Friday saw K and I set off on one of our quests. It was intended to help indecisive Mum make her mind up between two televisions that she was trying to compare with a view to making a purchase. She (the aforementioned Mum) had been slowly but surely going crazy filling her brain with  ‘information overload’ after trawling the Internet all week reading countless reviews, users comments and views and other associated information regarding these two televisions, and had finally come to the conclusion that in order to rectify the situation and to stop herself from going completely gaga, she should see both of these TV’s in the flesh and then decide.

We haven’t paid a visit  to Bradford for quite some time, and as the Forster Square retail park happens to contain both a Comet and a Curry’s which explains why we decided to head over there. As per my previous blog, we had lot’s of fun getting there with the buses but eventually we arrived in Bradford Interchange and quickly made our way to Forster Square.

A point to note about Bradford is that you only have to miss going for a few months to find that you can’t recognise the place when you next go. It’s been that way for as long as I can remember, and I have been shopping there since being a young and giggly sixteen year old buying her dresses and outfits in C and A. (now sadly disappeared from this mortal coil)

So it was no surprise to find when we arrived at the retail park that a brand new shop has appeared that was absent last time we were there. Yes, a new Asda Living Store which contained just about everything BUT food. So after wandering inside the two aforementioned electrical stores and taking a long hard look at my chosen TV models to help with the decision making,  we two troubadours then wandered into the new store for a nosey.

K was in seventh heaven as it was cram jam packed with Halloween masks and other assorted goodies that she loves to be able to dress up in when she answers the door to the inevitable ‘trick or treaters’ in order that (she hopes) they will never ever dare to darken our doorway again. I was frankly amazed at the vast array of available Halloween objects available. I am old enough to remember when we had to make our own costumes out of anything we could get our hands on, and anyway our parents just wouldn’t have been able to afford to buy the vast assortment that today's children have available to them. Why, there was even three huge ‘dummies’ that talked (see picture) and the butler was about 5ft 10inches tall!

I tried out a Shiatsu back massager. You place it in your chair and then switch it on and it gives you a really thorough massage up and down your back. K has promised to buy me one for Christmas. Yippee!

 Hmm, so it appears that Asda is going from strength to strength in our area if they are now branching out with these new Living shops as well as their usual supermarkets. (they are about the cheapest food supermarket around these parts and we would do all our shopping there if only we were lucky enough to live near to one, which of course as you are all too well aware by now with our rotten luck, we don’t.)  So. Maybe Tesco’s won’t take over the world after all! Well, at least not around here!

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TG 

How is it that every time we go to catch a bus we have either just missed one, see loads of buses going past us in the opposite direction to the one that we want to go, or worse, the one that we desperately need to catch misses? You can guarantee the bus incidents above will occur every time we set off to go somewhere,  and if I were a gambling Gran I would be tempted to place bets on the following occurrences,

     We complete our shopping at precisely 10.15am or alternatively 10.45am which coupled with the fact that it takes approximately 5 minutes to walk to the bus station means that we arrive just in time to see our bus leave and go sailing off into the distance.

    We land down at the bottom of the ‘cat steps’ (after just missing the bus that circumvents our estate) only to see the alternative bus sailing off into the distance which inevitably means a half an hour wait whilst other buses, namely the limited stop bus going in the direction in which we want to travel, but which doesn’t happen to stop where we are patiently waiting, goes sailing past us and is usually accompanied by lot’s of other buses also sailing past us heading in the opposite direction and which (you can guarantee) if WE were waiting for would undoubtedly be none existent.

    When we stand waiting patiently for our bus (the one following the one that we saw disappearing into the wide blue yonder as we arrived at the bus station after a shopping trip) another bus inevitably pulls up at our stand a few minutes prior to the expected arrival of our bus, thereby blocking the ability of our bus to pull into said stand at the allotted time in order to pick passengers up, and so our bus departs without us leaving us all  once again watching it go sailing off into the distance.

See a pattern emerging here dear readers?  I really believe that my daughter and I must be the unluckiest bus passengers in the whole of the country! Perhaps someone has placed a  curse on us to endure a life of eternal bus stop waiting or perhaps we should try a spot of sailing instead.  After all, we spend most of our time watching buses sail away into the distance!

