Grandma P's Ramblings Through Life

Today has felt like a good day in Dorking.
I have some pictures ready to share, but "Blog Control" seems unable to receive them this evening.
Pictures will have to wait until tomorrow then.

Bill and I had planned a way to give me a little more shelf space, which I could share with him when needed.
So Bill's first job was to secure the shelving into its place to create a little more of an L shape than it was.

At one point, Jill asked us what we would do with the little red metal shelf unit that we had bought in Ikea last November. I told her that we just have to take it home. She then pointed out a way it could be used within my area.
So we took her advice.
I am a little worried that Stephen and Judy might think I have taken too many liberties - but if they complain then I guess the red shelf is removed.

I spent the rest of the morning rearranging - once again. I am very pleased with how things look.
I now have 2 clocks in my area. One of Bill's mantel clocks is too long to fit in the limited spaces that he has, so now I have Westminster chimes on the quarter hours at my end of the shop.
People love to hear those chimes.

Sales have been quite good during the last 10 days since we were last there.
But I also spent quite a lot today.
Somebody came in with a lot of 1930s games and jigsaws. I hope he was right when he said the jigsaws were complete. But generally they were too good to pass by. I love the art work on the box lids of pre war games.

There have been interesting people in the shop today and we have enjoyed conversations and chuckles.
Jill's husband came in this afternoon and he was most entertaining.

And we were lucky with the weather. The forecast seemed to suggest that we could be driving home in heavy rain - but none fell.

Well, my body is rather weary - all that cleaning and tidying (bending and stretching) makes my legs ache.

I shall put the pictures that I was planning to put here, on Facebook in a minute.
Then it will be time for a drink and to bed.
Goodnight.

Today really has been a lot like yesterday.
I have wrapped books and sent invoices.
A book about a particular potter sold well, rather as I thought it would.

We have posted parcels and been shopping. The shopping included eggs from Grange Farm. We made a special journey to the farm - for many years we would be passing by quite regularly; but since the demise of the Ardingly shop we don't go that way very often.
We bought in supplies from Lidl and maybe we won't be back there until June.
It is 3 weeks until we go to Thailand and so we need to run down on things stored in the fridge.

The weather has been good. The temperature has crept over 20 degrees today, though the sunshine has not been strong.

I can't think of much else really. I don't look back on much activity and yet I know I have not had time to think about a scrabble game on facebook.

Tomorrow is one of the Thursdays we are doing in the shop. I hope it all goes well. I feel a bit wary of Jill, who is on duty there on Thursdays; especially as the missing envelopes were suddenly found in her bag. I am sure she had never intended to steal them of course - but I just wonder if she did have some manipulative intentions.

Have a good Thursday.

Goodnight.

It is Tuesday - my day of rest.
I really haven't settled to very much.
We got up quite late and have found the day speeding away, leaving us wondering where the hours have gone.

This morning I did something I had planned to do over the weekend. That was to go through my wardrobe and reject items that have not been a great success.
When you buy things as cheaply as we do, it can be easy to get carried away and end up with more than is needed and some of it not really as becoming as we had hoped.
This left 2 plastic sacks full for us to take to the charity shop.

Bill was busier - he was out cutting the grass at the front.

And then we spent a while thinking about the front. The plans for the proposed medical centre on the grass across the pavement are on line. Bill has printed them and we have studied them.
Of course we don't like it - but that alone is not reason enough to complain.
I shall object on the grounds that this space is about the only open space where children can play in all of Southgate, apart from Goffs Park which is some distance away from us.
And not only children benefit - whole families are sometimes out there for a game. It used to be us.
And then there is the wild life - a place for birds. Our lovely great crested woodpecker - will he venture down between buildings? And jays and smaller birds too. We haven't seen the fox lately - but the hedgerows do provide a home for interesting small mammals.
But there are very few of us to object and I know that we will have to learn to accept this in a positive way - or move.
Moving is not a favoured option and would only be considered if the proximity of a building in front of the house caused me to feel distressed.
And I wouldn't want to move far. I have grown accustomed to being here and stupidly, perhaps, I feel I want to keep contact with our lovely GPs.
There are some suggestions we have that might make it easier for those of us living here. Perhaps a few slight alterations to the plans are all we can hope for.

