Weddings & Wasps

Well, what a lovely weekend we have just had.  Fabulous dusk to dawn sunshine with soaring temperatures that I reckon must have been nearing the 80’s.  Amber invited us to her wedding reception in the village of Aldbury in Surrey.   Although we hadn’t been invited to the ceremony itself, we decided to pack an overnight bag and leave early on Saturday morning to beat the traffic on the M25.  In the end we managed to get away just after 10am which wasn’t too bad.  Traffic was heavy on the M1, not helped by the roadworks and also extra traffic from Blackpool fans on their way to a football match.  The traffic was already queuing when we reached the M25 and it was stop start for miles.  Eventually we arrived at The Drummond Arms in the windy village of Aldbury just after midday.  The rooms weren’t ready so we decided to have a walk and find out where the wedding reception venue so we knew where to go in the evening.  It wasn’t straight forward navigation, we overshot the right turn on to New Road
so we had to back track, but in the end we found it.  

We walked back to the pub and ordered half a pint of cider and checked out the menu whilst waiting for the key to our room.  I saw 3 people at the bar and judging by their lovely summer dresses and suits, I guessed that they were guests at the wedding.  I overheard them asking the manager where the church was as they intending to walk.  One of the girls had high heeled shoes on and I knew she would struggle, so I butted in and offered Phil to give them a lift.  He didn’t mind in the slightest and they were really grateful.  When he got back we decided to not eat at The Drummond Arms, the menu was very good but a little on the expensive side.  Instead, on the recommendation of Christine, we drove to the nearby village of Shere.  Christine had told me Shere was very pretty and she wasn’t wrong but with the glorious weather, every man and his dog were in Shere and it was very busy.  We had some pub grub at The White Horse, average food but it was lovely sitting out in the garden.

After lunch we drove back to Aldbury, put the bags in our room and set off on foot towards Little London and back.  Phil had printed off a walk from the internet and we followed the instructions with the aim of reaching our end goal, the remains of a roman church. The instructions took us past the post office, the church and the bowling club and way into the forest.  The sheet said it was only 2 hours but it seemed much further to me and it was also uphill.   I was moaning because we had no water which wasn’t ideal because it was hot and muggy.  I wanted to turn back but Phil wasn’t having any of it, so, some hours later we arrived at the roman remains which were basically a few old stones showing the outline of a building.  Phil took photos and we turned around and headed back to the pub.   Unfortunately, we got lost in the woods and walked further then we wanted.  Eventually, with aching legs, we found our way out and managed to get back to the village, and the bar!   Another half pint of cold cider and then it was time to get ready for the reception.

The venue, Aldbury Park was magnificent.   We walked up the sweeping drive, through the lambs in the fields either side.  Absolutely spectacular venue.  I think we were the first evening guests to arrive promptly at seven thirty.   As we entered the building we were ushered to a side room and given a glass of champagne.  We took this and went outside to the front terrace where most of the guests were still finishing their coffee at the wedding tables.  Whoops I thought to myself, we are way too early, but actually it was fine and Christine was soon with us, introducing us to everyone.  Amber, the bride looked amazing in a simple white gown which was stunning.   I told her she looked like a blonde Greek goddess.  The bridesmaids all look pretty in simple but elegant purple frocks and the groom and the ushers didn’t look half bad, in their grey suits with matching purple cravats. 

While champagne was served, there was a musician playing on the terrace and a magician going round the guests showing them tricks.  I actually didn’t see him in action but Phil did, and he said he was amazing.  The band started to play soon after and then the dancing began.  The evening went in a whirl, I danced for hours and Phil chatted to everyone and anyone.  Actually thinking back, he seemed to spend most of his time by the free bar!   Much later in the evening, food was laid out, beef burgers, hot dogs and cake which sounds naff, but actually it was superb.  After my long walk in the woods and jumping around on the dance floor, I was starving and scoffed a hotdog and a beef burger.  Obviously, a great deal of thought and planning had gone into the evening and it paid off, everyone looked like they were having a great time.   All too soon it was time to say goodbyes and go home.   Fortunately Eulina was staying at the pub in Aldbury and gave us a lift back.  I wasn’t too drunk but I think I may have wobbled a bit if I’d had to walk home.  It was nearly 2 o’clock in the morning by the time we fell into bed.

