tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83837885567933273012024-03-14T05:48:53.641+00:00Digging ... and yet more diggingallotmentqueenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09436822823840965550noreply@blogger.comBlogger104125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383788556793327301.post-29930588728528900202016-03-15T22:53:00.000+00:002016-03-15T22:53:38.520+00:00On travelling - part two<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So - now we have to collect DD from Heathrow, having travelled back from NZ. Easy-peasy, no?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">First, decide which day she's actually coming back on. For a month we have thought 29th January, a Friday. But then when she still appears to be doing things in NZ on Thursday, her "last full day in NZ", I start to think that logistically she cannot then arrive at Heathrow on Friday morning. So, after much hunting around, I find that the travel document actually says "+1 day" in very small writing, in red which doesn't show up very well in b/w printing, so we decide that actually she won't be back till Saturday our time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">Before that we have spent a considerable amount of time measuring cars trying to find out whether anything we have access to can actually carry back a bike bag and a bike box, plus various other bags, and three people. There is much consideration given as to how much the bike box can be cut down.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">So. Now we're at Saturday morning. We need to leave at 08.30. I've gone to the loo when OH opens door and says, "Er, actually it's 9.00 now." After several "Oh, shit"s (not literally), I suggest we better get on with it then.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Rapid washing, dressing, eating breakfasts. We ditch the idea of taking bacon sarnies for sustenance on the way back. I look at the planetracker site and say, "her plane is 20 minutes away". Bear in mind that from Bristol to Heathrow is around 90 minutes. By the time we're ready to leave the planetracker says her plane is "taxi-ing to the terminal".</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Right, well let's get going. We'll probably have to make excuses about traffic. After all, she has got to retrieve all the baggage.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">We're about two-thirds of the way there when DD rings to say she's waiting by the Costa outlet. Tell her to go and get a coffee as we might be a while yet. We still have to make a fuel/loo stop at Reading.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Eventually we arrive and park in the car park. Make sure we remember where we have parked. Find daughter. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Okay, now on to the easy bit. Take all baggage upstairs. Cut bike box down to fit in car (this is not the quickest of jobs). I shall have to sit in what's left of the back seat with a box hard up against me and things on my lap/round my feet. I can handle that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Go to pay for parking ticket. Nearly on our way home now, no? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Well no, not exactly. Look at phone and say, "we've got six minutes before we go over the first, and cheapest, tariff". That should be alright. OH stuffs ticket into slot. Nothing happens. Display still reads "insert ticket". I look at machine more closely. There is a big yellow slot in centre of machine where you should insert ticket, but no, OH has put it into another slot. It was reluctant to take it so he pushed it in harder. That slot says "insert notes". Ticket is only just visible, but no apparent way to get it out again.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Push button that says "help". Nothing happens. Press it again. Still nothing. Does this surprise me? No.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">"Okay, so now we've lost the ticket." Tariff says lost ticket will cost you £75. "So we've lost the ticket, we can't get out the car park or it will cost us £75."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Hunt in handbag. Find multi-tool which has a nail file on it with a serrated surface. After multiple attempts manage to tease the ticket out of the slot. No, we do not put it into the correct slot on that machine - after all, that machine is still asking for help, which hasn't been responded to.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Move over to another machine. Put ticket in. Attempt to pay money. By now, of course, it's the next higher price. Haven't got that much cash on me. Attempt to pay by debit card. Machine refuses to acknowledge my debit card. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">OH says he'll run back to car as there's more cash in glove pocket. DD says "how long is this taking. I need to go to the toilet." Pay cash. Aah, at last, we have managed to pay to leave the car park. We have ticket to leave. It says "you have 15 minutes to leave the car park otherwise you have to pay full whack".</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Go back to car. DD is nowhere in sight. Pace up and down looking for her. Absolutely no sign. Minutes tick past. OH gets increasingly wound up. Still no sign. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I go back to ticket machines and find three (Eastern European) LHR employees emptying the machines. Assume 'poor little old me, don't understand these things, my daughter has disappeared and we've only got 15 minutes to exit the premises and time's nearly up' attitude and ask for their help. They say "no problem. Just say that Marc has said we're okay and they'll let you out". They then take registration number.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Finally DD turns up, we head towards outbound barrier, expecting to be quizzed, and the guy behind the checkout desk just lifts the barrier. He must have recognised the licence plate. Thanks Marc!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">No wonder we don't want to travel abroad!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span>allotmentqueenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09436822823840965550noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383788556793327301.post-64124483147039311192016-02-13T23:40:00.001+00:002016-02-13T23:40:40.986+00:00On travelling - part one<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Us oldies have had a little adventure recently. We've been to Heathrow Airport. Twice. I've never been there before although OH has many times in his days as a film sound recordist. Things have changed though.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">On 29th December 2015 DD was due to fly to New Zealand for the holiday of a lifetime. She was going with the 2014 Downhill Mountain Biking champion and BBC Wales Sportsperson of the Year (MC) who has been a good friend of hers for a long time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">MC was taking the bikes as she was going via Essex so that her friend could take the van and not leave it (expensively) at Heathrow. We were taking DD with her hand luggage and a few things which needed to be packed in the bike bag/box.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">At this point I should say that DD was taking 2 bikes and MC was taking 3. As you do. Here's a picture of their luggage when they finally arrived at Auckland:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9sLwuhWUTTiqGEACZGO9Nxm7iKy6HOuP7FuG835AUl9XVxX-DuIBigV9q-lE2Bs_wzZjXv1MONT0iauMlYrQwLnPX4uMBM2n3b2_xG3uOJWhfZ67ZbuV0YfYnEY4g0JusxsicmyKWczKC/s1600/Auckalnd+airport.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9sLwuhWUTTiqGEACZGO9Nxm7iKy6HOuP7FuG835AUl9XVxX-DuIBigV9q-lE2Bs_wzZjXv1MONT0iauMlYrQwLnPX4uMBM2n3b2_xG3uOJWhfZ67ZbuV0YfYnEY4g0JusxsicmyKWczKC/s320/Auckalnd+airport.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">DD's is on the left. Just think in terms of what a normal airport trolley for a family looks like.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So we arrive at Heathrow a good 2½ hours before departure because we know it will take time to book all the luggage in.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Wait 15 mins for MC to turn up with the bikes. OH has gone off to park in neighbouring suburbia so that we're not paying a fortune for car parks.