When I heard Labour’s ideas to deal with knife crime I laughed.

OK it might be feasible to send the criminals to City centre hospitals to have a gawp at stab victims but it wouldn’t work round here.

Then I read of a 15 year old in Flint stabbing a 20 year old. That kind of thing just doesn’t happen round here does it?

So you’ve got one 15 year old stabber and one 20 year old stabee. Do you take the stabber to see what he’s done to his victim?

I read Vanessa’s column in the Express yesterday and apparently she’d had a stabber on her radio show who’d basically said it would be no deterrent whatsoever as the stabbers are “proud” of their handiwork and often take photos to show what they’ve done.

I still think it’s a ridiculous idea but I can no longer say it’s not feasible round here.

Whilst many women have shoe and handbag fetishes I must confess mine is books.

What strikes most people when they walk into our house are the number of books we have. (I usually don’t confess to the bookcases upstairs!) Their next question is “Have you read them all?” Well actually no. I have read many of them but there’s always a “must read” new one out.

I have forced myself this year NOT to look at the Richard and Judy summer reads as last year I disappeared for weeks engrossed in the pages of their suggestions. What I like about their choices are such diverse subjects from diverse authors encouraging you to read and enjoy books you would never in a million years chose for yourself.

Where do I get my books? Well this is the million dollar question. The bookshop in Mold is my favourite shop in all the world ever. The staff are so well informed. The shelves are stacked with a huge selection to cater for every taste. Their ordering service is second to none. I have ordered books on a Saturday before now and had a call on the Monday to pick them up. It is no wonder that this shop has been voted one of the top 50 book shops in the country.

With all these accolades why would I buy my books from anywhere else?

Well I’m ashamed to say I do and I’m even more ashamed to admit that the deciding factor quite literally is price. I can buy two books for £7 in Tesco when the RRP is more likely to be £8 or £9 each. I buy older books and classics off ebay and I can frequently be found rummaging in car boot and attic sales for bargains.

Bookland in Bangor has closed. What’s the expression “use it or lose it!” I know I am adding to the risk of losing this wonderful shop by not supporting it as often as I could or should. A decision I’m sure I will regret in the future.

I really wish I could afford my principals.

I hate this compensation culture that we live in however…

I have this absolute pet peeve which involves cars going in the wrong direction in supermarket car parks. I know it’s irrational but it irritates the life out of me.

My Mother In Law has a more rational peeve about cars parking on pavements.

She was out for a walk with friends when one such van parked on the pavement. She was forced to walk on the road and tripped over a pot hole. She landed face first; broke her glasses and her nose and injured her wrist.

She was taken by ambulance to hospital but released after 6 hours as with a broken nose the swelling needs to go down before it can be reset.

Two weeks later she had an overnight stay in hospital to have her nose reset.

The offending pothole has been filled and tarmaced over

She has made a claim against the Council who have basically said “Tough!”

I just get very frustrated that genuine claims are thrown out whilst others
receive thousands for “hurt feelings.”

That’s life I guess?

It was my niece’s First Birthday yesterday. My how time flies and, she’s walking!

We turned up for the party to be greeted by the news that 2 bikes had been stolen from the shed. The lock had been forced. It’s unclear whether this happened overnight Saturday or whilst the family were out during the day on Sunday.

I tend to think it’s happened in broad daylight because I suspect if it had happened at night the dogs would have made a racket.

During the day it is usual for the house to receive lots of visitors and it would not be considered unusual to see people leaving on bikes.

I have no answers. The only saving grace is they left my old ebay mountain bike. I wonder why?

Standing in the street, in the pouring rain, holding a plastic tin, wearing a very fetching tabard can not be seen as the most pleasurable ways to spending an hour on a Saturday morning.

The generosity of the public, the kindness of friends and the encouragement of strangers made it one of my most rewarding experiences.

To everyone who donated to Hope House I give my sincere thanks.

When I was 14 I had to choose my options.

At the time I wanted to be a beauty therapist or an air hostess.

English and Maths were compulsory but I had to choose:-

Two sciences from Physics, Chemistry and Biology – I dropped Physics.

History or Geography – I chose History.

Welsh, German or Computer Studies – I chose Computer Studies

Design – pretty much sorted. I couldn’t see straight so I couldn’t sew straight. I couldn’t draw to save my life. Woodwork, Metalwork and Technical Drawing were boy’s subjects so I had to do Home Economics.

And why oh why oh why did I choose French? I absolutely hated it!

I was fortunate enough to pass all my ‘O’ Levels but what good any of them did for me for my 17 year career in banking I have no idea.

My daughter is now 14 and she has just had to choose her options. Hers are slightly easier than mine as she has to do English and Maths plus a double Science and then she can chose ANY four other subjects.

She wants to be either a sound engineer or lighting technician so has therefore chosen Music, Media, Technical Drama and Geography.

I was absolutely mortified. I am so concerned that these are “non-academic” and not particularly transferable subjects.

I have had lengthy discussions with the school who have been fantastically supportive. What they basically say is it is better for her to do subjects that she enjoys and is good at to give her a better chance of passing with good grades and it’s more important to get the choices right at ‘A’ Level.

Cait will be alright the same way I was alright 30 years ago. I have no more answers now than I had then. It’s just difficult to choose the subjects at 14 that can potentially influence the rest of your life.

And now that she's found out her beloved music teacher is leaving she's changed her mind and is now doing history instead. (slight snigger from Mother here who wouldn't dare say "I told you so!")

I read an article in Sunday’s You magazine about a woman who’s husband had sexually abused their daughter. It was an extract from her book.

I cannot imagine how awful this scenario would be. I can understand why she would want to write about it if only from a cathartic point of view and possibly to point out danger signs to other mothers and how she has coped through the whole episode.

The daughter, now in her twenties, is clearly damaged by her experience. Self harming, unable to work, unable to form relationships, promiscuity are just a few of her catalogue of problems.

What I really can’t get my head round is…

In sexual abuse cases against minors the identity of the victim is protected. The identity of the abuser is protected to protect the identity of the victim. This woman has written a book and has an extract published in a National Newspaper’s magazine with photographs of her daughter included. What did/does she hope to achieve from this?

I’ve always had this thing about shoes. Not in an Imelda Marcos kind of way but in the kind of way that I have, let’s say, awkward shaped feet. They are basically almost as wide as they are long.

Once I find a pair of shoes that fits it’s been a case of buy them and then buy some more in whatever colour they do. That’s served me well especially in the M&S court shoe department and only once did I look down and find, horror of horrors I was wearing one black and one navy shoe! (Probably happened many more times but I just never noticed!)

So… there was a Sale in Ethel Austins and they were selling “diamond encrusted” mules, ridiculously cheap so I tried on a pair of white ones, they fit so I bought them and a black pair.

Put the black pair on to go out and they absolutely killed. Checked the sizes. Exactly the same so ended up taking them back.

So there we were in Cheshire Oaks and I spotted this gorgeous pair of brown high heeled “Sex and The City” shoes and wow, they fitted. Next to them was a black pair. Well it would have been a shame to separate them wouldn’t it?

I think it must be the colour that makes them shrink? Let’s just say the black are a tad on the tight side but hey ho, they look so gorgeous, so what if they cut off my circulation?

And another thing…

On my way out from Clarks they were selling “odd” pairs of shoes for a fiver. Well I know you can have one foot bigger than the other and I’m sure someone is going to be delighted to discover a left 4 and a right 5 but tell me please how do they expect to sell a right 8 and a left 10 which beggers the question, who has got the other pair?