Picture 1 is a hang over from WOW and ought to feature in my 'pretty houses' series. I haven't actually got such a folder but this little house in Winster is pretty idyllic I suppose. For us romantically minded country-lovers that is. There wouldn't be enough shops for Y.It is near the Mill and has a weir and, just to the left on the other side of the bridge on which I'm standing, some white-water producing the requisite 'babbling brook' sound.
Y wasn't happy with her children's clothing items so we decided to go to the big Tesco near David's house in Long Eaton and, after ringing, to call in and see them. She found what she wanted in this enormous store and they changed the unsuitable items without a quibble. The clothing section alone seems bigger than the entire shop at our nearest Tesco in Heanor. You could spend a day there. The car-park is so big it's marked in sections, 'Zone E' etc., to facilitate finding your car when you leave the shop. So as not to hassle Y while she was browsing I explored nearby aisles and, in the beer section, found some non-alcoholic beer as a change from my n.a. lager. Called Bitburger (Alkoholfrei) I can't find a word of English on the label. Greek -Yes !
I just poured myself a bottle, in the interests of good journalism of course, so that I can tell you about it. Very very nice. Obviously a 'beer' rather than a 'lager' and I can forsee a Tesco call each time we visit David and family, in order to replenish my cellar.
Poor Brooke isn't well at all and had started this cough and fever while away on holiday. The doctor has prescribed antibiotics which Helen said seemed to be working a bit. But she has lost weight with it (which she can ill-afford to do being so slight) and needed lots of mummy-hugs. She still managed to be lovely to us with lovely smiles etc. I hope with the antibiotics, she gets a little better each day and soon is fully recovered. David put me a selection of holiday pics on a flash-drive so I could download them. Flash-drives are such a useful and easily pocketable way of transferring data. But they must be a nightmare for Security People !
More or less as an investment, but also to use, David has bought two sidebyside brick-built garages on the road opposite for what I consider a very sensible price. He shouldn't ever lose money on them and has already had queries from interested purchasers and people who would like to rent one. They are opposite a new development of apartments which, if they are lucky, will have one garage each. And David's couldn't be better situated. A 'man of property' no less !
Picture 2 is from Weymouth/Swanage holiday pics and is, as you can see, of a very sound sand car. Although size is difficult to judge, it was big enough to sit in. And great fun to make.Next time David and Helen take their caravan to Carsington they have invited Steven and Lisa and family over because the kids had such good fun together, and we have been invited too. It will be great to see them all together.
Tomorrow we are going on a Mansfield National Trust outing to Dunham Massey and we are looking forward to it. The link I have entered seems more informative than the actualy National Trust webpage. But The Stables Restaurant sounds good, from the N.T. information page. We enjoy a day with our N.T. chums whatever the weather. The forecast about which is not good unfortunately even though today has been super. But you never know.
Pleased to report that my printer has come back to life. I opened up the Epson 'reference guide' and returned all the settings to factory 'default', disconnected and then reconnected everything an hour later, making sure all the connections were secure. Switched on, and bingo, my ink-level indicators were back and apart from supermarket Kodak being lousy paper I made an adequate job of a couple of 6x4 s for Y's journal and a print from last year's coach trip to Morecombe for an N.T lady who asked if it were possible as she had seen the picture on the Coach Operator's Office wall. Praise indeed I suppose. So I found it on my external hard-drive, a miracle in itself, and printed it. I hope it is the right one as I deliver it tomorrow.
Back to Woody Allen for today's quote. It is one that some people will remember me mentioning before, whenever the subject of 'speed reading' crops up. -
"I took a speed reading course and read 'War and Peace' in twenty minutes. It involves Russia"
Woody Allen
After returning from Dunham Massey tonorrow evening we are nipping over to TJ's because Debra and family are up for the weekend. It will be lovely to see them but, if there is no blog tomorrow, it will be because I am .......................etc.. But family are infinitely more important than my blog n'est-ce pas ?
