Grandma P's Ramblings Through Life

Today would be a good day for it.........
So yesterday evening we loaded the car with boxes and pasting tables to take to a car boot sale and make an attempt to clear out stock no longer wanted by me.
I didn't want with too early a start - B is not happy when I nag him to leave his bed too early.
Our choice was Brighton Racecourse.
We aimed to be there by quarter past eight. At that time few customers are about (still at the early sales) and until half past ten it is mostly dealers wandering about, having been prepared to pay more for first pickings and peace.
We should have been there earlier, for then we would have been in a sunny position.
Never mind, the sun would appear above the tall tree hedge which was giving us nothing but shade.
We worked hard getting all the stuff out and arranging it. The dealers were interested and were buying.


I wasn't really dressed for the shady spot; but never mind, it was warm work.........
and the sun would shine upon us in due course.
























Half past ten.....time when the gates are open to those not wanting to pay the higher admittance price.
Lots of people queueing and pouring onto the site.
Mostly they were dressed for a sunny day.
And then this happened..................................






















The cold white mist swirled across the downs, wrapping its cold clammy fingers around us.


















Details of Brighton in the valley below were lost.

"Oh hell" I thought, "nobody will stay long and we still have lots to sell"
I really didn't want to do another boot sale.
So at that point I called out that everything was half the marked price. That got people interested and we sold much better than I expected.
Takings were less than I hoped (£195) but that other aim of clearing things out has been achieved.
We have three boxes ready to take to a charity shop.
So, basically I am well pleased.
We were cold and tired and when it was time to think of somewhere for lunch we didn't think past Wetherspoons at the marina. We sat with food and drink (nice hot cup of tea to start with) for nearly two hours.

We drove home over The South Downs to Ditchling Beacon.
That cold white mist still shrouded our world.






















We whizzed past poppies in the mist.
















Crow in the mist.




Gate in the mist.


Me in the mist.

That jacket had been amongst clothes I was clearing out.
But I couldn't sell it today - I needed it too badly.






















































We were not the only "idiots" up there in the cold.
This was a home made kite, with poorly glued together sticks and a black plastic bin liner!






















South Downs in the mist.


The view from Ditchling Beacon.















Many of you will recognise the Ditchling Beacon view, taken on a good day in 2009.

Then it was time to drive down to the village and on to home.





























Ditchling village in sunshine and under blue skies.
We had driven hardly a mile from the drop of The Beacon - but dropped down from quite a height.
Later, neighbours told us that the weather at home and been beautiful today.
Bah!

We spent the afternoon at Crawley Folk Festival.....haven't got the stamina these days for longer.

Today's blog posting has been deleted.
Normal service will resume.

There has been a little rain this evening - but not enough to dampen the spirits of Sussex kids competing in the Under 13s League.
I doubt that it was enough either for the new plants in the garden.






















































































I bought some more plants this morning - 6 at 50p each and a couple of slightly more expensive ones.
I must find space or pots tomorrow.
Car boot sales are always good places to buy plants.
I bought other things of course, but looking at all now, strewn across the dining room table, I am not sure that any of it really excites me.
After the car boot sale we went to Littlehampton for food and a walk.
But that wasn't enough - Bill is getting accustomed to treats!
We stopped at The George and Dragon in Houghton, a village on the side of Bury Hill.
I have always been attracted by this pub, but have never stopped there before.


























The hanging baskets always look superb.
It is a smart pub when it comes to eating.....well, prices are a little above what we normally choose to pay.
Oh, and it seems that Nigel Farrage is a regular.

We took our half pints out to the balcony overlooking the garden and the view across the Arun Valley to Bury.






































I suspect Charles II partook of a good deal more ale than I did.



























And this evening we were at the Horsham track.
It was a lot of fun and I really appreciated not being chief - so much more relaxing.
Afterwards we returned to an activity that started the day - bargain hunting.
If you catch it right in Tescosclose to the track, there are bargains to be had. I began with turkey fillets (6 for £1.20)  and some garlic sausage for 13p.
In the green grocery department we I did even better.
I picked up a bag of crunchy radishes for 1p. That's the same price as I paid for a pack of egg noodles, which I will stir fry in the morning for breakfast.You have to be there at final reduction time and just before they decide to throw away unsold items.

