Bath Time!

Splash! Splash! Splash!



Have I splashed enough water out yet?!




The world looks different without bars!
Think I`ll stay in a bit longer.

It`s Bank Holiday...

It`s a bank holiday (well for some it is, I`ve been working), but I just had to share with you something I saw today, that "said it all"!

It was about 5 p.m., I was going home from work, it has been snowing on and off all day, the sky was grey and more snow was beginning to fall. As I drove through the town, now with only a handful of holidaymakers about, the majority having the sense to either go home or at least get inside somewhere warm, my eye was drawn to the doorway of the betting shop. In the door way trying to shelter I presume from the icy wind stood two people, woolly hats on pulled well down over their eyes, bundled up in anoraks and jackets with collars up high round their necks...and there they stood... holding... and eating icecream cones!

I suppose it was a case of, we`ve come to the seaside so we`ve got to have an icecream!

White Easter

Is it Christmas time?....



...No !... it`s Easter Day. And the first snow we`ve had all winter fell this morning.



It looked so pretty, that I just had to get my camera out and capture the moment. By the afternoon the sun was shining and it had melted, but a few more flakes fell this evening.... so what we`ll wake up to in the morning.....??!

HAPPY EASTER

Good Friday

The weather here today, of very, very strong icy cold wind along with showers of sleet and rain prevented me from doing what I usually do on Good Friday.

After our service at church there is a procession to the town following a large heavy wooden cross, a service in the centre on the town, with music provided by the Salvation Army band, and then the procession follows the cross up onto a hill on the cliffs where the cross is erected. It is a moving experience. But today, with the way the weather was, I chickened out of the walk up onto the cliffs. I just followed it to the town and even standing there for the short service my feet became blocks of ice, it was so cold. The wind was blowing right off the sea, and after the rain of yesterday as well as today, I thought it was too risky to try and go up.
But, I have missed doing so.

A few words in the Bible reading caught my attention today, and set me wondering... I`ve heard the passage many times, and not thought twice about this bit of it, but today on both times of hearing it, it gave me a question.

It was the verses about the soldiers at the cross who "divided his clothes among themselves by throwing dice" (Luke 23: 34 Good News Bible). It made me wonder - why did they want Jesus`s clothes? If Jesus had been a rich king with extravagant clothing it would have made sense, but I always assume that Jesus wasn`t lavishly dressed (maybe I`m wrong in that?) - so why would they want them?

Finger Trouble

I guess some of you may have noticed a few things missing on my blog today, and a few different ones. It wasn`t done intentionally!

Whilst going to add a link to another blog that I`ve started reading recently, I don`t know what I did, but my site disappeared completely. All I was left with was the things from the right side bar scattered all across the screen.

I tried going out of my blog without saving anything, then opening it again... but with the same result. Panic stations!! It made me realise how much a lot of what I`d written about my life mattered to me. That I wanted to keep the record of it.

As a last resort, I thought, I`ll have to start another one, so I went into the Template tab and selected the one I`d used before, thinking I`d have to start writing from scratch again. But, wonder of wonders, once I`d clicked on the template, saved and opened it - there were all my posts. But, the links and items I`d had in the side bar had disappeared. Not so important, but some I want to try and find again. So keep watching the bar and they may reappear!

Got it!

I can now reveal what it was I wrote here about.

I`m starting a new job.

After almost forty years of working in the same job and building - albeit that it has had a few changes during that time, both in the actual structure of the building and in the type of work I was doing. I`ve ventured to make a change.

With the new owners of where I work and their growth in number of retail outlets I heard that they were going to be starting a head office. So, finding out that it was going to be located in offices above where I currently work, I asked one of them if there was any chance of a job there..... and, to cut a long story short..... he came back, having talked it over with the other partner and said Yes.

So, the middle of next week, I become the first employee of their Head Office. I`m really looking forward to it, as I thoroughly enjoy office work and am happy working on my own. I`m chuffed too, to think that they rate my work highly enough to promote me to the job.

Holiday over

I`ve come to the end of my weeks holiday. It`s gone too quickly and looking at the list of things I wrote this time last week that I wanted to do on my holiday, there`s several which I didn`t get completed - one in particular being turning out all the kitchen cupboards. I didn`t even make a start on them!


