Cold Day - buts lots happening

With so many tulips in the garden Yvonne decided to cut some for the house and it was a toss-up whether they looked better on the window-sill with the light on them, than they did in the garden. As Chazal said :-

"The flower in the vase smiles but no longer laughs"

Once read, never forgotten I suppose. But they do look nice and they can still see their siblings a few feet away can't they ?

The day started out quite cold, around 6C as I remember and remained predominately dull with the odd flash of sun. But at least it hasn't rained and Steven and family at Alton Towers are having a whale of a time. Yvonne rang him on his mobile and we wished him 'Happy Birthday' and the children came on and sounded very excited. Hannah was keen to tell us all about a water-ride and they will have much to entertain us with when we see them.

John rang and I had a nice long chat with him. I told him how well his Millau Viaduct picture had been received on my Photo Forum and he said that in life it was stupendous, and very difficult to photograph due to it's size. If you got far enough away to include the whole structure, you were too far away to do it justice. I can't wait to see it myself and Yvonne and I have put it on our 'things to be done' list. But she says she won't countenance me driving on the continent. We could do it in easily manageable bits !! John said that everyone was fine and that Philip had his firm's van with all up-to-date audio and IT equipment because he had some Cruisers to visit. I assume either to fix some problems or to sell them stuff. Sounded good whatever. No word from David so I guess they are away too. Tracy rang and she said she was going into work - mainly because there won't be anyone else there, and she can get a lot done. Ah well ! These conscientious young people.

We had a gammon joint for lunch with all the trimmings plus veg. and, of course, the traditional broad beans and a savoury sauce. I boiled the gammon and, relying on my trusty meat-thermometer, I'm always surprised that it takes less time to cook than one would expect! We wouldn't be happy about it under-cooked but it is nice to have it just right and still moist and tender. It will be lovely cold tomorrow.

After lunch and a rest we decided to go over to Arnold for another 'mooch'. We stopped at Dorkett Head so Yvonne could explore the footpath on the right hand side: the one on the left being so dramatic. But it was a disappointment. No magnificent view as I had predicted just high banking and a wire fence surrounding some quarry working. Yvonne had a good legstretch and a blow though while I managed a few yards. Did me good though. Then we had another generalised cruise around looking for suitable bungalows. We can't really get excited about any though, until we have a firm buyer for ours. Let us hope that changing agents changes our luck.

This evening on Tv there was the first of a three-parter, a docu-drama about the Impressionists and it was great. Well cast, well acted, and well written (from letters, diaries and contemporary records) and such a pleasure to be on BBC and free of adverts. In one of my web-magazines the start of iMP is predicted within a few months. This effectively means that BBC TV will join their Radio output and be viewable again and downloadable for up to a week after being broadcast. The final nail in the VHS-recorder coffin! And once BBC are doing it the commercial channels won't dare be far behind.

Pretty Cool Day - the weather, not me

Making no apology for taking and publishing another picture of Yvonne's 'informal bed' which is a real joy. I remembered to move unsightly bamboo canes today. The ornamental grass (to the upper left of centre ) which came from Joan and grows so tall, is doing well again. It always does and has the advantage of looking elegant throughout the winter. Not an evergreen but Yvonne leaves it and cuts it down to ground level in the early spring tidy-up. In the background one can hardly see the forsythia and the keria both of which have done well, particularly if one is keen on early vibrant yellows. The plant in the foreground, in the centre, is also a good 'doer' and the foliage, attractive as it is now, matures to a rich coppery red. Neither of us can ever remember what it is called. No doubt when Joan comes over she will tell us and we can remember to try one in our new garden. Or - someone may contribute a comment to the Blog.

Talking of which - adding comments should now be possible. Bob, and maybe others, have tried hard to add comments (at my request) and found it impossible. And it has been my fault all along. When I started the Blog I left everything on Blogger's own 'default settings' which only allowed registered-users to attach comments, after copying out a security-code. The idea being to make it impossible for 'spammers' and the like. Although I've left the security-code in place, I've now changed the 'comments setting' to admit 'anyone'. If it has any untoward consequences, I'll change it back again.

There was a Car-Boot sale over on the Footie field this morning and I went over around 9am. All I bought was some food for my voracious garden birds - but I noticed how cold it was. My computer told me it was 8C and the day didn't really warm up very much. Yvonne managed an hour in the garden and I watered the tubs. They dehydrate over the winter and we have wallflowers etc., coming along that will be in bloom within a week. Particularly if we get some sun.

In Lidl the other day I discovered a tinned cold drink called Xtra Presso which comes all the way from Neckasulm, Germany. It's gorgeous. A mixture of Espresso and Milk it tastes rather like Bailey's without the alcohol - which of course suits me well. Not managed to persuade Yvonne to try it yet, but when she does she'll love it. Although it is clouding over now, at dusk, the rain has kept away and it as been fairly sunny. I hope it has been for everyone away with children for the Bank Holiday because it is so depressing trying to think of fun things to do in bad weather. Steven and family are at Alton Towers and staying in the Hotel there and I guess that the proprietors have organised things so that inclement weather doesn't completely wreck one's visit.

A pleasant day - sunny and around 12c

This seems to be the best version of my panorama because in the one which I cropped even thinner, the tulips looked very 'blocky'. I certainly have not mastered this programme yet. Another problem is that there were two more frames, to the right, which I couldn't get to join on to the rest of the picture. The programme does, however, have many strengths. In my opinion it is a better bet than a wide-angle lens because you don't suffer from problems with verticals and barrel-distortion. It's a tricky one and I sense that I am on a fairly steep learning-curve with it. Great fun though ! And it is good to keep acquiring new skills. The garden is leaping forward - almost by the hour it seems. These tulips and forget-me-nots are between the front lawn that you can see the edge of in the Panorama and the big-room window. All Yvonne does each year when she pulls the old plants up - the forget-me-nots that is - is give them a good shake all around to distribute the seed. And she always obtains this gorgeous informal result.

