to. Who knows what is going to strike us down, there are so many variables which influence how long we have on this earth. 

I do believe however that there are some things which we can do to help ourselves. Whether we chose to take note of all the information on healthy living which is out there, is another matter. Oh I know some folks will say we don't know what to believe as the scientists come up with one new theory after another. More experiments, more tests, this works, that doesn't, it can be very confusing. I like to read up all I can, then make my own choices on what seems obvious to me. Like not smoking, eat plenty of veg and fruit, very little alcohol, get up and move about a lot, as much excercise as I like, and activities to stimulate my brain. Informed choices is what I think they call it. 

So where do I get my information from? The internet and the library. Every so often I will pick a book up which I think might be usefull to me in my quest to stay healthy. A lot of the information inside I will already know about, but it's good to keep reminding myself of what is good and what is bad for my body. 

Let's get to the book.     

Doctor Smith has been writing since 1977 after spending time as a general practitioner, and working in medical science. He writes the Doctor columns in The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/series/doctordoctor

I found this book very informative, as well as pointing out the obvious downfalls of choosing an unhealthy lifestyle, it goes that bit further with explaining exactly why you shouldn't consume certain foods and drinks, detailing what it will do to your body, and in the case of this book, the mind.

People generally think of smoking as bad for the lungs, but it is also very bad for the whole of your body, including the brain. It can accelerate the process of dementia. I'm not singling out smokers here, in fact just about every unhealthy habit you can think of will affect the brain in some way. But, I quote from Doctor Smith, "Smoking is a stupid, suicidal habit for anyone. How exactly does it harm you? It first poisons the red blood cells so that they cannot pick up and distribute much needed oxygen to the organs and tissues, including the heart muscle". I don't think I'll go on, read the book if you want to know the rest, but it makes for pretty grim reading if you are a smoker.

To sum up, there is some hope. Doctor Smith points out that brain cells are constantly changing, renewing, and making new and more connections with their neighbours and with similar cells further afield. Even in older ages the brain cells can recover and regroup, and there are ways which we can enhance that process. There is a lot of usefull information in this book, even if it reminds us of what we already know. A usefull reference book to return to again and again.

Enjoy your weekend. Toodle pip.

Doubling up on dog treats

I am having great difficulty typing this because Heidi cat is lying on the desk between me and the keyboard, I'm having to reach over her. It's a bit crowded in here, three cats and a dog all squashed into my little office. These two are quite happy.

It was a bit of a manic morning today. My friend Helen came over and brought Henry choc lab with her for a walk. I fetched Paul's two black labs out for a walk, they live round the corner, and Rocky came as well. The four dogs had a whale of a time. We were out for well over an hour and everyone was dog tired when we got back :o)

This afternoon I went to pick up a kitten which was no longer wanted by it's owner. We get these phone calls quite a lot with all kinds of excuses why they can't keep the cat any longer. Luckily we have a space for this one so we could take it in, quite often we are full so can't help. Anyway, Janet came with me to pick up a little Ginger Tom, a cute little thing he is as well. We have to get him neutered soon then he can be rehomed. Hopefully someone will come forward for him.

I thought you might like this money saving tip, that's if you have a dog of course, ha ha. I use these meaty chunks for treats, I carry a few in my pocket. They are soft and dogs seem to like them. In fact I usually get mobbed by all the dogs in the neighbourhood when I am out in the village. I get dog slobber dribbles all down my jacket and trousers as they push their wet noses against my pocket. Dogs have been known to dash a hundred yards or more towards me if they see me in the distance. There's no escape, once they know I have them they never forget. It's costing me a flippin fortune, ha ha.   

Here we have eight chunks.

Get a pair of scissors and cut them in half, making eight into sixteen.

Easy innit!

The dogs think they are getting a treat but they are only getting half of one. They don't know any different. Good eh! Toodle pip.

Another book review

Oh dear, I had to give up on this one. I really tried, but all it did for me was want to skim over it and get to the end, quickly. I got to page 32 and started skimming, in the hope that I would find something of substance, something to tweak my brain, something to enthrall me. It didn't happen.  

