The Lockdown Gang - Carry on Regardless.

Quite frankly I found writing all about THE MOVE alost as dramatic as the event itself!!
I am glad you appreciated such a long tale,but yes truly deeply imbedded in my memory
Thanks to the opening day of Tour de France which kept my dear man enthralled yesterday thus giving me the time to write!!!

Having accumalated such a wealth of treasures be it in the garden or within the home, it was just the race and necessity of it all that helped me make those split minute decisions on what to take........and it had to be needed and useful.......or it was put in for sale ...........or what I failed to mention....... were the many van visits from various Charities that assisted by taking numerous black bags filled to overflowing!!

Another thing worth mentioning was, although I am ultra fussy about my home decor normally,taking great pride and pleasure in setting up home.
Here I simply used cream as a base and then only two favourite colours keeping the same throughout.......with fingers tightly crossed!!......and indeed many a time I have been asked since, whom designed the colour schemes!
So although so much less around us,we are both totally happy with our surroundings.
I really hope all this will help anyone in perhaps a similar position to know .............just as I said about living with Cancer........yes it can be done.

We certainly lost out many ways regarding cash but now we are free of all hassles,have more than enough to keep us going..........again a good lesson

Always good .......and expected...a cheery word from you Mamissimo.........indeed you were one of my guardian angels back when it seemed the whole world was against us!!! Good on you,do not get carried away with that shredder!!

Yes Maw doesn`t time fly........but those memories stay as you well know.

You certainly revoked many memories Bradfordlass for when we counted all items, our Ercol collection amounted to
15..........well loved but already we are pleased for the change to cream french reproduction items,far more suitable for our light and airy flat!
Sometimes we do not really know that perhaps we need a few changes all around us?!

You will soon be relieved of your "contraption" Norstat and I hope the results prove helpful.

As for our Cherry we really dare not let you out of our sight for a nano second! But to have these burns alongside your other issues, really, is just not on.Though I am sure you will still come smiling through,but do please take extra care.

Thank you Doodle for allowing me to reply to our Gramarretto`s request in full glory.......I am a danger to myself when sitting comfy and the PC is at my mercy!

Weather rather kind in the west today,blue skies in the main and contrary to the forecast it is rather warm........our morning stroll has been accomplished.

Have a pleasant day dear folk,keep happy and stay safe.

Thanks again for sharing your house moving saga with us Panache I think we are all in awe of you. It certainly puts a "normal " house move in perspective.

We have an Ercol coffee table inherited from DM and 2 small armchairs bought at a jumble sale which had been painted white, had new cushions and we have replaced the webbing, I think in the 1980s they had gone out of fashion. Now they are back "In" not that we care. Everything is a mish-mash here . We have an 1840's bookcase and sideboard. We inherited those from a gt uncle because we had the only room with high enough ceilings.
We used to go to auctions when we needed furniture and even carpets though that's probably when we introduced moths!

I am so tired this evening but in a good way. I did a huge clear-out of the pottery with one of my club members, and just when I was sitting down to relax our DS1
arrived with the family and they wanted to go for a walk. 3 hours later we reached home. We picked raspberries and found tiny frogs. DGS is at the age when he covered double the ground and climbed a few trees on the way. I'm sure he has grown an inch since last week.

DH stayed at home. He is not ready to go on walks yet but hopefully he'll be rid of his apparatus in a week or so..

You'll be glad to get shot of yours too Nortsat

I'm a G&T girl tonight...thanks. Maybe hot chocolate later.
Is Jeeves around?

Is Jeeves around? He most certainly is. Can’t you hear him singing. I’m thinking of getting him started on knitting. It would be a lot quieter and keep him out of mischief.
Grammaretto you’ve had a busy day. What do you do with the old pottery?
The walk with your family sounds fun. Oh the energy of the young. I bet your DGS had a great time.
Hope MrG is ok and fit for going for walks soon.
Ercol furniture was certainly popular. High Wycombe used to be a centre for chair makers. In times past they made arches of chairs in the town centre.
When Jeeves has finished his scales, I’ll send him round with the hot chocolate. ?

Panache all that writing must have worn you out but it was a lovely and interesting piece. One of the nice things about this thread is that I think we all appreciate a story. Little snippets that trigger a memory or stories of past places or deeds.
Long may it continue. The more stories the better.
Take care all and sleep well.
Cherry please try and stay in the bed tonight. Keep your Tigger safe. ?