Phil was reluctant to open his eyes but the sun was shining and I dragged him downstairs for breakfast.   We were the first guests in he dining room which surprised me but then it was only half eight.  Of course, we had to have the full English breakfast which was delicious.  Afterwards, Phil wanted to have another walk to clear his fuzzy head but I was anxious to get home and get in the garden.  The M25 was clear and we made it back home well before midday.  I am ashamed to say that we had a really lazy day, spent lolling on the sofa watching hours of crap films. I hate wasting days like this; I couldn’t even be bothered to sunbathe in the garden.  Harriet popped by to borrow some sun cream; she is as white as a lily and had burnt her shoulders the day before.   Phil hadn’t made any preparations for lunch so ended up going to the Kentucky for a takeaway.  He came back with a bargain bucket which was fairly disgusting but filled a hole.  Don’t ask me why we opted for Kentucky, we hardly ever eat takeaways, least of all, Kentucky.

Teatime came and a knock at the door.  It was Emma to say that she thought we might have a wasps nest in our roof, just above our little bedroom window.  Emma said that she’d had a few wasps buzzing by her bedroom window. She put up some blue tack but then she noticed them buzzing around our house.   Now, Emma knows I am wasp phobic so she did the right thing alerting me.   This is a complete nightmare for me. Although I love the summer weather, wasps make my life a misery and cause me much anxiety. I made Phil come out and look and we think they are going in under a roof tile. Phil is going into the attic today to check that they haven’t got into the loft.  He is not keen to get up on a ladder and spray so I will call the council and pay them to come out to kill the nest.  Sooner, rather than later.

And so we start another week.  Another Monday and I start the jobs search and another new diet.   I spotted a diet and fitness regime in the Mail on Sunday magazine.  It was an 8 page article which promises a clean and lean body in just 14 days!   It’s a fairly limiting eating plan but I am determined to give it a go.  There are some fairly unusual foods listed, foods that I don’t have in my cupboards.  So right after clicking the publish button, I’m off to Tesco’s with my list and shopping bags.   Best hurry, because it will soon be lunchtime!

 

Beetroot, Kettle Bells & Nights Out

I seem to keep having some real clumsy mishaps of late.  If spilling a whole tub of paint in the back of my car wasn’t bad enough, last week I dropped a full jar of beetroot in the kitchen.  I was putting it on the shelf in the fridge and somehow I missed and it smashed on the floor and went everywhere.  Phil took one look, swore at me and then scarpered off to the conservatory leaving me to clean up the mess.  And what a mess it made. I cleaned up as much of the glass and the slices of beetroot with kitchen roll and then swept with the dustpan and brush. Smithereens of glass were everywhere so I had to get out the hover.  I also had to get the fridge right out to the middle of the kitchen because the beetroot juice had gone underneath.  It was a right mess and took me a whole hour of scrubbing.   I was so cross with myself, won’t be doing that again in a hurry!

I don’t if I have mentioned that we fell out with our gym, David Lloyd before going away to Australia?   We phoned to tell them that we wanted to freeze our membership while we were away and they said that’s fine but they would charge us £70 for each month we were in Australia.  Of course, Phil said sod that and immediately stopped the standing order.  He then wrote a long letter cancelling our membership enclosing our cut up membership cards.   They didn’t reply before we flew away so we assumed, that was that.   Anyway we got back, there were a few letters to and fro and some nasty phone calls but in the end Phil got so fed up that the matter couldn’t be resolved that he wrote a letter to the MD.   This worked and within a couple of days, the general manager called to say that they wouldn’t charge us for the time that we were away as long as we paid up 2 months as a notice period.  Phil agreed to this on the provision that we could use the club in the 2 month notice period.  He went into the club to pay and they gave him 2 letters (one for me and one for him) signed the GM giving us temporary membership.    So for the first time yesterday, we went to use the club which was the first time in 7 months.  Of course we still have membership at DW but Phil hasn’t been for weeks and whilst I have been going daily, I find it a real pain driving all the way to Bletchley.

It felt strange at first going back in to the club but as soon as I got my kit on, I felt like I’d never been away.  I know I may come across as a snob but there is definitely a better class of clientele at David Lloyd, not many beer bellies (bar Phil’s) and no tattoos, well at least not any on show.   Phil managed a fairly good workout which was surprising seeing as he hadn’t been for weeks but I on the other hand, was not in such great shape.  On Tuesday I did some time on the bike, went to do 20 minutes on the cross trainer but had to get off because my ankle was really hurting.  This is an old injury which I think has flared up because all of the walking I’ve been doing lately.  Anyway, I decided to try out the kettle bells, I heard Jonathan Ross say on the radio that his personal trainer said that you can burn 400 calories in 20 minutes.   I didn’t really know how to use them properly and this was evident because one of the personal trainers came up and told me to stop because if I carried on doing it ‘my way’ then I’d hurt my back.  She said I needed a lighter bell and brought me an 8kg bell and showed me some moves.   Sam offered me a free training session and I booked my slot.  I used the bells for only a couple of minutes after she left and then gave up.

