Ev - April 2, 2021 at 6:38 PM Dudley was very eager to have his dinner tonight and polished it all off! He also galloped round his Quarr Abbey walk today so we are on the mend! I was diagnosed with Macular Dystrophy in 2002 at Hereford Hospital.but went to the optician yesterday and she told me it was Dry Macular Degeneration! Honestly, you don’t know who to believe! At any rate progression is slow. There is no treatment so I have to accept whatever comes. If Dame Judi can do it, so can I!! Have not driven for a few years but have surrendered my driving licence now as my distance vision is not good enough. I planted my tomato seeds today, a bit late but with the better weather they should germinate quickly. I don’t know where this year has gone. Time flies when you’re getting old!!😊😉
Cheshire Cheese - April 2, 2021 at 7:15 PM Couldn't agree more about time flying Ev.
Miriam - April 2, 2021 at 7:37 PM Ev. Surrendering your driving licence... I cannot imagine a life withought driving. But then as a pre-glaucoma person, this might just happen to me.
Ev - April 2, 2021 at 9:59 PM Well, I have my chauffeur i.e Katy! She drove me into Ryde yesterday for my appointment. We took Gyp as Dudley can be a bit funny with her and K waited in the car with her. In normal times we have buses every ten minutes each way to Ryde and Newport so I can get around. Of course at the moment I stay put! It is strange getting out and Ryde is very quiet and it is odd. Also, don’t know about everyone e lose but all these months of not getting out and about means loss of confidence and although it was fine once I was out there, I was apprehensive beforehand. Anyway, I think once all this is under control I will soon get back into the swing!💃🏼😊
Anneveggie - April 2, 2021 at 7:42 PM Ev - isn't it great when our loved pet feels better! Miriam - I have eye drops twice a day for glaucoma which keeps it under control so far.
Miriam - April 2, 2021 at 8:38 PM I just need eye drops at night. So far, so good as pressures are well under control. As said, I am diagnosed as pre-glaucoma at the moment. This doesn't worry me as such, as I go to the hospital eye clinic for scans + checks, so any problems will be found and hopefully sorted. I am so greatful to my optician, who referred me so quickly + efficiently.
Archerphile - April 3, 2021 at 10:03 AM My next door neighbour has had glaucoma for many years and now has to go to hospital every few months for laser treatment as well as daily eye drops.
Miriam, I do not drive (could never afford to learn when younger) and have never had access to a car. There is life without driving - except in a global pandemic when you can't use the bus, of course!
I too have never bothered to learn to drive Sarnia. I used to go years and years without ever being in a car apart from the odd taxi. Even when I lived on the isle of Arran and buses were few and far between it never occurred to me to learn.
My father never learnt to drive - he was quite happy on his bike. He used to travel on trains a lot with his bike to use when his destination was reached. My mother( who never took a driving test) was his chauffeur when he needed one! His cycle clips were a vivid reminder of him: as were your husband’s, Sarnia.
My early memories. Background........ My mother (N ) was literally bowled over by my father at their first meeting because he knocked her flying when pushing open a door . She ditched her fiancé and married ( G ) who didn't even tell his mother what he had done. Apparently my paternal grandmother blamed (N) and refused to see her so my father would take me to the outskirts of London (as you would during the war!!) from our home in Oxford (he was doing something at Oriel College and Blenheim Palace during the war -I never found out what) to meet her. I remember being about 3years old and meeting this really old woman in a long black dress whose teeth kept falling out.
Not to be outdone, my mother having been born in Glasgow took me to visit her relatives there. Again I must have been about 3years old . They had a scotty dog and a parrot and lived in some form of tenement building I remember wearing a kilt.
My mother worked at Morris Cowley doing something with aeroplane parts during the war . I was sent to a nursery school. All I remember about that time of my life was queuing up to have a spoonful of cod liver oil, drinking orange juice and having to have a rest every afternoon.
My husband, Mike, was born in 1937 and had similar memories of nursery school and little beds where they had to rest every afternoon. The family had moved from Cirencester to Swindon where his Dad was in the fire service. I have memories of Glasgow tenements and visiting elderly great aunts and uncles! No lifts but the stairs were usually stone and kept clean on a rota basis. The buildings were solid and made of sandstone. I always remember all the houses had brown paper blinds edged with lace! Thank you for your memories, Lanjan. I think we are all tripping down memory lane!😊
I too have vivid memories of nursery school, but only when I went to stay with my aunt in Kidbrooke. A large room - hall - with all the little beds, to lie on and rest. And I could take you there today because I know exactly where it was.
Mrs P ,after the war my father was employed by the UKAEA near Warrington so we moved to Lancashire in 1946. From attending a prep school in Oxford I went to a village school in Lancashire where ,horror or horrors ,some children wore clogs! I loved it. So ,I am a Lancastrian by adoption and feel no affinity with my birthplace at all. My mother just happened to be there at the time! Swapped Gleaming Spires for mills and coal mines.
My mother later told me that she told my father she wouldn't be staying there. She died in that village 60 years later!
Very personal and interesting memories Lanjan. You certainly experienced huge differences between Oxford, which holds treasured memories for me, and Lancashire which I have sadly never visited.
I have fond memories of tenemants, but in Aberdeen. I didn't live in one, but many of my friends did. This was a street of condemned tenemants, but after all the families etc had been rehomed, demolition didn't happen, so became student lets for a year. I often crashed out in one, on a Friday or Saturday night (as was so near to the Students Union bar + discos). It was strange:- hearing the rats running along the communial roof space, sharing a toilet with at least 3 other residences on a half landing, having no bathroom so washed in the kitchen sink. It was basically 2 rooms, one with cooking facilities, table + sofa in, plus one with beds in.
I cannot imagine how families lived like this, for so many years.
I was always glad to return to my very comfortable digs, the morning after the night before.
I love driving, and TBH, I am a bit of a speeder. I think that I have been lucky, not to have been caught - just yet. My car is my escape. It gives me independance to go where I want to, and when. This I love. Hopefully, this will happen again, very soon. As an individual person, I do not have the luxury of A.N.Other, to become my driver.
I want to pass on my Good Wishes, to our Italian friends, with their total lockdown over Easter. Italy, will not be the same - a place I know and love. I wish you well. 🤗😍
You have missed a treat not having visited Lancashire ,Archerphile. Apparently the Duke of Lancaster herself is reported to have said that the Trough of Bowland is somewhere she would like to retire to .
I am not a religious person, yet I enjoyed Easter from Kings. It was purely the music, the choristers pure voices, the King Singers plus, another love of mine, organ music. I loved this aspect.
This programme was a real joy, as was the Messiah from the ENO at the London Coliseum that was on Bbc2 immediately beforehand. Mr M and I are not religious people either, but for both of us the Church was an important part of our upbringing and these words and music are part of us.
Thank you, Miriam, for your kind thoughts. Unlike a year ago, over the Easter weekend two people are allowed to visit another household locally and I have friends my age who got their first jab yesterday so am feeling hopeful. Happy Easter to all of you!
Lanjan, I remember the orange juice too from the clinic! It was in a small, straight-sided bottle and there was rose-hip syrup too at some stage, maybe a bit later, for my little brother. And cod liver oil! Yuk!
Great joy in little things yesterday. Visit to daughter and family, first time for ages. Sitting in their garden with tea & hot cross buns, watching grandchildren aged 22; 18 and 14 racing round on an Easter Egg hunt! It was chilly but wonderful to be outside with them, catching up on news, watching them good-naturedly squabbling about who got the biggest egg, like little children, and just being together again, even if distanced.
Just makes me realise how much I used to take such simple things for granted.
How lovely for you Archerfile. I'm really looking forward to seeing the family again, sadly none of them live near enough to do it in a day so we'll have to wait a bit longer. At least we've been able to meet up with friends.
Happy Easter everyone! I am thankful the sun is shining as my son and daughter in law are coming to dinner and we will be able to keep to the rules and eat it round the garden table. I have also as usual made up a little wicker basket of pretty chocolate bunnies and eggs so that my daughter in law can see one of our traditions. 🐣🐇🌷
I echo that, Janice - Happy Easter everyone. My garden is finished, bar a few finishing touches which will come later, and I'm looking forward to having friends visit for coffee. This will have to be one or two at a time, as garden seating is completely sold out due to lockdown and the new stock has been marooned on the wrong side of the Suez canal, but I dare say it will all happen in time.
Your early memories make interesting reading Lanjan. What a romantic start to their lives together - love at first sight. Worthy of a film - hero with an intriguing job etc. I remember cod liver oil but the bonus was rose hip syrup and for me syrup of figs was regularly on the menu. Also I remember feeling cheated and cross that we had to lie down in the afternoon- I could do that at home. When did you move southwards and would you ever go back?
Soz, it is exactly that - what I had envisaged and more. In some strange way it has managed to capture the stillness of small, de-populated Greek islands like our favourite, Kastos, created by countless miles of ocean stretching all the way to down to Kefalonia. The handsome lion (named Claudius) spouts lazily from his Cotswold stone surround on a very white and very Greek-looking low wall, and all is peace.
Soz, I loved syrup of figs . I also loved virol and cod liver oil and malt .
Why did I move south? When we meet up I will tell you . Those I met at Waterloo know the story. Would I move back north?At the moment ,"no". I live in a small bungalow with a lovely peaceful garden -sunny at the moment and it is where I moved to 21 years ago and where I have so many memories of Mr LJ. I love London too which is only 10miles away and the cats are southerners and wouldn't want to move !bbb
When I first lived in the south I was amazed when people I didn’t know would say hello in the street. This was not the norm in Crewe. I soon picked up the habit and one day was walking past a bungalow near my Mum’s in Crewe. A man came out into the front garden. I said hello and he scuttled back indoors as if I was going to rob him! I don’t know whether this is a general thing in the North West. Certainly on the other side of the country Yorkshire people were very friendly and would talk to you in shops etc. As for the island, sometimes you just can’t get away as they love a good natter!
Sarnia, so good that your garden is finished ( enough) for you to enjoy onour first sunny days of spring. You've done so well. Congratulations !
I loved the orange juice in it's straight sided bottles so much that my mum managed to continue to get it for me right through until my teens. She would appeal to young mums who didn't take advantage of it to get it on my behalf. I wonder now if money was exchanged. How did she manage it I wonder ? I don't think I ever asked, I was just so thankful that I was able to keep drinking it. As for the malt and codliver oil, I loved that too, and often have a jar in my cupboard. At the moment I have two jars ( courtesy of Holland & Barrett ) but it's only malt now, no cod liver oil. Quite often it's my sweet treat at bedtime, dunking a large teaspoon.
Janice, are your son and D in L now in the U.K. permanently and near to you ?