Sorry about the bamboo plant-support! I simply didn't notice it when I was taking the picture. At one stage we weren't too keen on the yellow and red tulips mixed in the same bed and we tried to eradicate the red ones. But they are more robust than we are, so Yvonne planted some whites, which you can just see top-right, to break the effect up a bit. It is a great bed because there is always something following on.

I had a shock when my homepage loaded on my lappy this morning and told me that the Nottingham temperature was 22C. It actually felt as if it would be struggling to be 10C but, after a few minutes, they changed it to 12C. Steve was awake and at work very early this morning and we exchanged Google Talk at 6.50am!

Yvonne rang the Halifax and confirmed that we didn't want their potential buyer on Saturday morning and Beryl rang and asked us to get her a few bits when we went shopping. We called in and collected her list around 10.30am and she is much recovered but by no means completely. She commented on my 'new car' which she didn't recognise as the one I've had for 2 years and she has travelled many miles in. Ah well - she is still not bad for 85. We did 'administrative tasks' with Building Society books being brought up-to-date and libraries etc., and I called in at SASS and bought a 'powered' 4 USB hub because I am convinced that the ill-fitting freebie I had from Serif, has been the cause of many problems. I'm using it now and it seems much better. It means I can have 'mouse', 'webcam', 'printer' all connected at the same time, and still have spare ports for 'camera' ,'MP3 player', if I wanted to go daft! While I was in SASS I spotted a potential present for my list. A laptop Car adaptor/charger which would be great on holiday. For birthdays, Xmas etc., I'm asked what I want and I can never think of anything so Yvonne suggests that I keep an ongoing list.

We went to Lidl and Morrisons for general shopping and were careful not to overstock milk. It does seem to have a tendency to go 'off' even when refrigerated and before sale-by date. I now keep my overnight-tray milk in a little thermos flask which I have pre-chilled. Lisa also reports having had the same problem.

Yvonne's Burton Joyce day - Quite mild

When I went to get the eggs I decided to try a snapshot of the chickens. Just for the record and to show Ruby and Elli where their lovely boiled eggs originate. I had walked from the car a few feet to the fence, to take the photograph on the right, when the very self-important and possessive cockerel marched up and fixed me with his beady eye - photo on the left. I assured him that I meant no harm and had no designs on his harem. But he remained unconvinced.

Today was Burton Joyce day for Yvonne and she went a bit earlier because things are a little different. It is Miles's first week at full-time school so Yvonne's role was to look after Millicent to make Sainsburies easier for Lisa. Steve's been doing the shopping but he really is so busy. Millicent was good for 3 aisles before she started screaming and Yvonne had to hold her. But she is such a cute little girl that fellow shoppers all wanted to chat to her anyway. Yvonne and Lisa managed a nice relaxing chat at lunchtime and then it was almost time to collect Hannah and Miles. They didn't have as long with Yvonne as they are used to but we all have to adapt to change. She will be tired out tomorrow, as usual, but she loves it so. I collected her at the normal time and we discussed the Halifax's trick of producing a potential buyer out of a hat, at the last minute, as Burchell Edwards predicted they would. But, as said 'potential buyer' was also looking at bungalows on Wyndsmoor Road (where the prices are on average £40.000 less) we are not taking it seriously and won't permit the viewing.

Had some good email content from Bob, about the Blog, and I'm trying to persuade him to enter his comments in the 'comments facility' in the Blog itself so that they are there for posterity. For instance, his stuff about the 'sausages' is too good to just be a transient comment. I exchanged some usefull messages with 'The Fat Controller' (WUforums) about photographs, photo-realism and painting. His Cafeteria picture was excellent and put me in mind of Peter Blake's 'Shop Window'.

Still having computer problems but I seem to have fixed my Walagata, which I wasn't able to access. In the end they 'repaired' my account and sent me a new password and now all seems to be well. And I was certainly not alone because Ray reports similar problems. I have discovered with 'blogger' that it is better to upload 1 picture (small) and then, as a separate job, upload no.2 (also small). It doesn't like you to upload two medium sized pictures at the same time. If you then need to adjust the size and placement of the pictures, it's happy for you to do that.

Karen showed me how to get rid of the old-fashioned tape-recorder icon that was stuck on my mobile. Apparently you press 1 and then the green button to access answerphone messages. I did that and, fortunately the message was unimportant and when I had listened to it and closed, the icon vanished.

That's it for today. An early night is called for so I will prepare my tray, listen to some radio and prepare for bed. By the way, although this will show a certain time at the bottom that's when I started it, not when I finished it. It is in fact just after 9pm

Mild Day - Lunch at Ollerton

A mild day, maybe around 12c all day but no rain or wind. I slept well, until around 4.30am, and fortunately Yvonne had a better night and has decided to make her own way to Nottingham on the bus. We both still have coughs, colds and sneezes but so do lots of people. The weather seems to be improving slowly and we shall all feel better if we have a nice bright May.

I set off for Bob's around 10.15am because I wanted to call in at their Netto to have a snoop round. The Ollerton shop is much better than our local one but stuff is still displayed higgledy-piggledy. You can find CDs amongst the baked-beans and coffee in the gardening section. Maybe it's a marketing ploy to ensure that you scrutinise all the shelves. All I bought was a 67p tin of french pate which looked interesting. I'll report back in due course!

