winter woollie thinking

Went into town today to put my posh frock into the Cleaners, it cost nearly £8 and will take a week! fortunately my social calendar is not over full.
Library cards now work all over the country, so i took mine on a trial trip to the town library [as opposed to the mobile]and was over stimulated by access to so many books.
Also the local toddlers group was doing a very enthusiastic song with the actions group amongst the shelves.
Could hardly concentrate what with the elderly brain cells and tears in the eyes as the little poppets screamed with pleasure and triumph at touching "ears, nose, knees and toes" several million times.
Backed accidentally into a young woman in a burka and screamed, only because I thought I had stood on her, but I expect she felt I was frightened of her as a terrorist, which was a shame.
After RP had had his eyes tested and been told to take his glasses off to use his computer. The optician moaned because he claimed the govt. pay for the free eye test didn't cover his costs - if people then went off to SpecSavers for their fancy frames. Persuading RP he didn't need computer glasses didn't help load his coffers poor independent professional.
We toddled off to a shoe shop where RP immediately reverted to his 12 year old self, sulked and refused to try anything on, I remained very mature - just, and swep out [I wouldn't like him telling me what to buy either i suppose]
There seems to be only one shoe shop in town now - Clarks. All the others have closed and been subsumed into the fashion shops, which means almost everything for female feet is shiny and has a 4inch heel. Which I would love to wear, as it looks so wonderfully prancey.
Big Business is now establishing and exploiting a lucrative foot fetish where shoes no longer are for walking, thus also boobs are no longer for feeding babies but for ramming into pointy shapes as sex objects.
Boys are obsessive about their pecks, little girls are entirely in pink and we are all going to hell in a hand cart, a shiny one with a big horn.
Finally to M&S where RP redeemed himself and bought 3 cardis! One for the garden, one cashmere for lounging and one for £15 because he had a voucher.
I bought a jumper.

we can - or can we

Bit of an autumnal harvest today, lots of butternut squash and

pears. Last year they got some weird kind of virus that turned them funny shapes so we didn't eat them.
This year they look fine, which is a relief as the new neighbours planted pear saplings last year and looked very askance at our monster fruit. But this year we look normal so they can watch theirs grow with an easier mind.
Our apples are a sorrier lot, almost two months without rain obviously doesn't agree with them. The oldest and best apple tree has gone and died which is sad and a problem as it needs removing before it falls down the bank. We are not good at getting "someone" in to solve practical problems like this. We assure ourselves we can do it, but like Obama - it all takes more time than one would think.

boo

Home again - and sulking.
I reckon - I am retired so every day should be a holiday, but as soon as I get back ping go the neck muscles and a vague but pervasive atmosphere of guilt at that which I have not done [or have done] descends.

climbing the walls

If this pic of D's is enlarged one can chose who should win the "Wreck of the Hesperus" award. My mother often used to say I looked thus, or "pulled thru a hedge backwards" so encouraging that generation.

Today we had morning coffee in Bath, it was a lovely sunny day, the buildings glowed with self satisfaction

The Abbey is just gorgeous
This bloke had an ingenious contrivance to enable him to play the violin and the guitar at the same time and make a nice noise
Lunch in a tiny pub run by two gay guys who enjoyed their work

Searched for some time for the W bookshop, and when we did eventually find it they had unbeknownst to themselves run out of the new Ian Rankin, is that any way to run a bookshop!
I treated myself to 2 other tomes, for one of which they over charged me, so the Retired Person had to march back and remonstrate..... sometimes he feels my responses may be counter productive.
Got a bit lost traversing Bristol on the way home, so many cars, so little road space.

five go adventuring

Lots of walkies today, even tho it rained lightly and persistently all morning

after a lot of diddling around trying to find a road that would lead down to the coast, finally RP dove down the right rabbit hole and we could walk along the coastal path [dog shit alley] to Redcliff Bay.

