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

 

As always we were up with the larks yesterday, ready for our journey by steam up to Carlisle. J arrived in time, and we then set off by taxi to Leeds railway station. This wasn’t by choice by the way but by necessity, seeing as because we were journeying on a Sunday there were no trains running to Leeds at that time in a morning from our station. On arriving at Leeds J and K had a breakfast in McDonalds, (I had already eaten mine at home) and then we made our way onto platform 8 to wait for the train to arrive.  There were lot’s of other passengers waiting for it as well.

Eventually the Oliver Cromwell came steaming into Leeds station. We were stood at a spot on the platform where we thought our carriage (J) would stop as usually the carriages are in an order of A, B, C behind the engine with  the lower letters usually coming at the back of the train, but when the train arrived our carriage was next but one to the engine, so we had to sprint down the platform in order to board.  We made ourselves comfortable, J and K with their backs to the engine, and myself  facing forwards (although this seating arrangement changed during the coarse of the journey.)

Then we were off! With a whistle and a puff of steam, the Cumbrian Mountain Express pulled by the Oliver Cromwell and consisting of 12 coaches, departed Leeds City Railway station precisely on time. The weather wasn’t too bad when we began our journey,  but it did become misty and cloudy as we joined the Settle-Carlisle railway  and so visibility over the Yorkshire Dales from the train was somewhat hampered by this. I tried to take lot’s of photos through the window and had planned to take some from one of the carriage doors with the window down so that the resulting shot wasn’t hampered by the reflection and dirt on the glass, but I had to abandon that idea seeing as most of the train enthusiasts on board were stood at the doors  poking their heads out so that they could see the entire train and wearing huge goggles to stop the soot and grit going in their eyes. (and J refers to me as sad!)

We were all allowed a short break at Appleby whilst the engine took on water, in fact we had two water stops on the way up to Carlisle. The engineers on board use a water tube (similar to the ones that firemen use to get water) and they then laid  it out along the platform to the engine from a water wagon parked at the station. It gave us all a chance to stretch our legs and take some more pictures of the Oliver Cromwell. (although you are hard pressed to get a shot of it without also getting other passengers in, as they all clamour around for a photograph stood in front of it.)

It’s a wonderful train journey to make, the scenery is absolutely  breathtaking and I would have loved to have taken  more pictures from the train than I  did, but I wasn’t sure how they would turn out because the windows were none too clean, and the further on we journeyed the more the visibility outside worsened. You couldn't make out the furthest hills and mountains at all, and I still intend to do this journey when the weather is fine so that I can really appreciate it all.

Eventually we arrived in Carlisle on platform 3. We three ran quickly to the front to get some shots of the engine before anyone else was st0od in front of it, then we made our way out of the station. We hadn’t much time. Just under three hours isn’t long enough to see everything, so we fairly quickly made our way to Carlisle Castle and after buying our entrance tickets, (thank goodness K is a member of the Heritage Trust!) we made our way to the keep. Some of you will no doubt remember that K and I had visited the keep at Carlisle Castle keep during our last trip there but it was still enjoyable to look around it all again. Of course there were plenty of K’s favourite stairs to negotiate but she didn’t complain and tackled them without the usual moans and groans. (mind you, after the York Minster tower climb she did, these would seem like a piece of cake!)

After exiting the castle gate, we returned via the under the road concourse so that J could see the cursing stone there and all the other interesting things that line the walls.  J wanted to look around the shopping precinct and so we then spent a boring time following him around as he went into different clothes shops. *sigh* (For those readers who may not know this, J is a nightmare to shop with!  He will go in a shop with little idea of what he is looking for, look at just about every garment they have on display, including a detailed examinations of it, the price etc, move on, same again, repeat, out of that shop, into another, repeat, etc, etc, whilst a bored and fed up Mum and sister look on.)

He usually ends up buying nothing, and as in this instance we were ‘clock watching’ into the bargain, K and I spent the majority of this time sighing and rolling our eyes at each other in the usual manner that we do whenever we happen to find ourselves in this unfortunate situation. We try and avoid if if at all possible.

Besides which we hadn’t come here to shop! On top of that, my back was giving me jip again. Eventually he sauntered into a branch of HMV where he purchased some CD’s which of course he could have easily bought at home in one of our branches. *Sigh*  We began to retrace our steps back to the Railway Station, and on the way, walked through the market where K bought a Hog sandwich with stuffing’ (I had a taste and it was absolutely delicious!) and I foolishly was tempted by a stall selling marshmallow kebabs which consisted of five or six white and pink marshmallows all on a stick which were then covered in hot chocolate sauce! It was absolutely fantastic as you twirled your ‘kebab’ in the chocolate sauce, and apparently according to J, I ended up with chocolate all over my face at this point (he didn’t take a photo of me in this state though which in hindsight was a shame)

I suffered for it afterwards though as by the time we boarded the train for the journey home I was feeling quite sick.  Oh well, I always make a point of buying or eating something whilst visiting a place that I can’t get at home, and we certainly don’t have marshmallow kebabs around here! On arrival at platform 4 from where our train was to depart, we could see it being pulled into position by the Oliver Cromwell. Then the engine had to be unhooked from the carriages,  reverse out so that they could return back down to the other end ready for the return journey. I tried to capture all of this manoeuvre on my camera,  but as always others were stood in the way intent on doing the same thing.

Once the engine was hooked up to the front, we all piled on again.  By now the weather had let us down as it was raining, and for the remainder of the return journey it rained consistently. It also became quite dark as well. K and I shared a bottle of wine (J didn’t want any) and actually he spent most of the return journey standing at one of the nearby doors with his head stuck out watching the train. Funnily enough, he didn’t end up with a black face as most tend to do, but we were at the far end from the engine so maybe that was why.

When we arrived back at Leeds, we had quite a wait for our train home, and so J sauntered off for a smoke outside the station whilst K and I had a toilet and then sat down on a bench to wait. As it was the Leeds Festival there were lots of youngsters walking around the station in high spirits so there was much shouting and raucous laughter going on. I was glad when the driver and conductor arrived and we were on our way to be honest.  I was feeling really tired and longing to get home to bed.

It was 23.00pm by the time we landed at our station, so we hailed a taxi for the rest of the journey home. J admitted that he had been disappointed in Carlisle, and wished that we had gone up to Edinburgh instead. (he was given the choice) So we will probably plump for Edinburgh next time we go ‘up north’

TG More pictures of our journey from Leeds to Carlisle HERE. p.s don’t forget to click on the blue hyperlinks for more info will you? Enjoy!

K and I are off on another of our jaunts tomorrow, so in this post, I plan to repeat the ‘clues’ that I gave all my readers last time. You have to guess where we are going and also how we will be getting there. Last time I think I made it far too easy for my readers, so this time the clues will be far more subtle.

I will be using Bing for the clues but you can use Google although it might not come up with quite the same outcome as Bing, so do take this into consideration.  So enjoy and here goes!

 

 

 

Clue 1.  This locomotive hauled the very last steam train for British Rail on August 11th 1968.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clue 2. We depart from a city currently playing host to some Kings of Leon.

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

 

 

Clue 3. The route we will take was the last great railway mainline to be built in the UK. It was completed in 1876.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clue 4. It is considered to be one of the most picturesque railway journeys that this country has to offer.