I searched the pages in vain, looking for key words which jumped off the page, something to catch my eye. I tried the next page and the next. I missed pages thinking I would pass over the endless babble and arrive at the whole point of the book. I couldn't find it.

Eventually I thought oh stuff it, let's bring this mind numbing excercise to an close, so I skipped a dozen pages and went straight to the back of the book to read the end. Basically it ended where it started, so what was all the stuff in the middle about then?

The author rambles, on and on and on. Passing through one subject after another with no interconnecting passages. His brain darts all over the place, like a demented savvy shopper on a mission to snap up all the yellow stickers.

Dark thoughts indeed, some of them downright depressing. He talks a lot about health, his own and family and friends around him. Graphic details of the ilnesses which caused his relatives to die. He focusses a lot on his middle age, you can't help but notice that he is 47 years old, he reminds you often enough, and the fact that his marriage has broken up.

A few passages did catch my eye as being the beginnings of a good story. He does recall some interesting experiences, but then goes and spoils it all by rambling, and I was left feeling 'oh, is that it, he has moved on to something else'.

This book doesn't flow, it is bitty, like a pan full of chopped up vegetables. It's all very well reading a short piece of writing in this style, but 200 pages is a bit much. I can't be doing with people peddling doom and gloom, then trying to disguise it as quirky and witty. Tell me a story, keep me intrigued, amaze me with facts, and for God's sake give me a smattering of simple humour.

Moving on, Heidi tried her best to stop me from typing, had to use one finger for a while, so writing this post has been slow going. I think she is a bit miffed with Mayze.

There is a bit of a power struggle going on at the moment, they are glaring at each other. 'Come down off there, I'm gonna get you'. Now now girls. 

Bugsy couldn't care less, he is happy snoozing in the window.

  It's a bit chilly today, must get off my backside and keep moving. Not putting the heating on yet. Toodle pip.

No need to flush. Saving water.

Eeeee bye gum, you wouldn't believe the day I've had today, I feel drained. It's a hard life in front of the cameras, ha ha. Four hours today of being interviewed and filmed. A nice young lady came up from London on the train, lugging her blooming big bags full of equipment. She set it all up in the living room, clipped a mic onto my chesticle area, and wired me up to the battery pack clipped onto my pants, that's trousers if you are not American, ha ha. 

She had a long list of questions which we ploughed through, then we did it all again, this time with different angle shots. Next we went upstairs to the office where she showed me four different websites and asked me to comment on them while she pointed tha camera at me. Then a bit more filming downstairs. Then it was an almighty rush as she needed to get to the station to catch her train back home. 

It is now all mixed up in my brain, I can't remember everything we talked about. She assured me that the filming we did today is not for broadcast, at this stage her company is researching the possibility of making a programme for Chanel Four. It may or may not happen, I may or may not be in it. I agreed to help out because it's a fun thing to do, although it is quite mentally demanding. I need to keep my brain working through to old age, so something like this forces me to think quickly, be spontaneous with my answers, and dig for ideas which might have been lost. Use it or lose it is what they say, I need to keep using it.

Anyway, moving on, I had a bit of a brainwave to save money today, see, I do use my brain, ha ha. I thought I would bring the downstairs privvy back into use. I very rarely park my bum on it to be honest, there's nothing wrong with it, perfectly clean and in working order, it's just that it reminds me of the olden days when I had to go outside and down the yard to spend a penny. Grandma had a toilet which was a wooden box with a hole in the top, I hated using it. When I was a teenager we lived in a house with an outside loo, it was awful to have to go out in the cold and sit there shivering.

My loo is not down the yard, it's just outside the back door in a passageway, so it's all under cover but not heated. My idea is to save money by using this toilet, and flushing it with a combination of rainwater, washing up water, and any other water which I would normally throw down the sink.   

