Burns Night

had the most fantastic evening at the rose and crown, rickmansworth, with a group from work.

this was the first Burns Night i have been too and, lord!!! what fun it was!!

this was the programme of events:

piper outside to pipe us in

first course of salmon/or scotch broth (i had salmon)

piping in of the haggis - with poem!!

toast to the haggis (with whisky)

main course: haggis (yumm!! - this was totally delicious!!)

toast to the lassies

toast to the laddies

pudding - not sure what this was but it was marvellous

then a space was cleared and we had a tutored ceilidh - which was HUGE fun

at some point people from different tables got up and read a burns poem each but i forget when, exactly, this happened - david was the brave soul from our table!!

we all had such a terrific time that we resolved to come again next year - hoorah for matt who organised it all with such enthusiasm!!

if i were clever enough to know how to put links, i would do one for the pub as it is well worth a visit: fantastic atmosphere, welcoming staff, lovely old building and wonderful food! - please go if ever you find yourself in the area - i'm sure you wouldn't be disappointed!!

grrr!!! car parking!!!

i have just written a very moany entry about car parking in watford

but then i read it through and it really was so very boring that i felt it just didn't deserve to be published

so i deleted it

and all i can say is:

don't attempt the shrubbery car park by the town hall

today it took my money, let me through the barrier and then: there were no spaces!!

it's rubbish!!!

wheeeeeee!

phew! well what a week that was for weather!!

stella phoned on thursday to say that a tree in the park over the road from their home had fallen towards the houses, just missing the windows of next-door-but-one and blocking the road. fortunately no one was hurt though it did cause disruption for some hours and missed s and r's car by inches!!

fran and alex's area lost most of their fences and numerous twigs and branches came off my trees though everything else survived intact. there used to be 3 large pine trees in our garden but 2 of them were damaged in the hurricane of 1987 so the previous owner had those 2 chopped down to stumps. i was a little worried about the remaining one - it is too far from the house to do any damage but didn't fancy all the clearing up!! but it's a sturdy old thing and is obviously good for a few years yet.

other than that it has been a quiet week:

went to janine's on wednesday - and then as soon as i came home, started to make myself a cheese roll - and sliced through the top of my left thumb!! (it is only a little cut - that was a bit over-dramatic!! - lol!!)

eleanor phoned on thursday to say tutorial was cancelled because of the storms and disruptions on the roads - so spent a cosy evening in front of the fire with a mug of hot chocolate, a blanket and a book - mmm - bliss!!

a temporary (january-related) low

well it's been an absolutely dire week at work - totally totally dreadful!

thank heavens for lovely friends:

book group on wednesday: which was here and we discussed 'the abortionist's daughter' by elisabeth hyde

women's group on thursday: which was at cathy's and we decided on the programme for the year

evening with the neighbours on friday: which was at tess and richard's - and lara and ricky came too and so did tess from no 10 (whom i had not so far met)

and thank heavens for lovely relatives too:

stella, frankie, janey and eric who all (wittingly or unwittingly) managed to cheer me up when i was more than a little despairing

oh yes we did!!

no prizes for guessing where i went yesterday evening!!

janey, eric and lizzie came to stay and we went to the aladdin pantomime at the palace. kezia, jago, rich and most of rich's family (almost the whole of the front 2 rows!!) were there too - and a jolly time was had by all!!

it's years since i last went to a panto - since the girls were small in fact - and i really enjoyed it!! - it was a lot of fun!!

both thomas and daniel (k and j's cousins) were invited on stage to sing, mime and (in daniel's case) tell a joke!! and it was lovely to see kezia shouting and doing the actions in audience participation

we were supposed to be going to 'much ado about nothing' at the novello but, because i stupidly left it too late to get tickets, decided to say nothing and just turn up 'behind you!!' at the panto. i think james and imy were suitably aghast at the sight of us there!!

and then we all went back to jackie's and had a cup of tea and saw stella and clara, who can now walk (!!) - at least she does when she feels like it!

janey, eric and lizzie left around 10 this morning as they had to get back to ashby, load lizzie's stuff and take her back to sheffield

ricky came round and made short work of digging up the stumps of hedge along the front of my garden

and i've been doing my latest assignment most of the day

. . . and now that 2007 is here . . .

