Desperately seeking number 40?

They say that every picture tells a story.

I wonder what the story is behind this.

I see this sticker every day on my way to work. It's stuck on the side of an electric box outside of a pub and I've been intrigued for months.

I'm intrigued as to who number 40 was or is and why things were never the same.  Who wrote it and stuck it there?  What did they hope would happen?   Does 'number 40' pass by every day and read it, not knowing the message is meant for them? Or do they know, smile smugly and walk on?   Was it a fortieth blind date for someone? A reference to a fortieth birthday?  Is it a line from a book? A lyric from a song?

We shall never know.  In my head it's from some romantic liaison. Perhaps someone is sitting in the pub, eternally waiting for Mr or Mrs 40 to walk past.

There's a book or a film in there somewhere!

Annoyances - The grumblings of a miserable old bag, aged 48 and threequarters

Do you find that sometimes even the most insignificant things wind you up?  I'm usually quite a placid person but there are some things that do my fookin' head in!

F'rinstance!

People who say "I've had a bowl of cereals for breakfast".   No.   No you haven't.  Even if you've had the sum total of two Cheerios in the bottom of the bowl.  It's not 'cereals'.    Stop saying that.    You've had a "bowl of cereal " - unless of course you've had more than one cereal.  Like Weetabix and Cocopops.  In the same bowl.  And I don't care about what is grammatically correct or not  - I just don't like it.  So there.

People who say "can I just squeeze past?".   No.   No you can't 'just squeeze past'.  Just because you have said that actual thing, you have infuriated me beyond belief and I am going to inflate to three times my normal size so you can't get past.  You can, however, just say "excuse me".  No need for squeezing.  One is not a lemon and neither are you.  No-one has to suck anything in before passing another.  You could drive a bus through that gap.  Eejit.

People over the age of 12 who really (no really) don't get the chicken and egg thing.
"OOOO you keep chickens?"
"Yes".
 ....... * pause* .......
"So - you know when they lay eggs - are there chicks in them?
"No.  Because we don't have a cockerel".
"Oh"
..........*pause*........
"So if the hens sit on the eggs will they hatch?"
"No.  Because we don't have a cockerel".
"So do you have to have a cockerel for them to have chicks then?  Does he sit on the eggs to fertilise them?"
"No, actually.  You don't.  The chick fairy visits at night and waves a bundle of feathers over those eggs she feels are ready to have chicks and miraculously they hatch next morning".
"Oh".

Sigh.

Paying £8.40 for a prescription and then being told not to take the medication but not being able to get a refund!   I had a hospital visit on Sunday whereupon I was given a prescription for injections for a suspected blood clot.  I was told to go back next day and (thankfully) the injections will not be needed.  None used yet.  Nada. £8.40 down the drain.  A sharps box and a full box of medication to return to the pharmacy for disposal.  Pah.  And yeah - before the Bla bla Brigade start on me - I KNOW it's not like returning a pair of ill-fitting trousers to Primark but PAH!!

There's probably more, but I'm such a little ray of sunlight that I'll leave them for another time!


It's been one of those days already and it's only half past one. 


Aren't you glad I'm back?  Well?  Aren't you?!


See you soon!

















 

Catch up-a-thon.

I'm hanging my head in shame at the lack of blogging of late.  Soz like!  I still love you and all your bloggy tales.  I love blogging too - time just seems to run away with me some times and before I know it I haven't bogged in eleventy twelve months!

So - what's been going on here at Peapods then?   Hmm.  Well much wedding planning has been going on for a start but as most things are booked now they can be left to their own devices for a while.  We don't marry until October 17 so there's plenty of time. Bridezilla I am not!

Darling aged parent had a fall on Good (Bad) Friday and broke her ankle in two places.  Sigh.  Just does it for attention I reckon.  Needless to say there was a pulling together of our little family and together we got her through it.  She's still stiff and sore but almost mended.  She's been wrapped in bubble wrap for the foreseeable future.

The Coop Clan are still producing prolifically.  We've had them for about 9 months now.  We have two broodies (both bantams) at the moment so we have to make sure we boot them up the bum to vacate the coop for a while so they can get food and water.  Bless em.  The Mille Fiore is crossed with a pterodactyl I'm sure of it. The noises she makes are not of this planet - and she makes a heck of a lot of noise for a little un!!

