Home Cinema

Anyone who has followed my blog for the past 4 years (blimey almost 4 years... medals will be given out for those who have stuck with it! mwah xx) will have read about the many films I went to see in the 70s ... Jaws, Towering Inferno, Close Encounters, The Great Gatsby, Murder on the Orient Express (which I thought was rubbish apparently) to name but a few. It seemed I was always at the pictures ... I can only think they were a lot cheaper 'back in the day' than they are now for me to have gone so often!

I am not a great TV viewer but about 9 months ago I treated myself to a large flat screen TV and a Blu-Ray player as now-a-days I love nothing better than curling up on the sofa with a good film.

So when I saw that those lovely people at FuelMyBlog were looking for volunteers to test drive for free for 3 months an online DVD rental site I jumped at the chance.....  and thank you so much for selecting me :)

The online site is Cinema Paradiso.


I followed the instructions sent to me and I was really happy it was so easy to sign up. I had to enter my card details but I was assured that no money would be debited from my account during the 3 month trial.
The selection of films is great, there are less films available on Blu-Ray but I expected that anyway. It suggests that you select around 10 films for your play list .. I chose just 7 but will be logging in shortly top up.

As part of the trial I am allowed 4 films per month, which is fine as I probably couldn't get through more than one a week. Oh and just to mention there are no 'late fees' unlike DVD rental shops and the postage is free....

So after signing up and selecting my films 2 DVDs arrived 36 hours later..... The Time Traveller's Wife and The Girl Who Played with Fire. I fully intended to have a cinema fest this weekend but time has run away with me ....

Just looking in my diary for when I have a free evening this week, so I can order in the pop corn :)

Life's a beach

I grew up at the seaside as many of my avid readers will know from my teen diaries. I now live inland and the nearest I get to water is the Manchester Ship Canal or the River Irwell adjacent to work (I have actually worked out I can get to work by water!! Interesting!!).... it is not the same as miles of sandy beaches.
Thankfully my family still live on the coast and take every opportunity to get onto the sands.

It is November and still it glorious to get out there and smell the clean air.....My pup was born in Southport and she is the happiest ever dog when let loose on the beach, you can almost see her laughing. However, she has developed this weird obsession of picking up shells off the beach... last time it was a clam shell

It was the first time that she wore her gorgeous coat courtesy of FuelMyBlog and Nutrecare. 

Oh btw she ditched the shell and ended up with a piece of coal instead... 

Chocolate Luuurve

When those lovely people from FuelMyBlog contacted me and asked for volunteers to product test chocolate... I thought all my Christmas's and Birthday's had come all together.

I just luuurve chocolate... so much so that when my friends children knew I was coming round they would hide it ... (you know when kids offer their chocolate most adults politely say 'no you keep it dear' where as I would say 'oh thank you don't mind if I do' ... well it helps them to learn to share doesn't it!! lol. Last month I went to the 21st of one of these children and she actually brought it up in conversation... she thinks it is so funny and is going to follow my example ..)
I have to say and I hate to admit it that now as I have got older my taste buds do crave savoury a bit more... but not the extent (thankfully) that I would turn my nose up at a good old 'nom nom nom' session.

A few weeks ago my postie kindly dropped through my letter box a brown padded envelope and when I opened it several bars of chocolate tumbled out ..... 'nom nom nom'..... 

The company who sent me this glorious mail drop is Chocolate & Love .



Do check out this web site it is a choccy fan's heaven.....

The selection I was sent to sample where:
Coffee Affair: Crushed Diamonds; Orange Mantra; Filthy Rich and Conscious
(click on each of the names to reveal their inner beauties)

Now I mentioned 'sharing' earlier so I thought in true market research style I would not be selfish and share the product and get reactions to the products from others.. namely my Mum, Niece (what a chocoholic she is ... it must be in the genes), her boyfriend and teens boyfriend ... (teen did not want to take part as she only likes white chocolate ... mmm ?? that must be from her dad's side of the family !!)