. . . this is it so far:

new year:

the meal at jude and john's was super - the whole evening was great fun - and we watched the 'fireworks on the green' from the back garden to the accompaniment of yowling foxes in the undergrowth

i dobbed out on the new's day walk and lunch at the clarendon as i really had too much to do at home - but called briefly on fran/alex on the way back and met alex's younger brother patrick who had stayed the night with them

wednesday evening:

met pauline in the essex - and saw the photos of sophie - she is lo-o-o-ovely!! babies eh?? they're just so-o-o exciting!!

yesterday (thursday):

to london after work to see the 'alice in wonderland' ballet at the coliseum. as a small child i had a book with the 'tenniel' drawings and at that time i found both the drawings and the story itself rather frightening. the plot was difficult to convey in dance and i think that if one had not read the book it might well have been confusing. that said, it was very enjoyable with some superb balletic sequences and i was impressed by the way the costumes and the make-up were so true to the original drawings - very clever!!

today:

stella, rich and the pies arrived this afternoon at jackie's - hoorah!! but i haven't been round to see them because

a) i woke very early this morning after a late night and have double vision from tiredness and

b) i have to get all the decorations and christmas tree down tonight . . .

altogether now . . . . aaahhh!!

final thoughts for 2006

post-christmas has been for me a quiet and peaceful time:
friday: went for meal in the evening with jackie and trisha to the 'windmill' at chipperfield - very pleasant!
saturday: lots of 'course' reading - French Revolution - and general tidying up - and watched 'The Hours' in the evening - excellent! - knitting too - have almost finished my scarf
today: stella phoned to say she rich and the pies were at luton on their way home - and then 30 minutes later they turned up in my driveway!! - they had forgotten jago's bupp - disaster!! - quick coffee/milk/ christmas cake and then they were off again
had text message from pauline to say tim and debbie's baby girl born at 10 this morning - hoorah!! - sophie may - lovely name!!
new year's eve dinner . . . is at judy and john's this evening - janey and eric, jane and dave and denny and jonno will be there too - and then i am going back to denny and jon's to stay the night - this is a great tradition!!
and so for all my readers near and far . . .
i wish you all a very
happy and healthy 2007
may all your trials and tribulations be small
and all your joys and triumphs be great
onwards and upwards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

away in a manger . . .

. . . is possibly my favourite christmas carol

when eric and i were little we lived next door to a lovely couple called nan and cecil pollett and every christmas eve we would go and sing a carol outside their kitchen door and they would invite us in for a hot drink and mince pies (nan pollett had the best hand for pastry that i have ever known!!). every year we would sing 'away in a manger' and every year o would say 'oh sing something different this year'. we never did!! children are such little traditionalists - we never needed even to discuss it - we just stood outside the door and sang - and it was the same very year.

this year, stella taught kpie to sing it - which she did beautifully of course!! - on christmas eve we had a little ceremony of jpie putting the baby in the crib while we all sang - kpie had a 'solo' on the first verse! prior to this, i had put the baby in the cupboard the crib stands on and got him out to hand him to jago. kpie and jpie spent much of the evening hiding him back in the cupboard when they thought no-one was looking - hahaha!

