That was Christmas

Goodbye to a Happy Christmas time and welcome New Year 2012 - love in your life and peace in the world.

Star of wonder. star of light........

Once again, the International Space Station provides a breath... on Twitpic

Once again, the International Space Station provides a breath... on Twitpic

Christmas shopping?

Struggled through the shops along with hundreds of other frazzled females and cross toddlers
only to find on exiting the Mall all the males of the species were outside having fun on the ice

-  I bet it beats shopping any day.

Christmas shopping

Memories

I heard this week of the death of a lady I knew when I was out at work. My last post was as House Manager in a private charity who had more than 100 flats in a beautiful area.  The flats were originally for people who had worked in the church all their lives and had no home to fall back on in their retirement and had never been paid enough money to save anything for their future but as the rules in the UK have changed during these past few years the flats now have to be made available to anyone.  However when I worked there the original rules applied and the comunity of people had held many and varied positions, mostly abroad and the retired doctors, nurses and nuns had worked in some very strange and barren places.  One lady found it difficult to sleep so I got into the habit of calling in to her flat for a cup of cocoa when on my last round of putting out lights and checking doors and windows.
She had married a clergyman when a very young girl and they went to work on Baffin Island in the snowy wastes of Canada long before we had any modern communications. It took a month for her letters to reach her parents in Devon.  Her husband made visits to his parishioners on a dog sleigh and she had many gory tales of when the new dogs arrived for training and would fight each other in a most viscious way until one emerged as leader of the pack.  Her first baby was born on the sleigh as her husband raced her over the frozen lake to the nearest settlement; her son came early and suffered a slight brain damage.  One night I met her youngest grandson who was on a visit and told him that his granny and I had many long talks in the night - 'what on earth do you find to talk about with her?' he said 'she's led a very quiet life.'    I would like to bet there will come a time in that young man's life when he wishes he had talked to his granny and heard the fascinating stories of his grandparents life before they reached their old age and became invisible to the young.
RIP Rosina - THANKS FOR YOUR MEMORIES. 

wonderfull sense of humour

I love this - it appeared in the paper after yet another long and boring debate in synod.

St Nicholas

This lovely picture is of St Nicholas (whose Feast Day it is on the 6th December) and is in 12th century glass in York Minster.  Nicholas or Nikolaos of Myra (in modern day Turkey) is credited with whole thing of giving gifts at Christmastime because of his reputation of gift giving:  we are told he would put coins in the shoes of those children who put them out for him and thus became the model of Santa Claus (Sinterklass).   What would he think of these days when he had to provide Xbox - laptops - mobiles for the local children?
I like to think he would be up for it.

St Nicholas

Canterbury

Sometimes I think that in the United Kingdom we live in our history and the present is not as important to us as it should be
but there are times when we get it just right. A few weeks ago we were with friends in Kent and spent a day in Canterbury -
and there in this most mind blowing of ancient cathedrals we saw this very simple shrine to Thomas a Becket one time Archbishop
of Canterbury who was murdered in the cathedral in December 1170. The building is vast and very lovely with elaborate memorials to
people who have served the church over the past thousand years or more and there in the midst of all the splendour is
a simple candle forever lit and the word THOMAS - placed on the spot where he lay dying.
It is very moving and perhaps the simple way many of us would want to be remembered by the people who love us -
perhaps not for more than 800 years though.

A Christmas tree

In the UK over the past 3 decades the custom of festooning the tree(s) in your garden with garlands of lights over the Christmas period has become very popular and if you don't have a garden then usually the door or window of your house will be draped with lights.  It makes the streets in towns look bright and festive and the houses in the dark country lanes suddenly leap out and shine at you.  Yesterday I saw this tree (pictured) and at first I thought it was blossom but not many blossoms enjoy the British winter it has to be admitted.  However on closer inspection it turned out to be totally false: the trunk was made of rigid plastic and the blossoms(?) were fibre optic lights with all the wires needed buried in the earth.  Now I did not know if I liked it or not.  It looked lovely but I decided I really did prefer a fir or spruce tree
 or any kind of tree so long as it was really growing in the garden.  I have to ask if it will still be there at Christmas or will some 'low life' decide they would like it and just steal it.
I hope not.

Red Sky at Night

Red Sky at Night

The sky outside our house last evening kept this beautiful colour for a long time - plenty of time to find my camera, check it
was charged up, find the keys to the front door from the bottom of my copious handbag and eventually just as the sky was
beginning to lose its vibrancy take this photograph. I remember the old saying 'Red Sky at Night Shepherd's delight' meaning
we were to enjoy some good weather. l have lived in the coutryside for most of my life so have a deep respect for the country
folklore, even though I am now living in the city. Many more beautiful days before winter kicks in pleeeease!