After lunch we took parcels to the post office, things to the charity shop and also household and garden rubbish to the "dump".
And then we needed to buy bread and a few other bits.
We went into the big Sainsbury's. I don't really like Sainsbury's.
The prices are generally higher - but there must be customers who prefer the shop and the prices. I looked at things in the bargain shelf (at their sell by date) and was a bit surprised to find how small the reductions were and that things were still higher priced than we are accustomed to seeing.
But we did get things we needed - including food for the cats. We are trying them on some dog food for a change because they are not relishing the cat food we are giving them just now.

I got home and dealt with a few sales on EBay. The Noel Streatfeild books both sold - The May Baby obviously being much wanted, fetching almost £25.

It hasn't rained all day - and has felt quite warm, though the sunshine has been a bit feeble.
But summer must be coming - it is the first day that I have not worn socks.

Time now to get the kettle on and get ready for All the Small Things - the serialised play on BBC1.

Yesterday I put a pictures of Jamie and Jessica playing with water for Songkran 3 years ago - now have a look at Jamie's blog to see the fun everybody had this year.

Jamie's Phuket: Songkran Fun - Patong Beach

Goodnight.

It has been a long day a day of activity and mizzle!
And just for a while there was rain.

We were in Dorking at just gone 7 o'clock.
We were anxious to buy - we joined others also really wanting to find stock, like Jo and Monika.
Monika actually was selling too.
I found very little to buy.
But Bill made up for that!
He is beginning to find collectable bird ornaments for his cabinet in the shop. Some makes do fetch high prices, so one has to pay a lot to get them to sell. You know - speculate to accumulate and all that.
And he bought an interesting plate camera.
And what did I find?
Well ...... Post It Notes! I use them quite a lot to put information and prices inside books to be sold in the shop. I use them to write a personal note to EBay Buyers.
Today the large sized ones were selling at 20p a pack, and I bought 10 packs.
I bought a CD to take to Thailand - a group much favoured by Mam. Whats the betting it is the one she has got by Incubus!

Before we left Dorking it began to rain through the mizzle - mist and drizzle.

We had a little while back at home to get some breakfast and get ready for timekeeping.
The world looked so grey out there - mizzly.
We made sure we had enough clothes for the day.

The number of timekeepers was small - just 5.
It was obvious that it was expected that Bill or I should be chief - and I chose to do the job.
It was a pleasant time and there were some glimpses of patches of blue sky - though not enough to give us any sunshine.

This evening we have enjoyed some TV - Country File and the Antiques Road show. And yes, I dozed..... all that fresh air is very tiring!

Tomorrow is Monday - Bank Holiday Monday.
We will get up early again and go to Epsom. I would like to be there between 7 and half past - Monika says she will be there at 6 o'clock!

Right, time for a cup of tea and off to bed. Goodnight.

"Pish".....
That's the word for today.
It was used by a friend of our nephew to comment on the weather in South East England.
I certainly uttered some such word first thing this morning when Bill peered through the curtains at 6 o'clock and reported that it was raining.
Obviously this Saturday was not suitable for a trip south to Ford and Littlehampton.

But I was determined not to feel as flat as yesterday.
So I planned some action.
When we are next in the shop (next Thursday) we want to add a bigger shelf into my area and probably take out the little red one that I have.
Bill will also be able to put some larger things into my area, which doesn't have room for.
The wooden shelves, that were in Rocking Horse, have been used in our garage for storing all sorts of stock waiting for its turn.
Bill took out one set of wooden shelves and we put in its place a couple of the folding shelves.
This led to a bit of a tidy up and rearranging of all the stock so that similar things are together.

Bill took the old TV to the dump - and pulled muscles in his hand lugging it about. It was big heavy thing.

Another activity this morning was studying a set of photographs that have been sent of a distant relation's wedding ( on my side of the family).
It looked a very stylish affair in the USA.
As yet, not all the relevant people in the UK have heard about this wedding so I will add no more.

