How not to start a holiday

Soooo...we are due to catch the ferry from Plymouth to Santander. This is our car being towed away by the AA and we are still 300 miles away from the port.

We had just taken the box off the top of the car and we have a mountain of camping equipment, food and clothes sat all forlorn.

Hire car!!! Easy...or so you would think.

At one point we had 2 mobiles and the landline on at the same time, as well as the interweb. We needed a car big enough for 4 and a mountain of 'stuff'. No one had one. Eurocar had one..YEY!...we got part way to fetch it (my ex-husband pulled out extra stops to give my hubby a lift to the pick up point) and they rang and said it was a mistake, they hadn't got one after all....ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH

Finally, finally we found a hire car, a very expensive one but one all the same. Ex-hubby still being helpful, took hubby to fetch it. We threw every thing into it (including the kids!) and were finally on our way.

Honestly, I never thought we would make it and I never knew that HWMBO* and I could work so well as a team under such high stress and not actually kill each other...you learn something new every day.

*HeWhoMustBeObeyed

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Nature Heals

I put this post out in August 2009 but it holds true for me and I am reiterating it for this weeks Gallery

I have had a rough ride over the past week, at least I have plenty of blogging material for a while, but at times it has been difficult. This evening I finally managed to get out with the dogs. Within 10 minutes of walking through the fields, the wind blowing, the birds singing, the clouds passing, I was feeling better. I felt great. I lifted my arms high into the wind and closed my eyes and drank in the feeling.

Nature Heals .

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

*Leisure by W H Davies

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Two Left Feet

Came back from my walk and realised that I literally had 2 left feet!!

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Hennie Pennie says Panic

Boggertropolis says I have to answer 10 questions or the sky will fall on my head. At least I think that's what he said but maybe I'll have to listen to it on a maxell.

So here are the questions as set by the man himself:

1. God gives you a free ticket to spend the night with absolutely anybody in the world and the entirety of history – whom do you choose?

Mr Darcy - obviously

2. Frankie Howard or Frankie Boyle? (This is a separate question and is not related to no. 1 above.)

Oooo-errrr-nooo-well-then-noooooo-yessssss

3. What life skill or ability do you wish you possessed?

Powers of persuasion to convince HeWhoMustBeObeyed that DIY is fun and ironing is not the work of the devil.

4. If it takes Johnny three hours to fill a bath with water using a colander and a train travelling at 90mph takes 2 hours to reach it’s destination why does Britain no longer have the right to call itself Great?

I think if you listened to enough Morrisey you would already know that answer, stop wasting my time.

5. Have you ever genuinely wished to be a member of the opposite sex (or are you that already)?

Only when doing DIY and ironing (see 3)

6. Do you have any embarrassingly weird interests or hobbies – and if so please explain in detail?

ooh-err-missus-well-no-errrr. Actually I collect stones but only grey ones that are about the size of a 10pence and have no distinguishing features. Honestly, I do it to annoy HWMBO!!

7. Dance, Punk, Goth, Metal, Grunge, Pop, Country, Folk or Classical? The choice is yours.
errrrr Punk, no grunge, no pop, no folk....I'm a music chameleon, my collection is a purists worst nightmare.


8. If you could change anything about your current lifestyle / life situation, what would it be? And what would you keep?

I would keep the money and remove the work :0)

9. If you were a packet of crisps what flavour would you be?

Roadkill (I can't believe how much time I wasted of my life considering that one, seconds never to be regained)

10. Describe the sandwich of the gods.

Boxing day turkey and cranberry sauce - obviously


Unless I set 10 questions, Duckie Luckie will fart on Goosey Loosey's head but I am too lazy and uncaring, so I give you Maggie's top five and in order to prevent Ricky Gervais suing me to smithereens I recommend you rush out and buy the Extra's DVD:

#1 Would you rather have a bionic arm or a bionic leg?

#2 Would you rather die of the cold of die of the heat?

#3 Would you rather have your face and body but the brain of a chimpanzee or be a chimpanzee but have your human brain?

#4 Would you rather wake up and find your teeth have fallen out or your hair has fallen out?

#5 Would you rather be a penguin who's a bird but can't fly or a flying fish that's a fish that can fly a bit?

You may want to ponder over them for a while, my answers are at the bottom of the page. You may want to continue this blogger chain mail poorly disguised as a meme or you may prefer that the sky does actually fall on Chicken Licken's head and him and all his friends die in a gruesome blood bath - your choice.....



*arm, cold, chimpanzee with the brain, hair, flying fish (unless there are penguins around!)