TG   

Footnote.  If any of you are wondering why I haven’t been posting on here of late, its because my ‘everyday diary’ posts are now going to my alternative blog site at http://technograns.blogspot.com.

Why? Because I can use  some brilliant themes over there and also there is less spam as well (although its harder to comment.)

Of course I can post to both at the same time using writer and so I might continue to do that ( whilst remembering to disable the twitter plug in for one of them of course!) I will keep posting on here until such time as we know the impending fate of Spaces in the Wave 4 updates and therefore whether or not our blogs are to get some kind of Facelift.

Technorati Tags: bus,gambling,shopping,bus station,limited stop,gran,stand

We had an absolutely wonderful day out yesterday. It began for me with a rude awakening by my my alarm clock at 05.00am. Following a quick shower, dressage and hair preen I  then conducted my usual checklist to make quite sure that we had everything with us, you know the usual day out necessities, camera, packed lunch, mobile, tablets, tickets, drinks (of both the non-alcoholic and alcoholic types) face wipes, toilet paper (in case the onboard one runs out) and last but not least daughter. (I forgot my glasses *sigh* there’s always something you forget isn’t there?)

Following a walk down to the station we boarded our train at 07.59am, right on time. As usual, owing to the fact that the train is 12 carriages long and our station is only three carriages plus the engine in length, we had quite a trek down the train to reach our carriage which wouldn’t you know it, was the very last one. I felt as if I had walked a mile by the time we eventually sat in our seats!

It was a very enjoyable journey to Whitehaven. The hills and mountains of the Yorkshire Dales  were on your right hand side, and the flat expense of Morecambe Bay and the coastline on your left. Not only that, but the further we travelled the more the skies cleared and the sun shone, so that by the time we reached our destination we had a cloudless  sky and glorious sunshine! I was able to walk around Whitehaven all day with just my t-shirt on. We all laughed as we walked out of the small railways station at Whitehaven when one of the passengers asked her husband

“Where are we going first?” and he jokingly replied “Tesco’s!” seeing as there is a store right outside the station!

Making our way across the supermarket car park we were soon strolling along the front of the harbour. As you walked along there were small metal fish inset into the cobbled road. They were all leading back to the fish statue which stands on the front just as you exit the car park and were so attractive.

There were absolutely loads of boats of every description and all shapes and sizes moored in the harbour and they made a fantastic sight. As we neared the Beacon Museum which was intended to be our first port of call, we witnessed a really funny sight. Five geese were all walking in a line along the road! All the cars had to slow right down and wait for them to waddle along. Seems like they were also intent on paying a visit to the Beacon, because when we emerged from there some time later, all five of the geese were busy pruning themselves on the grass verge outside!

The museum was very interesting and we spent about an hour in there, then we made our way around the corner to view the statue to the miners. A quick walk along the harbour wall (I wanted to visit the lighthouse which is stood at the end) was short lived because K was frightened she would fall off it into the sea. (It was about 5 or 6 foot wide.) so we made our way back and treat ourselves to an ice cream in the Bistro which is underneath the Beacon Museum.

I took a quick saunter along the other pier so that I could take a photo of a small boy looking out to see with his telescope, then we made our way into the shopping area to take a look around that. As you walked along there were some mosaic plaques in the walkway which were very attractive and interesting so I took some photos of those as well. As always we never seen to have enough time to see everything, and we had to begin to make our way back to the railway station. I was amused when a lady stopped us as we neared the station entrance and asked us what was going on.

“ I’ve never seen the railway station so busy! “ she stated. “What is going on?” so I explained to her and her companion that we were all on a chartered train and had obviously swelled the population of Whitehaven by quite an amount if only for a day!

Finally our train pulled into the station and this time our carriage was right behind the engine and opposite the platform so no walking a mile down this time! During the journey back and following a our tea where I risked eating a chicken pasty we opened our two small bottles of White Zinfandel wine and enjoyed a wonderful relaxing journey home.

