tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57409111578350212432024-02-07T04:03:15.047+00:00Letticeleaf...
lettice leafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17637631435776710877noreply@blogger.comBlogger491125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5740911157835021243.post-82837413054782639082014-08-22T12:32:00.001+01:002014-08-22T17:32:35.889+01:00The Last Post...<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">that's it folks...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">I'm gone.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">For lots of reasons I've</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">had enough.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Toodle-pip and thank you</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">to all of those who have followed</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">and commented. I really do appreciate</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">your taking time out to share your thoughts.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">The spam merchants...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Why did they target my most painful</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">blog post?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">For months, every day I've had to</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">check and delete them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Added to which... </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">After the events in the news </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">over the last few days,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">I've decided I don't want to be part of the</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">cyber means of communication. </span></div>
lettice leafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17637631435776710877noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5740911157835021243.post-84110296093915571942014-08-17T12:43:00.002+01:002014-08-17T12:47:38.231+01:00The story of.... <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">the man with the machete </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">in Mauritius and a trip to</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Dungeness.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Dungeness yesterday</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Dungeness October 2013</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Yesterday we set off to the Rye Country Fair to see a friend who was exhibiting his classic motorbike and sidecar. We thought we'd surprise him and his new lady-love.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">We were the ones surprised,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"> as he was nowhere to be seen.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">With heel marks in the grass Ted dragged me </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">away from the shepherd hut conversion.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">'There's absolutely no way we could get that</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">in the garden!'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">'We could easily; we'd just have to get a crane to lift it in, that wouldn't be a problem!'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Even the guy selling it laughed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">A male </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">conspiracy I decided, you would have thought he would have had an eye to the sale.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">In my heart I knew it was just one of my crazy </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">dreams and </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">schemes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">"Let's go to Rye!'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">As the car park at Rye was full,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">never one to want to queue...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">'I know, better still, let's go to</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Dungeness!'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">I love Dungeness, all thought of the shepherd's hut gone; my dreams of coming into</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">some money and buying a shack on the windswept pebbles took preference.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Our last visit had been days after</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Lettice had died and I wanted to have cheerier memories of my fav place.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Hat firmly plonked on,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">pashmina keeping the windy chill away I was a happy girl.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Ted was cheery to, having found out that</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">the only two flying Lancaster bombers</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">were planning a fly-over along the coast.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Wrong, they flew over Lydd airport instead.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">From the beach they were just specks in the distance. Driving back from Dungeness,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">we saw a Dakota, with wheels spinning we stopped I hopped out and tried to get a photo</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: large;">this is it...</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Alright, I know what you're thinking!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Home we came, with me with a head full</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">of buying a shack and doing it up.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Just thirty-one miles from home and an ideal</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">get-away. Well, a girl can dream.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Getting the bought on the beach,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">home-smoked haddock and eggs</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">out of the car, with plans to make an Omelette Arnold Bennett,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">I was happy... it didn't last...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">as I went to get my hat out of the back of the car, the pashmina was nowhere to be found. I came in full of woe, where had it gone, I just couldn't believe what my eyes were telling me. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Twice we searched the car.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">My tears I'm ashamed to say, fell into my mug of tea. I loved that pashmina, silly I know.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">In my head I tried to think as to when it had gone; was it when we walked back to the car at the lighthouse? It had been very windy and I remember wrapping it around twice to secure it. Was it when I hopped out of the car to get the wonderful action </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">shot of the </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Dakota?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">The trouble was I just couldn't remember. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Ted phoned the pub, to ask if it had been handed in from the car park... No!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">I was between a rock and a hard place, should we go back? If we did and didn't find it that would compound the loss. If we didn't I would always wonder what if?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Two trips to Dungeness tinged with sadness.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Ted said</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">'I'm going back!'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">We went back with big brave me</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">a wreck, trying with every fibre of my being to think as to when it had gone, and why I hadn't felt it go.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Every </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">cyclist we passed I scanned them to see if they were sporting a brightly coloured scarf. Every road I said is this it?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Until eventually the tiny layby where I'd got the 'action shot' hove-to with a bundle forlornly nestling in the gravel.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">I couldn't believe my eyes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Tears of happiness are a totally</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">different type of salt.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Driving back we marvelled at how it hadn't been blown into a hedge, the underside of a passing car, someone stopping and picking it up. And we would never have known its fate.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">I had no idea just how much I loved that</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">pashmina bought on Mauritius in 2006.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Every day we sat on the beach, the hawkers would come and try to sell us things.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">We always chatted to them, understanding their need to earn a living.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">One chap a tall black guy, who looked a handy sort of a feller who could more than look after himself said that he was having trouble keeping safe, hence the machete.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">As promised at the end of the holiday,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Ted bought me the pashmina; the guy was happy that we had been true to our word. And I was</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">now the owner of a lovely silk pashmina, which over the years has generated many admiring comments.</span><br />
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lettice leafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17637631435776710877noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5740911157835021243.post-37628670578310023572014-08-14T16:02:00.000+01:002014-08-14T16:04:23.726+01:00Birthday bon-bons...<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Is it only girls that expect a lot from</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">birthdays?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">As I get older they seem to deliver</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">less and less, or is it me</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">expecting more and more?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Got a horrible feeling you, as well as I, know the answer to this...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">careful!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">So many birthdays,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">so many expectations...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">exceeded...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">so many wishes and dreams</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">falling wide of the mark.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">A particular favourite of the</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">forgettable kind...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">my 40th where I primped and preened</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">expecting to be taken to some</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">salubrious sexy</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">South Yorks hot-spot.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">(alright, I know it's a contradiction in terms)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">The entire evening I spent bouncing</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">on the kiddies castle in the pub garden with the daughters of farming friends.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">I bounced away the pain along with</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">the thought of money spent on</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">facials, fluff and nails.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">A night to remember of the</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Hammer Horror Motives kind.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">My 60th in the Arctic, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">words have no place here to describe</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">how things had changed in the intervening twenty years.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilPnrKaMV7fhA6mRxZzxCpIWskrloPOuEmKqgpOA0Gt6_wt0mY6GsCBjVhm7kfraF1p3RrBWgU7rvvx6MF2QQUrL-L5ZaFEWdB6EEEHopIhKbfV1BSbLbTF_oRtBS0ZsbLhSJ5Wsibl8Mh/s1600/Ted+&+Lin's%2BArtic%2BAdventure%2B011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilPnrKaMV7fhA6mRxZzxCpIWskrloPOuEmKqgpOA0Gt6_wt0mY6GsCBjVhm7kfraF1p3RrBWgU7rvvx6MF2QQUrL-L5ZaFEWdB6EEEHopIhKbfV1BSbLbTF_oRtBS0ZsbLhSJ5Wsibl8Mh/s1600/Ted+&+Lin's%2BArtic%2BAdventure%2B011.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">A flavour of today...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPdj7mfNItDaCpIzLx99wI1y48kzgYaoWrUArMlZAyRhgea-WMY-nKa5l89H4RRrNlF_a3bCJFUAIQWX949D92QneFAnkfDwXjkXncuKo7OHMrT4Ggv7Q06_7tb1JOQn1dRKdJ-K6MdWmG/s1600/P8130003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPdj7mfNItDaCpIzLx99wI1y48kzgYaoWrUArMlZAyRhgea-WMY-nKa5l89H4RRrNlF_a3bCJFUAIQWX949D92QneFAnkfDwXjkXncuKo7OHMrT4Ggv7Q06_7tb1JOQn1dRKdJ-K6MdWmG/s1600/P8130003.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">The brooch...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"> the tale of which I cannot tell!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Ted had this, one of my favourite</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">items of jewellery</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">repaired for me. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">The pin wasn't very secure and I was</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">afraid I would lose it.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Beautiful, beautiful</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">paintings of moths on the pages and</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">jackets of antique books</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">by a lovely new friend called</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><a href="http://helenhunt.co.uk/">Helen</a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWpMtH781H_xJbLB_YrafHhDyGmCWLrsofwtOxqcKbcmbLbe06Pf8y7olzh9j9cv2PfNdBR7z1nIFJUgPlX0QR1c22QSNtfaSNpGuzat938Gk2VRudHHJW548IUNZCe7o69zZFggPKKL6g/s1600/P8130007.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWpMtH781H_xJbLB_YrafHhDyGmCWLrsofwtOxqcKbcmbLbe06Pf8y7olzh9j9cv2PfNdBR7z1nIFJUgPlX0QR1c22QSNtfaSNpGuzat938Gk2VRudHHJW548IUNZCe7o69zZFggPKKL6g/s1600/P8130007.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">see better photographs on the link above</span><br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcqv-Tzt-D9thgwSDbLVcGjDIvz_DM1Pst1JEgGMFFuqbNx2aC3WhyphenhyphennlPCarniiDiiz8Qnbf1Zut3LgcgevDNqKEnN6P5i-K14UbAzxnLqbcbqnvyqgaVi-bsJzYp6YUCF9bMq6NvzF5jW/s1600/P8130004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcqv-Tzt-D9thgwSDbLVcGjDIvz_DM1Pst1JEgGMFFuqbNx2aC3WhyphenhyphennlPCarniiDiiz8Qnbf1Zut3LgcgevDNqKEnN6P5i-K14UbAzxnLqbcbqnvyqgaVi-bsJzYp6YUCF9bMq6NvzF5jW/s1600/P8130004.