A Day At The Races....

No, not a review of the Marx Brothers film! On Saturday I took my brother out for the day for a treat. It was his 60th birthday last week, and didn't want any fuss or parties, so I thought we should go out for the day. I'd asked him where he wanted to go and he didn't really know, but where we live is very handy for the M11, so we thought we would have a day out in Cambridge and look at the colleges there as we both like old buildings and stuff like that. Come Saturday morning though, he wasn't sure whether he wanted to go to Cambridge, so we were discussing where else was easy to get to up the M11! "Newmarket" he says....then, "not much goes on there though".

"What about the races?" I said. So we looked in the paper and discovered that there was a meeting that day, and it was the last one of the season....so off we went.

Neither of us had been horse racing before, so had no idea what to expect. However I had worked some years ago at a greyhound racing track and it wasn't dissimilar so didn't take long to get in the swing. I thought it was quite expensive to get in though at £10-£16 each, even with his newly acquired OAP concession! But the parking was free!

I really loved it! We soon got in the routine of watching the horses parade in the paddock before deciding which one we wanted to bet on...placing our bets and then going across to the track to wait for the start of the race. You could barely see the starting gate off in the distance, but there was a huge screen by the side of the track so you watch easily until they were coming up to the grandstand. You knew when they were within sight without even seeing them yourself as the cheering started on the far side of the grandstand and washed across the enclosure gradually getting louder and building to a crescendas the horses rushed towards the winning post.

I did my best Eliza Doolittle impersonation "Come on ....come on ....COME ON DOVER MOVE YOUR BLOOMIN ARSE!" If you've never seen it, watch it here...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rxtbOVWmTM
it's quite long so wizz it along to about 7minutes in if you don't want to wait!

Anyway...we were certainly on a beginners luck winning streak, we had a win or a place on all of the first five races (there were 8 altogether) and then we lost on a couple. so decided to call it a day and left after the seventh to avoid a big crush when the last race had finished. But the only money we laid out for betting was on the first race, and we played with the winnings after that. There was still a bit in the kitty when we left which I gave to my brother.

A thoroughly enjoyable day, the weather was kind to us, and unless it's against your religion or something I would recommend it for a day out, as long as you're not likely to get carried away with the betting you don't have to spend a fortune.

More about my holiday

I've put some (well quite a lot) of my pictures in a webshots album here... http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/574823110PhSlDK?vhost=outdoors Sorry, I couldn't figure out how to get a slideshow on here even though webshots very kindly provide a code that you can copy! (duh!) I seem to have taken a rather large amount of pictures of flowers...even though I've had my digital camera for about 2 years now (or it might even be 3), I'm still fascinated by the fact that you get such good close ups of things like flowers and insects.

Talking about how long I've had my camera reminds me of an incident that happened while I was away....there was me standing on the end of the Cobb on Lyme Regis, when I decided to have my photo taken.....anyone who knows me will know that I absolutely hate to have my picture taken so this was a red letter day! So I gave the camera to my friend to take the picture. She faffed about for a while and complained that she couldn't tell it had actually taken the picture as there was no indication. Well it turned out that she had kept her finger on the button so long that there wasn't one picture of me but NINE!! Something I had no idea that the camera did was that if you keep your finger on the button it just keeps shooting.....Two years I've had that bloomin camera and how many times have I tried to take a picture of bird taking off or a bee on flower and been moaning to myself that by the time you take the second picture it's too late! You should have seen us....standing on the end of the Cobb with nothing but the sea around us, and we were just creased up with laughter at these nine photos of someone who never has her picture taken....ever! And wanting to go back in time to try for all those great shots that you wanted, but never could get!

also on the subject of my not being a very good photographer.....you'll notice that there is a video clip in amongst the pictures....no idea how that happened to get in there.....I do know that my camera will take short videos, but I didn't know at the time that that was switched on...don't know why it was switched on either as I'm pretty sure that I hadn't intended to take any videos. It only looks pretty good, because I took a picture of the swan (thus starting the video (?)) and kept him in my view waiting for him to do something else that might be worthy of a picture (that's why it goes off a bit wonky at the end!) Ah well, one of these days I'll take Geek lessons!#

Just back.....

