Grandma P's Ramblings Through Life

Tired - too tired!
Got  a headache.
Probably as a result of indulging in cake with the family yesterday. It was good at the time.
Now to get my body back to normal.

Got up this morning to wrap awkward parcels - fragile and odd shaped things. Then went to post them.

Couldn't be bothered to describe more things for Ebay so did a little editing of things described about a month ago that had failed to sell and re-listed.

Watched Dr Who. Found the ending a bit abrupt and not very satisfying. Maybe it was just that my brain was missing something.

Early to bed.

Bless them! They truly seem to have got things right.
Their wedding was right for them and right for the people - though, of course, there are grumblers complaining about the fuss and the cost.
They have taken their time and learned so much about themselves and how to make the best of the life they have to lead.
The dress was lovely.
But keep the image of that dress in your head a while.

I hope that their party was fun.
There was fun in Monkland as some of the family were together for food, drink, talk and laughter.





























The table was decorated with old royal memorabilia.














It took us a while to get sorted round the table. The table is not big enough for all the dishes of food - we had to serve ourselves from dishes spread round the kitchen.


Peter and Antony tuck in.
















Jane.













Salad to accompany 4 different types of chicken curry.

Pam




































Almost all settled now.




















I felt so happy that we had arranged to do something on this wedding holiday.















Red Thai curry, chicken korma, chicken masala and chicken kung po.
And before you congratulate me on working so hard.....I didn't!
I decided that this was not the TV programme "Come Dine with Me" and our guests had not come to mark my cooking skills.
What was wanted was time to be together.




































We enjoyed puddings and cake through the day - thank you guests for providing those..

Now think back to that beautiful dress....I want to share with you another couple on their wedding day.





























My grandparents - my mother's parents.
They would not have had much money. It looks like Grandad should have had some new trousers.
But Grandmother Jessie had style. Her dress had a V neck line, like Kate's and the simple veil was held in place by a tiara of made no doubt of cheap imitation flowers.
I thought of this picture as I watched the TV.

A lovely day.
I am ready for bed - I gather the young royals will be partying into the night.
The Queen decided that partying into the night was not for her - she and the Duke left mid afternoon to a cottage on the Sandringham estate for a bit of peace!

We have done it!
Organised a trip for this year.....to Thailand.
We shall go on September 22nd for 3 weeks. This coincides with school holidays, time when Jamie can be off work and the vegetarian festival.
Once decided the flight was booked within minutes. This time we will be travelling with Thai Air once again and pass through Bangkok. This was not the cheapest flight, but does give us flights at the times when we want them.

So there is much to look forward to.

And that includes tomorrow.
We will be entertaining some of Bill's family to a day with us to include the Royal wedding, eating, drinking, talking, laughing.....and comparing our ailments!
We are doing different curries with rice and/or little boiled potatoes, some veg and some salad.
Pudding will include melon which I have to cut up - I have 3 in the fruit bowl. Others will contribute puddings and cakes.
I hope that William and Kate enjoy their family day too - their problem is that they have to accept that all of us are part of their family; or at least that's how much of the general public sees it.
William doesn't know it, of course, but he is related to me......assuming that he is also descended from William the Conqueror.
He must be - because thousands, millions are.

If I could I would advise that Kate sorts out a pretty thermal vest.
I know there will be more shelter in London, but a really chill east wind is blowing.
We certainly felt it earlier this morning.
We went to the Thursday boot sale at Ford.
The chill marred our pleasure and our will to be tolerant. I felt quite cross when some of the dealers refused to budge on their prices. Do they not want to sell things?
But I came home with some interesting bits.
I don't know who will want the large mounted photo I bought. It shows a group of well dressed older men in a hall, decorated with flags and filled with tables and chairs. The title of the photo is "Welcome Home Sailors and Soldiers" Newhaven October 21st 1919.

We were happy to get away from Ford and find warmth in Littlehampton Wetherspoon's.
We walked round and looked at the river, but had not energy or much time for more than that.

This afternoon I have done shopping in preparation for tomorrow.

