In the swim with chickens

Mas and I went swimming in the afternoon; it did not seem very tempting as the weather was dreary and grey. There were not many people in the pool, but Mas got talking to a man who was trying to learn how to swim. After showering and dressing we felt more lively than we had when we going into the pool.
I called Pete to see how he was, and while we were chatting his cat Calliope was meowing pitifully as she was trying unsuccessfully to bite Pete while he was talking.
There have been heavy rainfalls in some places, and in one area in Cumbria they had 12" in 24 hours which is the heaviest rainfall in the UK since they started keeping records.

Today Mas worked on his computer, and I raked and collected leaves from the garden, admiring the colours on the leaves of the cherry blossom tree. One of the neighbours from down the road stopped to talk; she was surprised to know that Salty belonged to us as he sits on her fence sometimes while he is admiring the chickens next door. I was surprised to hear about the chickens as I had recently said to Mas that I would have thought people would keep chickens while times are so hard now.

Later I saw Poppy who independently told me she wanted to have chickens, and had been looking up on the Internet how to care for them. She also said she would call for me sometimes when she was going to walk the dog, and we could walk together.

In the afternoon we went to Borehamwood and got some shopping, and a cat collar for Salty. When we got home I put a collar on Salty with the cat door magnet on it and, surprisingly he was purring all the time while I adjusted it.

Laater we had a thunder storm and hail. In the evening we watched an episode of Merlin which is silly, but fun.

Art and Antiques at Olympia and Xmas decorations

It was a grey, windy drizzly day, and I spent time 'being restrained'. I also emailed Christian who has been sending me articles and links about the swine flu injection. I also heard from Christiane and we planned when to meet tomorrow as she has tickets for the Art and Antiques Fair at Olympia.

Today we met up at 10.30am, and travelled to Olympia on underground trains. We were not quite sure if her ticket would admit two of us, so en route we planned an alternative day out. As it happened we were both admitted after having our handbags searched.

There was a lot to see of both the antiques and the art which had been collected from a variety of periods including Art Deco. It was an interesting exhibition, and I found some of the art quite amazing. I really liked this small, jewelled, enameled picture.

After a while we stopped for a tea/coffee break and made a picnic from the food we had bought with us, and talked of interesting things for a while. We then continued looking, and Christiane found out where she could get her pearls professionally restrung from one of the dealers.

When we had seen everything' we decided to go home on the bus so that we could see the Christmas lights which have been turned on now. We caught the bus and looked at the decorations which seemed better than for a few years, but it was difficult to see as there was a log jam of buses in the way. We got off at Oxford Circus, where the decorations did not seem quite so good, and then walked to Tottenham Court Road to get the train home as the buses seemed to be going so slowly.



























I felt quite tired by the time I got home, so we relaxed and watched TV. While we were doing this the tabby cat into the house through the cat door, but ran away when he saw me. Later I saw him in the garden with Salty.

Two films and two paintings

I woke up from a nightmare, which is unusual for me. Once we were downstairs we had a suspicion that the rogue tabby cat has been in the house again as Salty's food was neatly eaten, and the plates licked clean. I spent some time on necessary housework, then took out some of my paintings. I decided to put two of them on the website, so photographed them.

In the afternoon we watched Diagnosis Murder and in the evening a tape of Heaven's Gate; it is visually beautiful, but I had not remembered that it had such an enigmatic and negative ending.

Today , after breakfast I began painting a view using very restrained colours which is quite a challenge for me. Having had enough of being restrained I thought I would have lunch, as I went downstairs I noticed I had paint under my fingernails, so scrubbed my hands, and glancing in the mirror found I had dark paint on my teeth, which gave me a jaunty medieval air.

Later as a respite from subtlety I put my bright pictures up on my website.

In the evening we watched Les Visiteurs, with Jean Reno and Christian Clavier. Despite having seen this quite a few times it always makes me laugh, and that is a good way to end the day

Lunch with Robert and bright walk

Salty took his hedgehogs upstairs this morning, and put them on the bed. He had black oil on both his ears, so later I tried to remove it with detergent which did not work at all. Trying my old remedy I warmed up some butter and rubbed it into his ears, and did get off some of the oil. Salty was looking very dishevelled and scruffy with patches of fur stuck together, and smelling strongly of butter, and by the time I was finishing up he was growling, and so was I. Later he thanked me for doing it though.

