Concert

Spent most of yesterday asleep but in evening went to concert at J's school in which he was playing the steel pans. Very good evening. Some excellent performances.

Today feeling quite a lot better though throat still sore. Did quite a lot of washing as has been getting out of hand. J finished school at 1.30 as end of term. Came out with an award certificate for graphics and art.

Went into town to pick up P. Got J a Subway and gave him some money towards a new wii game, wasn't prepared to pay for it all as so expensive. Town horrendously busy.

New phone and not well

Yesterday I got a new mobile phone. This is because we'd upgraded so I wouldn't keep going over my text limit and they said they would send a better phone. P spent all yesterday evening transferring data onto it but this didn't seem to include my contact list. Horrible feeling will have to do them by hand.

Last night started getting a sore throat. Then in bed just felt really cold, even with a pile of blankets on top of me. Woke up this morning feeling quite rough: sore throat, aching joints and still shivery. Hope it's soon gone. Apparently there's a lot of it about.

Mavis

I think I said it was Mavis's 70th birthday on Saturday. I did quite a lot of getting other people to make/organise cake etc for her - at coffee morning last week, at church on Sunday and there was still leftover cake at coffee morning yesterday. She gave me a lovely thank you card saying she knew I was behind it all and she really appreciates all we do for her and she's sorry she's a bit much sometimes. Almost felt like crying.

On Friday something awful happened to her. Three men came into her house (she hadn't locked her doors) and said they'd trimmed her trees, which she hadn't asked them to do and wasnted £300. They became quite threatening and she phoned police at which point they went, taking a £20 note with tehm. How horrible. She's remarkably calm considering.
 

Dog tired

I'm sorry if you've got a yappy little dog and you love it but in general I don't like yappy little dogs. In general J doesn't like dogs at all. This all proved to be a bit of a problem on Saturday when we went to  visit both a friend of P's and my Dad in Norfolk.

It was a lovely sunny day and we had a pleasant journey there. P's friend is a farmer who doesn't do much hands on stuff any more but contracts it out as he's getting on a bit. He's built a new house which downstairs just has a basic living room cum office and a utility room and toilet and shower. Upstairs is an open plan kitchen diner and living room with a bedroom and lovely bathroom leading off. It had glass all round and was absolutely beautiful with views across the fields and the sun streaming in.

He has this little Jack Russell which is getting old and has calmed down a lot but did the usual yapping thing when we got there. It jumped up on my lap and I patted it a bit which it liked and I managed to stop it licking my face (Yuk!). Then it took an interest in J and decided to lick his face. He resisted this and backed away and ended up lying on the sofa with the dog on top of him so I started pulling it away and it turned and tried to bite me. Nice. J transferred to a dining chair where he was safer. We had a nice cup of tea. Then I noticed what the dog had done on the floor. Seriously yuk!

Apart from the doggy business we had a very nice time then went on to my Dad's. He and his wife have 3 King Charles spaniels which are very cute but when we got there they all yapped at full volume. They were given some chewy bones which quietened them down but the filling in these bones was tripe and we ate our dinner with the delighful aroma of doggy tripe being chewed.

It was very nice to see my Dad who is getting quite frail which is a bit scary really. 

Quite a long day though so quite tired at the end of it all.

Nice walk

Pictures of us on our recent walk. This was just before P got distracted and I ended up in the mud.

Chatted up in the bird feed aisle

Picked up P from work today and went shopping briefly. Had to take some jeans back because they were a bit small, must be making them smaller these days. Bought a load of bird food which cost £14! Hopefully this will last some time but it was making me think - that could keep someone's starving child alive. The real issue here is that the bird food producers are absolutely ripping us off.

Anyway while I was loading my scooter basket with sunflower seeds and peanuts a fairly elderly man started chatting to me about how he likes feeding the birds but the pigeons come and eat it all and I was saying how the squirrels are a nuisance for us. Then he said 'I hope you don't mind me saying this but you've got a lovely face.'  Gosh.

Aint nothin but a hound dog

Yesterday afternoon I was doing a bit of tidying and went outside to put out some rubbish. There was this really strange noise, like a load of horses' hooves clattering. Then a muddy dog came padding past. Then another muddy dog came past. The next thing I knew a whole pack of hounds was in my garden!

They all marched past me then scattered in the wood.

I went inside and looked out of the living room window and the other side of the wood was a line of men in red jackets on horses. One of them blew his horn and the dogs came running back. Then our neighbour, who has about 6 cats came over: 'Get them out of here!' she screamed.

All a bit dramatic. I'm not sure I'm all that happy about a pack of hounds in my garden. Wonder how J or our neighbour;s little boy would have reacted if they'd encountered them.