As I have mentioned before, I use my bath water to flush the upstairs toilet, all well and good because the bath is next to the toilet, easy enough to slosh it down with a plastic jug. But the bath water only lasts a week, then I have to have another bath, or start flushing. In the downstairs loo I can put any grey water I have in this very large bucket and scoop and chuck with an old saucepan which I have conveniently hung on the door handle. It will also be easy to bring rainwater in from the garden from the many receptacles I have for collecting it.

So bingo, I can keep my flushes down to one per day, and that will be first thing in the morning, as I am as regular as clockwork, ha ha. Good idea, eh! Toodle pip.

Cherry picking the best buys

I went into town to pay a bill today, and needed to buy a few items, mainly cat and dog food. We have quite a big B & M shop in the High Street, it's in the old Woolworths store. I've been cherry picking a few items from here for a while as some of their prices are quite good. Their 1kg boxes of Bakers Complete Meaty Meals (I call them meaty chunks) are £1.99, whereas in Tesco and other supermarkets they are £2.88, a big saving. They also do pouches of Feline Fayre cat food, mostly fishy in jelly, at 25p each or five for £1. That makes it £2.50 for 12, the same price as I would pay for a box of Felix pouches when they are on offer. By the way, never pay full price for cat food pouches, there is always an offer on somewhere.

B & M do 200grm packs of cooked ham for 99p, far cheaper than the supermarkets, and it looks alright as well. Not that I eat it, it's a treat for the cats and Rocky. My treat is cheddar cheese with herbs and garlic, 99p for 160grm, it's delicious, I try not to breath on anyone when I eat that, ha ha. It's very tasty, I keep pinching a bit every time I open the fridge.

I had a mooch round the food section while I was there, just in case I missed anything. I got a packet of wholegrain crackers for 19p, a bottle of Zest lemon juice 330ml for 35p, and two flapjacks at 19p each, which is cheaper than the cash and carry. Six free range eggs were 89p which I thought was quite good. I also bought a bottle of bleach for 39p. If you look in a Pound shop you will see the same thing at two bottles for £1.

I popped up to Morrisons to check out the price of cat food. The Felix pouches weren't on offer but the foil trays were, at £2.50 a box, so I got some of those instead. While I was there I checked out a few other prices as well, and was surprised to see that some of the items were more expensive than in Tesco. Tins of Value peaches are 29p in Tesco, 39p in Morrisons. Tins of Value rice pud are 12p in Tesco, 27p in Morrisons. There wasn't many people shopping, I spoke to one woman about prices and she thought things were expensive as well, she prefers Asda. It's very difficult to say which supermarket is the cheapest because it all depends on what you buy.

While I was up that end of town I had a look in Poundstretcher, and was surprised to see the same cat litter as I have been buying from the pound shop, at 99p.

Now this is a good buy if anyone has the clumping cat litter. Personally I prefer it, easier to scoop the dirty litter out. The only thing with this one is it's slightly dusty, but I can put up with that. The supermarkets own brand is £1.58, so a big saving.

I was reading on a forum, someone posted about supermarket prices rising and their shopping bill was shooting up by pounds each week and they felt helpless to stop it. There is only one answer to that, you can't change the prices so change your shopping habits. Don't do the whole of your shopping in one supermarket. Ditch your shopping list and go with an open mind. Be flexible in what you eat. If the price of something you regularly buy goes up, look for an alternative, something which is just as good but cheaper. Stop snacking, no crisps, chocolate, pop, cakes, biscuits. These items are treats and should be consumed occasionally, not every day. I have managed to wean myself off these now, I don't go down these aisles at all. Another thing you can do to save money is make more meals without meat. Gradually reduce your meat days and increase your veg days. Happy bargain hunting.
Toodle pip.
   

Book review. A Lucky Child.

I have just finished reading this book, and it was as I expected, it made me cry because of the horrific atrocities that the author was witness to. They happened to people he loved, his family, those who he regarded as his family, and his friends. In all the awfulness of his situation he did manage to find some compassionate people who helped him to survive.