The age range was 16 - 78... and these are the reactions to the products:

Coffee Affair ~ 'very nice', 'I think it is lovely very milky', ' sweet and full of flavour', 'very nice', 'it's coffee..ee with a bitter kick.. lovely'

Crushed Diamonds ~ 'I like that', 'funny after taste', 'nice, I do like that', 'very sweet, but very nice', 'not keen, don't like the texture'

Orange Mantra ~ 'quite nice, have tasted nicer, rough & sandy after taste', 'bitter and sweet', 'very poor, can't taste the orange', 'very nice', 'mmmmm nom nom nom'

Filthy Rich ~ 'Don't really like this one, too strong', 'best so far', 'extravagant!', 'okay, but a bit sickly', 'don't really like this'

Conscious ~ 'No, no, no', 'Awful, it is evil', 'yeah it is okay but a bit pasty'. 'disgusting!', 'horrible, awful texture and coconutty!'  .... I have a feeling the 'wild blue algae' may have put us all off a little (it is okay in a face mask but to consume takes some getting used to) but also the softness and texture was not nice.


Overall the products where well received (with the exception of the last one)... my favourite was the Orange Mantra by far (yes my comment was mmmmm... nom nom nom).....I would order more and I think as Teen didn't product test and kindly volunteered to record the results of the family market research I treat her to a  White Cranberry Bar' 

09:09:09 09/09/09... Interlude

Evening everyone.... blimey I am over 13 hours late in posting this ... all I can say is blame me being a wage slave and Claire over at Little Piece of Me.......

So what was I doing at this momentus time (09:09:09 on 09/09/09) in history???... Well I sneaked out of the office on the excuse I wanted to go to the bank before it got too busy .....

The sun was shining (yes I know how unusual for Manchester).... I sidled into a den of ill repute house of a million calories... bought a breakfast and sat in St Ann's Square on a bench and ate it at precisely 09:09 (can't vouch for the seconds sorry) in the sunshine....... ah it was such a guilty pleasure indeed .......

to be accurate on the time I took a photo of St Ann's Church clock .......

whoops try again!!!

darn it the clock had stopped ... how typical!!!

honest I did sit out in the sunshine in Manchester eating a McDonalds breakfast at 09:09 on 09/09/09

what I did notice whilst I was sat sitting there though... despite all of Daddy Papersurfers protests about not coming ooop Norfff ......he was actually delivering goodies in the North West of England in his ickle white van ... he may try to deny it but as we all know the camera never lies.....

so after my guilty pleasure went back to the office and I had a telephone conference with colleagues in London ... I then headed off to have lunch with a my mate 'H' in St Ann's Square.. then I went back to the office for another telephone conference with colleagues in London (my god 09/09/09 was in danger of becoming a Groundhog day lol) fortunately my all day meeting had been cancelled (thank lordy for small mercies!!).

This evening I met up with Claire from a Little Piece of Me and we went to see the 'Dream'... now the Dream is something I have only seen whilst hurtling up the M62 from a distance .... plus Claire I have not met up since we exchanged Chaperonship of Olga The Travelling Bra on her travels oop Norrff.

(click here for when we met up).

The Dream is a dream .. and even more awesome indeed when you get close to her.

Claire and I chatted with two lovely ladies who have been instrumental in getting this former colliery site into a lovely peaceful place to be .. they have loads of plans they want to get started (such as a tea room... a garden of remembrance, a place for loved ones to remember those who lost their lives in the mines from 1906 to 1992...and a place where memorabilia can be displayed and so on) ... they showed us around the area of the former colliery and told us its history and oh btw they are both called Marian.. wtg girls you are fabulous :-) (they have a new website launched today but can't find it as yet....)

