Countdown to Christmas

 Dear Marmite

Yesterday was the first Sunday of Advent and my mind has turned to thinking about Christmas. I have already got my visit to IKEA out of the way. I needed lights and candles and there is no better place to find all those things under one roof. I managed to restrain myself from buying any more house plants though. I always get itchy fingers when I walk through that section. I can't help myself.

Sadly I missed the village lighting up event yesterday. It was such a lovely one last year, I'm sorry I missed it. At least when I drove back into the village I saw our newly lit Christmas tree standing proud at the end of my road. By comparison, it is smaller than the Dairy Farm one but probably decorated with more panache!

What really has got Christmas underway was my trip to the Ideal Home Exhibition with Sophie, Diane and Jeremy. We did a wreath making workshop which was the big part of our plan for the day. Everything we needed was in a big box and all we had to do was tear open the package and put it together. Easy! Well actually it wasn't. I got into a fight with the fine wire that we needed so that we could wrap the leaves to the hoop. It had a mind of it's own and it fought back. 

I set about repairing and fixing my wreath this morning. An hour of being pricked and pierced by aggressive, fine wire was not enough time to create  masterpiece - I needed to continue with the masochism to get the finished article into an acceptable round. At least now I am a bit happier with my result and it will be put in a place of pride on December 1st. 

On the downside of our day out, the Olympia Exhibition Hall was heaving! A dizzying amount of  people all wanting to eat in a "food court" style area. It wasn't nice. We got food from a stall that didn't have a mile-long queue and found a table to sit at. Even table's were at a premium. errr. 

Part of the exhibition had stalls very much like those found on an indoor market. They were all set at the back right-hand side of the hall. I wonder whether this is a sign of our current economic decline or that my tastes don't allign with their "Ideal Home"ones. I wonder?

What was really exciting was my trip down to London in Sophie's car. We got down to St. Albans and then drew to a halt. The M1 saw chokka. There were police vehicles and flashing lights behind us so we edged over to make space. What we didn't expect was to find the police descending on a van right next to our car. We had front row seats. Sophie turned off the engine and wound down the window so we could hear!! The van was STOLEN. The  passenger was interrogated and the driver was marched off across three lanes while we were asked to stay still and wait until the can had been moved. We sat there and took it all in.. I should have videoed it... silly me!

So today is just a normal day. I have a swim planned and despite the low temperature outside there is glorious sunshine -just right for long country walks! I know, Marms - not your style....

Love you

XXX

Things that go bump!

 Dear Marmite

The weather here is truly wintery now and I have now bought all the warm clothes I could possibly need for this winter and many more to come, I hope. You are lucky. Your beautiful coat would be most suitable over here. When I went away to Stevenage for the weekend, I piled three different types of outer coat in the car just in case. I am completely prepared for all types of weather. I have even made myself matching hat and gloves - crocheted - and they match my new, waterproof parka.  I felt pretty proud of my efforts and I was only slightly miffed when Liz said they looked rustic. For rustic, I read a bit crude and rough round the edges!

Amira bumped into the back of another car on one of the many roundabouts in Milton Keynes on Friday. I know it is wrong to find other's ills amusing but to hit a car in the presence of a police car is quite funny.  The car looks rather bruised but she wasn't hurt, thank goodness. 

So with this in mind, Ann reversed off her drive with me in the passenger seat. Nothing unusual about this except it is a bit of a Woolhead thing to thump the inside of the passenger door at an unexpected moment to make the driver think they have hit something. You know me Marms, at times anything and everything seems funny. Ann wasn't amused. She thought she really had bumped her new car. She called me a daft bat. It doesn't seem so funny now but it was - hilarious! 

I thought it was so funny I called Nasser to tell him.  I thought it would amuse him. He didn't find it funny. He knows the silly prank only too well and does it to me as well. I was sure he would enjoy my success in making Ann think she had bumped her car. Suddenly I felt really daft explaining why I had phoned. I can only explain my embarrassment as being drunk on laughter when everyone else is poker-faced. Silly me... small things and all that...

Nasser with card expressing heartfelt wishes!

It was also Nasser's BIG birthday last week. I chose a recipe to make a parfait cake. However, my trip to the supermarket to get the ingredients wasn't totally successful so I came home minus two very important bits. I made the cake anyway but it didn't look special enough for a birthday cake, especially for a BIG birthday. I made another cake in a hurry and topped it with malteesers to make it look a bit fancier than it really was! 

This meant I was left with a sub-standard cake.... I took it to Ann's and we took it off to her friend's place for the card night. It actually looked OK for an ordinary cake until you cut into it and then it splodged. So it was a good call to make a second one.

So here I am back home and still full of cold one week on. I haven't swam for a whole week now. I am still smiling about my fun weekend playing cards and catching up on gossip. I only won two of the games - and for Ann's benefit - no, I don't need a medal! 

Oh, how we laughed.

If only you could have been there!

