@ 2007-12-31 – 10:29:43
In a post the other day Lee954 mentioned that he still had two Welsh poppies flowering in his garden. This prompted me to go into mine and have a look to see if I could find any winter colour. After searching high and low, apart from a few berries this is all I could find
So on the last day of 2007 I would like to leave you with some pics of one of my summer flowers
Have a great night tonight everyone.
@ 2007-12-30 – 21:14:10
One of my blog friends Sula36 has set up a new blog solely to post Good news stories. I think this is an excellent idea for the new year as there is too much doom and gloom about.
If you spot any Good News stories then please support her by sending her a link and indeed if you want to become a co-author there is a facility to do that too 
@ 2007-12-30 – 13:28:41
There were two upstanding citizens in the supermarket yesterday.
The first was the young woman who alerted management to the fact that down one of the aisles she had seen a man systematically placing bottles of perfume and aftershave into a carrier bag which he had on his person.
Normally customer's observations are not always as they seem but as this woman professed to being an off duty community police officer 'security' decided to act upon it.
Colleagues were dispatched to keep a check on camera, to wander around the store and a manager (out of uniform) was positioned in the foyer near me to look out for anyone acting suspiciously who fitted the chap's description.
I went out about my usual business (the store was very busy) when a tall guy carrying a single carrier bag passed me...Normally I wouldn't have given him a second glance as he was acting quite normally but as I looked up at his face something clicked.
I looked across at the manager, who looked at me, then looked at the guy who it appears had an acute sense because in that split second he must have thought he had been rumbled as he suddenly made a sprint to the door which was probably only six yards away.
Quick as flash , the manager chased after him shouting "come here you B**d"\ 
with me standing there shouting "Get'im"
Normally when some-one makes a dash for it it is very rare they are caught at that occasion, the most you can do is print their photo from surviellance camera for future identification.....
but this is where upstanding citizen no. 2 came in.
Just at the entrance to the busy foyer, a chap coming in with an empty trolley had stopped to chat with an aquaintance who was on his way out (as you do)... when he heard us yelling he swung his trolley across the door entrance just in time to block the thief's exit enabling the manager to catch him up. There ensued a struggle between them but fortunately with re-inforcements they managed to restrain him eventually.
The thief was so shaky when he was in the office waiting for the police to arrive, that he had to delve into his pockets and take out a bottle so that he could take his prescribed "medicine"...so sad!
There was £280 of goods in his carrier bag!
Well done to the two honourable citizens of Yorkshire
This is probably a minor event in the lives of our hard pressed police and others in the emergency services (eh J.F
)
but it certainly livened up my day
That's an incident or more a shift, at the moment.
Last week it was a twentysomething year old male of east european appearance who pushed his trolley out the door without paying for it.
Unlike yesterday's chap this one came meekly, muttering something about "No speaka de english"
@ 2007-12-26 – 12:56:48
OK Olive, you can stop feeding yer face now and save some for somebody else 
Mmmmm...
To swiftly shift from Cake to Brussel sprouts 
Who said it was a good idea to buy all those reduced sprouts at just 10p a bag 
I've just spent all morning peeling them, putting little crosses on the stalk end and blanching them in order to put them in the freezer for future use 
Then again they will come in handy for t'old man to use with his "bachelor" stews that he will be making in three weeks time.. whilst I will be eating paella on Burriana beach, Nerja
@ 2007-12-25 – 16:35:21
Went to bed at about 11pm last night and didn't emerge 'til almost 9am, long gone are the days when we'd go to bed around 2 am and be woken up three hours later about 5ish ...yes, I can hear all you parents with young children groaning.
T'old man brought me my usual coffee in bed then I got up and had a light breakfast so's to save myself for the gluttony ahead
T'old man attends the local Catholic church most weeks but since Bella grew up and not being a Catholic myself, I only manage the 'token' masses of Easter and Christmas.
So off we went to attend the half ten Mass; it was quite a mild day so the walk there and back was quite pleasurable, just as well as the car park was full to capacity so even if we had a car we would have found trouble parking! We duly sat in the chairs right at the back of the church then, about half way through Mass, I noticed a cute little girl aged about 4 peering at me from the pews in front. I wondered why? ... Did she know from work.....all was to be revealed when it was time to proclaim to others in the congregation 'peace be with you'... for the little girl came running across and duly shook t'old man's hand Apparently she makes a bee-line for him every Sunday and must have been wondering who this strange woman with him was
Now, I know what he means when he comes home on a Sunday and teases me by saying "i've just seen my girl-friend,love..you don't mind do you"
The Deacon orchestrated the other children in a short nativity scene which I enjoyed thoroughly as it is very rare that I get to see children performing now that mine have grown up.
