RavennaLeigh's Journal

Visited alco-mum yesterday.
Last week, she'd been a bit vague about how her current house move was progressing.
When I arrived yesterday, there were boxes stacked up everywhere.
She said she was moving the next day - and could I dog mind for her.
M is off this week - so it fitted in fine.

This morning (the day of the intended move) - got a call from her at 9:30am. Could I possibly lend her some dosh - as the buyer's solicitor had neglected to tell him of an extra charge. How much? Nearly £1,200.
When? Right now - so she can still move today.
Great.
Lots of phonecalls to my bank - who no, couldn't arrange an instant transfer to her solicitor as it was to a different bank. Instead M managed to use his account - with a quick trip into the village.

Picked up Frankie 11:30. Took her on a lap of Fort Victoria. She's not too keen on the beach - which is probably just as well. Had some chips at the cafe there.
Dropped her back to the new place at 7:30pm.

Bets are now being taken as to whether alco-mum will have the new place on the market before she's paid me back the dosh.
She put the place she's just moved from up for sale after 4 months - which is quite a long time for her.

Current Mood: frustrated

A sad day
David Carradine RIP.
Sad news - I always watched Kung Fu in the arly 1970s.
He was no-doubt instrumental in developing my fetish for tall, skinny men.
Indeed, we have series 1 & 2 on DVD - and have watched most of the episodes.

I hope they show a season of his films on TV.
The Bad Seed and the Woody Guthrie biopic would be good to see again.

Current Mood: sad

My left leg is called Engel
I finally plucked up the courage to get my first tattoo done.
It was surprisingly non-painful. Quite a let down in that department actually.
There was another lady having quite a large design on her lower back. Hers was getting a bit painful. We chatted throughout - which hopefully helped her.
Hers was a birthday present to herself. She said she was having to not pay the rent that month to pay for it.

I was all done in less than half an hour.
Assuming it heals OK - I plan to get a lily above it within the next few months

M & I then went on to the Baywatch Cafe for burger and garlic bread. Fortunately there weren't too many people there. We were able to sit outside for the first time in ages.
Had a look round the ruins of the old church tower.

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: Nick Cave - Pricking Against the Kicks

22nd April 2009
- A new-found rellie emailed me some absolutely wonderful photos of oldies on her line. Mainly taken around the time of WWI.
I now know what a person with the name of Havelock should look like. Pretty much as I expected.

- Went to the newish tattoo shops in both Newport & Ventnor. Both chaps seemed very nice. There were a few interesting designs in both shops - but I still prefer a lily that I found on the www. The chap in the Ventnor shop said that he had plenty of dolphin & butterfly designs. This is obviously a sign of how normal-looking I've become. 20 years ago, he'd have immediately assumed that I'd want something far more radical. Very worrying.

- Had lunch at the Baywatch Cafe at the Duver. Recently opened for the season.

- Went to Newport library and borrowed the Seasick Steve CD. I'd wanted to hear the track that Nick Cave co-wrote and co-vocals on. 73p well spent.

- Got some more bird seed - the one with pink pellets and 1.5" dried maggots in it. Plus some slug pellets.
Met the old biddie who used to live opposite me in my last place (ten years ago) - with her friend as usual.
Both had got alarmingly smaller and had more warts than last time I saw them.

- Helped M plant the sunflowers outdoors. There's over 20 of them. I haven't started weeing on them - yet.

- Helped M fix the feed & weed cart. It had just got a bit bunged up and the off lever caught in the wrong place. He bought a sack of Evergreen and sprinkled it.

- Gave M a very neat haircut.

- Put the washing outdoors for the first time this year.

- Another communique from BT - asking me to come back to them.
- As expected, no sign of the gas bill from British Gas.

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: Johnny Cash at San Quentin

Bands I've seen 1974 onwards
Following gothman63's list -
Here's how it works: copy this list into your own journal, leave in the bands you've seen perform live, delete the ones you haven't, and add new ones that you've seen until you reach 25. An asterisk means the previous person had it on their list. Two asterisks means the last two people who did this before you had that band on their list.