Although the weather wasn`t brilliant, I went out each day somewhere. One day several hours were spent looking through books of old church records at the local Records office. They made interesting reading and I even unexpectedly came across my Dads name two or three times in them, which I was pleased to see.

Some other days I went to various places and wandered round towns and shops. Did a bit of craft work, and got to know my new lap-top, although it`s still refusing to let me get into my emails on IE although I can access them on Firefox. I can`t puzzle out why.

Now, its back to work tomorrow. Still, I have enjoyed my week of not doing much. Roll on the next holiday!!

Spending Spree!

Being on holiday, and the weather not being good (wind and rain on Monday) I decided to treat myself to a new lap-top as my current one wouldn`t do all that I needed. So off I went to a large computer store on the edge of the "big city" - well - Norwich, but as a child it was always the big city and I suppose that title sticks!. Anyway, I digress....

Having had a good look round at all the different ones available and with the help of a helpful assistant, I made my choice, and bought it. I`ve got it all set up fine, connected to the Internet too after a few attempts - but I`ve come up with one problem - trying to load the installation discs of my current printers, neither of them are compatable with the new windows Vista, they both work with Windows XP! So, have I got to treat myself to a new printer too?

NO Work!

Yippee..... No work for a week, I`ve a weeks holiday.

Well, a weeks holiday from my paid employment, I guess I shall be busy working at home on various things.
I`ve a birthday cake to make for my mum`s 89th. birthday
I`ve yet to buy her a present - and I haven`t a clue what to get. What do you get someone of that age? She`s still got a wardrobe full of clothes even after we turned a lot out for a jumble sale the other week.
I`ve correspondence to do
I`ve turning out of kitchen cupboards to do
I`ve a trip to the Records office to do some research with a church member
I`ve.....
I`ve.....

!!

The List worked!

I had a lot to do today, so last night I wrote myself a list of all I had to do. As I thought of each item, down it went on the list.

The list grew bigger and bigger.

I`ll never get it all done I thought as I kept thinging of things that I had to do, where shall I start? But I added them to the list.

But......

....today, I started at the top of the list,
first job done,
second job done,
another items crossed off
...and another.... and another..

.... and although my list had 19 items on it (all to do after a mornings work, and before going out to a meeting in the evening too - some of the items being for that meeting) .....

I got them all done - and with time to spare to wash my hair!

It certainly paid to make that list. Everything got done, nothing got forgotten, I had all I needed for the meeting.

Now, I just hope that I`ve got everything prepared that I need for tomorrow! - well, they`re all crossed off the list, so they must be.





(Thanks fellow bloggers for your good wishes - I feel better today too)

A second flowering

I`ve not been very well over the weekend, I don`t know if it was a reaction to the tablets that made me sick, or whether it was what was causing the pain that did it, so hence I couldn`t think of anything to write, but I`ve enjoyed watching the second stem on my Amaryllis come into bloom. Its got 3 huge flowers on, so I thought I`d share a view of it with you all today. What a wonderful bulb it was to give a total of 7 beautiful flowers, all at least 6 inches across. (Sorry, if you don`t work in proper measurements, its about 15cm.)

On a lighter note

A friend passed these pupils answers to test questions on to me the other day, and I thought some of them were worth sharing on here, to give us all a smile for the weekend:

Q - How can you delay milk turning sour
A - Keep it in the cow

Q - Give the meaning of the term 'caesarean section'
A - the caesarean section is a district in Rome

Q - What does the word 'benign' man?
A - Benign is what you will be after you be eight.

Q - What is a turbine?
A - Something an Arab wears on his head

Q - What happens to a boy when he reaches puberty?
A - He says goodbye to boyhood and looks forward to his adultery

Q - What is the fibula
A - A small lie

Q - Explain one of the processes by which water can be made safe to drink
A - Flirtation makes water safe to drink because it removes large pollutants like grit, sand, dead sheep and canoeitst.

A visit to the doctor

Well the pain got so bad yesterday afternoon, that I had to resort to ringing the surgery to see if I could see a doctor about it. I was getting worried and imagining all sorts of things. The receptionist was very helpful, said the doctor would ring me back shortly and then askk me to go to the surgery if he needed to see me about it. That was at 3.15 p.m. By 5 o`clock I`d still not had a phone call, so wondering if they`d forgotten about me I rang again. But, the same receptionist apologised and said no, he`d been called out and was now working down the list.