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />DD and I then spend the next 45 minutes packing and repacking the bag/box. Both are overweight (ie will cost extra). Re-pack box so that it's within weight. Check bag. Now over maximum permitted weight. "Right", I say, "what can you <u>not </u>take that you don't really need." First off, she takes off the lightweight shoes she's wearing and replaces them with the 'clip shoes' which are a lot heavier. Then she removes a set of pedals as she will only be using one set of pedals at a time. She removes a rucksack that is containing clothes as she already has another rucksack. Still over limit. So then she removes the leg hair removal cream (do you really need that?). Finally the bag is within the limits.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">Go to check-on desk. They're not actually going to weigh anything because there is a bar across and neither box nor bag will fit beneath it. So they can't weigh them. Girl on check-in desk is fine with that. So what have we spent the last 45 minutes doing????</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">Then comes the final blow (and this is after months' planning and quite a lot of pounds spent): "The system won't let me issue a boarding pass because you haven't got a US visa". But she's just transit-ing via LA and will be airside the whole time. No, you need a visa. I am ageing visibly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">I now have visions of spending hours at the American embassy in London trying to get a visa. And who knows how much re-booking the flight is going to cost.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">All the while OH is trying to phone me to find out how much longer this is going to take, because (let's face it) he's completely in the dark as to what's going on. His phone won't connect to me, and I can't phone him back. We end up corresponding via Eldest Son (in Bristol) who somehow has a connection to the both of us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">"It's okay", says airport desk girl. "You just need to go onto 'ESTA' on your phone and you can get a travel permit. It'll cost you 14 dollars but they'll do it almost straightaway."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";">So DD goes off to get this ESTA thing and I try and maintain a place in the queue whilst she does it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Fifteen minutes (or indeed, half a lifetime) later she comes back with the requisite authorisation. By now, I've let half the plane take my place in the queue.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Yes!!!!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Now we just need to find a nice baggage handler to take her box and her bag. This is so the easy bit!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Finally I can kiss her goodbye and hope she has a lovely time. By now, any tears will be tears of relief that she has finally gone, rather than tears that my baby is going to the other side of the world!</span></div>
allotmentqueenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09436822823840965550noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383788556793327301.post-72557068160074119182014-04-10T22:49:00.001+01:002014-04-10T22:49:24.888+01:00So now we know the truth<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNv7pT-c4nzM5cgy8jQWKLRYyGAUnqD5vYlVGE2vKRGEUPCf3xPuq14ZnE8L2h5P4JZXmcjsMqvfyaTF0T71_f3ADWkgA30TJCsbdei2lm9gxyvWVTzRESwoDKXHdZyELbjK2Gn1J6feGE/s1600/Strawberry+%2526+redcurrant+meringue+pie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNv7pT-c4nzM5cgy8jQWKLRYyGAUnqD5vYlVGE2vKRGEUPCf3xPuq14ZnE8L2h5P4JZXmcjsMqvfyaTF0T71_f3ADWkgA30TJCsbdei2lm9gxyvWVTzRESwoDKXHdZyELbjK2Gn1J6feGE/s1600/Strawberry+%2526+redcurrant+meringue+pie.jpg" height="252" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Strawberry and redcurrant meringue pie - do you like it? In true Masterchef tradition it will take 15 minutes (for the meringue to cook).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Verdict:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Younger son (16): it looks like a big tart. <em>(Who are you calling a big tart?)</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Daughter (20): Lush. <em>(Should have been gert lush, she is Bristolian after all)</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">OH: It was okay. What was it supposed to be?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Why do I bother?</span><br />
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<br />allotmentqueenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09436822823840965550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383788556793327301.post-1132496696774980722014-03-28T22:12:00.002+00:002014-03-28T22:12:47.986+00:00Ratzilla!!!!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yesterday evening I first saw the story of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26764929" target="_blank">Ratzilla</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Now, as some of you may know, I have more than a passing acquaintance with <a href="http://www.the-rat-diary.blogspot.co.uk/2009_06_01_archive.html" target="_blank">unwanted rodents</a>, and do actually know what dead ones smell like. So when I smelled something slightly unpleasant whilst reading this story, I went to investigate.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Fortunately it turned out it was just the smell of the cauliflower I was cooking to make cauliflower cheese for lunch the next day. Phew! Narrow escape, that one!</span><br />
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allotmentqueenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09436822823840965550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383788556793327301.post-3342647859942564222014-02-16T18:14:00.000+00:002014-02-16T18:14:10.081+00:00Was it ever dry once?<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Bristol to Bath cycle path has been closed due to flooding. This shouldn't come as a great surprise as it runs along what used to be a railway line, and as we all know the default position of railway lines these days is under water.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Look - this chap's child has been washed away, but still he's managing to get their bike home safely.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikjeknlTGxYMcO2ivWVBx9XkOU5zXcfq5r6DygmHmHotbOrNY85E45zaTsdoa7tRhHRAo1xQXECHDj1xvyj6ZiQFWADmPqVetXW5jptRQHGXUjIFWvmexgcov0nCkogMb3U2NOFOwF4bTq/s1600/Bristol+to+Bath+cycle+path+under+water.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikjeknlTGxYMcO2ivWVBx9XkOU5zXcfq5r6DygmHmHotbOrNY85E45zaTsdoa7tRhHRAo1xQXECHDj1xvyj6ZiQFWADmPqVetXW5jptRQHGXUjIFWvmexgcov0nCkogMb3U2NOFOwF4bTq/s1600/Bristol+to+Bath+cycle+path+under+water.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a></div>
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allotmentqueenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09436822823840965550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383788556793327301.post-74073639468719194342014-02-13T23:17:00.001+00:002014-02-13T23:17:20.818+00:00Just be careful what you call yourself<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Looking at today's news pictures of flooding, I was struck by the thought "When did Staines become Staines-upon-Thames?"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Seems like it did a couple of years ago, mostly in order to disassociate itself from Ali G who allegedly lived in Staines, but also to boost its riverside image. Not a universally popular move - the local football club described it as "pretentious", but they had a day of celebrations including a regatta.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Now they may wish they didn't have such a riverside image.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFKSKCSXNm-Z0UmCnX_72gyv1sqsc-BnE3d3s_G52JwYeDnKz3BuL0XiZ4ftW6kwQFQgInDZ3Y9dxPxckMUa1GZR4zXHk_UPkId5wLKalZbdq91A3Zl2MpQOGPRAp9MkyEKrBlAlyBVTgq/s1600/staines-flooding-6475074.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFKSKCSXNm-Z0UmCnX_72gyv1sqsc-BnE3d3s_G52JwYeDnKz3BuL0XiZ4ftW6kwQFQgInDZ3Y9dxPxckMUa1GZR4zXHk_UPkId5wLKalZbdq91A3Zl2MpQOGPRAp9MkyEKrBlAlyBVTgq/s1600/staines-flooding-6475074.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFKSKCSXNm-Z0UmCnX_72gyv1sqsc-BnE3d3s_G52JwYeDnKz3BuL0XiZ4ftW6kwQFQgInDZ3Y9dxPxckMUa1GZR4zXHk_UPkId5wLKalZbdq91A3Zl2MpQOGPRAp9MkyEKrBlAlyBVTgq/s1600/staines-flooding-6475074.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a><br />
