Grandma P's Ramblings Through Life

The pictures tell the story of the day.
It has been a day in which Bill has worked extremely hard.

Labels: home and daily life

Guess what?
I am so tired!
More tired than yesterday evening.
I am not sleeping through the night at the moment - come 4 o'clock, I am awake.
I took an antihistamine to help me, maybe, get a longer night. Perhaps it has kicked in a little earlier than I would have wished.
Or maybe I am just tired.

I have plodded on today, but not really achieving enough.
I am happy that the dining room table is now clear.
I t did take a while to clean up one of the items - the 1950's file for storing 45s.
You can see a picture of it on the shop blog.
http://pilgrimsantiquesweststreetdorking.blogspot.com/
My theme was the heat of the summer.

Today has been a bit cooler - but without the sunshine for much it, the air felt very muggy.
We had a little rain this morning - not enough to benefit the plants.
One consolation of summer rain is that raindrops can look fantastic on the lush summer greens and flowers.


Here is one of our poppies.

Bill has been busy today.
The wall which is was a dull coffee colour is now cream - or "ice cream" as the name on the tin suggests.
Bill has taken up a little bit of the carpet - after 36 years there are problems.
It was laid on the cheap black floor tiles that were provided with this house.
As he lifts carpet, the tiles start to break.

I hope that the man and son coming to fit the new carpet might know best how to lift the old one.
Bill will have to dispose of it - we can take things to the dump, as private householders for free. If the man and son take it, as business people they would have to pay.
Shame really cos when they finish with us they will return to their place, which is about 50 yards from the entrance to the dump.

If you have the time do have a look at Jamie's blog.
His most recent posting on the Phuket blog is about Radar Hill. The first time he went there was with us, 4 years ago.
His words and pictures tell a good story.
And once on that page you will see a web site for Flickr, where he puts photos. The most recent show the local village festival. Kathu (Katoo) was once the centre of the tin mining industry on Phuket and there were many Chinese immigrants who settled on the island.
Jamie has some really good observational pictures and some enhanced superbly with great techniques.
https://www.jamiesphuketblog.com/

That's it for today.

Labels: home and daily life

It was a busy day in Dorking.
We have bought and we have sold.
Perhaps we are not the only ones having a clear out of unwanted items. There were 3 lots in this morning - and of course sucker that I am, I offered money for things.
A couple of women had things that had been donated for a leukaemia research charity - hard to say no to them. But I did reject all the naff, fairly modern, cute ornaments.
I gave them £25 for things and so did Monika.
The women told us that the charity has an arrangement with one of the banks that whatever they make on things will be doubled.
So in effect we have helped them raise £100 today.
The sales today were mostly of low value items - that suits me very well!
I sold one of the lanterns I bought recently and I know I shared with you.
I sold 4 items in all.
I am looking back and wondering what was so busy about the day - but really there seemed to be little time for chatting amongst ourselves.
Towards the end of the day I hurriedly took a few photos for the shop blog - the colour of heat.
I have a few things at home I can photograph in the morning to boost it up a bit.
Right now I am tired and yawning.
I want to lie down - early night for me.

A lovely morning seems to be a long time ago - was it really today?

Labels: Places in England

The sun has shone and the day has been relaxing.
Tomorrow is predicted to be even hotter.

I got up early and went to the Faygate boot sale and just like last Saturday I bought mostly clothes.
Lots of good quality T shirts/polo shirts, mainly for Ashley at 50p a time.
Bill and I banter about what is and what is not a T shirt. He says it is only a T shirt if it has a round neck and no collar.
There were some bits for me and Bill too, but not much.
I bought chutney, apricots and strawberries.
I bought just 2 things for selling on.

We were at the track by just gone half past twelve.
I was chief timekeeper at a Southern Women's League match.
And what a lovely team of timekeepers I had.
There was Bill of course and two men from Exeter, one from Brighton and one from Blackheath.
There should be timekeepers from the 8 competing clubs, but that rarely happens and today we had enough.
My men were fit and healthy - though older than I had assumed.
Perhaps that is just a sign of me getting older.
John from Exeter was surely no older than Bill - but it turns out he is 82 and has had triple by pass surgery.
The other timekeeper from Exeter was tall and slim with flowing locks - very hippy! Turned out he is 58.
The programme for this match is very laid back, so there was time for fetching drinks and chatting.
And Crawley won - which is really as it should be at a home fixture. It is so much easier to get young women out for a Saturday afternoon - providing they still have their Saturday evenings free.
They were not all young - but all over 17.
Jamie might be able to spot Ann Tulip (as was - now Bucket) in the photo.
Older than you Jamie!