CHRISTMAS 2006:

christmas eve:

frankie and alex collected o and g and brought them down to bushey and stella, rich and the pies came over too. we had a lovely meal all together - we had lasagne, salad and crusty bread - and it was just great to have all the generations together - the great-grandparents (o and g) in their 80s, then me, then stella and rich and frankie and alex all in their 20s, then the pies:kpie, jpie and cpie all under 4 and last but certainly not least, pipkin! terrific atmosphere!!

christmas day:

o and g and i were up for 'quick breakfast' and then early mass - stella, rich and the pies were there too - and janet and geoff came as well - an added bonus!!

back to our house for salmon and brioches and coffee and/or milk and then communal present openings

frankie arrived while we were 'presenting' and then stelps and co left for lunch at jackie's

alex and malcolm came soon after - it did feel a bit like victoria station!! - and we had a (very) late lunch and just generally sat around talking and relaxing into the evening - very pleasant day for most of us - poor frankie was unwell again with a recurrence of the 'bug' she had a couple of weeks ago

(footnote: she is ok now but has passed it on to alex!!)

boxing day:

we were up late today for a day of 'doing nothing'

stella came round just before noon and so we all had lunch together which was nice and relaxing and then stella went back to jackie's

watched a bit of tv and played cards in the evening - thinking of boogs who used to love a game of cards!

yesterday:

i took o and g home and was back here mid afternoon

frankie and alex popped round - f had been to the mid-wife: all well.

today:

stella, rich and pies round for lunch - more left-overs!! - and kpie and jpie had some of the 'special' christmas cake we made back in the autumn - they enjoyed it - yay!!!

jpie went for a little sleep after lunch and kpie, stella, rich and i played a game of ludo - i must say they play a very peculiar version which consists of building 'barriers'!! which made it last for ages!!

so that's christmas 2006 - and it was lovely!!!

and this did stress me out . . .

. . . although i'm laughing now!! - almost!!!

i decorated the christmas tree tonight:

foil over the little table that it always stands on

trailed the lights from top to bottom and then checked that they were nicely distributed

decorations placed on the tree starting at the top and then proceeding downwards with military presicision

and then i started to push the whole thing into the corner between the two sofas where it always stands

and then the whole darned thing fell over!!

about half the decorations fell off

the lights became all twisted and tangled

and lots of the needles fell off and made a mess on the carpet!!!

hahahaha!!

well i got it up again but didn't have the heart to take everything off and start again

so it doesn't look at good as it normally does - the lights aren't really very well distributed now - and there is a decided 'lean' !! towards one of the sofas which i can't seem to correct

and i am a little bit worried that it may all fall down again in the middle of the night

but actually . . .

i think its quite funny really

hahahaha

christmas is coming . . . .

. . . and i was almost stressed about it!!

thursday before last:

infants' nativity play - aaahhh!! - was lovely and funny too with lots of topical bits (watford supporters, ofsted inspectors etc) as well as all the traditional parts - don't you just love the way the wise men always but always have to have a 'page' each so that every child gets to be in the play? - this felt like the beginning of christmas for me!!

last wednesday:

christmas lunch at school - which was lovely! - i sat with some wonderful children and monique - who is the school bursar - and a good time was had by all!! this was followed immediately by:

christmas shopping: had been starting to feel a bit panicky as i thought i had done so little - but when i looked at the stash i have been collecting everytime i see 'something-i-think-someone-would-like' i found i had done at least half of it!! so i only needed to finish off - managed that pretty sharpish so that now i think i really have finished the present shopping . . . and then that evening it was . . .

book group: at catherine's house where we had biscuits, mince pies and seasonal drinks and talked about tracy chevallier's 'virgin blue' which we had all enjoyed - but which still provoked quite a bit of discussion

friday:

collected the christmas tree after work then out in the evening for the p & t christmas 'do'. we went to the 'rose and crown' just outside harefield . food was excellent and then a space was cleared on the floor for scottish dancing - hoots mon!! - i have to say that mel, matt and i did very well (kath, chris and sarah declined to dance!) but guests at other tables (some of whom were 'drunk as stoats') were rubbish!!

today:

christmas lunch with the p & t team (yes i know we had christmas dinner on friday - this was christmas lunch - ok?) at '143' was very pleasant

the house is now all tidy so i am just about to go and decorate the tree, put wreath on front door and do rest of the decorations - and then tomorrow it is christmas lunch with the income team - i really am getting into the christmas spirit!!!

clara's baptism . . .

