On the Bus

Yesterday I went to catch a bus in the centre of the city and in the late afternoon it can be a
difficult occasion.  Shoppers are returning home with all their plastic bags, children who finish school early are flooding the bus stop all carrying huge rucksacks and chattering like magpies and slow seniors are rushing to catch the bus before the deadline for their free bus pass expires so taking all
this into consideration it can get fraught with lots of glaring and pushing going on.  Yesterday however was funny.   I arrived at the stop just seconds before the bus, which was rather full on arrival. However, we all queued in good British fashion and presented our passes or money to the driver.  I really thought I would not get on this one as it was very full but the driver continued taking our fares and chatting in a friendly manner as we all crowded on and I found myself squashed between two huge schoolboys in the gangway.  The driver saw there was no one else waiting so closed the doors and prepared to move off but suddenly looking into his huge mirror he called out  'Whoa, how many have we got standing, I'm only allowed 5 you know'  some wit called out  'There are just 3 of us mate let's go'  and as we pulled gently away from the kerb the driver had another go
'I can see about 7 from here'  actually there were 11 of us.  Suddenly every one saw the funny side of this and we all started smiling, laughing and actually talking to each other as the bus pulled it's way slowly through the dense traffic of the city.  What a pleasant journey this turned out to be though we were all uncomfortable, tired and hot.  

Spring is here

 Spring has suddenly arrived in my back garden as the bulbs begin to bloom and the grass grows ever longer but remains too wet to cut.  It has all been frozen so many times this year and each time the temperatures go up and the icy places melt we are boggy again.
I am really fed up with having to clear up cat mess from our lawn  and so I have had to decide after all these years that I do not like cats.  I have had cats all my my married life and loved and cared for them but now as the only cat free house in our cul-de-sac we are the chosen toilet facilities for all the neighbours moggies and it is not nice. It is also the first garden I have ever had where no birds sing!   We might just have to get another dog!
 This little basket of winter pansy has bloomed throughout the rain, fog, frost and snow amd cheered us every day.  The clocks go forward into British Summer Time this weekend so they might soon have a few friends growing alongside them so they can have a rest for the summer months.
I love Springtime and early summer - new life.

John Milton

Today in 1649 John Milton became the Government's Secretary for Foreign Tongues.

      Experts reckon we have 2000 different languages spoken in the UK at this time.
                                  Where is he now that we need him?

Look what I found on my way to the library!

This little lady sneaked into our Wapping Wharf this morning and
caused something of a stir.  Many people were there to stare with cameras clicking from every vantage point.  It cost 100 million and is to be delivered to it's anonymous owner in the West Indies next week.  I was appalled and disgusted at that kind of money being spent for the gratification of some rich nobody but as we drove home we discussed the merits if any of such a beast.
Well!  let's think - it needed designers, marine engineers, ship builders, Interior designers, plumbers, carpenters, electricians, glaziers, tilers, carpet fitters, upholsters, furnishers, a crew of 20 people and lots more I cannot think about.
The visit to Bristol is it's first port of call from the ship yard where it was built and where it waits for a few days to take on supplies
before sailing to be delivered to it's owners.
All the suppliers in Bristol are rubbing their hands at this unexpected customer and vans were lined up on the keyside this morning      morning.   All the coffee shops were packed with on lookers having a quick cuppa before going about their other business.
So perhaps it is true to say MONEY MAKES THE WORLD GO AROUND and I should stop being so sniffy.
She is a really beautiful lady and God Bless all who sail in her.

Clowns

I have just read a story in a recently published book of short stories named 'Satan's Toybox'
The story I read was called 'Last Line of Defence' and was written by my number 2 son.

One sentence leapt out at me - a crying child was told 'shut up or I'll set the clowns on you'
Now clowns have always been scary things for me but I thought I had managed to keep it to myself.   When I was about 11 years old my parents took me to the circus which arrived on a mass of spare ground near our home.  This was in the days when a man with a whip would enter a cage of lions and tigers, a bear was lead with a chain around his neck and a person walked on a wire high above our heads with no safety net in place.  This was the first  show I had ever been to and I was running a gambit of emotions - excitement, anticipation, thrills and certainly fear but nothing compared with the actual terror I felt when the clowns came running on.  I was simply petrified into silence.
They were to me frightening and unknowable just like the criminals whom we see today with head and faces covered so that they are totally unrecognisable as people.
 I can't believe that I might have passed my fear of clowns on to my children.

My mother passed an irrational fear of cats to my sisters and me and eventually as an adult I had to face the fear head on and get a kitten to grow up in my own family with us.
Perhaps I am going to have to go out and buy a clown.

What a strange week ...minus temperatures...icy...no ice...plus temperatures...flowers...and even a tree in blossom near our house.
What a difference a day makes (they say) and a week or a year can completely change your life.
In a week which started with the death of a close friend and news this morning of the closing hours of another close friend it brought to mind the death of our young daughter in law some years ago and of how our dear son had to find out that no matter how badly your heart is broken the world does not stop for your grief. Her death changed all our lives in an instant but nobody can turn the clock back, though everyone can start afresh today and create a wonderful ending.
Thank you for some lovely memories Stewart and Jean xx