It was approximately 21.15pm when we finally rolled into our small station and all piled out onto the platform to wend our separate ways home. As usual with cheery farewells to all our fellow passengers, we quickly made our way into town and ordered a taxi home. A fantastic day out, glorious weather (we have been so lucky this year with the weather when on our day trips haven’t we? ) I wonder where we’ll venture to next time? So from her and me, here’s to our next train outing!

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TG Rest of the photographs are here in this photo album. Enjoy!

Yes you’ve read that right folks. We’re off on another one of our merry jaunts tomorrow. As usual and just for the fun of it, you have to try and guess where we are going and how we are getting there. To compile the clues for you as usual I shall be using Bing, but you can use any search engine you wish to try and find the answers.  I can’t be accused of being dictatorial now can I?  However do be aware that your search engine may then provide you with an entirely different answer to the correct one.

Here are the clues.

1. This train is not a steam pulled train, but it is environmentally friendly.

2. They have been organising Special train trips for the last 21 years.

3. Our destination is again in Cumbria.

4. Its by the sea.

5. This town is a Georgian town.

6. It houses a museum called the Beacon and also a Colliery named Haig.

Right that’s enough clues! You should easily be able to guess this one. As usual I have made it far too easy. Answers in comments please. Sorry there is again no prize for the winner. Had my new LifeCam Cinema arrived on time then I might have considered giving my LifeCam  VX5000 away as a prize, but as that hasn’t occurred and it will not now be mine until October, then you’ll just have to make do with a blog on Friday about our trip and lot’s of pictures of K and me having a whale of a time, Sorry.

TG

Dear readers. I think that I have come up with a pretty plausible explanation for my unrational behaviour on Saturday when I had that strange turn, and found myself in the Orange shop purchasing  a new mobile phone which incidentally I didn’t really need. I have Substitution Syndrome!  Yes folks you read it right the first time. Let my explain.  It all fell into place today whilst I was busy cleaning the shower enclosure in the bathroom.  Yes! I thought to myself. That’s it!  There was another gadget that I was looking forward to getting my technogran mitts on this week, and this is the nearest thing to it!

The new gadget I was intending to buy plays music files, connects to the web with wi-fi,  shows pictures., plays HD videos and plays games.  Tomorrow I should have been spending the entire day with my head buried in the user manual trying everything out. Going online to download lot’s of tunes to it. Setting it up to sync with my Xbox36o. Listening to the radio on it. Watching high definition videos. Playing some games. But sadly that gadget won’t be arriving this week at the Technogran household because it’s not available to buy in this country. (yet)

So today during a flash of inspiration I have realised that on Saturday the subconscious part of my brain must have taken over and decided that I really had to have the nearest thing to it. Why, it even looks similar!  It also has a touch screen, plays music. plays games, surfs the internet and is able to download more pictures tunes and videos! Of course! It’s obvious now isn’t it dear readers!  And so now that there is a rational  explanation for my strange behaviour on Saturday,  I can rest easy that I have not finally lost all my faculties.

So now you know dear reader!  That is the explanation for my totally unwarranted  behaviour! I haven’t yet gone completely Gaga! This was a substitute buy! Phew thank goodness for that!

TG  

Remember everyone how I had to pick a parcel up this morning?  You know, the one that arrived during one of the rare occasions that we venture outside?   Well after K had been picked up for Day Care, I set off in high spirits to walk down to the Post Office depot to collect said parcel.  It’s quite a walk, and although the sun wasn’t shining at least it wasn’t raining . On the way there I have to walk past the area where our new Swimming pool and leisure complex is being built. Hmm that’s strange I thought to myself as I walked past, why have they put up a wall completely surrounding the build? Don’t they want us residents to catch a glimpse of it’s emergence as a building and its growth as they create it?  Don’t they realise just how long we have all waited for this Swimming Pool and how eager we are to see its completion? 