 

 

 

 

                   

 

 

Clue 5. Our destination is a city that is 2000 years old and contains a Castle and an Cathedral.

 

 

 

for this outing we are accompanied by J and this will be the first time that he has ever been on a steam pulled train before, so I am looking forward to his reactions when he sees the multitude of photographers, enthusiasts and general interest that such a journey tends to invoke. How will he react when he sees all the route lined with people waving, snapping and generally watching us go by?

We have only 2 hours and 50 minutes to spend in our destination, so we are going to have to really pelt around taking it all in! (if that is at all possible) My trusty Samsung camera will be accompanying me as always, so lot’s of snaps will be uploaded afterwards.

I have probably made it far too easy again, but its not easy setting up the clues, try it yourself!  

TG  Have fun everyone and enjoy the bank holiday weekend won’t you?

I’ve had rather a busy morning this morning, non stop would be a relevant and apt description. After breakfast, I decided I could no longer ignore the pile of ironing seeing as it had become so high that I had to bring out my step ladder in order to place the latest washed clothes on top of the pile,(joke) and so reluctantly assembling my trusty ironing board and my iron, I proceeded to plough my way through it all.

Whilst I was engaged in my favourite household task (not!) K finally arose from slumber, did as she always does first thing and moseyed into the lounge to peer through the TV Guide for next week so that she could set up her future recordings. Following that, she disappeared into the bathroom for quarter of an hour as she is want to do (the usual sound of mutterings and grumblings heard emitting from there during this time) followed by getting herself showered and dressed.

“What are we having for dinner Mum?” First conversation today, and of course on the usual subject.

“We’ll go down to MickyD’s if you want.” (Me thinking to myself, after working my way through this lot, I’ll be in no mood to stand slaving over the cooker, and anyway, we have nothing for me to cook) excuse.

“Bring me my purse so that I can check how much I have.” (Me)

As is usual for K, she shot off downstairs to fetch my purse and was back with it before you could blink an eye. (Explanation.) There are only four events that incite K to move like lightening and these are as follows,

   The mention of food or the close proximity of an eating establishment.

    The mention of money OR someone giving me money, as in shopkeeper giving me my change. (hand shoots out and         said change  is in her pocket before either the shopkeeper or I have had time to move.)

    Some post arrives through the letterbox.

    I get a bottle of chocolate milk out of the fridge to put on my Rice Krispies.

I didn’t have enough money! Drat! That meant a walk to our nearest ATM machine for a top up of our loose change.  Oh well, I reasoned, it was a beautiful day outside, the sun was shining and it would do us both good to get some fresh air and stretch our legs. So after completing the mammoth ironing task, we both put our shoes on, grabbed our bags in my particular case complete with camera, and set off full of high spirits only to find when we arrived at the ATM machine that it was broken.

Hmm. Remember dear readers how K hates walking, but!  That hate depends entirely on the goal at the end of the journey!  Remember, there is no way she would accompany me on my C.R.E.W walks if there wasn’t a meal at the end of it!  And so it was in this instance as to my surprise she immediately proposed that we continued to walk down to town in order to achieve the desired  aim of being able to eat at McDonalds. Its amazing isn’t it? The difference that a visit to her favourite eating establishment will invoke! (Well to be truthful, it’s not her favourite eating establishment. That honour goes solely to Jumbo’s, a Chinese Buffet  restaurant in Huddersfield frequented by her and her Dad when he takes her out for the day, where you can have as much as you want to eat until you are bursting at the seams which suits them both.)

And so we continued walking down to town. By now, I was beginning to feel a little frazzled. I had been standing ironing nearly all morning, now I was having to partake of quite a walk and my back began to give me jip. To help take my mind off it, I was busy snapping away as we journeyed along, the flowers, the trees, the library, a strange figure of a white man painted in the library grounds, anything really that caught my eye. Once we had finally withdrawn some money from the ATM outside my bank, the intention was to catch the bus onto MickyD’s  (even with the promise of a meal at the end of it, there is a limit to how far K will be encouraged to continue walking)  but….silly Mum had left both bus passes at home! Grrrr! Well, there was nothing for it but to grit ones teeth and soldier on!

Look on the bright side! I told myself, at least it isn’t raining! This time I managed to get my panoramic shot of the flower beds in the Park as well, because there were only two old dears having a natter on one of the benches that surround them, and they were so engrossed in conversation that I honestly don’t think they would have noticed if an entire BBC film crew had been filming them. We continued onto McDonalds. The service in there is getting worse every time we go in. I was the only one  waiting to be served in the restaurant area, but I still had to wait about 10 minutes before anyone attended to me. They concentrate far too much on the customers  in the drive through, and anyone waiting in the restaurant area is  left there tapping their feet impatiently whilst the staff serve the car customers. Grrrr!

K had a Summer Chicken Supreme meal (large size because I am collecting the glasses again) complete with her usual still Fanta orange with no ice, and I had a McChicken Sandwich meal (leaving out the bun of course) with a cup of tea. (Didn’t fancy my usual Grilled Chicken Caesar salad as I am sick and tired of eating salads all the time, and I am slowly beginning to turn green, crinkly and crisp)

At last we arrived home and I could sit down and rest my aching back. Good job that the weather has been lovely today. I was thinking we should go on a walk when I looked out of the window first thing and saw it was going to be nice, but that was before I had begun the ironing task, and I certainly didn’t envisage the two or three mile walk we ended up doing!  A roundabout trip consisting of a little bit more walking than planned but, nevertheless, very enjoyable. Bah! I have just realised! We needn’t have done any of it! Why?  Because McDonalds now have card machines!  Doh!  Will my brain EVER work at full capacity again? 

 

TG  (More pictures of our walk today HERE.)

Yesterday K toddled off into the wide blue yonder to Respite Care,(well rode there in an Access bus to be truthful) leaving her poor old Mum all by herself, and so after doing some washing this morning and hanging it all out to dry, I decided not to waste such a beautiful day and set off for a walk down to town, taking photographs as I journeyed along of anything that took my fancy. I used to love being by myself at one time, and actually used to really relish being able to please myself what I did, but now its not so enjoyable anymore, and don’t ask me why because I don’t honestly know the answer.

I sauntered down to the main road and from there made my way to where our new Swimming Baths is now in the first throes of being built. Yes folks its all going ahead, despite everyone who lives a stones throw away from its intended placement making all sorts of procrastinations about traffic, parking, noise etc, and why not?

Everyone and their dog protested about the Tesco building, but did it have any effect? Did the persons in charge of planning change their minds, concede defeat, turn round and say ‘No’ to the might that is Tesco? So why should it be any different when we, the citizens of this small town, are actually going to get something that we were promised (and indeed before we were swallowed up into the greater Authority that is Calderdale) were actually just about to get, namely our brand new Swimming Pool?

K and I will be the first in there I promise you. (health permitting of course and provided that I am still on this mortal coil) We shall be the first to sample the water, dip our toes in, or, if we are brave and foolhardy enough, we may even take a flying jump and therefore empty the pool before any one else gets a chance to sample its delights! Most of the Crazy Golf has gone. There are only two of the obstacle holes left now, and the poor old totem carving is laid prone on the floor awaiting its final fate.

