Bath Thermal Spa

This is the place to be on a beautiful but chilly day or even on a warm day as you can step out of the warm into the warm as it were.   Liking the heat it is one of my favoutite places but during our especially cold March, with snow on the ground it seemed like a good idea to exercise in the warmth but once in there
all warm and cosy but with a cold, red nose I found it difficult to get out; so my dear one summoned the lift,
kept the door open with his foot and held my towelling dressing gown in him arms;  I counted to ten then leapt out of the water, into the warm robe and we got in the lift and disappeared down to the changing rooms.
Now that was an act of love.

Man's Best Friend?

Today is St Bernard's Day, Patron Saint of skiers - and adorable dogs who carry flasks of brandy to skiers lost in the snow.
Lately though we have had some horrific stories of dog attacks on humans, one little girl was killed in her friends house by the pet dog and just a couple of days ago an elderly gentleman was savaged to death in his own garden by a neighbour's dog.   Bad dogs or bad owners?
 
Here is a nice story from friends in Spain about their local dog.

Bernard, an elderly resident  who suffers Parkinsons went missing last Saturday after taking his black
labrador Bijou for a walk on the hills.   Many friends and local police combed the area in cold, wet conditions but after two days lost and the fact that Bernard did not have his medication they feared the worst,
Last Tuesday when a volunteer team were combing the countryside refusing to give up they heard a dog
barking and eventually found Bernard who had had a fall, with Bijou curled tightly around and on top of his owner, keeping him warm yet trying to bark for help.

"He saved my life," said Bernard,  "there is no doubt about that."
When they were returned home Bijou went quietly into the house and curled up in his basket!
Job done!   A nice story.

Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows

I was reading of the sale of this picture by John Constable (1776-1837) which has just sold for £23 million.
This is staggering, no painting should be sold for this amount of money!.......should it?
Dear Constable would be amazed; he only sold 20 paintings in England in his life though he sold many more in France:
He refused to be tempted to try and sell his paintings by going overseas for a while saying;-   "I would rather be a poor man in England than a rich man abroad"
He was a poor man always and lost his much loved wife to tuberculosis when she was just 41 years old, he was intensley saddened and wore black for the rest of his life.    He cared for their 7 children alone.

Trouble brewing?

We have seen dreadful things happening on the streets of our Capital City this week which has horrified and shocked us all,
a young soldier hacked to death by a couple of young Muslim extremists.  This fellow pictured is doing the very thing he
appears to be protesting against - make up your mind youngster.  I am proud to be a member of a country which will allow him to protest - but to kill?  No!.

"Whosoever kills a human being shall be as if he had killed all mankind, and whosoever saves the life of a human being, shall be as if he had saved mankind."   Verse 5, Ch 32 of the Koran
..
The two young men were violating their own Holy Book by shouting "Allahu Akbar" ("God is Great").


"A betrayal of Islam and of the peaceful Muslim communities who live in this country"  well said Prime Minister.

This is my mum

 

This is my mum!

Yesterday on a day the Australians celebrate as 'Mother's Day', I had a letter from an Irish friend now living in Melbourne telling me of her engagement and what a wonderful day it was.  This reminded me of my mother's story.  She was a slave for her very large Irish family, her dad worked hard but her mum was slowed down from many pregnancies and miscarriages apart from the 7 surviving children and her mother and father in law here from County Sligo. She had never been to school for more than 2 hours per day for a couple of years or out on a social ocassion because eating came first!  One day she went to the local jam factory where for a few pence (and your own jug) you could have some  - not set very well ! - jam.  As she was leaving she met a young man whom she directed to the factory as he was job hunting.  My dad was 12 years her senior and a foreigner from Oxford!!  He always maintained he had never seen such a beautiful girl. Three weeks later, he collected her from the end of her street, went to the local church at 8.00am and they were married with the Vicar's cleaner and her husband as witnesses.  The happy couple then boarded a bus for Ilkley in Yorkshire leaving a note but no address.  Dad got a job, they rented a cottage and began their 50 years of married life.
When dad died she said she would not mind going too as life would never be interesting for her again.
It wasn't, though we her children tried to make up for his absence, we never could.
She lived on for another 20 years but 'tis true she was never the same without him.
 

No comment!

 

Our favourite lodger!

I should have said Mrs May's least favourite lodger as she has pledged to get rid of him if it the last thing she does as a Government Minister.  
Abu Qatada said in Court this morning he will return to Jordan (his native land) IF AND WHEN the country ratifies the treaty drawn up with the UK Government but until then he's staying put.
Until then he and his wife and extended family will continue to draw thousands of pounds of UK benefits!

SO NOW WE KNOW!

Wells Cathedral

Going to Wells tomorrow to visit a friend and look at a bench she has bought in memory
of her husband who died recently. I think it is a lovely thing to do - and I hope we can both go and sit on the bench,
gaze at the Cathedral and think of him.
 

My lodger

Today being such a beautiful day I went out early to do a real tidy up of
the back garden but when I got to clearing the huge pile of
of dead leaves behind the garage I heard a few squeaks and thought it might be a rat
so decided I didn't want to clear the space at all and began to back off when suddenly
I saw the spines of this little creature and there she was with two youngsters.
                                I quickly threw all the leaves back into the corner on top of them apologising profusley - I really don't care how untidy it looks behind the garage now that I know who lives there.