I don’t usually post about things like this, but this is close to home, and made us very sad.  We are to lose our local  Yorkshire Television studios. They are closing it down as a direct result of the credit crunch, having lost a huge amount of advertising revenue.

They have produced some excellent programmes like, ‘Rising Damp‘, ‘The Darling Buds of May‘, ‘A Touch of Frost‘, ‘Heartbeat‘ and one of the long running soaps ‘Emmerdale‘. Those are just a few that Mo and I always watched. There were, and are many more.  Emmerdale will continue to be made, but I don’t know where.

It will be a big financial loss to the area too. Complete villages were used in the filming of some of these programmes. Not only were people paid for the use of their homes and land, but the crew and actors spent money in the village shops and bars.  Many stayed for long periods of time, in the local hotels and boarding houses.  It will be a huge financial loss to the area. To say nothing of the 400 jobs to be lost by the closing of the studio!

These are sad times.

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When I was in my mid twenties, I joined our company net-ball team.  I enjoyed playing as I was quite keen on sports.  Companies throughout London, and the surrounding areas, played against each other and made their way up (or down) the league tables.

Being based in the centre of London, our home ground was at Lincoln’s Inn Fields where all the ‘White collar workers‘ would spend their lunch hour during the fine weather.

The net-ball ground was always surrounded by row upon row of little ‘Home Pride’ men as we called them, that had no interest in net-ball whatsoever, but had come to see the young women running around in tiny little skirts and showing their knickers (panties).

Some of the matches wouldn’t be until after we finished work, so the Home Pride men were cheated out of their display.  This particular evening, I had just finished a match and was changing my shoes in readiness to go home, when someone approached me and asked if I would join their team as they were a player down.  After a days work and already having played a match, I wasn’t too keen, but being the soft touch that I was, I agreed.  Wrong decision!

I played goal attach and that’s exactly where they put me.  Wrong decision!

I stood and waited for the players to come to their positions and that’s when I saw it…..I saw her!  The tallest, most gangling girl I had ever seen, who’s arms were so long that she could easily graze her fingers on the floor as she walked.  Her legs were just as long!  She was like a walking daddy long legs (that’s a spider with long skinny legs).  She made her way up the field and stopped….right next to me!  Now for those of you who don’t know, I am 5′1″.  When I stood facing her my eyes rested on her navel!   This was the girl who would be ‘marking’ me.  Well, I was small and nimble so maybe it would be OK.

The whistle sounded and the game started.  I moved around waiting for the ball to be passed to me.  It was, I caught it, and that’s when daddy long legs moved in, like a spider about to wrap her prey up, trapping it in it’s web.  She stood, legs astride, bent over me with her arms wrapped around my body.  She left just enough room for it not to be a foul, and just enough room to force me to foul her.  I couldn’t move.  If I did I would touch her.  I moved -  “Foul!” She grabbed the ball from me.  The game progressed, and every time I caught the ball she repeated her ritual.  I couldn’t shoot for goal because she bent over the top of me, I couldn’t pass the ball as I was trapped by her great, gangly arms.  It went something like this.  I breathed …… Whistle…..”FOUL!” I turned my head…… Whistle…..“FOUL!”…… Whistle….. “FOUL!”…… “FOUL!” “FOUL!” “FOUL!”

I don’t anger easily, I’m usually very placid.  I HATED her.  I REALLY hated her!  I could have punched her quite easily.  I’d never felt such hate for a person.  I wanted to smash her face in, if I could have reached it (and that makes me feel bad now).  She took the sport out of the game.  She took the fun out of the game.  She took the rules of the game to the extreme and sneakily used them to her advantage.  Did I say I hated her?  She didn’t even play the game.  She did what all spiders do – stood and waited and then came in for the kill!  Needless to say we lost!

The captain, who asked if I would fill in for her absent shooter, immediately came and apologized to me for having put me through that ordeal.  She couldn’t have known – or did she?  Was that why their player hadn’t turned up?   Of course it was!

Daddy long legs was probably the most hated player ever!

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I was so surprised that two people were only one away from the correct number of Maltesers in the jug, and that they were either side of the correct number!   Now, without any further ado…..

….. the winners are …..

