General Chat

Congrats to your Dear Fruit, Teresa, and I wish her many happy hours on the High Seas. And lots of boodle in her pay packet too :-D

I'm glad you saw the quicksand sign, because I didnt know for sure where it was, only that MFH took a wrong turning and it looked like a quarry access road, or something to do with sand and gravel.

I shall pass on the marmite chocolate thank you very much, it sounds as dangerous as deep fried mars bars!!! :-S But the buns will be welcome unless you were planning to feed the elephants? I went to SainsCo today without my shopping list, so forgot to purchase MFH's sticky low fat buns.

CC

How Naughty Cherry :0) of couse the detected will keep the gun in his holster or thereabouts.

I like the Isle of W. We stayed on several holidays there. The garlic farm is a place of wonder. Garlic ice cream, yuck. Its almost as horrid as the Marmite chocolate that FTE bought me. I shall send some down the cyber hatch along with the buns I am making. Those chickens are producing well. :0)

Lesley my dear FTE used to exercise her lungs and like Cherrys fruit. She found a great outlet for the noise when she was a little older by attending beet combo gigs. Many a morning after she has been to them rendered bereft of the power of loud speach. Only 15 years or so to go :0)
The zoo was very busy but we managed to be in the right place at the right time and saw some shows and fed the elephant. The quicksand is on the left hand side ofthe road as you drive down toward the zoo and also there is a quarry sign. I made the fruits look out for it :0)
The loin was sitting on the rock with his lady wives so all was well in that department.

Aunty, I do hope all is well on the high seas, how long are you gorn for dear? Tyr not to eat too many afternoon teas, Im sure Mrs Berry would not want to be folding swans and making chocolate fountains.

Susan dear FTE has been called. She will be visiting your neck of the woods in the new year.

orff now to get the next batch of buns out.

Teresa

just a little thought of the day ....... I hear Prince Harry will be at the Paralympics. Well, I cannot help but wonder what he won't be wearing, and where his detective will hide the gun ..... :-D

Hello Lesley yes it was the Windmill in South Hanningfield, I checked the address on the 20% discount card I was given. When we paid the bill, we were given two foil wrapped choccies, which I promptly did not share with OH, but he doesnt eat those kind of chocs anyway . Turned out, I was biting into two very delicious Elizabeth Shaw mint crisps. I should not eat those chocs either .... sigh.

I think the hotel we stayed in on the I of W was in Ventnor, but cant remember for sure now as it was years ago. I dont think we experienced any bracing winds that week, except for the day we went to Alum Bay, and used the chair lift to reach the beach ........ never again, as it was a long way down. However there is no truth in the rumour I was terrified. I smiled happily for the photographs (OH avec camera was in the seat in front of me with youngest fruit, and I had oldest fruit with me), and my happy smile for the camera was not a petrified rictus grin :-D

Oh Suuuuuuusaaannnnnn ...... there are two ladies here waiting for you to share your newest communication!!! :-D

CC

CC Could it have been The Old Windmill in South Hanningfield where you dined today that has always been a very popular hostelry and is only about a mile from Rettendon, I haven't been to Battlesbridge since the new Southend Road opened that must be over 8 years ago.

In the 30s/40s my dear late MIL was sent to boarding school on the Isle of Wight it was said the bracing winds in Ventnor were beneficial to asthma sufferers.

My middle fruit believes gin & it stands for gin and iced tea :-S

Dear Auntie Petunia please be careful with/of those hot blooded gondoliers ;-)

Oh Susan I'm not sure about the funny but naughty email :-0 go on then PM me I could do with a good laugh :-D

Teresa I hope you returned the lion safely to the zoo and that you enjoyed your day I aslo hope you didn't encounter any quicksand on the way :-)

B F N Lesley

Susan dear you know you can always PM me ......... LOL. In Petunia's absence, do allow me to be your Censor and decide who should and should not see this email. Is it something I can annoy lots of people with????? :-D

No we dont collect antiques, we cant afford to. I just like to mooch around these places and see if they are selling anything I own. It was just a day trip.

Did you know, Fathers Day in Britain is in June. Mother's day follows nine months later.

oooh nearly time for WDYTYA, so TTFN - tata for now!