Forever thankful for that razor-thin atmosphere that makes ou... on Twitpic

Forever thankful for that razor-thin atmosphere that makes ou... on Twitpic

'Dress-down' Friday in Cordoba

autumn fruits

This picture was taken from our front door showing the beautiful berries on the Pyracantha bush - I always hope to keep them for a long time but can't help remembering the old country folklore that says - the longer the birds save the berries without being tempted to snack on them, the longer the winter will be. Is this is a tasty morsel for after Christmas then when the long dark, cold days will feel as though they are staying for ever. Nope! I refuse to believe a word of it.

my cousin Vernon

Tyne Cot Cemetery, Passchendaele

Remember

The Menin Gate near Ypres in Belgium is a memorial to those British and Commonwealth soldiers who died in the First World War and have no known graves as their bodies were never found.  The names of 60,000 young men missing on the Battlefield are remembered here but sadly despite the vastness of the memorial arch there was not enough room for all the names of the missing - another 35,000 had to be inscribed on the stone walls of the Tyne Cot cemetery near Passchendale along with the 12,000 graves of their commrades.  It was decided that soldiers would be buried  close to where they had fallen in an identical grave without distinction rank, colour or creed.  Row upon row of identical white slabs bear the name, age, regimental badge and religious symbol of the fallen soldier and on the graves of unidentified soldiers just 'Known to God'.  These huge cemeteries containing many more graves are scattered throughout
 Belgium and France with many more joining them after the second World War including many Americans.  Another very sad place is Langemark where 45,000 German youth lie in a mass grave.  All children from our schools should be taken here for their education, so should our Leaders........'Lest we Forget'

Santaklass

I went to the Garden Centre to buy some Spring bulbs for my many
pots outside and this was the site that met my eyes as I opened the
door - dozens of Santas large and small. Once when the Spirit of
St Nicholaus was a welcome guest throughout the whole of Europe
bearing SMALL gifts for the children of every household, he was dressed
in Bishop's clothing of his day which was about 1000 or more years ago, but
during the last century he was adopted by the USA, had a change of name
and is beginning to look more scary every year!

Sunday

We have a tented village of protesters outside our Cathedral, camping on land that belongs to the church but is made available to all.  They are I presume, protesting about capitalism, Government wrongdoings, the Bankers and lots more things that I sometime agree with and other times disagree with as is my right in what we like to think of as a free country.  But I am not trespassing and refusing to leave!  I am in agreement with the fact that they are being allowed to stay where they are so long as they do not cause any trouble to people wanting to use the Cathedral.  However, the media are determined to get a story out of this and are forever present - this morning they were camped outside the door pushing microphones toward people leaving asking for a comment.  The Dean had already warned us that they were there and the back doors had been opened so that as many as wished could leave that way - about a hundred or so did that but I came out of the front door as my 'dear one' was waiting there to give me a lift home.  How odd that Sunday after Sunday and many times during every week I leave by that door totally invisible to the world outside but it only takes a few tents and suddenly we are NEWS.  We are all aware that whatever the outcome of this we, as the church, will be in the wrong - big time.  St Paul's have become world news because they also tried to allow a free protest - one man has lost his job and many others made insecure and unhappy.   The protesters know all the questions just like I do, but also just like me they don't seem to have any answers.  Shouldn't they be camped outside Parliament?

Edmundo Ros

Today we heard of the death of Edmundo Ros, who was a popular star from the 1940's
until the mid 1970's. He had a Latin American Orchestra and laterly a Rumba Band.
A very nice man who lived close to us when we lived in Spain. Here is a picture of he
and Roy at his house in Javea, Spain where he died this week at 100 years of age. RIP

Dohnuts..yummy!

My grandaughter came home from school with a letter and the news that 'OFSTED' had
awarded their school OUTSTANDING status.  Great rejoicing as this has made their school one of the best in the country.  The Headteacher paid each class a visit to tell them the good news and congratulate them for their part in making this report possible and ended his visit
with the magic words..........'free dohnut and a drink for all'  which was greeted with cheers.
What made us laugh was the incredulous comment from Miss Hickett - 'Guess who was fighting to be first in the queue for the treat?'  We couldn't guess!  'Well, of course all the girls who make rude comments to other girls who dare to bring food that is not seen as being 'healthy' in their eyes.'   Oooooh! she was cross.