We're re-doing the garden.  The dog tramples everything in the ground and we've decided that the way forward is container planting.  Man has been tasked with making many wooden planters from old pallets and we're painting them in different colours to brighten up the place.  The first one is in place and Gerald has been installed to keep an eye on proceedings.

There's another in the front garden - together with a guard dog (pah!!) and some dying weeds!

Hooligan Hound's attempt to look angelic.  There was food involved in the making of this picture.  Shocked aren't you?!

Man and I had a couple of days in Stratford last week and very nice it was too.  The weather was amazing and we managed to have a little trip down river and to see Anne Hathaway's cottage.  We shall draw a veil over going on a pub crawl on empty stomachs during the afternoon!  Thank goodness for Wetherspoons cheap pub grub that's what I say!! 

Here's a few pics.  None of us being worse for wear mind you.  Just as well really.  

Someone took this duck apart and didn't put him back together right! 

Ahh - that's better!!!

Don't quite know what to say about this Midsummer Night's Dream sculpture really.  So I won't say anything.  Snigger.  

Ah this is better - a bit of decorum!!  Beautiful quotation and very fitting for such a beautiful day.  

Pretty blossoms

Arty shot of the Cottage.  I am a photography-genius.  What?!

Falstaff's belly.   As you do.  

Picture postcard prettyfullness!

The gardens were gorgeous - Full of blooming tulips 

A woodland walk - volunteers had been stripping out some of the undergrowth. 

Squirrel posing squirrelfully

And I'll leave you with this sculpture.  Cos... well.... it's art innit?

*Drops Mic.   Walks out of blog*

See you soon!! 

;)

Named and Shamed

I love my kids to bits but jeez they're messy buggers (kindle just changed that to messy nuggets.  Sigh. )

This evening I had to serve dinner to six people.  There were the sum total of two plates in the cupboard.  Two!!

A reconnaissance mission beyond the enemy lines of their bedroom doors, armed with a chair held aloft in a lion tamer styley and wearing a welders mask, gauntlets and a boiler suit, revealed two tea plates, a bowl and a dinner plate in DD's room and the grand total of seven dinner plates in KTT's room.   Neither of them were in and so in view of the fact that I actually needed to use the crockery I had liberated from their rooms, I also had to use a flame thrower to chip away at the congealed ketchup and other highly suspect materials in order to make them sanitary enough to eat from.  I was bloody fuming. Ordinarily I'd have dumped the whole lot in the middle of their beds and pulled the covers over them for them to discover later but that wasn't an option.

So I named and shamed them on Facebook along with a picture of the crime scene.

As anticipated, DD went ballistic and and sent me a text (imagine a screamer missive in Harry Potter) asking me if I "really needed to put that on Facebook and make her look stupid?"  Well yes, actually, I did!   KTT just promptly detagged himself and left a one word observation: "gas"

Tee hee.

I think I've found an Achilles heel.

Next on the agenda will be updates on how they manage to stand up from the loo to retrieve a new toilet roll yet can't quite manage to replace the empty one, which requires a hugely krypton factor-ish conundrum to be solved involving fearlessly sliding off the empty tube and replacing it with a full one.  Nope. It's easier just to leave the new roll on the side of the bath. Who knew?

Or will it be the story of the dumping of teetering laundry baskets in the kitchen, never quite making the extra half inch into the machine.   DD might occasionally put a load of washing on, but may not return to the machine for a month or so by which time the laundry fairies have visited.

In an amazing feat of not-switched-on-at-all-ness yesterday, KTT took out the bathroom bin, emptied it into the wheelie, came back into the house, set the bin on the stairs then walked past it to go back up to his room.

I love em. I love the bones of em.  But they drive me sodding batty!

Lay Lady Lay

Actually ladies, could you have a rest cos we have an egg mountain!  Tiny bantam eggs, rich dark brown huge ones and large paler ones.  We haven't tracked down who's laying what yet but I sincerely hope the big ones are from the maran and not the bantams!!

Our new flock we took on as 10 week old chicks have now blossomed into sweet young ladies. Well. Apart from one. Our beautiful lavender pekin bantam turned out to be a cockerel so sadly we had to give him away. Our neighbours wouldn't have tolerated his lusty crow every morning and several times each day so needs must.  such a shame. He was a beauty. Here he is in the foreground just before we let him go, looking like the king of his castle.  

