A crunchy walk.

Yesterday saw us up and out early. We had places to go. We aren't normally out of the house by 7.30am on a Sunday - we are rarely out of bed by 7.30am on a Sunday - but this week, we had places to go.

I had allowed extra time to defrost the car. We needed it. Never have I been so glad the jag has heated seats - boy, it was cold yesterday.

As we finally drove off the drive, the car still steaming as the heated front screen, heated wing mirrors and heated rear screen all worked overtime in keeping the ice at bay, I looked at the temperature reading on the dashboard.

-13c

Yes, that's MINUS 13!

Boy, that's cold.

By the time we returned from our trip out, it had risen to -3. The sun was out, and nothing was melting. We decided we would wrap up warm and see if the dogs wanted to go for a walk through the fields. I'm not sure whether they feel the cold but they never show it, if they do.

So, gloves on, hats on, boots on - we set off on our long weekend-walk circuit. Through the estate to the park where the dogs ran like crazies through the snow, noses pushing down into it to get to the latest smells. 

Along the lane past the Rugby Club and round the back onto the playing field - again, the dogs ran like crazies through the snow. They just love it. We met several other dog owners wrapped up like Scott of the Antartic. All the dogs seemed to enjoy the snow. They were all running like crazies.

Up onto the banks of the canal, and suddenly it was so quiet - apart from the crunch. We were the only ones walking along the canal. For once, there were no fishermen there. I remembered I had seen a car leaving the space where the fishermen usually park as we had approached the canal. It was unusual for there to be no-one fishing at all. It was cold, but it was bright and sunny, the sky was clear and normally this attracts a couple of the hardier fishermen.

But there would be no fishing today. The canal was frozen over. Pieces of wood and branches had been thrown onto the canal by earlier walkers, testing how thick the ice was. Thick enough for the wood to sit on top of. Whether this was fishermen trying to break through to make their trip out on such a cold day worthwhile, or kids messing about, who knows - but the fish were staying well underground today.

There were signed of breaks in the ices, which had re-frozen, signs that a narrow boat had been along there earlier.

But as we walked along, there was no-one. No birds, no boats, no-one. Just us. And it was great. The only sound we could hear was the crunch of our boots through the frozen snow that fell yesterday.

The dogs dashed along the path, into the hedges and along the edge of the canal.  I prayed that they didn't get too close to the edge. Although the canal was frozen over, I was sure it wouldn't hold their weight if they slipped over the edge. Brinkley came close a couple of times, but managed to stay ashore.

Eventually we came to our path that led away from the canal and back to civilisation. Cars, people, birds, noise all gradually became part of our walk again. The peace of the canal left behind. A mug of hot soup waiting for us back at home. And brandy and brinkley asleep on the sofa, shattered after running like crazies for so long.

Happy Sunday!

Today we woke up to snow.

The UK had it's earliest snow for 17 years on Thursday - and now, they have included us in the party.

How kind!

Why do boilers always break down on the coldest day of the year?

Last night there was an odd smell in the house, coming from the utility  - but not a gas smell.

Today I came home at lunchtime and the while house smelled odd - but not of gas.

The boiler was chugging away but the radiators were cold - there was a problem.

This afternoon the plumber came.

The pcb (printed circuit board) in the boiler was burning out - there was smoke coming off it when he removed it.

The boiler will not be fixed until tomorrow.

Tonight is forecast cold, frost, possible snow.

We have no hot water and just a gas fire for heat.

It brings back memories of our move to the mountains last year - and we survived weeks.

Tomorrow, the boiler should be fixed and we will have hot water and heating again.

Hopefully tonight will not be a 3 dog night, as we only have 2 dogs!

A Wii-Fit Age Record

I step on and it say 'Ouch!'

It weighs me and tells me I am over weight.

It gives me 2 quick challenges - one for my body and one for my mind and calculates my Wii-Fit Age.

Today I had to stand still for 30 seconds - strangely enough I managed to do that!