She is standing next to the coloured girl.
I liked the way they all worked together and painted colours and the word Crawley on their legs. Some wore black and yellow ribbons in their hair.

Well done Crawley!

Well done Raffa too - my favourite tennis player had a hard match.
Well done Ghana - so far! It would be good to have an African nation proceeding in the world cup.

But for now it is time for supper - water melon and sorbet for me.

Labels: athletics

Today we have continued to sort out possessions.

Labels: home and daily life

My body has decided once again to issues orders.
I think it has been attempting to get through to me for weeks - but brain was not in gear.
So, I am back to the no wheat, no gluten regime. Tough, but I am looking forward to improved well being.
I have been so tired today. That is my fault. I was having a bad night with the "gipping flut" and in the end took tablets and antihistamine to give me some sleep.
The trouble is that I know the antihistamines tend to make me want to sleep about 12 hours after taking them.

It was a good morning - but we didn't do as much as planned.
The weather was wonderful and I enjoyed being at Ford.
The Thursday boot sale is very relaxed and peaceful.
I think I bought well - you can judge for yourself when you see the pictures at the end.
We actually made a sale as well. We were chatting to a book dealer - selling books for 25p each. So, he knew we had books in the car to take to the Oxfam shop. He said he would love to make an offer on them.
We got very little, because he protested that he didn't really need most of them - but £3 is not to be turned down.

Then it was time for breakfast in The Balaton at our favourite table by the window over looking the river, which this morning was at high tide.
Later we walked along to enjoy the sparkly sea.
The air was good.
But we didn't have the energy to enjoy anywhere else.
And Bill had things he wanted to get on with.

This afternoon the shelf unit down one length of the lounge has been cleared.
It was mostly records this afternoon.
Which ones would we ever listen to again?
We have probably kept some for sentimental reasons - but there is a vast pile to be taken to a charity shop tomorrow. Some record dealer will have a field day.
Now we have the other long length of the room to deal with - my family history commorative china, many more books and all sorts of odds and ends.
We are being very brutal - if there is no good reason for keeping something, then it will go.

Others with little energy this afternoon must have been those two tennis players who finally brought their epic match to a result.Of course it seemed cruel that somebody should lose. But I was happy that the Wimbledon committee saw fit to make awards to both the players to mark the fact that they had played out something unique.

I haven't written up any of my purchases yet - all still strewn across the dining room table.

There is very much a 1950s/60s theme dominating.
The tray is in wonderful condition.
I think the black and yellow pouffe will polish up well.

Labels: home and daily life, shop and stock

Downstairs is in the middle of a revamp!
The kitchen is now complete.
Today, first, it was the turn of the cupboard under the stairs. There can't be many souls who don't tend to just throw things in and shut the door.
Today Bill pulled it all out and we could see that we had a surplus of many things.
Just how many pairs of gloves and scarves do even cold hands and necks need?
How many shopping bags could one carry at the same time?
It was time to concentrate on the things we really need.
But before things could go back, Bill decided to carpet the cupboard under the stairs! We have carpet tiles now doing nothing - the ones that had been used in the kitchen/dining room.
Carpet was fine - but Bill, don't waste time and money on painting the walls.

Does everybody gather lots of different cleaning products?


The garden full of the necessary and the unnecessary.
The old bread bin had been my mother's and that remains necessary in my book, although I do not use it for bread.


Small time carpet fitter.

Labels: home and daily life

This has been a day of chores - and feeling rather tired.

I dealt with some EBay sales and then we posted parcels.

The next stop was B & Q. Bill had bought too much wood for the floor - I guess that is why its best to call in a professional right from the start.
We were expecting to get our money back on 4 packs.
At first there was a problem - returns are supposed to be done within 45 days.
Well we couldn't do that because we were waiting for Mick the floorman.
The manager then agreed that we could have a credit note, but not cash.
We then set about spending a little of it.
Bill wanted brass strips to go along by the doors at the edge of the wood flooring and we also looked at a mat for my computer and office chair to sit on - the one we bought was a bit too big, but looks very well on the wood floor.