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202008/medium-202001-trees.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202008/medium-314490-pohutjkawa.jpg

Grammaretto When I used to visi Rothesay as a girl, some local boys, well equipped with long rolls of unprinted bus-ticket paper, showed me how to thread it down the gratings outside the Castle. It came up with hundreds of tiny froglets clinging to it.

Hello MawB2 .
Norstat Glad you're free of the ECG, how long with those results be?
Doodle I had a boyfriend with a mini - they were like Tardis, looked small on the outside but with heaps of room within

I haven't made more than a passing references to the Canal Road Trees as it's a sad and ongoing saga of mis-information and corruption.
But here's a little more.
My garden girl first alerted me to the fact that several acres of heritage trees and rare botanical specimens were at risk due to land sold to a developer who brought in bulldozers. Some trees had already been pushed over.

I donated a small amount to their campaign and asked my garden girl to keep me informed. At that time, a lot of what was online was Council-fuelled misinformation and media hype.

I wrote to a friend, a city Councillor for many years and a hard-working woman but received platitudes only.

"There's nothing we can do, it's private land".

This, I knew to be untrue. The Council will act quickly enough to prevent tree felling by private persons on their own land and, if it's been carried out nefariously, fine the culprit - but they don't have the same attitude to the big developers

You may remember I did a course on Critical and Logical Thinking?
One of the projects we completed was about an Auckland woman who, by knowing the law and protesting , forced Auckland City Council to re-route a section of the motorway to preserve an 80 year old Pohututaka tree.

The course focus was on how she argued (critical but logically) but also mentioned the Council dismissed 54 similar submissions to protect on 'technical grounds'. My first sniff of a corrupt process.

I sent this information to my garden girl and the man leading the protest, asking why they didn't invoke the same law, still in place. This they did but Council refused to compromise. The developer, with the police, brought in more heavy pant at 2am and another few trees were pushed over.
A 'sit-in' continued with all the usual "bleeding heart liberal tree hugger" media rubbish from people who don't care about heritage trees and botanical species.

I'm sorry if this is loug and boring, feel free to skip the rest as there's still no solution but maybe a little light at the end of the tunnel.

Yesterday I heard Greenpeace and The Tree Council are both now interested in the protest (but pretty much helpless if the Council won't assist); that the original developer has pulled out and the land is for sale again and a man has pledged to stay and sleep onsite, in a tree, until a decision can be made to save the trees - or every avenue fails.

I have to warn you that I've volunteered to join him, hoping the media will talk up the "partially sighted, disabled elderly lady" aspect as a means of showing this is serious to some of us.

There's a risk of course, I may lose my tenancy here and sleeping outside in winter isn't recommended but if Capt. Sir Tom can do his bit for his community, so can I.

If it goes ahead, I certainly won't be Dame Bradford Lass - just carried off by 4 burly police officers.

Oooh that might be fun {smile]

Beats me why there's what's "in" or "out" when it comes to quality furniture Grammaretto. To me having a "mish-mash" is being eclectic ☺️. I love the sound of your gt uncle's furniture.
No wonder you're tired! I can't remember if you've said before how old your DGS is but it's a description I could easily use for two of my great nephews.
I think Jeeves is around and about, he should be easy to find - just listen out for his off key operatic 'notes'. I'm sure Doodle won't mind in the slightest if he came to help you and Mr G.

BradfordLass I hope you don't think I was being snooty about chippies; I chose italics as I'm not keen on the connotation the use of the word implies - I find the word disparaging and derogatory and that is undeserved. I wholeheartedly agree that there is a lot of skill involved to prepare and cook high quality fish and chips. If not, why are people willing to travel miles to go to a particular fish and chip shop or restaurant rather than another which may be nearer to where they live.

Doodle I hope you and Mr D had a lovely meal out. I hope you were comfortable and able to relax after all these months locked down ☺️

Mamissimo, it seems that you've really picked up quite quickly after your operation. Mind that you don't overdo it won't you.

Eek Nortsat, glad there was no harm done to the ECG. You can (or have) taken it off now though? Like Grammaretto says I'm sure you'll be glad to be shot of it.

