The Photo Comp

I haven't entered for ages but felt inspired by the Christmas subject. Having nothing new I shoved in an old one thinking that it wouldn't rate anything. Fifth place! I'm really pleased and will gather some new material for the next one.

The subject is Light. I'll have a go.

How Awful

There has been a Woolies in my home town of Accrington for 83 years. My Nana used to tell me about spending sixpences in there when she was a youngster and I remember buying my make-up there when I was in my teens.

My son, Mark, managed to get himself 'lost' in there once when he was around two years old and was given ten pence by some nice lady who 'found' him. Little tinker managed to lose himself every time we went in from then on!

Alison and I went in last October to buy some hair thingies for me and I'm so glad we did. My last memories of an institution.

Poor Woolies...............RIP

Have a Good One

It's just us this year as most of our mates are off doing other things. Maz and Bernard are staying in a hotel in Las Americas with Joan and Kevin whilst Pam and John have gone to England to stay with their daughter.

We have a plan though. Smoked salmon and poached eggs for breakfast and then a walk around the village. Roast duck with all the trimmings for dinner followed by hot mince pies with ice-cream for pudding. Lots of good telly for the evening including Corrie!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!

Flippin' Freezing

I know that it isn't half as cold as England but it feels well chilly here at the moment. I even resorted to wearing my fleece this afternoon. It's lovely in the sun but turn a corner and the breeze gets you.

Having craved for a gas fire all evening it struck me to turn the oven on. Nice and snug now!

Wow!

I haven't been receiving my Christmas cards for the last two or three years but they are flocking in at the moment. People have sworn blind that they have sent them but they never turned up.

Special thanks to Mark and Katie, Sam and Baz and Simon and Karen.

I know that it's a pain to write them out but it's so nice to know that you are thought about when you get them. I promise not to moan next year!

Thanks also to our Shona who was kind enough to post mine in Scotland xx

What a Performance

We borrowed a Digibox from our mate Mick last summer and as it suited us and he didn't really need it we bought it from him about three months ago. We get BBC 1 and 2, ITV1, Channels 4 and 5 as well as a couple of Sports Channels. As long as I can watch Corrie, I'm happy.

Rumours were flying around at the end of last week that it had to be re-configured at some point. Not a problem or so we thought. I was sure that it would be after Christmas and a couple of folk said that it wouldn't be before February. As we don't normally watch television during the day, it was six o'clock when I turned on last night to catch up on Eggheads (I know I'm sad)........NO TV!

Off we set at lunchtime to sort it out and as we had to go by bus it was quite a mission. On arriving at Guaza we turned the corner to find a queue of around twenty people all clutching their boxes. It was really funny. It took us over an hour to sort ours out and by the time we left the shop the queue was well down the street.

A five-hour trip and a ninety Euro charge, what a day but at least I got my Corrie back!

Boys and Toys

It's a Bank Holiday here in Tenerife and Brian was well impressed with a car rally held just a couple of streets away from us. He went out early with Clio just for a nose around but came back to ditch her and collect the camera. He did quite well with this pic!



Curiosity got the better of me and I went to find him later. It was pretty exciting watching the sports cars zooming past even though they were risking life and limb on a two lane road. Parked cars down each side too.



I managed to catch this chappy on his way mainly to capture the conditions but we really put our foot in it on the way home. Having decided to wander into the throng we blundered into a televised news report!

How the poor chap managed to keep on talking with these two dimwits hogging the limelight I know not. No Spanish TV for me for the next few days!

Sleep

I'm going through one of those phases when no matter how I try, I can't sleep. It's really awful and I feel well wrecked. I went off to bed at around midnight on Tuesday and tossed and turned for hours. I was still awake when the kiddies went off to school on Wednesday morning and ended up without sleep until two o'clock or so on Thursday morning.

I sort of put it down to my poor brain having nothing to think about. When I worked it was easy enough to lie and plan my schedule for the following day which soon sent me off. Now I tend to start worrying about the most stupid things. I won't go there as it really is ridiculous.