They are just a mile down the road which is great. My son is going to be looking for a place of their own to buy, but they will always split their time as Mabel has an elderly mother and three brothers and three sisters out there (she is the youngest) and some nieces and nephews of whom she is very fond. The sisters managed to help support each other to have an education but the brothers and their families, and Mum who needs medical treatment, all need help, and Philippinos do seem to have a strong family ethic. Those who can are expected to help the others. Mabel has now given up her teaching job but my son gives her the same amount as her pay was, and most of it, he knows, is sent back to her oldest sister (the most sensible one!) who divides it out to those who most need it. Also, because I think to be blind must be terrible, I have paid for one of her brothers to have a cataract removed, and after the pandemic I think he will be having the other one done. Our money goes so much further out there. For the cost of a cheap mattress here he could have a specialist assessment and a cataract removed. There are health insurance schemes out there but if it is a choice between food or insurance food wins out. Mabel likes it here, although she finds it a lot colder, and has said she is happy to spend the majority of each year here, and it would be lovely if that happens. I think she is a very brave soul.My guess is that they will go back to the Philippines for the worst of our Winter weather. Well Mrs P I expect that is a lot longer answer than you expected, but in a way I am explaining it to myself as well as to you. I have not travelled very much and have not really ever been immersed in another culture so this whole thing is very much a learning experience for me! Today for example we went for an after dinner walk in a wood by a stream, and when I pointed to a very ancient oak tree, she explained to me that where she comes from you would never point at an old tree because it would offend the tree spirit. So I found myself apologising to a tree.🤣
Delighted to have just received appointments for our 2nd COVID jabs on 13 April. Amazed that they are still working on Easter Sunday notifying people . Mind you it will be 11 weeks since our first ones so only just within the 12 week deadline.
I loved malt and cod liver oil. Dad always brought home a huge jar when the winter was setting in. I wonder why the cod liver oil isn’t included now? It was a good, tasty way of taking the oil which is truly awful on it’s own!
Must just be Crewe then! It’s not the most cheerful of places. I left when I was 20 and never went back apart from short visits. Another amazing thing about the south were the palm trees! I was at HMS Daedalus for a while and in the base they grew along the roadside!
I woke up to a very frosty start today. Although it is very sunny, it's cold, with a strong wind. How I wish I had stuck to my plan, to strip the bed. It would have been dry, by now..but I decided Easter Sunday is a day of rest. Any excuse goes..😀
My Easter Sunday evening meal is:- Lamb rump steaks, with mint + redcurrant sauces, roast pots plus a red wine gravy. Veg. still yet to be decided.
I have light snow forecast for tomorrow morning, but I will believe it, when and if, I see it.
My favourite was Rosehip syrup. I hated Malt + Cod liver oil, but had to endure it. I understand why now.
The only times, that I have bought Malt recently, is to make a Malt Tea Loaf.
I had a mishap on Good Friday, whilst making the sauce for my fish lasagne. This went lumpy and when trying to sort, the 'phone rang. I jerked, knocking the milk bottle over. It went all over the cooker hob, up the splashback, and down the back of the cooker. I cannot move this to clean, as far too heavy. I am now waiting for the smell to start!
Mr S used to leave lists about with Desiree and Pentland Javelin all over them. It was about the time of the series 'Bread' with jokes about the dad's 'bit of rough' called Lilo Lil, so the children teased Mr S about assignations in his allotment shed with his 'posh totty' called Desiree Pentland-Javelin!
Janice, I can't remember ever being so happy as I was this afternoon in the sun with my Greek iced coffee - almost intoxicating. And no, there was nothing added to the coffee!
I’m so glad it was was all the effort and heart-searching for you Sarnia. You can now enjoy your little paradise. I hope we have lovely weather this summer so you can use it to the full.
Janice - no need for apology, we all enjoy this aspect of our blog. Glimpses into lives other than our own. Thank you. I understand about the money. I was a ( frequently regretful ) friend of a woman who was egotistical, argumentative, highly opiniated, ( and of course ALWAYS right). She had visited Ethiopia and made a connection with a young boy there. Over the following decade she raised funds to send him to school, then to enable the family to build a house and later to buy him a scooter or some form of transport which enabled him to work and to support the family. She was in many ways a distasteful person, but she would move mountains to help others that were not as privileged as her. As you say, our money goes an awful lot further in places where poverty is rife. We have a great deal to be grateful for by just being British.
Can you just get the malt without the cod liver oil? I was given cod liver oil capsules at breakfast every day until I was a teenager and could refuse them. The problem was, I kept getting fishy ‘repeats’ throughout the day at school which I hated!
Oh you were lucky Archerfile. We had to drink the wretched stuff from a spoon. The funny thing is even without modern knowledge about the benefits of omega 3s our mother's generation knew cod liver oil was good for us.
Fred Olsen employs mostly Philippines and they are a very warm people. They remember you if you have cruised with them before. One lovely waitress asked Mike if she could call him Michael and he said jokingly she could call him Sir. Ever after that he became Sir Michael! They were always very smart, friendly and had a great sense of humour. I have been concerned for them over the last year as the majority were sent home keeping just a skeleton crew on the ships. I hope Fred looked after them as I know they would send most of their earnings back home to their families.
I echo your praise for them too Ev. One of our waiters showed us photos of his children and explained how he only saw them for a couple of months a year because f the long cruises. But he was determined to send as much money home to his family as possible. He was so helpful when I was almost unable to walk because of my knee before the operation and insisted on walking me in and out of the restaurant for every meal.
I'm not sure if I've ever written about this before, but, in Notting Hill in the early sixties we had a lovely Philippine friend, a woman, with a delightful little daughter. Her father was a professor at the university in Manila. My husband, a photographer took many photographs of the child, she was so lovely. I can't remember their names, but we were very fond of them. She and her daughter went home, can't remember if for a holiday or permanently. I think it was soon after the troubles started and contact was lost. I often think of them and wonder if they survived.
Archerphile - the two jars of malt extract in my cupboard do not have cod liver oil and were from Holland and Barrett. Yes me too, cod liver oil in the spoon. HEAVE !
OWIAS just realised it’s Monday and rushed to do the quiz. Very satisfied with myself now but Beehive took some thinking outside the box. Keeps the brain cells working. I have lost all my sweet pea plants from October, sweltering in the greenhouse. I thought my husband had opened it up and he thought I had. At least the frost didn’t get them!!!!!
Soz. I too lost my sweet peas (as per Monty Don) just planted before Christmas! Probably I didn't get down there enough times.(My living quarters are on the flirst floor as we live in a town house!) So I have just planted some more! My favourite flowern is Sweat Peas as they were in my Mums wedding bouquet and Dad always grew some to bring into my Mum on July 5th!
It was dry + bright when I got up, but soon had snow flurries, some quite heavy, for quite a while. There wasn't a snowy Christmas, but a snowy Easter Monday instead.
I’m having a really lazy day and I don’t care. Usual morning at bubble friends for brekky and 2 episodes of Bosch on Amazon prime. (Really good). Dog walk for half an hour. Ruddy freezing. Then home, heating on and started a jigsaw. Tea is in slow cooker, pork steaks in a curry sauce ( home made Miriam!!) so nothing to do. Having a little lounge now while Mr PbtY watches footy. I will then have a gin and watch some crappy tv all evening. Bliss.
I just put TV on for the Repair Shop, but again not there. I know Coronovirus is very important, as to what will happen next - but why now at this time, on Easter Monday?
Oh well, off to sort meal out. Tonight it is simple. It is a turkey breast steak to be cooked "en pappilote", with mushrooms, garlic, mushrooms, along with the zest + a juice of a lemon + olive oil. Quick and simple.
As was bored today, as it was too cold to go out to garden etc. I perused + sorted my "junk" mail out, which I only do once a week. I have seen in a catalogue, a lovely sun bed, which will suit me. My previous one was in the shed, which was removed a couple of years ago, and had mice nesting in it! What I have seen, looks great, but I need to research more. It's one that can be kept out, regardless of the weather. Who knows - even I don't know that yet.
I spent at least an hour lying on the grass on a part of the Common that we go to only rarely. Lady was in the brush excavating rabbit holes. She visited at least three digging consistently at each of them in turn and getting deeper and deeper each time. After about ten minutes of standing around I decided to lie down and the sun on my face was warm and welcome. When she came out she went to a nearby cattle trough and had a drink, then rushed back to her ( potential) rabbits. Eventually I was able to grab her tail and yank her out enough to get a lead attached to her harness and drag her out. The remains of the walk were on the lead. After her supper she is now asleep, exhausted with her muddy face and front paws drying off. We started the day with a brief flurry of snow too.
Very brief flurry of snow here too this morning followed by a a lovely sunny but cold day. Sadly had to clear up the remains of a wood pigeon courtesy of one of the local cats.
Sadly my blackbirds have now abandoned their nest, which I thought I had rescued, from the horrible siamese cat . It seems that this did not happen, after all
About an hour's worth of snow here at about midday. Window sill surrounded with flowers, as more from youngest son and fiancee and many flowers from Cub Scouts! Thirty two get well cards received so I am a little popular! Played games with two sons, one at home and one in Frankfurt all afternoon. A game called 'Terraforming Mars' but it lasted all afternoon. The trouble is I don't get such long games (like chess) and the two sons aim to win so I at least get much free time as I pass often and they get ready to battle over the winning! Jon now getting the bins for the bin-men ready for tomorrow. Only the rubbish men visit at 7.30am, the other two (paper in one sack and another involved in all sort of rubbish.) come a bit later. Sorted out 'P' to to get the Repair Shop recorded and but then another Coronavirus reported! However I am glad to see this as I am now waiting to get my son over here from Frankfurt, definition of how many guests to the wedding allowed and whether I can go out! So at least one person is pleased! However the methotraxate was was stopped when I was in the hospital and the consultant said "We have to start again!" Oh well, nearly two years running and this is the third time we have had to start again! Occupational therapists visiting me one week and then the speech therapists visits the second week! Loads of letters and challenges to complete the therapists homework! Please excuse any mistakes. Just ignore them, or as my sons do make fun of me, but with a wonderful sense of homour to correct me!
Of course we will ignore any mistakes Spicy - at least you have a real excuse which is more than I have for the numerous typos I make! So please to hear you are surrounded by flowers and cards. It must be wonderful to know how much you are loved. I’ll add my good wishes to all the others.
So pleased you are doing well Spicey. It’ll be a long road no doubt to recovery. Just got to count your blessings. There’s always someone worse off. That’s what I think. I’m just grateful that I still have the one good eye. As they say....things can only get better. Sending lots of get well soon vibes. Xx💐💐💐💐
So very pleased that you are able to write lovely newsy post Spicy. I hope you can show off to your therapists and show them that whatever challenges you may have you are still communicating. Keep at it, and keep us in the loop. We all miss you.
Message to Lady R and anyone else with an iPad having difficulty getting posted on here:-
I went through a very irritating phase recently of ‘error’ messages and losing lots of typing, things not posting. It’s so frustrating. I seem to have solved it ( fingers crossed) by clearing history before I even start typing a post. I do this by clicking on the 3 dots up in the top RH corner of the screen - on the line with “archers fan.blogspot.com This brings up a menu, I go down to ‘history’ and click on that. This will bring up a screen to clear history. I click to clear history, and do it 2 or 3 times , then ‘done’ I then go back to the drop down menu and click on ‘new tab’ Then chose ‘archers fan blog’ which will bring you to this page, or the archers page. Then I seem to be able to write and post a message. I have sometimes hadve to do this procedure all over again in the middle of reading everyone’s news if I want to add something, but usually only have to do it once each session. It’s an absolute pain, and time consuming but it does seem to work. Good Luck
Thanks AP will screenshot your instructions 🤗 My iPad and iPhone are connected yet when this happens if I think to try the phone to post it prints how mad is that 😡
The stations at this train were delayed because: The driver overslept! 31. Hudson Bay = Canada Water 32. Oriental pig = East Ham 33. Beehive = High Barnet
Stations opening next week: 34. Subcontinental 35. Home for a glass princess 36. Mother Brown dances here
This is the penultimate week, and the leader board is being fiercely contested! Can Lanjan maintain her lead or will one of the close contenders stage a sudden sprint to the finish?
