We're going to hang out the washing on the Siegfried line

As I put some washing in the machine yesterday morning (one of the many advantages of working from home!)I realised...too late..that I should have taken a photo of the clothes Laura wore over the weekend, as they were a perfect summary of what we did...let me explain:

Splodges of green paint down the side of her top = we went pottery painting again. She painted a flower, I did a rainbow.

Brown marks on the collar and sleeves = we popped into Farrah's afterwards for a chocolate ice cream.

Large brown stains all down the front of the "Dorothy" dress = we made chocolate buns on Sunday.

I read the news today, oh boy

I'm not really sure this is news, is it?

Royal mix up over lager delivery

Old friends

or maybe some new friends, just waiting to be found. Have a go on this - it is marvelous...

London Pride has been handed down to us...

I come from Hounslow. Well, actually..do I? I was born in Queen Charlotte's Maternity Hospital, which is sort of Hammersmith/Shepherd's Bush. I was taken home to my parent's flat in Chiswick, and we moved to Heston in about 1970/71. Chiswick & Heston are both in the London Borough of Hounslow, so that will do for the purposes of this blog.

So, I've just finished one of my birthday books: Charles Hawtrey: the man who was Private Widdle, and, to my utter delight, I discovered that he came from Hounslow, and indeed, lived there for much of his Carry On career.

Mind you, we're not slackers when it comes to other famous folk you know: Jimmy Page (Heston), a page 3 girl who've name I've totally forgotten, Patsy Kensit, Phil Collins (I think..or was that Ealing), Elvis Costello, and Sanjeev Bhaskar.

Hounslow was the location for Bend it like Beckham. Heston Aerodrome was where Chamberlain waved his bit of paper. When I lived in Heston Johnny Ball and Hannah Gordon lived there....not together, I hasten to add. Finally, slightly more bizarrely, Hounslow is where Rene from Allo Allo (actor Gordon Kaye) was whacked in the head by a bit of masonery during the storms of '87, and chef Heston Blumenthal is named after the 'famous' services on the M4.

Row, row, row your boat...

We had an extra treat of a holiday given to us. Rob invited us to spend the Bank Holiday weekend on his boat. Doesn't that sound far more glam than "he invited us to stoke-on-trent".

So, we boated up and down this beautiful bit of english waterway.

All the photos are
here. Sorry about the 8 million pictures of Laura. I was trying to get a nice, atmospheric shot of her. The rather pained expression on her face is because she was singing!

And, an extra cheap laugh for Kate & Chris - the type of boat is a Wilderness Beaver...honest. Look...

He's on the beach

I've been reprimanded by Veronica for not mentioning the highlight of the holiday - the annual sunday trip to the beach, with chips from the chip man. I think this is because I had tried to erase the memory of being FORCED to stay on the beach, under the beach umbrella (kindly lent by the chip man) in the RAIN. I was wearing sweatshirt AND waterproof. Veronica "hitler" Woodward wouldn't let any of us off the beach. Finally, her family were brave enough to defy her, and went and skulked in the car. We stayed.....Still it rained. Her family drove off to look at trains (!). We stayed.....and....it stopped raining....and it actually got quite pleasant. All the beach photos in the previous Penderff blog are taken that very afternoon, after it stopped raining. You were right, V, and the others missed out!

We're off to see the wizard....

And we did see him twice...once on stage, and once at the stage door...what a sad pair of groupies we are! Peter actually wrote a note to Roy Hudd, saying how we'd love to meet him, and how he (Peter, not Roy) had seen him in a show on Clacton Pier in about 1847 or something.

Well, like the true professional he is (Roy, not Peter) he came down, signed our programme, and posed for photos. Laura got stagefright, as you can see. Me, I'm grinning like a grinning thing!

Kudos too, to Gary Wilmot (Lion), Hilton Mcrae (Tin Man) and Susannah Fellowes (Glinda & Auntie Em) for being so friendly, signing programmes, etc...