Arriving at Bob's we had coffee, and he was surprised that I asked for 'black'. But every little helps the slimming effort. We had chats and Ralph seemed pleased to see me but Bob said it was because he would expect me to give him something to eat. Ah well! We also saw a bird which neither of us could identify, even with the benefit of a reference book. It was like a slim grey/blue sparrow. Bob had booked lunch for 12noon and we arrived at the Snooty Fox in comfortable time. It really was an excellent meal. The way it worked was that when the vegetables were brought to your table you then went to the carvery. My choice was the turkey while Bob had the beef; both were excellent, carved there and then and complete with all the 'tracklements'.. Then apple-pie and custard for Bob and trifle for me! I know. Another plus - they served first-rate coffee. And this was 'pensioner's day' but you certainly wouldn't have known it from such liberal portions and such good quality. As you will see from the pictures above it is a typical North Notts country pub complete with a waterside area at the rear. I ought to admit that I, and Picasa, have tinkered with the photos abit. The sky was more uniform grey than blue and the light was dire. But I feel with my Blog, that I need record-shots more than works-of-art.

While we were eating my mobile went off but when I answered it there was no-one there. But it has left an icon like an old fashioned tape-recorder on the display and I can't get rid of it. A 'young person' will no doubt sort it in due course. I texted Yonne just to be sure that she hadn't been trying to get hold of me but she hadn't. After lunch we went round to the School complex where everything seems to happen because Bob thought that they may be Wi-Fi and we could have a play with the laptop. They are, but it's staff only, which is reasonable. Then we visited the Workshop which is also part of the complex and where Sandra organises so much. We could see her through a door and she called, but she was obviously busy. We chatted to a couple of people and then I drove Bob home. I decided not to go in but have a leisurely drive home. Karen had mowed the lawns which immediately lifted the looks of the place and I decided to take down the Halifax sign because, as they have stopped marketing the bungalow, it was serving no useful purpose.

Touch wood - I seem free of computer problems and possess a 'happy lappy' - at the moment! So I was able to sort my pictures out, and research the Goodman's digibox for Bob. Not good news I'm afraid. One reviewer said "Why don't they just recall them all and replace them with something that works?" It's just as well he decided to check before dashing out to buy one.

Warmer day. Nat. Trust meeting at Mansfield

The object of the exercise was to get the evening sun shining through the camelia petals and, I admit, in the right-hand image, a little Picasa handiwork to grey-out the background to throw colour emphasis on the centre. I'm not quite sure whether it works or not. Some loyal reader will tell me ! The first image was a straightforward 'macro' job to fade-out the background. I'm happier with that one actually.

A lovely warm, late April day, with the temperature reaching 17C in the afternoon and no rain. Really good growing weather and I'm sad that (due to the pending house-move) I've hardly any young plants coming on. Never mind, there's always next year. This morning I had all manner of computer problems which I won't bore folks with. My friend Bob pointed out that there was a danger of this Blog becoming IT obsessed; so, say no more. I'm going over to Boughton to see Bob tomorrow and he has succeeded in booking lunch at the Snooty Fox which he rates highly. As I mentioned yesterday, if he hadn't been able to book he was going to cook a smoked fish chowder and I couldn't really decide which way I wanted the 'cookie to crumble' as the cliche has it.

In the afternoon I took Yvonne over to Mansfield for a National Trust committee meeting. How she came to be on the committee is a funny (Ha Ha) story. The last time we went to the normal monthly branch meeting, as soon as we walked in, a lady said to Yvonne "I understand you are going on the committee" which was the first Yvonne had heard of it ! And then, in his opening remarks, the Chairman said ".....and Yvonne has agreed to serve on the committee". Never mind, they are a lovely group and she will enjoy it immensely. They know we have this upcoming house-move but I'm sure we can find a workaround. The meeting was at Conny's house on the outskirts and I was made very comfortable in another room. I had taken my laptop (sorry Bob) and found plenty to occupy me tidying up folders and picture files, and things which didn't need an internet connection. My battery had just 9 minutes left when I heard the meeting come to an end and I was brought a beautifully strong cup of tea. I wonder how Conny knew that I like tea to be a rich orange colour. Perhaps it's a 'man thing'. I had been given strict instructions for dietary reasons, not to accept a cake or a biscuit and when Conny came in with my tea she said "I'm not to offer you a biscuit". I think that must be a 'woman thing'.

During the drive home Yvonne said how much she had enjoyed taking part in something again; after all that time when, due to my being so ill, she had had to give up so much. And we are both enjoying the National Trust a lot. I've certainly mellowed somewhat from my extreme left-wing days when I used to say that the only way I wanted to visit Chatsworth was in the turret of the first tank.

One of my computer probs. was that Picasa refused point-blank to email photos out. This evening I managed it at first go and sent David three pictures from Sunday. Steve rang to say that they had decided to use his birthday money to buy a garden-bench. Sensible idea.

Nice Rest Day - but cold

This was the 'Princesses and Dinosaurs' game. Although I said yesterday it involved whacking each-other with bamboo canes, there was'nt any actual whacking. Just much chasing and much noise. At the stage when I took the picture, they hadn't added the refinement of the camellia flowers being taped to the end of the sticks.

Apparently Brooke (second from left) is very good at 'dying' and has quite a reputation for it.

We both slept well after our exertions but both woke up early but that's fine. Although a nice morning it has remained cold all day; no higher than 8c. Yvonne went out in the garden for an hour and rooted up some enormous dandelions. With the soil being moist she said they came up without much trouble with taproots complete. It's a pity we don't know someone with a rabbit. I potted up some fuschias and have put them outside. It will be necessary to keep an eye on frost warnings, but they were getting so leggy indoors.

