A strange dream

Yesterday I woke up in the early hours of the morning, and the dream that I had woken up from had been very vivid, as I was trying to clear the sleep fog from my head I suddenly was transported to a holiday many years ago.

As you will know by now there is a tale to tell and what I saw in my dream will be at the end, so if you want to cut out the memories, just skip to the end.

Jon and I had gone to stay in his bosses villa up in the North East of Spain, ( the 'expensive bottle of fizz' holiday).
We had flown into Barcelona but I was flying back to Heathrow from Valencia as Jon was meeting his boss and his Dad there to go and look at some land that his Dad owned near Javea.

We took the hire car up to Figueres and bought our train tickets, and spent a 'Daliesque' day before boarding the train late afternoon.

The train was one with compartments and  had a million stops on the near 6 hours journey.
People got on and off , food was eaten, Ducados cigarette smoke hung heavily in the compartment, even with windows prised open it wouldn't disperse.
We eventually arrived at Valencia station, tired and hungry. It was dark ( October 31st) and we needed to find a hotel. ( before the days of Booking.com).

Across the road from the station stood an hotel ( I cannot remember its name , but it is now a rather impressive place called Vincci Lys).
They had a room and we paid a very small amount of money for the night  and headed up to the 3rd floor. Each floor had a seating area with a TV and sofas, coke machines and a machine selling snacks.
We were starving but too tired to head out to eat, so grabbed some snacks and went off to our room.

We entered and found a sofa and chair, TV and fridge ( empty). I looked for a cupboard with bedding thinking that we had a sofa bed, Jon put on the TV and settled down to eats his crisps.

I flopped down and snoozed for a bit, then decided we should make the bed up, I headed through the closed door that I assumed was the bathroom......................no it was the bedroom with a huge bed, a bathroom off that the size of a ballroom and a balcony that faced the station and from which we could watch Valencia go by.
I ran a bath and Jon went off in search of bread and wine, and returned with just that. We sat watching the city go about its business until tiredness finally hit, we fell asleep with the bedroom TV showing Ghandi dubbed in Spanish!

Next morning ( 1st November) was All Saints Day and as such there was not a lot open, we managed to find a 'restaurant' ( greasy Joes café) and somehow I thought I was getting mushrooms, sausages and egg, but ended up with kidneys, sausages and egg,( the picture on the wall looked like mushrooms), something that neither of us could eat.

We dragged our bags to the station to get the train to the airport, and then we spotted it, the thing that came to me in my dreams. A vending machine, but not just any vending machine.
This one made and dispensed chips!!!

You put in your pesetas ( not potatoes) and it sprang into action, you could hear oil heating up, potatoes going into oil and frying and then they were dispensed, flipping red hot!

Now this machine was in my dream, I have no idea why, it was probably the most dangerous vending machine ever, but we spent a fortune on chips whilst we waited for our train. ( we found the whole thing thoroughly entertaining)

I have no idea why I dreamt about it, but I'm sure you wish I hadn't.

If you waded through all of that, well done.

Times are hard, news is  low on the ground.

have a great weekend

New week and new obstacles

Well that is the last Bank Holiday over until August and who knows what that will bring.,  It normally is the warning klaxon for nearing the end of the cricket season, however this year, I still wonder if there will be any cricket.

My Bank Holiday weekend was full on busy although not doing what I had said I would do.

I did however cook myself a fabulous French meal and took great delight in studying wines for the meal, I had forgotten how much I missed working for Virgin Wines and the lovely wines that they sold.

I dipped into my Rick Stein 'Secret France' book too for a couple of recipes and very nice they were.
I spent the evening watching 'Julie and Julia' and OSS 117 Cairo, nest of spies, which is a French spoof spy films and always makes me laugh.

If lockdown has done one thing for me, it has brought me back to cooking, something which I love more now than when it was my work.
I have also been making (more) chutney and pickling onions and chillies.

On Saturday on my early morning bimble I finally spotted some Elder bushes just ready to flower, so there should be some 'champagne' brewing soon.
I found lots of blackberry bushes and cherry trees, I see some 'cherry brandy' being made soon.

All I need now is to find the sloes and I am all set.


Well best head out, the roads are getting busier every morning now and I think that my sedate drive to and from work will soon be turning to the stressful one of old.

Stay safe.

Another Bank Holiday looms

Well another Bank holiday is on the horizon.

The year is moving towards the half way mark. We are so close to June.

There is still nothing really to report on cricket  although apparently the England  bowlers will be allowed back into training, staggering  training sessions that will take place at various grounds around the country.

I've thought long and hard about where I stand on any cricket this season and to be honest, I think that I will be giving it all a miss.

I've kept myself clear of Covid 19 so far so I  will continue to keep myself very much to myself.

Which is exactly what I have been doing.

Taking time out for me, and having a good old sifting of the wheat from the chaff.

I feel a heck of a lot better for it I can tell you.

Huge thanks to friends who contacted me, so very kind and lovely of you all. 

And so I am heading back to my happy little life.

Have a good weekend, in the circumstances.

Stay safe.

Last working day

It is the last working day of the week and I am planning what to do at home this weekend.

I am going to strip the dining room of its green and brown striped wallpaper ( previous owners obviously  liked green and brown stripes ), and then I am organising a dinner party on Saturday evening.
Just for me you understand, but I thought I would have a French themed evening and get dressed up and made up ( something that I haven't done for over 6 weeks).
I'm planning the menu and will get the shopping ( hopefully) on tonight when I do my weekly shop after work ( if there is anything left as there a bank holiday and folks tend to go a bit mad).

I hope that the weather stays nice too so that I can spend it in the garden, catching a few rays. I will have to mow the lawn, not a favourite job but since it is the size of a postage stamp I should have it done in minutes.

