Marvelous Monday

Who would have thought that adding a splash of Fruity Mead to a bowl of porridge, bananas, cherries, and blueberries, would give it that extra zing. Start your day with a ZING. 

It was manic crazy this morning at Crafty Club. I took a load of wool with me, selling it for the family up the road. They want to get rid of it so it was priced super cheap. People went home with bulging bags.
Today was our Christmas party, there was the aroma of warming food drifting in from the kitchen, soup and hot savouries were served. Followed by sweet delights, cake and chocolate. If we grow any bigger we will not fit in the room. We are six years old, and meet every Monday morning in the Village Hall.

An update on the latest arty picture I am working on. Still a bit more to do. Watch this space. 

Heidi has found a new comfortable bed. I have brought the cushions indoors for the winter, from the chair in the Summer House. Wedged between a set of drawers and a cupboard, with a pillow on top, they make the ideal cat bed.

This afternoon I did a five mile walk, and just got back in time as darkness was falling. More about that tomorrow. 

Toodle pip for now.  ilona

A look back in time

I've had a lovely afternoon at the park. There was a Travelling Historical Christmas Market, and a Craft Fair to look around. Thank goodness it didn't rain, although the ground underfoot was a bit mucky due to rain in the last couple of days. 

It was packed out, I walked there, but those in cars found themselves in very long queues to get in. The car park soon filled up and the adjoining camping and caravan site was used as well. In places it was a bit of a squeeze to get through the crowds. 

There was a lot of stalls selling all sorts of Christmas goodies. The food stalls did particularly well, going by the amount of people that were chomping on a lump of meat or a sausage in a bread roll.

Petting donkeys for the children looking very festive.

I had a chat with this chappie. He makes pottery, mostly replicas for museums, in case they break the real thing or want to put the genuine article in storage.

The line up of colourful bottles caught my attention, and I was given a little plastic measure which was soon filled with some lovely tasty mead. I had a few coins and two fivers in my purse not intending to buy anything but you never know. I had just enough to scrape together £12 and chose Brocc's Mead, an authentic currant mead. It is a mouthwatering lively drink, not too sweet with a tangy fruity taste. Cheers. 

The hall was open and free to go in. I have only been in once before, so it was nice to see it again.

A small table with sewing paraphernalia on it, with a piece of embroidery on a frame.

All ready for Christmas dinner. 

A couple of soldiers back from the war, they don't look too good.

The notice says they had to use a set of steps to get into this bath. It is very deep.

I've never slept in a four poster, I must do that one day.

Back outside again and browsing the stalls. Somebody has been busy knitting.

No money left for a beer, I've got the mead.

This stall is called, On the Slate. Paintings on rough pieces of slate. Years ago we used to say 'put it  on the slate' when we wanted to buy something and pay later.

Couldn't resist taking a picture of this doggy. What a sweetheart, all dressed up to go out.

The little trains were super busy with a queue to go for a ride. The track isn't that long, and it's only 20p, the kids love it. 

The trains are built and run by volunteers, aren't they wonderful.

I was getting a bit chilly despite having a big parka coat on with a furry hood, time to go home. 

I'm going to have to go a bit steady with this fruity mead, it will be all gone by Christmas, ha ha. I think it would be lovely poured over some vanilla ice cream. I might get some tomorrow. 

Toodle pip.  ilona

Play with your settings

Do you ever get frustrated when tutorial videos have a long intro, then ramble on and on, when you really want to get to the point. If the presenter is speaking in another language and I don't want all the waffle I mute it, but want the visuals to be a bit faster. There is a button on the bottom bar, like a little cog wheel, to alter the settings. Click on it and up pops a menu, click on playback speed. 

Then choose one of the options. The lower the number the slower it plays. Want it faster, choose the 1.5. 

Then carry on at the speed you have chosen. I have tried subtitles but found them pretty poor, they don't keep up with the spoken word. I don't do Autoplay because I want a gap in between each video I watch. I click off the adverts as soon as the flag comes up to skip them. Then flit around clicking on any video that interests me. I haven't tried the Annotations, don't know what that means, and the quality is good on my big screen so I don't need to play with that. 

I find the playback speed a good tool when I am listening/watching an interview. I have the volume right up, but still find it difficult to catch every word they are saying because they either mutter or speak too fast. I slow it down so the conversation is a lot more relaxed and I don't miss anything. 

Quite a few people are going live with their videos now. I watched Terry and Brendan the piano dudes at St Pancras Station yesterday, they went on for over an hour. This performance was advertised in advanced so there was quite a big audience. The party atmosphere was great fun. I'll post it here in case anyone wants to have a look. It's 1 hour 20 minutes long so you might want to click through it to hurry it along.



Looking good outside so I'm going for a walk this morning. Another 40 miles to do to reach the magical 1000. Toodle pip.  ilona

Comedy Gold

Dame Edna while eating my porridge. Keyboard now splattered.



Thank you Barry Humphries.
Toodle pip.  ilona

Hello Doris.

Good morning. The sun is shining and it's the weekend. Apologies to my regular readers but there was a swarm of locusts on the blog last night, had to utilize the zapper. All gone now.

Here's another happy song to lift the spirits.


Blimey, she kissed a lot of handsome men, didn't she.

A message for those who are being bullied, fight back. Enjoy your weekend, and don't let the buggers get you down. Toodle pip.  ilona

Bed time.

It's getting late and I must go to bed. It's been a lot of fun tonight, thank you all for popping in. The post has gone, disappeared into outer space. See you soon. Lots of lurv xxx  ilona

My plans for Christmas 2019

Hello. A little vid for you.
Toodle pip.  ilona

Very sad, or just plain crazy.