Steve sent us a grid-reference for his new factory but I didn't get a very good picture. Ray did and emailed me his picture. To cut a long story, eventually I got there. I seemed to do a lot better wth the postcode. At first, I wasn't waiting long enough for the 'streaming' to finish. Our own bungalow though remains elusive. But I got a good picture of Rays. I exchanged emails with WUforums Hello_There (Caroline) and I sent her the family group picture. She said it was good to see people's pictures from 'behind the cyber-wall' and sent me a nice piccie of her and her son. At lunchtime I did a spag. bol and enough to do us tomorrow as well.

I was delighted to hear on the news that Fleur Adcock has been awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for poetry. She joins such luminaries as Auden and John Betjeman and more recently Ted Hughes. She throughly deserves it and is one of my favourite poets. I was fortunate, many years ago, to go on an Arvon Foundation course where she was the tutor.

I'd suggested to Bob that I pop over on Wednesday, as he had offered to take me to the Snooty Fox which he rates. He is going to try to book, and failing that is going to cook a 'smoked-fish chowder'. Both sound great to me.

Good weather - Busy family day.

This is the Bob picture I promised you, of last year's VE day 60th Anniversary at Radcliffe-on-Trent British Legion.

He has entitled it "Ill Join the Legion" which I think say's it all. The medium of black & white suits the picture and it is such a memorable image.

Our own day has been very much occupied by family. Last night David emailed and said they would like to come over and see us. As we were already committed to feeding Tracy and Miles and Hannah (fresh from her sleep-over at Tracy's) it made sense for them to come over in the morning and share our communal lunch. I won't repeat the menu but 4 extra people involved raiding the freezer for all available sausages. There were some links of Cumberland, some Pork & Leek, some Lincolnshire and some non-descript pink ones that I had labelled 'children's sausage'. I popped the lot in a large roasting tray and put them in the oven with the Yorkshires (easy to make more - abit more flour, another egg, a slosh more milk & water, the whole well beaten. I can't give the qauntities because I add whatever is necessary till it's the right consistency - and touch wood! it always works). Then I turned the sausages out, into a large shallow earthenware crock which I put on the table, with the instruction "pick your own sausages". Yvonne said it was a triumph ! And it really was a popular meal. Mostly clean plates - but Miles doesn't eat very well - very picky, but he is only 4 and many children are very selective with likes and dislikes. But Brooke is only 4 too and her little jaws were going like clockwork. Then Jelly & Icecream or Strawberries & Cream or any desired combination and a cheeseboard and coffee for grownups.

And then the children played and played and played. Hide and Seek, Drawing and Colouring and a vigorous outside game (entitled Princesses and Dinosaurs) which mostly involved rushing around the rear garden whacking people with bamboo canes to which fallen camellia flowers had been taped. This last bit was to do with Harry Potter apparently ! Don't ask, don't ask ! They all had a good time and I bet they sleep well tonight. I know Yvonne and I feel as if we will. Unfortunately, it doesn't always work and as one gets older the less predictable one's sleep patterns become. While sorting out a spare table I had knocked the clock off the wall in my room. The mechanism still worked but the hour hand had become unfixed from the central spindle. An obvious David type job and, bless him, he fixed it. He is so good at that type of thing. It's now back up on the wall where I like it because it's so big, I can actually read the time in the night without ferreting-about for my glasses.

When Hannah and Miles reached home Steve 'webcammed' us on Festoon and it worked fine, after initial glitches again. Sometimes it shows people as 'offline' when you know they are 'online' because you've got Google Talk open and are speaking to them. Early days though and soon we shall be adept. It will be great when Debra's PC is fixed, so we can include Palmer's Green in our cyber-space.

Nothing showing in diaries for tomorrow so we should be OK for a rest-day. Schoolchildren are back at School so if we get bored we can toddle off down to Ikea for a mooch around and maybe lunch. We do lead such exciting lives !

Grey Start but finished up lovely

Just as I hoped he would, John sent me these super pictures of the Millau Viaduct, designed by our own British architect Norman Foster and opened in 2004. Apparently, breathtaking in it's beauty, John says that the photographs don't do it justice. They seem pretty good to me. The upright bits are higher than the Eiffel Tower. John and Yvonne went in the Campervan rather than the Merc (which I thought they would favour). Nice to have such classy choices !! I would love to see this bridge for myself and Yvonne is game, so perhaps next year when we are over the hump of this house-move.

Steve and I did some more fine-tuning of the webcam programme and by lessening the picture quality to 'lowest' we maximised the 'refresh rate', which has the effect of reducing the lip-sync problem to negligible. The incoming picture is only around 3" x 3" so a slight 'blockiness' is not noticeable and the monitor picture is about half of that. After messing about with that, I nipped up to the egg-man and got some very freshly laid eggs, because I have promised to do Yorkshire puddings, with sausages etc., for tomorrow lunch. The Yorkshires are Miles's favourite and the rich yolks of the free-range eggs really make them special. I will also do loads of carrots (for Hannah) and buckets of gravy (for Tracy). a courgette (for Yvonne) and brocolli (everyone's favourite). I know it doesn't sound like a real Sunday Dinner but one has to try and please everybody. Then we are going to have Jelly and Icecream which will suit all.

In the afternoon we went to pick Hannah up to take her to Tracy's where she is going to have a sleep-over and Yvonne is staying too. We had gammon and veg and then I drove back while it was still light. When I rang to say I was home, they were playing Monopoly after we had all played I-Spy and Charades. I managed to 'get' some and also to 'do' some - not easy when one's knowledge of modern songs and TV shows is so rusty. One of the stories I acted out was 'Little Red Riding Hood' which Grandma got on the 3rd word which I was pleased about because I hadn't worked out how to do 'Hood'. Great fun.