Catch you tomorrow. Or the next day. Tarrah !
Catch you tomorrow. Or the next day. Tarrah !
2 comments:
You will note that this comment is posted at just after 21.00.
I got bored with Lara Croft – too much not-clever-or-witty-enough ‘tell not show’ and altogether very sub Indiana Jones, I thought.
But there is Match of the Day to look forward to, tonight and for the next 9 months.
”…size is difficult to judge,” you say. I think the sand car pic illustrates perfectly my desire for a person or a 50p piece.
I picked my first outdoor tomato yesterday and another 8 today: my favourite Red Alert. Ate a couple straight off with just a touch of salt. Absolutely lovely; the sweet/sharpflavour starts to die straight away and even a couple of hours later they have lost that first zing. And as for shop bought tomatoes! Even the rare very good ones come nowhere near.
PS to yesterday’s blog and comments:
If there is an adjective for someone who repeatedly makes the same mistake, it should be applied to me (‘repetitionally compulsive’?).
Not only am I married to my third wife but I almost invariably refer to the American sculptor Alexander Calder as Erskine Calder, who was, as everyone knows, an English surveyor of the 19C.
Not only that; I also confuse them both with Erskine Caldwell who wrote “Tobacco Road” and “God’s Little Acre” but not “The Sound and the Fury” (Faulkner). And he was certainly not a winner of the Tour de France in the 1920s (he finished well down the field, if at all).
Mea culpa.
I’ve heard of people counting sheep to get to sleep, but stuffing chickens to stay awake Jill ???
Unlike Jill and RadioG, I am still a creature of the night, which may account for the dreamlike (or nightmare-like) quality of some of my blog comment.
I no longer party till dawn but if it is a matter of being awake any time between 02.00 and 05.00 I would rather stay up than get up.
Architect Leo Godlevski deserves all the praise he has received for the Harley Gallery: the detailing is superb and modern blends perfectly with traditional; paying tribute without being slavishly imitative.
Re the cycling sculptor Reg Butler: Dan is in the Lake District on a 24 hour relay bike ride (4 per team) from 02.00 Saturday. It sounds the sort of thing I would perhaps have been misguided enough to do in my late teens, but not, I think, at 34!
But good on him.
I actually saw Reg Harris twice: once, in the late 1940s, at the Rainworth Colliery Sports Ground where he was a guest ‘competitor’ in the 1,000 metres. Sprint cycling must be the only race where for ten minutes or more the aim is to not move
[“These cat and mouse antics have produced some of the most memorable moments in Games history — like the bizarre display at the 1964 Tokyo Games. During the semifinal of the 1000 metre sprint, Giovanni Pettenella of Italy and Pierre Trentin of France stood motionless for 21 minutes, 57 seconds, each waiting for the other to lead off. The waiting game had nothing to do with chivalry. It is considered an advantage to be in second position, because the rider can draft off the leader and attack without warning.
The length of this standoff set an Olympic record, and standing still was later limited to a maximum of three minutes.”]
although speed skating has something of the same technique. I next saw him when, like myself, he was dining in the Mackworth Hotel, near Derby, in the 1970s. He was as famous in his heyday as Stan Matthews and Freddie Mills.
Re the Fri quote; If there is anything worse than someone who propounds one’s own ideas as there’s, it is someone who says, “It’s like Bungus says…” when Bungus has said nothing.
Bungus, when you mentioned the sculptor Erskine Calder, I immediately thought of Erskine Caldwell, and thought what a talented man he must be, books as well as art. So you are not alone....and I am assuming Erskine is a man's name? You can't be too sure nowadays.
We have just watched the BBC2 prog. on British Films - this weeks it was on 'social realism' - 'Saturday Night and Sunday Morning' 'Cathy come home' etc. etc. - we enjoyed the prog. and all the new interviews with the actors who were in them, entertained ourselves no end by saying 'She's got fat;' - 'doesn't he look old' as you do.
I'm with Y on the country cottages/shops.....
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