So what was I doing on 09/09/09?? I was earning my salary.... eating bad bad things for breakfast in the morning sun, enjoying some late summer sun, meeting up with good friends and meeting new people who are doing a fabulous thing... all in all 09/09/09 will be a pretty great day to remember :-)

linking back to here and here

18th June 1977

Saturday 18

Didn't work

Mum= hangover

Had to do all the chores

Had a bath

Bought brother's birthday presy

********************************

You know that was the one and only time I had seen my Mum drunk. She didn't go out much and never drank at home as we had no money but she was invited to the Conservative Club up the road by a couple of neighbours and was given Babycham and Benedictine brandy to drink all night. It was so funny to see my very quiet, sensible, cautious, reliable mother bouncing off the walls ... shouting 'it's ok, I am fine'.

I bet she did have the mother of all hangovers after drinking that concoction lol.

Well as you know this week has all been about Teen and her turning 16 and rightly so as she can now buy her own National Lottery ticket!!

But I got a parcel through the post today much to Teen's disgust lol

It was a little thank you for doing a review of the EMI new website .. a T-shirt and a KT Tunstall CD...... thank you for the thank you and thank you FuelMyBlog for letting me have the opportunity to do the review :-)

Oh I have not mentioned yet that I have finished today in work until the 30th June and I AM ON HOLIDAY.... I can't shout loud enough the 'yipeees' that are going through my head.

Next week Teen & I are off to Butlins in Skegness... they don't have WiFi but an internet cafe so I have a few options... go to the internet cafe, find a McDonalds with WiFi, speak nicely to my host and see if I can get WiFi on site (so I can blog live my experiences of the week) or wait 'til I get home on the 26th.......

We are so looking forward to it ... me because I have had a stressy 'meet the deadlines' type of few months and Teen as she has just taken her final exams of High School ... so what ever else we are up for a load of chilling and fun, fun, fun... superb :-D

I am hearing voices

Yeah!! I have posted over at FuelMyBlog after such a long time ... but now I have whizzy lappytop there is no stopping me (oh ok Teen stops me as we have a fight for the machine every evening now)

Please do go and take a look at the post and have a go at recording your voice ... it is a bit of fun & it gives another dimension to who is behind the blog. :-)

Can anyone tell me why that after a hugely stuffy hot day in the office, with the sun beating though the windows did it decided to rain in torrents together with thunder & lightening when I made my 15 minute walk to the train station .... I was soaked!!

Couldn't be bothered to cook so I cracked open one of these

yes a Marks & Spencer Beef Lasagne

Who'd of thought it but it.........

For whose benefit is this?.... Is it for the unsuspected vegetarian who picked up a Beef Lasgnae in error... and not noticing the outer packaging said 'Beef Lasagne' as they are piercing the film lid they spot 'contains meat'.... or is it a reassurance that it does indeed contain meat ... either way it made me *snigger*

[p.s. Teen is 16 tomorrow .... where did those years go??... Happy Birthday hun :-) x x ]

Just- Eat Interlude

Doesn't time zap past quickly.

Last week was the final of Britian's Got Talent and Annie Mouse came for a visit.

The plan was we would have take away and watch the final.... and that is what we did (except I discovered Annie is on a Weightwatchers diet and would only eat my home made chicken and vegetable soup with some crisp breads she bought that looked like cardboard!!)

So what should me and Teen have then? ooo I know !!

Those lovely people over at FMB had given some of us bloggers an opportunity to test out a very innovative idea of online takeaway ordering...... Brilliant we'll do that.

I had registered with the company 'Just-Eat' a few weeks before when I was sent the invite and £15 food voucher from FMB. The registering process was straight forward. A click here and a click there... Yes an easy site to navigate around...... thankfully

So what is Just Eat all about ?? The company gathers a host of takeaways together around the country ... now this is the techy bit ...they stick the names in their puta... you pop in your postcode and it shows you which resturant/ takeways are taking part with Just-Eat in your area then you choose your food... bloody marvellous.