It was windy and wet, but we decided to go to St. Albans and have lunch with Robert. Poor Tania is still feeling tired after the flu, so decided not to join us. We met in Sazios and had a bottle of wine and lots of talk while we ate. The weather had improved a bit, and we got our shopping from the market afterwards as the traders began packing up. Later I heard that there had been a tornado in Essex, it lasted for less than a minute, but the tornado tore roofs off and did a lot of damage.

Once home Christiane phoned and said she could not meet as we had planned to go to the Tom Merrifield exhibition in Hampstead tomorrow.

We woke up to a bright day, and as we were having breakfast Salty entertained us by pouncing on the rainbow lights from the crystal that I had made spin slowly in the sunlight. Mas and I decided to go for a walk and take advantage of the good weather, so we walked in Edgwarbury Park, round the flower beds, the football pitch as the players were packing up, and into the forest. We saw lots of squirrels running about, and birds feasting on berries.

Flu jab and Friday 13th!

In the afternoon I walked down to the doctor to have a seasonal flu injection. There were a lot of us waiting, and before I went in a patient came out feeling rather faint, and he said it had been very painful. When it was my turn it was quick and painless, and then I was told I should have a swine flu injection, and should book an appointment before I left.

I went off to the library and returned my books, and then found some new ones to take home. Looking at the biographies I was surprised to see that John Le Mesurer had been divorced from Hatti Jacques, and that his subsequent wife had an affair with his best friend Tony Hancock. If all that had happened today it would have kept the gossipy celebrity magazines going for months.

Pete phoned, and we chatted for a while which was cheering. In the evening we watched The Odd couple by Neil Simon, with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, which had some very funny scenes.

Today I walked off to Edgware as we had a circular telling us that Mas should have a swine flue jab too, (because he lives with me) so I went to make an appointment for him. There was a lady shouting in the reception area in a very arrogant way, and I was pleased to leave as it had been so noisy I could not hear myself think. I also picked up Mason's medicines from Boots chemists, but when I got home we found that they had left out the essential medication.

We drove down to Edgware and sorted it all out. The drivers all seem to be driving in a reckless and strange way today, so we then went off to Stanmore, and Mas had another go at sorting out his bank account and setting up direct debits. Everything seems very annoying today, and we remembered it was Friday the 13th (ooo err). This done, we had lunch in the Man in the Moon to cheer ourselves up, and a glass of red wine, and left feeling more relaxed.

Suspicious and virtuous characters

I spoke to Margaret who has been feeling ill for quite a while. I also managed to catch up on a few emails, and went for a long walk in the afternoon.

When I was doing things in the kitchen I noticed a couple of suspicious characters looking at Ben and Poppy's house, but luckily Ben had seen them and told them to clear off, which was good.
Mas went over to talk to Poppy and Ben for a while in the evening.

Despite the weather being really cold Mas and I reluctantly dragged ourselves out and away, and went swimming. As it was so cold there were hardly any people in the pool. At one point two very tattooed people jumped into the pool, and swam for about five minutes and left looking virtuous and pleased with themselves. Mas and I managed to stay in for an hour. We felt much warmer when we left, and invigorated.

On the way home we stopped off to get some food for Salty, and a couple of other things.
In the evening I began to think about what I want to paint next, and trying to whip up some enthusiasm.

Fun flying visit and burglary

Pete phoned to say he and Lorraine would be calling in briefly before going to a wedding reception at Hatfield House, around 6.00 in the afternoon. They also planned to stay overnight and have breakfast with us before going back to Brighton.

I tidied up a bit, and they arrived as planned. We managed to have time to chat before they went off for the evening. Mas and I had dinner and watched TV until they returned. Then Mas made a sandwhich for them.

In the morning we had a light breakfast, just toast and coffee, but hung around talking for a while, and sorting out a few jars of jam for them to take. I tried to persuade Pete to take some of his books and old records, but he only took a couple of books back. They left before lunch as Lorraine's parents were visiting Brighton briefly.

When they left we felt at a bit of a loss, so went to Stanmore and got shopping, and had a Sunday lunch at The Man in the Moon which was very enjoyable.
Later that night we found out that the house next door, but one, had been burgled, probably when we were out. The robber had forced the front door and gone in that way!

Alls well that ends well

Mas was to meet friends , so I did more leaf sweeping, and walked for a while in the afternoon. I saw Maheena and Glen briefly, and Ben and Poppy, otherwise a fairly uneventful day.