Leter on Tracy rang to say that she had installed the additional 'sonic cat repellers' which were my Birthday present to her. As she says, the neighbour's wretched cats won't dare to come out of their own house let alone into hers. Seriously - we are not catophobes (nice word - I've just invented it) but those cats have been a real pain. And so many of them. Another good eBay experience. I only bought them at 8.35pm on 19th April (one can be so precise with internet shopping) and they arrived this morning and are working perfectly.

When I got home I sorted out John's pictures and did my Blog. I think I'll leave emails till the morning.

Rest Day - Much warmer

These pictures are from David's Staffordshire caravan-holiday which I mentioned a few days ago and they have now returned safe and sound. Apparently the site was fine, except that the shower block was on the other side of the lake. But that wouldn't bother David and Helen who never look for problems where there aren't really any. I can't tell you what the plant is, in the picture on the left, but no doubt somebody will know. The second picture is the old-fashioned bank at the Blist Hills Museum and Sky and Brooke are changing some 2006 money for some old money, to spend in the old-fashioned Sweet Shop and similar places. A great idea and a great place to go - for children of all ages !! It was real nice of David to send me the pictures for inclusion in the Blog because it is designed to be a journal for family and friends and 'contributions will be gratefully received'. I'm very keen for John to send me a picture of the Norman Foster Bridge (from their French Holiday) so that I can Blog it.

We decided to make today predominantly a Rest Day because Yvonne is usually tired after her Burton Joyce activities. But actually she doesn't seem at all bad today. I was tired out following my 'thankfully resolved' eBay dispute but I've soon recovered. Shopping was our first priority and I saw a notice on the pet-shop door (more fat-balls and niger seed for those ravenous birds) which made me realise that the English sense of humour lives on. The notice said :-

"If we notice you smoking in this shop we will assume you are on fire and take appropriate action"

Although we are dieting we had Fish, Chips and Mushy Peas for lunch (homemade of course) and Orange Jelly with Mandarin Oranges in it (one of Yvonne's specialities) but I only had tomatoes on unbuttered toast for tea, so I didn't feel too guilty.

Steve and I tried the WebCam again and while we managed a picture and voice, eventually, we are still obviously learning the finer points. I went on my WUforums to ask about the lip-sync problem and Jonny555 said it would probably be due to the 'refresh-rate' of the cameras. That will stand further research by me because I must confess that didn't understand it.

Bob has sent me a great picture of last year's VE day anniversary at Radcliffe-on-Trent which he says I can Blog. Which will give me pleasure. I won't describe it and risk spoling it's dramatic entrance. He also said would I mind him using one of the Hunstanton pictures in one of his humourous pieces in his magazine Roundabout which he publishes. Don't mind at all Bob - flattered, that's what !

A busy and mostly wet day.

I was after these water-droplets on the pansies and I think it's worked reasonably well. There were plenty of water-droplets to work on today. We actually had several of those downpours when the rain-drops bounce off the pavements. The camera is more than happy with greens and blues, bless it! Some people think I ought to have a more sophisticated camera, but then I wouldn't be able to keep it in my shirt-pocket. So, I'm not swapping.

It was Yvonne's usual day at Burton Joyce today and, with the children being off school they had really looked foreward to Yvonne going. They went on bicycles, and to the Library which they love and Miles got some more Dinosaur books. I think he understands that the Dinosaurs had gone by the time people came along. But book-illustrations showing dinosaurs looking into cars full of people don't help. Quite frightening when you are 4.

I had quite an eventful day starting with an eBay problem yesterday, when I spotted a quite expensive Photo Imaging programme going for a few pounds and I won the auction with a bid of £8. At my age I should have had more sense and it turned out that the seller was a 'scammer' who specialised in offering such bargains! My own fault - greed . My dad always used to say "You can't cheat an honest man". Thinking that according to eBay rules I would have to send a cheque and complain later, I went on the eBay beginner's forum and members very kindly advised me what to do. It ended with a very nice letter from eBay advising me NOT to continue with the transaction because the seller was no longer a registered trader. Problem solved but as Ray says "Ebay is a minefield" and a phrase about "barge poles" sprang to mind.

After dropping Yvonne at the tram I called in at Sass and bought a webcam because Steve is really keen to do the video-call bit. I researched for a webcam system suitable for Google Talk and found a plug-in called Festoon (security cleared) which I downloaded and sent a link to Steve. This evening we got it working! What fun! Grandma was able to see and say goodnight to the children. A few teething-problems with lighting, and lip-sync, but nothing unsurmountable.

Had a nice email from John. They have returned safely from their French 'jaunt' and have had a super time. They saw and went over the bridge designed by our Norman Foster. Apparently it is stupendous. I would love to see it.

Steady rain most of the day

I didn't really expect my camera, or my Picasa, to do justice to the colour of this 'flowering currant'.

If the little Casio compact has a weakness, it is reds. The roses last year, particularly the deep reds, like Hannah, were difficult to capture. But it is it's only slight defect and has lots of other qualities to make up for it. The picture loaded straightaway without any excessive delay. On the top of my Blogger page today was an announcement "Scheduled outage at 4pm". English (US) can't be complimented on it's beauty can it? When I first saw it, I read it as 'scheduled outrage' at 4pm which captured my interest. Presumably the system was down, to allow technicians to fix some problems, one of which might have been the uploading of images. But I had decided not to join in the 'chorus' on the Blogger-forum anyway. Things get fixed sooner or later.

Before I leave the subject of 'flowering currant' I would like to warn inexperienced gardeners against cutting some for a vase indoors! It will look fine, but your house will stink of cat-pee for days afterwards. Bob says that Hyacinths have that smell to some people although most, I think, find it delightful. I hope I didn't mention this yesterday but I would bet anyone a fiver that, blindfolded, I could identify Blue against Pink.