Goodnight from Lady Jessie George-Albany or maybe it is Lady Ethel Ginger-Green.
I have been trying to create a grand name for myself according to the bit of fun people are playing this week.
Take the name of a grandparent and make a double barrelled surname with the name of your first pet and the name of the street where you grew up.
To make them sound anything like meaningful some need adapting..... Bill turns out to be Lord Samuel Peter Princess!!!!

Lazy day.
I am sure my body needed it and maybe it was also influenced by the antihistamine I took last night.
I was itching - eyes, skin, nose etc and my muscles were twitchy. The only antihistamines I have just now are some I bought in Thailand last year, made by Glaxo Smith Kline. It says on the box "tranquiliser with antihistamine action".
I have felt duly tranquilised and thank goodness the itching has stopped.

I haven't done completely nothing, but I have not been anywhere.

I have described and listed 12 books which I have had for exactly 2 years. They are the 1st 12 of a series published c. 1950 on national folk dances of different European countries.
Hungary has a watcher already.
Bill and I also put some re-lists on.





























Here is a picture I love - Mam jumping into the pool at the Khao Sok Cliff and River resort, where we went last year.
They have just returned from there - this being holiday time for them.
Maybe we will go again this year.
I have now asked Jamie to sort out just when the school holidays are in October.

The dining room table is clear!
And there are lots of ticks on The Things to do List.
Very satisfying.
I am glad the table is clear, for I am planning to use it on Friday......though there may be more people dining than can fit round it.
I felt it would be very easy for the Royal Wedding Day to pass in nothingness - and there is nothing wrong with that.
I just wanted to make it a day that would be remembered. There are no street parties nearby, and maybe that is good as the weather forecast talks now of some torrential rain.
So we are having a gathering of Bill's family here on Friday for the wedding and lunch.
I am doing the dinner and the others will bring cakes and puddings for the afternoon.
I think there could be 11 of us.

In 15 months time there will be other momentous days - The Olympics.
I have tickets - for the 1948 London Olympics. They are part of my collection.
Suddenly I realised that today was the last chance to apply for 2012  tickets.
I doubt that we will get what we have asked for ...... it is a lottery to get into the Olympic Stadium for athletics.
But who knows?
I have not dared to ask for the most expensive seats!
But it would be fantastic to be there after all these years involved in the athetics world and collecting Olympic memorabilia.
I might apply for some minor sports before I go to bed. I have more applications I could make. I have until one minute before midnight.

It was a quiet and pleasant day caring for the antiques centre.
The shop doesn't normally open on Bank Holidays, but Bill and I thought we would give it a try. None of the other shops were open when we arrived in West Street. One of the big antiques shops opened in the afternoon.
We greeted people coming in - for a look round maybe and also to buy.
The number of sales was small compared with some days, but this gave Bill and I a chance to potter.
I sold 2 of my things - a Metropolitan police whistle and a Dorking beer bottle.
There was new stock to display.
And I had a box of old and very dusty books to sort out. Most were cookery books - some over 100 years old. If the condition had been better I could have expected maybe £30 for these old books. I have cleaned them, with a paint brush and priced them at an average of £5 each.
I sat out in the garden at the back of the shop to do this and the sun felt warm.
I also washed the floor round my section.
We had arrived at 11 o'clock and left just before 4 o'clock.
So, a very gentle day.
But we are tired.
We have been rather active during the last week.
Time for bed.

Another day outdoors!

We were wandering amongst all the stalls at Pease Pottage by just gone 7 o'clock. At that time of the morning we were actually rather underdressed and began to feel cold. Fortunately there were jumpers in the car.
Bill bought some model cars and a pair of large 1930s military binoculars.
I didn't spend very much - but the bits are interesting; I have another ruler! I also have a medicine bottle which once contained "The Mixture" - patients were not to know what they were taking in those days. It was dispensed by Dr Hole of Nutley, village on the edge of Ashdown Forest.
Profits of some sort will be made.
I also bought a lovely coat for Ecky. It is sized for a 12 -13 year old - but if it is too small then I know I can sell it because it was originally from Monsoon. It cost just £3.

We were home by about 9 o'clock, with time to get some breakfast and be ready to go out again.

