More cake?

The rest of the book (because blogger didn't want too many photos in one go!

Home made cakes

in a book.

I didnt fancy doing confessions as my theme for Shimelle's free class but the finished results did inspire me and it looked so simple and quick. So I rooted through my years of photos and came up with the idea of recording all in one place all the home made birthday cakes I have made the girls and Martin across the years. Now this is rather a lot because for every birthday the girls had there would be a party for the family and another for the girl's friends, so with the one for hubby that is at least 5 cakes a year and Kelly is now 25.



Of course I took photos of every one, of them blowing out the candles and of the cake sitting pride of place on the tea table. But I couldn't find them all. I know for a fact I was quite practiced at The Hedgehog cake with the chocolate button spines, and there was one year when we scoured the shoppes for old fashioned lace licourice to make train tracks for The Train cake. What happened to the pictures of the cake shaped like a huge wedge of (bright) yellow cheese with the sugar mice sliding down it?












Anyway I used the front part of the little 4x4 freebie mini album that came with this months SI mag and lots of scraps of paper to produce all the cakes for Laura from birth to age 7 and this is the result.

Another day, another .....

yawn.

I am so bored of being home!

Well I guess it wouldnt be so bad if I didn'f feel so guilty about not being at work. And not helped by another two letters turning me down for jobs I had applied for. I KNOW when I was younger it wasnt this hard to get a job, you just saw the vacancy advertised, rang up for an appointment (or the job centre sent you there) and all the stuff they needed to know they asked in the interview. When I was 18 no one had ever even heard of a CV let along got the correct type of resume professionally written.

Now its closing dates, aplication forms, letters of application, CV's (in the correct format for the job) initial visits, informal interviews, formal interviews, presentations, demonstrations and then .....

Anyway did a bit of digi scrapping while I was sitting here writing yet another letter of application.


Flowery background and frame are freebies from Scrap Girls designed by Angie Briggs
Ribbon, ric rak and stitched doodle from Miss Mint Frozen Slush
Lace frame by Miss Bonbon (but I altered colour)
And the torn corregated paper is by Pam (Simple little basic set)

Oh God I ache

You wouldnt think you could use so many muscles just painting - walls that is not LO's. But I have sure discovered a few muscles I didnt think I was ever going to need to use again this weekend.

Laura and Wayne have got to the stage of the build where the new plaster needs three coats of paint...all of it...in a three bedroom, two reception and kitchen/dinner detatched chalet bungalow! Thats a lot of walls, and a lot of paint and a lot of painting.

So I have been giving them a hand. And its hard work.

Still now we have got the colour on the wall it is beginning to look like a house now instead of a building site. Second fixings start next week and then it shouldnt be long for the plumber and kitchen, then flooring to be completed. I am going to miss having the two of them around when Laura moves out.

I have been playing around with 'actions' in photoshop. I have discovered a good site here and using the auto colour one. OK its not going to do wonders for the composition of my old 70's and 80's photos when photo technics and processes where pretty dire but it has managed to at least make photo's of my babies scrapable

Before photoshop play
After photoshop play

Why blog?

There is a bit of a debate about how to get people to read your blogs going on UKS.
It made me stop and think for a bit.

I didn't start my blog to get people to come read my twaddle. And I dont fool myself that my scrapping is so wonderful that I need to share and give others inspiration (it would be nice but I know its not gonna happen). I started it to record bits of my daily life for ME. It was an easier way for me to keep track of what had happen so I could match my photos up to dates and occasions. A way to help my failing memory in my dotage LOL Just a..diary I guess, for ME.

I am hopeless at diaries. Its all those blank days staring at me, and if I dare miss a day I cant face filling in the next one without the blank one looking up at me and demanding to know what I did on that day. Blogger doesnt mind though. If I miss a day, or a week or even a month it doesnt look at me accusingly, it just shrugs and says 'what have you been up to then?'

But then I added a visitor counter because others were doing the same, and then I joined Crafty Blogs and it all got a bit silly. It became a bit of a game to see how high I could get up the chart. And I started to get caught up in the 'blog hype'. You know the one - come and look at such and such on my blog - just to get the counter up.

I started to feel I couldnt post on here unless I had actually done a LO or could offer a digi freebie.

Pure madness.

I'm not going to take my counter off because I do like to look and see who has visited and where from. Its interesting and part of being in blogland

And I am not going to take my blog off the Crafty Blog site, because if nothing else its a link for me to find other crafty blogs and also you never know, one person my find my work interesting, or post suggestions to help me improve.

