General Chat

I see the police were called out, because of an obstruction on the roads somewhere between Southampton and South London. An old lady, and two slightly younger ladies, had stopped on the hard shoulder. The old lady was shaking one younger lady by the shoulders, telling her she could not contact her daughter or there would be dire consequences, and in some cases Time Was Not A Healer. The other lady, a pretty blonde wearing an orange shell suit and trainers with flashing lights, was trying to separate them. An innocent lorry driver who had stopped to ask for directions to the nearest Happy Eater, narrowly escaped being biffed with handbags, and fled the scene. This incident was filmed on little Freddie Bloggs new video phone that he just received for his 2nd birthday, and is now the Hot Topic on Youse Tube. Freddie was a back seat passenger in a four wheel drive vehicle being driven by his Daddy. On being interviewed by a reporter, little Freddie answered "I watch Noddy an' Big Ears when mummy gives me bweakfast". The bemused reporter was also assaulted by handbags and is presently recovering at Alfonso's Wine Bar. The three ladies mode of transport has been impounded, pending investigation into insurance and road tax.

Well fancy that. Petunia dear, this didnt have anything to do with you, did it? You were rather late home. Where did you park the tuktuk?

CC

Goodness me, what a carry on. Cherry dear what is going on.

Now on the delicate matter of shell suits, tis not quate the thing to wear at the moment really ladies, not in the current climate. Mind you FTE said a couple of people were decked out in shell suits and big medallions on the ships Halloween crew party!!!!! :-S

As for Pat rish aaaaaa, well shame on her. I have two spare rooms here. FTEs and the spare which is now a bedroom and not a junk room any more. She can come here and I will set her to work on good works.

Lesley such a shame that The Teddy Bear shop in Eld lane is no longer there. I'm sure they would have had a merry thought bear. I have one who is as old as my tounge and a little older than my teeth :-D. I have just seen on the news that Chelmsford beat Colchester 3-1 yesterday, my goodness how did that happen?

OH, FTY and I had a lovely view of the local firework display yesterday. We stood in FTEs room, nice and warm and watched them on the near horizon :-D :-D :-D

FTY is in the dog house and I'm am tutting like Junana with a pair of castanets. :-|
I thought I had been on the ball with the GCSE revision, a cross between Miss Jean Brodie and a pit bull terrier however Ladies do you know what I found when getting FTY to muck out his bag?............................................




To Kill a Mocking Bird :-| :-| :-| :-| :-|


Yes that old chestnut which pops up on a regular basis for GCSE English. "Oh you have been given the book for your coursework" said I..........."oh yes"said he "we have to read it to page 90 for the holidays"



Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr tutttttttty tutttty tutttttty tut.


FTE is ploughing his way through a rather unpleasant book as we speak, I am off hunting for a whiskey based cream tot to calm my nerves.



Yours, a very cross Mama


Teresa

Teresa dear, I have no idea what is going on. Petunia merely looked a trifle shifty and didnt answer my question, and I think she is sharpening the kitchen knives now. Pat rish aaaah has retired to her room, looking decidedly sulky. And there is only me in the dining room with the candelabra, alone with Mrs Berry's delicious dinner .......

Ah yes, To Kill A Mockingbird. Many moons ago, when the world was young, I saw the Gregory Peck film version, which was made in b&w even though color movies could be made. I believe it was decided to do the film in b&w, to illustrate the starkness of life during the Depression years.

I thought it was such a lovely story, that I dashed out and purchased the novel, which I still have. And, I now have a DVD copy of the Greg Peck movie.

This is a story which knows no age limits, and a book I could give my dear Grandmama to read without incurring her censure ... which is more than I can say about the Mills & Boon library book she caught me reading when she came to visit (in the days when M&B was very "tame").

What would FTY like to know about Mockingbird?

May I please offer the dear child a word of advice - which is :
never lag behind on reading novels for set course work. Some of these books are far better than you might imagine, once you get into them. Many novels pass the test of time which is why we are still reading books written in the 18thC and 19thC, and they make better reading than some of the pulp fiction being churned out today. These old stories illustrate that human nature hasnt changed in over 150 years. A good book will never let you down, and will enhance your vocabulary - always useful when you start chasing the girls!!! Young females prefer young men who have a way with words!

Please try to overlook that you were given the book for school work/course work, and aim to appreciate the world of literature - one day, you will be glad of it.