Then I had to remember whether the number in the centre was higher or lower than the number on the right - and react accordingly - not rocket science....

But it meant my Wii-Fit thinks I am incredible today and gave me an age of 23

Yippee!!!

Tomorrow, it will expect me to move and I will be 59 ...again!

Today a jogged for 2 minutes. I haven't jogged for 2 minutes since I ran for the bus to get to work 30 years ago. So, if nothing else, it is getting me to up my heart rate - and it doesn't feel like exercise.

Tomorrow, it tells me I am ready to go for a long jog - no idea how long that will be for - but I better protect against jogger's nipple - just incase!

I bought a new Coffee Machine

Well, if I'm going to have a coffee and a chat, I may as well have an enjoyable coffee.

And so I went out looking, with a budget in mind.....

And of course spent way over my budget.

But it does frothy coffee, it does hot chocolate, it does decaf.........

A little practice and I found out we have the perfect sized coffee mugs...

A little taste sampling and I found out that it makes great cappuccino's....

Now somehow a cup of instant just doesn't do it for me anymore......

This is my new little toy.....

Costa Coffee profits have just tumbled!

And Tassimo's have just gone through the roof!

Enjoy.

How old?????

We have started to use the Wii Fit on a regular basis.

It sets you a couple of challenges and then calculates your Wii Fit Age.

Day 1 - 53,  not bad for a 1st day.
Day 2 - 39
Day 3 - 59
Day 4 - 26

Yippee!  Can I stop now please.

Neil has broken a record today - the oldest Wii Fit Age - 73!!! Oooops.

I find the Yoga and balancing exercises the hardest, Hula-hooping and step aerobics are great fun and I do well at them.

However, heading the football - well, I've can't tell you how many football boots and Panda heads I have been hit by and how many footballs go sailing past!

If this is keeping fit in the privacy of my own home - I'm all for it.

It's great fun.

Just finished my first Kindle book.

This morning I finished my first Kindle book. I started reading Cecelia Ahern when she first wrote P.S. I Love You - and yes, the book is so much better than the film!

Since then, I have bought her follow up books and had them on the bookcase waiting for me to get back into reading mode. Having finally got there, I have now read 'If you could see me now'  'Thanks for the Memories' and 'The Book of Tomorrow' - if you like this type of book, then all are worth a read.

And so, I decided to continue working my way through her books and downloaded the 'Sample' book of 'The Gift'.

This allows you to read the first couple of chapters free, and if you decide you like the book you can buy the full book. If it's not your style, then you've not lost anything except the time taken to read a couple of chapters.

At first reading on the Kindle felt a little odd, although very easy to read and because I have a cover that opens like a book, you can actually hold it as if you had a book in your hand.

Because I had already read the first couple of chapters, I searched for the next chapter and picked up where I had left off, already knowing some of the characters.


Normally, when I read, I like to break off at the end of a chapter - and by flicking forward a few pages, can see how much I have left to read. On the Kindle, I  can do the same by page forwarding and back again. It takes a little longer but achieves the same result. Because you don't have the thickness of a book to be able to tell how far through the book you are, it has a gauge along the bottom of the screen that tells you what percentage of the book you have read, so you still know when you are half way through, or nearing the end.


If I get absorbed into a book, I don't want to put it down and I wondered whether the Kindle would have the same effect. Would I get involved with a book and forget that I was reading an electronic gadget. I was hoping that I would.


Yesterday, I got just over halfway and the story was starting to gain pace.


This morning, I sat down with it again, and a couple of hours later, I finally closed the Kindle cover having finished the book.


Yes, I had become so absorbed in the story I didn't notice that I didn't have a real book. Yes, I had enjoyed the build up to the end, which I hadn't seen coming, and lost track of time - just as I used to when reading a real book.


And so, I am a Kindle convert.


I feel ready for a good crime novel now so I'm off to browse the Kindle store for a few samples and see which grabs me enough to buy it. And the beauty for me of buying it online? It's Neil's card that's linked to the Amazon account so I buy and he pays.

