Wednesday 2nd September

I'm in my element here this afternoon.  Playing through the speakers is Disc One of Cliff Richard's Platinum Collection.  I put it on in the first place as a cheer-you-up for a friend I was emailing.  Yes, I know she couldn't really hear it - in fact, I'm not even sure if she likes the delectable Cliff - but I do so I've just put on Disc 2.  "Wind me up and let me go", a very apt start for an afternoon of blogging!

Talking yesterday about starting school got me to thinking about some of the games we used to play, specially in the playground.  One I didn't like much was "Pinch or Punch" and yes, it was painful!  Two kids would join hands   and swoop across the playground to catch some poor unsuspecting in the centre of their linked hands and recite "A pinch or a punch or join in the bunch, or tell us your sweetheart's name, or a penny stamp".  If he had any sense at all the poor victim would say "Join in the bunch" and he would make the circle a bit bigger by joining the other two.  This would go on with an ever increasing circle swooping on more and more kids who hadn't the sense to run for cover!  The game ended when either every kid in the playground was in the circle or the bell went for classes..

Skipping was much in evidence in the 50's.  It must have been for decades before too because my mum was brilliant at it.  She was always so light on her feet.  I on the other hand had no 'bounce' in me so I didn't bother.  Any old length of rope would do or a bit of washing line.  .  Someone could usually be relied on to have purloined the whole washing line on the way down the garden path in the morning so there would be a girl at each end (boys didn't skip) who were 'turners', a chant was decided upon and any girl who wanted to have a skip formed an orderley queue.  Girls #1 and 2 would start off as the turners turned the rope and everybody chanted "Nanny in the kitchen, Doin' a bit of stitchin', In came a bogey man and pushed nanny OUT" and the next girl in line would jump into the turning rope, shove #1 out and continue . .  Great fun I'm sure..

Girls never minded showing their knickers in those days and there was no such thing as the perv at the school gates so doing handstands against the staff-room wall was quite OK.  Two Ball was another favourite, and a way of putting to good use those tennis balls that would otherwise have joined the racquets in the cupboard under the satairs once Wimbledon fortnight was over.  It was sort of juggling but you 'juggled' your two tennis balls against a wall.


We were quite inventive playing at home too, so the odd  rainy day didn't matter.  Most little boys had a cowboy outfit, including a toy gun which it never occurred to anyone might corrupt them.  here's many a family goldfish bit the dust several times a day during school holidays.  The chair arms became horses which could put Trigger to shame, they could run so fast!.  Lone Ranger masks and silver bullets abounded.


When mum wasn't using the clothes horse, a wooden frame that she would put laundry either to dry on a wet day or to 'air' after ironing, it became a tent when we covered it with an old grey army blanket and we played at camping.  Or it might become a Tepee and be where Tonto lived with Hiawatha (Yep!) until the Lone Ranger would come nodding along on Silver (suspiciously like the yard brush) and off they would go on some errand of mercy.  Poor Tonto always had to take his shoes off before he got on his yard brush  because of course Tonto's horse didn't have shoes.  Oh I am sorry if anyone is finding all this a bit too non-PC,, but it's how it was

The Furniture in our house. being quite old and big lent itself perfectly to being hid behind, under or in as we played hide and seek.  We didn't always play nicely.  There was sbling rivalry along the lines of "I hate our Ken, he won't let me have a go on Silver...".   Mum would put up with this bickering for so long then confiscate the yard brush saying "For goodness sake, it's a white thoroughbred, not a seaside donkey!"  So even she was carried along by it really!


Mothers and Fathers, Dressing Up, Schools, Lady Baby Gypsy Queen, - all good fun and there were many more.  Books and comics to read, things to learn, people to talk to - and no daytime telly or videos or DVD's or computers and not many telephones.  Happy days!

 YAY!  I'm in the right place!

Tuesday 1st September 2009

Well, so that's that then? !st September and summer's finished. Boo hoo - we hardly had any. In fact as I write this it's chucking it down with rain - clattering away on the conservatory roof so you can hardly hear yourself think.

