Loving Memories

Sitting reading the announcements in the hatched, matched and dispatched
pages of the local newspaper (as you do when there is nothing better to do),
there was one announcement in loving memory of someone who would have been
101 yrs old today but who died at the tender age of 90-something. How far do
you take it? "In loving memory of a great-great-grandfather on his 135th
birthday". Or am I being a cold hearted bitch?

More Bricks and Mortar

Although our current venture into the property market is going slowly we are already planning our next move. Watching Kirstie Allsop and her sidekick Phil last night telling us Where Best to Invest has set the wife off thinking. As you may or may not be aware instead of selling her house to buy the new one, she is renting it out and has had no problem finding a tenant, in fact they came looking for her. This area is still cheap enough to make buy-to-let viable and with the hospital and University on the doorstep, finding tenants should be a doddle. The wife has even gone so far as to predict that if we get four properties rented to students we could retire to the country and live off the profits. I'm off to browse the property pages again and think up ways to raise funds for the deposits, this is one grand plan that I can feel myself getting swept along with.

Green Fingers

The sun hasn't stopped shining all weekend and it actually feels warm. Saturday we ended up going to a couple of garden centres, a little premature perhaps but we bought some plants for the new house, including a couple of strawberry plants (all I need now is an ice-cream maker). Spurred on by this we also planted some seeds ready to bring on in the new greenhouse and veggie plot, including enough lettuce and tomatoes to keep us in salads until Christmas. Yesterday we headed into Durham for a walk along the river which left me with a feeling of complete contentment. The problem now is that it's Monday morning and the last thing I feel like doing is working. As yesterday was St George's day, the patron saint of this green and pleasant land, today really should be another bank holiday!

Public service

I've just decided that today should be a public holiday so that we can all celebrate the Queen's 80th birthday. I know we've already had one day off this week but surely having today off as well would have made the day special for all of us. I would have much preferred to sit at home in watching day time telly her celebrate than be at work. I might also have had raised a glass to her by now (unless it's just this place that makes me want to drink).

Thumb twiddling

Have been waiting for a phone call at work now for two days as my favourite
toy has broken down again. This means I have to lurk around the damn thing
so I can follow the engineers instructions and press various buttons to try
and fix it. Whats the bet that if I go out to get lunch now he'll phone.

19th April 2001

Last night I took the wife out for dinner to celebrate the last five years ('cos I'm a big old romantic like that). We went to a little Itallian on the sea front where the food is fantastic (especially after the rubbish we have had the last few times we have ventured out for food). I love it there but the wife had never been before. I knew she was impressed when she made a note of the sauce she had on her steak, promising to replicate it at home. The only downside was that they had no mussels - apparently it's something to do with the weather in Scotland? At least it gives us an excuse to go back when the weather is better. After being well fed and watered and a brief stroll along the prom (very brief - it's still only April) we made it home and promptly fell asleep on the sofa, waking up sometime later, her with a bad back and me with a stiff neck. If we struggle to stay awake now, I dread to think what we will be like after 25 years!

Pizza and Wine

This song reminds me of sittiing in a pub, five years ago today on the day I met the wife for the first time. (Although a quantity of wine was consumed neither of us ate pizza that day).


Can you shut your eyes and turn away from me
I'm gonna say some things I've never said before
And I'm feeling kind of stupid and I'm feeling kind of shy
But they're building up inside of me and I have to let you hear them
Cos you never know, the world might end and one of us might die,
Don't be laughing, but I love the way you smile.

Could you maybe close your ears and talk to someone else
While I tell you things I've never said before,
Cos I'm feeling kind of stupid and I'm feeling kind of shy.
That I've not been used to tenderness and I've not been used to being kissed
Or being held for hours at a time, eating pizza and drinking wine.
Oh I love the way you put your hand in mine.

Could you ever reach behind you and turn the music up,
While I say some things I've never said before,
But it's getting easier to tell you more and more.
That I always dreamed of waking up to singing in my ear,
in fact I used to dream of....
Now you don't even sing in tune, but that's alright with me
Cos I have always loved the way you sing to me.
Now I've always been the scary type,
And I've always felt the need to fight,
My words will pierce the skin and make you bleed.
But you light my fires when I get cold,
You buy me back when I get sold
And you've never been afraid to love me,
And I will always love the way you love me,
I will always love the way you love me.

Juliet Turner - From Lets Hear it for Pizza

Not Just for Lorries

I'm heading off shortly to visit my mum for the weekend so if everyone else who is using the A1(M) and M1 this afternoon please remember that we drive on the LEFT in this country and that any other lanes are for overtaking. Once you have completed your manoeuver (i.e. passed the vehicles going more slowly than you) if you move back into the left hand lane we will all have a nice afternoon as well as getting to our destinations faster and more easily. Now let's all have a pleasant journey.