Go on have a go .....www.just-eat.co.uk

Ok pop in your postcode and search ..... easy isn't it ???

Anyway back to BGT night. In my area there were only Indian & Italian takeaways on the list (oh and when I say Italian I mean Pizza houses).... I am not sure if other types of takeways are available in other areas ??

We decided on 'Italian' as Teen is not too keen on Indian food.

She told me which local takeaway on the list was the best (Teens know this type of thing) and placed our order

~10" Cheese & Pepperoni pizza

~10" Cheese & Mushroom pizza

~10" Cheese & Mushroom, Garlic Bread

~one portion of chips

Easy peasy again.... put in delivery address and a voucher code and there you have it 'Bob's your Auntie!!'

The takeways came on time.... wow .... one small hiccup though he forgot Teens chips.

Aww he was so apologetic and looked mortified .. he told me he would be straight back and in 5 minutes he was back with two portions of chips :-) how sweet....

I did feel guilty (just for a moment) poor Annie sitting there with soup and cardboard slices... the pizzas where hot and delicious.

I certainly will use the service again as I hate takeaway flyers cluttering up drawers and notice boards so I end up chucking them away then thinking 'mmm I fancy a takeaway now where is that menu??' It is a great idea .....

There were 2 winners last Saturday ... not only Diversity but me too :-)

Pertuity Direct Competiion Interlude

Now here's a challenge

'what type of online business would you launch?'

or lets consider

"If I were loaned $25,000 today by social lending network Pertuity Direct what type of on line business would I launch?"

That is such an interesting one indeed $25K.... approximately £15,700

All of my ideas are 'earth based' it is just a question of converting them to virtual world..

Ok

Idea 1

designer shopping trolley bags

Idea 2

home made /recycle

Idea 3

Themed catering ... parties, functions

Idea 4

Coffee & Art combo

mmm I think I will pick idea ..... 3.

Maybe this idea is already out there? But hey!

Ok you have a special event.. a wedding, a 21st, a corporate function ... you want something different.. well my theme catered parties could do it for you.

All the food would be themed, the staff serving it would be themed as well as the decor.

As I am 70steen ... an example has to be a party

Menu

Prawn Cocktail

Florida Cocktail

French Onion soup

Mushroom or prawn vol-u-vents

Main

Chicken in a basket

Gammon & pineapple

Scampi

Steak with pepper sauce

(all served with chips and peas)

Sweet

Black Forest Gateau

Fresh Fruit Salad

Raspberry Pavlova

Rum Baba

Banana Split

Drinks menu

Blue Nun

Mateaus Rose

Cherry B

Babycham

Piesporter Miclesberg

Watneys Pale Ale

Snowball

Cinzano Bianco

If you don't want a sit down menu you could have a 'running buffet' with

cocktail sausages on sticks, vol-u-vents with Chesswood cream mushrooms, prawns with Marie Rose sause or creamed cheese and onion, sausage rolls, cheese and pineapple or onions on sticks [stuck in an orange covered in foil], white bread sandwiches cut in triangles (very sophisticated) with egg mayo, sliced beef, ham or cheese, on the board slices of home boiled ham, maybe a salmon the choice is yours.. for sweet sherry trifle, fresh fruit salad, Black Forest gateau.

The staff serving up and waiting on would be wearing the most outladish 70s gear..

Huge flares

Platforms

Lots of 'Spangle'

Penny collars

Kipper ties

Big wigs

Sad moustaches (yes only the guys)

Maxi's, Midi's and Mini's

How about some 'space hopper' races??

Now the decor... what would be the focal point?

Of course a 70s glitter ball. That goes without saying!

Top off the back drops with some loud wallpaper and disco flashing lights

... it looks like we are having a party

Blimey I nearly forgot the music !!!!

The possibilties are endless... what with my knitting, sewing and cullinary skills just name a theme and we could get your party started ;-)

oo I could win one of these an Amazon Kindle what an amazing little bit of technology ... I would be the eny of my fellow train passengers :-) thank you Fuel My Blog for the competion

Coffee Morning ....