When I got up on Wednesday morning I could hardly move.  My ankle was still hurting and I was barely able to get out of the car let along manage a workout.  I had a rather pathetic attempt on a few machines and we finished our workout with a steam.  So, my first visit wasn’t a great success but it felt good to be back and I shall be making the most of it for the next 2 months.

On Wednesday night Phil & I walked to the pub Ship Ashore in Willen. It was only a 10 minute walk but I really struggled as I was in agony from the kettle bells.  We met up with Chris & Vanessa & Jim, Shirley & Tom.   It was a change for the girlies to go out on a Wednesday night but George is still away and Alfie is in hospital recovering from his operation.  Jim says he phoned the ward and the nurse said Alfie was sitting up in bed having his lunch, so fingers crossed the operation was a success and that he makes a full and speedy recovery. 

It was good seeing everyone especially Vanessa & Shirley.  Shirley has lost 2 stone and is looking really good for it, as is Vanessa, who has lost a stone and a half from all her training.  I wish the same could be said for me.  Phil was good and just had some nachos but I had steak & chips and a gallon of wine so bang goes my diet once again.  I’m going to have to rethink strategy because I’m not getting anywhere.  I think a complete abstinence from alcohol is probably the only answer.  Water instead of wine, that’s the key. Unfortunately we are away for the weekend so my new regime will have to start on Monday.  Why do we always start diets on a Monday????

I had booked my free training on session on Thursday morning but had the sense to cancel on Wednesday afternoon a) because I was going out in the evening and b) I ached so badly from my Tuesday session, there was no way I could face picking up a kettle bell.  This turned out to be a wise move because on Thursday I had a real thick head and didn’t get out of bed until half nine.  I pondered whether to go to the gym but decided to give my old body a rest and tackle the housework instead.  I have been a bit lax with the cleaning so the house needed a really good going over.  I was slow to start but once I got going there was no stopping me.   I cleaned all the windows inside out and even got the hover in the garage which I have been meaning to do for ages.  Whilst I was out clearing the leaves in the front drive, actually I was taking a break and chatting to Emma, I spotted Phil on a ladder.  Emma asked me what him what he was doing; he shouted back that he was filling the holes in the conservatory roof.  After lunch, chicken on the BBQ and salad, Phil worked out how to take down the blinds in the conservatory and for first time ever, we were able to clear out the dead leaves.  These have been bugging me for 2 years so I felt really happy.  I did contemplate getting the hose on the conservatory but then realised this would mess up my newly cleaned windows.  In the afternoon I changed the bed & all the towels and emptied the ironing basket.  A very productive day even if it did start a little late.

I managed to force myself to sit and fill in 2 job applications, a very long, laborious and tedious task.  Phil said he applied for a few jobs but I don’t know any details.  I also filled a rather long online application to appear on the next serious of Channel 4’s ‘Coach Trip’.  We first started watching this when we got back from Oz and were hooked.  I told Jim that we’d applied & he said that we would be good contestant but that we’d either be booted off on the first day or would stay until the end.  I this is right but I don’t think they we stand much chance of getting on. Applications had to be in by the 24^th and even if you’re considered then you have to go to an interval panel.  On the first I had to fill out there were lots of questions about what countries we’d visited.  Obviously we’ve been to a quite a few so they may think that we’re too well travelled.   I was scant in answering some of the questions and in the end I put  a link to the Oz blog which may, or may not go in our favour.  We shall just have to wait and see.

The weather has been fairly good this week and the forecast is hot and sunny for the weekend.   I was wondering whether to get out our posh garden furniture but you can bet if I do, then it will rain.   I must apologise for the lack of photographs, as you can tell, I have had to improvise!   The good news is that my muscles don’t hurt anymore, so I am going to post this blog and get going.  Places to go and people to see! 

Have a good weekend everyone and make the most of the sunshine……… 

Fancy a Doughnut?

Well here we are at the start of another jobless week and I find myself wondering what we did last week.  I am struggling to remember but I seemed to think it was fairly unremarkable.   Two trips to the cinema, 10 hours in gym and 8 hours walking mostly along the canal.  Jane & Ian invited us over for dinner at their new house in Flitton on Saturday evening.  I had seen their new house before they moved in but this was the first time Phil had seen it.  Ian & Jane gave us a guided tour and Phil agreed that it really is a beautiful, dream home. Unfortunately, as with any new house, there have been some snags, and in their case, some quite substantial snags; only last week they found out their upstairs floors have dropped which means that the floor tiles have cracked.   As a result all the tiles have to come up in the bathrooms, the floor problem fixed and then retiling everywhere.  Like me, Jane can’t bear mess and is not relishing the idea of contractors and the whole upheaval.  But it’s got to be done, and I suppose sooner rather than later whilst the house is still under guarantee. 