It can't have been easy recanting your experience re. your move Panache. Moving is never easy, especially downsizing but doing so when you were also going through trauma of your own and Mr P's illness. I'm glad that you are now settled where you are ☺️. The flat does sound lovely, I'm itching to know what the two favourite colours you chose are but that's me being nosey and you don't have to tell.

Off up the wooden stairs now... Night all ?

Bradfordlass I think you should practise spending a night in a tree with Jeeves?
?

No Cherry I don't think you're being snooty at all.
The word 'chippy' is endearing.

A night in a tree with Jeeves, Mamissimo? Blimey, I'd be demented before dawn.

Everyday and night here is an education as well as an entertainment.
I looked up chair arches Doodle and it led me to the Ercol chair arch at the V & A in 2009. I must have missed this at the time.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjLVDC0p_ms
I have almost enough chairs to build a small arch myself.
In the days when we rescued furniture.... The Danish institute was being refurbished throwing out its old stuff
and they must have put 50 rather beautiful wooden chairs on a skip. We rescued these and rehomed them but kept a few far too many

The story of your heritage woodland under serious threat Bradfordlass makes me angry.
There was/is a campaign in Sheffield which reached the National Press. I wonder what happened with that.
savesheffieldtrees.org.uk/sheffield-trees-in-the-news/

Often, Developers who have no care for anything but their profits, fell the trees and pay the fines which are just part of the overall cost.

I can feel my BP rising.....

I think Jeeves was singing lullabies last night because we both slept rather well. Can we borrow him tonight please?

Good morning gangsters, what a great read your posts are. This is my new morning routine whilst waking up with my coffee.

Bradford what beautiful trees ... I can appreciate your great concern. It must be a victory that the original purchaser of the land has pulled out. Now that there is some knowledge of the campaign and the threatened ‘sit in’ perhaps the next potential purchaser will have to be aware of the trees and take them into account, in any plans. I am sure you would be a formidable member of the ‘sit in’ team...
Doodle fascinating ‘chair arch’, I will enjoy reading up on that later.
Cherry, I hope you had a good night and are feeling rested and refreshed. I agree with you and am interested to know what Panache’s two favourite colours are. If that makes you nosey, then I must be too (I know I am, but in a friendly way).
Grammaretto glad you slept well ... I doubt it had anything to do with Jeeves’ singing... Can we hear more about your pottery? Again you may have posted about this earlier, so I would have missed it ... but I’d love to know more.

My ECG monitor has been removed ... and we enjoyed a glass of wine with supper. A friend had sent me a box of cheesy biscuits, as a cheer up treat, so we had some of those with our Malbec, too.

Have a good BH Monday, all. Let’s stay safe ? (?? for Bradfordlass)

I'll open the book with a cheeky bet.....and I have no insider knowledge....I guess Panache's favourite colours are Teal and Fuschia.......what does everyone else guess?

We had a funny trip down nostalgia lane yesterday to an exhibition about war time in the village where my Gt Grandparents lived. Members of the family still live there so I was hopeful of seeing the old railway carriage homestead in a picture.

As we cruised the exhibits we were approached by one of those local nosey people ' I don't know you and why are you in my village' types. I started to explain my link and she interrupted to tell me that they had indeed received some items from my second cousin but had run out of space to include them. It was said in such a way that I felt Hell would have frozen over before she put the homestead on the board.

To get to it you had to walk about a quarter of a mile up a grass track. It was on a small hill and had no running water or electricity......but did have over 5 acres of downland and views. When the old couple died in the sixties it was sold and promptly turned into a housing estate. Mr M reckons the local lady probably lives there!

I didn't get round to trying my new garden shredder so today's the day....

you'll be out in the garden field with the shredder but when you come back Mamissimo I'd be interested to know more about life in the village. Blimmin' cheek that hoity-toity person.
It can be true about space in museums though.
As a potter I wanted to see some of the pottery at the Royal Scottish Museum and a group of us arranged a visit behind the scenes.
It was amazing. It seems most of their stock is not on display but kept in warehouses on the outskirts of the city and we were able to handle some of these precious objects. (don't tell anyone please!)

A group of us are in the process of opening a museum in our town and we've been in receipt of many treasures already.

DGD has been taken for a covid test today. She woke with all the symptoms of a bad cold but you have to be sure especially since there has been a cluster of cases in their area..