I have pictures in the camera of my garden.
I worked really hard this morning, planting and arranging.
But time has run away after a busy day.

Before gardening I was busy with computing - no, not playing games.
Bill's brother came round to help me make sense of our router. I wondered if we needed a new one. In fact Michael brought round a spare one, that he had bought at a car boot sale; we didn't need it.
We have a router - have had it a long time.
It was bought to link my computer to Bill's computer. I am not sure why, but Bill felt happier having the router wired to my computer and it works just fine.
But, supposing one of us had a laptop or tablet?
Or, much more likely, visitors wanted to use their own laptops?
We really needed a wifi system.
I always believed that our router could and should be wifi.
Michael agreed.
But the problem was that Bill didn't know what he had called our router nor did he know the password.
Michael found a list of wifis in the locality - but which one was ours? Eventually I found the name of one  amongst Bill's papers. This matched the list that Michael brought up of available wifi systems.  Wonder why it is BAC1-11.
Michael was then able to get onto the router manufacturer - it is a Belkin and found out how to find your own password if it has been forgotten.
Hooray! It all worked out just fine. We have wifi, and that will be useful for my phone as well. And when son and grand daughter come to stay they will be able to do the computing that they want to do.

So, then out into the garden. I am really pleased with what I have achieved. I should have watered things today; but all the hours were filled.

After lunch I was with the dentist. At the moment we have a wax set of dentures for me. These have been measured and adjusted by Mr C. I return a week on Friday to do the same again. Then the week after that the final dentures will be ready.
I wish I could depend on it all being easy; but I am guessing it will take time to adjust.
I told the dentist that I would like to be able to eat a Magnum ice lolly/cream with my teeth in. I tried this last week, with the existing temporary denture and I just couldn't bite into the frozen chocolate exterior. My gums did a better job than the false teeth.

Then we went into town. We needed to go to the bank. Bill forgot his credit card number and he was sent a new one. I think he forgot to activate it. He tried to use it to buy fuel for the car and failed.
The lady in Santander was so helpful and helped him to sort it. I asked if he could have the same pin number as me....I cannot forget my number; so now I will always know Bill's number.
We bought a few items of food whilst in the town.

Then back home and, at last, I could watch a bit of tennis from Wimbledon. What a very strange Wimbledon it is this year! The stars are being beaten, others are falling and hurting themselves and withdrawing from the competition.
Maria Scharapova is both star and a faller.......and beaten. I just watched the end of that match, when "ping pong"...........the sound of a posting on Facebook.
Donna was just announcing that she was just leaving home to be at the Crawley athletics track.
Well, that sprung me into action.....tonight's meeting had not been written down and thus I had made no plans to be there.
So, what a blessing to get that Facebook posting!
We were there in time and I was chief for a very busy meeting. We were home much later than the programme suggested.

And now to bed. Up early to go off to Ford and Littlehampton.

This morning we were working out in the garden.
I wanted to tidy up the back yard - or shall we call it a patio? I wanted to clear out all the pots that once had plants in; actually they mostly still had plants in - weeds and moss!
Bill was out with the car doing a small job - fortunately it was no more than renewing bulbs.
We had had a strange experience on Sunday. A car pulled up alongside us as we waited o pull out onto a roundabout. The driver - tattooed and slightly rough looking gestured to me.
"Oh hell, what does he think we have done?"
"Open the window" he  mouthed.
What a kind person he proved to be. He wanted to let us know that the brake lights were not working. Bill was worried that there was a major electrical fault as both brake lights had failed at the same time.
But new bulbs solved the problem.
We both went out in the front garden. Bill had the shears to cut back a bush that tends to grow over he front path.
I did too much bending and stretching. It was time to pull out most of the dead forget me nots and also the buttercups.
How strange that last week I was thrilled by carpets of buttercups and today I just saw weeds.
After a light lunch we went to a favourite garden centre.....a plants place, rather than a gift shop and tea rooms.
It is in Betchworth, not far from Dorking.
We got our plants and then called in at the pub in the village for half a pint. We then took a brief walk.
Betchworth pictures to follow.
After hard work this morning, we enjoyed a happy gentle afternoon.
















Here are most of the plants we bought.
There are three lupins amongst them of different colours.
And here are plants already flourishing in our back garden - the delphiniums.


I expect I will take more garden picture tomorrow, once all the new plants are in their pots.