RP is also an ace camera man having achieved what every older women craves - an Impressionist picture [or out of focus]
Or the Long View - of the Three Damsels

Back in the sunshine after lunch we caught these teenage swans looking for theirs.

back "home" we had lots of tea and long discussions about Life and what to do with what we have left. More cheering than it sounds.
D didn't swim again.

This is not a dalek on stilts

Nor is this, they are two small light houses at each end of our doggie walk, if you are really determined and keep going.

Hopefully this should show both lights - well maybe if you double click and use imagination. We did the walk in 2 parts today with S&D who are visiting for a couple of days, unfortunately they bought cloudy weather with them, but in true British fashion we congratulated ourselves that at least it wasn't raining.

D googled Portishead and discovered it has a swimming pool, however it proves to be an Open Air pool, so maybe his cossie won't be getting wet this time.

green and pleasant

Today we had to organise a bit in the morning as I wanted to get the dragon Tshirts into the post - flying towards the g'sons, which hopefully was achieved.
To celebrate we sat outside Costa's hoping the sunshine would last. A woman approached asking to share the table, I Hate that, it feels so encroaching, but decided to be civilised and smiled a welcome.
But then she said did we mind if she smoked, this dragon raised her head and she retreated.
She found a berth at the next table, so we still got some of the benefit of her smoke, where she noisily complained about the anti-smoker laws. We had some empathy as we have to sit outside because of Hatters but didn't let it show.
We are both ex-smokers, now the smell of smoke makes me ashamed of what I must have put others thru. I used to roll my own with liquorice papers, it was the ritual I missed as much as anything.
My son smokes even tho he whizzes about as a bicycle messenger up and down the hills of San Francisco, his lungs must be really confused what with the tobacco smoke, traffic fumes and .....fresh sea air. He keeps stopping and starting, he says now he has paid his taxes he has 40 dollars for the next two weeks, eat or smoke, let's hope he makes a good decision.
Daughter and son inlaw gave up for the babe, when they were young they used to harangue me, but now I am only allowed to be encouraging.
On the way to car I bought Alistair Campbell's Diary in hard back for a quid from a charity shop, it will be an alternative fantasy for when I finish D Brown [who is really annoying me at the mo].



We went up to Symonds Yat, very calm and pretty, and green - no smoke

walkies

Lovely sunny day, we took a long walk along the river.
Hattie is a happy doggy, she approves of this holiday tho she does point out that one can take lots of long walks at home without having to drive for 4 hours to reach them.
We tell her to shut up and keep walking; lots of other dogs walking their owners too
The beach is stony and muddy, covered in dramatic seaweed that I think was described as "black gold" in a TV programme where they talked about how it was once smoked? and sold as fertiliser, not round here I don't think.

I am still reading the D Brown, it is interesting about America's Freemasonry origins; it is amazing how little we know about different cultures and why they are different, how their concepts are formed and developed.
It seems that although we are constantly bombarded with information, so much of it is irrelevant to growing our understanding of each other or ourselves. The furore about the American Health Insurance Bill and the NHS for instance is a case in point. The history behind and in front of each would be useful to clarify understanding, but it seems politicians can't afford to be open and talk about what is really important.
Goddess knows how we will ever sort it all out, it seems like most people know in their hearts what is needed but we have no idea how to reach it.
I read in the local paper that our anarchist march on Saturday culminated in tens of young persons throwing pies at several large banks in Bristol...........hmmmmmmmmm later hundreds of over heated young persons [different ones I presume] queued to see Peter Andre at Asda, there is a message there maybe, maybe not.

sun shines

A lovely sunny day, walked Hatty the dog along the parkland above the river, meeting and greeting many doggy friends.
Half an hour drinking coffee outside Costas reading the Saturday papers, then RP walked Hatters home while I floated guilt free round Waitrose, till partner returns wafting shopping bags having collected car and a sense of mission.
We haven't got a Waitrose at home so it was refreshing to have everything in a different place and purportedly of a superior quality.
Lunch on the lawns of a rather nice riverside pub, only annoyance a bloke on my left - so full of himself he felt it necessary to share every opinion.
Should confine himself to blogging, or the Plinth.
The marina nearby was very nouveau riche, architected nests of colourful, ingeniously shaped and turreted housing arranged in cosy little squares and courtyards. .
I imagine one has to check the plans closely to make sure your new home had a view of the water [mud] rather than the backside of someone else' fantasy castle
The rest of the afternoon was spent snoozing and reading Mr Brown. His book is indeed a thriller if a somewhat daft one.