? Hmm Bradfordlass I wonder what sort of escapades you got up to in the Tardis Mini with your boyfriend ?
Your stories are never boring Bradfordlass, besides we asked about the trees. It is interesting.
My word you are certainly a brave and principled lady. To go to such lengths to save the trees shows a great deal of courage and purpose. I hope it doesn’t come to it and the trees are saved because someone in the Council sits up and takes notice. Please let us know how you get on.
(note to self, get Jeeves onto learning how to bake a cake with a prison break out kit in it) ?
Cherry our meal out was nice thank you but it did not go as we planned. We were going to a local pub restaurant. Firstly when we arrived there was no one there apart from the people in the kitchen. No one came to see to us and I had to go into the bar to get attention. They then suggested it would be easier (for them) if we were to eat in the bar. It doesn’t bother us eating in the bar normally but the tables in this place are low and with DHs shaky hands the food would never reach his mouth. We eventually got settled in the restaurant only to find the Sunday roast we had booked for was off! We left. We decided to go for a walk and on the way found another pub which had a table free and enjoyed our Sunday roast there instead in a much nicer location. I know where we’ll be going next time. ?
Cherry you are like me. I want to know which two colours Panache chose too. Do you think she’ll tell us ??.
Mamissimo Ooh that’s a nice combination. I too see some vibrant colours but I’m not sure what.
That’s a shame about the exhibition not showing pictures of your gt grandparents home. It sounds intriguing. Just the sort of thing you would think an exhibition like that would want. Was it really an old railway carriage? It sounds a lovely setting.
Good luck with the shredding. Don’t overdo it. ?
Grammareto that’s an interesting clip. The photograph I showed was for the arch in High Wycombe and the information under your clip suggests it was in 1877 for a visit by Queen Victoria. I didn’t know that so thanks for the link.
I too hate trees being felled. Perhaps we all ought to go and stage a Lockdown Lock-in with Bradfordlass.
I am sure Bradfordlass would be more than happy for you to have Jeeves tonight. Perhaps he has learnt to be more tuneful.
Funny enough, my DH had a really good night last night too ?
Nortsat glad you are no longer encumbered by gadgetry and are free to enjoy a glass of Malbec. One of our favourites too.
I know a bit more about Grammaretto’s pottery from our earlier pages but I too would like to hear some more.
Today is the day DH and I tackle our latest purchase. A small video camera. I tried to set it up yesterday but got lost in the instructions. A walk first before the rain sets in.
Have a good day all. ?

Top o` the morning gangsters all,and yes we are being blessed for the second day with blue skies and glorious sunshine..........although I have been reminded already......it is rather nippy outside!!
It is the last day of summer after all.

I have come to the conclusion daily newspapers should be banished and reinstated with your thread Doodle............reading these posts you never know what to expect but you can be jolly certain that it will be most interesting,very enlightening and you will be smiling all day afterwards!!!!
Bradfordlass is almost even in a class of her own!

You have certainly made the most amazing early recovery Mamissimo and I am sao thrilled for you,long may it continue.
Having lived much of my childhood in a small Welsh village oh! yes I know how those villagers know your business even before you know it yourself!!!
Never the less they are the salt of the earth and when someone has a problem,death most certainly...........they are there in droves with their hand baked items.
Much better than shredding.........!!!!!!

I don`t blame you for celebrating with a glass of wine after the removal of your contraption Norstat.........we have to make the most of these interludes into our lives!!

You mentioned painted Ercol furniture Grammeretto and that reminded me that it was something that had half crossed my mind,I did love the pieces we had gathered over the years,but guessed this would have been something I could never fit in within our limited time frame.
No wonder you were tired after quite a decent......and fruitful walk!

Again Doodle you bring yet more snippets attached to Ercol,this thread gets more educational each day!
Were you able to enjoy your meal out together with ease?
I am finding anything new very difficult,Optician`s on Wednesday and already I am shrinking away from the thought!

We two actually went out for a little drive yesterday and eventually found ourselves down by our Cleddau river at a very wide point,a ferry had been mode of crossing at one time.
Now the place was altogether still,a real place of beauty and peaceful.......... with only moored up boats around.
We had been fortunate, for on travelling the narrow road back to the village we passed a few walkers and several cars..........obviously heading that way.
A new find and this is only some 4/5 miles from our flat!!
We both certainly slept well last night!