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">How can the manic murderer of clothes moths</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">love these so much?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">These were from Ted.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">This card I gave to myself</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">in rememberance of my much loved</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">and still sorely missed</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Lettice</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFGVCaVspCFOAOAHD4q5ULrb010QVPBqNgJBNXgwaNKfju5yfw4lE5vYP6dTtgRzZ2YCmElx7PA2toRtssJMP15rNdWRQLBehXhw08uRLRUjjHH3SZGM2-GxxYfoJ8OLTjWblbQtQ_XSH6/s1600/P8130009.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFGVCaVspCFOAOAHD4q5ULrb010QVPBqNgJBNXgwaNKfju5yfw4lE5vYP6dTtgRzZ2YCmElx7PA2toRtssJMP15rNdWRQLBehXhw08uRLRUjjHH3SZGM2-GxxYfoJ8OLTjWblbQtQ_XSH6/s1600/P8130009.JPG" height="258" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">it is so like her </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">This morning I searched in the long grass</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">for the cross we put to mark her favourite spot in the garden. No matter how hard I looked I couldn't find it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Getting dressed I saw from the bedroom window Ted doing a finger-tip search in order to find it (old police habits die hard).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">This in my book is the mark of true giving, no money can buy that sort of gift.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgTCwh4ySm4KNuml-aec1gap_GRcGmIiT3lL1HNiTHhyphenhyphen-sSqPqIrWf8FXDXQivdUkzYHzMO_OVg70UTW4llC5gylGyruIRLDJhdUy_wlEu2zrjdldqKI9VHpnZGNHAzHyNpm0zVxFYmIOX/s1600/P5270069.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgTCwh4ySm4KNuml-aec1gap_GRcGmIiT3lL1HNiTHhyphenhyphen-sSqPqIrWf8FXDXQivdUkzYHzMO_OVg70UTW4llC5gylGyruIRLDJhdUy_wlEu2zrjdldqKI9VHpnZGNHAzHyNpm0zVxFYmIOX/s1600/P5270069.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">The trip to Deal has had to wait as Ted</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">is suffering from a nasty cold/chest infection bug that has swept through the cast</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">of Oh What a Lovely War.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">The price you pay for fame!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPF9QBYMzIR2-QywbG46mSm9S3ChfiE7HUqhKqCkYuI1icV0hlSKuBb5GD8Ws3n9I1JKjQmDToCE0ofdVAovOZ3t4AwuwFowdC9BGqmBZvDi3LqILcnnCfNEL84-GVVILm_Rhwm_Qjzw9e/s1600/P8130003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPF9QBYMzIR2-QywbG46mSm9S3ChfiE7HUqhKqCkYuI1icV0hlSKuBb5GD8Ws3n9I1JKjQmDToCE0ofdVAovOZ3t4AwuwFowdC9BGqmBZvDi3LqILcnnCfNEL84-GVVILm_Rhwm_Qjzw9e/s1600/P8130003.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">I baked my cake...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">ingredients... the weight of three eggs.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">The mixer was spurned in order for me to beat the eggs in very,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">very slowly. It works: this beat it all together carry-on, doesn't give</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">the light touch I was looking for. My only nod at convenience</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;">was to use Lakeland cake liners, hence the ridged sides.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">It's four-o-clock...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">time for the birthday girl to</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">sign off.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">If you have lasted this long down the blog,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">I raise my glass to you.</span></div>
lettice leafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17637631435776710877noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5740911157835021243.post-29156869332932797562014-08-13T12:09:00.000+01:002014-08-13T12:23:59.581+01:00Birthdays...<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy7qrhtByWfjBKPQFYRcV8WIokqXF4hL2qfKaWR3yoyBOOLPTKLlkw7N0cw_15byt1LqxuVM5DVIACMTJA7N5aeWHb9rGdZ7YlyEZ0umT32jlDie8cACuHd5mJFnguplgKC0CBqql4n3jM/s1600/IMG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy7qrhtByWfjBKPQFYRcV8WIokqXF4hL2qfKaWR3yoyBOOLPTKLlkw7N0cw_15byt1LqxuVM5DVIACMTJA7N5aeWHb9rGdZ7YlyEZ0umT32jlDie8cACuHd5mJFnguplgKC0CBqql4n3jM/s1600/IMG.jpg" height="400" width="277" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">memories of a charmed life...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">One of my first birthday memories</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">is of a glorious summer day.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">They always were it seemed to me, perhaps my</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">memory plays tricks?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">The table was laid</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">the jelly made</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"> hundreds and thousands</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">quivered and crowded the 'jelly top'</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">tiny sandwiches</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">fairy cakes</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">candles crowned a feather-light sponge</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"> awaiting</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"> a princesses</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">breath to blow</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">The princess of the day was nowhere</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">to be seen...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">she had let the excitement get a hold</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">it slithered and snaked...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">sick she was and went to bed</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Her guests all agreed the party was fun</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Pity Linda had a jippy tum</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
lettice leafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17637631435776710877noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5740911157835021243.post-11921120417740329702014-08-11T16:27:00.000+01:002014-08-11T16:27:20.356+01:00Sixty seven reasons why...<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">getting old isn't that bad...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">You can go knickerless and folks think you've lost your </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">marbles along with your drawers</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">grey hair likes purple hair chalk</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">you can trump and being deaf pretend you haven't heard it</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Say outrageous things with ne'er a care</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Come on strong with young men knowing they won't</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">think you really mean it...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Oh how wrong they can be!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Go bra-less without fear of men walking into lamp posts</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">giving you the eye</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Shimmy into a shift thinking the straight cut</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">hides the podge underneath</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Wear platform shoes...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">these orthopaedic jobbies aren't so bad</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Wide feet suddenly seem an asset...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">they anchor you to the ground when too many</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Babychams have been partaken of</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Elasticated trousers live the dream, cushion the load...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">comfort is the order of the day</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Linen... the cloth of ages...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">au naturel... matches the wrinkles of a life well lived...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">the iron lives to smooth another day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Arrange flowers and think yourself...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Constance 'Spry'...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'Trex' would be nearer the truth...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">(Those of a certain age will get it)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Shake the mop in the cupboard without your mother</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">saying...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'What an earth are you doing Linda?'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Wipe the washing line with the hem of your frock</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Explain...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'This is a haven for wildlife!'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">as guests have to duck under the cobwebs hanging</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">like gossamer swags from the ceiling</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">ditto...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">dead tights hanging over the edge of the bath...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"An emergency exit for spiders, don't you know!'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Snifferly scorning the drunken youth of today</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">on your 26th Sauvignon Sundowner of the day</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Demanding in imperious tones</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'More canapes, my man!'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(Cheesey Wotsits)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Only checking your appearance in the</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">most flattering mirror in the house</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">No need for eyeshadow...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">you have home grown shadow</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">alright, it's under the eye...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">but no worries</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">For thrifts-sake working your way back</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">through the many and various impulse</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">foundation purchases, finally arriving</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">at Pan Stick</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Making an alchemist's mix of</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">the freebie perfume samples,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">walking through the sprayed mist, arriving over</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">the other side, smelling like...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Well, frankly nothing on earth</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(cheap and thrifty)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Plucking...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">now there's a word...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">did you ever realise all those years</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">ago you could make a friend of</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">your tweezers</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It seems like forever you await the curse</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">to fly off to pastures new, and</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">then what happens...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">it leaves you a constant reminder of</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">just exactly what you've lost...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">a face free of hair,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">moisture... in all departments...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I could go on...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">best not!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Change...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">you naively thought that you</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">did that at stations</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Women glow...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Oh no they don't, they sweat...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">by the bucket-load</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Moles... why do they</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">suddenly take a fancy to</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">the warmth of the divide of</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">bosoms?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Some sort of joke that is,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">perhaps it should be</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Father Nature not Mother Nature</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Liver spots, blood-shot eyes, creaky bones,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">bunions, corns, hard-skin</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">a plethora of excitements of</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">the ageing kind</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Bingo-wings... the </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">must-have of this decade</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I've got to thirty...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I think I'll go and have a lie-down</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqNpr7y3HJlNP98DiQtImctbV-ZijsdgRhKGnmlSqhiqyVuFmw8KZrjB-lGIo8T0pIHR0dC9elvSlCJGOQYJL2GRYYufsNGA3_p0QfefIzyM6yQG-Hqa6HqfDDljKq7wTFn_fwCgAg6Btf/s1600/63711ffce33af0bbaf2c6c6250dc6692.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqNpr7y3HJlNP98DiQtImctbV-ZijsdgRhKGnmlSqhiqyVuFmw8KZrjB-lGIo8T0pIHR0dC9elvSlCJGOQYJL2GRYYufsNGA3_p0QfefIzyM6yQG-Hqa6HqfDDljKq7wTFn_fwCgAg6Btf/s1600/63711ffce33af0bbaf2c6c6250dc6692.jpg" height="400" width="293" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Only thirty seven more to go...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Feel free to help me by adding to the list...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">lest I forget!</span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