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allotmentqueenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09436822823840965550noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383788556793327301.post-5169246698809280002014-02-12T00:00:00.000+00:002014-02-12T09:50:16.819+00:00Rain, rain, go away, come again another day<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh, so now the Thames is flooding, and (without wishing to be at all denigrating to those affected) the precious Home Counties constituencies are under threat of excess water, King Canute Cameron is out in his hi-viz jacket promising <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26131515" target="_blank">unlimited money</a> to deal with all this unnecessary water.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Interestingly, one of his own party has been <a href="http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2014/02/04/what-the-today-programme-should-have-asked-the-environment-agency/#comment-282005" target="_blank">less than complimentary</a> about the Environment Agency. On his <a href="http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/" target="_blank">blog</a> I found the following post:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"In 2012-13 the EA spent £1207.4m compared to £1166.6m the year before. It ended the year with £95.8m cash in the bank. We are told the “cuts” stopped it doing a good job on flooding. How big an increase in spending would it take to qualify as no cut?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Oh, and I'm not a Tory.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you look at <a href="http://www.insidetheenvironmentagency.co.uk/" target="_blank">this site</a>, a whistle-blowing site, you will find countless examples of how money is squandered by office-bound (this seems to be a very loose term) employees whilst those actually out in "the environment" don't get the back-up they need. The sheer scale of self-certifying hours worked, mileage, abuse of flexitime is stupendous. There seems to be in excess of one vehicle for every two employees and no fuel cards or suchlike so no checks on when and where fuel is bought. I'm sure if I tried this HM Revenue & Customs would be down on me like a ton of bricks.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">And at the top are figures earning six figure salaries who clearly are <u>not</u> earning them. T</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">hese figures are from 2 years ago, but give an idea of the scale of top salaries:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Lord Chris Smith Chairman Environment Agency £109,999</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Graham Ledward Director of Resources Environment Agency £154,999</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">David Jordan Director of Operations Environment Agency £164,999</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Paul Leinster Chief Executive Officer Environment Agency £199,999</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">And then there's the South-West which still has very limited rail links, standing water even on the motorway, and very little prospect of anything changing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Now, one of my friends spent Christmas Day with wellies on. I know people whose friends have been isolated, cut off, for over six weeks. It has become difficult to even talk to some of these people because the sheer scale of lack of sense of help arriving is, quite literally, "doing their heads in".</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">And to put things into <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/tomphillips/while-londoners-complain-about-a-tube-strike-the-south-west" target="_blank">perspective</a> this is what we thought last week.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">(I'm just grateful I live half-way up a big hill although, guess what, it's raining again)</span><br />
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allotmentqueenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09436822823840965550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383788556793327301.post-16116099335425488142014-02-05T23:56:00.000+00:002014-02-05T23:56:21.890+00:00<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">How to remain optimistic</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">By and large I think we're lucky that we've been self-employed for more than twenty years. In that time we've re-invented ourselves more times than I care to remember. We have had to immerse ourselves in new technology several times but kept our standards high. We have never advertised as such, although we do have a website which still (inexplicably) we get queries through, but most of them are people who can't find our actual e-mail address but can remember our company name, which is quite distinctive. But there are still some from complete strangers (fortunately genuine).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Over the last four years we have diversified, we have been a bit more aggressive in following up potential leads that we have never had to do before. Previously all our work came through word of mouth. We are now quite adept at ringing people and giving a lot of very good advice, obviously in the hope of getting some work but without any overt pressure. We still have loyal customers. But times are a-changing yet again. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Again and again, budgets are being cut. Technology is moving ahead of itself. Some things become so unrealistically expensive that the costs just don't add up. So I need to e-mail all our previous contacts and tell them the truth as it is now. It's not really a problem, it's more getting people to be able to deliver in an acceptable format whilst they still can, before the main production team move onto another project.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">It's okay. January has always been a pretty lean month. One year we only turned over £75 (including VAT).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I have two other jobs - one regular, one irregular. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I invigilate exams at my youngest's school which is irregular. Obviously this depends on there being exams, although now there are a lot of mocks because official exams have been condensed (!) into virtually the whole of May and June. And there is the opportunity of helping out in other ways, such as being a scribe/reader, and I also help out with filming the drama controlled assessments. And along the way, I realise that even at a pretty pukka school there are students who are quite needy (I find these more interesting, by the way).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">My regular job is for two mornings a week (by and large, my choice of which days). I'm in charge of the archive for a charitable foundation which gives out big money (over a million a year). I'm conserving the records because the trustees think this is worthwhile and one day people will want to know more about the man who, at one point, gave away a million pounds a week. The foundation gives money to three main areas - health, education and the elderly. I may post at some future point more about this. Suffice to say, it is a good thing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The fact is, last week I rang the building society to say that I couldn't afford to pay the whole mortgage this month - although I did in fact pay nearly half of it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">But in the last week I have spoken at length to two of the grandchildren of said foundation man, who have flown in from America and New Zealand (mostly because they are concerned about their parents' health), but who have been more than happy to have their memories recorded. They've never wanted for money. They went to private schools. And perfectly lovely, both of them were. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">And today I heard (purely as a random memory) that in the early '70s their grandfather had taken out insurance to pay the ransom in case they were kidnapped. (This is the era of Paul Getty III kidnapping - with the cut-off ear sent back - and Patty Hearst.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I'm living in two completely different worlds here. It's lucky I walk home so I have time to re-adjust (although I spend most of that time trying to work out what to cook for lunch/tea).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">But at the end of the day, however bad it seems to be, however much I'm going round scraping up odd £1 coins, 50ps, whatever that have been put aside, I have to consider that if I/we had had a "permanent job" and I/we had been made redundant (having worked there for x years) we wouldn't have a chance of re-inventing ourselves. At least we've had the practice.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span>allotmentqueenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09436822823840965550noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383788556793327301.post-69209824805791034532014-01-30T17:18:00.000+00:002014-01-30T17:18:28.974+00:00<span style="font-family: Arial;"><strong>The difference between boys and girls</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Earlier this week I invigilated a mock Product Design GCSE exam. