Bank holiday weekend

It’s Britain. It’s a bank holiday weekend. So, the law of sod says that it must be cold and miserable. I had decided that I would invite my mum and sister over for a bar-b-que for the Sunday, and even though it was raining, windy and about 11 degrees, I decided to go ahead with the bar-b-que. I put my winter coat on, and stood in the rain to cook some very delicious steak and sausages. Obviously we sat indoors, with the heating on, but the food (and wine!) was lovely. On the Monday (ooh, how lovely not to be getting up early and going to work…!), Toni, Liddi and I hit Hull by storm and tried on just about every bikini there was in Primark. Even though it was even colder today (about 8 degrees!), the thought of only 4 weeks until our holiday in the sun, made us feel warm enough, and we managed to buy 5 bikinis between us, and a selection of t-shirts, etc. (Luckily no photo of me in a bikini!)

My baby has all grown up !!

The class of 2007, Longcroft School, Beverley had their Year 11 School Prom on Wed 23rd May.

Lydia and her friends have been planning this event for months. Some of the girls had bought their prom dresses last year !! Lydia and I spent a day shopping in Kingston (upon Thames) last February, while we were down visiting friends and family and found a stunning dress which looked fantastic on. After that it was just the shoes, hair, makeup, underwear, bag, limo…..to worry about. (some of the girls went the whole hog with waxing, tanning, false nails, etc, etc….! Luckily for me Lydia is not quite so demanding!!)

After a slight glitch when we got half way from Driffield to Beverley and Lydia realised she had forgotten her ticket, we did a quick detour back home, and were still in time to catch the limo and photo session at her friend’s house in Beverley.

So, bang in the middle of their GCSE’s, everyone dressed up, got in their limos, and spent a fun-filled evening at the Ramada Jarvis in Willerby near Hull for (hopefully) the best night of their school lives!

A coach picked all the young people up from the hotel and brought them back to school for about 12:30, to lots of eagerly waiting parents. It was such fun to see them all spilling out of the coach, girls tottering with painful feet from an evening in their high heeled party shoes, or having given up altogether and gone barefoot, carefully styled hair looking slightly less coiffed, boys with their shirts hanging out of their shiny new suits.

Lydia and her boyfriend, Alec, got a certificate for ‘being the cutest couple’ !

What do I need a man for?

I’m having another surge of enthusiasm to get some things done on my house. I’ve been very slow really, but having been pleased with my frosted windows, and also having painted up the stairs and landing a couple of weeks ago, I was felt boosted with extra energy to do more! I wanted to put up shelves either side of my fireplace in the lounge.

Currently all the videos and DVDs are in Lydia’s room and there is no way I would be able to find anything! I wanted to bring them downstairs and have them neatly displayed on shelves.

The ready-made shelves I‘d looked at were not cheap (are you seeing a theme here that I’m a bit loathed to spend much money??), and of course, they are never the right size for the gaps where I wanted shelves to go. In fact, being a Victorian house, the shelf widths in one alcove varied 2-3 times! So, I decided to get a big piece of MDF, cut to individual size and then build a battern frame underneath (which I am assured in Tommy Walsh’s DVD is the most sturdy way to build a shelf!).

I went to Jewson’s to find that I could buy a piece of MDF enough for my 8 shelves, and several more over, for only about £18. AND, they would cut it to size (yes, 4 or 5 slightly separate measurements) for no extra! I ordered my shelves and picked them up ready cut a couple of days later. I also mentioned at work to our Maintenance Manager, Martyn, that I needed quite a few lengths of 2x1 battons for shelf supports. He very kindly supplied me with all the wood I needed, again suitably cut to length, and at no charge! In my excitement, I mentioned my shelf plans to my very good friend, James, who then very kindly offered to come and put up the shelves for me.

Now… it’s not that I didn’t think I could do it myself, but there are times when it is better to accept the help of a strong man with a good power tool, rather than tackle the job oneself! Yes, even I’m learning that!! And everyone knows that the real purpose of a man is to put up shelves and to open tight bottle tops. (er....is there anything I've missed?). All I had to offer was a home cooked meal and a beer - and I had myself some new shelves! Thank you James! Don’t they just look great?

Frosty reception

I have a large bay window in my lounge directly looking out to the pavement and road outside my house. The first thing I did when I moved in over 2 years ago was to take down all the net curtains. I cannot abide net curtains. They not only cut out light, but look old fashioned and dingy. There may well be some nice ones somewhere, but I’ve never seen any!