Bristol

This house we have rented for the holiday was very clean, lots of pristine white paint and furniture and cream carpets throughout. The oven however apparently escaped the attention of the previous tenant's.
Chef was not amused.
The carpet is beginning to shade to grey with the generous application of doggy hair so we shall have to break out the hoover before our next set of visitors.
We have had stepson here for last few days,and today we went with him back to Bristol, it is a lively city, somehow more relaxed than London. I am always happy when I am back in London, especially my familiar places North of the River.
Today we were South of the River?Avon/Severn as I wanted to see an exhibition by the Gordano group of fifteen artists from the South West.

[lots of melted tyvek]
This one was dyed with Woad. I tried this once myself and got this same innocuous shade, which at the time was disappointing, but in this situation is was quite pleasingly calm. Surely the Ancient Britons obtained a more dramatic hue.

Stepson was curious as to how these felted faces had been constructed, but there was very little information about the work or the group. Their website is still under construction.
We pottered off thru the city - an anarchist group was having their annual march with black and yellow balloons and more police and riot vans than marchers [incl. at least 4 on horseback]. They didn't seem dangerous, seemingly being composed mostly of vegans knitting in solidarity for Palestine.
It was a lovely sunny day, the parks decorated with horizontal young persons chattering on their mobile phones, I was so disarmed I bought the new D Brown - well I am on holiday. Stepson found it all very tiring, has gone back to work for a rest.

sun, sea and smoke

Today we went for a day trip to Weston super Mare, I remember spending a week there as a kid, with my parents. Being an only child I was bored silly after a few days, but finally found that the sand was perfect for making relief sculptures of faces and animals. No sign of that today, tho I saw a notice of a Summer Sand Sculpture competition that I had sadly missed, but I suspect that others skill levels may developed over the years.

The vast sandy beach is still there, but the poor old pier has suffered.





Now it looks like this,
shuttered and guarded.

This bronze relief reminds passers by of past glories

It was fairly grim in the town really, even tho the sun was shining. The wind was blowing in true British coastal fashion and the very young and very old [not many in between] were sheltering, clutching their packets of chips and hats with grim determination.
These kids, who perhaps should have been in school, were practising their back flips, but I only caught him on the way down.

Pottered down onto the beach today, largely sandstone, brown sucky old river mud, lines of black seaweed and almost fluorescent lichens. Found one trainer [rejected] and one bicycle seat - so thoughts turned to Picasso......... banged out the wildlife secreted in the spongy underside and put aside for another day.
Did wonder if we would come across the wet cyclist, but fortunately not.

Clevedon Pier was a surprise, such a fragile but elegant structure, made by the Victorians in Cast Iron.
Piers are in such trouble these days, we have seen Brighton's West Pier a burnt out shell, and the main pier survives mainly on the Fairground terror ride on the far end.
Southwold Pier has fascinating automatons including a weird clock but is threatened by the changing tides which are undermining the coast.
Hastings pier is just Shut. It was bought by a company but they now seem to be about to go bankcrupt.
Clevedon pier has absolutely no attractions except itself and the Pagoda TeaShop at the end........ and the anglers club...but when you look more closely the planks are studded with sponsored brass plaques, which pay for the upkeep of the Pier..
Most of the plaques are Birth, marriages and Deaths, many of the last.
It's a bit depressing, like when you stagger after a long walkies to sit on a helpfully placed bench, only to find it commemorates someone else, deeply missed, who also loved this spot.
Makes one feel uncomfortably temporary/disposable.
.
But quite a few of these plaques were amusing, sweet or straight strange.