More tales of moving

We passed the house we nearly bought today and the people who (thankfully) pipped us to it were moving in. We're still hoping to be moving in the first week in may but the mortgage advisor we've been seeing thought it best to delay the re-mortgage on the wifes house until things moved on a bit with the new mortgage. The trouble is he seems to have forgotten about it and we are now facing a delay while he sorts out the paperwork which could have been done weeks ago. His theory was that we didn't want to be paying the buy-to-let mortgage before we actually moved but there are surely later stages that we could have held it up if necessary. Listening to the wife talking to him on the phone though is entertaining - he must be the only person who can talk more than the wife can!

We drove past the new house today (as I do everyday, just to make sure it's still standing)! The garden is blooming, it looks like the old lady took really good care of it and all sorts of colourful flowers are flowering already, and it's still only April. The garden is one of the main reasons we are buying this house and will be a priority once we move in. There is a gravel area just right for a veggie plot and a perfect spot for a greenhouse. It will take some preparing but I can't wait to start growing food. My only problem is that it's getting late in the planting season and will be several weeks before the veggie plot is ready. I'm tempted to start planting seeds in the propagator now but am worried that they die before we are able to transplant them (if they start growing at all, I'm not very green fingered, yet).

Don't come too close

I'm back in the spare room again having been struck down by bird flu a virus which quite sensibly the wife doesn't want to catch (although she is looking after me well, supplying endless cups of tea, just not coming any nearer than an arms length away). Have to drag myself back into the land of the living soon - so much to do, so much to blog about - just so little energy to do so.

Gee Up

What better way to spend a wet, cold Saturday afternoon than with a windswept Clare Balding (when Sue Barker isn't taking over) and the racing on the telly, and of course a flutter on the Grand National. My money is on Innox and an each way on Amberleigh House. Amberleigh House may be getting on a bit but he should have no problem getting round. Now to work out how many will fall at the first fence.


UPDATE: Ok, so Innox fell at the first fence and the other was pulled up on the second curcuit. At least the wifes horse finished, just not fast enough to cover our loses!

Shock Horror!

So a swan has been found to have died with bird flu in Scotland. The end of the world is nigh! I was late for work this morning because breakfast news said they had a reporter inside the 'protection zone' at Cellardyke and I wanted to see the mass panic and people dying in the streets. Alas, it looked just like a sleepy seaside town. Then they went to a supermarket in South London where people insisted that they only buy free range organic chicken anyway so there was no risk to their health which cheered me up. Free range organic poultry is probably more at risk because they are kept out in the lovely fresh air where wild birds can come and go as they please, passing on their germs. Having said that how many cases are there of transmission from bird to human through eating chicken? How many cases of human to human transmission have there been? I'll shut up before this story really starts to wind me up.

Staying on a similar subject, the local news last night ran a story about a giant rabbit eating its way through vegetable plots and allotments, and this isn't the first giant rabbit to have made the news recently. Perhaps we should be less worried about bird flu and more worried about starvation giant rabbits take over the country and destroy all crops.

Another girl

I have been banished to the spare room for the last few nights, through no fault of my own. The oldest grandkid has been staying with us as her mum hasn't been well and being the awkward 5 yr old that she has refused to sleep anywhere but with her Nan. Thankfully her mother has made a full recovery and the pair have returned to their own home and their own beds. As much as love the kid the spare bed is small and cold and I can't wait to snuggle up with the wife again. Clean sheets, clean pj's, clean me - roll on bed time!

Baldwins

I can't believe that they are killing Mike Baldwin off so quickly. It's only a few weeks since he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. When it comes to issues like this the script writers should portray it more realistically. Apparently they did the same with Alma, killing her too quickly as well.

(Talking of Alma, it might just be my thing for older women but does any one else think that Amanda Barrie is rather nice? Apart from in the awful wig they had her in in Bad Girls).

Anyway, yes. The point of this post was a could have done better to the Corrie writers!

Girls and Boys

5 yr old GK was staying with us this weekend. Last night she asked for water.

5 yr old: I like water but boys like juice. It’s a boy thing. Boys like juice. Girls like water and juice.
Me: So boys don’t like water?
5 yr old: Do you know the other difference between girls and boys?
Me: No
5 yr old: Girls have a tuppence and boys have a boobie-tuppence.
Me & Wife: What?
5 yr old: Girls have boobies up here and a tuppence down here (pointing) but boys have a boobie-tuppence down here.

God knows who’s been trying to teach her the finer details of anatomy but strangely enough I can see her logic!