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Question: Design a child's lunchbox to contain the following items: an apple, a drink, a cereal bar, a savoury snack and a dairy snack. The lunchbox should protect the items but also display them attractively.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The girls all drew very pretty lunchboxes in all sorts of shapes and sizes. They were decorated with pretty pictures or interesting facts. They spent a lot of time colouring them in and using shading to make them look realistic.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The boys all drew "man boxes". They were all rectangular with precision drawn compartments. This was very difficult and involved a lot of rubbing out. There were dimensions and "not drawn to scale". They looked very functional. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Interestingly, a large number of the boys took their jackets off and rolled their sleeves up. This designing lark is obviously VERY SERIOUS BUSINESS.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span>allotmentqueenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09436822823840965550noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383788556793327301.post-16592143851614433342014-01-30T17:09:00.000+00:002014-01-30T17:09:16.884+00:00<h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Is eggs eggs?</span></h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The price this week of Cadbury's Crème Eggs in the Co-op:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGTkEo78TrKyrfM6anMcUKsQNWvloGj_5AORsYlD6DxNWFHoSIG-sr-moUTnJTlcQ3NIh6e7Kc8EyiIpJWeUq7DEaOaTha6PCGrrh4NqjpnJbaPRXxrvMncm1j7-oTMQ5XHAx8X0aY7g8Y/s1600/Cadbury%2527s+creme+egg.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGTkEo78TrKyrfM6anMcUKsQNWvloGj_5AORsYlD6DxNWFHoSIG-sr-moUTnJTlcQ3NIh6e7Kc8EyiIpJWeUq7DEaOaTha6PCGrrh4NqjpnJbaPRXxrvMncm1j7-oTMQ5XHAx8X0aY7g8Y/s1600/Cadbury%2527s+creme+egg.png" height="200" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">55p</span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhah6TCZ6NfP0weN09M_Qs-JTaeOL8O4anCD8kV-vcLrkckoj1-BGtyL_LKjufGv8ND8nezGXgNuUXXd0kzl529XGxZI-Ak3Z5pqFVjpFaPRuCx9k0XNqxpUjtnOGtiVBFEcAKTO1J_nniO/s1600/Cadbur's+creme+egg+x+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhah6TCZ6NfP0weN09M_Qs-JTaeOL8O4anCD8kV-vcLrkckoj1-BGtyL_LKjufGv8ND8nezGXgNuUXXd0kzl529XGxZI-Ak3Z5pqFVjpFaPRuCx9k0XNqxpUjtnOGtiVBFEcAKTO1J_nniO/s1600/Cadbur's+creme+egg+x+2.jpg" height="200" width="200" /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">£1 for two</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsAhU52su4jeGK8VLICbu2YOPxkysy5EYrc-XlbbYQzKCZ_umL2IOPlT3PQxi-oRhESqxkHpfr923KF4kJR4e6wwMVVdHEQbYKuPnkvQ8sJZSKh60t5ycf2Av7xNtch7LUmUDa0J4Pu5lM/s1600/Cadbury's+creme+egg+x+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsAhU52su4jeGK8VLICbu2YOPxkysy5EYrc-XlbbYQzKCZ_umL2IOPlT3PQxi-oRhESqxkHpfr923KF4kJR4e6wwMVVdHEQbYKuPnkvQ8sJZSKh60t5ycf2Av7xNtch7LUmUDa0J4Pu5lM/s1600/Cadbury's+creme+egg+x+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsAhU52su4jeGK8VLICbu2YOPxkysy5EYrc-XlbbYQzKCZ_umL2IOPlT3PQxi-oRhESqxkHpfr923KF4kJR4e6wwMVVdHEQbYKuPnkvQ8sJZSKh60t5ycf2Av7xNtch7LUmUDa0J4Pu5lM/s1600/Cadbury's+creme+egg+x+3.jpg" height="128" width="200" /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">£1.45 for a 3-pack</span></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsAhU52su4jeGK8VLICbu2YOPxkysy5EYrc-XlbbYQzKCZ_umL2IOPlT3PQxi-oRhESqxkHpfr923KF4kJR4e6wwMVVdHEQbYKuPnkvQ8sJZSKh60t5ycf2Av7xNtch7LUmUDa0J4Pu5lM/s1600/Cadbury's+creme+egg+x+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> </a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7RQ_85Yo3iaokxojeEotlZ8VXN7tqE1C1MulYv71R9zF7hX31jxWe7-MH3LrlrHReVzLXLK4pxNpKzo2NBjnZEZ0_cjj_IKUYgSROEmao1-4IdpolDDLPo3Li2r7sok8WWtjMggJtqAcA/s1600/cadbury-creme-egg+-+6+pack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7RQ_85Yo3iaokxojeEotlZ8VXN7tqE1C1MulYv71R9zF7hX31jxWe7-MH3LrlrHReVzLXLK4pxNpKzo2NBjnZEZ0_cjj_IKUYgSROEmao1-4IdpolDDLPo3Li2r7sok8WWtjMggJtqAcA/s1600/cadbury-creme-egg+-+6+pack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7RQ_85Yo3iaokxojeEotlZ8VXN7tqE1C1MulYv71R9zF7hX31jxWe7-MH3LrlrHReVzLXLK4pxNpKzo2NBjnZEZ0_cjj_IKUYgSROEmao1-4IdpolDDLPo3Li2r7sok8WWtjMggJtqAcA/s1600/cadbury-creme-egg+-+6+pack.jpg" height="138" width="400" /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">£1.50 for a 6-pack</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So which to buy?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wrong! None of them, they're all fattening.</span><br />
allotmentqueenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09436822823840965550noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383788556793327301.post-46156943518918471352013-12-13T23:40:00.000+00:002013-12-13T23:40:30.834+00:00Life's a bum - but at least I'm still here<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I went up to the surgery this morning as my leg ulcer (despite being officially signed off) was not quite as it should be. I think my skin is so fragile now that anything will set it off. But I can cope with that. I'd quite like a skin graft, preferably of some industrially hardened plastic skin, but that's not going to happen. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Anyway, the lovely Kate (my nurse) who I've known for the best part of 20 years asked if I knew Maggie R, who of course I did know because my daughter went to school with her son and they are sort of friends. For as long as I've known her, Maggie has had MS and latterly she's been riding round in a motorised scooter thing, but I haven't seen her that recently. I've often seen her husband Brian chatting with friends in local coffee shops (of which we have more than a few). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">So today Kate said that this afternoon there was a memorial service for Maggie. It would seem that the MS had deteriorated so far that she had no control over her bodily functions and that, whilst she wasn't in pain, she had got to the point where the loss of dignity was too much. So two weeks ago she did the one-way trip to Switzerland.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Her children knew (20/21 year old son and 24-ish daughter). But I can't even begin to imagine the anguish that all of them went through.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I'm glad Kate told me about it. I wouldn't want to see Brian and say something totally inappropriate. I'm really bad at funerals, I cry at the slightest emotional bit.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">And it just set me thinking. My sister-in-law died (of bowel cancer) six years ago a week before Christmas. Jo Yeates <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Joanna_Yeates">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Joanna_Yeates</a> her body was discovered on Christmas Day (of all days!) three years ago. And that was at spitting distance almost. And we had lots of snow which really didn't help.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">This 'everybody being jolly ho ho ho' over Christmas is actually the worst time of the year for some folks.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Oh, and in case you're thinking I'm being overly schmaltzy - my washing machine has died (I do at least ten washes a week) and needs a new outlet pump and a new soap hose - total cost in the region of £180 plus VAT. And that's not to mention all the other crap things I have to pay for.</span>allotmentqueenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09436822823840965550noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383788556793327301.post-22455883262144429652013-10-20T23:09:00.001+01:002013-10-20T23:09:16.517+01:00What should you allow a 15-year-old to do?
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">“Though this be madness, yet there is method in't.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">William Shakespeare, “Hamlet” (Prince of Denmark – but strangely enough
not a tragedy in this case)</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Several months ago, younger son (R) who is fifteen
started corresponding (if that’s the correct word) via Skype with a girl called
Anna who is Danish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At first he told me
that she went to the same junior school as him but moved to Denmark when she
was seven, however he has subsequently admitted that she is Danish through and
through.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, by walking into rooms
unannounced. I have caught sight of her on Skype and she is a genuine teenager
and quite pretty.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">A couple of months ago they hatched a plan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was coming to London with her school on a