A fantastic afternoon. Wish I could recommend you all rush off to see it, but it finished its run at the weekend.

The streets of London

We're in London for the weekend, and I'm blogging on a Mac, which is confusing me.

Anyway, it's warm and sunny darn sarf......we may never come back.

We are off to the theatre this afternoon.  It will be Laura's first theatre trip, and at £125 for 3 tickets she better bloody well enjoy it.  We are going to the Festival Hall to see "The Wizard of Oz", which is her all time favourite movie.  In fact, she may enjoy the whole thing too much...she knows most of the words...songs and dialogue.  I fear I may be spending this afternoon with my hand clamped over her gob.

Full review to follow, but as it stars Roy Hudd and Gary Wilmot I suspect we are in for a cracking afternoon's entertainment.

Lost in France - Penderff 2008

So, a summary of our holiday. Another lovely lovely time in Brittany, and although Canada is defo. on for summer 2009, we are aiming for visit number 4 to Penderff in May.

This year we
*went to the medieval fete in Hennebont.

*entertained my stepson for a few days. Actually, bless 'im, he entertained Laura in his role as chief swing-pusher

*were saved from the smallest lasagne in the world and certain divorce by our wonderful friends (and landlords) Judith & Jeremy

*spent an enormous amount of time
here

*Went on the ponies - twice for Laura, once for me.

*Went to the Zoo with half of the Woodwards and one Pollington, then on to the Interceltic Festival.

*Went to the Oceanopolis Aquariam in Brest, but probably enjoyed the smaller one in Vannes more....along with the Butterfly House, and most importantly for Laura, a shop which sold Leily Kelly boots. Most importantly for mummy, the boots were half the price they are in England.

*Ate in all our favorite restaurants with our favourite people

*Shopped for handbags (me)

*Shopped for music and junk (Peter)

* Had a wonderful time, and agreed to go back next May!

All the photos can be viewed here, although those of a delicate disposition may wish to avoid the shots of my fat a**e getting off the pony.

What a wonderful world.

Here's why....

School's out forever

Well, we are back from our jollies. A full report and the obligatory 80 million photos will follow....shortly. But I had to share todays little smile....

Laura does like to pick her own clothes, so most of the time I just grit my teeth and let her get on with it. Frankly, it's not worth the argument. But today is a corker - she is apparently missing school, so is dressed in full school uniform, including socks, shoes and hairband. She really is several sandwiches sort of a picnic, and I cannot imagine where she gets it from. We are going to the library this afternoon, and what she doesn't yet realise is that there is no bloody way she going out of the house in that get up!

We're all going on a summer holiday...

We apologise for this break in service, but Team Robinson has naffed orf on holibags. Two weeks in Brittany again, but we are banking on a trip to Toronto next summer....so I hope your offer was serious, Kate'n'Chris! And I am looking forward to a bit o' traveling that doesn't involve airports or lugging a bloody great laptop with me. Actually husband is taking his laptop I think. Me, I've got a pile of trashy (seriously trashy) novels, a soduko book and my embroidery. Luxury.

Young at heart

Bit of a shock today when I went t'dentist. For the first time I was really aware of quite how young my dentist was...as in....obviously significantly younger than me.

Then my cyber-chum Kevin from Helminthedale publishes a post about a seventies children's programme and I am too young to remember it. Hurrah! I feel so much better now!

Mad World.....

Gosh, am I turning into an old tory? Because when I read stories like this I really feel this country is going to hell in a handcart.

Then I read
this and suddenly everything is a bit more bearable again.....

Or is it just me?

Mamma mia

OH MY GOD

I watched this documentary this evening. I watched it with open mouthed horror. I watched it wondering if I should phone Burnley Social Services. If you get a chance to watch it...do.

Please Mr Postman

Our post was not delivered until 5pm today. The Post Office are having a larf....aren't they?

