Sea View

We’re having a party in a few weeks time, and several of our friends are staying at a guest house close to the sea front. It’s actually next door to the house where I lived when I was five.

As we were in the area yesterday we took a picture so folks can see what it looks like. I would have included Marie in the picture but seeing as she has a lovely black eye we decided it wouldn’t be a good idea. Don't worry - I haven't been hitting her. It's just a cold sore in an unfortunate position ...

We also took a picture of the sea view, but as you can see it was really rather disappointing. Yesterday was a bit foggy. Good job they don’t call it the “Sea View Guesthouse”.


Here’s a picture of the view when it’s not foggy.

Not much else to report from the Bogof household. Just looking forward to seeing everyone next month.

John

New car

I mentioned on last week that I had ordered a new Nissan Note.

With the exception of my two mini’s, all the cars I’ve had have been unexpected choices.

The first was the Fiat Punto. I was looking for a car to replace my second mini. I loved my mini but wanted something a little bit bigger. I needed some inspiration so we went down to the Motor show at the NEC. We visited the various stands and there were a couple I liked – can’t remember which ones they were though…

On our way out we had to pass the Fiat stand and as I’d dismissed them completely, hadn’t bothered looking at them first time round. I’m not sure if I wanted a rest for a few minutes* so we ended up sitting inside a Punto. Everything felt right about it – and it was an automatic. I just knew I had to have it.

Three years later and we were back at the NEC looking for a replacement for the Punto. Fiat had brought out a new version of the Punto and as I’d liked the old one was expecting that one to be my next car. It was awful ! ! ! I did take a fancy to the Daihatsu Terios but it wouldn’t fit in my garage…. However I did like the Peugeot 206 so that became car number four.

When I went looking for car number five I needed something bigger than the 206. We were now organising conferences so needed a car with a large boot. Plus because of my dad’s illness I needed a car big enough to fit a wheelchair in. The three on the short list were the Ford Escort and Fusion and the Vauxhall Astra. So what did I get – a Nissan Almera…

So now we come to car number six. The short list for that was the Citroen C4, the Mazda 3 and at a push the Nissan Note. I knew the Mazda and the Note had the boot space we needed but the Mazda was a bit expensive and the Note, well it’s not the most exciting car to look at…

So that just left the Citroen and if I’m honest that was the car I wanted. It had all the necessary boot space and looked very stylish inside. I really wanted to like the car, even if it did take me 10 minutes to find a comfortable seating position, but there was something not right about it. Reluctantly it was crossed off the list.

As the Citroen dealer is just opposite Nissan we thought we may as well have a quick look at the Note to discount it completely. The boot space was huge, much bigger than all the others. It had more toys than the Citroen and it only took me a couple of clicks and I got the seating position perfect. I had found my next car.

Ok there was one small thing that could have been a deal breaker – they don’t do the colour green… I alternate between blue and green cars and this one should have been green.

Cars seven and eight will have to be green ! ! ! !

Marie

* anyone who have been to the NEC will know there aren’t a lot of seats

The best laid plans

About two weeks ago ‘Barbi’ from Silversea rang to say that next years cruise details had been published.

Saturday was the first chance we had to do some serious looking and one in particular stood out. ‘Barcelona to Rome’ on 29th May 2008 and one of the places it was calling off at was Malta.

They also have a page of special deals for this year and one of them ‘Rome to Monaco’ on 8th June was just too tempting not to do anything about.

On the cruise last year one of the passengers mentioned a couple of cruise companies which specialise in late bookings so I checked out their websites.

Literally less than 10 seconds after I’d pressed submit on the email enquiry form, ‘Helen’ rang me. She needed to contact Silversea so would get back to me on Tuesday.

On Tuesday after several phone calls from Helen and to BA, our cruise was looking very unlikely. To cut a very long story short, BA have stopped flying from Newcastle to Gatwick so this has caused us no end of problems.

Helen, bless her, tried every way possible to get us flights using other airlines or from flying from Heathrow but unfortunately she couldn’t find anything that fitted in with the ships timetable. So rather disappointingly we shall not be going cruising on 8th June.

However I can tell you that after several phone calls and email again from Helen, she has got us a great deal for the cruise on 29th May 2008.

Malta here we come…

Marie

Defeated

At Christmas we got loads of chocolate and like last year we couldn’t eat it all so decided to stash it away until Easter.

Easter has come (and nearly gone…) and it’s still uneaten.

Yes I know we have failed in our duty and feel very ashamed.

In our defence it was the banned weekend* and we had been given an Easter egg from my mam and it would be so ungracious if we didn’t eat it straight way.

So sadly the chocolate (and the Easter fruit cake I baked) have defeated us. However all is not lost as the cake will do for John’s birthday in July and the chocolate may get an outing at the next bank holiday.

Marie


* all the yummy food which isn’t allowed on our diet so we have them every bank holiday.

The forgotten city

On Friday night when we went to get our Chinese takeaway we found part of Sea Road was closed due to a fire in one of the buildings.

We couldn’t see which building was on fire but as there were nine fire engines we guessed it must be the chip shop.

Yesterday morning we decided to be nosy so took the long way round to the post office. Sure enough it was the chip shop. The whole building, including the flat above were completely destroyed and the other premises in the block were closed due to smoke damage. There was a ‘lovely’ smell of burnt timber and fat hanging round the street.

It turns out that the fire was started by the hot fat and customers and staff had to flee the building. It was the front page and pages two and three of the Sunderland Echo.

However it never made it onto the local news or teletex. You see Sunderland, even though it’s the biggest city in the North East which does surprise a lot of people, always gets forgotten about. Had the fire started in Newcastle, that would have been a different matter.

It really does annoy us. There’s more to life in the North East then just the Tyne….

Marie

The Brethren and their Event

Now finally it came about that Marie and John didst pack up their belongings and travel to the land of Rezidor wherein resides the Park Inn. And the people of the Park Inn didst receive them with honour and they didst show Marie and John and the friends of Marie and John and the friends of the friends of Marie and John great kindness, even the fourteen of the Brethren who had been cast out unto the Ibis which is nearby.

And on the Thursday night some of the friends of Marie and John, including he that is named Phil didst make up the conference packs and they were amazed for they appeared to take up much more space than last year, for the bags were much bigger and there was much consternation for they feared that they would not fit in the office.

Now on Friday Marie and John didst set up their conference reception from whence Marie should greet the Brethren as they completed their great journeys to the land of Rezidor. And when the Brethren saw the hotel they were glad, for it was much better than the comments on the Ebookers website had told them.

Also on Friday the emissary of the tribe of Cosmic didst arrive and was taken to the place where the awards would be distributed and he was glad also. But when the rest of the tribe of Cosmic came they were troubled, for the room looked much smaller than they had first thought. And so it came to pass that they didst toil mightily all night to build their set.

Now while the tribe of Cosmic were striving to build their set, Chris, and Jenny, and Paul who is also called Gottle didst arrange for a quiz to question and confound the brethren, and the Brethren heard the quiz of Chris and Jenny and Paul who is also called Gottle and they were amazed, for it seemed to them to be a great and fitting entertainment, especially to those of the Brethren who didst win prizes of wine and chocolate.

And after many hours of discussions and imbibing, the Brethren went to bed and so ended the first night of the Event.

On the second day of the Event the Brethren didst learn much from the wise of their number who didst present certain seminars. And after this the Brethren didst eat lunch and then some of them didst attend a meeting. But some of the Brethren, being uninterested didst arrange for Paul who is also called Gottle to take them in the minibus to witness the football which is played nearby, and Paul who is also called Gottle and certain of the other of the Brethren didst take themselves to search for certain geocaches which were concealed nearby.

Finally near the end of the day, the elders of the Town of Northampton in which is the land of Rezidor didst come to visit the Brethren, and break bread (and four cheese tart with sweet pepper salsa, roast lamb with rosemary and sticky toffee pudding) with them and afterwards didst witness the result of the toil of the tribe of Cosmic and the distribution of awards the those of the Brethren who had won. And afterwards there was much rejoicing and so ended the second night of the Event.

Now the last day of the Event didst start later then the first or the second for all the brethren were afflicted with hangovers, but eventually some of the brethren didst go and visit Radio Nene Valley, and some didst ramble with Geoff and Amelia, and yet more didst attend a seminar with Nigel, one of the elders of the EC.

After this finally didst come the lunch of farewell where other elders of the EC, Paul and June gave thanks to Marie and John and their friends for arranging a most wondrous Event, and all were glad, even the fourteen of the Brethren who had been cast out to the Ibis which is next door. And after the brethren had left for their own lands, Marie and John were greatly tired and didst rest for the remainder of the third day.

Finally on the fourth day, Marie and John didst talk with the Elders of the Land of Rezidor, and they were glad, for the bill was less than they had feared, and agreement was reached. So Marie and John didst depart in peace for their own lands with great rejoicing.

The End

We’re back

Yes as you can see we’re back from Northampton conference. We had a wonderful weekend. The food was superb, the company fantastic, what more could you ask for…

I’m pleased to say that there were no problems with the ‘Brethren’. More details to follow.

The journey home was slightly longer than we expected. We left the hotel just after 2pm and didn’t arrive home until after 8.30pm. Junctions 26 – 28 of the M1 were closed so we had to find an alternative route and as everyone else had to do the same, the roads were rather busy.