. . . was lovely!!

it was during the 10.30 mass at their local church so a very early start for all of us hertfordshire folk!

kezia and jago behaved beautifully . . . and so did the other children: freddie, thomas, jessica, toby, eve and isabelle all came too . . . and james and imy were great at looking after them - at 15 and 12 they were very grown-up!!

brian and fiona were the god-parents - and it was lovely to see other of stella's friends from school too - as well as heaps of relatives!!

clara was an absolute star!! i was in fits laughing when the water was poured over her head - she didn't mind the water at all - but she struggled in stella's arms so she could turn around and look to see where it had come from and where it was going - she is a very inquisitive child!!!

sadly, frankie was unable to come as she had a really bad case of what we think is gastro-enteritis - we all missed her and alex - it was the only blot on an otherwise perfect day!!

wildlife

when we first lived in this house, there was a huge pile of rubbish in one corner of the garden which a family of foxes had made their home. eventually we cleared it and the foxes had to move elsewhere - next door i think it was because i still see them about - they come through our garden when it is quiet - early morning or sometimes i see them just at dusk - and sometimes i see them crossing the road if i look out the window late at night

and we have a fair number of squirrel visitors too - they run along our back fence and leap across to next door's tree - i find it endlessly amusing to watch them chase each other and to skitter up and down the trunks of trees. for the first few years we lived here there was a totally mental squirrel who used to chase his own tail. we all loved him - he was crazy!!

we had a little hedgehog too at one time - we would put cat food just outside the back door and would hear him rattling the bowl on the path when he was feeding

today i was in the library at lunch-time and read an article in a newspaper which suggested that scientists' research appears to confirm that animals can have what we would take to be 'human' emotions like 'love'. i recall that some years ago boogs and i watched a tv prog about altruism in animals so i don't find this research so surprising.

and i remember one summer evening some years ago now when i was in the kitchen and heard a strange sound outside - rather like a mewing or squeaking sound. i went out and found 2 hedgehogs - one was quite plainly unwell and the other was quite obviously distressed. the ill one was making his way slowly across the lawn and the other was creeping along beside him making these snuffly noises. they appeared to be about the same size. i have often wondered what became of them - i have not seen a hedgehog in our garden since.

over-dramatic claptrap

i buy the 'mail on sunday' because i rather like the 'you' magazine - and the tv pages are useful - although i only ever watch about an hour's worth a week - but mainly i get it because

a) we always did (!!) and

b) there isn't a b) !!

so the truth is i don't know why i get it . . .

however . . . the front page headline this week made me realise that enough really is enough!!!

this was it:

'Police arrested me at dawn and threw me in a cell' !!!!!

i read the article and according to this 'Des Smith', he was awoken at his home in London at 7.20 a.m., taken to Stoke Newington police station and 'thrown in a cell alongside violent criminals'

now my understanding of 'dawn' is 'first light' which, as anyone who has ever seen the sunrise will know, occurs a good half hour before then. sunrise in london on 13 april this year was 6.09 a.m. not really 'dawn' then!!

and having read how he was 'dragged from his bed in a dawn raid' can we honestly believe that he was 'thrown' into a cell?

and what of the 'violent criminals'? slapped him with their hankies did they?

Little Pip

today. as promised, i shall write about pip!

which is the best news in ages!! (well since freddie was born in fact!!)

frankie is well but getting somewhat tired now - and looking forward to the end of term in just over a fortnight

she and alex have moved into a lovely little house with a south-facing garden which is just over a mile from here - they stayed with me for a short while before they moved in - which tbh was rather a strain for all of us!!

last thursday frankie went for another scan - and this time she saw pip's little face!!

pip's 'due date' is early march - although frankie so soo big now one wonders if she will be earlier than that!

we are all looking forward to pip's arrival!!