We went to Stanmore, and Mas found out that money had been fraudulently taken from his account, so after several consultations the bank said that they were unable to prevent these people from taking more for about three weeks, which seems extraordinary. From our point of view the only thing to do seemed to be to close the account and open a new one which is what Mas did. After this we went to the Man in the Moon for a restorative coffee, but this turned out to be so horrible that I could not drink mine. What is going on?

Today I had to go back to the hospital again to see one of the surgical team. Once again I was reassured that all was well, and given another appointment for May next year; I am so pleased that they are taking such good care of me.


When I left the hospital I found it had been raining, but the sun came out briefly and I looked at St. Stephen's church which is undergoing restoration.

When I got home I caught up on a few emails. Mas had bought a couple of Larel and Hardy fims, and we watched one of them. Toby phoned in the evening and chatted which was a nice end to the day.

Tania getting better, and good news for me

On Monday I walked to Stanmore and posted my letter to claim £20, 500.00 as I have been told I have won this! If only! I also went to the bank and got a small amount of shopping and walked back in the sunshine. I saw Ben who is rebuilding the entrance to their house, and also saw Maheena and Glen, and chatted to each in turn.


I swept up leaves as usual, and later called to see how Tania was. She had the flu in a mild dose, but it still seems pretty horrible, and she did not sound well at all, but is over the worst now.
I then spent ages working out how much we spend on gas and electricity, and changed our supplier which should save us more than £100.00 a year, in theory. At this rate I will soon be rich!


Today I went off to hospital to find out the results of my scan. After waiting for almost two hours I saw the doctor who told me that my scan was clear, and blood tests were fine too. I am glad that they take such good care of me!

When I left the hospital, the sun was shining after a heavy downpour of rain, and all seemed right with the world.


































In the evening we went next door to Glen and Barry's, and had some sherry, lots of talk and dinner with them. Having put the world to rights we took the long journey home, and watched a quick episode of P.G.Woodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster before bed. A good day!

Swine Flu and Halloween followed by rainbows

Yesterday was our day to go to St.Albans, but when we phoned Robert we found out that poor Tania has got Swine Flu. I decided it was safest not to meet with Robert as my immunity may be a little low. In any case I was feeling a bit under the weather and did not think the drive would make me feel better, so I decided to take it easy all day.

Later Mas and I got some shopping at Stanmore, and stocked up on Halloween treats. We only had two groups of children visit, the younger ones being watched by their parents at a safe distance. Sadly people are afraid for the safety of their children. Later, people started letting off fireworks, and this will probably go on for weeks now, but is not very comfortable for the animals.

This morning the sun was shining while we had breakfast. This time of the year the sun is so low that it shines through the Chrystal ball, that Toby bought in Portugal, which hangs in our window. This causes an array of small rainbows, that look like exotic tropical fish, to cover walls and ceiling. As they move slightly it gives Salty endless fun chasing them and trying to catch them.

I had a nice email from Therrie giving me all the interesting news from Basle, and did a bit more pinning and sewing. For someone who does not like sewing I seem to do lots of it.

Routine CT scan

I called Diane today as we had planned to meet tomorrow, and I started making a new cover for the sofa in the conservatory as the old one had water marks on it that I could not remove. I did some leaf sweeping up, and in the evening we watched New Tricks.

Today I went off early to the Royal Free Hospital and had a blood test before going downstairs for my CT scan. This has now become a familiar procedure for me with the warm flush that you get, once the dye is injected into you. The good part is that there is no need to undress or even take your shoes off.

I was going to meet Diane in the foyer, but the entrance is being redesigned, and there is no foyer at this time. I called Diane, and we met walking towards each other on Haverstock Hill. We went into the George pub and I had a ginger beer, and we talked for a while before walking up to Hampstead.

We had a takeaway sandwich sitting in the sunshine watching the tourists coming to visit Fenton House, which is late 17th centuary, and has important collections of musical instruments, embroideries and china. We did not go in, but walked to the Whitestone Pond and then back to the station and then back home.

Plants and Secondhand Lions

Salty heroically bought home another minute mouse this morning, thankfully he does not deposit them on the bed. Later I re potted some of the cactus plants, which is always a bit of a prickly job.


We have quite a few plants, more than we have the space for, but somehow I cannot throw them out. One of them we bought years ago when it was about 3 inches high, now it has reached the ceiling and is bending to grow along it so I must prune it soon ( next spring) Cuttings from a Kangaroo Vine that Maureen gave us years ago has also reached the ceiling....if I put a net across the room they would meet in the middle.