trip and they arranged they would meet up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>By chance British teachers were going on strike on the day they had
arranged to meet and so therefore R’s school would be closed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, that’s lucky, otherwise I’d have had to
ring up and pretend he was sick.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">And then her friends also started Skype-ing R so now he
had three Danish girlfriends and he started saying he had to bring them all
presents, not just one each but TWO each.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>One girl wanted pink and green nail varnish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One was very into Harry Potter and we
happened to have two copies of one of them so she was given that so she could
practice her English plus a bookmark/light.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And Anna was given a Union Jack hipflask (as being very English) and a
horse’s head mask (no, I don’t know, either).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I was a bit concerned about the Danish teachers’
reactions, how they would take to a 15-yr-old English boy stalking them but the
only way for me to contact them would be through the kids so I couldn’t see
that happening.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">He wanted to go by train but that would have cost £51
return (at least) whereas the coach was only £18.50.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He wanted to catch the 5.00am coach which
would get to London by 8.00am to give him time to meet them at their hotel by
9.00am.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the Saturday before I sent
him down to walk to the coach station to make sure he knew where it was and
which bay his coach would go from.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Print out tube map, bus map, map of Victoria coach
station, printout of birth certificate (on the coach 14-yr-olds have to be
accompanied, 16-yr-olds have to buy adult ticket, so therefore he needs to
prove he’s 15 to get a child’s ticket but not need to be accompanied, gosh this
is so complicated!).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Give him letter “to
whom it may concern” saying who he is, how old he is, how I’ve given permission
for this tomfoolery, etc and here’s all my phone numbers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The night before he had various phone calls from the
girls in London which indicated that the following day’s itinerary was being
reorganised.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jokingly I said they must
have got wind of R turning up, but he said the girls had told their teacher he
was coming and he was going to be an honorary Danish student for the day!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In retrospect I think this was to avoid
teachers’ rallies going on in London, but it meant he didn’t know where they
were going (the original first stop was St Pauls).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">We checked his bank card the night before in case I had
to transfer money to him in an emergency.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He hadn’t used the card for several months and it appears to have been
cancelled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whatever – it didn’t work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Okay – here’s some cash, it’s for an
emergency (I’ve yet to see this come back by the way).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Get up at 4.00am.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Make bacon sandwich.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Take your
travel sickness tablets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bye.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are so many things that could go wrong
from this point.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Empty dishwasher.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Empty washing machine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Put
another load on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wait until 5.00am to
get a text saying “I’m on coach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s
moving.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Go back to bed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Takes another hour to get back to sleep.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Get up at 8.00am because I have an appointment at
doctor’s at 09.00am and by now he should have arrived at Victoria Coach Station
and needs to walk up to Victoria Rail Station to buy a one-day Travelcard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s then going to take him 45 minutes to
walk across Hyde Park to meet them at their hotel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">No text.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Look at travel website.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>M4 closed between Swindon and Hungerford due to accident involving car
transporter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Long delays expected.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">08.35am R calls to say he’s just arrived at the coach
station and where is the rail station?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Give him directions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He says
he’ll have to run once he’s got the Travelcard as he’ll only have half the time
to get to their hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can see him playing
catch-up all day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">08.45am – having left map of area on computer screen,
tell his father he’ll have to give him directions if he rings up and set off
for doctor’s.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">08.55am – En-route to doctor’s I get a call saying “I’m
not quite sure where I am”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tell him to
ring home and speak to his father.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">09.25am – Get home from doctor’s to find that the girls
have rung R and said they’re setting off from their hotel but don’t quite know
where they’re going yet so will ring him when they know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dad thinks he’s just waiting at Hyde Park
Corner to find out where to go next.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Ring R who is actually somewhere in the middle of Hyde
Park but doesn’t quite know where.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
are reduced to can you see the sun, where is it? to ascertain that he is
heading north. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">R says Anna’s phone number doesn’t work so he can’t ring
her and she hasn’t rung him yet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Take
her phone number and say I will try and ring her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is great, isn’t it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Son somewhere in the middle of Hyde Park,
girls have gone somewhere (who knows where) and they seem to be un-contactable
by phone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I now realise that the phone number isn’t long enough so
understandable that it doesn’t work – but what to add?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It starts 45… and I wonder whether that’s the
equivalent of us being +44…<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Try adding a
couple of 00s on the front and it rings and a girl with a foreign accent
answers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Phew!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She says that R is not answering his phone
(hope that’s just because he’s in the middle of the Park) and that they’re
going to Camden Market shopping.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Ring R back and tell him her real number and to ring me
once he’s reached the edge of the Park.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">09.55 – Okay he’s got as far as Lancaster Gate and has
rung the girls who will be in Camden for three hours and will meet him “under
the blue sign”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Give him instructions to
get the Central Line (the red one) to Tottenham Court Road and then change to
the Northern Line (the black one) to Camden Town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, you can’t ring me when you’ve done the
first bit because there won’t be any signal down there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The boy’s never done Tubes before.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">10.25 – He’s made it to Camden and the girls have found