Sex Pistols (2008)*
The Cult *
The Mission *
David Bowie
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
Einsturzende Neubauten
Marc Almond
Mick Ronson
Sisters of Mercy
Peter Murphy
Leonard Cohen
X-Mal Deutschland
Public Image Ltd
Echo & the Bunnymen
New Order
Spear of Destiny
The Stranglers
10cc
Pauline Murray
Ghost Dance
Roxy Music
Ray Davies
Lou Reed
Amy Winehouse
Showaddywaddy

I found it more than a little depressing - compiling this.
I used to have a life.
I must do something about it. Pronto.

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Music: Velvet Underground & Nico

Update:
Highlights include:

- Had a trip over to Busy Bee and spent the £1 voucher they'd sent me - on some more acrylic paint. They'd had a re-vamp of their craft dept - but I wasn't tempted by anything else.
A daffodil competition was in progress. Several dozen entries.

- On the way through Ryde - saw a van-load of old Punks. I read in the weekender the next day that GBH had played at a small venue there. It must have been them packing up.

- Watched a rather scary film called Adrift, where several couples taking a trip on a luxury yacht decide to take a dip - forgetting to pull the steps down first.

- Messers Almond & Lydon both looked well on the Female Divas doc on BBC1 the other night.

- Finished painting FN#1 and intend to print out the templates for Burlesque #1 tomorrow.

- My Johnny Cash pre-recorded tape seems to be disintegrating. It may be hard to convert it to MP3. Luckily, it's the first one to be like that so far. I had wondered if a lot would be past it as many are well over 20 years old.

- The gas meter was read. I expect a pink bill will arrive in about six weeks.

- Hurrah. M is away one evening next week. I haven't had a solo night of indulgence for ages.

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: Bauhaus - Crowds

Highs & Lows
- Well, I shall start off this entry with the sad news of the past two weeks - and hopefully it will herald the start of better things.

- The first is the sudden death of one of M's golfing friends on Friday 13th. On the sixth hole. 61. Heart. M did half expect a crime-scene type outline to be marked where he fell.
He had the rather unfortunate name of Frank Ing. F.Ing.
- The second is that of the death of a former penpal etc from way back in the early 1990s. It seems he took his own life after a long battle with ill health and depression.
During the week, I'd converted a FotN tape that he gave me, yonks back.
Wherever you are, Dave, I hope you're in a better place.

- I guess if nothing else, this shows that we must make the most of the time we all have left in this world.

- so ...

- We both enjoyed the Rough Trade documentary on BBC4 last Friday. Good to see Jeanette Lee (ex-Pil) as she is now.

- I picked 20ish sunflower seeds out of the bird mix and planted them in pots. They're sprouting already.
- I've re-filled the tweety feeder with the rest of the bag. I hope the next pack doesn't have quite so many dried maggots in it.
Robin may be rather partial to them - but I'd rather not see such things.

- We got two grow-bags for the mothers. Tomato plants to follow.
- I made them both cards.
- I also made a rather amusing scarey-cat-card for friend R.

- M had a day trip to England and went on one of the new ferries that are still causing a storm. Wight Light. He said it was OK - but lots of nooks and crannies and easy to get lost. Still a lot slower while they're getting used to them.

- Had another previously-unknown rellie contact me. Yet another from the Wyatt brothers from the mid 1800s. Havelock this time.
I wish some of my mum's Turner lot from the same era would emerge. There were 15 or so of them - so there must be some descendants out there.

Current Mood: sad
Current Music: The Nefilim - Zillo 1993

Well, I haven't posted in absolutely ages - so I guess I'd better do some catching up here.

There's not a huge amount of interest to report.

- For some reason, my phone thinks it's 2010.

- I decided to pay my prescription card by ten monthly installments, rather than in one huge lump. Makes far more sense.

- British Gas are still not sending the original bill - but sending a pink one, weeks later. I guess there must be some way of reporting it.