CC

Good Evening Ladies

Oh dear what a day I have had :-( it started so well with the offer of a lift from Auntie Petunia :-) by then I was in desperate need of a drink of water was there any........... no..............water water everywhere and not a drop to drink :-( the scuffle that followed :-0 I am trying to erase from my mind along with words beautiful lady and pretty blonde :-S Auntie and CC you both must have taken a knock on the head from Pat-trish-aaaaah's handbag as these words do not describe me well :-S

Teresa I liked the bear shop in Eld Lane for a tiny shop there was so much choice :-)

Chelmsford v Colchester I was surprised at the result but I didn't mind which team won, my loyalty is split. :-D :-D

Cherry dear, he wants to know the end so he doesn't have to read it :-D


Susan I always wanted Paddington from the teddy bear shop but never had the funds to buy him :-(


Orffff to bed now,


Teresa

Err Teresa, I think you meant Lesley :-)..

What goings on in my absence :-D. I feel totally safe being do far away from all the hooha :-S, is there such a word?.

Well, tis November 5th and the 'nosie' has started already, tis still daylight :-|. I hope all the cats and dogs about are put away safely for the evening....

OH and I won't be partaking in the 'festivities', no little people to play wth here anymore :-(.

I am still toiling with our fence and am on to my second bucket of paint. To say I am over it, is SUCH an understatement :-|. I want a handyman to do all these jobs that I seem to be landed with....

Teresa, I too hated some of the book reviews I had to do whilst at school. I remember on one occasion, reviewing "The Hobbit". I have never read the book through and am certainly not interested in the movie version or any LOTR guff....
Oooh, I might be shot at dawn for such utterances ;-). Believe it or not, I do love to read.

I am orf on Wednesday with my fruit, to the big smoke. We are shopping for bridal materials :-).Here is another area in which I am the odd one out. I can barely thread a needle and have absolutely no idea about fabrics etc... Hopefully lunch will be nice :-D ;-). Wish us well. It will be a very long day.

I had better get on and think about dinner - no one else will cook it.
Lucky CC, being waited on :-). I should be so lucky..

Toodle pip.
Susan

PS. Lesley, a Pinky bar is a slab of gooey pink marshmallow coated in chocolate :-). According to the wrapper, they contain 50% less fat... Less than what I have no idea ;-)

Lesley I could not have been biffed on the head by handbags at dawn. I was back at Motie Towers, keeping up with the news broadcasts.

I see that dear Petunia has still not admitted anything. After sharpening all the knives in the kitchen, she went out to do some more Good Works and did not return home. All night. Now, what do you make of that?

Ah Mrs Berry has arrived and the lovely aromas of freshly brewed ground coffee and bacon and eggs are wafting up from the kitchen. I will return ...

CC

Teresa, to want to know the end of a book, without reading said book, is cheating !! :-D

Dill went home, and Boo Radley came out .... make what you will of that!!! ;-)

CC

Susan you had 5th November shortly before we got it here ....... for the last week there has been nothing but BANG and WHIZZZ and WHEEEEEE, starting at dusk and going on most of the night. I feel so sorry for the animals as they have such sensitive hearing. Our cat has been very much a homebody, much to my relief. Safe in the house, the noises dont seem to alarm her too much, she just curls up and sleeps with one eye open. But the dogs we had years ago, used to bark and whimper.

I would like to see the day dawn when all fireworks are banned from public sale, and only properly supervised Ticket Admission fireworks displays held by authorized and licensed organizers, are allowed. This would prevent a lot of accidents and vandalism.

I am dreading tonight, when the inconsiderate ones start up again. No doubt it will continue until after the New Year. And start up again next spring/summer, every time someone has a birthday. Oh for the silent days of catherine wheels and sparklers, when November 5th was on one day of the year only.

I read The Hobbit and Lord Of The Rings when I was in my 30s, as the books had been bought for one of my Offspring wot have now sprung off. I quite liked the stories, but I like a bit of fantasy anyway.

I didnt mind doing "book reviews" in English lessons, although I used to worry that I couldnt do an adequate precis and assessment. An English teacher introduced me to Middlemarch, a book I eventually bought and very much enjoyed.

Hoohar is a word I often use myself. I dont believe one will find it in the Oxford English dictionary but it is a delightful "catch all" which covers many rumbunctious situations.

CC

Morning,

Our grand puppy was traumatised by the seeminlgy never ending barrage of fireworks......

