Grandma P's Ramblings Through Life

It has been another day of not doing very much - well, so it seems.

I had planned to describe books this morning, but just as I was finishing a game of Bouncing Ball to clear my head, Frieda came round.
She is almost 88 years old and we had her drooling over a bare chested man - no, not Bill!
She has had a hidden passion for Clint Walker for many a long year - 50 years or more.
It was he who was in Cheyenne on TV.
So we looked at his biographies on the computer and then I looked on EBay to see what was available. We can buy printed photographs of the man and she was really excited at the prospect.
So we will buy one or two and frame them for her instead of a birthday card.
Sometimes I wonder what is in Frieda's mind - but at least we know she has a heart that flutters!
Somehow that was nearly all the morning gone.

I didn't mind for I needed rest. I had been feeling really quite fragile at the athletics last night - very gutty and a bad head ache. I just couldn't seem to think straight and it was just as well that Marilyn volunteered to be the chief timekeeper.
It got cold, too, at the track. The wind was chilly.

This afternoon I did describe 6 more things for EBay. Please let the Bookano book sell well! These books are special pop up books from the 1930s and 1940s and are valued at at least £60 in some quarters.
It has 2 watchers already.
I also have a 1928 copy of The Kings Breakfast by A A Milne as a piece of music by H Fraser Simpson. Its not a first edition - that was in 1925, but I am hoping it is early enough to appeal.

I have also been through the things I bought from the woman in Leigh yesterday - it all needed a good wash.
If things sold I might double my money, so not a disaster.
One of the ornaments will probably go on EBay.

And then there was the tennis - now, where was the drama? Our boys are supposed to fail (and all of them have except one) and even the successful ones are supposed to have us nervous wrecks wondering how things will turn out. Today Andy Murray sailed through an easy match. No doubt the dramas will come next week.

After dinner we went and did shopping in Asda. We haven't done a big shop for 3 weeks. Tomorrow we will also call into Lidl and maybe get some fruit and veg from the market in The Square.

And that has been my day.

Apart from doing a blog about the first part of Bill's birthday - way back now, over a month ago. Scroll down.

Today has been a gentle day with several episodes.
We are not finished yet - an athletics meeting this evening.

We began gently with a cup of tea in bed and a crossword book.

I began to do some describing of books for EBay, but had to leave that because we had an appointment to to visit somebody who had been into the shop with things for sale.
"Ornyments" she said she had. This immediately made me think of naff cheap plaster things bought on a seaside pier, so I didn't have much hope of finding anything but tat.

In fact she had some bits that I think I can sell - named china items. The fashionable name is always worth going for.
I decided I would take the lot - she clearly didn't want to be left with the dross and I offered her £75, which I thought was pretty generous.
Somehow or other she got me to pay £100.
That is always the way when one buys from somebody's house or if they bring it into the shop - one pays too much.
But I am sure I can get my money back and a little bit more.

She didn't just have "ornyments" - she had animals.
There were 2 huge dogs barricaded into her kitchen and in a corner of the living room were 3 puppies.
I am sure she will make more out of the puppies - Bordeaux Mastiffs. They were 4 weeks old and still soft and adorable.

Today has been a day to settle down a bit and get things straight.

I spent the morning with philosophy books - not my normal reading material it is true.
I described 14 Penguin books and as I looked at them I could see that some might be interesting and inspiring.
But I would prefer that somebody else - or maybe 14 different people might want to study them and bid for them on EBay.

After lunch we went out - nowhere exciting! There were errands to do.
Firstly to the hospital for Bill's routine blood test; so far all his blood tests have been just routine, but how good that somebody is checking regularly to make sure that his powerful drugs are doing him no harm.
Then to get fuel for the car - creeping up in price once again. But at least the difference between petrol and diesel (which our car uses) is now a small difference once again. It means that because we can do almost 60 miles to the gallon it is definitely more economical and we don't have to fill up as often.
Next, to the post office in town to collect a parcel ( a bigger internal hard drive for Bill's computer) which the postman couldn't deliver yesterday.
Then to drop off a box of books and clothes to the charity shop.

We also to had to collect medications, mostly Bill's, ready for him at the pharmacy.

We realised that all these destinations had to be reached by going round in circles and being stopped at ever red traffic lights and the railway crossing gates.

Finally we we went to the local post office to post parcels. There is one for Jessica's birthday.

After a drink at home I got the ironing board out. There was quite a pile to be done after all the trips and activities of last week.
The TV was on and I watched Wimbledon tennis.
Andy Murray began to build the British dream today with a hard won victory in the first round.

Bill has been busy with the vacuum cleaner and cleaning cloths.
He cleaned the bathroom and later the car.
The garden has been watered.
These are the days of the flowers in the garden needing water - no rain falling from the sky.
It has been a lovely day - blue skies and warmth.

Scroll down for more blue skies and warmth in Thailand.
Yes - I now have some time to finish sorting out all the photos.
Goodness - we have been home for 4 weeks.
Bill is quite close to having the album done.