lettice leafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17637631435776710877noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5740911157835021243.post-61112108201759828202014-08-10T15:54:00.000+01:002014-08-10T15:54:21.467+01:00Plump, purple legs pumped...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">as we thundered out </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Oh What a Lovely War...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">and then it was over.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We've learnt a whole lot about ourselves.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">To say we enjoyed every second, would be slightly underplaying</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">just exactly how we felt. And you know me...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">say it like it is LL, preferably with </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">stonking great knobs on. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Lots of times I've walked up sidewards </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">to doing this after-show </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">post.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">You know something, the light has gone out.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I'm flat... even the diva sweets flown in especially</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">for me from Glyndebourne</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVid_oJIhxDZSLNfdeX4ScT7RJtqg3GvyEtP2ArR0FE0MzmMfiAhBz6zyZH4oDhlCtE4NxhFQVwxABJXFDNckbzYHXaWWDsBozdYMdtf4R3xjRd8CgVhfsYt2lSrr1bgSmPF261dRwPVAC/s1600/tn_33_2_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVid_oJIhxDZSLNfdeX4ScT7RJtqg3GvyEtP2ArR0FE0MzmMfiAhBz6zyZH4oDhlCtE4NxhFQVwxABJXFDNckbzYHXaWWDsBozdYMdtf4R3xjRd8CgVhfsYt2lSrr1bgSmPF261dRwPVAC/s1600/tn_33_2_2.jpg" height="206" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">now known as Grether's Pastilles</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">haven't managed to work their magic.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I'm resting, I've got an after-show cold. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The thought of my birthday on</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Thursday with flutes of bubbles, trips to Deal,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">maybe even Dungeness, can't seem to lift me.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Perhaps, as has long been suspected...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I am a flaming prima donna after all?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip06CapicjX7C_XXnfhgo45mt_2P4_EMlY1B3lLNRa1dQXsRUij4OzTHNzCsgK-lFs8hmn0FT2ugOhxY3Mov6YI2shdrelJ3RxRkyAee5tPi1L1NxDJb-ScRol69R-wW9SXLyTmN7IClA_/s1600/the-truly-weird-issue-8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip06CapicjX7C_XXnfhgo45mt_2P4_EMlY1B3lLNRa1dQXsRUij4OzTHNzCsgK-lFs8hmn0FT2ugOhxY3Mov6YI2shdrelJ3RxRkyAee5tPi1L1NxDJb-ScRol69R-wW9SXLyTmN7IClA_/s1600/the-truly-weird-issue-8.jpg" height="640" width="426" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgKXo78Ikatl6tkjLyYNaIiSOSZxY495hE9RTgoOudtDVkzGbJWYHj2nQUfpFNi8GAn9-dhRNCvWBtDXCgRvOga6qPLAIQ5nNo9gTsGbZigJObi2M6qsOU3AB0NUQAiLWAPdsnSFOx4bUu/s1600/WP_20140804_004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgKXo78Ikatl6tkjLyYNaIiSOSZxY495hE9RTgoOudtDVkzGbJWYHj2nQUfpFNi8GAn9-dhRNCvWBtDXCgRvOga6qPLAIQ5nNo9gTsGbZigJObi2M6qsOU3AB0NUQAiLWAPdsnSFOx4bUu/s1600/WP_20140804_004.jpg" height="305" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This is the solemn last scene after a quietly sung a few bars of OWALW</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> We blew our candles out, the hall went dark and we all remembered them.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
lettice leafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17637631435776710877noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5740911157835021243.post-81579069690373723742014-08-02T07:03:00.002+01:002014-08-02T07:03:53.529+01:00Pantomime dame crossed with<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Alice Cooper...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">you've got it in one...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">me on the opening night.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVsZYikf21eGGq6-bytcoHCku1aMpEERnsPnthIKSwFsfAu5EGcfjhWPT5WpiuGNZhLzSbbsaTiCi7P8Al_AOsa32IJXFvMmRmtGOlf8_gS9N7PmHVXhAoRWVhcwCCVIqNyJi60kt4P8oC/s1600/alice_cooper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVsZYikf21eGGq6-bytcoHCku1aMpEERnsPnthIKSwFsfAu5EGcfjhWPT5WpiuGNZhLzSbbsaTiCi7P8Al_AOsa32IJXFvMmRmtGOlf8_gS9N7PmHVXhAoRWVhcwCCVIqNyJi60kt4P8oC/s1600/alice_cooper.jpg" height="245" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">At five this morning it hit me square between the eyes...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">what did I look like?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A couple of days ago I was told by the trusty members of the cast </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">stage makeup had to be applied with gusto.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Wandering in on the dress rehearsal night, I thought</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'd made a pretty good job of it.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'Oh no, you need to emphasise the eyes, cheeks, eyebrows!'</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'Say no more!'</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Last night this strolling player applied with trowel,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> industrial tipper lorry loads of kohl, eyeshadow and lippy.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My eyebrows arched with black.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Scuttling up the hill, I took the precaution of wearing shades,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">as any self-respecting thespian would.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Looking at the other girls, strange to</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">say their beautifully applied makeup </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">had taken on a definitely more muted tone.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><i>And still I didn't twig!</i></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> Award-winning performances they put in gazing at my</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">ravaged face.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'Are these apple circled cheeks a tad over the top?'</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'A little too purple!'</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Well, in place of not having blusher, I'd applied,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">purple hair chalk, what did they expect?'</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I did have the sense to Nivea them off and apply</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">slightly more muted slap.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><i>And still it didn't dawn on me!</i></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Well that is until suddenly at 5 am like a bolt of lightening</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">it hit me...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ageing drag queen, crossed with Les Dawson.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Today's performances will be less slap, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">more method acting and refinement...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">femme fatale...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">a parody in more muted motion.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">People must never, ever say give it some wellie Lin,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">cos that's exactly what I do.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I know, I know it's a question of degrees.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Ted needless to say rocked them in the aisles.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A star is born.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
lettice leafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17637631435776710877noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5740911157835021243.post-5511029489743008612014-07-30T13:55:00.000+01:002014-07-30T13:55:26.521+01:00Wall to wall rehearsals for...<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">the opening night on Friday</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">of </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPPoCHiimEHBTKE6BeXayuNanVrqAa9N5YhsxGpyqYgs61bE2bael25C2h549ZaJiVVwrTVHtL3fE5b4nHUZI-iZbH1NcwB7CqYW7ZC_CUd7qGxATNLlI644yMLdxggccpr66dGQvPN3Vd/s1600/featured_ohwhatalovelywar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPPoCHiimEHBTKE6BeXayuNanVrqAa9N5YhsxGpyqYgs61bE2bael25C2h549ZaJiVVwrTVHtL3fE5b4nHUZI-iZbH1NcwB7CqYW7ZC_CUd7qGxATNLlI644yMLdxggccpr66dGQvPN3Vd/s1600/featured_ohwhatalovelywar.jpg" height="187" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Friday 1st August at 8 pm</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Saturday 2nd August at 2.30 and 8 pm</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Monday 4th August at 8 pm</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The last performance is on the actual</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">date that Britain entered the First World War.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">After the show we will ask the audience to join us </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">at the newly refurbished</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">War Memorial opposite the village hall.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">There we will join the rest of the country at 11 pm</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">to remember their bravery, hardship and for many</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">the ultimate </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">sacrifice.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Me, I'm making a minor sacrifice by letting Ted</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">at every turn upstage me.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I wouldn't mind, but I've always cast myself the diva around here...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">not any more! He </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">out sings me, out acts me, out learns his lines</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">better than me. To tell the truth, I've definitely gone off him.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl5XGETjHIBeg9-kRRY1KdQJgX3qRLKutGgMs1xUVyF9UAhLoA8nM3ybFVZbf3O0KKLbf6SNic-Glw422edlKMartDpN2_AlIRaOCHnqlvE9VewbURVaE9WsxmuSOUjYSSJG3Ryfp2SgEG/s1600/IMG_2545.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl5XGETjHIBeg9-kRRY1KdQJgX3qRLKutGgMs1xUVyF9UAhLoA8nM3ybFVZbf3O0KKLbf6SNic-Glw422edlKMartDpN2_AlIRaOCHnqlvE9VewbURVaE9WsxmuSOUjYSSJG3Ryfp2SgEG/s1600/IMG_2545.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">No, it is not a halo! It's our wedding venue.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Box Office - 01580 211204</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Book now in order to see</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">George Clooney's body double</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">before he gets signed by Hollywood. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
lettice leafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17637631435776710877noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5740911157835021243.post-84183418378080025952014-07-20T15:09:00.000+01:002014-07-20T17:01:38.332+01:00Size matters...<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>OK!</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Picture the scene...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Hampstead Heath...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Saturday afternoon...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Alright, I know it's hard to imagine.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Us on Hampstead Heath,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(Never forget this is a fib-free zone.)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">On train and tube we travelled </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">and I'd like to say we were due to</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">headline at the...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcWikvk4AyJ3bWwJWJvJ0qGvdD1AJIabiMLuj4WomXz_NRYarlken90NVIB4uxsfLPItmbTmqPZWfiT2k6OZlyAAjmPWZM7JBS4bcnAERDEd9p19yktx7o62gLLSx4pRQ0lLnrR806ffnr/s1600/P7190002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcWikvk4AyJ3bWwJWJvJ0qGvdD1AJIabiMLuj4WomXz_NRYarlken90NVIB4uxsfLPItmbTmqPZWfiT2k6OZlyAAjmPWZM7JBS4bcnAERDEd9p19yktx7o62gLLSx4pRQ0lLnrR806ffnr/s1600/P7190002.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><i> however that would be a STONKING BIG fib!</i></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">After a night of thunder and God's greatest</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">light show on earth...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">we decided not to take our boules, due in no small</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">part to the inclement conditions.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Added to which we didn't want to give the teeniest inkling</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">that I, not the mention Ted, were under serious consideration for the</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">the forthcoming selection for the Fifa (grease my hand... not a good ploy in Petanque) newly to be </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">announced Petanque World Cup.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Now if you sense a whopper...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">you could possibly be right.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">What's this got to do with size? You must by now, begin to question.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Fat lass playing away. On Hampstead Heath, no less.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Plucked and primped I boarded the train, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">happy in the knowledge that from any angle,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">ne'er a whisker would glisten in the watery sun.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Train up from Kent, I was happy; we took our place opposite a very elegant</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">lady of oriental face, tiny feet, toned arms and elegance </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">oozing.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I hid my book under the table</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">'The Lost Daughter of Happiness'</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">the erotic and exciting tale of forbidden love </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">by China's most acclaimed writer...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Geling Yan.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I was happier still when a lady larger than me,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">joined us...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">weightlifter arms,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">strappy top, chins aplenty.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I smiled inscrutably, then returned to my book.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The rustle tore my attention away from the many and various</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Chinese ways to please a man.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Focusing on Brit with arms and chins and sticky bun washed down with</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">lashings of Coke. I got to thinking the meanings of life.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Sad to say it didn't last long...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">back to the book.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Self-rightously I stepped out of the train,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">floating on a cloud of self-congratulatory</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">smugness...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Well that is until we stepped on to the tube,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">where pert young bodies</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">encased in tubi-grip pink elastic, nubile brown young limbs</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">mocked me.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Hampstead Heath awash with burnished taut tums and lean</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">bronze legs rising ever muff-wards,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">did, I ought to say <b><i>slightly </i></b>spoil my day.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It was super to see WSD and James</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">and I did beat them at</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Petanque...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">the French have lived to fight another day!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