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Five Go Off to Camp

This weeks Gallery is 'A Novel Idea'

Enid Blyton's Five Go Off to Camp

This photo was taken on one of the best camping weekends I have ever had. A whole group of people from school. The kids spent the whole time just playing, exploring, it was just bliss!

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Down to The Wire

I plan. I plan with miltary operation. I know 3 weeks before a day trip whether I will be taking a pack up or not. I start packing cases weeks before I go anywhere. I have lists. I have little piles of stuff ready to go.

Whereas, HeWhoMust BeObeyed has a joy of leaving it to the last minute. I assume it is part of his cunning plan to avoid having to do stuff, and partly his nature.

6 weeks to d-day:

"don't forget you need to get the car lights done"

"yup, onto it"

4 weeks to d-day:

"did you book the car in?"

"nope, I will do it next week"

2 weeks to d-day:

"car lights?"

"yes, I will do that"

6 days to d-day:

"did you book the car in?"

"no, I will do it tomorrow"

5 days to d-bloody-day

"car?!"

"do you think it's really necessary?"

"it's the law"

"ahhhh, it's just that..."

"*#$^! Go to Halfords!"

"ahhhhh, bit busy at the moment"

"FFS, I'll do it then"

See! why did I not just sort it out myself 6 weeks ago and save on the stress. My guess is that's exactly what he is thinking too!

4 days to d-day

"have you thought about what case you are taking?"

"nope"

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!

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Sister to All Guides

I've had an interesting Guiding experience tonight.

It was our local units usual end of summer term all ages, all together at a local place where we meet every year. I usually take control of the kitchen (self inflicted) and usually I don't mind but to a certain extent it has become 'presumed' and tonight was my birthday so I decided to be stubborn.

I was happy to do for my own unit and was happy to help the other Brownie leader whose second leader had been unable to attend at the last minute. She came into the kitchen and said "How is this working tonight? What do I need to do? Can we do any of it together? " She didn't expect me to do it, this I thought was nice and I immediately said "I'll do all the Brownies together no stress". She managed how we would split drinks etc and was concerned about whether she had enough to cover her numbers...good Guiding.

Two more units arrived and brought food into the kitchen for their units with a "where do you want this?" Sorry? !

Now, I could have been my usual self and just got on with it but I didn't......not good Guiding

I simply said "I'm doing the Brownies" and left the other leaders to fend for themselves for a while......not good Guiding

As it was my mum was there (she is close to Guiding being a former leader and likes to see the girls) and did nearly all the kitchen for me, bless her and then she cleared it all up afterwards too, including the pots from the other units.

I give the Rainbow leaders a bit of slack, they are run off their feet with the littlies but the Guide Leaders, now they should be helping out, they have the capacity.

The girls all still had a good time, the leaders still got on but it wasn't the same, there was an under current. So tonight, we have finished for the term and I'm not sat on my usual store of Guiding love and friendship.

I feel that I wasn't a sister to all Guides, I could have been more helpful, I could have been more friendly and I feel a little let down by the expectations of some of the other leaders on me. But that is a Guiding thing..we are capable ladies that DO...so I should have done more....Bad Dobby

What a bad way to feel on my birthday...time to remember why I love Guiding....

Fun

Achievement

Friendship

Ready for next term? I will be!

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Court of King Caractacus

This weeks Gallery is "Can you guess what it is yet?"











Need another clue?

still confused?




I love Rolf Harris, always have. Here is my favourite song of his, much more fun than a door bell!

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A Day Out in Our Park

Our local festival week finishes with a 'party in the park'. Lots of local families (any outsiders would be sniffed out and expelled!!) go to picnic, drink plenty and listen to the bands.


The kids play footie and generally run around a lot! The parents chat, sing, dance (did I mention the drink!)

(note the banana skin hidden under shoe, I was obviously hoping for a slap-stick moment later!)






This year lots of lanterns were lit and sent off into the sky. I'm in two minds about these as they look lovely and the kids get very excited but given the dry crops and the wire that won't rot down, I worry that they aren't good for our local environment. Still a good breeze sent them heading towards Lincolnshire!

A huge firework display ended the night. It's all free and run by local volunteers - a fantastic evening out.

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Changing Landscape

It was still in the high 20s at 8pm tonight.

The fields are already turning golden brown.

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Jonathan Myall Music : Isn't it nice when a company gets it right

I have had a day of bad happenings...washing machine deceased, microwave went out with it in sympathy, 12 out of 15 eggs delivered by Sainburys arrived spread over most of my shopping, did not get to daughters last disco early enough to take appropriate photos with other good mummies etc ....so my mood today has been 'challenged'!

I ordered a flute case bag off Amazon last weekend and it arrived very quickly...completely the wrong colour though. I think Amazon is brilliant and feel protected in their other sellers market place. I emailed the company, they responded immediately on how to return it and no problem with the refund. Yey!