Only three more stations to go. Thanks everyone for joining in, and coming up with some great alternative suggestions. I've just been looking at the complete Underground/Overground list; there are loads left that haven't featured in the quiz. Perhaps I'll manage to put together a fresh selection for later in the year. Mind this gap!
Why have we become a nation of litter louts? Near us there is a riverside walk, when we first started using it over 40 years ago there was hardly any litter. Gradually we started to see crisp packets and chocolate wrappers then bottles and cans followed by dog poo bags. Added to those we now see masks, disposable gloves, wipes and nitrous oxide canisters. On our walk this morning we saw a Riverside Park volunteer collecting litter and he told us that there has been big increase in the amount over the last year. Time for me to stop complaining and start picking I think!
I get angry when I see people chucking rubbish out of car windows. I dare say their homes are ultra tidy, unlike mine but I would never leave my litter for someone else to clear up. Leave only footprints.
Full marks for last week. Anneveggie, when you mentioned yesterday that beehive was eluding you I wanted to give you a clue - Dusty Springfield. Would that have helped? Thanks OWIAS I do enjoy it. Do you think we’ve reached America yet?
Time for the Women’s Institute to get busy again. It was due to one of their resolutions back in the 50s that the “Keep Britain Tidy” campaign started.
Spicy - you are doing so well, and your post was lovely to read, far better than mine re spelling. I wish you well with the Wedding preparations.
Now to a point, so many have mentioned and which I so agree with. This is rubbish in the country-side and also on road verges. I am now about to tell a tale - as to rubbish thrown from a car. This is an early warning not to read any further.
My tale, goes like this:- I worked, many years ago in a Pharmacy in N. Wales. On driving to and there, I needed to use the A55 expressway.A nearby junction, had a drive-in McDonalds. One night after leaving work, I drove up the up ramp, and on joining the road, a car went past me. I ended up with the remains of at least one McDonalds - all over my windscreen. I had to immediatly pull over and stop, to then clean the mess on the windscreen, which I could no longer see through. My life was at risk - in both occurences. The only good aspect was, it was summer, so still light.
Even worse: when my daughter was six weeks old I was pushing the pram along the pavement when a cigarette end thrown from a passing car landed on her face!
Full house again, OWiaS, I'm just the three down from the week I missed.
There was a lady on the radio recently I think on WH who was in a traffic jam when someone ahead of her threw litter out of the window. She got out of her car and walked up to the offending vehicle throwing the litter back in through the same window. She did recognise that this was a bit risky as the offender could have turned very nasty! That’s the trouble with tackling people directly but their behaviour is very infuriating! They spoil lovely places with their rubbish.
On a hot summer afternoon I was walking down West Hill in Wandsworth against the traffic jam edging towards the A3, when a car full of youngsters, boys in the front girls behind, when the remains of half eaten food was thrown from the front passenger window and landed just beside me. Without even thinking, I picked it up, turned and walked back to the car moving slowly and threw the rubbish into the lap of one of the girls, with the words - take your rubbish home and put it in the bin- the girl sore profusely and the boys joined in, but the other girl shouted them down, saying - she was right. You shouldn't have thrown it out the window.
Yes Ev, it's risky, but we have to teach them if their parents or society haven't.
I tried similar once and ended up infuriated. I was the second car behind a double decker secondary school bus. Plastic bottles and other rubbish were being thrown out of the top windows, some went over the hedge into fields and one bottle bounced off the windscreen of the car in front of me. I followed the bus until it stopped to drop some children off then I asked the driver if I could go up to the top deck to talk to the children. He said he couldn't do anything with them and advised me not to go up. I went up and endeavoured to explain to them the damage that could be done to farm animals by plastic bottles and rubbish, and although a few sat quietly the majority erupted with the most awful language I had ever heard from teenage children. I told them I was going to phone their headteacher in the morning. The poor driver said he endured that kind of language and behaviour every day. I did phone the headmistress in the morning. At first she denied that it could possibly be any of her pupils (there are several schools in the Newquay area) but I had taken the number of the bus and in fact the bus driver had told me which school it was (one with a not very good reputation) and so she had to accept they were her pupils. I said either she dealt with the matter or I would report it to the police because rubbish bouncing off car windscreens was an accident waiting to happen. I never knew what happened but hope something did.
One of the sea eagles has just crossed the Channel flying from Dungeness to Boulanger-sur-Mer and then continuing over 100 miles in France. Bon Voyage! It is interesting to follow their adventures!
Dudley is much better and enjoyed his walk with the dog walker yesterday. She posts their walks and it was interesting at one point when he stopped and waited, not walking on until he had seen Buddy go past! Buddy was Cock of the North and had a whale of a time racing around! Both of them spent most of the rest of the day snoozing! Gypsy is eating well but the vet noticed there may be an issue with one of her eyes, perhaps glaucoma so she is seeing Donal the vet on Monday to check it out. 🐾🐾🐶🐶🐶🐾🐾
I vividly remember the “Don’t be a litter bug” campaign on tv in the fifties. A man threw his empty cigarette packet onto the pavement and it jumped straight back up at him!
I might sound a bit condascending, but this isn't meant, in any way, I assure you. With the Lockdown restrictions, groups have been unable to meet up, for litter picks. It has been relied on single/household persons doing this. Those who litter and dump rubbish, still have done so, as that's their normal. A lot of the litter picking crews, are those doing Community Service, as a result of a Police conviction and the result. This cannot have been done recently, under current restriction rules.
This does sound a bit controversial, but I stand-by with what I have posted.
My S/bury's Supermarket had massive re-cycle bins, in a corner of the car park. These were always well used by many, and me! It was the best place to get rid of a lot of waste, rather than piling it up in my own re-cycle bins, which became heavier to carry out. These S/pmarket bins disappeared a few weeks ago. They are back now- bigger + better...
PS I can now also, again, re-cycle things like plastic bags, which the kerbside collection, can't. It's things like the plastic bag from a sliced loaf, the toilet rolls, kitchen rolls etc.
According to the volunteer that I spoke to Miriam the main causes of the increase in litter were the fact that a lot more people are out walking along the riverside because there isn't much else to do and more litter is being produced because of masks, disposable gloves and wipes.
My Pusscat is now so much better, after quite a few months. She is now going out again, and there are no problems re the bathroom, for 4 days now. I might be wrong, but I have an idea. The awful siamese cat, was very young (2-3 months I would guess), when he first appeared, and was just a very nasty cat. He is still around, but is not trying to come in, nor spraying in my garden nor on the cat-flap. My idea is that he has now been neutered. The time-scale is about right... At least, my Pusscat, seems to be behaving normally again - cuddling up at night with lovely loud purrs, a race down the stairs each morning to the kitchen, playing with her toys, and most importantly, sleeping less and coming for cuddles and attention. Whatever the reason - the problems seem to have gone.
Archerphile Remember being jealous of me having the AZ jab expect you are glad to be a Pfizer couple now🤗 🤣 as you approach your second dose next week. That said all meds carry risks even Paracetamols and I still look forward to the 23rd April for my second 💉
There is always a risk with any meds.and side-effects. I had to have liver function blood tests done, not long ago, due to taking a statin, which can cause problems. All I can say is, that I am quite happy to have my 2nd AZ jab in May. There might be now a further risk factor, but this to me, is no more than taking any other meds.undergoing surgical procedures etc. The benefits, still seem to far outweigh this new slight risk involved.
Very interesting piece on PM this evening about the relativity of risk factors, regarding the minute number per ten thousand getting blood clots as a result of the vaccine.
Apparently the risk of blood clots from Covid is much higher, while the risk for the under 30s of being killed on the road is roughly the same, although you won't find them refusing to get in a car.
Personally I wouldn’t hesitate to have AZ vaccine if I were offered it instead of my 2nd Pfizer one. But I think the problem Is that the recent news will put people off having a vaccine at all. Especially anyone who is already vaccine hesitant. This would be a tragedy because we are only going to beat this pandemic if the vast majority of the world population is vaccinated.
I was offered my second AZ jab for Friday morning - at a large surgery 5 miles away. When I explained the transport situation it was noted that I live only 5 min walk away from a smaller one in the group which is only open two days a week; I was then told that I would be contacted as soon as they had a vacancy for me. A rare glimmer of common sense!
I’m spitting feathers this morning. Last night Basingstoke Planning Committee met to decide whether we are going to have a huge distribution hub built, almost literally on our door step. (Junction 7 of the M3) It will be a huge blot on the countryside and HGV vehicles will pass us every 2 minutes day and night. The effect on the environment, countryside, wildlife, The Wayfarers Walk and residents of 2 villages will be horrendous. I am so incensed about this (along with hundreds of others) that I actually watched the entire meeting on YouTube. Because the Committee can’t meet in person at the moment it is a Zoom meeting with committee members taking part from their homes. Several of the members seemed to be half asleep and said absolutely nothing about this matter which has been the talk of the area for months. One or two did say the countryside in the area would be ruined but a few jobs would be created. There was a very lack lustre discussion about the vast increase in traffic and how it would affect local roads. But in the end, though they refused permission for three warehouses (an area of 95 football pitches apparently,) they are allowing Amazon to build one enormous warehouse generating over 300 HGV’s a day to use it. The residents of 3 lovely old cottages opposite the site have been offered compensation so their homes can be demolished!! All of this allowed by a half-asleep, committee, barely concentrating on the meeting, getting up to make coffee in their kitchen or doing their knitting!!
It’s a scandal - just wait until the local council elections next month...I shall show my disgust! (Apologies for rant, I am very miffed, as you can tell)
There was an item on World at One today about this very subject, but highlighting a village in Yorkshire.
I am going to be harsh now, and say that the huge rise in online shopping will inevitably mean that many such warehouses will need to be built, and to keep costs reasonable will be built in our countryside. Society is changing and in the end society has to pay, in some way, for what it wants. If online shopping is the way to go, and it seems that it is, then we will have more transport in the form of delivery vans and huge trucks moving 'stuff' around, and massive warehouses to hold the supplies for distribution purposes. So it's not just the blot on the landscape but also the massive rise in traffic and the resulting pollution that is the consequence of societies desire for convenience.
I haven't and don't want to buy anything online, but I have to accept that buying online what we require to live our lives is what many people do want, and inevitably I too will be forced to shop in this way in due course. And inevitably these huge buildings will spring up as blots on our landscape in many places as a consequence. In the meantime I will continue my membership of CPRE and campaign along with others to hold back the tide.
I hope Gary you are on an outing somewhere, or otherwise out of reach, please let us know because you're always so scrupulous. Wait to hear from you later in the day.
I'm so sorry to hear this AP. Situations like this only go to show how powerless we all are. All the offers of payment on the world can't compensate for the loss of homes, privacy or peace and quiet.
Sorry Sarnia, I can't agree that we are powerless. We could as individuals which make up society choose to live simple lives. Most choose the opposite. Cheap and cheaper with convenience thrown in is what most people want. As a result we all have to live with the consequences.