lettice leafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17637631435776710877noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5740911157835021243.post-30585920522073973192014-07-04T19:07:00.000+01:002014-07-04T19:07:15.092+01:00Chilled Saint Véran in...<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">hand I sit in the garden</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">amongst the ripples of green...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">thinking all the while as I watch</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">butterflies...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">flutter by...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">birds bathing in the carefully collected rain water,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">this organical gardening is the only way forward.</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The solitary </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">bee houses have tenants,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">the pond has an odd tadpole or two...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">still!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The greenhouse, houses a passing</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">hedgehog...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">that is if he/she isn't pipped at the</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">feeding-post by a mouse.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Life as I sit and look is good...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">okay, all the regular gardener's</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">lawns look parched...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">but we are giving life to the wild things,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">that without their contribution</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">our planet would be a lonely </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">desiccated dreary place to live...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">or more importantly...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">to die.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZPWrjU1NxCbPOt3xZT9RFyRVsW2RCV6MWviQT5sj5mjMp-7FYtszS27cTge_OE8YyIqYuhE2WZIXjUv55DqwM-z1G9yjQAEDTjGbblESUgCgqpkxxG6bSddx5Ixit5EtB1Ai6JZQBNa5r/s1600/P7030003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZPWrjU1NxCbPOt3xZT9RFyRVsW2RCV6MWviQT5sj5mjMp-7FYtszS27cTge_OE8YyIqYuhE2WZIXjUv55DqwM-z1G9yjQAEDTjGbblESUgCgqpkxxG6bSddx5Ixit5EtB1Ai6JZQBNa5r/s1600/P7030003.JPG" height="640" width="480" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">With hollyhocks as...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">high as an elephant's eye...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I wish you a happy weekend.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYRK4lECwCe88n8JgLotXy5efNpb5kvCEjzaWAXLcVZfvgOVaMQGd3PAlEKOdlll82bWRS5rwkameQx2iE_VvZ6QFU5osoOPaRNToAqt1nofzRQso6WBJJa_PU0i0HZu5C5iyD2f5dAEgB/s1600/P7030001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYRK4lECwCe88n8JgLotXy5efNpb5kvCEjzaWAXLcVZfvgOVaMQGd3PAlEKOdlll82bWRS5rwkameQx2iE_VvZ6QFU5osoOPaRNToAqt1nofzRQso6WBJJa_PU0i0HZu5C5iyD2f5dAEgB/s1600/P7030001.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Ted learning his lines, err... reading... err, double err...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">snoozing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifUPojnz0i5a_7TLGPhsosHwNhPRs9iP7VFo_roHG7LE_oNYaeBX5Skql9RAbjW7GtMslEIoOklF5FE6mRGLYS_i09BZnNCsFzxJtXvFuKVK6xh78M_Dk3FDwe0_Ee5pqddN6uh3tBlue9/s1600/P7030004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifUPojnz0i5a_7TLGPhsosHwNhPRs9iP7VFo_roHG7LE_oNYaeBX5Skql9RAbjW7GtMslEIoOklF5FE6mRGLYS_i09BZnNCsFzxJtXvFuKVK6xh78M_Dk3FDwe0_Ee5pqddN6uh3tBlue9/s1600/P7030004.JPG" height="640" width="480" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">First sweet peas that the little shit-</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">sparrows haven't nipped out the blooms of...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">who said wild gardening was a breeze?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Toodle-pip!</span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
lettice leafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17637631435776710877noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5740911157835021243.post-34719354652760931582014-06-29T15:49:00.000+01:002014-06-29T19:08:04.060+01:00Cookery books and how they...<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">chart our progress through life.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Just before luncheon today,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">just after I'd learnt a few more words</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">to the songs,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">sorted out my costumes for my </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">*starring* (fib)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">role in</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'Oh What a Lovely War'.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Being at a loose end, as Ted was doing the lunch,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I idly perused my blog favourites, like you do.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">One of my new blog fav's is</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thequincetree65.blogspot.co.uk/">The Quince Tree</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">today her post transported me back in time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">That in turn got me to thinking about</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">recipes over the years which we've all used to</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">impress; fall back on as family favourites,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">and, more importantly, ones that</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">conjure up time in our lives that, no matter how hard</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">we try, wish for, will never return.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The recipe for a coffee-soaked cake, star turn of my </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Seventies dinner parties,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> I was sure </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">was in my much used...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'The Cookery Year'.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2GewhGRFAHziJKEKKfKPGwIellRCjVhrdOSGCMbIEbw0Y-purAFECQHSEZ-tjMdERogKR2732jENiHXuus7YheOJidM_2Qzwl-6npof8-2-Hd5td4gdPo-HtaOk3vygH4sLvyVgTw6iXm/s1600/Cookery-Year-small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2GewhGRFAHziJKEKKfKPGwIellRCjVhrdOSGCMbIEbw0Y-purAFECQHSEZ-tjMdERogKR2732jENiHXuus7YheOJidM_2Qzwl-6npof8-2-Hd5td4gdPo-HtaOk3vygH4sLvyVgTw6iXm/s1600/Cookery-Year-small.jpg" height="262" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I rushed over to find it, only to discover...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I was wrong.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Where the devil was it?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Surely not the Robert Carrier</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cook Book that an old boyfriend of eons ago</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">had bought me for the princely sum of five guineas.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The inscription cut out by my father before</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">my wedding day.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'm sorry he did now...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">a tiny scrap of my own personal history gone.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglphHJlsict1209nr4iwvSGdGl1-1t5z2k0BobYN-hiHPxfWuUtUGr2xloPqunhki5hYvUwBubW7GeBrraSUfS6iODOZCS0qgNiPnQAloSbGuUf3_0t6vFKOwAimdaVLgwl0pgZBweAIKl/s1600/51h7oO+2ZpL._SY300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglphHJlsict1209nr4iwvSGdGl1-1t5z2k0BobYN-hiHPxfWuUtUGr2xloPqunhki5hYvUwBubW7GeBrraSUfS6iODOZCS0qgNiPnQAloSbGuUf3_0t6vFKOwAimdaVLgwl0pgZBweAIKl/s1600/51h7oO+2ZpL._SY300_.jpg" height="400" width="305" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Smells, tastes, sounds...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">the recipe for a life well lived.</span></div>
lettice leafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17637631435776710877noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5740911157835021243.post-89318653701006337902014-06-27T19:11:00.000+01:002014-06-27T19:11:02.122+01:00As I recline on the...<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">dfs, I got to thinking...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The problem is...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'm on the cusp...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">shall I pull out all the stops...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">and be... </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Audrey Hepburn</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">(read slim)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1DCqeMFMOYc9GKMDdhPoXLhTNl7WpVP-xbQLkUMwnqGjm49MgNBkUz5r6zgjeYCGhTWYrvn_Z1vbQLGB8kwu8jBS6kyoe0aWoQbeJwNUG4MteYcabcypWjMfslxhcisiZeP5fWmNkGQ-P/s1600/hepburn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1DCqeMFMOYc9GKMDdhPoXLhTNl7WpVP-xbQLkUMwnqGjm49MgNBkUz5r6zgjeYCGhTWYrvn_Z1vbQLGB8kwu8jBS6kyoe0aWoQbeJwNUG4MteYcabcypWjMfslxhcisiZeP5fWmNkGQ-P/s1600/hepburn.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I'm banking on it!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> in our local</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'Oh What a Lovely War'</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">production, or give the latent</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Miriam Margoleses</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3UWJrzJrfdXIgBBAAExnOB1RJv0JnxqdObJ1Lk5lC4woqLf9ZUYyLWq4LAMIr_pZ816B3PFBqvZW3GT0rxchIfsYp8tA2aZDSoAdJYAq_AGmnvlJs4GosDPH0DpuuMX9A72DjeaTciA87/s1600/miriammargoyles_wideweb__470x296,0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3UWJrzJrfdXIgBBAAExnOB1RJv0JnxqdObJ1Lk5lC4woqLf9ZUYyLWq4LAMIr_pZ816B3PFBqvZW3GT0rxchIfsYp8tA2aZDSoAdJYAq_AGmnvlJs4GosDPH0DpuuMX9A72DjeaTciA87/s1600/miriammargoyles_wideweb__470x296,0.jpg" height="250" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Just wish I could!</span></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">full reign of the double d's</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">and let it (or more to the point, them)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">hang out?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I can't sleep at night for worry. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">What do you think?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I need help soonest.</span></div>