This was the first time we had caught up with Jane & Ian since they flew out to see us in Melbourne so we had a lot of catching up to do.  The dinner Jane cooked us was top class, spicy fishcakes with salad to start followed by stuffed chicken.  Unfortunately, I was stuffed at the first course, and several gin and tonics and white wines, I was the first to drop, literally!   I don’t know what’s wrong with me, these days I just can’t stand the pace.  Phil and I stayed in their spare bedroom and Jane served us up mugs of tea and bacon sarnies for breakfast.   On the way back we stopped off at Tesco’s in Kingston a) to get petrol because Phil was on the red light and b) to get supplies for lunch.

I had invited Harriet & Shane over to watch the Monaco Grand Prix.   We did discuss having a barbeque but the forecast was rain for the weekend.  In the end we opted for simple spaghetti bolognaise and garlic bread.  I cooked the lunch and chatted to Harriet in the kitchen whilst the boys sipped beer and watch the race on the big plasma in the lounge.  The spag bol was very nice even if I do say so myself.   Now Harriet’s not living at home, I forget about her diet restrictions, but even she managed to finish her plate.  Phil couldn’t resist the big box of doughnut from Tesco’s and everyone dug into these for pudding.  Not me, I don’t really like doughnuts and besides, I’m meant to be on a diet.   That’s pretty much gone out the window this weekend and actually I have banned the word ‘diet’ from this house because ever since I’ve been on the ‘diet’ I’ve actually gained weight! Why is it once you diet and start to deprive yourself you actually crave foods that you wouldn’t normally eat! It’s a bit like bad sex, when you don’t get any, even the bad sort seems is tempting.  Well that’s my theory anyway; from now on I’m concentrating on healthy eating and not falling off the wagon.

Harriet had brought Coke the dog to our house and after sorting out the dirty dishes, I persuaded her to get the lead and take Coke out for a walk along the canal.  We only did a 20 minute circular trip, up to the pub bridge and back to our house but this knackered Harriet.   Unlike her mum, she doesn’t do exercise. They left at teatime and we settled down to watch on the sofas to watch the telly.  Unfortunately our week started with a bang this morning.  I had booked Nigel (Bald man with Van) to come to the cul-de-sac and take the white IKEA unit in our bedroom to the TMA flat.  This was fine but he was booked for 9.30am and I had to clear all the stuff out off the unit so it was all a bit of a rush to get it done before he arrived.  Fortunately for me, for some reason Nigel thought we lived in Castlethorpe and not surprisingly couldn’t find our house.  It wasn’t until Phil switched on his mobile to pick up his messages was he able to call him back with directions.  So thankfully he was late which gave me time to get my act together.  Phil went to the flat with Nigel which gave me a chance to get on with the domestics.  Normally I’d go to the gym but thought after a lazy weekend I thought best get my jobs out of the way and start the week off in the right foot.  The sun is shining so lets hope the good weather is here to stay.

Good Luck ALFI

We managed to get together again on Wednesday night which is our last one before Alfi goes into hospital. Poor Alfi has been suffering for a couple of years now, first with Diabetes and now with a brain tumour. He wondered why his vision seemed to be deteriate so quickly and it became impossible for him to drive. The tumour that they discovered is about the size of a pigeon’s egg and on the base of his spine. If this had happened anytime over 5 years ago there was nothing that could have been done but a medical breakthrough now sees this operation regularly and has a great success rate. The operation is done through the patient’s nose by drilling into the scull through the nose and inserting a camera, scalpel and vacuum tube to hover up the bits cut off with the scalpel. They then drill a hole in the roof of the mouth to gain access to patch up the hole in the scull and then patch up the hole in the roof of the mouth. It sounds awful, but apparently has a much better success rate than going in through the scull leaving an open wound and damage to the brain. Alfi goes into the Radcliff hospital in Oxford on Sunday in preparation for his operation on Monday. We will all be thinking of him, and good luck, it might even improve his intelligence if that’s possible. On the down side, it might be the tumour that gives him his intelligence like in the film Phanonamum (I can never say that).