We had a mixed brood of two chocolate pekins (Titch and  Myrtle) a black maran (Chickneequa) (don't ask), a gorgeous little flitty-about mille-fiore (Millie, natch) and a huge Light Sussex  called Big Bird)

I was surprised when they all started laying before Xmas. I thought they'd have been waiting until around Feb for some reason but they're all merrily popping out eggs all over the place with no sign of slowing down at present! 

This morning Ktt 

and I breakfasted like kings (and Queens!) with boilies and soldiers for him 

And poached for me. Cept I forgot to take a pic until I was being mugged by the hooligan for a toast crust.  This dog would forego prime steak for toast

I use poaching pods cos I'm hopeless at perfectly poached eggs!

Well that's four used up.  Now for the other 19!!

Of dreich days, argumentative kindles and cabbages.

How do?!

Welcome to new followers Briony and Janina. Many thanks for your company.

How are we all then?  Another "dreich" (thanks Aril!!) day here in the Black Country.  I love that word.  DREICH. It says it perfectly doesn't it?  A Scottish word for dreary and bleak. It even sounds like a mixture of those two very words.  The Kindle insisted that it was changing the word to "French"  and I had to retype it about three times. My life revolves around arguing with my Kindle!  It does my swede in.  (Not Sweden.  Sigh)

Lovely fella had his manky tooth (Kindle converted that to manly tooth. Teehee) removed today so he's feeling a bit sore around the gills. At least it's out though. He had a nasty infection in his gum just before Xmas so it needed to be taken out.

Another slow news day here at the pod, so I'll share some old news instead. Long standing readers might remember me posting about my brother's attempts at growing monster cabbages last year. Unfortunately they peaked a little early for the Malvern show and he was just down to one to exhibit; a mighty legume he christened Colin. Unfortunately Colin didn't win any prizes but he certainly stood up well amongst his peers. Bro has already sown his new batch for this year and has them growing under a very intricate hydroponics system to be in with a chance for this year's shows

Colin in his hey day

Bro won first prize with his pot leeks

Mum, on the other hand, was thrilled to receive second prize at a local allotment show for her two cabbages which were in fact runts of the litter she had inherited from Bro which she had grown for fun. Just look at her little face!!

There you go then. How about that for a heap of randomness?!  Aren't you lucky?!

See you soon
Xx

Bubbleicious

So it's back to work time and the first Monday of the new year.  Commuting returns to its usual nightmare state. Over subscribed trains rammed with sullen faced young men and overly perfumed women all glued to their phones. Blimey you can tell there has been much giving of scent for Christmas. Our carriage this morning smelt like a migraine inducing tart's boudoir. I adore perfume but was actually glad to breathe in some Birmingham smog when I got off the train.

The new job is going. Um. Ok I guess.  I still don't know whether I've done the right thing but I haven't broken anything yet and haven't been yelled at. I'm nearing the end of my probation period so I shall know shortly whether I have to look elsewhere.

Man is off for a few days as he has to have a nasty dental appointment tomorrow to remove a shattered tooth. He's currently raising the rafters by snoring his head off. I'm not used to company on a school night as he's usually at work. He best quieten down as he may not need the dentist to remove his tooth tomorrow!!  It's a good job I love him!

I have discovered bubble tea. Have you guys heard of it?  Goodness it's soooo good.  I had a lychee one today. I may have found a new obsession. You can get milky type ones but I go for the fruit ones. It's made with a base syrup, topped up with ice and Jasmine tea then poured over these little ball things which you suck up the straw and pop in your gob releasing tiny bursts of flavour.  The balls are actually made of tapioca but so far removed from anything resembling school puddings!  It's So different. It originated in Taiwan and got very popular in americky before landing here.  As if I need any new obsessions!

See you soon x

Stuff. and nonsense. ( probably)

Hellair!

The house has been de-christmased, everything is back in its rightful place. And you will have noticed, there is a new addition to the "stuff" table.  I love stuff. I couldnt be minimalist if I tried

No hooligan hound, Studhead Sally is waaaay too cool for you!

This is Studhead Sally.  A head customised by my very clever sis in law.  she was a Xmas pressie. Studhead Sally.  Not my sis in law.  Very 'me' don't you think?