Thomas was born in Lubochna Czechoslovakia, on the 11th of May 1934, his parents were Gerda and Mundeck Buergenthal. They were forced to leave their hotel which was also their home, by the Hlinka Guard, the fascist party which controlled Slovakia with the support of Nazi Germany. They claimed to have a court order declaring one of it's organisations as the owners of their hotel. This was the start of many years on the run, being shunted about from camp to camp, either on trains or walking many miles on the road. Thomas was five years old.

His father was Polish and his mother German so Tommy grew up able to speak both languages, which was very usefull to him when it came to listening in on conversations enabling him to keep one step ahead when the going got tough. He was a very bright little boy.

The family were moved to the Ghetto of Kielce which was surrounded by walls and fences. It was a terrible place and very dangerous. It was a regular occurance that the German guards conducted raids, and pulled people out at random and shot them.

Tommy was ten years old when he arrived at Auschwitz concentration camp. Although this camp is notorious for it's extermination atrocities, it is actually another place nearby called Berkenau where the killings were carried out. Years later Tommy realised that he was actually very lucky to be taken to Auschwitz as there were other places far worse to be sent to.

Some time later their camp was evacuated and so began, one cold January morning, the Auschwitz Death march. This was the worst time of his life. Tommy had two of his toes amputated because of frostbite, at one point he was scared that they would amputate his feet, as that would have meant certain death. The sick and elderly were easily dispensed with.

Tommy survived through mainly his quick wittedness and ability to grasp the situation he was in. He learnt the tricks of survival, but for most of the time it was his luck that helped him. He was a very lucky child.

He was seperated from his parents, his father he never saw again, but he was able to find his mother two years after they lost each other. Fast forward and after the liberation in 1945 Tommy went to live in America with his aunt and uncle. He has spent his life as a leading human rights lawyer.

This is the first book I have read about Nazi Germany and the concentration camps, I think I preferred not to know too much about it because of my German connections. My mum told me she was in a camp for a short time with her parents although they weren't Jewish, but she didn't go into great detail, and I didn't press her on the subject. She was always a very emotional person, always very protective of her children, so much so that I felt smothered at times. This book has given me food for thought, this terrible time in history should never be forgotten.

There are important lessons here, about resilience, finding strength to carry on when so many gave up, and eventually having the remarkable ability to quash all feelings of revenge. To forgive but not to forget.

Doggies delight

Told you it was going to be a lovely day today and it was. I found myself a little job to do this morning, the path behind the church leading onto the hills is quite muddy at the moment, it's a real pain to try and get by without squelching through it. As it's a very popular route for dog walkers it gets churned up a lot by loads of pairs of boots trampling on it. It needs some hardcore spreading about. In the corner of the churchyard is a pile of rubble, mainly stones which Graham has picked up while he mows the grass, but also there is a mound of soil and rocks left over from the grave digging. Idea, why not move the rocks and stones and dump them on the mud, so I went with a bucket and did the job. Must have shifted about ten loads, it covered the mud nicely. I need to look out for some gravel now, that would be good for a top dressing. I'll keep my eyes open as I walk around, someone must have some that they don't want.

I took some friends to the railway station this afternoon, they are off on holiday. It was a good opportunity to pop in Tesco, they close at 4pm so will be marking things down at around 3pm. On the way there I popped in another supermarket. Worth a look to see if they have any reduced. I picked up a tub of sour cream and chives for 19p. 

In Tesco the yellow stickers were a bit thin on the ground, but I got a few bargains. Bags of salad leaves for 15p, tomatoes on the vine for 10p, brocolli for 19p, bags of peppers for 11p, pitta bread for 20p. Total spent was £6.69. I had managed to stretch a weekly shop to ten days, by using up some of my tins and freezer food. I'll put this shopping list on the Food Diary. I had suspended it, but now I find people are still interested in knowing which food I buy and how much I pay for it. 