We were timekeeping at the Easter Sunday meeting at the Crawley track. We were a select band of timekeepers - just 4 of us. This was the same 4 as worked together at the last meeting. We do seem to make a very good team. We were stretched to the limit today because athletes arrived in droves.
I had agreed with the starters before hand that in the sprints we could only cope with 6 runners at a time.
Because of the numbers of runners, the programme was getting rather behind and suddenly we found ourselves with 8 runners - senior men who were fast and who had been graded to ensure exciting racing.  In that race there were just 5 tenths of a second between first and last place with timekeepers having to take the times of 3 runners. The creme de la creme of timekeepers would never expect such challenges!
Now add into it that the starters have some dodgy ammunition for their guns, so that we had no visual signal at all and only the the quietest of bangs from across the track.
There was no panic on the timekeepers' steps. As chief I read the race - determining where and how big the gaps between runners were. The other 3 took the times.
We did very well - and I never thought I would hear myself saying this, but Gerry was a star!
It was a very good meeting and the heat, which had been lacking at Pease Pottage, soon increased. My arms feel quite tingly this evening from all the sun and fresh air. They don't look at all red though.

Once home , the computer was on immediately....well, what's new? EBay auctions had eneded during the afternoon and there were invoices to send and payments to deal with. As I can't post until Tuesday nothing has yet been wrapped.

I hope others have had a satisfying and fun Easter Sunday. Have you been hunting Easter eggs?

I am loving it - the weather, that is!

The buying at Ford was tiring and not particularly productive.
I have suggested that for the summer we visit Ford for their Thursday sales. There are just so many people there on a Saturday. Bill finds that crowds make him less able to concentrate - well, I suppose the same is true for all of us.
This morning it felt like too much for me too.

There were crowds, too, at Littlehampton - but there was plenty of beach to spread out on.
The tide goes far, far out and it must have been at its lowest point when we arrived at the beach.
So, pictures this week of another mood of this little seaside town.


Silhouetted people on the beach, looking very Lowryesque.





















The sea felt delightfully refreshing - but it was probably too cold for swimming; there was not enough depth of water for swimming anyway.






































Bill walked by a pool on the beach. He didn't paddle.

A family of walkers on the beach by the pool.

Crowded, colourful beach. A feeling of freedom and happiness fills the air.


Beach life by the river.


Sun bathing view 1.



Sun bathing View 2. You really don't want to look like that, woman!






Other sun worshippers are more sedate with umbrella, chairs and cups and saucers.

It was lovely in Littlehampton today.





And of course we spent much of the afternoon doing very little.

This evening there has been Dr Who. I don't normally get attached to a series that in essence is unbelievable; but the writers and cast and effects make it believable and draw on many of the imponderable questions of life. It has a surrealism about it that entertains.

Time for bed soon.
I plan to go up the road to Pease Pottage in the morning - not for too long. I shall be chief timekeeper at an athletics meeting. I shall want to be at the track by quarter to eleven.

What a lovely day!
The early morning was clear and bright and very quickly the little nip in the air had been warmed by the sun.
We went to a small charity car boot sale held at Collyer's School.
We browsed, but bought little. I have 7 books of 1930s cigarette cards and a couple of other items with a masculine interest.
We met Jo there and other people we know to chat with.
We came home via Asda to pick up bread and milk.....etc. There is always something extra.
I do not have a Christian faith, but it does feel kind of inappropriate for shops to be open on Good Friday.
We call ourselves a Christian country and yet this day of mourning amongst Christians is now ignored. In my youth shops would not have opened....except a small baker's which opened for a few hours on Good Friday morning to sell the annual hot cross buns; only available on this day. Both Bill and I can remember going to the side door of Hibbs the Baker in Horsham Road to buy our Good Friday buns.

Another really special part of today is that through a random thought, I have made contact with a special friend who I had lost contact with over 30 years ago. We are now facebook friends and have enjoyed a facebook chat - catching up with those areas of interest so important to older women, grandchildren and ailments!
Although Marianne is hardly an older woman, aged only 57.
Welcome back to my world Marianne and her husband Len, who many in both mine and Bill's family would have known in their childhood.