Almost half one on Friday morning and I've had around twenty hours sleep since Monday. I'm dreading going to bed but I'd best give it a go. Find a book and be positive. I WILL SLEEP!

Marley and Me

My sister-in-law, Alison saved loads of books for me to bring back home to Tenerife. They have all been really good but a couple have stuck in my mind.

The first one was 'My Sister's Keeper' which was really brilliant but I've fallen in love with Marley. One of my friends let slip that I will cry at the end. Bad move because I'm scared of finishing it!

He does remind me of our evil dog, Sable, who lived with us for ten years or so.

She was Mrs Wicked and chewed everything in sight. I could write some books about her!

For a Doberman she was a sweetheart and I can still feel her silky ears even now.

A Snake's Wedding!

I've been in the middle of yet another wrangle between Direct Telecom and Telefonica and this one has gone on for around three weeks. One says that it is the line and the other the router. After having my biggest moan yet, Hagar the 'Orrible from Telecom devised this mess of wires just to prove that Telefonica was at fault. He was wrong!! I'm back online and Telefonica are in the clear.

My neighbour, Mimi, ran me up to Adeje this afternoon to collect Hagar's masterpiece and we had a late lunch whilst we waited. Most enjoyable.

One Thing After Another

Both of my Grandsons have been in hospital during the last couple of weeks. Martin had his arm operation and Harry had suspected meningitis. Such a worry for their parents and I would have loved to have seen them both. I doubt that I'd have been allowed in with such a cold but it doesn't make it any easier. Thankfully, they are both home now.

My worries were increased last weekend by a confession from Brian. It seems that he's had a lump in his throat for the past three months and didn't know how to tell me. He hates to upset me and decided to keep it to himself. We've had such an awful week. Tears, rows and times that were so terrifying, I can't describe it. I've never seen him so frightened in all the years that we have been together.

I decided that enough was enough this morning and practically dragged him to the clinic. Two steps forward and one back which would have been well funny under different circumstances. He was shaking like a leaf when the doctor called him in and I went outside for some air and to say a few prayers. I fully expected a trip by ambulance to the hospital and was ready to phone Maz to ask her to collect Clio and keep her overnight.

Fifteen minutes later he was out. A severe throat infection and not the diagnosis he'd imagined. I didn't know whether to kill him on the spot or to hug him! He's well dosed up with the shed load of tablets he's had today and sound asleep.

A Little Better

I've hardly done anything since I returned home in the early hours of Saturday morning as this flippin' cold has really knocked me for six. However, I've just had a lovely soak in a hot bath and I reckon that I'm on the road to recovery.

I didn't attend the bash at the local bar for Halloween as I was mid-air during the celebrations. Most folk thought that my broomstick would carry me home to save on air fare...........nasty shower!!

Seeing this photo of Vic, I'm glad that I was miles high. No wonder he scared the kiddies! Young Frankie will never be the same again!

So Cold

I didn't have a very good journey as the plane developed a problem before take off which resulted in a two hour wait on the runway at Tenerife Sur Airport. My brother and his family waited ages for me but the welcome was really great when I eventually got there. The big sign 'Auntie June' amused most of the folk in front of me!

We had a brilliant week. Skipton, Clitheroe, Accrington and Blackburn, and a wander around Blackpool to see the lights. Steak pudding all in, fish and chips and to top it all off, a KFC! My nephews had grown beyond recognition but we bonded and had a few laughs. Thanks to them all for looking after me, especially Alison xxx

The worst bit was the cold. I'm suffering at the moment and still can't get warm. Trust Tenerife to have a windy cold spell just as I got home!

I'm Home

I have a really bad cold and haven't the patience to do a detailed blog just now. I'll catch up as soon as I stop sniffling!!