On Tuesday 19th May, Bill and I set out to explore some more of Phuket.
We looked at spots on the east and the west coast.
I guess few people have ever bothered to stop where we did on the east coast and on the day we visited, there were almost no people on the long west coast beach of Mai Kao.
The pictures show the contrast between the two sides of the island.

I can't tell you exactly where we were on the east coast - the little map we used had only main roads and places of interest to normal tourists marked.
We passed little villages until we reached a point by the sea.
We parked in what was once a restaurant car park.
Maybe it still is and they had closed because the main season was over - but it did look extremely ramshackle and deserted.


The people of the locality were farmers and fisherman.


The long lines of fishing net stretched way out into the water.



I enjoyed wandering along the mud flat beach and found some pretty stones and shells.



Then we drove across the island - only a few miles at that point, to explore Mai Kao beach.
We drove along little roads in the rubber plantations.

Am I a mug?
Can people take advantage of me too easily?
I guess not really - after all we each make our own decisions about who we want to be.
But one day maybe Bill and I ought to arrive at the shop and announce that we need to go out for lunch together and leave Monika and Julie to look after the place.
For we do seem to look after the shop on Mondays whilst they have freedom to come and go as they please.
No - I am not grumbling really because we are happy to be busy.

The day began with Ashley in Crawley and now he is 300 miles away.
We miss you of course, Ashley.
We dropped him off at the station and then went to Dorking.
We were early enough for Bill to visit Wickes because the web site said that the wanted shelves were now available.
So now we have shelves for the shop and Bill can hand over a cabinet for somebody else to use.
That work will be done on Sunday - it is too much to do whilst customers are in the shop.

Not that customers have troubled us a great deal today - it is a slack time just now.

I bought a clock yesterday which I freely admit is a modern quartz clock but looking very old fashioned - the sort of thing the shop Past Times might sell.
I wanted to put the clock on my shelves - I wonder why it involved moving so much!
I am glad I got it done early - before Jo came and pulled her own area apart.
Now her area looks fresh and attractive again.
The way our selling areas look can quite quickly get stale.
I love to keep moving stuff about and so does Jo.
I guess Julie realised that and somehow I found myself arranging things differently for her.
She buys very little in these days and sometimes I do wonder just why she has the things she does have. But its all a matter of taste.

And this evening I have watched a little tennis - the first day of Wimbledon. Drama on the Centre Court as the gallant Frenchman crashed into fencing at the edge of the court and looked in terrible pain; bad enough at any time - but on match point against you and after a hard match it must have seemed so unfair.

Right - an early night is required.
I need rest and relaxation - played a Facebook game for a while this evening. It reminded me of an old favourite we had once called Stib.

Goodnight.

The boot sales we went to this morning were not really very exciting.
The three of us bought things - but not as much as we would have liked.
But there was opportunity for some gossiping with friends.
We think the number of stall holders might have been down for a couple of reasons. First it was Father's Day - do people really set that aside? I suppose they must.
But also today was the day of the charity bike ride from London to Brighton when over 30,000 cyclists make their way southwards, making it nigh on impossible for people to travel east west across their route.

The remainder of the day has been mostly restful for us all.
Bill has watched the British Grand Prix.
I watch the first and last lap with him and he can then doze in peace in between!
I described 6 things for EBay and got them listed.
I then wrote up my collection of purchases from the morning whilst the second day of the European Team championships was on - with some of the daft European rules to spice the event up for TV.
GB did well to come 3rd. Well done lads and lasses!
We were in 4th place before the last event and we had to beat the French by at least 2 places to move up into 3rd place. The 4 x 400 metre relay team are renowned for doing well and they brought home the baton in 1st place leaving the French in a distant 5th place.

We have one more evening with Ashley - he returns to Bangor tomorrow morning. He will be back in 5 weeks with Ekatarina.

We will all be scurrying round in the morning getting breakfast and sorting out our lunches too. Bill and I will be at the shop and Ashley will want some food with him for the journey.

We are all thinking that George cat seems to be behaving much more normally again. Maybe he will begin to put some weight back on - but we will know more after blood tests in 3 week's time. This week it is Bill's turn for a blood test. And I must phone about my next B12 injection.

Hope my family and friends have had a good weekend. Such a shame for the Solstice enthusiasts that there was cloud at sunrise at Stonehenge this morning at 4.45 am.