And yes...... I would like to return to the medieval life, which I know was harsh and often short, but was quite possibly a more contented way to live.
Not entirely sure I'd have been contented with premature death, Hell and the plague hanging over me, but I know what you mean. My life is simpler than many, but then I don't have to manage three jobs in order to keep a family's head above water.
Not at all Seasider April 8th ( my mum’s birthday anniversary so I always remember) I did mention this last week I think. Anyway thank you Gary 👏🏻 and Ruthy of course for launching the lifeboat!
Archerphile I understand Mrs P’s comments and I’m afraid that I am an online customer much more so throughout all the lockdowns but I absolutely totally understand your feelings. I know the area and feel a more out of town site on its own in some fields could have been sourced. 300 vehicles a day around those roads does not bear thinking about. The meeting sounds a shambles and the question now is how will this affect yourselves regarding selling your property?
Thinking recently that we don't here very often from you Seasider. But it's nice to know that you are still with us. As to our anniversary ? Will need to check.
Our brains have shrunk over the last ten thousand years by the size of a tennis ball and the skulls have thinned. Perhaps they are more compact now but possibly we have grown dimmer. We don't need to think about finding enough to eat and live in a consumer society where we constantly try to keep up with the Joneses. It is relatively safe, even now, to go outside. Hunters and gatherers lived an egalitarian life, they didn't store food and shared with others. They were affluent without abundance.
MrsP, I use the Guardian Bookshop and prompted by you I looked up their warehouse near Norwich, somewhat hidden by the trees. They don't have a physical store though and support independent journalism. I hope they treat their staff well, they are very friendly online and on the phone.
My usual join in time. My thoughts are two-fold tonight, especially after reading the other page. Remember, as there are over 200 posts , need click on "Load More" to read more recent posts.
As some-one who has an alcoholic in the family, they need a lot of help. My family member, removed himself from any family get-together, to avoid any temptation. I worked with persons and families, where one or more parent was addicted, be it with drugs or alcohol. Social Services would only remove a child into care, if their welfare was totally proven to be At Risk.
As to the AZ vaccine, I read today that the risk of a blood clot, is no greater than going on a long-flight! I hope that this is really the truth. The problem is to me that, the trials were done understandably, quickly with not a full screen of candidates. Even so - nothing showed up. I still need to know more.
I have a hair appointment, at last, but not until 7th May. I did ring some other salons, but although I could have got an earlier appointment, it was only by a week. I am going back to my usual stylist, who knows how to do my barnet, as I like.
Off to create a meal! I created pork meatballs this morning (in 'fridge to firm up). Now what do I cook them in? So far it is onion, sliced fennel, chopped carrots to be softened up. What else gets added in - not sure yet. It will evolve into something, hopefully tasty.
A quick come- back on my planning problem. It was mentioned by one councillor that there are large brownfield sites in the town that could have been utilised for distribution warehouses but, strangely, it is cheaper to build on greenfield sites, including all the new road structure that would be needed, than it is to use brownfield land ~ QED
A further development today is that the 5 local MP’s have asked for the decision to be “called in”. This means the application will have to be decided in London by the Dept.of the Environment. If they disagree with Basingstoke’s decision, the development will not go ahead. They are also saying that they prefer a new Hospital for Hampshire to be built there instead. So there is still a long way to go!
I feel for you. Near to me, a builder put in an application for 300 new homes on greenbelt land, which is also a flood plain. After 2 refusals and appeals, this has now been passed. The arguement was providing affordable housing, but the % of this is only a token gesture. These smaller properties, I believe, will be a little part owned, the rest rented.
We had affordable houses opposite us in Ledbury. In reality these were bought up by landlords and rented out, most to multiple occupants who had a car each. With only two parking spaces to each house and usually three occupants, cars then littered the narrow roads. They came and went so no interaction with permanent residents. The policy of affordable homes just doesn’t work in practice. When like us you spend more on a house, you just don’t want this.
When I did O'Level geography, we learnt about the problems in Bangladesh where lack of affordable land meant people had been forced to build on flood plains.
Some years later, we started doing exactly the same in this country. As a result, many people cannot get insurance on their lovely new-build homes. It sounds as if we still haven't learnt : (
At least beavers are being reintroduced. But I doubt even these master builders will be able to conteract the loss of acres of flood plain.
It is a shame Archerfile. Brownfield sites can mean less profits for the builders because of having to clear old industrial sites, stabilize the ground and in some instances neutralise land contamination. Unless Planning departments make it mandatory, which I think they should, to build on brownfield rather than greenfield sites it is less likely to happen. Maybe it should also be mandatory for industries to clean up their sites before leaving. Imerys in the St Austell china clay area is (or maybe has been leaned on to) greening over the old clay spoil "mountains" and creating walking and biking trackways. There used to be a small but excellent pharmaceutical factory , Maybridge Chemicals, near here on what was once a slate quarry. But its run off did apparently adversely affect the trout farm below it in the valley. It was eventually bought up and the business moved to join a bigger company Thermo Fisher up country. The site was bought by someone who hoped to be able to flatten the buildings and build a few houses there but the cost of getting rid of the chemical contamination apparently would be so great he hasn't been able to do it. He has been quite creative as regards alternative uses, with solar panels the length of the roof, and the units let to crafts people, including some who make weapons and armour for reenactment societies. I am not sure how you get rid of contamination that has sunk down through the slate of the old quarry.
Anyone else watching the new series of “Canal Boat Diaries” that started on BBC 4 Monday evening at 7pm. Just 4 nights and tonight’s 7.10pm. Lovely scenery and for us not doing the work restful 🤣 Interesting facts along the way.
Yes we are watching too and saw the first series. It is a lovely programme and Robbie is an excellent presenter, explaining his love of canals and industrial heritage. We have travelled along much of the canal system he has been covering in our daughters narrow boat. It was lovely to ‘travel’ those canals again. But we are in awe of him doing the whole journey on his own. Navigating 30 locks in a staircase is extremely hard work and we should have thought it near impossible to do by yourself. He is a lovely and very hard working man.
*** FROM PREVIOUS BLOG ***
ReplyDeleteEv - April 2, 2021 at 6:38 PM
Dudley was very eager to have his dinner tonight and polished it all off! He also galloped round his Quarr Abbey walk today so we are on the mend!
I was diagnosed with Macular Dystrophy in 2002 at Hereford Hospital.but went to the optician yesterday and she told me it was Dry Macular Degeneration! Honestly, you don’t know who to believe! At any rate progression is slow. There is no treatment so I have to accept whatever comes. If Dame Judi can do it, so can I!! Have not driven for a few years but have surrendered my driving licence now as my distance vision is not good enough.
I planted my tomato seeds today, a bit late but with the better weather they should germinate quickly. I don’t know where this year has gone. Time flies when you’re getting old!!😊😉
Cheshire Cheese - April 2, 2021 at 7:15 PM
Couldn't agree more about time flying Ev.
Miriam - April 2, 2021 at 7:37 PM
Ev. Surrendering your driving licence...
I cannot imagine a life withought driving.
But then as a pre-glaucoma person, this might just happen to me.
Ev - April 2, 2021 at 9:59 PM
Well, I have my chauffeur i.e Katy! She drove me into Ryde yesterday for my appointment. We took Gyp as Dudley can be a bit funny with her and K waited in the car with her. In normal times we have buses every ten minutes each way to Ryde and Newport so I can get around. Of course at the moment I stay put! It is strange getting out and Ryde is very quiet and it is odd. Also, don’t know about everyone e lose but all these months of not getting out and about means loss of confidence and although it was fine once I was out there, I was apprehensive beforehand. Anyway, I think once all this is under control I will soon get back into the swing!💃🏼😊
Anneveggie - April 2, 2021 at 7:42 PM
Ev - isn't it great when our loved pet feels better!
Miriam - I have eye drops twice a day for glaucoma which keeps it under control so far.
Miriam - April 2, 2021 at 8:38 PM
I just need eye drops at night. So far, so good as pressures are well under control.
As said, I am diagnosed as pre-glaucoma at the moment. This doesn't worry me as such, as I go to the hospital eye clinic for scans + checks, so any problems will be found and hopefully sorted.
I am so greatful to my optician, who referred me so quickly + efficiently.
Archerphile - April 3, 2021 at 10:03 AM
My next door neighbour has had glaucoma for many years and now has to go to hospital every few months for laser treatment as well as daily eye drops.
Ev - April 2, 2021 at 11:18 PM
Anne veggie, 😊🐾
*** MY EARLY MEMORIES ***
ReplyDeleteLanjan, if you are in the mood for it we would love to hear yours!
Thank you Gary.
ReplyDeleteMiriam, I do not drive (could never afford to learn when younger) and have never had access to a car. There is life without driving - except in a global pandemic when you can't use the bus, of course!
ReplyDeleteI too have never bothered to learn to drive Sarnia. I used to go years and years without ever being in a car apart from the odd taxi. Even when I lived on the isle of Arran and buses were few and far between it never occurred to me to learn.
DeleteMy father never learnt to drive - he was quite happy on his bike. He used to travel on trains a lot with his bike to use when his destination was reached. My mother( who never took a driving test) was his chauffeur when he needed one! His cycle clips were a vivid reminder of him: as were your husband’s, Sarnia.
DeleteMy early memories.
ReplyDeleteBackground........
My mother (N ) was literally bowled over by my father at their first meeting because he knocked her flying when pushing open a door .
She ditched her fiancé and married ( G ) who didn't even tell his mother what he had done.
Apparently my paternal grandmother blamed (N) and refused to see her so my father would take me to the outskirts of London (as you would during the war!!) from our home in Oxford (he was doing something at Oriel College and Blenheim Palace during the war -I never found out what) to meet her.
I remember being about 3years old and meeting this really old woman in a long black dress whose teeth kept falling out.
Not to be outdone, my mother having been born in Glasgow took me to visit her relatives there.
Again I must have been about 3years old .
They had a scotty dog and a parrot and lived in some form of tenement building
I remember wearing a kilt.
My mother worked at Morris Cowley doing something with aeroplane parts during the war .
I was sent to a nursery school.
All I remember about that time of my life was queuing up to have a spoonful of cod liver oil, drinking orange juice and having to have a rest every afternoon.
Thank you Lanjan!
DeleteSimilar to your Mum & Dad, I met MrGG because we literally bumped into each other in the street.
Striking how many links to Glasgow there are on this blog isn't it?
My husband, Mike, was born in 1937 and had similar memories of nursery school and little beds where they had to rest every afternoon. The family had moved from Cirencester to Swindon where his Dad was in the fire service. I have memories of Glasgow tenements and visiting elderly great aunts and uncles! No lifts but the stairs were usually stone and kept clean on a rota basis. The buildings were solid and made of sandstone. I always remember all the houses had brown paper blinds edged with lace! Thank you for your memories, Lanjan. I think we are all tripping down memory lane!😊
DeleteLancashire Janet - Oxford, the outskirts of London and Glasgow.
DeleteWhen does Lancashire come into the picture ?
You've been kidding us all this time !
Oh the dreaded cod liver oil. My mother used to give it to us. Later on it was replaced by Virol which was only marginally better.
DeleteI was dosed with Virol which I loved and Milk of Magnesia which I didn’t.