CC

CC,

we crossed paths..

my bones must be very strong :-D

Hello Ladies,

Petunia, so pleased to hear you are over the sea sickness :-). You should have been more than able to tuck in to 'in a wheelbarrow'... that term made me chuckle.
Please don't get too keen on a tiara .... err, there has been a slight misunderstanding...
Enjoy Venice, OH and I visited briefly some moons ago.. I loved it, didn't love the price of our coffee we purchased from a vendor in the square.. Greenhorns I think we were :-(.

CC, do you collect antiques or were you just out for a day trip? I watch Antiques Roadshow from time to time, cor, some of it looks like tat but is worth moonbeams :-D. Oh to be able to tell the difference eh? Glad you enjoyed your pub lunch. That is one thing OH and I reallllly enjoyed in May. Why is it whenever one has a sandwhich when 'out', it tastes divine, but when one makes ones own sandwhich, it is just like , not another sarnie? I am perplexed... I eat a sarnie everyday for my luncheon :-(.

Gawd help us from screaming babies, a certainty for driving a 'new' mum to the edge of sanity. Why don't babies come with a user friendly guide eh?
shudders at the memories... Of course when the little darlings are in slumber, there is nothing more beautiful :-).

CC, never heard of Gin and IT... G&T I like ;-) - but not when my Papa mixes one, the 'T'is nearly absent from the glass :-S. OH has a cupboard full of various liquors, they rarely see the light of day now, unless I need a wee tipple of something for a recipe.

Just heard on the radio, 'our' Valerie has won another shotput competition since the games.... GOLD, absolutely. There is a very funny but naughty email doing the rounds here about a certain other country and an athlete :-D... I know you are ladies so wont forward it on (requests taken - at your own peril) ;-).

Crikey, nearly September already, where has the year gone? Tis Fathers Day here on Sunday, makes mental note to buy Papa a card :-\.

Toodle pip

Susan

Oh dear, that Bloooooooberrie again. There was so much interference I dont think that dear Petunia heard me saying that the dirty pebbles that fell through the cyberhatch are now safely in the garden. The Walled Garden, superglued into the new stonery that the gardener has created under my instructions.

Dear Petunia said something about "Hat on", so I made sure to wear my hat while I stood beneath the oak tree where there is a crows nest. I could not risk having my coiffeur splattered.

She mentioned a child in a red mackintosh, and Mr Sunderland and his son. I know of Mr Sunderland, he's Canadian doncha know, and it breaks my heart to see him looking so old. It means that I have grown old. However I take comfort in the fact that I am growing old disgracefully. As for the child in the red mac ......... that would be my daughter in one of her evil moods ..... *cackles*.

Well I do not think that the food at the Captains table could have been any better than the dinner I cooked for myself this evening. I had a piece of steamed plaice with steamed carrots and green beans, and I made a white sauce (laced with apple juice and jazzed up with parsley flakes and black pepper) to put on the plaice, Its a very easy sauce to make, margarine and white flour and water, I've made it for so long I dont measure out the ingredients any more, I cook it "by feel". I used soya margarine tonite, instead of flora. My "pudding" was a very generous helping of 0% fat Total greek style yogurt, to hide the generous slice of carrot cake I hid beneath the yogurt. That Total is a lovely pudding yogurt. I also use Yeo Valley organic yogurt, 0% fat again, as a pouring yogurt, to pour over my porage in the morning.

I read on the news somewhere that a small glass of wine each day is very good for maintaining bone strength. Cheers m'dears !

CC

Good evening dears, how are we all tonight?

Lesley dear, that is not crying, that is exercising her lungs! I know of a young lady who screamed for one Sunday solid. Her Mama did not know she was hungry and she was crying out for milk. Her Mama sat in an armchair all day trying to feed her. Mama was fraught, baby was fraught. Sensible midwife said forget trying to feed her, get a bottle for baby, and everything was hunky dory again.

I bet you are bursting with pride each time you see your little one Lesley, little girls are soooooo pretty, you can dress them up.

Now Cherry dear, you still have not mentioned where you put the pebbles, do tell me they are safe dear. I have a whim to have a tiara made for Christmas.