- Although BT are sending bills OK, they keep sending me mail and emails trying to tempt me back to them. Why did they think I've left?

- I managed to download the necessary update for Google Earth and found where my cousin L has moved to: Papamoa Beach. She's not quite as near to the sear as we are here - but the beach and water look far more inviting.

- Ohhh, a murder a couple of miles away. Quite a novelty for the police.

- We took advantage of B&Q's half-price sale and got a new cistern with a top-flush button. Managed to fit it with a lot of hassle and a final bit of help for the plumber. It works a dream. Why did we put up with that cranky old mechanism for so long?

- Have made several cards, which have been well-received. I'm getting a bit better at them.
- Have nearly finished F#1 painting.
- Have the base for B#1 to print out - tomorrow.

- Am nearly on the final row of tapes in my tape-to-MP3 task. Currently on FotN.

- M finally bought a TomTom. He settled on the nice Irish lady called Kathy to give him the directions. It showed him the way perfectly on his trip to England last week.

- He also requested a kipper as he says he's never tried one. I got a frozen pack from the Co-Op. Hope he likes it.

- I think that's about all the highlights.

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: Fotn - Brixton 1988

Happy New Year
Well, I'm glad that one's finally over. Here's to hoping that 2009 will be much better, especially health wise.

So ... we survived Christmas - the one I thought I'd never see.

The Quorn Roast was as delicious as ever. The Paxo particularly welcome.
Repeats of Randall & Hopkirk were the best thing on over the couple of days, along with some Poirots and other murder mysteries.

I watched most of Meet the Fockers while M was out on New Year's Eve - dealing with a work's crisis. Luckily he wasn't too late and caught the end.
The tipping bath in Jonathan Creek was a bit gory.

We've just finished the tin of biscuits from one of M's customers. The staff only managed one gift each this year. The first year he was there, he bought home about five boxes of chox, bix etc.
The mini Toblerones from my mum didn't last long.
I haven't started on the white Thorntons yet.

Discovery: over-cooked rock-hard malt loaf can be re-incarnated in the microwave on half-power. Especially tasty if the Bertolli is put on first.

On Sunday, I bought a dehumidifyer. I've been having it on for about five hours per day and it makes a couple of pints of water each day.
This should hopefully save me having to wipe the wall down with Duck mould remover. The ceiling paper contracted within a couple of hours of first putting it on.
It has a digital display. Apparently, 60% humidity is considered comfortable. In the mornings it reads 85% and has only got to 60% a couple of times.
I'm hoping it will also help my chestiness as I was fine in the low humidity of Arizona back in 2003.

Things to do this year.
Finally get rid of this horrid vertigo.
Do more paintings. I did three in 08.
Get an easy flush loo cistern and get the shower re-done.
Get the outside loo tarted up and maybe a small extension.
Finish converting all my tapes to MP3.

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: Nick Cave - Kassel - 1992

The past month or so
- I have now converted over 40 Bad Seeds gigs to MP3. I think tonight is the last of the 1990 ones.

- Finished painting Male Nude #2 and it is now hanging on the wall.
Did a miniature sunset for my nephew's wedding, plus card.
Another card for my cousin who has just emigrated to NZ.

- Now to start on another painting.

- Am having trouble getting my google earth to work. I need to spy on where she's moved to.
Have downloaded an update, but it still won't work. I shall persevere.

- Updated my Coe line with the new parents for Hannah. Hope it's right this time.
Updated various other family tree bits and bobs.

- The paperwork for M's numberplate came through very efficiently and I was able to buy him the plates for his 50th. Unfortunately, the groups of characters had to be kept separate - there's no way of altering the spacing, but it's still pretty impressive and worth the wait.

