Not too sure how many of you know that one of my hobbies is glass-painting (staining) which I have been doing ever since I got a glass painting kit for Christmas back in 1977 and I have been hooked ever since! Now if I am honest here my house is over run with the stuff so yes...you've guessed it...I have listed a painted jar of mine on ebay!!!
I felt myself cringing while I was listing it as I get very embarraced about my ...errr...."art"...and it is one of my basic pieces with abstract painted shapes as opposed to the celtic art that I usually do on glasses and jugs. The Celtic art takes an absolutle age to do and realy makes my eyes ache so I am very reluctant to part with it so I just listed the basic jar....its wont sell....its rather silly realy...I even said it would look good on a sunny shelf filled with dried flowers!! LOL!!! but if it does sell even just for pennies, I will be very impressed. Infact I will be impressed if it is viewed at all!!!!!!!!! Its biggest selling point I suppose is that its unique and there is not another like it in the world, so I hope just that fact alone will interest some folks! So if you would like a look at it and perhaps a laugh please log onto my ebay page:

roundtheworldgal

I am listing some more stuff today, and my ebay fees are getting higher and higher which is a bit of a pain....My Troika Penny Black coffin vase still hasent arived from France which I am miffed about too...the guy who I bought it from sent me tracking details but the site is all in French, and my very basic school girl French isent good enough to inderstand it!!! UGH!!! and I still have my close eye on a chimney vase for £159 without any bids yet...emmmm....we shall see how it goes!
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My Dr Who "new Doctor" magazine has had a bid of 50p!!! Yippeeeeeeee!!!

From about 8am this morning I have been listing a heap of Dr Who books, annuals magazines and all kinds of stuff and I now have achey fingers and a slight head ache, so I have given up for now and have taken a couple of Neurofen with a cup of tea!
My love affair with Doctor Who might actually be at an end, as I have been listing things I would not have drempt of a few years ago! I think from now on my love of Doctor Who will just be relegated to a pleasent childhood memory...and its about time I grew up! LOL!! Also its not just my Doctor Who collection that has had a bit of a bashing of late. I have even listed one of my treasured Peggy Nisbet Royal Dolls!! Horror of horrors! I listed Kathrine of Aragon the older (I have kept the younger version as its worth more) and she has a couple of "watchers!" but no bids as yet! and if I still had the boxes for them some of my Harbour Lights lighthouses would probabally go too!!
Why all this selling? I hear you ask!...is she realy that skint??
Well my passion for Troika pottery has been fired "again" with a relitivly cheep peice I got from ebay recently...My Nan had a Troika coffin vase when I was a child and I was absolutly fascinated by it!!! The odd shape and the texture as well as the earthly colours!! But as I grew older I found it difficult to collect as its just soooooooooooo expensive! To date I only have 3 Troika pots (small ones) but while I was ill in bed I was watching one of those daft auction programmes you find on dreadfull daytime telly and my old pal popped up!!...Troika!! So I decided then and there that I was going to see what the going rates are for the stuff on ebay, and I must say I was pleasently surprized! Perhaps the credit crunch has its uses afterall as I was viewing pages of lovely troika art from less that £100!!!! and my fingers started itching!!....so thats what all the selling is about....Its now my intension to invest in some of this gorgeous art, and belive me its a very good invenstment!! My favorite Troika artist is Penny Black (yes its a lady and not a stamp LOL) and her work can sell for up to £1,000...now I can't afford that but I can certainly look for the smaller peices like wheel and coffin vases!
...for now, I shall need all the luck in the world with my selling....and keep dreaming!!

love Vix x

Yes!!!
the time has come folks!!
But I thought I had better mention it here incase anyone wants to see my stuff on ebay!!! My ebay name is:

roundtheworldgal

I am not getting rid of anything deeply treasured....just things that I have two's and three's of and I am even considering getting rid of my full battles in time collection as now it is compleate (without super rose) its just stuck in my kitchen cabinate...and if I am honest here I have quite lost interest in collecting the new stuff anyway!!! I am tired of making excuses in Woolworths of "Oh my son collects this stuff" when its realy for me...some of my auctions may even include annuals that I have doubles of, but I certainly wont be parting with any of my vintage who things, apart from a pair of gloves from 1984, that are just collecting dust!!!
Also I dont realy have the space anymore...and more and more of my collection is being relegated to my garage!

So if anyone is looking for anything spacific, please let me know and I will see if I have got it, before I list it!

I hope to help out!

love Vix X

Its a heck of a drive from here, but as Derek decided to take the week off to look after me, he suggested it the day before yesterday, and I heartily agreed!!!
So at a little after 9am yesterday morning we packed a few bits and bobs, including Sirius's travel water bowl and 2 litres of water for him, and a can of Irn Bru fresh from the fridge for me!! Now in the old sports car a trip to Aldeburgh would have only taken about 2 hours, but our new "little" car took about an hour longer, but it was a pleasent day so it was a nice drive! Sirius is as good as gold in the car, but I have now bought him his very own car harness so he is safe with his own seat belt...but about 5 miles out from the town he started to wimper for a wee, so we had to stop in a grassy layby so he could do his buisness and have a drink of water.
Aldeburgh is a delightful place!! Its tiny, but boasts the finest fish and chips in Britian (well in my opinion!) and as I had not eaten properly in over a week, the prospect of some Aldeburgh fish and chips seemed like a crock of gold at the end of the rainbow to me!! Oddly enough though I had forgotton how much my tummy has shrunk with not eating properly so I only just managed some lovely Cod and mushy peas!! YUMMY!!! I am feeling almost human again! Anyway Derek took Sirius for a walk along the beach and I opted for a short walk into the town where they have some interesting curio shops and antique shops as well as second hand book shops which I love! But oppps....when I got out of the car I felt about 90 years old as the muscles in my body still ached dreadfully and I had to stretch to get them working...its realy odd how having a cold or somthing realy makes your muscles ache..??
Well when all said and done we had a lovely day out, and I realy do think the sea air has done me good, becuase I feel much better this morning, so I have been ebay listing again!!!
I just hope I can make enough money for my next Troika wheel vase!!! LOL!!!!
Hope everyone is well and enjoying the early Autmn sunshine!!!

love Vix xx

Some up dates for you as some things have gone from bad to worse, as last friday saw me back at the Doctors where I discovered I have Laringitius (not sure how to spell it, but its the one that effects the larynx in the throte) so basically I fell like somthing brown and smelly and I have compleatly lost my voice....also I am on some weird medication which makes me feel very tired...saying all this though, I point blank refuse to stay in bed so I have been catching up with some much needed Tudor drama, and drinking gallons of squash, when I am not yawning my head off....and squeeking like a derraged mouse!!!
I consoled myself last night in the form of a little treat from ebay....
A Carn pottery vase in the style of "Trokia" which I love!!!
I hopped in and dropped a last second bid with just 4 seconds to go!!!! Naughty me! its gorgeous though, and will post a piccy when I get it!

Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible folks! x x

But I nearly wasen't.........
My Birthday bash with Mum got a little out of hand!!
I got absolutly PLASTERED!!!!!..........and I spent an absolute fortune in Beatties (House of Fraser) which included some majorly expensive bags, and a pair of impossibly high heels from Faith! They are a bit too high to wear but I like them just the same, so I will probabally just look at them! Well I am silly like that! LOL!!!!
BACK SOON FOLKS!! x x

Now with our shopping baskets getting more expensive by the second, I thought it would be a good idea to ressurect some of my old cooking skills in an effort to save some pennies! I learned to make pastry at school from a lovely teacher called Mrs Cartwright (the only school teacher I ever liked) and pastry making, which sounds daunting to some, is indeed very easy if you follow some simple basic rules like keep your hands cool, only use iced water, and let your pastry "rest" in the fridge for 15 mins after making it!!!....and belive me when I say pastry made by yourself tastes a lot nicer than the pre-made pastry you get in the shops...AND once you know how to make pastry you can do all kinds of dishes like steak and mushroom pie, chicken encroute and just about anything realy...so firstly a very basic recipie for short crust pastry!

You will need a mixing bowl, rolling pin, small glass of iced water, a drop of milk, and a pastry brush, kitchen scales!
The is a rule to the ammounts of things added like your butter and lard should be one half to the ammount of flour used
Example:

8oz Palin flour
2 oz butter
2 oz lard (and a pinch of salt)

And this is the ammounts I have used for this recipie!

Before you begin fill a small glass (about 6oz) with water, and sit it in the freezer! (small coffee cup size)

Sift the 8 oz of flour into a mixing bowl with a sifter. Next take out the measured ammounts of lard and butter and slice it into the flour into small pieces as this makes the "rubbing in" easier! and add a small pinch of salt...Before rubbing in (which takes about 5 minuits) make sure your hands are cold by running your wrists under a cold water tap! Then take your bowl with the mixture and go and sit down infront of your favorite Dr Who story! heheheheh...but this works, because if your relaxed, your pastry will taste better!...gentley but firmly rub the butter and lard pieces into your flour, with you cool finger tips, and as you rub, lift your hands high over the bowl, to get as much air into the mixture as possible. This makes your pastry lighter...after about five mins when all the butter and lard pieces have vanished, the mixture will have a "loose" texture, so you are now ready to add your iced water!!! Make a hole in your mixture, like a kind of well, and take your iced water from the freezer and pour it into the mixture!! Your dont need much to start with! Just pour in a little and fold the mixture into the water. If its too dry, just add more iced water and if you make it too wet you will need to add some extra flour...but its best to go slowly with the water so you can build up the right consistancy yourself!!! Finally you should have a ball of pastry and if you have made it well the bowl will be dry of mixture!!!! So give yourself a jolly good slap on the back and put the ball of pastry in your fridge for 15 mins to "rest"...and go and watch some more Dr Who!
So thats your pastry sorted!
Pastry will keep for up to 12 days in the fridge, or you can freeze it for use later, but before you use it make sure your pastry is at "room temp" before you set to work pie making!

FILLING!!!! Apple and blackberry!!

1 large Bramley apple (or two med size)
small punnet of blackberries............HOLD IT!!! This is the season for blackberries so why not go out and pick your own, because blackberries cost a small fortune in the supermarkets! My garden is full of them at the moment, and this is what set me off on this recipie realy!!
Ok, about 4 ounces of blackberries! (rinsed)
a mug of water
level tablespoon of suger!