him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">And breathe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At
last I can get on with my day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">15.45 – Text R “where are you?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“London Eye”. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“You ought to
start thinking about saying goodbye and finding your way back to Victoria”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">“I think I’d like to stay here for a few hours more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What time’s the last coach?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">“About seven” (I lie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There’s no way he’s catching the last coach)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">“Well can you check?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">“Yes, there’s one at seven”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">17.45 Ring R.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
can hear girls giggling in the background.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Where are you?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“In their hotel
room”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now R has done two school trips
to Germany and one of the golden rules was no mixed sexes in rooms, let alone
foreigners who have only just turned up on the day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Apparently Leif (the teacher) is fine with
him, has been chatting with him all day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The trip seems to consist of 13 girls and 2 boys so probably quite keen
to get a male take on things by now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">18.00 R rings to say he’s outside in the street now – how
do you get to Victoria? Tell him to get on Central Line at Queensway, go west
for one junction to Notting Hill Gate and get Circle Line anticlockwise to
Victoria.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He can’t see tube
station.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well what can you see?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually him doing real life and me doing
Google Streetview coincide and he finds the station.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(That’s the trouble with Streetview, you
don’t know how old it is and how much has changed since then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Scaffolding certainly has.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">18.30<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s got to
Notting Hill Gate, can’t find Circle Line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Has come up to street level to phone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Tell him to find a station person and ask how to get to Victoria.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s really not much else I can do to help
him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When he gets to Victoria rail/tube
station he’s still got to get to the coach station and then get his return
ticket validated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(I booked an open
return because I knew there was no way I could guarantee he’d get a specific
coach.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">18.50<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Text him to
say “Guess you’re getting the 8pm coach then”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Answer “yup”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Arrange that his older brother will pick him up at coach
station at 10.30pm which still doesn’t work as by then his phone had run out of
charge and they missed each other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Finally picked up halfway home which is where he’d walked to.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Postscript:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have
just been told<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“You know at the end of
year 11, people go on holiday?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“What,
you mean they go to Newquay, get pissed and their parents are called by the
police to pick them up at two in the morning, or else they’ve jumped off a
cliff and are in hospital?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(I’d just
like to add at this point that my two elder children went to Newquay and this
didn’t happen to either of them).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">“Well I’d like to go to ….”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Yes, you guessed it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Denmark – or as his father would say
‘Pastryland’)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">As I said when I was at my doctor’s appointment that
morning, “just don’t take my blood pressure”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
allotmentqueenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09436822823840965550noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383788556793327301.post-35022120853731601412013-09-29T23:45:00.001+01:002013-09-29T23:45:33.537+01:00How to ruin your child's life<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Despite our school "bucking the trend" and gaining a record number of As and A*s this year, the number of students (or their parents) who have applied for a re-mark has increased dramatically.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">In the last couple of weeks I've been updating a spreadsheet in school recording the results of re-marks. Despite costing £35 or £45 a time, parents with cash are willing to splash out to boost their offspring's grades. Some of them are spending well over £100. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">And do you know what - hardly any of them have gained as a result. If you've got a B, then no amount of re-marking is going to make you an A* student. Most of them stay absolutely the same, or maybe they gain one or two extra marks which makes no difference to the grade.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">But the worst one of all I heard about was a mother who absolutely insisted that one of her daughter's 'A' level papers was re-marked because she only had an A. It was re-marked and dropped to a 'B'. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">As a result she has now lost her place at medical school.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
allotmentqueenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09436822823840965550noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383788556793327301.post-82866964930844928772013-09-20T22:50:00.001+01:002013-09-20T22:51:32.350+01:00Race day<div style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;">
<img alt="Brilliant!! Jess has qualified for the 4x World Championships tomorrow! I knew she could do it! Better get ready to watch it tomorrow live on RedBullTV." class="_46-i img" height="238" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s403x403/999200_219800504849372_1669999117_n.jpg" style="left: -2px; top: 0px;" width="320" /></div>
<br />
<img alt="So happy that me and @[534866921:2048:Cara Murray] have made it through qualifying to race 4x world champs in Leogang, Austria tomorrow!! So excited!!" class="_46-i img" height="400" src="https://scontent-b-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/s403x403/60604_10202107266427561_583009079_n.jpg" style="left: -2px; top: -1px;" width="299" /><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sorry, this is crap positioning of pics and you probably can't even read the start list on the right, but this is my daughter, Jess (on the left), and her friend Cara who have just qualified to ride in the 2013 4X World Championships tomorrow in Leogang, Austria. You can watch it here:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<a href="http://live.redbull.tv/events/296/uci-mtb-championships-2013-4x/">http://live.redbull.tv/events/296/uci-mtb-championships-2013-4x/</a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">although, to be honest, she's qualified 16th out of 16 so may not last much longer than the first race which will take about a minute, so blink and you've missed it, but even so it's the biggest race of her life and as you can see she's really excited. I think she's probably also the youngest female rider there, so - hey, scope for development.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">And I'm her proud mum.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span>allotmentqueenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09436822823840965550noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383788556793327301.post-67904798729037447712013-09-11T23:05:00.000+01:002013-09-11T23:05:25.524+01:00Time for a holiday (at home)<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Daughter has finally left to go and race in Leogang in Austria (or at least I had a text this morning to say they were on the ferry, which is good enough for me). I now know that staples such as bread and milk won't suddenly disappear whilst I'm not looking, that I don't need to buy any cranberry juice for a fortnight, and I shall have to completely re-think my laundry schedules.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">She's gone to race in the 4X World Champs, having been picked by Team GB:</span><br />
