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Showing posts with label odds-n-sods. Show all posts
Showing posts with label odds-n-sods. Show all posts

Friday, September 19, 2014

Every yellow sticker helps

Good evening. I hope you are sitting comfortably, then I'll begin. Shopping went well last night at Tesco, I was there when the last yellow stickers were going on, managed to bag me some bargains. I had a �3 off voucher on a �20 spend, so I jotted down the prices when things went into the trolley. I stocked up on a few tins because I knew I would not reach the �20 with mainly reduced items. Here is the list.
Ground almonds �1.99
Carton Value apple juice 65p
2 cartons soya milk �1.30
2 packets Value sultanas �1.68
6 small yogurt �1.00
2 tins Value baked beans 48p
6 tins Value rice pudding 90p
2 tins Value spaghetti 40p
2 tins chopped tomatoes 68p
2 boxes bran flakes �1.76
Bottle olive oil �2.00
Bottle white wine �3.99
2 packs reduced prepared fruit 30p
Reduced houmous 10p
2 small packs reduced grapes 10p
2 packs reduced prepared salad 20p
fresh reduced carrots and peas 12p
Reduced bananas 4p
Reduced mushrooms 4p
Reduced crispy salad 18p
2 cucumber portions reduced 6p
Donuts reduced 30p
Sliced wholemeal loaf reduced 34p
2 wholemeal loaves reduced 40p 
Diced chicken for the cats �2.94
And then I did something I've never done before, I bought two bunches of chrysanths at 25p each. I don't have a vase big enough for all of them so I split them into three smaller ones and added a bit of greenery out of the garden. Brightens up my living room. A treat for me, I think I can afford it ;o))

This morning I took Ollie and Alfie out, the two black labs, and delivered them to the Boarding Kennels down the hill. They are now on their holidays for a week while their owner is in Cornwall. On the way back I popped in to see a friend who has had an operation on her foot. She has got a long recovery time of 12 weeks and can't do anything much, she is pretty much housebound. Can't be much fun for her.

This afternoon I went to the Arts Centre in town, then the library, returned some books and took some more out. Sewing and crafty books. I am drooling at the thought of getting my nose into them.
Inspired to Stitch by Wendy Lees.
Fabric Painting by Melanie Williams.
Free and Easy Stitch Style by Poppy Treffrey
Crewelwork by Phillipa Turnbull
Ribbon Embroidery & Stumpwork by Di van Niekerk
The art of Embroidery by Julia Barton.

Then there was just time for a bit of a bimble round the park before it gets dark.



Have a nice weekend. Toodle pip.

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Nice to be invited

I got myself tarted up a bit today, I scrub up well if I can be bothered to make an effort. The Forest Pines Hotel is a pretty swish place and it wouldn't do to go in anything less than smart. I was invited to a friends and family gathering, to meet my friends daughter and grand daughter, who have flown over from Canada so the family can meet the new baby. I didn't think it was right to put their pics on here, so sorry, there are no baby photo's, you'll have to make do with the hotel instead. It's a big place with a big golf course attached to it. It's not a place I go to regularly, maybe once every five years, and only if I am invited to a 'do'. 
I took the opportunity to combine the outing with a bit of shopping. I have hardly any food left in the house, and I'm scraping the bottom of the fridge and cupboards to produce some meals. Morrisons is on the other side of town so I popped in there. Found a few yellow stickers, but most of what was on offer wasn't reduced enough. I wanted bananas but they only had large green ones, and I like small yellow ones, so I passed on those. Cathedral City cheese was on offer at �2 so I bought one, also Dutch tomatoes at �1, free range eggs, cabbage, and lettuce.

My bus pass runs out tomorrow so I called in the office next to the bus station to renew it. The man asked if I wanted to use the same photo. As I have changed a lot in the last five years, and I never liked the photo anyway, I opted for a new one. It's all very quick, tap a few keys on the computer, click the camera, all done in a couple of minutes. The pass will come in the post on Friday.

On the way back I stopped at Aldi to get the bananas. If I search through all the bags on display I can usually find a bag with nine in for 68p. I also bought potatoes, melon, soft cheese, broccoli, cream crackers, and mushrooms. These should keep me going for a few days.

My favourite vet programme is back on Channel 4, anyone watching Supervet? Noel Fitzpatrick is a saint, he cares so much about his patients and their owners. He is a wonderful gorgeous man. If you haven't seen it yet, watch it with this link. (possibly UK only). You will need a box of tissues.

Watch how he fits a cat with two new bionic feet.


Catch you tomorrow. Toodle pip.

Monday, May 12, 2014

Inspiring you to walk

Hello. I've gone through your comments again and picked out the questions which need a reply.
Linda asks, 'What is through the archway to the hotel, in South Cave?' I didn't take any pictures because I didn't have time and I have been there before. If you look at this post you will see the hotel and the pond in the extensive grounds.