Talking of films, Jim and Tom said that the new film about the Muslim suicide terrorists called “Four Lions” was the funniest film ever. Claire and I had another walk along the canal to see it on Thursday afternoon but as we were there early we had a quick look in the snowdome first. Well, we are all different and we didn’t find it particularly funny. I know that it make a real difference to how you perceive a film from how the audience reacts and we saw it virtually on our own. I guess that when Jim and Tom went it would have been a good crowd in there which would have created some form of atmosphere. The only bits I found funny were the clips that I had already seen to advertise it.

Friday morning was nice and sunny although quite cool so we decided to have a canal walk again. Some years ago, we started walking from Milton Keynes along the canal towards Birmingham. We would walk for a few hours there, stop for lunch somewhere and then walk back to where we had parked the car. Next time we would drive to where we got to and continue our trek. We didn’t go at all last year but I could remember where we got to because it was where the canal splits into 2 and there were no roads around so it would be difficult to drive to our starting point this time so we looked at where we would walk to and drove there and walked back to our ending point of our last trip. Our starting point was therefore Braunston which must be at least half way there I guess, and we parked outside a pub which served food so thought that we could eat upon our return. Unfortunately, the tow path was blocked by the tunnel for maintenance and it wasn’t possible to get to where we intended to so we walked back and tried to find it in the car. We didn’t have any luck and were now hungry so decided to find a nice place to eat on our way back down the A5 choosing the Red lion. Not bad and it was all home cooked food rather than that microwave stuff that lots of places seem to be doing these days.

Tomorrow evening we are over to Ian and Jane who came to stay with us while we were on holiday in Berwick, Victoria. They have now moved house and we are going over for the first time to see it. Luckily we are staying over so I guess that a few drinks will be had by all. I must remember to take Claire’s camera as it fits lovely in my top pocket. Claire can carry the wine in her saddle bag.

Anyway, good luck Alfi!

Fed Up..............

I’m fed up, not just normal fed up but really fed up.   Phil says that if you haven’t got anything worthwhile to say then you shouldn’t say it.  But, after not blogging for nearly a week, I thought I’d better give it a go.  Life has been as a flat as a pancake so this blog may be short and maybe a bit on the sour side.   Since I have been on my diet, I have actually managed to put on 4 pounds!  I’m dumb founded as to why because I have spent at least 2 hours in the gym every day without fail.  Not only that, but I’ve been swimming most days and have been doing my weights in the lounge in the evening as well as doing a half walk, half run circuit around the canal in the evenings.  I also went out and brought a special exercise cum-diet book and have added these exercises to my regime.  None of which has helped.   I do feel a bit less flabby and more toned than before I started but that is not good enough given all my efforts.  Take Monday for example; I spent over 2 hours at the gym, then me and Phil walked to the city centre, approx 50 minutes there and 45 minutes back.  And I still gained weight.  Life sucks; from now on it’s going to be a diet of G&T’s and fish salads.  Let’s see if that works.

The weekend was okay but really cold, crap weather on Saturday. On Sunday it was a little brighter and I met up with Christine at the Barge for lunch.  We both opted for the fishcakes with salad and okay a few chips but I was good and didn’t finish the bowl.  On Monday afternoon, me and Phil went to the cinema to watch the Hot Tub Time Machine. It was alright but I wouldn’t recommend a viewing or even a DVD rental.  Basically the story is about a bunch of middle aged blokes revisiting their youth back in the 80’s.   It whiled away a couple of hours but I felt guilty because I should have stayed home and done the housework.  Still, I was glad of the long walk along the canal which is always pretty and relaxing if not a little chilly on the way home.  I really wanted to go and see ‘The Disappearance of Alice Creed’ but it wasn’t on until way past my bedtime. Never mind, hopefully I’ll get to see this next week; otherwise I shall wait for the DVD to come out. 

Yesterday morning Phil went food shopping.  I’m not sure his doing the shopping is working out for me; we seem to have a full fridge but nothing that I fancy to eat.  I think he or we need to get into more of a routine.  More lists I think are the answer. Actually I shouldn’t complain too much because he did get everything on my wish list yesterday and he is the better cook.   He also made me a lovely fresh tuna steak yesterday with a chilli and lemon sauce which was yummy.

I did something really stupid last week which really messed up the back of my car.  I brought a new tin of Dulux white emulsion from B&Q and went over to touch up the ceilings in the TMA flat.  When I finished I put the tin behind my driving seat but unfortunately I hadn’t put the lid on properly. When I got home, I went to unload only to find that the tin had tipped over and the entire contents of the tin had spilled out all over the passenger floor.   This is not the first time this has happened, so I was really cross myself especially as it was virtually the whole tin.  You wouldn’t believe what a mess it was clearing it up.  I had to use an old quilt cover, 2 rolls of newspaper and tons of newspaper.   Phil stayed well away but even Emma from next door came out to see if she could help.  In the clearing up process, somehow I got paint on the back seat, all over me and all over the block paving.  Nightmare!