lettice leafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17637631435776710877noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5740911157835021243.post-82107192542319704092014-06-21T19:39:00.001+01:002014-06-21T20:29:46.274+01:00'And another thing'<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As I sit in the garden, early </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Saturday evening </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">on the longest day of the year.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Smiling at myself in the screen of the laptop...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">hold tight... only to see if my mortgage inducing</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">root canal treatment injection has worn off.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I get to thinking about my week.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Well, I would do if I could hear myself think over</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">the noise abatement societies worst nightmare of</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">chirruping flaming sparrows.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I wouldn't mind, but I'm becoming </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">increasingly </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">deafer, than deaf.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The week has been action-packed.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Last Friday we went to the </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Affordable Art Fair with dear chums,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">that I tell myself not to believe, are young enough</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">to be our children.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">We got the inside track about exhibiting</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">and the pitfalls. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">A leisurely late luncheon, early evening</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">supper in a Hampstead pub with pint/wine in hand </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">we put the world </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">to rights-ish!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Alcohol, don't you find, brings out the inner </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">politician?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Saturday - fete and</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">impromptu Aldi/Lidl fest</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(written about)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Sunday - lazy day with dentures (fib)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">in Steradent. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Monday- Scotney and the charm</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">offensive, with by now gleaming knashers...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">smiles a-go-go.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Tuesday - cake baking for</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">afternoon tea date with pals we haven't seen</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">for simply ages.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Rehearsals - Tuesday night.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Wednesday - afternoon tea,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">scrummy sandwiches and wicked</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">chocolate cake...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">err... 'healthy' baked nectarines with</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">almond stuffing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Thursday - Lip-reading class,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">where I'm ashamed to say I troll along </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">with choccies for teacher.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">they don't call me a snivelling, trying a</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">tad too hard, to be teacher's pet</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">for nothing, you know!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Rehearsals - still I haven't learnt my six lines.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Friday - A trip to Charleston</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">and guess who forgot to take her camera?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">When of course the garden was looking at its</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">very, very blowsy best.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The only fly in my ointment was</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">the bed of dahlias.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"Surely the Bloomsbury Group didn't give</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">dahlias room in the bed?"</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I said in my best lady Docker voice.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">thinking all the while... </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'Well everybody else got bed space,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">why not a frigging dahlia!'</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">"Best ask the gardener!" the lady said.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The trouble was I'd missed the trilby-hatted him,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">at the start of our tour.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I had spied a much loved by me, and I'm afraid to say</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">only me, what looked like a </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">giant hogweed...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The garden was a delight, just my sort of</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">disordered chaos.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwdY00kirlVK38jCSaQwDIcQ9NA46G6FsOCrwQolu5rlkuejlq9uMx9lR6oF8-2WV0Uc8YOTZ4ZmCQ9jsx4_qV2MwVjjmthE1WR3nG9_oJdYWnQAnxF1FvoVXyjO_0pLxjn-ARMfuebcvd/s1600/1354297728_9247809312_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwdY00kirlVK38jCSaQwDIcQ9NA46G6FsOCrwQolu5rlkuejlq9uMx9lR6oF8-2WV0Uc8YOTZ4ZmCQ9jsx4_qV2MwVjjmthE1WR3nG9_oJdYWnQAnxF1FvoVXyjO_0pLxjn-ARMfuebcvd/s1600/1354297728_9247809312_z.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">My grandchildren call me Poppy,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">perhaps a name change to Angelica</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">might be in order.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I think not...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">angelic?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Saturday - a flaming dental appointment...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I ask you who goes to the dentist on a Saturday?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I left home early for my 3pm appointment. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I mooched around the Pantiles...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">giving everybody the evil eye because...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> I couldn't join the rest of the world sat in the sun</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">enjoying luncheon and watching the world go by.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Hadn't I only just cleaned my teeth to within an inch of</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">their very precarious lives? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Wine, </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">crudities, olives, garlic bread plays havoc with the old</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">oral hygiene, what!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I found just the earrings I needed to complete</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">my </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">ensemble for the Edwardian picnic,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">where I'm going as...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Vanessa Bell.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ted as John Maynard Keynes...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGax0Ze_NtaP0pFDqSRxty5usdCnA15Q2qovTNeFKa3Zj5WJzAhn8xqYfPOC4z77FX-iTdyGJ27gADHq-Lrk5lCeevkNcsBRXEGYmB4amdGJEhF_NU2foWrQaijjNlkd-wj0xveTtOmvXE/s1600/painting1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGax0Ze_NtaP0pFDqSRxty5usdCnA15Q2qovTNeFKa3Zj5WJzAhn8xqYfPOC4z77FX-iTdyGJ27gADHq-Lrk5lCeevkNcsBRXEGYmB4amdGJEhF_NU2foWrQaijjNlkd-wj0xveTtOmvXE/s1600/painting1.jpg" height="358" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">John M.K. in the garden at Charleston painted by</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Roger Fry</span></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">hence the refresher trip to Charleston.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">With my bosom and strings of pearls</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I just couldn't bring myself to go as Queen Mary.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Alright I know some might say I have all the accruements...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">but still...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Suffolk next week...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">brace yourselves.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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lettice leafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17637631435776710877noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5740911157835021243.post-79515871896438155802014-06-15T15:08:00.001+01:002014-06-15T15:08:43.298+01:00I've come over all...<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">crabby and peculiar!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr1v2x76C9ARtLK1eiwLRiTYg7iN1n7U8VkkA4xKZYLHy-VdXgQXOqfHycl7c5DaOp9hKPZvXcItOafINh5Led0SslUtrSgtI-dBdhTCARhUqQb0uMg5DQUxYSF7Z7T94Tlu-hEb7F_D1l/s1600/vintage+ladies+002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr1v2x76C9ARtLK1eiwLRiTYg7iN1n7U8VkkA4xKZYLHy-VdXgQXOqfHycl7c5DaOp9hKPZvXcItOafINh5Led0SslUtrSgtI-dBdhTCARhUqQb0uMg5DQUxYSF7Z7T94Tlu-hEb7F_D1l/s1600/vintage+ladies+002.jpg" height="318" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Could it be because...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'm growing my hair but my beard is growing faster?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Or...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I went to the Affordable Art Fair in Hampstead</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">and came away with a total lack of confidence</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">in my latest</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'Painting by Numbers' masterpiece?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Not only is the Laughing Cavalier not cracking</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">a smile, neither am I!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Or...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">the fact that at the impromptu supper in our garden after the </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">fete worse than death (fib), I couldn't even join in with the barrister, the upholsterer</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">and the head teacher about the wonders of</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Lidl and Aldi. The world as I know it has crumbled around my feet.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Social climbing has never felt more treacherous.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I honestly think I'd be safer piggy-backing Brian Blessed up Mount Everest</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">on his latest attempt.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Or...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My wild gardening is frankly making me...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">not to put too fine a point on it...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">wild.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Why, because we have grass in the wild flower meadow, hardly any</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">flowers and my visions of wandering lonely as a cloud</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(alright I know its too late for daffs, use your flaming imagination)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">doesn't seem the same somehow, as I sniff and sneeze across great swathes</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">of prairie grass with nere a flower in sight.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Or...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">that the froglets aren't coping at all well with their dash for</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">freedom across the coping stones. Their little wet bodies on the stone</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">sticks them like glue and they frizzle and die like comedy cartoon characters;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">all in the worse possible taste.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Riding to the rescue we removed the stones and all is well;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">they manage to escape, only to be eaten by a bird or a passing hedgehog.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Talking of which, the only bit of good news is...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">after our guests went last night, Ted went up to see if the hedgehog's</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">food had been eaten...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">and there were two, having a romantic Saturday night</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">supper in the greenhouse.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfhrUukRYfwAHTBqXLHY9RR2muPHuQoATek6MJCcAi3ZnD5cfxVcTzuVvFyGiIOgMVz1Psu61fUAyKA0EBgjmXYeuzkzja4rqVnWCCgbJ0OQPdS0lsIbYOGJpAe4A9c4H6BQNZkQxZFN57/s1600/hedgehog_love_314345.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfhrUukRYfwAHTBqXLHY9RR2muPHuQoATek6MJCcAi3ZnD5cfxVcTzuVvFyGiIOgMVz1Psu61fUAyKA0EBgjmXYeuzkzja4rqVnWCCgbJ0OQPdS0lsIbYOGJpAe4A9c4H6BQNZkQxZFN57/s1600/hedgehog_love_314345.jpg" height="223" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The patter of tiny prickles just a hog hot date away.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It quite bucked me up, then I remembered I'm making an art-form</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">of being miserable, about the only art-form I'm any good at.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So I've just sunk into another mizz-mog. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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lettice leafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17637631435776710877noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5740911157835021243.post-29634269678418921062014-06-08T14:38:00.000+01:002014-06-08T14:38:54.325+01:00As I said to Helena...<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Bonham Carter only this morning...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">'Last night I saw your muff!'</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Before you fall back in a dead faint...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I ought to explain.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Last night we watched 'Wings of a Dove'.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">T</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">his morning on the front cover of 'Culture'</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">who should grace the front page but her-</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">lovely corsetted, gloves up to her pits, self.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Now if there's one thing I like, really, really like... its a wacky woman.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">She epitomises that person... fluff'n'all.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As I endeavour to age gracefully...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">(that'll gett' em rocking in the aisles)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">my eternal interest is hair in all its forms.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">By the early morn light I sit by yonder window for a quiet pluck.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In days gone by, hairy caterpillars would arrange a pow-wow</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">right on the bridge of my nose...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">not anymore!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As I wage war on the chin and tache, suddenly I</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">realise my eyebrows are balding by the second.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But wait...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Where is the hair going? </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It sure as hell isn't marshalling forces to protect</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">my womanly front-line.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">'We shall fight on the beaches,</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">we shall fight on the landing grounds,</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">we shall fight in the fields and in the streets,</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">we shall fight in the hills;</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">we shall never surrender.'</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Let's take time out to remember all the men who gave their</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">lives for us </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">to enjoy the freedom we have today.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">And as flippant as I am, and as flippant as I will always be,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I will never forget their bravery.</span><br />