When I got back it was time for a Rocky walk. We went our usual route onto the hills. This is a wide grassy area which is wavy like the surface of a crinkle cut chip. We had only been there a few minutes when Janet and Paul came out with their Irish red setter Dougal. Then a bit further along Karen appeared with her three dogs, Jack, Henry, and Honey, it was pandemonuim as they all ran around chasing each other. That's what I like about dog walking around here, everyone knows everyone and their dogs. We had the sad news last week of a dog who went for an operation to remove a lump, sadly it didn't make it. And then you see someone with a new dog and stop and chat with the owner. 

Luckily I had my camera with me to record the fun and games. They are all a lot bigger than Rocky, but he can stand up for himself, he was loving it.    

Hope you had a nice day. Toodle pip.

Village views

Just poppin back with some piccies. It's been a lovely day here, warm with a lot of sun and some interesting clouds. Me and Rocky have been a long walk around the village. This is the fishing pond, it is privately owned though they don't mind people walking dogs around it as long as they are on a lead and don't go into the water. There were quite a few fishing today, some of them have tents and make a weekend of it. It's a lovely spot for camping. The houses you can see are halfway up the hill. At the top behind the trees is the church which is the centre of the village. I live one street away from it.

The sun has caught this tree beautifully. Just beyond it is the village green.

Now I'm back home and this is the view from my bedroom window as the sun is starting to go down. I love the cloud formations.

Just as I was making my dinner I decided to run to the church and take a few more pics as the sunset was looking pretty spectacular. I turned the grill down low, and lowered the gas under my steaming vegetables. The reflection of the sunset in the river is amazing

I don't like to shoot directly into the sun so I'm stood behind the tree.

I really like this one of the metal railings around the edge of the churchyard.

The church is bathed in a firery red glow.

I love this one of the backs of the tombstones lit up casting long shadows.  

Six fifteen, I'd better run home and rescue my dinner, hope the sausages aren't burnt, ha ha.

I have heard it's going to be sunny again tomorrow, great stuff, looking forward to it. Toodle pip.

The hall of mirrors

Good afternoon. I've just had my lunch, mushrooms, fresh tomatoes, and scrambled eggs. All the curtains are hung back up in the living room, the skirting boards are painted, and I still have some paint left over. I'll have a look round to see what else needs painting and do it next week, but for now, I am fed up of painting. I get bored and start rushing it and smudge the paint everywhere.

A bill has landed on my doormat. Severn Trent Water are asking for £29.67, the six monthly charge for surface water drainage. This is reasonable, but very soon I expect the bill from Anglian Water for the amount of clean water I have used. I don't expect a shock with this bill either because I am very carefull with how much water I use. I am due for a bath this weekend, and that water will be used to flush the toilet for the following week. Some people might think this is a chore, what a lot of faffing to save a few pennies, but for me it is no hardship. I do not feel disadvantaged knowing I have to watch every penny I spend. The quality of my life is not compromised in any way by lack of money. I am far happier now, than  when I was working a stressfull job of 60 +  hours a week.

This morning I went to the hairdressers, I needed a trim up, this is what happened.



My hairdresser is lovely, she cuts my hair for free. Another advantage is that I don't have to travel to the salon. The only downside is that I have to clean up the mess, ha ha. Toodle pip

Say what you think, say what you mean

Just thought I would throw this random post into the mix, some random thoughts going through my head, which may or may not interest you. Something John said from DUYH triggered it off. He said he wears his heart on his sleeve. I had to look this up as I wasn't sure of the correct meaning. According to the Cambridge Dictionary it means 'to make your feelings and emotions obvious rather than hiding them'. 

Now I don't think that's a bad thing, I am a bit like that. I've always been an 'up front' kind of person, what you see is what you get so to speak. Sometimes I think I may let too many cats out of the bag, and give too much away, but something tells me it's better to be like that than to bottle things up and keep secrets. In relationships I hate not knowing and I hate uncertainty. I am not a very good guesser of what is going through other people's minds, so sometimes there is a chance I could put my bloody great foot in it. Oh yes, I've made a few bloomers in my time, opened my mouth before I've got my brain into gear, ha ha.