In response to yeserday's point about Yvonne's bright idea to extend our house-search to include 2 bedroomed bungalows, Bob came up with the magnificent offer that he would give us his professional advice on what was possible at the potential-purchase stage. And then when bought, he would do us the necessary preliminary drawings etc., in return for a bowl of soup. He says he has stopped working for money! Yvonne has authorised me to offer a roll, in addition to the soup. In email correspondence Bob says that he was surprised I had never been a trainspotter. He had been one - for a fortnight. I told him that the closest I got, was trespassing on the lines as a 12yr old when we used to put pins on the rails so that the train would squash them into little swords. He said that they also used to do halfpennies, which were squashed nearly into pennies.

This afternoon I finally got round to reading my current WebUser Magazine and there on the Problem Solver pages was my answer to a problem 'posted' about Wi-Fi hotspots. It was rewarding to see something in hard-copy again. Whoever would have thought I would be answering questions instead of answering them? In the magazine, a site Webaroo was mentioned which sounds the complete answer to 'offline' working, as it allows one to download whole websites and read them at leisure without an internet link. Before downloading it I took the precaution of using 'siteadvisor' which said the site was 'untested'. So I've submitted it for tesing before risking a download.

Steve has now acquired a 'mike' and between us we persuaded Yvonne to join in. All I need to do now is to acquire a webcam and we can give it a whirl. It would be lovely to get all the family linked up. I'm sure it will come.

Tuesday 18.4.06 Cooler and Showery

Inserting Pictures into one's Blog seems to be playing up again and the only way I could include my friendly Robin was to go back into Picasa and use the 'Blog this' command. At least he isn't too pixellated.



I had decided shortly after a some rain, to take a photo of the magical droplets of water that always collect in the leaf-systems of lupins at this time of year. The only way I could manage it, was to use my garden kneeling-frame with the handles. As I got down and sorted the camera, my 'fearless friend' decided it was something to do with food. So he came to within a foot of me, probably expecting me to turn some soil over. He had no objection to posing for the above. An additional bonus, while I was down there, was the scent of the blue hyacinths I photographed yesterday.

It was nice this morning to have Steve call on 'Talk' and his greeting was just the same as it is on the telephone - "Hello, Good morning" He was at home preparing for a meeting in Cambridge later in the day. We exchanged pleasantries and I noticed that he had changed his avatar to the doors but it is still maybe a bit complex for such a small space. By mid-morning after a long chat Yvonne and I decided to change Estate Agents because we haven't really had much success with the Halifax and use a more local firm Burchell and Edwards. ......Estate Agents deserve their reputation......... ! We found that the Halifax's 'Sole Agency Agreement' requires us to give them 14 days notice, which is fair enough, but that during that time they will not market the property. So. We are off the market for a fortnight, at peak property buying time. Never mind we will get there in the end and the garden gets lovelier by the day, which must be a selling point. We got it all dealt with. Emails, hard-copies delivered and things.

For lunch we had a super shin-beef stew with lovely fresh veg. but we decided to give the dumplings a miss. We have to show willing somehow. In the afternoon I worked on photographs and printed some of Debra's visit. They were fine and Yvonne was very pleased with them.


In the evening we watched Brian Sewell's last episode of The Grand Tour which came to an end in Venice. Very flamboyant but good fund and some super pictures. I know Bob says "Speaking of irritating and pretentious prats..... " But in our opinion he knows his stuff and produces good telly! As my observant readers will no doubt notice, I did, eventually get both the pictures I wanted to load into my Blog post. It's almost like an old-fashioned TV or radio-set that you ad to allow to warm up. Never mind. Patience is a virtue ...blah blah blah !

Bank Holiday Monday - Changeable Weather

A very 'blocky' robin I'm afraid, but trying to upload it as a straight picture would'nt work. The only way it would work was via the 'Blog This' command which I suspect as not designed for the purpose. The robin was on the bird-bath when I went to top up the feeders and the look in his eye said. "I'm not moving. And anyway why are you so late with those feeders?" I decided against even trying to find a suitable reply. Probably a lady robin !

We had a nice restful child-free day but Yvonne is done for, high blood=pressure, achy-muscles, neck-ache etc., but she will insist on carrying babies around, and playing on the floor. Bless her ! While she can - it's worth a couple of days recuperation. I nipped out and did essential shopping while she had a leisurely start - sudoku, crossword etc.. I made carrot & coriander soup for lunch with part-baked rolls. It was a success and we each had 2 portions.

In the afternoon we watched the programme we had recorded about Leonardo's Last Supper. A great little programme and we both learnt so much, as you always seem to from good bits of Television. I went on the 'net' and extended our bungalow quest, to include 2 bedrooms instead of our previous insistance on 3. It was one of Yvonne's bright ideas that, with the price dfference, we could have a purpose built 3rd bedroom with en suite facilities for me. I've even said that, if necessary, I would not bother about a garage. No-one else thinks they are important. The resultant increase in the number of properties available, was suprising.

We spent some time going through the photographs from the weekend, deleting lots and improving the rest. Ray told me he had been published in the National Press with the answer to a question about the origin of the 'question-mark'. If he doesn't actually know the answer to something he certainly knows where to find it, which is probably the more important.

It really is amazing. These Hyacinths were a sort of alternative to the Robin and, as I was coming to the end of my Blog for the day - I thought I'll just try to upload them and see what happens. So there you are folks. Two pictures instead of a measly One.

Google Earth wouldn't open for me today. I don't use it much anyway. But I've been advised as to how to overcome the problem. It has been quite warm today but so showery we don't know what any of the children managed to do. We shall find out in due course.

