What storm?

Our weather forecaster's predicted winds of up to 80 mph, through last night and up to around mid-afternoon today. I realise the whole of the British Isles hasn't got off Scot-free, but we seem to have been pretty fortunate here.

During the night the wind got a little playful, and reached 44mph at 5.53am, but a couple of weeks back it reached 58mph here.

I know this time there was the Spring high tide to contend with, and I believe that it was a 10m high, but we just didn't get the wind. In fact at 1pm, when the tide was high, I walked on the prom and took some pictures of the sea, as you can see, it is almost still, but the tide is high on the sea wall, the steps in the picture go down around 20 feet.

Mind you, it has been known for forecasters to be wrong. What a shame they get paid whether they get it right or wrong.

Still, I would have loved to see some wild water.

Parent's evening

Well, that time of year came around, again.
It was Edwin's parent's evening today.
I don't know why parents moan about these events. Mind you, I have never had complaints from any teachers, apart from when Sam was still at school, and she kept being ill. So her attendance wasn't up to much.
Anyway, tonight was about Edwin. It was funny, all four teachers I saw all were very pleased with him, and three of them complained that he isn't "vocal" enough in class. I nearly said, "he'll tell you when something is wrong" He's essentially a quite shy boy, and won't speak out unless he has to. Although he does in one lesson, I'm guessing that both the mix of children in that class, and the teacher make him feel more at ease.
As regular readers of this load of claptrap will know, I work at school, or do when I'm fit to. So it was nice to see people. Several wanted to know when I was coming back, and even the head came so speak to me to ask me how my recovery was going. I felt quite touched, especially when one of the teachers I work with told me that she needed me back, in front of the Headmaster.

Progress?

I think that I'm beginning to make forward progress, at last, with my recuperation. The exercises are going OK. The insoles are driving me nuts, but I'm going to ask for thinner ones to be made special if possible. (And I don't see why not, as the consultant said he could arrange them.)
I've managed to walk the dogs on the beach today, then go shopping to the supermarket, and do one or two other jobs before I felt I had to stop.
Whether the activity will hit me and make me tired tomorrow remains to be seen.
Over the past few weeks I've been cross-stitching and sewing. Have made a couple of waistcoats for my partner, and nearly finished a third cross-stitch project. (There are 4 that I would like to complete before returning to work. :D )
And if possible, and time allows, a fifth one, may get done.
After I've made up a garment I have cut out I intend doing some more patchwork, and make some crazy bags. I think it's time everyone became more conscious of how long plastics take to degrade, and revert to real shopping bags. (But that's just my opinion)

Thought I'd share this

A friend sent me the piece below, via e-mail.
I thought I'd share, and No, I didn't even know we'd had an earthquake. I was asleep, like most sane people are at 1am.

News Item: An Appeal for Your Help. A major earthquake measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale hit in the early hours of Tuesday morning.Epicentre: Barnsley, England.News of the disaster was swiftly carried abroad by the town's 35,000 racing pigeons, as victims were seen wandering around aimlessly muttering 'fookinell' and 'chuffin-norah'.The earthquake decimated the town, causing £6.84 worth of damage. Several priceless collections of mementos from the Balearic Isles and the Spanish Costa's were damaged beyond repair. Three areas of historical burnt out cars were disturbed. One hundred and seventy three pints of Sammy Smith's were spilled at a local 'community centre'. Many locals were woken up well before their Giro arrived. Radio Barnsley reported that hundreds of residents were confused and bewildered, still trying to come to terms with the fact that something interesting had happened in Barnsley. Most are finding it difficult to come to terms with finding two nine o'clocks in one day.One resident, 15 year old mother of 3, Tracy Sharon Braithwaite said: 'It was such a shock, my little Chardonnay-Madonna came running into my bedroom crying. The twins, Tyler-Morgan and Megan-Storm slept through it all.”Locals were determined not to be bowed, as looting, muggings and car crime carried on as normal.So far, whilst the British Red Cross has managed to ship 4000 crates of Sunny Delight to the area to relieve the suffering of stricken locals, rescue workers searching through the rubble have found large quantities of personal belongings including, benefit books, jewellery from Elizabeth Duke at Argos, and bone china from Pound-stretcher.Can You Help? Please respond generously to our appeal for food and clothing for the victims of this disaster. Clothing is needed most of all, especially: * Fila or Burberry baseball caps* Kappa tracksuit tops (his or hers)* Shell suits (female)* White sports socks* Rock-Fort boots or any other product sold in PrimarkCulturally sensitive food parcels are harder to put together, but your efforts will make a difference.Microwave meals, tinned baked beans, ice cream and cans of Colt 45 or Special Brew are ideal. Please do not give anything that requires peeling.Remember: * 22p buys a biro for filling in compensation claims* £2 buys chips, crisps and a blue fizzy drink for a family of 9* £5 will pay for a packet of B&H and a lighter to calm a child's nervesUrgently required: Tinned whippet food. Bones for Jack Russells. Please do not send tents for shelter. The sight of such posh housing will cause discontent in the surrounding South Yorkshire communities.