To make matters worse, they have also erected several PortaKabins, two storeys high directly in front of where the proposed Swimming Pool building is going to eventually emerge, so unless you are prepared to hire a fire engine and climb up its extended ladder to the very top, there is obviously no way are you going to be able to see any of the progress (or lack of it) as it all takes place over the coming months. ( or years)  Now I will readily admit to anyone that one of my big failings is a propensity to nosiness.  I simply have to know what is going on and once you dear reader are aware of the history regarding just how long we residents of this small town have waited for this new Swimming Pool (at least 30 years or more) then you can fully understand why as one of those residents, I feel I have a perfect right to be able to view at all times that I happen to be in the vicinity, the full construction as it takes place from start to finish so that I can see just how much progress has been made since the last time I walked past.

It has left me wondering if the firm doing the actual building is in any way concerned that they may not be able to make progress as quickly as we residents would like them to seeing as we have waited for what seems like an eternity for this new Swimming Pool to actually be built, and of course there must be the constant worry that if progress isn’t swift enough we might then consider storming the building plot placards in hand, brandishing our snorkels and rolled up towels whilst demanding that they work 24 hours a day, seven days a week until its final completion.  Or alternatively perhaps they are worried that we might all be so fascinated with the progress of the build that we  spend our entire time standing there watching every shovel full of cement and every brick being laid and every wall being erected. Why, we might even bring tents and sleeping bags so that we can camp out on the surrounding perimeter just to make sure that they begin work promptly at 07.00am and don’t stop work until its dark. (We could provide floodlights if things got desperate.)

My mind as I walked past what now resembled some sort of walled prison was working overtime. What did they have to hide? Hmm. I think this calls for a reconnoitre  into the park, and a subversive stroll along to where the tennis courts used to be just to have a nosey at exactly what is going on!  Perhaps they might have risked it and left it open on the park side. It has really fed my curiosity now and I am determined to know what is happening behind that PortaKabin wall!

TG   

Yes I know! Your all heartily sick and tired of hearing about the blasted thing by now but……..I was requested to show some pics, so here you are. Two I have just taken now of my boss stood in the kitchen in her jammies. (what else!)

Not bad for a 3.2mp camera is it, and I love the effects you can add to a portrait. Will have to ‘mess around’ with it some more!

TG

Phew! That was a close shave! I very nearly ended up making a right fool of myself tomorrow! Talk about considering myself a Geek and technologically adept, I would have never lived it down! Now that I have hopefully grabbed your attention, you must be gagging at the bit to know what on earth I am talking about, well let me explain…….

It all concerns my new mobile phone.  After we had arrived home yesterday, I put it on charge as you usually do with a new phone, and didn’t really begin to take a closer look at it until later when I decided (after watching the XFactor) I would familiarise myself with some of its  features by systematically working my way through the user manual and trying everything out on the phone as I did so. I set up the screens etc, personalized the ringtones as you do, sent my son a text message to try all that out, took a picture of the TV to try the camera out, etc etc, blah blah blah.

It was whilst I was doing all of this that I noticed some scratches on the screen. You couldn’t see them there all the time, they were only visible at certain angles. Still, they were there and I could feel them with my fingers. Hmm, I thought, looks like this phone has been used before! However I still continued to work my way through all of the features of the phone because even if I decide to return it to the Orange shop I would be asking for a replacement so I might as well continue to learn how everything works.

Move forward in time now to this morning. K and I are just about ready to set off shopping and  because I tend to let K help me make up my mind about practically everything now that I seem to be no longer capable of making a rational decision these days and can often spend ages and ages dithering over ‘should I, shan’t I’ I asked her what I should do about the phone.

“ K I’ve found some scratches on the screen of my new phone. What do you think I should do, keep it anyway or take it back to the shop?” (me using my usual indecisive tone.)

(K in her usual bossy boots, I know the answer to everything tone.) “Oh take it back Mum! That’s what I would do!” See now why I have come to rely so much on my decisive daughter?  No hesitation. No pondering. No contemplation.  ( Note however that it will be Mum doing the repacking up of said mobile into box and Mum making the  trek back to Halifax alone seeing as K will be in day care.) Trouble is I already have another trek to do tomorrow morning as it is, seeing as yesterday (as per usual for this household every time we happen to be out somewhere) the post office tried to deliver a parcel, and so I have to go and collect that from the post office depot which is quite a trek away.  Hmm.  Oh well I thought, I’ll pack it up when we return from shopping.