We docked in Venice this morning. I have travelled extensively as you know, but never to Venice before.

St Marks Square was beautiful. We sat and had coffee and watched the world go by. We then ventured into St Marks itself, what a wonderful church it is. Then we decided to explore..................

We toured the glass shops, bought some goblets and necklaces, I have presents for you all.................

Then a strange thing happened...................we saw a little child in a red macintosh running along the bridges. Such a strange sight we had to follow her. All along the sides of the canals, and over the bridges again. She was such a tiny little thing, but she was very quick. There was a man following her, a tall man with curly hair. He looked very like that actor, that nice Mr Sunderland, who has a son who also acts. Mr Sunderland Snr disappeared into an alley and that was the last we saw of him.....................

We are changing for dinner as I speak, we are going a la carte tonight, or as I like to call it 'in a wheelbarrow'. Titters.

Have a good evening dears, I shall report further tomorrow.

Toodle Pip
Auntie Petunia

And another bloooberrie call from dear Petunia. I am surprised that the purser hasnt confiscated her phone and thrown it overboard, surely it must be interfering with the radio signals from the Wireless Room, I assume they have the Wireless facility on board that ship. I expect Petunia will soon be regaling us with tales of her trips to the Wireless Room and how she advised the operator on how to do his job. No doubt that would go down well ..... not. I warned her to watch out for floating ice, and I dont mean in the Perrier water or Gin and IT. There has been another calving off Greenland.

BTW does anyone know what IT is? Gin and IT, and I've heard of the IT girl. Personally I cannot understand why a gin or a girl would have internet technology attached but there ya go, there are many strange things in the universe.

*

Hello Lesley, yes we were on the car ferry going to the I of Wight, formerly known as Vectis (its Roman name), in the 1980s. It was a nice week; and OH and I ended up in the hotel's honeymoon suite although we had been married many years by then, but thats another story.

When my offspring were babies they were both screamers during the day, but they both slept well at night. The oldest slept a bit too well one night, which had me worried at first until I poked her and she woke up ..... and started screaming. Happy memories ! She still screams ..... when she goes to rock n metal gigs, LOL :-D

Today we found the Battlesbridge antique centre but its not the place I remember visiting a few years back, and it wasnt the Rettenden antique centre either because we checked that. The place we went to before had three levels, ground floor and first and second floors, but we couldnt find it today.

The last time, I just remember being on the Southend Road (A12, probably) and seeing a sign for Battlesbridge. Oh for a photographic memory ..... I can remember lots of incidents from my childhood going back to when I was a toddler, but in adult life mostly what I remember is just the trivia.

We had lunch at a lovely pub called the Windmill not far from Rettenden, I would recommend that pub to anyone. The service was excellent and the sandwiches were yummy and very well presented. The pub was busy, but thats always the sign of a good hostelry, its busy because everyone goes there which people wouldnt do if the place was no good. A pleasant day out all round and I didnt let the rain worry me.

CC

Hello CC Thank you for asking, I saw baby E yesterday and she slept all the time she was at our house :-( apparently she screamed the house down when she got home, dinner time screams I use to call it when her ma was a babe :-D

Was it on the Isle of Wight ferry you felt queasy? :-S
Lesley

Good morning, what a lovely morning it is.

A sea as calm as a millpond, and the sunshine is streaming through the window! I feel so much better.

Yes, Italy here we come.

Knock on door. Yes dear, you may come in and pick up the clothes from the door. I shall remember you at the end of the cruise dear, have no worries. Thank you dear, coffee will be lovely.

I wonder if a 50p tip is too rich for her blood?

Pip Pip
Auntie Petunia

hello Lesley, how's the lovely little one today? The baby I mean ..... LOL. :-D :-D

Yes ginger is well known as a remedy for nausea. We were sitting on a car ferry once, many moons ago when I was a young mother, waiting to be transported to Vectis, and I felt a bit queasy as the waters were choppy. I nibbled a ginger biscuit and had a cup of weak coffee and the moment passed. Tell ya this - it was "quite an experience" to use the ladies loo on choppy waters ....... unforgettable for all the wrong reasons. :-D

CC

Another Bloooberrie call from dear Petunia. My word, all the finery and trappings she describes could have come straight from the Titanic on her maiden voyage, and there dear Petunia is on the liner Canitti ..... So sad to hear she and her cronies have a bad case of Mal de Mer - but it could be food poisoning from the lobster that sat for two long on the Catains table. She didnt mention. however. if the fishing team had caught crabs.