DeleteOccasionally there was also California Syrup of Figs 😖
I too have vivid memories of nursery school, but only when I went to stay with my aunt in Kidbrooke. A large room - hall - with all the little beds, to lie on and rest.
ReplyDeleteAnd I could take you there today because I know exactly where it was.
Mrs P ,after the war my father was employed by the UKAEA near Warrington so we moved to Lancashire in 1946.
ReplyDeleteFrom attending a prep school in Oxford I went to a village school in Lancashire where ,horror or horrors ,some children wore clogs!
I loved it.
So ,I am a Lancastrian by adoption and feel no affinity with my birthplace at all.
My mother just happened to be there at the time!
Swapped Gleaming Spires for mills and coal mines.
My mother later told me that she told my father she wouldn't be staying there.
She died in that village 60 years later!
That is so lovely.
DeleteThank-you for sharing.
Very personal and interesting memories Lanjan. You certainly experienced huge differences between Oxford, which holds treasured memories for me, and Lancashire which I have sadly never visited.
DeleteI have fond memories of tenemants, but in Aberdeen.
ReplyDeleteI didn't live in one, but many of my friends did. This was a street of condemned tenemants, but after all the families etc had been rehomed, demolition didn't happen, so became student lets for a year.
I often crashed out in one, on a Friday or Saturday night (as was so near to the Students Union bar + discos).
It was strange:- hearing the rats running along the communial roof space, sharing a toilet with at least 3 other residences on a half landing, having no bathroom so washed in the kitchen sink. It was basically 2 rooms, one with cooking facilities, table + sofa in, plus one with beds in.
I cannot imagine how families lived like this, for so many years.
I was always glad to return to my very comfortable digs, the morning after the night before.
I love driving, and TBH, I am a bit of a speeder.
ReplyDeleteI think that I have been lucky, not to have been caught - just yet.
My car is my escape.
It gives me independance to go where I want to, and when. This I love.
Hopefully, this will happen again, very soon.
As an individual person, I do not have the luxury of A.N.Other, to become my driver.
Neither do I, and never have. When my joints (and the weather) permit I'm a dedicated cyclist. My bike is my freedom.
DeleteI want to pass on my Good Wishes, to our Italian friends, with their total lockdown over Easter.
ReplyDeleteItaly, will not be the same - a place I know and love.
I wish you well. 🤗😍
You have missed a treat not having visited Lancashire ,Archerphile.
ReplyDeleteApparently the Duke of Lancaster herself is reported to have said that the Trough of Bowland is somewhere she would like to retire to .
I was born and grew up in Lancashire Lanjan and still think of myself as a Lancashire lass.
DeleteI am not a religious person, yet I enjoyed Easter from Kings.
ReplyDeleteIt was purely the music, the choristers pure voices, the King Singers plus, another love of mine, organ music.
I loved this aspect.
This programme was a real joy, as was the Messiah from the ENO at the London Coliseum that was on Bbc2 immediately beforehand. Mr M and I are not religious people either, but for both of us the Church was an important part of our upbringing and these words and music are part of us.
ReplyDeleteEaster from King's recorded.
DeleteLJ, merci!
ReplyDeleteMam's uncle Alf (N Cave) had a green parrot called Doody, "doody, doody, doooo-dy"!
Party trick was singing Pop goes the Weasel..!
Thank you LanJan for your memories. I remember that nasty cod liver oil too - yucky stuff.
ReplyDeleteGreat picture again Gary - how do you do it?!
Thank you, Miriam, for your kind thoughts.
ReplyDeleteUnlike a year ago, over the Easter weekend two people are allowed to visit another household locally and I have friends my age who got their first jab yesterday so am feeling hopeful.
Happy Easter to all of you!
Lanjan, I remember the orange juice too from the clinic! It was in a small, straight-sided bottle and there was rose-hip syrup too at some stage, maybe a bit later, for my little brother. And cod liver oil! Yuk!
ReplyDeleteGreat joy in little things yesterday.
ReplyDeleteVisit to daughter and family, first time for ages. Sitting in their garden with tea & hot cross buns, watching grandchildren aged 22; 18 and 14 racing round on an Easter Egg hunt!
It was chilly but wonderful to be outside with them, catching up on news, watching them good-naturedly squabbling about who got the biggest egg, like little children, and just being together again, even if distanced.
Just makes me realise how much I used to take such simple things for granted.
How lovely for you Archerfile. I'm really looking forward to seeing the family again, sadly none of them live near enough to do it in a day so we'll have to wait a bit longer. At least we've been able to meet up with friends.
DeleteHappy Easter everyone! I am thankful the sun is shining as my son and daughter in law are coming to dinner and we will be able to keep to the rules and eat it round the garden table. I have also as usual made up a little wicker basket of pretty chocolate bunnies and eggs so that my daughter in law can see one of our traditions. 🐣🐇🌷
ReplyDeleteI echo that, Janice - Happy Easter everyone. My garden is finished, bar a few finishing touches which will come later, and I'm looking forward to having friends visit for coffee. This will have to be one or two at a time, as garden seating is completely sold out due to lockdown and the new stock has been marooned on the wrong side of the Suez canal, but I dare say it will all happen in time.
ReplyDeleteYour early memories make interesting reading Lanjan. What a romantic start to their lives together - love at first sight. Worthy of a film - hero with an intriguing job etc.
ReplyDeleteI remember cod liver oil but the bonus was rose hip syrup and for me syrup of figs was regularly on the menu. Also I remember feeling cheated and cross that we had to lie down in the afternoon- I could do that at home.
When did you move southwards and would you ever go back?
Sarnia that’s great news about your garden. I didn’t think it would be finished for Easter. I hope it’s what you envisaged and more.
ReplyDeleteSoz, it is exactly that - what I had envisaged and more. In some strange way it has managed to capture the stillness of small, de-populated Greek islands like our favourite, Kastos, created by countless miles of ocean stretching all the way to down to Kefalonia. The handsome lion (named Claudius) spouts lazily from his Cotswold stone surround on a very white and very Greek-looking low wall, and all is peace.
DeleteSoz, I loved syrup of figs .
ReplyDeleteI also loved virol and cod liver oil and malt .
Why did I move south?
When we meet up I will tell you .
Those I met at Waterloo know the story.
Would I move back north?At the moment ,"no".
I live in a small bungalow with a lovely peaceful garden -sunny at the moment and it is where I moved to 21 years ago and where I have so many memories of Mr LJ.
I love London too which is only 10miles away and the cats are southerners and wouldn't want to move !bbb
When I first lived in the south I was amazed when people I didn’t know would say hello in the street. This was not the norm in Crewe. I soon picked up the habit and one day was walking past a bungalow near my Mum’s in Crewe. A man came out into the front garden. I said hello and he scuttled back indoors as if I was going to rob him! I don’t know whether this is a general thing in the North West. Certainly on the other side of the country Yorkshire people were very friendly and would talk to you in shops etc. As for the island, sometimes you just can’t get away as they love a good natter!
DeleteSarnia, so good that your garden is finished ( enough) for you to enjoy onour first sunny days of spring. You've done so well. Congratulations !
ReplyDeleteI loved the orange juice in it's straight sided bottles so much that my mum managed to continue to get it for me right through until my teens. She would appeal to young mums who didn't take advantage of it to get it on my behalf. I wonder now if money was exchanged. How did she manage it I wonder ? I don't think I ever asked, I was just so thankful that I was able to keep drinking it.
As for the malt and codliver oil, I loved that too, and often have a jar in my cupboard.
At the moment I have two jars ( courtesy of Holland & Barrett ) but it's only malt now, no cod liver oil. Quite often it's my sweet treat at bedtime, dunking a large teaspoon.
Janice, are your son and D in L now in the U.K. permanently and near to you ?
Thank you, Mrs P.
DeleteThey are just a mile down the road which is great. My son is going to be looking for a place of their own to buy, but they will always split their time as Mabel has an elderly mother and three brothers and three sisters out there (she is the youngest) and some nieces and nephews of whom she is very fond. The sisters managed to help support each other to have an education but the brothers and their families, and Mum who needs medical treatment, all need help, and Philippinos do seem to have a strong family ethic. Those who can are expected to help the others. Mabel has now given up her teaching job but my son gives her the same amount as her pay was, and most of it, he knows, is sent back to her oldest sister (the most sensible one!) who divides it out to those who most need it. Also, because I think to be blind must be terrible, I have paid for one of her brothers to have a cataract removed, and after the pandemic I think he will be having the other one done. Our money goes so much further out there. For the cost of a cheap mattress here he could have a specialist assessment and a cataract removed. There are health insurance schemes out there but if it is a choice between food or insurance food wins out.
DeleteMabel likes it here, although she finds it a lot colder, and has said she is happy to spend the majority of each year here, and it would be lovely if that happens. I think she is a very brave soul.My guess is that they will go back to the Philippines for the worst of our Winter weather.
Well Mrs P I expect that is a lot longer answer than you expected, but in a way I am explaining it to myself as well as to you. I have not travelled very much and have not really ever been immersed in another culture so this whole thing is very much a learning experience for me! Today for example we went for an after dinner walk in a wood by a stream, and when I pointed to a very ancient oak tree, she explained to me that where she comes from you would never point at an old tree because it would offend the tree spirit. So I found myself apologising to a tree.🤣
I suppose it somehow connects in with respecting one's elders.
DeleteDelighted to have just received appointments for our 2nd COVID jabs on 13 April.
ReplyDeleteAmazed that they are still working on Easter Sunday notifying people . Mind you it will be 11 weeks since our first ones so only just within the 12 week deadline.
That's how dedicated all are, to provide a proper vaccination programme, which seems to be working.
DeleteI loved malt and cod liver oil. Dad always brought home a huge jar when the winter was setting in. I wonder why the cod liver oil isn’t included now? It was a good, tasty way of taking the oil which is truly awful on it’s own!
ReplyDeleteRe your question at 3:13pm ,Ev
ReplyDeleteIt isn't the norm in the north west
Lancastrians like Yorkshire folk are really friendly.
Us, here in the North West, can be equally as friendly...😘
DeleteMust just be Crewe then! It’s not the most cheerful of places. I left when I was 20 and never went back apart from short visits. Another amazing thing about the south were the palm trees! I was at HMS Daedalus for a while and in the base they grew along the roadside!
DeleteI woke up to a very frosty start today.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it is very sunny, it's cold, with a strong wind. How I wish I had stuck to my plan, to strip the bed. It would have been dry, by now..but I decided Easter Sunday is a day of rest.
Any excuse goes..😀
My Easter Sunday evening meal is:-
Lamb rump steaks, with mint + redcurrant sauces, roast pots plus a red wine gravy.
Veg. still yet to be decided.
I have light snow forecast for tomorrow morning, but I will believe it, when and if, I see it.
My favourite was Rosehip syrup. I hated Malt + Cod liver oil, but had to endure it. I understand why now.
ReplyDeleteThe only times, that I have bought Malt recently, is to make a Malt Tea Loaf.
I had a mishap on Good Friday, whilst making the sauce for my fish lasagne. This went lumpy and when trying to sort, the 'phone rang. I jerked, knocking the milk bottle over.
It went all over the cooker hob, up the splashback, and down the back of the cooker.
I cannot move this to clean, as far too heavy.