Up to date - I think

Sorry about the picture being 'blocky' but I downloaded it off the 'net' and it's entitled to be. The reason for it's inclusion is that David is caravanning in Staffordshire and they visited the Iron Bridge and the Blist Hills Museum. He remembers us going when he was a boy. He rang this morning and we had a super chat. Although he remembers the bridge he says he didn't realise how beautiful the gorge was. Well, you don't do you when you are 12 or something. The Blist Hills Museum is now really good to show children what Victorian life was like. The Chemists Shop and the Dentists and, of course, the Sweet Shop. Apparently you can now visit an old-fashioned Lloyds Bank and change some today-currency for old, which you can then spend in the shops.

What a lovely idea! Although it's important for the girls to know about the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution it's nice to have a fun side to it too, so close by.

Steve has taken the plunge and gone on Googlemail and also installed 'Talk' so we had some useful interchanges. He's got a webcam and no microphone and I've got a microphone and no webcam. I also found out how to introduce an 'avatar' because I'd forgotten how I did mine. A bit of clipart showing a carpenter was easy but in view of his thriving 'doors' business I want an image of a 'boss carpenter'. When I'm wondering what to mess about with in the middle of the night, I'll have a good old trawl. I also had nice comments from Manxislander, about the rainy Hunstanton picture.

Ray's PC is still playing-up and he is so fed up with it he's gone to watch the telly. He sent me a sweet picture of his grandson Dylan, with a short hair style and I sent him one back of Elli watering Tracy's tubs yesterday.

My 'day of rest' has certainly done my ankles good. They are much reduced.

Good fun email exchanges with Bob but our habit of replying by inserting comments can become a bit unmanageable. The ends of lengthy threads with sometimes upwards of 10 replies, can become lost or detached. The we have to start a fresh one.

It's nice to have Yvonne back. I know she has only been away overnight but I like her being here even though I never begrudge her time-with-daughters etc. I'd bought her some perfume whilst away and I was very touched that she liked it so much that she took it to show Tracy. The name 'Very Irresistable' is perhaps not appropriate at out age but it smells great and comes in a very attractive bottle. So there!

Saturday 15th April - Debra's Visit

Having got the pictures lined up and of equal size (not easy for us beginners) I will now put in some text. Firstly, there were'nt hundreds of kids - it just seemed like it. But they were all very good and played happily together. Hardly any tears and then only due to tiredness. We had got up to a warmish pleasant morning and gone over to Sherwood around 10.30am, breaking our journey to pick up a cheese-cake from the specialist shop (Austrian) on Mapperley top. Talk about spotting a niche market. They were very busy. And deservedly so, their stuff is exquisite.

Then onto Tracy's and Ruby and Elli were a little shy with me to begin with. It is after all the first time they have seen me since Xmas. They see Yvonne more often due to her 'grannying stint' around once a month. All the food was being masterminded by Andy (on the right of the picture above) who, like me, loves being in the kitchen. He has a high-stress job and finds cooking a relaxing hobby. At one stage in the afternoon, in the middle of paella preparation, he had a spatula in one hand, a lager in the other and could see the footie-coverage on the TV through Tracy's hatch while his precious little girls played happily on the lounge-floor. Bliss. Before I leave the photos I must point out that Steven doesn't actually have a halo! It's the kitchen clock.

As well as all our people, we also had Ben who Tracy had agreed to look after, while her friend Sharon worked on getting their house ready for sale. Chris, who is a Chef, has got a job in Cornwall and is already down there leaving Sharon to sort things out up here. Sharon has 2 older kids and must have been so pleased that Tracy agreed to have Ben. He was no trouble but very quiet, and nowhere near old enough to understand why his Dad is missing.

When Steve and Lisa and Hannah, Miles, and Millicent arrived things really got 'swinging'. We had an Yvonne-made 'pass-the-parcel'. As popular as ever and whenever there's a get-together she has to produce one. Maybe when they reach their teens, she won't have to do it. I had a nice IT chat with Steve and he was saying he really likes is new Sony Viaio laptop. He also is pleased with the 'siteadvisor' prog., it certainly is an acquisition. David has installed it on his School PC.

We ate just before 7pm and Andy had done a fine job. After eating I decided to leave so I could drive home while there was still some light. I'm OK driving in the dark but, when I'm alone in the car, I find it stressful nowadays. When I arrived home I texted Y to say I had arrived safely because she is having a sleep-over so she can help sort things out in the morning. I booted up my lappy and answered some emails. Nice exchange with Bob who had sent my 'Hunstanton view' picture to Emma, and asked if that was OK. I was flattered that he had sent it, and it was courteous of him to seek an OK. He sent me some excellent pictures which demonstrate what you can do, painlessly, with Picasa. Also had a 'google-talk' exchange with Ray who has had umpteen probs with his PC. And I thought it was only novices like me who had them! We didn't discuss it but I wonder if it is anything to do with PCWorld fitting him extra memory?

A better day - Anemones out

Altogether a better day. That frightening wind has dropped and, just now checking the evening temperature, find that it is 13c. On the Air-Ministry roof, as they used to say.

I think now it is actually on top of the Radio Nottingham building, because the Watnall Weather Centre has also closed.

In the papers this morning the 'worst drought for a hundred years' is forecast. If they nowadays blame global-warming I wonder what they blamed a century ago. My own view is that it is all part of the natural cycle of events on Planet Earth ranging anywhere between ice-ages to periods of extreme heat. Does it really matter if a few lawns shrivel up and we have to go in more for geraniums and things. Mind you I would be peeved if I was in a hose-pipe ban area and saw golf-courses being liberally watered. I'm not sure if I have any golf-enthusiast readers in East Grinstead. If I have I'm sorry but I won't yield the point.