Now here your aim is to make a kind of "fruit stew"
Fill a medium sized pan with your cup of water, and set it to boil, add suger. Peel and core the apples and slice them thinly into the pan! Wash your blackberries and rinse them and add these to the pan also...Just before the water boils, turn the heat down to a simmer and add a lid to the pan...DO NOT boil the fruit! the trick here is to simmer, gently for about 20 mins. After this time is up set the pan of stewed fruit to cool...
PIE MAKING!!!
You will need a medium sized oven proof dish! I find that a pyrex lid from a cassarole dish to be good for me! "Grease" the inside of the dish carefully with butter. This is so your pie wont fall to pieces or stick to the sides! Your ball of pastry needs to be rested at room temp for about 20 mins before using! Now roll it into a ball shape and cut through it, 1/3 will form the lid of the pie 2/3 will form the base!! Obviously you need more pastry for the base!!! Roll out the base piece first! To begin with dust your work surface with flour and place your "base" half of the pastry in the middle...flour your rolling pin too, before you begin to roll...and roll out the pastry untill it is about 1/3 bigger than the dish! When it is large enough fimply fold the pastry in half and place it in the dish! Open the fold and gently push the pastry into the dish with you fingertips. Next pour your, cooled fruit stew into your pastry dish...then as you rolled out the base pastry, do the same for the lid!! Once you have rolled out the lid (and before adding to the pie) pour some milk into a saucer (your cat may get jealous here) and take a pastry bush and paste the milk around the top of the pie where the lid will join the base! This helps to seal your pie!! and finally add your lid!! YOUR ALMOST THERE!!!! cut off eny excess pastry from around the pie with a sharp knife, slicing away from you, and then "pinch" the pastry top together with fingers and thumbs all around the top edge of your pie. Also take some scissors and cut 3 or 4 snips into the pie middle as this helps the pie to "breath" while being cooked, lastly brush some milk over the pie top, to brown it............Pre heat your oven to gas 6 or 205 electric and cook your pie for 40 to 45 minuits!
Take out your friut pie and allow it to cool before serving...a little warning here!! NEVER serve fruit pie straight from the oven, and the fruit will literally burn your tongue off!!!
Fruit pie is best served slightly warm with a dusting of suger and a huge dollop of Devonshire clotted cream!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
...or any kind of cream realy, or if you prefere, custard!! Hot or cold!!
Your pie will keep for about 10 days in the fridge (I can gaurentee it will be eaten long before this) or you can even freeze it!!! if you want to use it later!
Baking is such great fun!! and both me and Sirius alway end up covered in flour!! we love it!
Good luck!! x x x x x

Yesterday I felt absolutly terrible!!
I was sick, had a severe headache and a fever too as sweat was pouring off me but the living room was a normal 22 degrees!
Also I remembered what had happened when I had the infected ant bite in Thailand, and I had exactly the same symptoms! You see, if you get an infection your body goes into fever mode because its trying to rid itself of the germs...and yesterday I was convinced the huge gash in my lower lip that I sustained from my argument with my stairs (the stairs won!!!) had become infected because I am syphoning water with my mouth to clean out the baby fish box!!...So yesterday evening while cleaning my fish box and watching Coronation Street I decided to try some Bongella! Remember, the stuff thats for mouth ulcers! so I went to the bathroom and got said tube, pilled down my lower lips and filled the hole with the stuff!!! WOWWW...OWWwwww!!!!! Crikey!!!! it realy stung!!! It brought tears to my eyes and several uninteligable noises from me! But half and hour later it felt miles better, so I put some more in the lower lip hole before bedtime!! and I feel much beter this morning!
Mum is coming for the week at the weekend.........so I must make sure my oven is spotless!!!!
Mum has a thing about my oven!!! UGH!!! And last time she came I had scrubbed it so clean it was gleaming....just one day later I caught her in the kitchen in my pinny and sporting yellow Marrygold rubbergloves, cleaning my oven!!!
"Mum!!! its clean!!!" I had exclaimed! "go and sit down and have a cup of tea!"
"It gives me somthing to do!" she had said "I can't just sit about!! I get bored!"
But why my oven, I have no idea!!! I clean it once a week myself anyway!
I just wish she would pick on my garden instead!! I realy do need to do some gardening!! LOL!!!
The only difference this time is that she is bringing her two Persian Cats, Whisky and Sooty!!
Now a while back when we went to Souter Lighthouse, Mum had left her cats in the care of her neighbour! Mum had even paid this neightbour to look after them but she dident, and when Mum got back the poor cats were in a heck of a mess!!! Her neighbour had been feeding them but that was all!! She had not emptied the cat litter box in a week, and the smell left me gagging!!! Also mums flat was a compleate tip!! So since then my Mum has sworn never to leave her cats with her neighbour again, so that why this time she is bringing the cats!! Oh crikey this is going to be fun!! 74 fantail baby goldfish, two cats and my loopy dog!!!
*hides*
Anyway Derek is going to pick her up with said moggies on Sunday morning, so at least I have some time to get my home in order....AND clean the oven, as well as planning things to do (she loves shopping and Harry Ramsdens fish and chips) which shoulden't be to difficult...but I shall be realy looking forward to getting out on my own for a change!! I can hear TK Maxx calling me in my dreams!!!
LOL!!

Last week I had a wee bit of an acident that has made me look as if I have gone two rounds with Mike Tyson!!!

The thing is I am rather clumsey and on Friday morning I was up stairs sorting out and tidying up Mums room because she is coming to stay next Sunday....I also was expecting a delivery (my Daleks still haven't arrived from Forbidden Planet)...it was about 10am and I heard the doorbell ring so in a fit of excitment I dashed down stairs only to slip on one of Sirius torn up slippers, and ended up crashing to the bottom in a heap!!! I was very lucky I dident break my neck!!! I did have bad concussion for the rest of the day though, and there was blood everywhere as I had split the inside of my lip very badly and I couldent stop it bleeding...needless to say I dident answer the door, and my post lady pushed a parcel collection card under the door. Derek picked up the parcel on Saturday but it was something for him and not me!!! Now back to my injuries. My clumseyness (and impatience) has cost me a huge split lip. Its slit horizontaly on the inside, but I think I have cut a nerve because my chin is still numb, and I am lisping! I have a large scrape on the left of my forhead and a bashed up left knee, with a bruise that all the coulers of the rainbow!! and smaller gashes and bruises elsewhere!
Now why couldn't I have done this while drunk? as it woulden't have been so bloody painfull?
And I am still in pain with my chin this morning!!
So basically I have had to have a break from my blog to recover!! Sorry folks
My baby fish are still struggling along and I have had a couple of fatalitites! One of the dead fish had a weidly curly tail, and the other was very underdeveloped!!! Also I have been "hand filtering" the water in the tupperware box...I take my vacume gravel cleaner which is basically like a long clear plastic tube. Suff the wider gravel end (the end that goes into the water) with aquarium filter wool, and then syphon the water through the filtre wool by sucking the other end of the tube myself to cause a vacume. Water then flows freely into a plastic jug below the height of the tupperware box and hay presto!!! Filtered water, which I then pour back into the box!!! I have been doing this at several hours a day untill they are large enough to be used with my smallest filtre!!!
Pheeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!

In other news, I have decided to take up baking and cookery again!
So yesterday I took a trip to home base and bought lots of essencial cookery things like a large sive, mixing bowls, and a pasty brush to start with...and todays first pastry will be a chicken and sweetcorn shortcrust pastry pie!!! I have decided to make my own bread too...I just can't justifie paying over £1 for a loaf of bread, when I can make it myself for next to nothing!
I will post some of the recipies I am trying later on!!

see you soon! x

My living room looks like a tip!!!
And indeed my whole house could feature in "life of grime" at the moment!!
Its these bloomin' baby fish, you see! Taking up all my time with constant water changes, feeding and general care! Usually I am pretty s**t hot at tidying up and cleaning, but since I have had these babies they realy are taking up a lot of my time. So this morning saw me hoovering up at 8:30am and I am determined to get things done today. The polishing will have to wait though as I can't go spraying polish all over the living room with my babies in a tupperware box on my coffee table as that would kill them...Also my main tank is due for a water change today, and I will have to clean the huge filtre at the weekend...its never ends!!! tich tich...I like to polish my living room Daleks as they realy do look horrid all covered in dust but that will have to wait too! I have considered polishing them outside but its raining today so thats totally out! Also my washing has piled up, and Derek has moaned that he is running out of socks! its realy is just one thing after another at the moment so I am greatly looking forward to a relaxing bubble bath tonight followed by a jolly good film, port and supper when I put the babies to bed. Last night when I put them to bed I had a very close look at them with a torch and could just make out their tiny swim bladders forming! My fry are certainly more interesting to watch than the rubbish thats on TV at the moment!!
Some of you may know that I am involved in a lot of fandom communities over at Live Journal, namely Harry Potter and Good Omens. For those of you who have never heard of Good Omens its a book by Terry Pratchet and Neil Gaiman which is a funny take on the "Omen" stories...Now I have been involved in an RPG (role playing game) as the character of Aziraphale, and quite soon I am going to be doing a "Character" photo of me dressed as up as the former "Angel of the Easten Gate of Edan, and now keeper of rare books"...I have already done one piccy and its over at Deiviant Art, but this time I am going the whole hog, so to speak, with a blonde wig and Tartan waistcoat! (Aziraphale has a thing for tartan in the book) so when I have done this and I am happy with the results, I will post the piccy here. So basically, dont be surprized if the next piccy you see me in, I am dress as a " Boring, bookish, puffy male Angel" with a thing for rare first additions!! Its all jolly good fun and I just love the RPG! and I have been involved with these for sometime now, in Harry Potter fandom also!
Ok, I am going to get on now and continue brandishing my Dyson about! LOL!!

x x

all written in capitols becuase my dads eyesite was going and he had complained he could not read my messy, joined up writing!!
Also some postcards I sent to him, and the front page of my travel diary!!