Mary asks, 'Which of my walks have I enjoyed most?' Difficult to pick one out, Mary. There's been good and bad parts in all of them. No particular one stands out as the best. I liked the excitement and challenge of the first one, Blackpool to the Humber Bridge, but the last day of 30 miles was a killer. The River Trent walk was the easiest because the B & B's were booked in advance. The downside was walking to a timetable. Morecambe to the Humber Bridge was the longest at 162 miles, and passed through some beautiful Yorkshire countryside. The North East Tyne to the Humber was the most varied, passing through industrial areas as well as the coast and moors.

Lori asks, 'What is an AA box?' The Automobile Association is a recovery service, you pay a membership fee and they come and rescue you if your car breaks down. In the early days, before mobile phones, they had AA boxes all over the country, and the members had a key to unlock the door. Inside was a telephone, so you could call someone for help. Nowadays everyone has a mobile so the boxes are no longer needed.

Kathy asks, 'What has been my favourite part of the walk?' After the Yorkshire Dales and villages, it is the nice people I have met. Everyone is friendly when you travel alone with a rucksack.

Anon asks, 'I should have asked for sponsors for the cat rescue charity?' I love it that people want to help, but at the moment we have enough money to cover our costs. We collect bricabrac to sell at car boot sales and events. Of course if anyone offers money we would gratefully receive it, but I am not happy about asking people for sponsorship knowing that they may be struggling to survive on their income. No one should feel obliged, or be made to feel guilty if they are unable to afford to give to charity. I feel quite strongly about that. Also, I do not donate myself to any request of sponsorship via 'Just Giving'. I do not put my bank or card details into a web site, I don't trust it, so I wouldn't ask anyone else to. If I want to give to charity I give cash locally or send a cheque through the post. Thank you to those who would like to sponsor my walks, I would be happy if you gave a small donation to your local charity, but only if you can afford it.

Gam Kau asks, How heavy is my rucksack?' Sorry I don't know, I haven't weighed it  Heavy ish.

Janey asks for a map of the track I took? I am not technically minded enough to transfer all that information to the blog. I do a rough check of the daily and total miles on a web site called Bikehike, and when I have finished the walk I check exact miles. I could take screenshots from there but it would take hours to do that. 158 miles of walking covers a lot of maps, I could photograph them but you wouldn't get much detail.

Anon asks about hostels. Sleeping arrangements, privacy and security. Hostels have mainly dormitories from four beds to twelve beds. Some now have private double and family rooms. There isn't much privacy if you share a dorm if it is full. Some have en suite, but most are separate shower and toilet facilities. But hey, all girls together, nobody bothers. Some hostels have lockers in the dorms, which are lockable, you need to take a small padlock and key. Those without lockers you keep all your valuables on your person. I use a bum bag and a money belt.  Take a look at Kettlewell Hostel to give you an idea.

Gail asks, 'How do I plan my walk?' First I start with an idea, where do I start and where do I finish. My first ideas were train across the country, walk back. Did that three times. Follow the river from where I used to live to where I live now. River Tyne to the River Humber, some coastal walking. I tend to stick to Midlands upwards. I would like to walk further south, but it would mean two days travelling. When I have the idea I borrow maps from the library and lay them out on the floor, and study them. Looking for footpaths, towns and villages where I might find a bed. Then check distances between places. When I have worked out a possible route I usually go to this site and print out the maps I need. A tip if you use this, change print options to Landscape. I bought some OS maps for this last walk, but not all of them, because I wanted more detail for the Yorkshire Dales. If you are in an area where a lot of footpaths meet you need a clear detailed map. No, I don't use an ipad, or any electronic maps. If you do use these you still need paper maps if you are travelling over long distances. Squinting at a small screen is not the easiest way to work out a route over twenty miles. And it will need charging up.

I hope that has clarified a few points, thanks for asking. I'm pleased to read that some of you are inspired to try some walking, no matter how short the distance to start with, you can always build on it. If it is a nice day, get off the bus a few stops early and walk for 20 minutes. When I travel on a bus I am amazed at how close together the bus stops are. Yes, lots of stops are needed for people with mobility problems, but young able bodied people could easily walk a bit further. Sometimes I come back from town on the afternoon bus full of college students. I often get off at the other end of the village and finish the journey on foot.

Must go, things to do. Toodle pip.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

In the mood

Oh dear, no post tonight, nothing prepared, nothing in my head, tis empty. Been sewing, and watching yoootooob vids. I've had this song buzzing around in my head for days now, don't know where it came from, it was just there. Try listening to it and NOT tapping your feet, and NOT jiggling around in your chair, and NOT going dooby dooby dooby dooby dooby do do. Betcha can't, ha ha.



By the way, Linda guessed correctly. You'll have to go back and see what she said. Snot finished yet, will unveil soon. Toodle pip.