Protesters

I have done three tours in my local Cathedral this week and seen the village of tents on the green outside and the dozens of young people coming in and out of the Cathedral to use the loos but they are not close enough to the doors to make visitors feel threatened.
Having just read the problems the protesters are making for St Pauls ie., having been given
permission to plant themselves outside if they are good, the Cathedral authorities have lost
their daily visitors along with their contributions, no customers in the cafe and none in the shop.  This has made the Cathedral take an about turn and have to ask the little village to
up tents and leave or they will not be able to function and the daily wages of their staff will become a problem.  This is a shame because in our country we have the right to protest (not that I am at all clear just what they are protesting about!) but they are doing just what they would hate anyone to do to them and that is stopping people earning their living as cleaners, vergers, workmen and scaffolders - all the people the Cathedral have to employ to keep the building safe and consequently have to PAY. Many of these young people think the church has bottomless pockets but it is people like me who give what we can that are the bedrock.  Our local Cathedral costs £2 for every minute of every day to keep the doors open to anyone who wants to come in without charge and to pay the wages of all who work there.  There are two sides to every story and they have to look again before they refuse to move. 

menories

This is a picture od Las Casas Colgades - the hanging houses of Cuenca.
I have visited this walled city in central Spain many times and took this
photograph standing on the bridge of San Pablo - my husband was
unable to stand on the bridge which straddles the deep gorge of the rivers
Jucar and Huecar being overcome with terror. My memories of Cuenca
in the Province of Castile - La Mancha was stirred yesterday reading of
it's status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is a beautiful ancient city
divided into two parts by the gorge - the old city and the new of course.
Millions of pictures have been taken from the bridge of San Pablo of
what is left of the hanging houses which is now a restaurant and a Museum
of Abstract Arts.

Man of the Match

My lovely grandson leaving the field of play. He loves playing rugby but is the
first to admit he is not the best player in the team and too often spends the
second half on the bench having been substituted. This never diminishes his
appetite for being out there on a cold and frosty morning or running up and down
in training each Tuesday evenings in all weathers, so it was with great joy that
we heard he had been named 'Man of the Match' after playing a local derby last week.
It might be a very small thing seeing as he only plays in the 13/14 years old boys
team but what a difference a small thing can make in our life - he had a really
good week in school getting house points where none were expected and by the
end of the week found himself named for the school team; it took a lot to wipe
a smile from his face. From little acorns.........................etc.,

The Duchess of Alba with her future husband

Another Royal Wedding!!!

I read in the papers this week of the wedding of Dona Maria del Rosario...etc., etc.,the Duchess of Alba and the most Royal woman in the world.   She is now 85 years old and growing old disgracefully....that is she is doing exactly as she wishes, as she always has done and as anyone worth more than £3 billion in her own right is entitled to. When I lived in Spain she was a sprightly young 70ish and would commit the most serious of crimes like wearing colours which other people thought did not match or in their opinion did not suit her - or worse should not be seen on an important Royal Duchess and was she worried? - not a jot.  She is, I think the aunt of Don Juan Carlos, King of Spain and he is obviously very fond of her as are most of his subjects.  This latest escapade is the announcement that she is to marry for the third time (she has been widowed twice in the past 60+ years) this time to a man 24 years her junior.  This has caused the press and her children to have many sleepless nights and to say many inappropriate things which she has allowed to go on without comment.  I love the fact that she has now made a statement to the Spanish press in which she told them that she has divided all her fortune equally amongst her children and that her future husband has signed away any rights to her assets, having enough of his own; and at that she said, smiling sweetly into the camera "my children's objections simply melted away, but I am not dead yet and until then everything is still in my hands."   Still  pressing her for more she was asked what if there was still no support from the Royal family, her friends and her countrymen?
"I wouldn't care, I'd get married anyway."    Good luck on Wednesday Dona Maria.  I'm sure she will look lovely whatever she chooses to wear and for Spain THIS is the Royal wedding of the year.   For me and I'm sure for the rest of the old ladies of Europe she is a great inspiration.

The oldest medieval street in Europe in the beautiful city of Wells.
Jamax lost his PE tshirt and according to him it wasn't anywhere in
school! So grumbling at having to drive 10 miles to the school
uniform shop we set off one morning to replace said tshirt. It was
a beautiful morning and after we bought the item for school we had coffee
and a little wander around and suddenly realised how very lucky we are to
live in such a beautiful area. Sometimes it takes the most mundane things
to open your eyes to reality and realise that everything you want is right
on your doorstep.

Rugby

We as a family watched all the World Cup Rugby games this weekend which were
really tough but not a single person sang about people dying on the runway!

Our number 2 son lives in Wellington, NZ and after seeing the weather there on Saturday
I bet he's longing for summer just as we are dreading the winter.  The weather balances
all things out for us in the end -  even if we think we live in the most wonderful country in the world there comes a time when we will moan about the weather, yet cannot do a thing to change it.   What cannot be altered must be endured.