The next stop was the council rubbish dump.
But our mind was still on flooring.
Bill has talked of replacing the carpet in our lounge for a while. But you know me - make do with things. And Bill would always add "the trouble is, there is so much to move". "Well," I thought, "we don't want any trouble.
But the carpet has been down since November 1974 - 36 years, and it is rather thin in places.
Bill I think wants to get everything straight whilst he can.
The people who did our stair carpet have a little showroom close by the dump - we had to pass it.
So we stopped.
The husband and wife who run this set up - just the two of them and one son are very pleasant and helpful.
Before we knew it we had agreed that Mr Carpet would come and measure up today, which he has done.
We have a couple of weeks to clear all the shelves, which are free standing and will have to be moved - these are the shelves which Bill constructed many years ago and have served us very well - and will continue to do so.
Though perhaps there might be a little less on them - time for a bit more clearing out.

This afternoon I had a blood test. Now lets hope I get a blood test result.
The blood has to be specially treated for this test and the results don't come back for a couple of weeks. Twice now there has been no result.

We popped into Asda to get milk and rice cakes.
We also bought some smoked haddock from the "sell by date bay".
I planned to use it tomorrow - but we have commitments tomorrow, so although I felt rough I did it today.
I made 2 fish pies.

We have also picked up medication from the chemist.

And I enjoyed completing another blog posting about the shop.
http://pilgrimsantiquesweststreetdorking.blogspot.com/

I have not given much attention to The Budget - read about it on the computer.
We could be very badly affected.
I have long felt that maybe I was no longer entitled to my health benefits.
I did once try to get the amount paid cut - but was told that perhaps I should be having more.
I shrugged my shoulders and accepted what had been offered - and offered for life.
I suppose when it was awarded to me my life span was expected to be quite short.
In 3 years time, both new and existing claimants will have to be assessed.
I expect to lose quite a sizeable benefit.
Ah well - its what I deserve.

It has been a good day with a very positive feel to it.

My first thoughts were "oh dear". I switched off the alarm and immediately wondered where our safe was. Surely not!
But no, Jonathan had been in and moved it to a better place.
Jonathan is full of ideas about to improve the shop.
Strangely as I mulled all this over with Monika I realised that much Bill and I had thought of has been in the minds of many others too.
There will be improvements, if we all put in some extra time.
We have all thought that strip lighting would be more efficient and ultimately less expensive than the many bulbs being used for lighting at the moment.
And we have all thought that some storage heaters would help to keep the chill off the shop in Winter and draught excluder round the doors is a must.
The passageway, which is horrible, and named The Pilgrims Way would be closed off. It is a wind tunnel.
There will be a weekend in July when people will gather at the shop on a Saturday evening and then the Sunday to make a start. Some people might wield paint brushes to freshen up the walls.

I spent time this morning writing up some of the things I bought over the weekend and finding places for them.
I removed a shelf of books.
They are not selling at all well - all books about Surrey, so they are not paying their way.
Bill also cleared out some books from his area.
We already had a bag full of books that I rejected whilst doing my stock check.
It was hard work taking two heavy bags down to the Oxfam book shop.
That's about the only charity shop that are happy to deal with interesting non fiction books.

Finally we had some time for lunch.
Bill had his, sitting outside the back of the shop and watched as parent blackbirds flew back and forth to a nest in some climbing evergreen on a trellis - not very secluded.
He took my camera over and photographed the nest.


This would be a second brood for the blackbirds - just like the pair who are nesting in Frieda's back garden.
I am not sure about this brood - one of them seems very much bigger and stronger than the others.
Perhaps he is getting all the juicy bits that his parents bring home.
If he is an intruder he would be a cuckoo - and I cannot believe that, not within the town.

We got busy during the afternoon and took quite a bit of money for people.
I was very pleased to sell a Clarice Cliffe bowl for Mick, who joined us recently. He had not been selling very well so far.
He was pleased too when I phoned him!

Bill and I had minor sales today.


And here is Monika modelling one of my sales.
She went out and bought carrot cake for us all and brought us down cups of tea.
I had asked her to put the pinafore on, so that I could photograph it for the blog. Tomorrow there will be photos of new stock I have spotted round the shop on the shop blog.
But the pinafore will not be for sale - Monika has bought it!
She says she does wear aprons in the kitchen and commented "How sad am I? I now have a best pinny!"