Today Mas went off to meet a friend, and Glen called in, as planned, bringing a bottle of sherry with her. We sat in the conservatory as the sun was glimmering paley through the clouds, but at least it was bright in there. We had tea and Stollen which everyone seems to like, at least ones who like marzipan, and talked for a few hours.


Later I walked down to Edgware to pick up a few items from what we call the cheap shop, this shop sells all kinds of odd things that it is hard to find elsewhere. It is rather melancholy to see the evenings drawing in so early now.


We watched a film called Secondhand Lions with Robert Duvall and Michael Caine in it. We had seen this film before, but it is such a good film we enjoyed it as much as the first time we saw it.

Sorting things out and School of Rock

On Saturday we went off shopping, and had lunch at the Man in the Moon. Afterwards I spent time sweeping up leaves from the front garden path and pavement in the interest of keeping the peace, and tidiness, but I enjoy it too.

Toby phoned in the evening and chatted which was nice. Mas and I watched School of Rock in which Jack Black, who wants to be a rock star, poses as a substitute teacher. It is funny and curiously uplifting.

Today I did more leaves, and saw Maheena and Glen. Later I began to tidy up my studio which has all my art stuff, knitting stuff, and sewing stuff all untidily stuffed into small spaces. I got out all my knitting projects which are only half done, and I hope to finish over the winter.

The Affordable Art Fair

Today I went off by tube to Sloan Square to meet Pat at the Oriel as planned. We were going off to The Affordable Art show in Battersea Park, bur had a drink in the downstairs bar, which Pat liked, before we set off. We took the courtesy car to the show, scrambling out of it in a stiff and undignified manner from the seat over the boot.

Pat had not been to one of these shows before, and I was not sure if she would find it boring after a while, but she did not, and took a real interest in the artwork. I saw my friend from the Scottish Art Gallery. I always look carefully at his exhibition because he shows interesting and colourful art. This is the 10th year he has shown work at The Affordable Art Fair, two displays each year and he used to go to the Chelsea Art show as well. http://www.scottishartportfolio.co.uk/

We looked at pictures until we both got really hungry, and finding a cough sweet was not enough, we went to the cafe on the premises and had a Cornish pastie each (the worst I have ever eaten) with salad, and a flapjack biscuit.

Thus fortified we continued looking at the art. Having looked at everything, and feeling tired we decided it was time to leave. We waited momentarily for the courtesy car, and had more comfortable seats this time. As we drove across the bridge the view was stunning because everything was bathed in bright light with the setting sun, and the Thames looked as if it was liquid gold. One of the other passengers asked if we could all drive up to Edinburgh by the scenic route, avoiding all that motorway nonsense. It would have been nice......! On reaching Sloan Square we slipped into the tube and went in different directions home. Pat's parting shot was that we would have to think of somewhere nice to go next month.

When I reached Edgware it was dark with a new moon looking very evocative. I decided to walk for a bit more exercise, and as I was going along a car pulled up, and my terrible neighbour asked if I would like a lift home! I was so surprised, and all the way back he talked about cars, nothing controversial at all.

On not being too serious!

This morning our neighbour spent a lot of time putting up a flimsy fence, to prevent us walking around the gate, as we all have for years, and to prevent us putting one footstep onto his property!

Coming home later, I saw Ben across the road, and crossed over to chat to him, but Salty had followed me outside and was meowing loudly, and looking as if he would run across our road. At the same time Ben's dog was barking and jumping up on the inside of his front door, so Ben said they would come round in the evening.

When Ben and Poppy came round we had coffee and caught up to date with certain local events and chatted for a while. Poppy was trying to persuade Ben to get us a metal detector, so that we can go off and find buried Roman treasure, and we generally had a funny time. On leaving, Poppy ran noisily and extravagantly across our neighbour's gravelled front garden...so there! She did make us laugh.

Buying, not selling

I called Pat as it was her birthday today and arranged to meet later in the week. I also spoke to Diane who is off to France tomorrow on the Eurostar.

I walked down to Edgware with the idea of selling a few books I did not want, but ended by buying 'My family and other animals', which is a favourite book; I had given it to someone to read in hospital years ago, but it had not been returned, so now I will have the treat of reading it again.