Normal post conference tradition is to go to the Chinese for lunch on the Tuesday. However when we got there they were closed ! ! ! ! ! ! ! For some reason they have decided to close from 2nd – 14th April.

To say we were stunned would be an understatement. We had a look at the other eateries along the seafront but they either didn’t do lunch time openings or we didn’t fancy them. So we went to the Wessington pub instead.

Oh and while we were out I became the proud owner of a blue Nissan Note, taking delivery of it on 1st September…..

Marie

How the Brethren received the news

Now we have heard how the fourteen Brethren who were to be cast out had been selected and how emissaries had been dispatched bearing the news.

But when the Brethren received the news, they were divided in their opinions. Some heard the news and were content, but some went about saying loudly, “This is not right, for verily we hath booked our places at the Hotel and we should not be cast out to the Ibis. Let some others be cast out in our place”. And some were greatly troubled by this and they didst communicate with Marie and make their wrath known unto her. And Marie was greatly annoyed by this. For verily didst two of the brethren shout at her and also didst they cancel their bookings.

To be continued ...

How the fourteen Brethren were chosen

In the first book we learned how Marie and John didst organise an Event and how the hotel did cast out fourteen of their Brethren to the Ibis which is next door. And we heard how he that is called Phil didst talk with the tribe of Rezidor and that it availeth him not.

Now Marie and John didst make a call amongst the Brethren who were cast out saying that if any of ye shall volunteer to be cast out we shall pay thee tribute of ten pounds each, but only four were forthcoming.

At this time Phil didst mention this calamity to the EC and they didst command that the latest to book should be those who were to be cast out. So Marie did send emissaries from Royal Mail bearing letters to those who were the chosen ones.

To be continued ...

It came to pass ...

It came to pass that Marie and John did propose that an Event be held in the town of Northampton, and the Events Sub-Committee did look upon this Event and they saw that it was good and they did say unto Marie and John, “Go forth and organise thy Event”.

And many of the friends of Marie and John did book to attend the Event, and so didst the friends of the friends, and even also the friends of the friends of the friends of Marie and John. Also did book many diverse folk who were only interested on attending on the Saturday Night.

After many months of toil the rooming list was completed and Marie did send it unto the Hotel and they were happy. But on the ninth day afterwards the Hotel did return unto Marie saying, “Thy rooming list is too great for our hotel and there is no room at the inn so fourteen of thy brethren shall be cast out and shall have to stay at the Ibis which is nearby. For verily our contract sayeth that thee shall have 100 rooms on Saturday night, to which we have added an extra 20 only”.

Now there was much consternation in the household of Marie and John for verily the contract did say 110 rooms on Saturday night, to which were added another 33 rooms. So Marie did talk with the Hotel and they did agree that the contract sayeth 110 rooms on the Saturday night, but that they had forgotten this, and that they had forgotten to add 13 of the extra 33 rooms also. And the Hotel did then say that they had only 130 rooms for us, for they had sold the rest, and that they had booked an extra 14 rooms at the Ibis for the brethren that had been cast out.

So now John did speak with the Chairman of the Events Sub-Committee, who many call Phil. And Phil was consumed with rage that the Hotel could treat his brethren in such a way. And Phil did speak with the Chief Priest of the tribe of Rezidor in whose lands the Hotel is situated. And the Chief Priest did speak with the Hotel but there was no health in his arguments and Phil and John were sorely troubled.

To Be Continued …

Only two more pounds….

And then I’ll have earned my first diet reward. To date I’ve lost 10lbs which is good but not enough.

I’ve still got at least a stone/stone and a half to lose before I reach my target weights. I say weights. I would like to get down to seven and a half stone whereas my mam thinks I should stop at eight stone.

I’ve been having a few problems with the hem on my gala dinner dress so have had to seek advice from my mam. I’ve had it in/out four times and even though I’ve measured it on Gertie, it still looks wrong.

I tried it on this afternoon and in her opinion it looks ok so I’m leaving it as it is. She even commented that it could be taken in as I seem to have lost the weight in all the right places for once.

Marie

First time in living memory ...

... that the internet time service hasn't made a mess of daylight saving.

Let me explain.

At work I use an internet time source (like one of those radio controlled clocks radio stations use, but over the internet instead) to keep the time and attendance system synchronised.

So far so good, but every time the Americans change to or from daylight saving the time from the UK sources changes too. Yes - I know it shouldn't do that because the source is only providing UTC (what the rest od the world call GMT), but it does.

Now this year Mr Bush decided that instead of changing clocks on the first of April they would change on the eleventh of March. And those states that didn't participate (such as Arizona and parts of Delaware) would have to join in too. Something about saving energy.

And much to my surprise, everything worked. As a precaution I turned the time service off over the weekend but this morning the times were correct and I was able to turn it back on again. Now all we have to do is hope that it works when we change our clocks.

So there you are, you sat around all week hoping for a decent blog and you got a techie one instead. Actually it's been really quiet here. Just keeping out heads down and working towards conference at the end of the month. Three weeks and it will be all over.

John (and Marie)

Total Eclipse Of The Moon

As I write this it’s raining and it looks set in for the night. I’m very glad it wasn’t like this yesterday.

I spent a part of last night standing out in the street minding a camera on a tripod. It wasn’t as though I was the only one either. All up and down the street there were little knots of people watching. One sad soul even brought out his laptop so he could follow the eclipse on an astronomy website. I stuck to taking photographs.

The picture is part of one of a set of larger images. In the originals you can see the surrounding stars and can follow the moon’s path through the starfield.

John

For the technically minded the image was shot with a 150mm lens (on 4/3 format it’s equivalent to 300mm on a 35mm system). Exposure was 10 seconds at f/8.

Summer is Coming

Really - it must be.

Yesterday was one of those milestones of the calendar. I drove home from work without having to use my lights. Now this may not mean much to our southern readers who have probably had long sunny days since the end of January, but in the North East the days are just a little shorter.

Still it's nice to know it's still light enough to drive at 5:45 pm.

Roll on the proper summer.

John

ps only 4 weeks to Northampton !!!!

Another round up of the news

Sorry folks for the lack of blogs. Google asked us to update our blog and up until Friday night we couldn’t log in…

So what news is there to report.

As expected my man didn’t buy a new television and yes she did have a good moan about them to the poor assistants.

Bought a pattern and some fabric for my gala dinner dress. As always I made a toile* but I’m not happy with style of the dress. It really emphasises my bust (and I don’t need any extra help in that department ! ! !) and it just doesn’t look right. It’s a shame as I really liked the pattern. However I have plenty of patterns from previous gala dinner dresses so all is not lost.

The diet is going pretty well with only a couple of little slip up, mainly on the alcohol side – hey we’re trying our best you know ! ! ! I’ve set myself little target treats so only six more pounds to lose and I will be rewarded with my first treat – the remainder of my Angel DVD’s.

I’ve decided as my bones and joints are telling me I’m no longer 21, I better start taking care of them (and that includes not falling down the stairs again…). So I’ve ordered some supplements to give them a bit of a boost. I’m not normally a good pill taker (I even keep forgetting to take my IBS tablets) but if they do me some good and keep me from having more surgery, which I definitely don’t want, then I’m prepared to give it a go.

I’m pleased to report following my little escapade on Friday, my bum is still a bit sore and I’m a little stiff but I’m not as bad as it was. However it set my pains off which isn’t so good…

Some medicinal wine and cheese (good for the bones as it contains calcium…) for me tonight.

Marie

* A toile is a dressmaking term for test garment.

Thump, thump, thump

That’s the sound I made this morning – falling down the stairs….

I wouldn’t care but I’ve done it before. Funnily enough it hurt last time too.

I am now the proud owner of a skinned shin and a bruised bum ! ! !

John was most surprised when I rang him at work this morning. He dashed home to investigate and thankfully I didn’t have to go to the hospital. Regular readers will know what happened the last time I went to A & E.

After some running repairs John went back to work and I went to my mams – be it a little later than planned. As a punishment for being late she dragged me round Sainsbury’s…

Now I really need some medicinal wine ! ! !

Marie

Going, going, gone

I tried putting this blog up yesterday but Blogger was extremely slow so pretend it’s Thursday evening…

I’m pleased to report that the bin men came this morning and they were quite happy to come onto our premises to take the rubbish away. So to the snotty little man at Sunderland Council – nah, nah, nah, nah ! ! !

Had a phone call from my mam asking if I could take her to a couple of electrical stores tomorrow as her television has died on her. To anyone else this should be rather simple but you’re talking my mam here.

She can’t stand the style of the new television so she’s going to hate everyone that is shown to her and no doubt bend the ear of the poor assistance.

She’s not intending to buy one tomorrow. Oh no. She’s only going to look. Why, because she wants a television stand first. Don’t ask ! ! !

Marie

Have you ever…

Heard anything so ridiculous.

Our new bed came on Saturday so the old bed along with some other rubbish, was put in the garage ready for the council to come and dispose of it.

I rang them this morning, told them what we wanted rid of and that yes the items didn’t come to more than eight (we’re not allowed more than that…).

I was informed that items will only be disposed of if they are outside by 7.30am. I explained about the mess the scavengers make to which the snotty little man replied ‘that’s the chance you take leaving things outside’. Bad move ! ! !