She got to sleep by her 'mothers' bed until all the 'hoohar' ;-) had died down.
About 11pm she was put out in her kennel.

Wonder where she thinks she might be sleeping tonight :-D.

I wonder how many dollars went up in smoke last night, by the debris about, a pretty large sum..

I am very pleased to report all my walking is finally paying dividends :-). Hurrah.

Fruit and I are quietly planning our Christmas menu :-D. How quickly is the 'good' undone I wonder?

The sun is finally showing its face, tis a coolish morning with gusting winds. Good day for pegging out the washing. Shame I have to go to work :-|.

Orf I go,

Susan

Susan dear I had got you and Lesley's names mixed up. You are both such elegant ladies and its easy to get you muddled :-D :-D :-D

I am chuckling to myself about fireworks. Many moons ago in the 1970s my dear Papa loved to give a firework display in the back garden, as did many Papas of the time. I remember that the fireworks were sold in a cardboard box and then deposited to a sturdy old biscuit tin from the shed. The Papas of our estate could also have a good old bonfire in the garden (this was before health and safety was invented :-D)
Well one year Pa dropped a match into the tin box by mistake and whoooosh off they all went :-( now this is a true story but one I believe happened to many a Pa on the 5th of November. My Mama in law said the very same thing happened to her Pa for two years in a row!

We had a wonderful view of a public display sitting in the warm in the back bedroom on Saturday. It was on the horizon and put on by the local Primary School at the local football club :-D :-D :-D
It's very quite here tonight. I think everyone has had their displays. I hope all the pets have settled.

Now Cherry dear. My tutting and more tutting yesterday paid orffff. FTY was given a test on what they had learned through reading to page 90 of To Kill a Mockingbird :-D :-D :-D :-D how fortunate I had attended the task of mucking out the school bag and finding said book :-D :-D :-D
FTY was a little happier knowing I had tutted and tutted some more. Many of FTYs classmates had not read to page 90 or sadly past page 1.

Now where is Aunty? I expect she is out organising displays and jacket potatoes for the firework going public
:-D


Toddle pip for now


Teresa

Coooooeeee where are you all today?

I have three words to say and here they are:

The Periodic Table


Tutty tut and some more tut.

FTY has his second GCSE chemistry paper tomorrow. Now he has been a good Fruit and revised but as I was testing him this gobbledygook really just left me speechless.

Anyway, I'm off to attend to the dinner table now.


Teresa


P.S I had to scrape the ice orff the car at 6am this morning. 'twas a little cold when venturing out to paid toil
:-D

Ooooh, woe is me!!!!!

Shuffles onto thread and flops down onto chaise longue.

I have been residing in the East Wing for the last couple of days and I am proper poorly.

All that fresh air and gusts of wind blowing up my bustle did me no good at all. I had a severe chill, and it went to my chest.

A liberal layer of goose grease, topped with brown paper, then my vest, liberty bodice, nightdress, bedjacket and a shawl, and I perspired like a navvy!

I am still a little fragile, but at least able to sit here and regale you with my tale of woe!!!!

I shall read back on your missives at a later date gels, my eyes are sore and red.

You see, I paint a wonderful picture!!!!!!

Pip Pip
Auntie Petunia

Aunty dear, how many times must I tell you. Vests must be worn on the first day of September and removed on the last day of May. This action prevents coughs, colds and sneezes which spread diseases :-|
To help your recovery I suggest you try hot lemon with honey and a tot on non temperance medicinal toddy. Some Vick on your feet and you will be well away
:-D

Your perspiration may be due to the M word Auntie. I suffer at night with the same problem. It saves a fortune on the heating :-D if FTY or OH complains of the cold I would encourage them to put another jumper on :-D :-D :-D

Someone has missed firework night and is letting them orff over the road :-S

Tootling orff to bed soon. Dr Lucy Wordley and her food is getting on my nerves now :-P


Tuck up warm auntie, sleep well and watch the bed bugs don't bite :-D


Teresa

I had a missive from FTE. A list of goods to send not to Antigua as I thought but collection at Southampton. She looks very jolly in the photos ;-)


Teresa

Oh dear Auntie Petunia I'm sorry to hear your not feeling good :-( I was just about to arrange a search party for you ;-) I wont call the search party off though as CC has now gone missing :-S

Orf out to look for CC, were are you, were are you CC can you hear me?