It was a pleasure to see the anemones looking so perky this morning and I thought the above three would be pleasant across the top of the Blog. My trusty Casio doesn't really do justice to the colours but they look nice anyway. At the risk of sounding 'IT obsessed' , which a loyal reader accuses me of, I must mention my broadband upgrade at NTL to 2mb. The speed went up a bit but it 'boggered' things up in general. Picasa, toolbars, siteadvisor' to name but a few. Anyway, things back now. Just Gremlins, Ray says. Hope he doesn't get any with his new digital TV which looks and sounds great from his description.

The neighbours burglar-alarm went off about half an hour ago. I went and disarmed it, mainly to get rid of the noise, and Yvonne has put a note through Peter's door - house on the other side. Their alarm only ever goes off when they are away because when they are here, with having a dog, they never set it even at night.

My ankles have gone down quite a lot because apart from nipping out shopping this morning I've been lying down again. Got to be in good shape tomorrow over at Tracy's because there will be all the children to amuse and it's quite a while since I've seen Ruby and Elli. Not responsible for the cooking though because there will be loads of people and my upper limit these days is 6 or maybe 8 if a couple of kids are involved. Long gone are the days when we used to entertain 50.

Thursday 13th April 06 - Very windy

The final picture from the 'jaunt'. Honest.

This is the famous Boston Stump which is the largest parish church in the country. It's tower is visible from many miles away across the flatness of fenland Lincolnshire.

I managed to Blog the picture without too much trouble with converging-verticals. What you can do these days with a fairly basic compact digital camera is sometimes astonishing. Particularly when coupled with Google's free image-manipulator Picasa.

Today, I have been ordered back to bed by Yvonne due to my excessively swollen ankles. The cause, she is convinced is 'doing too much' and 'driving too far without a break'. She is probably right on both counts. But we had such a lot of fun, it was worth it !

The birds were pleased I was back. I put them out fresh fat-balls and topped-up the various feeders and, of course, the birdbath. Before I got as far as the kitchen door they were bang at them. Led by the Great Tits and the Robin.

The weather has been pretty awful again. Quite warm, reaching 13c around noon but the wind has been frighteningly strong. Not much to blog today. I need to be up-and-about by the weekend because Debra and family are up from London. I never know whether or not it's up or down? People tend to say going Up to London I guess. But it isn't very important either way. Exchanged emails with Bob about the phrase 'up before sparrowfart' meaning very early in the morning. He had spotted it in a Poem written in 1994 but I thought that Private Eye had coined the phrase 2 decades earlier. Somebody will kow the answer.

Fairly short Blog today because I am still fairly whacked. But at least I'm up-to-date now. Just WUforums to tackle which will have very high numbers in red. I shall just have to be selective. 

Wednesday 12.4.06 - Homeward bound

We decided to take a couple of photographs of the rear-garden of Elloe Lodge and we were lucky with the light. It was a beautiful morning again - particularly after all that rain on Tuesday. It gives you some idea of what a large house it is and how attractive the garden - which guests are allowed to enjoy.

After we'd packed and said bye-bye to the Vaseys (I got a peck-on-the cheek from Gill - it must be due to being such frequent visitors) we decided to have a look in at Boston on our way home. See upper-right. On route we stopped for a coffee-break in what was one of the most awful lay-bys ever. There was litter by the ton, an abandoned caravan and, to add a wry note, on the way out was a notice drawing attention to a £100 fine for leaving litter. Ha Ha Ha! I can't remember where it was, which is perhaps a good thing. Boston is a delightful little town, with it's famous church tower (The Boston Stump) and we arrived on Market day, which was nice because I enjoy markets.

Also on the way home we stopped at the Ollerton Mill Tea Shop which is quite close to Bob and Sandra's. It had won awards for it's cream-teas and was very pleasant indeed. Apparently it is so popular now that you have to book but as there was only two of us they managed to squeeze us in. If we were willing to wait ten minutes, which we were.

After that, a steady run home. It was surprising how things had changed in the garden in only three days. I had loads of emails but I was quite severe and deleted lots unread. People who mattered knew we were away and the rest will just have to carry on with life without my attention. We only fancied something simple for evening meal and settled on beans-on-toast and Yvonne did me 2 german wurstchen with mine. We were trying Aldi baked beans for the first time (on I think Bob's recommendation) and quite apart from being ridiculously cheap, they were in fact delicious.

Managed to sort out most of my Blog. The font I'd done those pages in Word on, was all wrong but, by messing about, I managed to get them looking like the rest. So I am up-to-date blogwise, emailwise, googletalk to Raywise, and everything else - I will catch up with slowly.

Tuesday 11.4.06 trip to Hunstanton

We decided to set-off East and head first for King's Lynn along the A17 but, before we reached the outskirts of Holbeach we had an interesting find. 'The Original Factory Shop'. I felt that the name gave it away. If it WAS the original factory shop, that wouldn't be it's title. Would it? It had some interesting bargains, but not more so than our local 'cheapos'.

Then it started to rain. And how? We decided to press on as far as Hunstanton for our sandwich lunches. And we found a parking spot overlooking the beach. This was the view through the windscreen.

I was pleased to capture the image because it has definite 'overtones of Turner'.

Even on a terrible morning like this in early April, Hunstanton was very crowded and I had to wait ages to find somewhere to park to nip in and buy postcards and stamps. After a little mooch around North Norfolk we decided to head-for-base. And, just outside Holbeach on the A17 we spotted a fairly smart looking Chinese Restaurant called the Beijing Palace and decided to give it a try for evening meal.

And I'm very glad we did. It was certainly the best chinese food I'd eaten in the last 10 years. I wont even quibble about starters called Beijing hors d'oeuvres. They tasted delicious and that's what matters. Ever the pedant I can hear Bob say! By the time we left it has actually stopped raining and there was a sunset of sorts. Lets hope its better tomorrow for the return journey.