Those lovely people over at Fuel My Blog sent me another product to test a couple of weeks ago.
I realise that market research is vital to any business on the planet & I love testing products ... so all in all .. Result!!

I opened the envelope and I was met with the most fantastic aroma.... fresh coffee ... mmmmm

Yes I was asked to product test coffee, how perfect ... But I can assure you this is no ordinary coffee!!
No indeed .... it is from The Coffe Bean Shop. co.uk.

The one I was sent is 'Daterra course ground~ Special Reserve'. Despite my wide taste in coffee I can actually say I had never heard of this variety.
The information sheets that accompanied the product told me this :-

'This coffee has a delicate bold flowery aroma (yes I could tell this through the packaging ... mmm), which carries on through to an unforgettable aftertaste. Its bold , yet round and smooth - this coffee has an exciting chocolaty ( did some one mention chocolate??) finishing flavour. Velvety body and sweet acidity. This coffee has the bitter - sweetness of a dry red wine and the aftertaste of a chocolate liquer.'

Also it 'is a very limited edition coffee'.......

OH WOW!!

Generally at the weekend I put on the coffee machine and fish from it thoughout the day ... but since I got this wonderful free sample I have been maxed out each weekend ... so today was the first opportunity to try it .... SO....

Coffee?... check!

Favourite coffee cup?... check!

Coffe machine?... check!



Fill & wait!!!

*drums fingers* !!!!

The wait I can tell you was well worth it... this coffee has to be the most exquiste coffee I have ever tasted. It is smooth but with a kick of bitterness and actually a strong, yet mellow at the same time, nutty roast aftertaste.

Next time I have dinner party I will certainly order some more ... superb well done you lovely folk at Coffee Bean Shop.co.uk.....
The coffee is more expensive than the produce sold in Supermarkets but you can tell the difference & it is definitely worth paying that bit extra for quality.

Oh there is an added extra to the service they provide on the net too, they do boxed sets of coffee for gifts. I know a few people who would love such a gift!!

So if you like your coffee classy & tasty you wont be disappointed with what the Coffee Bean Shop provide if the sample is anything to go by ...

22nd January 1980

Tuesday 22
College at 10.00 am
Went to town for dinner as usual
Fi had her hair trimmed
Cookery was cancelled (I had not realised, until I read my diary, just how many of my lecturers didn't happen .. along with my skiving off it is no wonder my exam results were rubbish!!)
Got home at 3.30
Had a bath
Watched TV & copied up loads of Business Studies notes
Sam phoned at 8.15
He was in an extremely good mood
He is as changeable as the wind
Looking forward to seeing him now tomorrow
Can't say I was yesterday!
**************************

I have just been looking at my Flickr account to see what recent activity has been going on and to upload some images onto FuelMyBlog Flickr Group. Well I had a WoW moment. Most of my piccies have one or two views .. Layla has a few more as does my cat Wally .. but this photos has 443 views...... It is untouched, it is how it was taken.. I do love it as it is of one of my favourite places to visit .. Liverpool's water front .. it shows the development in the area along with the old and the new plus it being a windy day ... 443.. wow............... do join up on Flickr & the FMB group, you know you want to ;-)

Food Interlood......

Having a break from the Snoopy 1980 Diary tonight to write something I should have done weeks ago (naughty 70s!! )

Last year I volunteered to take part in product testing arranged through Fuel my Blog and forgot all about it!! However, lo and behold a little while before Christmas a parcel arrived. How exciting..... it made a pleasant change from the mounds of mail I get from 'bill' and Readers Digest ......

My Teen pleaded with me for her to open it ..... I love opening parcels but hey ho I sacrificed my joy for hers. As she ripped open the envelope a packet of health food bars landed with a thud on the dining room table.