I continued on into the park, where the usual owners with their dogs were all chasing one another and running around yapping like crazy, (the dogs I mean, not the owners.)  I moseyed on up to the Park flower beds, intent on taking one of my usual panoramic photos in order to get the whole of the flower display in, but I was foiled by a couple sitting on one of the benches canoodling who would have been ‘in shot’ had I gone ahead. He was in a pair of shorts, ideal for this weather you would agree, but his thighs, which would have been very visible in any photograph I had taken, were like big thick tree trunks and not a pretty sight, and besides which they may have taken umbrage at my including them in a photograph. Not everyone wants to have their photo taken by some stranger, for all I knew they might have been having a secret tryst of some sort.

So I had to forget that idea and continue on to town where I took some shots of the Canal marina where all the narrow boats are berthed, and from there, I continued along the canal taking photos as I went along. Of course as usual the ducks that frequent the canal had their picture taken again, they must be quite used to it by now, although some who were sunning themselves at the side were obviously camera shy and hid their heads inside their plumage.

I finished up taking my last shots of the lovely flower display in the town square before continuing on to have a quick natter with my ‘adopted’ son Ade, who owns the shop where I buy all my video games from.(He isn’t really my adopted son, but its a standing joke between him and me because he once remarked that he saw more of me than he did of his own Mum.)

Then I decided that as it was such a lovely day, I would walk home as well, treating myself to an ice cream along the way. It was such a lovely day, the sun was shining, there was only a slight breeze, so it seemed a travesty to take the bus. Besides which I could suit myself what I decided to do! K wouldn’t have walked home, she would have refused point blank no matter how enjoyable the weather. Walking down to town is sufficient for her, so I took advantage of the fact that it was entirely up to me what I did and walked all the way back home.

Hope you all enjoy the pictures of our little town. The rest are here in my SkyDrive.

TG 

On Saturday, K and I joined the other members of Crew on a walk around Judy Woods.  Now funnily enough, despite the fact that I only really live a stones throw away, I have never visited Judy Woods before.  I knew of it of course, and I had always wanted to visit, it is reputed to be especially beautiful in May when all the bluebells are out.  As this walk also coincided with K’s thirtieth birthday she was very excited, and she had spent most of the morning before we were due to set off for the walk busily opening her presents and cards.

It was raining but this didn’t dampen our spirits at all, after all hadn’t we just bought our lovely new raincoats guaranteed to be waterproof, and so once we all arrived at the roadside where all the walks through Judy Woods begin, K and I set off without a care in the world, confident with backpack and walking stick in hand. Some of the members had done the walk earlier in the week, and had found it to be particularly heavy going, stating that it was very muddy to walk, but being in such high spirits we confidentially joined the ‘’hard walk’ group, choosing to ignore any  warnings that K would probably find the going difficult.

Hmm. Well, all I can say is that in between slithering, sliding, slipping, pushing K up, pulling her up, assisting her round the most muddy areas, taking three steps forward and four steps back, negotiating slippy stone walkways over muddy streams, tripping over roots, striding gamely through nettles and brambles, I began to feel as if we were all taking part on one of those Army training courses that recruits are made to endure.  K was also ably assisted by some of the other members, but I was left to struggle onward as best I could  most of the time, with the result that I had a horrible premonition that any moment I was going to slip and fall face first into the mud.

Visions of me arriving later at the Wyke Lion covered from head to foot in mud and dripping it all over the carpet swam in front of me as clear as day! K and I haven’t got around to buying any proper walking shoes, but this walk has now convinced me that we really do need to acquire some Pronto! When we reached an cleared area where there was a signpost stone, K asked if we could have a rest so that she could have a drink and a breather, but before she had chance to get her drink out of her backpack, the leader T was off again!  Her face was a picture.

We met up with the other party who were taking the ‘easy route’ through the woods, but despite the fact that they invited K to join them for the rest of the walk, she carried on with the ‘hard walk’ group. Actually the rest of the walk was an absolute doddle compared to the first half that we had already done. Trouble was that it was so muddy underfoot that I didn’t really get chance to enjoy the woods at all, I was far too busy helping K and watching my own footing to look up and admire the view!

We emerged out onto the road and all made our way back down to where the cars were parked. All of our shoes were caked with mud (and the bottom of our trousers as well!) so we cleaned them up as best we could with some tissues before climbing into the cars to go to the Wyke Lion for our usual end of walk meal. I had a grilled chicken Caesar salad and K had Garlic Chicken with mashed potato, all nicely swilled down with some large glasses of sweet white wine.  Of course because it was her birthday, K was treat to the usual calorie laden chocolate sweet to follow which she thoroughly enjoyed. (as usual.)

I have vowed to do this walk through Judy Woods again but when the weather is more suitable and the route isn’t covered in mud. Then I may be able to look up and admire the beauty of it all instead of trying to stay on my feet!

TG

I was up with the crack of dawn as is usual when we are setting off anywhere, showered, dressed and hair done at 06.30am.  K was also up early and after we had checked that we had everything that we needed for the day out including our packed lunches for the train, we set off to catch the bus to take us to the Railway station.  The platform soon filled with expectant and eager travellers (and of course lots of train enthusiasts all waiting patiently with cameras and cine cameras at the ready.) I was so excited.  After all, our last trip on a steam engine pulled excursion had been four or five years ago on the Flying Scotsman.

      

Eventually and right on time, 6233 the Duchess of Sutherland came puffing round the bend and alongside platform 8.  She was pulling 10 coaches in all, and we were in Coach G.  We all eagerly clambered on board and found our respective seats where we all stashed our coats, bags and other paraphernalia onto the luggage racks above before settling down for the journey ahead.   Our next pick up point was to be Wakefield and from there we would be continuing onto York and then Scarborough. 

As is usual when a chartered train pulled by a steam locomotive is pulling a train, the whole journey was peppered with train enthusiasts lining the route with their cameras taking photos of the engine as it roared past, and people with young children were waiving to us, so of course we all took the opportunity to wave back. (with me giving my usual royal wave as I always do on these occasions.) You really do feel like royalty as you ride on these steam train journeys, and it always amazes me how they know which route to wait along so as to catch a glimpse or a good photograph.  This one that we were travelling on this Friday was actually the first one to take place this year doing the Scarborough route.

During the journey we were all really well looked after by the train staff, with a tea trolley, present and gift trolley, a raffle (to be drawn during the return journey) and the chance to win a prize to ride on the footplate and drive the Duchess of Sutherland yourself!  Yippee!  You can guess that this Granny bought some tickets!  I bought K a Duchess of Sutherland polo shirt and I bought my usual fridge magnet.  Apart  from a stop to take on some water where we were all amused to see our engine go steam past us all in reverse, (and then luckily steam back again to continue the journey) we made good time and arrived in Scarborough at 13.06pm, dead on schedule.  We were all informed by the staff to return promptly at 17.00pm thereby giving us 4 hours to enjoy Scarborough and take in the sights.  Of course, I took the opportunity to take a few snaps of the Duchess as she stood there looking all pristine and smart in her maroon livery.

 Eventually we tore ourselves away and exiting the station, we made our way down to the seafront via the winding steps route and from there we walked slowly along the front towards the harbour. It was a beautiful day, we really were lucky because it was warm enough to be without coats.  We stopped to watch a man making some sand sculptures of a bear and a crocodile, then we continued on to the harbour walk to the lighthouse. Lot’s of people were making the most of the warm sunshine, sitting on the many benches watching the boat trips out into the bay, so we stayed there for a while to take some photographs of all the boats moored up and the boat rides.