Hope you enjoyed, as much as I enjoy reminissing!!! x

Sorry entries have been a little slow lately, but I am so caught up with being a mum to 50 fantial goldfish at the moment!!
Does anyone want a faintail goldfish??
This past weekend saw me back at the aquatics centre looking for a suitable "air stone" for the tupperware box with the babies in, and came out with said airsone, tubing, non return valve, and pump as well as baby fish food at a total cost of over 20 pounds!!! EeeeK!!!! Its realy weird that your fish cost next to nothing to buy, but the set up can cost an absolute fortune!! So far for 8 fish and a clam my set up must be nearing £1,000! and I am not kidding here! Gone are the days (thankfully) when baby goldfish were won at the fair and placed into tiny bowls with no filtration, aireation and nothing much else and when after just a few weeks the goldfish would die, due to its terrible conditions! Fortunatly people are a bit more clued up these days! Goldfish can grow up to 15 inches long, and live for 20 years or more...anyway, I am sure you have heard enough about gold fish....so onto something else...
Took some time out yesterday to go walking at Stowe Gardens!
This delightful landscaped garden is Georgain, with stone Georgian styled temples, monoliths and statues in Greek style...and way back on a chilly November afternoon in 1993, it had been where Derek and I, had our very first date!!! On this very day I was to learn of Dereks mad passion for walking, as we must have covered several miles in the park and I had been absolutly exhausted. In 1993 I worked about 50 hours a week at my first "live in" pub job and because of my very selfish friend who I shared the pub with, I ended up doing absolutly everything because he was never around...I was manager, bar person, catering staff, cleaner, security, cellar lady, stock person, and book keeper and my only day off of the week was Sunday!!!! So our first date was on a Sunday and it was Stowe Gardens...prior to this my Sundays were spent relaxing on a kind of "bus mans holiday" drinking cool pints of cider as another pub near mine. I would buy a newspaper and walk up to this pub, The Melbourne Arms in Duston, for my lunchtime drink...get back to my pub at about 3pm, have lunch and flop into bed for a few hours! Going for long walks on a Sunday was an absolutly terrible thought after spending 6 days a week working my bum off!!!! Still, this was with Derek, the first guy in almost a year to show me any interest at all, so I was willing to go! While there, oddly I had begun to enjoy the fresh, crisp November air, but he had tired me out, and after a cream tea at the National Trust cafe we walked back to the car with my feet tingling as I had not done so much walking in years...little did I know at the time, this was just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, as we were later to do hiking trips with walks of between 10 and 20 miles a day, and ultimatly the Everest Trek in Nepal!!!...I honestly thought at the time that Derek was trying to kill me!! LOL!!! So lets just say that after 15 years, I am used to it! This was also Sirius very first time to Stowe and he absolutly loved every second!!! and at one point had me giggling because he got hot and decided to flop himself into a muddy puddle! (Derek had to bath him last night) and his long fur got absolutly filthy!! After a mere 3 miles we went back to the cafe where me and Sirius devoured copius ammounts of cool water, but there were wasps everywhere so I just made my way back to the car!...

Some piccies to amuse!! from 1993-94!!

This is my first pub in 93! The Rifle Butt on Harlestone road, Northampton. On the doorstep of Princess Diana's childhood home!



and this is Peter McKenna who I ran it with...well, I ran the pub, he buggered off every day between 8am and 11pm!! Officially I was his Assistant Manager but Peter spitefully refered to me as his "live in barmaid"...he was very selfish and indeed evil, who got me to Northampton because he recognised my bar skills at the Postern Gate in Warrington, and he desperatly needed help with this, his first pub!! He "courted" me, pretending to be my best friend (he is gay) which was all a ruse and a lie, he just wanted to USE me to manage his pub for him!!! Alarm bells rang the first two months I was there when I dident even get a day off for six whole weeks, untill I locked myself in my bedroom and refused point blank to come out while Peter was trying to bang the door down! It got very embarracing too when the area manager showed up to see Peter and he too got to realise he was never there, saying to me on occasion "your doing all this by yourself arn't you?" Peter announced he was leaving in September '93 but personally I think he was sacked!!!



This is me behind the bar, looking oddly very at home!!



This is my handwritten extract from my diary at the time of Peter leaving and my meeting DelBoy!! written on a restraunt recipt!!



and this is my food bar at the Rifle Butt!! My chef, and old lady called Ivy, taught me many usefull recipies!



Me at Stowe Gardens October '94 exactly a year after I met Derek and 3 months before our backpacking trip!



This is the first ever piccy of me and Derek here he was 36 and I was 26...on the bridge on the road up to Stowe gardens!



Mum Dad and me about a month before my backpacking trip!



and Mum and Dad with Derek December '94



and finally Derek with his Mum, Roseabella *Rose for short"...she hated me because I am not a Catholic! and even worse because I was a divorcee!! She died aged 75 while we were in India in 2000...

Must have happened about lunchtime today!!!

I had to spend part of the morning in town as I had two ebay parcels to post, but first thing, I checked on my eggs and they were no where to be seen, so I just crossed my fingers that they had not demised! This morning I also realised that somehow the plant had moved so I could no longer see the place where the active eggs had been! Just about half an hour ago I moved the plant ever so gently and 3 minute, tiny arrow like babies shot out and swam about energetically! They shot out so quickly I almost jumped out of my skin!!! They are sooooo tiny! Dashing into the kitchen in my expectant father mode I hurridly put on some eggs to boil as I have been told crushed hard boiled egg is good for them, but I have also been told not to feed them for the first day because they are still digesting their yolk sack from their egg! Ohhh I am so excited I could just pop! and I promptly rang Mum to tell her she is now a Grandmother!! LOL!!! ...Now the real work starts, as when the fry start to feed they have to be feed 4 times a day so this will mean a trip to Harlestone heath garden centre tomorrow as they have an aquatics centre where I should find some specialist baby fish food like daphnia lave!
Anyway thats tomorrow....I just hope my tiny charges survive this dangerous time!
Found a bargin in House of Fraser today in the form of a pair of black satin finish, Ted Baker knee high boots, that are absolutly beautiful!!! They should have cost £90, but these boots had been reduced right down to £20, so I just have to have them! Well you know how it is!! and the Autumn is on its way!!
Oh and I am now a fully paid up member of the Goldfish Society of Great Britian!!
Good eh?? *grins*
I shall be celebrating with much pink port this evening me thinks!! ;-))

I am so very sorry for not getting back with emails and faceBook stuff but I am simply overwhelmed with fishy goings on at the moment, and I think some of the eggs are just about ready for hatching as there are little back thingys in them, moving about!! Also I am going to have to hard boil some eggs as apparently hard boiled egg yolk crumbled up, is very good to feed to growing fishes!
Also Friday had become my ebay sales day to help my finances with the credit squash! I made £30 today simply by selling some trainers and some boots, neither of which I was going to wear anymore as they were totally the wrong size for me! Goodness knows why I bought them in the first place!! So this morning saw me rummaging and listing some new stuff I hope to sell including some pretty expensive Miss Sixty stuff and a village people t shirt that is hardly worn and now too small for me! Fortunatly both my sales today had payments coming in very quickly so I can get off to town tomorrow morning and post the things on! I just hope my buyers are happy as I would hate to have my 100% feedback ruined, as it was so nearly ruined last time I sold on ebay! Anyway I have lots of stuff to put on there and its about time I had a jolly good sort out too! I am a bit of a shop-o-holic realy and can't resist the designer lable bargins that TK Maxx occasionaly throws up! so basically I have a wardrobe full of stuff that I never wear, and about 70 pairs of designer shoes I never wear including some vintage Gucci dance shoes, but I shall be slapping a reserve on those!
Anyway! I better go and check on my hatchlings
Sorry for being a "fish bore" at the moment, but I am just so excited as nothing like this has happened to me before!

see you soon! x

He just sent me this and gave me the right giggles!!! LOL!!

These are genuine clips from council complaint letters:

1. My bush is really overgrown round the front and my back passage has fungus growing in it.

2 He's got this huge tool that vibrates the whole house and I just can’t take it anymore.

3. It's the dog mess that I find hard to swallow.

4. The man next door has a large erection in the back garden, which is unsightly and dangerous.

5. I want some repairs done to my cooker as it had backfired and burnt my knob off.

6. And their 16 yr old son is continually banging his balls against my fence.

7. I wish to report that tiles are missing from the outside toilet roof. I think it was bad wind the other night that blew them off.

8. My lavatory seat is cracked, where do I stand?

9. Please send a man with the right tool to finish the job to satisfy my wife.

10. Will you please send someone to mend the garden path? My wife tripped and fell on it yesterday and now she is pregnant.

11. I request permission to remove my drawers in the kitchen.

12. Our kitchen floor is damp. We have 2 children and would like a third, so please send someone round to do something about it.

13. I am still having problems with smoke in my new drawers.

14. The toilet is blocked and we cannot bath the children until it is cleared.

15. Will you please send a man to look at my water; it is a funny colour and not fit to drink.

16. I am writing on behalf of my sink, which is coming away from the wall.

17. I want to complain about the farmer across the road, every morning at 6 a.m. His cock wakes me up and its now getting too much for me.

18. I wish to complain that my father hurt his ankle very badly, then he put his foot in the hole in his back passage.

19. 50% of the walls are damp, 50% have crumbling plaster and 50% are plain filthy.

20. I am a single woman living in a downstairs flat and would you please do something about the noise made by the man on top of me every night.

21. Our lavatory seat is broken in half and is now in three pieces.

22. I have had the clerk of works down on the floor 6 times but I still have no satisfaction.

23. This is to let you know that our lavatory seat is broke and we can’t get BBC2.

Wandering around a disused warehouse filled with huge fish tanks, in turn filled with millions of baby fish, jumping out of said tanks and onto the dirty floor...and no matter how hard I tried I could not save them!!
This was my nightmare last night and I even woke up in a bad sweat with tears running down my cheeks!!

Yes, I am starting to think this fish thing is getting on top of me, slightly!

Yesterday I was mad busy with water changes, gravel vacuming and setting up my nursery tank for the babies, if they hatch! My living room was a nightmare in itself, filled with hose pipe, plastic buckets, and all kinds of other aquatic paraphinaillia!! My new water test kit finally arived from ebay and I was happy with the results for the main tank with a pH 7.0 and 10 ppm for Nitrate, which is quite good...my nursery tank is no where near ready yet! I am going to try to get the levels right by using some water from the main tank today!

My main tank this morning!



I realy need to watch some classic Doctor Who today...and chill out!

WOW!!!
I have eggs...goldfish eggs!!!

My Fantails spawned this morning, and I am still absolutly amazed by the fact!
After the wild goings on this morning I looked closely at the area of the tank they had been and and sure enough one of my live plants was covered in tiny, pearl like eggs. Anyway this sent me rushing about like an expectant father, trying to find something I could put the plant covered in eggs, in! Two days ago I was cycling some gravel and the large tupperware box the gravel had been in was still in my kitchen half full of tank water!! Perfect!!! I thought and as gently as possible lifted the plant out and placed it in the box with a top up of tank water! At first I thought I had only saved about half a dozen eggs but on closer inspection it turns out to be about 20 eggs! I dashed up to Pets at home and got a hatchery unit and I have put approx half the eggs into it and its floating at the top of my tank! The others are still in the tupperware box, clinging to their plant, on my coffee table! I have never had a fish lay eggs before so I am dipping my toes into new territory here! At pets at home I also got some fish "baby food" but could not find the food recommended to me on the fish forum! Its a liquid feed...I have been finding out as much as I can about breeding goldfish and apparently the hatching takes about a week (if indeed they hatch) but I am trying to keep my expectations as low as possible to avoid dissapointment...I would be absolutly heart broken if they indeed hatched and then died so I am preparing for a few tears along the way too!

I left this desperate message on Practical Fish keeping this morning:

There are some VERY amourus goings on in my tank this morning!

and because I am new to fish keeping I will not have a clue what to do if Hermionie lays eggs! So can anyone help?