Today on the spur of the moment we went off to St. Albans to get some fresh fruit and vegetables, and we had lunch at Sazio's. The drive was lovely, very colourful because the leaves are all changing colour on the trees.

In the evening, hearing shouting, we discovered the police were visiting our neighbour, so we will have to see if this escalates!

Exorcist needed

The cat bought in a very tiny snail which I tried to take away from him, but he ate it, cracking it like a nut, but a piece of it must have got stuck on his tooth as he was comically trying to take it off. Obviously this cat has a French ancestor.

We had rather a subdued Sunday recovering from our adventures yesterday. Pete called to see if we had got home without too much hassle. We watched an old 'Ello 'Ello, otherwise pottered around keeping a low profile.

This morning Mas went shopping, and bought some batteries for his keyboard, the same make as the original ones, and magically they worked, and the keyboard was working again. Once Mas began using it as usual after some time a message came up saying someone else was reading his emails. This then involved contacting the help line and changing the passwords.

I found that I had been billed for a newsletter which I thought was free, so had to sort that out. In the meantime the sound on the TV went! We contacted the TV repair man again, and he said he did not know what the matter was, but he would call in again later to see what was going on.

Later we found that the TV was working properly again, so phoned the TV man again and told him that the TV worked, but we thought maybe we needed the services of an exorcist instead.

Leaving aggravations and going to Brighton

Yesterday morning Mas took the video player back to the shop for repairs, and bought some new batteries for his computer keyboard, but when he tried them on his return it would still not work. At this point my computer started misbehaving too, and switching itself off after having clicking fits.

We had some home made vegetable soup for lunch and I went into the garden and cut the grass and viciously swept up leaves till I felt less frustrated.

Today we got up and organised quickly, and went off to Mill Hill to take the train to Brighton. There were problems because of a suspected fire so we had to take a different route and go for part of the journey on the tube, all of which took more time than we had planned for.

Once in Brighton we walked to Pete's house, but momentarily no one was in, so we were much relieved to see him when he came back from the corner shop, as we were beginning to think we had come on the wrong day. From that point on we had a lovely day, meeting Pete's friends and chatting to everyone. We had a really nice pub lunch together, and then moved to a pub across the street where the chatting and drinking continued. It was nice to see so many people enjoying each others' company and looking so cheery.

The jorney home was very slow, and we ended getting home around 1.00am, and had some soup before going off to bed; a memorable day!

Letter to the police and electrical problems

I finally finished putting up the curtain pelmet, and having tidied up went for a walk. In the evening we watched 'What women really want' which we have seen before, but it still has some very funny moments.


This morning I found Salty had left a present of the smallest mouse in the world in the kitchen for us; of course it was dead poor thing. Later in the day I walked to Edgware, and posted the letter we had written to the police about the vandalism to our tree. I also bought table tennis balls for Pete's cat Calliope, hoping she would play with them as much as Salty does.


Poppy called in for a chat, and bought some special herbs for us to use when we made dinner; we had previously tasted a meal that she had made with them, and it was delicious. We did use the herbs as suggested, but forgot to add the lemon juice, and somehow it did not taste quite the same.


We found that our TV would not work, and luckily when we called the repair man, he came over and told us after looking at our setup that the video player we had recently bought was causing the problems, so he disconnected it so that we could return it to the shop for repairs. Next Mason's keyboard to his computer stopped working, so assuming it was batteries he replaced them, but to no effect, it still would not work.


Diane phoned to say she would be going to France soon for a few days. Luckily we were able to watch New Tricks later as the TV was working.

Bullying vandal and paintings to Guernsey

Today Mason had words with the vandal next door, but to no avail, as he feels justified in doing anything he wants, and has not got the power of reasoning like most people. Maddening!

I wrapped and posted my paintings off, and feel very pleased that these Guernsey landscapes will belong to someone who lives there. Sarnia Cherie! I also called Pete to find out what had been happening in Guernsey as he had been too tired to interrogate yesterday.

This is the evening view from my studio, and Salty playing inside the studio. Watched another Poirot this evening.

Tree vandalism and two landscapes bought

We discovered today, that while we were out yesterday, our vandalising neighbour had taken a ladder into our front garden and cut off several branches from our Robinia Frisia tree, and one large one from about half way up the tree. These branches did not overhang his front yard as those had already been cut off, bit by bit, by him on other occasions. He hates trees, especially those that loose their leaves in the autumn in case some blow onto the shared garden path or his cars. The tree looks quite unbalanced now. Mas and I spent quite a bit of time ineffectively fuming about it.