Eventually we began to make our way back along the front to my favourite ice cream parlour for my usual ‘seaside’ treat of a Knickerbocker Glory.  K didn’t want her usual chocolate sundae and she just had a chocolate milk shake instead.  When we emerged from the ice cream parlour, the Sea Rescue helicopter was hovering out in the middle of the bay and we watched them winch someone from one of the boats who had obviously been taken ill or something, either that or they were doing some practice exercises.  Eventually we  made our way back up into the town centre where we continued on to the Rotunda Museum of Geology.  I have never been before, in fact I didn’t know it existed until the other day when I was constructing  a fun quiz for my Spaces friends and it came up in one of my Bing searches about Scarborough.  There are certainly some very interesting exhibits inside, but I did feel that it was geared more towards the children rather than adults.

Soon it was time to saunter back up to the train station.  We had a toilet break on arrival and K bought herself a steak pasty for her tea on the train.  I wanted to take the opportunity to get some more pictures of the Duchess of Sutherland before our return journey began whilst she was stood stationary, so we walked along the platform to the far end and  as they were allowing passengers to take a look around the cab, I climbed up as well so that  K could take a photograph of me peeking out!  It was so hot in there with the firebox open but I was in seventh heaven!  Of course my lovely daughter also took a picture of me climbing back down rear first!

Dead on time at 17.06pm we set off from Scarborough for our return journey, and again the whole route was littered with railway enthusiasts (many with very expensive cameras set up on tripod stands) trying to get that ultimate shot of the Duchess as she steamed past.  Honestly it must be so gratifying to be the engine driver or one of his mates on one of these steam train excursions!  All those people making the special effort to wave at you or take a photo as you steam past!  I wouldn’t be able to stop grinning from the minute I set off to the moment I finished!  Its just as exiting being a passenger on one, and I do encourage anyone to make at least one journey on a steam pulled charter train in their lifetime.

Despite having to make a diversion during the return journey when part of the intended route was having engineering work done to it, we arrived back in Huddersfield more or less on time. Then it was a fond farewell to all of our other fellow passengers, and as there wasn’t a train due to our town we set off to make the short walk up to the bus station for the bus home.  We had enjoyed a wonderful day both weather wise and journey wise, and we certainly hope that it won’t be the last. More pictures to follow in my SkyDrive.

TG 

Tomorrow, K and I are off on one of our Adventures.  We haven’t been on an Adventure for quite some time and this one that we are embarking on tomorrow is particularly exciting for me personally.  So just for a bit of fun I have decided that  I am not going to tell you where we are going and how we intend to get there, you are going to have to guess both the destination AND the mode of transport by a few clues given in this post and also some judicious searching using

Here are the clues.

1.  Railway tours?  (U.K)

2.  A ‘flyer’ but its not a plane.  

3.  We journey with a Duchess who spouts a great deal of hot air! (6233)

4. This seaside town is one of the few in the UK to still have donkey rides on the beach.

5.  This town contains a  very ‘round, plump’ Museum of Geology.  

Right!  Enough clues as it should be fairly easy to figure out both where we are going tomorrow and how we are getting there. Unfortunately there will be no prizes I’m afraid as K and I tend to be  always skint owing to all these adventures we are always embarking  on, and although we did discuss sending the first five correct answers a bag of Randoms each, unfortunately we have since succumbed to temptation and eaten them all, so that idea has had to be abandoned.  Sorry!

TG     Answers via the usual channels i.e Comments.

         
 
 
 

Yesterday I had one of those days.  You know the sort I mean,  we all get them from time to time.  A day where you end up wishing you had stayed in bed and not bothered to get up out of it.

It began well enough, with lot’s of promise.  K and I were due to visit the hairdressers at 11.45am.  One of us for her grey roots covering (me) and the other for a wash, cut and blow dry. (K)  The first downer began when the postman called. In amongst all the other post was a letter addressed to me from a Far Grange Park and Golf Club regarding my recent enquiry about Holiday Home ownership at their Park at Skipsea, North Yorkshire.  Nothing odd in that you might think apart from one small detail.  I have never ever contacted them about holiday home ownership! 

Oh yes folks, it has been a dream of mine for years to own a holiday home, since we used to take the kids when they were younger to one of the many Haven Holiday camps dotted about the UK.  I fell in love with them, and always vowed that if ever I came into any money I would buy one so that we could go away every year for weeks on end with the children.  However that is all it has ever been, a dream.  Why would this Granny, skimping all the time as she does on a state pension, enquire about owning  a holiday home?  And in Skipsea of all places?  (No offence to any residents of Skipsea who happen to be reading this post, its probably a lovely place, and certainly the enclosed brochure of the Park and amenities made the entire place look very tempting, but IF this Gran was ever in the position of having enough money to buy a holiday home, it would definitely be sited somewhere in Cornwall!)

Yet there it was, my name, my full address complete with invite to go and visit the Park to choose which holiday home I would like to purchase!  Now when strange occurrences happen to me like this, I tend to think its almost like someone is ‘rubbing salt into the wound’ and I immediately went off into one of my ‘if only I could win the lottery’ daydreams as I paid a visit to the Park site and took a peek at some of the lodges and Mobile Homes available. ‘sigh’

Dragging myself rather reluctantly from my daydream we set off to the hairdressers. I was attended to first, and whilst I was sat waiting for tne colour to take, K came over and showed me a pic of a hairstyle on her camera that she had taken up there with her.

“Yes that’s nice” I said approving of the short but neat style in the viewfinder. Then our hairdresser began attending to her. I was sat over the other side of the salon. I saw K say something to her, then she began to shave K’s hair. She had shown the hairdresser a completely different hairstyle to the one that she showed me, and the upshot of this is that she ended up with all her hair shave off…… No big deal I hear you all say.  She is 29 years old . She has a perfect right to choose how to have her own hair.  Hmmm.

I always dreamt of having a girl.  My daughter in my mind would resemble Shirley Temple with gorgeous long locks cascading down her back.  She would be feminine, pink, love wearing dresses and fluffy things. ‘sigh’  The only time that K has ever worn a dress was when she was a bridesmaid for my Nephew 20 odd years ago!  And she hated it!  I have never EVER been able to persuade her to grow her hair long. This I don’t mind as I tend to always have mine fairly short as well, but all shaved!  She looks like a boy.  I already have two boys.  But I was upset with her because of the ‘sneaky’ way that she did it, showing me a perfectly presentable hairstyle that was more like she usually has it done, and then showing our hairdresser an entirely different picture of her preferred ‘shave it all off’ look. ‘Sigh’

We exited the hairdressers, and the downward spiral continued . We waited 55 minutes for a bus to Halifax.  FIFTY FIVE MINUTES!  This wait was made infinitely  worse by having to endure lot’s of gawky stares from motorists and their passengers as they slowed down at the roadwork traffic lights just next to the bus stop.  Why do people in cars always grin like demented idiots at you as you stand there waiting for a bus?  They’ll get their comeuppance when all the oil runs out and they realise they’ve lost the use of their legs!  Humph! Not only that, but one minute I was roasted prompting me to take my raincoat off, then the next minute a breeze seemed to spring up, prompting me to put my raincoat back on again! I must have gone through  that manoeuvre several times during the course of our 55 minutes wait. So much so that I began to get on my own nerves…’sigh’

