THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE FREE
The last week furnished me with the best laughs I've had since the 20th century.
Grumpo, recovering from his tooth extraction, became the owner of a lawn tractor, free, of course, from one of his brothers'.
How come that no matter how old or young brothers are, they still can argue blacks white and reds no colour at all. My sister in law rang to say that they were on her driveway arguing, that was before they'e even set off to retrieve the tractor which was in a repair shop in Driffield. However, after a couple of hours or so, she rang again to tell me that they had the machine and were trying to get it started by way of jump leads etc. After all it had been in the repairers for two whole years.
I went off to do some shopping and returned later to a rather sweaty and harassed Grumpo who was rooting about looking for some oil in the garden shed. "I'll come and pick a few brambles whilst you continue with the cutting", I informed him.
Accompanied by our dogs we set off, me rather hesitantly as Grumpo said it had taken three hours just to cut part of the field. Tears poured down my face as I watched the ensuing performance of getting tractor out of hiding place, pushing and shoving it into position and attaching jump leads. The dogs looked first at me then at Grumpo, as if to say, what are we supposed to do, we can walk faster than our Dad. No fun in chasing it then as they lay down and watched intently in the usual hang dog way when not much is happening. Grumpo set off at a miserable minus one mile per hour, he didn't mention that it was stuck in first gear and went so so slowly.
I sat and laughed as clouds of grass clippings followed the tractor, which stopped every five minutes or so to clear the backlog of grass round the cutter.
Tony arrived with Sam, who was so excited at Grandad's new tractor. He climbed aboard and seemed happy to be involved but even he kept saying go faster Grandad. I cleared off to pick brambles. These would be made into pies and crumbles during the winter months along with the lovely cooking apples that I'd acquired from the very nice Francis Yelin earlier that day and had frozen. My family love the bakes and they are all the better because they are free.
I could hear Sam crying as his father took him home for bathtime, well it was almost dark but Grumpo was still riding up and down on the slowest tractor in the world. It had taken seven hours cutting to get to that point.
Finally, Grumpo called it a day, well it was dark. We collected the eggs and a bagful of pears. These are too hard for eating now but I have intentions of bottling some in the morning.
I had another big laugh on the way back into town today. Some wise person has adorned the Scarborough signs with "Home of traffic lights" Well they aren't wrong are they. Perhaps an addition to the sign that tells of how many parking places etc on Seamer Road could have an addition "60 traffic wardens and 24 hour parking restrictions" I have a sneaky feeling things are going to go very very wrong indeed.
Published Date:
28/09/2008
Modified Date:
28/09/2008
LOVELY WEEKEND SHAME ABOUT THE PAIN
Fabulous weekend, weather wise, not so fabulous on the family front.
El Grumpo came home on Friday, suffering from toothache. This developed into a full blown agony overnight, it was a recurring abcess under a back tooth, causing swelling and pain, very bad pain.
He took cocodomol and lay in bed moaning. We rang the obvious numbers, but, being a weekend no answers were practical.
Grumpo himself is hardly the best of patients at any time, he couldn't eat but I made sure that he had plenty of warm drinks.
Meanwhile I took up my usual employment as family gopher, returning keys to the maisonette that we'd stayed in over last weekend to Grumpo's pal, heading off pronto to show potential purchasers of Chrit's house around his home. He is away in Sicily with his cousins hopefully having a lovely time.
Cundall's representative was very impressed with the house, it was the first time that she had viewed it herself. We had a long chat before the couple arrived who were moving north from a home in London. They seemed suitably happy with my attempts to sell a new home to them, mind you the house speaks very much for itself. It is so dispiriting for Chrit to be selling at this time, especially with the mortgage climate as it is. Someone out there is sure in for the biggest bargain of their lives if they did but know it.
Sunday seemed to fly by in a haze of cups of tea, cocodomol and listening to the "why me" droans.
This morning dentist for Grumpo and an extraction, himself, at present, is in bed, at least there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Published Date:
22/09/2008
Modified Date:
22/09/2008
POXES APLENTY ON PET PINCHERS
There really are some nasty people around, El Grumpo has had his oldest and favourite peacock stolen over last weekend.