...from a lovely week in Dorset. Lyme Regis to be precise, a beautiful part of the country if you've never been.

We stayed in a little cottage in the heart of the town, with the River Lym running right outside the kitchen window at the back on the lower floor. It was on a narrow road that was just big enough for one vehicle to drive down....no room to park though....parking was in a car park up the road, a 5 minutes walk the brochure said...and it was...what they failed to mention was that it was up a bloomin steep hill. One of those where you have bend forward practically at a 90 degree angle in order to get up it, and bend backwards on the way down taking little tiny steps so that your feet don't run away with you!! Oh!...and also stop halfway up to get your breath back and let your knees rest! What with that and the fact that the cottage was on three levels with a steep and narrow staircase, and everywhere else we went seemed to be on a hill....well, I'm abso-bloomin-lutely exhaused!!

I'm putting some photos into a webshots album, so I'll post more details when I've done that and then you can be really bored and look at all my photos!

Got My Grumpy Head On Today...

I've got my Grumpy Old Woman head on today....just bear with me...ignore me if you will!

Stupid man got on the bus I was on this morning...on his mobile phone, standing in the doorway while two other people got on. Then he starts looking for his travelcard....still talking on the phone! It's not in that pocket, or this pocket...eventually he tells the person on the phone to hang on...then he starts looking in his bags that he's carrying. Meanwhile we are stuck at the bus stop...the driver won't close the doors and move obviously in case the man hasn't actually got a travelcard, but also because in the centre of town they don't collect money, you have to have a travelcard of some sort or buy a voucher at the machine at the bus stop. So there we are stuck while this stupid man looks for his card.....in his bags, in his pockets again, back to the bags, back to the pockets....eventually finding it in a pocket that he's already looked in twice .....insert picture of me rolling eyes heavenward!

What really annoys me about this, is the fact that he must have known he was going to get a bus, he's been standing at the bus stop for however long....why oh why had he not thought an iota about where his ticket is......

This is something that happens quite often...and I hate to say it, but it's usually women, they might have two or even three bags, and spend a good few minutes rummaging about by the door of the bus looking for their card or ticket......why do they put it somewhere where it can't be easily found? Why just dump it in your bag....put it in a pocket for goodness sake either in the bag or in your jacket!

OK rant over....normal service can be resumed!!

PS....I've just read this back, and now thinking how anally retentive it sounds....I think I need to get a life!!

Oh dear....

I've started stitching with the thread mentioned below, and....quelle horreur!....it's a totally different shade to the previous ones I've had....right number but obviously the dye lot is totally different!!

OK, now I know you're saying to yourselves....."that's why you should buy enough all at once"....but in all the years I've been stitching, I've never seen such a big difference. I'm going to have work around it though as it was difficult enough trying to find this in the first place.....Grrr!!

At last....

I'll be able to get on with my cross stitch project....I ran out of one of the threads and haven't been able to get any. Everywhere I tried even on line was out of stock! So, many thanks to Wye Needlecraft. Even though this wasn't on their online shop, a quick phone call, and even though they were busy, they rang me back, confirmed it was in stock, took my details and there it was my letterbox this morning! Yippee!!

Not much going on....

There's not been much going on with my UFO, since the last time I posted. I have been trying to have a clear out at home and that's slow going as well. I have so many jobs that need doing indoors and so much stuff in the way, that I decided that I would rent one of those self storage thingys and clear out all the clutter so that instead of moving everything from pillar to post and back again it would all be out of the house and then I can get all the decorating and small repairs done at once.

My original plan was to do one room at a time, but I think that if I'm getting a carpenter (for example) then it's best to get him to do all the carpenter type jobs at once, rather than in bits and pieces. As well as it being easier if as he moves from room to room I don't have to constantly be clearing the way for him.

This will be an ongoing thing for a few months over the summer and I don't have much in the way of savings and may have to wait for each pay day to roll round in order to get on to the next bit! I'm hoping though that once the initial clear out has been done I might find some time for a bit of cross stitch! Luckily my brother is offering to organise the actual works for me and do the decorating!!

Wish me luck!!

Hey....I've got a follower! Thanks Angie!!