Football

I love watching the odd game of football but hate the malevolent attitude of some of the fans.
Note the word contains 'male' and almost 'violence'.  The disgusting fans at Leeds this week singing to MU - 'who's that lying on the runway?  who's that dying in the snow?' with reference to the Munich Air disaster which happened over 50 YEARS AGO sent me running for the off switch on my TV.  Yet! although many people might have been hurt and disgusted
at what they heard (despite the sound engineers desperately trying to fade it out) nothing is ever done about it because of the old enemy money.   It's good to read that some countrys take this thing rather more seriously than we do.   In Sicily - Cantania were ordered to play for 4 months in an empty stadium in a neutral venue because of the behaviour of their fans.
This week the Turkish Football Association banned all male fans from the stadium and instead invited women and children only.....41,000 turned up for the game.  'We have to thank the ladies for coming to support us' said one of their star players, whilst another said
'They kept on singing and instead of foul language, pure drunkeness and violence, they applauded and threw flowers.'   The women and children partied long into the night and cheered their team on to victory.   We surely can learn something from this as can their next door neighbour Iran, where women are known to have attacked by state police for attempting to watch football.    The Turkish Football Associated are watching this carefully and might use the idea again if the males don't come to heel - after all can you imagine an
all female crowd singing about people dying in the snow?  

Autumnal Monday

I went to the funeral of an old friend today - he died suddenly last week - HE WAS 90 years old!   How can you die at 90 and shock all your friends?  He was working in his garden just a couple of days ago tidying up for winter and picking the last of his vegetables.  He was still driving short distances and last weekend took his wife out for a drive to the garden centre,
he left her sitting in the cafe whilst he chose some new spring bulbs and after buying a few
sacks full, put them in the car and drove off home putting the bulbs in the garden shed;  he saw his grandson's car arriving so made tea and toast in the kitchen and settled down for a long chat.   Four hours later after a lot of panic they rushed back to the garden centre to find granny calmly sitting there waiting to be picked up  'he always forgets the time when he gets
amongst plants and flowers' was her only comment.   Another of his grandsons said at the funeral  'where will we find our happy five minutes now that grandad has gone?'
RIP Les.

Good advice

'Finish each day and be done with it.
You have done what you could.
Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in;
forget them as soon as you can.
Tomorrow is a new day;
begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit
to be encumbered with any of your old nonsense.'

Ralph Waldo Emerson 1875 

New school

My lovely grandaughter has started at High School this week and went off with great excitement on Monday morning.
Day 1.   "I can't cope.  Every teaching block is so far away - I am tired, my feet ache,
I have been lost twice and late for two lessons....BUT... you should see the IT block,
it's amazing."

Day 2      "We had to run a mile in the pouring rain for PE.....BUT.....I got a house point."

It took her brother 2 months before he got his first HP so I was about to open the
champagne and get her name down for Oxford before I remembered to ask her what
the HP was awarded for.  It was for being the first in the class to cover her history book!
A house point for backing a book!     She remained elated for the whole evening whilst
I slipped into a depression.    Can't wait for tonight's episode.    Bless!

Television

We bought a new TV recently and I can't believe how bright everything is - our old one must have been older than we thought!   However despite the lovely picture I see the programmes haven't improved.   I hope the winter schedules bring some better stuff.   I watched the first episode of the new series of 'Outnumbered' on BBC - I have never watched it before but as I read an article singing it's praises I thought I might be missing something and also I like Hugh Dennis.  Sadly I hated it and won't be tuning in again; the children are unscripted apparently and appear to undermine their parents at every opportunity, at which the studio audience roars with laughter. Well! that's about it - lovely children, good acting from the parents but content of programme is rubbish that is unless you actually enjoy seeing adults being shown just who rules the roost in the family - and it aint them!

just saying.......

When I went for a swim this morning I met a very friendly couple of young ladies, obviously a lesbian couple who had a delightful baby boy.  They obviously worshipped the child; they passed him between them in the water, kissing and hugging him constantly, and were so proud when I said how brave he was - I was immediately their best friend!   Later in the changing room they told me he called one of them mummy and the other one mumda and though he could wave bye-bye to anyone (he's obviously ready for Oxford) when called to do so, he refused to wave to them but cried if either of them left his side.  At home much later I though what a lucky child he was to be living in such a loving spotlight but I had to question
how they would deal with any discipline he might need when older because it looked as though it was the last thing he would get.
I don't think they would ever agree that he had done anything wrong.
Do we need the imput of both sexes in our life?
I think so, in fact I know that our future happiness relies on relationships but more importantly, doesn't it also rely on a great deal of love.  Every Blessing on the two of them and their beautiful baby. 