I much prefer the type of person who is able to say what they think, I would rather they do not hold back and retreat within themselves, because I am hopeless at reading between the lines. I need things spelling out to me, I need people to be honest with their opinions and thoughts. I can't read minds. I know that if everyone said exactly what they were thinking there would be quite a few hurt feelings, so saying that I do have a little bit of tact and diplomacy within me. I would not knowingly set out to be rude or to hurt someone.

There have been times when I've had to hold my tongue, and that has been quite difficult to do because of my openess (is that a word?) and because I prefer to embrace truth and honesty. I hate pussyfooting around, and treading on eggshells, far better to say what one thinks, or is it? That brings me on to telling untruths, porkies, big ones and little white ones. No point in telling someone their dress sense is crap if they are happy with it, why burst their bubble. Mind you, I don't mind if someone tells me my DIY haircut looks rubbish, I can take it, and will probably agree with them, ha ha. I really don't like liars who lie to make themselves look good. Some of it maybe a bit of harmless bullshit, I think I can spot that a mile off. But if someone keeps their cards close to their chests, (another good saying), I immediately wonder, hey what's going on here, what have they got to hide?

I dislike conflict of any kind and will go out of my way to avoid it, so it is much easier for me to know where I stand with people. I met someone from a forum once, and thought we got on quite well. I was shocked when afterwards she sent me some quite nasty messages, still not saying why she did not like me. I was completely oblivious to the vibes I must have been giving out, for her to dislike me so much. To this day I still do not know what I did or said to annoy her. So by wearing my heart on my sleeve I leave myself open to being hurt. Even so, I think that is preferable than withdrawing into a shell and  keeping stuff festering inside.

I am amazed by the number of people in relationships who have secrets from their partner. This scenario comes up quite a lot on the Money Saving Expert forums. Usually one partner has a lot of debt that the other one doesn't know about. Now I don't know how the mechanics work in a long term relationship, I have been in a few many years ago, that's if you can call six years 'long term', and I wonder how one person who has made a commitment to live with another as a couple can have such a whopping big secret. How awful to find out that the person you are shacked up with is not the person you thought they were. Yeah, we've all got skeletons in the cupboard, most of them so trivial they're completely forgotten about. But for someone to say, honey I forgot to tell you, I owe fifty thousand quid to a loan company and my cards are maxed out to a few grand, you could be forgiven for getting on the next train and getting the hell out of there. Obviously if the relationship is very strong the couple might be able to find a way to work through the crisis, but wouldn't life be easier if people were more upfront and declared their secrets in the first place.

Anyway, I think 'wearing your heart on your sleeve' also means not holding back on your emotions, in my mind, that is also a good thing. Sometimes you just gotta let it be known how you are feeling. By speaking about whatever is bothering you helps you to work things out. I have always had the ability to dig into my thoughts and come up with a solution and move on.

I think I've rambled enough, it's lunch time and I want to use up the rest of the white paint before another skin forms and I have to bin the tin. Ha ha, bin the tin, that's a good one. What's the moral of this story, whatever you want to make of it really. All I can say is that I like people who say what they think, and say what they mean. Toodle pip.

One job leads to another and another

Aye up me ducks, I'm a bit late tonight due to me doing some ironing, yes you heard right, I actually switched the iron on. Needed to iron these curtains which I washed today. It was a lovely sunny morning so I thought I would do some spring cleaning, I took the curtains down in the living room and proceeded to clean the windows.  

Then I decided to move some wooden shelving which is full of crafty materials, to the spare room upstairs, because I am fed up of looking at it. Then I had to get the Dyson out because I found a load of dead flies on the carpet underneath the sideboard. Must have dropped off the window sill.

The back window in the living room is the only wooden framed single glazed window in the house. Don't know why the previous owners didn't replace that one when they had all the others changed. Anyway, the frame looked as if it could do with a lick of paint so I had a look in the shed and lo and behold I found a part used tin of white gloss, just the job. About two inches left in the bottom, that's if there is any at all under that thick skin on the top.  