TV licence payers money has been wasted. A Christmas tree that was put up outside BBC headquarters in London, has been chopped down not long after it was installed. The BBC should be ashamed of themselves. Health and safety and security reasons have been quoted. Read the story and make up your own mind.

Link to the story of the hacked to death Christmas tree

Back later.  ilona

Saving money on food shopping

What a beautiful sky to wake up to this morning. View from my back garden. Soon went though, replaced by greyness and rain. It's very windy now. 

Yellow sticker fans will be pleased to know I did quite well last night. I arrived just before 7pm. Items had been marked down twice, not cheap enough for me, so I hung around for the third and last markdown which happened just after 8pm. Worth the wait. There wasn't many people in the store so no scramble, plenty for all. When the shoppers had had their pick the assistant came out and started listing what was left, a charity comes and picks it up at 9pm. 

My total shop came to £24, I had other things as well, which are never or very rarely marked down. Baked beans, spaghetti hoops, soya drink, cartons of fruit juice, eggs, milk, yogurt, cheese, quiche, 

A run down of the reductions, mostly 75% off. Rice noodles 31p. Butter scones, 25p. Blueberries 27p. Mushrooms 24p. seeded rolls 16p. Baby sprouts 25p. Broccoli florets 33p. Spring onions 14p. Little Gem lettuce 21p. Tzatziki 30p. Cherries £1. Radishes 16p. Salad leaves 33p. Doughnuts 40p. Potatoes 45p. Chopped veg soup mix 40p. Spinach 18p. Veg selection 38p. That's the fridge full. I gave away two shopping bags to surprised people who accepted them with a smile. 

I see we are getting another Aldi, right next door to Tesco. That will hot the competition up and may see prices dropping . It's going to be massive as they have taken over the old Toys R Us store which went bust. I hope they are not closing the smaller store, as it's in a convenient place when I have to go to town. 

Looking like the wet and windy weather is set for the day. I'll pop to the mobile library after lunch and say hello to Stan. Good news this morning, my car passed the MOT test. I had found another car which I was considering, in case it failed, but it didn't so I will keep it. The garage man said the same as the RAC man. it's a good car, keep it. Mind you I did rather like the look of the other car, a later model of the Focus, just the spec I want, petrol, manual gear change, low mileage. Oh well, I'll have to let that one go and hope I find a similar one in a years time. I am a Ford girl through and through.

Cheerio for now. ilona

Burton in miniature

I was chuffed to find this woollen map of Burton, hanging on the wall of the Brewhouse Arts Centre. I love to see yarn bombing which is generally an outdoor creative activity, but seeing the town in miniature is better still. A lot of work has gone into it, a real team effort by many volunteers. If you click on a picture you will get a slide show. 

The church next to the river at Stapenhill.

Stapenhill Gardens with the big swan full of flowers, the terraced flower beds, and swans on the river.

Ooooh look, the football ground.

Difficult to take good photo's because I had to twist myself sideways, then rotate the pictures on the computer. It would be better if it was laid on a flat surface like a big table. Some of the buildings are hanging at an odd angle. Here's a bit of information about it. It looks like it will be staying here permanently.

Here is a link to The Brewhouse. There is a lot going on there. Theatre, Music, Dance, Comedy, with a Café Bar. My Uncle Stan used to go there regularly to show his paintings.

Crafty Club this morning, it was sooooo busy. We're going to need a bigger room soon. I took a load of wool with me, to sell it for a neighbour. The same people who gave me tons of fabric. Their house clearance is taking a long time, there is such a lot of stuff to find homes for. The Crafty ladies were chuffed, the prices were really cheap, I think there will be some more next week.

I'm going to do the yellow sticker run tonight, haven't been for ages, My fridge is empty.
Toodle pip.  ilona

Market Day.

It was Market day on Thursday so I had a wander around. As a teenager I used to come here every Saturday, the market was very big then, the stalls were packed in, and the place was heaving with shoppers. It had a buzz that I liked. Now it is a lot smaller.

The Market Hall is still there. People flocked to get under cover if it rained. There was a lot more stalls then, we shuffled around. Now big empty spaces, but the atmosphere is nice, space and time to linger and have a coffee and chat. The café was busy.

Old brewery buildings are still standing in and around the town, giving it a sense of character and history. 

Old pubs are still there.

The Coopers Tavern was very popular, not very big but people crammed themselves in because of the real ale they served.

The skyline is dominated by the breweries.

There are name changes, this used to be the Midland Hotel.

This was my favourite shop for a while, for outdoor wear and big boots. Now called Springfields, it was the Army and Navy Store. 

I met up with Margaret who I used to work with over 50 years ago. We found each other on Facebook a couple of months ago. We worked at Wesleys in Victoria Crescent, which is no longer there, it is now housing. It was a factory which made toilet rolls, flat pack toilet paper, and Christmas garlands. It was the last job I had before I moved to Blackpool. We had lots to talk about, old photographs to look at, over a cup of coffee. Andy worked at the same place for a while, that's where they met and have been together ever since.

Burton is so much bigger now. I am asked if I would go back and live there, the answer has to be no. Too much traffic, and frequent congestion to get over the two river bridges. I am a country bumpkin.

Sunday morning, it has been raining but the sun is coming out. Countdown time for the walking, and heading for 1000 miles. 

We'll catch up soon. Stomach is asking for food so time for breakfast. Toodle pip.  ilona