. . . and just a short note on the name . . . which won't really be pip! . . . although i do know which names have been chosen i shan't write them here!! - pip is just a sort of 'in utero' name and short for 'pipkin' - frankie's favourite from 'watership down'!!

E for exciting

I have exciting news!
Well . . . it's not 'news' at all really . . . but it IS exciting!
Frankie and Alex moved into their house last Friday
They are expecting their first baby (Pip) in March
They are getting married Christmas 2007
All this is 'old' news for family and friends - I just haven't written about it here yet - mainly because it was hard to set it down coherently!! and even now I don't really know where to start . . . so . . . instead here is:

OneWordMemeNoExceptionsandNoCheating
1. Yourself: Cross
2. Your boyfriend/girlfriend (spouse): Unique
3. Your hair: Short
4. Your mother: Demanding
5. Your Father: Patient
6. Your Favourite Item: Car
7. Your dream last night: Forgotten
8. Your Favourite drink: Coffee
9. Your Dream Car: Morgan
10. The room you are in: Library
11. Your Ex: Forgettable
12. Your fear: Rats
13. What you want to be in 10 years? Wiser
14. Who you hung out with last night? Self
15. What You're Not: Humble
16. Muffins: Blueberry
17. One of Your Wish List Items: Books
18. Time: Tide
19. The Last Thing You Did: Read
20. What You Are Wearing: Brown
21. Your Favourite Weather: Frosty
22. Your Favourite Book: Novel
23. The Last Thing You Ate: Sandwich
24. Your Life: OK
25. Your Mood: Anxious
26. Your best friend: Omnipresent
27. What are you thinking about right now? Studying
28. Your car: Blue
29. What are you doing at the moment? Thinking
30. Your summer: Stressful
31. Your relationship status: Solitary
32. What is on your TV? Nothing
33. What is the weather like? Rainy
34. When is the last time you laughed? Today
35. Who do you tag? Tag?

Back another time with updates!

silence reigned . . .

. . . and we all got wet

it has been a fairly quiet few days . . .

friday: fran and alex moved into their house

saturday: stella, rich and the pies were in watford so i went to see them at jackie's where they were staying.

kezia could hardly wait for me to get through the door before taking me off to see the wonderful shirt-folder she had made - she made it out of an old cardboard box and it will fold all shirts and t-shirts to EXACTLY the same size - brilliant!!! stella had cut her (kezia's) hair so it is just above shoulder length - looks very cute!!

jago is still intent on raising a laugh at every opportunity - if silence falls he just makes funny frog noises to make us chuckle

clara was having a quiet day

today:

morning: zipped to shopping centre as soon as open to get belt for the dyson - was only there about 20 mins and the place was heaving by the time i came out - but i had finished and could go home - phew!!

afternoon: stella phoned to say they were all home safely in sheffield - and again in the evening when we chatted for ages - for far longer than i actually saw her while they were down - she made me laugh so much my sides ache!!

brain in over-drive!!

it has been a challenging few days in the brain department!!

friday: admissions policy meeting in the evening - tortuous!!

saturday: my friend berny is going to peru for 3 months in the new year to teach special needs children. in order to raise money for the charity with which she is going she held a quiz night. I had organised a team (Team Freddie) - and it comprised:

Janey and Dave

Judy and John

Cat, David and Freddie (although Freddie was asleep all evening under the table!!)

Trisha

Moi

We had an entertaining and very funny evening

. . . and . . .