We know that whoever took it had been there with a van and at least one quad bike. We are watching now. I am not a fan of Grumpo's poultry pets, but I felt very sorry for himself and at how upset he was to find that the peacock was missing.
Anyone seeing or hearing a peacock in their vicinity can email us in complete confidence. I hope the perps lose something they love and feel the pain.
We have friends in London, who informed us of the London boroughs who are dispensing with traffic lights and reinstalling roundabouts which keep the traffic flowing. No doubt our council, who are always way behind the rest of the country in coming to obvious conclusions on just about everything under the sun take note. There have been accidents where there has not been any before, traffic lights not in sinc, irrate drivers not to mention the park and ride on Seamer Road which is not going to be use nor ornament because it is too close to town. When are the nonentities who are behind such ideas going to be taken to task. It would be a novel Christmas entertainment to have them in the stocks outside the town hall so that the people of the town could see their faces and throw rotten fruit at them for being so inept at the job.
I hope that the owners of the two black cocker spaniels that had gone missing last week found them. I haven't noticed anything in the paper. That again could be the work of some evil people who have no qualms in taking pets. I did however like the story on tv. last week about a cat that had gone awol for a whole nine years before being reunited with it's owner. If only they could talk!!
Published Date:
16/09/2008
Modified Date:
16/09/2008
WASPS BOTH SIDES OF THE PENNINES
Been away for a break in the Lakes with El Grumpo for the past few days. This time was slightly different from our usual digs at the Royal Oak in Bowness. A friend of Grumpo's owns a flat, well to be more realistic a maisonette in Bowness and as he needs some decorating doing, told us we could stay there so that Grumpo could do all the measuring up etc. In present times with the credit crunch and tightening of the purse-strings this little swapping of assets was very opportune.
The maisonette although very attractive, with views to die for and centrally situated, does need a bit of an update. Everything seemed very "pink" so a little modernisation is in order.
The wasps however did cause me a little concern, especially after Grumpo's encounter with the nest in our garden a couple of weeks ago. We sussed out there was a wasps nest under the eaves so were more than careful to make certain windows and inner doors were kept closed.
We made our pilgrimage to the Hayes garden centre and I was a little disappointed to find out that the Christmas decorations which are a treat were to be on show from NEXT Wednesday, bummer!
It was the Great North Swim on Lake Windermere on Saturday. There were 2000 swimmers taking part including 5 Olympians. As could be imagined the traffic was horrendous, there were more standing cars than Scarborough at rush hour. We elected to go over Kirkstone Pass on Saturday morning en route to Penrith. The mist hung over the hills like steam in a sauna. Grumpo remarked he expected the American werewolf to appear at any moment. It certainly was spooky I must admit.
Saturday night was spent at our favourite eatery, the Spinnery, a very special prawn thermidor washed down with a bottle of Pinot Grigio blush went down a treat. The rest of the evening was spent at the Stag's Head. Now there is a little den of iniquity and it is the best place for people watching for miles around. No disappointment there, a party of four staggered in. One of the girls obviously very high on something or other and one of the men very drunk indeed. Grumpo was shall we say "upset" when his foot was speared by a spikey high heel, as high as a kite tottered about. We both watched in amusement as the extremely drunk one was gently squeezing the rear end of the other male and three or four times tried to debag him. Luckily this manoevre was unsuccessful on all occasions. Takes all sorts and believe me.
We arrived home in good time to have our Sunday lunch at Mist with our family, this never fails to be good. I am looking forward to the visit on 29 September of the medium, Martin, perhaps he can tell me when we will be able to go over to Bowness for another visit!
Published Date:
14/09/2008
Modified Date:
14/09/2008
LUCKY US CHRISTMAS IS COMING
Lucky us, the forecast deluge over the weekend did not quite materialise, the worst of the rain being at night time so unusually it did not spoil plans for weekend activities.
I have always been a firm believer that Scarborough has it's own micro-climate. We suffer cold misty days when the rest of the country is basking in brilliant sunshine and have lovely sunny days when the M1 grinds to a halt due to snowfalls.