Do you know that between my sisters and myself, we have seven children between the ages of 23 and 42 and they haven't managed to produce one grandchild between them
We sang some traditional carols too ..all very enjoyable.
We are having a quiet afternoon, i've done a little cooking, done a lot of eating and am generally relaxing.
I've received lots of festive texts from all the main members of my family and mercifully, everyone seems perfectly happy and believe me that's all I want and could possibly hope for 
To anyone who is passing through I hope you enjoy the rest of Christmas day, maybe i'll catch you later as right now another box of choccies beckons Xx
post script...and a home made strawberry trifle 
@ 2007-12-23 – 18:12:42
Oooo Popeye...wasn't that nice of Lulu's mother-in-law to bake a special little xmas cake just for us ...especially as we haven't seen much of her since the wedding all those years ago...I can't wait to cut it 
MERRY XMAS EVERYONE
@ 2007-12-23 – 18:05:42
That's the bulk of the festivities over for me this year
Yes, I mean it!
Wednesday.. spanish class party,
Thursday ... went to K's end of term dance class,
Friday ... during the afternoon I went to restaurant in town to meet my two sisters to exchange gifts and good cheer, then in the evening I went to work and yo-ho-hoed with a trillion shoppers and a couple of carol singing charity collecters .
Saturday....worked in the afternoon and then got collected by the daughters to attend a surprise belated thirtieth birthday party for the son-in-law at an indian restaurant...'twas lovely 
Today, Sunday..everyone descended upon me for lunch so I cooked a traditional Sunday dinner + quorn roast as they won't be coming for Xmas dinner.
Everyone has gone now so t'old man and myself are shutting the doors and ignoring the world 'til boxing day is done.......Good innit ...
@ 2007-12-19 – 21:35:39
The lights went out over an hour ago, a power failure
.
I looked out the upstairs bedroom window and saw that darkness had befell all the other houses and street lights in the immediate vicinity
Further on, about three miles in the distance, I could see where the unaffected houses and street lights twinkled away merrily.
What to do? nothing else for it but to sit it out with a torch and read the rest of the Sunday Times.
T'old man had had an afternoon out at the pub so he made his excuses and went to bed 
I was just guiding t'old man to the loo by torchlight when the lights came back on, Hooray
The retired school teacher, fraud squad officer, theatrical costume designer, engineer and scottish dancing instructor all did as they were told and recited their 'spanish carols' with gusto this morning 
@ 2007-12-17 – 13:04:44
So what have I been doing to counter-react my "boredom" this morning 
Well, i've been printing off spanish translations of Christmas carols and sticking them on to the blank side of some Christmas cards.
The cards are for the seven other members of the U3A spanish language self-help group I attend on a Wednesday morning.
It's 'party' day on Wednesday where everyone brings some food and drink to celebrate the end of term.
Seeing as i'm the youngest of the group...I have decided to be master of ceremonies and each will have a drink or two of my 'bargain' sherry and sing their spanish carol.....should be a laugh as they don't find pronunciation easy at the best of times ...they might be getting old now but there are some characters amongst them
In the meantime I have a full day planned for me in Hull tomorrow as Bella has lined up three house-shares to view....just wish it weren't so cold though...
@ 2007-12-15 – 21:08:44
After a week of feeling much like a dead dog, a bit of the old enthusiasm has come back
The buzz in the foyer today was ..."Quality sherry and Port, only three pounds a bottle down from 10"
I sold hundreds of them 
Only thing now is I have a sharp pain in my eye which has probably got cold in it through standing near automatic doors for four hours...the afore-mentioned doors never managed to shut due to the sheer volume of people going through them
Now my dearest sisters.....I know you read this blog ...so guess what your crimbo pressie is
@ 2007-12-13 – 10:43:29
Seeing as i'm still feeling a little achey and ropey, I can't be bothered to blog much just now, so as an easy option here's a bit of crappiness i've just cleared from my in-box for you to look at
http://www.busybus.co.uk/design/xmas_santa.swf
@ 2007-12-10 – 17:45:03
I've been feeling lousy this last day or two.
It started on Saturday when I felt decidedly under the weather although I made the effort and went in to work.
Later that evening it hit me and I had a bad dose of gastroenteritis.