This beautiful lake is just a few miles from my home and yet we don't seem to respect it's beauty
as much as we would do if it were a holiday destination. Why don't we appreciate what we have
locally as much as we would if we had had to travel many miles with traffic holdups and the 'satnav'
woman as our companion? Today it took us 15 minutes to drive to the Lake where we met up with
friends, ate a lovely lunch and then sat around in the sunshine watching the locals fish for trout.
Perfect.

Prayer for the Day!

Furious at the theft of a rare and expensive bible from their 15th Century church in Florence
the Franciscan Friars pinned the following notice on their prayer board in full view of the worshippers and visitors:-

             "We pray the thief is struck by a strong bout of the shits"

Sorry about the strong language they said but the thief, the faithful, the visitors (and the Lord!) will understand.
                                               I love it.

I love this

AFTER A TURBULENT WEEK:-

   'In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life:   It goes on.'
                                                                                                Robert Frost

Tesco are very 'Direct'

My day started badly when I called into a small Tesco near my home to buy a newspaper only to find the friendly girls had mostly been replaced by the 'FAST TRACK' payout machines.   Anyone who has seen me using a computer will know that a flashing screen with an inanimate voice giving orders is never going to make me 'fast'.  I collected the paper and prepared to take it to a real person for payment but was chased by a girl who said I should use the 'fast' payout machine as I only had one item.  There was no one in the queue at all so I refused politely and went toward to cashiere whereupon she tried to force the issue and said she would teach me NOW.  I turned around and put the newspaper back into the rack and prepared to leave but another young lady forstalled my action and kindly escorted me to the cashiere.  I then left the store with the newspaper feeling foolish, depressed and bullied.
These machines will serve a good purpose in the end as eventually all we oldies will return to the corner shops.

Rioting in London

How very sad to see London in the grip of thieves and lawless people.  Pictures of people
behaving in this criminal fashion to make their fellow citizens suffer are unbelievably cruel.
My number 2 son tweeted that he used to live in the area of the riots and it was not a good place to be.  At the same time a friend of his tweeted that he too had lived close by and it was grim.  Yes! dear ones but you did not take to the streets to harm, maim and rob your neighbours did you?   No!
Now the real people are out helping to clear up the carnage left by the senseless louts.
London has dealt with riots before and strikes and the blitz and the IRA and the 7/7 bombers so they won't let these buggers get them down.
Loving thoughts to all who have suffered as a result of this madness.

The anarchists meanwhile, are in their homes counting their ill gotten gains whilst most of the rest of the country are hoping they will have a very loud knock on their doors before very long.  

New School

£200+ spent and Miss Hickett is ready for Senior School except for small items like socks and undies - she has 3 of every item of clothing, plus a sports top and shorts, shoes, trainers, pens, pencils,felt tips, rubbers,pencil sharpeners, pencil case and large bag to weigh down her shoulders as she staggers to the bus.  Her brother has 3 prs of trousers and a pair of school shoes (another £75) but has to continue wearing what he has from last year.  
All we need to find now is £60 per week for the bus fares and lunches for the two of them - if my parents had had to find such sums I would be totally uneducated now.
On the good side Miss Hickett has had extensive work done on her teeth over 4 visits to the dentists and along with three visits to the orthodontist she now has a mouth full of 'scaffolding' to straighten her beautiful but crooked teeth - all this treatment cost nothing
thanks to our wonderful, wonderful, NHS....we are so lucky.

holidays

We are all back home after a few days away it feels good.   Miss Hickett enjoyed the boat ride down Lake Windermere whereas Jamax loved Lancaster Castle with the tales of witches and foul deeds and their friends loved seeing their granny - dad was just glad to get back
with them all alive!   I don't know if he meant they were being over adventurous at times or was he just glad he hadn't killed any of them!
My dear one and I had a lovely time in Bath.   We booked ourselves into a 5* hotel along with coachloads of Aussies, Americans and Germans and some other Brits....and I thought we were all broke!



   

Does our unconscious have a memory??

Had a call from a friend today telling of the illness of a mutual colleague who had been ill for a long time and lapsed into unconsciousness.   It reminded me vividly of an occasion when we lived in Spain and had a call one day from Barcelona asking us to visit a young English couple on holiday in our area whose 2 year old child had been removed from the beach unconscious and admitted into hospital only 10 miles from our home.  The English Chaplain in Barca had been contacted by a church in the UK asking him to visit not realising he was over 500 miles away from the hospital;  so we rushed down there.   When the young couple arrived in the ambulance they were distraught and being greeted by a competent staff who did not have one word of English between them was a nightmare for the family.   One of the young nurses stayed with baby Matthew for the whole 12 hours of her shift, nursing him and speaking and singing softly in Spanish all the while but at the end of her shift went off duty for the best part of a week.  A week is a long time in the life of a child and during that time young Matthew made rapid progress but looked so  unhappy and strange even though his mummy had been given a small bed in his room and never left his side.  He rarely made a sound and did not want to eat.
One day we were visiting and young Matthew was sitting up in his cot looking glum and ignoring his toys and all efforts to cheer him.   Early that evening the door opened and in came the young nurse calling Mattu, Mattu and suddenly he struggled to stand and up went his arms towards her and as she
lifted him from his cot he snuggled into her neck and listened carefully to her dialogue of local accented Spanish pouring into his ears and a smile as wide as a watermelon came over his face as he hugged and hugged her.  When Matthew was discharged back into the care of UK doctors he and his nurse could not say 'goodbye' without tears.  I am told he has
never forgotten her and he's now ready for university!