At this point and by the time we boarded the bus, I was really fed up.  Arriving in Halifax, we hurried to Argos, picked up a new catalogue, and then intending to go to K’s favourite eating establishment, made our way up to McDonald’s but it was cram jam packed with people queuing for a meal, so we had to then return all the way back down to Burger King.  (Actually I am beginning to prefer Burger King, their chips are always crisp on the outside, but soft on the inside, whereas MickyD’s chips can often break your teeth.)  Following that we went on to Marks and Sparks where I bought five t-shirts for my newly acquired third son  daughter to add to her already considerable t-shirt wardrobe. Then we made our way to the bus station, but despite making a valiant dash towards our stand once I realised that one was due to depart, we still managed to see it pull out and disappear.  What is it with us two and buses?  ‘Sigh’

“Right!” I exclaimed to K. “That does it!  I’m off to the shop to buy some Random’s!” Nothing better in my opinion if the day in question is determined to lay you low, throw everything it can at you, trip you up and knock you back down than stuffing your face with calorie laden Random’s!  So my dear readers, I didn’t last long in my resolve to stay clear of them did I?

TG 

Conversations with K, or how to become dippier by the day.

 

Here for your delight are a sample of conversations with my lovely daughter this week All included in this blog to demonstrate why I have arrived at the current mental state of being slightly Gaga, round the bend, or two cans  short of a six pack.

Tuesday 21.10pm.

K enters the room where I am trying to watch the latest escapades on Big Brother.

“Mum, after we have been to the hairdressers on Saturday, can we go to Halifax?”

Me. “Why?” innocent and perfectly reasonable question considering that normally after a two hour stunt spent in the hairdressers without any food  K is usually anxious to high tail it to the nearest McDonalds for a fill up.

“Cos the new Argos catalogue is out.”

Me sounding rather reluctant. “We’ll see.”

“Or  we could go on Friday!” K ventures as an alternative suggestion.

“Why what day is it out?”

“On Saturday.”  

Yesterday 15.05pm.

K enters room where I am busy at the keyboard (that makes a change!)

“Mum, will you spell me ‘hostectomy’  ?????? (She means hysterectomy, all because she hates being a woman, and plans to ask our doctor if she can have everything removed, either next time we are in the surgery, or alternatively once I have kicked the bucket, whichever comes sooner.) and also oterus?” (uterus)  Hmm, she must be putting all this down in her daily diary I thought to myself.

As  I wrote the spellings down on the scrap of paper that she presented to me, I couldn’t help thinking its a  good job that I didn’t set up that Space for her to use on Windows Live!  And here I must add that K thinks I am some sort of walking Encyclopaedia with knowledge about everything under the sun including an added spelling ability to rival any dictionary, unlike my two son’s who would rather die first before asking me or consulting me about anything at all.

This Morning 08.15am.

 

Me sat at the computer keyboard . (can you see a pattern emerging here readers?)

K arrives at my side and promptly thrusts her camera in front of my face which shows in its display a rather large spider crawling up a wall.

“What sort of spider is this Mum?”  (add to my necessary repertoire being a naturalist as well as everything else)

Me horrified and ready to launch myself out of my computer chair and grab the nearest broom, cloth, etc to kill said dangerous looking spider with, “ whereabouts is it? Is it in your bedroom?”

“No, its not in my bedroom!  Its  a spider from ‘Jungle to Jungle’! You are silly Mum!”    “Why do spiders have three eyes?”  ?????

“I don’t know! ” I answer, trying to recover my normal heart rate from the previous shock of thinking my daughter had a resident Tarantula in her bedroom. “I think they have far more than three eyes!  All the better to see you in triplicate I suppose!” (If you don’t know the answer to one of K’s numerous enquiries then make a blind stab at it is my philosophy.)

And that’s it folks for now. Well, until the next enquiry……

TG

Following on from yesterdays post, where I confessed that K and I had a penchant for Rountree’s Randoms, and also admitted that previously we were addicted to some squidgy snails which had inside their shells some gorgeous soft jelly, I thought that owing to the enormous interest from fellow confectionary lovers everywhere, it is necessary to include some more details (purely intended you understand for those of you who might be reading this blog and unfortunately reside in a country where said confectionary can not be purchased or sampled.)

In order to carry out a fair demonstration  and prove irrevocably that each Rountree’s Random packet actually does contain a Random choice of sweets inside (well apart from the Ice Cream Cones which for some reason seem to be found in every packet and are therefore NOT random at all) we have had to purchase two packets to compare the contents within. 

So that you can also see ‘in the flesh so to speak’ the aforementioned Squidgy snails with the lovely soft shells filled with jelly which previously were first in line in our sweets to be devoured list, we have also had to purchase a bag of those as well, purely so that you can all see what they look like.

Once all screenshots of said sweets have been taken for demonstration purposes, said sweets will then be shared equally amongst this blog editor and her assistant. Said editor feels that she can partake of the aforementioned confectionary, as she and her assistant have been vigorously exercising this morning for a whole hour, burning up numerous calories in the process, and can therefore afford to risk ingesting a few calories in the name of providing more information for this blogs interested readers.

For those who might be interested in which random’s were  randomly found in the two packets purchased for demonstration purposes, they were as follows:

9 Ice cream cones.  1 bow tie, 1 Pint glass of beer, 1 monkeys crown, 1 trophy, 2 button, 1 bus, 2 Alarm clocks, 3 Paw prints, 2 Hot Air balloons, 1 Rubber duck, 1 jug, 1 mushroom, 1 chess pawn and 1 that I couldn’t make out what it was supposed to be. (Must have been a random mould.)  For all those of you who couldn’t give a monkeys toss (wasn’t one of those inside I can assure you) about what the packets of Rountree’s Random’s contained  then move along to another Space where you might find the subject matter more interesting.

For more details of exiting Random stuff that other Rountree’s Random eaters get up to watch this video! (and realise that this Gran is not alone. There are more of us living here in the U.K,  many more…..) You may also be interested in the Rountree’s Random’s website itself which aptly demonstrates  to all who visit it the types of persons who tend to be devouring this confectionary. Take a look  HERE.

 

TG         P.S.  Will K be wanting the Rountree’s Random t-shirt?  Watch this Space to find out!

 

Rountree’s Randoms!

At the moment we can’t get enough of them! And the adverts really sum up me in  a nutshell………I tend to talk a load of gibberish as well, and I don’t need to be eating Randoms as the time either.

Trouble is around this neck of the woods as usual, its finding them!  Tesco’s don’t stock them, our local estate shop doesn’t have them, the only shop that currently have them for sale is the newsagents in town. It then makes it terribly tempting to buy quite a few packets at a time but……….that guarantees that this Granny will then scoff them all at once and I am trying to lose some weight…….K and I have spent many a frustrated hour recently trying to track them down.  We even went hunting for them in York when we spent the day there, as we fancied some for the train journey home.

So if you are reading my blogs and see strange words appearing randomly in amongst the story that don’t seem to make any sense, you’ll know what this Granny is currently devouring as she sits at the keyboard…..

