Brought the Christmas tree stand in from the shed and put the tree up. Stayed up all night to watch the election and saw something scurry under a cupboard ..... we had brought a mouse in with the stand and obviously disturbed him when we filled the stand up with water !!! I sat up all night watching the election with a saucepan in my hand { I wasn't going to hit him with it .... I thought I might catch him with it ..... }
This is Belton House, built between 1685 and 1688 by Sir John Brownlow.
It is surrounded by formal gardens and a series of avenues leading to follies within a larger wooded park.
At Christmas, it is transformed into a magical, after dark, illuminated trail and, as you walk through a towering Tunnel of Light festooned with over 100,000 pea lights, the mesmerising voices of the Singing Trees can be heard in the distance.
The formal gardens spring into life with topiary trees lavishly draped in twinkling lights that dance in time to much loved festive classics.
There are traditional fairground rides, a fire pit to toast marshmallows and walking under the stars with mulled wine or hot chocolate completes the overall experience.
It was a delightful way to begin our Christmas celebrations.
My husband was cutting down some ferns and asked me to tell him how far to cut them ..... I went out into the garden with nothing on my feet but flip flops, no gardening gloves, nothing ..... I told him what he wanted to know then, I spotted the rose that goes over the arch so, ran in for some secateurs and a step ladder and started pruning ..........
Hands are now cut to ribbons !!!!! I always have to do everything straight away and can't be bothered to don the right equipment .....
I saved these three ..... the last of my Penny Lane rose for this year although, the St Swithin out in the front garden is blooming like mad !
Looooook !!!!!
A thorn between my sister { right } and my cousin { left } .....
This is us a few years previous ..... not in the same positions ..... my sister is the taller and older one { haha !!! } at the back, I'm on the left and my cousin on the right.
Went to see The Good Liar ..... I enjoyed it even though it was a bit obvious and I'm not a Helen Mirren fan !!!!!
Actually, we just walked around the streets for a couple of hours and there wasn't a lot of tricking going on !!! I was given the job of carving three pumpkins which I was very proud of considering I only had about an hour !
So many people dressed up and the houses looked brilliant .....
One guy opens his garage and really goes to town ..... fantastically decorated for charity and, even better, at the back he has a bar !!!
I was never he biggest fan of Halloween as I feel Guy Fawkes is our thing but, I'm really warming to it !!!!
I am in no way a miserable, moany person ..... I am the happy, upbeat kind ..... glass brimming over but there has been another series of unfortunate events, some of which are just annoying .....
..... my Amazon account was hacked into !!!
I was first aware of it when I had an email to say that my book would be arriving from Amazon.de { said email was in German ! } A day later a massive paperback ' Quantum Physics ' arrived at the cost of £85 !!! Even if I had not been suspicious of the email, quantum physics would be the last book that I would order ..... I even have trouble spelling it ! Next, Amazon.US emailed me to let me know that the camera I had ordered at the price of £400 would be arriving soon ! The bottom line was that I must have spent at least four days on the phone, sorting it out ..... none of it being my fault.
My next moan is about my tumble dryer ..... I bought a new one in February ...... I am pretty good with white goods ..... they last me a long time and I think I must have had the last one about 20 years. That one had been a Zanussi so I thought that I would get the same. I nearly always buy white goods, mattresses etc. from John Lewis but a friend had bought from ao.com so I thought I'd give them a whirl.
Having our daughter, her boyfriend and baby living with us, the tumble dryer was being used a whole lot more. Our daughter noticed a lot of condensation but I thought it was because it was being used so much more. Our plumber/electrician was round, fixing a couple of plugs and I asked him to have a look ..... " Oh my God " he said .....
..... the plastic around the hose had completely melted ! The plumber put a new hose { made of very thick plastic } probably wiping out my guarantee, but, we needed it. Anyway, the whole point was that I was on the phone for another three or four days. I wanted to let Zanussi know as I didn't want anyone else to have the same thing happen to them or worse { Grenfell was uppermost in my mind }
Well, can you get through to Zanussi ? Every time I rang, I was told that my phone call was very important to them and that someone would be with me shortly. After half an hour a recorded American voice told me that there wasn't anyone to answer the phone in that department ! That went on for a couple of days and, during those two days, I contacted ao who promised they would get onto Zanussi and failed three times ! There was a lot more aggravation but I've already bored you enough but it was another few days of my time wasted through no fault of my own.
..... and then, you know that our daughter bought their cat with them ? Well, he had been happily using our cat flap for about a month and then, he didn't come back. That was three weeks ago now so I think that we have to accept that he is gone. We like to think that perhaps he has adopted another family but, considering he has diabetes I think the worst must have happened. Our daughter and boyfriend are so upset .... they put posters in the local shops and searched for him but no luck. They had many phone calls from people saying they would look out for him, some saying they thought they had seen him. It always amazes me how many people want to help.
..... and, finally, I am getting on a bit now and, luckily, apart from parents and relatives that were very old, I haven't lost any friends or family or heard of any illnesses but, in the last couple of months there have been illnesses from heart attacks to cancer ...... inevitable, I know but, I am feeling my 68 years.
While I was writing this post, I was watching a programme ' The Victorians " with Jeremy Paxman. There were a lot of illustrations by Gustave Doré showing poverty, the workhouse and living conditions in Victorian London ..... puts my moaning into perspective { apart from sick friends and relatives } ..... hanging on the phone isn't really the end of the world is it ?
XXXX
image 1: via plumes-feathers, image 2: via google, image 3: via me, image 4 & 5: via pinterest, nik kershaw video via youtube
Our daughter, her boyfriend and their baby are staying with us along with their cat while the move from their London flat to a house. They are here for three months.
So far, the cat has weed on our sisal carpet ....... we have floorboards throughout our home apart from the dining room and the study where we have sisal ...... sisal cannot be cleaned !!! You can't wet it .... I have rung carpet cleaners .... they won't touch it with a barge pole !!!! I have to have new carpet .... the only saving grace is that we've had them for about 15 years so, its probably time for new. Maybe John has some cleaning ideas ?
Why couldn't the cat have weed on the floorboards ?
..... and, my daughter has burnt my ironing board cover ! She has offered to buy me a new one !
Along with that, when they are at their new house at the weekend, I have to inject the cat twice daily as he is diabetic !!!!
I don't mind really ..... its lovely to have them here but it makes for a good { ish } blog post !!!