I know several of you have expressed the wish as to what colours I used alongside all the cream in our flat,and top marks has to go to Mamissimo whom obviously knows me only too well!!
The walls throughout are an aqua shade, the wall paper a shade deeper with gold filagree birds and butterflies.whilst furniture a fuchsia shade .........and all the trappings are in shades of purple and teals...........hence I do so feel at home.
(Similar scheme to our very first marital bungalow)
The larger bedroom is papered in a light dusky lilacs with Toile de jouy...........all else in various tones of purple.
A safe bet if you love those specific colours!
Now you lot know almost more about me than I do myself!!!
(but you are so worth it!!!!)

Lunch time and hopefully some time sitting in our own little oases this afternoon...........must make the most of summer!

Enjoy my ganster friends..... but keep safe always.

I remember the ferry across the Cleddau river Panache. I only went on it the once (twice if you count the return journey) with my mother and SiL. It must have been sometime in 1972/3, a couple of years before the bridge opened in 1975. It is indeed a beautiful place.
I'm so pleased that you were both well enough to have that trip out yesterday, and slept well after it ?
It's a glorious day here too today, third day in a row - fortunate indeed.
Aha, I guessed you'd have aqua blue somewhere ?. Well done Mamissimo for being spot on, as Panache says you obviously know her well ?
Trepidation can be worse than the deed Panache, you'll manage the optician's appointment fine in the end. You made it through that tumultuous move I have the utmost confidence in you.
Oh, before I forget, just in case you thought they were recent, the burns I sustained were some years ago now.

When I was reading your account of your visit to the exhibition and your encounter with the local woman I was thinking of that comedy series "The league of Gentlemen", the village of Royston Vasey and the phrase "we have no strangers here".
Hope you enjoy ? using your garden shredder today ?

BradfordLass, our eco-warrior friend ? ?, those trees are fantastic ?. I'm glad the owner is selling the land, I hope whoever buys it does so for preservation purposes ?. If you do join the man who is staying on site don't go climbing any trees and don't get arrested. I think you're amazing that you are thinking of joining him.
I'm with you Grammaretto these are the very things that make my blood boil! ££€$ is what are seen, not the beauty, the rarity, the biodiversity, the ecosystem, the necessity! Destroying the 40 or so ancient woodlands to make way for HS2 - for what? As for what's happening to the rainforests! The lungs of the planet are being ripped out, argghhhh! Rant over.
BradfordLass you are far, far from boring us x

Glad that you've got that ECG contraption off Nortsat ?. Although necessary, these things really get in the way. I've had EEG wires glued into my scalp on four separate occasions, looking like the Medusa each time and with a large cumbersome monitoring box they led into strapped to my body each time ?. On two occasions I was trapped ? in the contraption for 10/11 days ?.
When do you get the results? I've got my ? that they come back fine.

That sounds interesting Grammaretto, both handling museum quality specimens ? and your group plans to open a museum.
I hope your DGD has nothing but a trifling cold ?. It has been repeatedly said that for the vast majority of children or young people covid is symptom free so hopefully the fact that she has symptoms is a good thing. You've spent time with her recently too haven't you? I've definitely got my ? for her and you and Mr G.

Oh Doodle what a miserable way to be treated . I'm so happy that it did end well when you walked out and took yourselves off to a different venue. I'm pleased you enjoyed your roast and it's not difficult to guess where you will be going next time ?

No seizures yesterday evening or during the night ? ?. I feel much brighter today, the fact that my WP kindly dyed my hair might also have something to do with it ?

Off to pick some apples off the tree now before a little walk to pick some blackberries to go with them, crumble methinks ?

Grammaretto I must have missed your post earlier. I have only just read about the fact that you might be starting a museum. That’s really interesting, what sort of pieces will you be showing. I hope yours will be very much on display.
Do hope your DGD is ok and it is just a cold.
Panache it seems that Mamissimo got your colour scheme bang on. It sounds absolutely lovely. I like the sound of your colours very much and your wallpaper with birds and butterflies. ?
It is lovely to hear of you two venturing out on a little car trip. After all that time in lockdown when you just wanted to get out a bit, it is nice to think you have found a place to visit, not far from home, where you can enjoy the peace and tranquillity of the river.
We did eventually have a good meal last night, thank you. We are being really naughty tonight and have decided to have chips with our chicken. All this talk of fish and chip shops got to me and I want my chips ?
It always amazes me how our posts seem to interlink with each other. One memory triggers another and and now you Cherry have been to the very place Panache mentioned in her post. Good night last night for you so I think Jeeves May have done the trick with singing lullabies. I’m glad you had a good night, my DH also, which is a rarity.
Ooh so WP dyed your hair. Please may it be some vibrant colour. We know Bradfordlass favours green. Have you gone cherry red? ?. Your crumble sounds lovely. I am sending Jeeves over to get some tasting samples ?
It seems we are all interested in your trees Bradfordlass. Please let us know how you get on.
Very busy day here today lots of boats on the river and people out and about enjoying the bank holiday. We went for our walk on the back roads where it was quieter then a nice pre dinner drink on the balcony.
Hope you all had a good day.