JenniJ From in the Bubble – who guessed 184

Kathy The Junk Drawer – who guessed 182

The correct number was 183!

As JenniJ was the first to make her guess, she can choose if she wants the Magnebeetle or the EC’s.  Kathy can have what’s left!  No, not really.  Kathy can also choose.   Can anyone tell me how many EC’s I need to send for the recipient to actually get 500?

Well done both of you and thank you all for taking part.  It’s been such fun – especially having to eat the evidence!

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My somewhat depleted box of Maltesers

I won’t be around much (if at all) on Sunday, so I thought I’d give you an update on the Maltesers Competition.

We have two people who have guessed within one of the correct amount!  Unless someone comes up with the correct number it looks like we have the winners!

I’ll let you know who they are on Monday.

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It’s here! My 1st Blogoversary. I know I had a false alarm once before but it’s one year today since I started blogging publicly.  Drowsey Monkey sent me this cake a long time back and I bet she thought I’d forgotten it.  There’s also some cute little cupcakes, I baked myself – remember, I lie!

What a year it’s been.  I found lots of great blogs to read, made many lovely friends.  I’ve learned a lot of American talk, and probably left a lot of British talk around in comments too.  I’ve become confused as to how to spell certain words like humor…er.. I mean humour, and Mo recognizes the back of my head more than the front now.  She’s acclimatized to the sudden outbursts of laughter that interrupt her TV viewing at regular intervals, and often pauses her programme so I can read her whatever it was that caused such laughter.  It’s been a great year.

As it’s my blogging birthday, It seemed fitting to mark this milestone with something, so let me introduce you to the Magnebeetle!

Yes it’s a Beetle fridge magnet, and you can win one of these – you know you want one….. don’t you?  Oh oka-a-y, if you would rather, you can have 500 EC credits.

I thought I would make this even more yummy by having a ‘How many Maltesers are in the jug’ competition.  I have to admit, it is more yummy for me than any of you though!

I don’t know if you all have Maltesers, so to help you get an idea of the size, here’s me holding one.  The jug is 7 1/2 inches from top to bottom.

I will also tell you that Mo bought a large box, so there are quite a few in the jug.

I think I will have two prizes, well I’m like that.  The first two correct guesses will win.  If there isn’t a correct guess, the first two people who guess the closest to the correct number will win.

I will keep this post up for a few days, to give everyone a chance.  Happy guessing!

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I was tagged for this meme by Kat of Candles, Crafts and Whatnot.  Well, I kind of tagged myself because I thought it was a good one to do, so she very kindly tagged me anyway.

The Rules for the MEME are:

1. Put your Music Player on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS.
4. Tag your friends – Well I won’t tag but feel free to do it if you like.

I have 1437 songs in my iTune library.  My taste in music  is exceptionally diverse, so I thought it would pick a great mixture.  My iTunes could do with a lesson in shuffling because it not only picked out some of the more boring albums, that I never listen to, it repeated albums and didn’t go near many of my favourites!  But I stuck to the rules, even though I wanted to try again.

So here is the list it chose for me anyway.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF?
* Can’t Help But Wonder Where I’m Bound – Tom Paxton (Pretty true of most of my life)

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A BOY?
* Unbreak My Heart – Il Divo (Who doesn’t?)

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
* Oh Boy! – Buddy Holly (That just about says it)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE’S PURPOSE?
* Crying Game – Boy George (Never!)

WHAT’S YOUR MOTTO?
* You Raise Me Up – Paul Potts (I suppose that could be true)

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
* Take a Look at me Now – Phil Collins ;O)

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
* I’m You – Leona Lewis (That may be about right, if my parents were alive)

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
* I Can’t Get Started – Rod Stewart (Ha ha! That’s soooo true)

WHAT IS 2 + 2?
* All I Really Want – Alanis Morisette (!!)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
* Calling Me Angel – KD Lang (??)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
* Fire – Alison Moyet (It certainly has been in the past)

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
* My One True Friend – Bette Midler (Well I am trying to love myself. Does that count?)

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
* Shake Your Body Down – Odyssey (He he)

WHAT WILL/DID YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
* Bésame Mucha – Sally Doherty (If I knew what it meant I might know if is is apt)

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
* Angel Eyes – Bryan Ferry & Roxy Music  (That would be nice)

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
* É Luxo Só – Sally Doherty (Anybody understand this?)