Does our unconscious have a memory?   I think so.   

short holidays

The two youngest members of our family are setting off first thing in the morning to spend
 5 days in the Lake District.  One is worried that she may have to climb a mountain or indeed
walk anywhere longer than a mile - 'after all you can seen the beautiful lakes from the car' -
says a child of today.   Jamax is wanting to go to Coniston Lake and see where Campbell
and his beloved 'Blue Bird' crashed so tragically.  I hope he does not think the remains of the boat are floating around still - but there you are he's a teenage boy!
Meanwhile I and my dear one will be lounging around in Bath enjoying the delights of the
wonderful Spa and being waited upon for a while.
I will be looking forward to seeing them next week -  5 days is too long without them.

How things have changed

My dear mother in law got herself into serious trouble with her father when she was
booked in by him with a local photographer; on the way the naughty girl (who was 18)
had her hair cut from long to the latest racey fashion of a bob.   She had also decorated
her new velvet dress with some flowers her sister had knitted!   Oh! what a delinquent.
Sadly, she and her father never again had the same close relationship.

TATTOOS

I saw a girl in the changing rooms at the gym with a huge tattoo of a roaring lion starting
on her breasts and continuing over her chest and neck areas - she must have taken out a mortgage to pay for it but it worked because every person in the C/ROOM was staring at
her and I think that is the real reason for getting your body dyed so that people will look at you.   It did not used to be so - the Jews tattooed by the Nazis always loathed the sign of their domination.
   My dad had a tattoo on his arm which was his Regimental badge and number so that if
his remains ended up on the battlefield at least he would be identified - he kept it wrapped up with long sleeves for the rest of his life as it brought back too many bad memories.

I remember a young man in hospital years ago when the fashion had hardly started
with a huge tattoo done by his pal - it was bad but at least it was unique as they had spelt the word Genesis wrongly.   Don't think they knew.


'Right, it's time to clear something up once and for all. I've thought hard about this.  I've read reams on the subject, and have reached a conclusion at last.  Tattoos are bad news.
They are tacky, inelegant, foolish, pretentious and grubby.  And they are not cool.  Ever.'

That's what I think anyhow and it is not because I am old and wouldn't know fashion if it hit me in the eye!   Don't think so anyway.

Historic Day in our house

Today has it's own place in the history of our little family:  I made my last journey to school for eight years.  When our daughter in law died 8 years ago I took over the delivery and collection of the children - in those days there were many journeys every day as Jamax who was just six had to be delivered each morning and collected at 3.30pm but at the same time
his little sister who was just 4 years had started at nursery which commenced at 10am 'til 2.00pm.
My whole day was spent going backwards and forwards each day.   Things changed when Miss Hickett joined the Infant school and could be taken along with Jamax and again much later when Jamax started at High School he used the school bus and I was demoted to just one jouney in the morning with Miss Hickett who walked home with friends each evening.  From September they will both be in High school and using the school bus so though there will be no 'school walk'.  It will be chaos at home when I have to encourage both of them to get a move on and try to impress upon Miss Hickett that the bus goes at 8.00am whether she is on it or not!   Happy days!

It's a great big world out there!

We have a visitor at the Cathedral for the next couple of weeks; he is Bishop Greg Thompson
from the New Territories in Australia.   He told us that his Diocese in New Territories has the same footprint as France, Germany and Italy all pushed alongside each other.
There was a loud gasp as we tried to take that information in and imagine it  -  that wasn't easy as our Diocese in the UK is 35 miles from top to bottom!   In that small space we have one million people which apparently is many, many more than in the New Territories.
I think the most difficult problem to get their heads around is that they are visiting us in
'high summer'.....we find it difficult to believe too.

An exciting week-end.