I had another weird dream last night and I hadnt been eating toadstools either. There's not mushroom for toadstools to grow in my garden. Today one's first husband and oneself will be making another foray into Essex, to visit Battlebridge, the site of an antiques and collectors emporium. One has been there once before, and one found it very interesting.

I saw a grainy photo image of The Lion Of Essex - and it looks like an oversized Norwegian forest cat to me. I believe the locals of St Osyth are drawing up a List Of Suspects, amid much hilarity.

CC

That's great news about the puppy Susan I hope her eye continues to improve :-)

Teresa I hope the lion doesn't take a fancy to your neighbours chickens:-D how would you explain that one when they returned from their holiday :-S

Well CC with all the extra tasks you have been given you must be in need of some respite :-) I was going to suggest a cruise but after reading of Auntie Petunia's experience maybe it's not such a good idea ;-)

Auntie Petunia I am so sorry to read of your horrid sea sickness :-( I do hope it is short lived, I am sending you some ginger biscuits, ginger is said to be beneficial for motion sickness I think :-S

Uuuuuuurrrrrrggggggh! I am not well at all!

As you know we dined with the Captain on Sunday night. Very nice.

I must say we all scrubbed up really well. We changed into all our finery, and headed towards the Executive Dining Room. Well, it could have been 100 years ago. All panelled wood, chandaliers, beautiful silver service, and the waiters and waitresses dressed in Victorian clothes. A small quintet played on the tiny stage, it was wonderful.

Our Captain was a very accommodating gentleman, he managed to make us all feel at home, he was kind and attentive. What a charmer.

Our evening was complete, we finished our meal, sat chittering chattering, the band still playing, and then we danced until the early hours. I imagined myself as Deborah Kerr in An Affair to Remember. Such was the heady mix of music, good food and interesting conversation.

Then it happened.

A gentle breeze, turned into a wind, and then a very strong breeze indeed.

My dears, the waves began to crash up against the ship. It has very stable ballast dears, but, by jingo. We did begin to feel it.

Staggering back to our suite, we decided to get into bed, so that we would not feel the swell so much. Not a hope, we did not stay in our beds for long. Georgianna was poised over the handbasin, and I sat at the feet of the bidet. We were both green..................

One hears that there is a wind ablowing over towards America, I think we felt the start of it here.

Needless to say, we have been unwell since, and confined to barracks. One does not like to think of how much one has spent, but one cannot help it.

Susan dear, I am so pleased your little puppy is well. Pets become one of the family, and a sickly child is no picnic either.

Teresa, you will be eating omlettes from now to Easter. One would love a piece of cake, but I fear it will not stay down very long.

Now Cherry dear, I have had the qt. from Beatrice, apparently the little pebbles are uncut diamonds! She has graciously been in touch with a relative of hers who will cut them for us! Now dont forget to put them somewhere safe. Do not lose them will you dear?

Looking at my reflection dears, I look like the witch from the Wizard of Oz.

Dear oh dear, here I go again..............................................

Feeling one degree under
Auntie Petunia

*clucks with delight over my piece of cyber sponge*
thank you Teresa :-)

I lost all my smiley faces after the "upgrade", but luckily I remembered some of the keystrokes so type them in manually.

Apparently they can be restored by clicking on something inCompatibility, but as a non-technical little old lady :-S I prefer to play safe and not change any settings :-)

Oh darn - my hips and waistline have just expanded by three miles ..... errr what was in the cake?

CC

Suasn, Im glad your puppy is on the mend. Fancy hearing about the lion down under :)

Hallo Lesley, how is baby E :)

T x

The Lion is safe and well, I am taking him back to the zoo tomorrow, he can sit in the back with the picnic and coats :)

Teresa x