In the late afternoon I sold some Playfair cricket annuals from the 1950s and 60s. I also sold a couple of Bible commentaries of the books of some Old Testament prophets. I offered them to Ashley before listing them on EBay - but he felt that his theology was taking him somewhere different. This Easter weekend it is taking him into church a lot and it is meaning a great deal to him.

This evening has felt like a Saturday winter evening - although the curtains were not pulled across until 8 o'clock.
I roasted a chicken and we enjoyed a good roast dinner and watched the Dr. Who Special.
The specials are a little less good than the stories which are serialised. I think the given time is too short to develop characters and themes.
But we enjoyed it nevertheless.

And so this evening we look towards tomorrow. I regret the Met office web site suggests that it will be PISH once again.
I would like to go to the boot sale at Dorking. But who knows.
The site seems to tell us that the morning rain will clear by lunch time.... I certainly hope so, for we are timekeeping at the local track. We can't let people down again.
But with a poor weather forecast we must regret the demise of our old track and facilities, where the timekeepers could work in the dry and not end up with soggy paperwork when it was raining.

It was a better day then for me - a little more achieved.
Goodnight.

The day began early and with optimism.
It wasn't raining!
We drove over to Horsham. Years ago the Good Friday boot sale at Collyer's School was exciting, but in recent years it has attracted less stalls.
And it had already rained a little on our way there.
We bought very little - but at least we saw people that we knew and caught up with news.
It was really good to see Joy and Peter again and to see that Peter was active after a serious health issue.
I bought very few books and nothing else - except a lovely cardigan/top that had originally come from Next, so no doubt had been quite expensive.
Bill bought some model cars which need attention. And he bought a brand new Marks and Spencers dressing gown. He has been wearing the one that had been his Dad's since 1991.
By the time we left the rain was falling quite hard.

And so we have remained at home for the rest of the day.
I used the time for more EBay work. I have 9 things described to be listed tomorrow afternoon. And I got Bill to scan some more things so that I can list some more next week.

During the afternoon we listened to a CD that we bought this morning - by The Medieval Babes. We already have 1 CD by them.
This was beautiful.

I have played a bit of scrabble on facebook. At last the game against somebody called Stephanie came to an end. She must have thought she had me well beaten by placing her 7 letters on a triple word score and getting 90 points. But I got crafty and lucky and I was the winner.
I had another quick game which was enjoyable although I had almost nothing but vowels all the way through and of course was beaten.
MGoo and I are on our second game now - our games take days!

And that basically has been today. It was disappointing really.
I am not sure what tomorrow will bring - except heavy rain first thing in the morning. What a shame! There will be no trip to Ford.

Goodnight.

I woke up this morning with one thing on my mind....... sounds like the opening of a blues number doesn't it!
I had relaxed my attitude to some of the restrictions that my body places on my diet.
Being dairy free is fixed. I just don't do dairy.
I am much more relaxed about potassium. I still assume that I won't bother with bananas for fear of pushing potassium levels up and there are certain other things I would have in very small amounts only.
I choose not to eat salads and raw fruits because those things just cannot be digested. But sometimes it is worth something special.
The big problem is wheat. The doctors have found no reason for me to be suspicious and so I think they must be right and have spells when I start to eat wheat based products.
My daily noodles (well many days a week) might just be tolerated - but the bread, the biscuits and the cake, I feel, have begun to make life difficult - in the loo of course, but also making me feel so lethargic.
So I woke up this morning knowing that I should have 4 weeks completely wheat free.
This takes me up to being in Thailand, when I want to feel at my best.
Mentally it helps to have made a positive move.