On Friday Miss Hickett went to a 'goodbye to the junior school' evening when the whole class went in two stretch-limos with non alcoholic champagne (not my choice of description or beverage for that matter!) and after an hour driving around the city found themselves back at school for supper and a disco - it took many an hour to decide on an outfit but eventually a blue dress and white matinee jacket was selected and with curly hair and new sandals she was off and had a lovely time.
Next evening was Jamax's turn but he selected the first two items in the first drawer he opened, washed his hair and departed all in about 20 minutes for a friend's 14th birthday disco.
On Sunday along with a cousin all the family went to the cinema to see the Harry Potter film.
I suspected the scenario would be - 2 men fast asleep, 1 boy stuffing popcorn whilst the other drank copious amounts of 'coke' which would be followed by many journeys to the loo and one girlie sitting like a stone, gazing raptly at the screen; attention never wavering for a couple of hours.   I would be at home with the Sunday newspapers and a book with
coffee on tap and not a sound in the house.   What really happened was the whole gang
loved the film and no one went to sleep - not even grandad!   I did not have a quiet and
peaceful afternoon as my sister in law skyped from South Africa, followed by a friend from Sydney and lastly a call from Spain; by the time they returned I was exhausted but there was little I did not know!

new experience

It was a first for me last night....shopping at 9.45pm I mean.   Shopping has always been a
problem for me so there is really no right or wrong time to shop or should I say anytime is the wrong time to shop.   However I digress.   Jamax came in last night to tell me confidentially that he had forgotten to look in his homework book and now...just now realised that he needed a cake ..
A CAKE?  Well of course, just how big do you want it?   His 14 years on earth almost came to an abrupt end when I realised this was not a joke but that he really did need a cake and
ingredients to decorate same - pronto.   'Could n't you just make me one now nanny?'
Ohhhhhhhhhhh!
This is what led to us both rushing into a supermarket with just 15 minutes to closing time looking for a plain cake etc.,   We found one of sorts and he dare not ask why it was not round as his teacher had instructed.   He set off this morning with said cake, icing sugar, colouring and flavouring plus a small plaque saying 'Happy Birthday' (to some poor unfortunate soul).   We did not go into the reasons why a tech lesson involves bringing a plain, cooked cake and the decorations.   I was sorely tempted to buy a beatifully decorated cake for him to take for a ride to school and the bring home again for tea.   Can't wait to see what he makes of creating some decent icing - it's not aneasy task.   Hope he leaves it on the bus!   He is fortunate that I love him.

A Prayer for today

Dear Lord, So far today I am doing alright.
I have not gossiped, lost my temper,
been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish or self indulgent.
I have not complained, whined or cursed and have not eaten any chocolate.
I have charged nothing on my credit card.
BUT......I will be getting out of bed in a minute Lord and I think that
I will really need your help then.

On the news today........

Today apparently the USA withdrew a donation to Pakistan of £300 million, this has been in addition to the 1 billion a year over the past ten years to help keep the army on the alert.
It would seem that the US think the Pakistanis have been less than vigilent by allowing Osama bin Laden to live next to their largest Millitary base for the past 8 years without 'finding' him; and now the Pakistanis are mad because the American Commandos invaded their soil to capture and kill him without telling the Pakistani government.   Whatever the whys and wherefores of the arguments how can we ever understand those vast sums of money?   Now the Pakistanis say they don't need the money so we might think as there is a famine in Ethiopia of catastophic preportions and thousands of people are dying; the money that the Pakistanis 'do not need' might simply be given to the aid agencies and put to better use in Africa - but no my mind is far too simple.   All the mighty brains have to get together on many occasions to discuss where these huge sums of money might be redirected and that will take many more years than it did to direct it to Pakistan in the first place.
What a crazy world we live in.  

More thoughts on teenagers!

Have you ever thought how much teenagers have in common with cats?
1  Neither teenagers nor cats turn their head when you call their name.
2  No matter what you do for them, it is not enough.  Indeed, all humane efforts are barely adequate to
    compensate for the privilege of waiting on them hand and foot.
3  You rarely see a cat walking outside the house with an adult human being, and it can be safely said
    that no teenager in his or her right mind wants to be seen in public with his or her parents.
4  Cats and teenagers can lie on the living-room sofa for hours on end without moving.
5  Both cats and teenagers eat some very odd things - at very odd hours.
6  Cats are obsessed with themselves and their appearance.  Teenagers........!