Love You

XXX

Uh-Oh

 Dear Marmite

Misty moisty morning!

I think I am turning into a Teletubby. Not only do I watch kiddy programmes now, they seem to be affecting me deeply. More and more my level of intercourse sinks to "Uh oh" and similar. I am definitely more Dipsy than Tipsy! That is what inevitably happens when you have a toddler around, I suppose. I even think my simplified expressions stretch to the tennis court these days. With the way I play, there is ample room for lots of "Uh Ohs" and a few "D'ohs" - courtesy of Homer Simpson.

I'll give you an example. Ezra-Mae - as is her way - tips up my kitchen bin. I am actually quite annoyed but "Uh-oh" slips out. Maybe even a "Whoops-a-daisy". I restrain myself from letting an "oh bugger" slip - I know to save that for more adult company. 

Poorly little thing!

Last night I had Shadow for a sleepover as Ezra-Mae has been so ill she ended up in hospital dehydrated and full of cold - such was the nasty virus that she picked up. Uh oh... poor thing. Shadow is a very chill dog these days. She is 12 years old now so I would have thought she knew better than to plonk herself on my bed. I growled at her. That worked. She leapt off the bed, hung her head in shame and slunk to her mat. "Grrrrr" works well with dogs.

I know I am not the only person to regress with a child around. The other day while I was getting dry from my swim, in the next cubicle there came an almighty thud. There was a pause and then a scream. Obviously a fairly small child had fallen off the bench onto the hard floor. Clearly the Dad didn't realise this. He was clearly an expert in the bleeding obvious. He asked, "What happened?" If only the child could speak - I would expect his reply to be something like, "What do you think happened, Dad?  You were standing right next ot me. I hit my head on the floor when I fell off the seat. It hurts." 

I really think we have inbuilt language filters for such situations. I have spent this morning cuddling a poorly baby while Mum Danielle went for an appointment. Ezra-Mae really wasn't happy that Mum had dumped her and no amount of platitudes and CBBC programmes like "Night time in the Garden" made her feel any better. It wasn't all a waste of time though. I am now an expert on Makka Pakka, Upsy Daisy and Co. I even watched Room on the Broom - Brilliant!! Now Room on the Broom is an allegorical tale of how we should be inclusive. Even the cat came round to a better way of thinking. I am sure E-M picked up on it!

Meanwhile, when Ezra-Mae is in a better state, she calls me, "Nana" but she repeats this so it sounds a bit like a siren, "Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah". Perhaps there should be a warning for all approaching Grandmothers! Who knows!

So, Marms, life is pretty busy. Even I am full of cold today. You are in a warm, sunny place - be happy. 

Love you

XXX

Remember, Remember

 Dear Marmite

It is breakfast time here and I am having an extremely large cup of coffee and eating Marmite on homemade bread - good old warming winter stodge. In fact, the weather here is still very warm which I feel a little disapppointed with as I have bought a REALLY, REALLY warm waterproof winter coat and I so want to try it out in harsh conditions. I know I'll look like a mustard coloured Michellin man but at least I will be warm.

As you know, Britain is rapidly turning into the third world country. We have been told to expect blackouts in January because of fuel shortages and I have the thermostat 1c lower than I did last year as fuel bills have gone through the roof. Fortunately for me, the house is fairly warm despite this and I have a bed cover over my duvet so my bed is a perfect retreat.

Day to day I have been busy. I am nearly done with the Channel swim challenge at the local pool. If I really was swimming the Channel, I would be in sight of French soil already. When it was lockdown, I calculated I swam this distance every month but now there is so much else to do, I have taken to popping to the pool most weeks at least twice a week. I also have been swimming with Ezra-Mae. She is a little fish and loves the water. 

I mentioned that my bed is a perfect retreat. I had Ezra-Mae over for her first sleepover last Sunday. We shared the bed. I thought it was rather unfair that someone her size should occupy the Lion's share. I went down to check on her and even Shadow had plonked himself squarely in the middle of MY bed - BAD SHAD! For one night only I clung to the very edge of the bed and slept not one jot. There will be words before we do it again and next time, I'll put the boot in with Shadow - cheeky mutt.

From my garden

The season of mists and mellow fruitfulness is well and truly done. It is officially winter. In the old days we made a big thing of Bonfire Night. It was a much bigger thing than Halloween back then. From my reading, I discovered that it was actually an Act of Parliament that made it an official celebration for saving James l from being blown up by a group of Catholics. So, clearly this was not a PC event by any stretch of the imagination. I remember making a "Guy" to burn on the bonfire and we would have our own fireworks, as would everyone else back then. I decided to have my own little Bonfire party this year - just food and games - no big bangs because Shadow was there. 

It is always lovely to have people around. The downside is that I am still eating leftovers. I ring the changes with different veg from the freezer but my meals are very similar. This is another downside of living alone. 

I am off to the Orchard soon so I'll say bye bye. Hugs all round.

Miss you.

Love

XXX