If you've seen it, send it back, please.

Where has all the time gone these last few days.
The weekend was really odd, as there was only me and the dogs for two days. Then on Monday evening, I was expecting the youngest back home, and the older two arrived back from the festival in Leeds. They are both very brown, might be something to do with sitting up observation towers, fire watching. They both had a great time, and saw bands they wanted to see, and got paid, because they were working.
The youngest had been sailing with his godfather again on Monday.
I finished my quilt front, first ever, on Monday. I just need to back and bind it now.
I've been busy doing Mum stuff, like washing the two loads of washing they brought back, and getting them dry and ironed.
Been sorting other stuff out as well, and should get my missing certificate before long.

Last couple of days

Right, I noticed how I'd phrased the quilt thing on my last post. It looked like I was going to unpick the whole thing. I was intending unpicking a couple of seams on the last block I had finished, but when I measured it, it was the right size. What I meant was, I am going to make another quilt, same style, different colours.
I finished the statement and e-mailed it to the solicitor, it was like writing an essay for university. (My printer ran out of ink.)
Also, yesterday, I got a swim in, and collected my GCSE result. I'd done Textiles as professional development, I got a A, so am happy about that. (I did put a lot of work into it.)
My youngest is happy, his gf came back from her grandma's.
Last night/early this morning one set of the neighbours surpassed themselves, there was a whole load of noise, shouting, etc. Then a police van came up the street, and a policeman ran up after it. The youngish lass that lives there walked up. The police went, and shortly after more shouting, and questions being yelled at the tops of their voices. I was just considering ringing for the police, when it went quiet. Then the "husband" came out, and drove away. His van woke me when it returned this morning, but usually he's to and fro all day, and there's been no sign. He's self-employed.

Have also been making home-made soup today, as my neighbour is ill, and I know he's been off his food. I made sure there was enough for him as well. Well, the recipe asked for 1/2 tin of tomatoes. What do you do with the other 1/2? Answers on a sealed down envelope or postcard to..........
No, I won't, it's just another of those great mysteries like the ones I asked the other day.

What to do next?

Have been to solicitors. The nub of the solicitor's problem is proving that the teacher, or the school were negligent. I now have to write a statement of the events, and history. Then ...light the blue touch paper and retire....(I wonder if in this case you also refrain from approaching said explosive device?)
If negligence can be proved, it is then straight forward.
And in the morning, I am going to find out my textiles result. Am not bothered about my grade, as it was done as professional development, and I know I have passed the exam.
I have also finished the 6 blocks for my first EVER patchwork quilt.......Bluejeanfemme asked, "does it matter if it isn't perfect?"...or words to that end. Answer there is..to me..if it doesn't look right..yes..it does matter. I might re-do the 6th block, but then again..I think re-doing the whole quilt will be a better learning curve.
Anyway..tiz way past Pumpkin time here in the UK, so I'll say goodnight to you all

This week so far.

Not been a terribly eventful week so far this week.
Have swum, made four quilt panels, done housework, been a nice walk with my youngest.
That's about it.
I have arranged to see a solictor..to explore if I have grounds for a compensation claim.
More on that later.
The new neighbours across the street have pulled the kitchenm out, and are putting a new one in......Must be a pain when you are actually in the house having that done.
Mind you..when they first moved in....I think they lived off chinese takeaways...from our handy Chinese, at the end of the street.
One lot of the Eastern European neighbours is STILL away..and the ones I'm not too keen on have now brought a boat up the street. At one point they inflated a bouncy slide thing to clean it..it was huge..and the generator droned for such a long time. Let's hope they aren't going to try to flood the street to test the boat. (They are very strange.)

Not good for sancastles

There was a sandcastle building competition on the beach today, I didn't go down to look, but it's been chilly and overcast. Not ideal weather for building a sandcastle, unless you are a dedicated sand artist.
I did take the dogs a walk, and as usual, little old ladies stopped me. (They just seem to appear, and their sole aim in life is to let dogs lick their faces!......yuck!) But they made all the usual comments. How lovely the dogs are. Aen't they well-behaved? Aren't they clipped nice? Do I like whisky? Do I get any money for advertising? (The dogs are a Westie and a Scottie.)
Squashed a whole pile of washing, and then just relaxed.
Tomorrow is going to be taken up with organising things for Oliver, in preparation for him going to Uni.

Why?

Why do people ask dumb questions on yahoo answers?
Why does it start to rain when only the thickest things are left on the washing line, and you don't notice until they are wet through?
Why do the Eastern European neighbours turn their cars by doing a 3 point turn, rather than reverse down the street? (Either way they are very erratic drivers.)
Why is there never any butter left when I make toast?
Why don't the kids put stuff in the recycling boxes?
Why are all the wine glasses in my daughter's room, when she only has one mouth?
Why won't the dogs go out in the rain, unless you go with them?
Where do the birds go at night?

I don't intend to answer any of these questions, don't mind if you want to though.