I asked if they could ring the doorbell and I’ll open the garage door like I’ve done in the past. I was told in no uncertain terms that they are not allowed to set foot on a persons property (they will not even collect things from a drive way. It must be on the pavement outside your gate).

If I wanted the items removing from the garage then they would have to send a manager out to do a property and risk assessment first. Once he is happy, I then have to sign a disclaimer before they will come and take the stuff away.

They can come on Thursday but I would have to drag the stuff out of the garage myself. I explained that I was unable to do so was told to ask a neighbour to help…

Being the customer from hell I don’t give up that easily so they are coming on Thursday, with instructions to ring the bell, and we’ll see what happens. If they don’t then a letter will be sent to the council as this is bureaucracy gone mad.

Marie

A round up of the news

We’ve been busy, busy, busy – hence no blog since Wednesday.

Went shopping at the Metro Centre with my mam. It wasn’t really a planned visit, she was avoiding her sister-in-law. Long story which I won’t bore you – I’m already fed up with it ! ! !

As we weren’t looking for anything special we just wandered the malls, particularly the places we never usual go. I found a lovely shoe shop that had loads of wonderful baseball boots and shoes.

I thought I’d died and gone to heaven as they did them all in size 3. It was so hard choosing but I found two that I really, really wanted. However instead of being Cinderella, I was one of the ugly sisters as my foot wouldn’t fit in them. It’s back to being swollen again so I left empty handed or should that be footed. However as Arnie would say ‘I’ll be back’ ! ! !

Just opposite the shoe shop is a jewellers – the place where I got my engagement ring and wedding ring to be exact. I’d been wanting a silver Celtic cross necklace for a while but couldn’t find one I like, so thought I’d just have a look on the off chance they had one.

They didn’t have one on display but the little woman said they might have something in their catalogues. They did and it was perfect so off she went to find out the price. I was expecting the Easter Bunny to have to pay for it but it was only £12, and that even included the cost of the chain.

Gillian, my hairdresser came on Thursday and dropped a bomb shell. She’s pregnant again and she’ll be out of action from August for four months. I hate anyone else cutting my hair so it looks like I may becoming a female vicar again.

Friday and Saturday were spent down in Northampton sorting things out for the conference.

Sunday and Monday were spent in Sunderland also sorting things out for the conference. Yes, you can tell it’s getting close…

Here ends the round up of the news.

Marie

Tickling the ivory’s

Yes, I’ve finally got back to learning the piano again.

Sadly I had to start right back at the beginning as it’s been such a long time since I played, that I’ve forgotten most of it.

You can tell it’s serious as I’ve started to make notes ! ! !

Who know this time next year I might accomplish my ambition. I’ve always wanted to play Scott Joplin’s ‘The Entertainer’. The easy version of course….

Marie

Having the right tools for the job

Marie has a laptop computer. It's a Compaq Presario something or other and it hasn't been very well for the past few years. It needed a new keyboard about two years ago and it began misbehaving soon after. About eighteen months ago it packed up and refused to work.

Santa brought me a screwdriver set which included a set of torq bits. The sort you need to dismantle laptop computers. So tonight I decided to give it a go. Nothing ventured and all that.

I took the computer out of it's packaging and got the tools ready. Before I started I plugged in the power supply and pressed the on/off switch.

You can guess what's coming can't you. Yes - it started. And I'm using it to type this blog.

So there you are. All you need to fix a computer is the right tools.

John

Intelligent, Us ?

According to the Intelligent Community Forum at the 29th annual Pacific Telecommunications Council the seven most “Intelligent” communities in the world are :

Gangnam District, Seoul, South Korea
Issy-les-Moulineaux, France
Tallinn, Estonia
Ottawa-Gatineau, Canada
Waterloo, Canada.
Dundee, Scotland

And ...

Sunderland

Yes, really. Sunderland. Nice to know we live somewhere intelligent.

Seriously, the rating is based on how advanced the communities are in deploying broadband, building a knowledge-based workforce, combining government and private-sector 'digital inclusion,' fostering innovation and marketing economic development.

John

I’m not proud

I don’t care who I pinch blog ideas from – sorry Jenny…

A - AVAILABLE: Depends on what you mean by available. For marriage, no. For a Silversea cruise next week, yes ! ! !

B - BIRTHDAY: September 9th.

C - CRUSHING: Haven’t the foggiest what that means…

D - DRINK YOU LAST HAD: Sipping a cup of coffee as I type.

E - EASIEST PERSON TO TALK TO: My husband.

F - FAVOURITE BANDS: Abba and Runrig.

G - GUMMY BEARS OR GUMMY WORMS: Gummy bears because I’ve never had worms. I’m sure they are very nice though.

H - HOME TOWN: Fulwell in Sunderland.

I - INSTRUMENT(s): Played at one time or another the recorder and the clarinet, plus the piano (badly…).

J - JUGGLE: Nope, keep dropping them.

K - KILLED SOMEONE: No but I’ve come close. Think new neighbours/Bob the builder….

L - LONGEST CAR RIDE: No doubt John will correct me as I’m hopeless at geography, but I think it was Sunderland – Bognor Regis.

M - MILKSHAKE FLAVOUR: Can’t stand them.

N - NUMBER OF SIBLINGS: One sister.

O - ONE WISH: That I can have three wishes…

P - PLACES YOU’VE HAD A CAMERA INSERTED: Never internally but have had a MRI scan. Does that count?

Q - QUIET?: Believe it or not, I am quite a quiet and shy person, especially with large groups of people.

R - REASON TO SMILE: It’s Chinese night tomorrow.

S- SONG YOU LAST HEARD: Starship - we built this city. It was just played on Radio 2. Well that’s not entirely true but that’s the last song I recognised. The ones after that were ‘modern stuff…’.

T - TIME YOU WOKE UP: 7.30am.

U- UNDERWEAR YOU’RE WEARING? Knickers and bra, both white (well if you can call them ‘white’). And no they are not matching. I can’t be bothered doing that.

V - VEGETABLE YOU HATE: What’s them…

W - WORST HABIT: Got loads so you’ll have to ask my husband which is my worst. However off the top of my head I’ll say hogging all the duvet.

X - X-RAYS YOU’VE HAD: Zillions.

Y - YOUR NUMBER OF FRIENDS ON MYSPACE: None because I don’t have a ‘myspace’. Is that the internet blog thing? (All geeks gasp in horror ! ! !).

Z- ZODIAC SIGN: Virgo.

Marie

Getting picky

You know that we have scavengers who patrol the back lanes and will take anything not bolted down. If you put out your old granny, they’d take her off your hands….

A few days ago someone put out a picture. It wasn’t a very nice one but that wouldn’t bother the scavengers.

We had a bet as to how long it would remain there. I said two days, John said less than 24 hours. He was right.

However two days later it was back in the same place again.

Looks like the scavengers thought it was horrible too so returned it ! ! !

Marie

The bells, the bells

This morning and part of the afternoon we had a lovely time – visiting A&E at the dental hospital. For once it wasn’t for me ! ! !

John felt a bit under the weather last night and this morning he woke to find he’d became the proud owner of an abscess.

Poor soul. His face is quite swollen and sore, and as Neil, one of his work colleagues asked, yes he does look a bit like Quasimodo.

Normally we would have just gone to the dentist but unfortunately John doesn’t have one. It closed 20 years ago and he hadn’t bother to find himself another one...

He’s feeling a pretty rough at the moment what with swelling, the pain and a hole in his mouth – they had to remove the tooth.

We called off at Sainburys on the way home as all he can have to eat for the rest of the day is very soft food. So it’s yogurts, mashed potatoes and baked beans until breakfast tomorrow.

Yummy ! ! !

Marie

Shopping

We went to Makro today.

Now, I know what you’re thinking and the answer is “No”, they haven’t got the Easter eggs on the shelves yet.

What they did have was a very tempting array of nice edible things all reduced. So we now have plenty of the nice edible things to put in the delegates packs for the HBA Spring Conference. And No, I’m not going to tell you what they are. Come to Northampton if you really want to know.

All we have to do now is resist temptation for two and a half months.

John

Reporting in

Just realised that I haven’t blogged since Sunday so thought I’d better put pen to paper so to speak otherwise Jan will be calling us boring old farts again….

So is there any thing exciting to report - maybe some juicy gossip, some scandal perhaps. I’m afraid not.

What dull boring lives we have ! ! !

Marie

Credit card workout

Yesterday I gave my credit card a bit of a workout.

Firstly we went to Matalan. Unlike some people (won’t mention names just in case they happen to read this and decide to sue….) I don’t have any hang ups with shopping there. Unfortunately they didn’t have what we were looking for. However I did buy John five new work shirts and myself 10 new pairs of socks.

Then it was off to B&Q. No it wasn’t to complain – but to have a look at some power tools for John. Sadly their range was pretty poor so we did leave empty handed. No matter as he’s found what he’s looking for in the Screwfix catalogue and much cheaper than B&Q.

Next it was the turn of PC World. My keyboard needs replacing and as I’m going to be spending more time bashing away at it, I thought I’d treat myself to something decent. Sadly their range was pretty poor as well so decided to stick with what I’ve got for now.

Leaving PC World empty handed is extremely rare. John decided to spend some of his Christmas money on some computer bits (I know what it does but can’t think of it’s name ! ! !) and I bought two SIM games and a family tree CD.