Heres what happening!
Both Albus and Voldie wont leave Hermionie alone! They are chasing her and trying to nuzzel her underside, and this has got so vigorus that they even knocked a tank orament over (which I have now removed) Hermionie in turn is swimming into my live plants and flashing her tail about...Now Voldie (moor) has his white mating spots (just a few) on his nose and a couple on his gils, But Albus does not (he is a red cap fan) in fact I dont think he is old enough to mate, but goodness me it dosen't stop him trying!!!!...in all honesty I dont expect baby fish as Hermionie and Voldie are two different species...but what do I do if it does happen??
Just in case.......
Also this wild activity is bugging my other fish, my youngest fish are hiding in the tower, and the Paradise fish have taken refuge in their submarine
Oh heck...gotta go...they just knocked one of the live plants over....

Please help!

Now this has been happening for several weeks now, on and off, but this morning it seems to have reached a peak!! and I am slightly worried as I have never had fish have babies before!! Last night their behaviour was normal, and I was even as please as punch when my baby fantial, Minerva, fed from my hand for the first time!!! But this morning all hell seems to have broke loose in the name of fishy passion!

Ok a huge appologie goes to Kate!!! So sorry for cutting our phone chat short, because Derek had phoned me on the mobile!! Its the bloomin' car again and he has to take it back to the garage again today!! UGH!! Its somthing to do with the cruise controle! Not bad for a car we have only had for two weeks!!...And Kate! remember to say "fantastic" when you want to swear!! your lovely son is listening!!! hehehehehe....Oh what the *fantastic* is going on with the new car!

Richard!!
How long did it take for your Dalek set to arrive from forbidden planet??
Mine were due to arrive last friday bt did not...emm...just my luck...I have made a special place for them in my living room too!!
Please let me know!

Laterzzz xx

Colin has just been on the phone to me giggling his head off, telling me that he has finally recieved a months ban over at Outpost Galifrey, because he said Jamie Oliver should be put into the Wicker Man!!!!
ROFLMAO (Rolls on floor laughing my ass off)
When will the people at Outpost Galifrey get a life!!!!???? ...and a sense of humor?
Now years ago Outpost Galifrey was a fun place to be, but sadly all this is changed now, to such an extent that hardly any of the original members ever post there anymore! On the forum you get the impression that you have to be "very careful" about what you say, whether its about Doctor Who or any other matter, and freedom of speech just does not exist over there...now it appears having a sense of humor is also a crime too!!! The self important demi-gods at Outpost take themselves so seriously its like walking on broken glass! One, who shall remain nameless even changed my avatar into a picture of a Cow with the words "lying Cow" writen across it, and then threatened openly on the forum that I should be hit with a baseball bat!!!!!!!! Now is this the proper behaviour of a grown man who has the responsibillity of one of the admin on the planets largest Dr Who discussion group???
I think not.......
Well I am not going to waste time and space on my blog going on about this silly place...end of......

On to much more interesing stuff!!!
CLAMS!! *grins*

Hermionie has been waging war with my live tank plants and seems to have got it into her head that they should all be ripped up, and float on the surface of the tank, so yesterday saw me back at Pets at home! Several weeks ago I saw some "plant anchors" in there and yesterday I decided that this would be the only way I could hold my plants down, so we went back to the shop. To my huge delight they had some new Clam in, and very large ones too!! I have been waiting ages to get some more clam as I guess my single clam, Cedric, must feel lonely now in his new much bigger home...so I came home with two of these lovely new clams!! Now for those of you who dont know, clams are "filtre feeders" and this means they filtre the water for their food...Now after I had acclimatized my new arrivals I had expected them to start digging the gravel but they dident, they just lay on the bottom of the tank. In the evening I had my usual bath and when I came down one had indeed began to extend his foot and bury himself, the other one, however, haden't moved....This morning the first thing I checked was my new clams and sure enough the one who haden't moved had now vanished under the gravel, and the one who had just extended his foot was still continuing to do so...I made coffee and started to check my emails and things, while looking over at my clam occasionaly...He was indeed moving but he was extending his now huge foot into the water and waving it about, and not into the gravel, as he is supposed to do!!! After about an hour of this I decided it was time to give nature a helping hand so I went to rinse my arm in cold water, and went into the tank where I dug him a small space in the gravel and gently turned him over so he was in the proper position to dig!...and he is still digging!
In other news, I have heard from my pole dancing friend in New York, who was wondering why I had not got back to PoleJunkies. I explained about the tank, and the waiting and indeed the hassle, but said I was now back pole dancing again, properly!!... My Mum has been involved with some kind of brawl with her neighbours but it dosen't realy surprize me because she can be a gossiping, busy body sometimes...oh and Sirius had his usual weekend bath!! so ll is as normal as it should be realy!! LOL!!

BACK SOON! x

Well manips in Corel 10 realy! *blushes*





....and I have decided that this final one has a story to it!! *grins*

I used two photos for this! one of a staircase in a derelict mental hospital, and the other of a Nun! So this story started to form in my mind...

During life, Sister Edna had been a Nun of the purest of pure virtues, who recieved an assignement from the Holy Mother, to go and devote her services at a local mental hospital...Sister Edna was so horrified by the patients she saw there!!! she begins to murder them one by one, in styles of murders from the Bible...she HAD to cleans this hospital of its evil sin!!!!...and ofcourse Sister Edna was never suspected...patients were simply found with limbs nailed to the beds with their skulls smashed in.....but the remaining patients know whats happening and murder Sister Edna in the most brutal way!
Her soul in torment and bound to the hospital, she haunts, she is followed by a creature waiting for the right moment to drag her evil soul into Hell to burn for all eternity!!!!!!!!!!!!



And I am only drinking tea too!!!
LOL!!!!!
Well untill about 9pm tonight after my bath when I shall be toasting Richards good health, on his Birthday!!!

But firstly let me just say................................



I shall be raising a glass (or ten) for you this evening, Richard and wishing you many, many happy returns on this special day!!!

Now I realy should make a "Birthday diary" so I can do birthday cards on here for everyone who's special day it is! So please let me know when yours is and I shall keep note...emmm mine is coming up too!! the big 41!!!....NUFF SAID........

Its the Northampton Balloon Festival this weekend and we were treated to some close ups of the Balloons yesterday evening when "Bertie Basset" almost landed on my house!!!!LOL!! This happens often during the festival, if the wind is blowing in our direction. Yesterday, before it got dark Derek took Sirius for his evening walk and when they came back Sirius bolted through the door as fast as lightening, with tail between his legs, and shot under my coffee table, quivvering in a fit of fear!! Thinking he had just been attacked by some huge nasty dog I quiried Derek who was giggling almost hysterically!!
"Its the Balloons!!!" he had told me.
My huge shaggy, loopy dog is terrified of the balloons it appears!!
Apparently they had flew low over the park where we walk Sirius and these huge things in the sky, coupled with the noise of the burners had absolutly terrified my dog!!! It took me ages to coax him out with the aid of some custard creams, while cajouling "Is my baby Pud Pud scared of the 'Loonies!" (his nickname is Pudding and loonies means balloons)........(yes I realy am that daft)...Needless to say he dident eat his dinner last night, as its still here on the floor this morning, poor love!
For those who don't know, the Balloon Festival is an annual event here in Northampton! Its always held on the old race course and concludes on the Sunday by an open air concert and fireworks display. I used to attend the festival every year as it was free and fun but two years ago the local council slapped an entrance fee of £4 on it and I have not been since! But fortunatly, living where I do, I am almost guarenteed to see the balloons at some point over the weekend! This year the free concert will be Rick Astley so I guess I am not missing that much!!
Anyway, I have got to hopp off for now and make his lordships sandwiches for work!
Oh woes for the chores fo a woman!! LOL!!

See you soon! x

Yes folks! I have started to sell on ebay again!!

Now this is mainly guilt as I have spent a small fortune at Forbidden Planet and his lordship will have a small freaky when he gets my credit card bill....so this morning I have listed a very small pair on Nike trainers that I have only worn a couple of times and cost an absolute fortune!! They were an impulse buy several years ago, and I got a size too small for me, hence they dont fit and have just been stuck at the bottom of my wardrobe. So I am going to have a jolly good sort out today (will be mostly shoes and handbags, which I have an abundence of) One thing is certainly a no-go area though, and that is ofcourse my Dr Who collection! as well as my other collections of die casts dating back to the 60's and my Peggy Nesbit royal dolls (worth about £50 each)...I haven't listed anything on ebay in years becuase I was put of by a buyer who left me neauterl feedback after I sold her a ski jacket. She had said there was a make up mark on the collor! and I also stated in the listing that the jacket had not been dry cleaned! so it kind of put me off a bit...but hey, in these times of the credit squash (crunch is a silly word) needs must when the Devil poo's on your doorstep!!!
I just hope I can make enough so I am able to get the Red Emporer Dalek...and maybe the odd bottle of a nice vintage Port! ;-)

Ok.I am going for a rummage...back soon!! xx

I only ever watched this pathetic excuse for a programme once...and promptley turned over after half an hour........

*apoligies to any of you who like this show* But its just not my cup of tea!!

As I said in an earlier entry I have joined the "Practicle fishkeeping forum" and was absolutly horrified to read that contestants on Big Brother had been given 3 goldfish to look after in a tiny, wee bowl with no water filtration and precious little else!!!
THE R.S.P.C.A AND OFCOM SHOULD COME DOWN ON THEM LIKE A TON OF BRICKS!!!

Not only is this a horrible cruel way to keep fish, it also sends messages to young folks that this is the *ok* way to treat fish!!! OMG!!! this makes me angry!!!! In effect this is absolutly no difference between this and winning a fish at the fair in the 60's and 70's (now banned fortunatly)....as a child (aged about 6 I think) I indeed won a golfish at the fair but immiediatly demanded to my mum, that he had to have a tank (not a bowl) and a friend because I dident want him to be lonely! My fish were called "Bit" and "Bott" after the goldfish that were featured on Play School at the time, and lived for 10 years!! (properly kept goldish can live nearly 30 years!!)...But I loved my fish with a passion!! Goldfish are not only beautiful, and gracefull to look at they are intelligent, playful and friendly!!! and in no way should they be treated in the manner that Big Brother has been treating its goldfish!!!! It also turned out this morning that one of the poor, unfortunate fish has now died!! Its not a bit of wonder as a single goldfish needs at least 30 litres of water, a proper pump and filtrations system, about 8 hours a day of light, water property management, hiding places and live plants to nibble on...none of which were provided to the Big Brother fish which were in a poorly sized bowl (its very cruel to keep fish in bowls anyway)...Some of the folks at the fish forum have complained to Channel 4 only to recieve *the same* standard responce with pathetic excuses, so I have suggested Ofcom, the media regulator, and I have complained to them myself !
Big Brother should take itself more responsibly, because its a programme watched and loved by millions of kids up and down the country...and lets think for instance what would happen if the house mates were given a puppy to keep in a foot square steel creat????!!! Belive me keeping goldfish in this tiny bowl is EXACTLY the same thing, and I am sure there would be a huge uproar about "puppy kept in terrible conditions" all over the country...but because the subject is goldfish, no one seems to care about this barbaric cruelty except for us fellow fishkeepers!
Oh and dont get me on about China again!
Chinese Olympic souvenirs now include live goldfish inprisoned in airtight, plastic keyrings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The makers of these should be castrated!! I would happily do it myself with a blunt instrument!!
LIVE goldfish trapped inside novelty plastic keyrings are being sold to the public in the Chinese city where Olympic sailing events will take place later this year. The items, which are not official Games merchandise, have been condemned by animal rights groups, who called on authorities in Qingdao to ban them.
Without access to oxygen and food, the fish cannot live for much longer than a few hours. Aimed at children, the keyring - which sports an image of Huanhuan, a young boy who is one of five mascots for the Games - is said to be selling fast in markets.
“The fish would survive just a few hours and would be lucky to make it from the manufacturers to the point of sale,” an RSPCA spokeswoman said. “We can’t understand why anyone would want to buy it.”
The RSPCA said it would be calling on Chinese authorities to crack down on the sale of the items. “It is a gimmick … This product shows a shocking lack of respect for a living thing and should be withdrawn from sale,” the spokeswoman said.
I, for one, am horrified and discusted that this kind of cruelty exisits in our 21st century!!