Pete's birthday today, and he and Lorraine are flying back from Guernsey. Later Pete phoned and said he had really enjoyed his holiday. Another good thing happened; two of my original paintings were sold today. In the evening we watched one of Agatha Christie's Poirots with the excellent David Suchet.

Art London, The Royal Hospital, Chelsea

This morning, after a slow breakfast we took the tube to Sloan Square as we had planned to go to Art London. After a large white wine in the Oriel which tasted like green cooking apples ( I think I will give this one a miss next time) we walked towards the river, and into the grounds of the Chelsea Hospital where an enormous marquis had been set up to house the art works.

The facilities were very good, and the whole exhibition gave the feeling of being light and airey. There was plenty to look at, and some of the paintings were of very high quality. Here are some rather quirky and interesting exhibits:

This was made from metal cutouts on individual wires.

By the time we left I felt I could barely stand up, but we walked back to Sloan Square,in the twilight, to get on the tube and go home again. I was also feeling really hungry, so Mas got me some chocolate (oh no!) which I ate in a trice and felt much better afterwards.

When we came out at Edgware we drove promptly to a Harvester bar in Mill Hill and had huge salads and chicken to eat.

Once home Salty made us welcome by being pleased to see us again.

Fundraising for Incognito Theatre Group

Today we drove over to New Barnet to go to a fund raiser for the Incognito Theatre Group which was being held in St. Mark's Church Hall. We talked to various interesting people there, including someone who can fix computers. We also met up with Maria and Myk, and had tea and homemade cake, and I bought some nice greeting cards too.

When we left we decided to look in the church before going home. Maria and Myk came as well, and we were talking to either to the verger, or the vicar for a while, and his wife was flower arranging. The services are a High Church of England, but they have been sharing the facilities with a Greek Orthodox community for years, who have now found a church for themselves.




































We spent some time looking at the religious paintings; Myk was being funny suggesting we were about to be struck by a thunderbolt for being irreverent, but we left all the same!

When we got home I found I had an email from Betty and Jana which was a nice surprise.

Patterned covers and Harleqin Blues

Mas had his flu jab today without any ill effects. I phoned Margaret who has been ill for two weeks, and now has a troublesome cough.

Having recharged some batteries we can now use the TV remote to change channels. Apparently trying to do this manually does not work. I finished painting the second chair, and did some mending and other things that had to be done. The weather was sunny, and I thought about Pete and Lorraine winging their way off to Guernsey today.

This morning when we woke up Salty was sleeping curled, up next to Mas, with his head on his favourite toy, the hedgehogs.....he looked the picture of innocence. When I went downstairs I found he had been up the chimney, and had been having fun making sooty paw prints on the cream covers again. Later I made a catfoil out of plastic coated board, and bent it to make a fireguard so that the chimney cannot be seen by him.

My stupid computer was not working properly so I took the opportunity to go to Watford on the bus, and walked through The Harlequin Centre with the idea of buying some blue fabric dye and swimming goggles. I got the dye, but the sports shops all seem to be closed down now.















Christmas decorations are already in some of the shops. I walked through the covered market, but did not see anything that tempted me there.














The bus journey home seemed rather depressing, I think it is because the nights are drawing in so quickly now.

Jumpy people and setbacks.

I went off to the library, got out some new books then walked to the Broadwalk. I found a birthday card for Pete, which, when you open it, a football crowd sings the Chelsea song, loudly. I showed it to Mas who almost jumped put of his skin when he opened it. It had the same effect on the cat when his curiosity got the better of him as well.

Today I went off to the Dental Hygienist, then Mas and I went to Stanmore to get shopping. Accidentally we backed the car out knocking another car that had parked in the wrong place, making a small dent in the side. We gave our insurance details and expect to hear more about this later.

Once home I could not make my computer work properly, and we found we were unable to change the channel on the TV. I also noticed that a tooth has been visibly scratched. I guess it is one of those days when a couple of stiff G&Ts and a large bar of chocolate would help.

Sprucing up

We drove up to St. Albans to have lunch with Tania and Robert at the Bua Thai restaurant, and get our shopping. We had a nice lunch together, but I still did not feel quite well and now had a bit of a cough as well. We got our fruit and vegetables and went home.

My computer is playing up again which is disappointing as it had been behaving normally for a while. The TV is also being difficult, but luckily it was mostly only the batteries in the remote control.