I am now waiting for the smell to start!
I am 🤞 hoping that tonight, when the oven is on a high heat for the roasties, the spilt milk will be dried off.
DeleteNo idea.
Oh dear Miriam- spilt milk that you can't get to to clean up, is a disaster.
DeleteMy roast pots tonight, are the best I have cooked, for a long while. The difference is, I bought, and used, Maris Piper pots. So worth it.
ReplyDeleteMr S used to leave lists about with Desiree and Pentland Javelin all over them. It was about the time of the series 'Bread' with jokes about the dad's 'bit of rough' called Lilo Lil, so the children teased Mr S about assignations in his allotment shed with his 'posh totty' called Desiree Pentland-Javelin!
ReplyDeleteThat’s a lovely memory Sarnia..
DeleteMy favourite potatoes for roasting are King Edward. You just can’t beat the flavour or the crispy Outsides and fluffy middles.
ReplyDeleteIst new potatoes from l'Ile de Noirmoutier ce soir!
ReplyDeleteSarnia your garden sounds both wonderful and tranquil.
ReplyDeleteMrs P a reply back at 2.46
Janice, I can't remember ever being so happy as I was this afternoon in the sun with my Greek iced coffee - almost intoxicating. And no, there was nothing added to the coffee!
ReplyDeleteSo pleased to hear that your garden is giving you such pleasure Sarnia. I don't know how I would have got through lockdown without mine.
DeleteI’m so glad it was was all the effort and heart-searching for you Sarnia. You can now enjoy your little paradise. I hope we have lovely weather this summer so you can use it to the full.
DeleteI totally agree with the above post Sarnia and so pleased that the result achieved is bringing balm to your very soul 🌷💕
DeleteJanice - no need for apology, we all enjoy this aspect of our blog. Glimpses into lives other than our own.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
I understand about the money.
I was a ( frequently regretful ) friend of a woman who was egotistical, argumentative, highly opiniated, ( and of course ALWAYS right).
She had visited Ethiopia and made a connection with a young boy there.
Over the following decade she raised funds to send him to school, then to enable the family to build a house and later to buy him a scooter or some form of transport which enabled him to work and to support the family.
She was in many ways a distasteful person, but she would move mountains to help others that were not as privileged as her.
As you say, our money goes an awful lot further in places where poverty is rife.
We have a great deal to be grateful for by just being British.
✔✔✔ last sentence.
DeleteI've just checked..... it is possible to buy malt and cod liver oil.
ReplyDeleteBoots still do it.
I shall go to Boots for my next purchase.
Pass it on !
Can you just get the malt without the cod liver oil? I was given cod liver oil capsules at breakfast every day until I was a teenager and could refuse them. The problem was, I kept getting fishy ‘repeats’ throughout the day at school which I hated!
DeleteOh you were lucky Archerfile. We had to drink the wretched stuff from a spoon.
DeleteThe funny thing is even without modern knowledge about the benefits of omega 3s our mother's generation knew cod liver oil was good for us.
Same here Janice straight from a spoon - urghh. Loved Virol though 🤗
DeleteJanice, thank you for the post about your daughter-in-law. It was really interesting and I enjoyed reading it.
ReplyDeleteFred Olsen employs mostly Philippines and they are a very warm people. They remember you if you have cruised with them before. One lovely waitress asked Mike if she could call him Michael and he said jokingly she could call him Sir. Ever after that he became Sir Michael! They were always very smart, friendly and had a great sense of humour. I have been concerned for them over the last year as the majority were sent home keeping just a skeleton crew on the ships. I hope Fred looked after them as I know they would send most of their earnings back home to their families.
ReplyDeleteI echo your praise for them too Ev. One of our waiters showed us photos of his children and explained how he only saw them for a couple of months a year because f the long cruises. But he was determined to send as much money home to his family as possible.
DeleteHe was so helpful when I was almost unable to walk because of my knee before the operation and insisted on walking me in and out of the restaurant for every meal.
I'm not sure if I've ever written about this before, but, in Notting Hill in the early sixties we had a lovely Philippine friend, a woman, with a delightful little daughter. Her father was a professor at the university in Manila.
ReplyDeleteMy husband, a photographer took many photographs of the child, she was so lovely.
I can't remember their names, but we were very fond of them.
She and her daughter went home, can't remember if for a holiday or permanently.
I think it was soon after the troubles started and contact was lost.
I often think of them and wonder if they survived.
Archerphile - the two jars of malt extract in my cupboard do not have cod liver oil and were from Holland and Barrett.
ReplyDeleteYes me too, cod liver oil in the spoon.
HEAVE !
OWIAS just realised it’s Monday and rushed to do the quiz. Very satisfied with myself now but Beehive took some thinking outside the box. Keeps the brain cells working.
ReplyDeleteI have lost all my sweet pea plants from October, sweltering in the greenhouse. I thought my husband had opened it up and he thought I had. At least the frost didn’t get them!!!!!
I still haven't got Beehive. I have a couple of possibilities but don't think they're right.
DeleteSoz. I too lost my sweet peas (as per Monty Don) just planted before Christmas! Probably I didn't get down there enough times.(My living quarters are on the flirst floor as we live in a town house!)
DeleteSo I have just planted some more!
My favourite flowern is Sweat Peas as they were in my Mums wedding bouquet and Dad always grew some to bring into my Mum on July 5th!
It was dry + bright when I got up, but soon had snow flurries, some quite heavy, for quite a while.
ReplyDeleteThere wasn't a snowy Christmas, but a snowy Easter Monday instead.
I’m having a really lazy day and I don’t care. Usual morning at bubble friends for brekky and 2 episodes of Bosch on Amazon prime. (Really good). Dog walk for half an hour. Ruddy freezing. Then home, heating on and started a jigsaw. Tea is in slow cooker, pork steaks in a curry sauce ( home made Miriam!!) so nothing to do. Having a little lounge now while Mr PbtY watches footy.
ReplyDeleteI will then have a gin and watch some crappy tv all evening.
Bliss.
I just put TV on for the Repair Shop, but again not there.
ReplyDeleteI know Coronovirus is very important, as to what will happen next - but why now at this time, on Easter Monday?
Oh well, off to sort meal out.
DeleteTonight it is simple. It is a turkey breast steak to be cooked "en pappilote", with mushrooms, garlic, mushrooms, along with the zest + a juice of a lemon + olive oil.
Quick and simple.
Blogger Error time after time today only got one one liner through, anyway agree Miriam!
DeleteAs was bored today, as it was too cold to go out to garden etc. I perused + sorted my "junk" mail out, which I only do once a week.
ReplyDeleteI have seen in a catalogue, a lovely sun bed, which will suit me. My previous one was in the shed, which was removed a couple of years ago, and had mice nesting in it!
What I have seen, looks great, but I need to research more. It's one that can be kept out, regardless of the weather.
Who knows - even I don't know that yet.
PS Lots of waste paper etc. to be re-cycled this week.
DeleteI spent at least an hour lying on the grass on a part of the Common that we go to only rarely. Lady was in the brush excavating rabbit holes. She visited at least three digging consistently at each of them in turn and getting deeper and deeper each time. After about ten minutes of standing around I decided to lie down and the sun on my face was warm and welcome.
ReplyDeleteWhen she came out she went to a nearby cattle trough and had a drink, then rushed back to her ( potential) rabbits. Eventually I was able to grab her tail and yank her out enough to get a lead attached to her harness and drag her out. The remains of the walk were on the lead. After her supper she is now asleep, exhausted with her muddy face and front paws drying off.
We started the day with a brief flurry of snow too.
Very brief flurry of snow here too this morning followed by a a lovely sunny but cold day. Sadly had to clear up the remains of a wood pigeon courtesy of one of the local cats.
DeleteSadly my blackbirds have now abandoned their nest, which I thought I had rescued, from the horrible siamese cat .
DeleteIt seems that this did not happen, after all
About an hour's worth of snow here at about midday.
ReplyDeleteWindow sill surrounded with flowers, as more from youngest son and fiancee and many flowers from Cub Scouts! Thirty two get well cards received so I am a little popular!
Played games with two sons, one at home and one in Frankfurt all afternoon. A game called 'Terraforming Mars' but it lasted all afternoon. The trouble is I don't get such long games (like chess) and the two sons aim to win so I at least get much free time as I pass often and they get ready to battle over the winning!
Jon now getting the bins for the bin-men ready for tomorrow. Only the rubbish men visit at 7.30am, the other two (paper in one sack and another involved in all sort of rubbish.) come a bit later.
Sorted out 'P' to to get the Repair Shop recorded and but then another Coronavirus reported!
However I am glad to see this as I am now waiting to get my son over here from Frankfurt, definition of how many guests to the wedding allowed and whether I can go out! So at least one person is pleased!
However the methotraxate was was stopped when I was in the hospital and the consultant said "We have to start again!" Oh well, nearly two years running and this is the third time we have had to start again!
Occupational therapists visiting me one week and then the speech therapists visits the second week! Loads of letters and challenges to complete the therapists homework!
Please excuse any mistakes. Just ignore them, or as my sons do make fun of me, but with a wonderful sense of homour to correct me!
Of course we will ignore any mistakes Spicy - at least you have a real excuse which is more than I have for the numerous typos I make!
DeleteSo please to hear you are surrounded by flowers and cards. It must be wonderful to know how much you are loved.
I’ll add my good wishes to all the others.
Pleased to hear that you are getting support Spicycushion.
DeleteGlad to read all news on here today, so far only managed 2 one liner posts all others blogger errors 😡
ReplyDeleteGood to hear from you Spicy 🤗
So pleased you are doing well Spicey. It’ll be a long road no doubt to recovery. Just got to count your blessings. There’s always someone worse off. That’s what I think. I’m just grateful that I still have the one good eye.
ReplyDeleteAs they say....things can only get better.
Sending lots of get well soon vibes. Xx💐💐💐💐
So very pleased that you are able to write lovely newsy post Spicy.
ReplyDeleteI hope you can show off to your therapists and show them that whatever challenges you may have you are still communicating.
Keep at it, and keep us in the loop. We all miss you.
All the very best Spicycushion for your continued improvement.
ReplyDeleteThings are going to get better .
You are strong and you are an optimist.
Well done.
I want to second all the good wishes to Spicycushion. Good to read your post.
ReplyDeleteAnd I third that Spicycushion. I think you have the kind of perseverance that will surprise and please your therapists.
DeleteMessage to Lady R and anyone else with an iPad having difficulty getting posted on here:-
ReplyDeleteI went through a very irritating phase recently of ‘error’ messages and losing lots of typing, things not posting. It’s so frustrating.
I seem to have solved it ( fingers crossed) by clearing history before I even start typing a post.
I do this by clicking on the 3 dots up in the top RH corner of the screen - on the line with “archers fan.blogspot.com
This brings up a menu, I go down to ‘history’ and click on that. This will bring up a screen to clear history. I click to clear history, and do it 2 or 3 times , then ‘done’
I then go back to the drop down menu and click on ‘new tab’
Then chose ‘archers fan blog’ which will bring you to this page, or the archers page.
Then I seem to be able to write and post a message.
I have sometimes hadve to do this procedure all over again in the middle of reading everyone’s news if I want to add something, but usually only have to do it once each session.