What a lovely scene you paint Doodle from sailing boats to crumble. Yum.
It hasn't been very warm here today but its not a holiday either. I managed to return the underwear I bought online.
I have had to say no to a prospective helper who has already bought her ferry ticket but as she'd be coming from Holland she would need to isolate for 14 days and with all that's going on with us it just doesn't seem right. Pity because she was offering to do a lot of garden work. We know her as she's been before.
The museum is all about papermaking. Our town was a papermaking town but once the mill closed there was no reminder of it.
Already some fascinating artefacts have arrived.
Little DGD was up and about. They should get the test result tomorrow and if clear her big sister can go back to school.
So many extra worries nowadays.

Grammaretto good to hear your DGD is feeling better.
Shame you can’t have the young lady from Holland to help.
Do you have any helpers at the moment?
I had thought that your museum would be a pottery one not a paper making one. Remember I said earlier how there are coincidences in things that happen in this thread. You have just mentioned that your town was a paper making town and we had a paper mill the other side of the river to where we used to live. The mill closed in 2006.
I have informed Jeeves that quiet lullabies are more suited to us than full volume opera or sea shanties and he has agreed to keep things quiet from now on. Hope that means we all have a good sleep tonight. Hope all the gangsters are ok. ?

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202008/medium-179847-f3b7d85b-3442-4434-864f-47b14b591b6d.jpeg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202008/medium-121628-1a71d1fe-02ef-4e25-8c57-e82f74ed219d.jpeg

I have to confess that when I predicted colours for Panache I was guessing that as she has lilac hair her furnishings would compliment her! We all like to fit in with our surroundings ?

My Gt Grandparents did indeed live in a railway carriage and owned their plot. She was beautiful inside and out, a real countrywoman. She foraged and nurtured ....and bred enormous rabbits. He was a small wiry man who smoked a pipe and played darts under arm. It always surprised his opponents.

He was a hard drinking hard living kind of man with a considerable temper. My uncle was sent to live with Gran for long periods because it was thought that with a child in the place the Old Man wouldn't thwack Gran. He slept on a hard horsehair bench all his life. My DM was evacuated there for the duration of the war and learned how to snare a rabbit and to pinch odd veg from the edges of fields when out for a walk.

It was a tough, hard country life.

I've done the shredding.....it was fab! Job done.

Tomorrow I will try to complete my seed order for next year. I've no idea where I got this veg growing passion from ?

What beautiful photos Mamissimo! I love the wee dog too. Is it a poodle?

My paternal gt g parents must have been tough. Both arrived in NZ in the early days He had been in the merchant navy. She will have been sent out from famine struck Ireland to be a wife! She was 17, he 26 when they met married in 1855
She had 12 DC and acted as a midwife. He was a blacksmith. She lived until she was 92. We went to a reunion in NZ where we met many cousins and discovered about their lives. She was very strict and her G children were often beaten.

How clever to guess Panache's colours. They sound lovely.

We are just ourselves at home since our last helper left in early March. We quite like it but we miss the helpers, their energy and creativity.

There have been covid cases in a local school and quite a spike in Scotland so unfortunately I had to do the sensible thing.

I'm so glad you had a seizure free time Cherry long may it continue.
What colour is your hair?

We all want to save those trees BradfordLass I signed the petition.

No Doodle I haven't had my hair dyed cherry red this time ?. I have had it red in the past but never cherry red ?. It has, however, been dyed a shade I've never tried before and I'm pleased to say I think it suits me.

I've handed some apple and blackberry crumble over to Jeeves so you are all welcome to have some ?.

Good to hear that your DGD is up and about Grammaretto ?
Is there someone else who can help with the gardening instead of the young lady coming from Holland?
Like Doodle, I too was thinking the plans for a museum was for pottery, I guess because we both know your talent in that area.