Having no net curtains means I have more light coming in and can see outside and what’s going on. However, it also means my neighbours and everyone else walking past (of which there are surprisingly many) can look directly into my lounge! Mostly I don’t have a problem with this. I’ve had comments that as people can see in, it could encourage burglary as they can see if anyone is there, and can also see exactly what there is to steal. Hence, I’ve been quite safe from theft – I obviously have nothing of value to steal! (Apart from my lovely new laptop which I got last year, so I am careful to store it out of site and not leave it on the table or somewhere obviously visible). During the week I am out at work during the day. However, as the evenings get lighter, and I sit on my sofa and watch some TV, I do wish I had a little more privacy! Then there’s the weekends….it would be nice to have the choice to slouch around in my pyjamas for a while before getting dressed, or perhaps wear not much at all (!!). Now that really WOULD get the neighbours talking!

So, I struck upon a good idea, inspired by some smart, local shop windows that were part frosted, and I thought that if I frosted just the bottom half of my sash window, it would still let lots of light in, and yet blur any detail when looking through the window at eye level. I investigated the idea further on the internet and found that there are a number of companies that will supply frosted film to put directly over your window. Great if you want some unusual detailing like a name etched into the film, or a fancy pattern. But - fairly expensive, ranging from £50 - £100 for my measurements. Also, I just wanted it plain, nothing fancy. So, the idea went fairly low down on my “things to do when I have more money” list.

Then, when I was in Wilkinson’s last weekend, I noticed that Fablon have introduced a “frosted window” product to their sticky backed plastic range (brings back memories of Blue Peter?). They had one that was just plain, light frosting, which you literally just cut to size and stick on the window. Fantastic! And only £3.50 per roll!! I needed 3 rolls for the window panes I wanted to cover, so at a bargain at £10.50. (and not too much of an expense if I decided I didn’t like the frosted look?). I bought my frosted Fablon and excitedly rushed home, cleaned my windows, and set about measuring, cutting and sticking. What fun. I think the end result is great! It does let lots of light in and it gives me extra privacy. On Sunday I was able to wander around downstairs in just my knickers without fear of giving a heart attack to any neighbours!

Here’s a picture (of the window....not me in my knickers!!!) – what do you think?

Psychic abilities

Do you think you may have psychic abilities? Have you ever had a ‘reading’ and felt that you have been in contact with the other side??

Seeing this video from Derren Brown confirms my cynicism for mediums, clairvoyants, tarot card readers, tea leaf readers, and any other old twoddle that people use to tell you useless stuff, usually with the view of extracting money from you to do it!

When I was working at ‘the Bell’, there was a medium who used to come in for a drink with her husband. She had a business doing telephone readings, taking payment by credit card. How could she possibly know anything about people she had never met? Couldn’t see? I don’t believe she (or anyone else) can, but she did make good money from trying!! Only once did I bother to ask her if she had any ‘messages’ for me (she claimed to receive messages from the other side by her Native American (aren’t they always?) helper). She told me she saw me by fields and that there would be a dark haired man in my life. That’s it !!

Now, let’s examine the facts. She knew I worked on a pig farm in the countryside (as we had already established that her son was a farm worker at one of our farms), so countryside and farmland = fields. Not difficult. Then, a man in my life. She knew I was single because we had already talked about it, but a man in my life could mean anything that I chose it to mean. Possibly a new romantic interest (is that what I would want to think)? Or perhaps my dad? My boss? My neighbour? The man who fixes my car? Come on…..who doesn’t have a man in their life in some form??!! Ooh, dark haired – that’s more specific, isn’t it? Look around you. How many dark haired blokes are their – statistically far more than blond, ginger or green !! I’m glad I didn’t pay her for that information, as it was completely uninspiring, although was technically accurate! I could have guessed more about her !

Funnily enough, I bumped into this lady a couple of weeks ago. She was telling me of some difficulties she thought she may be having with her husband. Was he seeing someone else? Would he like to be? Etc, etc. We had a chat and I offered her some advise based on statistics and reality. Afterwards I thought – if she’s the one who knows what’s going to happen to people, why was she asking my advise?? Surely her Red Indian friend would be able to advise her on this? I was just telling her what I thought she wanted to hear….but then, isn’t that what she does for a living?