It’s an absolute pain, and time consuming but it does seem to work.
Good Luck
It happened again when I tried to post the above!!! So I did the procedure all over again and when I got back to this page my message had printed.
DeleteThanks AP will screenshot your instructions 🤗
DeleteMy iPad and iPhone are connected yet when this happens if I think to try the phone to post it prints how mad is that 😡
At least the above posted straight away 🤗
DeleteSpicy, I hope the wedding will be a success and you'll be surrounded by family.
ReplyDeleteThe stations at this train were delayed because:
ReplyDeleteThe driver overslept!
31. Hudson Bay = Canada Water
32. Oriental pig = East Ham
33. Beehive = High Barnet
Stations opening next week:
34. Subcontinental
35. Home for a glass princess
36. Mother Brown dances here
This is the penultimate week, and the leader board is being fiercely contested! Can Lanjan maintain her lead or will one of the close contenders stage a sudden sprint to the finish?
Only three more stations to go. Thanks everyone for joining in, and coming up with some great alternative suggestions. I've just been looking at the complete Underground/Overground list; there are loads left that haven't featured in the quiz. Perhaps I'll manage to put together a fresh selection for later in the year. Mind this gap!
Ooh good, I did get the oriental pig, I wasn’t certain on that,
ReplyDeleteThinking hats on again, 35 obvious, back to the crib lists for the other two🤔
Why have we become a nation of litter louts? Near us there is a riverside walk, when we first started using it over 40 years ago there was hardly any litter. Gradually we started to see crisp packets and chocolate wrappers then bottles and cans followed by dog poo bags. Added to those we now see masks, disposable gloves, wipes and nitrous oxide canisters. On our walk this morning we saw a Riverside Park volunteer collecting litter and he told us that there has been big increase in the amount over the last year. Time for me to stop complaining and start picking I think!
ReplyDeleteI get angry when I see people chucking rubbish out of car windows. I dare say their homes are ultra tidy, unlike mine but I would never leave my litter for someone else to clear up. Leave only footprints.
DeleteThank you OWIAS. I love High Barnet for Beehive - now why couldn't I get that!!
ReplyDeleteDitto!
ReplyDelete30/33...
Full marks for last week. Anneveggie, when you mentioned yesterday that beehive was eluding you I wanted to give you a clue - Dusty Springfield. Would that have helped?
ReplyDeleteThanks OWIAS I do enjoy it. Do you think we’ve reached America yet?
Please explain, is it because of Amy Winehouse? Got the other two. 25/33
DeleteBarnet fair = hair (Cockney)
DeleteBeehive = high hairstyle, popular in the 60s.
We have to keep you working for these points : )
Thanks Owias, I'd never have got it, knew of the hair but not the rest.
DeleteSoz - not sure I would have got it even then!! but it's a good clue.
ReplyDeleteTime for the Women’s Institute to get busy again. It was due to one of their resolutions back in the 50s that the “Keep Britain Tidy” campaign started.
ReplyDeleteSpicy - you are doing so well, and your post was lovely to read, far better than mine re spelling. I wish you well with the Wedding preparations.
ReplyDeleteNow to a point, so many have mentioned and which I so agree with.
This is rubbish in the country-side and also on road verges.
I am now about to tell a tale - as to rubbish thrown from a car. This is an early warning not to read any further.
My tale, goes like this:-
I worked, many years ago in a Pharmacy in N. Wales. On driving to and there, I needed to use the A55 expressway.A nearby junction, had a drive-in McDonalds.
One night after leaving work, I drove up the up ramp, and on joining the road, a car went past me. I ended up with the remains of at least one McDonalds - all over my windscreen. I had to immediatly pull over and stop, to then clean the mess on the windscreen, which I could no longer see through.
My life was at risk - in both occurences. The only good aspect was, it was summer, so still light.
The remains of chips, tom.sauce, buns, etc. was not nice landing suddenly, in front of my vision.
DeleteEven worse: when my daughter was six weeks old I was pushing the pram along the pavement when a cigarette end thrown from a passing car landed on her face!
DeleteFull house again, OWiaS, I'm just the three down from the week I missed.
That's a really awful situation. I hope your daughter was OK.
DeleteThe butt was promptly removed, fortunately with no damage done.
DeleteHave got 35 and 36. Now need to work on 34. I knew of the beehive hairstyle, but had no idea that Barnet had anything to do with hair.
ReplyDeleteIs a fair held in Barnet then or does it mean it is a beautiful place, and what about those of us who have never heard of Cockney slang?
DeleteEverything is now white, after a massive hail storm. Sleet + snow is also forecast..and this is April. It brrr still.
ReplyDelete...and it's now snowing, much more than just a flurry..⛄
DeleteNever heard of Cockney rhyming slang, Janice? Cor blimey, knock me down the apples and pears!
ReplyDelete🤣 Well I think I would rather like it if I knew it. My guess is if it is meant to rhyme that "pears" could mean stairsl
DeleteJanice ✔️
DeleteAt least I can no longer be described as a 'trouble and strife'!
DeleteRight..... I have two suggestions :
ReplyDelete1: Gary G, I think we need a new heading spelling out Cockney Rhyming Slang
If you agree I'm sure you can find something suitable. Please !
2: Three of you in Cheshire and each complaining of litter.
May I suggest you create an alliance via this blog and start a new anti litter campaign.
There was a lady on the radio recently I think on WH who was in a traffic jam when someone ahead of her threw litter out of the window. She got out of her car and walked up to the offending vehicle throwing the litter back in through the same window. She did recognise that this was a bit risky as the offender could have turned very nasty! That’s the trouble with tackling people directly but their behaviour is very infuriating! They spoil lovely places with their rubbish.
ReplyDeleteOn a hot summer afternoon I was walking down West Hill in Wandsworth against the traffic jam edging towards the A3, when a car full of youngsters, boys in the front girls behind, when the remains of half eaten food was thrown from the front passenger window and landed just beside me. Without even thinking, I picked it up, turned and walked back to the car moving slowly and threw the rubbish into the lap of one of the girls, with the words - take your rubbish home and put it in the bin- the girl sore profusely and the boys joined in, but the other girl shouted them down, saying - she was right. You shouldn't have thrown it out the window.
ReplyDeleteYes Ev, it's risky, but we have to teach them if their parents or society haven't.
Sore - swore of course
ReplyDeleteI tried similar once and ended up infuriated. I was the second car behind a double decker secondary school bus. Plastic bottles and other rubbish were being thrown out of the top windows, some went over the hedge into fields and one bottle bounced off the windscreen of the car in front of me. I followed the bus until it stopped to drop some children off then I asked the driver if I could go up to the top deck to talk to the children. He said he couldn't do anything with them and advised me not to go up. I went up and endeavoured to explain to them the damage that could be done to farm animals by plastic bottles and rubbish, and although a few sat quietly the majority erupted with the most awful language I had ever heard from teenage children. I told them I was going to phone their headteacher in the morning. The poor driver said he endured that kind of language and behaviour every day. I did phone the headmistress in the morning. At first she denied that it could possibly be any of her pupils (there are several schools in the Newquay area) but I had taken the number of the bus and in fact the bus driver had told me which school it was (one with a not very good reputation) and so she had to accept they were her pupils. I said either she dealt with the matter or I would report it to the police because rubbish bouncing off car windscreens was an accident waiting to happen. I never knew what happened but hope something did.
ReplyDeleteWell done Janice.... however infuriating it may have been, you did your civic duty.
ReplyDeleteOn the topic of litter just seen this on the BBC website:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-56648701
Good old Mother Brown - the dancing one, that is.
ReplyDeleteOne of the sea eagles has just crossed the Channel flying from Dungeness to Boulanger-sur-Mer and then continuing over 100 miles in France. Bon Voyage! It is interesting to follow their adventures!
ReplyDeleteDudley is much better and enjoyed his walk with the dog walker yesterday. She posts their walks and it was interesting at one point when he stopped and waited, not walking on until he had seen Buddy go past! Buddy was Cock of the North and had a whale of a time racing around! Both of them spent most of the rest of the day snoozing! Gypsy is eating well but the vet noticed there may be an issue with one of her eyes, perhaps glaucoma so she is seeing Donal the vet on Monday to check it out. 🐾🐾🐶🐶🐶🐾🐾
Boulogne-sur-Met! Auto correct at it again!
DeleteMer!! Auto correct doesn’t speak French!!
DeleteI quite like the name Boulanger-sur-mer!
DeleteI vividly remember the “Don’t be a litter bug” campaign on tv in the fifties. A man threw his empty cigarette packet onto the pavement and it jumped straight back up at him!
ReplyDeleteI might sound a bit condascending, but this isn't meant, in any way, I assure you.
ReplyDeleteWith the Lockdown restrictions, groups have been unable to meet up, for litter picks. It has been relied on single/household persons doing this. Those who litter and dump rubbish, still have done so, as that's their normal.
A lot of the litter picking crews, are those doing Community Service, as a result of a Police conviction and the result. This cannot have been done recently, under current restriction rules.
This does sound a bit controversial, but I stand-by with what I have posted.
My S/bury's Supermarket had massive re-cycle bins, in a corner of the car park. These were always well used by many, and me! It was the best place to get rid of a lot of waste, rather than piling it up in my own re-cycle bins, which became heavier to carry out.
These S/pmarket bins disappeared a few weeks ago.
They are back now- bigger + better...
PS I can now also, again, re-cycle things like plastic bags, which the kerbside collection, can't.
DeleteIt's things like the plastic bag from a sliced loaf, the toilet rolls, kitchen rolls etc.
According to the volunteer that I spoke to Miriam the main causes of the increase in litter were the fact that a lot more people are out walking along the riverside because there isn't much else to do and more litter is being produced because of masks, disposable gloves and wipes.
DeleteMy Pusscat is now so much better, after quite a few months.
ReplyDeleteShe is now going out again, and there are no problems re the bathroom, for 4 days now.
I might be wrong, but I have an idea. The awful siamese cat, was very young (2-3 months I would guess), when he first appeared, and was just a very nasty cat.
He is still around, but is not trying to come in, nor spraying in my garden nor on the cat-flap. My idea is that he has now been neutered. The time-scale is about right...
At least, my Pusscat, seems to be behaving normally again - cuddling up at night with lovely loud purrs, a race down the stairs each morning to the kitchen, playing with her toys, and most importantly, sleeping less and coming for cuddles and attention.
Whatever the reason - the problems seem to have gone.
So pleased to hear this Miriam such a relief for you 🐈 🥰
DeleteThat's really good news Miriam and I reckon you were correct about the other cat being the problem.
DeleteArcherphile
ReplyDeleteRemember being jealous of me having the AZ jab expect you are glad to be a Pfizer couple now🤗 🤣 as you approach your second dose next week.
That said all meds carry risks even Paracetamols and I still look forward to the 23rd April for my second 💉
There is always a risk with any meds.and side-effects. I had to have liver function blood tests done, not long ago, due to taking a statin, which can cause problems.
DeleteAll I can say is, that I am quite happy to have my 2nd AZ jab in May. There might be now a further risk factor, but this to me, is no more than taking any other meds.undergoing surgical procedures etc.
The benefits, still seem to far outweigh this new slight risk involved.
Very interesting piece on PM this evening about the relativity of risk factors, regarding the minute number per ten thousand getting blood clots as a result of the vaccine.