Mamissimo, your gt grandmother was indeed an attractive woman. What a difficult life she led though.
Glad you've done your shredding ?

I'm glad you told Jeeves to stick to lullabies tonight Doodle as I need a soothing night in readiness for my scan and follow up appointment at the breast clinic n the morning.

Have a good night's sleep everyone ?

It was fascinating to see the video of chair arches Doodle.
As these arches are often made of local produce, I now understand why, in 1983, when Charles & Diana visited our Cornish town, St Columb Major erected an arch of pasties.
Kept us all fed for many weeks.

I have to wonder just who the kitchen staff supposed to be catering for, Doodle when you were treated in such an offhand way.
Glad you moved on and had a wonderful roast dinner elsewhere. Good for you.

Excellent customer service is even more important at the moment when so many businesses are trying hard just to break even.

Mamissimo - a fascinating history indeed and well worth (IMHO) a place in the museum.
I bet the hoity toity piece has placed far less interesting exhibits, her own boring ancestors no doubt.
I'm glad you put her through your shredder. At least on the compost heap she'll be useful.

Gosh Panache how romantic your decor sounds, very Scheherazade.
I had a friend who designed her bedroom in a very similar way and it was subsequently featured in a glossy magazine!
Glad too that you and dear MrP got out for a peaceful and spiritually uplifting drive.

I finally decided to ring about my Covid test, as even with a backlog I should have heard by now.
I'm free!!

Doodle I'm by no means a member of Rent-a-Mob but I have protested in the past. As an idealistic teenager I marched with CND (and had my mail opened. I do hope MI5 were amused by my German penfriend's opinion of them).

A few years ago I protested, with other mothers, when the Council decided to send crop sprayers to 'dust' a deadly poison over our community (remember that appalling situation Grammaretto?) to kill a moth they had not found (shades of a later strike to find mythical WMD).

Primary school children and the elderly were having acute breathing problems; hundreds of people had to be evacuated and there are, to this day, health after-effects needing occasional hospitalisation.
We stood on a motorway overbridge across which we'd draped a huge banner Mothers against Spraying - it didn't stop the spray of course.

What astonishes me is that New Zealanders are proud of their clean, green, eco-image but if local Councils won't uphold that, what can we do? Just who IS clean and green? The protesters being hauled off, roughed up, fined and vilified in the media? It's crazy.

Anyway, my proposed martyrdom help has been politely declined, so no need for Jeeves to bake a file cake .
The man in the tree is actually trespassing and the other protestors feel, quite rightly at this stage, things should be kept legal and peacful as far as possible.
New owners might be persuaded to make the land into a reserve, or funding could come from somewhere to buy it and preserve it.

There are so many fabulously wealthy conglomerates with fingers in NZ pies. It would be a huge PR coup were one to come forward and spend the very small amount needed to save those trees and the interlinked eco-system.

That sort of move would deprive the Council of a very lucrative swag of Rates from the hundreds of new, tightly-packed town-houses proposed for the site - so that's a dim hope I'm afraid.

Yes, whoever wants to borrow Jeeves, take him away.

He told me to practice Duette buffo di Gatti and he'd join me when all the gangsters were asleep (so as not to disturb, you understand).

Well, at 3am we were well into the duet when to my amazement, I saw Jeeves stealthily creeping from the kitchen, a little unsteady on his pins (Nortsat's Malbec?) - and I discovered I'd been practising with a rather large ginger tom!

These magnificent ladies do it far better anyway:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5bJJviAX0c

Brownies in the kitchen - help yourself
Good job the fashionable way of decorating these days tends to be 'freeform artistic' splodges - ideal for poor eyesight!

Brownies yes please not entirely sure I like the topping
I ought to bake something. I am turning into my mother who hated baking. Now DH's mother is her exact opposite . At the gt age of 95 she still makes shortbread and scones if she's expecting guests. My trick is to turn up uninvited and bring her flowers from the garden and a packet of biscuits so she doesn't have to rush about and risk a fall.

We both slept badly last night. What did Jeeves put in our leave us to drink? I blame him.

Cherry we'll be thinking of you this morning. All fingers Xed. for you.

DGD covid test was negative so it was a cold. Is a snotty cold. Her big sis can go to school today before she gets it too and spreads it