Leaving on a jetplane..

or not. Stuck at Schiphol this time, waiting on a 9pm flight home, now scheduled to leave at 11.00pm. Never mind. Just enjoyed burger 'n' chips and two LARGE glasses of wine in the Irish pub with a colleague, so everything has a bit of a fuzzy glow to it! Off to spend money I haven't got on perfume I don't need.

I should be so lucky....

Nipped over to Leeds with my mother this a.m. She was on a mission at the request of my sister. Niece, who has just finished her first year at Leeds Met, is due to move into into a student house for her second year, after the utter luxury of her student apartment last year. Now, I was never "lucky" enough to be in a hall of residence when I was a stooodent, but frankly...these (privately built) places are posher than anywhere I have ever lived. She had an ensuite bathroom for goodness sake.

Anyway, she is moving into a house with 5 other girls..cue cat fights....and two girls actually moved in this week....so, in fact, cue panic about the awful house, the dirt, the mouse nest , etc etc.....

Mum & I were dispatched to report on the awful house in the rubbish area.....which turned about to be lovely house in vibrant Headingly......the worst we culd find wrong with it was a dodgy socket and some mucky lampshades. My neice had commented on the lack of cable TV and tumble dryer!

Honestly...what is the world coming to? This place was a palace compared to where I lived when I was a student. Mum kindly referred to my student house as a hovel, and, frankly, she was being generous. It was damp, filthy, cold, unsanitary, had things growing on the walls downstairs, had mice, slugs, and silverfish (under my mattress)...and we were happy....we expected nothing less. In fact, living in a dump may actually have been a condition of being awarded an honours degree. (and we got housing benefit!!!! Them were the days!

The windows of the world..

I'm in Sheffield, in a hotel, where the view from my window is most picturesque...the canal..complete with barges. 'cept it's p*****g down. And we are due to have a conference bar-b-q in an hour. I told our delegates from the US and South Africa not to get too excited.....

Yep -it's July - it must be our annual user conference. Two day event. So far so good. The only person I wanted to slap was a colleague not a customer, so that's OK.

Now, must remember to control drinking tonight......must remember......there are 40 + customers downstairs, include two from Salt Lake City...and my boss....must remember!

It's all about you...

I stole this from a couple of blogs I visit.....

What were you doing 10 years ago?
Working in Sales for the same company I now work for, albeit with a different name (the company, not me) (actually, that's not true. I had a different surname then)

Five things on your to-do list for today:
I'll cheat, and do tomorrow as it is late evening now -
1) Do presentation for conference on Wednesday
2) Wrap daughter's birthday pressies
3) Check she can have disco room at her party
4) Get her a birthday card
5) Pack to go to aforementioned conference

What are three of your bad habits?
1) Jumping to conclusions
2) Total lack of self confidence
3) Watching crap telly

What would you do if you were a billionaire?
Stop work, have another baby, and give loads of it away.

What are some snacks you enjoy?
Oh blimey....I am queen of snacks...
Popcorn
Chocolate
Crisps
Grapes

What were the last five books you read?
Hattie Biography of Hattie Jacques
Queuing for beginners Mass observation type stuff - brilliant
Two caravans by Marina Lewycka, not finished..finding it harder going than A short history of tractors in Ukranian
Promise me Perhaps this should actually be on my bad habits list. I love these real airport reading, american crime stories. But I read them in a day, so I spend a fortune on them.
Eating for England prose, rather than recipes, by Nigel Slater. Rather lazy book actually. Not as good as Toast.

What are five jobs you have had?
Saturday assistant in public library in London
Library assistant in different public library in London
Barmaid (and a right crap one at that. I kept being told to smile at the punters)
College librarian
Present - which has included sales, training and now product management.

Five places that you have lived?
London - with my parents, till I went to .....
Manchester - to do my library degree, after which I lived in...
Oldham - when I was married, then
Sale - when I ceased to be married, and then..
Sheffield - which I loved, and really didn't make the most of, and sometimes hanker for now.


So...now I am supposed to tag others to do this..so Kate , Kevin....or actually anyone....consider yourelf tagged.