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lettice leafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17637631435776710877noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5740911157835021243.post-67130733421224237262014-06-07T11:27:00.000+01:002014-06-07T11:43:17.424+01:00I read other folk's...<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">blogs and come over all peculiar.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My life in comparison seems so dull.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The most exciting thing in my little world is...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'm growing my hair.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">All my life I've wanted straight hair...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">well until now, when my wish appears to be coming true.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">There is one small problem, </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I've just discovered </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">straight thin grey hair isn't hugely attractive. .</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My idea was to grow it to my waist, have it flowing down my back </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">and then take up Morris dancing.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It would flow and ripple beautifully as with bosoms </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">strapped I would make the earth move.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Men would fall at my feet at the beauty of line and movement.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj33X_QW2tX0cLbbPjZJBOU9uvY9UcXRmsLKdDOxSoikllZ_VR7ArDqazBboGyoZ-U2bRJIkoq2uCEbk0Z2uLPrt2ciNg3wKq5Vu40syUPP_4uLG_sf4AppHaauUykMduGRmroVz8S1fHog/s1600/roses_small_pb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj33X_QW2tX0cLbbPjZJBOU9uvY9UcXRmsLKdDOxSoikllZ_VR7ArDqazBboGyoZ-U2bRJIkoq2uCEbk0Z2uLPrt2ciNg3wKq5Vu40syUPP_4uLG_sf4AppHaauUykMduGRmroVz8S1fHog/s1600/roses_small_pb.jpg" height="400" width="398" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Hey nonni nonni no...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">All I've managed to do is look like</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">a lesbian with a bob. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Life's a bitch.</span></div>
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lettice leafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17637631435776710877noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5740911157835021243.post-10050529482134780082014-06-01T14:56:00.000+01:002014-06-01T18:27:14.380+01:00You can't beat a little bucolic...<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">bonk I always say.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Sitting like Ma Larkin, cheek by jowl with</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Pa, full to pussy's bow with good strong Kentish cider.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We contemplate our wild meadow garden.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cynics might say our gardening slothfulness knows no bounds.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">With the sun's rays peeping through the canopy of</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">the magnolia tree, </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">smugly, </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">we look to those who buy cheap sunshades from Robert Dyas,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Argos and the like.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">No worries that the sub-soil from the big pond dig</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">sits on the lawn, looking for all the world like </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Kent's answer to Tut's </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">final resting place.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">We are happy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Nature is doing what nature does best...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">not to put too fine a point on it...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">shagging.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Every year, under the eves of our 300 year old</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">weatherboard cottage, sparrows nest.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">They make much of building a des. res. with lichen-clad roof of</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Kentish peg-tiles. After the Grand Designs is complete, they</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">celebrate by sitting on the end of the cast-iron gutter</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">and not to put too fine a point on it...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">fornicating...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">until even Ma Larkin thinks...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">'They're pushing it!'</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">There is just one bum note in this</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">'Love Story'</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">in all the years we have,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">like pervy naturalists, watched their antics,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">there have never been babies.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">She is obviously a slatternly sparrow;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">a wag of the worse possible kind.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">He's a male, happy to provide a cosy pied-à-terre.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">No worries she's faking it! </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The blue-tits are about to entice their family out of the</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">nest-box. They along with the frogs have</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">produced offspring.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">It only remains now for Hedge</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">to find a mate instead of sleeping alone</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">in the greenhouse, and we will feel that our wild gardening adventure</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">has proved a success.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnCD_WXLhxPJQKuauWb366BjidLCjYd3qPKhaD2yY1u1aZ2lxSjdzarXrJ414CAJTzMN8d4Une7_IOTC1LVONSKj-vcLIvUQoO5gSp46Gwer1uC7JEP_e10DUAtHpYFRHzfGVsvGgm8FG8/s1600/WP_20140524_020.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnCD_WXLhxPJQKuauWb366BjidLCjYd3qPKhaD2yY1u1aZ2lxSjdzarXrJ414CAJTzMN8d4Une7_IOTC1LVONSKj-vcLIvUQoO5gSp46Gwer1uC7JEP_e10DUAtHpYFRHzfGVsvGgm8FG8/s1600/WP_20140524_020.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
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lettice leafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17637631435776710877noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5740911157835021243.post-55992195329082049572014-05-31T19:42:00.000+01:002014-05-31T19:42:58.251+01:00I will sell my soul for...<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">just one ticket for...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'An Audience with Alan Bennett'</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">on next Sunday at 2pm</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">in Leeds.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Can you help?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5vZV2NS_6wmQPOln4lyafMPSUUutezD1OkGwAxxaWee7XdKJmzCHFhA7brIXzT9mbXpnFphhuA0ryRAKBD2S10MHZjUd7-P-HY823VHGIxN7GwWZ6cMAj6dIOCzfC-3ritzQtH3Suhrgx/s1600/Quotation-Alan-Bennett-control-expression-Meetville-Quotes-106461.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5vZV2NS_6wmQPOln4lyafMPSUUutezD1OkGwAxxaWee7XdKJmzCHFhA7brIXzT9mbXpnFphhuA0ryRAKBD2S10MHZjUd7-P-HY823VHGIxN7GwWZ6cMAj6dIOCzfC-3ritzQtH3Suhrgx/s1600/Quotation-Alan-Bennett-control-expression-Meetville-Quotes-106461.jpg" height="218" width="320" /></a></div>
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lettice leafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17637631435776710877noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5740911157835021243.post-70358393974247074642014-05-29T16:02:00.000+01:002014-05-29T18:03:54.085+01:00Have frock will...<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">travel...</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFJON9qSX2O8HPOKfumC7JS2oaLy3jpUWwGShk3oQUyVNCcjOjXYGasEVKE7cQJRMqU32A0oKiA4lw3g9Auvj9MvsoPQmWps71mPVTq6r7ByYHmK1Qelqvx95SPO2WO9zEPyRYk86VPGUY/s1600/P5280039.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFJON9qSX2O8HPOKfumC7JS2oaLy3jpUWwGShk3oQUyVNCcjOjXYGasEVKE7cQJRMqU32A0oKiA4lw3g9Auvj9MvsoPQmWps71mPVTq6r7ByYHmK1Qelqvx95SPO2WO9zEPyRYk86VPGUY/s1600/P5280039.JPG" height="640" width="219" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Glyndebourne...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">miscellany of moments.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Yesterday...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">polished, plucked and perfumed</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I set off on my great adventure.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Evening dress is the norm at Glyndebourne. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">From way, way back in the cupboard, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">this was the final choice for my particular interpretation</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">of evening dress.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I need not of worried, because people-watching there was</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">absolutely blooming bliss.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Velvet in every hue... stoles, floor-length capes crumpled and moth-eaten.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Manky mink, crappy coney, sequins-a-go-go, kilts, with and without drawers,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">hand-tied dickies, dicky bows on elastic, straining silk waistcoats on bulging bellies,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">looking for all the world like pigs head brawn.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The upper classes at play...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">don't you just love 'em!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Foot fetishists would have had a field day.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Wellies clarted up with horse-muck,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">strappy sandals, sensible grown up Clarks type shoes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Bobby socks, pop socks, stockings and tights.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Flute in hand I clocked them all.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As I'm sure they did me!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">At my feet a woman fell. I was going down the concrete stairs;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">she was coming up. The crash was deafening: her glass of champagne</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">spilt. As I bent to pick her up, enquiring all the while if she was okay,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">she replied...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'I'm fine, I was just admiring your pashmina,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">the only hurt is my pride!'</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMaAvC5seukuiMsqff7yfyoqJxAGjrWuCS9waoDd1rKEeSzJD-7a6a3K-hr55e07Z3LvDTe1Y_g6hcu5ihXJb9H4_E5q9y41UpDZ0kgDPIMGjO3ZAVfvyGOIatnaJZe83-hg7lW7kH4D59/s1600/P5280002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMaAvC5seukuiMsqff7yfyoqJxAGjrWuCS9waoDd1rKEeSzJD-7a6a3K-hr55e07Z3LvDTe1Y_g6hcu5ihXJb9H4_E5q9y41UpDZ0kgDPIMGjO3ZAVfvyGOIatnaJZe83-hg7lW7kH4D59/s1600/P5280002.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Sitting in the stalls I nearly fainted away when joined by</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Adonis, throat wrapped in cashmere scarf.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">During the first act, he applauded and called</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'Bravo!' </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">many times in a deep, deep treacly tone. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I was in heaven.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Short interval...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">another flute of bubbles...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">when in Rome!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I watched with fascination a lady handing out these</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGJ2bH5EI3qcIpZ56vMqhmRQ7DATU0kTtF9pLmccYMP0ccbwu9vB9qzx6xJnu_mDRXrusXiiO8LWVNETJcuOle9WycSaE5IgBnKVZJclZ6RXakpmeZPnL0LPXojWlv9dVwZCnfNK0BDSaY/s1600/P5280001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGJ2bH5EI3qcIpZ56vMqhmRQ7DATU0kTtF9pLmccYMP0ccbwu9vB9qzx6xJnu_mDRXrusXiiO8LWVNETJcuOle9WycSaE5IgBnKVZJclZ6RXakpmeZPnL0LPXojWlv9dVwZCnfNK0BDSaY/s1600/P5280001.JPG" height="392" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">pastilles to her family.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I was instantly transported back to my childhood.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My lovely mum used to buy them for me whenever I had</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">a sore throat. The funny thing was driving there,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> I had been thinking about her. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Strolling over to me she said</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'Were you here last week, you look awfully like a lady</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I was talking to?'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I took that opportunity to ask about the sweets.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Offering me one, she said she had bought them from the shop.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I was warming,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">the glow not entirely champagne-fuelled. