John texted me yesterday evening to say they had now reached the Dordogne and were enjoying this delightful site for their camper-van.Abutting the River Dordogne the site seems to merit John's description of 'blissful'.
And their weather seems good. As this website says, May is a good month to be there.
My morning entailed inching a little further up the Windows Vista learning-curve on my new Dell. But I'm getting there. Basically the system does the same job as XP but things look different. So far I'm sure, all the errors have been mine rather than the system or the laptop.
I arrived at Long Eaton shortly after 10am and it was great to see everyone. They all looked really well, no doubt due to all that fresh air, and chips, at Whitby. David showed me a slide-show of their pictures. Fortunately, this time, they remembered to take a camera. My eye was drawn magnetically to the Doll's House which, as Helen said, undergoes change on a regular basis. It's a lovely hobby - they make things for it, and acquire bits from fellow enthusiasts and is certainly full of interest.
We sat on the new patio for coffee and cakes and then the girls wanted me to see their latest Wii game, basically it's a 'Mario' and involves controlling vehicles tearing around at breakneck speed and collecting points. They both seemed very good at it - I would be absolutely hopeless. They were kind enough not to press me. Their other grandad, Helen's Dad, has been cajoled into 'having a go' and from the sound of it - he's pretty hopeless too.I asked for an outside shot of the Doll's House because I liked the window-cleaner's barrow and ladders. All absolutely precise to the 12th scale. When I got home I decided on a kip and now feel rejuvenated. When I woke up it was tea-time so I made a pot of tea and had a slice of bread & butter with jam on it. We've discovered a delicious cherry jam at Lidl, called Marlene. What a nice name for a Jam !
My responses to your previously crafted comments
jbw ..... I'm a supporter of our old imperial measurements. I can just about visualise a speed based on travelling 15 miles in an hour. '2lbs' is also understandable to me - I think of 2 x bags of sugar. But how the hell can you visualise 450 of anything ?
Tim has a lively sense of humour - and more powder to his blunderbuss ! The Weather Centre at Watnall is innocent !
Jill .... I should have realised it was you and accepted your 'anonymous' comment rather than deleting it. Anyway - sorted now !
I think you can be sure that Y won't have been ballet dancing. She would though, if one of her little darlings needed her to.
You are quite right. Anyway - what's wrong with pyjamas, or dressing gowns al fresco ?
Thanks for the real-life contribution to The Sports Desk. Enthusiasts in any hobby are always a strange bunch. I think P. J. O'Rourke once said there was a definite whiff of either the lynch-mob or lemmings about them. Whatever the hobby !
Hope you and Y's meet-up works out tomorrow. It will be fun.
Yvonne .... How lovely to be receiving your comments - from Palmers Green !
I agree about the jaw-dropping nature of observing the young at their computers. Even Millicent at 4yrs.
Good fun to hear about your perfectionist approach to your Wisteria photos. Your camera is certainly equipped with an excellent lens, so we can't be doing with inferior results !
Bob ..... Weeding can so easily be put off, and put off, as you say. But, when you have actually knuckled down and done it, the result is rewarding.
I agree that 'vegetarians are mostly nicer'. Helen C being a case in point - Ha Ha!
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Quotation time ......
"Rogues are preferable to imbeciles because they sometimes take a rest"
Alexander Dumas
Alexandre Dumas, père, looks like an excellent candidate for our 'good hour in a pub' test. The photograph, mid 19th Century, would probably be a 'daguerrotype'. With that sharpness of the detail it certainly looks like it
Sleep tight - catch you tomorrow - new car day !
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3 comments:
I am fascinated by the dolls house - some day they will have to spend a day in Windsor looking at Queen Mary's dolls houses in Windsor Castle. I wonder if they have seen them on line?
Black or red cherry jam? I'm half-way through a jar of Tiptree's black cherry which is very good. They also do a quite sharp Morello Cherry one (I used to have that with duck). But they don't have names!
It got quite hot here this afternoon, the sun loungers came out. We had to move back into the shade after about fifteen minutes though.
I saw a very interesting interview on tv last night - think it was BBC4 - Ian Hislop being interviewed by Marcus Brigstock. Lots of old film footage and tv clips. I didn't realise how many things he had been involved in.
I tried the first half-an-hour of 'The Da Vinci Code', thought it was utter tosh, switched over to Martin Shaw being 'George Gently' - didn't like that either! So it was back to my book. (Barbara Vine's 'The Birthday Present, in case you are wondering).
Apart from marmalades the only preserve I really like on toast (or b&b)is blackcurrant jam, but on croissants only apricot will do.
I’m on your side.
But visualise 450gm? It’s easy; it’s a pound!
However, when surveying, to carry, in ones head, 690, 1800, 5280 (mm) is nigh on impossible (apart from 1800 being VERY easily misread as 180 – I just did it, before checking), whereas 2’3”,
5’11”, 17’4” is relatively simple.
You’re right again!
There’s no doubt computer addicts and photographers are strange creatures.
I’ve only just noticed our wisteria and it’s already past its best – so self effacing with a background of foliage.
Weeding has never made me feel rewarded.
My Carol Ann Duffy book arrived by post and turned out to be 2 cassettes!
(How fortunate the blogmeister isn’t Poet-Laureate –
he’s on the wagon and Yvonne hates sherry!)
MPs’ Expenses:
Exaggerated I’m sure.
But just to think I used to feel a bit guilty ‘borrowing’ a fag from the guv’nor’s box and rounding up my mileage to the nearest five!
Jill:
I had ‘tea on the lawn’ (newly mown) – pork pie, buttered toast and apple chutney with a 1-person pot of Assam.
For doll's houses and their afficionados the place to go is The Dolls House Factory at Ripley (actually Codnor Gate Industrial Estate)where there is a fantastic assortment of houses and an unbelievable array of everything that goes inside them. Even one on the floor for children to play with.
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