- Cut a green carrier bag into streamers and hung it from the lounge door. It makes an excellent hanging for the zillions of Christmas cards that keep arriving

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: NiNick Cave - Pukkelpop 1990

November 6th
- I have now converted about a dozen tapes to MP3. Mainly Nick Cave from 1984 & 1985. I estimate that there's something less than 200 tapes all together in the drawer. Quality is pretty good, considering. I had been a bit worried that the tapes might have disintegrated a bit over the years. Luckily, quite a few are metal ones, but even the cheaper ones have been OK so far.

- The tomato plant finally went. Didn't quite make it into November as I'd hoped.
- Both the Christmas Cactus plants are starting to flower.

- I got some more bits & pieces to make Christmas cards with. Have made four or five so far.

- Did a lot more to painting 'Male Nude #2'. Hope to have it finished by the end of the month.

- M bid for and managed to win a personalised number plate - or rather I did it all for him as he doesn't do computers. I first asked the DVLA about getting the number about five years ago and they finally released it. I ended up having to put in the bid at 7:15am on the day of the auction as the site had been stalling the night before. Now to wait for the paperwork to arrive and see how to go about transferring it to one of his cars.

- I won an online Hallowe'en competition. Haven't received my prize yet.

- Co-Op Broccoli quiche is delicious.

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: Nick Cave - Stockholm 1985

w/e 24th October.
- Sunday: went to Argos and splashed out on a tape-to-PC machine. This is to enable me to save all my live tapes in MP3 format. It will be quite a project, but will justify the expense of the machine. Hopefully, when I've recorded them all, I can sell the machine.

- Went onto the BayWatch Cafe for lunch. Haven't been there on a Sunday before. During the week, it is full of either OAPs or beach families. Today, various Yachties who had sailed over and dropped anchor in the bay. Children with lacrosse rackets etc.
Luckily we ordered before the table next to us and were able to leave before the chap's crab baguette arrived.
Went for a little drive, up to Culver Down. All quiet in the airfield below. It's usually entertaining to watch the planes & gliders take off and land.

- I am now officially half way to 90. That doesn't sound too old that way.

- Have had some very strange and vivid dreams. In one of them, I was making a banana & Nutella sandwich. Weird, as I eat bananas, but never in a sandwich - and I haven't had Nutella for years. But it actually sounds quite tempting.

- Had a nice evening of indulgence while M was away. I always get far more done when he's not here. Whoops.

- Finished off sewing the ties to the chair pads. Ironed them and tied them in reasonably-neat bows

- Hurrah - a whole weekend of Create & Craft on TV.

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: Nick Cave - Ohio 1984

The past week
- Saturday: went to the fabric shop and bought all sorts of lovely trims. Some gold rope - to finish off the painting of M swinging his club. Worked pretty well. Just enough. Looks like the PVA glue is going to stick it OK. Got some green silk ribbon and also some gold organza for the dining room seat covers. Have sewn two on so far. Turned out well.
Also got some violet Dylon. Have several shirts & tops to dye. Haven't experimented with machine dying before.

- On to D2, where I managed to get some ultra cheap pjs. Bridget Jones brushed cotton.

- Got some Irish Cream fudge for us and some Banoffee for alcomum to go with her kitchen towel prong.

- Chips and ice cream at Shanklin. It's getting much easier to park there, no that most of the tourists have gone.

- Gave my my suede and leather jackets a good brush. I haven't worn either in years. The suede one has never recovered from the soaking it got shortly after I moved here. I feel almost ready to part with it. Maybe I could cut the sleeves off and wear it as a fringy waistcoat.

Aaaagh - had only just finished cataloguing the last lot of Shacklocks - and yet more have arrived. This new chap still has the surname.

- M had a bonfire in the decrepit wheelbarrow. Burnt a load of pine needles.

- Booked a Travel Inn room for M for next week. Hurrah! another solo night of indulgence. All I need is some pervy company.

- Ordered some supplies to make Yule cards - which arrived this morning.

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: Neil Diamond - Shiloh

week ending 10th October
- Got the Sunday Times - with free Doors 'Strange Days' CD.
Far too much reading in the paper and all its extra bits.
I still haven't got through it all.

