90's

Lets have some music from the 90's!  I am off to read some Mansfield Park, as I have a half day.

♫ You've got the music in you!♫  

*dances with the dogs*

Have a fab day!!!!

Join the caravan of love...

Whats the story with the caravan?  Come closer, I will tell all.

When we go to Cornwall to look at houses, we will have to stay over night in case we want a second look at anything.  It will be quite hard to find a hotel or B&B that will take a dog and a puppy at short notice.

We had to think about how we could do this.

BINGO - Caravan it is.

We had been thinking of a motor home for a long time, but the thought of MOT's, motor maintenance, car tax.  There is also the thing of where ever you go to visit, we would have to find parking.  A van could be hard to park in supermarket car parks and say we wanted to go to a stately home, their might not allow or be space for a van.  

We have been monitoring e bay for a while and saw exactly what we wanted.  A quick dash down the motorway and it is now ours.  It is in really good nick, but needs a new carpet.  It has already been put to use as a temporary office on the drive.  I bet the neighbours are loving that we have a caravan in full view of the road.  No doubt someone will say we are bringing down the tone!  lol  

Once we have new carpet. We, thats the royal WE, will build into the seat bases, compartments for storage.  Then things wont fall onto the battery.  I have to go through all of the camping equipment and see what we need and what we have already.

The caravan will be stored at a camp site in Cornwall, we call them before we leave, they will tow the caravan out of the storage barns and onto a pitch.  we will hurtle down the M5, just turn up and carry on as if it had been there forever.  Then when you leave they put it back.  It saves us petrol and us having to tow.  Win Win I say.

Then when we have found a house down there, we can either leave it there to store, or take it to the new house.  If the new house is small it could be used over night in our garden as an extra room or it could be used as an office.  Using it has an office has worked out really well this week.  The builders havent finished the kitchen yet.  They are already a week over and eating microwave meals is making me ill.  Not many veggie microwave meals in the supermarket to be honest.  We will get a gas bottle for the caravan at the weekend and then at least I can cook over the weekend and next week.

Its all worked out really well, for once things have happened in our favour.

Now we need to get bits to fit it out with, that we may not have in our camping equipment.

What bits and pieces do you think we need for the caravan to make it comfortable?  What items do you have to take camping with you?  At present I am drawing a blank...

New to me

picture from google

I was watching Monty Don in one of his TV programmes, where a couple were making over their garden and wished to have a Japanese based garden. 

He sent them to a garden in Cornwall for ideas.  Did you know there is a {Japanese garden} in Cornwall open to the public?  Neither did I.  Its now on my list.  You can buy a season ticket for just £9!  I think that is a bargain.  With this and the {Eden Project} ticket to go as many times in one year.  I think I will be brimming with gardening inspiration!

Is there anywhere else in Cornwall I need to see?

January Read Along - Mansfield Park.

Please feel free to join in if you like. I will be posting about it on 21st February.

p.s. I need to find fairy lights for the caravan and a kettle...

Listen very carefully she will say it only once...

Another sad day, Gordon Kaye, who played Rene in Allo Allo, has passed away.  

Lolita read along

picture from google

I am behind blogging about this.  We made a made dash down south to look at and buy a caravan. It is all part of the master plan. *evil cackle*

OK, on to Lolita

Again I have loved the process of reading this book as it is taking me out of my comfort zone of Young Adult Fiction.  Obviously I am no longer a young adult, it just happens to be the type of book I can read easily.  Never in a million years would I have bought this book prior to the read along challenge.  I definitely did not think I would read a book about a peadophile.

To me it is written in the style of a narrator telling the story of another and painting a picture.  Quite a good pace and I felt quite a fast read.

Again I learnt new words, which sent me to the dictionary.

The book does make me query, if the author, knew someone who was a peadophile or he himself was the victim of one.  The book was written in 1955, it wasnt like today, where you can google everything and I doubt at the time he would of had a researcher.

A very interesting read, there were moments when I thought OMG!  Especially when I thought he was going to kill his 2nd wife.

The book is his confession, and is as if he is constantly talking to the jury.

8/10

Will I read it again?  Hmm that is a question.  I like to think I would, maybe in a few years.