Finally it was the bed shop. We’ve been thinking about getting a new bed for a while but never got round to it, so thought as we were passing the shop we’d just take a look and see what they had. We left with a new bed being delivered in the next two weeks….

Sadly time was getting on so we didn’t have time to check out the carpet places as we’re going to replace the carpets in the main bedroom and my work room, along with the bathroom. Yes I know carpets in bathrooms are unhygienic but me, wet feet and slippery floors do not mix ! ! !

Marie

Paid up

I’m very pleased to report that this morning B&Q reimbursed me for the joinery bill.

Rather than send them the bill as per their instructions, I handed it into them personally. There was no way it was getting ‘lost in the post’, ‘lost in their internal post’ or for the Manager to simply bin it as he didn’t understand what the saga was about.

To make doubly certain I rang the person who I had been dealing with and told her I was on my way to hand it over.

There were no questions, no sharp intake of breath, or quibbles with the bill and ten minutes later I left the building with a wad of cash.

Lets hope this is now the end of the kitchen saga…

In other news. Spent the afternoon giving my mam cookery lessons. She was getting low on some of the meals I make her, and rather than me do them for her, I said I’d teach her how to make them.

We made two lasagne’s, three lots of chilli’s and two cottage pies. I had hoped it would from now on spur her into making them herself but sadly it hasn’t. At least she’s willing to make on a Friday again so I can’t complain about that.

Marie

Want list

This time last year I did a blog saying I wasn’t a resolutions person, but I did have a ‘want’ list.

Well here is my ‘want’ list for 2007

1: I want to win the lottery. It doesn’t matter if it’s the normal lottery or the Euro. As long as it’s the jackpot and is over £1.5m I’m not bothered.

2: I want to lose two stone in weight.

3: I want to finish my novel.

4: I want to continue my piano lessons.

Yes I’m afraid it is a case of deja vu as that’s what I said last year.

Well that’s not entirely true as last year I wanted to win at least £1m on the lottery and to lose a stone and a half. Think if it as inflation….

Marie


PS It’s only day two of 2007 and I’m already on to my second cold sore. I’m not amused ! ! !

A narrow escape

I’m a member of two on-line forums, one for IBS sufferers and the other for sewing.

I’ve only just joined the IBS forum and was having a little trouble putting a photo on my profile*, so asked one of moderators for help. Within the hour it was there and she couldn’t have been more helpful.

The sewing forum has recently revamped it’s website and as a result the date of birth on my profile has somehow changed. As there was a note saying that the administrator is the only person who can make this change, I emailed them yesterday and asked if they would be so kind as to correct it.

When I checked my mail this evening there were two mails from the said administrator. The first one was a rather blunt and snotty reply saying it was my responsibly to make that change, and was I incapable of doing it myself.

The second mail, which arrived two hours later and again in a blunt manner, said that they had checked the information on the members profiles and as I was unable to make the change myself, they had done it for me.

The administrator had a narrow escape for had it been any night other than a Friday**, I would have been at my computer when their first email arrived and they would have felt the wroth of the Customer from Hell ! ! !

As we’re going to Jenny’s New Years Eve party (yippee….) this will be the last blog for 2006. From John and myself, we wish you a very happy and peaceful New Year.

Marie


* They want the forum to be as friendly as possible, hence the photograph.

** Friday night is Chinese and bottle of wine night.

100 questions

Seeing as I had a bit of spare time I thought I’d answer the 100 questions which were on Gottles blog a couple of days ago.

So here goes…

1. Ever been given an engagement ring? Yes

2. Longest friendship? 36 years to my friend Janice

3. Last gift you received? The last Christmas present I opened was a pair of jimjams from my mam

4. How many times have you dropped your cell? No idea

5. When’s the last time you worked out? You must be joking ! ! !

6. Thing you spend a lot of money on? Silversea cruises

7. Last food you ate? Homemade curry and nan bread

8. First thing you notice about the opposite sex? Their face

9. One favourite song? Theme from an Italian Restaurant by Billy Joel

10. Where do you live? Sunderland

11. Cell phone service provider? T-Mobile

12. Favourite mall store? Does Amazon count….

13. Longest job ever had? Nearly ten years as a Civil Servant (isn’t that sad)

14. Do you own a pair of dice? Not sure

15. Do you prank call people? Nope

16. Last wedding attended? Chris and Jenny’s

17. First friend you’d call if you won the lottery? I initially wouldn’t tell anyone other than John

18. Last time you attended church? Chris and Jenny’s wedding

19. How old are you? Old enough to drink alcohol…

20. Biggest lie you have heard? Anything coming from the current government

21. What do you want to drive? An original Mini Cooper S

22. Where’s your favourite place to eat with friends? A Chinese restaurant

23. Can you cook? Yes

24. What car do you drive? A Nissan Almera

25. Best kisser? John

26. Last time you cried? Can’t remember but no doubt it must have been for some furry little animal

27. Most disliked food? Trifle

28. Thing you like most about yourself? My eyes

29. Thing you dislike most about yourself? My flabby stomach

30. Longest shift you have worked at a job? 20 hours working on the Jim Clarke Rally

31. Favourite movie? High Society

32. Can you sing? Yes

33. Last concert? Do you mean me singing or attending. If singing when I was at school and if attending, Runring in 1995

34. Last kiss? A minute ago

35. What colour are your eyes? Dark green

36. Who knows your darkest secret? Me

37. Last movie rented? Haven’t the faintest idea

38. Thing you never leave home without? My clothes

39. Favourite vacation spot? Stratford upon Avon and any Silversea cruise liners

40. Do you like Chinese food? Oh yes ! ! ! !

42. Is your room clean? I’m afraid it is…

43. Laptop or desktop computer? Technically both but as my laptop died on me, I’ll have to say desktop

44. Favourite comedian? Peter Kay

45. Do you smoke? Never

46. Sleep with or without clothes? That depends ;-)

47. Who sleeps with you every night? John

48. Long distance relationships work? Don’t know never had one

49. How many times have you been pulled over by the police? Once and I was not amused…

50. Pancakes or French toast? Pancakes with loads of Maple Syrup

51. Do you like coffee? Yes but it has to be very, very weak

52. How do you like your eggs? In pancakes….

53. Do you believe in astrology? No

54. Last person you talked to on the phone? My mam

55. Last person on your missed call list? John

56. What was the last text message you received? From Jenny about New Years Eve

57. McDonalds or Burger King? Both

58. Number of pillows? Two but only one in bed

59. What are you wearing right now? Green joggers, grey t-shirt, black jumper and two pairs of socks (because my feet are cold)

60. Pick a lyric, any lyric or song? Have you ever seen a woman coming out of New York City with a frog in her hand

61. What kind of jelly do you like on your PB & J sandwich? Eh ! ! !

62. Can you play pool? No

63. Do you know how to swim? Yep

64. Favourite ice cream? As sold from the little boat in Bancroft Basin in Stratford upon Avon

65. Do you like maps? There’re ok

66. Tell me a random fact about yourself? I’m left handed

67. Do you do drugs? Nothing illegal…

68. Ever attend a theme party? Can’t stand them so no

69. What is your favourite season? Spring

70. Last time you laughed at something stupid? The Saturday before Christmas – see relevant blog entry

71. What time did you wake up this morning? 10.10am

72. Best thing about winter? Christmas ! ! !

73. Last time a cop gave you a ticket? Never had one

74. What’s the scariest thing you’ve ever done? Taking my driving test

75. Name of your first pet? Chico

76. Do you think pirates are cool or overrated? How should I know. I’ve never met one ! ! !

77. What are you doing this weekend? Going to Chris and Jenny’s for their New Years Eve party

78. Who’s your best friend? John

79. What is the third letter of your name? R

80. How old are your pets? Don’t have any

81. What colour is your backpack? Blue and white

82. Are you sick? Only after too much alcohol

84. Is the bathroom open? Yes

87. Are you smiling? I am now

88. Do you have on eye-liner? Nope

89. Do you miss someone right now? My dad

90. If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go? On a Silversea cruise, don’t mind where

91. Do you have a Myspace? No idea what it is…

92. Are you in high school? I’m a bit old for that

93. Do you have a crush? That would be telling ! ! !

94. What is your favourite nickname for yourself? Don’t have one but my niece used to call me SpamElla

95. What colour is your bathing suit? I think it’s black

96. What’s your favourite brand of water? Makro’s own brand as it’s the cheapest

97. Did you go on vacation last month? Went to Leeds to look at a hotel

98. Have you ever been on a cruise? Oh yes ! ! !

99. Do you have a sister? Yes

100. Are you upstairs? I most certainly am

Marie

Stuffed

Yes, that’s exactly how we both are following our two Christmas lunches.

Christmas day was lovely. We got up reasonably late, then took our time opening the presents left from Father Christmas.

Yesterday we were entertaining my mam and boy was she looking forward to her ‘Christmas lunch’.

She thought I was only joking when I said we were each only going to have one Brussels sprout – we had four each on Christmas day, what more do you want ! ! !

What with the two lunches, Christmas cake, crisps, mince pies, chocolate and wine, I dread to think how much weight we’ll have put on once the holidays are over.

The diet definitely starts in January…

Marie

A horse on four piles of bricks

A while ago (2005 HBA Autumn conference to be precise) Paul was telling us about a particularly rough area he had to visit. I suggested that it might be the sort of place where you could leave a horse unattended and come back to find it on four piles of bricks.

