Monday, May 03, 2010

 

A mixed bunch of May Day activities.

It feels like a strange day.
It is Monday - we should be at the shop.
It is the May Day Bank Holiday - and the tradition seems to be that the weather on this day is not what one would hope for.
It has been bright for most of the day - it rained at about 9 o'clock when we arrived at the boot sale. But the North Wind has been chilly and strong.
I don't know when we first had a May Day holiday in the UK - perhaps about 25 years.
The first one we spent with Roger and Sue.
It poured with rain for most of the day.
We got out old 78s - old records and some sheet music.
We took great delight (as their address is L..... Farm) in playing and singing the old time song "Down on Misery Farm"
We were not really miserable of course - in fact there would have been much laughter.

And Bill and I have not been miserable today either - but I had wished I had got a pair of gloves with me this morning.
The field at Poynings is sloping and uneven - a nightmare for pushing a shopping trolley, but we filled it up.
Below are some items that we bought today.
All have been washed, priced and written up in the stock book.

Great aunts and great grandparents might have had a teapot set like this.
It is so 1930s.
I bought the set for £12.50.


This is a large ceramic kettle or tea pot.
I don't think one would want to put it onto the gas - so a teapot, maybe.
I don't know the date of this.

Bill has a collection of clockwork, wind up toys.
This doll bangs away on the xylophone.


This is a Zeiss camera from the late 1930s.


There is a blackbird's nest in Frieda's garden.
Mr Blackbird is very busy hunting for food.
It was quite funny this afternoon - the bird landed on our fence and then saw Harry. The bird flew into the thick pyracanthus to lure Harry away from being a threat to the nest.
Silly bird, Harry hadn't noticed until that moment.
Then Harry went and sat staring up into the bush.
Bill joined Harry with the camera at the ready.
The bird eventually came out and hopped round the long way to his family.

This afternoon I have been chatting to Jamie.
Chatting back and forth on Skype.
He and the family are on holiday at the moment.
First they visited Khao Sok - on the mainland.


We spent a few hours in that area 4 years ago.
And having seen this place to stay I am am really eager to visit again.
Jamie wants to go again too..... so this is very much on the agenda for September.
Today the family have been rafting. They are now staying in Chumphon, with Mam's parents.
Having seen pictures of the rafting trip I feel a modicum of gloom.
I wouldn't have been able to do it!
I just wouldn't have been able to sit down on the rafts - I can't get down on to the floor without help, nor can I get up again.
I am now the old Grandma who has to sit at the cafe with a cup of tea whilst the young folk go off and do interesting things.
Mam's mother is not so handicapped - people in Thailand know how to sit comfortably on the floor and she is more agile and fitter than me, and a little younger.


Here is Jessica enjoying the raft.
Bamboo poles have been substituted with plastic pipes.
Mam's parents live by the river in Chumphon. Her father has always supplemented the family income with sales of fish he has caught.
Today John went fishing with Mam's sister's boyfriend.
What a wonderful picture.


A new health problem has hit me over this weekend.
A floater.
I have this strange bit of fluff constantly floating about a foot away from my left eye.
It is driving me mad!
Though sometimes I can ignore it.
I will see how things go, but may have to get the optician to check it out. I shall be there on Wednesday to collect my new glasses.

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A mixed bunch of May Day activities.
posted by Grandma P on Monday, May 03, 2010