Things are ticking away quietly on the flat front.  The CF flat is now on the market and we are pleased with the marketing details.  Haven’ received any offers yet but in this current market, one has to be patient.   The agent did a viewing at the TMA flat yesterday and we have agreed to a short 4 month let at £250 over the normal rent for the inconvenience.  It’s not all extra profit though as we have agreed to pay the council tax and the water rates.  The new tenant has asked for crockery, cutlery, glasses etc but this is not a big deal because I will pop over sometime today to the CF flat and simply take these out and put them in the TMA flat.  The stuff is all fairly new so it will be just a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul. Can’t I say I relish another encounter with mad Betty and of course she’ll want to know all the details but it has to be done.

Derek called over the weekend and we went to view his 2 bed house on Great Holm with a view to buying.   Derek wants to retire and go travelling and wants to sell up which is fair enough because he will be 60 this year.   The house, a 2 bed terrace is on the small side and parking is an issue but Phil is keen to buy Derek’s 10% share.  There is a tenant already in situ who wants to stay long term, so if we go ahead, it will just be a case of paying the money, signing the contracts and then just collecting the rent every month. This will be our experience of buying a shared ownership so it will be interesting.  The other ‘big’ project is still very much in its infant stage at the moment which is fine by me.  One thing at a time.

Photo's to follow later when my battery is charged

Election Results

Well, it looks like we are heading towards the result that I wanted most, a coalition between the LDP and Conservatives. Prior to the election, everyone expected the LDP to get a much higher proportion of the votes than they actually achieved. I think this is because, at the end of the day, everyone knew they had to vote for one of the two major parties because it was going to be tight. I’m not a very political person, but I do agree with the LDP that the voting system does require changing to make it fairer. “Why should one vote be worth more than any other?”

Just look at these results; Labour got 29% of the voting population whilst LDP got lower than expected at 23% of the voting population; just 6% lower than Labour. These percentages translated into 258 seats for Labour and 57 seats for LDP or Labour won over 450% more seats than LDP. How can that be right? I’m sure that if the LDP had won more votes than Labour they would still have won far less seats than them. I ask again, “Why should one vote be worth so much more than any other?”

I really hope that the two leaders negotiating manage to find some common ground and are both willing to compromise. From what I have seen of these two leaders, I believe that they can, they are both capable of acting mature enough to pull it off in these difficult financial times. The only “spanner in the works” are the rest of the MP’s, I can’t see them compromising or agreeing so easily.

And when will Gordon Brown leave 10 Downing Street? He’s lost; even if he were to form a coalition with LDP he still wouldn’t have enough votes for a majority government. And how would the public feel about the 2 losers forming a government, net alone a minority one? No party had enough votes to win outright but one thing for sure was that Brown was voted out. The last time we were in this position was when Wilson won a minority government over Ted Heath, Ted wouldn’t leave Downing Street either. He almost barricaded himself in and was there until the Monday; it looks like Brown is after his record this time. He really is a “desperate politician”.

I feel that the most important thing to remember about politics is, never get fanatical about it. Don’t treat political parties like a football club where you support one side until you die. Grow up, and evaluate the situation each time you need to and be prepared to change according to yours and your countries circumstances. For our countries sake, let’s hope that these two leaders have the maturity to overcome their differences and work together to solve our current problems. Let’s hope that the public have the maturity to support them if they do. The one thing that has made the human race so successful is our ability to work together towards one aim.

Vote George, ugly duckling

Those of you with staying power might remember the “Vote George” title from 12th May 2008 while we were in holiday in Cape Verde. They were running an election at the time just as we are now but in Cape Verde, there were only two candidates. Both were called “George”. I found this highly amusing and whenever amongst a crowd would shout out, “Vote George”. Eventually, George won so I guess that the one that was known by his nickname, “Scapa” should have held fast.

We started our day out yesterday by visiting the poling station on our way out; good job we did because, it seems that lots of people queued up for over an hour and were still unable to vote because, either the queues were too long or they ran out of ballot papers. What a cock up and how embarrassing for our country. Anyway, right now, it looks like the Conservative party have the most seats but not enough for a majority. It doesn’t look to me like Labour will have enough to form a coalition government with the Lib-Dem’s. I hope that they will form a coalition with the Conservatives; only time will tell.