- One interesting article was on the 'Moon Cup'. An alternative to tampons/pads. These must be the things common in the USA, which women were using for home inseminations.
The article also mentioned that the practice of free-bleeding ie: using no protection at all is becoming popular. Sounds horribly messy to me.

- Finished all the liquid tomato feed. Not worth getting a new bottle at this stage. Maybe I should wee in the tub instead? It did wonders for the sunflower last year. Don't want to encourage rats though.

- M had a bit of shock news: #1 (18) has moved out and into a flatshare with a friend. She's not a particularly worldly-wise type. But at least it should be safer that most starter-digs in England.

- Experimented with rubber stamping using acrylic paints, dabbed on with a sponge. Works wonderfully. I've got 18 little tubes and various bottles - so no need to buy different stamp pads.

- Printing onto velvet flock paper also worked well, so more possibilities there.

- Still not much luck with heat embossing. Think i need a proper stamp pad and heat gun for that.

- Shame about Dr Nick in 'Doctors'. I kind of liked him; rugged yet genteel.

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: Nick Cave - Jesus of the Moon

The past fortnight
- The second of M's two weeks off. His back just about recovered, we had a day out on the Tuesday.
First off, I had to have an osteo-scan, which was a pretty horrid experience due to the staff.
I then had to re-insert my belly-button bar in the carpark - with the help of KY Jelly. I don't think anyone saw.

- Round to Matalan, where M bought two brushed cotton shirts and two jumpers. I splashed out on a load of new towels for us both. In the blue.

- On to InStore. Finally found a kitchen towel prong for alco-mum's birthday. The last in the shop. Also got some new cushions for the bedroom.

- Lunch at the Baywatch Cafe. Too windy to sit outside, so we had to sit indoors at the back. Plenty of people to watch - and could still see the sea.

- On the way back stopped at Hyacinth's Hobbies, where I found the velvet sticky paper I'd been looking for. Also some brads and some lengths of ribbon.

- Had three nights of solo indulgence whilst M was first up in Gloucester, then Birmingham. Managed to devour a pack of McVitties Caramel Shortcake slices pretty quickly whilst watching the Roxy Music two-set DVD.

- Made cards for cousins J & J. Variations on the butterfly theme.

- Finished cataloguing yet another load of Shacklocks. This time, the ones that moved to Liverpool.

- Still haven't solved the Hannah Coe mystery.

- Have yet to see Mr Lydon's TV advert for Country Life.

- Ah, I get it. Ocean Spray dried cranberries have been re-packaged and are now called Craisins. No wonder I couldn't see them for looking. I'm sure their sales will plummet until people catch on.

- Sunday, had a bumper crop of 13 mini tomatoes. I hope they will keep going into November.

- Wednesday. Ist October so we allowed ourselves to indulge and put the heating on for an hour. Am now able to dry the washing inside for the next few months.

- Friday. Made two three-portion toad in holes and 12 mini Yorkshires.

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: Bryan Ferry - Dylanesque

The past fortnight
Last week was a bit sparse on news, so here's a two-week account.

- M came first at golf and won the Ray Nobbs salver and a £30 voucher.
- The salver had to be sent to England to be engraved.
- When it comes back, I'll take some photos of M holding it as they had a prize-giving gathering for him, but unfortunately no photos.

- The following week, we went over to Westridge to spend the voucher. He tried out a less powerful club to match his King Cobra. Hit 22 balls into oblivion and decided to buy it.
- Over to Busy Bee, where I bought some black and lilac ribbon, some blank black and white cards and a dragonfly stamp. The latter was a bit of an extravagance, but I'd been tempted by it on a previous visit, and it was still waiting for me.
I shall try it out tomorrow.
- Onto Shanklin for some chips. There were actually people in the water.
M bought me a big bag of candyfloss. I ate half there and had the other half that evening.

- Monday, the start of M's fortnight off. He went to golf, came back pleased with his new club, but with a pulled back.