The Tudors were kinder to traitors!!!!!!!!!

Its all got too much for me!!!

*recovers from severe credit card surgery*

Richard, bless him, has sent me a piccy of his newly aquired "Classic Dalek set" and I just kept popping back to look at this absolutly exquisite set of Daleks!! and the info was that the cheepest price was on the Forbidden Planet website, and indeed I could not resist this and checked it myself! I also checked ebay and some rip off merchants on there are charging over £30, for "buy it now"...well by this time my fingers were acting of their own accord and I had absolutly no power to stop myself!!! I popped back to Forbidden Planet, and as if by magic my credit card just happened to pop out of my wallet, and it put its own details on my laptop all by its self!!!!!!!! I had absolutly nothing to do with it!!!! HONEST!!!

*HIDES*

So I just happend to put in my order from the classic set!!! Now to make matters even worst, my laptop, working by itself ofcourse, also went on to order a 1:18 scale model of "Christine" the demon car from one of my favoite movies by John Carpenter!!! It even has working lights which would look awesome in a darkened room...recently I saw the same model on ebay going for over £70 but this was just £35





Well I had spent the morning in town as I had very nearly run out of ciggies...checked the usual appalingly bad selection of WHO stuff on sale in Woolies, and came home just after an hour and visiting the pound shop for some doggie things, and Radox bubble bath...I was quite pleased with myself because I dident come home with any new shoes and dident spend any further money!! But my credit card had other idea's when I got home and just happened upon the FP website...my classic Dalek set is due to arrive on friday........

...and I just cannot resist temptation!! LOL!!!

cheers Richard!! your brilliant!!

PS!
Please remind me to NEVER EVER visit the Forbidden Planet shop the next time I am in London...otherwise Derek might just file for divorce!!!
*whistles innocently*

Non Hindu's and not allowed in Indian Temples...BUT!

"Meditate and you will feel and hear the OM!!!" breathed an old Hindu Priest, in my ear...his breath hot with nerves at the thought of allowing a white westen woman into the inner scantum of his Temple...I entered tentivly and knelt onto the warm, damp stone floor. It was very dark, but as my eyes adjusted I could make out butter candals, lighting a large, gold, Om symbal, and the air was loaded with incence and the smell of offerings of fruit and flowers.........and I listened.........

"Ommmmmmmmm......Ommmmmmmmmmmmm....Ommmmmmmmmm!!!"

Astonishment almost made me stand up, and indeed my body jerked like a puppet on a string, at the thought I could actually hear THE OM!....I had tried to relax but the sound excited and entralled me and I felt at peace...UNTILL!!

"What the heck is that sound!!!!!!!!!!!" I had moaned to Derek on Lighthouse beach in Kerela, southern India!! It was so peacefull laying there benith the shade of a shabby old umbrella, but I kept hearing this annoying noise like a far off motorboat...Derek dident ansewer as he was sound asleep so I looked up and squinted into the sunlight dancing on the surface of the Ocean, searching for the boat, that was the source of this sound I could hear, but there was nothing, just a very distant container ship, and nothing that could have made the sound of a diesle engine boat, which is what I was hearing...quite suddenly I remembered hearing the Om at the Temple, and realised that this humming I was hearing was remarkablely similer!!
"MMMmmmm... must be the Om of the Earth!" I though as I drifted back to my tropical dream....

Now whats all this waffle about? I can hear you mumbling ...yes she is indeed waffling again!! LOL!!

Well, today I found this on wonderfull Wikipiedia!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum

Apparently the "HUM" is a real thing that people all around the world can hear!! So I wasen't going bonkers afterall, and I did hear "something" very distant and sounding like a diesel engine! I must admit I have only ever heard this sound on very deserted quiet beaches. Derek never heard it however, and wondered what I was talking about. Some folks can hear it if they are susseptible to low frequencies, but others can't hear anything...Weird...after some more research I found this piece of a documentary on youtube, and the sound has been altered for everyone to hear, and its incredible, but its just like my "Om of the Earth"



Weird, isent it??...and why did I only find this today?...I have no idea.

Now further on from this I have found that our pleasent little blue planet is very noisy! This following quick clip is the acctual sound that our Earth makes in space!!...spookily someone put in the comments section "This is the sound of the Earth SCREAMING!!!"



Jupiter makes this noise too although she sounds much more peacfull!!



The above piece is 10 mins long but you just have to listen to the beginning realy!

Finally.........Saturn.........warning: this is quite spookie!

Very quiet indeed!!

Even shopping in Morrisons yesterday morning was quiet!! (oddly)

Not many bargins were on offer either, and they have even moved the "cheapy" cold shelf, so I was wandering, round and round like a berk, looking for it...I know why they do this though, as its marketing strategy so customers looking for said cheapy shelf will look around more trying to find it, and may pop a few more would be bargins into their basket!!! But when I eventually found it there was no amazing bargins on there anyway! Food bargins are becoming more and more difficult to find, methinks...and I have even considered growing my own veg lately! My Dad grew his own veg when I was a kid, and I can remember him growing, carrots, spring onions, potatoes, and his was absolutly obsessed with growing runner beans! Shorty after we moved here in 2000 I had a pop at growing runner, and French beans, only to find the whole lot being eaten by a veritale army of snails! Now being an animal lover it broke my heart putting down snail pellets so I eventually gave up, and have not attempted to grow any veg since! In fact the only thing I grew since were Sun Flowers but Sirius ate them when he was a puppy! LOL!!
Yesterday I decided now would be the right time to get more involved with fellow fish keepers for help and advice, so I have joined the forum at Practical Fishkeeping! As I am the only fish keeper I know! On posting there yesterday I was very surprized to learn that keeping a freshwater clam is *unusual*...I had thought there would be lots of other clam-keepers out there, but apparently not! Ofcourse when I mentioned Cedric, my clam, everyone was asking for pictures, but I dont have any as he is rarely seen!!! Freshwater clams live their lives under the gravel or sand, filtering the water for food, and if they are unexpectedly uncovered they will immiediatly begin to burrow themselves back in with a white flashey foot that pokes out one end of the shell! Admittedly I have only seen Cedric about 10 times in two years, but he has grown fast and his shell is now over two inches long! Sometimes he is accidently uncovered during water changes, but intill that happens again there will still be no photos as I am not about to forceably dig him up just to take his photo! My next water change is due on Friday where I will keep an eye out for him, and post his piccie here too if I catch a rare sight of him!
Sorry this blog has been a bit boring, but my highlight today will be walking Sirius, and looking for fish piccie oppertunities!!
My highlight yesterday evening was having the great pleasure of looking at Richards Westen Isles photos!!!!!!!!! You really are a superbly talented photographer Richard!! and huge thanks again for sending them over!!

(((((((((((hugzz))))))))))))
Vix, Sirius and fisheys!! x

BTW my fish are:

Hermionie....6 inch fantail
Albus.....4 inch redcap
Voldie.....4 inch Black More
Bella....4 inch Back More
Harry....3 inch Rainbow fish
Ginny....3 inch rainbow fish
Minerva....baby fantail
Barty....baby Calico (the one with the balck spot on his nose)
Cedric the Clam!

I feel like making a list!!!
Virgo's like me like to make lists and organise things, although I am not that organised...but I am going to do a list of my top 50 favorite films, as I got my new portable DVD player last night, and I need to remember which ones to put in my portable case, before my next camping trip!! ;-)
Now these are just personal favorites for one reason or another, but to any *normal* person my choices will seem like a list of total rubbish! LOL!!

Here goes:

1: The Fog (1980 version) Richard Carpenter classic, which is my all time favorite movie, and very underated IMHO!

2: Halloween 3 Season of the Witch!...I like to call this the "sister" movie of the Fog! Superb story but nothing to do with the Halloween series!

3: Something Wicked this way come!...Wonderful take on the Ray Bradbury book of the same name! I adore Johnathan Price!!

4: Dr Phibes (first movie)...Vincent Price is one of my all time favorite actors, and this movie is just beautifully CREEPY!

5: The Devil Rides out!...Hammer Horror classic, and the best in my opinion!

6: Partners!!...a side splittingly funny comedy, starring John Hurt and Ryan O'Neil as a gay and straight cops solving a gay community murder!

7: Anne of the Thousand days!....why ask! LOL!!! Genivive Bojould and Richard Burton!!!

8: State of Grace!!....My favorite Gary Oldman film!! He is so chilling as Jackie Flannery! love it!

9: Texas Chinsaw Massacre (original)...why ask! *giggles* wonderfully classic, gorey escapism!

10: Alien (first movie)...Superb Allen Dean Foster story, with a fantastic cast! with no less than 3 of my favorite actors!

11: Asylum...4 diffent stories in one here with the excellent Robert Powell!!

12: CREEP!!!... In my opinion the Best British horror movie in years!!! Stars Franka Portente is the dislikeable, snobby Kate!! Brilliant!

13: Air Force One!!...Gary Oldman stars as the mad Russian terrorist who gains control of the US presidents aircraft!

14: Lust for a Vampire!!...wonderfully raunchy Hammer flim about a lusty lady Vampire!

15: Voyage to the Bottom of the sea!!!...Brilliant 60's Sci-Fi at its best!! starring Walter Pidgeon

16: 10 Rillington place!!...superb boi horror about murderer Christey with John Hurt and Richard Attenborough!

17: Dracula!!...Gary Oldman, need I say more!

18: The Fall of the House of Usher!...I love this short E.A. Poe story about this mad family!! (I am a big E.A.Poe fan folks)

19: Blood from the Mummy's Tomb!...Hammer Horror at it best! IMHO!...yet again!!