Ye Olde TV

I used to watch this with my dad.  

I'mmmm H A P P Y, I'm H A P P Y.......

They still have those exact bedside cabinets in the hospital I was in in 2015.  The beds look the same, the cabinets are the same, the lights are the same...  LOL

Have a good weekend everyone!

Maybe it is really all fairies and unicorns

I tried to embed {this video}, but was unable to as it isnt youtube.  *cough* Voldermort *cough*  *giggle*  As its Brooklyn shouldnt it be served in a jam jar?  Or as it is called over there a mason jar?

Have you ever looked at {The Crazy Jewish Mom}, instagram?  That has made me laugh a lot.  Anyone with foreign parents or grandparents will really get a kick from it.  Marriage into a good family with a Husband with a degree from a prestigious university is wished for, for all daughters from their first breath.

For the Read A Long this month we are reading Lolita.  We will be blogging and discussing it on the 21st January, to give anyone time time to finish it and join in.  The next book is Mansfield Park.  Feel free to join in any book you like and not when you dont fancy the book.

Now how to work out, how to take that pesky poll down from the side bar...  Off to look now...

Green Goddess

My pedometer that came free years ago with a box of cereal (special K I think), broke.  The belt clip made of plastic, finally snapped, came free of my belt and hit the flag stones at work.  Smashed into about 20 pieces.  

One of the cleaners raced to help me pick up the bits.  She laughed when helping, "This thing is ancient.  Nearly as old as me!!!", (she is 67 and spritely).  "Look at this", she said.  "I can change the wristbands and when I go home it tells me my heart rate and calories used in the day".  Gleefully swishing her wrist around to show that it didnt fall off.  "You need to get with this century".

As you can tell by my blog, I am not up on all of the latest gadgets and gizmos.  I am missing peoples new blog posts as Blogger has changed the format and I forget to scroll down to click on the link, where before I didnt need to.  It would seem I am rather set in my ways and like things that I like.

Now I am unable to ride my bike and I am looking down the slope towards 40, I need even more to be on top of exercise and health.  Do you have a Fitbit?  Or something similar?  Are they worth it?  I dont want something that I wear for 2 weeks and then put into a drawer.  Would I be better getting another pedometer?

Thoughts please in the comments, I look forward to reading them.

p.s. I ate half a packet of ginger biscuits for breakfast.  Not having a kitchen is going to adversely affect my food in take.  I normally make overnight oats with almond milk.  No fridge and soot still in the air means I dont want to make it...  I think I am going to get some porridge and bring it to work.

Well Hello There

Over Christmas we had this cutie come and stay with us.  She is a Tibetan Terrier.  Look at those long black swooshes at her eyes.  Those are her eye lashes!  For real!!!!  I wish they were mine.

Carrying on with the cute, Marta above and Eric below.  All together now.... awwwwww.

Just when you thought you...

Just when you thought you could go back into the water kitchen.

I'm gonna need a bigger vacuum...

Not plain sailing here.  Nope not at all.  There was a moment last night at about 10.30, that I felt a wobble and the tears nearly fell.

We went out whilst all of the banging and crashing was happening as Eric is nervous of the noise and why put him through it.,.?  Plus we dont want the puppy to start copying him.  We came back around 3.30 after being out since 10.  I just wanted to sit down.  

The builders heard us coming and met us in the porch.  The looked like chimney sweeps or coal miners.

My first thought was that the ceilings had collapsed.

Then the showed us the skip and the old boiler that the previous owners had blown up, years ago.  Soot every where.  All over the driveway (remember it was getting dark at this time so not a lot of light and we dont have street lights).  Yep, in the light of day, its a mess, we need to get the jet wash on it.

This is what we started with.

It looks ok (ish) from a distance.  The brickwork went to the ceiling around the oven cupboards.  We had to taken it down this far, when they took the roof off in June and it thundered and rained for nearly 2 weeks flat.  As you can see their is a new ceiling as the other one fell down when the water was flowing down the walls and in front of the patio doors.