But I am going to stop competing for veiwers and go back to the basics of why I blog.

Scrap-a-Ganza

If you want to know anything about this event then a blog all about it has been set up here

Dates

Why, oh why did photo developing companies stop printing the dates on the back of your photos? It would make life so very much easier.

I am now working in Excel to put 'clues' as to what year the photos I have piled up here might be from. Things like - that year we had the brown 3 piece suite, or thats the year we still had the climbing frame that end of the garden' or even 'the girls are wearing the dresses I made for Mother-in-law's wedding anniversary so it must be..

I tell you it is doing my head in!

And I seem to have more unwrapping christmas present photos than there is years.

Oh course what all this means is that I can no longer step into my craft room because the floor and table are covered in LO's and photos in attempts to cross-reference everything. Which is a shame because I have just downloaded the instructions for Shimelle's class, and although I dont fancy the subject matter, the idea of that simple little book is something I could have easily gone for.

I've done some scrapping

I just cant manage to cataloge these photos I scanned from my dad's collection. So I have stuck them all in a box and am just randomly scrapping them. They are important because he seems to have captured a few memories that I have no photos of - like Kelly's bessie mate from school, and her when she lost her front teeth. How did I manage to miss photographing those moments?? Good old dad, but I so wish he had put dates on the back of his photos when he had them developed!.

Basic grey Alysha (see I will use up this stash!)
K&Co 3D rose sticker
PM rub ons
Hand cut rose made from Cherry Arts paper
Heidi Swap Chipboard letters
AG stamps (finally found a way of using them)

Ups and Downs

I've not really felt like blogging, well not really felt like doing much at all. I always feel like this about January and February, but this week I have had a mouth full of ulcers which have made me feel really down. I have been gargling with TCP and mouth wash, got through a whole tube of Bongela and cleaned my teeth at least 5 times a day in the hope of encouraging my gums to heal quicker. Its still sore today but at least not excruciating agony, and it did help me loose 2lb this week as it was a tad difficult to eat.

On the up side I phoned a private foster care agency yesterday, worried that our knock back from the LEA foster care dept would prevent us from being considered. But no, the lady was very encouraging and is going to send out a pack. So we may not have to wait 6 months to start the process all over again. Plus this lady assured me they expect to get their carers trained within 6 mnths - it took the LEA 8 months just to get our medicals done.

Wayne and Laura took me to the pictures on Tuesday. We were supposed to be taking my mum for a birthday treat but those two can never get themselves organised. The first time they went on holiday together they were still looking on the internet for places to go on the Monday of the holiday. In the end they just got in the car with a change of clothes - no coats- and just drove, with no idea where they were going. Anyway their chosen way of going to the pictures is to just go to the multiplex and decide what they are going to see when they get there depending on the time. I didnt think my mum would go for that idea so just the three of us went.
We ended up seeing The Pursuit of happyness, not a film I would have been likely to choose to see, but I am so glad I did. It sent you through a roller coaster of emotions, humourous to down right laugh out loud bits, sadness, anger, and bought you to tears. Will Smith's son certainly has an acting career ahead of him if he so desires but the thing that stuck with me was Will himself. Only ever having seen him in comedy slots I didnt realise what a brilliant, beautiful straight actor he was. So if you get the chance to go see it, do.

Chillin'

So I think I have earnt it, since my parents led me a bit of a song and dance this morning. To be honest it was my own fault, but I still got a tad worried and worked up.

Yesterday Mum had asked me to take her out to help choose some jewellery to go with her outfit for THE wedding, but I had to wait in for Martin's upgraded contract phone to turn up. By the time I got round to Mum's, my cousin was visiting so in the end we didnt go out. But I said I would take her today and would ring in the morning.

This morning I rang and got no answer. I continually rang her for three hours. I even drove over to their place and checked up the allotment. No joy. I just couldnt understand why she wasnt answering her mobile.

After three hours it finally dawned on me that I was ringing the home number and not the mobile - derr - but in my defence I have also just got a different handset and am not used to using it yet.

Suffice to say they were fine and had gone to pick up dad's new glasses. I say new, they were new before christmas but the lens fell out. He took them back and asked for a new frame as the one they were in was bent. After a lot of debate and looking at the frames the shop decided the lens had fallen out because the frame was too small and thats why it had bent. Solution - well common sense would have said get a new frame the lenses fit but no, dad had to keep the bent frame and have another lot of lenses made. Go figure?

