Blooming Marvellous

Spring is definitely in the air....

I Hate Tuesdays!



Forget Blue Mondays, I hate Tuesdays!

For some reason it's the kind of day that really drags on and seems to have no purpose, a kind of “nothing day”. We've got Mondays that mark the beginning of the week, when you’re feeling revitalised after the weekend... then Wednesdays that are slap bang in the middle of the week (the “Hump Day”), Thursdays mean that we are one day closer to the weekend, and then finally you've got Friday, the last working day of the week, before it's the weekend. Yippee!

Tuesdays are unlucky... fact! And I quote from the Fount of All Knowledge, Wikipedia…

In the Greek world, Tuesday (the day of the week of the Fall of Constantinople) is considered an unlucky day. The same is true in the Spanish-speaking world, where a proverb runs: “En martes, ni te cases ni te embarques”, meaning, “On Tuesday, neither get married nor begin a journey.” For both Greeks and Spanish-speakers, the 13th of the month is considered unlucky if it falls on Tuesday, instead of “Friday the 13th”.

And if it’s in Wikipedia…it MUST be true!



In my experience, if things are going to go wrong, they will go wrong on a Tuesday. Without fail.

Today was no exception. It’s taken many weeks and several visits from the plumber... and sadly not this hot one...

I know you all wanted to see him again!

...to resolve Watergate in my house (the pipes squealing like a banshee in the middle of the night for no apparent reason!). This morning, the power shower decided it was his turn to misbehave, and he refused to switch off  [yes, my shower is definitely male - instantly turned on, hot and powerful for a while, but quick to run out of steam].

Very soon I was well on my way to owning the indoor pool I’d always dreamed off! Cutting the pump and water supply was the only solution, until the not-so-hot plumber could come by and confirm my suspicions that it was a valve problem.

Simple enough, you’d think - just get a replacement valve...not when you can’t locate the paperwork left by the Dodgy Cowboy Plumber that fitted the bathroom in the first place, to track down a model number. The head office of Dodgy-Cowboy-Plumbers-R-Us were no help either... I’d phoned them desperately hoping they may still have the details of the shower they supplied us on file, but to no avail.

And we’ve got bigger problems too... all that turning on and off the water at the mains has knackered (official plumbing speak) the stop cock [Snigger! Now you see why I refer to plumbing in the masculine]. This is a big job that may involve cutting into walls and destroying plastering.

I await the verdict with dread.....

In the meantime, today was the day my superduper, new, double-split-level-eyeball-level-stainless-steel-with bells-on-it oven was scheduled for delivery... as it's a Tuesday, I was preparing myself for disaster. Especially when I opened the door to spy one skinny little dude whose command of the English language apparently extended to "Yep!" and the completely different "Yep!". I was wondering how he was going to wrestle the bulky package all by himself (as I sure as hell wasn't going to risk dropping it on my foot or putting my back out) through the house to its temporary storage spot, the conservatory. Thankfully, help was shortly at hand in the form of his beefier partner who also had a few more words to his repertoire.... like "Sign here!" [to me] and "Lift it you idiot... at the bottom!" [to the Yep Man].

Behold the new oven....isn't she lovely?

Hope you’re having a good Tuesday!

Weekend Allsorts

It’s been a weird weekend… kind of like a mixed bag of allsorts, with a bit of everything going on. Disappointingly, no liquorice, though…

Saturday started with a spot of pampering – an aromatherapy facial with head massage and a manicure… a belated birthday present from B, and very, very nice indeed! I could have spent all day, cocooned under the warm covers, soft South American pipe music in the background, while the annoyingly young and fresh-faced beautician tried to “reverse the ravages of time” from my face (to quote the antiwrinkle cream adverts).

All that relaxing can work up quite an appetite…. for a tasty Thai lunch, served with unlimited jasmine tea, and a bargain for a fiver.

Later that day we had to bid farewell to a faithful old friend… our little Fiat Punto. It seems ridiculous to be emotionally attached to a car, but I was really sad to see her go. She was the first car I’d ever owned, I’d driven her the length and breadth of Britain, and shifted DIY supplies to our new house, and building rubble and garden waste to the dump in her ample boot. 

Back in her glory days circa 2003

But we’d realised months ago that we don’t need to be a two-car household, and were just wasting money every year on insurance and road tax. Money that can be better spent on a new kitchen…work to commence shortly, so watch this space. I've spent hours on the internet this weekend comparing prices of appliances and have just ordered a new double oven…I can’t wait to have one that has a range of temperatures (not just “blacken”, “scorch” and “burn to a crisp”), and that opens by a door handle, not by prising open the door with a knife!

And someone was prising my head open with a very blunt spoon... or at least that's how I felt in the early hours of Sunday morning. I woke up with a pounding migraine that had been hovering with intent since Thursday and finally manifested with a vengeance. I spent most of the next few hours swallowing whatever cocktail of painkillers I could find, wondering at what point I’d OD. I did eventually fall asleep again, only to wake up feeling like I’d been stuffed in the washing machine and set to spin dry.

