Getting Up Steam!

Today we trundled up by train to Didcot and visited the Railway Museum. This engine was used for rides and a demonstration on the turntable. We looked around the engine sheds - there were about 10 engines all in good shape. The carriage shed was a bit different - there were several coaches under repair.

I take my turn at changing the points!

The Clematis Is Looking Good This Year

The Clematis is in full flower and I am busy twining the new shoots along the wall. It has been mentioned by passing pedestrians that I must be an experienced gardener - nothing is further from the truth - the whole thing is just luck!

Tennis Shoes

Husband has played "Roll Up" tennis at Cirencester Tennis club for the past five years. The Roll-Up tennis means members can just turn up on two designated days a week and take pot luck. There are seven courts and seven suits of cards are dealt. The people holding the aces proceed to Court one and so on.



The club is situated in the midst of The Bathurst Estate in lovely countryside. Today was a glorious day and I asked Husband whether the club would mind if I put in an appearance to watch. The roll up people were a very friendly lot and I enjoyed myself. I also took a walk on my crutches around the nearby cricket pitch. I tried to negotiate a stile that would take me onto a path that apparently meanders along the side of a wood for 13 miles. The stile was too high and I was afraid if I made over the other side I might not get back again!

Eureka !

Our team managed to win the pub quiz last night! Great fun was had by all as usual and our thanks must go the the quizmaster for keeping us entertained each month.

Husband Had Them Rocking In the Aisles

We have just come back from our usual friday supermarket shop. At the checkout Husband's credit card got rejected. A supervisor was called and she tapped away at the checkout screen and after some thought she turned to Husband and said "Sir, you pulled it out too quickly" Husband, as quick as a flash said "All women say that". Supervisor, check out lady and I started roaring with laughter, this then spread to the customer patiently waiting behind us and then to the neighbouring aisles. At least the supermarket staff got off to a lively start this morning!

All Geared Up!

Gone is my gas guzzling 4x4 in part exchange for this new Suzuki Swift (swift by name but probably not that swift by nature)! Husband always judges my parking ability in marks out of ten - this, my first effort with new car, was awarded 8/10 which I did not think was too bad. I could have reversed another 10 inches before hitting the fence!

Marmalade Crazy

Husband simply loves making marmalade. I am not so sure. The kitchen turns into a sticky mess. Husband collects old Red Current Jelly jars, Tomato Chutney jars, damson jam jars etc etc but we do not soak off the labels. It gets quite confusing to open a jar of chutney to find Husband's marmalade instead! This year Husband has made four batches , two of which worked very well, the other two batches have not set properly. Consequently the kitchen is festooned with marmalade jars (sticky) waiting to"set". Husband is convinced they will set!! I shall wait until Husband is out of the house playing tennis and stick the marmalade into a pot and reboil it all. But. . . . . . . . . . . not today, it is our 38th wedding anniversary and we are going out to lunch!

Oh No, They Are Flooding In Again!

Is anyone else inundated with unwanted catalogues that arrive through the post? About two years ago I had a blitz to try and stem the flow. First of all I removed my name and address on each catalogue and stuck on labels "Return to Sender". Our local sorting office seemed to have a vendetta - they tore off the labels and sent the catalogues back to me! I then tried emailing the companies concerned asking them to remove my name and address, however this seemed to have a double whammy effect - I received not only one catalogue but two! Nobody had bothered to read my email, obviously the easiest thing to do was to add my name and address again! I am certainly not going to spend money on telephoning and the arrival of these catalogues seem to keep the Post Office in business.

Oh No - Not More Snow!

In the last 30 years that I have recorded the weather there have been a handful of days when the temperature has not reached above zero - until now. The back end of last year saw a record number of consecutive days with below zero temperatures. Suddenly again today, as I write, it is minus 0.5C and snow is falling. I used to get quite excited when there was an unusal temperature occurrence, whether the weather be hot or whether the weather be cold, but now it just feels normal!