We had a lovely lunch at the Church in Shenley. We have been there several times before for the Sunday lunch carvery but we heard that they also have one the rest of the week. We have been going to the carvery in Peartree Bridge for ages because its only £3.50 in the week but this one is far superior at £5.25; well worth the extra £1.75. We then waddled off to the city centre for some shopping together starting at the library and Claire did her usual trick of trying to hide from the camera but the large lunch was on my side. Whenever we are at the centre we always stop at the market for some fresh produce.

When our Two Mile Ash flat came back to us, it gave us chance to get around there and cut the grass front and back. Even though there are 12 apartments that share this lawn, the only time it ever gets cut is when we cut it in-between lets and we don’t even live there. Consequently, our hover mower really struggles and we have burnt out several over the years. While I was cutting the front this time, I noticed a huge crack running the entire height of the building. This is not in our block of 6 but the adjoining one but I feel I still need to write and let the management company know so I took several photos. Not that I expect that they will do anything but at least I can say that, “I told you so”. It looks like the adjoining 6 apartments are trying to move away from our block so I guess that the other end of the block is sinking.

Those who followed our adventure around Australia and the world might remember our Christmas, where we couldn’t get broadband and missed our Christmas day lunch because they never came back with a meeting point. Well, they had both taken money from my credit card account, so I phoned the card company to try and claim it back. Unfortunately, I had missed the deadline so nothing could be done. I decided to find their email addresses and write to them just on the off chance of my money back. To my surprise, within 12 hours I had been refunded my money for the broadband that didn’t happen but I have yet to hear from the cruise company. Can’t say I’m surprised because at the time I ended up ringing the wrong company to complain. The other way I tried to save money was to cancel my £16 per 3 month full member fee for the house swap website; (http://www.homexchangevacation.com) we are unlikely to be swapping again this year. Whilst looking how to do this I noticed that they had put a link on their front page to our blog while we were away, which was our last entry, “Around the world in 112 days”. What a nice surprise!

Luckily Claire has had her results back from the “Mole Police” and she is completely clear. However, she has one mole that they would like to take a look at again in a couple of months. I’m sure they would at £95 a session. One thing that Claire forgot to tell you was that after her examination, they have different categories that show how many moles you have. Poor Claire was in the “Ugly Duckling” category. What a cheek, they take your money then call you names!

Dodgy Moles

When we were sat with Julie the nurse in the office of the Superdrug store getting our blood pressure checks done, we got talking about our home exchanges in Australia.   Julie mentioned that the UK now has a higher rate of skin cancer than Australia and on hearing this, I decided to book myself in for a mole check.  My sister Lou had a check done in London last year and she has been constantly nagging me to go and get checked.  Actually I had thought I might get this done whilst I was actually in Oz but the opportunity never came up.  My appointment was yesterday afternoon which didn’t impress Phil much because Tuesdays is half price at the cinema.   I was half tempted to cancel but in the end decided not too as I didn’t think it was fair cancelling at the last minute.

Julie remembered me from last week and soon got to task asking me10 million questions about my sun abuse.  For once I didn’t lie and was quite honest about my sun bed use and not using sun screen.  I could tell she wasn’t very impressed with my answers and I have to admit, neither was I.  Anyway, after the interrogation I stripped down to my underwear and Julie began my mole check.   She explained to me before she begun, that she had a gadget (can’t remember its official name) that she would use to look more closely at any suspect moles and that if she found anything really dodgy she would take a photograph.  Her examination of me was thorough; hairline, eye lids, face, arms, fingernails, body trunk and even the soles of my feet.    She used her ‘gadget’ lots of times to get close up.  She spent ages examining my back, eventually getting out her camera to take not one but several shots.

When I was dressed she downloaded the pictures of the dodgy moles on my back for closer inspection on the screen.  I can tell you it wasn’t a pretty sight, Julie said there were 2 areas on my back (6 moles) that she wanted to refer to the dermatologist.  This freaked me a little so I agreed to pay the extra for the referral.  It was a little bit more money but she gave me special discount and it only cost £20 for a second opinion.  The cheaper option would have been a letter of referral to take to my GP but I’d rather know now if it’s something nasty.  The Superdrug dermatologist is based in Austria but Julie has promised that she will get back to me today with his results.

I hadn’t realised how many moles I had on my back because I never see it but on seeing the close ups on the computer screen, I have already made a vow to myself, to use a stronger sun cream and to stay away from sun-beds forever. It’s too late to repair the damage that I’ve already done to my skin but at least I can prevent any further damage.  According to Julie, I have several red bumps which are very likely to turn into crusty moles as I age.  Yuk!  Apparently it’s partly due to a mixture of aging, sun and generics.  Wrinkly and crusty, how attractive is that!