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR?
* Don’t Stop The dance – Bryan Ferry & Roxy Music  (Yep I want to live for a long time yet)

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
* Chimes of Freedom – Joan Baez & Bob Dylan (??)

WHAT DO YOU WANT RIGHT NOW?
* You Are Loved – Josh Groban (??)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
* Jagged Little Pill – Alanis Morisette (I haven’t listened to all of these lyrics, but it doesn’t sound too nice)

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
* Blue Moon – Rod Stewart

*Don’t forget my 1st Blogoversary here on 27th.  There’ll be a fun competition and some cake :O)

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Victor Meldrew, Babs is off again.

This large box was delivered today and I wracked my brain (what little I have) to think of what we were expecting in the post.  Needless to say, I couldn’t think of anything that size.  “Ooh!” I thought “A lovely surprise, I love surprises.”  “Ooh” Sukie thought “A lovely big box to play in”

Well it was definitely a surprise for me.  Just look at what was inside!

Can you believe that?  What a waste of paper, and worse than that, they had stretched a double layer of plastic over the contents to stop it rattling about.  That’s more plastic to add to the mountains of waste plastic we have already. What is annoying is that it wouldn’t be needed if they sent it in the right size package!

Just to add insult to injury, the jolly thing is no good to me.  It’s a remote control for a camera, but it doesn’t work with my model!

Have you ever received such wasteful packaging?

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At Christmas, our neighbour hung some fairy lights on a tree at the bottom of his garden which, in effect, is also the bottom of our garden.  They are still there, flashing and blinking at us each time we look out of the window.

It’s only a couple of months, you might say.  You’d be wrong!  It wasn’t this Christmas he hung them there.  It was Christmas three or four years ago!

I took this photo through our back window which I might add, is where I sit blogging.

They’ve survived many a storm and when we’ve had really high winds, and the lights are blown down Mo and I laugh and say “Oh well they’ve finally gone.”  The next day they are back full gusto, flashing and blinking at us!  The lights went off during one storm and we decided that they would definitely come down now that they were broken.  The next day…. you’ve guessed it… there they were again!  He must have bought a new set.

I guess we have to accept that they are a permanent fixture.

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I Was given this award by Kat at Candles, Crafts and Whatnot I liked the sentiment so decided to post this one.

I must list 5 reasons why I think my life is “grand” I am supposed to pass it on, but any of you that would like to do it are welcome.

I think my life is grand because:

1. I have everything I need to have a happy life, but still have things to hope for.

2. I have a lot of hobbies to keep my mind active, like playing guitar, photography, painting and let’s not forget blogging!

3.  Since I started blogging, I have made some wonderful friends from different parts of the world. I didn’t expect it, or think it was possible!

4. I’m able to laugh easily. Every day Mo and I have a laugh and giggle over something, sometimes bringing tears to our eyes. Of late it has often been when Mo is on our Wii :O)

5. I have my faith. It has changed my life immeasurably, making me a much happier and more relaxed person.

I also received this award from Shinade at The painted Veil that came with a lovely message for me :O)

Thank you both!

One last thing!

If you look over at my sidebar you will see that it’s not long now to my first blogoversary.  Watch out for a fun post!

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I thought I’d post something a little different today.

This was my younger sisters beautiful cat.  He was a big fluffy Persian Red and his name was Jasper, after Jasper carrot the comedian.  Handsome wasn’t he?

From the beginning my sister trained him.  She bullied the poor little thing into submission… Joking!  He was quite a character as you can see.

Just look at the photo of him all dressed up in his shirt and tie.  He’s even holding the pen!  How cute is that?

The funniest thing was his regular showers. Have you ever seen such a thing?  He is sitting in about two inches of water too!  

“Play that water on my tum mum”

“Just clean my nose off a bit.  I don’t want any boogaloos left behind”

“Nearly finished mum?”

Now this is the life!  Snug as a bug in a rug”

Sadly, my sister can’t bring herself to replace his memory by getting another cat.

Don’t you think he was one gorgeous hunk of cat?

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