Hairdesser V Barbers

 It seems that there are now inquiries into all these new Barber shops, popping up around, which have been suspected of money laundering. When Dh heard this on the Jeremy Vine radio show, his answer to them is, they should all be shot at dawn!!

He has an aversion to barbers, as he is very proud of his full head of hair, albeit now white! His last visit to the barbers, he said was a very traumatic experience. He had found a barber in town that he liked, an older man who understood 'short back with long side burns,' but horror of horrors, he has left.. and now it is one of the Turkish barbers, who operate the 'number' versions of cuts. 

Asked what he wanted, Dh had said...number 8! So having persuaded the young man, that he only needed a light trim, he sat down nervously watching the barber in the mirror. All was going ok, when he was asked about his eyebrows and ears. Dh grows enough hair in those to stuff a cushion.. but whoops before he could say anything, the barber produced a smoking spill and proceeded to burn off Dh's ear hair, after which he asked Dh to lean forward to the basin and started to wash his hair. Dh sat up and explained, only he, himself and his Mum washed his hair!! LOL He is such a baby!!

I said it looked very nice, and it did..  I had the same thing, without the 'ear experience' and paid £44, Dh paid £14, so why is he making a fuss!!

I love having my hair washed and styled and have it done weekly.. what about you, do you like someone doing your hair?

Chrisxx

If you know, you know.

 

We've been  to Basil-end this morning, called Basil-end, because when we lived in Essex we used to pop to Basildon and here we pop to Bridgend. We couldn't get used to calling it Bridgend so hence Basil-end.

We saw a young lady we knew and stopped to chat, she remarked that we probably knew her wife, as they live in Porthcawl.. I am someone brought up in a very strict chapel, by a Victorian grandmother, and always have been a church go-er, so same sex marriages are not in my beliefs. Hard for some people to understand I'm sure, but at 83 years of age I'm not able to change now.. but I don't dislike people and how they want to live, nor judge them, even though its not my way of thinking... so as we said goodbye I gave her my warmest, kindest smile, thinking to myself, WWJD.

Chrisxx

I need to believe this...

 Something I recently read....

5 ways  to let go of the past.

1.Stop replaying the painful memories every day. 

What the mind repeatedly revisits emotionally continues to stay alive.

2. Forgive yourself for who you were during those painful seasons.

You were learning, surviving and hurting all at the same time.

3.Accept that some people will never apologise or understand your pain.

Healing can not depend on someone else's awareness.

4 Focus your energy on the life happening now.

The present moment is where peace, growth and healing actually exist.

5 Allow yourself to move forward without guilt.

You are allowed to heal,

You are allowed to smile again.

And you are allowed to become free from what once hurt you deep.

Chrisxx

Feeling better.

 Gone are the days, when a rub on my chest with some Vick and hot drink of lemon juice and honey, with  a new packet of tissues and I was fine. This cold has really taken the stuffing out of me. I'm really tired and ready for bed most nights at 9. Thank you for your good wishes and commiserations, I  am beginning to feel better. 

And yesterday in the sunshine, I felt so much better. I walked round the garden and felt all my hard work growing the seeds has been worth it, everything is growing well. 

Our latest rose , called 'Tottering By Gently, '..  is in full bud and will shortly be looking like this photo. 

We have 6 roses now and 3 climbing roses, I love roses, the colour and the scent.

We (the Royal we) painted my Aunty's stork, altho Dh says its an Egret, but my Aunty thought it was a stork, and so the children and I have always referred to it as, Aunty Glad's stork. She bought it from 'the boutique'  as she called it, the Saturday afternoon Jumble Sale which she went to every week.

Its very white again! He stands under Dh's tree, it has come with us through 3 gardens as small snips, called a Creeping Olive tree, leaves like an olive and in spring, it has very tiny yellow flowers, and the scent is amazing, we trim it every year to keep it small. I have one in a pot and I'm going to try to cut the tap root to see if I can  keep it very small. I shall keep a record and see what happens.

How are your gardens looking?

Chrisxx

Niggles

 Altho' I haven't got a cold, I've been off colour all week..bit of a tum, which was upset enough to warrant a dose of Imodium and then that acted too well.. but I've discovered  a dose of Movicol, 2 Sennacot and 5 prunes is too much!! 

My stomach felt like I'd been kicked by a horse, all ok now,  but to add to my moaning, a new roll of toilet paper wouldn't tear off! There were the impressions of the tear off strip, but it wouldn't tear..   But if I didn't have that little niggle I'd think of something else!

And altho' my cold has gone, I've started coughing, as soon as I lie down in bed, I start coughing, such a pesk. I've a cough medicine, but its just one more thing.

And because of my cold I've had to defer our covid jabs, so now they're not till mid May.. just one more thing to sort.

I feel its all niggles and I'm miserable.. so be glad you don't live with me. 

Dh's cold came and went and he feels fine.. humph!!

Anyway why am I complaining, I could be on a cruise ship with the Hantavirus, isn't that terrible, poor people.

And our little draenog continues to come, its such a pleasure watching her (or is it him)

Chrisxx

Such a busy place!

 

Not our draenog, but you can see the same set up for the feeding station. 

We decided our draenog is female, because last night another one arrived and she started doing the huffing, and pushed him out of the way and he went off at top speed.

She usually arrives around 9:30pm but last night she was later and then ran off. They never just walk but run, their little legs going 'pell-mell' 

Then there were two eyes peeping between the flower pots and it was a little mouse, he scurried across to the food, looked into the food station and ran off, obviously not to his taste!