We had thought of eating at Wetherspoons after the shop closed.
But we were late getting away and even later getting out of Dorking because the main road south was closed due to an accident.
Fortunately we know other routes and so were not delayed as much as some.
I decided to get home, because I had things finishing on EBay.

Tomorrow we have a number of chores to do and will catch up on some relaxing.
One of my chores is a blood test - my turn this week for a medical appointment. This will be the 3rd time an attempt has been made to to do this test to check how my parathyroid glands are doing and the levels of calcium and vitamin D.
The path labs seem to be getting something wrong. The sample should be frozen fairly promptly and if the person taking the blood doesn't know that, I fear it might not be done. Do I dare tell them how to do their jobs?

Labels: shop and stock

I will tell of the this day through my pictures.
But the pictures can't portray how chilly it felt early this morning - people everywhere were talking of it.
At Pease Pottage we were not just chilly, but also despondent.
Nothing to buy!
I bought just one 50p book to sell.
And I bought 2 white tops for me and a T shirt for Ashley.

Soon we were on our way a little further south to the boot sale at Poynings, in a field below Devil's Dyke.
It is a devil of a field - on a slope and rutted.
But I was pleased to have the shopping trolley with me, for we ended up well loaded.


This was my first buy. I nearly didn't bother, because the man wanted £7 for it "It was my mother's" he said.
But I liked it - it is so like the traditional honey pot. And I did understand that the mother's treasures must mean a lot to a son - and at £7, there was still some profit for me.


I bought these bottles yesterday.
You can clearly see the brown one is from a Dorking brewery.
The other one is from Guildford,


I mentioned the flour bags yesterday - also bought at Faygate.

Labels: shop and stock

Your country needs you! Oh and I mean England, not Thailand.
Sorry - I forgot....John has a brain, so probably that rules him out of the England squad!

I started the day with a trip to Faygate for the small car boot sale - Bill decided not to bother.
I came home loaded with things for Ashley and Ecky - clothes mainly.
There were also clothes for us.
Bill gets bored with hunting for clothes, but today I felt a little freer for searching.


I also got some things to sell. I am really delighted with 2 cloth bags for MacDougall's self raising flour. I am not sure when the cloth bags stopped being used. I'll photograph them tomorrow and maybe somebody can comment on a possible date.



Whilst at the boot sale a fleet of police cars, fire engines etc sped along the road and the air ambulance came in too. Somebody along the road was in a bad way. I never like knowing of these things.
The dual carriage way road to Horsham was completely closed.
It remained like that for some hours - certainly at the time we wanted to drive to Horsham.
We took the country road, through Colgate - absolutely full of traffic that had been diverted.

Our destination was the Broadbridge Heath track.
About 10 minutes before the meeting was due to start, I realised that my 7 timekeepers was in fact only 6.
So some instant jiggling with the duty sheet was required.
The others stepped in gallantly to take on extra duties.
The racing was good - the only disappointment was that Sussex came 4th.
But we are a small county (in terms of population) compared with Surrey, Kent or Hampshire.



After the meeting we popped into Tescos by the track and (oh excitement!) bought a new back door mat. We also bought a mop for keeping the new floor clean - one designed for wooden floors, not one that spreads masses of soapy water over the floor.



That's it - I feel tired. I have been over indulging in bread lately, including today - sandwiches were the provided lunch.
I think I had better ease off - it gives me tummy ache badly after too much. This gives me a head ache and makes me feel generally fragile.
I can get away with a little bread sometimes - but then I want more.



Weather forecast is good (ish) for tomorrow and I look forward to more hunting.
If only the north east wind would die down. I wore a hat at the track today, just to keep the hair out of my face.

Labels: athletics, family

Should I laugh or should I cry?
I am certainly having a laugh at the Radio 5 commentary on the England match.
"shambles" "pathetic" " a long way to come to watch this drivel"
Is it unpatriotic for me to hope that in the next few minutes England fail to score?
Quality deserves success and I fear the drivel could just get it.
"feeble, every single one of them"

But there have been good things today.
I am really enjoying glancing round the kitchen which now has a wooden panelled floor.
Love it!

I have worked with all my stock in the garage. My stock check is now complete. I now know where everything listed as being current stock is.
This afternoon I wrote a new list for all the Shire books that I have - 86 of them.
I am not sure that I have room for them in Dorking.
I watched a more entertaining football match whilst I was busy with books.
It almost seemed like Slovenia might beat the USA - a happy thought.
Slovenia is a charming, beautiful little country. Interesting fact - the population of Slovenia is only one third that of the city they were playing the match in.
But the USA fought back, and I have to concede their disallowed goal probably should have won them the game.