'what are they?' she asked
'mmm dunno' I replied
'where have they come from? she asked
'mmmm???... ahhh! I know!! they have come from the internet (that is all she knows.. mum writes stuff on the internet... sheesh I wouldn't want her knowing I was far more adventurous as a teen than she is!! lol) , we have to eat them and then I have to write what we think about them'
'write where?' she asked
'on the internet' I replied
'oh ... that's a bit random?...' and gave that shrug that only teenagers can do.

We opened the outer packaging and found it contained 3 x 50g handmade food bars made of natural ingredients. Each bar provides us humans with 25% of our daily fibre needed to stay healthy and 15% of our protein intake.

The manufacturer is Wholebake based in Corwen, North Wales. I have been to Corwen many, many times as a friend's mother lives in the hills near there and have enjoyed many beautiful walks in the area and fabulous barbeques when we have stayed over there......plus my grandfather was from St.Asaph and his uncles had farmland in Denbighshire ...

oops I digress ...back to the review.......I must say that this stage that we do have a healthy home cooked diet, eating little processed food and usually we get our 5 a day intake of fruit and veg... but health bars are not really 'our bag'

Teen opened a bar ... took a big bite and I am afraid ate it like it was poison then disappeared upstairs ....the novelty had gone from the moment......
'Hey it can't be that bad?' I shouted after her....... no response!

So I took a bite. The carob coating was very pleasant.... it was chewy, ok so far. Took a second bite and decided I didn't want to eat anymore. The bars are quite large and I can see that they would certainly fill a hunger gap in a healthy way during the day. I couldn't get along with the texture ... but that is why we don't do health bars... that is us and not the fault of the bar.

Because of our hate reltaionship with health bars, I needed to share this market research with a larger audience.. what better an audience than the rich mix that are my work colleagues!!!

I took the bars into work and cut them up into bite size pieces leaving them to be sampled at leisure... I told them all though that I needed to report back their comments so please be honest.......

7 people sampled them.....
'lovely where can I buy these?'
'I would like to try them without the carob'
'Can I have another one? I like them'
'What you didn't like them?.. you are weird!'
'Very tasty indeed'
' yep I would buy these'
'not sure about the carob but I like the taste of the bar'

So there you have it ... in favour of the bars was 7 to 2....

I have been looking on the website and I must say if you had sent the luxury/indulgent flapjacks Wholebake you would have got 9/9 ;-)

& thank you for the fabby Christmas card .. here's wishing you a 'hempy New Year' too :-)

P.S.....apologies but I had scans of your product Mark, Steve & Richard but google blogger are having non of it tonight (have tried 5 times) .. they are not loading :-(

13th November 1979

Tuesday 13
Long day at college (that'll be a first!)
Bought my other brothers Crimbo pressy
feel really "fluey"
Sam still hasn't been called (Jury Service)



Gosh I know how Sam felt sitting in court all those years ago with my many years attending court... the wait is impossibly boring.. the adrenalin is pumping then nothing happens day in day out but you go home exhausted, then suddenly you are centre stage in the 'circus' that is British Crown Court... lol



I went for my appointment at the hospital yesterday and boo hoo I have to go back to work on Monday. Well I suppose 2 weeks out of the 4 I have not felt too bad although the pain is still there but lessening thank goodness.

The physioterrorists surely know how to push you through the point of screaming!!

I have so loved being at home for a change. I have cooked loads obviously drawing on the learning I had at college doing food and nutrition.. I even cooked an old favourite dish as a kid.... in fact I have doen it twice due to popular demand from my teen.



The dish is 'Scouse'. Yes the dish that gave my birth city residents their name... Liverpudlians aka Scousers.

Scouse is a very simple dish, with simple ingredients but takes about 5 + hours to cook ever so slowly.. so not convenient for full time working mums & dads.
I will be sending my recipe to populate (hopefully) a space in the Global Cookbook that Fuel My Blog are compiling..... so if you have a local recipe do join in it is a great idea.........