Yesterday in the offices it was much the same except that when anyone's phone rang, everyone was waiting for news of being furloughed. Everyone seems to think that I know who is going and who isn't, but to be honest I am so far out of the loop that I think I could be going soon.

Sadly at 3pm the news came through that the 2 apprentices in the workshop had been furloughed. I had thought that they would be in the running.

It is what it is and both lads are fine, and said they hoped we would still be around to come back to ( need their bumps feeling too!!!).


I spent last night writing a few letters and getting them ready to be posted ( which I will do on the way to work).

We are having 'Friday' breakfast today although I'm not making it so there should be a surprise when I get in.

And with that I am off to finish the week.

Have a great Bank Holiday weekend.

Take care, stay safe and enjoy the sunshine.

Midweek

So its midweek and another day on 'death row' as we wait for the next one to go through being furloughed.

There is plenty of work to do and getting done, but we all keep cheery by shouting through the offices to each other.

Yesterday we were talking about things we watched as children. I said that I loved Andy Pandy and that I had met him.

A huge amount of shouting about meeting a puppet ensued, and I said that I had actually  met the real Andy Pandy.

Still much shouts of 'noooo'.

Well yes I did.

Jon and I were on our way home after a day in town and were at Baker Street to get the Met line back to Moor Park.

As we were walking to our platform I saw a man standing at the stairs.

'Oh my god Jon, its Andy Pandy' I said in a slightly louder voice than I realised.

At this Andy Pandy turned around and smiled.

I was slightly mortified, but Andy Pandy came over, shook hands and had a lovely conversation with us.

He was not in a stripy onesie, he was in a suit and tie.

He was ( and still is ) Paul Atterbury, the antiques expert, and why did I think that he was Andy Pandy?.
Well, his mum Audrey was a puppeteer on the childrens show and it is rumoured that Freda Lingstrom ( the then head of BBC childrens TV) modelled Andy Pandy on Paul.

All a bit lost on that lot, but a great memory.

I've looked at the cricket news, and I suspect you all have too, so I am off to the office for another day.

stay safe and try to keep cheerful

Tuesday no news day

Hello Tuesday and I wonder what today has in store.

I have been looking on line for wallpaper but am loathe to buy as I really want to see it in the 'real', so all wallpapering exploits are on hold along with cricket, holidays, and just any type of  fun in general.

In the office yesterday we were discussing who we would like to be in lockdown with,  obviously for 50% of the staff, Kelly Brook, Susannah Reid and ( surprisingly on one count ) Angela Strawbridge were the top 3.
The other 50% went for Jools Holland ( not me) and Lenny Kravitz {Sean Bean  thrown in too}
Ahh how we laughed as we filled another day on death row.

And now as I prepare for another day, I realise that having just 4 of us in the office for 5/6 weeks, we will all take badly when the rest of them come back!

I've been out for a walk already this morning, managing to get in 2000 steps.
I hope too get another 3000 in at lunchtime and fill in the remainder tonight. in between a couple of minutes of jogging { still going slow on this}.

And now I am off to the post office, not a lot to report so sorry this is short and boring

Have a good day whatever you are doing, and what ever you are doing, stay safe.

New week, new attitude

Another week begins, and after the stress of last week, I have taken the weekend to think long and hard and plan for the future.

Getting to the end of this current situation is key and how long that will be is anyone's guess. However I am thinking ahead and this is the main thing.

The weekend has come and gone in a flash, I haven't done anything really, not even chutney making.
I did write a lot of letters and will be posting them this week.
I also had the 'joy' of food shopping which I have to say is now bottom of my list of things to do.
People have not become kinder in the supermarket that's for sure.

We have a short week at work, as Friday is VE Day. so roll on the next 4 days.

This weekend I should have been in Southampton with James Bond and besty chum Terry, however that was not to be and so yesterday I joined in Sybils picnic, a yearly event organised by my friend Jacqui to raise awareness of Huntingtons disease.

Luckily the sun shone long enough to have a pleasant hour in the garden scoffing my picnic.

Well short one today as I have to head to the post office to send off some 'stuff' I've flogged on ebay and post some letters.

I am still managing to get rid of things that I no longer need, but I am missing my trips to the charity shop.

Stay safe

End of the week

So here we are at the end of some week.

For me, its been very tiring, and upsetting and frustrating, it  has left me feeling undervalued, unwell and unsure what to do for the best.

However enough of my problem lets see what I have missed whilst I have been trying to sort out everything in the land of water, and lower my blood pressure and stop the palpitations.

Well,Yorkshire have cancelled all the contracts for overseas players, which I think  we all saw coming as some other counties have already done this.
Of course old 'Dolly hair' Vaughan, had to put his oar in, but that is solely to protect those in his 'stable' and protect his future income.


The 100 has been delayed for 2020 which is for the best although personally I think it needs  scrapping for good and a decent plan for the future of the County Championship and one day cricket.

Obviously as you can tell I am not in the best of moods, and not had the greatest of weeks.
Its not very often that I feel totally beaten, but I have felt just that this week.
Times are difficult enough without lazy  Richard Tators, sitting at home and not accessible during working hours, making it worse by emailing staff with veiled threats of pay cuts or worse and leaving me to try to stop the mutiny.
And then yesterday to top  it all, throw out the furlough email.

I can only deal with so much { having had all authority taken off me 18  months ago}and I have reached saturation on that point.
As I waved bye for a few weeks { hopefully} to my own draughtsman, I really wondered when they will just call time on the company and put an end to the charade that we have been living for over a year.

Anyhoo

Have a great weekend, stay safe and don't let the b***ards grind you down...………………. sadly I did!

I am going to spend the weekend doing Tai Chi and facial yogaing and hoping that my hair goes curly again soon!