Friday

We had the delayed celebration for Oliver's exam results.
I'd had quite a busy day.
I swam 3/4 mile in the morning, so am pleased with myself about that, and I wasn't tired when I got out.
This is very brief, cos I'm very tired.

Yesterday

Didn't get chance to write yesterday.
My middle one, Oliver, got his A level results. He got 3 As in Chemistry, Maths and Physics and a D in general studies. So he has his place at Manchester University to study for his Masters in Physics, and in a round a month he'll be off there.
I did offer to make a special meal to celebrate, but he'd arranged to go out with his friends. Some of them were being "difficult". The group he spent some of the morning with had only done their AS levels, and one of their number likes to be the one "in charge", but hadn't the foggiest what exactly they should do. Typical!!
My daughter went out with friends after work to celebrate Debbie's birthday, a day early. So it was a very quiet evening.

Frittering time away

Today has been a day of waiting. And when I have to wait..I find tasks that I know I can immerse myself in, and get them done.
Does it stop me worrying? Nah! just means I get stuff done.
Kids got a nice roast tea, the pile of books on floor has dwindled, and I brushed the dogs.
Talking of which..they are going for clipping in the morning.
More about that tomorrow.

Tiring Tuesday

Now I remember what I was doing yesterday......I vacuumed. And it is hard work with a stupid ankle.

Today, well got down to the pool in time for the adult session. Today there were only seven people in the pool. I swum, 1/2 a mile again, then went back home, via the post office to pay the Electricity and gas bills.
After eating , my youngest and I walked down into town, and back via the prom, so I could sit on benches like old ladies have to. The dogs weren't being too naughty, and I'd managed to buy all I wanted from town, and posted a parcel, so although it took me twice as long as it used to..it was sucessful, and the rain was very kind, it waited until about 3 minutes after getting in..then chucked it down, hard.
Now..it's quiet here..I have some Ozric Tentacles playing, and the youngest is playing on a PC game, while chatting to his gf. The older two are out, one on a date, one at Rock Nite.

Missed yesterday

Was so busy doing...who knows what yesterday, that I didn't blog.
BUT........I did finish two books, one good, one rubbish. I hate it when you read a book and come across a "fact" in it, which you know for a fact is WRONG.
But this book is a non-fiction book, and it should have been properly researched..if I found a bit I know to be wrong, how much more of it is wrong? It doesn't just spoil the reading, in non-fiction, it spoils the credibilty of the author.
The one I found in a fiction book just spoilt the story, cos the author had the characters driving from London to the Lake District, up the M1! Either her geography is as bad as my Mum's, or she couldn't be bothered to check. (for non UK readers..no matter where you are on the M1, you still have to cross the country as the M1 is on the Eastern side, and the Lake District is in the North West.)
The other book was fantastic, but I'm glad I finished it. Now I can curl up with a book again.

The "glorious" twelfth?

There hasn't been a single mention of it being the "glorious" twelfth today. Well, not that I've noticed. Probably cos it's weekend, and it is only mentioned on the news during the week as a "filler". I don't know. It's not a date I can easily forget as one of my Grandad's died on the 11th of August. We went to a walk. Grandad was very poorly, and Dad was going to call in and see him before we went on our walk, the bedroom curtains were closed, so we walked and then called in. He died when we were walking on the moors. I remember the date well, as once the grouse shooting season starts, walking on the moors is restricted, depending on where the shoot is taking place that day. Being an inquisitive sort, I've just looked up on the web why everything seems quiet.
http://business.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=964&id=1172622006
It seems there might be a lack of birds, but also in some places in the UK, the paths and moors could be closed as a safeguard against possible foot and mouth, as sheep graze a lot of the moorlands. Although I have just looked on DEFRAs website, and there it says only footpaths in the affected zone, and restricted zone are closed.
So, it must be a combination of the lack of birds and it being Sunday that have not made it newsworthy.

Saturday, again.

Well, didn't get up until almost noon, then I found out I had a migraine. (yuck.)
So, today has been a lazy day, again. I slept on and off until 4pm, the migraine had lessened a fair bit by then.
The noisy neighbours came back from wherever they went away to. These people are unable to have a conversation in normal tones outside their house. They are always on full volume, two weeks back, one of the household had come outside to talk on their mobile phone. If the person they were speaking to was in the town...they wouldn't have needed a mobile. (So loud, and this was about 11pm at night!)
All is quiet here, daughter out in Blackpool, and boys at their Dad's...just me and the dogs. Think I might have an early night.
Have almost finished my book...it has been hard work reading this one, have never rerad a book that I need to prop on something to read before

conferencing

This is fun. If you haven't tried it yet, I suggest you give it a try. OK, the kids do it all the time, but it is fun, and sometimes you can get at cross purposes. If you don't follow the conversation..this could be very funny.
Other stuff that has happened today, err. I swam 1/2 a mile, before my breakfast. Not an awful lot of other stuff, apart from shop at Asda.
Here in the UK, because of the bad weather prices of veg have gone up. Forgive me for being cynical, but.....not every growing area has been flooded. For example, this time of year Cauliflowers are at their most abundant, so why has their price gone higher than maximum winter price? It is sheer greed! Surely it would make more sense to keep the price the same, and make sure that they sold out of the limited stocks, rather than ramp the price up, and risk being left with stock on their hands?? That is how my boss used to operate.....sell stock cheap at the end of the day..and never over-price. And at weekend..anything that wouldn't last..drop the price to sell the stock. Anything that didn't sell and wouldn't keep, I took back home and made wine from.