Yesterday I was less than useless, couldn't eat a thing and stayed in bed most of the day.
Today I am still tired and headachy but I had to make an effort to go out, lots to do so little time to do it.
Apart from Christmas on the horizon there is Lulu and her husband's birthdays soon (they share the same birthday) and I haven't given that much thought yet.
Then there's Bella's impending new job in Hull starting early January, she intends to live there during the week and travel back to Manchester at weekends, I don't know where she'll start to look for lodgings though as she doesn't want to share a student flat..of course t'old man's nattering about that now.
I've told him "she's a big girl now"..but does he listen?
After all the excitement of the last couple of weeks I reckon my body was ready for a reason to slow down so perhaps I will be back to normal soon.
@ 2007-12-08 – 11:28:04
As she stood wearily at the bar after a long day tramping the streets she excused herself and went back to the room.
"I'll chill here with a couple more and will follow on shortly" was his response.
She gratefully nodded and left.
The swarthy latino behind the bar gestured to the old guy , his eyes looking upward from whence the faint sound of music wafted.
Seemingly involuntarily, t'old man's legs carried himself up the steep stairs.
The room was hazy with the smoke from the Gitanes and the melancholic bluesy/ jazz music drifted over to the corner of the room where he had transfixed himself.
Three hours later he went back to the hotel room where she lay awake wondering.
@ 2007-12-07 – 14:08:58
The phrases environmently friendly and politically correct seem to be unheard of in Nimes.
Smoking in pubs, even behind the bar is alive and well; the school master in the museum kept puffing away amongst all the Roman artifacts whilst overseeing his charges and chefs at the outdoor Xmas market were also puffing away as they cooked their sausages and toasted the Paninis.
In fact the only public place where I didn't see anyone smoking was in the hotel reception area...but that was probably unique to our hotel!!
On saying that though, the streets were immaculate, the rubbish was tidily placed at the side of the road ready for the daily early morning collections and the road sweepers were diligently working at all times of the day.
Unlike neighbouring Arles where dog-dirt was left all over the pavements and grimier corners were easily spotted.
Whilst walking through the old town of Arles we also spotted that the circus was in town,
Not the poncey 'Cirque Du Soleil' type of circus but the old cruelty to animals and creepy clowns type of circus, the type where you are short changed at the kiosk and salmonella is alive and well in the hotdogs, where you gasp at the recklessness of the flying trapeze act, where the smell of wee and popcorn mixes with wafts of dung from the caged big cats.
Yes, it was a real old fashioned circus with tigers and lions,we spotted ostriches in a pen,
The ring-master, attired in a shabby suit was ushering the punters through the big top entrance
but we were only passing by on route to Arles bus station.
I couldn't resist taking some snaps as I was passing by 'cos for all its political incorrectness a sense of humour still abounds.
The animals in the last two pics were only decoy models of course...but in the distance we could hear the roar of the real "McCoy" waiting to enter the ring.....and a soulful sound it seemed too.
For the "other, more recognised side of Nimes see my pics at
http://www.blog.co.uk/user/isasfotos/
@ 2007-12-06 – 21:07:16
I arrived back from France at tea-time and have eaten my usual 'apres journey' meal of baked beans and toast.
The impression of Nimes that we came away with was of a clean interesting and old Roman town...only I didn't think much of their xmas decorations, they are very big on rotund Santa Clauses and minimilistic artificial Christmas trees.
Arles main square
Nimes pub window and carousel
@ 2007-12-02 – 16:42:46
I was sat on the National Express bus travelling to Manchester for the blog meet. I was twiddling my thumbs nervously when the mobile phone of the woman in front rang.
Ring, ring, ringety ring.
The woman answered in a scouse accent and the conversation went like this;-
Hello
-----
Oh hello luv
-------
Yes luv
-------
That's right luv
-------
about twenty to two luv
---------
yeah alright luv
---------
I luv you too luv
-----
bye
I smiled to myself and relaxed a little
I thought to myself "Isadora, it takes all sorts of folk to make up this world and whatever conversation I manage to make...it will be OK.
I would like to conclude my mentioning of the blog meets with this picture of Kelly (she said I could) showing just what a great time she had...red wine in hand and wearing her badge
In other news
I will be heading back towards Liverpool again tomorrow to catch a Ryanair flight to
France as myself and t'old man are having a four day juant to the town of Nimes, we'll be looking at Roman monuments and eating frog's legs 
So if I don't manage to get on-line this week you'll know where I am!
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