I’m now beginning to think he was referring to our area.

Some of you will already know about the “scavengers” who scour the back lanes for anything that isn’t bolted down. Well yesterday they excelled themselves.

During the afternoon two men emerged from the backyard of a house round the corner from ours and deposited two sofas in the back lane. Fair enough at any other time. It’s what you have to if you want the council to take things away. But a Saturday afternoon, two days before Christmas.

By nine o’clock the local kids had pulled one across the back lane, blocking it to traffic. We looked out before going to bed at eleven, and both had vanished !!!

Nine or ten o’clock on a Saturday night, two days before Christmas and they’ve got nothing better to do than patrol the back lanes looking for something to scavenge.

We’ve seen things vanish before but never at this time. We once arranged for the council to collect an old cooker. I duly put it out, but before the council could come, we heard the sound of it being dragged away. We did the same with the old central heating boiler. This time it went bit by bit. Someone was making repeated visits with a spanner and taking away as much as they could carry.

Really it’s a bit worrying, strangers out there in the dead of night – or even the middle of the day.

OK, rant over. Good news. The new kitchen doors are fitted. Photograph to follow in the next few days. The kitchen is a bit busy at the moment.

And finally, from both of us to all of you, Merry Christmas

John & Marie

What we’ve always wanted

My mam has finally decided where she will be spending Christmas day. It’s with my sister.

I’m happy with that as my mam came to ours last year and it means that for the very first time we’ll have a Christmas the way we want it.

Because we have always tried to please everyone, we’ve spent Christmas day on the go and at times the day has passed with a blur.

This year is going to be different. We can get up when we want – instead of having to set the alarm in case we oversleep. We don’t have to stick to a rigid timetable - so what if the potatoes take longer to cook, we’re not going anywhere so don’t have to worry about being late.

We can also do something we’ve longed to do – have a glass of fizzy whilst preparing the lunch. In the past one of us has been the taxi driver so couldn’t.

It’ll be my very first Christmas without seeing my mam at sometime during the day. We haven’t received the ‘Royal Invite’ for tea and even if we had I’m sure we’ll be otherwise occupied…

However my mam is coming to ours on Boxing Day and she’s asked if we could do her a ‘Christmas lunch’. My sister and her family will be having their usual Christmas meal – pasta, pasta and more pasta.

So this Christmas we’ll be having two Christmas lunches.

It’s a tough job but someone’s got to do it ! ! !

Marie

Virtual dinner party

The other day we were discussing who we’d each have as guests at a virtual dinner party. The only rule was we were not allowed to invite family or friends - past or present - other than each other.

So here are my 10 dinner party guests (and why).

1: Myself

2: John

3: Bing Crosby
The star of my number one and three all time favourite films

4:

5: Mrs Beeton
A legend in cookery and household management

6: Oscar Levant
Concert pianist, composer, actor and friend of the Gershwins

7: John McEnroe
My number second favourite tennis player (sorry Lendl, you’re my favourite but you’d be too boring…)

8: Marguerite Patten
The Home Economist who advised women on cookery in WWII

9: Michael Palin
Great travel writer and broadcaster

10: Captain Bligh
Captain of the ‘Mutiny of the Bounty’

As I’d be cooking the dinner myself this is what I’ve chosen

1st Course: Wild mushroom filo tartlets
2nd Course: Roast duck and vegetables (but not too many)…
3rd Course: Chocolate fondant pudding

Marie

Everything comes to those who wait

Yesterday whilst I was at my mams, she announced that she wanted to get a mobile phone and also to get connected to the internet in the new year.

We wanted to get her a mobile last Christmas but we were told rather bluntly that it would be a waste of money as it would be kept in it’s box, in a drawer. As for the internet we offered to sort it out for her before we went on our cruise so we could keep in touch via email. Again we were told no.

However my mam has a habit of changing her mind so it didn’t come as no surprise.

So I spent the next hour showing her how to send a text message on my mobile. Thanks Jenny for your help. As I put in a text to Jenny, I needed a hammer…

I then spent another hour trying to explain the difference between dial up and broadband and what web pages and downloads were.

I have a feeling the next few months are not going to be easy…

Marie


PS for lunch yesterday she made chicken and salad wraps. Guess what she asked me – yes did I want any tomatoes on it…. You’d think after all the years of me telling her I don’t like them, she’d finally remember.

She then wiped the knife after cutting the cucumber.
‘Why did you do that’, I asked.
‘Because John doesn’t like cucumber’.

I was not amused because
a) She can remember that John doesn’t like cucumber but can’t with me and tomatoes.
b) He wasn’t even there ! ! ! ! ! !

But I thought I told you

Two years ago my mam suddenly decided that she didn’t want to go shopping for Christmas presents that year, as it was would be the first Christmas without my dad and it was too upsetting for her.

So she asked everyone if we could ‘donate’ some presents from the ones we had already bought so she would at least have something to wrap up.

She didn’t decide this until the middle of December so there was some panic buying from Amazon to replace the ‘donated’ presents.

My mam decided a couple of weeks ago that she had had enough of shopping so asked if we could ‘donate’ presents again.

Whilst I was at my mams today (Christmas food shopping at Sainsburys – she asked a shop assistant where she would find the bread she got before, but could remember which kind it was – I kid you not ! ! ! Thankfully she was a very patient assistant so after twenty questions she found it…) she asked when I come on Friday, could I bring ‘her presents’.

I mentioned this to John tonight and got a stunned silence. I had forgotten to tell him ! ! !

Guess what he’s doing right now…

Marie

At last…

… we’ve found a joiner who:

Does return calls.

Gives a precise time when he can come out to have a look - and arrives on the dot.

Rings up the very next day with a sensible quote.

And can fit the doors two days before Christmas.

As it’s the Season of Goodwill and all that, I’m going to be kind to B&Q. Instead of asking them for the money before the work is done, I’ve decide to pay the little man then get them to reimburse me.

See, I do have a nice streak in me after all ! ! !

Marie

All festive

Yesterday we spent the afternoon putting the Christmas decorations up and it was also a welcome return to Rudy.



He’s been many colours throughout the years – beige; mahogany; red and now ivory.

As John was off work today we have a lovely long lie in, then it was off to the Chinese Restaurant for lunch.

As we’re usually too stuffed to have much for tea, we’ve just finished eating pancakes with lashings of maple syrup. Yum, yum…

Marie

Non stick

After my disaster with making mince pies last year, I had a change of heart and decided that I would still continue making them (instead of just buying them from Sainsburys as I had threatened to do) but only do them small batches.

That was the theory any way. In reality it was a little different as my mam had such a good time two weeks ago when we made the cornbeef pies and the lemon and orange cakes for our Winter party, that she would like to help me make the mince pies.

So yesterday, my car boot was full of the various things I had to take with me to my mams in order to make the mince pies – mincemeat, flour, margarine, tins, cutters etc.

I’m delighted, nay ecstatic, to report that we made seven dozen and not one of them stuck ! ! !

Two weeks time she wants us to bake the lemon and orange cakes again.

I have a feeling that baking on a Friday may be come a regular occurrence…

Marie

The saga of the kitchen continues

We’re trying to find a joiner to come and fit the kitchen doors.

I rang a couple of them and sure enough they came out and give us quotes. However getting hold of them to arrange a date is like pulling teeth.

I left a message on the little man’s answer machine saying I’d very much like him to fit the doors and could he give me a ring back to arrange a date. Having received no reply I tried again. Success I got to speak to him.

He blamed his wife for not getting back (a likely story). As he was on a job, he didn’t have his diary with him but he’d ring me back that evening. That was six days ago. If he can’t be bothered to contact me then he doesn’t deserve my business.

So I tried another couple today. The first one just kept ringing - rant time. What's the point of putting your phone number in yellow pages when there's no one to answer it. Surely they could afford an answer machine – rant over. The other one did have an answer machine. No surprises what they haven’t done. Not amused…

I decided to try the little man who couldn’t afford an answer machine again and actually got to speak to him. I nearly dropped the phone in shock as to how much he wanted to charge for fitting. £20 per door. We have 10 doors and five drawers. That’s a whopping £300 ! ! ! !

Ok, I know B&Q are paying for the fitting but that’s still an extortionate amount of money, especially when B&Q are expecting us to pay the joiner first, then to get them to reimburse us. Think again B&Q ! ! !

We do however have a standby joiner. His quote is a little higher than the first little man but definitely not £300. Plus we’ve got it in writing.

So B&Q will be getting a letter very shortly asking for money…

Marie

PS an update on the overlocker. It’s still acting very stroppy (well it is a teenager….) so I’ve abandoned sewing for a couple of days until John can cheer it up.

Anyone got a screwdriver

My overlocker is being temperamental - for those of you who don’t know what one is, it’s a machine which neatens edges of fabric.

I’m busy making a top with the fabric I bought at Leeds market (£1 for a metre. Now there’s a bargain) and whilst I was overlocking the neck edge of the back piece, it decided to throw a wobbler.

It does this occasionally, mainly when there’s just a bit too much fabric for it to stitch. I had thought there wouldn’t be a problem as the neck edge didn’t appear to be that bulky.