Shortly after that he did ring, and I had to go to see him.

His diagnosis is that I`ve pulled a muscle which is rubbing on a bone and a nerve hence the pain. He`s given me some stronger pain killers, so hopefully they `ll work. And said to keep it exercised! To not bend, but to do everything by bobbing my knees down; to put the washing up bowl on the draining board to wash up and not bend over the sink, et....etc....

So if anyone sees me moving pecularily to do jobs, ...........I`ve not gone mad!

After effects?

Having said in yesterdays post that I felt ok, I found that to be untrue.
I felt totally out of sorts and under the weather all day. The worst thing being a strong pain . I can`t really pinpoint the exact spot it`s coming from, but my back, my right hip, my leg, all hurt and ache and at times it`s aross the bottom of my tummy too making me feel rather queasy on occasion.

Was it caused by the earthquake I wonder? shaking my body in an abnormal way, and the way I tried to hold myself still. Maybe using a muscle/s that I don`t normally use much? Or is it just coincidence, and something is wrong? It`s still there this morning in my hip area.

Shakey, shakey, shake, shake!

All was normal when I went to bed last night and fell asleep. I woke at about 12.55 being shaken. I couldn`t make out what was waking me, there was no-one in the room shaking me to wake me, then I realised that it wasn`t just me shaking, the bed seemed to be shaking and so did everything around me. What had I eaten for supper, that could be making me feel like this I wondered?

I stretched out my arms and gripped the edges of the matress either side of me, to try and steady and hold myself still in the darkness (I didn`t put a light on, as that would have woken me up more). What was happening, it couldn`t be an earth tremor because we don`t get them in this country I thought. What was wrong with me? I`d never felt anything like this before. Gradually as I gripped the edges of the bed it subsided and, so I cuddled down again under the duvet and went off to sleep.

Waking to the sound of my radio alarm this morning, I remembered the event of the night and thought that I must have been dreaming. I felt ok, and everything in the room looked as normal. Then the news came on the radio "England & Wales suffered an earthquake last night 5.2 on the Richter scale, the centre of if being in Lincolnshire" So now I know that it wasn`t something wrong with me, I didn`t imagine it.

I wonder what all the birds in the trees in the wild, and animals in the earth made of it? It must have been terrifying for them.

Spring is in the Air

Looking out of my kitchen window whilst washing up this lunch time, I spotted a sight which cheered me up today.












Opposite the window there is a hydrangea bush which had been cut down last autumn because it had got too woody and unruly.
Looking at the bare wood stems, I suddenly spotted a tiny green leaf.







On going out to look closer, I discoverd that a lot of the branches were sprouting green buds and one had even got a few tiny leaves on.
What a marvel nature is.
It really cheered my spirits today.

It`s Flowering!

The buds have now burst open on the Amaryllis, which I posted a picture of as just showing signs of opening the other day.... and here it is.



As you can see there are already two flowers open and two more buds to open on the same stalk, and there`s also another flower stem appearing. It`s getting so tall that I`ve had to stake it and tie it to keep it from going over.

Whilst looking for the words to a hymn this evening, I came across this - and thought I`d share it with you.



Having been to Scarborough and enjoyed many holidays there, the scenes brought back memories as I watched it.

A Sunday Walk

I awoke this morning to a thick white frost which made everything look beautiful as the sun shone and it glistened from the grass, shrubs and trees around. Although a lot colder than last Sunday, I decided to go for a walk this afternoon, but not on the cliff top.

Getting ito the car, I went to a National Trust park near where I live, parked the car and set out for a walk. Patches of snopdrops lined the path at the start of the walk, looking so delicate and fragile and beautiful. (They`re one of my favourite flowers).

I hadn`t gone far along the path, when someone called out "hello" to me. Looking to see who it was I discovered a friend that I used to work with and her family - husband and children on bikes, dog on lead, and her pushing an empty pushchair whilst her daughter had the youngest toddling along on a pair of reigns. Stopping to speak to them, we then began to walk along together, and after being assured that I was welcome to join them on their walk, we had a lovely long walk through the park. Probably going further than I would have gone on my own.

It was so lovely to have some company for a change, and not have to go for a walk on my own. Yet, having said that, I do also very much enjoy having a walk on my own like last week. But this chance meeting just somehow "made" the afternoon today.