At last...something to do with UFOs!!

I thought it was about time I got on with my current project. I managed at last to find out where I had put it....you know....so that I would know where it was!! It took me a while to figure out where I was up to and to get back into the swing of cross stitching (it's been a while since I did any).

I've noticed though that I'm having more trouble seeing the "holes" than I used to....obviously that's old age galloping up on me! I might have to succumb to a pair of specs for close work, something I've never needed in the past even though I've worn them for distance since I was about 13 or 14.

Anyway here's a pic of the work in progress, as you can see it is almost finished.....

Yummy little tea room I've discovered......

I was in Greenwich yesterday with a couple of friends. One of them was from out of town, but she had been doing her homework and had spotted a write up in the Times (I think) for a cafe in the area which did a good afternnon tea. So off we went to Greenwich....toiled round the shops and the market....spent shed loads of money (it was hellish! ;o) )

About 2pm my friend dragged this bit of paper out of her bag and proceeded to point us in the direction of refreshment. Well, what a hidden gem it was when we eventually found it!
Royal Teas is a tiny little cafe off the beaten track. Quite unprepossessing from the outside. There's couple of plastic tables with chairs outside, and inside the furniture is a hotch potch of thing that have seen better days. The menu is small, but everything sounded delicious. It says they make everything on the premises, and I believe it. The prices are reasonable, and the tea was real leaf tea, in a pot, with a strainer....and china cups and saucers!!

We all settled for the afternoon tea, which was a smoked salmon, cucumber and cream cheese sandwich, a warm scone with jam and clotted cream, a piece of cake and tea. the waiter was lovely and very patient while we made adjustments to what was wanted....the vegetarian said could she just have the cucumber and cream cheese in her sandwich.....said that was fine would she like avocado instead. The coffee drinker said coffee instead tea, and she doesn't "do" cream, so she just wanted the cake and not the scone! Personally I was going the whole hog!! (He liked me for b eing "normal"....we all laughed at that....he doesn;t know me!!)

After the scones, myother friend and I decided we probably couldn't manage a piece of cake as well , after seeing the size of the slices going past, so we had a piece between us, and again the waiter couldn't have been more helpful. We had refills of tea and coffee, and the bill was adjusted accordingly for what we hadn't had, and it all came to the princely sum of £5.50 each!! We were very impressed! We all said it was the best afternoon tea we could remember having. The other customers seemed to be local people, we even spotted a couple of actors, but middle aged, no brain cells women that we are we couldn't remember either of their name!! But we decided that this was indeed a very good find, and definitely on the itinerary for future visits to Greenwich....especially if you go there first and have breakfast before hitting the shopsor the sights!

Silly little thing I wanted to share....

Someone gave me a desk calendar for Christmas....you know one of those with a witty saying or thought on each page?

Todays saying is...."It is a very inconvenient habit of kittens that, whatever you say to them, they aways purr"....well it made smile this morning anyway!!

Bloomin' Cats.....

One of my little darlings decided to wake me up this morning....padding about on the bed and sticking her nose in my face! I looked at the clock and saw it was 6.15....so I thought I might as well get up as I wanted to go to the loo anyway....

Went to the loo (sorry...too much information!), back in the bedroom for my dressing gown.....looked at the clock again and it wasn't 6.15 it was *!"%* 3,30!!!! Bloomin' Cats!!!!

This is she.....butter wouldn't melt eh.......

At last I've found a few minutes to get on here.....this is not being a very successful ufo blog so far, so I promise to try harder in this new year. Since I last posted I've been a little poorly....nothing serious.....sciatica to start with some weeks before Christmas, and then a horrendous cough all over the holidays. So I just haven't been in the mood for anything very much. I've been very busy at work since I've been back as well, but I'm on top of that now...LOL....famous last words!!

It's been pelting with rain here this morning, but it's brightening up now and I poked about in the garden for about 5 minutes. It was lovely to see a few crocuses pushing through the soil. Also some new shoots coming on other plants as well. Most noticeably (sp?) on the hydrangea and what I only know as an ice plant.

Just had some breakfast and I'm off to do some shopping soon to get some sensible food stuffs, as I seem to have run out of such a lot.........