20: The Hitcher...need I say more! this is the only horror that actually makes me hide behind a cushion! LOL!!

21: The life of Brian!!!...when I first saw this Monty Python film I cried laughing...and still do!!

22: Poltergiest! (first film)...wonderfully creepy Steven Spielberg film, which I have certainly watched more times than I can remember!

23: For Richer or Pooper!!...I dont go in for romance films but this is just sooooo funny!! and a jolly good story too!

24: Seven...Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt are on the case of the "7 deadly sins" murders!! gorgeously gorey!!

25: The Relic...a mutated monster prowles a museam at night! some superb CGI in this one!

26: Jaws...classic fishy Spielberg adventure! Dad took me to see this when I was just 10 years old, and I hid under my coat for most of the movie!

27: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkabhan!...the best book in the HP series IMHO!!...and of course Gary Oldman stars!

28: Beverly Hills Cop!! (first movie)...The Brilliant Eddie Murphy at his finest...or perhaps...

29: Trading Places...another of my favorite Eddie Murphy films!

30: The Firm....Gary Oldman as a football hooligan underneath his guise as a respectable husband and father! Stars with his first ex wife!

31: Carry on Cleo!!...IMHO the best of all the carry on films apart from.............

32: Carry on Camping!! *grins*

33: The Twins of evil!!!...Hammer Horror staring Peter Cushing in a witch hunt!

34: FunHouse...this absolutly brilliant film should have been placed in my top ten realy!! *hides*

35: Lady Jane!! Brilliant film about the life of Lady Jane Grey starring Helena Bonham Carter as the young Jane!

36: The Wickerman!! (original) spinetingly, chilli horror classic staring Edward Woodward!

37: 1984!!...Richard Burtons last film, sadly...George Orwells terrible vision of the future, also stars John Hurt!

38: Saw (first movie, but the others are good too)...Staring Carey Elwes and THAT puppet!!

39: Waking Ned!....superbly funny film about a lottery win in a small Irish village!!! it was actually filmed on the Isle of Mann!!

40: A Man for all seasons!!...multi award winning story of the life and dilemmers of Sir Thomas Moore!

41: Some where in Time!!...Crikey a romance!!!! *stands back in shock* Chistopher Reeve and Jane Seymore!! makes me cry at the end!

42: Convoy!!!...American trucker movie that my Dad and indeed I adore!

43: Evil Dead!!...this classic movie gives me the shivvers AND the giggles at the same time!!

44: Porky's!!...really silly teenage American romp, but the follow up was rubbish IMHO!

45: Killdozer!...very chilling early 70's movie about a murderous Bulldozer that goes on a killing spree!

46: The Elephant man!...Anthony Hopkins as the Doctor and John Hurt as the poor, deformed Elephant Man (biopic)

47: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory (1973 version)...I was not impressed with the recent re-make!

48: Nil By Mouth!...directed by Gary Oldman, and I think its in the Guiness book of records for the most "F" words in any film! (semi-biographic)

49: Christine!!....a Plymouth car is possesed by a demon!! by John Carpenter

50: Theatre of Blood!!...Vincent Price as a mad actor who murders his critics in bizzare ways from scenes in plays by Shakespere!

...................and some of the ones that got away for some reason (perhaps I should have done a top 100)

Garveyard shift, The Shinning, The Fly (with Jeff Goldblum), the Prophecy (first film), Immortal Beloved, Open Water, Time Walker, Thelma and Louise, the Wizard of Oz, Rollerball, Warlords of Atlantis, Phsyco (first film), the Duel, The Payama Game, Annaconda, Bruce Almighty, War of the Worlds (1958 version), The Island at the Top of the World, Robo Cop (first film), Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix, Countess Dracula, Batman, the Illusionist, The Last Emporer, ...........AND far to many to mention!!!

The question now is...what am I going to put in my dvd case for my next camping trip???
*all of the above I have on DVD in some form or another*

Kisses from Vix

China is a very beautiful place, and belive me, as I have seen it and expierenced it first hand...BUT!!!!!!!!

and its VERY BIG BUT!!

HORRIFIC ANIMAL CRUELTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will not post pictures here because I know some of my readers have young children and it is not my intension to shock or upset kids...but I feel its only right to remind folks that underneath the glitz and glamour that China likes to present to the world, with the Olympics, lies an ugly, evil cankar in the form of maddeningly horrible animal cruelty! and I am not just talking about the murderous fur trade here, I am talking about all the animal cruelty that goes on in China...AND why I think they should have no right to host this years Olympics!!!
For instance here is a piece from the Mail about the "Animal Olympics!"

A black bear perches precariously on a scooter and is forced to drive a circus performer across a tightrope.

This shocking image is just the latest picture to emerge from the barbaric Animal Olympic Games in China, a country with a shameful animal rights record.

China's list of shame:
Sickening 'animal olympics' forces kangaroos to box humans
• Gallery: Humans boxing kangaroos
See the latest pictures from the animal olympics
• China's barbaric horse fighting
• Live animals thrown to the tigers for crowd's amusement

The event has provoked outrage and serious concerns among animal rights groups around the world including The Captive Animals' Protection Society.

Craig Redmond, UK-based campaigns manager, said: "The things these animals are being made to do are not natural acts, and there will no doubt be cruelty involved in making them perform these tricks."

Shirley Galligan from the Born Free foundation added: "This is degrading for the animals, insulting to our intelligence and a disaster for any possible chance of increasing respect for the wild animals we share the world with. The Shanghai Animal Olympics is about domination and manipulation."

Previous pictures from the 'games' have included kangaroos being forced to take part in boxing matches with their supposed keepers and a monkey cycling while tied by the collar to the children's bike.

Other events have included a sea lion high jump and a tug of war between an elephant and members of the audience, with more than 300 animals taking part.

The forth of the biannual events at the Shanghai Wildlife Park has attracted thousands of visitors, including rapturous school children.

But the 'cruelty Olympics' are being held just before the human Olympics take place in Beijing. The Captive Animals' Protection Society is writing to the Chinese Ambassador in London to complain about the event.

"The abuse of the animals is clear. The bears, for example, will be very distressed at being forced to wear muzzles, chained and made to fight," said Redmond.

The protests from animal rights groups has been felt by the Chinese Government, which is keen to improve its reputation among the international community in terms of both animal and human rights. This year's Olympics could therefore be the last.
*******copy right MailOnline*********

as I said "no pictures" but to see the full artical please copy and paste the adress below into your browser:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-407693/Un-bear-able-Chinas-cruel-animal-Olympics-reach-new-heights.html

China so desperatly wants to take her place on the World stage as a sophisticated superpower and if we close our eyes for a moment we can belive this...but scratch the surface and you see the evil that lies benith!!...This is not about a difference in cultures and customs, its about BLATENT CRUELTY to our fellow creatures that we share this planet with, a barbaric cruelty that would shock even the most heard hearted of people....dogs and cats get their necks crushed by people standing on them while they are still alive and crying, hopelessly, THEN still alive they are strung up by their battered and bleeding back legs, and have their skins torn from their bodies by a knife, starting with a deep cut to the helpless animals anus, and from here their skins are ripped off...and the still live and skinless animal is dumped in a heap like a pile of discarded rubbish!!

Glamourous, sophisticated China eh??? I THINK NOT!!

At 15 years of age, my dad taught me to drive in our 1800 Ford Cortina............

"Never forget you have got a killing machine benith your feet!!!! Show it respect!!" Dad had told me!!

At 16 I was happily driving my dads ERF truck around the haulage yard (no power steering in those days folks!!) at Poplar transport in Lymm near Warrington!! and it was thought, at the time that I would follow in my dads footsteps and become a truck driver, a prospect which I was excited about! My dad had only ever had his class 3 licsence, but he was grooming me for a class 1 which would allow me to drive an articulated lorry...Now due to the fact it was the early 80's I was unable to take my driving test, because of costs. Dad had told me to wait, and so I just got my provisional license and carried on with lessons....

At the age of 22 disaster struck...and what made it worse, it was brought about by my own stupidity!!
I am compleatly ashamed of this story, but here goes.............

This story begins on a day trip out to North Wales with an old boyfriend of mine driving his mini Metro...Now for those who dont know the geography of the area, Warrington to Anglesey is a heck of a long drive, but that was what we decided to do and so I packed a flask and some sandwiches and off we set! Starting out, we reached Anglesey by lunchtime and stopped at a picturesque stop by the bridge to eat our sandwiches and admire the view! Later in the afternoon we took the long drive to the other side of the island to visit South Stack lighthouse...I love it there, its so beautifully isolated and the sea air is so fresh I would gulp lung fulls of the stuff!! (much better than the ciggies LOL!!) Anyway, evening was drawing on and we stopped at a little country pub for some intended dinner. Their restraunt was closed so we setted for some drinks and decided to get a take out Chinese and eat it in the car! Ian's drinking was sensible (btw this is not the Ian I have spoke about in earlier entries! this Ian was my school sweetheart who I met up with after my divorce) because he knew he was driving, and the drive was a long one!!!! Me on the other hand was having a whale of a time downing bottles of Pils and drinking whiskey and coke with mounds of ice! in short, by the time we got our Chinese takeaway I was quite tiddled! (scrub that, I was totaly pi***d) and as happy as a sand boy....Ian had yawned as we began our drive back, a little after 10pm, and this should have given me a huge warning that he was absolutly knackered...then at a round about he suddenly swerved and almost crashed into a tree!!!!!! I had not realised it at the time but Ian had fallen asleep at the wheel!!!!!
He pulled up on a grass verge, while he decided what to do!!
"We could sleep in the car!" I had suggested, helpfully, but Ian was looking gloomy and very shaken.
"Can't!! he grumbled "I have got work first thing in the morning"
So we chatted and thought, and eventually concluded that I would drive back! Ian had not argued about this and so we swapped seats and I drove off onto the Expressway...now after about 40 miles of my driving and carefully sticking to the speed limet, I had realised I had taken a wrong turn. Ian was fast asleep in the passenger seat snoring loudly, so I dident want to ask him, so I pulled onto a layby to check the map. Now I discovered where I had made a wrong turning, so a pulled off the layby...........
You've guessed it!!!!
Blue flashing lights appeared first in my mirrors and then a police car flew past me and pulled in front with its "police stop" signe flashing! Oh S**t, I was thinking as I remembered just how much booze I had downed at the pub!...Ian, now awake, was quietly calm and told the officer it was his car and I was driving because he was tired! Next came the question about my licence, and I blubbed that I only had a provisional which I did not have on me, next came questions about tax and insurance (it later transended that Ian had neither, which I was furious about) and then came the dreaded beathaliser! Th officer kindly explained how it worked and said that if the indicator when to red within a certain time, I would be over the limet and arrested for drunk driving! Crikey I could hardly breath into the thing for sobbing at this point, but I am sure even before my lips touched the thing the red light came flashing!!!!!!!! Suddenly I found myself being read my rights, and bundled into the back of the police car!!! I was absolutly terrified!!! and shouted back to Ian to follow us in the car! In the back of the police car and feeling totally helpless I curled into a ball and wailed!
"I want my Dad!!!" whining, pathetically.
Back at the Police station I was interviewed by a Mr Nice Copper, and a Mr Nasty Copper! and I was told I would have to do a breath sample on their station computer thingy. Co-operating compleatly and doing as I was told, I breathed into the thing with Mr Nasty Copper threatening a night in the cells, in my ear!! I remember vividly his breath stank of rotting meat!! But the reading the machine gave was BANG ON the limet, so I was not over the limet after all...Filling out statments and signing things later, the tears had stopped and I was feeling myself again when Mr Nice Copper asked me how much I had actually had to drink! "Oh just two small bottles of beer!" I had told him, lying through my teeth...He had given me a knowing look as if to say "you stink of whisky" but he just smiled and said that our Chinese supper had soaked up most of the alcohol I had consumed. He had winked at me and told me I was very lucky.......Needless to say this horrible expierence was to put me off driving for life, as the thought of being arrested again, and the feeling of powerlessness, absolutly terrified me!
Both Ian and I recieved fines of over £500 for no tax and insurance and driving on a porvisional licence without displaying L plates!