Our darling little dog, Sally, has always hated the rain. She won't go out for a wee-wee run, not even if it was ever so! She would never go near the conservatory because of the noise but, at almost 16 years old, she can't hear it now so she's quite happy to sit in there. She still won't set paw outside and get wet though! We're getting quite good at DSL (Doggy Sign Language) me and Sal. She knows to sit down when I face her with my index finger in front of me and pointed upwards. She will (usually) follow me if I clap my hands near her face. DSL falls down though if she's asleep and you want her to get out the way. "Mind Sal" used to do the trick but now you have to yell "OI SHIFT" - and I mean yell! My decibel level rivals parade sergeants.

Later this year we are going to have new windows, and not a minute too soon I think. The rep came again today to take a little piece of the render off the outside wall so he could see how far into the wall lthe old frame has been put. What a shock - the gaps are all stuffed with newspaper! No wonder it's so draughty. You can see our bedroom curtains moving sometimes and they are supposed to be sealed unit double-glazed windows. The front door will have a special wheelchair accessible bottom frame. I didn't know there was such a thing!

Yesterday was the last Bank Holiday we get in England until Christmas. Here in North Lincolnshire, like everywhere else, we try to make the most of it and go somewhere or do something. Keith and I were going to go to Epworth Show, which is about the last of the country shows around here. It's mainly agricultural - pigs, cows, sheep, horses, farm machinery and so on - but it's also one of the few shows which still has prize competitions for flowers, vegetables, baking, wine making, jam making. We love wandering around these when the judging is complete to see who's won. It always seems to be the same people every year (perhaps because it's the same people who enter every year), you get to recognise the names. On my "to do" list is now to enter Epworth's Victoria Sandwich Cake competition (under Jam and Jerusalem rules)and see if I might dislodge anyone.

Actually, some of you might have heard of Epworth. It's a small market town famous as the birthplace of brothers John and Charles Wesley, the founders of Methodism. The Wesleys had a huge influence on English 18th century life. John was not only a preacher and writer but was active in many social spheres ranging from prisons to slavery. His brother Charles was the greatest and most prolific of the English hymn writers and many of his 7000 works are still popular today.

I've just been reading Ora's blog "A Little Corner of my World" in which she's telliing us about early school years when her parents wouldn't have had to buy books, pencils, writing paper - anything - because school provided what was needed. That was in America of course, but I don't remember having to take anything of my own to my English school either. You would have your school bag of course but nothing in it but your mid-morning biscuits and a spare pair of knickers if you were inclined to woopsies!

I remember perfectly my first day at school. I was five years old and in the 50's that was the age you started school and Class 1 was known as "The Baby Class". You went there right off from 9am to 3.15pm and no messing about breaking you in gently an hour at a time like they do now.

We sat 2 kids to a table in face-the-front classroom formation. In the middle of each table was a tub containing 2 HUGE fat black wax crayons and an assortment of thinner coloured wax crayons and that was all we wrote with until we got to the top class a couple of years later and progressed to genuine proper lead pencils. Whatever kind of paper teacher deemed appropriate was doled out as needed. Sometimes we did 'tracing' - you know, where you lay a thin sheet of see-through paper over a picture ond draw around it. On those days a couple of kids who could be trusted to come back would be despatched to fetch a couple of toilet rolls from the loo. It was that horrible scratchy Izal stuff, which we also had at home. It was nasty in the bathroom but it made great tracing paper and was indispensible for making beautiful music with a comb and paper.

The baby class and Class 2 had this same face-the-front furniture arrangement. I don't know what Class 3 had because I skipped to Class 4 (must have been clever or something) where the tables were arranged in a kind of square horseshoe around the room. Then the top class. Wow, avante garde or what! We sat on the floor for stories! Not a wax crayon in sight. Desks with lift up lids - this was real school!

Oh, happy days.

Now, I'll see if I can put some photos i my sidebar because I can't make them go anywhere else.

Tea Snobbery

I was just reading Rhondi's blog "Rose Coloured Glasses" (or "R. COLORED G. if you're American) in which she's showing us a gorgeous tea pot she' bought. It made me think, you know, what a lot of tea snobs we still are here in England.