Another thing has made us feel more positive - the 2 envelopes that had gone missing in Pilgrims have been found.
We are both confused about the loss.
Bill is quite sure that he put them both in the safe.
I phoned the shop this morning to tell Jill about it - Jill, who we were working with last Thursday when the envelopes went missing.
I didn't actually talk to her - she was out. But I told Hilary about it and she said that the envelopes had been found in Jill's bag that very morning and Jill wonders how they got there.
I wonder how they got there too.
It must just be confusion and mistakes.
But somehow the envelopes found their way into Jill's bag and she didn't see them there for a week.
It just cannot be that anybody might be trying to besmirch mine or Bill's reputation.
As far as we are concerned the matter is over.
And thankfully Bill will now not pay up the missing money, which naturally he felt obliged to do.
But on Monday we did keep a proper record for ourselves of all that was sold and made sure that somebody else saw the envelopes going into the safe. We will do this every time we are in the shop.

This morning we were spending money. There was a little buying in Asda.... I wanted some wheat free products just to make me feel that little treats might be available. It is not a good weekend, Easter, to decide to be wheat free or chocolate free. I shall be freezing more hot cross buns because Bill just cannot eat 6 of them on this Good Friday.

There was big buying in Comet. We wanted a TV and we have one.
We were greeted by a salesman who will go far in the world of Comet!
I felt we were being putty in his hands! But we got what we wanted and it works. I am not sure if Bill needed the heavy hand on him to buy an expensive scart lead - OK it looked impressive of course. And I claim little or no knowledge about scart leads or indeed anything electrical.
I don't like insurance. But after our man explained how flat screen TVs work and what can go wrong and how little is covered by a normal maker's guarantee, Bill succumbed.
All I could say to that was that once Bill did something similar when we bought the brand new Berlingo. And the extra insurance paid out and we did well out of it.

Bill spent time this afternoon sorting out the new TV. I described and listed 6 more things for EBay.
I am making a concerted effort just now because after about the 17th, in a week's time, I shall not be listing anything until after our return from Thailand.

And so the Easter weekend begins. It is not what it was in our childhood.
Like many other Christian and traditional festivals it has been taken over by the shops.
Hot cross buns are sold all the year round now - no trips on our bike to Hibbs, the bakers, who were open for a few hours on Good Friday morning, to buy some hot cross buns for the day.
The shops are open all day long on Good Friday now.

The weather forecast looks all April showers for the weekend.
I think it will be dry for a while in the morning and so we will go to Horsham for the now traditional car boot sale at Collyers School.

Have a good few days - all you family and friends who glance at my ramblings. Happy Easter to you.

There is too little to write about today really.
I feel tired!
This morning we had some chores to do - parcels to post and take things to the dump.
One little item of good news is that the Crawley Rubbish centre has now re-opened. It was damaged badly by fire a good while ago.
And although it is just a place where householders' rubbish can be disposed of, it does actually say something good about the town for its design and ease of use.
Then we went to Tescos at Hookwood - feeling that it had a nicer feel about it than the store at Three Bridges.
It wasn't long before I felt severely grumpy!
We started off well. We bought a new duvet for the spare bed.
We bought a rubbish bin for the bathroom.
The next item we looked at was a TV.
Ours is nearing the end of its life - but not there yet.
When it is turned on it takes a while now to get a picture - having to clear black stripes which are getting thicker and thicker as the days go by.
We have a very strict criteria for a TV - it must fit in the space that was built for a TV many years ago by Bill in the shelving he built.
There were 5 to choose from of the right size.
We didn't really know which one would be best. But a fellow customer began to talk to us of the one he had got and he praised it highly.
OK - we would have that one.
Then we noticed that it was out of stock.
So we queued up to order one.
Ordering one was not possible. Apparently we have to keep popping in to see when (and if) they get further supplies.
Downstairs in the food hall it was very crowded - harassed mothers and bored children, dithering old folks (that can't be us can it?) impeded our path as we grabbed a few quick things that we needed.
Did we really need 2 packs of hot cross buns? But at 30p a pack of 6 they are cheaper than bread.
This afternoon I just couldn't get going.
The plan had been to describe more for EBay. In the end I just relisted some previously unsold items.
After dinner we decided to see what Tescos at Three Bridges had to offer - and we found even less to choose form than this morning.
That's it then - Tescos don't get our money! Oh yes - they must be quaking in their boots at the drop in profits!
I am not sure when we have another attempt at buying a TV.
I could have bought hot cross buns for 10p a pack this evening - but felt we had enough; particularly as I have half wondered if my lethargy is down to too many stodgy sweet foods lately - well, the Rolos cookies were certainly not stodgy, for they are delicious.
I have 4 weeks to get my digestion into better order before Thailand.

