Mrs Tiggywinkle is alive and well!

While out feeding the birds this morning, in the rain but life goes on, I noticed something stuck under the barbecue and on closer inspection found it to be a hedgehog.
I am a Peter Rabbit fan so any hedgehog becomes Mrs Tiggywinkle ....

We managed to extract her and get her up to the safety of the top of the garden, we used a bucket and, as she soon as she walked onto the soil, she rolled ..... so now we have a 'lump' up the top of the garden .....


On closer inspection, she might be rolled into a ball but she is watching us ....








.... watching us very closely ........

down at base of bottle

After a few minutes she unrolled and quickly disappeared into the 'undergrowth' of the bushes.

well hidden under the bush.

She stayed a few seconds trying to get through the Deutschia but found it was impossible so had to back out a little ways and get through the other side ....



Last seen Mrs Tiggywinkle was waddling along the wall at the back heading towards the dry area in the corner.
Extra mealworms for you tonight Mrs  ............  the shock of seeing a bright pink headed human lady takes some getting over!!!

Technology costs

Technology is a wonderful thing and I am sure that Humanity does profit from using it ..... but not in this house!!!

We have had an interesting fortnight and, at this moment in time, we are without some of the Technological Equipment we have became used to round here.

As you may, or may not , know we changed our ISP as ability to use the internet was pretty poor.  We searched around our local area and found that BT had the best signal and, although we didn't have Infinity in our area, we decided to go for it.  The signal was intermittent and, much to our dismay, when the Broadband signal goes  - so does the TV!  We complained and were told that it was because we were not on Infinity, which had miraculously appeared in our area.  We paid the extra and were welcomed on board - no students using modern technology in sight.

So we suffer intermittent 'no signal' - usually during the last five minutes of the programme!!

Last week PJ's phone started to play up so it is now in the 'hospital' and he is using one of those 'olde' phones that are JUST A PHONE - remember them?!  lol

On Monday evening I tried to access the data on my external hard drive which, I didn't check first, had become slightly unconnected from my laptop.  oops!  
Or should that be OOPS!
I have managed to download a program to retrieve my lost data but it is taking so long - then my laptop overheats and switches off.  So I start again .....
Modern technology!  
I feel that my whole life is on that little box,  I am trying not to think of all the IMPORTANT spreadsheets, documents, photos etc, and that I just HAVE to get as much as the data saved onto my NEW external hard drive. 
Today I am asking myself what I did before all this Modern Technology arrived .....  I am still alive and everything is as it should be ...... just that little black box is not working ..... shall I die because of it? 
 No! 
I shall just have to sit in the garden and stitch ..... 
......when I worked that is how I dreamed of Retirement ...
.... that was before Modern Technology!!!

A sad time down South - twice - second day

We would be motoring some today so we were up early and on our way - an hour later we managed to get out of Milton Keynes, all the roads look the same!!!
PJ had spoken with his younger sister and we had decided to visit the last resting place of his birth Mother.
We found the woods and started looking for the area we needed to be in.
The woods look as though they are many years old, PJ used to ride his bike round about this area when he was younger.
It was an amazing space, lots of shapes and colours and birds singing.
It was also pretty obvious that in the springtime there are hundreds of bluebells flowering.  

PJ contacted L so that she could direct us to the right spot, so we followed the path to the fence ...........



I found it very significant that PJ stood where his Mother's ashes had been strewn while talking to his sister on the phone - a meeting of sorts for the three of them at last .....




We then travelled on to the home where Mother spent the last years of her life.
It was a beautiful house set in its own grounds.  I haven't visited such a grand place, set back from the road, for years ... I think Miss Davies house back in the fifties was about the same ......

We went in to ask if there was a possibility of seeing any paperwork, or photos or suchlike, but the staff gave us the bad news that the Home had been sold to a new company, the papers would be lost.  They gave us permission to take some photos so round the building we walked then climbed back into the car and drove away....

We met up with Rover 3 for lunch, in our favourite Chinese takeaway of course!
After completing a small amount of shopping, we said our goodbyes and tootled off home.

Although it had been sad reasons for going down south, on the whole we had enjoyed ourselves.  It was good to meet up with friends and good to find a bit more to the jigsaw of PJ's natural family,

A sad time down South - twice - first day

We had occasion to go to the funeral of Rover 1's Mother.  We did not expect to meet again so soon and definitely not for Betty's funeral.

wide view of town

PJ and I booked a room in Milton Keynes .... the town for the future built in the 60s.  
I was excited to visit this town because, for my sins, I remember this town being built and all the hoohaa that went on in the media.  
Upon arrival it was like stepping backwards in time or was that the future ..... weird.  
All the boulevards are straight, really straight .... and wide, really wide.  

typical 'street'

And the car parks were huge, really huge.   
Nothing like England at all.
We found the hotel quite easily using the GPS on the phone, really boring roads all the same ish.....

our room in the middle of this block

We booked in and then went to find our room ...... there were five houses and we had a room in one of them ....

Not the best but if you were stopping overnight, or just down for a concert - great!  It was one room in the house and, when we went exploring in the morning, we found two showers (one on the top floor and one on the ground floor) and a well fitted kitchen.  I suppose if you are down for a week's work then it is ideal, you could cook your own meal and even sit outside, several of you from the same company would be even better!!!
We carried on to the funeral after booking in, meeting up at the cemetery.
   
The wake was held at The Three Trees in Bletchley, the mourners filling this sitting area and out into the grassed area.  The sun shone and we recalled memories, with the help of a video loop inside, the family members met and parted, and the Rovers piled into cars and went to .... 

... the The Three Locks  - yeah! again!

The sun was still shining so we all sat round the table and talked and laughed .... and talked and laughed ..... then it became a bit cooler so we moved inside and shared a couple of bowls of chips - PJ likes chips!!!!

At the end of the night we all separated and went back to our various hotels, happy thoughts ....

Paris 6 - Thoughts from Paris and ephemera

I think this has been one of the most wonderful visits to this City.  Not just because of the company or weather, we just had time to enjoy ourselves.   We weren't going over the same places, maybe Tuileries, but it was all so different in the sunshine.  
I have not lost my love for this place at all.  I definitely want to come back and walk the whole length of the Viaduct des Plantes, take a trip on the canal - which I didn't even know existed.
After unpacking my case, I sorted out all the paperwork I had brought home with me.  
Among the leaflets and receipts was a really good map.  
I had two free Paris magazines with money off vouchers at the back.

I didn't realise I had bought so many postcards!  

Some I purchased from a stall by the cafe on the first day. 

I bought all these for a couple of euros in a shop by Tuileries. They were of the same quality as the others but as we were in a tourist area and shops were vying for trade .... the price dropped.

There were lots of leaflets, I really must try to stop doing this - it's just that they are free and some are really interesting - receipts, luggage labels - unused, Metro tickets, lovely free treasure!



I also picked up this magazine from one of the Estate Agents - there are some areas in Paris which are not too expensive but on the whole - 
e x p e n s i v e!!!



Expect to see some of this appearing on my ATCs and cards real soon!