You would think we invented the stuff. Crikey, we can't even grow it! How you store it, how you warm the pot, how many spoons of tea you use, whether you stir it or just leave it to infuse (or 'mash' or 'brew' depending on where you come from in this sceptred isle), what temperature the water should be, milk into the cup first or last, sugar lumps or granulated. It's a minefield!

Now I wouldn't presume to tell you how you ought to mash tea - my term of choice. I just want to lead you gently through some of the pitfalls, then you're on your own.

The first Enormous Question is "Tea bags or leaf tea?". Now I have to say that even here most people use teabags. Purists will by now have shot me down in flames because, as EVERYBODY knows, teabags are just the sweepings-up from the packing room floor. Incuding the dust and ants and spiders and leftover sandwich crumbs. OK, following? So leaf tea it is then then.

By common consent, you keep tea in a cool, dry place but NOT in a tupperware box even if it has "Tea" printed on it in pseudo gold-leaf. Not in anything made of plastic. A wooden tea caddy for choice but a china one if you must. Eons ago they used to line their wooden tea caddies with lead but someone must have set them right on that score. The lady of the house also used to keep her tea caddy locked so the dastardly servants didn't pinch it because tea was almost literally worth its weight in gold. We might do well to consider this idea again. Oh, I forgot, we don't have servants! So, it's in an unlocked wooden box. Are you with me so far? It's a wonder Tupperware hasn't gone out of business seeing as it seems not to be recommended for anything very much.

How much tea to use - that's a tricky one. If you use the 'one for each cup and one for the pot' rule of thumb you're setting yourself up for tea you could stand your spoon up in! Some people actually like it like that - there's nowt so queer as folk! Ooh, my friend Marcy is going to have a field day with that last statement! I say, make it how you like it and if anyone wants it stronger, stick a tea bag in their cup for them to stab at.

When the water hits the tea in the pot it has to be boiling and you must "...always use freshly drawn water.". The tea is supposed to be in a dry pot. It's important, apprently. It's also important you warm the pot by putting some of the boiling water in it. By the time you have done this and then dried the pot and put your loose tea in you'll be lucky if it's even lukewarm by the time the water hits.

Whether you put the milk in first or last is a knotty problem which has long occupied the purists. Personally, I don't put any milk in at all, not in mine, but this has maybe made me a bit selfish because if you put the milk in last it means you have to mucky a spoon stirring the tea (more washing up) when your guest might not have bothered if he/she didn't want sugar. Put the milk in first and it's self-agitating. Of course you always get the guest who can't possibly get on and drink the stuff until he/she has stirred it within an inch of its life. I had an uncle like that. He did all his best thinking while gazing blankly into space stirring his tea. No doubt he had a learned tome on the origin of the species within him only Darwin stirred his tea first.

Sugar lumps or granulated is a matter of personal choice too. People like my uncle are better off with lumps as they take a little while to dissolve and gives some purpose to their labour. Don't give such people the best china cups through - a thick mug will do - as, once done stirring, they absolutely HAVE to rap the edge of the spoon sharply on the rim of the cup. Twice. Your best Spode won't stand it.

Arrogantly, we are always surprised to find other nationalities do drink tea. We thought it was our sole preserve. They don't half do some strange things with it though.

My German friend likes hers made in a pot and the pot then perched on a stand with a tea light (a little candle thing) under it. That saves using a tea cosy and is fine if you like stewed tea. Then she pours some cream - CREAM - in her cup, followed by a couple of spoonsful of white candy sugar. Then she pours on the stewed tea into the mix very carefully but doesn't stir it. She drinks the tea, being careful not to disturb the syrupy sediment in the bottom. Then it's in with the teaspoon and she EATS the sugary mess! Then she does it all over again.

An Indian bloke that Keith worked with didn't use water at all in his. He infused a cinnamon stick in boiling milk to make it. Well, it did at least solve ONE problem! You would think he'd know better, coming from the same place as the tea. It couldn't be US who's wrong could it?

I favour this method, as long as no guests are coming: TYea bag in mug, boil the kettle up - for the umpteenth time - and leave tea bag i while you find a nice biscuit to dunk. Fish tea bag out and enjoy.