This afternoon I also sorted out the team of officials and their duties for the meeting tomorrow.
It is an south eastern inter counties schools match at the Horsham track.
I don't think it will be a hard match to deal with, but we are rather short of timekeepers it seems.

This morning we went to the farm for eggs and also bought some venison and red wine sausages.
Our main shopping was in Asda.

Eight more minutes to go....."they've all had a poor game" "lamentable"
Oh come on Algeria, put us all out of our misery!

The referee has ended it.
The spectators are booing.
I hate to say it - but - "I told you so". At least I was telling Gerry at last week's athletics meeting.... I told him that the England team were not actually any good and Gerry scoffed.

Oh well, time for a cheering cup of tea. Goodnight.

Today's posting will be much shorter than I intended - for a couple of reasons.
Firstly there is sleep.
I have been dozing on and off all afternoon and evening.
And when I am awake I feel totally drained.
Secondly, there should be pictures and there are none.
I took my camera out, but all the chips were left at home.
I look forward to receiving some copies of photos that other people took.

Back to the beginning.
Bill got up early and dealt with emptying the kitchen/dining room.
The washing machine was moved out - for the 3rd time this year.
The table had to have legs removed in order to get it out of the room.
I knew none of this, I was deeply asleep until 8 o'clock.
I got up quickly - Glenn was due to arrive.
Glenn is floorman the second. He has ousted the previous one - who has not been able to turn up or contact.
Glenn is a worker and much has been done during the day.
And I very much like what I see.
All that remains to do is the little area by the back door and finishing off all the edges.
The kitchen floor is now lovely wood panelling.

We enjoyed a very good lunch out and so enjoyed the opportunity to meet one of our great nephews (Ruben) who is a real charmer.
We went to Goffs Manor and sat out in the garden with Bill's sisters Julie and Jane and Jane's husband Geoff - and best of all Julie's son Stephen, wife Fiona and little Ruben.
They live in Switzerland, so we don't see them very often.
The sun shone and we enjoyed salmon fishcakes.
Perhaps I should not have drunk wine - maybe that is what knocked me; though I tend to think it is just life.
And my body ached after almost 3 hours - I don't cope well with the traditional style picnic tables bench seats.
It is not far from home - less than a mile. But it was an opportunity for a walk.... just like the doctor ordered.
Of course I wanted to take photos of Ruben - but was not able to.
We have seen lots on facebook, so have been able to track his progress as he grows.
We heard that we are expecting another Monk great nephew or niece before the month is out - Scott and wife/partner are expecting very soon.
So our tally very soon will be 34.

Well, bed time soon.
I hope I feel more lively tomorrow.

Labels: family, home and daily life

There is not very much to say about today.
It has been an oasis of not doing very much - between the past days of athletics and buying and selling and the next few days of having a new floor in the kitchen, more athletics and more buying and selling.

This morning we took the advice of the doctor and had a walk. It was not a specially interesting walk for we had things to do en route.
We needed to go to the post office to withdraw money to pay the floorman and we needed to buy some milk.

I guess we might have covered 2 miles. It was actually quite warm, but the strong wind from the north made it feel a bit chilly if the sun was hidden behind a cloud.

This afternoon I described half a dozen things for EBay.
The old toffee tin with a picture of horses going over one of the high jumps of The Grand National has already attracted some interest.

I have done a shop blog today.
My interest is waning a bit - surely not because of that electricity bill, mentioned yesterday.
I guess I do start to wonder what future the shop has.
http://pilgrimsantiquesweststreetdorking.blogspot.com/

I think my computer will be out of action whilst the floor is being done - not sure if I can wheel it back tomorrow evening.
Never mind I can always use Bill's.

Now back to Wales for the last time - until about November, when we will make our next trip there.

Today I am using my Bodnant pictures, which show the beautiful gardens - but most of all show people.


Yesterday you might have seen me enjoying the fantastic laburnum walk.


Now you can see Liz and Ecky.
I love this picture.


Shortly before we left, nearly at closing time, I returned to the laburnums and hooray - an almost clear view.
This is not the complete length, because one obstinate person just would not move about 20 yards along, so I moved alongside them to take the picture.


There was much to experience.


Yes - I did flower pictures too.

Labels: family, wales