<a href="http://www.vitalmtb.com/news/news/4X-World-Championships-to-be-Held-in-Leogang-at-World-Cup-Finals,555">http://www.vitalmtb.com/news/news/4X-World-Championships-to-be-Held-in-Leogang-at-World-Cup-Finals,555</a><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">This may sound good, and it is indeed the biggest race of her life, but <a href="http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/gbcyclingteam/article/gbr20130809-gb-cyclingteam-news-British-Cycling-confirm-Great-Britain-team-for-2013-Mountain-Bike-Four-Cross-World-Championships-0" target="_blank">British Cycling</a> are only paying the entry fee and providing some pit support there, the rest is self funded (by her, I can't afford it). I'm sure she'll have the time of her life. And it means I can get out the back door now without climbing over several bicycles.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Younger son has gone to his first ever gig tonight (yes, I know, and he's got school tomorrow) but he's been planning this for months. Although I know the mother of the friend he went with, I've never phoned her so when he set off to meet up at his friend's house we arranged that he'd phone me from there and that way we'd both have each other's number. Half an hour later (it's only a ten minute walk away) I texted him and got the reply "On our way to the gig, they didn't have a home phone". Is this common now, do you think?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Apparently they're walking back when it's finished. The last time I can remember him walking back from town he got through Stokes Croft about 15 minutes before <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-13167041" target="_blank">the police closed the road.</a> Let's hope it's less busy this time. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Somehow, this being my third child, I'm less concerned about him. When he was little I wanted one of those Lichtenstein T-shirts that said "oh no, I've left the baby on the bus".</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Update: he's just walked through the door, soaked with water which he has apparently applied himself as they were giving out free water and it was very hot, and says he crowd surfed. <em>(There's one for you, Z, if you're reading this, although I suspect the hips may preclude it.)</em></span><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></em><br />
allotmentqueenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09436822823840965550noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383788556793327301.post-37550037171104553272013-08-24T15:39:00.001+01:002013-08-24T15:39:20.440+01:00Signs of advancing age<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now that I've reached another decade, the first public acknowledgement of this arrived today - an invitation to take part in the bowel cancer screening programme, in the privacy of my own home. Oh joy! I'm glad that didn't say in the <em>comfort</em> of my own home. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">What other excitements can I look forward to, now that I've passed the magic 6-0?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
allotmentqueenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09436822823840965550noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383788556793327301.post-10847424580232760822013-08-23T23:00:00.000+01:002013-08-23T23:00:13.776+01:00I can cheat but I'm not going to PAY to cheat<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Back in 2008 I made DVD copies (legitimately) for "Delia's How To Cheat At Cooking". </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the recipes was for Shepherd's Pie and when she got to the mashed potato topping she revealed the cheat for that particular dish. It involved using frozen discs of mashed potato which you placed on top of the mince. The next week I discovered they were part of a new range of her frozen food and that they cost an inordinate amount of dosh. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ever since then I've been making my own. It's dead easy and means I always have mashed potato available at the touch of a microwave button. I've been doing quite a bit of that recently as we are now into potato digging up season and I rather overdid the seed potato ordering at the beginning of the year.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Suffice to say that last weekend I dug up 35lb of potatoes (the result of one bag of seed potatoes) and that there's rather more to come. When I sort them through all the ones that have been accidentally speared by the fork, or which don't look like they'll keep I turn into either mash or sauté <em>(wow, that accent appeared like magic)</em> and then freeze them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">What cheats do you have?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />allotmentqueenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09436822823840965550noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383788556793327301.post-76610795963391980052013-08-16T09:31:00.001+01:002013-08-16T09:31:39.391+01:00Shrinking wrinklies<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before they changed the rules, I could have retired next Tuesday. Now I have to wait another 4 years, 2 months and 17 days.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">As they're slowing down the rate at which people retire, but not also slowing down the rate at which those at the other end die, does that mean the grey voting population will diminish, and does that mean the politicians will care less about them?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
allotmentqueenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09436822823840965550noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383788556793327301.post-83268155202399695752013-08-10T09:47:00.002+01:002013-08-10T09:47:24.948+01:00A quick catch-up<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have been very remiss in this posting lark. But then I have been a bit busy.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I have spent eight days filming an archaeological dig, in the very hottest days of the year, in the middle of a field, lots of yards/metres (depending on your age) from the nearest trees. Fortunately we did have a gazebo affair over the actual hole but still absolutely wilting weather. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">They had to go down two metres to find what they were looking for - the remains of an Augustinian abbey which was pulled down by Henry VIII's mob. On the way they dug through several cess pits - full of broken potties and animal bones and hundreds of oyster shells. It would seem that in days gone by oysters were actually cheap food consumed by the working classes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">One day we climbed over 100 feet up to the top of the adjoining church tower to film from up there. </span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4rm9SkcX7a5dmJVM1C6p0RCl5DQPAXwQN9CydPwbeyi8yj5_IApo9J9VODYxJBjItJN95JfCSHYCSVVMtTy-kkmMkR_7ymwOYK5dccvsqTDF44F-Fu3V7vNGfrRZFSazWwqf9vIJGqJfl/s1600/IMG_0200.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4rm9SkcX7a5dmJVM1C6p0RCl5DQPAXwQN9CydPwbeyi8yj5_IApo9J9VODYxJBjItJN95JfCSHYCSVVMtTy-kkmMkR_7ymwOYK5dccvsqTDF44F-Fu3V7vNGfrRZFSazWwqf9vIJGqJfl/s320/IMG_0200.JPG" width="213" /></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"> Sorry, I should be able to find a better picture than that, but at least you get an idea. It did have rather splendid views but was a tad lacking in shade from the sun.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">And then, following on from my previous post, I have been making strawberry ice-cream in industrial quantities, digging up potatoes in sackfuls and making redcurrant jelly and blackcurrant jam. Not to mention the bottles full of "Ribena". Those currant bushes were just groaning under the weight of fruit - the redcurrants especially just looked like glistening with jewels.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">When I went to get more sugar and met Polish Charlie, one of the waiters in my son's caff, I said I was making jam and he said "Really? Home-made jam? Can I have some?" so of course I said yes. And he made pancakes and put the jam on and said it was delicious. So 48 hours from bush to plate.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">In other news it would appear my daughter has been selected for Team GB in the 4X World Champs in Leogang in September and has also been interviewed for hardtailnation: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<a href="http://www.hardtailnation.co.uk/2013/08/who-are-you-the-fastest-gun-in-the-west-the-jessica-greaves-interview/">http://www.hardtailnation.co.uk/2013/08/who-are-you-the-fastest-gun-in-the-west-the-jessica-greaves-interview/</a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Right, things to do ....</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