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The cast and production were superb.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Eugene Onegin...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The opera I had vowed I would see</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">one day live at Glyndebourne...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> I was there, savouring every moment.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Long interval...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I had taken everyone's advice and decided</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">to join a sharing table.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">All my fears were unfounded. Alright, yes Robert and</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">his partner did know a lot about opera. They were</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">there from Munich for two days at Glyndebourne for his birthday. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">At no time did they make me feel uncomfortable at my total lack of</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">operatic knowledge.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">As I left the table, they went to shake my hand, to which I replied</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">'Sorry, no can do!'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Oh dear, she probably has a thing about gay men,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">perhaps they thought.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> I indicated they were required, nay expected to</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">be clasped to my breast-plate.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">All terribly Brunhilde, don't you know!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I turned to go, then with a thought turned back and said</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">'Robert, have you a programme?'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">'No I haven't!'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">'Happy birthday!'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I said as I proudly gave him mine.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Back for the final act, I got chatting to the handsome young</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">man. He informed me that he was in fact an opera singer.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I was curious to know about when he discovered</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">he could sing. He said late for him, and anytime have a go.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I laughed and said I've just been singing in the rehearsals for</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">'Oh What a Lovely War' </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">and my fog-horn voice didn't sit well with the sopranos.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">He was there to support the cast, many of whom he had worked with.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Didn't I just know It!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">'What a way to earn a living!'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Modestly he agreed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">At the end of the night, a few steps ahead of me up the stairs,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">he turned </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">and wished me well in our production, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">and not to forget to give it some welly!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Driving home through the Sussex and Kent countryside </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">on so many levels I was one happy contralto.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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lettice leafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17637631435776710877noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5740911157835021243.post-52261341461825906192014-05-11T12:29:00.000+01:002014-05-11T12:40:26.235+01:00After last night's...<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Eurovision Song Contest...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I have forthwith...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">stopped plucking my chin!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVvn2mrTw46zzfeDkN8zGA7Ok5k3ZJRUh7I6ZDi9GyqA_yA4hTvSWd_eLs2nYFF8pHIJDOetHY7juslyQXXrrwOLG1jq3ULZFoUKHzYfnOSo3SO8e8ECQFlxJ6mdnkVm1FFZxxi1QMOSwV/s1600/N2nHlAdB.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVvn2mrTw46zzfeDkN8zGA7Ok5k3ZJRUh7I6ZDi9GyqA_yA4hTvSWd_eLs2nYFF8pHIJDOetHY7juslyQXXrrwOLG1jq3ULZFoUKHzYfnOSo3SO8e8ECQFlxJ6mdnkVm1FFZxxi1QMOSwV/s1600/N2nHlAdB.png" height="400" width="400" /></a></div>
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lettice leafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17637631435776710877noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5740911157835021243.post-92217927548925894312014-05-10T11:35:00.000+01:002014-05-10T17:59:03.191+01:00'Read all about it!' Glyndebourne... The latest...<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'Oh Gawd I've started something here!'</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Those of you who are kind enough to follow my blog</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">will know of my yen...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">no don't beat about the bush LL...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">DESIRE</span></b></i> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">to go to Glyndebourne to see</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Eugene Onegin.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As soon as I saw the advertisement, I decided to check it out.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Falling in a faint at the prices, I came to, determined by hell or high water</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">to go. Beg, borrow or steal coming to mind as the way forward.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Beg seemed the obvious answer...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'm not proud.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In answer to my begging blog post </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://beefgravy.blogspot.co.uk/">Yorkshire Pudding </a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">found a lady on Gum Tree with four tickets to sell.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I asked if she would sell me one, but quite understandably</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">she wanted to keep them as a four or two twos.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I wracked my brains as to who I knew that would be interested in going, in order to use the Gum Tree cheaper seats.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ted wasn't in the frame, he doesn't like opera and more to the point, why spend good money on something you don't enjoy, even with the added bonus of keeping the missus smiling, happy, on-side... call it what you will!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">With a sudden flash of inspiration I had the prey in my sights.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'What about **** they I'm sure would be interested, we could all go...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'd make a stunning picnic!'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Desperation creeping in, can't you tell.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'We'll ask them when we see them today!'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'Best check in your diary Lin'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I didn't really need to, hadn't I checked a thousand times already.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I humoured him, I do sometimes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">There nestling in the pages was a slip of paper...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">an e-ticket for one...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">for me...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">in the stalls!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglc_is1dMZFiJef79xpru_PA9ct2MD5vhmjjXsg66qBIPSs41fajiFXGnL-aiV2-qmdxBb-_LNQPSUbe0gkwDtUHlJZH9vFutqVeK-HextGTKGFIgeE4KIguCYgYezDZZshDTSeqaJwGXT/s1600/P5090012.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglc_is1dMZFiJef79xpru_PA9ct2MD5vhmjjXsg66qBIPSs41fajiFXGnL-aiV2-qmdxBb-_LNQPSUbe0gkwDtUHlJZH9vFutqVeK-HextGTKGFIgeE4KIguCYgYezDZZshDTSeqaJwGXT/s1600/P5090012.JPG" height="262" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">not a very clear photo... I'm shaking with excitement... already</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'I was going to wait until the letter arrived, but you were so</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">determined, I thought I'd better stop your in your tracks now!'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><b>'How much?'</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Cinders is going to the ball!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now here's the rub...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I am more than happy to go anywhere on my own,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I think it's my only child independence streak.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So that isn't the problem.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">What to wear... it's evening dress</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">that isn't a problem...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'll get the flowing flamenco dress</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I wore to a ball at the palace</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(another story, another day)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">out of the suitcase. Well, that is if the moths haven't got there first!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The problem is, do I make myself a solo picnic or add to</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">the mortgage inducing ticket price and pay for dinner?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now there is another option, you can share a table with</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">other solo diners, which I ought to say did appeal.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Hold tight... I can foresee a prob.,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">they will all be opera buffs and I'm not too keen to </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">expose my total </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">lack of musicality.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Lamely saying this is the only opera that moves me, and I've always wanted to see it live,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">will in a sentence, mark me down as the very thing I've strived to avoid</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">all these years.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">That old adage...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><b>It's better to be thought a fool, </b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><b>than to open ones mouth </b></i></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><i><b>and prove it</b></i>, </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">might well be targeted at me.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
lettice leafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17637631435776710877noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5740911157835021243.post-22104541581747051012014-05-09T23:15:00.002+01:002014-05-09T23:19:50.860+01:00My all-time favourite squeeze is<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">80 today...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Happy Birthday</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Alan Bennett.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Why you haven't been knighted I'll never know.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I have a sneaky feeling that</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">being anti-establishment,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">you've sent them packing?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I do hope so.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7SI_7rGmaeV2OffaBcPxIW6apRME3kNvCSveguHf8H7nR3abJayvZrEdqMJ1OcS1oVzA4Ygoi8nSsGku0e50MjUFn7UttiWOksYjMktX5xN00BHf9fu0laak5vHZfdg6FEXrz7VjGPC9u/s1600/Alan-Bennett-007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7SI_7rGmaeV2OffaBcPxIW6apRME3kNvCSveguHf8H7nR3abJayvZrEdqMJ1OcS1oVzA4Ygoi8nSsGku0e50MjUFn7UttiWOksYjMktX5xN00BHf9fu0laak5vHZfdg6FEXrz7VjGPC9u/s1600/Alan-Bennett-007.jpg" height="240" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">“We started off trying to set up a small anarchist community, but people wouldn't obey the rules.” </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">― </span><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/11781.Alan_Bennett" style="background-color: white; color: #666600; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">Alan Bennett</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">, </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/2676796" style="color: #666600; text-decoration: none;">Getting On</a></i></div>