The roof looked like this

It rained inside 

A paddling pool which kept filling up

water was pouring over the electric box hidden in the cupboard

Above is the fiend where all the soot came from.  You can see they even had a new motor/engine put it, to try and fix it.  What they really needed was a chimney sweep.  The tube going into the wall goes into our dining room chimney breast.  Yep you can see where this is going cant you.

The took the tube out, and 40 years of oil heating soot and dirt came flying out!

EVERYWHERE.

From 4pm until 10.30 at night I cleaned this room and the hall.  Remember yesterday when I said we didnt have carpets put on the stairs or landing or the wood on the floor in the hall...  Because of the dirt.  Yep, am I pleased we didnt do that.  See where the 2 holes in the walls that are filled with the spray foam?  That is how they stopped more of it pouring out.

All the plaster has had to be knocked off the wall with the windows as it was all damp.  The pipes need moving for the dish washer and washing machine.  

Here are some shots of all the wall paper we found, all hidden by cupboards.

Every surface in the house is disgusting.  I rushed out and bought 6 mop heads.  The vacuum has been going constantly.  I started again at 5 am, as I waited for the lights to come on in the house behind and beside us.

This is a quick wipe of the arm of the leather sofa.  Am I glad I have leather now?  Yep.  Sure I am.

Very stressed out.  But coping is the way I will describe it today.  Add to this, the builder hasnt arrived yet and it is 10am.  Tardiness ticks me off more than anything else in the world.

I have boiled the kettle in the lounge about 6 times.  I touch something, it is filthy, I then have to clean something else.  I still havent had a drink.  A mouth like Ghandi's flip flop right now.

The dogs are filthy also.  That is a battle of wills waiting to happen.  There will be shaking, Eric, tears me.  Yep, not a good start to the kitchen renovation.  Remind me again, why we do this?

This house is breaking me slowly.  I can not wait for that for sale sign to go up.

How are you?  You up to anything nice?  Take my mind off of it!  Please!  Tell me something lovely.

Kitchen

Not my kitchen, but this gives you an idea of what it is like

Good Morning!  How are we all?  This year has been off to a better start than last year for sure.  Which is a huge sigh of relief.

The builders have arrived to smash out the old kitchen.  Add new wiring... replaster, tile the floor, make the kitchen units...  You get the picture I am sure.  Again we are reduced to living in one room on the ground floor and its paper plates I am afraid.  It is only 2 weeks.  We can do 2 weeks. 

The dogs are getting used to work men again. The pup loves all of them and stands there wagging her tail, basking in the attention.  

The new kitchen is going to look very Scandi, I think that is the style.  A bit country, a bit Scandi.  I havent a real idea of how it will look until it is done.  We will see.  I chose it all so long ago I cant remember.  I have since had the roof raised and the interior of upstairs completed (nearly completed, no carpets as I wanted the kitchen finished first due to dirt).

In other news.

I went to the supermarket the other day, where a lady with a long cashmere coat and what looked like a fox fur hat, was in the vegetables aisle.  She had really bad body language and was near shouting at the young girl who was pushing one of those funny trolley/cart things with all the drawers which I think it online delivery shopping (?).  She was really in her face, it went something like this

Woman "All of this is Spanish brocolli.  Spanish, all of it.  What is wrong with British.  Where is the British????  You people are the reason we have so many problems..."

The girl was red in the face and was maybe 17 or 18.  She stammered to answer her, "We only have what is out in the aisle...."

The woman stepped into her face and near shreiked, "I will have to go to Waitrose, they know how to treat their customers", jabbing her finger at her.  "I am going to report you!  Whats your name?".

At this I had to say something.  I drew myself up to my tallest, "Excuse me", I said.  "As you can tell by needing a coat - it is winter.  It isnt the season for brocolli.  That is at its earliest around March.  Come back then".

She glarred at me.  Towering over me.  "Clever clogs", she said.

"Yes I am", I replied.  

I hate that people think it is OK to treat people in service industry so badly.  That girl is somebodies child.  I wonder how she would feel if someone treated their child in the manner she did?

Do as you would be done by, is a phrase I like to live by.

Be kind, my lovelies.

p.s. When the woman left the area, another staff member came over and thanked me for saying something.  She said they have to just stand there and take it.