I spent the next twenty minutes trying to fix it and another twenty minutes getting the tensions right – the slightest problem and the tensions go haywire. I was really proud of myself for not uttering a single swear word...

It’s still not 100% but at least it should be ok to finish off my top, provided I’m extremely gentle and talk nicely to it.

Once Christmas is out of the way I’ll get John to have a good look at it and maybe even give it a service.

I certainly can’t be without it when I come to make my dress for Northampton ! ! !

Marie

Christmas - Bah Humbug

We went to a garden centre today.

At first I thought we were in the wrong place. First of all the traffic was queuing up to get in. Then when we finally made it through the door, aisle after aisle of Christmas decorations. Now there's nothing wrong with decorations, but when they take over almost all of a perfectly good garden centre ...

The garden bits were cowering in the far corner, forgotten and neglected.

Thankfully we found what we wanted, and joined the queue to get out, finally being served by the worlds most miserable shop assistant.

So that was our Sunday excitement. Saturday was spent getting my hair cut and making a storage unit for Marie’s work room. We live such an exciting life.

Actually ten years ago at this time of year we would be plenty busy. This weekend it was the “Wales Rally GB”. And awful name for an awful event. This used to be the good old RAC rally. We used to run the service area at Kielder, and I once ran an overnight halt at Gateshead stadium.

How times have changed. The event used to last five days and there were something like 650 miles of stages, covering most of the country. North & South Wales, Forest of Dean, Yorkshire, Kielder, Hamsterley, Tweed Valley, Dumfries and the Lake District.

Now all we get is a measly 200 or so miles, all of it in South Wales. And if you want to watch, you have to pay lots of money to enter the forests. The changes are all down to the desire to make the event (and all the other rounds of the World Rally Championship) more attractive to television. I’m pleased to say that audiences are waning and television is losing interest.

Hopefully we may yet get our rally back.

John

So what is there to report...

... in the BOGOF household

Hmmmm, I’m thinking…

Thinking harder….

Thinking even harder….

Brain is now starting to hurt…..

Nothing ! ! !

Marie

Square eyed

John’s cousin June sent an email link to a genealogy website which is offering three days worth of searching free (you usually have to pay a fee to look at the best stuff).

So having found time to make use of the three free days, I register this afternoon and spent several hours trying to find details about my Nana Dinah.

As I said in last Tuesday’s blog, I don’t have a lot to go on and even though I do have an ‘all areas pass’, I’m not making much headway.

First of all I tried searching the marriage records. No luck. Then I tried the deaths. Again nothing so far.

So that only left the births and I’ve had to do a lot of guessing as I have no idea when she was born or where she lived. However I’ve still got two and a half free days left so fingers crossed I’ll find something.

I mentioned in the blog last Tuesday that my Granddad married Widow Nelson when my dad was ten. I’ve since found out from my mam that they didn’t marry until the early sixties. They had in fact been ‘living in sin’ and only got married because the Council were going to charge her extra rent as they weren’t married. Shocking ! ! !

Marie

Eat, Drink & be Merry

Well, we've just about finished clearing up from our party last night (and part of this morning !!). We certainly ate, and we certainly drank and we were most certainly merry.

For those who are concerned about such things, here's evidence that Paul ate at least some of the salad. For a picture of the salad before he ate it, see the Gottle link in the sidebar. Visitors on the night included Jan & Andy, Paul, Jenny & Chris, two of my work colleagues, both called Neil, another of my work colleagues, John and his wife Gillian, and a brief visit from Peter. Here's the sordid details of itchy backs, exploding popcorn and much much more.

John (and Marie)

Who are you

My dad never knew his mam as she died when he was about two and it’s always been bugging me that we know nothing about her.

My granddad married Widow Nelson (the lady I called nana) when my dad was about 10 years old and as it was rumoured that he was having an affair with Mrs Nelson long before my dad was born, his mam was never allowed to be mentioned.

So I’ve decided to try and find more about her. However it’s proving to be quite difficult as I’ve nothing to go on. I know her name was Dinah and that her maiden name was Thompson/Thomson and I’m presuming she lived in the Houghton area. After that I draw a blank. I don’t know when she was born, when she married my granddad or when she died.

Santa has very kindly said he’ll get me a beginners guide to tracing family trees and John’s cousin who is very keen on genealogy has given me some websites to try.

It’s going to be quite a task but I’m determined to find out who she was. I think, though, I’ll give my mam’s side of the family a miss for now. Apparently my great granddad was married five times ! ! !

Marie

Winter Draws On

It’s all right, I don’t work for the BBC so I can say that.

Over the past few days we in the Bogof household have seen three clear signs that Winter is coming. First of all we got our first Christmas card through the post. A real card, not one advertising something. Then this afternoon, Marie saw a house with the decorations up. And finally, on the way home tonight, at 5:30 I passed a gritter. Brrr.

On the conference front, since Bognor was buggered, we took ourselves off to Leeds to see what £10 million had done to spruce up the old Queens Hotel, scene of the 2004 Spring conference – where the builders moved in as we moved out.

I can say that the money was well spent. Contrary to the then owners intentions, the original Art Deco features have not been removed. In fact they have been added to in a most sympathetic manner. And all the rooms are of a standard that most hotels call “Executive” – bigger bed, minibar, room safe etc.

So it’s looking like Leeds again in 2008, then Blackpool again in 2009. I just hope that we can get Prague for 2010. If not it’s likely to be Ashford or Scotland …

John

The return of B&Q – the manager strikes back

On Saturday after doing a bit of Christmas shopping in the Metro Centre (extremely busy and I dread to think what it will be like in a couple of weeks time), we went to B&Q to choose our replacement kitchen doors.

Having looked at the entire range we decided to go stick with maple. We finally chose one which didn’t have any laminated strips on them.

Eventually when we did find someone to help us (the size of the envelope containing our paperwork must have sent them into hiding ! ! !) we were told that Maureen, the person I’d been dealing with, would ring me back on Monday to arrange delivery of the doors etc and to arrange a date for fitting.

Monday came and went, no phone call. What a surprise… So once again, yesterday I had to ring them. Normally getting things delivered from B&Q takes several days, if not weeks. Not when you are the customer from Hell. They arrived late yesterday afternoon.

Remember the manager said at first he wouldn’t give us replacement plinths but we said no way. Well we needn’t have bothered because the ones they delivered are identical to what we’ve got. Apparently that style goes with a couple of maple ranges. So we’ve now got two very long plinths which we don’t need. Why couldn’t they have simply said so in the first place. We would have been fine with that.

Now the fitting… We were lead to believe that B&Q would fit them. Oh no. We have get a quote from a little kitchen fitter man, get him to fit them, pay him, send the quote to B&Q and they will reimburse us.

Currently the doors and plinths are in the dining room as we need to find somewhere to store them until we can sort out getting them fitted.

Then we’ve got the old doors to get rid of. Any one want 10 doors, five drawers and two unused plinths…

Marie

Rememberance

Remembering today those British servicemen who fell in two world wars and later conflicts.

744,330 from World War I
397,762 from World War II
16,000+ from Later conflicts



With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables at home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England’s foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain,
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

— Laurence Binyon (1869-1943)

Bottoms up

You may (or may not) have heard about a prank with a firework that went wrong.

For those of you who know what happened please go onto the next paragraph. On Bonfire night a man decided to launch a firework from his backside – I kid you not ! ! ! Not surprisingly he suffered internal injuries.

It made the 11am news on Radio 2. The newsreader was doing so well then he lost it completely. He tried to compose himself for the next item but couldn’t. It was wonderful.

As the idiot belongs in Sunderland it also made the local television news. I’ve never seen an item read so quickly before.

Neil, one of John’s work colleagues said he should ring Radio Sunderland and request Elton John’s Rocket Man for him…

Marie

Result

I’m pleased to report that the Showroom manager has come to his senses and agreed to pay for the kitchen plinths.

I wasn’t too amused at them not calling me back yesterday but the little woman was very apologetic when I rang her this morning.

So all we have to do now is choose replacement doors and drawers then wait for them to be fitted.

In other news. Finished off baking my Christmas cakes. I’m so glad I was able to give Jan hers at Norwich as there is no more space on top of the dresser ! ! !

Message for Jan: Will it survive until Christmas or will you want me to bake you another one…

Now that the Christmas cakes are out of the way I can now make a start on planning the food for our winter party.

Then once that’s over it will be time to make the mince pies ! ! ! Hopefully there won’t be a repeat of last December 18th blog – ‘Mention mince pies at your peril ! ! !’

Marie

The kitchen saga continues

I had to ring B&Q today seeing as they still haven’t got back to us about the kitchen doors.

The little man who we saw on Tuesday fobbed me off with the ‘I did pass the message on to the Showroom manager’ spiel. However he did say he’d have a word with him again and get him to ring me this afternoon.

One of his minions phoned instead, apologising on his behalf for not getting back to me. They are to contact the manufactures and will arrange a site visit of our kitchen so will ring back tomorrow with an inspection date.

She then rang back two hours later to say that the Showroom manager has decided to offer us replacement doors and drawers from their range, the same ones if we so wish (I think not…), and they will fit them. They will not however pay for new plinths.

She was politely told* to inform the Showroom manager that his offer was not acceptable. Why should it cost us extra for something which wasn’t our fault. As the manager had gone home she would have a word with him in the morning.