- Tuesday. Greenie MoT booked at Osborne. Got there about 11am, they gave us a trade-in Fiesta as a courtesy car - it was meant to be a Terrios 4x4, but I said that might be a bit high. The Fiesta had obviously been owned by a fairly tall, slightly heavy handed woman who drove with one hand on the wheel and the other on the gear lever.
- We went to Wightcat crafts. I bought some more ribbon in three colours, organza this time, some paper lace ribbon and some shiny shapes.
- Onto Arreton Barns for our now-regular fudge purchase. It was my turn to choose and I went for some cherry vanilla.
- Onto Ventnor for some chips.
- Back to Cowes. Greenie not quite ready, MoT OK, but they were still fitting the new shoes (tyres) and battery.
- Over to Osborne House for half an hour to look round the gift shop.

- Wednesday, M's back even worse, so he went to the GP and came back with three different types of tablets, plus a not to try and reclaim three days holiday back.

- Mrs Bettaware delivered my long-handled dustpan & brush set and a very useful long handled, multi-angle duster. Works well with a damp Bounty fixed to it.

- Thursday, M had a pyjama day and did a lot of sleeping.

- You'd think it would be easy to sign up to online banking and pay a bit of the credit card off and all would remain the same. But no, they've changed my statement date, payment date and no clues as to whether my DD still stands. Grrrr. I phoned and spoke to Mohammed who said he'd get it all sorted so I still receive paper statements.

- Friday, a lot better.

- Meanwhile, I've finished cataloguing my Shacklocks. Just a bit of tidying up to do on the list - and a few pages to upload.
- I was promptly emailed by yet another chap who's wife is descended from Edward (c1580). He kindly sent me a transcription of Edward's will, which is quite interesting. Luckily a transcription, as those olde scripts are so hard to read.

- Just one tiny tomato this week, but there's about 50 still slowly turning orange.

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: Bowie - Lodger

w/e 5th September
- Saw the George Clooney film 'Oh brother where art thou?' - which was quite entertaining.

- Went to the annual Morris Minor Rally at the local choo-choo train place. Finally, after 13 years plucked up the courage to talk to the parents of an ex-workmate who make the pilgrimage each year. Got collared for a long & tedious conversation with the owner of an old Wolsey. Luckily the Schneider Air Trophy competitors didn't seem too low or loud this time.

- Stopped to get some fudge. M's choice: orange & chocolate. Followed by chips at Ventnor.

- A lean week for tomatoes, but have noticed that two red-hot pokers have bloomed.

- Did a BIG Tesco order.

- Hurrah! M is going on a two-night course in a few weeks. That's two whole solo nights of indulgence for me.

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: Bauhaus - Go Away White

week ending 29th August
- Managed to nozzle several rooms without getting too woozy. I hadn't been able to manage that for several months - hence horrid whispy things have been appearing everywhere. I think I got rid of a few.

- Saw that flowers are appearing on the primroses we dug up and put in pots - ready to transplant. I've been sprinkling a bit of tomato feed on them, so I think that may have caused them to sprout.

- Went to pick some plums I'd spotted on the sparse tree a few days previous. I should have picked them at the time as they were gone. Rodents? Squirrels?

- Why is there always one single grasshopper on the roses when I deadhead them? And how come I manage to bring one earwig in with the petals each time?

- Started to draw out my dragonfly tattoo design.

- Started reading the Alice Cooper autobiog. Have read about half so far. M was pleased to hear that he's a fellow Huguenot.

- Completed 17 of the 18 sudukos in the Indy supplement.

- Finished cataloguing my Shacklocks and am now doing lookups on them for missing marriages and censuses etc.

- Made two three-portion toad-in-the-holes plus 12 small Yorkshire Puddings.