How do you drink yours?

Things I can't do without.....

I was tagged recently by Daisymum of "Notes from Daisy Mountain" to produce a list of 7 absolutely amazing things about me. Well, I've thought and thought and I can't think of anything. Everything about me is dead ordinary. So I'm counter-tagging (can you do that?) with "7 things I couldn't do without". I'm not tagging anyone in particular (except Daisymum) but everyne in general. I would love to hear other ideas.

Times have changed, haven't they? Stating the obvious I know but what I couldnt live without nowadays is very different from the list I might have compiled 30 years ago.

I need - absolutely, no question:

Freezer - How did I ever make do with the tiny compartment at the top of the fridge? You couldn't actually set anything to freeze in it but it was OK for sticking your packet of ice lollirs in, always supposing you could find a pack small enough to fit! You could even put a small packet of fish fingers in as long as you ate the lollies up first. Now how did we get from that to the tons of stuff we put in our freezers now that need a regular trip to the freezer shop?

Computer - I remember my boss in the 1980's announcing that he had just bought a computer for home. "Why?" I wondered silently. "That's nice," I said out loud, "What are you going to do with it?". "Shopping lists. kids' school work....lots of things," he replied, scuttling off to his own office. This was when we didn't even have an electric typewriter in the office! It was when the Company's Computer Department was like the holy of holies and you had to knock at the door and wait to be let in. There was special air conditioning units and huge metal machines along the wall with large spinning tape reels that the Company Secretary used to bring out of hiding each morning in their special stainless steel cans. Gosh, but they were mysterious!

Look at us now! How would I know whether there was any money in the bank? How would I order my repeat prescriptions? How would I keep in touch with friends? How would I get my groceries delivered? And that's before I've even started swanning about the internet, booking a weekend away. theatre tickets, holidays. Sends you giddy! And do they fill an office block? Nah - mine sits on my desk but is huge compared to some. I would find it well nigh impossible to do without it now.

Mobile Phone - I always swore one of these would never darken my handbag; that if you couldn't get me at home then you would just have to wait. You would not catch me texting people. oh no! How wrong can you be? My mobile phone is the most basic you can get but even so it still doubles as a camera and, with internet access, as a mini-computer. You would think the makers of Filofax would be out of business wouldn't you? You can keep your diary and organise your life on your mobile...can't you? No quite. You still see the good olf Filofax being hoisted aloft because people can't actually remember how to DO all the functions on their phones!

The car - yes I know we are supposed to be minding our carbon footprints but honestly, how many of us are prepared - or able - to do without our cars entirely? My wheelchair makes public transport difficult and walking or cycling impossible - I need the car. There's no public transport that goes near Keith's workplace - he needs the car. {titter titter} what a sight it would be if we were still on horseback!

Central Heating - Brrr, I have many unfond memories as a kid of the windows being iced up - on the inside! I remember my mum beavering away downstairs lighting a coal fire while us kids sat at the top of the stairs wittering on about "Can we come down yet...?" I can't remember ever feeling cold but surely I must have been. I would be these days, that's for sure. What did we do for heating when there was no touch-of-a-button gas boiler? A big roaring fire in the living room and then, at bed time, dad would take a shovelful of the red-hot coals upstairs to start off the fire in their bedroom. Doesn't bear thinking about does it, but tha's what he did!

My Kenwood Chef - I've had my Kenwood for years and I expect it'll be good for a few more years yet. Pre-Kenwood I used to make cakes by doing it all with a fork (my preferred tool in those days for creaming butter and sugar). It was less washing up but, by gum (Marcy?) it was hard work! Most of my little appliances - food processor, blender, mini-chopper, carving knife - are by Kenwood. But only one thing is known as The Kenwood. God bless it and long live it!

My thumbs - Whatever should we do without them? If we didn't have thumbs we might as well not have fingers either. Wihtout my left thumb I wouldn't be able to text anyone. I cannot seem to make my right thumb work for this little job. My right thumb operates the space bar on my computer all by itself - see, the typing classes taught me something at least. Without my thumbs I'm pretty sure I couldn't untie knots in bits of string or tie a bow in ribbon - or, worse, tie my shoes! And if thumbs had never been invented, what would Agatha Christie have called one of her books? "By the Pricking of My........."???????? OK, over to you - anyone inventive with thumbs? No rude answers!