For the past week or so my old arthritis has been really painful indeed and at times it has been quite an uphill struggle to carry out just normal day to day stuff, but hey ho onward and upward, surely the damp cold weather will not last forever. I know that summer is over, not because there has been a change in the direction of the wind and every breeze has a chilly edge to it. Not because the children are all back to school certainly not because the trees are beginning to change colour and deposit most of their leaves on our driveway. Oh no, none of these, Tesco have got advent calendars in and Morrisons are selling the first of the chocolates trotted out by the manufacturers at Christmas time. Better start thinking in terms of laying away a couple of presents here and there in preparation.
We took Sam to the Whitby Wizard yesterday. This was an unknown to me until a couple of days ago. Run and organised by a Norwegian gentleman it was well worth the entry fee and kept us all amused for an hour or so. Hands on stuff, a piano, pipes, how electricity works, how air keeps a ball suspended in the air and so on. Over the moors to Pickering and a chance for Sam to stand on the hotplate of Sir Nigel Gresley the big steam train in the station. Sadly also were Ryedale council workers handing out sandbags. The costa beck was almost overflowing then. There would be many troubled householders last night in Pickering.
The road at Thornton le Dale was closed and we had to make a detour by way of Yedingham. The little winding road was full of motorists coming and going from the Pickering area. It was complete pandemonium as it was a one track road and certainly not designed for the amount of traffic that was on it yesterday.
We had our usual lunch today at Mist it really is lovely and the vegetables scrummy. My favourites are mange-tout and not many places serve these on a Sunday lunch.
Published Date:
07/09/2008
Modified Date:
07/09/2008
A STRANGE ENCOUNTER WITH A PENNYFARTHING BIKE.
Bank Holiday weekend over and done with, now we start on the long haul down to Christmas, the next hols for the Brits. Seems such a long way away now.
We had Sam, our grandson, for a couple of days, his dad being busy with the Mist. Saturday was spent at the National Railway Museum in York. It is one of only a handful of interesting places to visit that is free of charge to go and look around. York, surprisingly, was fairly quiet and we zoomed through traffic lights easily. Perhaps we were just lucky as to our timing. It was such a shame for the organisers of the Ebor along with Burniston Show, to mention just two events which have fallen foul of the inclement weather this year.
Sam and Grandad, me in tow, mooched in and out of numerous lovingly restored old engines and oohed and aahed at the fabulous display cases full of railway memorabilia. We watched the Big Wheel but given my unfortunate experience on that a couple of years ago, decided against chancing a repeat of my absolute terror at being so high in the air. Up until then vertigo was not a phobia that figured high in my thoughts.
Sam, who had spent most of the journey asleep was raring to go. The dogs had awoken me at 5.00am on Saturday. Tiptoeing about so as not to disturb Sam I'd put them on a blanket in our bedroom. At 6.00 am our bed was full to overflowing with Grandad, Sam two dogs and myself consequently not much sleep ensued after that. Little boys can sleep almost anywhere which is not generally the case for grandparents. Brains scrambled through lack of sleep and a quick trolley push round Asda, three very tired people returned to the happy holiday seaside town on Saturday evening.
Grumpo and I set off for Selby this morning quite early in fact. The auction there on a Monday is superb. All sorts of stuff is for sale. Live turkeys, chickens, pigeons, rabbits etc alongside fruit, vegetables, televisions, generators, toys, flags and thousands of other items are all auctioned by Crowes, a family of auctioneers, who have been there for generations.
Grumpo, unfortunately was not at all well. He felt very sick and we decided to return home.
The journey was somewhat bizarre, at times I felt like I was living in a parallel universe. Firstly we encountered a carriage, laden with people and pulled by two elegantly groomed and well turned out horses. Not a common encounter on an unusually quiet A road. After stopping a couple of times for Grumpo to get out and walk about, he was very sick indeed., coming from our right on a roundabout was a man on a penny farthing bike. I couldn't believe my eyes. What on earth was the man doing riding such a strange contraption in busy traffic. He sported a grey beard, pantaloons and a red jumper with white spots on it and seemed oblivious of the curiousity of all the other motorists, who were pulling such ordinary caravans and driving all manner of ordinary cars. There were no signs of a circus or any other such attraction where a pennyfarthing bike could be an act, so where was he going and even more strange where had he been?
Published Date:
25/08/2008
Modified Date:
25/08/2008
SMELLY PUB NOW THAT'S A FIRST
Determined to revisit Teesdale, where I had spent most of my early years, yesterday, Grumpo and I set off on an expedition.