In fact they were so helpful I rang them up to see if they had the right colour, they told me they did. Whilst the description said green (that is what they sent), the colour in the photo was ocean blue...but if I popped the green one back in the post, they would refund all postage and send me the new one. And they did.

The very next day the ocean blue one arrived, also not the same colour as the photo!!! By now I was slightly annoyed (understatement) and I mailed them. Again they responded immediately, but they implied I was unhappy with the first one too and that had been what I had originally requested*. Ohhhh red rag to a bull!!!!! I uncalmly mailed them my exact feelings on the matter and raged about the confusion of photos to product etc and......

...within the hour I had a full refund and a lovely letter of apology from a manager saying I was quite right and they would immediately fix the product on the site (and they have)....ahhh bless that man....he knew exactly what I wanted to hear and how to fix the problem. I went from unhappy customer to very happy and ready to shop with them again. I bet my next shop with them is for significantly more money too!

I thought the best way to show my appreciation would be to leave on site feedback, which in the style of the day, I managed to delete by mistake and now cannot recreate....so for the benefit of my feel good factor :

Jonathan Myall Music at http://www.justflutes.com/ provide good old fashioned customer service in the modern high tech world!

I distinctly remember reading a blog recently where the customer service for a company selling head phones was the exact opposite so time to redress the balance of hope in the world of customer service!

*I had had a baaaad day, hubby couldn't see the implication when he read it, so I guess it was me reading between frustrated lines!

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Dr Livingston I presume?

This weeks Gallery is Holidays

I rather think a good holiday involves donning a fly net and going walkabout.

I love this picture.

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Smoke Free Zone

Do I have the right to live in a smoke free house? I would like to think so.


I live in a detached house on a good sized plot and as non-smokers you would think I should be smoke free. Unfortunately, my neighbours on both sides smoke.


After the air cools in these lovely summers evenings, it is lovely to open all the windows upstairs and cool the house down. At about the same time my neighbours enjoy nothing better than having a smoke in the garden. To the right, the man enjoys cigars and to the left, the family of 4 all smoke. It tends to drift in through the back bedroom windows first but often seems to infiltrate the kitchen and if I open my patio doors the living room takes a hit too. I also have an inbuilt air exchange system in the house which distributes cool air around the house bringing it in from the outside (smoke full at 8pm) and taking in through a piping system into all the rooms. So this has to remain turned off.



Yesterday evening, in a cool mummy moment, I put up a tent for daughter's sleep over and was amazed by how smokey our garden was.


I like my neighbours, they are helpful, friendly and generally considerate people. When I have had problems (like water shooting out of the kitchen cupboard horizontally) they will always try to help but at this time of year I would love to offer them a packet of nicorette and a stern lecture! (but maybe that's just the ex-smoker in me !!!!)

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Monetary Music

In year 3 (aged 7) my daughter was part of a lunch time recorder group. It only lasted a term but she loved it from the beginning and played and played. But it only last a term

Daughter decided she would like to learn the flute. I have no idea why she picked the flute! I put her name on a form that came from school asking if any students wanted to learn any instruments. This request is sent to an independent Arts in Education system and lessons are paid for by the parents but the teachers are sent to the school.

She sat on a waiting list for a long time. I spoke to them, if I had put violin or Guitar she would have got lessons but not the flute....they didn't think it important to share that information you just have to guess what instrument they have enough teachers for.

I found a private flute teacher and initially rented then bought a second hand flute. The lessons are £12.50 a week for 30 mins and the flute was around £200. Each grading costs £60 plus the travelling expenses. So by now I have spent around £2000 on flute but she still loves it so to me it is worth it.

For a while she did guitar at school. About £100 a term, the teacher came in and she had 20mins a week (when it wasn't overrun by the likes of sports day, trips etc). She didn't enjoy this as much but managed 4 terms before deciding to leave it for a while.

I am lucky, I can pay but how do children without that parental privilege get lessons? How do so many young people manage to become players and how so many good orchestras continue amazes me.

The current primary state education system does little to support music with the main focus being on choir (I expect because voice is cheap). Choir is good, daughter performed at our nearest city's big theatre this week singing in a joint schools choir. There were about 100 children playing instruments too. Presumably their parents were also paying a lot of money for them to learn.

Learning instruments adds acres to some children's self esteem, enjoyment and general life skills. Sadly, I have already seen the notice that what little funding Arts in Education receives is being significantly reduced from 2011.

I wonder if it is like our football and tennis, with little early investment the chances of producing fantastic results is low. I hope not, I hope that where ever all our wonderful young musicians come from, they keep on coming.

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