Now, you can't say fairer than that, can you?

I'm so proud of my hubby!

Hubby got his 1st Hole in One yesterday. I'm so pleased for him.  

I just want to go home!

Last Saturday the Rugby club at the end of the road was having a bonfire and firework evening. We already had plans to go to our friends in Sheffield, so I hadn't taken much notice of the adverts about it, but when I walked the dogs up to the canal on Saturday afternoon I did notice a rather large bonfire was ready to burn in the corner of the field, and there were a lot of fairground stalls in front of the clubhouse. 

It was going to be a big event.

We left at 5pm and there were a few people starting to make their way down past our house. There is parking for about 50 cars at the Rugby club and our road is a 'no through' road, although there is a gate that can be opened to allow cars to drive out the far side of the Rugby club, in emergency situations.

In anticipation of the louder fireworks that big displays tend to set off, we had decided we needed to be back by 8pm to make sure the dogs were OK. They don't seem bothered by fireworks, and if anything, they just bark at them - but we hadn't seen them deal with the really loud bangs.

After a couple of hours with our friends, watching fireworks in their garden and enjoying some bonfire night food and drink, we said our goodbyes and set off home.

We had noticed, on the way to our friends, that there were a lot of cars on the road - I think because it was a Saturday evening, and it wasn't raining, lots of people had decided to go to friends or formal bonfires. As we drove home, the roads were empty, and quicker than normal we were turning onto our road ...............

....... to be met with gridlock!

There were too many cars for the car park. There were cars parked on both sides of the road, the full length of the road, which had turned it into a one-way street. With no room in the car park and nowhere for people to turn round and come back - everything was stopped.

As I was behind the wheel, I suggested that Neil jump out and walk the 400 yards down to the house to be with the dogs, and I would wait and see what I could do about getting out of the traffic. Behind me was a police car and, having put his flashing lights on, he managed to get past me and 3 more cars to a side road, which had people also queuing to get out and up to the Rugby club.

It was chaos.

The police parked their car across the road, blocking it off. They directed the cars coming out of the side road to go away from the Rugby club to clear that junction and then they started to move us all along the side road towards town....

......and me away from my house!!!

'I just want to go home' I told the officer as I reached the road block.

'No one's going up there at the moment, you'll have to follow the traffic into town', he replied.

As I drove into town, I knew I would pass 2 car parks and I hoped I would be able to get into one of them and walk home, going back for my car later. No joy though, they were both completely mobbed. Finally, I was in town and suddenly, it was like I'd entered a ghost town. It was deserted - no people, no cars, no nothing.

It seemed the entire population of Worksop was busy trying to get to the bonfire party at the end of our road. I drove into the car park behind the shopping complex to find 2 other cars in a car park that would hold a few hundred, and only a 10 minute walk to the Rugby club - why, oh why had police not been directing people here from the beginning of the evening instead of allowing the chaos that they were now trying to sort out?

As I walked towards home, I joined a still large wave of people moving towards the rugby club and soon I reached the chaos of our road. A couple of minutes later I reached home, to find a strange car on our drive, trying to get back into the traffic, going against the flow.

'You won't be going anywhere soon, they've closed the road off' I told them.

'Oh. We don't live here', the young couple inside informed me.

'No, I know you don't - I do!' I replied. 'If you get desperate for the loo, knock on the door' I told them as I walked past them.

'Do you mean that?' the young lad shouted after me as I turned the key in the lock.

'Of course I do' I replied, and vanished inside.

Once inside the warmth of our house, mug of coffee in hand, I was able to watch the chaos continue from the comfort of our front room. After about 15 mins, I noticed the car in the drive reverse up to the house and the young girl get out - thinking they were going to take me up on my offer I went out to open the door to them, and just as I did I noticed the police had cleared the road up to our house.

'If you go now, it looks like you'll get out' - I told them, and in a flash, the young girl had shouted thanks, jumped in the car and they were gone.