It’s really strange how my mind works these days with the result that I have given up completely trying to figure out how suddenly out of the blue something can occur to me that I hadn’t previously considered. As we were returning home in the taxi it must have been running through my mind about having to return the phone tomorrow when the thought popped into my head that the instruction book had mentioned a ‘protective film’ covering the screen. I suppose I was silently running through my intended conversation tomorrow morning with the staff in the Orange shop.

“When I took it out of the box to charge it, there wasn’t even that protective film covering the screen so it must have been used!” (Me providing the concrete evidence that the phone was obviously not new to whoever happened to be the unlucky staff member that I accosted after my entrance into the shop.) Then it also occurred to me that I hadn’t really closely examined or checked to see if there was any protective film covering the screen. Perhaps I’d better just check it now before packing it back in its box. You can all guess what’s coming next can’t you! I checked. Ooops! There was a film covering the screen! I pulled that off and voila! The screen is now perfect. Not a mark or scratch to be seen!

Can you just imagine what an idiot I would have looked marching into the Orange shop, demanding a replacement and accusing the staff of trying to palm me off with a used phone? Going bursting  in with my ‘thunder face’ on (as my youngest son describes the look on my face whenever I am about to complain to anyone about anything) and then slithering shamefaced out of there as the staff calmly peeled off the protective film making me look like a complete and utter fool? All of them sniggering and smirking to each other as they all agreed following my departure, that  I was nothing more than a batty old coot who hadn’t a clue about anything? 

And I have the audacity to call myself Technogran!  Idiotgran more like! Thank goodness that thought suddenly occurred to me today in the taxi or I would have never ever have lived it down.

TG  The phone? I love it to bits, with or without its protective film!

The other day, in fact I think it was probably the day I was feeling really ill I made the mistake of saying I could do with some new Sloggi’s. It’s a big mistake to make a statement like ‘I need so and so’ in front of K, because if there is one thing she loves nearly as much as eating and/or sharks its spending money shopping. Not on things for me of course. This morning it was another beautiful day. The sun was shining and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Ideal opportunity in K’s eyes for some serious spending.

She get’s up. She moseys into the living room. “You need some more Sloggi’s Mum. Are we going to Matalan this morning?” she enquires innocently.  Okay, its a lovely day I think to myself, no good staying in, we’ll go. It didn’t take long for us to arrive in Halifax and we quickly made our way to Matalan for some Sloggi’s. Which is when the big spend began.

“Can I have some Mum?” Hmm. Okay, fair enough, mine have kept disappearing into her underwear drawer in the past so maybe if I buy her some I might have a chance of some of them staying in mine.  So we bought a packet of five for me and a packet of five for her. Next. I am in desperate need of some new bras. My others are practically falling apart.  I found some. Not bad, £5 each.  Put two boxes in my basket.

“ I need some new ones as well Mum.” Sigh. We have now reached the grand total  of £48. Expensive shopping  trip this Sloggi’s for Mum shopping trip is turning out to be!  But undeterred and oblivious to what was to occur later, I calmly exited Matalan and we began the walk back up to town.

“I need a new jogging suit with the money that Aunty V gave me for my birthday.” (Way back in the beginning of August.) “Have you brought it with you?” (me.)

“No, I gave it to you Mum!  Remember?  To pay the milkman?”  Hmm. Strange. This incident seems to have completely slipped my mind but as I have such a lousy memory (which incidentally K is well aware of) I resign myself to some more spending in Bon Marche. So we mosey in there and K finds yet another grey jogging suit to add to her vast collection.  She also gets a pink t-shirt to go with it. That must make a total of 1,045 t-shirts owned by my daughter. (slight exaggeration but not far off.)

Following that, we sauntered back down to Burger King for some dinner. I say sauntered but in my case, it was more like snaked my way down, because my back had begun playing up. K had the Angry Whopper meal, which she gave 15 points out of ten as she insisted it was fantastic. (and I wasn’t surprised that she gave it this  mark as judging by the contents oozing out as she bit into it, it looked to contain everything but the kitchen sink) and I had my usual chicken bites with mayonnaise washed down with a cup of tea.