Oooh, yes there should be enough here, don't know how long I've had it, must be about ten years since I last did any painting. By the way, I didn't buy that copy of the Times newspaper, I erm borrowed it out of a recycling bin, ha ha.

The sunshine through the glass was making me quite hot. Looks like the outside could do with painting as well, another flippin job to do.

A friend gave me these orangey browny curtains, they were brand new. She had cut the bottoms off because they were too long, then she couldn't be bothered to hem them up. So I got a pair of brand new curtains for nothing. I just ran them through the machine along the bottoms.

Looking at the other windows in the street I noticed that everyone puts the lining to the outside. All the windows look the same, a bit boring I think. I decided to hang these with the best side on the outside, they are not lined. Brightens the windows up a bit.

The reason for my curtain day today is that it's time to get the extra sets of curtains down out of the cupboards, and hang two sets on one rail to give an extra thickness. It will help to keep the place warm. Here you can see I have hung the newly washed and ironed curtain back up, but this time have put it back to back with the other one, so the lining is sandwiched in the middle. That way it looks nice in the room, and the passers by get to see something different.

I haven't hung the curtains in the back window yet as the paint is not dry. That's another job to do tomorrow. I don't know, you start one job and find a whole lot more needs doing, and I hate housework.

It looks as though I have someone coming to film me next week, something to do with a programme for Channel 4, not sure exactly what it's about. It's only for research at this stage, don't know if it will come to anything, should be interesting though. Might as well, could be fun.

Bye the way, I still don't like the new dashboard. Have you noticed that when you want to read the comments and click on them, they are never up to date. You click on the view blog and find there are actually more comments than is stated. It would be easy to miss some. It's a flippin pain.
Sleep tight, don't let the bugs bite, toodle pip.

A hundred and eighty chuffin quid !

I am £219 lighter today, it's the dreaded MOT and service time for the car. Luckily the car is still in good nick, I didn't expect it to fail on anything, but nevertheless sometimes you can get a nasty surprise just when you don't need one. Like last year when it needed new rear brakes. My front disc brakes are going to need renewing in the spring, and that's mainly because I don't use the car enough. I have only done 4,500 miles in a year, I need to do more to keep things moving. It's like a human body, if you don't excercise it, things start to seize up. I must get out more.

I suppose I am paying out quite a lot of money for a car which doesn't do many miles, the road tax and insurance are due soon. I haven't worked out the annual cost to run it, never have done, because I like my car. It gives me the freedom to go where I please, whenever I want to. It also allows me to go food shopping at eight o clock in the evening to buy up all the reduced yellow stickers. I reckon the savings I make at Tesco easily covers the cost of the car. I dread to think how much my weekly food bill would be if I had to go shopping during the day on the bus, and pay full price for everything. 

Talking of Tesco, they have sent me some lovely money saving vouchers, wow, lucky me, £19 off my shopping. Sounds good doesn't it.

Erm.....not that good actually. The vouchers are spread over six weeks of shopping, and each week I have to spend £30, that's thirty flippin quid. Now why would I want to spend that much every week? That's one hundred and eighty chuffin pounds, just to save nineteen. I don't think so, when I struggle to spend £15 a week in the store. I think I'll take my own voucher in there next time I go, see what they make of that, ha ha. Toodle pip.

Don't buy books, they're free from the library

Today I will do a book review.....before I have even read the books, ha ha. Bit different, eh! Yesterday the mobile library came as it does every Monday. It parks across the road on the Medical Centre car park, so not far to walk. It comes twice, first session 10.45am to 12.45pm, then again in the afternoon 3pm to 5pm. It also goes to some of the other surrounding villages. We are lucky that all this is free, well almost, I am sure a very small portion of my council tax goes towards paying for this service.

I thought you might be interested in why I have chosen these particular books, and because I haven't thought of another topic to post, this will fill the space nicely. So, what floats my boat, what am I interested in, and the reasons why I chose these books. 

