I shocked myself this morning!
I have missed attending my dance classes as I haven't been to one for at least six months, so, on waking, instead of laying in bed for a couple of hours (which has been my usual apathetic way lately) I jumped into the shower called a taxi and went to an early morning class run by my friend Kathy.
I had no illusions that I could participate in the actual dancing but I expected to do the 'warm up' for about ten minutes then sit and watch the rest of the ladies gyrating .
I actually managed 25 minutes of gentle exercise before I had to sit down, this being when the three minute shimmy music came on.
I spent about £12 in total in order to participate in that 25 min of exercise but it was well worth it as it has proved to me that hopefully normality is another step closer!

I hasten to add that I have been laid flat out on the settee suffering from partial exhaustion all afternoon

Today t'old man took advantage of the OAP special return coach fare from Leeds to Manchester and went winging his way across the pennines for a fiver to visit Bella in her recently bought house.
She is chuffed to have taken the first step on the housing ladder but is becoming dismayed at the amount of work needing doing on the 1930's house to bring it up to scratch. Windows have been replaced, electrics rewired, some plumbing adjusted and unsafe trees have been pruned. There's some plastering to be done next week before the new kitchen units can be fitted so you you can imagine the panic when she was told by one of the workmen that there are rotting joists under the kitchen floorboards
T'old man's job today is to take a look down there and reassure her that the house won't fall down around her

T'old man should arrive home in about an hour so i'll put the coffee pot on again and I guess we'll exchange notes on how 'the daughters' are going on
"how was yours"?
"yes mines OK"...........Y'know, that sort of thing.....an ordinary day in an ordinary life

As I was walking down the hill in a world of my own, I was mentally counting down the months since my operation....an elderly gentleman pedalled slowly past me on his pushbike, he smiled and said “November”
Wow...I thought, he’s telepathic ...that, or I was mouthing the words and he's an ace lip-reader!

As I look out of the back bedroom window where I usually get a free fireworks display on the fifth of November there is a distint lack of bangs going on and the air has the ambience of a damp squib....I guess everyone has put bonfire night on hold 'til Saturday this year!
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I ventured on a bus into Wakefield city centre today for change.
Like many northern cities it is struggling to modernise itself, what with the mega shopping centre works starting.. then stopping .. then been given the go ahead again .
At the other end of town a new Hepworth museum(in homage to Barbara Hepworth)is being built which looks to me as if it could be one huge 'white elephant' .... but as I strolled about I noticed another attempt at modernising the city centre which prompted me to write this brief post on 'The Bull Ring, Wakefield.

I am pleased to report though that today, on a pleasant autumn day, things have settled down somewhat in the Bull Ring, as these photos which I took today show.
Both children and elderly people alike seem to be enjoying the novelty of a modern water feature where once Queen Victoria's statue reigned

Last Sunday the girls drove me to Saltaire..not to Victoria Hall but this time to visit Salt's Mills which was built by Sir Titus Salt

When it was first built in 1853 the mill employed 3000 workers, and was one of the most advanced mills in the country. Since the decline of the mill trade, Salt's Mill has been preserved mainly thanks to the work of the Silver family.
Businessman Jonathan Silver bought Salt's Mill in 1986 and rents part of them to a telecommunications company and parts to shops, there is a bookshop (with some entertaining kids books!) a homeware shop (modern but fancy prices to go with it) and galleries devoted to local Bradford artist David Hockney. There are also restaurants and cafes inside
The steam-powered Salts Mill was one of the largest and most technically advanced textile mills of its time. The integrated mill housed almost the complete production process from sorting through to finishing. Known at the time as ‘The Palace of Industry’, Salts Mill it dominates the village of Saltaire and is distinguished by its detached, 68m chimney which is a local landmark.
David Hockney has a collection here and is the largest of his works in Europe ...this picture of the mill caught my eye, a colourful bird's eye view

Miramaze mentioned to me that she visited there herself around two years ago and asked me if i'd seen the crocodile ....well..."no"...I didn't see the crocodile but here are a few of the random objects that I did see whilst perusing Salt's Mill.

Hockney works

Shop displays

The Chimney

...and not forgetting the stray Baa lamb

It's a dismal overcast day here in the wild west of Yorkshire but still t'old man ventured into the garden earlier to "give the lawn one last mow for this year"..that's a sign of how bored he is as i'm sure he said the same thing last week
I'd prepared the ingredients to make a warming shepherd's pie but then retreated to the 'box room' to wait for a return phone call hoping to gain some useful advice. Meanwhile my computer is playing up..sometimes I can get online and sometimes it is slow loading up and navigating a site can be problematic. The computer is old now and probably needs a complete overhaul but that means calling in the son-in-law as i'm not savvy enough to do it myself.
Maybe now is the time to buy that long promised laptap but do I buy one with XP or Vista or maybe I should wait until the new windows 7 which is on sale from today has established itself
Questions, decisions .. decisions, questions ..one can get quite dizzy

Ah well... there's an enticing smell wafting up the stairs, it seems like the shepherd's pie is ready for eating so see you later ...if the computer behaves that is!

PAH! it is almost a year since I was so excited at receiving this!

Build your own Blingee

I whooped and I skipped and shouted out with glee.

I delighted in flashing it to the bus drivers throughout the winter months and I couldn't wait for summer to come when it would really prove its worth.
It's been redundant for a while

Just goes to show...one shouldn't get too blase as you never know what's around the corner ..and it usually isn't buses!

HAVE A

...and if you do happen to stay glued to the computer all day do what KINGKEV says and make it a Blog Happy Day.

As for me i'll probably be in and out of blog all day..i'll try to be Happy but I have been pre-occupied lately with a decision I have to make!...
it is a no win situation..."there are no right decisions ,there are no wrong decisions, whatever decision is made is the right one"
I've got 'til next Friday to decide (sorry for being so cryptic,I may blog about it soon)
so perhaps a 'blog happy day' is a good diversion for today

Have a good one y'all

Yesterday I went to my U3A spanish language class for the first time in months.
Afterwards we usually pop into the fruit and veg shop opposite the library where the class is held, the shopkeeper remarked that she had missed me calling in these last few months.
I deducted that the reason why she had missed me was that I always bought the 'almost past it' fruit and veg she displays in a box which are sold off at a dirt cheap price and judging by the amount of produce in the box no-one else in the village must be bothered to buy them.

I got all these peppers with a couple of bruised apples thrown in for less than 50p, so you see apart from her missing me. I have missed calling in on her too.

I used to make soup or ratatouille with the bargain produce previously, I'm wondering what else I could make with them.

I was also given a bag of pears collected from a neighbour's trees,

Pear crumble anyone?

Half an hour ago I waved off two of my blogging friends, La Spice and Murphymole.
They had stopped by to say "hello" to me en-route to Lancashire.