Between 12mn and 3:00 am 3 cats strolled across the patio! All looked in the feeding station but couldn't get to the food.

Draenog ? was back at 4:19, if it was our one, but could have been the rejected 'lover.' 

And so our night time patio was busy.. but the magpies have a go too. One arrived while the morning chorus was in full swing.. he jumped on to the tile lid, then peaked inside, and pecked the tile,  then hopped down and managed to get a stray bit of the kibble and flew off,

But at 8:50am a squirrel arrived, he wasn't a bit interested in the food, a quick look at the food station and he was gone.

This trail cam keeps me busy looking at all the visitors, I love it. We're still looking to see how to down load the videos.. watch this space. 

Chrisxx

50P To Spend a Penny!

 

It seems people are complaining about the cost of using a toilet in the Peak District.. 50p.

The cost is for maintenance and towards the care of the Peak District. They are new and payment is by contactless payment only. They could do with some on Snowdon, because the lack of them, has meant that the pathways are fouled with excrement! 

Here in my town new toilets were build by the park and cost 50p and they are needed... however they have been out of order more than in use, because of vandalism. Some ignorant people have set them on fire and more than once!

As someone who is always grateful for a well maintained and clean toilet, I don't think 50p is too much to ask, especially in an out of the way place. 

What do your think?

Chrisxx

Proper poorly!

I have an awful cold and feel proper poorly.  Sunday night was horrible, I went to bed at 9:30 ish, early because I was feeling so wretched, headache, sore throat, hot clammy and weary.. but I could not get to sleep. I was up and down going to wee, I think it upset my bladder.

I was dosed up with paracetamol, Strepsils  and good old vick on my chest and eventually dozed off about 12:30, only to wake again about two hours later, went to the loo, and altho I was comfortable, sleep evaded me.. so I read my kindle, and as my eyes closed I sank down into my pillows and slept for about about an hour..then I was awake again, sneezing and my throat was irritating me. 

At 4:30 I took some paracetamol and Dh helped me get comfy and I slept till 7.. So what a night.. I am still sniffing and feeling hot one minute and cold the next, a proper fever.

I hate being ill, I think when you're older colds are worst.. altho this is the first cold I've had for years. We think I picked it up on Friday at SW, its the only place we've been where there were people.

I've had to self medicate with ice cream for my sore throat! 

Has anyone here in UK had a cold lately, is it doing the rounds?

Chrisxx

March./ April books

 These are just some of the books I read.

I really enjoyed this book by Ann Bennett and I think I've said in another post, that I'd not read any by her before. The story starts in 2015, when Chloe's grandmother, Lena, dies and her friend gives Chloe the diary of her grandmother. It leads Choe on a journey of discovery, trying to find out what happened to her grandmother in war time Burma in 1944. 

Chloe, herself is swept up by the romance and mystery of the Country with her Nepalese guide. The time lines between present time and the war in 1944 worked well.  And Chloe discovers things about her grandmother, she never would have guessed. 

Ann Bennett's writing of the train journeys, the trekking, were so well written I was there. Some might think it ends predicably, but read on to make sure.

***

Although I enjoyed this book by Patrick Gale, it disappointed me because it wasn't just about Harry Cane, the Canadian. wheat farmer, but his family in England. 

But still a powerful story of Harry taken in by his daughter, although she harbours resentment and anger. His gentle ways is less predictable on the next generation and he is able to help his grand daughter and her husband to resolve differences with an unspeakable trauma. But in the end, Harry has to decide if he can make a new life or will he find himself pushed out again. Worth reading, Patrick Gale is an extremely good author.

***

What happened to Sarah Jane??

Written in the present and 15 years previously. I think the two authors took a 'time' section each. 

I never once guessed what had happened and how, when two girls were snatched, how did one come back and the other never found. A fast and compelling book that I couldn't put down, a lot of twists and turns, a 5* read!

***

T. M. Logan never fails to thrill me!!

She wakes up, her husband is dead and she is the main suspect and found guilty. 10 years later she is released from prison, now on parole, Heather has to do all she can to prove her innocence and get her boys back. At the Hostel she meets Jodi, who is willing to help her prove in innocence.. a reporter who covered her original trial also can help, but is he reliable.. there are so many twists and turns, but a mother will never give up to get her boys back. If this will be the first book by T M Logan you read, you'll want to read all his other books.. such a plot with a  twist at the end, who would have guessed, but a mother will do absolutely anything and everything for her children.. a def. 5* from me.

***

***

I wrote about this book March 6 th.

***

This is Jodi Picoult at her best, fighting a lost cause and I loved it.

When  a baby dies after a routine hospital procedure, the father has no doubt who is to blame..the nurse who had been banned from looking after him, by the father.

An  emotional, prejudicial and heart wrenching story, a roller costal read. thank you Jodi Picoult.

We've actually heard her one year in the Essex Literacy Festival, she was very good and I'm so glad that I was able to go to her talk. An amazing author.

Chrisxx

Free!

 

When we moved to this bungalow, we brought with us a selection of shrubs and a few plants, but not these aquilegia, nor have I sown any. But these pop up every year, so I guess the seeds must have been in the soil around the roots of the plants we brought. 

The colours range from deep purple through mauve, pink, very pale mauve (my favourite) and to white. Their seeds have blown to the other side of the garden too. 

I pull up all the small ones when they have finished flowering, just leaving two or three to seed ready for next year.. free flowers! Excuse the mess on the pavers, Dh doesn't see what's in front when he decides to take a quick snap!

Chrisxx