If she comes back and say ‘no’ then the customer from hell will be speaking to the man himself…

Go on Punk, make my day ! ! !

Marie

*she’s not paid enough to be shouted at…

I must have been a cat in a previous life

I hate this time of year. Why, because I’m terrified of loud noises - I have a phobia of thunder and lighting and the sight of balloons makes me come out in a cold sweat*

All last night and today people have been setting off fireworks. I don’t want to be a killjoy but I really do wish that the government would ban the sale of fireworks and only allow them to be set off at proper organised displays.

Not only are they dangerous but stray sparks do have a habit of setting fire to things. Like a wooden box at the end of our back lane…

Now in other news, I’m pleased to report that my shopping exhibition to Sainsburys with mam on Friday went ok. Sadly no motherisms from our adventure but I do have a good one from a couple of weeks ago.

She was complaining about the local Co-op in Houghton putting up their prices once the only other supermarket in the village had closed. So I suggested she make a list of the every day items (coffee, biscuits etc) she needed each week and I’ll get them from Morrison’s when we do our shopping on a Thursday night, and bring them with me when I visit on Fridays.

“Does Morrison’s keep the biscuits I like”, she asked.
“Which ones are those”.
“You know, the ones I get from Sainsburys”.
“Do you mean Sainsburys own make”.
“Yes”…

Marie


* I did not enjoy Sunday lunch at Norwich. Thanks June…

Joined Up Government - PAH

I've just been reading that when (if ?) the Government go live with their ID cards, they're not going to test the software.

That's right. The most complex Government computer project ever, and it's not going to be tested.

They say that because each individual part of the scheme has been used somewhere else, by someone else, in some other context before, it's bound to work. So there's no need to test it.

We can all feel safe knowing that Government I.T is in the hands of experts.

John

One year on…

And the new neighbours are still hammering, banging and drilling. There’s not a week goes by without them making some kind of noise. Surely there can’t be any thing left for them to do as they’ve already gutted the house. Unless that is they are starting from scratch again. Heaven forbid ! ! ! !

I think it was Chris who asked on Saturday night if the new neighbours read our blog. I’m not aware that they do but it’s very tempting to put a note inside their Christmas card saying ‘please read our blog’…

The little man from B&Q is now overdue with his phone call about the kitchen doors by two days. Does he really have a death wish…

Off shopping with mam to Sainsburys tomorrow. Should be fun ! ! !

Marie

Back Home

Yes, we’re back from the HBA Autumn Conference in Norwich. As we suspect that Phil, the organiser is a reader, I had better say here and now that everything went very well. I thought that the company at dinner on Saturday night was particularly good.

The only moans I heard were about how hard it is to get to Norwich, and how hard it is to get home again. We consider ourselves lucky that although it took six and a half hours to travel each way, all the time was spent on decent roads at decent speeds, not stuck in traffic.

Now it’s all go for the spring conference in Northampton. I’m organiser this time so it had better be good.

Sadly for 2008, Bognor is Buggered. There are a number of niggles which when added up just mean it won’t work. Cash only at the bars, Friday dinner at 5pm (they’re used to kiddies) and 10 am check out on Sunday being just a few. So we’re off to take a look at the Queens in Leeds. We were there in 2004 and since then they’ve spent £10 million on the place. Provided one or two faults have been rectified we’re fairly confident. 2009 is likely to be back at the Hilton in Blackpool, and after gauging peoples reactions at the weekend we feel even more inclined to try for Prague in 2010.

On the home front we went to B & Q this afternoon. You know why don’t you.

Actually we were very good. We didn’t shout or make unreasonable demands.

They’re sending someone out to take a look and see whether it’s a manufacturing fault.

However, we have no faith whatsoever in that particular model of door (modern maple if you must know) and are likely to hold out for something else. Since the entire kitchen has been decorated to fit in, if they can’t get us something very close, they may need to redecorate the kitchen for us …

John

I don’t believe it

Tonight while I was stirring the bolognaise sauce (should have been tacos shells but couldn’t be bothered to do them as they take too long…) something on one of the kitchen door caught my eye.

Yes you guessed it, one of the doors which was only replaced a couple of weeks ago has started to blister. If that wasn’t enough I ran my hand over the rest of them and found one of the replacement drawer fronts is blistered as well.

To say I’m not amused is an understatement. There’s nothing we can do about it now as we’re off early tomorrow morning for Norwich.

However come Tuesday afternoon I’ll be having a nice, quiet chat with the Manager of B&Q.

Be afraid, be very afraid ! ! ! !

Marie

It’s official…

I frighten children ! ! !

I was at my mams today and whilst we were sitting at the kitchen table having a cup of coffee, I noticed three young girls (they couldn’t have been more than nine years old) standing next to the garden wall.

One of them kept looking up at the kitchen window then put her arm out. She did this for about five minutes when I twigged what she was doing.

My mam has a couple of berry bushes at the end of the garden and she was pulling off the berries.

There’s vertical blinds at the window so it’s easy to see out but quite difficult to see in. The little girl looked up again at the window and was about to pull off more berries when I mouthed ‘don’t even think about it’.

She quickly stopped what she was doing and walked sheepishly away.

The child catcher out of Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang eat your heart out ! ! !

Marie

PS sorry for the lack of blogs only we’ve been rather busy with Norwich. Normal service will resume shortly.

Bugger Bognor *

On Saturday we went to Butlins in Bognor Regis. Really, we did.

OK, we actually went to the CONFERENCE CENTRE at Butlins in Bognor Regis to see if we could swing a deal to hold a conference there.

It was an over 18’s Ibiza theme weekend. Loads of strange people popping various pills. I don’t really think we blended in. Probably people thought someone had brought their parents.

Actually the place is pretty good. It’s right on the sea front (they gave us a room with a sea view) and it’s easy to find. It’s even got it’s own brown tourist road signs. We would get the use of all the resort facilities, and for those of you who attend HBA conferences and fainted at Hilton bar prices, £9.95 for a bottle of wine.

I just wish it was a bit nearer. The round trip was just over 720 miles. Imagine travelling from our house to visit Jenny and Chris, then as much again. Our meeting was at three on Saturday so it was an early start, and a long haul back on Sunday.

Basically we’re knackered.

John

* Reputed to be the last words of King George V

Don’t mentioned the kitchen doors

Just looked at the date when we last blogged. I’m going to blame John for the lack of blogs as he was supposed to do one. Sorry dear….

So the saga of the kitchen doors continues. On Saturday John removed the damaged doors then we took them back to B&Q.

They’re not the most helpful of staff on the returns desk. The little man said he couldn’t help us so we’d have to find any member of staff on the shop floor and ask them to retrieve our doors from the warehouse.

They must have know we were coming as every time we saw someone they ‘vanished’. However we did manage to find one who wasn’t quick enough to disappear. We explained what she had to do and waited and waited and waited.

She couldn’t find them. We all went back to the desk where the little man said they were in the warehouse as he’s put them there last Sunday. Off she goes again.

She still can’t find them. The little man, her and another member of staff then have a debate about where they could be. She then goes off with the other member of staff to have another look.

Finally after waiting for nearly thirty minutes they find them.

The saga isn’t finished yet. While John was fitting them he noticed that they’ve given us two of the wrong doors….

So Sunday afternoon we were back at B&Q. Thankfully they had two of our kind in stock as I really would have pitied the person at the returns desk when the customer from Hell made an appearance. It wouldn’t have been pretty ! ! !

We’ve been plagued with problems since day one. Not all the doors were in stock so they had to be ordered and delivered to us along with the worktops. The earliest they could deliver was eight weeks. Delivery date arrived and no doors. It turns out they had forgotten to order them and it would take another three weeks to get them to us. We said stuff that and picked them up ourselves two days later.

I’m beginning to think changing the kitchen doors wasn’t such a good idea ! ! !

Marie

Blistering heck

Late Friday night we noticed that one of our new kitchen doors looked a little odd . On closer inspection it turned out that it had started to blister at the bottom.

On Saturday we checked the rest of them and found that eight out of the ten doors and all five drawers were also starting to blister at the bottom.

I rang B&Q and was told to bring in a couple for them to have a look at.

So Sunday afternoon John removed two doors and a drawer and we headed to B&Q.

I decided to let John be the customer from hell for a change.

Having explained the problem the customer service person couldn’t help so called for a supervisor.

“Have they been in a room where there’s moisture ”.
“They’re kitchen doors ! ! !”.
“Oh I see. Could it have been caused by the steam from a kettle”.

I was itching to give a good customer from Hell reply but it was John turn so I had to remain quiet.

“It can’t be the steam as the door next to the kettle hasn’t blistered. Also how can you explain the drawers blistering”.

The supervisor thought for a while, “You’ll have to bring them all in before we can replace them”.

Red rag to a bull. Customer from Hell appears.

“What happens if we remove all the doors and drawers only to find that you don’t have any replacements in stock. I’m sorry but I’m not doing without any doors or drawers”.

“Why don’t you go and check to see if we have any. I’ll do a swap with the three you’ve brought in, then you can buy the remainder and bring the rest in at your leisure for a refund”.

John’s turn to be customer from Hell.

“No way… Why should we have to go and look for them. It’s your problem, you look for them”.

Thankfully they did have them in stock so they have put them to one side for us.

Guess what we’ll be doing on Saturday…

What joy ! ! !