Knowing there would be a similar chaos in reverse when the fireworks were finished, we settled down in front of the tv. Occasionally, we would go out into the garden and watch the fireworks for a while before feeling too cold to be out anymore.

Finally, at 10.30pm, it seemed most people had left the area, there were a few stragglers but nothing much to worry about, so we put the dogs in the back of Neil's car and drove the 5 minutes to town to collect my car which, by now, was all alone in the car park.

And so, Bonfire night was over for another year. Next year we have already vowed - we are going nowhere - nowhere, unless we can walk there, and walk back again.

Picture this: A settee, a rope and a 2nd floor apartment.

If you read my last post you may remember a reference to Neil having a task to carry out before we could go out with Cadey.

Recently we decided to replace the 2 seater recliner settee we have. It's taken a lot of knocks while we've been moving around so we thought we'd treat ourselves to a knew one. The 3 seater, although it has to be dismantled every time we move, has stood up to the moves much better so, we went back to the store we bought them both from so we could match the colour.

We had a choice of 2 styles that we liked and both preferred the same one.

And that was when the problems started.

The one we both liked is made by a different manufacturer and their burgandy is a completely different colour to what we have. Having made our choice, neither of us wanted to take 2nd choice, even if we could have it in the right colour.

We had a short conversation about whether we could live with non-matching colours and decided we couldn't - so decision made - we ordered the matching 3 seater settee as well.

They are due for delivery before Christmas so we then needed to find homes for our existing settees.

Enter one of Neil's sons who has recently taken a new apartment and has no furniture. And of course, he didn't want to be sitting on the floor until Christmas, so we decided we would let him have the 3 seater, which we don't sit on, and we will continue to use 2 seater and we have  the Conservatory furniture incase we have visitors.

Saturday morning, 4 of them loaded it up in a van and carried up 2 flights of stairs, through 3 doors upto the front door of the apartment.

And that was as far as it went. It didn't fit through the door!

There was no way of taking it apart more than it was.

And so, to plan B.

The apartment has a Juliet balcony and a pair of opening doors. And so, plan B was to tie a rope around it and lift it up the outside of the building, past the 2 apartments below and through the double doors.

And so, it's in. I just hope it doesn't have to come out again any time soon, and if it does, I don't think Neil wants to be anywhere nearby.

Just got to wait for the new ones to arrive now!

What a long, long day.

We had an early start yesterday as we were having Cadey from 8am until 2.30pm. Now, this is the longest we have looked after her on our own and so we had plans to keep her entertained.

When she arrived my first job was breakfast - bacon, spaghetti and toast, followed by yoghurt. This is, apparently, what she always has when she stays with her other Grandma - and it's non-negotiable. At 3 and a half, she knows her own mind.

Her other Grandma had sent over a small can of spaghetti, or so I was told, but it turned out to be macaroni cheese masquerading as spaghetti. I assumed this was an acceptable alternative and carried on. I was to find out some assumptions cannot be made.

Cadey decided to entertain herself by annoying the dogs while I set about cooking. The dogs cannot work out this little person that visits and before long I found myself cooking with a dog attached to each ankle as they tried to avoid her hugs.

Breakfast ready, Cadey pulled up a chair ready to tuck in, only to find our chairs are too low and her plate was almost above head height! We pinched a couple of the dogs cushions to lift her up enough for her mouth to be above the table and she set about her bacon with some urgency.

Before very long she was asking for her yoghurt - but the macaroni cheese remained untouched. She informed me it was too plain for her and she doesn't like it plain. Now, I need to find out the trick to making it 'un-plain' from her other Grandma as no matter what I suggested, the pseudo-spaghetti was not meeting her standards and I finally gave in and replaced it with her yoghurt!

Next on the 'to-do' list was feeding the dogs their breakfast. She loves to help with anything involving the dogs and she collected their bowls, helped spoon in the chicken and put both the dishes down for the dogs.