So as I said, I am listening to a wonderful little site - Radio blog club - and chilling out to a little bit of Steely Dan while scrapping.

This is one result. A not very brilliant attempt at Scrapdolly's class for this week on UKS.

I found a heap of photos dad must have taken of the girls when they were younger, except I wasnt there when he took them so I have no reference for what when and where. Its fun trying to work it out though.

I have something to confess

Go take a look at Shimelle's blog for more details!

Addicted

I have to say Kirsty's kits are rather addictive and I have had another play - this time using the desaturation control.

Joy was a Christmas special gift from Scrap Girls, Sweet girl tag and the journaling tag came from Miss Mint Candy Fairway kit but every thing else is from Kirsty Wiseman's Ice Queen kit.

Another kit by Kirsty

And it is fab! She has put the download link on UKS so go grab it if you want to play. I have combined the two kits she has done so far to do this LO. Added my own touches by converting her background paper to a pattern fill for the arrow, used a few snowflake brushes on the backgound and colour filled a few of her bits. Plus there are a few elements from a kit called Heaven on Earth by Sunflower

For those of you who dont know and want to give it a try, making a fill pattern from an existing pattern is really simple. I use photoshop 7 so my instructions are for that.

1 Open the background paper you want to use as the pattern fill.
2 Use the marquee tool if you only want a bit of the pattern to select or Use select all if you want the whole pattern.
3 Edit>define pattern and give your pattern a name, click ok
4 Click on the fill icon and then change foreground to pattern. On my software this is on a drop down menu at the top left hand side of my screen.
5 Find the pattern you have just made on the drop down pattern menu
6 Use the fill icon to fill in your pattern

This is my eldest daughter who is 25 now. Grandad used to let her get away with murder including making huge snowballs in the garden with just her tights on and no coat!

Ahh well.

Which just about describes how I have been feeling all day.

The weather has been awful, gales, rain, sleet and at one point there were very large snow flakes coming down in the rain. I just couldnt really be bothered to do much. I did go and have an informal visit at a really lovely school where there is the chance of a 3 day job share going. But already, after only 2 days of advertising he has had 14 applications and a lot of interest in visits. Plus the two women going round with me just seemed so much more suited than me. So .. ahh well!

I then spent the rest of the day putting all the photos on my discs into ACDSee. I used to have this program when I first started using digital photography about 7 years ago and couldnt rate it high enough. But somewhere along the line it got lost and forgotten. It cropped up in conversation on the Pad today and immedietly I rushed to download a copy. Mind eons ago it was freeware but now it apparently costs money ...Ahh well.

I downloaded a trial version anyway because you can tag the stuff you have saved on discs and veiw it even without the disc in the drive. Now all I have to do is choose the photo I want, use ACDSee to cross reference the disc it is on, find the disc and voila. Way easier than sitting here with a pile of discs all labeled 'photos'. Martin got stuck on the A20 as Operation Stack was put into place. Honestly what other country uses their motor ways as a lorry car park every time the wind gets above force 3? Yet another ...Ahhh well.


But this evening I did some digi scrapping. I used some of Kirsty Wiseman's kit, some of Shabby Princess's Seasonal Sampler kit and some bits from A taste of India by J Sprague. Kirsty has come along way from last week when I talked her through her first digi, and I notice this evening she has just put up her second digi kit for us all to share. She is putting me to shame and maybe its about time I started designing a few bits??...Ahh well!!!

Finding my way around

With the help of google and alot of different sites offering info and tech help I managed to make and upload a new banner - do you like it? I'm quite chuffed with it although I couldnt get it as wide as I would have liked.

And somewhere along the line I lost my slide show but every time I go to reinstate it, it is too wide and only half of it shows up, so more work on that to do.

A few people without blogger accounts are also telling me they cant comment so thats another thing I have to work out how to change ( if you can).

Gee the school web site was waaaaay easier than this to update and maintain!!! LOL

Taken the plunge.

I have finally taken the plunge and updated to Beta blogger. So I am still playing with colours and have to make a new banner, please bear with me.

Fatal flaw

In my plan to use photo's of all the people who's birthday it was in my birthday book/calendar I omitted to allow for the fact that some parts of the year I dont actually know any one with a birthday in that month. OOOps!!!