Monday, December 9, 2013

Having a laff

I like to have a titter now and again, life doesn't always have to be dead serious, full consternation (oops big word) and angst (little word). It's best to lighten the tone a bit and not get so hung up on things going wrong or not working out right. A little trip on an uneven flagstone makes me laugh, my trip that is, it wouldn't be right to laugh at someone else who has tripped, unless they are laughing themselves of course. When I say trip, I mean without falling down, a little stumble that's all. It's not funny when someone hurts themselves. It's the silly little things that make me titter, like the umbrella that blows inside out and takes off in the wind, or the kitchen that gets blasted with soup when you lift the blender out too soon. It helps if you can see the funny side of things.

I often laugh at my own little mishaps, like the time I nearly chopped my own finger off with one of those hand held blades that you cut grass with. A sickle I think you call it. I was slashing away at the weeds in my back garden, and not making much progress, all I seemed to be doing was flattening it and not cutting it. So I had this bright idea of grabbing a tuft in my left hand and hacking it with the sickle in my right hand. Yes, I missed and sliced into my finger, ha ha. A good job I lived just down the road from the hospital, and was able to walk there with my hand wrapped in a tea towel dripping with blood. What a pillock eh, won't do that again.

There were several little mishaps when I was driving, it's normal to make mistakes, everyone does it. Like the time I unhooked an empty tank trailer from my tractor unit, at a brewery. The first thing you do is make sure you are on flat level ground, what did I do, I dropped it on a slope. There is a set order of doing things, you need to wind down the legs on the trailer first. Then disconnect the suzi's, those coloured curly cables at the back of the cab, they are the airlines and electrics and they activate the parking brake on the trailer. Then you pull the handle to release the pin, lastly drive the tractor unit away from the trailer leaving it supported by it's legs with it's brakes on. What did I do !?!? I pulled the pin first, head was in the clouds or somewhere else. This released the trailer, and because it was on a slope it parted company with the unit and rolled backwards. It landed on it's knees, (legs not down to support it), and stretched the suzi's till they bust. Ha ha, what a plonker, and how embarrassing. Had to get a fork lift truck to come and lift the front of the trailer so I could wind the legs down, and get a mechanic to come and replace the suzi's. Didn't do that again.

Ok, while I'm at it, confession time, can laugh now, not funny at the time. When I got back to the depot one night I found I was one box of 24 cans of baked beans short. All was intact when I left, rope and sheet job (tarpaulin covering the load), so where was it. I found it on the road as I was driving home in my car, bent cans and beans splattered all over the place. I quickly stopped and jumped out with a carrier bag and picked them all up. Funny that there wasn't 24 squashed cans, someone must have stopped before me and picked up the undamaged ones, ha ha. Nobody ever found out about it.

Oh go on then, I'll tell you another embarrassing story, ha ha. I was at the Lucas factory in Birmingham collecting some machinery, they were closing it down and we were shipping all the equipment out to another site. I had a lowloader trailer which only just fit through the gates. A team of men dismantled the machines and put them on the trailer. It was my job to rope, strap, and chain everything down. I crawled slowly through the gate and started to turn onto the road, hesitating for a second to look behind me to check all was safe. Now this is every drivers nightmare, to see your load move and not be able to do anything to stop it from falling off. I held my breath and prayed, then two very tall upright machines started leaning to one side, like slow motion they fell onto the road. No one told me they were top heavy, and were filled with oil. OMG EEEEK. Everyone came out to see what had made the big bang, the road was covered in oil, the fire brigade had to be called to mop it up. The road was closed, the buses had to divert, and the police interviewed me. I wasn't laughing then, but it's funny when I look back at it now. I wasn't prosecuted, and I wasn't sacked from my job. Phew, that was close.

Hey, do you like jokes? I've found a few which might make you titter.

My tom cat used to stay out all night, so I took him to the vet and had him neutered. Now he still stays out all night - it turns out he likes to watch!

Man to friend, 'I've really had it with my dog, he'll chase anyone on a bike.' Friend, 'What are you going to do? Have him put down?' Man, 'No, I think I'll just take his bike away'.

A man goes for a check-up. The doctor says, 'I'm going to need a urine sample, a semen sample, a blood sample, and a stool sample.' The man replies, 'I'm in a hurry. Can I just leave my underpants?'

Two bachelors are talking about cooking. 'I got a cook book once,' says one. 'But I could never do anything with it.' 'Were the recipes too hard?' asks the other. 'No,' he replies. But each of the recipes began the same way - take a clean dish.....'

It's late evening and Tom's wife catches him pouring six cans of lager down the toilet. 'What on earth are you doing?' she says. Tom replies, 'Well it seems a waste, but I thought it'd save me getting up in the night.'

And now........This has got to be the funniest Mr Bean ever.



It's good to laff. Toodle pip