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allotmentqueenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09436822823840965550noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383788556793327301.post-5910387556146293102013-07-08T09:05:00.001+01:002013-07-08T09:05:13.958+01:00It's hot work, this harvesting lark<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yesterday, it being the hottest day of the year, I spent much of the day indoors wrestling with a webpage I was writing that constantly went wrong. So by the time I'd finally got it working properly it was nearly five o'clock. Hoping that the temperature might have fallen ever so slightly (no of course it hadn't) I set off for the allotment as I knew there was some fruit that needed picking. This took me two hours:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGVb1zO0-n_mTy2kGfTKfJJh6rRASU6Rag-Fk3jylSgYTBkLqNrRujHPP2Av54pHaAPjqhTSaETs-wj3NL-dct5KVAuDBk2nUyN_mFBQxsZBVAJcjhBJD8gO5Tfv9nP825hmGladb63jKT/s1600/Fruit+7th+July+2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGVb1zO0-n_mTy2kGfTKfJJh6rRASU6Rag-Fk3jylSgYTBkLqNrRujHPP2Av54pHaAPjqhTSaETs-wj3NL-dct5KVAuDBk2nUyN_mFBQxsZBVAJcjhBJD8gO5Tfv9nP825hmGladb63jKT/s400/Fruit+7th+July+2013.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">comprising:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">670g redcurrants (and that was just a fraction of what I could have picked, never mind the blackcurrants)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">208g raspberries</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">523g gooseberries (and still plenty of those left)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">2..66 kg (that's nearly 6lb in old money) strawberries.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I could have picked more but I'd run out of tubs - and I had to cook the tea.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />allotmentqueenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09436822823840965550noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383788556793327301.post-31564502600845906722013-06-14T22:07:00.002+01:002013-06-14T22:07:52.440+01:00In which I up the excitement stakes in my life<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, having spent the morning with the Year 11 Maths (calculator paper) - yep, I know how to live dangerously, I did actually write a short thesis on the incidence of twitching legs that spread across the hall in a sort of Mexican wave whilst I was there - so at lunchtime I went to the park.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">And there I watched part of a bowls match which, by invigilator standards at least, was pretty exciting. There were even little rounds of applause at particularly skilful shots. When they'd finished one match, one woman got out what looked like a rather wide Zimmer frame and started to walk across the green. I wondered whether she was using that to sort of spread the load so as not to damage the green by digging holes in it. Turned out it was a mechanism to scoop up all the bowls and get them to the far side, ready for the next match.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Then my friend R came along and we walked back to school. She's Spanish and she told me about a trip she'd had to Plymouth (she'd gone to get revenge on Drake for the Spanish Armada thing - no, not really) and she'd seen these people playing bowls (see, ties in with the Drake thing) but they were all old, and moving really slowly, and all dressed in white. Being Spanish she'd never seen anything like this before and she was convinced they'd all escaped from a local care home or hospital.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I wonder what she'd make of Morris men.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
allotmentqueenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09436822823840965550noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383788556793327301.post-81683544985389137792013-06-13T21:58:00.000+01:002013-06-13T21:58:57.469+01:00Toilet or bin - you choose.<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Me: R. <em>(younger son, aged 15)</em>? What are those white things down the toilet?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">R: Marshmallows.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Me: ?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">R: I came home and had too many in my mouth so I spat them out down the toilet.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Me: Well now you can fish them out again.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">R: Where shall I put them?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Me: In the bin.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">See. I'm in control. Now where did I put my bins?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">(There then followed a discussion as to why glasses are called bins. Feel free to contribute your own opinion on this.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />allotmentqueenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09436822823840965550noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383788556793327301.post-63448480059936598862013-06-11T23:24:00.000+01:002013-06-11T23:24:15.089+01:00Do I look that gullible? <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Co-op is doing really well on its special offers:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Potato salad - 78p</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Or 2 for £2.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Hard to choose, eh?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
allotmentqueenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09436822823840965550noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383788556793327301.post-14601320249821712242013-06-03T23:02:00.002+01:002013-06-03T23:02:50.167+01:00Oops, I've done it again!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the days when MIL was compos mentis we often used to visit on Sundays, have lunch, come home again, and then in the evening I would cook a light meal. Sometimes this was macaroni cheese. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">About, say, twenty years ago I did this - except one day I mistakenly used icing sugar instead of cornflour to thicken the cheese sauce. It was completely inedible, of course, and since then I've been very careful about which one I use. (I should say at this point that I buy them both loose and they live in very similar looking jars.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Tonight I managed a similar feat.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">A standard last minute dessert - only the OH usually has dessert - is a meringue nest with fruit (in this case raspberries out of the freezer) and cream. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I tasted the raspberries which were a bit tart, so I added some icing sugar and served it up.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">So what was wrong?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Clearly after x o'clock at night I cannot tell the difference between a jar containing icing sugar and one containing salt.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I am currently not that popular.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
allotmentqueenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09436822823840965550noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8383788556793327301.post-25994652550143759512013-06-01T22:31:00.001+01:002013-06-01T22:31:48.792+01:00Men with funny haircuts<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In order of world domination (see how many you know, answers in the comments box):</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span><br />
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