Several years ago now I wrote to a newspaper saying that all drivers should have to go through the process of being arrested for drunk driving, so as to put off potencial drunk drivers!
If would be drunk drivers had to go through, what I did, they would never drink and drive again!

The last time I drove was for 5 minuits, alone, parking Dereks Brava at his aunties farm in Donegal, Ireland...simpley because he did not belive I could actually drive!!! this was in 2000, and I have nt drove anything since...and never will.

The memory of that fatefull night in North Wales is still all too clear...............
NEVER EVER DRINK AND DRIVE!!! not even one single drink, its just not worth it!

As I left the station that night at about 1am, I asked Mr Nice Copper why he had pulled me over?

"Its because you were driving slowly ad very carefully!"

I was amazed...........

"you mean if I had pulled out without looking and wheels screaching you would not have pulled me up?

"Probabally not!" he answered............I was baffled! and I still am.

I just sent this to the mail online, in regards to the story of the lady being pushed onto railway tracks, for telling two men to stop smoking!!

********Although I feel deeply sorry for this lady and this terrible ordeal, why did she interfere with these two men? If the station has an anti smoking poilcy on its platform, shouldn't someone in authority enforce this ban on the platform, and not a member of the public! Why did she not just move away from their smoke? Is this caused by the "nanny state" our country is suffering at the moment?
As a smoker myself I have suffered, open abuse from total strangers, and have even been spat at, and to be honest here my patience is wearing very thin with these anti smoking do gooders, simply becuase I enjoy smoking tobacco in the open air!
I do hope, however that these men are punished severely for this crime...but I also hope this will send a message to anti smoking goodie goodies, to "mind their own business"...the next total stranger who tells me to stop smoking will receive somthing rather unpleasent for their troubles!
I am sick and tired of the anti smoking fascists!! ************

Yes these men who commited this terrible crime are total thugs...but reading between the lines of this "what are thugs doing on a railway platform at 7am!"?? Dont thugs hang out in dark allies wearing hoodies, drinking taking drugs and being a niusance???...apparently not! These men appear to be ordinary commuters in their late 20's from the way they are discribed...Now what I think happened here was these guys lost patience with this goodie goodie anti smoking lady, and pushed her onto the tracks!!! However there is absolutly NO EXCUSE for their dispicable behaviour!!! and they should be punished with a lenghty jail sentance...Now I am not going to go on my ususal anti smoking propaganda rant...but I want to know two things, which I explain in my comment....WHY if the station has an anti smoking policy on its platform, is it not enforced by someone in authority??? and why did a member of the public feel she had to take this matter into her own hands??? Had this happened in America for instance, the men she confronted could have been armed with guns!!!!!! Does this silly mare know no fear????
Put it another way...if I was on a railway platform and heard two men swearing loudly (I hate bad language) would I go and tell them to shut up!!! Absolutly not!!! But perhaps, I would complain to the station master/misstress about the offensive language!
I have been at the recieving end of some realy nasty abuse from total strangers in Northampton town centre, when I have lit up...so far I have just responded with...
"excuse me? do I know you?"
"would you mind your own business please!"
and
"yeah!!!! and your problam with that is..." spoke with hands firmly on hips with a menacing look of defiance on my face! LOL!!!
But I can honestly say the next time someone has a go at me for smoking in the law abiding open air, they might just end up with several broken teeth!!!!...I realy have lost my patience with anti smoking do-gooders, that much!!
sorry folks!

Forgoodness sake, if a smoker is "seen" to be breaking the law, TELL SOMEONE in authority! DON'T take matters into your own hands!!!

and I wish this lady a speedy recovery, but hope she has a bit more commen sense in future!
and the men responsible be caught quickly, and locked up swiftly!!

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!! moan over with!! sorry, sorry, sorry!

The mini series (or not so mini) the Tudors returns to our screens this Friday on BBC2...Nothing realy exciting in that as I wasen't realy excited by season one, as the makers and indeed writers failed miserebly to capture any true history and for the most part was historically inccorect...ok thats just me having a moan, becuase it was so slow and drawn out, making me feel like I was sitting on a slow donkey cart watching it. Tudor history was fast paced, exciting, and littered with dark conspiricies, which failed to appear in this latest offering! However I did get season 1 dvd and have rewatched it with an open heart, finding the story of the "field of the cloth of gold" the bit where Henry challenges the King of France to a wrestling match which I found amusingly done!!
Now some how the BBC has made the next season trailer look exciting...???...yes, exciting to me anyway, and I was absolutly intriegued by the music they used, and found my foot tapping to this heavy metal beat! On seeing it again this morning I thought "what IS that song?" and did a quick internet search only to find at first it was quite elusive. I scoured youtube to no avil as it just seem to be littered with fan made vidoes, and eventually just asked the question of "which track" to my google box, and was quite amazed by the result!!!....Its a track by Mairliyn Manson called "beautiful People" which I instantly down loaded....it took me a little while to find the vid on youTube as most of them are "embedded disabled by request", but after some patience I found this full version!!!

Caution here!!!!!!!!!!!! its a very creepy video which is probabally not suitable for minors!



What a brilliantly done rock track though!!!

Admittedly I am not a fan of Marilyn Manson, but it realy does shake me a bit when I realise just how eclectic my taste in music is..???? Wildly so!! I can happily listen to "the ariea of the Queen of the Night" from Mozart's Magic flute, and then listen to Nine Inch nails "Head like a hole!"...so here's proof here yet again of what an ODD person I am!
My first music love was, T Rex and Marc Bolan!! as a 5 year old I adored his music, voice, make-up and glamour clothes, and I suppose in a way this is not far removed from Mr Manson (wild make-up ect) or perhaps the brilliant Alice Cooper (these days he loves golf and by all counts has a very good handicap)...Anyway I will certainly make an efforet to listen to some more Marilyn Manson songs, and the rythem and beat of "Beautiful People" makes it an excellent track for pole dancing, to boot!!!!!!!!!!!!
In other news, my fish have been...........errr....doing what comes naturally in the wild!! *blushes*
Last night I discovered a pink mark on Hermionie's undercarrige, and after a quick look at a specialist gold fish site I vist, I read that she maybe "on heat"...in fact the isent realy a maybe about this as Voldie (my black Moore) is chasing her round, and round in a frenzie of lust trying his best to nip at her bits to get her to release her eggs!!! So I have been watching them closely as if any eggs are laid I will have to put them in a nursery tank straight way or the other fish will eat them....ok, so I am a sick pervo who likes watching goldfish have sex!!! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ahhhhhhhhh my much awaited UGG boots have just arrived, and they are gorgeous (although not new) and I am even wearing them at the moment!

see you soon folks!! xx

*hurries back to watch gold fish porn*

*Evil, laughter like cackling*

Derek was driving me absolutly BONKERS yesterday by totting up how much petrol in had used getting to and from work, in pence!!

"It cost me 53p to get to work this morning, and 59p to come home because I had to go via Morrisons!" he announced yesterday evening, his eyes practially glittering with £ saving signes!!!
Now am I just being picky or has Derek finally gone round the twist, or is he suffering from "compulsive saving pennies disorder"..????

Every week I try to shop for food as cheaply as possible, and I am fortunate enough to know some simple, wholesome, home recipies to save even more money...we have no kids, and a fully paid up morgage, so why have things got so bad? as he has a superb job in banking, and I make my own pennies from internet travel advice and ebay dealings!
So over the weekend, and indeed yesterday I had a little bit of RETAIL REVENGE! LOL!!! And yes, me and ebay have been the best of buddies at the moment....for ages now I have wanted some UGG boots but these lovely looking comfy boots are just so expensive to buy new at over £120, that I certainly would not buy new...So on Sunday afternoon I rubbed my hands together, and cracked my knuckles over my key board and set to work. I found a lovely pair in cream that was going to finish that afternoon with a current bidding at £37 so I did not bid....I am ashamed to admit it but I am a "last second sniper" on ebay, and this was my tactic. About 5 mins before the auction was due to end I watched the bids increase and at 25 seconds left I slapped my bid on, and got the boots for an acceptable £73!!!! Oddly I love bidding like this as my heart beat very fast, and I find it quite exciting...yes I am mad! ...Anyway things dident stop there....
Last year we went to our ususal campsite in Derbyshire and it rained and rained!!! One perticular night I was woken at about 3:30am to find the tent flapping about like a derranged bat, and slowly but suerly it was actually detaching itself from the ground...at 7am we decided that we had been beaten and began to pack things up in the pouring rain! Everything was soaked and that included my precious portable DVD player and my pack of disc's...now on getting home from this soggy extravaganza I discovered that although my discs still played after they were dried out, my portable player had played its last film and had died a death in the rain *mourns DVD player*.........Now at the moment there is the prospect of another camping trip, so you've guessed it...I got another player from ebay!! *giggles* again this was a last second bid and I won the auction for £80, for a new Sony portable player worth £150, but the box is damaged. I was hoping to get it cheaper but the bidding on this one was very severe!!!
Dont you just lurrrrv ebay????

Hear is the song "ebay" from Weird Al Yankovic (whom I worship, daily) Hope it makes you smile! ;-))



and his "Jurrasic park" song is hilarious!!! its a micky take of "McArther Park"

In other news I have been cleaning madly so yesterday saw me in blue apron and yellow rubber gloves attacking my up stairs bathroom, (its the turn of the down stairs shower room today) and I have discovered the joys of Cillet-Bang (have to be carefull how I spell that) waging war on my bathroom tiles which are now spotless!!
In fish news, Hermionie is worrying me as yesterday I found she has a torn scale near her dorsel fin and its bleeding slightly. Goodness knows how she has done this as due to her size no other fish would dare pick on her, so I am guessing that she has ripped it on somthing. So later on I am going to do some internet reserch on how I can help her, and if needs be put her in an isolation tank with some antibiotic or somthing! She seems a tiny bit listless but she ate her supper last night with much relish, so it has not affected her huge appitite, thankfully!