The mole test is not cheap; £30 for a single mole and £95 for a full body check.   Phil nearly feel on the floor when I told him the price but I think it’s worth the money and would certainly recommend anyone with a suspect mole to go and get checked out.  Phil thinks there is nothing wrong my moles and that Julie is being a scaremonger and I certainly hope he is right.  Better safe, than sorry.  Sorry no photo's of the offending moles, that would be just too gross!

Generic Garble

We drove over to the CF on Thursday to meet the estate agent.   Unfortunately mad Betty was at home so whilst Phil talked to John the agent, it was down to me to keep Betty talking in her back yard, stopping her getting access to the estate agent.  Thankfully I managed to achieve this and when she went back in her own flat, I joined Phil and John.   The valuation he gave wasn’t as high as we had hoped but we’ve decided to put it up for a sale and give it 6 weeks to see what feedback we get.  John thought we’d done a good job on the refurbishment so that’s a good start.   As soon as he’d gone, out popped Betty and of course, I then had the job of telling her that we were going up for sale.  It makes me cross that I had to explain my business to her but it’s important to keep her sweet, because she really is not right in the head.  She wasn’t happy that we were selling; I think she’s been harbouring a secret hope that Phil and I would actually move in next door.  And, actually there has been talk of this in the past, but god forbid; can you imagine what that would be like?  

After making our escape from Cranfield, we decided to go to the cinema to see the film ‘Kick-arse’.  This film was highly recommended by Jim & Tom and Phil has been hankering to see this for weeks.   After reading the reviews, I wasn’t keen but in the end I relented and afterwards was glad that I did.   There was quite a lot of violence which made me look away at times but Kick-arse is a highly original film and I haven’t seen anything quite like it.  It had me (and Phil) gripped from start to finish and if you don’t mind the violence, it’s definitely a film to go and see. 

Phil has done quite a good job with the shopping and cooking this week but he does need to get a little more organised.  On Thursday we were going to have a chicken stir fry but when he when to cook it, we realised he hadn’t defrosted the chicken. Never mind Phil said we’ll have a veggie stir fry and some lamb chops but then he realised that he’d frozen the chops so we ended up with the stir fry.   Which was okay but I was still hungry after I’d finished my plate full.  Having gone hungry I was very surprised when I jumped on the scales the following day to find that I hadn’t lost any weight which is disappointing because I was doing so well. So much for all my diet tricks. Never mind, I shall just have to try much harder.

Our tenant moved out of the Two Mile Ash flat on Friday so we went over to meet the agent to do the check out.  Actually the tenant wasn’t present which I was pleased about because it gave me a chance to have a good look round.  It wasn’t in bad nick, some scuff marks on the walls and some evidence of dampness on the ceilings.  I am not too concerned about this because it’s not a big problem, just signs that the tenant didn’t ventilate properly.   The agent said they would be sending in professional cleaners next week but I couldn’t wait that long so on Saturday morning I took my mop and bucket and went to do the clean. Phil’s wasn’t happy with me but I do have an obsession about doing it myself and only then, can I relax.  It only took two hours out of my life. The mould came off the ceilings with neat bleach but I will have to go back at some point and touch up the paint. 

On Saturday afternoon Phil took the KA and went to pick up G to give her some more driving practice.  I took myself off to the gym but I was knackered after my cleaning so only ended up having a swim.  Still, 30 lengths of the pool is better than nothing.  I have taking to walking around the block early evenings but have been unable, so far, persuading Phil to join me.  Maybe next week, what do you reckon Phil?

Our bank holiday weekend so far, has been fairly uneventful.  The weather quite typically for the holiday weekend has been crap.  Saturday wasn’t too bad but it’s got so cold we’ve had to put our central heating back on.   We had invited Shane & Harriet for a barbeque today but although it’s not raining (yet) we decided against it.   Phil did think about cooking a roast dinner, but he couldn’t be arsed, so in the end we took them to The Giffard for some good ole pub grub.  However, things didn’t go to plan, Harriet (and hangover) picked us up in the cul-de-sac and when arrived in the pub car-park, Shane (who is on tablets) suddenly felt sick and asked to be driven home.  I said to Harriet “no worries” go home and stay there so me and my DH ate alone.  A football match was on and the pub was packed.  I was so hungry. I ordered the unhealthiest meal on the menu.  Bang goes the diet once again.  We walked home; I got back watched movies, drank wine and got the munchies (as did Phil).   There really is no hope and I must start all over again tomorrow. The climb to being a slim girlie is a tough and a steep one.