HERE'S ONE I WROTE EARLIER, by Peter Purves, the autobiography. I remember him as a presenter on the TV programme Blue Peter, and his close association with the show's dog called Shep. I loved that programme. I see he was brought up in Blackpool, so that will be interesting as I lived in Blackpool for three years in my late teens. He is widely known as a presenter at Crufts, the national dog show, so there will be lots of doggy stories to read in this book.

REMEMBERING THE HIGH STREET, a nostalgic look at famous names, by Gordon Thorburn. I spent my early working life on the High Street, first at a leather shop, then Woolworths, and next at a smaller grocery store called Melias. My dad always wanted me to be a window dresser, at the time I didn't think I would be good enough so didn't push myself forward. It will be interesting to see how the High Street has changed. There are some old shop fronts in the Streetlife Museum in Hull, I love looking at them.  

BITS OF ME ARE FALLING APART, by William Leith. I skimmed through this in the library and it struck me that the writing style was very similar to John's, of Dont Unplug Your Hub blog. Easy reading, thought provoking, with a smattering of humour. It's about a middle aged man who is trying to put his life back together after a marriage breakup, when all around him the rest of the world is falling apart. Leith examines the ageing process in humans, and everything else as well, from the universe to the banking system. Should be a glorious mish mash of thought provoking ideas. 

REDUCING YOUR RISK OF DEMENTIA, by Dr Tom Smith. I am interested in any books which might point me in the right direction to living a healthy lifestyle. Dr Tom writes the medical column in The Guardian every Saturday, and has written several other books on medical matters. His style is easy reading and he doesn't blind you with science, he offers a good dollop of common sense. Chapters six through to nine deals with the dementia provokers of smoking, alcohol, high blood pressure, and cholesterol risk. He says that while we can't rely on lifestyle changes as a way of preventing dementia, the good news is that if we do our best, we will almost certainly delay it's onset and slow it's progress. 

A LUCKY CHILD, by  Thomas Buergenthal. A memoir of surviving Auschwitz as a young boy. I think this book will make me cry. When I was a little girl my mother told me stories of how it was in Hamburg in the war, how she lost her home through bombing. The stories are now becoming a little vague as I struggle to remember all she told me. I wish she was still here to tell me more. Thomas Buergenthal is a former judge of the International Court of Justice. You can find out more about him here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Buergenthal

RAINING CATS AND DONKEYS, by Doreen Tovey. A bit of light hearted reading here. Doreen has written many books about her life in a 250 year old cottage in Somerset, mostly about all the animals she has adopted. Looking forward to being entertained, perfect for bed time reading.

I have untill the 12th of November to read all these, phew, don't know where to start. Toodle pip.

Sunlounger for cats

My office window overlooks the back garden, and the cats often spend time in here sunning themselves on the window sill. I usually fold up a piece of fabric or an old curtain to make them a soft bed to lie on, but it always looks messy after they have wriggled about on it. This is an old quilty thingy I made many moons ago, it wants chucking really but I keep washing it and using it again. I think now is the time to make something which looks a bit more neat and tidy. 

I've got some strips of foam which I got from the Scrapstore, it isn't quite long enough so I had to add a short piece to make it the right length. I was going to cover it with a cotton fabric to make a mat but the foam isn't very thick, so I covered it first with a piece cut from an old flannelette bedsheet.

Sew it together leaving the end open, stuff the foam inside and stitch it up.

Then using it as a guide, cut a piece of cotton fabric twice the width, and a bit longer, to allow for the seams. I have used an old curtain which someone gave me about four years ago.

Sew it together inside out and turn the right way, stuff the cushion inside and stitch up the end. Bob's your uncle, job's done, and the pussies have a new mat to lounge on.

Mayze likes it,

And so does Heidi.

It protects the window sill from getting scratched, and it will go in the washing machine when it gets dirty. Another little job done. I need to make another one now for the downstairs window. Toodle pip.