HOORAH!!

we won!!!

sunday - remembrance sunday: janey, eric and i visited with o and g and took them to mass -and then drove to nether heyford for sunday lunch at the old sun. we arrived at the village green just before the wreath laying so we heard the binyon poem and also the buglers playing the last post - which made g very happy - for the last 2 years i have marched in the procession with him but he is getting a little too frail for that now - so he was glad not to miss out altogether!

monday:

work: dire straits in the cash office due to staff absence so i was drafted in to help - some quick-thinking required!! very busy!!

evening: meeting at liz and david's where we looked at the second reading from sunday mass (which had been read at o and g's church in POLISH!!! - i haven't a clue why!! - maybe Daventry has a large Polish community now??). It was jolly hard going and my little grey cells were working over-time!! very pleasant group of people though and nice informal chat afterwards

today: philip called just as i arrived home so had a cup of tea with him and then frankie and i took some stuff to the house (i think she is actually moving in there tomorrow - yay!! - calm returns to the wassell house!!)

philosophy: and as if my brain hasn't been working hard enough . . . i have been wrestling with a philosphy essay to boot!!

pies and cakes

yesterday was the best day i have had in yonks:

collected stella and the pies and had quick coffee at jackie's

back here around 11 and made my christmas caakes - with stella's kezia's and jago's help (clara 'helped' by crawling around the kitchen floor investigating tully's dinner and pulling bottles out of the winerack!!). since kezia has a nut allergy i made the mixture without almonds, then piled it into 2 tins - one a little smaller than my usual one and the other a tiny loaf tin which is especially for k and j. i shall marzipan and ice the bigger one but only ice the little one. kezia was terribly excited to see her own special cake when it was baked. they both had a stir and made a wish

after lunch, k and j had a little nap while s and i had coffee and washed up and clara dozed a bit

we had a little time to play when the pies woke up and before i took them all over to cat and david's

had a coffee there and measured clara and freddie together - believe it or not they are EXACTLY the same length!! - clara is 8 months old today and freddie will be 4 months the week after next!

book group in the evening at jan's - 'lighthousekeeping' by jeanette winterson - excellent book which i can thoroughly recommend

quicksticks!!!

. . . because i really pushed for time tonight!!

. . . but soo much has been happening!!

thursday: frankie sent me text to say its ofsted for them on wednesday - just one day but enough to start a major panic by the sounds of it!!

friday: stella rich and the pies arrived in the evening - nipped round briefly - they are all well

saturday: frankie and alex got keys for their house so fran and i went round for start of cleaning process - stella and c visited - left around 3.30 for home as i had stuff to do here - fran went into school then - still hadn't come home by time i left for fireworks in the park. i always find the fireworks stressful - every year another reason!! - this year was no exception!! nice to see everyone though - and had nice chat in kitchen on our return which helped!! fran and alex home when i returned - tired!!

today: have been working almost all day on my music essay (sigh!!) - fran and alex went to the house and then on to school - it's just gone 8.00 now and they are only just leaving!! stella phoned not long ago re tomorrow (which i haven't written about so far but will update soon i hope)

barnaby bear (if you know what i mean)

the past few days have been busy . . .

monday ( flood in the office):

back to work after my hols. not an awful lot of work had been done while i was away due to the fact that the offices had been closed most of the week due to a mammoth flood which had occurred the week-end prior to my trip to cornwall. so it was all fairly hectic. much of the town hall decoration has been ruined, ceilings have come down, computer systems had been disabled - heaps of disruption in fact. it is all well under control now but there is still a lot of catching up to be done. VERY busy!!!

met pauline in the evening at the essex which was nice

tuesday (hallowe'en!!):

it's a sad fact but most people in england are very disapproving of trick-or-treating - and yes i know it is an idea imported by the colonials (lots of people say 'oh well it's an american thing' in a very dismisive way) and of course most of us still haven't forgiven them for the boston tea party (lol!!) but i think it is fun to dress up and call on the neighbours - when the girls were small we always made orange squash, mixed it with food colouring and served it to our visitors and called it stupid names like 'bat's blood' or 'spider juice' - it was just a bit of harmless fun. nowadays there seems to be far too much tsk-tsking going on!! kill joys!!!

wednesday (mass and grass):

all saints mass at school in morning - which was lovely although i found it more than a little emotional!! - cut the grass in the afternoon - i hope it will be the last time this year but as it is still quite mild and wet i suspect it will need at least one more - alex came home while i was mowing and not only finished it off but mended my lawn-mower as well - hoorah!!