Makes a change I suppose from the squidgy jelly snails we were crazy about previously…..

 

P.S. We like the ice cream cones the best!

TG  

 

Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you,

happy birthday dear Messenger, Happy Birthday to you!

 

 

Congratulations to all concerned. Looking forward to the next ten years!

TG  

Today we have been on a walk with a difference.  A  walk around the Yorkshire Sculpture Park  Now funnily enough I had recently seen some photographs online which had been taken at the Sculpture park and thought ‘I’d love to go there!’ but I hadn’t realised just how close it is to where we live, and so I was very pleased that this week it had been chosen as our venue for our Saturday walk   As always we went there with some of the other members of C.R.E.W , and K and I were picked up this morning by R and G at 09.45am because it takes roughly three quarters of an hour to drive there.

When we arrived at the Park, we were the first ones there so we waited for the other members who were also going on the walk  to arrive. There were only seven of us taking part on this walk, as some of the other members were on holiday and others thought it was too far to get to.

Once we were all assembled, we waited for the Mini Bus to arrive, as we planned to begin our walk at the far side of the Park which you could see in the distance. No Mini bus arrived, but instead a Land Rover pulled up, and one of the Park staff alighted and told us all that the Mini bus had broken down and  so we would all have to climb into the Land Rover instead . This was no mean feat, especially for K who had to be given a hefty ‘push up’ from behind in order to climb up into the back.

Eventually we arrived at the other end of the Park, and after entering the Longside Gallery to view the sculptures and paintings on show inside we then began our walk.  The weather was being very kind to us as showers of rain had been forecast, but in order to  foil this prediction I had cunningly brought along my brolly! (Guaranteed to keep the smallest spots of rain at bay) Our walk took us through a small wood called the Round Wood which houses the Outclosure, a strange stone built structure which has no entrance to it, therefore inhibiting you from being able to see what’s inside it. Of course this prompted a couple of the men to begin jumping up and down trying vainly to see what was inside.

We continued on and next we arrived at the Basket,  a rather strange sort of small tower complete with spiral staircase inside (K’s favourite climb!) The whole tower  is constructed entirely of metal and mesh. We all climbed up the spiral staircase (luckily for K, only 15 steps high) and peeked through the mesh at the fantastic views before making our way down again to continue the walk There were actually two walls inside made of mesh, one inside the other with a small area between them both, and of course this prompted K and I to make our way in-between them both with the result that K (complete with her usual backpack) nearly became stuck at one point!

Along this part of the route are numerous old fallen trees which are surrounded by stone walls. These are referred to on the map that we all had a copy of as the Hanging Trees but why I haven’t  a clue because you certainly couldn’t hang anything from them in their current prone and fungus covered state!  We were now slowly descending via a path through the woods, made fairly muddy by  yesterdays downpour, and this also included some steps to negotiate.  Eventually this descent brought us to the Dam Head bridge which crosses the end of the Lower Lake and the Dam. 

The intention here was to now make our way back to the main Centre for our lunch via the Lower Park route but this was inaccessible, and so we had to make the ascent through the Henry Moor in the Country Park, and this steady climb was quite tiring necessitating frequent stops and rests on the way up. We had passed lots of ducks during this part of the walk, both in the water and out of it, and I remarked that I had never seen as many ducks gathered together in my entire life.  Eventually we reached the Main Centre exhausted (and hungry!) where we all sat down to our meal. K and I had the chef’s special, Meat and Potato Pie with potatoes and green vegetables (me) whilst K just had the Pie with roast potatoes (no green vegetables because this contained peas which she insists she can’t eat.)

The other members of the group then decided to go back home, but we decided to stay with R and G and have a look around the Formal Gardens and the other Galleries there. Lot’s of the sculptures can also be found in the grounds of the gardens. When we had finished our walk around the Garden Galleries, we then made our way back to the restaurant and enjoyed a refreshing drink and an ice cream sat outside on the small terrace area of the restaurant admiring the stunning views over the countryside.

Eventually it was time to make our way back to the car for the drive home. This walk was a very different one to the usual Saturday walks which tend to be made in our local area. Because it took place in the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, which afforded a beautiful walk through not only some stunning countryside but also littered with very interesting exhibits and sculptures, I rate today as one of my most enjoyable walks that we have made, and I plan to return there again, next time perhaps with J in tow. Now where is that Metro route planner? More pictures of the day in my SkyDrive and at the bottom of my Space.

TG 

Yesterday in one of my group discussions over on LiveSoapbox, one of the members confessed that if she uses Writer to compose a blog entry, the size of the text that she sees in the compose window inside Writer is not the same size as when she views the completed article up on her Space.

This is  a very strange anomaly to me, because I have honestly never encountered this. So in order to show Mandy just what I see when I am down at my desktop beavering away on a new post, and what I actually see once it is published, I intend to make this post which will include lots on lovely fonts of differing sizes with a picture ‘snagged’ from the screen of the Writer compose area complete with the post before it is published, plus another screen grab of the same post once published.

The only difference between my set up and Mandy’s is that she still uses XP whereas I am using Windows 7 as my OS.  She does have Internet Explorer 8 on board though, but I am not sure whether or not this makes any difference whatsoever to the text size that you observe in any of your posts once you have published them to your Space.

In fact, if I view my blog post on Spaces in Flock (which in essence is based on Firefox) it still looks exactly the same size of text as the unpublished version sat on my desktop in the compose screen of Writer. So with no further ado, here are some fonts of different sizes so that Mandy can fully compare the pictures of Before publishing and After publishing.

This is lovely Black Adder to make it look ‘oldie worldie’

Fancy some Amienne? Looks good to me!

Or how about some plain old fashioned Ariel at 18pt?

Or how about some blue highway in D type 36?

I like Boopee cos its cute and different even if no one can actually read it! 18pt.

Bradley hand is another favourite because it looks like its been written by hand, perfect for diary type blogs. 24pt.

Chiller! Oooh! Perfect for Sean methinks! 36pt.

And here’s good old Comic Sans at 12pt. Hope its not too small!

Edwardian Script is another ‘oldie worldie’ font. I like it! 36pt.

One of my favourites, Gabriola in 24pt.

How about using some ‘hurry up’ for a change? 12pt.

Another of my personal favourites , Kristen ITC. 12pt.

Lucida Handwriting, love it! As big as they come in Writer at 36pt.

Got a narrow blog, try Matisse ITC at 18pt.

Fancy writing your blogs in this font! Hard to read isn’t it? More for a heading me-thinks Its Planet benson 2 at 14pt.

Pristina is another favourite font of mine. This is at 18pt.

So that’s about it Mandy! These are just a small showing of the text fonts on offer inside Writer with different sizes set. Now I am going to publish to my blog but first I will insert a grab of this page (in writer) and then a screen grab of the page in my blog once its published. I will show them side by side and one above the other so that you can compare.

TG

Its been another fun packed start to the day here at the Technogran household,  kicking off as it did with the dawn chorus waking me from my slumber at 05.30am, so I took advantage of the situation, stripped my bed, washed the bedding and then noting the clear blue skies and gentle breeze  outside I saved my tumble drier from eating into my electricity bill and hung  them out on the line to dry.  Hmm, so far, so good.  K eventually emerged from her hidey-hole in the box room,  where she asked me what time I had been in the shower (for her diary in which  every little incident gets recorded and which goes some way to explaining  why I always have to buy her a huge page to a day one.)