Negotiating the road between here and the A1 was shall we say, a trifle slow and as Grumpo had strained his knee I was the driver. Well I was actually driving the car being constantly reminded of the pedestrian half a mile away how to find my way around a junction etc.
The dales loomed in sight as we turned onto the A66 at Scotch Corner and made our way towards Bowes our first port of call.
My mother was born in Bowes and knowing that Charles Dickens had set his novel Oliver Twist at Dotheboys Hall which was also there I took a few photos noticing that the name had been removed from where it had always been over the back door, perhaps the present owners did not want to be associated with what was once a notorious although fictitous home.
The short journey over Bowes moor to Cotherstone was stunningly beautiful, the sun shone over the dale and we looked forward to a good afternoon.
The family home where my grandmother and her four sisters and parents lived was still called by the same name in Cotherstone, Osmond House. Grumpo took a photo of me outside.
We poodled further up the dale to Romaldkirk and were delighted to discover that there was the annual village fete taking place. We parked up and Grumpo disappeared into the closest pub. Swiftly re-emerging muttering that it was far too smelly. I did not get the chance to go inside, but it must have been very bad as it was a first for Grumpo to say any drinking hostelry was too smelly!
The village reading room was filled with tables and chairs and along one wall, long tables filled with all manner of sandwiches and delicious home made cakes. Grumpo found us a table and I waited in the queue to be served with teas and plates of the mouthwatering goodies all prepared by the local WI.
Afterwards we wandered around the stalls and watched the wellie wanging, donkeys, brass band etc.
Still eager to find out more of my ancestors, I asked what I thought looked like a possible village know all. When the name Bayles was mentioned she looked down her nose, replying "that name is like Smith around here lots of people are called Bayles". However not to be discouraged, Grumpo and I had another look around and then went off in search of a hamlet called Hunderthwaite, where I had spent long periods with relatives.
I was not disappointed, there was a lady gardening and when asked was a mine of information. She called out her husband who was also a fount of information. I was very sad to hear that one of my playmates as a child had died in 2001. Try as I may I could not picture his face, only his blond curly hair and remembering how we sneaked in to see a man who had been laid out in a farm parlour and ran off together in fright after encountering the body in a coffin.
By this time it was getting late in the afternoon and we had to make our way to Sedgefield where we had booked into the Dun Cow pub for the night. It was where Tony Blair took George Bush when he visited England a few years ago.
Perhaps anyone who is a bit of a boffin on glass may know what this item of purpose is that I purchased at the summer fete. Whatever it is I like it
Published Date:
17/08/2008
Modified Date:
17/08/2008
ANGRY WASPS
Hasn't it been dreadful, too much rain by far.
El Grumpo is getting on very slowly with the pergola and new landscaping in our garden. I must admit he has made a very good job so far, the pergola, all cut out fancy by himself and not bought pre-cut is in place.
On Saturday, he was the unfortunate victim of angry wasps when he accidentally disturbed their nest at the top of the garden. Running down towards the house, stripping off his teeshirt en-route, he yelled at me to get the fly spray. Now I do not have any fly spray, in any case I don't think it would have been any help at all.
He had been stung seven times on his arm and a few times on his body by the ones that had managed to get inside his shirt. We put vinegar on the stings followed by antihistamene cream.
All Saturday night he lay on the sofa, watching television plotting his revenge on the wasps.
Sunday morning off he went, armed with a mop doused in petrol and some matches. His entire body was covered in hat, jacket, gloves, trousers tucked in wellies and glasses covering most of his face. I was afraid that the fence would set alight that did not happen though.
Our next door neighbour chipped in with an aerosol can of wasp repellant and the deed was done.
We have seen a few wasps over the past couple of days, I have a sneaky feeling they will be building another nest somewhere in the vicinity soon, so we will have to keep a vigilant eye open.
Grumpo's arm was very swollen on Sunday the strong antihistamene tablets I take on holiday with me helped but he was in a very sorry state with himself most of the day, rubbing said arm with almost the entire contents of any creams he could find in our medicine drawer. Glad to say he is now competely healed.
Published Date:
12/08/2008
Modified Date:
12/08/2008