Today we went to Ford.
The boot sale was just getting under way as we arrived. The first stopping point was at the favourite house clearance man – the one who is reputed to be a vicar.
The person whose belongings were being cleared had left, as usual, loads of junk. No doubt we will all do the same.
In one box were several boxes of Movicol! No! My digestion never needs anything like that these days! And there were boxes of paracetamol – more than enough to kill yourself in these days when a shop must limit you to 25 tablets just in case you have such a thing in mind. This is daft – because if you are in need of pain killers a doctor will prescribe paracetamol 100 at a time anyway – though I guess our doctors know us so well, they know we have no intention of making their life easier by removing ourselves from this world.
But there were also books of potential interest and a little profit. Ashley and I got a few. We took them straight back to the car along with fresh courgettes (with their flowers on) and lovely fresh carrots.
Then it was time to browse all the stalls – turning away from the ridiculously over priced, nodding contentedly really at other stalls who were selling for about the same as we would – at least it makes us feel we are getting things about right; and then buying some things from those who offered us bargains.
I bought more books and interesting china and glass and kitchen ware.
Bill spent rather more money on 2 large model planes – the sort for display on a desk of somebody wishing to impress and models and little binoculars and soldiers etc.
Ashley bought more books, CDs and DVDs.

By the time we got to the Balaton it was later than usual. It was quite crowded. Certainly the table in the window that we like was in use.
We had already been to the Littlehampton post office with parcels and round the charity shops. Bill bought a pair of M & S shorts.
We ordered our “usuals” in The Balaton and sat contentedly eating and watching people and chatting about our purchases.

We thought of a walk – in addition to the walk by the river and along the sea front that is. But we all needed some time to rest and time, too, to write up and research our purchases.
The walk in Findon and up on Cissbury Hill will have to wait.
One of my parcels was posted to Findon.
The buyer has been in touch because she failed to bid for a second thing she wanted. We have arranged a sale and she told me of her Findon web site – and most interesting it is too.

So this afternoon I sat and wrote up my things whilst watching the European Athletics Competition. It used to be called the Europa Cup and it is not just the name that has changed.
Oh dear, oh dear!
Athletics has gone like cricket – changed things for the benefit of television, whose viewers get easily bored. It seems we don’t like longer races and so something was done to spice up the middle of the races – each lap the person in last place was to be eliminated. Except muddles occurred and it completely changed the nature of the race. There were alterations too to the way field events were organised – making them finish more quickly and dropping the weaker athletes during the competition.
I don’t know – we spend time encouraging the youngsters to applaud all people’s efforts even those less able because each person was doing their best. And in international events we just eliminate the less good.

This evening we ate sausages again – drunken duck once again. And we had very tasty potatoes – both items bought at the car boot sale.

So, another busy and happy day.

There is not very much to say about today - I enjoyed time today thinking and writing about yesterday. You will see this if you scroll down for 5 short episodes.

Bill and I went out at lunch time to greet one of my college friends - Kate to us of course, but formally these days she is Lady Kate.
Poor thing had a nerve racking journey alone from her village in Oxfordshire, via Sheen (West London) and then southwards to the crematorium to attend a funeral. The sat nav clearly was not set properly because she had wanted to avoid motorways - but didn't!
So she was glad to sit outside and have a coffee with us at The Heathy Farm opposite the crematorium.

The story of how she came to be attending this funeral is one of those serendipity things that I love.
About 3 years ago her village had a new vicar - a woman with the surname of Cross.
One day Kate was talking to the vicar and said that her own maiden name was Cross. They discovered that both families hailed from Croydon.
They both gathered together photos and documents and discovered that they shared the same great grandfather.
The vicar's father was Kate's father's cousin.
Kate knew nothing of this branch of the family and it seems there was a dramatic rift when the 2 cousins were boys.
Kate's father had not lived to enjoy the reunion but Kate is pleased that she got to know this family member, who died last week.

I have wrapped and sold things on EBay this afternoon - have parcels to post now. There is nothing of mine on offer on EBay just now - must get things described next week.

We are not sure what we are doing tomorrow. Ashley is very tired. This seems to be a permanent situation, caused by various medical syndromes no doubt.
We might go to Ford, but could stay closer to home and just go to Faygate.

I hope you enjoy my ramblings about a happy day yesterday.

Shipley Windmill.

Until recently this windmill had been working and was open to the public on some Sundays through the year. But real, active, money making working ceased in the 1920s.
There are some financial and legal wranglings right now and it seems those days are gone.

The windmill belonged to Hilaire Belloc, a poet.

Many will know of his Cautionary Tales for Children. I loved them as a child - feeling some degree of sympathy for the naughty children!
Do you remember Henry King who ate string? Or Mathilda, the little liar who called out "FIRE!"?

Hilaire Belloc bought Kings Land in 1907 and built a brick house and the land included the mill.

There is a plaque about him over the door of the mill, but we couldn't get to see it because the mill is fenced off and marked PRIVATE.


The mill was built in 1879 and is the youngest and largest of Sussex mills.










This picture was taken as we walked round to the church.




Hilaire Belloc loved Sussex and here are 2 verses from a favourite of mine.


The great hills of the South Country
They stand along the sea;
And it's there walking in the high woods
That I could wish to be,
And the men that were boys when I was a boy
Are walking along with me.

I never get between the pines
But I smell the Sussex air;
Nor I never come on a belt of sand
But my home is there.
And along the sky the line of the Downs
So noble and so bare.



Later we visited Hilaire Belloc's grave.