Thanks for reading and hope to see you soon lovely folks!! xx

Undergoing MyBlogLog Verification

My appitite kind of eluded me this lunchtime as I was still smarting form the departure of our Alpha!
The thing is, I was so desperatly sad, I totally forgot about the "cons" of having a smaller, econimical car, and instead whinged like the marter who ever drove it!!!!!!! So shortly after luch Derek suggested a drive in the country...
Now as long as I have known him (15 years) he has always been a bit of a mad driver! At first he had an E reg red Belmont which would skid onto my pub carpark most evenings, and at the time I was thinking he was doing it just to impress. By the time we started traveling in '95 I had forgot all about his mad driving as instead I had to keep concentraiting on how to stay alive/ not go mad ect! On returning to England he eventually bought a red Brava, and the memories of mad overtaking all come flooding back!!! He managed not just to scare me, but scared the living daylights out of my Mum too! One evening in January 2001 we had a mad night dash up to Manchester as my dads condition had deteriorated over night, and the roads outside were very icey. Knowing this was going to be one hell of a journey I filled a hip flask with my then favorite Scotch, Glenkinchie, crawled onto the back seat and stayed there for the whole journey, quivvering like a jelly (jello)...even before our ride had properly begun Derek lost it on a skid at the bottom of our road and we were fortunate enough not to end up mangled under the wheels of a van!!!!
"For f**ks sake put that drink down!!! " He had yelled "Do you want your dad to see you in a mess!!!"
My dad would not have had it any other way, I remember thinking LOL!!
About 8 months later we got the Alpha, and you know most of the story from previous entrys! What I dident mention was Dereks driving!!! Crikey what a risk taker he could be!!! and when I chided him about it he would just replay "well it is a sports car, and you wanted a sports car!!!" so basically I had to put up with him taking off like a rocket at green lights, much to the annoyance of other drivers, overtaking with the minium space, while in full view of on coming cars, and genrally doing his naught to 60 in 7 seconds!!!! At one point in about 2002 he was misjudging bends and several times we nearly ended up in a hedge, so I asked him to "realy" drive like a sports driver!! He had sniffed at this indignantly, but asked me what I meant all the same! "Dont use your breaks going into a bend!" I had told him "Use your gears to slow the car, and accelerate out of the bend!" he had looked at me quizically but tried it anyway and was delighted by the results, and out Alpha cornered like it was on rails!....I knew this little gem of information from two sources, my Dad who at taught me to drive at 16, and the idiot first husband who was a "wanna be rally driver" and gave me some lessons...but why I am not driving today is another story...a long one, that I shall right about in a later entry, and it involved me getting arrested, briefly...
Today, Derek drove like a gentleman!!!
"where is Derek Harrison, and what have you done with him!" I had quipped, when getting out of the car a little after 4pm!!
We had headed to Wellingborough, and the around the countryside, and I could not belive how "normal" he could drive! Sticking to the speed limet, and showing courtasy to other drivers were the norm today, and I have to say I was more than happy about it....as we pulled into our drive he proudly announced that our little Punto had just done 60 miles to the gallon!!
So I suppose having a little car does indeed have its good points on several levels!!! :-))

In other news Mum is coming to say in a few weeks and she is bringing her gorgeous Pershian cats (2 black and ones with dabs of white) which could be interesting, as the last time Sirius met Sooty and Whisky (their names) he went to chase the latter only to recieve a sharp clawed smack on the nose from the cat!!! Sirius had whines and yelleped, like he was being murdered, but on closer inspection Whisky had not even broke the skin!!!
"serves you right!!!" I scolded my scatter brained fur-bal, dogl!!!
Anyway! we shall see....another meeting should make some amusing photography, methinks!

Watch this space! ;-)

Today was the end of an era, of whizzing around in the sunshine, with the roof down!!
Those days are now gone, and I can help but feel realy down about this!

I first saw our brand spanking new, midnight blue Alpha Romeo, T spark Spyder in the multi story carpark at Heathrow arrivals terminal in 2001l...While I had been in Austrailia Derek had decided to get this much wanted sports car with some money his mum had left him, and I remember the drive to Heathrow about 3 weeks before and I was thinking "em this will be my last time in the old Brava!" I wasent plussed by it though as indeed I had chosen the new car myself (although I have never driven it) His lordship was potty about having an Alpha, and I totaly fell in love with the 2 litre, T spark with a top speed of 130mph!! (the fastest we went in it was about 108mph!) and I remember sitting in it for the first time and thinking WOW!!!! now this IS a car!!!!
"Oh my God you have got it!!!!!!!" I had gasped as I saw the neatly parked, gleaming dark blue sports car!! Derek had been grinning broadly, becuase he has not actually told me he was picking me up in it!! Heck I felt like a princess being driven away from the busstle of Heathrow, in this elegant, and sleek car....she seemed to have an huge ammount of power you could sense from the quiet growling of the engine under your toes!!...Low on the ground (very low in fact) though I dident always feel quite safe on motorways...The first year or so however, she turned heads everywhere we drove, and we drove a lot too as in 7 years she has clocked up 78,000 miles on the clock!
Our car today, just before we left home to pick up the ....errrr....other one!


another from the front, and Derek pulling out of our drive for the last time........







as you can see from the piccies she has suffered some bumps and scrapes, usually done at supermarket carparks!!...but this is our car from the rear!!



Now Derek has bought this in part exchange for a *takes deep breath" cherry red, Fiat Punto which has enough power to rival my sewing machine!!! and feels like being driven around in a tin can, compared to the Alpha!!! Now I am sure the Punto is a very nice car, but having come from an Alpha to this is a bit of a shock to say the least! So it looks like we have firmly joined the ranks of Sunday drivers!!!...shortly after getting home, I said to Derek:
"well you certainly wont have to worry about being challenged to a race in THAT!"

Anyway, a couple of cheerfull pix!! My new fishtank, and Sirius chiilin out!!





Its been a weird day realy...I spent the morning in town shopping in TK Maxx to take my mind of the impending car swap, and I got some lovely bits and pieces including some Jasper Conran white cotton tousers, size 12 and only £11, which I was very pleased with, then I popped into Wilkinsons to get Sirius some of the filled bones that he loves, and I was finally home but 2pm!! Oddly enough I had spent a small fortune but on this occasion his lordship dident complain as he knew I was upset about the car...Anyway I had a lovely bubble bath with my "Sanctury" bath stuff from Boots which I love, and am now sat hear sipping an icey cold lemon coke! From hear on I will give Sirius his dinner, feed my fish, and put the tank light on for the evening, and then I am going to watch Brain of Morbius with the commentry on!!
Oh and did I forget my Port...????... NOT!!
I have a bottle of my lovely white port for tonight, and I intend to drink the lot, and get totally rat arsed!!!

emmmm....and my TV is flickering.........mybe there is a storm on the way.........

Ok...I have been indulging in the Telegraph as usual this morning, when I came across this article!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/centralamericaandcaribbean/2473423/Antigua-honeymoon-murder-Beware-the-perils-of-paradise.html

You will have to copy and paste it to your search box, however, as "thicko" here still hasen't figured out how to add links to her blog!

sorry!

Anyway this article is typical travel scaremongering, following the horrific shooting in Antigua...but scroll down and read some of the comments and I was surprized to read so many "sensible" attitudes!
Throwing *statistics* about to prove a country is "travel hell" is just unrealistic!! and if it was, I would never visit London again!!!...or New York or LA come to that (both of which I plan to do in the future) I have sent many, many folks to Jamacia, and they have had a fantastic time, and also testement to this I have even recieved gifts from clients who I have sent there! one included a brightly coloured backpack style beach bag, with Jamacia embossed across the front!!! ..so why do journalists insist on scaremongering??? it baffles me! If they want to use statistics to prove a country is unsafe, why not do the reverse and see how many people have had happy holidays in the Carribean!? Admittedly I have never been to the Carribean myself but thats only because I have a stubborn other half who regards this area of the world as "to touristy", and in all honsetly here Derek is a total travel snob, who does not do touristy! But as a travel agent I have studied the Carribean, and feel confident enough to sell it as a destination...Basically travel safety boils down to an individuals commen sense!!! When traveling absolutly anywhere in the world I always advise my clients of the following:

a: Don't wear expensive looking jewellery or an expensive looking watch (even if its fake)...but a wedding ring comes in handy for ladies traveling alone

b: Dont show off flashy camera equipment!!! you will be seen as a rich target! Carry a cheapish looking camera discreatly!

c: Dont have expensive looking luggage such as Louis Vuitton!!...have sturdy "boring" looking luggage such as Antler or Constallation cases!

d: Alway dress smartly when you travel but dont "look" expensive

e: NEVER carry around a large ammount of cash and ALWAYS use travelers cheques, and carry it along with documents and passort on your person in a money belt when en route, and always use your hotel room safe to store them during your visit!

When I use this advice (almost always) I normally recive a cocked eyebrow and an expresion like "Oh I never thought of that!" which makes me giggle inside, but seriously, all of this is just commonsense! You would not flaunt your wealth at home, or in the supermarket, or out shopping (well most normal folks woulden't) so why do it on holiday!?? But sadly all too often I see people trapesing through airport lounges with excruitiatingly expensive luggage, clothes, and dripping in gold jewellery, which practically screams "Look at me!!! I am a walking bank account, please rob me promptly!!"
Tisk tisk!!!

Anyway, enough travel waffle for now!! I blame the Telegraph realy!!
Just now there was a UPS van outside my house and they delivered my free "the Dark Knight" soundtrack CD, all the way from the sunny shores of LA!! A few weeks ago I recieved an email from a media promotions company in LA asking me if I would be kind enough to advertise the soundtrack CD on my Gary Oldman website, and in return I would get a free copy! Now first off I was a little surprized that my modest little fan site had caught the interest of buisness folks in Los Angelese, and then I thought why dident they choose to advertise on other bigger and more popular fansites? Well I just sent a polite email back asking for details and any HTML they would like me to add, for my front page at GaryOldmanGenius.co.uk (my site), and recieved art work and links in return which I added later that day while watching that ghastly episode of Holby! *cringes* Well I had thought a tiny fish like me, they well forget to send me the CD, but no...true to their word, I got it this morning! A genuine American CD compleate with federal copyright warnings on the back!
Well I am hopping off for now as Sirius needs his walk, and I need to stretch my legs!
Please do take a look at the Telegraph site! Its interesting, informative and somtimes even fun!...and I must admit its my internet homepage!!
Did I just say that??
*hides*