Thanks Jimmy

Sad today

Oliver went back to uni this morning. I dropped him off in Lancaster to catch the train, whilst I went for a check-up at the hospital.
We drove around the "Crook of Lune" to drop into Lancaster at the southern end. Driving through at 9 in the morning takes ages. Anyway, we got there at 8.50am, early for my appointment and plenty of time for Oliver to walk to train station.
I was sent for an x-ray before my appointment, and was told to saunter to x-ray, as they got cross if people arrived before 9am. X-ray done, walked back to orthopaedics. Took a seat, waited for the consultant to arrive.
He's very pleased with my progress, albeit slow, and I have to return in 3 months.

From there I went into Lancaster to pay a bill, and visit the bookshop, and get a couple of waistcoat buckles for waistcoats for my partner. I was going to get Oliver a new mobile phone, as he's cracked the screen on the one he has, but the shop didn't have the one I was looking for in stock.
I now have to start thinking about presents for my dad and Edwin as their birthdays are soon. I don't think I can get away with buying Dad a box of liquorice this year, like I did last year. (If you ask my Dad what he wants for a pressie..he usually says, just a stick of liquorice will do...so I got him loads. :D )
I'll have to think of something different this year..also..I have got Mum a jazz CD for Mother's Day, so that rules out a jazz CD for Dad.
Anyway..am missing Oliver, but he'll be back for Easter soon, so not that sad.

The Apple!

There's an apple in my fruit bowl, and it was bought before Xmas, all red and shiny. Sam said she would eat it, as she only likes shiny red apples. But she didn't, and after a a couple of weeks, everything else in the fruit bowl had been eaten, and it sat there, shining, no duller than it was when it was bought.

And now, probably 8 weeks after it was bought, it's still there, red shiny and looking perfect.

What's wrong with that? I hear you ask, well actually, loads. You see, the apple is a red delicious, and way back I used to sell fruit and veg. There is one thing I can tell you for certain, the "delicious" apples are not terribly good "keepers". What I mean by this is , they don't store well, after a certain period of time, the skin begins to wrinkle slightly, and the flesh, if you bite into one is no longer crisp and juicy. Don't get me wrong, at the time I sold fruit and veg, you could still get English Golden Delicious, these apples had a very short season, about 4 weeks, but they were far better apples than their French counterparts, which I contend should be described as green apples, as they are neither golden nor delicious, (well the ones they send here aren't...they keep the good ones for themselves! Sorry, it's an EU dispute..food is supposed to be what it is described as!)

Similarly, the Red Delicious we had back then, had limited shelf life....so...WHY is this apple still red and shiny. I suspect it has been irradiated, but I was under the impression that if food was irradiated, it should state clearly that the food has been irradiated.

Anyway, I keep asking Sam "when are you going to eat that apple?" I think now she just wants to see how long it will stop red and shiny, and looking good enough to eat? (Not by me, am not a red apple person myself.) Oh, by the way! It's a USA Red Delicious. I'll report back when it starts to decay..if it ever does!

Weekend

This weekend has been quite a noisy one. Oliver came home for a couple of days, think to play with his birthday pressie I got him. A crash cymbal, so now his drum kit has new cymbals, new drumskins all apart from the bass drum, and the bass drum still has a stuffed camel in it, to stop it being so noisy.
After he played his drums, Oliver played his guitar, although the other two both have electric guitars, and other instruments, Oliver is the one who plays most days. Perhaps thats why he is on the top floor in his hall of residence. he's got his other guitar and bongos there, as wellas a practise drum pad

Anyway, he's back to Manchester on Monday, flying visit this time, but Easter is only three more weeks off. Then he'll probably be back for three weeks. I know he's enjoying himself, and the "Mum, how do I cook.....? " phone calls have lessened, and he can cook quite well now, as I found out at Xmas, when I couldn't do anything.