Impeccable timing of course…. on a day when I really needed to be in peak physical condition, for another gruelling Aikido course with the Very Important Sensei that I’ve mentioned on here before. Feeling a bit delicate, I was contemplating giving it a skip, but Nat is not one to admit defeat so easily. Things were going OK, and we were about 2 hours in, when a great clumsy oaf fellow Aikidoer decided he would crash land his sizeable ass on my long-suffering head….cue Owl City…

You would not believe your eyes
If ten million fireflies
Lit up the world as I fell asleep

A time-lapse sequence showing fireflies and star trails. Photo: Steve Irvine

OK, maybe there weren’t ten million of them, but specks of dazzling light flashing in front of your eyes is never a good thing. I watched the rest of the course from the side-lines.

Of course, today is Mothering Sunday in the UK. [Useless information alert] Records from about four hundred years ago show that on this day, which falls mid-Lent, people made a point of visiting their nearest big church (the Mother Church). People who visited their mother church would say they had gone "a mothering." Young girls and boys “in service” (maids and servants) at the local Manor House or in a Mansion, were only allowed one day to visit their family each year, usually on Mothering Sunday. In recent times, Mothering Sunday has in Britain taken on the name and character of the US Mother's Day.

So happy Mothering Sunday to those who commemorate it, and hope everyone has had good weekends!

A Bit Of Male Bashing

These amazing images of a zebra fighting off a lion were captured by Thomas Whetten in Ngorongoro Conservation area, Tanzania....

The lion's attempts to bag a takeaway lunch were rewarded with an almighty kick to the face. Next time, maybe he'll leave the hunting to the experts... the lionesses!

The Girl With The Violet Eyes

Elizabeth Taylor

27 February 1932 - 23 March 2011

I do think the term “Hollywood Legend” is bandied about too often these days…but I also think that today we lost a genuine one.

Some famous quotes of the great actress-philanthropist....

"If someone's dumb enough to offer me a million dollars to make a picture, I'm certainly not dumb enough to turn it down."

“Some of my best leading men have been dogs and horses.”

“I am a very committed wife. And I should be committed too – for being married so many times.”

“The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be pretty sure they’re going to have some pretty annoying virtues.”

“If it is not to make the world better what is money for?”

“When people say, ‘She’s got everything’, I’ve got one answer – I haven’t had tomorrow.”

Spring Has Sprung!

It's official...spring is here! And it even says so on the calendar...

The sun has been shining, the evenings are getting lighter and the bulbs are blooming.

Symbolising rebirth and new beginnings, the daffodil is virtually synonymous with spring.  Though their botanic name is Narcissus, daffodils are sometimes called jonquils, and in England, because of their long association with Lent, they’re known as the “Lent Lily.”  

Lore connecting the daffodil to not only a sign of winter’s end but a lucky emblem of future prosperity is found throughout the world. In Wales, it’s said if you spot the first daffodil of the season, your next 12 months will be filled with wealth, and Chinese legend has it that if a daffodil bulb is forced to bloom during the New Year, it will bring good luck to your home.

 A gift of daffodils is said to ensure happiness.  But always remember to present daffodils in a bunch – the same legends that associate this cheerful flower with good fortune warn us that when given as a single bloom, a daffodil can foretell misfortune.

Hope your weekends have been good!

Bad Moon Rising?

I saw a Full Moon rising tonight….a huge orange orb that seemed so big and close that I felt that I could almost reach out and touch it. Not quite though…although slightly closer than normal, it’s still over 220,000 miles from Earth! Tonight’s Moon is a “Super Moon" - the Moon appears at its biggest and brightest in almost 20 years.

There has been a lot of hype surrounding the lunar phenomenon, with some people claiming that disaster will trail in its wake. Some were warning of earthquakes and volcanoes caused by the Super Moon, weeks before the catastrophic Japanese earthquake and tsunami struck.

The Full Moon does create higher tides because of gravitational pull… however, Super Moons happen all the time. When the Moon orbits closer to Earth it is called a Perigee and when its orbit is the farthest from Earth (about 254,000 miles) it is called the Apogee. The Moon will continue to approach closer and farther, depending on where it is on the orbit around Earth. The term "Super Moon" was invented to describe the location of the orbit in proximity to Earth, which gives a slightly larger and brighter than normal appearance to the Moon.

It was definitely worth taking a look upwards… times like these I wish I had a far more sophisticated camera!

........

I see the bad moon arising.

I see trouble on the way.

I see earthquakes and lightnin'.

I see bad times today.

Don't go around tonight,

Well, it's bound to take your life,

There's a bad moon on the rise.

I hear hurricanes ablowing.

I know the end is coming soon.

I fear rivers over flowing.

I hear the voice of rage and ruin.

Hope you got your things together.

Hope you are quite prepared to die.

Looks like we're in for nasty weather.

One eye is taken for an eye.

Creedence Clearwater Revival