DeleteApparently the risk of blood clots from Covid is much higher, while the risk for the under 30s of being killed on the road is roughly the same, although you won't find them refusing to get in a car.
DeletePersonally I wouldn’t hesitate to have AZ vaccine if I were offered it instead of my 2nd Pfizer one.
ReplyDeleteBut I think the problem
Is that the recent news will put people off having a vaccine at all. Especially anyone who
is already vaccine hesitant. This would be a tragedy because we are only going to beat this pandemic if the vast majority of the world population is vaccinated.
I was offered my second AZ jab for Friday morning - at a large surgery 5 miles away. When I explained the transport situation it was noted that I live only 5 min walk away from a smaller one in the group which is only open two days a week; I was then told that I would be contacted as soon as they had a vacancy for me. A rare glimmer of common sense!
ReplyDeleteHope they find a vacant slot for you soon then Sarnia.
DeleteThank you, Mrs P.
ReplyDeleteI’m spitting feathers this morning. Last night Basingstoke Planning Committee met to decide whether we are going to have a huge distribution hub built, almost literally on our door step. (Junction 7 of the M3)
ReplyDeleteIt will be a huge blot on the countryside and HGV vehicles will pass us every 2 minutes day and night. The effect on the environment, countryside, wildlife, The Wayfarers Walk and residents of 2 villages will be horrendous.
I am so incensed about this (along with hundreds of others) that I actually watched the entire meeting on YouTube. Because the Committee can’t meet in person at the moment it is a Zoom meeting with committee members taking part from their homes.
Several of the members seemed to be half asleep and said absolutely nothing about this matter which has been the talk of the area for months. One or two did say the countryside in the area would be ruined but a few jobs would be created. There was a very lack lustre discussion about the vast increase in traffic and how it would affect local roads.
But in the end, though they refused permission for three warehouses (an area of 95 football pitches apparently,) they are allowing Amazon to build one enormous warehouse generating over 300 HGV’s a day to use it.
The residents of 3 lovely old cottages opposite the site have been offered compensation so their homes can be demolished!! All of this allowed by a half-asleep, committee, barely concentrating on the meeting, getting up to make coffee in their kitchen or doing their knitting!!
It’s a scandal - just wait until the local council elections next month...I shall show my disgust!
(Apologies for rant, I am very miffed, as you can tell)
Archerphile -
DeleteThere was an item on World at One today about this very subject, but highlighting a village in Yorkshire.
I am going to be harsh now, and say that the huge rise in online shopping will inevitably mean that many such warehouses will need to be built, and to keep costs reasonable will be built in our countryside.
Society is changing and in the end society has to pay, in some way, for what it wants.
If online shopping is the way to go, and it seems that it is, then we will have more transport in the form of delivery vans and huge trucks moving 'stuff' around, and massive warehouses to hold the supplies for distribution purposes. So it's not just the blot on the landscape but also the massive rise in traffic and the resulting pollution that is the consequence of societies desire for convenience.
I haven't and don't want to buy anything online, but I have to accept that buying online what we require to live our lives is what many people do want, and inevitably I too will be forced to shop in this way in due course. And inevitably these huge buildings will spring up as blots on our landscape in many places as a consequence.
In the meantime I will continue my membership of CPRE and campaign along with others to hold back the tide.
I hope Gary you are on an outing somewhere, or otherwise out of reach, please let us know because you're always so scrupulous. Wait to hear from you later in the day.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry to hear this AP. Situations like this only go to show how powerless we all are. All the offers of payment on the world can't compensate for the loss of homes, privacy or peace and quiet.
ReplyDeleteSorry Sarnia, I can't agree that we are powerless.
DeleteWe could as individuals which make up society choose to live simple lives.
Most choose the opposite.
Cheap and cheaper with convenience thrown in is what most people want.
As a result we all have to live with the consequences.
And yes...... I would like to return to the medieval life, which I know was harsh and often short, but was quite possibly a more contented way to live.
Not entirely sure I'd have been contented with premature death, Hell and the plague hanging over me, but I know what you mean. My life is simpler than many, but then I don't have to manage three jobs in order to keep a family's head above water.
DeleteJust dropped in to wish everyone happy bloggers anniversary but no special posts this year. Have I got it wrong?? 🤗🌷🌼
ReplyDeleteHello Seasider, long time no hear, you got the date right but I was waiting for Gary to do the honours, see above.
DeleteNot at all Seasider April 8th ( my mum’s birthday anniversary so I always remember) I did mention this last week I think.
DeleteAnyway thank you Gary 👏🏻 and Ruthy of course for launching the lifeboat!
Archerphile I understand Mrs P’s comments and I’m afraid that I am an online customer much more so throughout all the lockdowns but I absolutely totally understand your feelings. I know the area and feel a more out of town site on its own in some fields could have been sourced. 300 vehicles a day around those roads does not bear thinking about.
The meeting sounds a shambles and the question now is how will this affect yourselves regarding selling your property?
Thinking recently that we don't here very often from you Seasider.
ReplyDeleteBut it's nice to know that you are still with us.
As to our anniversary ? Will need to check.
Ah !
DeleteI see now the relevance of Basia post earlier which puzzled me.
The first recorded post was from Enzed on April 2nd.
According to my screen.
It's obviously passed me by. And perhaps Gary too.
Our brains have shrunk over the last ten thousand years by the size of a tennis ball and the skulls have thinned. Perhaps they are more compact now but possibly we have grown dimmer. We don't need to think about finding enough to eat and live in a consumer society where we constantly try to keep up with the Joneses. It is relatively safe, even now, to go outside. Hunters and gatherers lived an egalitarian life, they didn't store food and shared with others. They were affluent without abundance.
ReplyDelete✔️✔️✔️ Basia
DeleteMrsP, I use the Guardian Bookshop and prompted by you I looked up their warehouse near Norwich, somewhat hidden by the trees. They don't have a physical store though and support independent journalism. I hope they treat their staff well, they are very friendly online and on the phone.
DeleteMy usual join in time.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts are two-fold tonight, especially after reading the other page. Remember, as there are over 200 posts , need click on "Load More" to read more recent posts.
As some-one who has an alcoholic in the family, they need a lot of help. My family member, removed himself from any family get-together, to avoid any temptation.
I worked with persons and families, where one or more parent was addicted, be it with drugs or alcohol. Social Services would only remove a child into care, if their welfare was totally proven to be At Risk.
As to the AZ vaccine, I read today that the risk of a blood clot, is no greater than going on a long-flight! I hope that this is really the truth.
The problem is to me that, the trials were done understandably, quickly with not a full screen of candidates. Even so - nothing showed up.
I still need to know more.
I have a hair appointment, at last, but not until 7th May.
ReplyDeleteI did ring some other salons, but although I could have got an earlier appointment, it was only by a week. I am going back to my usual stylist, who knows how to do my barnet, as I like.
Off to create a meal!
ReplyDeleteI created pork meatballs this morning (in 'fridge to firm up).
Now what do I cook them in?
So far it is onion, sliced fennel, chopped carrots to be softened up. What else gets added in - not sure yet. It will evolve into something, hopefully tasty.
A quick come- back on my planning problem. It was mentioned by one councillor that there are large brownfield sites in the town that could have been utilised for distribution warehouses but, strangely, it is cheaper to build on greenfield sites, including all the new road structure that would be needed, than it is to use brownfield land ~ QED
ReplyDeleteA further development today is that the 5 local MP’s have asked for the decision to be “called in”.
This means the application will have to be decided in London by the Dept.of the Environment.
If they disagree with Basingstoke’s decision, the development will not go ahead. They are also saying that they prefer a new Hospital for Hampshire to be built there instead. So there is still a long way to go!
I feel for you.
DeleteNear to me, a builder put in an application for 300 new homes on greenbelt land, which is also a flood plain. After 2 refusals and appeals, this has now been passed. The arguement was providing affordable housing, but the % of this is only a token gesture. These smaller properties, I believe, will be a little part owned, the rest rented.
We had affordable houses opposite us in Ledbury. In reality these were bought up by landlords and rented out, most to multiple occupants who had a car each. With only two parking spaces to each house and usually three occupants, cars then littered the narrow roads. They came and went so no interaction with permanent residents. The policy of affordable homes just doesn’t work in practice. When like us you spend more on a house, you just don’t want this.
Delete🤞🏼For you Archerphile!
DeleteWhen I did O'Level geography, we learnt about the problems in Bangladesh where lack of affordable land meant people had been forced to build on flood plains.
DeleteSome years later, we started doing exactly the same in this country. As a result, many people cannot get insurance on their lovely new-build homes. It sounds as if we still haven't learnt : (
At least beavers are being reintroduced. But I doubt even these master builders will be able to conteract the loss of acres of flood plain.
It is a shame Archerfile. Brownfield sites can mean less profits for the builders because of having to clear old industrial sites, stabilize the ground and in some instances neutralise land contamination. Unless Planning departments make it mandatory, which I think they should, to build on brownfield rather than greenfield sites it is less likely to happen. Maybe it should also be mandatory for industries to clean up their sites before leaving. Imerys in the St Austell china clay area is (or maybe has been leaned on to) greening over the old clay spoil "mountains" and creating walking and biking trackways.
DeleteThere used to be a small but excellent pharmaceutical factory , Maybridge Chemicals, near here on what was once a slate quarry. But its run off did apparently adversely affect the trout farm below it in the valley. It was eventually bought up and the business moved to join a bigger company Thermo Fisher up country. The site was bought by someone who hoped to be able to flatten the buildings and build a few houses there but the cost of getting rid of the chemical contamination apparently would be so great he hasn't been able to do it.
He has been quite creative as regards alternative uses, with solar panels the length of the roof, and the units let to crafts people, including some who make weapons and armour for reenactment societies.
I am not sure how you get rid of contamination that has sunk down through the slate of the old quarry.
Anyone else watching the new series of “Canal Boat Diaries” that started on BBC 4 Monday evening at 7pm. Just 4 nights and tonight’s 7.10pm. Lovely scenery and for us not doing the work restful 🤣 Interesting facts along the way.
ReplyDeleteWe are watching it, we are familiar with a lot of the scenery. Part of the first series was on canals local to us.
DeleteYes we are watching too and saw the first series. It is a lovely programme and Robbie is an excellent presenter, explaining his love of canals and industrial heritage. We have travelled along much of the canal system he has been covering in our daughters narrow boat. It was lovely to ‘travel’ those canals again. But we are in awe of him doing the whole journey on his own. Navigating 30 locks in a staircase is extremely hard work and we should have thought it near impossible to do by yourself. He is a lovely and very hard working man.
DeleteI have just realised I missed David Serdaris, yet again. I have subscribed via Sounds, to catch up.
ReplyDeleteTonight Miriam David S was talking a great deal about his relationship with Hugh. It was less entertaining this evening IMP of V
DeleteSorry !
DeleteWas less entertaining than usual this evening.....
I agree Mrs P, don't think this series is up to his usual standard.
DeleteCould someone contact Gary to see if all is well?
ReplyDeleteGary replied on the other blog just as I was posting.
DeleteNo need to rush, as and when you're ready bBxx
Hope you feel better soon Gary.
ReplyDeleteBon rétablissement Gary, xx
ReplyDelete