13th & 14th September 1979

Thursday 13
College at 9.00 am
Art Center for dinner
Usual boring day
Sam phoned at 11.00 pm
He'd been playing darts at the Woolpack

Friday 14
Go to Stafford on the 5.05 pm train
Got there at 6.05
Sam and his mum came to pick me up from the station
Rowed with Sam (oh my I had only just got there)
Went to the 'Garfield' (must be a pub?) and the 'Lodge' (probably another pub) Had a long talk (yes I think we needed to)

Well I am having a bit of a miserable time just now as my back is so much in pain..... work have been ok but some think I am swinging the lead.
I am in a new work environment and they have not witnessed my 'back flare ups' before.
My old team have lived through this with me over the past 15 years ... with my last really bad one in 2005 when I was off work for 12 weeks (I bent down to feed the cats and that was that!) ... came back to the work face and was on light duties for another 12 weeks, there then followed a cat scan, a really bloody painful steroid epidural injection in my spine...(ooo I don't want one of those again I can tell you) and intensive physio.

Having a dodgy disc means it can 'pop' when you are doing something totally inane .. and this was no exception .... apparently it is degenerative so deep joy it will only get worse as the years pile on (hey I thought it was bad when I was in my teens !! well it probably was! so each one is dealt with in turn).. hey ho c'est la vie!!

What has cheered me this time though is (apart from my new found portable Tens machine and strong wacky enhancing painkillers!) the kindness I have received from blogsphere. Personal messages through fuel and e mails.
I must say I was so touched by Scratch Bag who posted a lovely knitting pattern for me (I wonder where she found it & DP here it is just for you to enjoy *snigger*)... Thank you, it is so kind of you :-)

Have you seen Daddy P's blog today? He has wheeled out an old friend. It kinda shows you the softer side of him. I for one am a little sacred by this ...........
However, it got me to thinking about dear old 'Snowy' who has accompanied me through out my life. He is a bit camera shy .. and will remain so just for now .... but you never know he maybe pursuaded to show himself, stitches an all???

7th June 1979

Thursday 7
Business Studies cancelled
Made lasagne al forno & beef bourguignon
Played tennis 8 -9 pm with Jim, Fi & Ken
Me & Ken won 6-0, 6-1
Sam phoned me at 11.00
He was awful, accusing me of all sorts = horrible boy! (obviously didn't like me playing tennis with some other bloke who I have no idea is now!!)

Well what a busy 7th June this is!!

I have Olga staying and she is having a great time. She slept well last night but the Posse were so excited I had to say 'shuuush' on more than one occasion in the wee small hours.
Today I took her to meet my family.... She was welcomed with open arms and my 2 brothers were in awe at her. My Teen and niece were slightly 'OMG' and my 77 year old Mum was totally bemused.
We went to the Edwardian Day that is an annual event in Ainsdale. I must say that the parade was a bit poor but the tea and cake on the Vicar's lawn was fabulous. It was here that one of my brothers (who are a lot older than 70s) decided that Olga should have a photo session. The look on his face I think he was in 'imagination of the content mode' !!!!






I was this church's Rose Queen when I was 11/12

Oh wow the church seemed to me today as an adult so small. I last set foot here some 30 years ago.
I met the mother of one of my attendants today. I recognised her instantly and her me after 35 years had passed. Sadly she told me that they had no children at church now!!
A note to self .. when you have international visitors always remember to charge your camera batteries... we went to the seaside and the camera died ..... but this where Olga went




The other thing to day (gosh it is late now & hope I don't miss it)
IT IS KEVIN's (ALL THAT IS FUEL MY BLOG) BIRTHDAY


so I reckon that in 1979 he was still in short trousers.. maybe 6/7 years of age ... OMG how old does that make 70's feel lol

So in honour of 'Sir' K




& a double bonus a cake delivered by DP himself :-0