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: Nick Cave - Jesus of the Moon

w/e 22nd August
- Had a trip to the wilds of England for my aunt's 70th birthday party.
Booked on the 12:30 ferry, which departed at 1pm. Packed. They put the upper ramp up for extra cars. Still arrived there before many others.
A good gathering - various people I hadn't seen for years. Lovely venue (golf club). M was itching to play a few holes. Good spread.
Left about 6:30pm. Ended up going the scenic route - past Great Bookham. Tempted to call in on John & Hannah - but as usual, the entrance to the High Street proved difficult to find. Just as well, as we ended up catching the 8:45 ferry which departed just after 9pm. Only about six cars this time. Stayed in the car and could just see a firework display on the Island. Quite spectacular, watching it from the water.

- Tuesday, phoned my uncle P as hadn't managed to put my list of qs to him at the party. Apparently, my grandfather had an apprenticeship with some food chain called Stevenson & Rush - who I'd never heard of.
Also, a different version of how my gt grandfather lost his arm. previous story was that he had an accident whilst working as a line layer. P said he'd got it caught in a railway gate on a drunken night out.

- Wednesday, tried to assure alco-mum that it would be a good idea to rent the annexe of her friends' new place in Hampshire. It would mean renting her place out, which probably wouldn't be a problem.

- Finally finished cataloguing my Shacklocks from the new trees from JB. Now need to tie up some loose ends and check marriage dates etc.

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: Bowie - Lodger

week ending 15th August
Saturday, went out and about in Greenie
First stop, Argos for a 4gb flash drive. Haven’t tried it yet, but it should be easier than storing my family tree work on loads of CDs.
Onto Halfords for some wash & wax.
Onto the garden centre. Unlikely that SB would be there this time, as she was in Beijing the day before.
I bought some crinklycut scissors and M decided to get one of the cut-price garden arches that they had on special. They didn’t have the velvet self-adhesive paper I was after.
Used my £1.34 loyalty card voucher.
Then across to Tesco – where we managed to find their tins of potato bake that were unavailable for our last delivery. Back in stock – at full price. Cheap fairy cakes for me and bargain whisky for M.
Fillied up with petrol using 5p off per litre cupon.
Onto the lifeboat carpark for some yummy hot chips. Ate them in the car with the rain lashing down. Miserable tourists hurrying by.
After munching the chips, we went on to Arreton Barns. I got a box of biscuits to take to my aunt’s 70th party. Also some banoffee fudge for us.
The sweetie hut was absolutely packed with what must have been a coachload of more wet & miserable tourists.
Back home.
Driving down our road, we noticed a PC coming out of one of the houses, clipboard in hand. Police car parked further down and two more PCs going into other houses. Uh oh.
Had been indoors a few minutes when one came to the door. Asked M a few questions, then he called for me.
Did I do it? He asked.
I said I didn’t think I’d been naughty lately.
He then said he’d have to ask M a few Qs as he was in the age group.
We all sat in the lounge and M was severely interrogated – or rather a two-page form was filled in. Description, nose, ear & body hair. Piercings, scars & burns. Etc etc.
I was glad that I’d re-potted the two spider plants a few days previous.
It turned out that there’d been an attack at the far end of the road – where horses are kept.
The PC seemed to think the person was known to the victim – and nothing to worry about.

Wednesday, my second trip to the ENT specialist. I told him I’d improved quite a bit – could now read etc and wasn’t going up & down quite all of the time. He seemed pretty sure it would go, eventually – but that I can have grommets inserted to help the ear pressure. Told me to reduce one of the two types of tablet. Back in three months.

Watched Patsy Kensit on Who Do You …. Quite interesting as both mine & M’s rellies came from one of the areas she visited. A shame we wouldn’t get such individual treatment if we visited the same churches.

Printed out some family tree stuff to take to aunt’s party. Living person’s details to be updated with new arrivals and a list of Qs to ask my uncle P who should be there.

Spending far too long fiddling about trying to get the chap’s website online. Yahoo’s easy load FTP system should be easy, buy I prefer to use my own prog. Hopefully I’ll get there eventually.

Made a card for one of my online friends. Quite pleased with it, am getting better at designing them. Hope he doesn’t think it’s too feminine.

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: Bauhaus

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