There was a fantastic full (very nearly full) moon this evening - so at least it was worth going out for that. Full moon tomorrow.

I am in the middle of another long game of Scrabble on the Facebook site. I normally choose to play a game with only short thinking time between turns - but somehow clicked onto a game with up to 24 hours available between goes. So now I have 2 long games on the go. I might have forfeited the game but that didn't seem fair to my opponent - somebody called Stephanie.

Bill is watching Robin Hood on the other computer now.

So we might have our cups of tea busy relaxing close together but doing different things at our machines.

Goodnight.

I thought I was ambling through the day - and indeed I was until about 5 o'clock.... and then life speeded me up to a gallop and attempted to throw me flat on my face too.

I had items finishing on EBay and so books needed wrapping and I pottered along in an unhurried manner. I stopped for a while to chat with Frieda when she popped round.

I played some Boggle at lunchtime and was pleased to come 3rd once and that time I had the best word - WRAITH, which no other player had got.
I got beaten by Roger and Sue a bit later though.

After lunch I continued slowly.
I described 6 maps and listed them. They were all so similar that it was possible to write one description and just make a few alterations.
I love maps. I didn't do well at school even in geography. But that was mostly because I just couldn't get the right attitude to even attempt to try and please other people and school work certainly didn't please me.
Except that I did enjoy map work and my 6th form studies mean that I can read a map like a picture and see the terrain and landscape in my mind's eye quite well.
These maps are what we used to call two and a half inch maps - quite large scale and they cover areas in West Sussex where we often visit for car boot sales and walks.
If we were younger we might have kept them - but at our stage in life it is better to de-clutter rather than add to it all.
We have 2 sons who won't thank us for a house full of miscellaneous clutter when they have to clear the house - hopefully very many years into the future.
But we have to accept that they live too far from the house for it ever to be an easy task.
We will try and help them by reducing the amount they have to deal with!

Then it was time for my appointment at the hospital with the endocrinologist.
There seemed to me there could be 2 outcomes of this appointment. Firstly he might say that I should have another blood test and another appointment because the blood test last week produced dodgy results. Or he could say that all is well and they will see me no more.
It was the latter.
All my chemicals and body fluids and functions lay within the realms of normal.
I am to have a blood test every 6 months and be monitored by the GP who will refer me back if there are any problems.

We were home in time for the EBay auctions to finish and I sent off the invoices. As always a couple of items got bids right at the last minute - from the same man. Then he paid before I could make the parcel and send and invoice and he had paid far too much - not allowing for the fact that it is not much more expensive to post 2 books than one.
I knew he was a prat! His surname was Sanderss - now, it seems very prattish to have 2 letter 's' at the end of that name.
With invoices going out and payments coming in at the same time it can be hard to concentrate for a short while.

And it was at that point that Bill began to do something I was delighted about. He began to look at the Brand family - wanting to know who all his great uncles and aunts were.
I wanted to be up and helping as he voiced queries.

And then I was peeling potatoes and getting ready to make sausage and mash.

And then I realised that my wee bag needed an instant change. And we all know that the wee bag takes priority over everything!

At that point I just felt I was toppling over with too many things to do at the same time.

But Bill turned on the sausages and cauliflower and made the mashed potatoes and we sat down not much after Emmerdale had started for a very tasty meal.

I have since dealt with more payments. Any others can now wait until morning.
I shall put the kettle on and enjoy a relaxing hour with a cuppa and the 2nd part of the play about people in a choir - "All the Small Things" I think its called.

Then to check blogs and facebook again - the family banter on facebook is really very appealing. I have been discussing Grandad Monk's method of making tea with our niece Fiona today - and others have of course joined in.

So, Tuesday has gone. Lets all enjoy Wednesday, which is to come.