Sorry my little mouse is in the wrong place again, It's a law unto itself that mouse.

xxx

I don't believe it.........

It's been a lovely day today so, up early, we took a ride to

LINCOLN.

some friends are getting married on 22nd so I hoped to find some shoes that looked a little bit presentable. I did. I won't be able to walk in them but they look OK sitting down. Keith got a lilac shirt (sometimes I worry about him, I do) and tie and after a cup of coffee and a look round my favourite shop, Lakeland, we thought, or rather I did, "Home before lunch just in time for Keith to mow the grass". Happy little bunnies we were. Until we saw what was on the car window: A PARKING TICKET! Every time we go to Lincoln we park in the same car park, and time and again I have asked if, displaying a disabled blue badge, we have to pay anything. No, they always say, just park anywhere. Today we managed to find a Disabled space empty so we parked in it and off we went, on our merry way. So now we've got a £70 fine. If I pay within 14 days it's £35. Well, there is no arguing with these people, you have to pay and that's that. You see, I truly don't mind paying if that's the rule but to have been told so many times I don't have to is infuriating. When did they change the rules I wonder? Grrrr!

Just wanted to let off steam!!!!!!!!!Having had a good witter, I'll leave you to enjoy your Saturday Evening.

Love

xxxx

Just a little posting

POSITIVE THING ABOUT ME FOR TODAY:

People Like me

They do, by and large! Not everybody of course, I'm sure. Nobody likes everybody all the time. Generally speaking though.
I was quite surprised this came up when I was looking for something nice to say about me today because sometimes I feel like the most horrible person. Maybe this 'positive thinking' lark gets easier.

Here's a bit of useless information for you:

At 5 minutes and 6 seconds after 4am on 7th August this year (that's on Friday if you're bothered!), the time and date will be 04:05:06 07/08/09.

So there!

And a little something to chuckle about:

A lorry driver was going to Chester Zoo with 500 penguins to deliver. When his lorry broke down, another lorry driver asked if he could help at all. "Yes," said the first man, "If I pay you £500, please will you take these penguins to the zoo?"

The other man looked startled. "I - I suppose so," he said, "If that's what you want."

"Sure do," said the first lorry driver, and gave a sigh of relief as the penguins were gently led from one lorry to the other. Next day the first driver finally got to Chester and to his amazement saw the second driver walking down the cobbled street followed by 500 happy penguins in single file. "Wh-wh-what's going on?" he gasped, "I gave you £500 to take these to the zoo!"
"And so I did," said the other man, "But there's some money left over, so today we're going bowling."

And finally - a point to ponder.......

Why didn't Noah swat those 2 mosquitoes?

xxxx

Think Positive

POSITIVE THING ABOUT ME FOR TODAY:

I have nice eyes. I like my eyes and I'm forever grateful that I can see. My ears don't work very well but my eyes do - and, if I had to choose, I would rather not hear than not see.
They're quite pretty too, my eyes. I remember when I was in my early teens and about to go into the operating theatre, the anaesthetist saying to her colleague "Hasn't she got lovely eyes". I've been dining out on that ever since!

I don't know whether I should throw a party or what - Keith has taken a trailer load of junk to the council tip. "I'm just going round to Bob's to see what time they open," he said. I practically dragged him back by the hair- "Oh no you dont," I said, "I'll look on the computer." So here I am posting at 10 past 9 while he is safely away dumping stuff. Well, I had to check my Dashboard didn't I? And my Emails?

There was something on TV earlier on about counterfeit ".co.uk" companies and online shopping in general. It's frightening! I thought we could trust sites displaying the padlock sign but apparently even that's not foolproof. What's a girl to do?

Just a short entry today - the sun's just come out. According to the weatherman (right) the rest of the day is going to be fine and the rain is going to KENT!!! The trouble is Kent is only a little county. The rain will have popped off the end of there in no time.

XXXX