Eventually showered and dressed, she stood in her bedroom (the aforementioned box room that has to suffice as her bedroom) talking to the door.  The door declined to reply hence the main reason why she was talking to it, no arguments.  I had breakfast (K doesn’t eat breakfast, she insists that she is not a breakfast person, but soon compensates for missing out breakfast by spending the rest of the day after 10.00am constantly eating) 

“Who are you talking to?” I enquired as I manoeuvred myself down the stairs with the bedding in the basket ready for hanging outside.

“The door of course!” came the reply as if I had asked a stupid question.  Eventually she left for day care, and I busied myself with making my bed and other exciting jobs around the flat.  Some time later I went outside to check on the washing.  Hmm, that’s strange I thought, why is there some yellow ‘sticker tape’ pasted to the next door downstairs flat?  Because we have never ever seen hair nor head of anyone who currently resides in there,  I knew I was fairly safe to wander over and take a closer look in order to read what was on the sticker tape.

Plastered across the sticker in large letters it said DANGER. GAS SERVICE OVERDUE. Cripes ! Now owing to the proximity of this flat (next door to us) this is guaranteed to cause this blog author a sleepless night as she tosses and turns waiting for the impending gas explosion to occur!  Whose brilliant idea is this to plaster these warning stickers all over the door in order to bring to the attention of the current resident that their boiler needs servicing?  Wouldn’t a simple note in large red letters pushed through the letterbox have sufficed? 

And here is the dilemma.  We have never seen anyone enter or exit that flat since some curtains and blinds appeared after the flat became vacant. What if there is actually no-one there?  Will the Gas servicemen leave them there to haunt me forever so that I can’t get to sleep in case we are suddenly catapulted though the roof?  Or will they eventually break in with a hammer and chisel (or whatever they have to hand at the time.)

Besides which, as this resident has never to my knowledge set foot outside since moving in, not even for a breath of fresh air, they are hardly likely to notice any of this stuck on their door are they? So to sum up my day so far, its been a day of doors, beginning with daughters earnest conversation with her door, followed by next doors sticker taped DANGER door. And its only dinner time!  Hmm, I’d better keep my beady eyes peeled for any more door activity for the rest of the day!

TG  (close the door on your way out please.  )

 

Not that I think for one minute that any of my readers might conceivably think I exaggerate slightly when giving a few of the reasons why I’m slightly round the bend, but just as extra proof that is has been outside influences to blame for the rather sad state of mymind, I thought that you might all like to see for yourselves the current content of my beloved daughters camera.

I bought her this camera for her birthday a few years ago because she had been taking part in a photography course down at the Adult Education Centre, and apart from the occasional cutting off of a subjects head (usually me) she does seem to have got the hang of it. That is apart from the odd photographs that she chooses to take. Thank goodness for digital cameras with their ability to fit lots of photographs on a memory card which can be so easily deleted if they are poor quality.  

She is currently scouring the Internet (oh yes, as soon as she realized that you can search for almost anything online she ‘twigged’ it and uses it constantly to search for, in no particular order, short hairstyles (to print out to show the hairdresser) shark t-shirts with price, pictures of sharks, Music CD’s that she wants me to buy her, etc, etc.  When she finds them online (she’s a Google fan, sorry Bing) she then takes a photograph of the screen with her camera, so it tends to be full of screen shots of sharks, t-shirts, short hairstyles, Music CD titles with their price. (don’t ask! I still haven’t quite figured out her motive for this, unless its to show someone at Day Care or keep wafting in front of my face as a reminder of what she wants for her birthday)

She also likes to take pictures of herself in various hats, caps and disguises such as a horrible ‘wolf’ mask complete with matching hairy hands that she insisted I buy her one Halloween, this to scare the ‘trick or treaters’ away.  (see accompanying photo) All this has reminded me of one very embarrassing incident that occurred back in the old days when all of our cameras took film that had to be developed down at your local shop.  I can’t remember how old her and her brother were at that particular time,  at a guess I’ll say J was seven and she was 10.  I had taken a film in to be developed at our favourite shop. When I went to collect it, I thought that the assistants were looking at me strangely.

Exiting the shop I decided to look at them all as you tend to do,  and to my horror there were two photographs showing both of my children ‘mooning’ to the camera. They had taken each other bending down with bare bottom exposed for all to see!  I was horrified!  Furtively looking around in case the shop assistants had called the police to cart me off to jail accused of being some sort of child molester, I hurried home to confront my two offspring about it.  Of course all they could do was laugh! No wonder the girl assistants in the film processing shop had been looking at me so strangely!

So all I can say is thank goodness for digital camera’s, memory cards and that wonderful word ‘Delete’

TG 

Or one explanation why I’m slightly Gaga.

 

Here are some facts about my daughter who is Down’s Syndrome and who occupies this rather small flat with me. Everyone who meets her falls in love with her, but actually living with her 24/7 is a slightly different story to the persona that she paints to the outside world on short acquaintance, and so does go someway to explaining to my two readers why I appear to be slightly ‘round the bend’ or if you prefer, ‘three cans short of a six pack.’ Maybe I might be afforded some sympathy from you both as you read out these ten facts about my lovely daughter that otherwise were you to ‘bump into her’ in the street you would have no inkling of.

1. She loves Sharks. She is fascinated by them and has been so since watching the film Jaws as a youngster. Therefore she has me scouring the internet looking for Jaws t-shirts. She already owns several thousand (slight exaggeration) I think she likes to wear them to frighten small children away who always seem fascinated by her and therefore tend to hang around her like bees to a honey pot.
2. She is equally fascinated by Spiders (no t-shirts though) and despite being terrified of them, has watched Arachnophobia several thousand times. (another slight exaggeration but not by much)
3. Favourite film ‘The Goonies’ made by Richard Donner and starring one of her favourite actors Sean Asten. She has watched this several thousand times. (No exaggeration) She knows off by heart every word spoken by every actor in it from the opening sequence to the end.
4. She lives only for food.  She thinks that she will keel over and die if she misses out one single meal.  So every day consists of questions such as “What are we having for dinner?” then as we are sat eating our dinner, “What are we having for tea?” The day is then brought to  a close by the inevitable “What are we having tomorrow?” as we sit down to tea.
5. Because of the latter, she has taken  complete charge of writing down the shopping list which contains all the food that she requires for at least the next few days. There is never anything down on the list for me. I am obviously expected to starve to death.
6. She is a typical Downs in that 99% of the time she moves at a snails pace but… there are two occasions when she moves so fast that blink and you would miss it. a) When the postman arrives she is down the steps in a flash, and b) When a shopkeeper is giving you any change. Its miraculously in her pocket before you can say “Thank you!”
7. She spends 99% of her time (when not watching the Goonies and/or Arachnophobia) sat muttering to herself on the toilet. Its her ‘debating’ throne, where she irons out any problems that may have bugged her during the day, or yesterday, or the day before or even last week.
8. She talks to herself all the time. Now this wouldn’t be so bad in itself, I occasionally have been known to do this especially when ‘getting something off my chest’ but with K its all day, every day . I have asked her to whisper but unfortunately this ability seems to have slipped her by.  She simply can’t do it, and all you can hear is a sort of ‘sphst, mmhste, mbfits , mahehset’ going on in the background.  I could put my ear plugs in I suppose and try vainly to regain some sort of sanity.
9. As a young girl growing up, she point blank refused to have dolls. She had a pram (which she once threatened to bring down on top of her younger brothers head when he had been teasing her for days)  but she hated dolls. She wanted only Boglins. If you haven’t a clue or can’t remember what they were , they were horrid looking rubbery faces which you could put your hand inside and manipulate them into looking even more grotesque.  She loved them and ended up owning every one of them.  
10. She refuses point blank to grow her hair long and insists on having it as short as possible at all times with the result that everyone we meet thinks she’s a male. (much to my annoyance as she is my only daughter after all, and before I had any children, I used to dream of having  a Shirley Temple look alike with gorgeous long ringlets down her back.) As soon as I have departed this mortal coil, she will no doubt book an appointment and have it all shaved off.