Teresa you have my sympathy................homework and revision :-| :-| :-|

Susan I hope you have a successful shopping trip :-)

hello all, and please do not stand too close to me, for I seem to have caught dear Petunia's chill, although at the moment am not quite as bad as she is but it could still develop
*clears throat and delicately dabs at nostrils*

Needless to say, Petunia is confined to her sick bed, with her Blooooberrie, making lots of phone calls giving instructions to Georgianna, Octavia, and Father Thadius as well, and let us not forget the manager of the local supermarket, poor man, I dont quite know what he is guilty of but I am sure his ears are bright red now, and I didnt know dear Petunia knew words like that.

I have left a young man with "ringing in his ears". I took a telephone call from someone with a sales pitch, and made it very clear we do not welcome these sorts of nuisance calls.

I am staying in bed today, I have my pile of Famous Five novels ready to read ..... and Mrs Berry is fortifying me with lashings of ginger beer ... I mean, pots of hot tea and Manuka honey. My favorite Recovery Toddy is a mug of boiled water, with a tea spoon of honey, and a tot of brandy, and a squirt of lemon juice.

No Teresa, that is not a mug of brandy and and a tot of boiled water ...

Mrs Berry's weight loss and exercise program is going spiffingly, with all the running up and down stairs she does.

And not a sign of Pat rish aaaaah. That gel is just like a police officer, never in sight when you need her.

Isnt it strange that the juice of real lemons can be found in washing up liquid, but the lemon juice sold for human consumption is usually "flavoured" unless one resorts to squeezing real lemons.

Vicks on the feet really does work, I dont know how or why .. but it does. Dont forget to wear socks however.

I watched yesterday afternoon's Alan Titchmarsh show and am very alarmed. His guests included Sooty Sweep and Soo, and I understood everything that Sweep squeaked. I had the same problem with Gordon the Gopher when my Offspring were young. Should I be worried? But I digress .... I tuned in to listen to Alfie Boe singing and what a treat that was.

*smiles knowingly at Teresa* ah yes the mucking out of the school bags. I once found letters in my Offsprings school bag, at the start of one school term, which she had been asked to deliver to local shops on her way home at the end of the previous term. These letters were from the headmistress to local shopkeepers who had generously contributed to school funds. One red faced mother went trotting around to said shops to deliver the letters, with apologies.

I used to wonder what planet my Offspring live on, because it sure wasnt the same world I inhabited. I know my Offspring were frequently journeying to a strange place because every time I asked for help with housework, I was advised "No Khan Du". I assumed it is somewhere near Timbuktu.

I wasnt missing, Lesley, really I wasnt. I knew where I was all the time.

CC

Still dabbing my red nose delicately in synchonisation with dear Cherry.

I am still in one Wing of Motie Towers, she in the other. She is quite right I have been organising my busy schedule from the Blooooberry. What a wonderful invention it is!

I can talk, text, shop and paint pictures while it plays Yanky Doodle Dandy at the same time. How very clever!

I have indeed been talking to Octavia, Georgianna and indeed Beatrice. I am slowly warming to her. But she is such a bossy boots, always meddling, and believing she is right. She has a saying 'It is my way, or the highway' what do you think of that? Condescending? I think so. How can someone be so bossy?

Oh my, I have just heard kettles and pans rattling in the kitchen................it must be Mrs Berry! My but she looks thin................I wonder why she is sweating too? She must have an exhausting schedule.

Dear Upsidedown Susan, do please keep us informed of you MOB activities. We are so excited for you. Photos would be lovely too.

Teresa, your Fruit is travelling again. How marvellous for her. What are you sending to Southampton. I hope you are leaving a supply of sweeties for her too. She will need sugar to keep her going!

Lesley, are you telling us that you are not a Blonde Bombshell?

My photo does me justice, even though it is about 60 years old.

Back to bed I think, too much excitement for one evening/

Toodle Pip
Auntie Petunia

*resisting the temptation to ask if that bloomin Bloooooberry can wash the dishes as well .....*
:-) :-D ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-)

CC

Sniffs. Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit dear!!! Been sleeping in the knife drawer again have we? Tutty tut!!!!!!

I will have you know that I am masterminding half of North London from my bed dear. Things do not get done by ignoring them dear.

There is the Church rota to rejig, the Christmas Party funding raising to organise, the Old Soldiers and Sailors Christmas Dinner to order, the orphans to be taken to a Pantomine, the, the, the.......................................Coughs fitfully.

Lays back on pillow..........................................Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

AP