I have just completed February but am waiting for the paint and glitter to dry before putting it on the scanner. It took me long enough to clean the crud off last time.

Happy birthday mum!

For yesterday. A bit late but blogger has been down for maintenance.

The family took her to the Toby Cavery for her birthday, the food wasnt up to its usual standard, being a tad overcooked but the company was good, and Kelly got all excited sharing the plans she has now got round to making for her wedding. About time she got organised with only 8 weeks to go. I didnt actually take the camera though as we have so many pics of us eating at either the cavery or the Harvester its getting silly.

Today I had to phone Occupational Helath so that they could finally tick me as fit to be back at work. I guess the guy I was talking to must have realised I was fit and well as I didnt pull any punches letting him know that they hadnt really done anything to help me. He made lots of suggestions for should it happen and the same situation arise again but I was quick to point out that it was too little too late. He did have the grace to apologise and say that lots of really good improvements had been made in the last year. Well no good for me though eh?

One thing he did say though was that the back spasms I suffered from 3 years ago could have been the result of stress - early indication, if only I could have read the signs.

But better than Occ Health saying I was fit, was the observation made by the librarian at my local library. They are all lovely lovely ladies that work in there, its only a little sub library so they get to know all their customers. Not only that Kelly worked as a Saturday girl there before going off to Uni so I know them better than most customers. Anyway today I chose 9 books, and she looked at the pile and said 'All those?' Before I could answer she added 'Thats more like you, we were really worried when you were only taking out 4 or 5'. I hadnt even noticed but the truth is that when I was suffering I simply couldnt concentrate long enough to choose my full quota. It felt really good to know I am now back to 'normal' (whatever normal may be!).

Dead lucky!

Martin has gone to golf this morning and since most of the housework was up to date I decided to treat myself with a little scrapping, surfing and playing one of my new pc adventure games. First, I thought, I'll update my little ipod shuffle so that I can listen to music while I scrap. But I couldnt find it.

I knew I had had it fairly recently as I nearly gave it away to my mum in a pile of stuff she was taking home, so I hunted high and low. Eventually with no place left to look I started on the recycling sacks which were ready to go out for collection tomorrow.

What a good job I did. Not only was my ipod sitting at the bottom of the sack but so too was the attachment for fixing my tripod onto my camera!!! I am going to reposition all the wastebins away from desks and tables now.

Anyway after all the excitement I finally got to do a little bit of scrapping and did the July page for my birthday book. Lots of Chatterbox papers, prima's, some Anita's ribbons and my beautiful youngest daughter

At this time of year

that I wonder?:-

Why am I so short?
Why are none of the tall people that live in this house ever home when you need them?
Why are drawing pins so painfull to remove?
Why have I chosen carpets that match the colour of metal drawing pins and why don't cats wear slippers anyway?
Where does all the dust come from?
Why does 'non-staining' bluetac leave a stain?
Why is it that stuff that came out of a box only 3 weeks ago and fitted perfectly will not, in any way, squeeze back in to the same box?
Why is it that it takes twice as long to put things away as it does to get them out?

Yes it's twelth night and time to take the decorations down. Martin is working all weekend and Wayne and Laura stay at his on Friday, and Saturday so its just me and the cat to remove all the last traces of christmas from the house. Well I got it all apart from the lantern lights around the porch because try as I might I just cant reach the last final hook even standing on the plastic garden chair, and it is way too wet and windy out there now to take the step ladders out. So they can stay and hang the superstition!

As all the cards come down I get time to look at them more closely and admire them, make a list of who sent what. This one is the one my padder mate Lyzzydee made me for the card swap and I adore it to bits.

And this is the first of my Birthday book pages, scraplifted from Clare Brown's calendar pages in the January edition (and sadly final edition) of Creative Scrapbooking Magazine.

I dont need a calendar as my Aunt sends me one every year for Christmas, but I loved her work so much that I decided I would make it into a birthday book, hopefully each month utilising photos of the people who have their birth dates in that month. So for January a photo of my mum.

On the reverse is a pocket to house my birthday cards all ready and organised for when the birthdays arrive.

