WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE .......... but not at our house !!!

About a month ago, we had a letter to say that they would be changing all of the old lead pipes in our road and warned us that the water might be turned off ..... fair enough, I thought.

So, after a couple of weeks of disruption, mostly outside our house with temporary traffic lights and massive tarmac lorries, they finished but told us that they couldn't find ours, even after using high tech equipment and even though we remembered, be it many years ago, a plumber turning it off in the road when we had a leak under the floorboards in our dining room !!!

The next day, by coincidence may I add .....

.... our toilet started doing weird things so, the plumber came and fixed it. I told him they couldn't find our water so he said to call them out again.

After only a couple of days, a man came with water diviners and found it straight away and, within an hour, they had dug the pavement up and replaced the old lead pipe !!!  The old ways are often the best !

We now have to live with the above for a few days until the tarmac men can come and fill the hole in ! 

AND THEN ...... 

I had a phone call from our gas supplier ..... they told me it was a very important call and would I confirm my postcode.   After a bit of toing and froing with the usual ' why should I need to confirm my postcode with you ' etc. etc. they wanted to confirm another postcode on our account ....... it was my Dad's postcode and he died 10 years ago !!!! She then asked if I was finding it difficult to pay our bill as it was overdue ! I told her that it was due on the 20th March so it was only two days late and that if she looked at our account, I always pay in full and have been with their company for about forty years but I was now thinking of changing after this phone call !!!! She did apologise. If companies would sort out their administration, I think things would run much more efficiently !

I have just read all of that back and I sound like a miserable, old woman 😂

XXXX

image 1: via flickr, images 2, 3, 5 & 6: via me, image 4: via banggood, image 7: via pinterest, image 8: via euronics lifestyle

LUNCH ..... with old friends ..........

We went for lunch with friends that we have known for some thirty odd years. There were six of us. 

We had lasagne, we chatted, we touched on Brexit, knife crime and Shamima Begum, the Michael Jackson documentary ' Leaving Neverland ', the new Richard Gere series MotherFatherSon, our children, grandchildren, our homes and gardens, but mostly laughed about old times.

 I took my hostess a Muehlenbeckia ... my plant of the moment .... it should get bigger .....

..... like mine ! ..... in return, I received .....

..... a belated birthday present of two picture frames ! How lovely was that ?

We ooohhed and aahhhed over their kitchen and the rest of their beautiful home and then .....

.....  we drove home in the pouring rain !

XXXX

image 1: via flickr, image 2: via pinterest, image 3: via sarah raven, images 4, 5 & 6: via me, image 7: via international photo awards

RAINY DAYS, BITS + BOB'S, ODD'S + SOD'S ..........

It rained all day yesterday .....

On Tuesday, we had all of our trees cut as we always do in February ..... he also cut down our weeping silver birch tree ...... arghhhhhh, it was scary as it was a major part of our garden ..... but, it needed to go as it was taking up so much of the garden but, I don't like change ! When we moved here, thirty two years ago, it was a twig !!! I don't like cutting down trees either but, it had to go and now we can do something different at the bottom of the garden ..... it's a work in progress. 

Underneath the silver birch were ten ferns which I dug up on Thursday but they are just sitting in the rain as I haven't been able to get out there and put them in the ground. It looks like today will be as windy and wet as yesterday so the ferns will have to wait. 

This is a photograph of our children's infant/primary school that they went to thirty odd years ago. I took the photograph from my friends gorgeous Georgian house ..... she doesn't live there anymore. 

 The street where we live, in the snow 

This is on our landing .....

We have these finger plates on all of the doors in our house ..... I found  25 of them in a junk shop and paid £8 for the lot ! I also found a set of stair rods in our local hardware shop that had probably been languishing in the back of the shop since the Edwardian era ..... it was the kind of shop where you could describe vaguely what you wanted and they would know just what you wanted and where to find it. I don't think that I paid much for them either ! The hardware shop went a few years ago ..... I bet there were some gems that I missed in there that probably got thrown away.

This is me, in a changing room in Cambridge, waiting while my friend was trying clothes on !!! I had to do something to amuse myself !

Well, there you are, a mixture of nothing in particular ! It looks like there will be wind and rain again today ..... I must find something indoors to do. 

Are you all having a taste of the wet and windy weather ?

XXXX

images 1 & 2: via pinterest, image 9: via  black velvet ribbon, images 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8: via me

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME ..........

OH GAWD !!!

68 today ..... and, it snowed !

XXXX

CATKINS, CATS and QUIET ..........

I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to write about. January is nearly always a quiet month. I have been doing all of the usual mundane, everyday things but, you all do the same so I'm sure that you don't want to hear about that.

I bought four of these hellebore's at Christmas as they are lovely to decorate the house with. Two of them have gone over so, I just braved the cold and planted them in the garden. When I was out there, I noticed  .....

..... these catkins on our hazel, swaying about in the chilly breeze. We have never had any catkins on it before so, hopefully, we will get some hazelnuts. 

Catkins .....cats ...... nice link ?!!!!

We have had three cats .....

Jaffa was our first cat ..... we got him by default as my friend had got two kittens from a friend whose cat had had kittens .... one for her and one for a neighbour. But, the neighbour decided she didn't want him and nor did anyone else so, we had him and he was a lovely cat.

Then, same friend went away to Greece for her Summer holiday. Her cat was about to have kittens so, she left cardboard boxes out all around her home and gave me the key to water her plants and to check on her cat. I turned up one day, no sign of the cat, no sign of kittens in any of the boxes ..... checked upstairs and she had had the kittens in the middle of my friends bed ..... five kittens and placenta everywhere !!!!! I had to take the duvet to the laundrette as it wouldn't fit in the washing machine ...... I got some very funny looks while I was stuffing the duvet, covered in blood and fluids into the machine { she did throw the duvet away in the end you'll be pleased to know !!! }

Anyway, I had to take five kittens and the mum home as I didn't want to leave them there all on their own. We looked after them for about six weeks as the vet said it wouldn't be fair to move them. The runt of the litter struggled and, we did our best, with hot water and hot water bottles but she died. In the end, we ended up with two of the litter .....

..... Dilly .....

..... and Woody .....

all lovely cats, but all gone now. 

XXXX

image 1: via pinterest , all other images via me

HAPPY, HAPPY 2019 ..........

HAPPY 2019 EVERYONE

We went to a wonderful NYE party last night ..... I was very restrained and only had a couple of glasses of Champagne so, even though we got in at 4.00 am, I feel fine this morning 

At the party were celebs, a brilliant magician, singers and a pianist who played all night.

You might remember the above from last years party ..... for those who don't, there was a caricaturist who did the above of my husband and I  ..... well, this year, Sassy Steve's Silhouettes was there and did .....

..... this of us this year ..... so good and much more flattering than last year !!! ha ha.

Wishing all of my readers the most wonderful, happy and healthy 2019 . Blogging has lost it's popularity over the last few years but, it is still my favourite social media site so, many, many thanks for all of your support and here's to continuing it in the year to come.

XXXX

image 3: via soulstratum

GOD BLESS US, EVERYONE !!! ..........

 I think Father Christmas has left the North Pole !!!

To all of my blog readers, thank you so much for being there  

Enjoy the magic of Christmas.

XXXX