Marie

Miles and miles of deserted beaches ...

Today dawned bright and sunny so Marie and I went for a little walk along the sea front and even to the end of the pier. This may sound like nothing out of the ordinary, except that it’s a place we’ve never been before. Mainly because in our younger days the pier was locked and closed because the council wouldn’t cough up the money to repair damage done by the Luftwaffe. All through my youth it was strictly out of bounds, something to do with the lack of railings and the 50 foot waves that crash over it in the winter (come to think of it, railings aren’t going to help much anyway).



The other surprise of the day was just how quiet it was. Miles of beautiful unspoiled sandy beaches, on a warm sunny day, one without any mist for a change, and hardly a soul about. Their loss.

John

No blogs

Because there hasn’t been anything to report…

There’s been nothing for the customer from Hell to make an appearance.

No culinary disasters in the kitchen.

No Motherisms at Sainsburys yesterday.

And our new neighbours have been relatively quiet for once.

Lets hope next week is a little more exciting ! ! !

Marie

Cabin fever

On Saturday we had to go to London for September’s HBA chimp tea party – sorry I meant executive committee meeting. Thankfully it was our last one. Hurray ! ! ! !

We had to fly down as the trains have been a non-starter for a while. GNER’s usual January/February maintenance work is still ongoing….

Although it did mean being up at 4am and not arriving back home until 10.45pm, it’s a much better journey than the train.

Bearing in mind the current security joke at airports, I decided to leave behind my deodorant and lip balm and buy some at Boots in the departure lounge.

However I was not prepared to leave behind my cold sore cream. The BAA website stated that as long as lotions, gels or creams are prescription medicine and can be either tasted or verified as such from a pharmacist on site, then it would be allowed.

As my cream is a prescription medicine and clearly states POM and says to be administered as directed by a physician, then it’s the genuine article.

I declared it to a member of staff outside the entrance of security and having duly tasted it was let through. As if not being allowed any liquids etc and only the tiniest bag as hand luggage was bad enough, we had to remove our shoes. I’m so glad I didn’t wear the pair of shoes with the holes in….

Depending on how high they set the sensitivity of the metal detector, my hip sometimes sets it off. However this time it didn’t (it did coming back at Heathrow…).

Both our shoes, coats and John bag, containing our sandwiches which surprisingly were allowed through, bizarre ! ! , got the all clear. My bag didn’t.

The security staff at Newcastle airport aren’t the friendliest or nicest of people. Those who are nice are newcomers and haven’t got their degrees in nastiness yet.

I was told in no uncertain terms that I couldn’t take my cold sore cream on board so I pointed out that it was prescription medicine and had POM on it. It then become two against one (John either decided to let me fight it out myself or was clearly embarrassed – I’m not sure which ! ! !) as another member of staff, who if smiled would crack her over made up face, joined in the argument.

I was standing my ground so it was taken to Boots for further advice. They wouldn’t let me take it as it wasn’t prescription medicine. The minimum wage staff in Boots clearly didn’t understand what POM meant.

It now became a battle. I was not having it confiscated so again stood my ground. It then became three against one as they asked advice from a supervisor. I put my case forward and was allowed to keep it. Result ! ! ! Customer from Hell 1 – Airport Security Staff 0.

I reluctantly decided not to make it a score draw as I’d be too knackered to put up a fight so asked June if she would look after my deodorant, lip balm and cold sore cream until Norwich conference and phone the doctors tomorrow for a repeat prescription. Lucky I still have a couple of weeks left on my pre-prescription payment so it won’t cost me anything.

I read today that Chelsea Clinton also had a bit of trouble at security at Heathrow airport. She refused to hand over her Chanel makeup using the ‘do you know who I am’ phrase. She was allowed to keep them, then personally escorted to the VIP lounge.

Sadly we had to make do with mixing with the plebs in the departure lounge …

Marie

It’s soup Jim but not as we know it

Seeing as we’ve started our diet (yet again…) I decided to make some ‘no points’ soup.

I got the necessary vegetables last week in Morrisons and as they didn’t have any green cabbage I bought red cabbage instead. Bad move ! ! !

The soup looked fine in the pan until I came to ladle it into the bowl. The red cabbage had turned the onion, leek and spring onions a lovely shade of blue and the liquid resembled purple ink.

It tasted ok but the colour really put me off so sadly it went down the sink, having been strained though a colander first – which has now been stained purple….

I dread to think what it would have done to my teeth ! ! ! !

Marie

We're still here

Saturday was Marie's birthday so we went out for lunch to the world's best Chinese restaurant which, as some of you know, in on the sea front.

We were scheduled to have some pretty extreme tides, the highest for 20 years. Now, as you may expect, on either side of an exceptionally high tide you will get an exceptionally low tide. I can honestly say that the last time I saw the tide so far out I was still at school (and you all know how long ago that was).

Add to the mix a very strong on-shore wind and we had a recipe for disaster.

However, I'm please to say that high tide was about half an hour after mid-night, and we lived to tell the tale.

John

Finished

I’m ecstatic to report that we’ve finally finished painting and decorating the hall and landing. It’s been a long hard (and at times painful) slog but it’s done.

I’m also pleased to report that Vardy’s, came and collect my car yesterday. They couldn’t find any thing wrong with the brakes but at least they’ve been looked at. Woe betide if I get stopped by the police ! ! !

I mentioned on Wednesday that we were going to visit a chocolate factory in Leyburn on Thursday. It was a tiny place, so Cadburys certainly don’t have anything to fear, but it was well worth a visit. Seeing as it was free to look around we felt it only right to sample their products…

Right next door to the chocolate factory was another little gem of a place, the teapot shop. It’s a factory workshop making novelty teapots. I’ve been there twice before and have never left empty handed. This time the birthday bunny bought me a AGA teapot.

We also stumbled on a wonderful little fabric shop. Again I couldn’t leave empty handed. We then drive to Ripon (to find a cash machine as the fabric shop didn’t take credit cards) and had a lovely walk along the canal.

Today I came one step closer to the big 40 (only 731 days to go…..). I got lots of lovely presents from the birthday bunny – even if my mam thought I was very sad for getting series one of both Quantum Leap and The Muppet Show on DVD.

Off to have a huge piece of chocolate birthday cake (full of zillions of calories..), washed down with a bottle of fizzy whilst watching the Last Night of the Proms. Makes you proud to be British ! ! !

Marie

The customer from Hell strikes again

At precisely 8.30am this morning I rang Vardy’s about my brake lights. Jenny’s email must have worked as both service receptionists were ‘busy with other customers’… I was told someone would ring me back – eventually. “No”, I replied, “this is a matter of urgency so they will call me back within five minutes”.

Five minutes later (most impressed….) ‘Donna’ from service department rang and asked what the problem was so I explained.
“Can you drop it off sometime today”.
“Er no. It doesn’t have any brake lights.

Donna starts to get stoppy. “Well how do you expect us to fix your car if you won’t bring it in”.

“Excuse me, but it’s illegal to use a vehicle without any brake lights. What happen if someone runs into the back of me or I get stopped by the police. I’m not getting three points and a fine because of something that isn’t my fault”.

“Well, our technicians don’t do house call so you’ll have to bring it in’
“Sorry but this car isn’t moving. You’ll have to bring a trailer to collect it”.
“We don’t have one..”.

She then realises that she isn’t going to win this round so puts me on to her manager.
They will be collecting the car on Friday morning.

In other news. Had a lovely day at Eden Camp. For those of your who don’t know, it’s an old POW camp in Yorkshire which has been turned into a WWII museum. We didn’t however recon that it would be besieged by OAP’s who decided to take a trip down memory lane. I’ve never seen so many walking sticks, wheelchairs and motorised scooters in my life…. It was like going shopping on a Thursday afternoon in Morrisons ! ! !

Change of plan for tomorrow. Instead of going to Alnwick Castle, we’re now heading back into Yorkshire to a place called Leyburn. Rumour has it that there is a chocolate factory there ! ! !

Marie

We’re back

I’m pleased to report that we had a lovely holiday last week in Stratford upon Avon.

Had a pleasant drive down and considering it was bank holiday Monday, there wasn’t much traffic on the road which made a change.

Tuesday we went to Warwick Castle and we were most surprised to find that they had Trebuchet which they shot twice a day. Rather impressive sight.

Wednesday was spent wandering the town and shopping. Could have been seriously poor as we visited my two favourite shops – Lakeland Limited and Fred Winter which stocks some wonderful dressmaking fabric.

Thursday we visited Lapworth. Not only does it have one of the most loveliest places to have a picnic lunch but it’s also the village where I’ve based my novel.

On our way home on Friday we did a detour to Northampton to have a meeting with the hotel.

Saturday, Sunday, Monday and today were spent – yes you’ve guessed it - painting…. However the end is nigh as there’s only the top wardrobe doors to fit and a quick touch up on the walls.

That’ll have to wait until Friday as tomorrow and Thursday we’re off to Eden Camp and Alnwick Castle with my mam. Never been to both places so it should be interesting.

And finally my car went in for it’s yearly service today. Everything was fine until I arrived home.
“I think you’ll be seeing a bit more of Vardy’s”, said John who had followed me home.
“Why”.
“You drove home with no brake lights working…”

They will be getting the call from you know who tomorrow ! ! !

Marie