Sunday 24 May 2009

Tales of a bank holiday Sunday

Well there we were having a cracking time in Hastings. We went up the cliff railway and took the kids to the Smuggler's Adventure in the caves there. After that we trotted across the cliffs to Hastings Castle which was the first Motte and Bailey castle erected in Britain by William the Conqueror after he topped Harold at the Battle of Hastings.

Then we went back down the cliff railway and found a cafe to have lunch. This cafe had three waitresses - all young girls - and it was like a BBC comedy watching them. They obviously hadn't been doing the job for long and it was the blind leading the blind. They stood in a row behind the counter, dropping cups, spraying coffee grounds everywhere, doubling drinks orders and then making a right fist of opening a bottle of wine. We were fascinated and it was so hard not to laugh at them. I have to admit to really hoping that something dramatic would happen with the wine, but after a lot of pulling and effort they finally managed to remove the cork without too much drama. They were arguing over who had to clean the tables, and they had this spray bottle of stuff and an absolutely filthy cloth to clean with. However, the meal was lovely, probably because the three stooges didn't have any hand in cooking or preparing it - just had to deliver it without dropping it.

After lunch we went into the amusements, which is lethal really, I don't have any idea how much money we spent on the 2p pushers and I don't want to know. There is this unofficial competition between us to see who can get the most gifts out of the pushers. Getting 2ps is not the goal, it's getting all the little ornaments and other gizmos they put in there nowadays. Alex turned out to be brilliant at it although he couldn't get the hang of the idea that the 2p change machine didn't give away free money and had to be fed with pound coins etc.

We took them down to the funfair as well and they went on the ghost train and the bumper cars and then finally had 10 minutes on the trampolines down the seafront.

So off we trotted back to the car and started on our way home - and guess what? The car broke down - sort of. It kept beeping and saying that the brake fluid needed topping up. So I found a Beefeater just outside of Hastings to park in - make it easy for the RAC to find us and we sat there for 2 hours until they turned up. But it turned out it wasn't the brakes but the clutch slave cylinder that had popped a seal and it was gushing fluid. So we ended up being towed home and getting back four hours later than I'd anticipated!!!! Didn't even get to have a meal at the Beefeater because the first RAC man looked at the car and said it couldn't be driven but he couldn't recover us because there were too many of us to go in his little van. So he arranged for a bigger recovery vehicle to collect us and said it will be an hour before he gets to you. So we went into the Beefeater and ordered a scrumptious meal. Five minutes later I get a call from the recovery to say he'd be there in 15 minutes - so we had to cancel our scrummy meal. I've had to promise the kids that as soon as the car is mended we'll go to a local Beefeater and order the same meal.

So all in all everything went to plan except the last bit ..... But the consolation is that apparantly it's not an expensive repair !!!! Yippee - only a small amount of holiday money to be spent elsewhere then!!! Oh well could have been a lot worse I suppose so mustn't grumble - but it's now 10.50pm and I'm shattered - so night night all - fingers crossed for an uneventful rest of bank holiday for me :o)

Saturday 23 May 2009

And they're off ...............

The box has now been handed over to the Royal Mail and is probably sitting in our local sorting office at the moment, but it's finally on the first leg of it's magical mystery tour.

Don't forget to let us all know when you receive it and when you send it on, and what you've taken from it.

I'm seriously thinking about BBBJ's idea of a box swap as well, at some time. I've seen these before, where you have a box swap buddy - or you send your box to the person upline of you and the person downline of you sends a box to you. The whole thing is started off with a questionnaire for everyone in the group so that you know what everybody else likes and dislikes, so that you can tailor your box appropriately. Then you start knitting and crocheting and crafting and buying things for your box. Lovely idea and like having Christmas early. Let me know what you think.

Anyway, I'd better go and tidy up my bombsite of a garden. I've just started planting out sprouts, cauliflowers, spring onions, carrots, leeks ......... and there are discarded pots and little heaps of soil everywhere. Looks like a deranged mole has been drag racing through the grass.

Hope the weather stays nice for you all.

Friday 22 May 2009

Under Starter's Orders

The box is filled, taped and ready to go. I was going to post it on my way home today, but haven't been well. So it will definitely be going in the post tomorrow morning. I've had the greatest of fun choosing goodies to go in it, hope you all have just as much fun choosing which goodies you want to take out of it.

Have a wonderful bank holiday weekend everybody - here in the South East it's supposed to be bright and sunny all the way through - with the possibility of thunderstorms on Monday - but we'll chance that. I'm taking my family to Hastings on Sunday to visit the Smuggler's Story in the caves there and we'll have to go to the funfair otherwise Alex will never forgive us :o)

Monday 18 May 2009

Happy new blog

OK, this is a big deal for me as I've been too lazy to set up a blog before. But now I've started up the second round of our box swap it makes sense to have somewhere to show off our choices. Although as I'm starting it, it means that I'll have to wait til last. Something to look forward to though. I love this kind of thing, like a child waiting for Christmas.

I've had a rough time since February so need some fun. I had a large abcess at the very top of my thigh, too close for comfort too my lady bits :). That was cut out under anaesthetic, and is still being packed and dressed twice daily by the district nurses, who are a wonderful lot. As I'm also a diabetic, the would is taking ages to heal. So I'm on a phased return to work, which means I do five hours on Monday, Wedsnesday and Friday at the moment, and I have to go visit Occupation Health every fortnight for an update.

However, I'm a firm believer in silver linings, and this particular silver lining is the opportunity to knit more. I'm supposed to rest my leg so ideal to slob onto the settee and knit. I keep all my WIPs in various bags strewn around my living room :) which also doubles up as playroom for four year old Alex and computer room for my other half. I also have a 15 year old strop, sorry, daughter, who spends most of her time in her room killing aliens on the PS2 or killing cats on her violin. (Actually that's not really fair as she's making very good progress with her violin lessons even though she keeps saying she's fed up of it)

So the box is coming together slowly as I mentally winnow through my stash. I'll physically winnow through it tomorrow. I'm still waiting for a few answers to my original email, inviting everyone back for the swap, but if I don't hear anything by Thursday I'll send it out. We can always add in late swappers later.