lettice leafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17637631435776710877noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5740911157835021243.post-71686520152243770332014-05-09T13:03:00.000+01:002014-05-09T17:54:55.316+01:00A patchwork of my days...<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">with love in every stitch and step.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggPKyJRHnBlSviZJJc3DnPQ4wVr_AMl9KHXHfn613xh9zhDNUdYbG7MBgFEGb7AHyhx1usDTdZfc8IdcVRe17bQZSmTDzM2yPuiOHQvhLg15M4W93mr81ECwtw4NCN4SzvtJvxuRT7GSga/s1600/P5080008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggPKyJRHnBlSviZJJc3DnPQ4wVr_AMl9KHXHfn613xh9zhDNUdYbG7MBgFEGb7AHyhx1usDTdZfc8IdcVRe17bQZSmTDzM2yPuiOHQvhLg15M4W93mr81ECwtw4NCN4SzvtJvxuRT7GSga/s1600/P5080008.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">made by <a href="http://hensteethart.blogspot.com/">Viv</a> - got yesterday, if you don't know her work... </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">best you trip along and feast your eyes</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Having a fit with my leg in the air...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">like you do, I suggested to Ted we take advantage of</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">the two for one offer of tickets for</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Grand Designs Live.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Wednesday found us clutching our old dears</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">rail card, brown luggage label attached to our left lapels</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">we like intrepid explorers set off.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">With wonderment at our intrepidness we negotiated our</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">way off the train at London Bridge.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Feeling this called for a celebration we made our way to </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">the Mug House </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2JEmea5v7odAWltv-lp-DEUiTiRiLjHjXe8ZLscvmf1nxnk9_uLYPPMq-FzckcIp81LnzgoQerXb8fbyP8b9jrGGhVIu8K7dSWservcP3_7GkSvReRXaDIfuJo08l8keNVCEH4YVlLyVY/s1600/Mug_House_2013_-_Mug_2@gallerymain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2JEmea5v7odAWltv-lp-DEUiTiRiLjHjXe8ZLscvmf1nxnk9_uLYPPMq-FzckcIp81LnzgoQerXb8fbyP8b9jrGGhVIu8K7dSWservcP3_7GkSvReRXaDIfuJo08l8keNVCEH4YVlLyVY/s1600/Mug_House_2013_-_Mug_2@gallerymain.jpg" height="276" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">a pub nestling cheek by jowl along the Thames and under London Bridge.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Borough Market next for the most amazing selection of Street Food.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We were certainly getting in the groove.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We chose the Ethopian food which was absolutely blooming delicious.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Change out of a tenner for two large portions of chicken, rice and two</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">choices of veg or pulses.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Having eaten up and supped up, I could cheerfully have gone home then.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Pity we didn't really, because even going on the Docklands</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Light Railway for the very first time, didn't come close to sweetening the pill</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">of how dire I thought the</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">exhibition was...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Think the Ideal Home Exhibition on speed, then you get the feel.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The first stand we visited was a stand selling mitts for arthritic</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">hands... says it all really!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ten minutes with my hands in the mitts, the salesman</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">proceeded to highlight the benefits.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I was sold, however the price made me think again.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The classic get-out...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'We've only just got here, so we'll wander around and think about it!'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"Oh dear, that's a pity because we've only got</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">six pairs left!'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A likely story thought cynic Lin.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(That actually was the truth, because today we have tried</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">to get a pair sent and they've sold out until next week.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">That'll teach me... clever sod!)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Walking away I said</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> 'I can't bring myself to let YOU spend that amount of money!'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Work that one out?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">After a quick flash round I wanted to go home</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'I don't like it here!'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">What a spoilt lump.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'Would you like to wander along the South Bank?'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Bottom lip quivering...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'No, I just want to go home!'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I wouldn't mind but we got to the station too early to</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">get the Evening Standard.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">WSD knows when she comes on a Friday night</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">her entrance fee is the ES mag...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">otherwise...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'No room at the Inn!'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">issues out of Wicked Stepmother's (WSM)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">pursed lips.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><u>Chapter Two</u></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(the following morning)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I woke up to a pain-free hand</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><b>imagine that!</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Getting out of bed, kicking myself as I did,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">(not an easy manoeuvre in itself) I thought </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'What a clot, what price pain-free?'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In my defence I did have a 10 am</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">appointment with a doctor for acupuncture.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Asking his advice, even he said two appointments</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">with me would buy the mitts.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I then set off to the Decorative Living Fair</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">at Eridge to see my best chum Viv.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">One of the few fairs she now goes to, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">luckily for me.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">On arrival home I showed Ted this...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjotA95YbzPtgAxnmQqFXFOnaLh_tYj4UAJpblkQOtnBTmVBtBBuJseFQUzDFPBpmInbEbb1FaK40mClSpffBM7KgcMtBm__apCJJgvClc4aufMFqpB_8U2o2avj0XeMjSfkWrrXRC8cO7Z/s1600/P5080004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjotA95YbzPtgAxnmQqFXFOnaLh_tYj4UAJpblkQOtnBTmVBtBBuJseFQUzDFPBpmInbEbb1FaK40mClSpffBM7KgcMtBm__apCJJgvClc4aufMFqpB_8U2o2avj0XeMjSfkWrrXRC8cO7Z/s1600/P5080004.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><b>'How much?'</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Men!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
lettice leafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17637631435776710877noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5740911157835021243.post-20514014238156400412014-05-04T13:50:00.000+01:002014-05-04T18:24:32.646+01:00I know I don't stand...<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">a fart in a thunderstorm's</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">chance of this actually happening</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">however...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'm game to try.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Has anyone got a spare ticket going begging</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">for Eugene Onegin</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">at Glyndebourne?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8ShBmjajoGw8FA5C73tfiI-dBDAr3tvZfvEuQ4RyuT_XqB6KQLzp9cHpA1DwTimLPXGhxrHTT7hzD3EFc-ojYsXzVMpWbYDaPFHdRn6kPWTEOppRci57G-vDGdUGhNZqGPGRE1DEVKM7t/s1600/xl_avatar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8ShBmjajoGw8FA5C73tfiI-dBDAr3tvZfvEuQ4RyuT_XqB6KQLzp9cHpA1DwTimLPXGhxrHTT7hzD3EFc-ojYsXzVMpWbYDaPFHdRn6kPWTEOppRci57G-vDGdUGhNZqGPGRE1DEVKM7t/s1600/xl_avatar.jpg" height="298" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I would promise not to muscle in on your picnic.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I would retire oh so gracefully to eat</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">my sulphurous egg sandwiches</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">wrapped in a waxed Warburton's wrapper.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I would surreptitiously eat my pickled egg out of a</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">salt and vinegar crisp packet, in order not to offend.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My can of Special Brew I would quaff behind a tree.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'd even go so far as to take </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><b>Lin and Ted</b></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">off the windscreen of my Smart car.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">That is the length I would go to </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">in order to get my hands on a ticket.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Any chance?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">P.S. I am prepared to pay in Green Shield stamps, Luncheon Vouchers... coins of the realm... <i><b>at a push!</b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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lettice leafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17637631435776710877noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5740911157835021243.post-71432284487762509692014-05-02T13:42:00.001+01:002014-05-02T13:42:42.674+01:00'Let's go to the Arctic...<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">before it melts!' </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I glibly said,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">in answer to Ted's</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">'Where do you want to go for your special birthday?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">That was a good few years ago now.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A lot has changed in the intervening years, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">not least our savings!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When we got together, we decided fairly early on</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">we would travel, while our health and investments allowed, </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">and we did!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As we sat on the Shearings coach this year,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I thought back to the last coach trip we took...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkEADo3MIJqY2nf4-RqPRLDmwvSGiX-FuRNGv7DDKuIf2pnot7MnSZOWrrNReEwLEhZGvtoAq-IrKJrWsRA84lSZA68H-Wh7LfHDhJfwTksxWzkMC3-EdS8KDjE5m5VAGjIM33AcEj7v0Z/s1600/Copy+of+Ted+&+Lin's+Artic+Adventure+003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkEADo3MIJqY2nf4-RqPRLDmwvSGiX-FuRNGv7DDKuIf2pnot7MnSZOWrrNReEwLEhZGvtoAq-IrKJrWsRA84lSZA68H-Wh7LfHDhJfwTksxWzkMC3-EdS8KDjE5m5VAGjIM33AcEj7v0Z/s1600/Copy+of+Ted+&+Lin's+Artic+Adventure+003.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">to our boat sat waiting for us at Longyearbyen.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The start of my very special birthday trip,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">sailing around the Svalbard Archipelago.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The scientists on board were full of</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">global warming and the effects it was having on</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">this most pristine of regions.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Even then it was hard to imagine, the ice melting;</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">the grandeur of the glaciers just slipping away.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It hurts me now to think of it.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">You can imagine how I felt when I read this article</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">in Wednesday's Independent.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h1 class="title" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 2.2em; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 5px; outline: none; text-align: left;">
For sale: Norway's pristine Arctic wilderness - the coal-rich Svalbard Island</h1>
<div class="widget storyContent article widget-editable viziwyg-section-1024 inpage-widget-6138696 title" style="margin-bottom: 6px; outline: none;">
<h1 class="title" style="color: #333333; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 5px; outline: none;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">the article you can read on-line</span></h1>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I did try and copy and paste... it didn't quite work!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG-HJBchctfSQkr2XNYE3iJjysom6SLfkVxQMhPvv6OMrUExX2qBTxUe9xTQQa-uCvLgN0GgjvrubhqClu3S1pfKmtIOaOnfxNpFBXp746zx5anqdCdsf4WqdZTMKy177L6BoGJm0CwfP9/s1600/Ted+&+Lin's+Artic+Adventure+107.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG-HJBchctfSQkr2XNYE3iJjysom6SLfkVxQMhPvv6OMrUExX2qBTxUe9xTQQa-uCvLgN0GgjvrubhqClu3S1pfKmtIOaOnfxNpFBXp746zx5anqdCdsf4WqdZTMKy177L6BoGJm0CwfP9/s1600/Ted+&+Lin's+Artic+Adventure+107.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">the majesty of the Arctic</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2IZqm1D5YV9mLRGr-iE-SXos1ruQFZ75wdGDzM6ZlE1p8b6sBrZv-yVOf6OGanLRFQREMyskHGvtzA54KUI7-Vf7t0KZ1xCnyWja0eK7pbfy2vYv1PRwtOqk8H1RreYpAhPun11HU8FF4/s1600/Ted+&+Lin's+Artic+Adventure+115.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2IZqm1D5YV9mLRGr-iE-SXos1ruQFZ75wdGDzM6ZlE1p8b6sBrZv-yVOf6OGanLRFQREMyskHGvtzA54KUI7-Vf7t0KZ1xCnyWja0eK7pbfy2vYv1PRwtOqk8H1RreYpAhPun11HU8FF4/s1600/Ted+&+Lin's+Artic+Adventure+115.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">our photo's</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdkbjxLGUUBBy87PO5TeSoZp7PRPxsTyuy9I76oxNP24EYMf8x00D397EZD_4a_4poklfSNtNZOyLgPKxkucYIY9aaKgbjZ-x69WnfLXcZci9Mq7s2YKPod8yZ_9asXg1KzqwmQv8j0MZa/s1600/Ted+&+Lin's+Artic+Adventure+039.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdkbjxLGUUBBy87PO5TeSoZp7PRPxsTyuy9I76oxNP24EYMf8x00D397EZD_4a_4poklfSNtNZOyLgPKxkucYIY9aaKgbjZ-x69WnfLXcZci9Mq7s2YKPod8yZ_9asXg1KzqwmQv8j0MZa/s1600/Ted+&+Lin's+Artic+Adventure+039.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">the colours</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJKqNkpjDwUijs87EPzJW_j8s1Az4cSh-NGUTgUKEkHhwhUdPyz8gyTRW9TVisZq_Q8x38Izxi0tsUTxLB-yH9ORc7rQ2tfdeELnGgnfS6ZqTQ6BMS7i_cNMunivYhQPuyFriF-WiKuqRj/s1600/Copy+of+Ted+&+Lin's+Artic+Adventure+035.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJKqNkpjDwUijs87EPzJW_j8s1Az4cSh-NGUTgUKEkHhwhUdPyz8gyTRW9TVisZq_Q8x38Izxi0tsUTxLB-yH9ORc7rQ2tfdeELnGgnfS6ZqTQ6BMS7i_cNMunivYhQPuyFriF-WiKuqRj/s1600/Copy+of+Ted+&+Lin's+Artic+Adventure+035.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">the remains of a whaling outpost.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">What state will it be in, when man has raped and pillaged in</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">the never-ending quest for coal and the world's</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">natural resources?</span><br />
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
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lettice leafhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17637631435776710877noreply@blogger.com8