Breakfast over, we then got coats and boots on, put collars and leads on the dogs and took them for a walk in the park. I was careful not to go too far as I needed to conserve some energy - I had plans for later.

While we waited for Neil to come home from a job he was doing, Cadey decided she would like to watch a DVD. Oh dear, I wasn't sure our DVD collection included anything suitable for a 3 year old!

She kept pulling boxes out to my reply - no, sorry, that's for grown ups. Finally we got a couple I could play - Ice Age or Finding Nemo. As I looked for the remote, Cadey had the recorder turned on and the DVD in the machine......who needs remotes? I made a mental note to check cheap kids DVD's next time I'm on Amazon.

Finally, Neil arrived home and we could carry on with our plans for the day - a trip to the Butterfly farm. I'd looked forward to the day when we could take her there and I wasn't disappointed. We had a lovely time. We bought some fruit and veg pots to feed the goats,

we stroked a skunk and chased after the butterflies. When we got to the nocturnal house Cadey said she didn't want to go in 'cos of the dark but she was fascinated by the snakes outside. As she stood there looking at one that was moving,  

                          

 the keeper came over and told us he was about to get it out for a talk and if we wanted to wait a few minutes, we would be able to hold it.

I had no idea how Cadey would react to this but I gave Neil the camera, just incase. She sat and listened to what the keeper was saying and then, when he asked if she wanted to hold it, she held out her hands without hesitation.

As we continued to walk around Cadey started asking if we could go and see the pirates. I kept looking around to see what she meant, there were meerkats, owls, turkeys, ponies but nothing that would resemble a pirate. There were no kid's play areas that had pirate themes, and I was totally stumped.

Then she told me she needed the loo and so we headed for the toilets - passing the PARROTS - not pirates! How silly did I feel?

Finally, it was time to leave and we had one very happy little girl. The day had been as much fun as I had hoped. We were exhausted, looking after a 3 year old is not easy but we loved having a Grandma and Grandad day.

Can't wait for the next one.

Remember, remember the 5th of November......

Gunpowder, Treason and Plot
I see no reason why gunpowder season
Should ever be forgot.

An age old English tradition remembering Guy Fawkes.

As children, we had bonfires and fireworks in the back garden. Hot dogs and beefburgers with Jacket Potatoes cooked in the embers of the bonfire.

We had a coal fire in the lounge where Mum used to roast hot chestnuts on the coal shovel.

I'm not sure how my eldest brother used to feel about all this. After all, it's his birthday today. I'm not sure whether he liked having a bonfire party on his birthday every year or whether he would have liked a trip out for a change some years.

The morning after bonfire night always has a specific feel to it. There seems to be a smokiness hanging over to the morning and there's always the sticks from the rockets to find laying about in the garden.

These days people have fireworks, but rarely have bonfires in the back garden, they are left to the official functions, Health & Safety and all that.

Happy childhood memories,

Happy birthday Bruv!

Starting early with a New Year Resolution

While we were working on the house, concreting, fencing etc I was losing weight.

While I was retired I would spend hours walking the dogs and playing golf and I was losing weight.

Now I'm back at work, Neil is walking the dogs and playing golf and I am no longer losing weight.

The clocks going back mean it's dark when I get home from work so the dogs get a quick walk around the estate, not a leisurely walk along the canal.

I need to do something.

I'm not waiting for the New Year - I'm starting early.

 Today, this arrived.

It's not coming out of it's box until the weekend and I have time to play with it but at least the intent is there.

Hopefully by New Year, I will already be into the routine and it won't feel like a New Year's Resolution!

A new start.

I wish I could think of something really profound for the first post on my new blog - but I can't!

Instead I will start as I mean to continue - by letting my brain drive my fingers over the keyboard and being surprised by what I'm reading on screen.

Somedays, something will happen that prompts memories to share from way back, other days it will be something that happened that day. My new blog will be a mixture of topics, memories, happenings and thoughts - just the same type of chatter that would happen while having a coffee with a friend.

So join me for a coffee a couple of times a week and we'll have a catch up chat!