We were then making our way back up  towards the bus station when something strange came over me. Maybe I was coming under the influence of my ‘money no object spend till you drop’ daughter. Maybe all this September sunshine has somehow addled my brain. Maybe I still haven’t fully recovered from the enforced fasting I had to do last week and my brain has been undernourished. Maybe I’ve just gone a little bit more gaga.  For whatever reason, I suddenly found myself in the Orange shop looking at mobile phones. In particular the Samsung Tocco lite. Suddenly I was beckoning an assistant over. I heard my voice asking him if I could use my contract sim card in this phone  because I was fed up of my LG and its battery consumption. Next thing I knew I was waltzing out the shop with a new mobile phone in a fetching black and orange bag and our bank account was now £75 less.

“I've bought you that for Christmas Mum.” stated K as I reeled in shock to the bus station. What the?  Was I going insane? I never hardly use my mobile anyway!  The only person who calls me is K!  Mind you I’ve had a quick dabble since getting home and I do like it but honestly! Have I finally flipped? Lost all sense of reality?  Lost me marbles?  I blame it on this gorgeous weather and so hereby issue a warning to all my readers. Beware!  Be careful everyone when you go out shopping on these gorgeous September days during this Indian summer we are currently experiencing!  Be alert!  Don’t enter any shops where there are any tempting products on display that you have secretly been lusting after previously!  Oh, and don’t ever be tempted to go shopping with my daughter!

TG  

Been down to exercise class this morning with K. It has been an absolutely gorgeous day here, just like yesterday, not a cloud in the sky.  No breeze at all. The Autumn fruits are all out on the Estate trees and It was a wonderfully enjoyable walk down there. It’s amazing isn’t it how a few days ago I was feeling like a wet blanket and today, I nearly danced down to town! And what prey was the miracle cure I hear my two readers cry. The tablets the doctor gave you? No. Good old Imodium Plus! Two of those and I became my old self again! The pains dissolved into just a memory! (well for now at least)

K is so pleased seeing as I had taken over her favourite parking space. (if you are by some remote chance a new reader, please consult previous posts on the subject of K’s favourite parking space in this flat, or where she tends to spend 95% of her time)  Anyway, that’s enough of that horrid subject, on to more pleasant things. We walked down to the exercise class as we always do, and as it was so pleasant outside we tried to persuade the instructor to let us all do the class outside but she was having none of it. K did her usual improvisation during the class seeing as a lot of the music that we exercise to comes from ‘Saturday Night Fever’ so we all had to endure plenty of John Travolta impressions thrown liberally into the routine.

It was very warm in the exercise room because at the same time that we are exercising the sun is streaming in through the windows, and of course because K and I walk down we were rather hot and bothered before we began. The lesson ended with the usual cool down and relaxation, and then K and I walked onto Tesco’s for a few bits of shopping. Well I say bits, but of course I mean food for K for the next few days. She bought something for today's tea for herself, something for tomorrows tea, supervised the choosing and buying of a small joint of lamb, vegetables and potatoes for tomorrows dinner, her breakfast bars (closest thing to cereal that you can get K to eat as she is not a breakfast person, and despite many years of coaxing and persuasion she won’t eat breakfast cereals of any description, preferring instead to make up for it by constant eating between the hours of 10.00am until 10.00pm)

A quick visit to the ATM for some money to pay our milkman this Friday and then we dashed to the bus station as a bus was due to go out at any  moment. Talking of buses, I have missed telling my two readers of my recent ‘brush with a bus driver’ haven’t I? I Will probably recount this tale in a later post. It has been such a pleasant day today that if only I had known how gorgeous the day was going to be weather-wise,  we might have set off somewhere instead of exercising and sitting at a computer boring everyone to tears with blog posts. I might have had something worth telling then. After all, K is gagging to pay a visit to Blackpool now that she has discovered there is a t-shirt shop there that sells a Shark t-shirt she is desperate to buy. Oh well, maybe another day eh?

TG