So, does my strangeness and seemingly odd ramblings now make some sense? Can you begin to understand  why I am considered to be slightly Gaga?  There are other contributing factors to be taken into consideration of course, my darling daughter is just a small  portion of the whole that has turned me into the gibbering wreck that I have now become. Bless her.

TG 

I can’t seem to make my mind up about anything these days! I have become so indecisive that its beginning to really get me down. Quite when all this began I haven’t a clue to be honest. Was I like this before the menopause or has it reared its ugly head since then? Is it part of my depression or am I slowly going gaga? Trouble is I have such a lousy memory that I can’t pinpoint how long I have had this ‘shall I, shan’t I’ syndrome present in my usual repertoire of things that annoy me about myself.

An example of this is my blog. I have as many blogs floating around on the internet as most people have had hot dinners. Two are on Windows Live, one for my Geeky/Technical stuff and the other supposedly as a sort of online dairy. But I also do a duplicate post of that one to my long time blog on LiveJournal.  So that makes  three so far.  Recently  I have been trying to make up my mind whether or not to actually move to either Blogger or Wordpress and close down some of my other blogs, but…..I would then need to find some way to gather readers, I have quite a following for both of my blogs on Windows Live, and to be honest, although it is there primarily to sift out the spammers, I hate the hurdles you have to jump in order to make a comment on Blogger!

You can’t win can you? Make it very easy for everyone to comment on your blog and risk tons of spam a la Windows Live Spaces, or verify everyone with ‘Capcha’ to keep the spammers out.  Decisions decisions! I know this, I can’t keep up with all these blogs! Something's gotta give but what to do?  And why oh why can I never seem to come to a final decision about anything these days?

Even if I do make a choice I am then forever wracked with ‘did I make the right choice or not?’ and then inevitably end up changing my mind! What’s the answer before I drive myself completely insane?

Will I, won’t I? Shall I, shan’t I? Left or right? Black or White? Hot or cold? Or am I just old? You decide!

TG

Had a short visit by prodigal long lost son yesterday. I refer to him as prodigal son because the only time I ever see him (and he only lives up the road from us) is when he is after something/wants me to do him a favour/ wants to borrow one of my Xbox 360 games or we have persuaded him to accompany us on one of out jaunts around the UK which cost him absolute zilch.

He arrived about 2.30pm. This is unusual in itself as he normally sleeps all through daylight hours and is awake only at night. (His inbuilt body clock works in entirely the  opposite timescale to the rest of us, and so he only functions during the hours of 10.00pm to 06.00am in the morning.  Sort of a similar body clock that vampires have I suppose. You know, nocturnal)

‘Hmm’ I thought to myself as I opened the door after calling out my usual  “Who is it?” from the top of the stairs before bothering to descend, ‘wonder what he wants?’  Sounds cynical I know, but as this is usually the only reason that he shows his face without being cajoled by some treat out or other bribe into making  a visit, and as he was already in bother and could expect a  ‘ticking off’ from me because he had insisted that he was definitely  going to accompany us on our walk on Saturday morning, and was definitely  on his way down to our flat but never showed up, (which incidentally after years and years of experiencing the heart rendering realization that my youngest son is about as dependable as the weather forecast)  meant that we set off without him.

“ I came Mum, but you had gone!” was his excuse. Hmm.  Another bone of contention. Does he think that if I say we are setting off at 09.45am in order to meet up with the others, that we are then going to hang around forever waiting for him to show his face on the off chance that he might really mean what he says?

“Well, what do you want?” I enquired teasingly as he ascended the stairs. “What makes you think that I want something? Can’t I just visit my Mum to see how she is, without wanting something?” he retorted sounding quite annoyed with me as I followed behind him up the stairs.  Hmm, perhaps I have misjudged my youngest son and he has a definite need to know that his old Mums still alive and kicking!  Has he suddenly become attentative and concerned about the state of  my well being after all these years?  Son makes his way into the living room where I am currently on the computer surfing my favourite websites, and we begin a conversation about video games or something of that nature.  After about two minutes have elapsed he says

“Can I ask you a favour?” Ahah!  What did I tell you? “Will you print me out two application forms for Tesco’s?”  What the?   If I have printed out one Tesco application form previously for my youngest, I have printed out a  thousand!  And after all that use of paper and printing ink, was he offered a job?  In fact my printer must know that form off by heart, its a wonder its not imprinted (pun) in its memory!  Added to that, its a stupid form to print out into the bargain. Its sort of like a booklet, but you can’t print it out as such because some of the pages inside it are full  A4 page and yet others need to be folded in half.  Plus this time he wants two of the blighters!  To rub salt into the wound, or alternatively to make Mum’s blood boil,  they have their own computer up there!  With a printer!  No ink Mum because its so expensive to buy. (Son’s explanation why he always has to resort to asking Mum, who somehow has to manage buying inks for her printer from her measly state pension.)

“Why do you want two?  Are you applying  for a day job and one at night as well?” (Sarcastic retort from Mum)

“No!  Of course not!  One’s for M.”  What?  Bloody cheek!  I’ll be asked to print out stuff for every Tom, Dick and Harry and their dogs next!  Honestly, who’d be a Mum?  Its the hardest job in the world in my opinion!  In fact my Mum used to recite a Yorkshire poem for my sister and I when we were children about Mums and we used to love to hear her say it. I have managed to track it down on the internet. Its from the book ‘Yorkshire Lyrics’ by John Hartley, and here is some of it. You have to read it in a broad Yorkshire dialect because that is how it is all spelt.

A’a, dear! what a life has a mother!  At leeast, if they’re hamper’d like me,

Thro’ mornin’ to neet ther’s some bother, An’ ther will be, aw guess, wol aw dee.

Ther’s mi chap, an misen, an’ six childer, six o’th’ roughest, aw think, under th’ sun

Aw’m sartin sometimes they’d bewilder Old Joab, wol his patience wor done.

They’re i’ mischief i’ ivery corner, An’ ther tongues they seem niver at rest.

Ther’s one shaatin’ “Little Jack Horner,” An’ another “The realms o’ the blest.”

You can download the whole Yorkshire Lyrics book HERE if you want to read it all, but I warn you that even for a Yorkshire lass such as myself, it is quite difficult to decipher it!  But when you read between the lines, you can see that our role of being a Mum hasn’t really changed much at all……

TG 

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