Harry Andrew Evans

Harry turned up on Tuesday afternoon. A big welcome from Nana Top and see you next week. xxxxxx

Poor Liam

I've watched every episode this week, sick sad puppy that I am, and must admit to having been well disappointed. All that scriking and meaningful looks didn't do it for me and I did feel relieved by the end of tonight's last episode. Not a tear was shed and as his slurry speech annoyed me I reckon that it's time he went.

I logged on to the ITV website earlier to see the alternative endings..........not available outside the UK! There was a pic of him being shoved off a balcony which could have been better than the poor plot we ended up with.

Now we have to put up with moaning Maria next week!

My Newsletter

For the last couple of weeks I've been promoting this year's 'Walk for Life' in my newsletter and here are some of the volunteers just before they set off on Sunday morning. Thanks to Eve and her tireless campain for breast cancer awareness, they raised a thousand Euros which was a tenth of the the total amount from the whole island. Well done Eve and thanks for the photograph.

Kevin and Joan eventually came up with the correct answer to my conundrum......a key! This week's puzzle is:-

Who makes it, has no use for it,

Who buys it, has no use for it,

Who uses it, can neither see nor feel it.........What is it?

Something to ponder on!

Mended or Not?

I'm one of those people who hates to make a fuss and will put up with poor service to avoid any hassle. After more than two weeks and to be honest probably two years in total, I finally got angry enough to react. I find it easier to communicate in writing and sent a carefully worded email to Direct Telecom demanding an immediate solution to our problem. I also stated that I wasn't expecting to be billed this month but did expect a couple of 'freebies' to be thrown in for customer loyalty.

Well I never!! I received a reply earlier today regretting my lack of a connection but promising that my next monthly account will be paid by them, I get my speed increased and they will waive a forty euro fee for their latest offer.

That one is worth having because they give me a 0844 number and my family can ring me at any time without worrying about the cost. 300 minutes per month are completely free and anything above that will be around two cents per minute. Pretty cool!!

To top it all, I've been online for around eight hours now with only one minor blip. Not that I'm getting too complacent yet but happen it pays to complain!

Bits and Bats

A little bit of a catch up tonight. Dave is still in hospital awaiting further tests on Monday morning. Caron tells us that he's cheerful enough but bored out of his brain. He's reading, eating and sleeping but really wants to go home. Happen it won't be too long now.

Still on a similar theme, I spent a couple of hours with Sue on Saturday afternoon. I was chief minder and went along to the supermarket with her to carry the bags. She's looking quite well but does tire easily. Hopefully, she'll be well enough to have a bit of a holiday in England before Christmas.

We had a walk to Bar Manu this afternoon for the Meat Raffle and Whiskey Raffle. Brian often jokes that if he had the only ticket he'd never win but we walked away with a huge bag of lamb chops and a bottle of Johnny Walker Red! I hate whiskey but it's lamb chops for tea tomorrow.

I'm still struggling with this on/off internet thing. We have been ringing Direct Telecom for two weeks now and I've never seen such a useless bunch of idiots in all my life. This Hager bloke promised to contact us on Friday............he did, via an email. By the time I managed to have a connection long enough to view it the office was closed. We are on the old exchange in the village and I've asked and asked them to do something about it but it appears they know best. Brian is off to collect a new router tomorrow so fingers crossed yet again.

Not long before my England trip. My twelve-year old Grandson will be in Sheffield that week for an operation on his arm. I haven't driven a car for years but I'd love to go and see him. Happen I'll give a hire car a go! I'm also willing Katie on to have her baby before I get there. I'm clinging on to my mobile at all times waiting for the call. They say castor oil helps!!!

Well Funny

I started adding a conundrum to my newsletter a couple of weeks ago. It's proving quite popular and folk are stopping me in the street begging for the answer.

They all have to wait until the next issue but I do give credit to the first person who answers it correctly.

This week's is 'I turn around once. What is out will not get in. I turn around again. What is in will not get out. What am I?'

Kevin is really making me chuckle as he's phoned a couple of times tonight with various guesses. He's threatening to phone me at five in the morning if I won't tell him!