     CATS HAVE NINE LIVES.  TEENAGERS JUST ACT AS IF THEY DID.                                                             

'very gifted children'

I was booked to do a tour for a group of 'highly gifted children' yesterday and worried more than usual beforehand imagining high flying questions about architecture or a subject of my least expertese from a load
of little smart asses.  However they were lovely kids quite out of their depths until we reached every child's
favourite character from history - Henry V111.   At one point I was telling them of one of the Abbot's of yesteryear and said he was known as a 'workaholic' and expected all his community of monks to be the same as he which did not make him very popular.  Seeing what I thought might be a few blank faces I said rather condescendingly 'are you all familiar with this term - workaholic?'  - lots of nodding heads so I said 'explain it please someone'  and a very bright kid from the group said  -  'Abbot David drank a lot and forced them all to join him' amazingly this was accompanied by a lot of nodding heads.   Mmmm! and I was really worried about
'highly gifted children'...... that was just the answer I would have expected from my favourite boy in all the world,
my grandson, Jamax, who though is perfect cannot be called 'highly gifted' when it comes to academia.

Lovely afternoon spent with some amazing kids - how lucky I am.

St John the Silent

I read today that there is an actual Saint called 'St John the Silent' who stayed in his room for 75 years
(probably suffered from agoraphobia before anyone had heard of it) refusing to talk or be nice to anyone.
Two things struck me, firstly what on earth did he ever do to become a Saint and secondly could this be the 
patron Saint of sulky teenagers?

Duane Eddy

I read this week that the old rock and roller Duane Eddy has published his first album in 25 years and at 73
years old is about to embark on a tour of the UK.  Wow! that news took me back a few years and brought
lovely memories of people I used to know.   In those far off days I worked in the offices of a multi national company who never stinted on treats for it's staff - we had many.   Every year the Office Manager called us all together to plan the Christmas party when we would provide the entertainment and the company would provide a sumptuous spread served by a waitress or two.   One lovely young man who always provided the music was
again asked to bring along his 'records' but said the Office Manager pompously  -  'Could we have something else please Rodney apart from your constant supply of Eddy Duane music?'   A reverend hush fell upon us all
as we saw Rod's face as he heard his great hero so maligned.  The laugh was on the Boss when we all burst into raucous cheers and laughter as he really had no idea what a faux pas that was in those rock and roll years.

My favourite herb

In India the Basil plant is sacred to both Krishna and Vishnu, and is cherished in every Hindu house.   Probably on account of its virtues, in disinfecting, and vivifying malarious air, it first became inseperable from Hindu houses in India as the protecting spirit of the family.
The strong aromatic scent of the leaves is very much like cloves.   Every good Hindu goes to his rest with a Basil leaf on his breast.  This is his passport to Paradise.

Gardening - Spanish style!

I have spent an afternoon messing about in the back garden.   It's only small with a lawn (which I cut every week) and lots of pots containing tomatoes, cucumber, spinach, onions, courgettes and many kinds of herbs and flowers
including a hugh pot of deepest red lillies.   Now that's sounds lovely you might think but you'd be wrong as the overall effect is a bit messy to say the very least.   In the most southern parts of Spain they garden in pots too but the effects are rarely messy but extremely beautiful and have hundreds of admiring stares through the gates.
I must say I do not fancy watering all those pots during the dark hours as the Adalusians do but I would love just a touch of their magic.

Lost for two days in deepest Madrid!

I found an old diary of mine this morning so was able to remind myself of many occasions.  I used to be an
avid diary keeper - even the first haircuts of my children etc., but I burned them all when we moved house some
years ago.   However when reading the entry for Friday 3rd of November 20 years ago I fell about laughing as the memories  came tumbling in of a journey by Spanish Airways from Valencia to London as I came home alone for a holiday.   
I arrived at the airport in good time for the 3.45pm flight 'a Londres' but guessed after a short while that all was not well amongst the staff, so I was not surprised when a delay was announced until 5.00pm.   This hour came and went and later we had an announcement twice in Spanish and once in very bad English (so bad that nobody understood a word) telling us that our flight was cancelled owing to action by the French Air Controllers so we would be proceeding to Madrid (I thought it best not to ask why?).
 The flying time is about 40 minutes but we were unable to land for more than an hour because as the pilot explained very carefully in case we did not understand his 'perfect' English - 'we did not have a slot'.   He then continued and in worse accented English than my Spanish to explain.
...
'We cannot land for a long time - but we might hope to.
We are not Domestic yet see!
 We are not now International see?  but we are also not domestic as we do not have a slot.
Our luggage might not be unloaded as we are................repeat all above.
We will try to get to London tomorrow or the day after that!
We do not know about hotel to stay but.........DON'T WORRY THERE IS NO PROBLEM'.
                         
I don't think I will ever forget the looks of total uncomprehension/mystification on the faces of the four Spanish cabin crew when the whole load of Brits burst into applause, cheers and laughter.

Those same people were not laughing two days later when 'we couldn't get a slot'.   I was though - it was a great adventure for me and I was given a bottle of Gin and a bottle of Balenciaga Dix for helping the staff sort out all these -  by now,  belligerent Brits.
The story goes on for about three pages but only my dear one and I would think it so funny.