And this afternoon we met up with another special person.
We are so lucky to have over 30 very special great nephews and nieces, some who we rarely see and some we sadly have never met.
Caleb comes to visit his grandmother, Bill's sister, Pam, quite often and I do so enjoy spending some time with him and our niece Fiona.
We had a gift for him today - not an Easter egg - a special plaything.
Bill had made sturdy wooden garages for our boys to store their toy cars and to brrm them around on and in. That would be about 40 years ago.
We no longer need them in our house.
It is a shame that young John couldn't have one - but postage to Thailand would have been a ridiculous price.
So today we have passed it on to Caleb's world.

















































Time for sleeping soon. I slept so badly last night - I have taken an antihistamine this evening to counteract the effects of a clean bedroom! I think there was too much dust disturbed and polishes had been used.
Up early tomorrow for Ford and Littlehampton.

Labels: home and daily life

I hate the sunshine!
Not what you would expect to hear I am quite sure!
And of course I  do really love it, but doesn't it show the dust up more?
We collect dust at an even faster rate than things. It seems to be displayed to best effect in the bedroom!
So today became Spring Cleaning Day.
The bedroom is clean and sparkly and very much refreshed.
There has been some decluttering of things - as well as a major discarding of dust. I cleared out quite a lot.















I had a basket full of necklaces, thick with dust. They are hardly ever worn.
The quickest way to clean them was to dump them in the washing up bowl and hang them out to dry.

Photography was far from our minds as we worked - no photos of thick dust for you to feel superior about!
Here are a few, taken when we had almost finished.



















Bill sees no dust!




















The proud housewife surveys the shiny dust free shelves.












These are shelves above the bed on my side of the room.
A few memories and pleasures on those shelves.
Do you see our wedding photo? Taken almost 46 years ago.
But I have rejected quite a bit which had been held on to for all sorts of mixed reasons. I once held a kind of guilt about even thinking of removing things from my life which have been given to me or associated with the past.
I feel so much more free of that guilt these days.
I hope it is a sign that at my advanced age I now know who I am and no longer need a lot of things to prove it to myself.




















These are all souvenirs - so let nobody think that I have rejected everything. But there was just too much on those shelves. I sat on the bed and looked at shelves that were a bit overpowering.
These are holiday souvenirs - mostly from the last 20 years. I guess that these last 20 years have been very strong in formulating who I am now.
On the bottom shelf are some things from Slovenia; above that we have Thailand and above that there are things from many places, Wales, Ireland, France, Bulgaria, Germany, Denmark and the Isle of Wight.
Enlarge the picture to see all.
The silly wooden toy with fluffy hair was bought in Denmark before we were married.

Bill has been collecting wind ups for many years - not just any old clockwork toy, but characters from TV, films etc.
Some have been put aside - but I think he felt a bit bad about discarding characters!

Bedtime will come as most needed for our weary bodies and we will enjoy feeling as though the room is new.

Labels: home and daily life

The sun shone down on the Ardingly Antiques Fair.
We walked and browsed for a long morning - surely we saw almost all the 1500 stalls?
Well, obviously we did not; but it felt like it.
There are stalls in some of the smarter parts of the show ground (indoors) and in cattle sheds etc, so at least are under cover. Many more are outside.
Often those people have a bad time in poor weather, but not today.
It is the outside stalls that always attract me first - things can be a bit cheaper there.
I went with self control in mind - not more than £50 and maybe only 3 purchases. In the event I came home with 6 things and spent only £33. I also came home with aching hips and legs!
Now for some views of the fair - there is something for everybody amongst those 1500 stalls.


Early morning stall out in the field.



These glass dealers always create a fantastic display.

We took lots of our own drink. But we bought this small snack to share so that we could use the chairs provided for food buyers.

Bill's first purchase of the day - hardly an antique. £1 bought him this fun battery operated Muppet toy.

Bill also bought this Amish family. It is all made of cast iron. We know nothing about them.

My purchases. Very 1950s.  I saw this vase from a bit of a distance and knew I wanted it. The asking price was £15 - but I got it for £10.

Labels: shop and stock