(Sorry for the really crap scan but the scanner didnt like the very 3D card I have made for my mum). I have no idea what the blossom paper is on the front page as it is from a pack my mum and dad bought me back from their trip to America 3 years ago, but the back is Junkitz, with BG alpha stickers

More on digi scrapping

It would seem that since Katie joined up with the Padders there has been a fire of enthusiasm for digi scrapping sweeping the forum. Last night I encouraged through the wonders of Live Messenger, Kirsty to complete her first ever digi LO. I take very little credit for this wonderful masterpiece as all the ideas were hers. I just helped her find the buttons.

I guess I must be a little understated though because I have been offering up help and encouragement eversince I joined the girls, and although all saying yes they would try, it was not until Katie arrived that they actually put down their bits of paper, took up their laptops and had a go. So thank you for the push Katie, hopefully between us we can bet more of these girls doing it the pc way. LOL

So it did really mean I did another digi myself and this is another christmas page that really aught to be in my journal. Signs of Christmas was something I was struggling with but just before I took the decs down yesterday I snapped this decoration on my mantlepiece and I guess it has all the things in it I associate as signs of Christmas, the colours, green gold red, glitter and sparkle, lights, natural greenery , twigs, cones, christmas trees, and that lovely serene and calm feeling that comes along with it all.

I tried adding other elements and embellishments to this LO but it seems it really needed to let the photo do the talking.
The paper and brads are from the Christmas Red Collection Created by Meryl Bartho, the snowflakes a set of free brushes from the net and I played lots with the lighting effects and the filters on the photo.

What have I done today?

The day didnt start too well as Martin informed me the car was making rotten nuts and bolts noises and it turned out half the exhaust needed rebuilding at the pricely sum of £85. Then he needed new shirts for work as his have now all but fallen to bits. Good for Tesco who had some dirt cheap in the sale. Its really not worth him getting decent ones when he is filling shelves and pulling stock around but despite the fact he is management and is not supposed to do the heavy stuff he seems to do more of that than anything else.

Then most of the rest of the day was spent hoovering up pine needles as Martin took the tree down. The rest of the stuff is still up so tomorrow I will take it all down, box it up and do a really good clean.

I wanted to do some crafty bits - I am trying to use the wonderful calendar by Clare Brown in the last of the Creative Scrapbooking mags (I finally tracked down a copy) as a base to making a birthday book. I have nearly finished January but got sidetracked looking for the instructions to a waterfall book for a friend and now the scrap room is awash with paste mags and I cant actually see the table.

Things I have done

I dont do New Year's resolutions but I found this on Muckyfingers blog and thought it was rather interesting.
There's not many things left undone that I actually fancy doing so I seem to have done pretty well looking back. Those on the list highlighted in red are the ones I have achieved.


1. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
2. Swam with wild dolphins
3. Climbed a mountain
4. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
5. Been inside the Great Pyramid
6. Held a tarantula
7 Taken a candlelit bath with someone
8. Said “I love you’ and meant it
9. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game (and survived the crush afterwards)
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg (well it was a glacier really)
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played DVD for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Had a one-night stand
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children (or…raising children)
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane 109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

Playing catch up

Martin has decided to have a lazy day today watching the telly which considering the hours he has been putting in lately is not surprising. He is still on call today and at 6 has to drive the round trip to Caterham just to let the night crew into the building!

Still it has given me a chance to do some guilt free scrapping, so 3 more pages for the journal!!

Happy New Year

I'm still playing digi scrapping.

CreditsTemplate Shir Benovich
Font CK Elves
Dani Mogstad baubles
Beatrice Zobel Advent kit

So our New Year celebrations were a bit of a let down but we still had a good time. We had arranged to go to our friends for a meal and then on to their local pub where the landlord had done a brilliant PR job on the singing duo he was getting in for the evening, including pushing back the tables in the restaurant to give a bit of a dance floor.

Things started well with a scrumptious and very filling roast beef with all the trimmings dinner followed by a huge helping of homemade apple crumble and custard, plus a bottle of wine. Felling extremly stuffed and a little tipsy we braved the wind and driving rain to walk to the pub. Laura and Wayne had popped in on their way back from a meal out and on their way to a party just to buy us a drink and wish us happy New Year. They had nabbed us a table and we settled down for the entertainment.

It was diabolical!!

The average age of the cliental was 75, the duo coulnd sing, the base was turned up too high and the landlord insisted on using main overhead lighting in all the bar sections resulting in no atmosphere and a general earbashing. Eventually at 11 o'clock we could stand it no longer and left to go get a coffee at our mates and see in the new year with Jooles Holland!

Happy New Year.