Oops!

Was going to blog every day, but yesterday, just as I was about to start last night. I ended up taking my daughter to the Accident and Emergency dept. (She's 20, but had a bang on the head.) They kept her in for observation.
Didn't leave there until 2.30am this morning, not in bed until 3am. Then I had to "brave" the traffic into the city to collect her.
But we came back via the Crook o'Lune, it took the same length of time, but we were moving all the time. It's a lovely drive around there.

Rule of time and work

There is an unwritten rule.
It goes a bit like this, work expands to fill the time available to do it in.
If you are busy, little jobs are just that, little jobs.
BUT...when you have all day to do them in..the expand..like cinder toffee does when being made..to fill every spare moment.
That is what happened today...Shopping at Asda..normally..an hour tops..am sure it took almost 2!
Then later on something else took much longer. Only trouble is...the days don't stretch to accommodate these stretchy job times.
Ah, well!
Am off to bed soon...

Sleepy Sunday

I've been yawning my head off all day.
It was warm, and I started with a migraine, so haven't done a right lot today except keep out of the sunlight...which was quite bright. And no, I'm not a secret vampire. (drat!)
What I did manage to do though was read lots of my book, am over halfway through, and am becoming increasing convinced that the only reason it was called an adult book is the sheer weight of the thing, after all..young bones are still setting.
Anyway, am still yawning, so I'd better go to bed, night all.

Reading and chilling

Spent most of today reading Jonathon Strange and Mr Norrell.
Drove to Kirkby Lonsdale for mountain ash....it wasn't fat enough, unless I cut it crosswise.
Rest of day..just resting really. I want to do things tomorrow, but need a rest

British Summer

I could say, summers weren't like this when I was kid, but I'd be lying. It's the simple beauty of a British Summer. One day rain, next, sun...maybe...next blowing a gale...who knows.
There aren't many to equal the summer of 1976.
At least the rain is warm in summer.

There was some real bad news on the news before. There is a case of foot and mouth in Surrey. I really hope it is an isolated case, unfortunately the farmer in question is having to have all his stock slaughtered. My heart goes out to him, and I hope it doesn't turn into an epidemic like it did in 2001. Farmers lose their livelihood, so do connected industries. Animals lose their lives, and the landscape looks strange bereft of it's usual animals.

Thursday.

It's been like a weekend today. Sunday perhaps?
EVERYONE was up bright and early. The boys were going sailing, playing Pirates for the day.
Not really, Edwin's godfather has a boat on Windemere in the Lake District. They were going sailing with him and their Dad. Everyone was up before 8am, and out by just after 9am.
Sam went to work early, so me and the dogs scrounged a lift with her, so that I could walk back, after visiting the market. I got 5 pairs of stripey socks with the money Mum and Dad gave me for my birthday. At the moment, the way I am walking is causing me to hole all my socks, but just the left one, on where the instep should be, due to injury.
We walked back home, me and the dogs.
Then that was it, alone until 8pm, when the "crew" came back. They hadn't made their Dad walk the plank, (he is one, or so one of my friends says.)
It's been a fairly quiet day, although I got loads done in the morning, walk/walk dogs, swim, shop.

Big Books

Am currently reading Jonathon Strange and Mr Norrell, but am not reading as fast as I usually do. The reason being the book is huge. I have the hardback version, and it's 800 pages long-ish, so very heavy.
So..times when I read, book held in one hand are not possible......(I'm not Kim Jones, even though I went to school with her for two years.)
So, snuggling down for the night in bed with your book..out of the question. Holding in one hand whilst doing something else, also, impossible.
This is a book you have to sit down with, and put on a flat surface. A table, lectern..if you have easy access to one, or sprawl on the floor/bed on your tummy, book in front of you. Am tending to plump for sprawling, or on a table.
Although, all that aside, it is a very readable book, and I am enjoying it..and perhaps when I've finished I'll look like Popeye, after the spinach, but I'm not bothered.
Other uses for this book could be, as a step for when you are just not high enough, as a weapon, for propping the door open. I'm sure I could think of more.
Incidentally, it is said to be an adults book....I think this might just be a health thing..you know...like when they won't let kids "pump iron" until they are 16. It's just too darn heavy for them. At last I've found a book that is heavy going in a totally different sense.