Above the stuff table resides our memories of Glastonbury purchase.  At the bottom of the High Street is a shop called Happy Glastonbury which sells the usual Glasto loveliness, crystals, jewellery, charms etc. But we fell in love with these images which were available in a variety of media. Mugs, cards, canvases... each one showing the Tor in the background.    Being limited for space due to travelling by coach, we settled for some cards which I framed in a multi aperture mount and frame when we got home. It makes me happy every time I look at it.

Slow news New Year.

Happy New Year bloglies. I hope all is well in your collective worlds.

I had to go to work on New Years Eve. Boo to that, but unusually I saw a glimpse of sunshine, albeit a brief one, catching the brickwork of the council building which gave it a somewhat honeyed glow. Odd to think that just a couple of weeks ago the German market with all its kitsch rubbish and sausagey scents was in full swing on this very spot.

I rarely take a lunch break, but I decided to take myself over to the new Grand Central shopping arena and dragged myself, kicking and screaming in protest I might add, into Cath Kidston's store whereupon a very pretty orphan handbag leapt into my arms and nestled there, looking lost and forlorn until I promised to adopt it.  This is why I don't take lunch breaks very often.  In my defence I spent Christmas money so there.

I couldn't wait to get home.  The crowds at 5pm were almost as bad as they were on Christmas eve carrying arms full of carrier bags and bemoaning the fact that the shops were having the audacity to close at 5pm.  How much "stuff" do people actually need?

I scurried for the train at home time. Well scurrying was perhaps a bit over ambitious.  For scurrying read limping painfully dragging my gammy leg behind me.  Once home I collapsed into the bath, anointed myself with posh new lotions and potions,  donned new jamas and shared a Chinese takeaway with me lovely fella. Snuggled on the sofa we saw in the New Year with Bryan Adams who put on a surprisingly good sing along.

Yesterday was spent in hibernation. I adore being at home at this time of year and really do feel a physical wrench if I have to go out. The vile weather we are having doesn't help. I just want to be here in my chair; snoozing, resting, crocheting and the occasional web browsing and blog reading makes me a happy bunny.  I feel very weak, tired and bone achey after a really heavy cold just before Xmas so I don't feel guilty at all.

We popped out for a beautiful Indian meal with the family for a couple of hours last night which was just long enough to be out.

It's rained for most of the day today too. Double yuk. Shopping for essentials only was done  quick smart today before home again at top speed.

Gawd what a load of bloody uninteresting drivel that post was!  Must try harder methinks!

Wishing you all good spaces and health for 2016.

May the force be strong in you.  

Blessings x

Another one done

And it's all over for another year.  It doesn't seem five minutes since I left work last Wednesday and now here I am in bed with that familiar sense of dread lying in the pit of my stomach as I'm back at work tomorrow.

We've had a lovely family time though.  Lots of laughs and fun, as well as lots of down time for me and the fella, hibernating in the living room, cat on one sofa, dog on the other, fella watching endless drivel and me catching up on some crochet. I had chronic lurgy the week before Christmas which still has me in its clutches. My son had it at the same time as me, and now man has it. Horrid germs!

My current WIP together with a crafty gift from the kids 

Another crafty gift 

Gratuitous shot of a very unusually clean looking hooligan hound

"I am taking no responsibility at all for this mess"

Gerald in festive attire.  He was not best pleased 

After a blogging break and several busy life events hopefully I can get back to blogging again.  Fingers crossed!

Hope you have all had a splendid festive period.

Seasons of mists...

Or gurt big thick peasoupers more like!!

The fog only lifted for a short while this morning giving us a brief hour or two of weak autumnal sunshine before it rolled back in; enveloping the fields and the top of the garden.  By 5pm it had thickened and now we can barely see to the other side of the road.  Proper November weather.  I'm hoping it will have cleared by morning as British Rail don't need much excuse to cancel the trains!

We have been happy at home today. Man has been stripping pallets and making frames for some rustic planters for outside the front door which I will fill with spring flowering bulbs.

I have pottered in the kitchen, making apple crumble with some windfalls from mom's allotment and making a roast pork dinner.

We had a quick walk to the shop this afternoon and I spotted this tree. It was still foggy but the weak sunshine behind it illuminated the last of it's leaves which were clinging on like a halo.

You may need to click on the pic to see what I mean. 

What a very grey picture!

Have some colour to brighten things up. My lovely autumn planted pots make me happy and are a real splash of colour on a dismal day. 

Hope your weekend was a good one!

See you soon xx