Today I undercoated the other wicker chair. I have decided that we should make and eat soups for the midday meal, as it would be healthy and hopefully not fattening. we had a very nice tomato soup today made from the following:

12 tomatoes, 1 medium onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 dessertspoon of olive oil, 3 cups of chicken stock, 2 cups of milk, 1 cup of basil, 1/2 cup of parsley (luckily from the garden), pepper and pinch of turmeric.

Method: cook chopped onion and garlic in oil (adding oil if needed), then add chopped tomatoes, stirring for a while, before adding the stock. Cook slowly for about an hour before blending (or sieving, depending how particular you are) then put the mixture into the blender with herbs and milk, and blend. Reheat with seasoning and serve.

Later I cut my hair which always makes me feel better (like Samson in reverse).

Dentist and wicker working

Mas had to go to the dentist again. The dentist had kindly wanted to finish his work on Mason's tooth before rushing off to the airport to be with his ill father, he also bought another Dan Brown book for me, despite having so many other things to think about.

I still have a sore throat, but decided to paint an undercoat on one of the wicker chairs we had bought at the car boot sale. It looked a bit weird, and Mas suggested we (we?) think of another colour.

This morning I felt a bit better, and we went off to Stanmore to do shopping and go to the bank. While there, we had lunch at the Man in the Moon which was nice. In the afternoon I finished off the chair in a very pale creamy white which slides unobtrusively into our colour scheme, and Mas thought it looked good.

Salty slides unobtrusively into our colour scheme too!

Pete returns home and I rest my voice

Pete, Mas and I had a leisurely breakfast, and hung about chatting until it was time for Pete to leave. We took him off to Mill Hill station, and returned home. I spoke to Diane who was sounding cheerful, and got a nice email from Joan with a picture of one of the dogs, Maggie, who is feeling the change in the weather. I can understand how Maggie feels as I have got a sore throat and feel like snuggling down too.

Today I went to the doctors and saw Dr. Briggs who is a very good doctor and has a great sense of humour. After looking at my throat, which he said was bright red, he asked if I was dribbling. I could not resist saying not more than usual, he then told me I must rest my throat, so I asked if that meant not shouting at my husband, and with a twinkle in his eye he said not for three days.

Mas had been waiting for me and we drove off to The Broadwalk and Boots to get my prescription. As we had to wait we had a coffee there too. Once home I spent the rest of the day resting my throat and the rest of me too. I did notice that the garden is growing clumps of fungi, which must be feeding on dead tree roots from the Ash tree we had to cut down.

Mas had to go off to the dentist again today, and came back with a very sensitive tooth. While he was away I cleared up and vacuumed as we were expecting Pete to come and stay overnight with us. we had also invited Poppy and Ben to come over for the evening and have a meal. Jana also flew back to the Czech Republic today.














Hibiscus flowering





Poppy and Ben arrived first and we sat in the conservatory chatting and having some drinks and nibbles; Poppy had made a lovely starter with aubergine and other ingredients. Ben was joking about some rather explicit books he had been trying to sell at the car boot which made us laugh a lot. Pete arrived looking very formal in a dark suit, and a bit tired. We went into the dining room when Mas called, and he had put out the meal which was chicken based and very nice followed by a blackberry crumble and a lemon meringue which Poppy had bought over, and we proceeded to overcook at the wrong oven temperature! Despite that we all had a cheery time together.

It was a nice evening, but we did not stay up too late as we were all rather tired.

Elstree car boot sale

After breakfast today Mas and I drove off to a local car boot sale, we knew Poppy and Ben would be there too, selling things, as we approached the place we saw lots of different people leaving holding bundles and bags of things they had bought looking very pleased.
There were rows of cars and vans spread over a couple of fields. We located Poppy and Ben, and Lilu was in their van; they had been there since 5.30am. We then went off to look at what was being sold elsewhere.

We found two good wicker chairs, and bought them for a total of £5.00. Ben and Poppy said they would take them home for us which was a great help. Mas and I wandered up and down until we got really thirsty and sat down and drank a coke each.














People began to pack away their goods, and I got talking to a lady about healthy diets. I bought a nice M&S silk shirt from her for 25p, and moving along, I saw a pretty blue sweater being folded and put away. I was offered 4 for £1.00, but just bought the sweater for 25p. We seem to have done well with our purchases, and Ben and Poppy were pleased with how much they had sold as well!